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10 Things That Every American Should Know About The Federal Reserve

The Economic Collapse
Thursday, February 9, 2012

What would happen if the Federal Reserve was shut down permanently? That is a question that CNBC asked recently, but unfortunately most Americans don’t really think about the Fed much. Most Americans are content with believing that the Federal Reserve is just another stuffy government agency that sets our interest rates and that is watching out for the best interests of the American people.

But that is not the case at all. The truth is that the Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel that has been designed to systematically destroy the value of our currency, drain the wealth of the American public and enslave the federal government to perpetually expanding debt. During this election year, the economy is the number one issue that voters are concerned about. But instead of endlessly blaming both political parties, the truth is that most of the blame should be placed at the feet of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has more power over the performance of the U.S. economy than anyone else does. The Federal Reserve controls the money supply, the Federal Reserve sets the interest rates and the Federal Reserve hands out bailouts to the big banks that absolutely dwarf anything that Congress ever did. If the American people are ever going to learn what is really going on with our economy, then it is absolutely imperative that they get educated about the Federal Reserve.
The following are 10 things that every American should know about the Federal Reserve….
#1 The Federal Reserve System Is A Privately Owned Banking Cartel
The Federal Reserve is not a government agency.
The truth is that it is a privately owned central bank. It is owned by the banks that are members of the Federal Reserve system. We do not know how much of the system each bank owns, because that has never been disclosed to the American people.
The Federal Reserve openly admits that it is privately owned. When it was defending itself against a Bloomberg request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Reserve stated unequivocally in court that it was“not an agency” of the federal government and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
In fact, if you want to find out that the Federal Reserve system is owned by the member banks, all you have to do is go to the Federal Reserve website….

The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation’s central banking system, are organized much like private corporations–possibly leading to some confusion about “ownership.” For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.

Foreign governments and foreign banks do own significant ownership interests in the member banks that own the Federal Reserve system. So it would be accurate to say that the Federal Reserve is partially foreign-owned.
But until the exact ownership shares of the Federal Reserve are revealed, we will never know to what extent the Fed is foreign-owned.
#2 The Federal Reserve System Is A Perpetual Debt Machine
As long as the Federal Reserve System exists, U.S. government debt will continue to go up and up and up.
This runs contrary to the conventional wisdom that Democrats and Republicans would have us believe, but unfortunately it is true.
The way our system works, whenever more money is created more debt is created as well.
For example, whenever the U.S. government wants to spend more money than it takes in (which happens constantly), it has to go ask the Federal Reserve for it. The federal government gives U.S. Treasury bonds to the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Reserve gives the U.S. government “Federal Reserve Notes” in return. Usually this is just done electronically.
So where does the Federal Reserve get the Federal Reserve Notes?
It just creates them out of thin air.
Wouldn’t you like to be able to create money out of thin air?
Instead of issuing money directly, the U.S. government lets the Federal Reserve create it out of thin air and then the U.S. government borrows it.
Talk about stupid.
When this new debt is created, the amount of interest that the U.S. government will eventually pay on that debt is not also created.
So where will that money come from?
Well, eventually the U.S. government will have to go back to the Federal Reserve to get even more money to finance the ever expanding debt that it has gotten itself trapped into.
It is a debt spiral that is designed to go on perpetually.
You see, the reality is that the money supply is designed to constantly expand under the Federal Reserve system. That is why we have all become accustomed to thinking of inflation as “normal”.
So what does the Federal Reserve do with the U.S. Treasury bonds that it gets from the U.S. government?
Well, it sells them off to others. There are lots of people out there that have made a ton of money by holding U.S. government debt.
In fiscal 2011, the U.S. government paid out 454 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt.
That is 454 billion dollars that was taken out of our pockets and put into the pockets of wealthy individuals and foreign governments around the globe.
The truth is that our current debt-based monetary system was designed by greedy bankers that wanted to make enormous profits by using the Federal Reserve as a tool to create money out of thin air and lend it to the U.S. government at interest.
And that plan is working quite well.
Most Americans today don’t understand how any of this works, but many prominent Americans in the past did understand it.
For example, Thomas Edison was once quoted in the New York Times as saying the following….

