WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ELKMONT THIS WEEK?

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Competition among backyard barbecue teams will fire up this weekend in Elkmont at the annual Smokin’ Railroad Street BBQ Cook-Off. Teams will compete for best pork, chicken and ribs and the award for people’s choice.

The $2 tickets for people’s choice go on sale at 11 a.m. on Saturday with tasting at 11:30 a.m. The two-day festival kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m. with music by Leslie Garris. Organizers will announce the winners at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

L.D. HOBBS - OBITUARY

L D Hobbs 95, of Huntsville, AL died Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at Crestwood Medical Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Born Thursday, April 26, 1923 in Elkmont, AL, he was the son of John Worley Hobbs and Minnie Pearl Mitchell Hobbs. He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Delbert Hobbs; sisters, Stella Bevels, Ailene Hodges, Janene Wales, Mildred Lewter, and Ruth Franklin. 

He is survived by his great-great nephew, Chad Hobbs(Mandy Teng); several nieces and nephews; and many great and great-great nieces and nephews.

Mr. Hobbs was a Methodist and loved Boyds Chapel Methodist Church where he grew up. He was a graduate of Ardmore High School. He then joined the Navy where he served in a commando unit in the South Pacific, of which 18 months was served in New Guinea. After military service he worked 2 years in the Ardmore post office. He then moved to Nashville and attended college where he studied accounting. After college he worked in Washington D.C. for the V.A. and the Navy department. He moved back to Nashville where he worked for the Internal Revenue Service . He was recruited by the National Life and Accident Ins. Co. For 15 years he traveled as an auditor, working in 48 states. He was then promoted to Asst. V.P. in the home office in the personnel department, where he worked for 16 years before retirement. After retirement he worked as a volunteer for the St. Thomas hospital for 32 years. He often said that this was one of his most rewarding experiences.

A Public Visitation will be held on Saturday, June 30, 2018 Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home from 11 am - 1:00 pm.

A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home at 1:00 pm with Debbie Eubanks officiating. Burial will be at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Ardmore, AL.

ALVIN RIEGER - OBITUARY

Alvin Rieger, age 82 of Elkmont, died Thursday June 21, 2018 at his residence. Mr. Rieger was born August 4, 1935 in South Dakota, he was a member of Calvary Baptist Church and he was retired from OK Tire. 

Services were 2PM Sunday at Spry Funeral Home Chapel with Randy Johnson officiating, burial in Roselawn Cemetery, visitation was from 12noon until service Sunday at Spry Funeral Home.  

Survivors: Wife: Nancy S. Rieger of Elkmont, Son: DeWayne Rieger and wife TaShay of Elkmont, Step-Daughter: Ann Hardaway and husband Mike of Elkmont, Step-Son: Tim Hubbard of Athens, Grandchildren: Marcus Rieger and Maggie Rieger, Step-Grandchildren: Erin Vassar and Bryant Hardaway, Step Great Grandchildren: Slate Vassar and Jack Vassar, Several Nieces and Nephews. Pallbearers will be Mike Hardaway, Jay Vassar, Tim Jackson, Garland Bailey, Larry Morris and Tim Hubbard. Preceded in death by first wife: Bertha Rieger.

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Peaceful on the porch this morning. I adhere to the knowledge that peace comes when we ultimately realize that some things are just beyond our control. I can't make anyone believe as I do on every subject...I can't make someone love the things I love....I can't make someone understand what offends me may or may not offend others...I can't decide what is best for you....and I do not have the power to make anyone happy. 

I see people all of the time trying to "make" someone happy. Happiness and contentment comes to each of us in different ways and I truly believe as we grow older it changes. Wasn't very long ago that getting up at 5:30 and sitting on a porch seemed like something I would never enjoy. We can live chasing ideals that are in our head or we can take a good look around and make the best of situations and gain some lessons. Maybe just maybe we can project them to others and strike up the thought
"why do they seem so happy?" 

Contentment comes by giving up control. This life is a gift and I truly believe a short time on a long line called eternity. Choose to spend it in service, introspection,study, and exemplifying in yourself what you want to see in others. Be happy. Have a good one!

JOHNNY ROYCE BAILEY, JR -OBITUARY

Johnny Royce Bailey, Jr., age 56 of Ardmore, AL died Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at his home. Born in Decatur, AL he was the son of John Bailey, Sr. and Osta Leigh Balch Bailey. John was a long time resident of Ardmore, AL. He was a self -employed electrician. His hobby and passion was sound work. He was the type of man that would give you the shirt off his back. To many, he was sound man, electrician, plumber (which he just hated plumbing), and what ever else that needed to be fixed. He would help his family and friends and not expect anything in return for it. He was always helping the Ardmore community. He loved helping out at the Boys and Girls Club annual Cruise In and Meet the Tigers. If it had anything to do with sound he wanted to be a part of it. He always had a joke, enjoyed spending time with his family, friends and our 10:30 Valley Tavern Family. He was a great husband, father, pawpaw and friend that had a big heart. He will be missed by many.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother; grandparents, Roy Lee and Bernice Bailey and grandfather, Rock Balch.

Johnny is survived by his wife, Coni Bailey, Ardmore, AL; sons, Jacob Bailey (Jessica Clemons), Decatur, AL and J.D. Luna (Brittany Cookson), Athens, AL; daughter, Crystal (Dustin) Musselman, Elkmont, AL; step-mother, Gail Bailey, Ardmore, AL; sisters, Dana Bailey, Helena, AL and Stacey (Thomas) Miller, Harvest, AL; brother, Barry Bailey, Birmingham, AL ; grandmother, Jane Balch, Athens, AL; and 10 grandchildren.

