My Latest Phone Incident

My phone died after falling in the toilet, but before it died, there was a ringtone. I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred. Don’t act like you don’t remember it! I thought it would be funny, but I just ended up being embarrassed whenever my phone rang.

I am enjoying the Manduka PROLite so far although I am going to have to write lot, and lots, and lots of papers. Joy.

I am so excited about Sex and the City: the movie! Everyone I know who is a fan (including myself) has been busy trying to plan out their outfit for the movie and putting together a Girl’s Night Out!

I need new sandals really badly. My favorite pair talks when I walk, lol.

I’ve been having tooth pain again. I know I should go to the dentist. I’m not afraid, I’ve just been too lazy to schedule an appointment. I should get on that…

I’ve been wanting to try wearing a face full of makeup for a while, and finally got up the courage to do so. In this photo, I am wearing concealer, foundation (more like a tinted moisturizer), eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, blush and lip gloss. Phew. I learned a few things, like my eyes are probably too small for me to wear black eyeliner. My eyes all but disappear. Also, I’m gonna need to practice blending around the forehead.

Since I last blogged:

I got all set to start school again. I start an elementary education program tomorrow! All online. I am excited and determined to finish. At first, I thought I would do that, then get my MLS to become a librarian, but now, I am thinking of becoming a teacher after all. I know it’s twee and all, but maybe I’ll end up being someone who can make a difference.

I took ZB to the neurologist about those headaches he’s had over the past year plus. She doesn’t think anything is seriously wrong, but she wants to do an MRI just to be sure. He also has a prescription for Maxalt now. I don’t know if I’m going to fill it though.

We went back to the ADHD specialist, and I was pretty disappointed. He felt that meds were the way to go and that anything else wouldn’t work. What? Otay. Totally ignoring his advice and doing things my way (possible dietary changes, lots of exercise as usual, yoga, maybe acupuncture, maybe some other holistic stuff). The best thing to come out of this diagnosis deal has been getting ZB’s teacher to lay off.

I’ve become a vegetarian. I’ve been “almost” vegetarian for a while now, rarely eating meat, but now I’ve cut it out altogether. I don’t miss it at all. I don’t know if I’ll stay vegetarian, but I’m happy for now and trying to make sure I get all the proper nutrients.

I have been purging more crap from around the house to make room for the Honeywell HFD-120-Q. Why does it feel so good to get rid of things you don’t need? I always tell DH that I don’t want to be one of those people that when I die, my family has to sort through loads of my junk. I am always working towards simplicity.

I’ve had a lot of fun with my family including a field trip to the zoo with Kindy and 2nd grade. Pics to come, of course.

Some Things You May Be Here For

Here are some more of the things you may be looking for:

  1. the walls in the mall are totally totally tall

-Ah, that would be my post on bathing suit shopping.

  1. forced to wear leggings

-Wow, that’s never happened to me. Sorry!

  1. shirring tutorial

-Hm, I guess this is in reference to the shirred top dress I made Girlie. Here’s the link to the pattern/tutorial and for our review on the Honeywell HFD-010.

  1. how to sew a birthday banner/felt banner/etc

-This is pretty easy. For a felt one, just cut out same sized triangles, and sew them together with a ribbon or something. I sew mine together with bias tape. A fabric one requires a little more if you want it to be patterned on both sides. Cut out two triangles in each of your fabrics and sew the long sides together. I pink the edges, and voila!

  1. spacer dental

-Yes, ZB has one.

  1. hand sewn bed pillow doll

-What’s to know? Cut out two rectangles, sew 3 right sides together. Turn right side out, stuff, and sew up the fourth side. The end.

  1. eloise poster

-We got ours at Hastings. It was on a board or something and I just asked if I could have it. Yea, you can do that.

  1. hello kitty dollar tree

-This must be about the bento boxes we got there. Sorry, I don’t think they’re selling them anymore.

  1. stupid nicknames

-Yes, we give plenty of those here. For example, Isabelle, our dog, is “Izawiz”, “Izabiz”,”Izagirl is a girl” and so on.

  1. dana-milena

-Girlie’s Cabbage Patch doll.

  1. christmas poodle skirt aprons

-Um, what? Wow…no words.

  1. princess and the pea wrapping paper

-Does this exist?? I want some!!!

  1. bebe batman

-Yes, Bebe was Batman for Halloween.

  1. greenfigs and saltfish

-Mmmm…My favorite! Recipe here.

  1. lamp nightstand combo

-Yes, I have one. Got it at Goodwill! You can see a tiny bit of it in this picture.

  1. thrifted vintage mugs

-Here they are.

  1. xanga tifi asthma

-ZB has asthma and I’ve blogged about it. You might want to try this label to find relevant posts.

  1. how much does a lhasa apso cost in st.lucia?

-Bwahaha. No idea. Sorry. Gasson, that dog too hot for St. Lucia, eh? Bon.

  1. sewing a tooth pillow

-Did that in ‘06 when ZB lost his first tooth. See it here. You can’t tell, but it’s tooth shaped. I just found a kiddie drawing of a tooth on the internet, cut fabric to match, sewed it up, stuffed it, and put a little pocket on. Tada!

  1. cute thrifted dishes

-I have a few, but no pictures of them, sorry. Here is a review of the Compact 2 Model D however.

  1. how to make a lego snowflake ornament

-Uh, I don’t know. Google it?

  1. making paper snowflakes for 2nd grade party

-Martha has good paper snowflake instructions.

