eeyore's News and View

A sign of the times
Plenty of takers for man's basement pile of coal November 24, 2008 - 3:06pm
CLEVELAND (AP) - A ton of coal was just taking up space in the basement of Steve Hronek's 90-year-old house, but to other people it was an alternative-fuel treasure. The knee-high pile of anthracite coal was down there in 1997 when Hronek bought the house, which once was heated with a low-tech coal-burning furnace.He turned to a high-tech solution, offering the coal in an online classified ad to anyone who wanted it.One dealer said that type of anthracite coal, higher in heat and lower in soot than common bituminous or soft coal, sells for $220 or more per ton, but Hronek just wanted his basement cleaned up.The ad he posted Nov. 17 offered the coal for free _ to anyone who was willing to haul the big, heavy chunks out of his basement in Cleveland Heights.Responses from people looking for fuel started coming within 15 minutes and continued for two days, and people showed up with trucks.Hronek says all the coal has been spoken for.___Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com/

RefrigeratorConversion Smoker

1. Damper control
2. Shelves or racks
3. Smoke inlet hole
4. Metal baffle supported at 3” to 4” above smoking inlet perforated with many holes
5. Sheet-metal screws
6. Heat source:
Electric hot plate
Hibachi
Butane gas burner
7. Old frozen food compartment, or refrigeration unit space
8. 2 or 3 — 2” or 4” holes for draft
9. Alternate draft control
10. If refrigerator has no lower compartment, heat source may be placed right in the refrigerator, but preferably raise the refrigerator and build a lower compartment for the heat source.

A good smoke oven can be made from an old refrigerator. It is well insulated and so will hold heat, save fuel, and finish off food more quickly, for example, than the shed-type smoke house. The refrigerator already has a number of removable metal racks. It has a full-length door that is convenient for loading and unloading. Here are some hints for conversion.
It is best to keep the smoke-making equipment outside the storage compartment. This permits maximum use of the inside ca­pacity for the meat or fish being smoked. Cut a hole about 8” di­ameter in the floor; one inch above it, mount a horizontal metal plate as a baffle, to dissipate the smoke.
If the refrigerator is of the type that has the machinery under­neath the storage compartment, remove the motor and compressor. Utilize this space for making smoke with a hotplate and a pan of hardwood chips. If the bottom section is a removable vegetable bin, do the same. Or, for maximum capacity, raise the refrigerator on four concrete blocks, cut a hole in the bottom, and set the smoke apparatus outside. Build an enclosure of plywood, metal or concrete blocks around the smoke source, so that the smoke cannot drift aside, but is forced into the refrigerator.
In the top of the refrigerator cut one 3” or two 2” holes. Arrange something—pivoted metal flaps, bricks, etc.—to control the aper­ture of these vents. Alternatively, fit a two-foot length of stovepipe with a butterfly damper
Operating Notes:
To avoid cutting large holes, removing compressors, or making other major alterations, the hotplate and pan of chips may be placed in the main storage compartment.
It is well to bear in mind that a refrigerator is not designed to withstand heat! The author once converted a ‘fridge by cutting a hole in the bottom, then lit a fire of charcoal briquettes underneath, using green boughs to make smoke. Around the edge of the hole, the insulation was exposed. All at once, the refrigerator caught fire and the insulation burned up! Several similar incidents have been reported. So, for safety’s sake, use no other heat source than a hot plate inside a ‘fridge. With an outside heat source, do not let flames come near the insulation. Whatever smoke generating system is used, beware of excessive heat.
To use the cold-smoke process, dig a fire pit as described for the box-smoker, and lead the smoke into the refrigerator from a distance.
From - Home book of Smoke-Cooking Meat, Fish & GameBy Jack Sleight & Raymond Hull

Solar Food Dehydrator

Made from two cardboard boxes, some clear plastic wrap, and a little tape. You can build a nearly free solar dehydrator. Set it on a stool or chair and face it's solar collector towards the sun, and you have a functional food preservation machine for little work and even less money.

The above picture almost says it all. Using a long thin cardboard box for the collector and a taller, nearly square, cardboard box for the drying box. Boxes could be made to size by cutting and taping together small cardboard pieces. Line the bottom of the collector box with a black plastic garbage bag or paint the bottom with black, water based, poster paint, (lamp black or soot mixed with a little vegetable oil would work as well). If you use spray paint or other toxic paints, let the collector bake in the sun for a day or two before use. Cover the top of the collector with clear plastic wrap or window glass, etc. Tape it together as shown.

To increase the efficiency, you may want to cover the sides and bottom of both boxes with fiberglass or styrofoam insulation.

Drawing courtesy of: Mother's Energy Efficiency Book Copyright 1983 ISBN 0-938-43205-2

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TESTS FOR DRYNESS:

Rely on appearance and feel to judge dryness.
Cool a test handful a few minutes before deciding whether the food is done.
Consider fruit dry when no wetness can be squeezed from a piece which has been cut - it should be rather tough and pliable.
Consider vegetables dry when brittle.

PRE- AND POST-DRYING TREATMENTS FOR FRUITS & VEGETABLES:

Steam blanching is safe pre-treatment which can prevent spoilage - especially of low acid foods such as vegetables.

Important post-drying treatments are:
Conditioning - i.e. leaving in open air for long periods to equalize moisture content.
Pasteurizing - i.e. exposing the dried foods to high heat to eliminate harmful organisms

STORAGE:

Ensure food is thoroughly cool before storing.
Store in small quantities in glass or food-grade plastic.
Check supplies frequently for contamination or dampness.
Keep in a dry, cool place (between 4 C/40 F and 21 C/70 F).

PREPARING FOR EATING:

Fruits - cover with boiling water in saucepan and simmer the fruit covered for 10-15 min.
- sweeten to taste at the very end of cooking.
- remove from heat and cool still covered Vegetables.
- soak all vegetables except greens in cold water until they are nearly restored to their original texture.
- use only enough water to cover and always cook in the soaking water.
- cover greens with enough boiling water to cover and simmer until tender.

This could happen anywhere at anytime, but this time of ear it is going to be happening more and more. Please becareful you and yours.
Woman robbed at Tysons Mall On Monday, Nov. 24 at 7:40 p.m. officers were called to 2001 International Drive for a robbery. The victim, a 58-year-old Potomac, Md. woman, was in the parking lot outside of Nieman Marcus when the suspect approached her.
He cut the purse strap and attempted to steal the bag. She fought for the purse and sustained a minor injury. The suspect fled and the victim was transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital. The purse was recovered.
The suspect was described as Asian, 25-35 years old, approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and 140 pounds. He was wearing a gray hoodie and black pants.

Eeyore's News and Views

Glenn Beck makes a very salient point in yesterdays program, he said that Ramos and Compean get the bird as Bush pardons the turkey.
Bush 'pardons' turkeys for last
For the president of the United States, the annual 'pardoning' of the Thanksgiving turkey is dangerous ground. Photos of the event have ranged from the adorable to the goofy to the vaguely horrific, so it's always an event best approached carefully by any White House....
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/11/bush-pardons-tu.html