A visitation will be held on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, AL from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, June 23, 2018 at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, Ardmore, AL, at 1:00 PM with Bro. Doug Colwell and Ronnie Cornelison officiating.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The American Diabetes Association.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still ... what do you think? 

The economy functions best when on a hard money standard and absent central control of the money supply and burdensome taxation and redistribution. Remember: Since the U.S. monetary system is no longer on the gold standard, Federal Reserve Notes (what we call "dollars") are no longer redeemable for gold, as they were before 1933. Now the government recognizes a slip of paper with a printed value on it as money. That slip of paper is backed by the "full faith and credit of the U.S. Government." However, that government can simply print money whenever the supply runs short or the government decides to spend more on the pet projects of the elected class, to curry favor with one demographic or the other, or to bail out their favored corporatist masters.

In 1966, before he sold his soul to the banksters, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote an essay titled Gold and Economic Freedom. In it, he said:

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves.

Many things lie beneath the mystique of gold besides greed and fear. Most Americans think of gold in terms of dollars. This fact demonstrates the unbelievable power of propaganda over our thought processes.

Think on this for a moment. As we have discussed in detail in recent letters, the "dollar" is an imaginary fiction supported by the force of government in the form of legal tender laws, regulation and restriction of credit (the U.S. "dollar" is a unit of credit) or taxation. In other words, government force has created a myth and given it life in our minds, so much so that we measure real and substantive value such as gold (created by God) by this myth and imaginary enigma. Believe me, the tail is wagging the dog. Myth and mysticism rule over substance and value. This is exactly the reverse of reality.
When we think of gold, we think in terms of "dollars." The time will come once again when we will think of gold in terms of value, not "dollars." This will be a move back toward the restriction of politicians and an expansion of and new birth of human liberty.

Governments hoard gold to stabilize their political and economic power. At the same time, they downplay gold to the people to destabilize their psyche and make them dependent on government credit. Gold stabilizes human emotions, dissipates fear of authority, and promotes individualism and human dignity. Government-created money (credit) destabilizes emotions, creates fear of unseen authority, creates political tyranny, and it expropriates the wealth of the people. 

Government(s) and their partners, the central banks, are involved in history's greatest fraud and deception. They are stealing and have stolen the wealth of the world with bank credit ("dollars") while forcing the deception upon the people that they are in heavy debt and near bankruptcy. So clever and deceitful is government propaganda that not one man in a million suspects this fraud. An army of "opponents" of government "wasting and spending" have built their careers on mimicking government propaganda about "the national debt" and the need to "balance the budget." There is a whole industry of deception built around governments to keep up the mirage. Our lives are wrapped in myths and countermyths simply because we are ignorant of the nature of money.

Gold allows no such monopoly of credit by central banks. Gold is a natural creation extracted and fabricated by human production. It is not only long- term value, it is forever. It survives the deception and tyranny of political governments that always turn to dust. As government dollars (credit) create immorality, gold supports morality and honesty. Gold is the substance of economic survival. It is the essence of privacy and the preservation of wealth. For gold to be all that we say it is, it needs to be in your possession. We don't mean in your "safe deposit box" at the bank, and we certainly don't mean in some "trust" account. It should be in your private safe with other valuable effects. This is the way it used to be before we got drunk on bank credit.

If your pension or retirement fund is in the form of computer symbols in some bank, and it is, you might want to consider putting a small percentage in gold coins to keep in your possession. It may turn out to be all you have. And brother, this is not fear hysteria when you understand how fast things can implode into financial disaster.  Do you have faith in the U.S. currency? Well, faith in the currency is a misnomer. Currency is faith itself — a belief system. When you think of money or currency, you think of green paper, but 95 percent of "money" is computer symbols in bank computers. More specifically, your money is a pure psychological entity that evaporates as confidence fails.

Gold is substance. It is hard currency. It and silver are the only hard currencies in existence. You don't have to have faith in gold as you do in fiat money. Fiat currency creates fiat government. When the fiat currency fails, its government and fiat politicians fail, too. Gold stands on its own. The sooner we recognize this fact, the sooner our government bureaucratic nightmare will come to an end. The only gold (and silver) to buy is in its physical or bullion form — not paper gold, which is another fiction government uses to manipulate the price of gold. Bullion refers to the metal cast in bars or minted into coins with the weights marked on them.

Actual coins we recommend are the American Gold Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, African Krugerrand or the Australian Kangaroo. We prefer these because they are stamped in English, have their gold content stamped on them, come in convenient, well-known sizes (1 oz., ½ oz., ¼ oz. and 1/10 oz.) and sell at small premiums over the value of their gold content. If you can't make up your mind which to buy you should probably give more consideration to the American Gold Eagle, which the U.S. mint still lists as legal tender.
But don't buy numismatics. Their price is not determined by their gold or silver content, but by their value as a collectors' item. You will overpay dramatically in terms of real value if you buy numismatics.

For silver we recommend buying pre-1965 U.S silver coins, also called "junk" silver. They were minted using 90 percent silver. They are still legal tender and are worth more than their face value (proving the devaluation of the dollar) because of their silver content. One of the best ways to buy these is in bags with a $1,000 face value of dimes, quarters, half dollars and silver dollars. A bag contains 715 oz. of coins and currently costs around $12,000. You can buy them in smaller quantities, i.e., $500 face value or $250 face value. You can also buy American Silver Eagles.
 
