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Volume 6 Number 49 AUGUST 27, 2009
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16 PAGES
VOLUME 6 NUMBER 49
AUGUST 27, 2009
Senate Games Cost Gun Owners
By Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor, Gun Week
Special To The Penny Press
To paraphrase Tina Turner’s
1980s hit “What’s love got to do
with it?” one has to wonder “What’s
a majority vote have to do with
Commentary
democratic institutions?”
On July 22, the US Senate
showed that representative democracy can be as constant as a lady of
the evening.
To understand what happened to
the bipartisan amendment offered by
Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and David
Vitter (R-LA) to provide interstate
recognition of right-to-carry licenses, one need only take a brief look at
the timeline.
The Thune-Vitter amendment
had originally been filed as a separate bill—S-1390—with bipartisan support and the clear intent to
acknowledge that the right to selfdefense extends across state lines.
It was a clear attempt to provide for
law-abiding citizens who had been
previously vetted by their states to
carry a handgun for personal defense
the same recognition that driver’s
licenses get when you cross a state
line. All states giving full faith and
credit to the gun-licensing authorities of all the other states has been a
long sought objective of serious gun
policy advocates.
Orchestrated Opposition
The anti-gunners have long demonstrated their hypocrisy by demand-
The Conservative Weekly
Voice Of Las Vegas
Inside:
A Hero Teaches Us
To Honor Heroes
See Editorial Page 6
ing uniform national gun control
laws cast in Capitol Hill concrete
while rejecting such a social policy
standard if it did not meet the most
anti-gun requirements of the most
anti-gun states. For instance, while
bemoaning different state gun laws
that regulate the sale and possession
of firearms, they defend states rights
when people like Thune and Vitter
take them at their word and propose
a federal law requiring reciprocal
recognition of state-issued licenses.
When the Thune-Vitter measure
was offered as an amendment to
the Defense appropriations bill, the
anti-gunners immediately started
screaming foul.
New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and his cohorts in the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns gang,
longtime supporters of a one-sizefits-all federalist gun policy, imme-
Penny Wisdom
When they call the roll in
the Senate, the Senators do
not know whether to answer
'Present' or 'Not guilty.'
—Theodore Roosevelt
diately condemned this sensible proposal.
Likewise, the Brady Campaign
Against Gun Violence, perhaps
stung by earlier pro-gun amendments approved by Congress as
amendments to the DC voting rights
bill and the energy bill, found new
voice to champion states rights in
order to deprive honest citizens of
the means to self-defense.
Sen. Charles Schumer (DNY) immediately warned that the
Republican “sneak attack” legislation could render New York State’s
law requiring handgun owners to
obtain concealed carry licenses
toothless.
“To say that someone who gets a
license in another state can then take
their gun into Central Park or into
Eisenhower Park without any check-
FLOYD BROWN
FRED WEINBERG
DOUG FRENCH
AL THOMAS
WYATT COX
JOYCE MEYER
PET OF THE WEEK
Continued on page4
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PAGE 11
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PAGE 15
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 4
Continued from page 3
Libs Don't Need No Stinking Majority!
ing with local law enforcement is appalling and could affect our safety,”
Schumer said in an interview with Newsday.
He threatened to filibuster the amendment, which led to some internal
Senate procedural maneuvers, almost as effective in blocking a vote as a
filibuster.
His New York stablemate in the Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who
once was allegedly opposed to restrictions on gun ownership as an upstate
congresswoman, also opposed the Thune-Vitter amendment, and voted with
Schumer against it. (More about Gillibrand later!)
Anti-gunners Strike Back
While the bipartisan supporters of national reciprocity were trying
to figure a way around the threatened Schumer filibuster, on July 20 the
Violence Policy Center (VPC) issued a press release of their “study” which
claimed that concealed handgun permit holders killed seven police officers
and 44 private citizens over a two year period.
The timing was right out of the movie “Wag the Dog.” The VPC release
made no bones about linking their “study” to the vote on the Thune-Vitter
amendment. The generally anti-gun media, of course, lapped up the “study”
without chasing down its origins in an effort to help shape public opinion
against the amendment.
In the press release, VPC Legislative Director Kristen Rand stated,
“State concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers and other murderers. It is beyond irrational for Congress to vote to expand the reach of these
deadly laws.”
“Republican sneak attack!” “Deadly laws!” “Filibuster!” The opposition
had orchestrated a clear attempt to derail the Thune-Vitter amendment.
On July 22, by a margin of 58-39, a bipartisan majority of the US Senate
voted in favor of the Thune-Vitter amendment. You would think that a clear
majority, voting in a democratic forum would have passed the amendment.