That is to say, under the old way any time we wish to add to the national wealth we are compelled to add to the national debt.
Now, that is what Henry Ford wants to prevent. He thinks it is stupid, and so do I, that for the loan of $30,000,000 of their own money the people of the United States should be compelled to pay $66,000,000 — that is what it amounts to, with interest. People who will not turn a shovelful of dirt nor contribute a pound of material will collect more money from the United States than will the people who supply the material and do the work. That is the terrible thing about interest. In all our great bond issues the interest is always greater than the principal. All of the great public works cost more than twice the actual cost, on that account. Under the present system of doing business we simply add 120 to 150 per cent, to the stated cost.
But here is the point: If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good.

We should have listened to men like Edison and Ford.
But we didn’t.
And so we pay the price.
On July 1, 1914 (a few months after the Fed was created) the U.S. national debt was 2.9 billion dollars.
Today, it is more than more than 5000 times larger.
Yes, the perpetual debt machine is working quite well, and most Americans do not even realize what is happening.
#3 The Federal Reserve Has Destroyed More Than 96% Of The Value Of The U.S. Dollar
Did you know that the U.S. dollar has lost 96.2 percent of its value since 1900? Of course almost all of that decline has happened since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913.
Because the money supply is designed to expand constantly, it is guaranteed that all of our dollars will constantly lose value.
Inflation is a “hidden tax” that continually robs us all of our wealth. The Federal Reserve always says that it is “committed” to controlling inflation, but that never seems to work out so well.
And current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says that it is actually a good thing to have a little bit of inflation. He plans to try to keep the inflation rate at about 2 percent in the coming years.
So what is so bad about 2 percent? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Well, just consider the following excerpt from a recent Forbes article….

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) has made it official: After its latest two day meeting, it announced its goal to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years. The debauch of the dollar will be even greater if the Fed exceeds its goal of a 2 percent per year increase in the price level.

#4 The Federal Reserve Can Bail Out Whoever It Wants To With No Accountability
The American people got so upset about the bailouts that Congress gave to the Wall Street banks and to the big automakers, but did you know that the biggest bailouts of all were given out by the Federal Reserve?
Thanks to a very limited audit of the Federal Reserve that Congress approved a while back, we learned that the Fed made trillions of dollars in secret bailout loans to the big Wall Street banks during the last financial crisis. They even secretly loaned out hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks.
According to the results of the limited Fed audit mentioned above, a total of$16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010.
The following is a list of loan recipients that was taken directly from page 131of the audit report….
Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
“All Other Borrowers” - $2.639 trillion
So why haven’t we heard more about this?
This is scandalous.
In addition, it turns out that the Fed paid enormous sums of money to the big Wall Street banks to help “administer” these nearly interest-free loans….

Not only did the Federal Reserve give 16.1 trillion dollars in nearly interest-free loans to the “too big to fail” banks, the Fed also paid them over 600 million dollars to help run the emergency lending program. According to the GAO, the Federal Reserve shelled out an astounding $659.4 million in “fees” to the very financial institutions which caused the financial crisis in the first place.

Does reading that make you angry?
It should.
#5 The Federal Reserve Is Paying Banks Not To Lend Money
Did you know that the Federal Reserve is actually paying banks not to make loans?
It is true.
Section 128 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 allows the Federal Reserve to pay interest on “excess reserves” that U.S. banks park at the Fed.
So the banks can just send their cash to the Fed and watch the money come rolling in risk-free.
So are many banks taking advantage of this?
You tell me. Just check out the chart below. The amount of “excess reserves” parked at the Fed has gone from nearly nothing to about 1.5 trillion dollarssince 2008….

