signal12's Blog

The Demise of the RV

• RV's hit the skids: How record oil is putting the brakes on this season's
  wanderlust.

• Eric Fry, reporting from Laguna Beach, California…

The summer driving season has arrived, but many Winnebagos will never leave the driveway. The soaring price of gasoline will force RV owners to curtail their gas-guzzling wanderlust.

"I never would have bought [my motor home] if I thought that gas would go this high," a retired firefighter in Westchester County told the Hudson Valley's Journal News. "My wife always wanted to go to Napa Valley," the firefighter lamented. "But with gas so high, it probably would be cheaper to fly and rent a car, rather than take the motor home."

The firefighter is probably right. We did the math:

Assuming gas mileage of 10 miles to the gallon, a 31-foot motor home would consume about $2,500 worth of gasoline to journey from the Hudson Valley to the Napa Valley, and back again. By comparison, two roundtrip plane tickets from JFK to San Francisco would run about $375 each. Even after paying another $450 to rent a midsized car for a week, the fly/drive combo would only cost about $1,200 – or less than half the cost of the RV's gas.

Of course, the fly/drive vacation would also incur the costs of staying in hotels. So after all is said and done, the direct cash costs of these two vacation options would be very similar, assuming you ignored the tens of thousands of dollars one must pay to buy an RV in the first place and the thousands of dollars one must pay to insure and maintain the thing.

Non-owners of RVs are probably making similar calculations, which is probably why RV sales are plummeting.

According to a forecast by the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, wholesale shipments of RVs will slump about 14 percent this year to 304,700 units - down from 353,000 units last year and about 390,000 units during that delightful "cheap gas" year of 2006.

Not surprisingly, the Hudson News reports, "the slowdown is having a large impact on the profits of major RV manufacturers such as Winnebago Industries Inc., the industry giant based in Forest City, Iowa. Revenue for Winnebago's fiscal second quarter fell 17.5 percent to $164.2 million. Net income plummeted 66.6 percent to $2.5 million. In response to weaker orders, Winnebago cut 300 jobs, or 9 percent of its work force, through layoffs and attrition.

"The weak RV market also is taking a toll on industry suppliers that include Drew Industries Inc. of White Plains. Drew, which supplies windows, doors, chassis and other components for RVs," the Hudson News continues. "Drew has closed 20 of its 51 factories in the past 18 months and laid off 130 salaried workers and more than 200 hourly workers."

But Drew is not alone. Fleetwood Enterprises, a leading motor-home manufacturer, is also boarding up factories at a rapid clip.

"Last year, we closed half our plants. We somewhat underestimated the magnitude of the decline in sales," Fleetwood's CEO recently admitted. "Our dealers tell us, however, that sales of new, improved models have been hampered by existing inventory of older product, and we are working with them on moving these aged units."

Good luck!

Aged units, virginal units, neither one is selling. Business is bleak, as the downward sloping price trend of Winnebago's share price testifies. Curiously, the share price of Fleetwood has barley budged during the last few months. At least not yet.

Joe Finch, sales manager at Best Buy RV’s, said the price of RVs has not had to be adjusted to stimulate purchases. Trailers and RVs run from $20,000 to about $160,000.

 

 

“Somebody who is seriously looking for an RV will not care about cost,” he said. “The price of gas has eliminated the casual looker.”  This arrogance will be the demise to many RV dealers, who think the fuel cost will eventually drop back to normal.

Just a reminder to those complaining about fuel costs, remember the RV owners are in worse shape than you.. ;o(

Think you know who this man is?

 

This possible President of the United States !! Read Below and

 

ask yourselves, is this REALLY someone we can see as the

 

President of our great nation!!!!

 

Below are a few lines from Obama's books; In his words!

 

 

 

 

From Dreams of My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'

 

From Dreams of My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'

 

From Dreams of My Father: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'

 

From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'

 

From Dreams of My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'

 

 

 

And FINALLY the Most Damming one of ALL of them!!!

 

 

From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

As if the high cost of gas wasn’t enough, credit and debit card users who pay at the pump have to face a new way to be gouged at the pump: skimmers.

Skimmers are inconspicuous electronic devices that thieves install either inside or outside a gas pump. These small and inexpensive devices record card numbers as you pay for your petrol. Free-roaming fraudsters and gas station insiders then help themselves to the card information in the skimming devices, then go out and use the stolen card numbers to make fraudulent purchases.

According to electronic payments Inc.  the 1.36 million gas pumps in the United States, an estimated 700,000 gas pumps accept pay-at-the-pump — and not one of those pumps is secure against skimming.

Some skimmers also incorporate the use of tiny remote cameras to capture PIN numbers of debit card users who enter them at pump-side.

More technologically advanced skimmers are turning to wireless technology, to intercept signals some gas stations use to transmit card data from the pumps to their central computers. Instead of manually installing the equipment on the pumps, they can lurk in their cars nearby while downloading your card information to a laptop, says Jeff Wakefield, a vice president with VeriFone, the largest secure payment terminal vendor.

But the basic technique for getting credit and debit card data from gas pumps is not rocket science: Crooks simply attach card-skimming devices to exposed wiring inside the pump to collect card data before it is secured, according to Wakefield.

Other skimming technology attaches outside the pump. The devices can cost anywhere from $50-$600 and can be as small as a pager and attach with magnets. The card swipe is essentially captured twice: once for the gas purchase and then again for the crooks. The devices are then removed from the pump at a later date or time.