But not so!
Despite the bipartisan majority of votes, the Thune-Vitter amendment
did not pass—because it fell two votes short of the required 60 votes for its
approval. Where did the super-majority number come into a Senate vote,
you might ask? A simple majority passes most measures unless otherwise
provided in the Constitution—or by a special parliamentary rule.
Well, before the vote, the majority and minority leaders—Democrats
and Republicans——had adopted a special parliamentary rule requiring
a 60-vote approval threshold. The agreement was, in part, used to avoid
a filibuster and any hostile amendments to the Thune-Vitter amendment,
something that had also been threatened.
“Today’s strong majority vote in the US Senate was an important step
forward in the National Rifle Association’s decades long effort to make
right-to-carry and national reciprocity the law of the land,” said NRA
Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre afterward.
And, in a news release, Thune said, “Today, overheated rhetoric and fear
mongering overcame common sense. My amendment would allow responsible firearms owners to protect themselves while obeying the firearms laws
of the states they visit. The individual right to self-defense should not end at
the state line. Despite today’s defeat, this amendment had bipartisan support
and I hope the Senate will reconsider this important issue in the future.”
No True Indicator
Dave Workman’s report on the national reciprocity measure (www.gunweek.com) offers more about the climate that prevailed on Capitol Hill for
the vote. Not every Senator was as forthright about the vote as they might
have been. The raw vote may not be a true indicator of real sentiments of
many in both parties.
There were some Republicans who voted for the amendment who have
not been as stalwart defenders of the right to keep and bear arms as they
would have you believe. There were some Democrats who may have voted
for the amendment secure in the knowledge that it would never become
law, but able to lay claim to a pro-gun vote when the next time they are out
campaigning.
Gillibrand, for example, delivered an anti-gun vote as she obviously
promised Schumer and New York Gov. David Paterson when he appointed
her to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat. Before her elevation to the Senate by
appointment, Gillibrand had claimed to be pro-gun and protective of her
constituents’ firearms rights, and had been rated an “A” by the NRA in her
last House race.
But now, she and Schumer, as well as any other pair of anti-gunners
who voted wrong in the knowledge that national right to carry would not
pass, will have to answer to any of the residents of their states who become
victims of the status quo and suffer from predatory attacks while traveling
that they might have been able to defend against.
Yes, there is a right to travel freely in this great county, but thanks to
those who organized the 60-vote threshold and the whole charade, there is
not right to travel free from fear.
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THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 5
Commentary: Floyd Brown
Christian youth. On the one hand,
they are taught abstinence until marriage, and in the next sentence some
are told they should wait until age 32
before getting married. At least that
is the advice our 14-year-old daughter was given recently.
Young adults are taught they
must meet certain “requirements”
The abstinence message is before marrying. They are told
coming through loud and clear to they should experience travel, finish
Christian youth, but another mes- higher education, have some fun,
sage promoted in many Christian own a car and maybe even a house
before marriage. And don’t forget
churches is undermining it.
Mixed messages bombard all the big, extravagant wedding; they
young people in America, putting must save for it, all before marriage.
them in difficult and conflicting situ- No wonder the urge for premarital
ations, often leading to tears and sex often wins out.
A comment in a recent blog
heartache. But no conflict is more
insidious than the conflict faced by posting at datingish.com captured
the idea this way, “In your early-
Are Churches
Undermining
The Abstinence
Message?
The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:
Las Vegas Review Journal Writer Paul Harasim for an insightful series
detailing exactly how much money a small group of illegal immigrants
who use the University Medical Center's emergency room as their personal
dialysis center cost the citizens of Clark County because nobody has the
guts to deport these folks, however sick they may be, to their native countries for treatment.
The huge number of voters who, when polled, say that they will vote for
just about anybody but Harry Reid in 2010. They keep talking about how
powerful Reid is and what he can do for the state but it would appear that
most Nevadans know he is no longer one of us.
The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer
And A Bouquet of Weeds To:
The Clark County Department of Business License for granting Privé and
the Living Room a temporary license late Friday after revoking its licenses
several weeks ago. Las Vegas is just like Louisiana, it seems. You have to
be caught with a dead girl or a live boy in order to be permanently put out
of business by criminal activities. Do we need the tax money that bad?
mid twenties you are dramatically
changing as a person. If you can
go through all of that and you and
your partner still love each other for
who you are then I think it’s okay
to get married…I’m a firm believer
that waiting until you’re older to get
married is the best option if you are
looking for a successful marriage.”
