Halloween Scare Photo

The Year is 1909

1909 FORD Model

The year is 1909 – One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!

Here are some statistics for the Year 1909:

The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year…

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME ..

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
were condemned in the press AND the government as ’substandard.’

Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason…

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada , was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
hadn’t been invented yet.

There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn’t read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores.

Back then pharmacists said, ‘Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health’

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!
Mainly because there was a firearm of some sort in almost every home!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

Democrats Seek Cover To Boost Debt Limit

The Senate must soon increase the national debt limit to above $13 trillion — and Democrats are looking for political cover.

Knowing they will face unyielding GOP attacks for voting to increase the eye-popping debt, Democrats are considering attaching a debt increase provision to a must-pass bill, possibly the Defense Department spending bill, according to Democratic and Republican sources.

Adding it to the defense bill would allow Democrats to argue that they voted for the measure to help troops in harm’s way — and downplay that their vote also expanded the limit for how much money the country can borrow.

The strategy has not yet been finalized, aides and senators said. The House already approved a debt limit increase of $925 billion — above the $12.1 trillion ceiling Congress approved as part of the economic stimulus package last February — but Democrats may seek to increase the limit further so they don’t have to revisit the politically treacherous issue until after the 2010 midterm elections.

GOP Senate leaders — who expect their 40 members to unite against the debt limit increase and force Democrats to find the necessary 60 votes on their own — are eager to have a protracted amendment process on the floor.

“My guess is that we will try to offer some amendments to [the increase] because I think it’ll be a good opportunity for us to have a debate on spending and borrowing, and that’s obviously a debate that we want to engage in,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), No. 4 in the GOP leadership.

To read the entire article go to http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28586.html

Staring Down The Barrel Of Swiss Gun Traditions

Switzerland is grappling with a question and it’s a loaded one: should its citizens be allowed to keep military rifles at home?

The shooting traditions are deep-rooted in this country where basic military training is mandatory and so is storing weapons at home. It’s estimated that over 500,000 military rifles are kept in Swiss cellars and cupboards.

WRS video journalist Amy Wong went to the Tiro Federale in Campagna (also called the Feldschiessen in German or Tir fédéral en campagne in French) the largest shooting festival in the world, to witness this 83-year-old tradition.

Check out the Video at  http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/video/staring-down-the-barrel-of-switzerlands-gun-tradit.shtml?14430

This is a SIG 550. It’s designed to destroy anything standing within its 400 m trajectory. And there are over 500 thousand of them kept Swiss homes.

Guns and shooting are a strong Swiss tradition. Basic military training is mandatory for young men, and afterwards they’re required to keep their weapon at home.

Marc Heim is the Ticino representative for the lobby group ProTell.

MARC HEIM: This was my father’s military rifle and of course he got to keep it when he was finished. I have my grandfather’s military rifle hanging on the office wall. This was mine when I did service. It’s quite an old one it was introduced in 1957 and used until 1990. And this is my son’s. It’s the current model. That’s what’s being used today. That’s what we’ll be using the shoot the Feldschiessen today.

The Feldschessen, or Tiro Federale in Campagna as it’s known in these parts is an annual Swiss event and the largest shooting festival in the world. Roughly 200 thousand people come out to target practice all across the country. ammunition is provided by the government.

Heim goes regularly to this range, and it’s often a family affair.

HEIM: It was organized by the government to have a very high state of readiness for the Swiss military and population. The target has always been that within 24 to 48 hours, Switzerland could mobilize a pretty large army. I mean, even by European standards.

But it wasn’t the militia that sparked Heim’s interest in guns as young man. It was an unassuming trip to a holocaust museum.

HEIM: I was going through all the exhibits and the soaps and the lampshades made of people’s skin, and while I was looking, I heard a funny noise, and there was an old woman, maybe two metres from me. She was trying not to cry. She was sort of sobbing very quietly. She was sort of holding it back. If she had been a few more meters away I wouldn’t have heard her. And that’s when it all hit me. I promised myself I will never be in her situation. I would want to be free and never in a situation where they could just march us off to ovens or prisons.or just take away our freedom.

HEIM: The key to freedom is the ability to be able to defend yourself, and if you don’t have the tools to do that then you are at the mercy of anyone who wants to put you away. And the tools for that are guns.

However, not everyone sees guns the same way.

While gun crime is relatively low in Switzerland, more than 300 people a year are killed military rifles, the majority of them suicides.  Recently efforts for more regulation have been picking up. And a certain faction of people want military rifles stored in army barracks, rather than peoples cellars.

Tobias Schnebli is an activist with the Group for Switzerland without an Army.

TOBIAS SCHNEBLI: You do have studies that show that having firearms so easily available in every home does augment cases of abuse of this. Availability of firearms and military firearms in Swiss homes is one part of the problem. It’s not the whole problem that’s for sure, but there is no military justification for this tradition to be kept when we see the keeping of this tradition does facilitate these cases of abuse. Every case of abuse is a case too much.