Point of sale’ a weak link
Visa first noted a rise in credit and debit card skimming at the pump in its November 2006 data security alert. According to the alert, skimming operations have been targeting gas pumps at increasing rates. At least 60 percent of people buy gas using pay-at-the-pump, says Jeff Lenard, vice president of communications of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

Gartner, a leading global technology analyst firm, predicts that in 2008, most attacks against retailers will target their point-of-sale hardware, which includes pay-at-pump terminals. Its prediction is based in part on its 2007 study of 160 cases of credit card data being compromised. Of those, 128 took place at a brick-and-mortar retailer’s point of sale. Crooks have found a weak spot in point-of-sale terminals and are exploiting it, according to Avivah Litan, a vice president and analyst with Gartner.

Skimming occurs in bursts, says Mike Urban, senior director of fraud solutions at Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the FICO credit score. “There are periods of time during which criminals try to compromise several terminals, then they start using the card information,” says Urban. Skimming operations by insiders (those who contract with or work for the gas stations) compromise as many as 2,000 cards at a time, while outside operations compromise a few hundred cards at a time, he says.

Consider these stories:

• In March 2007, an Orange County man plead guilty to skimming credit and debit cards at pumps at Arco/AM-PM gas stations, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. The man stole information from 90 cards, using it to create phony cards. He then withdrew $186,000 from the victim’s accounts at ATMs.
• In August 2007, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported that someone had installed a skimming device at a USA Gas Station in Agoura Hills. The same gas station had fallen victim to skimming a few months prior, costing victims thousands of dollars.
• In January 2008, crooks skimmed credit and debit card information from at least nine customers at a Newport Beach Exxon station.

Fraud graduates to wireless
Some retail outlets connect their gas pump hardware to their main computers wirelessly, creating a new weak spot. Crooks who can identify such a station can bypass the risk of installing skimming machines. Instead, they hack in via a wireless connection and download credit and debit card information directly from retailer computers, according to Gartner’s Litan. Once they’re “in,” they can simply sit somewhere in signal range, stealing via a wireless-connected a laptop.

According to a Visa USA Inc. Data Security Alert, Visa is addressing this by urging retailers to comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standard, which requires retailers to separate wireless networks from those that carry sensitive cardholder information.

While shoring up weak points with standards is possible, stamping out the crime is a different matter. “It’s hard for the credit card companies to mandate to the fuel industry what they need to do when there hasn’t been any solution that stops skimming,” says Wakefield.

How to protect yourself
To prevent your credit or debit card from being skimmed at a gas station:

• Go in the store to process transactions and sign all credit card receipts, recommends Jean Ann Fox, director of financial services of Consumer Federation of America.
• Check your statement as soon as it arrives or online and report inconsistencies quickly, adds Fox. “This is especially true with debit cards. If you don’t report it fast enough, you can lose the opportunity to get your money back,” Fox says.
• If you do suspect skimming, call law enforcement immediately. “Let the station attendant know, but don’t rely on them to call the police,” says IDTheftSecurity.com CEO Robert Siciliano. Until the industry has answers, consumers are their own best protection.

This is a New Twist on the ever popular card skimming practice... To which I have fallen victim to this week.. See I normally only use my ATM card for fuel, I only use it for the Pay at the Pump refuels.. My bank called me and said my account had been frozen due to a charge made in Montrial Canada, this week.... So I just had to go through all that crap this afternoon.... From now on I will have to start pulling on those card readers too.....

This is the #1 scam reported to the police on a daily basis... Nigerian scams turn your own greed and desire for wealth, against you and into a way of emptying your bank account.

It's the old addage of getting something for nothing....

I spoke with a Man that had fallen victim to several different versions this scam, not once but  six times..

You've probably been courted by the Nigerian scam.  It comes in e-mail or letter form and may start, "Dear Sir, I got your information from a confidential source.... " The letter then goes on to tell you a story of a large amount of money hidden overseas or his accounts are going to be frozen, and  that the writer of the letter/email wants to put some in your bank account. In return, he promises you a big cut of the cash or offers you a large amount of cash for your trouble.

Bounced checks and counterfeit money orders

Long story short: Any checks you receive from this person will be fake. The con will ask you to keep part of the money and send him the difference. Shortly after you send him the difference by mail or wire, his check bounces, and you owe the total amount to your bank. Warning: Sometimes, people are told by their banks that the check has cleared, so they wire the difference to the Nigerian scammer. But don't be too sure: The scammers sometimes forge a cashier's check, which fools the bank into prematurely reporting the check as "cleared." Once the forgery is discovered, the bank will try to hold you liable. In some cases counterfeit money orders take the place of cashier's checks. The payment type isn't that important because either way the victim will be held responsible by their own Bank.

 He will claim it is in a special account but to get it he needs five thousand dollars to get it out and asks that you help. He will next offer you a portion of these dollars if you do indeed help this poor individual who is just trying to retrieve what is rightfully theirs. He will tell you to deposit the money in an account and when the money is transferred from the main account he will give you access to your free money. This form of fraud is sometime referred to as an advanced fee scheme.

Nigerian scams work all too well

Despite constant reports of Nigerian scam swindles in the media, people continue to be fooled. It should be noted that con artists have been perfecting Nigerian scams for decades. It may be hard to believe but this type of scam has been around since the 1920s when it was called the Spanish Prisoner Con. Back then the letter requesting funds were mailed the old fashioned way rather than arriving via email. The schemes were somewhat different in that they involved breaking the heir of a wealthy family out of a Spanish prison.