We feel fortunate we didn’t face
such pressure. In our early twenties
we had a modest wedding at a local
church followed by a reception with
cake, nuts, mints and punch. After
a three-day honeymoon we started
working. Our first child came two
year later.
The trend to marry older has
increased since 1970 by five years
when the median age for first marriage for women was 21 and 23 for
men, to 26 for women and 28 for men.
“Christians have made much ado
about sex but are becoming slow and
lax about marriage,” which is more
significant, says Mark Regnerus,
associate professor of sociology at
the University of Texas at Austin
and the author of “Forbidden Fruit:
Sex and Religion in the Lives of
American Teenagers.” According to
Regnerus, “We are marrying later, if
at all, and having fewer children.”
Regnerus points out several reasons for this. “In societies like ours
that exhibit lengthy economic prosperity, men and women alike begin
to lose motivation to marry and
have children, and thus avoid one
or both,” he explains. However,
“the institution of marriage remains
a foundational good for individuals
and communities. It is by far the
optimal context for child-rearing.”
Economically speaking, he says,
married people are wealthier, share
many expenses like housing, food,
and electricity and are less likely to
become dependent on the government and indigent.
We aren’t advocating teenagers
marry but there are certain advantages to early marriage. Studies
showing a correlation between early
marriage and divorce occur mostly
amongst those under age 20. For one
thing, medical research reveals that
the safest and prime childbearing
years for both baby and mother is
when the mother is in her twenties.
After this, problems progressively increase for both as the mother
reaches her late thirties and forties,
along with expensive fertility procedures. Again, studies show that
having a first child before age 30
decreases a woman’s odds of breast
cancer. Plus, a couple has much
more energy in their twenties to
raise babies and small children than
when they later reach their forties
and fifties.
Part of the problem is the delay
of adulthood permeating our society.
Getting married encourages responsibility and maturity. “Unfortunately,
a key developmental institution for
men — marriage — is the very thing
being postponed, thus perpetuating
their adolescence,” says Regnerus.
Many friends and family are
unwittingly giving bad advice to
young people when encouraging
them to postpone marriage. It simply makes it much more difficult for
young people hoping to abstain from
sex in their prime years of sexual
interest and fertility if they now have
the added pressure to marry in their
late twenties and beyond. With fewer
than half of all American households
comprised of married couples, an
added burden is placed on society
and shifted off to mushrooming government programs.
If young adults in their early
twenties find their “special” someone, the natural and logical step is
marriage.
FLOYD and
MARY BETH
BROWN
www.pennypressnv.com
OPINION
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 6
From The Publisher...
Real Civilian Leadership Starts With You!
Ever since Tim Russert died, the most significant of the
Sunday morning talking head shows has been Fox News
Sunday with Chris Wallace about whom it can be fairly said
that while MR. Wallace still works at CBS, his son is gaining
and MR. Wallace should be proud.
Given the aging of the World War II vets and the Korean and
Viet Nam vets, the statisticians who follow these things are
anticipating over 500,000 veterans to die every year for the
next seven years.
Back in 2000, Congress passed a law which said that any
veteran requesting a military funeral was entitled to two
representatives to play taps, and, with the thanks of a
grateful nation, fold the flag for presentation to the next of
kin. There is (and should be) no higher honor for anyone
who has worn the uniform of our armed forces.
You can tell a lot about the soul of a nation by the way it
honors those who served it.
Somehow, boomboxes and electronic horn inserts do not
Last Sunday, he repeated a Power Player of the Week about seem appropriate.
a fellow named Tom Day, a 69 year old Marine veteran who
still looks pretty good in his uniform.
It should say something about Fox News Sunday’s viewers
that after the piece on Day first aired in May, they donated
Day is a bugler.
over $100,000 to the organization.
The problem was that there simply weren’t enough
buglers.
We certainly lost our bearings during the Viet Nam war.
That it took as long as it did to have a Viet Nam Memorial in
a nation which routinely memorializes the victims of terrorist attacks said a lot.
It is people like Tom Day who have helped us regain our
They sent people with boomboxes. They sent people with bearings.
phony bugles which had electronic inserts. If that sounds
like a tacky and cheesy way to honor those who served the It is now common to see people in airports coming up to
post powerful nation on the face of the Earth and whose soldiers in transit and thanking them for their service.
express mission is to keep her free, it most certainly is.
That didn’t happen back in the 70s—largely because it was
Day took great offense.
not fashionable amongst those who loathed the military,
even though it was the military which gave them the freeAnd like many Americans, was not only offended when he dom to loath anyone.
saw something like this but sat down and did something
about it.
Some of those people are now what passes for civilian leadership.