Researchers: 139 WWII Marines entombed on atoll November 26, 2008 - 3:30am

By MELISSA NELSON Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - A Florida man's quest to find hundreds of U.S. Marines buried anonymously after one of World War II's bloodiest battles could lead to the largest identification of American war dead in history.
Researchers used ground-penetrating radar, tediously reviewed thousands of military documents and interviewed hundreds of others to find 139 graves. There, they say, lie the remains of men who died 65 years ago out in the Pacific Ocean on Tarawa Atoll.
Mark Noah of Marathon, Fla., raised money for the expedition through his nonprofit, History Flight, by selling vintage military aircraft rides at air shows. He hopes the government will investigate further after research is given to the U.S. Defense Department in January _ and he hopes the remains are identified and eventually returned to the men's families.
"There will have to be convincing evidence before we mount an excavation of any spot that could yield remains," said Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Office.
U.S. government archaeologists would likely excavate a small test site first, he said.
James Clayton Johnson never met his uncle, James Bernard Johnson, who died on Tarawa at age 17. But Johnson, who was named for his father's brother, never forgot that young Marine.
Now 60 and living near Noah in the Florida Keys, Johnson learned of the effort to identify the burial sites of his uncle and 541 other missing U.S. Marines on Tarawa while researching his uncle's military records online.
More than 990 U.S. marines and 680 sailors died and almost 2,300 were wounded in the three-day battle, one of the first major amphibious assaults in the Pacific.
Johnson, himself a veteran who led special forces troops into Cambodia as a 21-year-old Army platoon leader during the Vietnam War, isn't sure having his uncle's body returned to the U.S. would provide any sort of closure.
"There aren't any open wounds for me that need fixing," he said.
But Johnson wants the world to know about the volunteers committed to preserving the names and stories of thousands of American soldiers.
"My problem is that people don't care," he said. "I get pumped up, and I want people to think and look at things like this."
Noah, a 43-year-old commercial pilot and longtime World War II history buff, raised the $90,000 for the Tarawa work by selling rides at air shows and partnering with The American Legion, VFW and other groups.
Noah and Massachusetts historian Ted Darcy of WFI Research Group reviewed eight burial sites they believe contain U.S. remains. They say the claim is backed by burial rosters, casualty cards and combat reports; interviews with construction contractors who found human remains at the sites and locals who have found American artifacts; and other information.
But they'll leave the digging to the U.S. government, so the archaeological integrity of the sites isn't spoiled.
The names of many fallen soldiers were lost as U.S. Navy crews rushed to build desperately needed landing strips on the tiny atoll after the Nov. 20, 1943, invasion. Many of the graves were relocated.
The military didn't focus on identifying the soldiers who died at Tarawa until 1945, when an Army officer was tasked with unraveling the hasty reburials.
"You could sense his frustrations in his reports," said Noah, who reviewed all the burial records.
The brief telegram James Hildebrand's grandmother received on Dec. 26, 1943, said her 20-year-old son died on Tarawa Atoll and included this line: "On account of existing conditions the body if recovered cannot be returned at present. If further details are received you will be informed."
James Hildebrand, now 65 and living in Gilroy, Calif., said his grandmother wrote letters to the Navy for years trying to recover his uncle's body.
He'd like to know whether the remains could be buried in a mass grave in a military cemetery in Hawaii with a group of unidentified U.S. soldiers taken from Tarawa many years ago. And he hopes the Defense Department will try to find his uncle's body on Tarawa.
"If he's still on the island ... there's space in our family plot in Tucson where he could be buried. It would mean a lot to our family," he said.
For 10 years, Merill Redman of Illinois has ultimately been encouraged by reports of efforts to find his brother's body on Tarawa. He's been disappointed each time.
Redman, now 79, was 14 when his older brother joined the Marine Corps and left their small town of Watseka. He's even traveled to Tarawa himself, trying to find his brother and bring him home.
"Each little thread," he said, "it drives me on in this project."
http://wtop.com/?sid=1526360&nid=104

FDIC's list of 'problem' banks swells to 171 NEW YORK – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday the list of banks it considers to be in trouble shot up nearly 50 percent to 171 during the third quarter — yet another sign of escalating problems among the institutions controlling Americans' deposits.
The 171 banks on the FDIC's "problem list" encompass only about 2 percent of the nearly 8,500 FDIC-insured institutions. Still, the increase from 117 in the second quarter is sharp, and the current tally is the highest since late 1995.
"We've had profound problems in our financial markets that are taking a rising toll on the real economy," said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair in a statement, adding that Tuesday's report "reflects these challenges."
Banks across the country have been hurt — and in some cases, devastated — by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and subsequent problems across the lending spectrum. As the FDIC report shows, the number of hobbled institutions is rising at a quickening pace, a trend that has already begun to reshape the banking industry.
The FDIC said total assets held by troubled institutions climbed from $78.3 billion to $115.6 billion — a figure that suggests that the nation's top 20 banks aren't on the list, even though they are getting slammed, too, by the growing credit crisis. The FDIC does not reveal the names of the institutions it deems troubled.
Bert Ely, a banking consultant based in Alexandria, Va., pointed out that the assets held by problem banks represent less than 1 percent of those held by all U.S. banks. "We're still talking about a fairly small portion of the industry," he said.
And on average, only about 13 percent of institutions on the FDIC's list end up failing.
Still, banks that don't make the list can end up collapsing anyway — the two biggest bank failures over the past year, Washington Mutual Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp, had not been on the FDIC's list of troubled banks. Wachovia Corp., which nearly failed before it got bought by Wells Fargo & Co. in October, had not been on the list, either.
Nine banks failed in the third quarter, decreasing the FDIC's deposit insurance fund to $34.6 billion from $45.2 billion in the second quarter. This quarter, the pace appears to be picking up — nine banks have already failed since Sept. 30, including Downey Savings and Loan Association, based in Newport Beach, Calif.
"To some extent, a bank failure is a regulatory failure," Ely said. Regulators, if they address bank problems early on, can convince a troubled bank to sell off assets, raise capital or find a buyer, he said. "My hope is they're moving faster on these problems."
The FDIC said Tuesday that commercial banks and savings institutions suffered a 94 percent drop in third-quarter profits to $1.7 billion from $27 billion in the same period last year. Except for the fourth quarter of 2007, it was the lowest quarterly profit since the fourth quarter of 1990.
Those institutions wrote off $27.9 billion in loans as uncollectible during the quarter.
Recently, community banks — defined as those with assets under $1 billion — have started to show similar stresses as their larger counterparts, the FDIC said.
James Chessen, chief economist at the American Bankers Association, said in a statement that the banking industry as whole, however, "remains well-positioned to meet the credit needs of local communities." Since last year, bank lending to businesses has risen by more than 8 percent, while bank lending to individuals has risen by nearly 7 percent, he said.
The U.S. government has been guaranteeing and buying more and more types of debt in an effort to keep the financial system functional. Late Sunday, Citigroup Inc. got a government backstop for $306 billion worth of mortgages and other assets. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve agreed to buy up to $600 billion in mortgage-backed assets.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_bi_ge/problem_banks

If you have been watching the news alot of the events dealing with the economy have been likened to the events surrounding the depression of Germany under the Wiemar Republic.
Germany facing worst slump since 1949
Euro-zone industrial orders plunged 3.9pc in September and Germany's IFO index of business expectations has fallen to the lowest level since the survey began half a century ago, heightening fears of a severe slump across Europe next year.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy met Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris yesterday to plead for stronger German support for an EU-wide rescue package. The talks come as the European Commission adds the final touches to a €130bn (£110bn) fiscal stimulus plan.
Germany has clung steadfastly to budget orthodoxy but the downturn has now begun to engulf Europe's biggest economy with shocking speed. The Bundesbank is now expecting the worst recession since the terrible year of 1949, according to Deutsche Press Agentur.
Howard Archer, Europe economist at Global Insight, said the blizzard of dire data from the eurozone now points to a severe manufacturing slump. "Output, total orders, exports orders all contracted at record rates in November, which was alarming," he said.
The broad IFO index of German confidence fell to the lowest since 1993 in November, but it was the unprecedented slide in the expectations index that most worried economists.
"This is extremely bad, it's even worse than the dog days of early 1970s," Julian Callow, Europe economist at Barclays Capital. "German exports to the US, UK, Spain, and Italy have all collapsed, and the next shoe yet to drop is Eastern Europe," he said. Latvia has joined the queue waiting for an IMF bail-out, while Russia devalued the rouble again yesterday.
"The Euroepan Central Bank needs to cut rates very aggressively. They're trying to take this steady line, but this is a not the time for that. We think rates will be cut to 1.5pc by February," he said.
The ECB raised rates in a widely-criticized move in July has since cut by just 100 basis points to 3.25pc, largely staying aloof as the Anglo-Saxon central banks take drastic action to stop the downward spiral.
Adding to eurozone woes, the bloc's current account deficit doubled in September to €10.6bn despite the drop in the cost of imported oil. It is further evidence that the euro's surge to extreme levels of over-valuation in recent years has 'hollowed out' Europe's industrial base and inflicted damage that may a long time to unfold.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3511854/Germany-facing-worst-slump-since-1949.html

