CAROLINA NATURALLY

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Skittish consumers are finally saving more money -- and now the banks are trying all sorts of gimmicks to get their hands on it, including offering some pretty nice upfront perks.

Americans socked away 5% of their disposable income in January, pushing the personal savings rate to a 14-year high, according to the Commerce Department.

Lincoln photo uncovered in Grant album

A collector believes a photograph from a private album of Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant shows President Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House and could be the last image taken of him before he was assassinated in 1865.

If it is indeed Lincoln, it would be the only known photo of the 16th president in front of the executive mansion and a rare find, as only about 130 photos of him are known to exist.

Grant's 38-year-old great-great-grandson, Ulysses S. Grant VI, had seen the picture before, but didn't examine it closely until late January. A tall figure in the distance caught his eye, although the man's facial features are obscured.

He called Keya Morgan, a New York-based photography collector and Lincoln aficionado, who helped identify it as Lincoln.

"I was like, 'I don't know who this is, Keya,'" said Grant, a Springfield, Mo., construction business owner.

Although authenticating the 2 1/2-by-3 1/2-inch photo beyond a shadow of a doubt could be difficult, several historians who looked at it said the evidence supporting Morgan's claim is compelling and believable.

CNBC Buffoons Whine

The other evening Jon Stewart gave CNBC the business over their sloppy to say the least, financial reporting. Guess what the folks over at CNBC whined about it and the biggest whiner was that buffoon Cramer (hard to believe it wasn't the perennial whiner Scarborough, I know).

Well ...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

In Cramer We Trust

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

... That was their biggest mistake.

Save on groceries: inexpensive and healthful foods

March is National Nutrition Month.

It is a great time to think about planning menus with ingredients that won't drain your budget and can help you stick to healthful resolutions.

The following heart-smart ingredients are all less than $1 per serving:

1. Monounsaturated oils.

Canola oil is trans-fat free and has the most omega-3 fatty acids of all common cooking oils.

2. Pulse for health.

Lentils and dry beans have nutrients found in both vegetable and meat food groups, including significant protein, fiber, folate, iron and other minerals.

3. Poultry products.

Both the chicken and the egg come first regarding nutrition. A skinless chicken breast has roughly 24 grams of complete protein and less than 1 gram of saturated fat. One egg has 13 essential nutrients, including protein, folate, choline, iron and zinc, for only about 75 calories.

4. Lean proteins.

Ninety-five percent lean ground beef has only 2.4 grams of saturated fat and is high in protein, zinc, B vitamins, iron, selenium and phosphorus. Low-fat cottage cheese is a great source of protein and calcium.

5. Go fish.

Not only high in protein and B vitamins, canned or pouch tuna and salmon are excellent sources of heart-smart omega-3 fatty acids. Tuna and salmon also offer a range of minerals, such as selenium and phosphorus.

6. Think green.

Green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and green beans are good sources of fiber and antioxidants such as vitamin C. Broccoli is also high in folate and a good source of potassium. Spinach is high in vitamin A, iron and folate and a good source of magnesium.

7. ABC fruits.

Apples are particularly high in fiber. Bananas are a good source of vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Citrus is high in vitamin C, with oranges also a good source of fiber and red grapefruit high in vitamin A.

8. Great grains.

Whole grains are among the best sources of dietary fiber, which may help reduce the risk of heart disease. They also have some valuable antioxidants not found in fruits and vegetables as well as B vitamins, vitamin E, iron and magnesium.

9. Grape expectations.

Raisins are a good source of antioxidants, potassium, iron and fiber. They are fat- and cholesterol-free and naturally low in sodium.

10. Explore our roots.

Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A and good source of vitamin C with few calories. Potatoes are high in vitamin C and a good source of potassium.

IMF chief warns world entering 'Great Recession'

The global economy will shrink this year as the world enters "a Great Recession," the head of the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.

Speaking in a taped interview with French television channel France 24, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said economic data has worsened since January, when the IMF forecast global growth in gross domestic product of 0.5 percent this year.

"Since then the news hasn't been good," Strauss-Kahn said. "I think that we can now say that we've entered a Great Recession."

Read the rest here.

Market Surprise

This gives a new meaning to the phrase 'a trip to the market'.

Grocery store customers find cocaine hidden inside peppers

Ancient golden jewelry found in Egyptian tomb

Egyptian officials says archaeologists have found ancient golden jewelry in a pharaonic-era tomb that belonged to a senior official under Egypt's most powerful queen.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities says five golden earrings and two rings were found in the tomb of Gahouti, the head of the treasury under Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt 3,500 years ago.

Tuesday's statement says the tomb was located on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor, a southern Egyptian city famous for its valley of the Kings and other ruins from pharaonic times.

The tomb had been looted, and its gates were engraved with text from the "Book of the Dead," which Egyptians believed would be needed in the afterlife.

IRA dissident killings unites Northern Ireland

The Protestant and Catholic leaders of Northern Ireland mounted an exceptional display of unity against rising violence from Irish Republican Army dissidents — and vowed Tuesday to defeat hard-liners with the power of popular will.