But shouldn’t the banks be lending the money to us so that we can start businesses and buy homes?
You would think that is how it is supposed to work.
Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve is not working for us.
The Federal Reserve is working for the big banks.
Sadly, most Americans have no idea what is going on.
Another example of this is the government debt carry trade.
Here is how it works. The Federal Reserve lends gigantic piles of nearly interest-free cash to the big Wall Street banks, and in turn those banks use the money to buy up huge amounts of government debt. Since the return on government debt is higher, the banks are able to make large profits very easily and with very little risk.
This scam was also explained in a recent article in the Guardian….

Consider this: we pretend that banks are private businesses that should be allowed to run their own affairs. But they are the biggest scroungers of public money of our time. Banks are lent vast sums of money by central banks at near-zero interest. They lend that money to us or back to the government at higher rates and rake in the difference by the billion. They don’t even have to make clever investments to make huge profits.

That is a pretty good little scam they have got going, wouldn’t you say?
#6 The Federal Reserve Creates Artificial Economic Bubbles That Are Extremely Damaging
By allowing a centralized authority such as the Federal Reserve to dictate interest rates, it creates an environment where financial bubbles can be created very easily.
Over the past several decades, we have seen bubble after bubble. Most of these have been the result of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low. If the free market had been setting interest rates all this time, things would have never gotten so far out of hand.
For example, the housing crash would have never been so horrific if the Federal Reserve had not created such ideal conditions for a housing bubble in the first place. But we allow the Fed to continue to make the same mistakes.
Right now, the Federal Reserve continues to set interest rates much, much lower than they should be. This is causing a tremendous misallocation of economic resources, and there will be massive consequences for that down the line.
#7 The Federal Reserve System Is Dominated By The Big Wall Street Banks
Even since it was created, the Federal Reserve system has been dominated by the big Wall Street banks.
The following is from a previous article that I did about the Fed….

The New York representative is the only permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, while other regional banks rotate in 2 and 3 year intervals. The former head of the New York Fed, Timothy Geithner, is now U.S. Treasury Secretary. The truth is that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been the most important of the regional Fed banks by far, and in turn the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been dominated by Wall Street and the major New York banks.

#8 It Is Not An Accident That We Saw The Personal Income Tax And The Federal Reserve System Both Come Into Existence In 1913
On February 3rd, 1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Later that year, the United States Revenue Act of 1913 imposed a personal income tax on the American people and we have had one ever since.
Without a personal income tax, it is hard to have a central bank. It takes a lot of money to finance all of the government debt that a central banking system creates.
It is no accident that the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and the Federal Reserve system was also created in 1913.
They have a symbiotic relationship and they are designed to work together.
We could fill Congress with people that are committed to ending this oppressive system, but so far we have chosen not to do that.
So our children and our grandchildren will face a lifetime of debt slavery because of us.
I am sure they will be thankful for that.
#9 The Current Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, Has A Nightmarish Track Record Of Incompetence
The mainstream media portrays Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as a brilliant economist, but is that really the case?
Let’s go to the videotape.
The following is an extended excerpt from an article that I published previously….
———-
In 2005, Bernanke said that we shouldn’t worry because housing prices had never declined on a nationwide basis before and he said that he believed that the U.S. would continue to experience close to “full employment”….

“We’ve never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis. So, what I think what is more likely is that house prices will slow, maybe stabilize, might slow consumption spending a bit. I don’t think it’s gonna drive the economy too far from its full employment path, though.”

In 2005, Bernanke also said that he believed that derivatives were perfectly safe and posed no danger to financial markets….

“With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.”

In 2006, Bernanke said that housing prices would probably keep rising….

“Housing markets are cooling a bit. Our expectation is that the decline in activity or the slowing in activity will be moderate, that house prices will probably continue to rise.”

In 2007, Bernanke insisted that there was not a problem with subprime mortgages….

“At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained. In particular, mortgages to prime borrowers and fixed-rate mortgages to all classes of borrowers continue to perform well, with low rates of delinquency.”

In 2008, Bernanke said that a recession was not coming….

“The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.”

A few months before Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed, Bernanke insisted that they were totally secure….

“The GSEs are adequately capitalized. They are in no danger of failing.”