He founded Bugles Across America (www.buglesacrossamerica.org) which now has over 5,000 volunteer horn play- Fortunately, we have real civilian leadership in the form of
ers who will happily play at a veteran’s funeral. He gives people like Tom Day who do what Americans are famous for
away bugles, recruits buglers and dispatches them upon the doing—figuring out a way to do the right thing without any
request from a family.
money or help from the government.
Taps has 24 notes. It may not seem like a big deal to civilians, but it is the military’s way of saying, “Job well done.
Thanks for your service.” And it means a lot to anyone who
has ever served.
As a counterpoint to today’s Congress and White House,
that’s what America is about.
FRED WEINBERG
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 7
Commentary: Doug French
Bubble Economics:
The Illusion of Wealth
The economic position that the United States is now in is the result of a series of economic
bubbles. To explain the nature of bubbles, I’m going to start by talking about their history; I’m not
going to go all the way back to Tulip Mania and John Law, but I do want to mention some things
from the Roaring Twenties that might sound familiar to us today.
Over the eight-year period of that boom, the money supply increased by 62 percent. All kinds
of new appliances and gadgets were sold: refrigerators, phonographs, electric irons, toasters, and
vacuum cleaners. Many more cars were built — more than twice as many in 1929 than in 1919.
More and more leisure activities became popular. More hotels were built, as were more roadside
diners. There was an explosion of movie theaters, and of developments in Hollywood. Professional
sports became a big business. Skyscrapers such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State
Building were started. There was a speculative boom in Florida real estate. The stock market
boomed. Hoover promised a chicken in every pot. I don’t know what Obama’s going to promise
— maybe pot in every kitchen.
I always talk about the economics of booms and bubbles in the framework that Murray
Rothbard outlined in his great book, What Has Government Done To Our Money. He points out that
inflation confers no general social benefit. Just creating more money does not create more benefit
for the general public. It merely redistributes wealth to the first people to receive the new money.
Since 1998, the money supply (as measured by M2) has doubled. In fact, it has increased elevenfold since 1971, when we gave up the last ties of the gold standard. So we have an expansion in
the money supply now that is similar to what we had during the Roaring Twenties. We also have
a series of bubbles: a tech bubble, then a real-estate bubble — all part of what Bill Fleckenstein
calls “Operation Enduring Bubble.” Of course, inflation and the resulting bubbles have disastrous
economic effects. But in Human Action, Mises wrote that,
“The boom produces impoverishment. But still more disastrous are its moral ravages. It makes
people despondent and dispirited. The more optimistic they were under the illusory prosperity of
the boom, the greater is their despair and their feeling of frustration. The individual is always ready
to ascribe his good luck to his own efficiency and to take it as a well-deserved reward for his talent,
application, and probity. But reverses of fortune he always charges to other people, and most of
all to the absurdity of social and political institutions. He does not blame the authorities for having
fostered the boom. He reviles them for the inevitable collapse.”
That is exactly what most people are doing today. They’re blaming Wall Street. Everyone
congratulated themselves when their homes were doubling in value. Everybody thought they were
smart to pick those stocks in their 401(k) plans. But now that the bubble has popped, it’s all Wall
Street’s fault.
I spent 22 years in banking in Las Vegas — I guess that means I was somewhat in the bubble
business myself. There was a couple in Las Vegas: the gentleman was a house painter and his wife
was a hairdresser. One day, a lady came in to get her hair done. The hairdresser mentioned to her,
“Gee, you know, I’m really interested in getting into real estate.” This was 2004, at the height of
the real-estate bubble in Vegas.
Well, the woman getting her hair done said, “Boy, have I got the person for you. My husband’s
a realtor, and he’s a mortgage broker; he can find you tenants; he can do the whole thing, soup to
nuts.” The painter and the hairdresser had a combined income of $60,000. Nonetheless, they felt at
the time that they were capable of buying seven homes. Of course, the guy who was a real-estate
salesman and a mortgage broker found them not only one no-money-down loan; he found them
seven no-money-down loans. And it just so happens that the broker’s wife was also a mortgageloan processor. It really was a one-stop shop.
So the painter and the hairdresser bought the seven houses, taking on a debt of $2.6 million.
And the real-estate broker said, “You know, you’ve made a great investment because, based on my
calculations about where real estate’s going to go in Las Vegas, within five years you’re going to
have home equity of $1.3 million.” Well, you already know how this turns out.