HEIM: In the case of a son who kills himself, I know one. I cannot imagine anything worse happening. But it has nothing to do with the guns. It’s a totally separate issue. If he had killed himself with a knife, what would you do with knives? If he jumped out a window, would you close up all the windows? It has no connection at all with guns.

The initiative to ban guns will likely go to a national vote in a couple of years.

Amy Wong, World Radio Switzerland, in Comano.

Joe Biden: “This Is a Depression”

Twenty-Two Reasons Why this Recession is Different and Why it Will Endure

I find it surprising that I’m now getting inquiries from readers, asking if “we’ve reached bottom” in the current economic recession, and asking if the time has come to start buying stocks or residential real estate. It seems that the talking heads of mainstream media are using some sort of voodoo. How can anyone think that we’ve hit bottom, and an economic recovery is in progress? To dispel the myths from the CNBC Cheering Section, please consider the following. (And note that I’ve provided references for each assertion, just so you know that I’m not talking out of my hat.):

1. A broken global credit market that has not fully recovered. See: After Lehman, U.S. firms adjust to new face of credit
2. Lack of transparency in Mortgage-Backed Securities and other re-packaged debt instruments. See: Geithner Blames Lack of Transparency for OTC Derivatives Hit on Market.
3. The increasing Federal debt, which is growing at an unprecedented rate. See: The National Debt Clock.
4. Mountains of consumer and corporate debt. See: Observations on the US Debt.
5. The Federal budget deficit. See: Federal Deficit Hits All-Time High of $1.42 Trillion.
6. Ever-expanding bailouts. (I call this The MOAB.) See: As More Companies Seek Aid, ‘Where Do You Stop?’
7. Monetization of the National Debt. See: Fed Could Expand MBS Purchases. (Can you spell Oroborus?):
8. The destruction of the American consumer economy. (It had been artificially credit-driven). See: A Year After The Crisis, The Consumer Economy Is Dead.
9. Chronic unemployment, possibly much higher than officially reported. See: Alternate Data at ShadowStats.
10. More than $500 Billion USD in hedge funds that have borrowed short and lent long. See: Assets invested in hedge funds increase by $100bn
11. A double wave of residential mortgage rate resets. See: this chart of scheduled mortgage interest rate resets.
12. Continued down-ratcheting of house prices. See: Housing Prices Will Continue to Fall, Especially in California
13. The under-reported “shadow inventory” of foreclosed houses. See: The “Shadow” Foreclosure Inventory
14. The very likely collapse of commercial real estate (“the other shoe to drop”.) See: Is a commercial real estate bust inevitable?
15. A huge crisis lurking in over-the-counter derivatives. See my analysis published in 2006 and the dozens of articles on the Derivative Dribble Blog.
16. Under-funded pensions. See: Almost half of top unions have under funded pension plans.
17. A coming wave of municipal bond and municipal bond hedge fund failures. See: The Failure of Leveraged Municipal Bond Hedge Funds.
18. Increasing numbers of bank failures. See: FDIC: Bank Failures to Cost Around $100 Billion.
19. Insurance company collapses–some, like AIG, were foolish enough to insure more than a trillion dollars in derivative contracts. See: AIG: Is the Risk Systemic?
20. Worsening state, county, and city budget crises. See: State prepares for shutdown as budget deadline looms, and this article from a liberal site: Predicting Worse Ahead from America’s Economic Crisis.
21. Loss of faith in the US Dollar, on the FOREX. See: Dollar’s reserve currency status in focus as G-7 finance ministers meet.
22. The coming mass currency inflation, following some asset deflation. See: Which is more likely in 2010: Deflation or inflation?
    

To read the rest of this informative article, go to http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/10/ Monday October 19 2009

ObamaCare Abortion Funding

Pro-life Democrats, who are opposing the abortion funding inherent in ObamaCare, are facing intense political pressure. The heat is being applied!

Rep. Bart Stupak says that members of his party are putting pressure on him because he is vowing to vote his pro-life conscience.

“The Speaker is not happy with me,” Stupak says.

The Congressman went so far as to say he is willing to lose his seat in Congress if that is a consequence of voting for life! Stupak is not alone.

Other key Members of Congress have stepped forward in the past 48 hours to express concern about ObamaCare in response to Sen. Reid’s “trial balloon” on the so-called “public option” earlier this week.

It’s starting to look like Reid and Pelosi have an outright revolt on their hands!

As a result, the strong-arm tactics will increase dramatically over the next few crucially important days.

The key time to reach members of Congress with your opinion on ObamaCare and its mandatory taxpayer funding of abortion is RIGHT NOW!

