I ordered a new fuel pump the the Evenrude (found out it is a 1977 model), received the pump yesterday,  I installed the new one, also found out the new primer bulb for the fuel had a hole in it, ( must of been made in china :(  )
So after the repairs, traveled to Jackson Lake about 50 miles away to give her a test spin.. She worked great. I stayed the night, met the Rusty gang a 5am to do a little fishing on the pontoon..
Jackson lake to very low (lucky to have 6 ft of depth in the middle..  No bites today..
I usually put the news on the News I care about page.   But, since it is the 4th I thought I would post a story about debt slaves on this page..

If
 you went out and took a poll of the American people on July 4th 
(Independence Day) and asked them if they are free, what would the 
results look like?  Of course the results would be overwhelmingly 
lopsided.  Most Americans believe that they live in "the land of the 
free" and that they are not enslaved to anyone.  But is that really the 
case? Slavery does not always have to involve whips and shackles.  There
 are many other forms of slavery.  One 
dictionary definition
 of a slave is "one that is completely subservient to a dominating 
influence".  I really like that definition.  Today, millions of 
Americans are slaves of the system and they don't even realize it.  Debt
 is a form of slavery, and millions of Americans having become deeply 
enslaved to our debt-based financial system.  When someone enslaves 
someone else, the goal of the master is to reap a benefit out of the 
slave.  You don't want the slave to just sit there and collect dust.  
Today, most Americans have willingly shackled themselves to a system 
that systematically drains their wealth and transfers it to the very 
wealthy.  Most of them don't even realize that they have been enslaved 
even as the system sucks them dry.
Just think about it.  Where is the "big money" in the United States today?
When asked that question, most Americans think of Wall Street.
Well, who controls Wall Street?
The bankers do.
The borrower is the servant of the lender, and they generate massive amounts of wealth by lending us money.
Perhaps an example will be helpful.
Have you ever run up $5000 of credit card debt?  Many people have run
 up much, much more than that, but let us use $5000 for our example.
According 
to the Federal Reserve,
 if you only make the minimum payment every month, at a 20% interest 
rate it will take you 49 years to pay that credit card off and you will 
pay back a total of $26,169.
So you would have gotten the original benefit of spending the $5000 
and you would have had to work extremely hard to pay back an additional 
$21,169 to the bankers.
In essence, you would be working as a servant of the bankers until you had paid back that entire debt plus interest.
Unfortunately, our entire system is now designed to get you to go into debt.
It starts before we even get into the "real world".  We are 
constantly told that we cannot get a "good job" without a college 
degree, but a college education is so ridiculously expensive these days 
that most of us cannot afford one 
without going into lots of debt.
Many of you out there know exactly what I am talking about.
Do you have a pile of student loan debt?
I do.
In fact, the total pile of student loan debt in the United States is now over a trillion dollars.
Unfortunately, when a lot of us graduated we found out that the "good
 jobs" that we were promised simply were not there.  Last year, 53 
percent of all Americans with a bachelor's degree under the age of 25 
were either 
unemployed or underemployed.
So many young adults are starting out life already enslaved to a 
gigantic pile of debt but without a good job that will enable them to 
comfortably service that debt.
The really "lucky" graduates from the top schools flock to Wall 
Street so that they can make lots of money running the debt-based 
financial system that is enslaving all the rest of us.
Once young people leave school, there are lots of other "debt traps" to fall into.
Once you get out into the "real world", just about every major purchase is going to involve another pile of debt.
Do you want a house?
That is going to mean more debt.  As I have written about 
previously, mortgage debt as a percentage of U.S. GDP 
has more than tripled since 1955.
Do you want a car?
About 70 percent of all vehicle purchases in the U.S. now involve at least some borrowed  money.
Consumer debt is particularly insidious.  Our stores are filled with 
very beautiful things, and it is really easy to buy a bunch of stuff and
 "put it on plastic".
Since 1971, the total amount of consumer debt in the United States has increased by 
1700%, and approximately 
46% of all Americans now carry a credit card balance from month to month.
We just keep plunging ourselves deeper and deeper into 
debt slavery. 