Their monthly debt payment was $5,772. If you take their $60,000, and divide it by 12, you
get $5,000; so their payments were more than their gross income between the two of them. So they
took on $2.6 million worth of debt, with the hopes that the properties would be worth $4.4 million
within a couple of years. That assumption meant that the price of those seven homes had to reach
$286 per square foot. Now, I can tell you that those homes in Vegas today are selling for less than
$86 a square foot.
You might think that, in the end, these folks just filed bankruptcy, and learned a lesson
— “Well, I guess we aren’t as smart as we thought we were.” No. They sued. They sued the realtor,
who was of course the mortgage broker, whose wife was the mortgage-loan processor.
That story really captures what Mises was talking about in Human Action. In a boom, when
it’s going well, we all feel really smart; we believe that all the good things that seem to be happening are our own doing. Then, afterwards, when things don’t work out, we blame it all on other
people.
During a boom, inflation distorts business calculations. Entire business plans are built on a
boom, based on the ability of people to borrow and consume. Look at the recent bankruptcies that
we’ve had: Circuit City, Sharper Image, Goodies, Gottschalks, CompUSA, and Levitz Furniture. In
Vegas, Herbst Gaming has already gone bankrupt, and now even the Riviera is talking about it. All
these business plans that seemed like a good idea in the boom didn’t work out. The most obvious
effects this time around are in real estate. We all know about real estate.
What you may not realize is there is still more excess real estate coming online. There are
93,000 high-rise condos coming online this year. That’s a 28 percent increase in the US inventory
of high-rises. When you build a big tall cylinder, it’s not like you can quit halfway up. You’ve got
to go all the way. It may have seemed like a good idea during the boom, but now you have to finish
it during the bust. There are these 93,000 condos; 12,000 of those are in New Jersey and New York
(I don’t think they’re creating a whole lot of new jobs in New York right now) 4,000 of them are in
Vegas; 5,500 in Chicago; and 3,500 in Florida. So we’ll see more and more real-estate fallout.
The main difficulty is getting people to close on real-estate purchases. This is a problem even
if you’re The Donald. Donald Trump built a nice tower in Las Vegas, and it was completely sold
out within days. However, now that the project is ready for people to move in, he’s only closed 25
percent of his sales. He’s been quoted as saying, “We’re really doing very well in Vegas, if you take
into account that Vegas is in a depression.” That’s keeping the sunny side up, I would say.
I read in the Wall Street Journal recently that the downturn will be less severe because the
service economy is more stable than farming was during the Great Depression. And I thought, that
doesn’t make sense. That would mean that the masseuses and blackjack dealers are more likely
to keep their job than the farmers — the people who grow food? It seems crazy, but that’s what
people are talking about.
During a boom, inflation creates illusory profits and distorts economic calculation. What the
free market does best is penalize the inefficient and reward the efficient. But when you get a boom,
the rising tide lifts all boats. I used to have borrowers who built houses. They were continually
over budget and never got anything done on time. But during the boom, were they penalized? No,
because the price went up over time. In fact, they thought they were doing the right thing; they were
smart by being over budget, and taking an extra six months to build a house — the price went up!
Well, that’s not what’s supposed to happen, and in the end, the bust penalized them.
Because of these illusory profits, everybody wants to get in on the boom. Everyone thinks they
can do everything. My favorite example is that doctors become real-estate developers. You go into
a doctor and all he wants to talk about is his real-estate project.
Furthermore, during inflation, the quality of work goes down. Everyone tries to manufacture
products as quickly as they can. There’s no emphasis on how long things will last. That was certainly the case with new houses in Arizona, California, and Nevada.
In general, people become enamored with get-rich-quick schemes. In fact, entire countries
have done this with the collateralized debt obligation (CDO) market. Iceland, for instance, has
become one big hedge fund. And now we’re going to have entire countries go broke.
People scorn sober effort in favor of getting in on the house-flipping craze. Bartenders become
real-estate agents and mortgage brokers. I remember a guy in the locker room at the country club,
talking on the phone, telling somebody that he was on the list to buy a home at nine different new
home tracts. That was whole his business plan. If he got on the initial waiting list, it was certain
that immediately after each home was built he was going to be able to flip it and make 50 or 100
thousand dollars. He planned on becoming a millionaire just like that.
I had a borrower who was a real-estate developer. We went to dinner one night, and he brought
his girlfriend. I asked, “Harry, how’d you meet your girlfriend?”
“Well,” he said, “I was driving through our project one night and I saw a girl jumping over
a fence, looking at the homes.” It turns out that she was a schoolteacher and she wanted to buy a
home, but didn’t have time to tour the models during the day.
Of course, by the time I met Harry’s girlfriend at dinner, she was not a schoolteacher anymore. She was now selling real estate for Harry. Is that any wonder in Vegas, during the boom?