This something that bears watching if have viewed the blogs from the previous weeks you can see how this is playing out. Not so much different then might happen here in the US.
A near-riot and parliament besieged: Iceland boiling mad at credit crunch
Published Date: 24 November 2008
By Omar Valdimarsson
in REYKJAVIK
THOUSANDS of Icelanders have demonstrated in Reykjavik to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and Central Bank governor David Oddsson, for failing to stop the country's financial meltdown.
It was the latest in a series of protests in the capital since October's banking collapse crippled the island's economy. At least five people were injured and Hordur Torfason, a well-known singer in Iceland and the main organiser of the protests, said the protests would continue until the government stepped down.As crowds gathered in the drizzle before the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, on Saturday, Mr Torfason said: "They don't have our trust and they are no longer legitimate."The value of the Icelandic krona has been cut in half since January.Four Nordic countries, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have pledged to lend the country a combined $4.6 billion to help revive its deflated economy. The loan would be the first by the IMF to a Western nation since 1976.One young man climbed on to the balcony of the Althing building, where the president appears upon inauguration and on Iceland's national day, and hung a banner reading: "Iceland for Sale: $2,100,000,000" – the amount of the loan the country is getting from the IMF.A separate group of 200-300 people gathered in front of the city's main police station, throwing eggs and demanding the release of a young protester being held there.Police in riot gear used pepper spray to drive back an attempt to free the protester during which several windows at the police station were shattered. The pro-tester was later released after his fine was paid.As daylight began to wane, demonstrators drifted away into the nearby coffee shops. Here, as currency tumbles, the price of a cup of coffee has shot up by about one-third since before the crisis struck.The demonstrators accuse the government – elected last year – of not doing enough to regulate the banking industry and have called for early elections. Iceland's next election is not required until 2011.Opposition parties tabled a no-confidence motion in the government on Friday over its handling of the crisis, but the motion carries little chance of toppling the ruling coalition which has a solid parliamentary majority.Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old office worker, said: "I've just had enough of this whole thing. I don't trust the government, I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties, and I don't trust the IMF. "We had a good country and they ruined it."BACKGROUNDICELAND'S three biggest banks – Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir – collapsed under the weight of billions of dollars of debts accumulated in an aggressive overseas expansion, shattering the country's currency. Iceland's government seized control of all three institutions in early October.This week, the North Atlantic island nation, which has a population of only 320,000, secured a package of more than US$10 billion (about £6.7 billion) in loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and several European countries to help it rebuild its shattered financial system.Despite the intervention, however, Iceland still faces a sharp economic slowdown and surging job losses while at least one-third of Icelanders are also at risk of losing their homes and life savings.Geir Haarde, the Icelandic prime minister, has promised that the government will use the IMF money to bring back a flexible interest rate scheme and rewrite financial laws, particularly legislation relating to insolvency.Iceland was the first country to ask the IMF for help as the turmoil in the credit markets in October hit home.The UK government used anti-terrorism legislation to freeze money deposited by UK savers in Icelandic banks in order to ensure that their money was protected.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/A-nearriot-and--parliament.4722970.jp

Thai Cabinet mulls state of emergency decree

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Thailand's Cabinet, meeting outside the capital to evade anti-government demonstrators, was weighing whether to impose a state of emergency Thursday to try to end airport protests that have left thousands of travelers stranded for two straight days.

Meeting with the prime minister in Chiang Mai, 350 miles north of Bangkok, the Cabinet will consider both an emergency decree or the use of a tough internal security law, government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kua said.

"We have to consider these legal options to solve the crisis," he said before the afternoon meeting.

Meanwhile, the government was drawing up plans to begin flying out thousands of tourists with "urgent needs" from one or two military bases in the next 48 hours. That could include parents with young children and people with medical conditions, said Weerasak Kowsurat, Thailand's tourism minister.

They would be flown on Thai Airways flights to Singapore or Malaysia, where they could catch connecting flights to their destinations. The planes could then return with incoming passengers, Weerasak said.

"It is a contingency plan so we will try to accommodate the airlines and the passengers' needs," said Chaisak Angkasuwan, director general of the country's Aviation Department.

The government also may use buses and trains to transport tourists to other airports in Thailand, Weerasak said.

A Thai Airways flight from Los Angeles landed Thursday at U-Tapao air force base, 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Bangkok, the airline said.

Protesters demanding the resignation of the prime minister have occupied Bangkok's international airport since Tuesday night, forcing the cancellation of all flights. On Thursday, they also forced the domestic airport to close in a bid to prevent government ministers from getting to the cabinet meeting.

Some ministers were flown on military planes from a nearby base to Chiang Mai, where Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has been since returning from an overseas trip Wednesday night.

There was speculation in the Thai media that the prime minister might remove the powerful army chief, Anupong Paochinda, who called Wednesday for the dissolution of Parliament and new elections to resolve the deepening crisis.

But Nattawut said Anupong's removal is not on the Cabinet meeting agenda.

The protests, which gathered pace three months ago, have paralyzed the government, battered the stock market, spooked foreign investors and dealt a serious blow to the tourism industry.

The crisis worsened early Thursday as authorities shut down the Don Muang domestic airport, which had been receiving some diverted flights from Suvarnabhumi, the international airport.

Thousands of foreign tourists have been stranded, including Americans heading home for their Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.

Bart Edes, a 45-year-old American banker, had planned to spend Thanksgiving with his wife at a friend's home in Manila, where he lives.

"They're going to put on a traditional feast — roast turkey, sweet potatoes, all the things you crave when you're outside of the United States," he said.

But Edes said he still had much to be thankful for. "Look at what happened in Mumbai. This is an inconvenience, but it could be worse."

At least 100 people were killed in the Indian city of Mumbai by a series of overnight militant attacks that reportedly targeted Americans and Britons.

The protests are being led by a loose coalition known as the People's Alliance for Democracy. It accuses Somchai of acting as the puppet for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a September 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power. Thaksin, who is Somchai's brother-in-law, is in exile, a fugitive from a conviction for violating a conflict of interest law.

On Wednesday, a district court ordered the alliance leaders and their supporters to immediately leave Suvarnabhumi, calling the occupation "an infringement on other individuals who have freedom of movement."

There was no sign of the protesters leaving Thursday — a reflection of their boldness amid the government's unwillingness to use force for fear of causing bloodshed.

The prime minister is not budging. In a televised address to the nation, Somchai said his government was legitimately elected and that it has "a job to protect democracy for the people of Thailand."

The statement amounted to a rejection of Army Gen. Anupong's suggestion to quit, which seemed to put him on a collision course with the military, although the general has said he would not launch a coup.

An emergency decree would give the prime minister authority to use the military to restore order and allow authorities to suspend certain civil liberties.

The security law is separate measure that would enable officials to bar public assembly and "suppress" actions considered harmful to national security.

The People's Alliance for Democracy insists it will continue its airport occupation and other protests until Somchai resigns. It also has rejected the general's proposal for elections, pushing instead for the appointment of a temporary government.

On Thursday, the EU and the British Foreign Office expressed concern at the deteriorating situation.

"We urge all sides to this political dispute to resolve their differences peacefully and legally, respecting Thailand's democratic institutions," Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said.

The European Union said in a statement that "any anti-constitutional attempt to interfere in the democratic process would have a negative impact on EU-Thailand relations."

As the deadlock continued, political violence spread Wednesday to Chiang Mai, where government supporters attacked a radio station aligned with the protesters. Separately, there were unconfirmed reports that one man was killed and several people assaulted in an attack on the city's local airport.