For many more examples that demonstrate the absolutely nightmarish track record of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, please see the following articles….
*”Say What? 30 Ben Bernanke Quotes That Are So Stupid That You Won’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry”
*”Is Ben Bernanke A Liar, A Lunatic Or Is He Just Completely And Totally Incompetent?”
But after being wrong over and over and over, Barack Obama still nominated Ben Bernanke for another term as Chairman of the Fed.
———-
#10 The Federal Reserve Has Become Way Too Powerful
The Federal Reserve is the most undemocratic institution in America.
The Federal Reserve has become so powerful that it is now known as “the fourth branch of government”, but there are less checks and balances on the Fed than there are on the other three branches.
The Federal Reserve runs the U.S. economy but it is not accountable to the American people. We can’t vote those that run the Fed out of office if we do not like what they do.
Yes, the president appoints those that run the Fed, but he also knows that if he does not tread lightly he won’t get the money from the big Wall Street banks that he needs for his next election.
Thankfully, there are a few members of Congress that are complaining about how much power the Fed has. For example, Ron Paul once told MSNBC that he believes that the Federal Reserve is now actually more powerful than Congress…..

“The regulations should be on the Federal Reserve. We should have transparency of the Federal Reserve. They can create trillions of dollars to bail out their friends, and we don’t even have any transparency of this. They’re more powerful than the Congress.”

As members of Congress such as Ron Paul have started to shed some light on the activities of the Federal Reserve, that has caused many in the mainstream media to come to the defense of the Fed.
For example, a recent CNBC article entitled “If The Federal Reserve Is Abolished, What Then?” makes it sound like there is absolutely no other rational alternative to having the Federal Reserve run our economy.
But this is not what our founders intended.
The founders did not intend for a private banking cartel to issue our money and set our interest rates for us.
According to Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress has been given the responsibility to “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures”.
So why is the Federal Reserve doing it?
But the CNBC article mentioned above makes it sound like the sky would fall if control of the currency was handed back over to the American people.
At one point, the article asks the following question….

“How would the U.S. economy then function? Something has to take its place, right?”

No, the truth is that we don’t need anyone to “manage” our economy.
The U.S. Treasury could be in charge of issuing our currency and the free market could set our interest rates.
We don’t need to have a centrally-planned economy.
We aren’t China.
And it goes against everything that our founders believed to be running up so much government debt.
For example, Thomas Jefferson once declared that if he could add just one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a ban on all government borrowing….

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.

Oh, how things would have been different if we had only listened to Thomas Jefferson.
Please share this article with as many people as you can. These are things that every American should know about the Federal Reserve, and we need to educate the American people about the Fed while there is still time.

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2nd Amendment!!!!

Homeland Security Will Use The Excuse Of A Wartime Crisis To Liquidate The Resistance To The Police State

Saman Mohammadi
Infowars.comFebruary 5th, 2012

“The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose. Foolish people ask you, when you have spoken what they do not wish to hear, ‘How do you know it is truth, and not an error of your own?’ We know truth when we see it, from opinion, as we know when we are awake that we are awake. It was a grand sentence of Emanuel Swedenborg, which would alone indicate the greatness of that man’s perception,–”It is no proof of a man’s understanding to be able to affirm whatever he pleases; but to be able to discern that what is true is true, and that what is false is false,–this is the mark and character of intelligence.” In the book I read, the good thought returns to me, as every truth will, the image of the whole soul. To the bad thought which I find in it, the same soul becomes a discerning, separating sword, and lops it away. We are wiser than we know.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Oversoul.

The threat that most unsettles the criminal U.S. ruling class is not the threat of Iran or the threat of terrorism, but the threat of a second American revolution, triggered by the political awakening of the American people.