 Large sums of money were promised to anyone willing to help finance an operation designed to smuggle the heir out of the jail. The plan was in place but money was needed to bribe the guards, provide a means of transportation or whatever else the scammers might dream up. Each attempt would end in failure but the next one was certain to succeed! The specific details of the fraud may differ but it's essentially the same thing as a Nigerian 419 scam. Every year there is a new angle to play and it's a sure bet that someone will take the bait.

Falling for a Nigerian scam will leave the worst kind of taste in the victim's mouth. Not only will you have been ripped off but you will have willingly allowed it to happen and been an active participant. Most like to say that get-rich-quick schemes don't work but this one actually does for the Nigerian scam perpetrators! The victim is left with nothing but a hard lesson. The Police rarely can do anything about the scam because the perpertrator is in another country.

More information is availible regarding these scams:

http://www.potifos.com/fraud/

http://www.fraudguides.com/internet-email-scams-2007.a
sp

 

Remember knowledge is power, so arm yourselves!

 

Counterfeit Cashier's Check

How the scam works . . .

You are selling an item over the Internet - it could be a used car or motorcycle, jewelry or even bred animals. You receive an email offer to purchase your item and the buyer says he'll send a bank cashier's check. The buyer is from Nigeria or "West Africa", but has a business associate in the United States who will send you the cashier's check.   Then you are told that for some reason the check was already made out to you for an amount larger than your asking price.  The buyer asks you to please deposit the check, wait for it to clear, and then send him the difference -- "but only after the cashier's check clears, of course."

You are skeptical - but, sure enough, the bank cashier's check arrives by Fed Ex, it looks real, your bank accepts the check, and the bank assures you the funds are in fact available. So you wait the time the bank recommends to verify that the check is clear and then you wire the difference to your buyer in Nigeria and prepare to ship your item.

A week later your bank calls: "We're very sorry, but the cashier's check was counterfeit" -- a superb copy, but worthless. Your account is frozen. You must pay the bank back the entire amount of the cashier's check. You may even be considered a fraud suspect yourself.

Your "buyer" disappears. About the only good news: sellers rarely get to the point of shipping their items abroad.
   

---

How to Protect Yourself

If you are selling online, be extremely skeptical of any offers

•  from overseas to a party you do not know
•  paid by cashier's check
•  from buyers sending more than the purchase price of the item
•  from buyers who seem more worried about payment than the shipment of the item to them once payment is made
•  from buyers who show little or no concern to the condition of the item they are purchasing

Also, a bank may make money "available" to you almost at once if you deposit a purported bank cashier's check, but that's NOT a guarantee the check is authentic. It could be returned as counterfeit up to three years later, and the bank will hold you responsible for the money. Ways to verify a check include:

• Inspect the check carefully to ensure it contains all the legal elements of a check.
• Amount of the check, in figures and words, should match. Often this amount is machine “impressed” on official bank checks.
• Account number should be encoded in MICR ink (should not be shiny in appearance).
• Ensure the drawer’s signature appears on the check; watch for tracing lines, “shaky” writing.  Often facsimile signatures are used on official bank checks, with a second, original signature required for amounts exceeding a designated dollar amount.
• Perforations – checks are generally perforated on at least one side.
• Routing and transit numbers appearing in the MICR line and elsewhere on the check should be consistent. 
• Inspect the check for erasures, errant marks, such as additions or deletions, or other alterations.
• Contact the financial institution on which the check is drawn for authentication that the check is valid with no outstanding claims for loss, stolen or destroyed instrument. Verify if the person whose signature appears on the check on behalf of the bank is authorized to sign official checks of the bank.
• IMPORTANT: Independently verify the item to verify its authenticity. Do not rely on information printed on the face of the check, such as phone numbers or name/location of bank, because in a convincing scam, these numbers will often connect directly to the scam artists or their associates.
• Find the bank’s telephone number from a reliable source, such as a bank directory, the bank’s web site or directory assistance.
• Verify as much information as possible – check number (is it in normal sequence of other official checks issued by the bank), payee, issue date, amount and authorized signatory. Ask if the bank’s official checks bear any security features, such as watermarks, security threads, background patterns, high-resolution borders, void pantograph, etc.

•  If there is any doubt as to the collectibility of the check, do not accept the check for deposit or encashment.  Send the check to the issuing financial institution for collection.  Ask that proceeds be wired directly to the customer’s account.

• As an alternative to sending the item for collection, deposit the check to the customer’s account, and place a Reg. CC exception hold.  Under Reg. CC, the entire amount of non-local checks can be held for up to 11 business days before making the money available for customer’s use, if the bank can evidence “reasonable cause to doubt collectibility.”  In the case of a cashier’s check or other official check of a bank, if the check contains any questionable feature, erasures, alterations, etc., the depositary bank has a “reasonable cause to doubt collectibility.”
      

Guess again, In europe they are in worse shape.. For some reason the media isnt covering "Europes Recession" thats due to rising fuel costs, read below

Source : Cox News Service, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

LONDON – While North Americans motorists are feeling the pinch at the pumps this summer, it’s even worse for Europeans.

Angered by soaring fuel prices, Europeans are protesting and taking a toll on consumers and companies by creating food shortages, blocked highways and the deaths of two people in Spain and Portugal.

Motorists are paying the equivalent of $10 a gallon in France, more than $9 a gallon in Britain and more than $8 a gallon in Belgium.

Tens of thousands of truckers already are on strike or threatening to strike in Italy, Spain, France, Britain, and Portugal.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged motorists not to panic as tanker drivers supplying Shell’s service stations threatened to launch a four-day strike.

"The most responsible thing the public can do is continue to buy as normal," he told reporters.