There are many places you can go to buy gold and silver coins, both locally and over the internet. Local dealers give you the confidence that you are shopping with a legitimate business — particularly if they have been around a while — and the ability to actually see and hold what you are about to buy. You can make your purchases with cash, if you choose, which will help you remain under the Government radar. Find a dealer in your community — preferably one that has been in business for a number of years — and check with the Better Business Bureau and/or online ratings agencies to determine the seller's reputation. Remember, buyer beware. Do your homework first.

Yours for the truth,

Bob Livingston
Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter™

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still ... what do you think? 

There is a classic denial tactic that many people use when confronted with negative facts about a subject they have a personal attachment to.  I would call it "deferral denial" — a psychological postponing of reality.

For example, point out the fundamentals on the U.S. economy such as the fact that unemployment is not below 4 percent but actually closer to 20 percent when you factor in U-6 measurements including the record 96 million people not counted because they have run out of unemployment benefits. Or point out that true consumer inflation in the U.S. is not around 3 percent as the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics claims, but closer to 10 percent according to the way CPI used to be calculated before the government rigged the numbers. For a large part of the public including a lot of economic analysts, there is perhaps a momentary acceptance of the danger, but then an immediate deferral — "Well, maybe things will get worse down the road, 10 or 20 years from now, but it's not that bad today..."
This is cognitive dissonance at its finest. The economy is in steep decline now, but the mind in denial says "it could be worse," and this is how you get entire populations caught completely off guard by a financial crash. They could have easily seen the signs, but they desperately wanted to believe that all bad things happen in some illusory future, not today.
There is also another denial tactic I see often in the world of politics and economics, which is what I call "paying it backward." This is what people do when they have a biased attachment to a person or institution and refuse to see the terrible implications of their actions. For example, when someone like Donald Trump makes a destructive decision, such as the continued support of Israel and Saudi Arabia in Syria and Yemen, or the reinstatement of funding for the White Helmets in Syria who are tied to ISIS, Trump supporters will often say "Well what about Obama?"

This is a game of shifting accountability. Is one person worse than the other? Possibly. I say give it time and make notes. However, the negative decisions of one politician we don't like do not diminish the negative decisions of another politician we might like. They should both be held accountable.
The same goes for countries and economies. When an analyst points out that U.S. debt is at historic highs and is utterly unsustainable, people in denial will say "but what about China or Europe?" One does not negate the other and, of course, there are differences that make the situation in the U.S. far more tenuous.

Primarily I am talking about America's endless dependency on the world reserve status of the U.S. dollar and, beyond that, the endless expansion of debt at low interest rates.

The Federal Reserve, once the No. 1 buyer of U.S. debt, has essentially declared it is cutting off support and has begun dumping assets from its balance sheet. The only assets the Fed seems to be maintaining are Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). All others are being cut, including Treasurys. The American economy is inexorably attached to the idea of our Treasury debt as a safe investment, with our national debt spiking above $21 trillion and many trillions more owed to entitlement programs depending on how you calculate the expenditures, there is a vital need for steady foreign investment in U.S. debt.
But what happens when investment in U.S. debt becomes politically unsavory? Consider the current escalation of the trade war. Many pro-dollar talking heads and cheerleaders have argued in the past that no nation has the guts to dump dollar denominated assets and risk the wrath of American "economic might." But already we have seen Russia dump half its U.S. Treasury holdings in a single month and the trade war has only just begun.

Is Russia's action a sign of things to come? Will other nations like China follow the same strategy? We will have to wait and see, but I believe this is the inevitable outcome of the trade war if it drags on for the rest of the year.

America's dependent nature, feeding off of foreign investment to support its debts, is a disaster waiting to happen. The concept of economic "recovery" is laughable until this issue is addressed.
That said; let's not forget about American corporations and consumers. U.S. corporate debt as a percentage of gross domestic product is at historic highs not seen since the housing bubble of 2008 or the dot-com bubble of 2001. There is a distinct difference, though, that makes today's bubble far more insidious. After years of near-0 percent interest rates, corporations have become addicted to cheap debt. So much so that they have been borrowing nonstop to support their own stock prices through stock buyback manipulation. But now the Fed is raising interest rates and has committed to expanded hikes in the future.

So what will corporations do as the cheap debt dries up? So far, they are spending the majority of their Trump tax cut still trying to artificially prop up stock process. When this money runs out (and I believe it will much faster than the mainstream thinks), the existing debt of these companies will cost much more to finance, and future borrowing at the same pace will become impossible. This is a threat that is developing now, not in some far-off future.
Eventually, corporations will have to make deep spending cuts rather than borrow. This means mass layoffs, store closures and potential cuts to pensions. And, of course, no more stock buybacks, meaning a market crash will ensue.

What about the U.S. consumer? U.S. consumer debt is set to reach new highs by the end of the year; around $4 trillion by official estimates.  While discussion continues about the "labor shortage" in the U.S., one thing is clear — the jobs that do exist do not pay wages that keep up with true inflation. When we see spikes in retail sales in the U.S. and this is applauded as economy recovery, very few people point out that higher retail sales are actually tracking higher inflation.

Consumers are spending more on less stuff. Again, this is unsustainable, which is why consumer debt is exploding. Dependency on credit cards and loans is being used by the public to offset much higher costs. But as the Fed raises interest rates, this too will end. Higher Fed rates translate to higher credit rates as well as higher mortgage rates (indirectly). With higher interest payments comes a large drop in overall spending.