The scale of America’s political awakening and mankind’s political awakening is too demographically large and geographically widespreadto manage, ignore, or suppress with traditional methods of control such as propaganda and the political manipulation of elections.
The incredible rise of Ron Paul’s popularity despite the media conspiracy against him as well as the growing influence of the global alternative media are proof that the American mass media has become an ineffective mind control tool.
The murderous and traitorous owners of Homeland Security Fascism who staged the tragic 9/11 events know very well that the political awakening of the American people represents the biggest threat to their existence. The growing public awareness of deceptions and crimes by the bankster dominated U.S. government is causing a volcanic political and psychological rift between the American people and the globalist oligarchs.
The rift is exposing a systemic crisis within American society, which has come about after decades of acts of injustice, murder, treason, and state terrorism against the American people by the hijacked American government.
There’s no way to put the genie of revolution and restoration back in the bottle of stability and security. The U.S. ruling class cannot crush and kill the rebirth of the American spirit of liberty because the people are wide awake now, unlike in the 1960s when JFK, RFK, and MLK were taken from America by the terrorists in the CIA/FBI.
But the cannibalistic U.S. ruling class is not impotent and weak. It is trying everything in its power to revive the credibility of the war on terror, convince the American people that conspiracy theorists are wrong, and keep their illegal monopoly over money creation, the media, and the political process.
The banking oligarchs and war lobbies think they can secure their control over the domestic agenda in America as well as the global agenda by engineering a war with Iran through false flag terrorism.
On Wednesday, February 1, 2012, Tony Cartalucci warned that the war criminals in the U.S. and Israel will stage a false flag attack on American soil to demonize Iran in his article, “US Intel Director Prepares Public for False Flag Event.” Cartalucci wrote:

Iran has nothing to gain and everything to lose by attacking the United States. US policy makers have expressed a documented desire to provoke the Iranians into a war the Islamic Republic is clearly trying to avoid. The United States government is on record funding, arming, and training terrorist organizations (LIFG & MEK) on it’s own “foreign terrorist organization” list,a violation of their own anti-terrorism laws. They have failed categorically to provide convincing evidence regarding the alleged “Iranian-Saudi assassination plot,” more over, the evidence suggests it is instead, the latest in a long string of contrived federal entrapment cases. If an attack occurs on US soil or against US allies in the near future under these circumstances, it is most likely Clapper, General Petraeus at the CIA, and Israel’s Mossad that will be to blame.

Others in the global alternative media have raised similar red flags,thereby letting the war criminals in Washington and Tel Aviv know that they are on notice.
On Saturday, February 4, 2012, Kurt Nimmo wrote in his article,“U.S. and Israel Set Stage for False Flag and Iran Attack,” that the leaders in the U.S. and Israel have unleashed a stream of propaganda to mentally condition the American people in preparation for a false flag attack in the near future that will be pinned on Iran. Nimmo said:

Officialdom in the United States and Israel have issued a warning about an Iranian “threat stream” against Israeli “soft targets” in America.
The warning arrives several days after Obama’s intelligence boss James Clapper said Iran may strike inside the United States,
“We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase… on both our guarded sites and ‘soft’ sites,” states a letter sent out by the head of security for the Israeli Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States.
Guarded sites are Israeli government facilities like embassies while soft sites are Jewish synagogues, schools, and community centers.
Yoram Cohen, the head of Israel’s security service Shin Bet, said recently that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard will attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in response to the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.