In France, truckers plan a massive national strike beginning Monday. A go-slow convey of up to 200 French truckers caused gridlock Monday in Bordeaux by creating nearly 30 kilometres of traffic backups. In Italy, truck drivers are preparing a strike to begin June 30.

Jerome Cordier of Unostra, the French union of trucking companies, told London’s Guardian newspaper that the recent protests marked a new phase of coordinated strikes across Europe. Officials fear that the protests could spur widespread disruptions during the summer holiday season.

"We’re taking this up a gear and focusing on the European dimension," he said.

Fuel costs in Europe have long been much higher than in the United States, mostly as a result of fuel taxes that account for at least half the price — and sometimes more than 70 per cent, depending on the country — that motorists pay.

"Every time the price of oil goes up the amount of tax goes up and it’s the motorists who suffer," said Roger Lawson, London region coordinator for the Association of British Drivers. "The government should consider reducing the tax or at least not allowing it to go up any more."

Britain’s finance minister, Alistair Darling, has said that a planned two-pence per litre rise in the fuel tax (the equivalent of about 15 U.S. cents per gallon), due in October, could be delayed because of the rising costs of oil.

Amid warnings that the price of oil could soar to perhaps $250 a barrel within 18 months, EU officials plan to meet next week to consider solutions to surging food and fuel costs.

But experts say there isn’t much the EU can do.

"What the EU can do is quite limited because this is really a member states issue because member states set fuel taxes," said Adam McCarthy, associate director of Energy Policy Consulting in Brussels, Belgium. "And if a member state tries to lower or even freeze fuel taxes they’ll then be left with a massive hole in their budget."

McCarthy, who says he now spends nearly 60 euros — or about $93 — to fill up his Volvo, said he expects protests to continue across Europe as drivers become increasingly frustrated.

In Spain, the situation was particularly tense this week.

Spanish consumers started stockpiling food on Wednesday over concerns that an ongoing truckers’ strike that has disrupted deliveries might cause food shortages.

A three-day protest has resulted in more than 2,500 trucks blocking a Spanish-French border crossing.

Workers at Madrid’s main food wholesale market said this week that supplies of meat, fish, and fruit would start to thin out soon.

At the same time, automakers in Spain said most of the country’s automobile plantshave had to cut or halt production for lack of spare parts.

 Still think it's bad here?   Well theres more BAD NEWS coming....

Gas prices are supposed to be climbing 12 more cents across the board, before July 15th. 

Diesel is supposed to be Over $5.00 a gallon soon... Quick someone implement some more EPA Regulations...... 8-(

So when we think OMG, the gas is so high.. Remember in europe it's 5x worse.. ;o)

Hydrogen highway is a non-starter The hydrogen highway is a dead-end street
By R.V. Scheide

Glance northward on Highway 50 right around the 59th Street overpass, and you’ll glimpse the future. At least that’s what the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Ford Motor Company, Daimler AG, BP and the U.S. Department of Energy would like us to believe. Unfortunately, the shiny new solar-powered hydrogen vehicle fueling station that recently spread its gossamer wings just east of the SMUD yard is anything but the future. It’s the desperate waking fantasy of a casino culture that can’t shake the feeling that the next jackpot is one pull of the lever away.

That’s not to say the $3.2 million the aforementioned entities paid for the project is a waste of money. As a research test bed, it will undoubtedly help demonstrate the utter unfeasibility of the so-called “hydrogen highway” touted by President George W. Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and for all I know, the Dalai Lama. However, its primary value is as a propaganda device. SMUD & Co. want us to know that they’re busily preparing for the climate-impaired, energy-depleted future, even though as far as hydrogen is concerned, they know better.

Consider the glowing assessment of hydrogen as a fuel source offered on the utility district’s Web site. “Hydrogen could offer a sustainable approach to energy development that meets the needs of the customers and the environment in the future. It is considered the ultimate clean motor fuel since hydrogen-fueled vehicles produce no harmful tailpipe emissions, just water.”

Furthermore, we’re instructed that hydrogen has “the highest energy content per unit weight of any known fuel.” It’s the most abundant element in the universe and can be extracted from water via electrolysis or through a process called steam reforming that separates hydrogen from natural gas. BP uses the latter process. “For more than 40 years,” we’re told, somewhat breathlessly, “BP has been producing enormous amounts of hydrogen—routinely and safely—at its refineries around the world.”

Fair enough, as long as we’re talking about a galaxy far, far away, where the second law of thermodynamics no longer holds. The one inescapable fact not mentioned by SMUD, or for that matter the West Sacramento-based California Fuel Cell Partnership, is that no matter what method is used for producing hydrogen, it always takes more energy to produce the hydrogen than is actually provides. To be blunt, it offers a poor energy return on energy invested, or what engineers refer to as EROEI.

For example, when oil was first discovered in the 19th century, its EROEI was 100, meaning it took one barrel of oil to produce 100 barrels of oil. That ratio has steadily dropped, because we’ve used up most of the “easy oil,” and the majority of what’s left is more difficult to extract. Today, it takes one barrel of oil to produce three barrels of oil.

On the other hand, as author James Kunstler notes in The Long Emergency, a grim portrayal of the energy-depleted future he and many other observers are predicting, the average EROEI for all the methods of producing hydrogen is less than 1, since it takes 1.4 units of energy to produce 1 unit of energy.

Unless there’s some totally unforeseen technological development in the future, there’s simply no getting around the second law. As energy expert and Post Carbon Institute fellow Richard Heinberg puts it, “The second law of thermodynamics insures that hydrogen will be a net loser every time since some usable energy is lost whenever it is transformed.