The protest alliance launched its current campaign in late August, storming the grounds of the prime minister's office, which they continue to use as their stronghold. The group has also tried twice to blockade Parliament, in one case setting off a day-long street battle with police that left two people dead and hundreds injured.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-27-thailand_N.htm

Eeyore's Important News and View

Hopefully by now you have a real idea of what Thanksgiving is about. It is to bad in our public schools they would rather teach 10 pages about Stalin and one paragraph about Thanksgiving.

Squanto--God's Special Indiana Thanksgiving Story by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Sailors poured onto the rocky beach as their small craft landed. Nearby cliffs echoed with a shout: "Grab that short one before he gets away!" The Indian boy felt a sailor's callused hands grasp his shoulders. Though he thrashed and jerked, Squanto (SKWAN- to) couldn't break free. As fibers from a coarse rope cut into his wrists he finally decided that struggle was useless. He was dragged into a longboat, then carried aboard a three-masted English ship anchored offshore.
Squanto had been fishing along the rugged coast when his friend had looked up and pointed, "Great boats with white wings." They had scrambled over the boulders to meet the strange white-faced intruders. Now Squanto was their captive.
Weeks later, a pale Squanto wobbled down the gangplank from that lurching deck onto firm land. He and other Indians were taken to the elaborate mansion of Sir Ferdinando Gorges who had financed many expeditions to the New World. For the next three years, the Indian youths were taught English. At first Squanto found the new tongue awkward, but eventually he surprised himself: "My name is Squanto. I have come from America."
His English host was eager for the Indians to master the language. One day Gorges called them to his quarters. "Young braves, you have studied hard. Now you will be sent as guides on new explorations of America. I will miss you."
"Another ship? How can I stand that constantly rolling deck?" Squanto thought. But in time he gained his sea legs. His knowledge of the rivers and natural harbors, of the tribes and chieftains of his homeland proved very helpful to the English explorers.
For years he had longed to see his beloved bay and village again. One day, as his ship sailed along the New England coast, he spotted it. Squanto ran to the captain. "May I go ashore, sir? That's my village. That's my home!"
"Yes, young man. You have served us well. Now you can return to your people."
As soon as he heard the pebbles crunch under the longboat's hull, Squanto jumped out and ran to embrace his parents. He was home!
But his homecoming didn't last long. Within weeks Squanto spotted new sails on the horizon. No longer afraid of English ships, he proudly led a band of young braves to greet the sailors. Armed seamen seized Squanto and nineteen other Patuxet (paw-TUX-et) Indians.
Once again he was imprisoned aboard a British merchant ship. Rats scampered across the damp hold where the Indians were chained. Scarce provisions, a stormy trip, and continual seasickness took their toll. Several Indians were buried at sea. By the time they reached the Spanish slave-port of Malaga (MA-la-ga), Squanto was very weak.
One by one the surviving braves were pushed up onto the auction block to be sold. Finally it was Squanto's turn. He could barely stand. "Senores (sen-YOR-es), what will you bid for this strong Indian?" the slave trader rasped. A brown-robed monk nodded and the auctioneer grinned. "Sold to the brothers of the monastery."
A heavy pouch of coins exchanged hands and the monk led Squanto home. At last his wrists were untied. A friar brought fresh water and plenty of food, though Squanto could only eat a little.
"Estas libre (es-TAS LEE-bray)! You are free." Squanto looked into the clear eyes of this man of God. Though he knew no Spanish, he understood. Over the next few weeks he pieced it together. Their love for Jesus had prompted these Christian brothers to buy Indian slaves and teach them the Christian faith. As the monks nursed him back to health, Squanto began to love this Jesus, too.
Yet he longed for home. The Indian used his command of English to find a fishing boat headed for London, where he rejoined his explorer friends. Again, Squanto became a guide for explorations of the New World. Years passed. The day finally came when he saw the familiar coastlands of home. Once more he was granted permission to go ashore.
No one greeted Squanto at the beach. He ran to his village. The bark-covered round-houses were empty. Not even a dog barked. Graves outside the village told the story. Samoset (SAM-o-set), his friend from a neighboring tribe, could bring little comfort. "A whiteman's sickness struck your people. One week, all dead. Many villages lie silent like Patuxet."
Squanto's emptiness overwhelmed him. Parents, brothers, sisters, forever gone. He wandered the forests for weeks in his grief. Finally he went to live with his friend Samoset.
One cold December morning, six months after he returned, Squanto watched the white sails of a ship grow on the stormy horizon. This time he hid as the men came ashore. Their clothes looked different from those worn by sailors and the fancy English officers he had seen on other ships. Broad hats and great black capes shielded them from the biting wind. He could glimpse white caps and long dresses of women aboard the ship anchored in the bay. Often he saw children playing on deck. As green leaves came to clothe barren trees, the settlers began to build houses on the very place where his village had stood. Day after day Squanto watched intently, never seen.
Samoset urged him to meet these settlers. A cry went up as the Indians strode into the settlement. Men grabbed for their muskets.
The Indians lifted their hands in greeting. "My name is Squanto. This is Samoset. We come in peace." The settlers were astounded. An Indian who spoke clear English? The Pilgrims lowered their muskets and invited the Indians to share their meager food.
The sun had set by the time Samoset got up to leave, but Squanto hesitated. Many of the settlers had already died from disease and winter's bitter cold. There was little food. Yet they weren't giving up. He thought of his old village's battle with death. "You go," Squanto told his friend in their Indian tongue, "I'm staying. This is my home, my village. These will be my new people."
Squanto turned to the leaders. "May I stay with you? I can help you. I know where you can find foods in the forest."
The white men studied the Indian carefully. Could he be trusted? Still, the struggling colony was in no position to refuse help. "Yes. Please stay."
That spring and summer Squanto proved his worth many times over. He led them to brooks alive with herring beginning their spring migration upstream. He showed the settlers how to fish with traps. He taught them where to stalk game in the forest. The children learned what berries they could pick for their families. Twenty acres of corn grew tall after Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant fish with the native corn seeds from a local tribe.
Once, a hostile tribe captured Squanto. "If he is killed," shouted their chief, "the English have lost their tongue." A small Pilgrim force arrived just in time, firing their muskets in the air. The terrified chief released his captive and fled. Squanto repaid the Pilgrims' favor. His bargaining skills kept neighboring tribes from attacking the small Plymouth colony.
In the fall the Pilgrims planned a feast to celebrate God's merciful help. Squanto was sent to invite friendly Chief Massasoit (MASS-a-soit) and his braves.
They gathered around tables spread with venison, roast duck and goose, turkeys, shellfish, bread, and vegetables, with woodland fruits and berries for dessert. Before they ate, the Pilgrim men removed their wide-brimmed hats and Indians stood reverently as the governor led them in solemn prayer.
"Thank You, great God, for the bounty You have supplied to us. Thank You for protecting us in hardship and meeting all our needs. . . ." Towards the end of the long prayer, Squanto was startled to hear his own name. "And thank You for bringing to us the Indian Squanto, your own special instrument to save us from hunger and help us to establish our colony in this new land." Squanto stood proudly. It was a day to remember.
Two years passed. Squanto lay mortally ill, struck by a raging fever while scouting east of Plymouth. He turned over in his mind the events of his strange life. It almost seemed that a plan had led him. The first time he was captured he learned English. The second time, he was freed by gentle Christians who taught him to trust in Jesus. And though his own people had died of sickness, God had sent him to a new people who built their colony where his old village once stood.
Pilgrim leader William Bradford knelt at his bedside. "Pray for me, Governor," the Indian whispered, "that I might go to the Englishmen's God in heaven." Squanto breathed his last November 1622, gone from the New World, but entering a heavenly one.

http://www.joyfulheart.com/thanksgiving/squanto.htm

SQUANTO'S THANKSGIVING www.joyfulheart.com/holiday/squanto_play.htm A One Act Children's Play Play Time: About 15 minutes

A THANKSGIVING DAY PRAYER

"Faith of our fathers," renew us againAnd make us a nation of God-fearing menSeeking Thy guidance, Thy love, and Thy will,For we are but pilgrims in search of Thee still...And, gathered together on Thanksgiving Day,May we lift up our hearts and our hands as we prayTo thank You for blessings we so little merit,And grant us Thy love and teach us to share it.

