Catching Wild Pigs
A chemistry professor in a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government. In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, 'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in The last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc.. While we continually lose our freedoms -- just a little at a time. One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. Also, if you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life then you will probably delete this email, but God help you when the gate slams shut! In this 'very important' election year, listen closely to what the candidates are promising you !! Just maybe you will be able to tell who is about to slam the gate on America .
'A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have.' - Thomas Jefferson

Follow up on Gustav, not s big or as strong as they feared which is good. But still costly.

Gustav damages estimated near $10B September 2, 2008 - 6:01pm
By The Associated Press
(AP) - LIGHT PUNCH: Insured losses caused by Hurricane Gustav are estimated to be between $4 billion and $10 billion, far less than Hurricane Katrina's $41 billion toll.
DARK DAYS: More than 1 million customers lack power, mostly in Louisiana, and it will likely be several days before electricity is restored.
RETAIL EYES OPPORTUNITY: Home Depot and Lowe's send truckloads of generators, chain saws and other supplies for Gulf Coast residents' return.

Gustav evacuees urged to stay away
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Hurricane Gustav didn't pack the wallop of Katrina three years earlier, officials said Monday, but they urged almost 2 million evacuees to stay away from the Gulf Coast for another day.
A man walks past a storefront that collapsed as Hurricane Gustav passed through Lafayette, Louisiana, on Monday.
"Tomorrow is not a day to start coming back to the city of New Orleans," Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday night.
"Power lines are down all over the city; there's a significant number of homes and businesses that are without power," Nagin said.
Still, he said, Gustav didn't do the damage feared a few days ago, a possible repeat of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
"I'd probably call Gustav, instead of the mother of all storms, maybe the mother-in-law or the ugly sister of all storms," Nagin said.
Across Louisiana, more than 800,000 people were without electricity, and some may not see it restored for two weeks or more, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.
At a news conference with Jindal, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged Gulf Coast residents who evacuated to stay away until damage could be assessed.
But even those who fled faced hardships. About 2,700 people who took up short-term residence Monday in the Louisiana State University Agriculture Center in Alexandria were told that the buildings generator power was not reaching the plumbing system, meaning no showers and no flushing toilets, said John Barnett, head of the facilities.
"It's really crowded, and everybody's just trying to do their best," said Kesha Harlow, who was there with her daughter, 8, and her son, 2 months. "We're just waiting for the storm to blow over."
Gustav roared from the Gulf of Mexico into southern Louisiana on Monday as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 110 mph, bringing fierce winds and heavy rains from the Alabama-Florida border west into Texas.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two people were killed when a tree fell on the house where they were staying after they had come from farther south to escape the storm, officials said. A man was killed in a similar incident in north Lafayette, Louisiana, officials said.
Four hospice patients died while waiting for air ambulances to evacuate them from southern Louisiana, according to Richard Zuschlag, chairman and CEO of Acadian Ambulance.
Gustav was blamed for more than 60 deaths in the Caribbean, including 51 in southwestern Haiti.
At 10 p.m. CT, Gustav was a tropical storm with sustained winds of 60 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
In New Orleans, Gustav drove sheets of water over the protective levees around the Industrial Canal early Monday afternoon, but the walls appeared to hold up under the onslaught as the winds faded.
Up to 6 feet of water spilled into an industrial park in the Upper 9th Ward late Monday morning, pouring through small gaps in the concrete flood walls before receding in the afternoon. Watch water spill over the levee »
But as the storm eased, inspectors from the Army Corps of Engineers and parish levee boards went out to check on the earthen walls and have found nothing to raise alarm, said Col. Craig Gunter, a Corps of Engineers spokesman. iReport.com: See one reader's footage of the levee
"The levees all held up," Nagin said. "I was hoping that this would happen, that we would be able to stand before America and before everyone and say we had some success with the levee system."
With the water level in Lake Pontchartrain north of the city rising, the Army Corps of Engineers closed flood gates on the 17th Street Canal and the London Avenue Canal, two areas that caused some of the more severe flooding during Katrina.
Official feared late Monday afternoon that a private levee south of New Orleans was in danger of failing, but water levels receded, and sandbagging efforts appeared to have paid off.
"We have stopped the bleeding, and I am very encouraged by what we are seeing," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said of the levee in Braithwaite.
Gustav made landfall Monday morning near the coastal town of Cocodrie, Louisiana, about 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. iReport: Watch winds rip New Orleans rooftop
The storm's eastern bands, which generally pack the most powerful winds, also hammered Mississippi as Gustav moved to the west of New Orleans.
In Biloxi, Mississippi, iReporter Kevin Wise, who lives two blocks from the beach, said Gustav had pushed the Gulf waters into a highway about 100 yards from the normal shoreline.
"On the beach, it was blowing hard enough that you had to squat down to take a picture; it could pretty much throw you around," he said. Wise said he and his wife ignored mandatory evacuation orders for his area.
Almost 2 million residents evacuated the Louisiana coast, but some in New Orleans opted to brave the storm.
"It really didn't look as vicious as, obviously, Katrina did," Jack Bosma said. Watch gales batter home, reporter »
He said the wind scattered his back gate across his yard, but his power was on, and neighbors had been congregating on his porch.
"It's really, quite honestly, basically, just like a bad storm. It doesn't seem that drastic at all," he said.
Property damage from Gustav could total $8 billion, just 25 percent of Sunday's estimate, according to a federally supported computer projection issued Monday morning. See damage map »
Meanwhile, forecasters said late Monday that Hurricane Hanna was nearly stationary in the Bahamas. At 11 p.m. ET, Hanna had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, making it a Category 1 storm.
Hanna could make landfall Friday near the Georgia/South Carolina border, possibly as a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph.
And in the far eastern Atlantic, Tropical Storm Ike formed Monday with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. It was headed toward the Bahamas
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/01/gustav/index.html

