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Volume 6, No. 12 Serving the Lake Corpus Christi Area and Other South Texas Communities www.lakecountryshopper.com December 2011

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Best of the Lake & Country

South Texas Longhorn

Photo by Wayne Green

Dr. Quack Isabelles Gardening Tips Lulabelles Household Hints Its Your Life, Your Money, Your Freedom Waynes Photography Tips

Its a Dogs Life The Texas Country Chef Commentaries Aesop Fables Puzzles Real Estate & Classifieds And Much More

December 2011

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From the Editor...

I do not like to waste money or for someone else to waste it for me. Worse, though, is I do not like to waste time and truly am incensed when someone else wastes my time. After all, ultimately all we really have in this life on earth is time, and we never know when that clock is going to run out. Unfortunately the worst wasters of my time, next to overbooked doctors, are usually government representatives and customer service representatives. Other times the time wasters are individuals who mistakenly believe that a long-winded personal anecdote or off-topic question is an important contribution to some class or group meeting. I had concluded one day in looking at my personal budget that the biggest waste of both money and time was my subscription to satellite TV service. So what if I was getting some 250 channels. There were only four or five I ever watched! So what if I got movie channels when the movies were not of interest to me or else were played over and over for days or weeks. Yet it was really hard to cut that umbilical cord to the instant gratification of latest breaking news. I had promised in October that I would report what it was like to live without satellite TV. See my report on page 5. There are hundreds of news items worthy of comment in the past few weeks, but the amount of information is nearly overwhelming. With Roku I have watching Al Jazeera, Glen Beck TV live and a few radio stations regularly, and, as a result, have received diverse perspectives on the news. As I have said several times before, all the media are biased, including Fox News Channel, because of what they choose to report and what they choose not to report. They are all puppets, just like our socialist/communist regime. The solution is to read and watch a wide variety of sources. Yours truly, Penny Peavy Editor/Publisher 361-547-9062 penny@lakecountryshopper.com

Upcoming Events!
December 3 Lagarto Community Clubs Vendor's Christmas Sale in Lagarto, 8am - 3pm Lagarto School House located at 603 FM 534. Spaces are available for $20 and vendors should phone Jessica Keese at 547-3663 to make a reservation. Available items will include crafts and food. December 8 Lagarto Volunteer Fire Department Christmas Party, 6pm, at the Fire Department on FM 3162. Drawing will be held for the BBQ cook trailer. Raffle tickets are still for sale at $20 each. Contact Barry Benderman at 361-232-8164 to purchase raffle tickets. All those in LVFD servaice area are invited.

Church Directory
St. Michael's At The Lake Episcopal, Worship Sunday 3 pm, Healing Thursday 1111:30 am, Thrift Shop Thu 102 & Sun 1-4 Faith Church United Church of Christ, 106 Faith Dr., Orange Grove, 384-2414. Sunday School: 9:15, Worship Service: 10:30. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, FM 534, Mass: Sunday, 9:15. Call church for other times. West Shore Baptist Church, FM 534. 547-6153, Sunday School: Sunday 9:30 am. Services: Sunday 10:50 am. Lighthouse Faith Fellowship (charismatic, non-denominational), 331 FM 534, 547-6243. Sunday School: 9:15am Services: Sunday 10:00 am. Call for weekly home Bible studies. Grace Lutheran Church of Mathis, 1205 E. San Patricio Ave., Mathis, 547-2239 First United Methodist Church, 420 S. Duval, Mathis 5473381. Adult Bible Class 9:45 am, Worship Service 10:50 Brush Country Cowboy Church, Brush Country Cowboy Church, 1417 S. Hwy 37 access We are located 1 mile north of FM 799. Sunday Services at 10:00am. 361-449-2400. First Baptist Church, 404 S. Bee, Mathis, Texas, 547-2139. Services: Sunday Bible study: 9:45am. Worship 11:00am. Evening Worship 6:00pm. Wednesday Evening Service: 7:00pm St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 20 S. Metz St., Orange Grove, Mass: Saturday 6:00 pm Sunday 7:30 am . & 11:00am, 361-384-2795.

Lagarto Community Church 287 FM 3162 Lagarto, Texas 78383 Sunday: Bible School 9:4511am, Church 11am, Bible Study Wed & Sunday 6pm Mathis Church of Christ 407 E. Rockport, Mathis, Texas 547-2016, Sunday Bible Study 9:30am, Worship 10:30am, Sunday Evening 6PM, Wednesday Bible Study 7pm.

First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 600 S. Dibrell St., Orange Grove TX, 361-3842712 Sunday School: Church of Christ, Exit 40 @ I37 9:00 a.m. Worship Service: N./Hwy 888, one mile east. Sun. 10:30 a.m. Bible Study 9:45. Sunday Servwww.firstogtx.org
ice 11am & 6pm. Wed. 7:00pm Lake View Baptist Church, 6 mi North of Mathis on Hwy 3024. Sunday Bible study 9:45am, Worship services at 11am and 6pm Wednesday night at 6pm. 361-547-6325 leave message. Cross Trails Cowboy Church 2 miles East of Orange Grove on FM 624, Sunday Morning Services 8:45 and 10:30am, 227-9828.

Be safe sver the holidays!!

Interesting Quotes
No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders. -- Samuel Adams If small business goes, big business does not have any future except to become the economic arm of a totalitarian state. --Past General Electric CEO Philip D. Reed Corporation, Viacom, Time Warner, Newhouse, General Electric, Westinghouse, Disney, Gannett, KnightRidder, Bertelsmann, and Elsevier. The media industry now ranks (along with the energy industries, military contractors, airlines, and investment firms) among the leading lobbyists of the U.S. Congress... In return, Congress passed legislation quite profitable to the industry, ranging from the deregulation of ownership in multiple markets and media, to an array of tax breaks, to the giveaway of public broadcast spectrums. Two-thirds of the world's advertising takes place in the United States. Corporate executives are the largest single group represented on governing boards of colleges and universities. Most of the money spent on election campaigns in the United States comes from corporations... The entire political system is based on moneybased bargaining, in which politicians see corporations as constituents and industries as clients.

Safe Harbor - a Lutheran mission (ELCA) meeting at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on FM 534. We meet at 5 p.m. each Saturday evening. Contact us at SafeHarborLC@gmail.com or 361-244-6045. All are welcome! December 24, 5pm Candelight Christmas Eve service at 5pm. All are invited.

-----------------------Note: The following seem to be excerpted from the book The Elite Consensus Is life so dearr, or peace so When Corporations Wield the sweet, as to be purchased at the Constitution by George Draffan, but we are unable to conprice of chains and slavery?" firm. --Patrick Henry "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government--lest it come to dominate our lives and interests." --Patrick Henry Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power. Benito Mussolini Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." --Winston Churchill " I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. " --Thomas Jefferson Corporation: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce' I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow; and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. --Abraham Lincoln The true measure of corporate power is the ability of the owners and managers of corporations to unite to influence political agendas and to subvert national and international law. Corporations and corporate foundations fund think tanks formulate policies which will be favorable to business. Corporate attorneys draft legislation which will make those policies the law of the land. Corporate political action committees pay for the election campaigns of the politicians who ensure that such legislation becomes law, and lobbyists make sure the politicians stay bought. Corporate executives are appointed to lead the regulatory agencies which enforce (or dismantle) the laws that aren't favorable to business. National and multilateral trade and development agencies design and subsidize an international trading system dominated by the largest corporations. Governments and banks use public monies to subsidize and insure corporate investment. The profits of the mass media depend on corporate advertising. The mass media's main product is no longer news, much less critical discourse. The purpose of the media is to deliver advertisements to target audiences. As media ownership has become concentrated in fewer and fewer corporations, its own vested role in corporate power has increased. Through mergers, the media oligopoly is down to a handful of megacorporations, including News

which allowed direct corporate contributions and unlimited individual contributions to political parties as long as the money is not used to support a particular candidate by name. Soft money is often spent on "issue ads" which praise or criticize candidates, but do not use the words "vote for" or "vote against... Many corporations ... give hundreds of thousands of dollars [in soft money] to both parties, ensuring access no matter which party wins a given seat in the next elections. Bundled money is another innovation to get around the legal limits on how much an individual or corporation may donate to a political candidate, in which a lobbyist or PAC gathers separate donations from a number of individuals and then "bundles" them together before delivery to the candidate. --------"Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won't be. Any individual who is able to raise $25 million to be considered presidential is not going to be much use to the people at large. He will represent oil, or aerospace, or banking, or whatever moneyed entities are paying for him. Certainly he will never represent the people of the country, and they know it. Hence, the sense of despair throughout the land as incomes fall, businesses fail and there is no redress." --Gore Vidal

Community Organization News

Our cookbooks are for sale and they are lovely. Aptly named, they are called, "Some Down Home Cooking From Swinney Switch". They sell for $14 and can be purchased from Friends Dont forget the Christmas members, and at Mikes Marparty on December 8 at 6:30 ket. They are well worth the pm. The raffle drawing will be price. My kind of cooking!!

Lagarto VFD

held for the BBQ trailer . Proceeds to pay off debt for our We are selling tickets for a BBQ Pit Raffle. Cost is $1.00 wonderful new truck.

Friends of Swinney Switch VFD

by Shirley Bradley

Money has become so crucial to being elected to political office in the United States that one can without much hyperbole say that politicians are elected by dollars, not votes, and that their constituents are now corporations rather than people. Indeed, since 1976, the two U.S. Presidential candidates who raised the most money by the end of the year preceding the election have become the Democratic and Republican candidates. In effect, it is corporations and industry associations which determine The following is often incorthe candidates who will run for rectly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but is actaully seems office. to be more correctly attributaU.S. law prohibits corpora- ble to The Rev. William J.H. tions and labor unions from Boetcker, a Presbyterian clermaking contributions or expen- gyman, wrote those words in ditures to influence federal 1916. elections. The law also limits the amount an individual can give to a political candidate to $1,000 per election. So how can millions of dollars be given to political campaigns? Corporations, unions and other organizations, and individuals are allowed to give their money to Political Action Committees (PACs)... The current rules allow each PAC to give up to $5,000 to a candidate per election, and donate up to $15,000 to a national party committee per year - but a corporation may form any number of PACs. 'You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, An even larger loophole in the what they could and should do limits on money in politics is for themselves. "soft money." Soft money was Happy Holidays invented by a 1979 Federal Election Commission ruling to All

New board members were selected in our October meeting. President will be Cathy Wyble and Secretary/Treasurer will be Gayle Wood. They will serve two consecutive years starting January 1st, 2012. Nancy Poris, Vice-president and Sue Hensley, Parliamentarian still have one year on their term. My sincere congratulations to the new members.

per ticket or 6 for $5.00. The pit features separate compartments with side mounted warming cooker on the left and a fire box on the right. It can be seen at the fire station , in fliers around town, and at Mike's Market. Funds raised will help equip the newest truck to our fleet with emergency equipment. Your donation is appreciated. It has been a pleasure to serve the Firemen as the Friends President for the past two years. They deserve all the assistance we can give them. I will continue to assist as a willing worker as long as I am able. Our next meeting is December 6th at 6:30 PM.