By Helen Steiner Rice

Farmers work to preserve ancient turkey breeds November 24, 2008 - 5:11am
By STEVE SZKOTAK Associated Press Writer
UPPERVILLE, Va. (AP) - At Ayrshire Farm, hundreds of Midget White and Bourbon Red turkeys move in a feathered, gobbling mass on a wind-swept pasture overlooking Virginia's horse country.
These birds have longer legs and narrower breasts than the beachball-shaped turkey that will end up on many Thanksgiving Day tables. What they lack in heft, however, these heritage birds make up for in flavor, proponents say.
They also make it up in price: a 20-pound certified organic turkey from Ayrshire Farm costs $180.
Heritage turkeys are at the forefront of a movement to preserve threatened breeds _ some dating to the nation's founding by Europeans and earlier _ to ensure the continuation of ancient genetic strains and, yes, to get them listed on a chic restaurant menu or in a display case of a boutique butcher shop.
"One of the things we say is you have to eat them to save them," said Marjorie Bender of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. "If we can give them their jobs back, then they're not museum artifacts."
The conservancy, based in Pittsboro, N.C., has been promoting the cause of threatened and neglected breeds since 1977. It has compiled a list of more than 150 breeds that reads like a passenger list on Noah's Ark, ranging from donkeys (including the Poitou, which resembles Eeyore, the forlorn donkey in "Winnie-the-Pooh") to sheep and turkeys.
Bender said the conservancy's primary goal is preserving these colorful and unusual breeds from extinction. The idea is to preserve the diversity of farm animals, as well as the history they embody.
When a breed is gone, Bender said, "The culture is being lost, the flavors are being lost, the traditions are being lost."
Some of those traditions date to the Spanish and English settlers who first arrived on our shores. They include the Pineywoods cattle, found primarily in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama; and Colonial Spanish horses, which include the Marsh Tacky. Chincoteague ponies, celebrated in the classic 1947 children's book, "Misty of Chincoteague," are a diluted link to the Colonial Spanish.
Ayrshire Farm is among the most spectacular settings for the rescue mission of breed preservationists.
Founded in Virginia's Piedmont region by Cisco Systems co-founder Sandy Lerner, its primary focus is English livestock.
The farm has a menagerie of livestock out of a children's book: Scottish Highland cattle, which resemble a woolly mammoth with their shaggy, butterscotch-colored coats and curved horns; Gloucestershire Old Spot Pigs, with ears that flop over their eyes; the Shires, 1-ton horses with feathered legs below their hocks; and many other breeds.
Ayrshire raised 412 turkeys this season, a large number considering the estimated 30,000 heritage birds used for production in the U.S.
"This farm is committed to several things," said Don Schrider, who manages large livestock at Ayrshire. "One commitment is certainly keeping these breeds from extinction."
This Thanksgiving, Americans will buy 46 million standard Broad-Breasted Whites, the big-breasted bird preferred by the majority of Americans, according to the National Turkey Foundation.
The difference between a heritage and factory bird is stark.
The standard commercial bird will be ready for the table in 18 weeks, compared with 26 weeks for the heritage bird; heritage birds forage, while the standard breed will live its short life before a feeding tray; and commercial birds cannot mate without human intervention. A market-ready industry turkey is the equivalent of an 11-year-old child weighing 300 pounds.
The conservancy, Bender said, is not opposed to agriculture on a large scale, and it recognizes that heritage breeds are not going to feed the masses.
Frank Reese comes as close as anyone to that lofty goal. His Good Shepherd Ranch about 1 hour north of Wichita, Kan., shipped out 11,000 birds this holiday season throughout the U.S. His prices were considerably lower than Ayrshire's, excluding shipping costs.
Reese has 160 acres but works with 15 other farmers in producing heritage breeds.
His favorite: the Bronze, the iconic copper-bronze bird historically associated with Thanksgiving.
___
On the Web:
Ayrshire Farm: http://www.ayrshirefarm.com/
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy: http://www.albc-usa.org/
National Turkey Federation: http://www.eatturkey.com/home.html
Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch Inc.: http://www.reeseturkeys.com/

http://wtop.com/?nid=223&sid=1524851

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789
by President George Washington

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of
Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and
humbly to implore His protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of
Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the
People of the United States a day of public thanks giving and prayer to be
observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of
Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to
establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November
next to be devoted by the People of these States to the Service of that
great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good
that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in
rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and
protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a
Nation, for the single and manifold mercies, and the favorable
interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and
conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union,
and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational
manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of
government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One
now lately instituted, of the civil and religious liberty with which we
are blessed, and the means we have to acquiring and diffusing useful
knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which He
hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humble offering our prayers and
supplications to the Great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to
pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in
public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties
properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to
all people, by constantly being a government of wise, just and
constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to
protect and guide all Sovereigns and nations (especially such as have
shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace and
concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and
virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to
grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone
know to be best.
http://buchanan.org/blog/2008/11/thanksgiving-day-proclamation-of-1789/

Please remember those less fortunate then yourself (there are many). You ought to thank God for your abundance
Food banks can't meet growing demand

By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

Donations to many of the USA's food banks are not keeping pace with growing demand as the sour economy forces more people to seek help, charitable organizations say.

"We have seen a 100% increase in demand in the last year … and food donations have dropped precipitously," says Dana Wilkie, CEO of the Community Food Bank in Fresno, Calif.

The group, which distributes food to 200 food pantries and feeding centers, is supplying cheaper chickens instead of turkeys for Thanksgiving, she says.

Nationally, donations are up about 18%, but demand has grown 25%-40%, says Vicki Escarra of Feeding America, the USA's largest hunger-relief charity. Feeding America, formerly America's Second Harvest, has a network of 206 food banks.

About 70% of new clients are making their first visit to a food bank, Escarra says.

Problems elsewhere:

•Denver: The Salvation Army food bank turned away 198 people last month, says Maj. Neal Hogan. Red kettle donations there are about the same as last year's so far, he says — not enough to offset growing needs.

•Knoxville, Tenn.: "What we're seeing now is very scary," says Elaine Streno of the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, which supplies food to 300 agencies in 18 counties.

"Our community is very generous, but when you don't have it, you can't give it," she says.

•Manchester, N.H.: The New Hampshire Food Bank has distributed 4.6 million pounds of food to 370 agencies statewide so far this year, up from 3.7 million pounds over the same period in 2007, says development director Anne Dalton.

•Toledo, Ohio: Demand is up 12%-15% and donations are not increasing, says Jim Caldwell, president of the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank, which serves 250 agencies in eight counties. Next year "promises to be even more arduous," he says.

•Peoria, Ill.: Demand is up 50% at many of the 125 agencies in eight counties served by the Peoria Area Food Bank, says director Barb Shreves.

•Visalia, Calif.: FoodLink for Tulare County asks the community to help provide holiday meals to 5,000 of the area's neediest families. This year, 9,200 families already have applied, says executive director Sandy Beals. Food supplies are down 45% from a year ago; demand is up 30%, and people are being turned away.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-25-foodbanks_N.htm

People wait 5 hours for free turkey, toys

WASHINGTON (AP) - Thousands of people from around the region waited as long as five hours to get a free turkey, the trimmings and a bag of toys.

The event known as Harvest Feast featured about 30 Washington Redskins players lined up inside the main level concourse of FedEx Field to hand out the goodies. It has been held for the past six years, but Tuesday's crowd was said to be the largest.

Among those who waited in the line that stretched around the stadium, 35-year-old Tomika Carter said she has "never, ever" done anything like this. She emphasized never.