Here is a water generator might not be for everyone, but with electricity you have water. I will follow up in a few weeks with a more complete water on Saturday on or regular Prep Talk.
The EcoloBlue™ 28 requires no set-up and comes ready to make water right out of the box. Just plug it in and this revolutionary machine begins making fresh water...up to 7 gallons* in 24 hours! It requires no water source other than the humidity in the air. Each gallon of water uses, on average, $0.20 cents of electricity to produce. That's about $1.00 for every five gallons of water! Compare that to the $10 or $12 it costs per 5 gallons from a water delivery service. Start saving money today! Order an EcoloBlue™ 28 today and say "hello" to water independence and substantial savings on your monthly drinking water bills. Comes in silver, red, white, blue, black and green. One year warranty
http://www.ecoloblue.com/homeoffice.html?location=feature_link

Here are two snippets about the economy. The links below if you find it interesting you might want to go to the links listed below.
Many retired Americans are becoming engulfed in consumer debt and filing for bankruptcy as a result. One report shows that people 55 and older are filing for bankruptcy protection 12 percent more than they did 13 years ago and that they currently account for 22 percent of all bankruptcy filings in the United States.
How do senior citizens who have always paid their bills on time and taken pride in having pristine credit records get to the point that they need bankruptcy protection?
Well, rising health care costs and expensive prescription drugs are partly to blame. The expenses add up, quickly depleting savings accounts and forcing the elderly to run up credit card bills to pay for life's essentials. Many seniors simply thought their retirement could be financed on their Social Security and have learned the hard way that they did not adequately plan ahead. Some retirees are drained financially by their adult children who still need a helping hand, and others fall into financial ruins when their spouses pass away.
http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/bankruptcy_articles_senior_bankruptcy.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25804814/
Here is one article and link that says why it is a bad idea to do it. Again go to the link for the whole aricle. It is a little dated but has good info.
Why it may be a bad idea for retired people to file for personal bankruptcy
Posted on Thursday, September 21, 2006
Every month I meet with a number of people in Kitchener who are retired, and have more debt than they can handle, and they want to know if they should file for personal bankruptcy.Retired residents of Kitchener on a fixed income are in a difficult position. They worked their entire lives, but now find themselves on a reduced income. The cost of living increases faster than their fixed income pensions, and they find it hard to keep up. They use their credit cards to pay the bills, and after a few years they have accumulated more debt than they can ever hope to repay.I always start these meetings by explaining their options. They can start by asking family for help, which is usually a difficult decision. They can sell off any assets they no longer need, such as a car they don't drive, or a house that is larger than they need.
http://www.bankruptcy-kitchener.com/blog/2006/09/why-it-may-be-bad-idea-for-retired.html

Oil price of $100 a barrel on horizon
By Javier Blas and Carola Hoyos in London and Michael Mackenzie in New York
Published: September 2 2008 20:17 Last updated: September 3 2008 00:03
Oil prices sank to a five-month low of just more than $105 a barrel on Tuesday as traders turned their sights on signs that slower growth was spreading beyond the US into Europe, Japan and even emerging markets.
The fall led some analysts to suggest that oil prices could move back below $100 a barrel, a level not seen since March, after fears that US oil supplies could be severely disrupted by hurricane Gustav proved unfounded.
“With the fear of Gustav now gone, a downside ‘speed bump’ will have effectively been removed as far as crude oil prices are concerned, and we expect values to start tracking lower once again,” said Edward Meir, of MF Global in New York.
The slide in oil prices could be short-lived in the light of Iran stepping up efforts to persuade fellow Opec members to cut output when they meet in Vienna next week.
Iran, one of the more influential members of the group and traditionally a price hawk, wants countries to cut output to previously agreed limits to remove supplies left on the market after falls in demand.
If the other 12 members of Opec agree with Iran, this would reduce world oil supply of almost 88m barrels a day by between 500,000 and 1m barrels, probably from October.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/92664318-7921-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html