9999

The murders in Benghazi of Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on September 11^th, 2012 seemed to arouse no outrage on the part of President Obama. The consulate was overrun and razed to the ground while the American citizens inside fought for their lives with light weapons totally inadequate for the task.

Apparently, the administration realized immediately that they were culpable in denying repeated requests for increased security for the embassy. They also realized the attack would put a black eye on the President’s campaign. Initially, Obama only paid brief lip service to the attack in an obvious effort to minimize its effect.

He then continued to campaign, leaving for a rally in Las Vegas the afternoon of the attack, before returning to Washington the next day to take advantage of a memorial to the slain Americans.

At the time the attack was attributed to an anti-Muslim film circulated online by a filmmaker in the United States. The administration even arrested the filmmaker—God only knows what happened to freedom of speech—in an attempt to placate Muslims.

Five days later on the Sunday talk shows U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice stated unequivocally that the murders were due to a spontaneous riot caused by the anti-Muslim film. She also stated that al-Qaida was destroyed and had nothing to do with the murders. This continued to be the storyline for the next five days as Rice continued interviews through electronic and print media.

Now Susan Rice is being put forth by the administration as the replacement for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is due to retire in 2013.

Her initial meeting with Republican Senators—intended to smooth the way to this appointment—took place on September 27^th and is due to continue through September 28^th. In the first meeting the majority of Senators were unimpressed by the answers given by U.N. Ambassador Rice while the remainder was openly and aggressively unhappy with her testimony.

While the Republicans don’t have the votes to block the appointment they can filibuster to delay it indefinitely. The entire effort by the Obama administration to cover up the specifics of the attack to minimize its own culpability during an election campaign was obscene and obvious.

This could clearly become a situation where Obama bypasses Congress and the confirmation process to appoint her directly. He would almost certainly welcome the opportunity to do so in his continuing quest to break the backs of the Congressional Republicans.

Look forward to a contentious two years before the Congressional Elections in 2014 decide who will control the House and Senate.

In 1957—at 14 years old—I was working in a large cafeteria in Dallas, TX. I saw a number of old-timey medical treatments administered by co-workers of the afflicted or wounded. The cafeteria employed almost 100 people as cooks, vegetable-prep girls, dishwashers, porters, bussers and department heads along with their employees. The mix of ethnicity was approximately 2/3 black to 1/3 older whites.

It’s important to bear in mind that homegrown medical treatment originated because of the lack of doctors in a given area or the inability to afford them.

The first example of folk medicine that I saw applied had to do with a prep girl who went into a seizure of some sort. I’m not sure what type of seizure she had but most of us were still in shock from seeing her writhing on the ground with her eyes rolled back in her head.

The head cook—an older black woman—broke through the onlookers and enlisted two porters grab the girl’s arms to hold her in place. She then slipped off one of the girl’s shoes and placed it tightly over her mouth and nose. Sure enough, it was only a minute or so when the girl’s breathing began to return to normal and she finally stopped convulsing.

Another time, one of the butchers had cut himself while slicing up chickens. The next morning he had developed an infection around the cut. The head porter removed the bandage from the butcher’s hand and saw that the cut had not closed.

He pulled a plug of Red Mule chewing tobacco from his pocket, chewed it just long enough to break it up and moisten it. He then slapped the wad of tobacco over the cut and bandaged it tightly. At the end of the day he removed the bandage and applied a fresh tobacco poultice over the wound and re-bandaged it. By the end of the third day the infection was gone.

Perhaps the most bizarre thing I witnessed involved a young girl who had been developing small bumps on her face for several months. She was very pretty and complained around the kitchen that she was afraid the bumps would continue to develop and spoil her looks.

Several people advised her that these were “nature bumps” and that an effective cure was increased sexual activity. At first I thought this was a joke because the girl was probably a virgin and everyone was just kidding her.

After a time, I could tell by her new admirers around the kitchen that she was following everyone’s advice and was enthusiastically “treating her affliction.” I never did learn if this was a joke or not. I also was promoted and transferred to a different cafeteria before I could see if the treatment for her “nature bumps” was successful or not.

Maximize every visit to the supermarket by not only shopping for what you need today but also for what you need in the days to come. The hurricanes that have battered the Eastern and Southern Coastlines over the years are adequate testimony to the fact that disaster can strike at any time.

Whether hurricanes, tornados, terrorist attacks or failure of the power grid—or any other number of potential disasters—your life can and will be affected for days, weeks, months or perhaps even forever. It makes sense to be prepared should disaster strike you and your family. There are many people today along the East Coast relying on the unreliable government to provide everything from water—to food—to toilet paper.