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com

Eeyore's News and View

How the Pilgrims Got their Name by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

It wasn't until 1840 that the term "Pilgrim" came to refer to the early Mayflower settlers.
The Pilgrims (though they weren't called that at the time) originated with the members of a Separatist congregation from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, whose pastors were Richard Clifton and John Robinson.1 This congregation suffered difficult persecution in England because they dissented from the state Church of England. William Bradford, one of the original Mayflower emigrants, wrote that
"[The church members] were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapt up in prison, others had their houses besett and watcht night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were faine to flie and leave their howses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood... Yet, seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, but a joynt consent, they resolved to goe into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men...."2
The congregation moved to Holland in 1607 where religious freedom was greater. Some who were in prison, didn't get there for another year.
They settled in Amsterdam for a year, but then moved to Leiden, Holland, where they lived for a dozen years. But life was difficult for these expatriates. As foreigners they were deprived of a chance at the best jobs, and struggled to maintain even a low standard of living. Times were tough. But what caused them to move were their teenagers. They had religious freedom, but
"Many of their children … by the great licentiousness of youth in that countrie, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawne away by evill examples into extravagante and dangerous courses."3
They were losing their young people and struggling at the bottom of the economic scale. If they returned to England they faced severe persecution and imprisonment. So in 1620 many from the congregation decided to emigrate to America, to the New World. Three groups came on the Mayflower:
Saints -- members of the Separatist Leiden congregation,
Strangers -- members of the Church of England who were emigrating for economic reasons, and
Crew Members -- seamen aboard the Mayflower, some of whom were contracted to work in the Plymouth Colony for a year or longer.
The "strangers" weren't non-Christians. They were probably members of the Church of England and would count themselves as Christians. But they didn't share the Separatists' refusal to be a part of what they considered to be the corrupt state church.
We ought to make a couple of distinctions here. Strictly speaking, Separatists were pious Christians who had given up on the Church of England and formed their own congregations. Puritans, on the other hand, were members of the Church of England who wanted to purify the Church from its worldliness and corruption. Instead of separating (in the early days), they formed religious societies within Anglican congregations. A number of these groups, like the Mayflower group, fled to Holland. They were the beginnings of the Congregationalist and Baptist churches that put down early roots in America.
Though the Plymouth Colony was the first Separatist colony in New England, the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by royal charter in 1629. But apparently the Massachusetts Puritans had something in common with the Plymouth Separatists even before they sailed for America -- the autonomy of the local congregation and a restriction of membership to "those predestined to be God's elect."4 As time went on the churches in Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to resemble each other.
But the Plymouth colonists still weren't called Pilgrims, not for many years, not until 1840. At that point someone resurrected William Bradford's original phrase describing the Saints that had left Leiden to travel aboard the Mayflower to the New World. They left Leiden, he said, "that goodly & pleasante citie which had been their resting place for near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."5
Since the 1840s the Mayflower settlers have been referred to as the Pilgrims, echoing the verse from the Bible that Bradford had in mind:
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16, KJV).

http://www.joyfulheart.com/thanksgiving/pilgrim_name.htm

Russian analyst predicts decline and breakup of U.S.

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily Izvestia published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all."

On the fate of the U.S. dollar, he said: "In 2006 a secret agreement was reached between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. on a common Amero currency as a new monetary unit. This could signal preparations to replace the dollar. The one-hundred dollar bills that have flooded the world could be simply frozen. Under the pretext, let's say, that terrorists are forging them and they need to be checked."

When asked how Russia should react to his vision of the future, Panarin said: "Develop the ruble as a regional currency. Create a fully functioning oil exchange, trading in rubles... We must break the strings tying us to the financial Titanic, which in my view will soon sink."

Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20081124/118512713.html

Work stacking up for shoe-repair shops
By Emily Nelson, The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press
Steven Hopkins, owner of Onion River Cobbler in Winooski, Vt., fixes the stitching on a pair of sneakers recently.





By Dan McLean and Adam Silverman, USA TODAY
WINOOSKI, Vt. — There's nearly a four-week wait to get shoes resoled at Onion River Cobbler here. Normally, customers would have their footwear fixed in 10 days.
"This was the busiest summer I've ever had," says Steven Hopkins, who asks people at his 23-year-old shop to call him "The Cobbler."
If customers grumble about the long wait, he refers them to a sign hanging on the wall, which reads: "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."
As household budgets tighten, the economy sinks and unemployment rates climb, stories like The Cobbler's are becoming increasingly common. People looking for ways to save money are turning to the shoe-repair business to help, cobblers and industry advocates say.
Cobblers at the nation's roughly 7,000 repair shops — down from more than 100,000 in the 1930s — are thriving, bordering on overwhelmed, says John McLoughlin, president of the Shoe Service Institute of America (SSIA), an industry group composed of volunteers.
"Everywhere you talk to right now, their business is just flying. They're doing absolutely fantastic. The only problem is keeping up with the work," McLoughlin says. ¶
Kelly Thorsen, 47, a secretary from Lakeland, Fla., visited a cobbler last week for the first time. "I can't go out and buy another pair of boots," she says.
So she brought her favorite footwear into McFarland's Shoe Repair in Lakeland for a $16 fix after finding $100 to $200 price tags on potential replacements. A mother of two, Thorsen says the tough times mean she can't spend that much on new shoes — plus, she gets to keep her trusty 10-year-old boots. "Not only am I going to have back my very favorite pair of shoes, … I'm saving a lot of money," she says.
Store owner Jim McFarland says he's had a lot of customers like Thorsen lately. "I've seen more shoes in here in the last 10 days than I've seen in years," says McFarland, a third-generation cobbler.
At Salzman's Shoe and Boot Repair in Greeley, Colo., owners Sally and George Salzman are growing busier — as they always do when times are tough, Sally Salzman says. "People get things fixed rather than throwing them out," she says.
Nelson Ramos, owner of Corrective Shoe Repair in Washington, D.C., added some help to keep up with demand. "I rehired one of my guys to get us through the fall and winter," Ramos says.
Cobblers know their success comes as many people, customers included, are hurting. "I have people come in here who've been laid off after 20, 30 years," says McFarland, a former SSIA board member. "My 401(k) that I've been saving for 15 years is in half, man. I want the economy to thrive. But at the same time, the shoe-repair industry is almost bulletproof. When it's really hard out there, I thank God I'm in this business, because at least I know I can pay my bills."
McLean and Silverman report for The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2 ... pair_N.htm