There were 17,700 real-estate agents: one for every 100 people in the city. It was hard not to have
a bunch of friends who were selling real estate. Nowadays, one in every 60 homes in Las Vegas is
in foreclosure. Those two numbers are probably connected somehow.
During a boom, everybody also wants to get involved in banks. Investing in new start-up
banks was a craze all over the country. Investors in small community banks in Las Vegas made a
lot of money. So everyone just assumed that once you got your bank opened, it would be worth one
and a half times what you put in it. And by the time you showed a profit, your investment would
have doubled. By 2006, there were 17 new banks in Nevada, and 50 in California, seeking regulatory approval. I remember being in Phoenix, Arizona, on a business trip, and stumbling on an ad in
a business journal that said, “Start Your Own Bank.”
Inflationary booms penalize thrift and reward debt. The most poignant story about this is a
man named Scott Coles, who was a hard-money lender in Phoenix, Arizona. He had a huge operation that he had inherited from his father. Hard money is lending money — that investors have
actually saved — to real-estate developers who can’t get bank finance. Lenders like Mr. Coles can
generally charge 10 to 15 percent for these loans. The banks may be a lot cheaper, but the hardmoney lenders are a lot easier to deal with. At that time, Phoenix real estate became so overheated
that people were borrowing on their home-credit lines at 5 percent, in order to turn around and lend
hard money at ten percent, to play the arbitrage. Of course, this all didn’t work out: the projects
didn’t get done; the loans didn’t get paid back; and, unfortunately, Mr. Coles committed suicide.
Inflation also lowers the general standard of living. In the very course of creating a tinsel
atmosphere of prosperity, people have to work harder. They have to have two-income families
just to keep up. We all think we’re doing better: we’re buying more stuff, and we’re buying bigger
houses to put our stuff in. But we’re really getting less prosperous, and that’s what inflation does
during a boom.
Mises wrote, “If the crisis were ruthlessly permitted to run its course, bring about the destruction of enterprises which were unable to meet their obligations, then all entrepreneurs — not only
banks but also other businessmen — would exhibit more caution in granting and using credit in the
future. Instead, public opinion approves of giving assistance in the crisis. Then, no sooner is the
worst over than the banks are spurred on to a new expansion of circulation credit.”
And that’s where we are today. That’s exactly what the Obama administration, and Ben
Bernanke at the Fed, are trying to do.
There was a Treasury secretary, once upon a time, in 1929, named Andrew Mellon. He said to
Herbert Hoover, “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.… It
will purge the rottenness of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People
will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick
up from less competent people.”
Herbert Hoover did not listen to Andrew Mellon. And believe me, Tim Geithner is no Andrew
Mellon.
DOUG FRENCH
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 8
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 9
The American Family That
Lives Here Doesn’t Need
to Own Firearms
The residents of the White House are one of the few American families that don’t really need to own
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Dear President Obama:
During your 2008 campaign you said you believed in the Second
Amendment and would not take away anyone’s guns. Please don’t
let Congress turn law-abiding citizens into criminals with misguided
gun laws affecting commonly owned firearms.
NAME____________________________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________
CITY__________________________STATE_____ZIP______
Return to: Second Amendment Foundation
12500 NE Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005
Second Amendment Foundation,
1(7HQWK3ODFH%HOOHYXH:$‡ZZZVDIRUJ
T Please send me more facts on the semi-automatic firearms
issue.
T Please run this ad in other publications so others get facts on
the self-defense issue.
T $15 T $25 T $50 T $100
T Other $______
NAME____________________________________________
ADDRESS_________________________________________
CITY________________________STATE_____ZIP__________
Your contribution to SAF is tax deductible.
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 10
Commentary: Albert Thomas
Forget The Consumer
The great minds in Washington have figured out that the way to get us
out of this recession is to have the consumer spend the way he used to.
The consumer is not as dumb as experts in Washing believe.
Homes are no longer ATM machines. Credit card companies have tightened their standards and many have increased interest rates. Even if a buyer
wants a new car with the “Cash For Clunkers” program he must have super
excellent credit to qualify.
All of this and more has contributed to a change in the savings rate from
minus 1% to plus 7%. Believe it or not the whole world depends on the
USA consumer spending. If we slow down the world goes into recession
or worse.
China had been selling everything from tea sets to toilets and suddenly
Joe Sixpack and his family quit drinking and are keeping the old potty. China has a “wealthy” population equal to the entire U.S. with another
ONE BILLION population that must be fed, clothed and provided jobs.