From The Bible:

Ecclesiastes 1, New International Version (NIV) 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. 3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say, Look! This is something new? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to comewill not be remembered by those who follow them.

The Lake & Country Shopper, an independent newspaper, is published monthly. Distributed for free to consumers around Lake Corpus Christi, including Mathis, Orange Grove, Swinney Switch, George West, Pernitas Point, Lagarto, Calallen, Sinton, Annaville, Alice, parts of Corpus Christi and other south Texas locations. Mailing Address: 111 Pack Trail, Sandia, Texas, 78383 PHONE HOURS: 9:00 - 5:00, M-F, 361-547-9062 OFFICE HOURS: BY APPOINTMENT ONLY E-mail: Letters: penny@lakecountryshopper.com Advertising: jenell@lakecountryshopper.com Deadline for payments and copy for ads, 20th of month preceding publication. Subscriptions by 1st class mail: $42 per year Subscriptions by e-mail in PDF format: $24 per year Copyright: Penny Peavy dba The Lake Country Shopper

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper - 3

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Opinions presented in these columns do not necessarily reflect any political or social stance or views of this newspaper, its editor or staff. Comments or opposing opinions are welcome and may be submitted for publication consideration. Write the editor at the following e-mail address: penny@lakecountryshopper.com If you do not have a computer, you can usually use one at a public library and receive help on sending an e-mail. not garnered much in terms of the polls, no one in the media is even granting him interviews. Fox News has interviewed Ron Paul more than once, but they still never mention him as a contender. They are entirely dismissive of him as a serious candidate. Every day these news channels present the latest polls, and there is a serious problem with that. It is human nature to vote for a winner. It is not too different from betting on horse racing. Everyone wants to pick a winner. If the polls tell us every day that Mitt is ahead in the polls, many people will cast their vote for him for no reason other than believing he could win, never mind his track record, never mind his immense fortune, never mind anything to do with principles or policy. What is worse are the debates, which are not really debates in any sense of the word. The candidates are lined up according to their polling numbers, with those who are highest in the polls in the middle and those who are lowest at the edges of the line-up. The news commentators who are in charge ask questions to whichever candidate they want to and rarely ask the same questions to more than one candidate. They choose which candidate gets the most talking time (the candidate they want to win, usually). Candidates the network is definitely against, for whatever reason, are either ignored or not asked questions of any real importance or interest. What we as news consumers actually get on these alleged debates are 30-second sound bites, and whoever is best at 30-second sound bites is declared the winner, as if there were any winner or any objective manner in which to choose one. (Would you bet on a horse race in which the winner was selected by popular opinion, or, worse yet, news TV commentators or twitter?) The only source where we can get close to the truth about the candidates is on the internet. In fact, the internet, despite the fact that there is a lot of hogwash and untruth out there in cyberland, may be the last existing source of truth and real news. Below are links to each major candidates website where you can read first-hand about where that stand on the important issues. The first site will give you their record of statements, votes and history on the issues. The others relate directly to their own campaign websites. It is amazing to compare them in terms of what is said, how it is said and whether the statements on the issues are vague or more specific. You must know the truth so you will be an informed and intelligent voter. Watching news on mainstream media is not the way of the truth, just the way of smoke-and-mirrors, presented in an entertaining fashion. All Candidates http://www.ontheissues.org/2012.htm http://www.ronpaul2012 .com/the-issues/ Specific and informational http://www.mittromney.com/issues Very general and somewhat vague http://www.hermancain.com/issues Written as rather simplistic brief essays http://www.newt.org/solutions Very specific, easy to see whether or not you agree with him. Obvious intent to court the vote of social conservatives. ing election is only about getting rid of Obama, think again. This election is about not only your children and grandchildren, it is about we the living. It is about the immediate future of America. It is not just tough times. It is about life as we know it in America. If we do not make the right choice, and maybe even if we do make the right choice, the s--- is about to hit the proverbial fan. The Glen Becks and Alex Joneses of this world have long been denigrated as kooks and extremists and have been vilified by the mainstream media or else ignored altogether. Yet, if you follow what they have to say, so much of what they have said in the past has come true or is coming true right now. If you are following the Occupy Wall Street movement via internet sources, you know that it is bizarre, incredibly leftwing-communist (try Chineseversion communism) and willing to engage not only in the nasty behavior already exhibited but in further violence. Today as I write this I saw a video of an anti-capitalist course being led at the New York OWS encampment. I actually heard people who seemed to speak American English (implying that they grew up in this country and are probably citizens) say that people have no right to own anything and to make a profit from a transaction with another human being was the worst of all sins. So, that means that if I grow tomatoes, you have a right to them because I dont own the plants or the land they grew on. The OWS movement has mysteriously appeared internationally. Mysteriously? You think? How are all these people surviving. Neither you nor I can go camp out in a park somewhere with no discernable income and survive without food and water. Large amounts of money have been infused into the movement to cover such expenses. Where does that money come from? One source is New York Communities for Change (formerly ACORN). Remember them? They are knocking on doors and asking for donations for various groups and causes, but the money is not going to the groups they mention; it is going to OWS. The people who are spending their days in the OWS movement who are being interviewed seem to be well-educated, and many seem to be college graduates. Just who is supporting them? Who is buying their sprouts and yogurt for their meals? Surely not their parents. According to my sources, NYCC is paying $10 an hour for door-to-door canvassing for money. To make a long story short, much of the money to feed these people is coming from federally supported organizations posing as canvassers for worthy causes. Oddly, if we are to believe what we see on TV and on the internet, these protesters seem to be mostly white, mostly young, mostly educated -- like the Vietnam War protestors on steroids. Obama has endorsed these OWS protestors. What are the rest of us to do? Endorse a smooth-talking Republican? Endorse more Obama? Its hard to endorse anyone for public office, as once elected, the pathway to riches is paved, and no one can be trusted, neither Democrat nor Republican. What is the answer? It probably does not even matter who gets elected as president. Things will be bad, very bad. The best any of us can do right now is to take care of our assets, health, families and faith. Especially, if you have the heart for it, read, listen to and watch alternative media via the internet.

Opinions....food for thought

Whats Wrong With This Picture?

by Gwen Guyser

From the Far West Side

by Farris West

You Decide
by Armando Conde

Elections Run by Media and Pollsters

Thomas Jefferson once said, The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. In Jeffersons day, newspapers were very widely read because, other than pony express mail and gossip, they represented the only way to find out what was going on in the world outside ones immediate surroundings. Today, daily newspapers are not read regularly by most people, and, in fact, most daily papers are going broke. The average person these days obtains their news from either network or cable/satellite TV. If Jefferson were alive today, I am sure his statement would be something like this: The man who does not watch television at all is better educated than the man who watches nothing but television. For the most part these days, what poses as entertainment are alleged reality shows that display the very worst aspects of human nature. Watching these shows is like being a peeping Tom or voyeur, even if the show is something that seems innocuous at first, like Dancing With the Stars. I myself have been guilty of watching Biggest Loser because I find it so incredible that these grotesquely obese people will bare their grotesque bodies in front of the entire world via television. I would never have dreamed such people would look so grotesque without their clothes on. Another reason I have watched it is because I find it so amazing that the weight-loss regimen is based on the government dogma of a low-fat, low-calorie diet combined with incredibly strenuous exercise. (Its no wonder that contestants on that show have had heart attacks, bone fractures and damaged knees and hips.) What poses as news involves little or nothing of importance. Most of it has to do with missing children, movie stars, popular music entertainers and other well-known personalities. What little actual national or world news is presented takes up perhaps 2% of the time on the news channels. The rest of the time is taken up with commentary and speculation. Then there is yet more commentary and speculation based on the original commentary and speculation, and so on it goes. In recent months, even though presidential primaries in most cases are several months from now, there is constant speculation on who will become the republican presidential candidate. The only candidates every mentioned in any sort of a positive way are, of course, the ones the particular media outlet privately or not-so-privately endorses. All the Soros-owned channels, such as ABC, NBC, CBS and all their affiliates want Obama to win a second term, so their bias is in favor of a Republican candidate they know he beat. Those would be Romney, Perry maybe Gingrich. Fox News, owned by a neocon, seems to favor Romney, another neocon, who would probably become Obama lite All of these major networks avoid mention of either Gary Johnson or Ron Paul. While its true that Gary Johnson has