U.S. Pledges Top $7.7 Trillion to Ease Frozen Credit
By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.
The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $3.18 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since the New Deal of the 1930s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The commitment dwarfs the plan approved by lawmakers, the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Federal Reserve lending last week was 1,900 times the weekly average for the three years before the crisis.
When Congress approved the TARP on Oct. 3, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson acknowledged the need for transparency and oversight. Now, as regulators commit far more money while refusing to disclose loan recipients or reveal the collateral they are taking in return, some Congress members are calling for the Fed to be reined in.
“Whether it’s lending or spending, it’s tax dollars that are going out the window and we end up holding collateral we don’t know anything about,” said Congressman Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who serves on the House Financial Services Committee. “The time has come that we consider what sort of limitations we should be placing on the Fed so that authority returns to elected officials as opposed to appointed ones.”
Too Big to Fail
Bloomberg News tabulated data from the Fed, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and interviewed regulatory officials, economists and academic researchers to gauge the full extent of the government’s rescue effort.
The bailout includes a Fed program to buy as much as $2.4 trillion in short-term notes, called commercial paper, that companies use to pay bills, begun Oct. 27, and $1.4 trillion from the FDIC to guarantee bank-to-bank loans, started Oct. 14.
William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said the two programs are unlikely to lose money. The bigger risk comes from rescuing companies perceived as “too big to fail,” he said.
‘Credit Risk’
The government committed $29 billion to help engineer the takeover in March of Bear Stearns Cos. by New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. and $122.8 billion in addition to TARP allocations to bail out New York-based American International Group Inc., once the world’s largest insurer.
Citigroup received $306 billion of government guarantees for troubled mortgages and toxic assets. The Treasury Department also will inject $20 billion into the bank after its stock fell 60 percent last week.
“No question there is some credit risk there,” Poole said.
Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said risk is lurking in the programs that Poole thinks are safe.
“The thing that people don’t understand is it’s not how likely that the exposure becomes a reality, but what if it does?” Issa said. “There’s no transparency to it so who’s to say they’re right?”
The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $23 trillion, or 38 percent, of the value of the world’s companies and brought down three of the biggest Wall Street firms.
Markets Down
The Dow Jones Industrial Average through Friday is down 38 percent since the beginning of the year and 43 percent from its peak on Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P 500 fell 45 percent from the beginning of the year through Friday and 49 percent from its peak on Oct. 9, 2007. The Nikkei 225 Index has fallen 46 percent from the beginning of the year through Friday and 57 percent from its most recent peak of 18,261.98 on July 9, 2007. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is down 78 percent, to $53.31, on Friday from its peak of $247.92 on Oct. 31, 2007, and 75 percent this year.
Regulators hope the rescue will contain the damage and keep banks providing the credit that is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy.
Most of the spending programs are run out of the New York Fed, whose president, Timothy Geithner, is said to be President- elect Barack Obama’s choice to be Treasury Secretary.
‘They Got Snookered’
The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages.
“It’s unprecedented,” said Bob Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc. and an economist for the Atlanta Fed for 10 years until January. “The backlash has begun already. Congress is taking a lot of hits from their constituents because they got snookered on the TARP big time. There’s a lot of supposedly smart people who look to be totally incompetent and it’s all going to fall on the taxpayer.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s, when almost 10,000 banks failed and there was no mechanism to bolster them with cash, is the only rival to the government’s current response. The savings and loan bailout of the 1990s cost $209.5 billion in inflation-adjusted numbers, of which $173 billion came from taxpayers, according to a July 1996 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office, now called the Government Accountability Office.
‘Worst Crisis’
The 1979 U.S. government bailout of Chrysler consisted of bond guarantees, adjusted for inflation, of $4.2 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation report.
The commitment of public money is appropriate to the peril, said Ethan Harris, co-head of U.S. economic research at Barclays Capital Inc. and a former economist at the New York Fed. U.S. financial firms have taken writedowns and losses of $666.1 billion since the beginning of 2007, according to Bloomberg data.
“This is the worst capital markets crisis in modern history,” Harris said. “So you have the biggest intervention in modern history.”
Bloomberg has requested details of Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit against the central bank Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure of borrower banks and their collateral.
Collateral is an asset pledged to a lender in the event a loan payment isn’t made.
‘That’s Counterproductive’
“Some have asked us to reveal the names of the banks that are borrowing, how much they are borrowing, what collateral they are posting,” Bernanke said Nov. 18 to the House Financial Services Committee. “We think that’s counterproductive.”
The Fed should account for the collateral it takes in exchange for loans to banks, said Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Chicago-based Northern Trust Corp. and a former research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
“There is a lack of transparency here and, given that the Fed is taking on a huge amount of credit risk now, it would seem to me as a taxpayer there should be more transparency,” Kasriel said.
Bernanke’s Fed is responsible for $4.74 trillion of pledges, or 61 percent of the total commitment of $7.76 trillion, based on data compiled by Bloomberg concerning U.S. bailout steps started a year ago.
“Too often the public is focused on the wrong piece of that number, the $700 billion that Congress approved,” said J.D. Foster, a former staff member of the Council of Economic Advisers who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “The other areas are quite a bit larger.”
Fed Rescue Efforts
The Fed’s rescue attempts began last December with the creation of the Term Auction Facility to allow lending to dealers for collateral. After Bear Stearns’s collapse in March, the central bank started making direct loans to securities firms at the same discount rate it charges commercial banks, which take customer deposits.
In the three years before the crisis, such average weekly borrowing by banks was $48 million, according to the central bank. Last week it was $91.5 billion.
The failure of a second securities firm, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., in September, led to the creation of the Commercial Paper Funding Facility and the Money Market Investor Funding Facility, or MMIFF. The two programs, which have pledged $2.3 trillion, are designed to restore calm in the money markets, which deal in certificates of deposit, commercial paper and Treasury bills.
Lehman Failure
“Money markets seized up after Lehman failed,” said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group in New York and a former aide to Fed chief Paul Volcker. “Lehman failing made a lot of subsequent actions necessary.”
The FDIC, chaired by Sheila Bair, is contributing 20 percent of total rescue commitments. The FDIC’s $1.4 trillion in guarantees will amount to a bank subsidy of as much as $54 billion over three years, or $18 billion a year, because borrowers will pay a lower interest rate than they would on the open market, according to Raghu Sundurum and Viral Acharya of New York University and the London Business School.
Congress and the Treasury have ponied up $892 billion in TARP and other funding, or 11.5 percent.
The Federal Housing Administration, overseen by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston, was given the authority to guarantee $300 billion of mortgages, or about 4 percent of the total commitment, with its Hope for Homeowners program, designed to keep distressed borrowers from foreclosure.
Federal Guarantees
Most of the federal guarantees reduce interest rates on loans to banks and securities firms, which would create a subsidy of at least $6.6 billion annually for the financial industry, according to data compiled by Bloomberg comparing rates charged by the Fed against market interest currently paid by banks.
Not included in the calculation of pledged funds is an FDIC proposal to prevent foreclosures by guaranteeing modifications on $444 billion in mortgages at an expected cost of $24.4 billion to be paid from the TARP, according to FDIC spokesman David Barr. The Treasury Department hasn’t approved the program.
Bernanke and Paulson, former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, have also promised as much as $200 billion to shore up nationalized mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a pledge that hasn’t been allocated to any agency. The FDIC arranged for $139 billion in loan guarantees for General Electric Co.’s finance unit.
Automakers Struggle
The tally doesn’t include money to General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Obama has said he favors financial assistance to keep them from collapse.
Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee Nov. 18 that the $250 billion already allocated to banks through the TARP is an investment, not an expenditure.
“I think it would be extraordinarily unusual if the government did not get that money back and more,” Paulson said.
In his Nov. 18 testimony, Bernanke told the House Financial Services Committee that the central bank wouldn’t lose money.
“We take collateral, we haircut it, it is a short-term loan, it is very safe, we have never lost a penny in these various lending programs,” he said.
A haircut refers to the practice of lending less money than the collateral’s current market value.
Requiring the Fed to disclose loan recipients might set off panic, said David Tobin, principal of New York-based loan-sale consultants and investment bank Mission Capital Advisors LLC.
‘Mark to Market’
“If you mark to market today, the banking system is bankrupt,” Tobin said. “So what do you do? You try to keep it going as best you can.”
“Mark to market” means adjusting the value of an asset, such as a mortgage-backed security, to reflect current prices.
Some of the bailout assistance could come from tax breaks in the future. The Treasury Department changed the tax code on Sept. 30 to allow banks to expand the deductions on the losses banks they were buying, according to Robert Willens, a former Lehman Brothers tax and accounting analyst who teaches at Columbia University Business School in New York.
Wells Fargo & Co., which is buying Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia Corp., will be able to deduct $22 billion, Willens said. Adding in other banks, the code change will cost $29 billion, he said.
“The rule is now popularly known among tax lawyers as the ‘Wells Fargo Notice,’” Willens said.
The regulation was changed to make it easier for healthy banks to buy troubled ones, said Treasury Department spokesman Andrew DeSouza.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said he was angry that banks used the money for acquisitions.
“The only purpose for this money is to lend,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. “It’s not for dividends, it’s not for purchases of new banks, it’s not for bonuses. There better be a showing of increased lending roughly in the amount of the capital infusions” or Congress may not approve the second half of the TARP money.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Pittman in New York at mpittman@bloomberg.net; Bob Ivry in New York at bivry@bloomberg.net.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