“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the hydrogen economy touted by well-meaning visionaries will by necessity be a much lower-energy economy than we are accustomed to,” Heinberg continues. “In the low-energy social environment toward which we are inevitably headed, it will be possible for only a tiny wealthy minority to navigate over disintegrating streets and highways in sophisticated, highly efficient Hypercars.”

Yet according to California Fuel Cell Partnership spokesman Roy Kim, the very existence of this amalgam of automobile manufacturers, energy conglomerates and government agencies is predicated on the idea that one day in the near future, most if not all of us will be driving hydrogen-powered cars. Kim said that currently there are 250 hydrogen-powered test vehicles and 25 fuel stations in the state, mostly located near large urban areas.

SMUD spokesman Bill Boyce was considerably less exuberant about hydrogen’s potential and stressed that the district’s new solar-powered hydrogen fuel station is strictly experimental and “a good way to marry up a lot of different alternatives in one test bed.” He noted that using solar energy to produce hydrogen “is one of the least efficient ways to do it.” The station currently makes 12 kilograms of hydrogen per day, roughly equivalent to 12 gallons of gasoline

Protecting Your Front Door from Unwanted Entries
 
Did you know?
       Most residential burglaries occur during the day
       Burglaries cost victims an estimated $4 billion in lost property*
       The average loss per burglary: $1,834*
*National statistics gathered from Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Report 2006.

Many residents do not realize that most front doors can be easily kicked in, even those with a deadbolt, unless reinforcement of the door jam or frame is made. There are products available that have been made specifically for the purpose of door jam reinforcement. Consult with a hardware specialist for further recommendations.
*An example of these types of products can be found at the following links, http://www.jambbrace.com   or http://www.asafehome.net/

 

Knowledge is Power, So arm yourselves !

Heres the story;

 

I met a woman today, she said shes been emailing a nice man on the net. Well after a week of emails (the womans married) she gives the man her # and they secretly talk hes in mn shes here, he tells her his assests are frozen could he send her a check for $6500. She says sure, so two days goes by and she recieves the check and deposits it and cashes it and sends him 6k & keeps the 500 as a gift from him for doing the favor...

 

Whats wrong with this story??????

 

 

 

The Cast:

Woman:  in her 40's

Man: unknown

Location: florida & MN. / england / Nigeria

the check was mailed to MN then to England and was to be forwarded to Nigeria.!

The Save: the england bank caught it and sent the check back to the original issueing bank and they contacted the woman.

 

This happens everyday of the week, no matter how much info is put on the news or the net! these people still fall for it every time.  It make you want to beat your head into the wall ....  (this person was very lucky)

Just like dragnet only the names where changed to protect the innocent.... ;o)

This Global Warming farse has gone far enough right??

Nope it gets worse,  The Brain washing of the sheeple just makes my head spin.. Thank god Bush said he would veto the bill...... But just know whats going on folks...

  Carbon Tax Provides Fairest Incentive For Curbing Global Warming:A carbon tax would be paid whenever a molecule of carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Utilities would pay it based on their smokestack emissions and pass the cost to consumers in their monthly electric bill. Each of us would pay it when we fill up with gasoline, based on the content of fossil carbon in the fuel.

The emissions of carbon dioxide stem from many sectors of society -- from power plants and other industrial sources and from you and me, as we heat and light our houses and drive our cars on daily errands. No one sector can solve the global warming problem by itself. Even if it was a real problem (its a Theory).

A carbon tax would provide the maximum incentive for bright engineers to improve the efficiency of fossil fuel use in all sectors of society. It also would maximize the potential for important "cross-sector" transfers of efficiency. For instance, if engineers find efficient ways to reduce CO2 emissions from the power plants that provide our electricity, the utilities’ carbon tax savings could be passed along to consumers.

Mitch McConnell on Warner-Lieberman

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_060408/
content/01125108.guest.html

 

 

You must know your enemy! Today the liberal Party (Democrats) are the voice of Al-Qaeda! Today the liberals are in bed with America's # 1 enemy, Al-Qaeda! Today the liberals have decided that America is the problem in the world! The President is the problem in the world! America is at war with Terrorists and the Liberals are at war with America! The liberals have said that our President Bush is a Nazi! The liberals have chosen sides and it is not America's side! It is a sad day when our elected officials side with the terrorists! Next the liberals will have a bill of rights for Terrorists!

     

 

Get the perverbial waste basket out.......

http://www.opednews.com/liberalism.htm

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Prepare to sit back , grab a glass of sweet tea & get educated on the Flags of the Confederacy... The Confederate States of America used several flags during its existence from 1861 to 1865. Since the end of the American Civil War, personal and official use of Confederate flags, and of flags derived from these, has continued under some controversy. Currently the state flags of Mississippi and Georgia draw heavily upon Confederate flag designs, and those of Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee arguably incorporate certain elements from these designs. First national flag ("the Stars and Bars") First national flag of the Confederacy ("the Stars and Bars")

The first official flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stars and Bars," was flown from March 5, 1861 to May 26, 1863.

The very first national flag of the Confederacy was designed by Prussian artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama.[1] The Stars and Bars flag was adopted March 4, 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama and raised over the dome of that first Confederate Capitol. Marschall also designed the Confederate uniform.[2]

One of the first acts of the Provisional Confederate Congress was to create the Committee on the Flag and Seal, chaired by William Porcher Miles of South Carolina. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." Miles had already designed a flag that would later become the Confederate battle flag, and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S. flag ("the Stars and Stripes"), the Stars and Bars design was approved by the committee.[3] When war broke out, the Stars and Bars caused confusion on the battlefield because of its similarity to the U.S. flag of the U.S. Army.[4]

Eventually, a total of thirteen stars would be shown on the flag. Its first public appearance was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky. It was also used as a naval ensign.