Can You Tell the Difference? Demopublicans and Republicrats

Once again, there is no real difference between traditional Republicans and traditional Democrats. They are part of a downright silly dividing line, each party, by its actions alone, subscribing to big government, more government power and more taxes even if the form of the taxes differ. The biggest differences between these two parties is not a matter of more government or less government, it is a matter of which method will be used to keep big government. The far way-out left wants to impose share the wealth, stealing from the productive segment of the population to give to the unproductive, and idea resulting in poverty and unhappiness for all. The far way-out right wants a free economy but with their own theocracy-based social sanctions, defining life and defining legal marriage, neither of which are any business of the U. S. government. Neither party favors freedom, liberty or the pursuit of happiness unless you happen to be a corporate being with deep pockets and the willingness to empty a good portion of your stash into the pockets of whatever political candidate will support your corporate or theocratic cause. Neither party favors adherence to the Constitution of the U. S. although they pretend to do so. The powers-that-be support this far-left, far-right dichotomy. It suits their purposes to divide and conquer us all, to make us all into serfs and slaves to the corporationrun government of the U. S. and the world. With the low esteem the American public holds with our legislators, how do they get re-elected? With corporate campaign donations, of course. Most of us serfs do not have enough money or enough power to influence elections, and our votes are chiefly bought by the best-looking, most handsome, most smooth-talking candidate, the ones corporate America and the media believe can be elected and easily influenced. In the current election cycle, take a look at which Republican candidates have the biggest campaign chests. Those are the candidates financed by corporations. These would be Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Look at which candidate has raised all his money from individuals like you and me. That would be Ron Paul, who has brought in millions of dollars from a huge number of very small donations, such as $25. While the power-controlled mainstream media completely ignore Ron Paul as some sort of extremist, look at Michelle Bachman. She is truly extreme in that she seems to want to have a theocracy in America that supports her particular religious viewpoint. She, as well as Rick Perry and possibly some of the other more obscure candidates try to convince us that each is more tea party than the other candidates, more conservative, more anti-abortion, all of this while the world is falling apart around us economically with more American involvement in wars than we are even told about. If you think that this upcom-

What the Federal Reserve Doesn't Want to You to Know

Occupy Wall Street has sent mixed messages across America being that most of the protesters interviewed believe that capitalism is the culprit to our economic woes. What the main-stream-media intentionally fails to realize is that a free market, an honest free market, will set us on a course of true economic freedom. The economic freedom which I speak of was hijacked from the American public with the signing of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The Federal Reserve Act was supposed to be the solution to the predated banking policies of our great nation; however, the act has only enslaved us to the banking elite. Many believe that the Federal Reserve is a part of the government, but it is a private bank owned by some of the wealthiest families in the world. Some will argue that since the Federal Reserve chairman is nominated by the President and approved by the Senate, the Feds are under public control. What the majority of the public fails to realize is that there is an advisory board which advises the board of governors on Federal Reserve policies. The Federal Reserve Advisory Council is selected via member banks in each of their respective regions of the twelve set up by the act. These member banks are those who hold major stock in the Federal Reserve banks. Think about it, if your boss appoints you to represent your region, your recommendations will only be that which will benefit your employer rather than the customer. This is the role the advisory council plays. The Federal Reserve Act was to furnish an elastic currency and provide effective supervision of banks; however, the act simply setup a centralized private bank with the power to issue currency and credit to the United States. The elasticity of currency was to be executed through a fractional reserve system, which allows the Feds and banks to loan more money than they have in deposits. For example, if I were to deposit $1,000 into a bank, that bank would be able to lend out $10,000 through ledger entries. The worst part of it is that this creates profit out of fraud. With the stroke of a pen a bank is able to lend out money that they do not have and collect interest on it. This is not free market profiting. The old clich that history repeats itself is not just a clich, it is the truth. It is evidence that if we do not pay attention we are doomed. Some have defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results; this is the definition which I see to be true. The illusion sold to us that a centralized bank, which unbeknownst to the public is privately owned, would create economic stability is simply a wolf in sheeps clothing. The Federal Reserve needs to keep the public in the dark of the fact that they are at our mercy rather than us at theirs. This fact was conceded by Robert Hemphill, credit manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta when, in 1934, he wrote, Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulationIf the banks create ample money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is incredible..It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. As a people we must realize that with every dollar created by the Federal Reserve, so is a dollar of debt created. It is through this that we have obligated ourselves to a debt which is impossible to repay. How are we to pay the interest on our loans from the fed, if every dollar in circulation is a dollar of debt? This is what has covertly kept us enslaved to the banking cartel. Just as Hemphill said, reflect upon this; it is only through fraud that the fed is able to exist. After 1913 credit was easy to obtain, being that banks could lend out money they did not have and if they needed more they could easily request another loan from the Federal Reserve. Since the Federal Reserve has the exclusive power of the issuance of currency, they could simply print money to cover the loans. In economic history we have seen that following a boom on Wall Street a bust is sure to follow. After Adolph Miller, President of the Federal Reserve began to contract the money supply and credit in 1928 money became scarce, causing panic in the market, leading to depositors to withdraw their money from banks fearing the loss of their hard earned money. Remember it was not until 1933 that the FDIC was enacted to protect depositors. In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially declared the U.S. bankrupt. In reality the Feds had printed an excessive amount of paper money that could not be covered by the gold deposits in the U.S Treasury. The result was the confiscation of over 14,000 tons of gold from the American public to help cover the deficit. This time, with the stroke of a pen, the wealth of America was transferred to the cartel of international bankers known as the Federal Reserve Bank. However, Roosevelt was no Andrew Jackson and the confiscated gold was not enough to cover Americas debt. To help quell the publics concern over the security of their deposits the Glass-Steagall Act was implemented. The GlassSteagall Act created the FDIC and removed the ability of commercial banks to invest depositors money in a speculation market. Many felt that the act would protect depositors while others (Wall Street) felt the act restricted future profits. The Glass-Steagall Act was a beautiful piece of legislation for hard working Americans. Deposit banks were no longer able to gamble their customers money with the hope of profits. The Great Crash of 1929 resulted in the highest unemployment rate our county had seen and as a result, newly elected Roosevelt, signed into law the Social Security Act of 1935. Of course we all know what the purpose of social security is; however, I believe, as many others do, that the act itself was a means of placing Americans and her future generations as collateral to the banking elite. By 1938 the economy began to recovery, the future of America seemed optimistic; yet with Roosevelts confiscation of Americas gold and gold certificates, the public was no longer able to use gold as a currency. This led to the loss of the security which gold holds towards inflation being See Fed Continued on Page 10

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper -5

Dr. Quack
A health opinion column by Jenell Redding, DCT, (P), ND The information or opinions provided herein should not be used for diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

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402 E. Orange Orange Grove, TX 78372 P. O. Box 261147 Corpus Christi, TX 78426

TECL - 22168

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Ditching Direct TV
by Penny Peavy

In early November, after several people had directly and indirectly wasted a chunk of my time, I arrived home, planning to watch something entertaining on television. I could find nothing that was not either a re-run or something I did not find either interesting or entertaining. Sure, Greta Van S. has a pretty good show, but I can only take so much of her high-pitched whiny-little-girl voice. I was just in the right mood for cutting the cord. I pulled the TV and all its peripherals out from the wall and disengaged the cords from the satellite dish to the TV, re-routed a few of the peripherals and made sure my laptop was properly connected to the TV. I began surfing the net for news, movies and TV shows. It was touch-and-go and trial and error for a while, but I soon learned how to get what I wanted fairly quickly and easily. Meanwhile I ordered a Roku box which is supposed to make all of this a lot easier. Before I review how the Roku worked, just connecting via my laptop gave me Fox News live, nightbefore TV shows, innumerable video news clips and more. I was able to play games from my laptop on big-screen TV from the comfort of my easy chair (thanks to a wireless mouse and wireless keyboard). The only trouble was that it was sometimes time-wasting to find the programs I wanted to watch. It was not like using the satellite remote to quickly change channels. For those of you who have been addicted to the Fox News channel, I am happy to report that via the internet a different version of Fox News is presented live, beginning at 8 a.m. our time, every morning. It is entirely different programming than what is on TV, much more inclined to hard core news and great interviews without all the often annoying entertainment features on the satellite TV version and without

those nasty discussion panels where everyone talks at once and you cannot perceive what anyone is saying. Best of all there are no dumb blondes like Gretchen on Fox and Friends. (Is she actually a dumb blonde? Or is she just getting paid a lot of money to act like one? Who knows?) Now for the Roku. On the plus side, it is a very simple interface that allows the user to access movies, TV shows, newscasts and videos over the internet. A high-speed connection and HDTV are required. The box cost less than one month subscription to satellite TV service. It is very simple to set up and simple to use, but, in truth, there is nothing you get on Roku that you cannot get by hooking up your laptop to your TV with an HDMI cable. Although the Roku has a FoxNews Channel available, it does not seem to stream nearly as well as when I use my computer. So far, I expect I will use the Roku for music and movies and the computer for some of my news. The biggest advantage of the Roku over using a PC is that Roku eliminates the need for a wireless mouse or wireless keyboard. Believe it or not, nearly any television show you may like to watch regularly is available via the internet on any number of devices besides your laptop and the Roku box. In general you will have to wait until the next day to see your desired program, but thats not too hard to live with. I subscribed to Netflix so I could get movies whenever I want, and $7.99 a month is a whale of lot less expensive than renting DVDs one at a time or subscribing to satellite TV. It was really hard for me to make a decision to let the satellite service See Ditching Continued on Page 9

Do you ever think back to times when people had all the energy they wanted. Fought for their land night and day and was never tired? I have and in doing so have run across something from the Aztec civilization that was used as medicinally, spiritually in ceremonies and most assuredly in fighting. The reports that those Aztec men could fight day and night and never get tired. My curiosity caused more research. What I discovered was something called Aztec Black Chia. It is a most amazing plant given to all of us as stated in scripture And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. Genesis 1:28-30, King James Version. This information is important since you can grow this plant and harvest this plant right here in south Texas. I have grown this plant and did not know about all of its qualities. Ancient Aztec society was an extremely complex and sophisticated civilization. It boasted a remarkable social order, elaborate architecture, robust commerce, and a rich culture. At the height of its glory, it stretched over 84,000 square miles and boasted a population of 11 million. Protecting and expanding this legendary empire were the Aztec warriors, who comprised one of the fiercest pre-industrial militaries ever known. Then the Spanish conquistadors arrived. And within a few short years, the Aztec empire crumbled. Were the Spaniards stronger? No. Were they smarter? Not really. Then how did they conquer the Aztecs so easily? They were just paying attention. The Spaniards observed that chia, the seed from the herb Salvia hispanica, was used in all aspects of Aztec society. It was used medicinally, in religious ceremonies, in the arts, and as a major trade item. As a staple food crop, it was eaten whole, ground into flour, and made into drinks. Perhaps most importantly of all, it was used as a survival ration for the military. Aztec warriors on the march carried chia in pouches on their waist and grabbed a mouthful every now and then. This amazing super-food enabled them to march for days without rest. Aztec warriors were legendary for their ferocity, strength, and physical prowess and its no wonder. Before engaging their enemies in battle, they fueled up on chia. The Spaniards saw how essential this super-food was to the strength of the Aztec nation, so they struck at the lifeblood of the culture... they burned the chia fields. And without this powerful, nutrient-dense source of fuel, the once-mighty military began to falter. Aztec warriors could no longer defend their nation. As it turned out, that was the beginning of the end for the Aztec empire. But it wasnt the end of chia. Because chia thrives at high altitudes in remote locations, the