What MUST Be Done To Avoid Financial Destruction
Posted: Nov 22 2008 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: November 22, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Filed under: General Editorial
My Dear Extended Family,
Things are now "Out of Control."
This international financial crisis is now out of control as the world asks if the USA has two presidents, one president or no president at all.
It would appear that Paulson is in financial control with Bernanke as his second.
I warned you by personal email long before the statement was proven totally correct that “This is it.” That was followed by “This is it, and it is now.” Many people laughed it off.
This is it, and it is now.
Now it is out of control.
Now we enter the Collapse of Confidence period.
Then we begin the Weimar Experience.
It has all hit the fan, and still the absolute majority have no clue. The OTC derivative dealers broke the system into millions of pieces of glass. This broken glass cannot be put back together.
It is heart rending to see a picture of GM autoworkers holding a prayer meeting for their retirement funds. The retirement money was never funded. It is a lost hope. This is another responsibility the government has undertaken that is going to go wild.
Those of you still in freeze frame are headed for lines around your bank. Your bank will likely be acquired by another bank that also is in deep trouble.
The US dollar, like a leaderless company, will lose its respect and therefore value.
In order of importance the following MUST be done unless you want to be one of the suffering masses that will be all too visible this winter:
1. You must have your assets held anywhere they are in true custodial-ship accounts. That type of account at a bank or broker states clearly that the assets held there are not on the balance sheet of the host financial entity. Those assets are clearly segregated in your name. This must be reviewed by counsel to be sure you have what you think you have. Don’t cheap out. All you have is depending on the validity of true custodial-ship accounts.
You cannot know all the banks are broke, however I feel ALL banks are broke because finance is an intertwined system that if visible would look like a spider’s web. Problems on the top will materialize all along the web. Therefore the singular most important step you must take is the establishment of a true custodial-ship account.
Do not assume you have this type of account unless a competent attorney reviews the account papers.
2. I am extremely concerned about those of you who persist in holding certificates for gold rather than holding the actual metal either delivered to you or held for you in a true custodial-ship type account. The scams out there in gold are plentiful. The only way to avoid these scams absolutely is to have your gold in your own possession.
Every other means of holding gold is steps away from perfection. Some will be ok, but many will not.
3. Why would anyone fail to either take paper certificates or order their financial agent to make direct registration book entry at the transfer agent? In most cases you only have until year-end to accomplish this strategy.
4. Withdraw from ETFs.
5. If you carelessly keep large assets with your broker you are as mad as a hatter. The FDIC DOES NOT have the money to guarantee all they are undertaking. Withdraw excess money constantly from any net broker. If you are so stubborn that you think you can trade to insure yourself when your funds are not making money while still getting your money that counts you are nuts. Admit to yourself you are nothing more than a gambling addict in a downward spiral.
6. Leave no gold or coins with any coin dealer.
7. If you can withdraw from your corporate retirement plan do it.
8. Withdraw from credit unions.
9. Withdraw from all money market instruments.
10. This is it.
11. It is now.
12. It is out of control NOW.
The next two months are going to be shocking, but nothing compared to what you will have to experience in 2009.
Respectfully yours,
Jim
http://jsmineset.com/index.php/2008/11/ ... struction/

Solar Panels Are Vanishing, Only to Reappear on the Internet

By KATE GALBRAITH

Published: September 23, 2008

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — Solar power, with its promise of emissions-free renewable energy, boasts a growing number of fans. Some of them, it turns out, are thieves.

Noah Berger for The New York Times

Ken Martin Jr. lost 58 panels from the roof of an office building he owns in Santa Rosa, Calif. He estimated they would cost $75,000 to replace.

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

Solar panels were stolen from Jim and Shayna Powell’s roof in Palm Desert, Calif.

Just ask Glenda Hoffman, whose fury has not abated since 16 solar panels vanished from her roof in this sun-baked town in three separate burglaries in May, sometimes as she slept. She is ready if the criminals turn up again.

“I have a shotgun right next to the bed and a .22 under my pillow,” Ms. Hoffman said.

Police departments in California — the biggest market for solar power, with more than 33,000 installations — are seeing a rash of such burglaries, though nobody compiles overall statistics.

Investigators do not believe the thieves are acting out of concern for their carbon footprints. Rather, authorities assume that many panels make their way to unwitting homeowners, sometimes via the Internet.

Last November, someone tried to sell solar panels stolen from a toll road in Newport Beach for $100 each on eBay. Detectives from the local police department entered the bidding and won the panels, which were worth nearly $1,500 apiece, according to Sgt. Evan Sailor, a Newport Beach police spokesman.

When Nathan Tyrone Mitchell, a resident of Santa Monica, showed up to hand over the panels, the police greeted him with handcuffs.

Mr. Mitchell, who was charged with possession of stolen property, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Charles Stoddard, said that his client had bought the panels from someone on Craigslist and then tried to resell them on eBay for a profit. “Our contention is that Mr. Mitchell is just an innocent purchaser who kind of got caught up in this thing,” Mr. Stoddard said.

In Contra Costa County, detectives accustomed to handling thefts of copper began to notice solar panels going missing in the last six months, according to Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the county sheriff’s office.

This summer, an officer on patrol became suspicious when he spotted a man trying to sell solar panels to a home builder who had advertised on Craigslist that he was seeking panels. The officer confiscated the panels and, after detectives found that they matched panels stolen from a school, a California man was charged. Mr. Lee says that law enforcement agencies are investigating about a half-dozen other solar-panel thefts in his area.

“We were surprised and kind of caught off guard” by the solar thefts, said Mr. Lee, who recommends people engrave their driver’s license numbers onto their panels for better identification.

For Tom McCalmont, president of Regrid Power, a solar installation business near San Jose, the problem hit home in late June. His own headquarters was struck by thieves, who took more than $30,000 worth of panels from the roof.

The panels were disassembled expertly, he said, leading him to suspect that someone in the solar industry had done it. He urges clients to install video cameras and alarms for their solar arrays, and likens his own revamped security system to Fort Knox.

“This is the crime of the future,” Mr. McCalmont said.

After suffering a solar theft, some victims find unusual ways to protect their property. Ms. Hoffman, of Desert Hot Springs, could not sleep for several weeks during the string of thefts from her roof.

One night, she waited beside a nearby building and watched her house in an attempt to catch the thieves, causing a suspicious neighbor to call the police. She vows that if she ever catches the culprits, “they’re not going to leave walking” — especially if she feels threatened.

So far, with the losses still modest, homeowners’ insurance is processing the claims with little resistance. Ms. Hoffman’s insurer, State Farm, is paying $95,000 to replace her entire system. She plans to install an alarm, and possibly a video camera.

Not far from Ms. Hoffman, in the town of Palm Desert, Jim and Shayna Powell were devastated after thieves took 19 of their solar panels in June, causing their electricity bill to shoot from $3 to $300 just when they needed air-conditioning the most. “Of all the times of year to steal the panels,” Mr. Powell said in frustration.

Beyond California, solar-power markets are comparatively small, so thefts are still rare — but they are spreading. In the last 18 months, Oregon’s highway department has lost a few panels used to power portable traffic message boards.

In Minnesota, the Sauk River Watershed District has lost at least eight small panels, worth $250 each, in the last few years, according to Melissa Roelike, who coordinates the water quality monitoring program there.

In response, the district has taken steps to protect the panels, including putting them in trees and atop poles. Thieves promptly stole one such panel.

“Obviously, hoisting them 20 feet in the air on a metal pipe does not work,” Ms. Roelike said.

In Europe, where the solar industry is well-established, thievery is entrenched, and measures to ward it off have become standard, including alarm systems and hard-to-unscrew panels.

But in the United States, installers are just coming to grips with the need for alarms, video cameras and indelible engraving of serial numbers. Some people fancy simpler solutions.

Ken Martin Jr. lost 58 panels, which will cost $75,000 to replace, this spring from the roof of a half-empty office building in Santa Rosa, Calif., that he owns. He is considering slapping paint on some parts of his remaining panels — bright pink paint.

“At least if someone comes across them and they’re painted, they’ll know that’s my color,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/technology/24solar.html?_r=2