The intensifying rhetoric of war from Washington and Tel Aviv is based on pure paranoia and propaganda and driven by a desire to wipe Iran off of the Middle Eastern map. All the talk from Israel about the Iranian threat to its existence and security is a clever attempt to hide the reality that it is actually Israel and the United States that are waging war against Iran.
The war criminals in the U.S. and Israel need a war with Iran because they can’t deal with their internal political and economic crises. They have destroyed their own countries by letting the plutocratic banksters run wild with the people’s money, and now they are busy creating a new excuse of a wartime crisis to further consolidate power at the global level and crush democratic dissent.
Starting a war with Iran based on an illegitimate and fraudulent act of false flag terrorism is the best way to distract public attention from their years of corruption and from their criminal plan to dominate the world through force and fraud.
Once the war with Iran gets fully underway, FEMA, Homeland Security, and the hijacked American military will serve as the essential entities in the globalists’ total takeover of America. These hijacked instruments of power are tasked with aggressively suppressing legitimate domestic dissent, popular uprisings, general strikes, patriotic mass protests, reform movements, urban riots, outbreaks of mob violence, rising homelessness, starvation, etc.
But FEMA, Homeland Security, and the hijacked American military will fail in trying to suppress the American people’s quest for freedom and justice, just as the U.S. and Israel are failing to destroy the spirit of resistance in the Middle East. These tyrants will fall because history is not on their side. The force of history is with the truth.
The truth about the 9/11 attacks and the illegal war on terror is slowly beginning to reassert its divine power in the consciousness of mankind. No amount of political suppression can stop the truth of history from surfacing to the global public mind.
In America and the West, conspiracy theorists and 9/11 truth-tellers have already been vindicated. The overwhelming government support for tyrannical laws like the NDAA, which specifically say law abiding American citizens are the targets of the government’s fascist counter-terrorism policies, is a sign of fear and failure.
Using government force to suppress the people and maintain the corrupt status quo is a stab in the dark. The shadow state terrorists and vicious tyrants in Washington and Tel Aviv better regroup and rethink.
This won’t end well for them.
They have already fallen, but they have not yet reached the bottom of hell where the ghosts of history’s tyrants are waiting to greet them.

Frostbite And Exposure To The Cold

    Treating for Cold Exposure and Frostbite 
         

     The following material may assist you in treating a victim for
exposure to the cold and also how to deal with frostbite. This
information is derived from "Advanced First Aid & Emergency Care,"
2nd edition, by the American Red Cross. To obtain a copy of this
book and to take instruction in first aid, please contact the local
office of the American Red Cross. They are listed in the white
pages of your telephone book.

                 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


     The extent of injury caused by exposure to abnormally low
temperature generally depends on such factors as wind velocity,
type and duration of exposure, temperature and humidity.

     Freezing is accelerated by wind, humidity or a combination of
the two. Injury caused by cold, dry air will be less than that
caused by cold, moist air or exposure to cold air while wearing wet
clothing. Fatigue, smoking, drinking of alcoholic beverages,
emotional stress and the presence of wounds or fractures intensity
the harmful effects of cold.

                        SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

     The general manifestations of prolonged exposure to extreme
cold include shivering, numbness, low body temperature, drowsiness
and marked muscular weakness. As time passes there is mental
confusion and impairment of judgment. The victim staggers, his
eyesight fails, he falls and he may become unconscious. Shock is
evident and the victim's heart may develop fibrillation. Death, if
it occurs, is usually due to heart failure.

     Frostbite results when crystals form, either superficially or
deeply in the fluids and the underlying soft tissues of the skin.
The effects are more severe if the injured area is thawed and then
refrozen. Frostbite is the most common injury caused by exposure to
the cold elements. Usually, the frozen area is small. the nose,
cheeks, ears, fingers and toes are the most commonly affected.

     Just before frostbite occurs, the affected skin may be slight-
ly flushed. The skin changes to white or grayish yellow as the
frostbite develops. Pain is sometimes felt early but subsides
later. Often there is NO pain; the part being frostbitten simply
feels intensely cold and numb. The victim commonly is not aware of
frostbite until someone tells him or until he observes his pale,
glossy skin. The extent of local injury cannot be determined
accurately on initial examination, even after rewarming. The extent
of tissue damage usually corresponds to that in burns. In superfi-
cial frostbite, there will be an area that looks white or grayish
and the surface skin will feel hard but the underlying tissue will
be soft. With deeper involvement, large blisters appear on the
surface, as well as in underlying tissue, and the affected area is
hard, cold and insensitive. Destruction of the entire thickness of
the skin will necessitate skin grafting and will constitute a
medical emergency, because gangrene may result from loss of blood
supply to the injured part.