conquistadors couldnt wipe out all of it. Over the centuries small plots of chia were cultivated by descendants of the great and mighty Aztecs. When chia was suddenly rediscovered around the turn of the 21st century, nutrition scientists became very excited about this new super-food. Chias Fuel Regulator Composition and delivers steady energy all day. Its easy to see why this tiny little seed packs such a powerful punch. Chia seed is the total package. Its rich in essential omega-3 fats and antioxidants, high in fiber, and contains protein, calcium, minerals, and important B vitamins. And heres what makes chia even more unique. Because of its distinctive nutritional composition, chia stays with you. The fiber in the seed (7 grams per two tablespoons, about a quarter of your daily recommended requirement) absorbs up to 12 times its weight in water. When chia is mixed with any liquid (even the liquid naturally present in food), the fiber forms a gel. This gel seems to act as a fuel regulator, helping to control the absorption of sugars and carbs into the bloodstream. That means your food is turned into a steady, sustained fuel source, instead of spiking and dropping rapidly. For many, it's a way to feel energized all day long... without feeling hyper. When you eat chia with other foods, you can easily see the benefits of this fuel regulator effect. But chia can stand beautifully on its own, too, thanks to its astonishing nutrient density. In fact, heres the main stay: Its the richest plant source of essential Omega-3 Fats on earth. If youre eating anything close to the standard American diet, then youre in serious trouble. Chances are, you arent getting nearly enough of omega-3 fats in your diet. In fact, a study recently published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed this astonishing fact: Omega-3 deficiency is the sixth largest killer of Americans. Digestive health is the key to wellness and elimination of toxins. So what that means to me is that Chia supports a health y digestive and immune system, supports weight loss, improves absorption of food nutrients. Our diets today have far too many omega-6 fats, and not nearly enough omega-3s. And we need those omega-3s, desperately. We need them as building blocks of hormones, to support the nervous system and brain health, heart health, a defense against stress, for endurance, stamina, and energy. And Aztec Black Chia delivers. Its the richest non-marine source of essential omega-3 fats on the planet. The omega3s, are in the form of alpha linolenic acid, ( ALA and theres more ALA in chia than there is even in flaxseed) ! Both the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend people eat at least 1200 mg of ALA omega-3 every single day. One of the easiest ways to get that is Aztec Black Chia it has over 2000 mg of ALA omega-3 per tablespoon! For whatever reason, chia grown at high altitudes packs a far more nutrient-dense punch. We see that in its omega-3 content and we also see it in its antioxidant power. A foods antioxidant power is measured in ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity). And See Quack Continued on Page10

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December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper - 6

OSAGE ENVIRONMENTAL, INC.

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Jim@crownresourcemgt.com Aesops Fables The Little Boy and Fortune
A little boy wearied with a long journey, lay down overcome with fatigue on the very brink of a deep well. Being within an inch of falling into the water, Dame Fortune, it is said, appeared to him, and waking him from his slumber, thus addressed him: "Little boy, pray wake up: for had you fallen into the well, the blame will be thrown on me, and I shall get an ill name among mortals; for I find that men are sure to blame their calamities to me, however much by their own folly they have really brought them on themselves." Moral: "Every one is more or less master of his own fate."

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The Man and His Wife

A MAN had a Wife who made herself hated by all the members of his household. Wishing to find out if she had the same effect on the persons in her father's house, he made some excuse to send her home on a visit to her father. After a short time she returned, and when he inquired Moral: Straws show how she had got on and how the wind blows.

how the servants had treated her, she replied, "The herdsmen and shepherds cast on me looks of aversion." He said, "O Wife, if you were disliked by those who go out early in the morning with their flocks and return late in the evening, what must have been felt towards you by those with whom you passed the whole day!"

Sudoku Puzzle
Fill the grid with numbers 1 to 9 so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating any numbers.

Western Auto / Ace Hardware

10605 Leopard
ACROSS 1. In shape 6. Unwanted email 10. Snip 14. Colonic 15. List of options 16. Apiary 17. Thin piece of wood or metal 18. The products of human creativity 19. Wicked 20. Dental tool 22. A fitting reward (archaic) 23. Mesh 24. Relaxes 26. Taxi driver 30. Gander 32. A kind of macaw 33. Unmanned 37. Former Italian currency 38. Seraglio 39. Conceited 40. Declaration 42. Odd-numbered page 43. Not south 44. A type of nut

241-7445
12. Wall climbers 13. Blend 21. Spelling contest 25. Eastern Standard Time 26. Serene 27. Operatic solo 28. Farm building 29. Cogitate 30. Circumference 31. Margarine 33. Long ago 34. Every single one 35. Location 36. Winter precipitation 38. Shepherd 41. Enemy 42. Anagram of "Chatter" 44. Spy agency 45. Look closely 46. Willow 47. Streamlined 48. Part of a plant 50. Tropical tuber 51. As well 52. Hefty volume 53. Ancient Peruvian 54. Abound 55. Visual organs

Crossword Puzzle

45. Drugged 47. Seat oneself 48. A musical pause 49. Found on cave ceilings 56. Hodgepodge 57. Man 58. Product of bees 59. Not under 60. Backside 61. Master of ceremonies 62. School session 63. Cozy corner 64. League members DOWN 1. Exam 2. Savvy about 3. Roman emperor 4. Send forth 5. Water flea 6. Clever 7. South American country 8. Picnic insects 9. Like a toadstool 10. Reflexive form of "them" 11. Stud

Puzzle Solutions on page 11

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper -7

Isabelles Garden Tips

SPITZER SERVICES
361-227-2242 361-946-8305
Land Clearing Fencing Road Construction Ponds Mowing Demolition

Some of you have told me that your gardens have just pooped out, after such a dry and hot summer. Well, so did mine. Instead of letting the heat get the best of me I waited until the first time seedlings were on sale and purchased replacements for what needed replacing. In doing so, I now have a great garden. Over 32 nice green tomatoes should be ready in about 3-4 weeks. Since it is cooler and they get less sunshine it is taking longer for them to start to ripen. Because we all would like fresh greens you should learn the virtues of sprouting seeds. Most are ready to eat within three to five days. First the sprouts have an abundance of antioxidants and you can sprout just any seed. I do not suggest using tainted seeds as that could cause you grief. But you can buy pinto beans, and all kinds of seeds in Corpus Christi or go online and order some. Alfalfa, really are good. You can use then in place of lettuce and get the lettuce crunch especially if they are really good and cold. Mung beans make a really good base for salads, just add whatever like peeled roasted peppers, red onions, carrot, etc. So just use your imagination. Remember not to use seeds that have been coated with anything, cause that aint good for your health and can make sick and you just might start praying to GOD. But most likely you will live. Do not try to sprout seeds intended for planting in your garden as many have been treated with chemicals and not good to

use for food sprouts. You can use a jar or buy a simple seed sprouter and you could spend a lot of money and buy a really expensive one. It (the expensive one) does not do much better than the simple ones. Just a tip! So the main thing is seeds that you sprout do not like sunshine, so dont give them any. Just cover the jar with a thick towel and the same for all the other sprouters. Keep them moist until they have been sprouted for about 24 hours. Then rinse them twice a day and put them back into the container you are using. Continue rinsing until they are ready to eat. Usually they take another 24-72 hours. Then rinse one more time and let rest on paper towels for about10 minutes. Put in storage container and store in you refrigerator. Eat and enjoy. See what you can do and still have a garden. It will really increase the nutrition and decrease the waste from fresh vegetables. Back to my GrowCamp....Awesome! That explains it. I want another one ...honest I do. Swiss Chard, Basil Jalapenos, Large bell peppers, over 32 tomatoes. Eggplants are blooming, Greek oregano and Red bell peppers and more. Now I must tell you my broccoli did not make it. The reason was I got white flies. So since it was in the Grow-Camp, I treated the soil and each leaf and stem on every plant and forgot the broccoli. Had to use more of my homemade Insecticide Soap. It worked and all is well

except it was too late to plant new plants. Have shallots to plant soon, should have been sooner, but all is well. The hay I have with my chickens is great compost. I put hay and poop in the compost and some yeast, water in really good and then real quick I have dirt. To make the homemade Insecticide use a gallon jug almost full of water first then add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 tablespoons Original Palmolive (Green in color and not anti-anything) dishwashing soap. When the water goes in last you really have a lot of suds everywhere. Hope your Thanksgiving Day was super and once again Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dump Truck & Driver Available Commercial and Residential Services Serving all of South Texas Jason Spitzer - Owner

Bean Sprouts

Its a Dogs Life

by Miss Daisy Duke more. Its like they might stage some sort of crazy protest if they dont get their free food. Mom is really stupid about some things, but shes pretty smart about some things, too. She says every dog and every human needs to feel like they are earning their keep in one way or another. I think shes right about that one, but then there are those occupying wild cats who want something for nothing and envy dogs like me that work for my keep and am very well cared for when all is said and done. What in the heck is the matter with those trespassing occupiers? They just want a handout. Mom says there are humans like that, too. Water fell out of the sky again not long ago, and there was thunder and lightening, and, Im ashamed to admit, I was scared. Little Mom let me in the human house, and I went straight to bed, curling up like a newborn pup. Mom called me to her and petted me and told me everything was fine and not be scared, but I went right back to bed anyway. There are other sounds I dont like besides the thunder. On weekends I hear terribly loud sounds from down the hill on the big water. Those sounds make me pretty nervous, but Mom says they are just men driving very fast boats and that even though were extremely annoying they wouldnt hurt me. I wonder where they are going that they need to get there so fast and with so much noise. Are they chasing fish? Or birds? I cant repeat what Mom says about them. It wouldnt be nice, and Im a very nice girl, I tell you. The man in the huge brown box on wheels who wears brown clothes has been here often this month. I always bark at him. I dont really know why. He is really nice to Mom and always hands her some sort of brown box that Mom always seems happy to get. I think I just like to see if I can scare him half to death. Trouble is, hes really nice, even knows my name and doesnt seem to be scared of me at all. Boohoo! I want him to think Im really fierce! After all, Im Queen of the World, I tell you! He should bow down to me! As much as I love my cookies, Little Mom says they are good for me and that I need two a day. Well, thats fine with me. But now, at least once a day, she hides the cookie way in the bottom of the food bowl, and then I have to dig for it. Life is unfair! I have to either perform tricks for a cookie or dig into my dish like a groveling pig. Im no pig, even if Mom thinks I eat too much. I eat like the lady that I am, I tell you! Its time for another one of my favorite activities -- taking another long nap, so bowwow to all my pals out there. I hope you are having as great a life as I am.