As you can see, there are at least two forces at work here that will end all talk of U.S. recovery — the first is the trade war, which I believe is a massive distraction designed to draw attention away from the actions of international banks and central banks. The second is the Federal Reserve, which has addicted the country to cheap fiat and is now flushing all the drugs. We cannot delude ourselves into thinking that this trend will remain slow or that it will not develop into a crisis in the near term. We also cannot simply deflect to other countries like China or those in Europe as if their problems are somehow worse and therefore ours are not a concern.

The danger is here, now. Seeing and accepting it allows us to prepare accordingly. Denying it as inconsequential sets people up as victims of their own bias and ignorance.

To truth and knowledge,

Brandon Smith

MARTHA RUTH HODGES - OBITUARY

Martha Ruth Hodges 62, of Huntsville,AL died Friday, June 15, 2018. Born Monday, November 14, 1955 in Chicago, IL, she was the daughter of Ernest Devue Langford and Mamie Marvolene Langford. She was preceded in death by her parents and daughter, Kathy Hardy,
 

She is survived by husband,Jack Hodges, Huntsville, AL, sons, Curtis(Stephanie) Nichols, Lester, AL, Scotty (Crystal) Nichols, Elkmont, AL, Shaun(Stephanie) Nichols, The Woodlands,TX, Daniel Nichols, Elkmont, AL, Doug A Hodges, Huntsville, AL, Daughters, Deana(Randy) Spearman, Huntsville, AL, Lisa Hodges, Shelia(Roger) Duncan, Summerville, AL. Tammy Hodges, Huntsville, AL, Jacqueline Whitt, Athens, AL, Brother, Bobby Joe Langford, Elkmont, AL, Sisters, Sandy Colwell, Elkmont, AL, Melissa Hunt, Elkmont, AL, 14 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
 

Visitation will be held on June 19, 2018 at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, from 5 PM until 9 PM. A Funeral Service will be held on June 20, 2018 at Ardmore Chapel Funeral Home, at 11 AM. Burial will be in Gatlin Cemetery, Ardmore, AL.

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Was at the beach last week with two other couples, sitting and talking in our chairs. I walked to the edge of the water and this lady walks up and says “excuse me”...” are you a story teller?”
My first inclination was to say “sorry” because there was no telling what she had overheard. She then said “you’re the Armour All guy!...from the story telling festival”. I swelled up a little and said “why yes...that would be me.” 

I was thinking wow at the beach and I’m being recognized. This must be how Tom Cruise feels at the beach 😉. She said “yeah”. We heard your “unique” voice and said “That has to be that guy!” Unique voice...kind of like a teenager about to hit puberty who’s a smoker, lol. Deflated some, I was still like hey, a lady from somewhere far away knows me. She then said “yeah we go all the time..we’re from Lawrenceburg”. So much for my celebrity status!! Well, for a moment I felt like Tom Cruise ... then more like Kermit the Frog. “Unique” voice....please!!! 😀Have a good one!

BETTIE JEAN LEWIS - OBITUARY

Bettie Jean Lewis, age 72 of Tanner, passed away Thursday June 14, 2018 at Athens Limestone Hospital. The Funeral Service was Saturday June 16, 2018, at McConnell Memorial Chapel with Reverend Jimmy Bailey officiating at 1 P.M. Visitation was Saturday June 16, 2018 from 11-12:45 PM at McConnell Funeral Home. Burial was at Athens City Cemetery. 

Mrs. Lewis was born October 30, 1945 in Limestone County, AL to Alvie Smith and Zelpha Tribble Smith. She was preceded in death by her parents. Mrs. Lewis was a member of The Baptist Church. She worked at Food World for 30 years. Mrs. Lewis is survived by her husband Kenneth Lewis, one son Todd Lewis (Deda Graham) of Tanner, AL; one daughter Amanda Lewis (Mark Horton) of Elkmont, AL; mother in law Elizabeth Lewis of Decatur, AL; two sisters Naomi Walker (John) of Harvest, AL; and Martha Jackson (Bobby) of Athens, AL; two brothers Wayne Smith of Athens, AL; Alvie Smith of Athens, AL; three sisters in law Joan Burgreen of Madison, AL: Beverly Lewis of Athens, AL; and Lisa Dobbs of Decatur, AL; two Brothers in law Bobby Burgreen of Madison, AL and Mike Dobbs of Decatur, AL; three grandchildren Preston Lewis, Naudia Horton, and Samuel Lewis, several nieces and nephews Pallbearers will be Mike Dobbs, Neal Coats, and Elliott Beddingfield, Preston Lewis, John Vickers, and Brandon Graham.

MARY ELIZABETH HARRISON - OBITUARY

Mary Elizabeth Harrison, age 96 of Elkmont, AL died Friday, June 15, 2018 at her residence. She was born July 24, 1921 in Limestone Co. AL to George & Connie Vinson. She was a member of the Lebanon United Methodist Church, she loved to grow flowers, cook and work a garden and most of all she loved her children, grandchildren & great grandchildren. Mrs. Harrison was preceded in death by her parents, Sons, Eldridge & Wayne Harrison, sister, Georgia Lou Harrison, a infant, brother & two infant grandsons. 