                             FIRST AID

     The objectives of first aid are to protect the frozen area
from further injury, to warm the affected part rapidly and to
maintain respiration. Formerly, it was recommended that victims of
frostbite be treated by slow warming -- rubbing with snow and
gradually increasing the temperature. But recent studies have shown
conclusively that much better results are obtained if the affected
part is WARMED RAPIDLY in running or circulating water, unless the
part has been thawed and refrozen, in which case it should be
warmed at room temperature (from 70 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit). Do
NOT use excessive heat, as from a stove, hot water bottles, elec-
tric blankets or other devices.

                             FROSTBITE

1.   Cover the frozen part.

2.   Provide extra clothing and blankets.

3.   Bring the victim indoors as soon as possible.

4.   Give him a warm drink (not alcoholic!).

5.   Rewarm the frozen part QUICKLY by immersing it in water that
     is warm but not hot. Test the water by pouring some over the
     inner surface of your forearm or place a thermometer in the
     water and carefully add warm water to keep the temperature
     between 102 degrees and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. If warm water
     is not available or practical to use, wrap the affected part
     in a sheet and warm blankets.

6.   Handle the area of the frostbite GENTLY and DO NOT MASSAGE IT.
     Severe swelling will develop rapidly after thawing. Discon-
     tinue warming as soon as the part becomes flushed (turning
     red). Once the part is rewarmed, have the victim exercise it.

7.   Cleanse the affected area with water and either soap or a mild
     detergent (NOT laundry or dishwasher detergent, though; they
     can be caustic and cause a chemical burn). Rinse it thorough-
     ly. Carefully blot dry with sterile or clean towels. Do NOT
     break the blisters.

8.   If the victim's fingers or toes are involved, place dry,
     sterile gauze between them to keep them separated.

9.   Do NOT apply other dressings unless the victim is to be
     transported to medical aid.

10.  Elevate frostbitten parts and protect them from contact with
     bedclothes.

11.  Do NOT allow the victim to walk after the affected part thaws,
     if his feet are involved.

12.  Do not apply additional heat and do not allow the victim to
     sit near a radiator, stove or fire. The numbed part may be
     severely burned and the victim might never realize it is
     happening to him.

13.  If a person with frozen feet is alone and MUST walk to get
     medical assistance, he should NOT attempt thawing in advance.

14.  If travel after receiving first aid is necessary, cover the
     affected parts with a sterile or clean cloth.

15.  Obtain medical assistance as soon as possible. If the distance
     to be covered is great, apply temporary dressings to the hands
     if they have been affected by frostbite.

16.  Keep injured parts elevated during transportation.

17.  If medical help or trained ambulance personnel will not reach
     the scene for an hour or more AND if the victim is CONSCIOUS
     and NOT VOMITING, give him a weak solution of salt and baking
     soda at home or while enroute (1 level teaspoon of salt and
     1/2 level teaspoon of baking soda in each quart of water,
     neither hot nor cold). Do not give alcoholic beverages. Allow
     the victim to sip S-L-O-W-L-Y. Give an adult about 4 ounces (a
     half glass) over a period of 15 minutes; give a child from 1
     to 12 years old about 2 ounces; give an infant (under 1 year
     old) about 1 ounce every 15 minutes. Discontinue giving fluids
     if vomiting occurs. Fluid may be given by mouth ONLY if
     medical help will not be available for an hour or more and is
     not otherwise contraindicated.

                        PROLONGED EXPOSURE

1.   Give the victim artificial respiration, if necessary.

2.   Bring the victim into a warm room as quickly as possible.

3.   Remove wet or frozen clothing and anything that constricts the
     victim's arms, legs or fingers and might interfere with
     circulation as the frozen part is thawed and swelling begins.

4.   Rewarm the victim rapidly by wrapping him in a warm blanket or
     by placing him in a tub of water that is warmed to 102 to 105
     degrees Fahrenheit. If a thermometer is not available, make
     sure the water is not hot to YOUR hand and forearm.