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Boy howdy! I sure like this weather. Makes me feel like a young gal again, all frisky, you know -- that is until I decide I need to take a little nap or maybe even a long nap. Little Mom made some more doggy cookies the other day. When Mom wasnt looking she accidentally-onpurpose dropped a bit of dough on the floor, and I got to lick it up. Im no dummy. I knew it would not be long until hot, fresh, tasty cookies would come out of the hole by the wall. I think she calls it an oven. My frog pals seem to have gone on vacation for a while, but I do have birds to chase. Mom says its my job now to keep birds out of the gardens. At least I have a job. Thats good. It makes me feel good. Yeah! I sure wish she would let me out of the yard to chase those pesky wild cats. I dont know why they come around. Mom says a neighbor is feeding them and they keep coming back for

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Daisy Duke says: I love Dr. McCoy!

There are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.

"Do not make the mistake of treating your dogs like humans or they will treat you like dogs." - Martha Scott

Call Jenell at 361 547-9062 for Your Advertising Needs.

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper - 8

Service Installation Sales

ANTHONY C. GARZA, D.D.S., Inc. T.J. ATWOOD, D.D.S.

FAMILY AND COSMETIC DENTISTRY

112 S. Eugenia St. Orange Grove, TX 78372 (361) 384-0525

701 E. San Patricio St. Mathis, TX 78368 (361) 547-9311

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Lulabelles Household Hints

then baked, or thawed and reheated to make it fresh, hot and tasty. That will give you lots of time to relax and even go to the spa before the Christmas festivities begin. You really deserve this kind of treatment, dont you? I sure think so. Since New Years is a few hours away from Christmas, I say go to someone elses party. Make a deal with your friend one that is close so you can return the favor say for Valentines Day. It is a life saver. Back to where we are getting ready for Christmas. Oh yes, the outside needs some decorations and with all this wind some cleaning. Do some edging and weeding. Let someone mow the yard. Put up some new solar lighting it will be special all year. Use single units and they are anywhere from $3 to $6 for each. Dont need many. Enough to place as accents. It will wow everyone. Be sure and read the label to know how to activate each one of the lights. Usually about 48 hours in the sun after you pull the tab, and some do not have a tab. Just follow the directions. Time out for a little refreshment. Enjoy and watch those little lights soak up the sun and get charged-up for Christmas and all year long. I want you to know if you have even done one thing each month for as cleaning and prepping your home you should be very proud of yourself. It is hard to do the cleaning up. So should you find someone who cleans your home like you want it done. Do be especially nice to anyone who does a good job and keep them, as they are jewels! Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Love, Isabelle

The Texas Country Chef

by Penny Peavy

into 1/2 inch cubes One large or two medium tomatoes, chopped. 1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced and diced About 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro Juice of one lime 1/2 cup sour cream or full fat yogurt. Mix all ingredientsexcept the last and refrigerate until ready to serve. Mix in the sour cream or yogurt. Preheat gas grill for about ten minutes at high heat, or, if using charcoal grill, prepare a hot fire, allowing coals to become completely gray (red hot), and put steak on the fire for 7 minutes on one side. Turn and cook for 5 or 6 minutes on the other side. Let steak sit for about five minutes after taking it off the fire, sprinkle with salt and slice across the grain in 1/4 to 3/8 inch slices. If you are not on a low-carbohydrate diet, serve with warm flour torillas so the steak and salad may be wrapped like in fajita. (Note: I have tried low-carb tortillas and consider them to just about as tasty as I think steamed cardboard might be.)

Its Your Life, Your Money, Your Freedom

by V. J. Alford The world seems to be going to hell in a hand-basket if you keep track with the news. What can you do? There is nothing that we as individuals can do to change the course of history or the forces to soon change our lives, but we can take care of our own lives. As I have said many times before, be sure you have a way to obtain food, grow food or store food. You will not survive without food and water. Be sure you know how to make water drawn from whatever source safe to drink. Be sure you have protection for you and your loved ones. It is entirely possible that at sometime in the not-so-far future grocery prices will be so high that you might pay $10 a pound for hamburger meat. You might pay $4 a pound for beans or rice. It is also quite possible that the dollar as we know it will not buy anything at all. Kaput! Not only do we now have these Occupy Wall Street bums in the streets in every major city in America, we even have them only a couple of hundred miles away in cities such as Austin. A tiny little OWS group attempted a hit on Corpus Christi City Hall, but, fortunately, they quickly lost interes when very few people showed up for the event. While I can sympathize with the frustration of these youth, they are targeting the wrong sources of problems with the wrong messages, and most do not even really know what they are doing. For the most part, these protestors are completely ignorant of the real root causes of Americas problems. Wall Street, per se, is simply a place of brokerage, a place where people buy and sell interests in various publicly available corporations. What is really behind these protests are those who want a New World Order, complete with Communism and and totalarianism, and I have little doubt that Obama, poor thing, believes he will come to power as the ultimate dictator of the world. Now, back to you and your loved ones. Fortunately for most of our readers, you probably already live in a rural or semi-rural area. That is important, as the rabble rousers, paid for by such groups as the re-invented ACORN, will not bother us poor bumpkins out in the countryside, at least not until they get really hungry. For the most part, I expect our rural law enforcement officials will follow their oath of office to protect the Constitution of the United States and we the people. They will keep their oaths, not bend to the lawless ways of the federal or state governments. If you have been doing the exercises suggested for years in this column, you should be out of debt by now, except perhaps for a home loan. You should have money in the bank and perhaps a small amount of silver, maybe even gold, and other barter items, such as toabacco, alcohol, dried foods, ammo and other itesm. The Obama administration is working very hard to stave off the collapse of America until after the 2012 elections, and they may succeed. They present us with false promises, false primeses and false statistics on the true condition of the economy, the national debt and the budget crisis. If Obama is re-elected, which could happen if Romney becomes the Republican candidate, darkness will overwhelm us and quickly. Prepare your family for a much different and more austere lifestyle. Be prepared for such events as unemployment, extreme inflation and extreme police state tactics. Be prepared for power outtages on a fairly regular basis, planned and designed to make it hard for you to get access to the internet where the truth lives. Get to know your neighbors and make careful assessment of whether they are true friends, fair-weataher friends, or simply out for themselves. If things get bad, you must know who your real friends are. Decide where you will draw the line between physical safety versus freedom and liberty. Are you up against unjust laws simply designed to control your behavior? Decide whether you will accept the consequences of breaking such arbitrary laws or whether you will abide by those laws in the name of physical safety. Decide whether you will draw a line in the sand or goalong-to-get-along. Russians who lived in the former USSR, who had been born into that Communist regime, and had no knowlege of free trade or freedom of any kind were asked how they could have lived with and put up with that regime for so long. The answer was, We didnt know there any other way to live. We grew up with it and resigned ourselves to it. Is this you? Will you put up with a loss of America, or, worse, a loss of TEXAS? A further loss of freedom than we have already suffered with the Patriot Act, the IRS, the Federal Reserve, the left-wing Socialists/Communists like Barack Obama?

Grilled Flank Steak

Many years ago, before the popularity of fajita and before the dogma of low fat dieting came into being, both skirt steak (fajita) and flank steak were indeed poor folks steak. Now, both are rather high priced, with the superior flank steak as costly as many finer steaks. When I moved to south Texas in 1995 I discovered that flank steak (one of my very favorites) was not available at local stores and that often store managers had never even heard of such a thing. After years of searching, it appears that one cannot find it anywhere south of San Antonio and Houston. I eventually, however, found a great source, and Im quite frankly not going to tell you where because when I drive there to buy it, I like for at least 20 pounds readily available. I will tell you my sources are in San Antonio and Austin. If you know of a source in or around Corpus Christi, you are lucky.

Girls, have you got it all together for Christmas and New Years? Well, not much time left, so lets get going now. Surely you have already or in the process of putting up your Thanksgiving stuff. Remember to keep the stuff that goes well with both holidays out so you do not have to unpack what you just put up. Since you have cleaned the house so well preparing for Thanksgiving you only need to dust and vacuum and wipe down the shiny things like chrome faucets and windows and mirrors . Now you are ready to start relaxing with your favorite beverage. You really need a break. Go ahead and fix it and sit down and enjoy it. Have you done your shopping yet? Well, get ready for all those special deals. Believe me in this economic climate you will be able to negotiate your price. Buy a book and learn how. When you are buying (in government language: investing) think about all the birthdays and anniversaries and other times in the coming year you will need gifts and go ahead buy now. Just put a note inside each gift so you will know when and who to give it away to. Right now as I am writing this the weather is exceptional. Hope it will stay the same throughout all the holiday season. That means you get to have outside parties. (No need to let the house get messed up by those sweet loving children. They can be seen and not heard if they are outside and the adults are inside. Think about it! Children are miserable indoors with adults. Do prepare all the food in advance. Some things can be made a week before and frozen,

With fresh mushroom sauce:

1) Coat steak with olive oil, Here are a couple my favorite rubbing it all over steak. Libways of preparing flank steak, erally sprinkle freshly ground both quick and easy.. black pepper over entire steak and rub it in well. Refrigerate until ready to cook. With a Pico de

Gallo style salad:

2) Add 1 Tbs. olive oil and 2 Tbs. butter (the real thing) to a Ingredients: heavy bottomed skillet. Heat skillet until butter is melted. For marinade: Add 16 oz. fresh mushrooms, any kind or a mixture of two or 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce three varieties. Add 1/4 cup 2 Tablespoons Worcesterhire finely diced shallots (or green Sauce onions). When mushrooms 2 Tablespoons red wine and onions are mostly cooked, add 1/4 cup red wine and turn Mix these ingredients and heat down. Simmer until most place in a casserole large liquid has disappeared. enough to lay out your steak, preferably one which weighs 3) Heat grill as described in about two pounds. Slather the previous recipe and cook steak steak all over in the marinade as described. and refrigerate for a couple of hours, turning steak over after 4) Slice steak across the grain first hour. as described in previous recipe. Arrange slices on plates For the salad: and cover with mushrroom sauce. Ingredients: An excellent accompaniment One bell pepper, diced is your favorite green salad, Two large jalepeno peppers, sliced tomatoes or even deseeded, deveined and diced cooked greens or grilled One avocado, peeled and diced squash.