Graveside Services will be Monday, 11 AM at the New Salem Cemetery with Ben Johnson and Stanley Harrison officiating. Visitation will be Sunday, 6-8 PM at Spry Funeral Home. Survivors include, Daughter: Mary Townsend (Wilburn) of Elkmont, AL, Sons, Allen Harrison of Athens, AL, Howard Harrison of Minor Hill, TN, Edwin Harrison of Pennsylvania, Granddaughters: Crystal McMahan (Jason), Donna Harrison Sorensen, Diane Harrison, Grandsons: Michael Harrison, Stephen Harrison, Bobby Harrison, Bruce Harrison, Eric Harrison, Danny Harrison, Christopher Townsend, Great Grandchildren: Camry Elizabeth Townsend, Caison Townsend, Blake McMahan, Logan McMahan, Briana Canerday (Justin), Kaiya Beverly Powell, Cody Powell, Daughter in Laws: Nella Faye Harrison & Phyllis Harrison, Niece: Sandy Smith, Nephew: Stanley Harrison. Pallbearers will be, Christopher Townsend, Michael Harrison, Blake McMahan, Logan McMahan, Bruce Harrison, Danny Harrison

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Spent the biggest part of Father’s Day driving home from the beach. I was thinking as I was driving, about Jensen and the job I have done. It seems before she was born I knew exactly how to be a good Daddy. I knew how to discipline and love and balance giving and holding back. No sweat! Ummm...yeah. Then real life set in. The waking up in the middle of the night thinking, “did I handle that right?”or the emotional struggle of “giving in” too much. 

There are all types of fathers. There are all types of kids. I see a lot of them and have taught and coached a lot of them. The measure of a father is hard to actually “see”. 

Is working and making money to pay for their needs, it? 
Is spending more time with your kids and having less the answer? I
s sending them to Mimi’s before you kill them, good? ( been guilty of that one plenty of times! ) 

That’s just it I don’t know. BUT I do know this. Your child knows what kind of father you are. There is no way to hide that from them. Ask anyone who has a father and they can tell you what kind he is or has been. Sobering but true. She hugged me when I came in. Hopefully that bodes well for me! 😀. We can not afford to fail our kids. We just can’t. Use them as your measure. May take a while to be appreciated but anything worth doing usually is! 

Happy Father’s Day! Have a good one!

ARE YOU SELF RELIANT OR SELF SUFFICIENT - BEING PREPARED

So exactly what does it mean to be self-reliant vs. being self-sufficient?  How are the two different and how are they related and how does one interact with the other.  More importantly how do they effect you and you planning both for disaster preparations and independence.

The reality is most people use these two phrases interchangeably, but they are quite different in how you measure them and how you use them in your planning.

Tune in Today as We Ask… Skip to 9:55 in podcast

• What is self reliance
• What is self sufficiency
• Why would you want to be self reliant
• Why would you want to be self sufficient
• What are degrees of self sufficiency
• What is healthy interdependence
• Why are concepts like self sufficiency part of our nation at its core
• How much self sufficiency do you want
• How much self reliance do you have, are you deceiving yourself and have you tested yourself
• How have we lost touch with the innate desire for self sufficiency and reliance
• How can you apply these concepts to your daily lifestyle

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still ... what do you think? 

The concept of known unknowns and unknown unknowns came into the public consciousness following a statement by then Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld in 2002 during a discussion about Iran and terrorist groups. What Rumsfeld was saying is there are things the people don't know that they know they don't know, and there are things that people don't know but they don't know they don't know them. I believe this applies to most Americans in discussions about government money systems.  While many people — even trained economists — may believe they understand government money creation, they know there are things about it they don't know. But what most people don't understand is there many things about the system that they don't know that they don't know.

Conventional wisdom holds that the Federal Reserve is essential to sound monetary policy and that its activities ensure that inflation and unemployment are kept in check. For the average citizen and Keynesian-trained economist, this is a known known. Another known known is that the United States is in debt and you should pay your "fair share" of tax dollars — as determined by a group of collectivists — into the U.S. Treasury in order to keep government functioning and pay off that debt. The problem is, neither could be further from the truth. For most people, the system of government money is a study of unknown unknowns. Look at the dollars in your pocket. They are nowhere near the value of the dollars that you had as a child or that you may have stored under your mattress. That's because they've been inflated away. Most people think that a dollar is a dollar. Not so. Today's dollars (nominal dollars) are quicksand money that destroys financially all who trust it. For many people, the topic of monetary realism — what money really is (and is not) and how the government creates a fiction called money and cons people into believing it is substance — is a boring one and understanding it is drudgery. But it is all important to our liberty. It's hard to imagine that more 5 percent of the conscious American adult population (those who bother to follow issues at a minimum level) truly understand inflation and how the Federal Reserve's policies are stealing our wealth every day. Sadly that percentage seems to become frighteningly lower with each passing day, even though their financial health and well-being rests upon proper understanding. When you do understand it, it will affect every financial and political decision you make.


This week, Bloomberg reported that U.S. inflation has reached a six-year high. If you ask most people what that means to their wealth, they haven't a clue. They think that rising inflation means simply rising prices. That is incorrect, rising prices are simply symptomatic of inflation. Inflation is the increase in the money supply and credit. The word "inflation" once applied only to the quantity of money. It meant that the volume of money was inflated, blown up or overextended. As the money supply is increased, people have more money to offer for goods. But if the supply of goods doesn't increase — or increases at a slower pace than the money supply — the prices of goods goes up. Each individual dollar becomes less valuable because there are more dollars available. This leads to more of them being offered for a commodity. A "price" is an exchange ratio between a dollar and a unit of goods. When people have more dollars, they value them less. Goods then rise in price, not because there are fewer goods than before, but rather because there are more dollars available. (Taken from What You Should Know About Inflation — Henry Hazlitt)

According to the excellent financial writer Peter Schiff in his book, Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, published the year before the 2008 financial collapse, there are five reasons governments desire to create inflation:

• Inflation makes the national debt more manageable because it can be repaid in cheaper dollars.
• In a democracy full of personally indebted voters, the government will pursue monetary policies hospitable to debtors even as it accommodates the special interests that lend to them.
• Inflation finances social programs that voters demand but avoids the politically unpopular alternative of higher taxes, allowing Uncle Sam to play Santa Claus.
• Inflationary spending is confused with economic growth, which is confused with economic health. (Of course, gross domestic product numbers are theoretically adjusted for inflation, but that doesn't mean much if the inflation figures are misrepresented.)
• Inflation causes nominal asset prices to rise, such as those of stocks and real estate, instilling in the minds of voters the illusion of wealth creation even as the real purchasing power of their assets falls.