When we stop or even slow our purchases it very adversely affects their
total economy.
Add all of Asia that also sells to us. Don’t forget Europe. The American
consumer has kept the world afloat for the last 10 years.
The inmates now running the asylum (Congress in Washington) do not
understand that raising taxes and increasing regulations will make things
worse.
Each tax and regulation silently takes money out of your pocket. It is
stealth stealing. It also stops the formation of new businesses that create
new jobs.
The stimulus plan creates momentary work, but not a permanent job that
new business does. When that “make work job” comes to an end it is back
to the unemployment line. Eighty (80%) percent of the so-called stimulus
package is short term make work.
I hate to bring this up, but back in the Great Depression most of the
unemployed were used to working with their hands. They actually broke a
sweat. Most of our new unemployed are not in that category. It will be difficult for many to put on work clothes, pick up a wrench or pour concrete.
The wizards in Washington will be extending unemployment payments, but
how long can that go on?
The American consumer has already slowed purchasing. As this recession deepens (and it will from the numbers I see) buying will slow more to
essentials.
Corporate profits now are very shallow. Layoffs will continue unless a
company can maintain itself with a profit. It will go out of business.
Joe Sixpack is not Atlas. He cannot carry the world on his back. He is
not as stupid as Washington believes. He will not spend what he does not
have or cannot afford.
No, the world economy cannot count on the Joe Sixpack to spend his
way to their recovery.
AL THOMAS
Al Thomas’ book, “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It!” has helped thousands
of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method.
Read the first chapter at www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he’s
the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 11
Commentary: Wyatt Cox
HFCS NOT A Natural Sweetener
Last week in this space I addressed the very strong negative factors
of diet. One of the things that I stated was my strong opposition to High
Fructose Corn Syrup and how it was an unhealthy alternative to natural
sugar.
My column apparently got picked up by someone in the industry
who flagged it to the attention of the “company store”, the Corn Refiners
Association. Their Audrae Erickson wrote the boss the following letter:
Dear Editor:
The August 20 Wyatt Cox commentary “See You At The Fair,” may mislead consumers about high fructose corn syrup.
High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same.
High fructose corn syrup is simply a kind of corn sugar. It has the same
number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.
The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose
syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric
sweeteners.”
According to the American Dietetic Association, “high fructose corn
syrup…is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood
stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.”
In 1983, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration formally listed high
fructose corn syrup as safe for use in food and reaffirmed that decision in
1996.
Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.SweetSurprise.com.
Unfortunately, the AMA and the American Dietetic Association know
little if anything on how to treat Diabetes and Obesity. The AMA would
rather prescribe pills and surgeries to control diabetes, cholesterol, and obesity instead of doing it the right way.
My mentor, Don Lemmon, was killed in a car crash three years ago this
past June, but he summed up this whole mess better than I ever could. In
an article written several years back for an online magazine regarding the
dangers of soda, he was quoted as follows:
“Besides carbonation destroying the enzymes in your stomach, artificial
sweeteners eating away at your nerve endings, caffeine killing the small
intestines’ ability to absorb nutrients, sugar blocking the usage of others
and the fact corn syrup is a genetically modified and poisonous crop, soda
isn’t so bad,” nutritionist and best-selling authorDon Lemmon jokes. While the Food and Drug Administration informed soda-makers of the
elevated benzene levels in their products, the FDA said occasional exposure
to benzene, an EPA-classified class A carcinogen, is not a public health
risk. As a precaution, several carbonated beverages were pulled from store
shelves, including Safeway Select Diet Orange, AquaCal Strawberry
Flavored Water Beverage, Crush Pineapple, Crystal Light Sunrise Classic
Orange and Giant Light Cranberry Juice Cocktail. The benzene forms when “a soft drink contains Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) plus either sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate … [and is]
exposed to heat and/or light,” Medical News Today explains. From a purely nutritional standpoint, a soft drink can very quickly eat
into your total sugar consumption a day. “Ten percent of calories can come
from sugar,” Nancy Clark, registered dietician, said. “So the person who
burns 3,000 calories a day can consume 300 calories of sugar. That’s two
cans of soda.” Basically, “it’s sugar and water with no nutritional value,” Clark said. As part of a balanced diet, Lemmon suggests that, like Blue Diamond
Almonds, a can a week should do. “Where would I place a soda in my diet? There is nothing better than
reaching down to a cooler, pulling out a cold and healthy root beer, feeling
the sun on your face, watching a baseball game then getting the sensation
from those fizzes hitting your nose as you take the first swig,” he muses. “I
would suggest once week is sufficiently safe.” And, yes, some soft drinks are less harmful than others, but you’ll need
to be a savvy consumer to choose them. “I enjoy a soda once in a while but I get them from the health food store
and look for organic ingredients,” Lemmon said. “Soda flavored with maple
syrup and honey are always best. Just because it says ‘all natural’ doesn’t
mean it is organic. And just because it says organic doesn’t mean that cane
sugar, fructose or corn syrup is suddenly good for you.” To get off the soft drink rollercoaster, Lemmon suggests a gradual weaning. “Drink half the amount you normally do for a few days. Once it is no
longer tough to resist, cut back in half again,” he said. “Wait it out, cut the
intake in half again and again and down to as many cuts as it takes to be
off this junk. Of course, replace the missing soda with twice the amount of
water.”