My favorite animal is steak.

-- Fran Lebowitz, humorist

Keep Your Money Working Locally: Shop Your Local Businesses!

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper -9

Tips to Better Photos

by Wayne Green
they have cooled all the way down to match the outside air no matter how many times they're wiped off with a lens cloth. ( by the way -don't use anything but cloth and tissue that is made specifically for lens cleaning.) TIP 3 - Expose for Snow. If we're lucky enough to have a good snowfall again, as we did recently or if you head up into the mountains for a winter vacation you need to be aware of how easily a snow covered scene can throw off your automatic metering in your camera producing underexposed results. When your camera is set for automatic metering to determine exposure you'll have fair results as long as what you are photographing is composed of relatively equal dark and light areas or if your subject is mostly middle toned between white and black areas. Can you start guessing why snow scenes can cause a big problem? A lot of winter scenes will consist of almost all areas of white snow. Your camera set on auto exposure since it is assuming that the scene consists of half dark areas and half light areas will read the snow scene in a way that produces all the snow as a middle tone, in other words, grey snow. What every serious photographer needs to know is how to adjust the exposure when scenes are balanced toward more light toned areas or for that matter also scenes that are composed of mostly dark areas. You need to compensate

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his month's article may be a bit short as I've had some computer trouble and Thanksgiving is cutting down on time available. I will however include some tips that can go a long way to helping insure your winter photography doesn't disappoint you.

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TIP 1 - Cold weather shortens battery life. In very cold conditions be sure to bring along extra batteries for cameras and all other accessories that need them. Another suggestion along these lines is to keep your batteries where they will stay as warm as possible. When out hiking around keep your batteries in pockets of your inner clothing close to body warmth.

TIP 2 - Cold weather can be extremely tricky when it comes to hopping out of a warm vehicle to photograph out in the colder air. You'll find that precautions are needed to keep your lens and viewfinder free from fogging up. Even a slight difference in temperature of the air can fog a lens, so the best way to avoid this is to remove your equipment to a place in the vehicle that's not being warmed . Use the trunk for storage in most cars or for trucks you can provide a storage place in the back. Just make sure your equipment is padded in some way to avoid hard knocks and severe motion. This tip can help you avoid missing a lot of photo opportunities since lenses will keep fogging until

a snow scene by giving more exposure than what auto metering suggests. A snowy scene on a bright sunny afternoon could need to be adjusted by as much as 1 and 3/4 f stops. However a snow scene in early morning and cloudy conditions may only need one half of an f stop over what your averaging meter reads. Most of you probably are shooting digital equipment and can start with these settings and adjust until you have the most natural exposure or get the effect you want. I hope these three major tips will go a long way toward helping you with your winter photos. One more thought I'd like to mention is one to give you many more opportunities for exceptional images. What

I want to suggest is that you get out as early as possible. Especially in the part of the country where we live, if you can get out exploring early before the day begins to warm up you're much more likely to find dramatic images like hoar frost perfectly covering the plants and leaves frozen into puddles, etc. It's always harder to get out of our warm beds on those cold days but well worth it considering what we might find if we get out at the coldest time of day. Remember that I'm always glad to receive questions, suggestions, or comments, so e-mail me at wgreen@stx.rr.com or call Wayne at 361-547-6898. Hope you all have a most wonderful and magical Christmas! -Wayne

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Obama: The Affirmative Action President

By Matt Patterson From: August 18, 2011 Reprinted with permission from Author Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, a baffling breed of mass hysteria akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present"); and finally an unaccomplished single term in United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. He left no academic legacy in academia, authored no signature legislation as legislator. And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: the white-hating, Americaloathing preacher who for decades served as Obama's "spiritual mentor"; a real-life, actual terrorist who served as Obama's colleague and political sponsor. It is easy to imagine a future historian looking at it all and asking: how on Earth was such a man elected president? Not content to wait for history, the incomparable Norman Podhoretz addressed the question recently in the Wall Street Journal: To be sure, no white candidate who had close associations with an outspoken hater of America like Jeremiah Wright and an unrepentant terrorist like Bill Ayers would have lasted a single day. But because Mr. Obama was black, and therefore entitled in the eyes of liberaldom to have hung out with protesters against various American injustices, even if they were a bit extreme, he was given a pass. Let that sink in: Obama was given a pass -- held to a lower standard -- because of the color of his skin. Podhoretz continues: And in any case, what did such ancient history matter when he was also articulate and elegant and (as he himself had said) "non-threatening," all of which gave him a fighting chance to become the first black president and thereby to lay the curse of racism to rest? Podhoretz puts his finger, I think, on the animating pulse of the Obama phenomenon -affirmative action. Not in the legal sense, of course. But certainly in the motivating sentiment behind all affirmative action laws and regulations, which are designed primarily to make white people, and especially white liberals, feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, minorities often suffer so that whites can pat themselves on the back. Liberals routinely admit minorities to schools for which they are not qualified, yet take no responsibility for the inevitable poor performance and high drop-out rates which follow. Liberals don't care if these minority students fail; liberals aren't around to witness the emotional devastation and deflated self esteem resulting from the racist policy that is affirmative action. Yes, racist. Holding someone to a separate standard merely because of the color of his skin -- that's affirmative action in a nutshell, and if that isn't racism, then nothing is. And that is what America did to Obama. True, Obama himself was never troubled by his lack of achievements, but why would he be? As many have noted, Obama was told he was good enough for Columbia despite undistinguished grades at Occidental; he was told he was good enough for the US Senate despite a mediocre record in Illinois; he was told he was good enough to be president despite no record at all in the Senate. All his life, every step of the way, Obama was told he was good enough for the next step, in spite of ample evidence to the contrary. What could this breed if not the sort of empty narcissism on display every time Obama speaks? In 2008, many who agreed that he lacked executive qualifications nonetheless raved about Obama's oratory skills, intellect, and cool character. Those people -- conservatives included -- ought now to be deeply embarrassed. The man thinks and speaks in the hoariest of clichs, and that's when he has his teleprompter in front of him; when the prompter is absent he can barely think or speak at all. Not one original idea has ever issued from his mouth -- it's all warmed-over Marxism of the kind that has failed over and over again for 100 years. And what about his character? Obama is constantly blaming anything and everything else for his troubles. Bush did it; it was bad luck; I inherited this mess. It is embarrassing to see a president so willing to advertise his own powerlessness, so comfortable with his own incompetence. But really, what were we to expect? The man has never been responsible for anything, so how do we expect him to act responsibly? In short: our president is a small and small-minded man, with neither the temperament nor the intellect to handle his job. When you understand that, and only when you understand that, will the current erosion of liberty and prosperity make sense. It could not have gone otherwise with such a man in the Oval Office. But hey, at least we got to feel good about ourselves for a little while. And really, isn't that all that matters these days? Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/obam a_the_affirmative_action_president.html#ixzz1dEDlIp3X Matt Pattersons website may be found at: mattpattersononline.com Matt Patterson is a columnist and commentator whose work has appeared in some of the nation's top newspapers

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and political sites, including the Washington Post, New York Post, Washington Examiner, American Thinker, and FOXNews.com. His work has been cited on air by Sean Hannity, quoted in Forbes and The Week magazine, and featured on the Drudge Report, RealClearPolitics, and RushLimbaugh.com, among many others Ditching Continued from Page 5 go by the wayside until I began to add up how much money I will save over the next ten years alone, more than $14,000. Ironically, the only time I have been totally stiffed on an ad in this publication was by a representative from my my own satellite service provider who has been ripping me off for the past three or four years for all those channels I dont care about having. The beauty of Roku is that you can add and delete channels so that your home screen only displays channels you want to watch, and, other than subscriptions such as Netflix, there are no monthly charges. I know there are going to be those of you who want to call me and ask me questions about how to hook your laptop to your TV or how to buy Roku. All this information is available on the internet. Please do not call me with such questions. I will think you are wasting my time. I spent a great deal of time learning how to do all this. You, too, can do it. Seekers find. My daily life has actually changed somewhat dramatically since ditching the satellite TV. I spend quiet time in the early morning, watching the sun rise and thinking about my day. Everything I watch on the TV set is deliberate, not just having the TV on. In the evenings I play one or more of my musical instruments and then perhaps select a movie from the large number available not only on Netflix but other internet sites, some of which are completely free. Then I think about the things I can do with the $100-plus I am saving each month by not having satellite TV. Anyone for a new boat? A vacation?