Second national flag ("the Stainless Banner") Second national flag of the Confederacy ("the Stainless Banner")

The second national flag of the Confederacy, called the "Stainless Banner," was put into service on May 1, 1863. It was designed to replace the first national flag. The first national flag had become increasingly criticized for its similarity to the Stars and Stripes, even though this had been the main argument for its initial adoption.[5] The flag is sometimes referred to as the "Stonewall Jackson Flag" because of its inaugural use covering Stonewall Jackson's coffin at his funeral.

Many designs were proposed, nearly all making use of the battle flag, which by 1863 had become well-known and popular. The new design was specified by the Confederate Congress to be a white field "with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad saltier [sic] of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States."[6]

The nickname "stainless" referred to the pure white field. The flag act of 1864 did not state what the white symbolized and advocates offered various interpretations. The most common interpretation is that the white field symbolized the purity of the Cause. The Confederate Congress debated whether the white field should have a blue stripe and whether it should be bordered in red. William Miles delivered a speech for the simple white design that was eventually approved. He argued that the battle flag must be used, but for a national flag it was necessary to emblazon it, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field.[7]

The flags actually made by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the naval ensign rather than the official 2:1 ratio.[8]

Initial reaction to the second national flag was favorable, but over time it became criticized for being "too white". The Columbia Daily South Carolinian observed that it was essentially a battle flag upon a flag of truce and might send a mixed message. Military officers voiced complaints about the flag being too white, for various reasons, including the danger of being mistaken as a flag of truce, especially on naval ships, and that it was too easily soiled.[9]

1863 ensign 1863 ensign

The second national flag was adapted as a naval ensign, using a shorter 3:2 ratio than the 2:1 ratio adopted by the Confederate Congress for the national flag. This particular ensign was the only one taken around the world (on board CSS Shenandoah) and was the last Confederate flag lowered in the Civil War (in Liverpool, England on 7 November 1865 on board CSS Shenandoah).

Third National Flag Third national flag of the Confederacy ("The Blood Stained Banner"

The third national flag was adopted March 4, 1865, just before the fall of the Confederacy. The red vertical stripe was proposed by Major Arthur L. Rogers, who argued that the pure white field of the second national flag could be mistaken as a flag of truce. Rogers lobbied successfully to have his design introduced in the Confederate Senate. He defended his design as having "as little as possible of the Yankee blue", and described it as symbolizing the primary origins of the people of the South, with the cross of Britain and the red bar from the flag of France.[10]

The Flag Act of 1865 describes the flag in the following language: "The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The width two-thirds of its length, with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width of the field below it; to have the ground red and a broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white and emblazoned with mullets or five pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States; the field to be white, except the outer half from the union to be a red bar extending the width of the flag."[11]

Other confederate flags Bonnie Blue Flag
Unofficial Southern Flag

In addition to the national flags, a wide variety of flags and banners were flown by Southerners during the War. Most famously, the "Bonnie Blue Flag" (which actually dated from the short-lived Republic of West Florida in 1810), was used as an early flag of Texas in 1836, and was used as an unofficial flag during the early months of 1861. In addition, many military units had their own regimental flags they would carry into battle. Other notable flags used are shown below.

The Battle Flag The Battle Flag of the Confederacy

Though often referred to as "The" battle flag of the Confederacy it was only one of more than 180 separate Confederate military battle flags.

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag was usually square, of various sizes for the different branches of the service: 48 inches square for the infantry, 36 inches for the artillery, and 30 inches for the cavalry. It was used in battle beginning in December 1861 until the fall of the Confederacy. The blue color on the saltire in the battle flag was navy blue, as opposed to the much lighter blue of the Naval Jack.

The flag's stars represented the number of states in the Confederacy. The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of Missouri and Kentucky joined in late 1861.[12]

At the First Battle of Bull Run, the similarity between the Stars and Bars and the Stars and Stripes caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart. In addition, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion. After the battle, General Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag."[13] He turned to his aide, who happened to be William Porcher Miles, the former chair of Committee on the Flag and Seal. Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request for the national flag to be changed. The committee rejected this idea by a four to one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commander General Joseph E. Johnston: "I wrote to [Miles] that we should have two flags — a peace or parade flag, and a war flag to be used only on the field of battle — but congress having adjourned no action will be taken on the matter — How would it do us to address the War Dept. on the subject of Regimental or badge flags made of red with two blue bars crossing each other diagonally on which shall be introduced the stars, ... We would then on the field of battle know our friends from our Enemies."[14]

South Carolina Sovreignty/Secession Flag

The flag that Miles had favored when he was chair of the Committee on the Flag and Seal eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the most popular flag of the Confederacy. According to historian John Coski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionist flags" flown at the South Carolina secession convention of December, 1860. That flag was a blue St George's Cross (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the slave states, and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. Miles received a variety of feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion". Moise liked the design, but asked that "the symbol of a particular religion not be made the symbol of the nation." Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic saltire ("X") for the upright one. The number of stars was changed several times as well. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The diagonal cross was preferable, he wrote, because "it avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed upright thus." He also argued that the diagonal cross was "more Heraldric [sic] than Ecclesiastical, it being the 'saltire' of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress."[15]

Although Miles described his flag as a heraldic saltire, it had been thought to be erroneously described since the latter part of the 19th century as a cross, specifically a Saint Andrew's Cross. Supposedly this folk legend sprang from the memoirs of an aging Confederate officer published in 1893. However, further reasearch has indicated that this was no folk legend. In 1863, during the session in which the Confederate Congress was voting on the 2nd National Flag, Willaim G. Swan of Tennessee's second congressional district wished to substitute the following language:

"That the flag of the Confederate States shall be as follows:
A red field with a Saint Andrew's cross of blue edged with white and emblazoned with stars."