Anything that artificially increases aggregate demand for goods and services is inflation. It could be lowering interest rates, increasing credit or money printing, as the Fed has been doing with its so-called quantitative easing. This is the uncomfortable truth the money creators don't want you to know. But why would they want to hide it? Schiff writes that governments hide inflation because it keeps the interest on national borrowing low, allows the government to keep Social Security payments as low as possible and allows for lower interest rates for consumers, which encourages the phony expansion of the debt-dependent economy.

By hiding the truth, the money creators seek to control the system, or non-system of fiat dollars which they use to control us. Americans believe they have trillions of dollars in savings and investments. In truth, what they have is only numbers, not substance. It is fiat, which is "money" only by the decree of the "authority" of government.  We have had fiat paper money since 1913, and most of that time it was being debased (inflated). Put another way, it now takes more than $25 to buy what $1 would buy in 1913. We are only as rich or as poor as the purchasing power of our money. As to whether Federal Reserve or a central bank is necessary, one need only look at the 100 years before the creation of the Fed in 1913 (a period that also included Civil War inflation and the war's destruction of the U.S. economy). An item that cost $1 in 1814 cost only 47 cents in 1913. That's almost completely the reverse of the past 100 years.


So what can we do to preserve our wealth? First, stop thinking conventional thoughts. They are not your own. If you will digest completely what I write, you will be catapulted into the real world. You will not spend your life frivolously and off point.
Preserve your labor, your savings and retirement with gold and silver in your possession. You will know what to do with your precious metals when the time comes — and it will come.
Precious metals don't pay interest, you say? This is conventional thinking backed by the paper money myth. Gold and silver are the only real money in existence. They are real money as well as intrinsic wealth. Moreover, gold and silver appreciate in purchasing power as paper money depreciates. That is your real interest. All understanding of hard money has been lost down the memory hole of the fiat paper world money regime. I am proud to be an American, but I know that my government and my country have been stolen by the money creators.

Yours for the truth,

Bob Livingston
Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter™

19 Baby Steps Toward a Self Sufficient Lifestyle - FOUR

Here is the fourth of nineteen easy steps you can take to to start helping you being prepared for life's storms.  These are steps that do not require a farm, do not require acreage and do not require a lot of money.  They are practical steps that you can select from and learn to be able to take care of your family by being ready....

 

4.  Install an alternate fuel source

You might be surprised by how little power you need to get by.  Start with an inexpensive portable generator or a ventless gas heater.  Also think about those items that must have power when the grid is down, such as a well, medical devices and refrigeration.   Take care of providing power to those things and let the rest go for now.  You might want to add a way to  cook without electricity as well; lots of ways to do this besides a grill if you do a bit of research...

• The Apple Box Oven — Covered with foil, the lid of a box that apples are shipped in is simple to make, inexpensive and portable. Notches should be cut in the bottom of the sides or put it on a rack to lift it from the ground. Use 10-14 coals to bake at 350 degrees for up to 45-55 minutes.


• The Paper Box Oven — Covered with foil, a box used to transport reams of paper is inexpensive, portable, and smaller than an apple box so it needs fewer coals, only 8-10.
Wooden dowels pushed through the top help with air circulation. A blanket cover will conserve energy and hold in heat.


• A Dutch Oven — is easy to use and store but must be used outside and they're heavy so they're not really portable.

Other fuel options include fuel gel that can be squeezed out to start fires, solid fuel cubes that burn very hotly for a very short time (to boil water) and MRE heaters that heat instantly.

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Cross country summer workouts began today, 7:30 am runs at the trail the rest of the summer. Week of camp at David Crockett and getting ready for the new season. Moving up to 4A again this year. Rebuilding and reevaluating. Always gets me excited. Feel better running myself than I have in about 10 years. We work out with our kids. Always have since the programs started. Great motivation for me to stay in shape and I can shut them up when they complain lol. I’m doing it too! Love to watch the kids succeed. So many lessons are learned on each run if we just “listen.” It’s a tough sport. Team sport but the whole run relies on how YOU perform. Same as life. We’re all in it together but you are only as good as you strive to be. No place for mediocre attempts in practice or races. May not be as fast but the effort better be just as hard from each runner. Improvement is what we want to see. That can only be achieved through discipline and practice. We are what we do. We will become what we believe we can do. We will succeed when we know we have done all we can do. Come join us if you like. Positivity prevails!! We need a lot more of that in our lives! Have a good one!

ANGELA MARIE ROYSTER - OBITUARY

Angela Marie Royster, age 52 of Elkmont, died Friday, June 8, 2018 at her residence. Mrs. Royster was born July 30, 1965 in Limestone County. 

There was be a Graveside Service 11AM Monday, June 11 at Legg Cemetery with Michael Long officiating, Spry Funeral is directing. No visitation was planned.


Survivors
Sons: 
Nathaniel Harvey of Huntsville
Brandon Royster of Harvest
Robert Adam Royster of Elkmont 
Chris Crable of Elkmont

Grandchildren: Nevaeh Royster, Taylor Royster, Westlyn Royster, Gabrielle Goodmon, Alexander Royster, Clyde, Brother: Neal Eastep of Decatur.