The revolt against Reid’s and Pelosi’s bullying is building! Once the bills actually get to the floor of the House and Senate, it could be too late – because the closed-door meetings, the secret deal-cutting, the strong-arm tactics are all happening NOW before the bills get to the floor.

We cannot let political bullies trample on the revolt among pro-life members of Congress that is building!

Between now and the final vote, we need THOUSANDS OF PHONE CALLS flooding the Senate EVERY DAY…demanding that we have TIME to see and analyze the bill before any vote is taken!

We must demand that Congress STOP THIS DECEPTION and arm twisting!

Then, we need to make it clear that we will not accept ANY bill that funds abortions, limits our rights or imposes new taxes and burdens on the American people.

This is the ultimate high-stakes game of political pressure. And pro-life members of Congress are in the crosshairs! They richly deserve our encouragement. Please let your voice be heard!

Below you will find the information you need to contact the leaders of Your America:

To find your Senator, click here.
To find your Representative, click here.

Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Email: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov
Phone: 202-225-4965

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Email: senator_reid@reid.senate.gov
Phone: 202-224-3542

Congress’s Fabulous Golf Cart Stimulus

We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.

The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”

The golf-cart boom has followed an IRS ruling that golf carts qualify for the electric-car credit as long as they are also road worthy. These qualifying golf carts are essentially the same as normal golf carts save for adding some safety features, such as side and rearview mirrors and three-point seat belts. They typically can go 15 to 25 miles per hour.

In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam’s giveaway. “The Golf Cart Man” in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: “GET A FREE GOLF CART Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!“

Golf Cart Man is referring to his offer in which you can buy the cart for $8,000, get a $5,300 tax credit off your 2009 income tax, lease it back for $100 a month for 27 months, at which point Golf Cart Man will buy back the cart for $2,000. “This means you own a free Golf Cart or made $2,000 cash doing absolutely nothing!!!” You can’t blame a guy for exploiting loopholes that Congress offers.

The IRS has also ruled that there’s no limit to how many electric cars an individual can buy, so some enterprising profiteers are stocking up on multiple carts while the federal credit lasts, in order to resell them at a profit later. We should note that some states, such as Oklahoma, have caught on to the giveaway and are debating whether to cancel or limit their state credits. But in Congress they’re still on the driving range.

This golf-cart fiasco perfectly illustrates tax policy in the age of Obama, when politicians dole out credits and loopholes for everything from plug-in cars to fuel efficient appliances, home insulation and vitamins. Democrats then insist that to pay for these absurdities they have no choice but to raise tax rates on other things—like work and investment—that aren’t politically in vogue. If this keeps up, it’ll soon make more sense to retire and play golf than work for living.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473724099542430.html

Judge Andrew Napolitano and Congressman James Clyburn

The White House Doesn’t Want You To See This

Dave Camp, the GOP Ranking Member on the House Ways and Means Committee, issued this devastating report on job creation attributable to the ARRA legislation. In state after state, the Obama administrations projections werent just off but off by orders of magnitude.

Heres a partial list of the worst projections:

California projected gain: 396,000, California Actual: LOST 336,400
Arizona projected gain: 70,000, Arizona Actual: LOST 77,300
Colorado projected gain: 59,000, Colorado Actual: LOST 58,900
Georgia projected gain: 106,000, Georgia Actual: LOST 131,000
Illinois projected gain: 148,000, Illinois Actual: LOST 148,000
Florida projected gain: 206,000, Florida Actual: LOST 165,100
Michigan projected gain: 109,000, Michigan Actual: LOST 137,300
Nevada projected gain: 34,000, Nevada Actual: LOST 33,800
Ohio projected gain: 133,000, Ohio Actual: LOST 97,500
Pennsylvania projected gain: 143,000, Pennsylvania Actual: LOST 103,200

These are just some of the worst miscalculations. Read the entire list but only if youve taken your blood pressure medication.

One oddity stands out in the report, namely North Dakota. They were predicted to gain 8,000 jobs. They didnt meet that mark but they gained 1,800 jobs. It couldnt have anything to do with their tax cuts, could it? Surely, thats coincidental, isnt it King?

At some point, thoughtful people will reject President Obamas wisecracks about not following the failed policies of the last eight years because theyll judge President Obama on his economic failures. Theyll notice that his economic accomplishments will consist of, in his eyes, the failed stimulus bill. Other than that, what can he point to as an accomplishment?

He certainly can’t point to his budget. Why would President Obama highlight a budget that includes trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see? If President Obama were to highlight his budget, hed be handing GOP strategists a powerful campaign theme on a silver platter. (Just imagine the TV ads showing President Obama talking about the green shoots hes seeing in the economy, then showing the annual deficits in bold red letters, followed by VP Biden talking about how the stimulus is working better than he could’ve imagined with headlines of monthly unemployment figures scrolling across the screen.)

http://capoliticalnews.com/blog_post/show/3375