Happy and Safe Holidays to All

December 2011 Fed Continued from Page 4 means basically that there is no other agency of government that can overrule actions that we take. So as long as that is in place, and there is no evidence that the administration or Congress, or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is the appropriate thing; then what the relationships are, dont frankly matter. Greenspan arrogantly told Rose that the Federal Reserve was above the law without any regulation. If this is not enough proof to substantiate the mafialike role the fed plays in our country, then I dont know what is. If you visit the Federal Reserve website (www.federalreserve.gov) you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and see a link for a disclaimer. The disclaimer reads, This is a protected U.S. government website. To intentionally cause damage to it or to any Federal Reserve electronic facility or data through the knowing transmission of any program, information, code, or command is unlawful..This system and related equipment are subject to monitoring. Information regarding users may be obtained and disclosed to authorized personnel, including law enforcement authorities, for official purposes. Access to or use of this website constitutes consent to these terms. I have visited the FBI and CIA websites and neither one reveals such a disclaimer. Why does the Federal Reserve post such a threating disclaimer? What is it about the Federal Reserve that compels them to issue such a warning? Perhaps it is because of the secrecy which surrounds the central bank and its fraudulent policies that they fear will reach the public that will only reveal their weakness. The Federal Reserve holds a clause stating that the act can easily be repealed with an act of Congress; however, the fed must strive to keep the illusion vivid that without the Federal Reserve we would not be able to succeed without their existence. Contact Armando Conde at you.decide27@gmail.com Quack Continued from Page 5 compared to other chia seed, Aztec Black Chia comes out far ahead. It boasts an ORAC score of 12,700about 70% higher than other chia seed available today. For folks interested in storable emergency foods, Chia is shelf stable for up to two years.. Here are just a few ways to use it: Stir a spoonful of chia into yogurt, or smooches, Add seeds to homemade baked goods, even pizza dough, Sprinkle Chia on salads, in rice dishes, etc, Keep some at the office or anywhere for a quick energy push, Make a quick energy drink by stirring a spoonful of seeds into a small glass of water, add a little lime juice and a bit of Stevia Chia should be a staple in the kitchen. Make sure to get some every day to help keep blood sugar even and to supply steady energy. Its really amazingly versatile. And remember you should talk with your AMA certified Medical Doctor because another person has not been anointed by the great god AMA, to tell you this. So remember only can Chia be blessed by your AMA physician. Have a great Thanksgiving and may I be the first to tell you Merry Christmas. Your friend, Doctor Quack.

The Lake & Country Shopper -10

that it has intrinsic value. The feds know the value of gold and it is for this reason that stock in the Federal Reserve may only be purchased with gold or gold certificates. The United States owns no stock in the fed because we are not able to use gold as a currency. June 4, 1963 President Kennedy challenged the banking elite by initiating Executive Order 11110 which had the U.S. Treasury issue silver certificates. The certificates were issued based on the silver holdings of the U.S. which was about $4.3 billion. Kennedys actions resulted in a competing currency with the Federal Reserve note. The difference between the two was that the U.S. notes were debt free and redeemable in silver. Constitutional money was once again being issued to the public and this angered the bankers. Coincidently, five months later Kennedy was assassinated. Many theories have stirred the reasons behind Kennedys death, but history does repeat itself, and his actions ran parallel with Lincolns: they both challenged the banks. Practically every banker in banking history has taken the route which only procures high profit margins. In the mid 1990s Brooksley Born who was appointed as director of the Commodities Future Trading Commission by President William Clinton, uncovered an unregulated market which dealt with financial instruments called over-the-counter derivatives. Wikipedia defines a derivative as an instrument that is a contract between two parties that specifies conditionsin particular, dates and the resulting values of the underlying variablesunder which payments, or payoffs, are to be made between the parties. Born discovered the OTC market to be unregulated with somewhere between $2530 trillion in obligations and saw the dangers of the market. Allen Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve under the Clinton administration, along with his cronies Larry Summers, and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Robert Rubin helped to discredit Brooksley Born during Congressional hearings where Born was seeking to regulate the OTC market. Born was concerned that the publics interest was not considered in the OTC market and that their money would be stolen as the result of an unstable, fraudulent market. It is estimated that the OTC market in 2008 was somewhere in the $680 trillion range. With the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which Greenspan had a hefty role in 1999; once again commercial banks were able to conduct business with investment banks. Now deposit banks were able to participate in the derivative market. Investors had acquired unbelievable returns. The market was booming, but what have we learned about booms: a bust is sure to follow. This is what led up to the bubble burst of 2008 with the selling of sub-prime mortgages. It is rumored that upon Born heading the CFTC, Born and Greenspan met for lunch. During this meeting Greenspan told Born that fraud was good and should not be regulated. Whether or not you believe this to be true; consider the following: with the release of Greenspans book The Age of Turbulence in 2007, Charlie Rose interviewed the former fed chairman. During the interview Rose asked the question, What is, what should be the relationship between the President of the U.S. and the chairman of the Federal Reserve? Greenspan responded, First of all the Federal Reserve is an independent agency; and that

Imperialism, Left and Right

Wednesday, November 09, ists, not unlike those from the Christian right, have acquired 2011 by Tibor Machan sacred texts of their own in from: thedailybell.com terms of which what they disNo, I am not talking about like can be condemned with a foreign policy. My concern is tone of moral righteousness. with how both Left and Right They invoke what they refer to seem to have their straightjack- as 'the Gaia hypothesis.' Acets into which they want every- cording to this doctrine, which one to be strapped, like it or is accepted by more and more not. It is disturbing in part be- environmentalists, 'all of life on cause a high point of the Amer- earth can be seen as whole that ican way of life has always is more than the sum of its been the 'live and let live' prin- parts, this whole being like a ciple. And the USA, with its huge super-lifeform . . . (after substantial commitment to the the name for the ancient Greek principle of private property goddess of the earth).' Why is this a left-wing rights, has managed to live up movement? Because it to that idea quite well. preaches, as does socialism, Just consider religion. In America, there are no serious that human beings are part of a religious wars because the large organism in their own faithful of each religion are words, 'that the earth is alive able to conduct their affairs in and that we are part of it.' Sopeace, undisturbed by others cialism confines this collecwith whom they disagree. Con- tivism to people, either in some sider how different this is from, nation (for the national socialsay, Jerusalem, where the faith- ists) or the globe (for internaful of several religions are con- tional socialists). We might call stantly bickering about who environmentalists geological should rule the turf. Here, in socialists. They argue that 'livcontrast, the public square is ing systems have a tendency to secular and the faithful are free keep themselves in balance but to assemble where they will, on also to adapt and evolve over private property, and carry on time.' They go on to claim that just as their doctrine requires. 'scientists have found that the But there are some excep- earth also has these tendencies, tions, unfortunately. Too many with feedback mechanisms to among the religious right have 'keep in balance' the temperait in big-time against gays now, ture and oxygen levels of the so whenever gays get various atmosphere, just as our bodies concessions from the legal au- maintain the temperature and thorities they are attacked. So oxygen levels in our arteries.' Once you have elected yourlong as there is a public comself as the spokesperson for ponent to being gay, gays have to contend with the political such a viewpoint, where you clout of the religious right. And speak for Earth, just as when since the state has for centuries you speak for God, the move made it its business to treat toward the 'missionary' inmarriage as its preserve, issu- deed, the 'holy warrior' role is ing licenses and conferring a very easy one to make. After rites on those who would all, the rest of us are by these marry, there is no peace for the doctrines deemed to be anyunusual, unorthodox, or odd. It thing but sovereign citizens. is a bit like interracial mar- We are all parts of and thus riages used to be, namely, a must owe allegiance to the province of state regulation, so Whole! Anything you do or I voters could make their desires, do immediately comes under prejudices, hates, loves felt on the supervision of the protecthe topic. That is pretty much tors of the holy or this time what happens whenever some- scientific mission. It's a ruse. That's what it is, of thing that ought to be private, a course. Environmentalists are matter of voluntary consent, is invaded by government. In dic- no better positioned to know tatorships the Big Kahuna says what amounts to the proper how it goes and in democracies harmony of all of nature, init becomes an invitation to var- cluding what kind of cars other ious hordes of people meddling people should purchase and drive, than are those of the in the affairs of others. The environmentalist Left is, Christian right qualified to tell of course, no different. Just no- how reality should be ordered, tice how quickly they get into including who should or should the fray where public spheres not be married. In any case, it's such as roads or parks or none of their business. Even if coastal regions are concerned. there is some insight or wisdom For them, SUVs, for example, to be imparted on the various are virtually open targets. topics from these groups, there Many feel no compunction ex- is certainly no justification for pressing their hate for people imposing such wisdom after who own SUVs and initiating all, all those speaking on the legal actions of one or another topic are just parts of the kind against the vehicles, urg- whole, even from their own ing the government to cut them perspective, as are you and I. I suggest that we be very, down to the size this group very careful about letting folks feels they should be, never mind what the actual SUV get away with claiming to be owners want. No live and let the authoritative representalive here, either no way, Jose. tives of either God or Nature. The religion here is not a tradi- They are too often up to sometional one but more recent, fu- thing invasive, intrusive and eled from within the religion aggressive when they see and academic discipline of themselves in that light. ecology. And environmental-

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After hearing a woman on talk radio say that she thought Socialism was everyone getting together and being sociabale with each either, we thought it wise to present some definitions from Miriam Webster. Definition of SOCIALISM 1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods 2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state 3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done Definition of COMMUNISM 1 a : a theory advocating elimination of private property b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed 2 a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b : a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably Definition of TOTALITARIANISM 1 : centralized control by an autocratic authority 2 : the political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority

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Puzzle Solutions
Solution to This Months Crossword

Humor
George Carlin Quotes

River Bend 534 Club

Every Saturday Night!

Can vegetarians eat animal crackers? One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him... is he still wrong? Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"? Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?" Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them? How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign? What was the best thing before sliced bread? Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song? Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? Dave Barry Quotes:

Dec 3 - Whiskey Bent...Wild Hog Cook-Off Dec 9 - Middle of the Road Dec 17- Brian Kasik & Tumble Dry Low Dec 24th-Christmas Party w/ Misty Blue Closed Christmas Day Dec 31st-New Year's Eve Party w/ Middle of the Road Karaoke Every Friday Night! Doubles Pool Wed Night!
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age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.. Regardless of the temptation, don't lick a steak knife. Phyllis Diller Quotes: They say that housework can't kill you, but why take a chance? Aim high, and you won't shoot your foot off. Be nice to your children because they will be the ones who will choose your rest home. Photos of me don't do me justice. They just look like me. The best way to get rid of kitchen odors is to eat out. Robert Redford once asked me out. I was in his room. Cleaning your house while your kids are still at home is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing. No matter what you look like, marry a man your own age. Then as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight.

Solution to This Months Sudoku

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James Lee, Service Manager

Jacob Cavazos, Service Advisor

Be Safe During the Holiday Season Have Your Auto Serviced Before You Travel.
Merry Christmas to All From Allways Chevrolet! December Solunar Fishing Calendar

Note: Dec. 1- 3 are one star fishing days.