5.   If the victim is conscious, give him hot liquids (but not
     alcohol) by mouth.

6.   Dry the victim thoroughly if water was used to rewarm him.

7.   Carry out the appropriate procedures as described under frost-
     bite.

10 Winter Driving Tips.

                    
                          10 Winter driving tips.
1.  The safest tires are studded mud and snow (M/S) tires on all four
    wheels.  Some states do not permit studded tires, so check with your
    local dealer.
2.  Carry emergency clothing in the car.  A stocking cap, snow boots,
    mittens, a pair of coveralls, and a blaze orange vest so you will be
    seen if you have to walk.
3.  If you get stuck, kitty litter is a good way to get traction under your
    wheels.  Carry the litter in a couple of gallon plastic milk jugs.
    Sand and dirt are ok too, but they freeze solid if any moisture
    collects on them.  Some people carry metal treads, but you have to stop
    and go back for them.  Some carry a few evergreen branches.
4.  When driving on ice, always try to drive with 2 tires on the right
    shoulder of the road.  It is usually gravel, and provides better
    traction than the smooth streets or highways.  This won't work if there
    is snow.
5.  Plan your route to avoid stop signs and lights on the top of a hill.
    People spin their wheels to get started and this creates a bed of ice.
6.  To get home safely, you have to be able to see.  Every November 1st,
    buy and install a new set of wiper blades.  This is cheap insurance.
7.  Sometimes you will want a cold windshield, and sometimes you will want
    a warm windshield.  If it's raining and ice is forming on the car, you
    want a warm windshield to melt the ice and let the wipers work.  If
    it's cold and snowing, you want the windshield cold so the snow won't
    stick, and will just blow off with the wind and wipers..
8.  If you get stopped on and uphill slope, try this to get started again.
    Manual transmissions, take off in second gear.  Try to get rolling as
    slowly as possible, if you can, get started without even using the gas
    pedal.  Automatics, it's even easier.  Never, ever, spin your wheels,
    just take off as slowly as possible.  Spinning heats up the tires and
    just handicaps you further.  If you can get rolling those first few
    inches, you can keep rolling.
9.  If it's snowing or blowing, put on your lights.  If there's a blizzard,
    put on your flashers.
10. Chains are best.  They give more traction than anything else.  Put a
    set of chains on the two driving tires, or better yet, keep a spare
    pair of tires in the trunk with chains on them.  It's lots easier to
    change 2 tires than it is to install chains in the snow and muck.
    Plus, the chains on the spares are fiddle string tight, so they won't
    hammer the bottom of your car.

                            EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST

Long Handled Snow Brush                Ice Scraper
Jumper Cables                          Rags To Clean Slush Off Lights
Chains                                 Kitty Litter (see #3)
Flashlight, with extra batteries       HELP sign
Work Gloves                            Emergency Clothes (see #2)
Extra caps and mittens for passengers

Though not mentioned in the ASG article, there is another tool that I would
not be without during winter driving, or summer for that matter.  It is
commonly referred to as a Come-along winch.  These are hand operated devices
that can lift a ton about 8 to 12 feet.  And yes most cars weigh
considerabley more than a ton, but most of the time, you're not lifting them
straight up either.  They are available in hardware stores for $30 to $40.
With one of these winches and some chain, or aircraft cable, you can winch
yourself out of just about any situation.  It's not as pretty, or as fast as
the pretty winches on the big jeeps, but you can bet it's several hundred
dollars less expensive too.
Taken from American Survival Guide 12/1988

Super Bowl Weekend

So what are your plans for the Super Bowl? Do you have a big party or do you even watch? I like football and I watch it but will not miss something good for football. But do you have plans for this weekend and if so does it have anything to do with the game? It kills me that so many will go all out for one game and spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars for one game and a Sunday evening just so they can party. But if you ask the same party person if he prep's or is prepping he looks at you like you are a fool, yep I'm the fool for spending my money on food for storage and survival and you are the smart one for spending hundreds of dollars on a super bowl party. OK when the collapse hits maybe you can through a big I'm going to die party and go out with a bang!!!! Because if you don't plan now to survive it will be to late when the collapse hits. Just my two cents...... Everyone have a good weekend and watch the game just don't go over board with it..........
And who do you think with Win?

Let's Look At It In Simple English

I don't feel any better!

Collapse!!!!