Swan, who before the secession had been mayor of Knoxville and attorney general of Tennessee, had adapted his proposal from the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, but it was in fact identical to the flag proposed by William Porcher Miles in March 1861. But in the intervening years, the battle flag had been sanctified by the blood of Southern soldiers in the struggle for independence. Swan wished to adopt it for use by the nation now as a tribute to the valor of the Confederate fighting man.

Further references to the link between the battle flag and the St. Andrew's Cross are made by Confederate soldiers during the war.

According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross had no special place in Southern iconography at the time, and if Miles had not been eager to conciliate the Southern Jews his flag would have used the traditional Latin, Saint George's Cross. A colonel named James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright Saint George's cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.[16]

Specifically, the St. Andrew's Cross is a white saltire on a blue field, as in the national flag of Scotland. The St. Patrick's Cross, as in the state flag of Alabama, is a red saltire on a white field. The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag has a blue saltire on a red field and is, therefore, neither the St. Andrew's nor the St. Patrick's Cross but a saltire as in the proposed but unadopted Second National flag.

Miles' flag, and all the flag designs up to that point, were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square instead. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Beauregard agreed to this and soon prototypes were made by Hetty Cary and her sister and cousin. On November 28, 1861, the Army of Northern Virginia (which was then called the Army of the Potomac) assembled and formally received the first set of new battle flags. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat this new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered. Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the "fighting colors" boosting morale after the confusion of the first Battle of Bull Run. From that point on, the battle flag only grew in its identification with the Confederacy and the South in general.[17]

The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag assumed a prominent place post-war when it was adopted as the copyrighted emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its continued use by the UCV and the later Sons of Confederate Veterans led to the assumption that it was, as it has been termed, "the soldier's flag" or "the Confederate battle flag".

The flag is also properly known as the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was sometimes called "Beauregard's flag" or "the Virginia battle flag".

The Naval Jacks The First Confederate Navy Jack, 1861-1863

The First Confederate Navy Jack consisted of a circle of seven 5-pointed white stars on a field of light blue.

The Second Confederate Navy Jack, 1863-1865

The Second Confederate Navy Jack is a rectangular precursor of the Battle Flag, usually about 5×3 feet. The blue color in the saltire (the diagonal cross) is much lighter than in the Battle Flag, and it was flown only on Confederate ships from 1863 to 1865.

Navy Jack of the CSA

The design was originally made by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles with the intent to be the first national flag, but it was rejected by the Confederate government. Some critics supposedly scoffed at the design, saying it looked too much like crossed suspenders. While the square battle flag was widely used, the rectangular upside down and, the oblong version was also used by some army units, including the Army of Tennessee as their battle flag from 1864-1865. After General Joseph Johnston took command of the Army of Tennessee from Braxton Bragg, he ordered its army-wide implementation to improve morale and avoid confusion.

 After the War

For some time during the Reconstruction period, public display of any of the Confederate flags was forbidden and treated as contraband in the states occupied by Federal troops. It was also illegal to wear Confederate uniforms or military insignia. On January 25, 1867, federal troops in Rome, Georgia arrested four former Confederate soldiers for participating in a "tableau depicting an officer's funeral", and briefly wearing Confederate uniforms and draping a Confederate battle flag over a casket. The men were imprisoned for three weeks.[18]

 The Confederate Flag The "Confederate Flag", a 20th century combination of the Battle Flag's colors with the Second Navy Jack's design. Actual historical flags of the CSA have become more obscure.

What is now often called "The Confederate Flag" or "The Confederate Battle Flag" (actually a combination of the Battle Flag's colors with the Second Navy Jack's design), despite its never having historically represented the CSA as a nation, has become a widely recognized symbol of the South. It is also called the "rebel" or "Dixie" flag, and is often incorrectly referred to as the "Stars and Bars" (the actual "Stars and Bars" is the First National Flag, which used an entirely different design).

In the early- to mid-20th century the Confederate flag enjoyed renewed popularity. During World War II some U.S. military units with Southern nicknames, or made up largely of Southerners, made the flag their unofficial emblem. Some soldiers carried Confederate flags into battle. After the Battle of Okinawa a Confederate flag was raised over Shuri Castle by a soldier from the self-styled "Rebel Company" (Company A of the 5th Marine Regiment). It was visible for miles and was taken down after three days on the orders of General Simon B. Buckner, Jr. (son of Confederate General Simon Buckner), who stated that it was inappropriate as "Americans from all over are involved in this battle". It was replaced with the flag of the United States.[19]

The use of the flag by soldiers came under investigation after some African-American soldiers filed complaints. By the end of World War II, the use of the Confederate flag in the military was rare.[20] However, the Confederate flag continues to be flown in an unofficial manner by many soldiers. It was seen many times in Korea, Vietnam, and in the Middle East.