MARION GLENN WOODFIN - OBITUARY

Marion Glenn Woodfin, age 77 of Athens, passed away Saturday, June 9, 2018 at his residence. Mr. Woodfin was born June 29, 1940 in Limestone County, AL to Mason Woodfin and Villa Maggie Griggs Woodfin.

Services will be Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 11:00 a.m., at Limestone Chapel Funeral Home with Robert Fudge and Matt Lannom officiating. Visitation was Monday, June 11, 2018 from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Roselawn Cemetery.

Mr. Woodfin was a member of Ephesus Church of Christ for over 50 years. He enjoyed gardening, reading and Alabama Football.

Preceded in death by his parents; two children, Marsha Renae Woodfin and Jeffery Glenn Woodfin; brother, Charles Woodfin; sister, Jean Sublett.

Survived by his wife of 52 years, Wanda Sue Burns Woodfin of Athens; son, Eric Glenn Woodfin and wife, Mitzi of Elkmont; daughter, Kimberly Woodfin Clinard of Athens; five grandchildren, Mason Woodfin, Evan Woodfin, Justin Hughes, Trevor Clinard and Kelsey Clinard; one great-grandchild; four sister-in-laws, three brother-in-laws; several nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Mason Woodfin, Scott Abernathy, Donnie Rogers, Tommy Woodfin, Van Barksdale and Joel Lynn.

ELKMONT FFA IS IN THE HOUSE

 
It is amazing how much hardware our Elkmont Future Farmers of America (FFA) program has brought back to the Hilltop in the last several years.   Once again, they made a huge splash at the Alabama State Competitions.  

Livestock placed first in state.
-Natalie Barlow
-Emma Hargrove  (third highest state score)

-Ella Keller
-Natalie Lovell

Aquaculture placed first in state.
-Claire Bowling
-Anna Schrimsher
-Jordan Fielding
-Camille Turner 

Ag Education placed second in state.
-Gracey Norman  

Veterinary Science placed third in state.
-Maddy Barnes
-Ashley Bailey
-Claudia Allen
-Kayla McNatt

Land Evaluation placed third in state.
-Justin Williams
-Claire Bowling
-Ashley Bailey
- Luke Campbell

Ag Mechanics placed third in state.
-Justin Williams
-Braden Long
-Cody Watkins
-Matthew Sims 

We are all so proud of everyone who worked hard and stayed dedicated!  

 

We had several state winning proficiencies!
*Claire Bowling placed second in her Outdoor Recreation proficiency.
*Natalie Bartlow placed second in her Small Animal Care proficiency.
*Leigha Smith placed first in her Agriculture Education proficiency.
*Breanna Barnett placed first in her Goat Production proficiency.
*Natalie Bartlow also placed first in her Sheep Production proficiency. 

 

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still ... what do you think? 

There has been a longstanding narrative in economic circles that no matter what crisis occurs the U.S. dollar is essentially invincible.  I have never been one to buy into this assumption.

Reason 1: Because I remember distinctly just before the derivatives and credit crisis in 2007/2008 the majority of mainstream economists were so certain that U.S. housing and debt markets were invincible, and they were terribly wrong. Whenever the mainstream financial media are confident of an outcome, expect the opposite to happen.
Reason 2: Because karma has a way of sinking grand illusions. When you proudly declare a Titanic "unsinkable," nature or fate often tests that resolve and finds it wanting.
Reason 3: Because I understand that a primary goal of the internationalist, globalists, anti-sovereignty and New World Order crowd is to diminish U.S. economic performance dramatically, and this includes ending the reserve status and petro-status of the dollar in order to make way for a single global currency unit dictated by a single global economic administrator.

Mindless blind faith in the dollar (and U.S. treasury debt) seems to switch sides politically according to whose narrative it best suits. During the Obama administration, conservatives and Republicans witnessed unprecedented fiat currency creation and dollar devaluation by the Federal Reserve and rightly drew the conclusion that this would eventually trigger a currency crisis as various systems absorb and then regurgitate all these dollars back into the U.S. We saw the biggest foreign trading partners of the U.S. launching bilateral trade agreements that cut out the dollar as the reserve currency, and we witnessed many foreign creditors questioning the viability of U.S. debt.

Only a couple of years ago, conservatives were warning of potential disaster for the dollar caused by the bailouts and unchecked stimulus programs while leftists were staunchly defending the dollar as an immortal golden goose. Today, the roles appear to be switching, as many conservatives now defend "king dollar" in the wake of a Trump presidency, and adopt numerous arguments once reserved for ignorant lefty commentators.
One question that needs to be addressed is how long the current trade war will last? Some people claim that economic hostilities will be short-lived, that foreign trading partners will quickly capitulate to the Trump administration's demands and that any retaliation against tariffs will be meager and inconsequential. If this is the case and the trade war moves quickly, then I would agree — very little damage will be done to the U.S. economy beyond what has already been done by the Federal Reserve.

However, what if it doesn't end quickly? What if the trade war drags on for the rest of Trump's first term? What if it bleeds over into a second term or into the regime of a new president in 2020? This is exactly what I expect to happen, and the reason why I predict this will be the case rests on the opportunities such a drawn out trade war will provide for the globalists.

In my article World War III Will Be An Economic War, I reiterated my longstanding view that there is indeed a global war brewing between major powers, but that this war will be fought primarily with financial weapons, not nukes. I also summarized my position that this war will be engineered by globalists deliberately to provide cover for something they call the "great economic reset."
With Trump's cabinet currently loaded with banking elites and neoconservatives with ties to institutions like Goldman Sachs and the Council On Foreign Relations, institutions notorious for promoting one-world economic and political programs, it seems to me that the worst case scenario for the U.S. could easily be staged. 