I wholeheartedly recommend a good diet. I never felt better when I was
following Don’s program. Unfortunately, the wife disapproves, so I can’t
follow it completely. But if you check it out at donlemmon.com I honestly
think you might find it to be of interest.
Bottom line: Sugar in moderation = Good. Any other sweetener =
bad.
WYATT COX
www.pennypressnv.com
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 12
Commentary: Joyce Meyer
You Can Be
Emotionally
Whole
How do you respond when you
hear that somebody has an emotional illness? Does it make you a
little uneasy or uncertain about that
person? I think that’s probably a normal response. It’s much easier for
us to deal with physical illness than
emotional illness, which is often perceived as some kind of weakness.
But I believe emotional illness is
much more widespread than any of
us choose to believe. In fact, some
of us may be struggling with emotional illness without even realizing
it. Why do I think that? Because as
long as we’re not functioning the
way God intends us to function,
there is disease present. That disease
may be mental, physical, spiritual or
emotional.
We need to let God into the
area of our emotions to bring complete healing and wholeness. He
doesn’t want you to spend the rest of
your life hurting over something you
went through at some point in your
past. He wants you to be whole.
You may have been rejected or
hurt, or maybe your spouse has
walked out on you. Maybe you’ve
lost your job and, consequently,
some of your retirement. Maybe
you’ve lost a loved one—a spouse,
child or parent. Or maybe you’ve
lost your home…
I’m sure there are many things
that folks are going through right
now that are causing extreme emotional distress. God only knows
the pain that you might be going
through. But you cannot let it make
you bitter. You have to choose to let
it make you better.
Forgiveness is the beginning of
all healing. Receiving God’s forgiveness, forgiving yourself, and forgiving others is the beginning of finding
emotional healing and wholeness
in your life. You need to make the
decision that you’re no longer going
to be bitter at God because your life
didn’t turn out the way you wanted it
to. It’s time to stop blaming God for
all the bad stuff that has happened in
your life. God is a good God!
Don’t be like the person who
gets hurt and stays hurt. There are
people in this world who get hurt
and spend all their life being bitter
and trying to seek out healing and
wholeness on their own and never
finding it. Give the pain of the past
over to the Lord. He cares about
your emotional well-being.
Isaiah 61:1 says, THE SPIRIT of
the Lord God is upon me, because
the Lord has anointed and qualified
me to preach the Gospel of good
tidings to the meek, the poor, and
afflicted; He has sent me to bind
up and heal the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the [physical and
spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to
those who are bound (The Amplified
Bible).
This is a prophetic verse written
about Jesus. I knew about this verse
for years before it finally sunk in
that Jesus cares about my emotional
wholeness. Look again at that phrase
in the middle of the verse: He has
sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted.
I always thought that my relationship with Jesus was all about
Him saving me from my sins just so
I could go to heaven when I died. I
didn’t realize that Jesus cares about
what happens to me while I’m living
here on earth. What a revelation!
Today is the day to get over
being an emotional wreck—insecure, fearful, bitter, angry…hanging
on to all the past junk. Don’t get
stuck in a moment of time when
something happened to you that you
can’t do anything about. You can’t
go back and undo what happened,
but you can forgive and you can say,
“I’m not going to let what happened
in my past control my future! I’m
not going to be an emotional wreck
anymore. I am going to invite God
into every area of my life and let
Him do what He wants to do. I will
be emotionally whole!”
JOYCE MEYER
For more on this topic, you may order
Joyce’s four-CD series “Healthy
Living – Spirit, Soul and Body” by
calling (800) 727-9673 or visiting
www.joycemeyer.org.
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 13
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 14
THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 15
Pet Of The Week
Adopt This Pet !
MOLLY
Call
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great with kids, dogs okay, please call Hilary at
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THE PENNY PRESS,AUGUST 27, 2009 PAGE 16