 Most Americans never seem to learn.  Over the past 30 years those of us
 in the "bottom 95 percent" have seen our financial shackles just get 
heavier and heavier.  The following is from a recent 
CNN article....
In 1983, the bottom 95% had 62 cents of debt for every dollar they earned, according to research by two International Monetary Fund economists. But by 2007, the ratio had soared to $1.48 of debt for every $1 in earnings.
When you pile up lots of debt, you aren't just working for yourself 
anymore.  You are also working for those that you owe the debts to.  
Your hard work and sweat end up making them a lot wealthier.
Our state and local governments have enslaved themselves to debt as well.  Total 
state and local government debt is now about 8 times higher than it was 30 years ago.
At this point, many U.S. cities are in very serious trouble with 
debt.  In fact, another California municipality has just declared 
bankruptcy.  On 
Monday, the town of Mammoth Lakes announced that it has formally filed for bankruptcy.
But this is just the beginning.
The truth is that we are a nation that is absolutely drowning in debt
 and we need a lot more money in order to keep up with all of this debt.
But there is a problem.
In our 
debt-based financial system, the creation of more money actually creates more debt.
So how are we ever going to get out of the hole that we are in?
Today, the U.S. national debt is more than 5000 times larger than it 
was when the Federal Reserve was first created back in 1913.  This is 
why it is so important for the American people to realize that the 
Federal Reserve is a 
perpetual debt machine.
The Federal Reserve system itself does not make much money.  The vast
 majority of the profits that the Federal Reserve makes are transferred 
back to the U.S. government.
But that is not what the Federal Reserve was created to do.
What the Federal Reserve was created to do was to set up a system 
where the U.S. government would borrow money and pay interest on it 
instead of just creating the money itself.
Last year the U.S. government spent 
more than 454 billion dollars
 just on interest on the national debt.  That is a form of national 
slavery.  454 billion dollars that we worked very hard to make was taken
 from us and transferred into the pockets of some very wealthy people.
The truth is that the U.S. government does not actually need to ever 
borrow a single penny from anyone.  As a sovereign government it could 
directly issue money into circulation.
But lending money to governments is very, very profitable and it is the kind of thing that wars are fought over.
For example, the First Bank of the United States (the very first 
central bank in our country) was established in 1791 and the charter for
 that bank expired in 1811 and was not renewed.
So what happened the very next year?
The War of 1812.  During that war Washington D.C. was actually 
captured and burned.  The final major battle of that war was the battle 
of New Orleans which took place on January 8, 1815.
So what happened the very next year?
President James Madison signed the charter for the Second Bank of the United States on April 10, 1816.
The goal has always been to enslave the American people.  Debt is 
used to enslave us individually, it is used to enslave our businesses, 
it is used to enslave our state and local governments and it is used to 
enslave our federal government.
So are you a slave of the system?
If you are in debt, then you are a slave at least to some degree.
Unfortunately, the global financial system has become so saturated with debt that it is now 
on the verge of collapse.  It appears that things could be getting significantly worse during 
the second half of this year, and the years ahead do not look very promising at all.
Sadly, most Americans do not see any of this coming.  In fact, a new CNN/ORC International poll has found that about 
60 percent of all Americans think that the U.S. economy will be in good shape next year.
Can you believe that?
The 
mainstream media has done a fantastic job of brainwashing the general public.
The "blue team" is convinced that if Barack Obama wins the election 
and the Democrats take control of both houses of Congress that 
prosperous times are on the way.
The "red team" is convinced that if Mitt Romney wins the election and
 the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress that the U.S. 
economy will be put back on the right track.
Well, the truth is that there is not going to be 
a solution to our economic problems on the national level.  We have accumulated the greatest 
mountain of debt
 in the history of the world, and it is going to collapse and crush us 
no matter which brand of corrupt politicians we sent to Washington.
On July 4th, millions upon millions of Americans will celebrate 
"Independence Day" with cookouts, parades and fireworks without ever 
realizing the true nature of what is really going on.
Hopefully we can get more of them educated while there is still time.