If the goal is to kill the dollar's reserve status, then the trade war will be purposely prolonged.

The next question that needs to be addressed is how is the dollar actually vulnerable to destabilization?

Pro-dollar cheerleaders will say that the dollar is in high demand, with countries like India begging the Fed to stop balance sheet cuts for fear that this will reduce the amount of dollars and dollar denominated assets in circulation in emerging markets.
I see this as a gross misinterpretation of what India and others are warning about. Interestingly, foreign central banks are now sounding an alarm many of us in the alternative economic field have been sounding for years. When India's Reserve Bank Governor, Urjit Patel, writes about the danger of speedy balance sheet cuts by the Fed causing a liquidity crisis in global markets, this is not necessarily a declaration that India has a insatiable desire for more dollars. What it is a declaration of is the fact that the global economy is weakened by its dependency on the dollar as the primary international trade mechanism.

When I see India complaining about the dangers in dollar liquidity caused by Fed balance sheet reductions, I don't interpret that as them saying "go king dollar!" I interpret that as India coming to the realization that they are going to have to adopt other alternatives to the dollar, and they are going to have to do this quickly.
Emerging markets and much of the world have been propped up for the better part of a decade through Federal Reserve stimulus measures from direct bailouts to near zero interest rate loans to asset purchases to outright stock market manipulation. The dollar has become a drug easing the pain of economic downturn, and many nations are addicted.

So what happens when the drug dealer, for whatever reason, suddenly stops providing the drug? The addict is going to look elsewhere for a fix. The Fed is not going to stop its balance sheet cuts, and it's not going to stop interest rate hikes. Not with the current discussion on "inflation dangers." This will ultimately cause declines in various markets including equities, and I believe these declines will accelerate by the end of 2018. Meaning, foreign trade and markets will have to be facilitated by other sources, such as the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) basket currency system, or the application of a new global cryptocurrency system, which the IMF has been avidly studying. The IMF has even been singing the praises of cryptocurrencies, depicting them as the next stage in human evolution and perpetuation the lie that cyrpto is "anonymous."

The dollar is vulnerable to destabilization by the very institutions and elitists that created it in the first place, and these people are seeking something much bigger than king dollar. The problem is, the globalists cannot implement such a vast "reset" in the economy without a considerable distraction. Enter Trump's trade war...
I have been outlining the reality behind dollar weakness for quite some time. Rehashing the facts over and over again becomes tiresome but is unfortunately necessary, because there is always some new contingent of the public that falls into the trap of dollar worship. So, let's do this one more time.

First, the dollar is not backed by U.S. military might. The U.S. military can barely manage its concerns in the Middle East, let alone take on nations like Russia or China in an attempt to force them to keep investing in U.S. treasury debt or retain the dollar as world reserve. If these countries drop the dollar, there is nothing the U.S. can do. Anyone who makes the dollar-by-military argument should not be taken seriously.

Second, while the dollar is in demand now, this is only because the current system has been propped up by endless Federal Reserve stimulus.  If the Fed continues to cut assets and raise interest rates, then emerging markets and others will look elsewhere for support. The dollar is only valuable to global markets so long as the Fed continues to provide a perpetual supply of liquidity. Economies are fickle, and welfare recipients are even more so. Stop giving people free goodies and they will abandon you angrily. Major foreign economies like China and parts of Europe have been adopting bilateral trade relations for some time. Rather than intimidating these countries into capitulation, a trade was on the part of the U.S. is far more likely to drive them more closely together. Germany and China in particular have been establishing strong trade ties, and OPEC nations have been much cozier with the East. The idea that the U.S. is somehow a linchpin to the entire global economy is a lie. The world can and will organize trade avenues without us if pushed. In fact, this seems to be the plan.

 The U.S. has only two major points of leverage in a trade war. First, the U.S. dollar's world reserve status, which I have already addressed as not a point of leverage at all unless the Fed continues stimulus indefinitely. Second, the U.S. consumer. U.S. consumers and corporate buyers are sitting at historically high debt levels. In fact, their debt levels are higher than they were just before the crash of 2008. If the Fed continues to raise interest rates, this debt will become unsustainable and something will have to give. For corporations, this means job cuts and wage reductions. For consumers this means cuts to household spending. U.S. consumers are only a point of leverage in a trade war so long as they continue to consume at ever expanding rates. If we suffer another crash similar to 2008, foreign creditors will see this as a lack of incentive to continue placating the U.S.
 
Without a massive resurrection of American manufacturing and production, we enter into a trade war with little ammunition because we remain dependent on foreign production and goods, while other nations like China can easily expand into alternative markets and retain their own production capabilities. Trump could have launched a new renaissance of production in the U.S. if he had given corporations incentive to bring manufacturing back home. Instead, he gave them a sizeable tax cut without asking for anything in return. Those tax cuts, instead of creating jobs or luring factories back to the U.S., have instead been spent where we all knew they would be spent — on stock buybacks to prop up a flailing equities market.
 
The longer the trade war continues, the more other countries will consider the "nuclear option" of dumping the dollar as world reserve, or dumping U.S. debt. In my view, this is exactly what the globalists want. Trump bumbles into a trade war and is blamed for a crisis in the dollar as well as a crash in stock markets, while the banking elites introduce their new world order reset as a solution. In this case, I think the worst case scenario is the intended scenario.

To truth and knowledge,

Brandon Smith