Controversy

Displaying the flag

The display of the Confederate flag remains a highly controversial and emotional topic, generally because of disagreement over the nature of its symbolism. Opponents of the Confederate flag see it as an overt symbol of racism, both for the history of racial slavery in the United States, and the establishment of Jim Crow laws by Southern states following the end of Reconstruction in late 1870s, enforcing racial segregation within state borders for nearly a century until the Civil Rights Movement. Others view the flag as a symbol of rebellion against the federal government of the United States. Many groups use the Southern Cross as one of the symbols associated with their organizations, including racist, separatist, and the Ku Klux Klan,[21] while others see it as an historical symbol representing pride in the Southern United States or a past era of southern sovereignty.[22]

As a result of these varying perceptions, there have been a number of political controversies surrounding the use of the Confederate flag in Southern state flags, at sporting events, at Southern universities, and on public buildings. According to Civil War historian and native Southerner Shelby Foote, the flag traditionally represented the South's resistance to Northern political dominance; it became racially charged during the Civil Rights Movement, when fighting against desegregation suddenly became the focal point of that resistance.

Symbols of the Confederacy remain a contentious issue across the United States and have been debated vigorously in many Southern state legislatures over their civic placement since the 1990s.

Display at the South Carolina capitol The South Carolina State House, site of the 2000 controversy.

On April 12, 2000, the South Carolina State Senate passed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the top of the State House dome by a majority vote of 36 to 7. Originally placed there in 1962,[23] "the new bill specified that a more traditional version of the battle flag would be flown in front of the Capitol next to a monument honoring fallen Confederate soldiers." The bill also passed the state's House of Representatives, but not without some difficulty. On May 18, 2000, after the bill was modified to ensure that the height of the flag's new pole would be 30 feet (9 m), it was passed by a majority of 66 to 43. Governor Jim Hodges signed the bill into law five days later after it passed the state Senate. On July 1, 2000 the flag was removed from atop the State House and placed on a monument on the front lawn of the capitol. Current state law prohibits the flag's removal from the State House grounds without additional legislation.

In 2005, two Western Carolina University researchers found that 74% of African-Americans polled favored removing the flag from the South Carolina State House altogether.[24] The NAACP and other civil rights groups have attacked the flag's continued presence at the state capitol. The NAACP maintains an official boycott of South Carolina, citing its continued display of the battle flag on its State House grounds, despite an initial agreement to call off the boycott after it was removed from the State House dome.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has prevented South Carolina from hosting any championship sporting events in which the sites are determined in advance.[25] On April 14, 2007, Steve Spurrier, coach of the University of South Carolina football team, made an acceptance speech for a community service award in which he referred to the flag on the State House grounds as "that damn flag".[26]

Use in State Flags

Alabama Flag of Alabama. Main article: Flag of Alabama

It is commonly believed that the crimson saltire of the Flag of Alabama was designed to resemble the blue saltire of the Confederate Battle Flag. The Battle Flag was square-shaped, and Alabama's flag is sometimes shown as a square. The legislation that created the state flag did not specify if the flag was going to be square or rectangular.[27] The authors of a 1917 article in National Geographic expressed their opinion that because the Alabama flag was based on the Battle Flag, it should be square.[28] In 1987, the office of Alabama Attorney General Don Siegelman issued an opinion in which the Battle Flag derivation is repeated, but concluded that the proper shape is rectangular, as it had been depicted numerous times in official publications and reproductions.[29]

However, the saltire design of the Alabama state flag also bears resemblance to several other flags. It is identical to the flag of Saint Patrick, incorporated into the Union Flag of the United Kingdom to represent the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland. This has led to other origins being put forth as possibilities.

Some hold that it owes its origin as a simplification of the Cross of Burgundy Flag used by the Spanish in the New Spain and as the basis of military flags. One example that was used in the future Alabama was that of the Regimiento de Infanteria de Luisiana which took part in the Battle of Mobile as part of the Gulf Coast campaign of the American Revolution. [30]

Another slim possibility is in the flag of Co. F 7th Alabama Cavalry. The regiment was the only Alabama regiment in Rucker's Brigade commanded by Col. Edmund Rucker of Tennessee, later Alabama, who became a prominent Montgomery businessman after the war. The flag of the brigade used a white background with a red saltire which did not always extend to the corners and charged with dark colored stars upon the saltire. The flag of Co. F, 7th Alabama Cavalry is currently held by the Alabama Department of Archives and History as part of its Alabama Civil War Period Flag Collection. [31] But, the flag carried by Co. F 7th Alabama was not an Alabama Flag, it was the flag made for Rucker's Brigade a month before the 7th joined his brigade; the 7th was color party only after September 24, 1864. A bunting flag that exists, in the white and red configuration with 13 blue stars, is not believed to be Alabama associated, but tied to Rucker's Brigade also.

 Florida Flag of Florida. Main article: Flag of Florida

Some have claimed that the cross is intended to recall the blue saltire of the Confederate Battle Flag. However, this view is not universal and there is no significant opposition to the current design within the state (as there has been in Georgia and Mississippi over their Confederate-style flags). Historically, the first Spanish flag over Florida was a red saltire ragulée (knotted) with a white background (the Burgundian Saltire). The flag of Alabama is a plain red saltire, as is Saint Patrick's Flag, which is incorporated into the Union Flag of the United Kingdom.

Georgia Main article: Flag of Georgia (U.S. state)

In 1956, the State Flag of Georgia was redesigned to incorporate the Confederate Battle Flag. Following protests over this aspect of the design in the 1990s by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other groups, efforts began in the Georgia General Assembly to remove the Battle Flag from the state flag's design. These efforts succeeded in January 2001 when Georgia Governor Roy Barnes pushed through a design that, though continuing to depict the Battle Flag, greatly reduced its prominence. This move deeply angered a large segment of Georgia’s electorate, contributing to Barnes' defeat in the subsequent gubernatorial election in November 2002.

The following year, amidst demands for the return of the 1956 design (“Battle Flag” vers