Former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, who long hoped that slaying police officers would help him achieve his dream of a united Ireland, stood shoulder to shoulder with his Protestant partner atop the government, Peter Robinson, and Northern Ireland police commander Hugh Orde.

The scene itself was an unprecedented surprise. More stunning were the clear-cut words from McGuinness, whose Sinn Fein party has faced years of outside pressure to embrace British law and order. He pledged his personal support to the English police chief, and demanded that his own police-loathing supporters abandon their traditional code of silence and expose the IRA dissidents in their Irish Catholic communities.

"I have to keep my nerve, and to appeal to my community to assist the police services north and south to defeat these people," McGuinness said of the dissidents who killed two British soldiers and a policeman over the past three days — the first such killings in more than a decade.

"There is a duty on me, a responsibility on me to lead from the front, and I expect that people will follow," McGuinness said. He called the IRA splinter groups "traitors to the island of Ireland. They have betrayed the political desires, hopes and aspirations of all of the people who live on this island, and they don't deserve to be supported by anyone."

Swan Lake

Tchaikovsky played on a glass harp.

Maine skiers warned about late-night owl attacks

Cross-country skiers who set out on a crisp, moonlit night for a peaceful outing in Bangor's city forest are being targeted by a least one ornery and territorial owl. Over the past three weeks, at least eight skiers and a few romping dogs apparently have fallen victim to a great horned owl that swoops down from a tree with talons outstretched and smacks them on the head.

Jim Allen of Bangor said he was skiing in the dark on East Trail in the Rolland F. Perry City Forest when he got hit.

"I've got my headlamp on, and all of a sudden, I felt a whack in the back of my head and this stinging, and I understood what everybody was talking about," said Allen, said he who screamed and waved his poles. His thick winter hat protected him from scratches.

Others haven't been so lucky. Dr. Dan Cassidy, a local physician and avid night skier, said three skiers suffered small lacerations, but none needed stitches to close their wounds.

Cassidy has been documenting owl attacks after one of the noctural birds swooped down on him in nearby Orono in January. He was able to identify it as a great horned owl, and he and others suspect that one or more of those owls are the culprits in the Bangor attacks.

"It's the boldest noctural raptor and the one that has the best reputation for the occasionally bizarre," said Charlie Todd, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

City Forester Brian Dugas posted warning signs Friday at three entry points to the forest, alerting skiers and hikers about the threat of owl attacks.

Allen has been back in the forest twice since Tuesday's owl attack, an incident he says he won't soon forget.

"They say ... there's no sound at all when an owl flies. So you don't hear them coming," he said. "I believe it. Because I never knew anything was coming. I was just skiing merrily along."

Man says he moved pot plants to keep burglars away

Authorities in Jacksonville, Florida said a man stopped with 17 marijuana plants in the bed of his pickup told police he was moving them to protect them from burglars who robbed his house the night before. Police said they arrested a 26-year-old man after receiving a tip that two men were loading pot plants onto a truck around noon Saturday. Police reported finding the plants beneath a cover in the truck bed.

Authorities said the man was charged with cultivating marijuana and the truck's driver was charged with felony marijuana possession. The driver told police he was only driving the truck because the man's license was suspended.

Both men were later released on bond.

Police seize 1,200 pounds of pot in spinach cans

Police with the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division found 1,200 pounds of pot packed in cans labeled as spinach during a stop at the Gallup port of entry. An inspector noticed that only a few of the cans were labeled and that the weight printed on the side of the can didn't match the actual weight. A closer look during last Friday's bust revealed the canned drugs, which were worth an estimated $1.5 million.

The four pallets of cans were being transported along with fresh produce.

The 50-year-old truck driver said he was on his way from California to the East Coast. The driver and the pot were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Pet store expects fish shipment, but gets corpse

Employees of a Pennsylvania pet store expecting a shipment of tropical fish and salt water got a man's dead body instead. Mark Arabia owns the Pets Plus store in northeast Philadelphia, where the mix-up was discovered Tuesday. He says he learned the body was that of a 65-year-old San Diego area man who died of early onset Alzheimer's disease.

The body was supposed to go to a research laboratory in Allentown, a 70-mile drive away.

US Airways Inc. released a statement saying the air cargo problem was caused by a "verbal miss-communication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative." The Tempe, Arizona based airline said it's deeply sorry.

The fish were shipped in three boxes. The corpse was shipped in a wooden coffin wrapped in cardboard.

Arabia said the fish were left at the airport and probably died.

NC senators propose tougher tobacco restrictions

North Carolina's two senators are proposing tougher restrictions on cigarette advertising and labeling in an attempt to sway Congress not to pass a bill that could be even harder on the state's tobacco industry.

Democratic Senator Kay Hagan and repugican senator Richard Burr are introducing a compromise bill that would ban advertising in magazines and newspapers and prohibit the words "light," "mild," "ultra-light," "medium" and "low" from being used as descriptors of tobacco products.

Legislation that would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco was passed by a House committee last week. Under that bill, opposed by many in the tobacco industry, the agency could reduce or eliminate cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke.

*****

Note to Hagan and Burr: Do not be weenies - go for the tougher regulations the House passed and don't try and mollycoddle the Tobacco companies - we do not need them, never did