The government is a fragile entity and in the event of a disaster of national proportions would be overwhelmed to the point of not even attempting to mount a relief effort. The responsibility of taking care of your family would then rest squarely on your shoulders alone.

Follow these steps to guarantee your family nourishment, hygiene and as much comfort as possible during a disaster:

1. Designate a storage area such as space in the basement, attic or a spare bedroom to store your disaster supplies. Make certain the supplies are stored higher than the maximum potential flood levels that may occur inside your home. Use shelving and adjust the bottom shelf to provide enough clearance.
2. Go through your pantry and make a list by category of the products you are currently buying.
3. Visit the grocery and discount stores that you normally shop. Go up and down each aisle and study the products on the shelf. Make a list by category of the products you are currently buying. This isn’t the time to experiment with other brands.
4. Determine how much of each product you are currently using each month and list it next to the product. Decide how many months you want to store supplies. Remember, Mormons as well as many other groups are routinely storing up to two years of supplies in case of disaster.
5. Stock up on the foods, paper and hygienic supplies as well as personal care items that you use on a regular basis. Every time you visit the grocery store buy some of the storage products in addition to what you need today. Continue this practice until you stock up on each individual item until you have enough on hand to last the period of time you decided on.
6. Keep a ledger that shows every time you add or remove food to your storage area. When you use up one month’s supply of a given product then purchase enough to replace it. Mark the replacement area where this month’s product is store to be used at the end of the timeframe you decided on. If you chose a three month period then you would proceed to use the second and then the third month of supplies before using the replacement product. Use the FIFO—first-in, first-out—method of inventory storage to keep the products fresh.
7. Buy products at the store after examining the code dates on each product to make certain they will last well beyond the projected time they are expected to be used.
8. Don’t forget to stock items that you typically don’t buy—water is a good example. If you don’t buy water normally then figure out how much you should stock to get through the timeframe you have chosen. There are undoubtedly a number of these kinds of products.
9. URGENT! Do not forget over-the-counter and prescription medicines.
10. Store the products in a dry, darkened room with good air circulation at a temperature between 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Make certain nothing is stored directly on the floor. The room must remain completely free of insect and rodent infestation.

Don’t count on others—enjoy security of mind by preparing your family to weather a disaster on its own.

Make no mistake; this one practice alone is responsible for crushing credit card debt, bankruptcy and living in near poverty. It puts younger people who are just starting out in life in debt of $25,000, $50,000 or more. Older people who are no longer working and living on fixed incomes have similar problems.

There is no activity that is so taken as a matter of course than dining out at restaurants. Young and old alike simply do it without thinking. Home cooked meals or even meals that don’t require preparation—such as sandwiches—are no longer eaten at home by many.

There is always a burger, fried chicken or fish, tacos or pizza just around the corner or down the street. Casual dining restaurants of virtually every description are available as both a gastronomic treat and an evening’s entertainment. Younger people grew up with this view of the world and older people have embraced it as their way of life.

It is an act of utter simplicity to pay the bill along with a generous tip by sliding a credit card across a counter or table—it is done without conscious thought.

Those who have had their cards revoked due to non-payment use cash. They eat fast food which is cheaper than a sit-down restaurant, but more expensive by far than eating at home. When they think about it at all, people rationalize to themselves and others that when you add up the pluses and minuses it is cheaper to eat out.

Utter B.S.! What they really mean is that they don’t have to drive to the market, shop for food, put it away at home and prepare the meal—which they have never learned to do. They don’t have to wash the dishes and carry out the trash.

They like the food better at fast food outlets and restaurants better than what they can cook—these dining excursions also get them out of the house, allows them to engage in social interaction and treat themselves.

The money spent on fast food and restaurants takes away from the total amount of funds they have on hand at any given time. This means they don’t have money for a decent place to live or decent clothes. Also, they drive a beater that continually is costing them money for repairs and burning through more $4.00 a gallon gasoline than a newer vehicle. The beater is uninsurable and when damaged leaves the driver standing on the bus stop.

It is absolutely essential to have a dependable car in order to find a good job and get to it on time every day.

Before you make an argument for eating out instead of at home, do these things:

1. See how much money you can scrape together at this moment then add up your bills to see how much money you need at this moment. This is a brutal exercise because you will see just how bad things are regarding your finances.
2. Look at your credit card for the last year and add up the amount spent on eating out. Take 1/3 off the total amount you come up with to account for the amount you would spend if you ate at home. The two thirds that you are left with is the amount of money that you could have had to spend on accommodations, automobile or actually put into savings or investments.
3. Don’t blow your brains out! Simply stop eating out!

This is the best advice you’ll ever get and I have zero faith that it will be given any consideration at all.