December 2011

The Lake & Country Shopper - 13

249 Carmel Dr - 120 Waterfront - Looking for a waterfront home with

an awesome view? Look no further! Built for guests' privacy in mind with 1 BD & BA downstairs. Open living, dining and kitchen. Enjoy the view from the covered deck that facilitates a panoramic view! Pie shaped lot with the large portion of it being at the water, retainer wall. $229,900.

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Send ad text to The Lake Country Shopper, 111 Pack Trail., Sandia, TX 78383, or send ad copy by e-mail to jenell@lakecountryshopper.com Deadline: 20th of each month. All ads will be deleted the following month unless we receive notice from the advertiser that it is to be renewed. Small charge for real estate ads.

237 Lakeshore Dr - WATERFRONT - Totally updated and move-in ready! Enjoy a panoramic view of the lake and awesome sunsets from a covered patio at this 3 BD/2.5 BA home in Lakeshore Subdivision! Granite
in kitchen, bathrooms and utility room! Lots of storage in home and attic. Lighted pier makes fishing or boating a breeze!..........$370,000. $389,900.

16 foot ComPac Yacht Sailboat with lots of new equipment. Rebuilt trailer. New 2 HP 4 stroke outboard motor. $ 5250.00. OBO Do not call after 8 PM.. 361-547-8160 Sony Handycam Vision SteadyShot CCD-TRV608 NTSC Video Hi8. Comes with carrying case, extra rechargeable batteries, all cords and operating manual. Price - $150.00 For more info/pics, call/text 361-9606722.

Business

REDUCED

24535 La Ponderosa Dr - NEW WATERFRONT LISTING - Immaculate, updated, freshly painted, beautifully landscaped, move in ready! Kitchen sports granite counter tops and dual fuel range. Yard sprinkler system. Big covered patio/carport plus 3 car garage. Launch your boat from private launch or fish from lighted pier! Offered at $299,900.

GUNS Buy-Sale-Trade!!!!!!! Call Jim @ 361 547-6474

372 Carmel Dr - NEW LISTING - Beautiful water view home with separate apartment above your 3 car garage! Main home features 2 BD/2 BA. Open kitchen, living and dining. Covered porches. Panoramic view of the lake from the inside and outside deck of apartment! WOW! $143,500. NEW LISTING - Pernitas Point Waterview - 2 BD/2 BA home on two
lots with beautiful view of Lake CC! Detached oversized garage with half bath and additional storage building on slab. RV Hookup. $79,500.

For Sale
Boat Trailer for 18 foot boat. Heavy Duty, 2 axle custom angle iron. $850. Call Alice at 3 61-855-0743

139 Cenesia Dr-Carmel Hills Subdivision Move in ready! Perfect weekend getaway or home that has been remodeled inside & out! Spacious 2 BD/1 BA. with living area open to dining and kitchen. Enjoy
the lake view from a 12'x30' covered deck or the 8'x40 side deck. Property owners have access to boat launch/waterfront park. $97,900.

16015 CR 1298 - Enjoy country living in this open floor plan 3 BD/2 BA home that sits on 2.5 acres located btwn Sinton and Odem. Barn and workshop - fenced. REDUCED $90,000. 1200 E. Wilson, Mathis - 5.05 Ac - This home offers the best of both worlds - country living and not far from town! 3/2 Rustic ranch home
complete w/horse barns, pens, arena, workshop, stable & support structure. Updated bathrooms. Located close to town. $179,000. Vista Dr - Unique1 acre lot sports a large (52' across), clover leaf shaped pool, 2 bath, concession & a large covered area. Nice RV sites. Adjacent lot available. REDUCED $37,500. 137 Hillside Cove - 1/1 waterfront home. 24894 Lakeshore Dr (CR 350) - Enjoy the Great fishing camp or 1st home! $42,500. lake life just across the water in this 3 BD / 3 BA 128 Third Street, Lake City - 2008 custom home. Located on nearly half an acre. 2 large living areas and split bedroom floorplan. Palm Harbor manufactured home on 2 lots. 12' x 12' workshop with electricity. $65,000. Screened porch. REDUCED $69,900. $79,900.
WATERVIEW RESIDENTIAL LOTS - CARMEL HILLS SUBDIVISION - 14 Interior lots available ranging in size and prices. Call 361-343-7400 for more information!

CHECKERZ
Friendly Family Dining
Steaks, Burgers, Wingz, Pastas, Big Chicken Fried Steaks and Big Screen TVs Weekend Breakfast and Lunch Buffet

Commercial

1525 FM 534 - Dinero Country Store Sell anything from deer corn,
fish bait, libations, barbeque, hardware, gasoline, etc. Sits on corner on well traveled roads. Custom BBQ pit out back! Offered at $79,900.
Real Estate with Real Results

One Team | One Goal

Lloyd and JaNelle Barnes Broker-Owners

Linda Sue Barnes REALTOR

Richard Rowe REALTOR

New Waterfront homes coming soon. Visit our website for more listings in Central and SouthTexas.

Great American Food! Down Home Prices!

361-384-FOOD (3663)
Sunday 11am - 3pm Mon-Thurs 11am - 9pm Fri-Sat 11am - 10pm 530 E. Orange Ave Orange Grove, Texas

381 Carmel Drive Sandia, T X 78383

(361) 343-7400 (361) 547-0505 Fax

WWW.LLOYDBARNES.COM

Real Estate for Sale

231 Acres, Nixon/Gonzles County. Rolling. Lake, well,.pens. Combo,open pastures, bull mesquite, small brush. Might divide. $2850 per acre. 198 Acres, East of Pleasanton. Brush, big oaks, etc., along Prieto Creek. Water meter. $2850 per acre. 46 Acres North of Yorkown. Spectacular Views Mostly brush with a few good trees. Well-fenced. Electricity. Good water well. $3650/Ac No minerals. Owner might Finance. Randy Smith, Smith Ranch Investments, Cuero, Texas 361-277-9332

Lots, near Lagarto Store, starting at, $6,500. Approx 1/4 acre each. $500 down and owner will finance. 956-6829281

Government Is NOT a Business

from: RonPaul.com on Octo- eral governments product or service? Rules, regulations, ber 16, 2011 bureaucracy, paperwork, red tape, hoops to jump through, by Ron Paul uneven protection and security Amid the din of economic non- from people with guns, coersense being bandied about cion and compliance through since the collapse of the hous- force and confiscation of asing bubble and the steep ramp- sets, militarism instead of naing up of our national debt, tional defense, and of course a there has been the persistent re- vast welfare state. Do we need frain that Washington should more of these government be run more like a business. If services? Hardly. In fact, we only more business people have far too many of these dewere in charge to wield their structive things already. business acumen, we would have this country in shape in What we need is more freeno time. But is that a good so- dom. Freedom is the simple ability of people to live their lution? lives as they see fit without Businesses seek primarily to government coercion, proincrease their revenues and vided they do not initiate force profits. Government revenue or fraud against others. What depends on taxes. Government we really need is a less coeraccumulates tax money by cive government, not more squeezing it out of peoples revenues. productive earnings with threats of audits, fines and im- Washington needs to stop seeprisonment. Our government ing itself as a growth industry, already collects roughly $2.1 and realize that the true functrillion annually from the pro- tion of government is to productive taxpayers of America. tect liberty. Washington We hardly need to increase our certainly has expanded and federal governments revenues grown and accumulated a great deal of the peoples caplike a private business! ital for itself, but this has been Businesses sell products or at the expense of our nations services to voluntary buyers, prosperity. This trend needs to always looking to increase be reversed. their market share as much as possible. But what is the fed- We dont need yet another jobs bill to supposedly put the American people back to work. Politicians need to realize that, aside from outright hiring some 14 million people, government does not create jobs. The only thing government does is hinder job creation by getting in the way and consuming otherwise private resources. Therefore, the most useful thing government can do for unemployment is to liquidate much of what government does in the first place. One plain example is our tax policy that encourages U.S. corporations to accumulate foreign earnings abroad rather than repatriate such earnings. Currently there is over $1 trillion of capital that companies are keeping overseas because of the 35% tax charged for bringing it back to the US. Our government literally is pushing capital and jobs overseas that could be used to hire an estimated 2.5 million people here at home. Businesses create jobs. Government is not a business. We dont need more stimulus or phony jobs bills. We dont need more revenue $2 trillion is plenty to fund the federal government annually. What we do need is a wholesale rejection of government as a central economic planner.

RANCH ACREAGE: 121.5 acres, between

Dinero and Swinney Switch Texas, pasture and brush, good hunting with 650 ft on Lake Corpus Christi; 30 ft easement to property. Call for details: James 361 3625007 (Agent) Dirks Greentree Realty, online at www.dirksgreentreerealty.com

1.46 acre lot for sale, large trees, pond in back of lot, fenced on 3 sides, access to Nueces river, between Bluntzer and Sandia. address is Javelina Creek, Sandia, TX, $9,000, 361-387-4870

An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.

--Thomas Jefferson

How To Deal With Telemarketers

Tell them you're under house arrest and ask if they could bring you a case of beer and some chips. After they have introduced themselves cry out in surprise and ask them how they have been. This will set them back a few moments while they try to figure out where you know each other from. Ask them to speak very slowly as you are busy writing down every word they say. Tell the telemarketer that you are busy at the moment but if they'll leave you their home phone number you'll call them back. Bang your phone around in an empty metal trash can or bucket, then explain that you dont know what is the matter with your phone. Can you hear me now?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Please Tell Our Advertisers You Saw Their Ad in The Lake & Country Shopper! It is our advertisers who keep this paper coming to you for FREE!

THIS PROPHECY OF THE COMING MESSIAH (JESUS) WAS GIVEN OVER SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE CHRIST WAS BORN. "Therefore the LORD Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). "6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince Of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with Judgment and with Justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this" (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Merry Christmas From BP Building Sales.

Inquire about our 5,000-watt solar generator at a reasonable price!
We can put your building anywhere you want it!

BP Building Sales
(800) 733-3505 www.bpbuildingsales.com (361) 767-8999

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Portable or Mobile Offices, Modular Homes & Storage Buildings

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PLEASE MENTION YOU SAW THIS AD IN THE LAKE & COUNTRY SHOPPER.

Blasts From the Past!