  1. st.lucian myths folktales

-This is hard. I asked my mom to find some books with them on her last trip to St. Lucia, but she didn’t have much luck. She bought the two she could find, and the rest, I tell from memory, or I use one of my old school primers with stories.

  1. paper snowflake ornament

– I love mine. It’s by Robert Sabuda.

  1. grade five read aloud books

-I don’t have a fifth grader, but you might try looking here.

 

Best Practices for Exercising at Your Computer

Are you engaged in a desk job? Then you must be aware of the fact that those who are very committed to their work, and spend hours and hours in front of computer, they tend to gain weight very quickly. That is a disadvantage of being a dedicated employee! Not only are you coping with the stress and burden of work, but are also forced to face the consequences of inactivity, showing up in the form of increased waist size.

You can’t afford to spend time in gym from 9 to 5, and once you have gone through a stressful job of 15 hours or more – especially if you’re trying to learn to weld on top of it – you won’t even want to think about driving to gym and get some extra fatigue. Most of you wouldn’t be aware that staying inactive for four hours can have serious repercussions on your metabolic rate. Even a walk for half an hour or exhaustive exercise for an hour can’t be enough to get rid of repercussions caused by inactivity of the remaining long day. Then what is the solution? How can you improve your metabolic rate from 9 to 5 when you are engaged in your job?

The answer to this question is that you need to exercise while sitting at your computer. Exert yourself physically to avoid gaining pounds. I am going to tell you some very easy ways by which you can ensure that your metabolism rate doesn’t drop to dangerous level while you sit in front of computer. Doing exercise while sitting at your computer would not take much of your time, and after all, spending a few minutes to avoid metabolic problems of life time if not a bad deal at all.

How to Exercise While Sitting at Your Computer?

You would be alarmed to know the fact that sitting inactively at your desk for 23 hours a week increases the risk of cardiac disorders as compared to those spending 11 hours a week in front of computer. Avoid this risk by adopting following simple exercise while sitting at your computer

Stretch Your Body:

  1. Rotate your neck to allow its every muscle to stretch
  2. Put your hands in front of you, make a grip and stretch
  3. Continue doing this step but this time by putting both hands behind your back.
  4. Rotate the shoulders forward and backward
  5. Make a fist and then rotate both your wrists.
  6. Rotate your ankles now, first clock wise, and then anti clockwise.

Are you feeling virtuous? Then move on to next exercise;

Chair Squats

It is time to pull your back.

  1. Stand in front of the computer with your chair pushed away as much as a feet.
  2. Your feet should be apart, in alignment with your shoulders.
  3. Now put your hands parallel to floor,
  4. Take a deep breath in this position and suck your stomach inwards,
  5. Rise slowly on your heels while breathing
  6. Squat towards the chair while bending your knees a bit
  7. Stop when you are about to sit on the chair
  8. Keep holding for 10 seconds and allow your hamstrings to contract.
  9. Now stand back while exhaling your breath.

You should repeat it in the form of at least 2 sets of 12 reps.

Standing Crunches

  1. Again go back to standing position with feet in alignment to shoulders.
  2. Take deep breath with your back completely straight
  3. Let your shoulders relax a bit while you bend a bit forward
  4. Contract the muscles of abdomen while completely exhaling
  5. Repeat it rapidly and intensely and you would be pleased to have flat abs soon.

Repeat it in 3 sets with 15 reps.

Tip: the above mentioned standing crunches can be made even more effective if you hold two water bottles in your hands and then putting your hands on your sides, hold the bottles parallel to the ground why studying to learn how to MIG weld. Whenever inhaling, bring your hands in front of your body and every time you inhale, take them back to the previous position. If possible, add another extra set.

Desk Push Ups

  1. While placing your hands on desk’s edge, drag your feet away from the desk to come in a position that you lean on the edge without falling on floor.
  2. With bent elbows, come in a slanting position with your chin in alignment to the edge of the desk.
  3. Push up your body by straightening your elbows and exhaling your breath.
  4. Then come down again towards the desk while inhaling.
  5. Repeat this process without letting your knees or back to bend.

Repeat in 3 sets of 12 reps.

Bonus Tips for Keeping Metabolism Rate Up

In addition to exercise while sitting at your computer, following tips can help you avoid fats;

  • Walk for 10 minutes after lunch and an evening snack.
  • Drink at least two bottles of water from 9 to 5
  • Every two hours, eat some snacks which are low in fat, like buts and fruits.
  • Don’t send mails and memos to the colleagues; rather prefer to walk to them.
  • Prefer stairs on lift
  • Either take a light meal or three small meals
  • Chat with a colleague on the next floor
  • Fetch water from water cooler
  • If possible, try some yoga postures at your desk.
  • Caution: do not exercise till 30 minutes after taking a meal.

By doing exercise while sitting at your computer, you would be able to keep your metabolism rate up and hence avoid any disorders due to extended inactivity. It would prevent you from becoming lethargic and in the long run you would be able to stay away from obesity, diabetes, cardiac disorders and other malfunctions. If possible, also do gym for some time, but keep on doing these desk exercises alongside.

Easy Ways to Digest Your Food

Eating foods that are easy to digest is very good for your health and should be contained in your daily meals, but easy to digest foods should be your only choice if you suffer from stomach problems. Medical conditions like diarrhea, vomiting, indigestion or gastroenteritis, require special consideration in choosing your food. In such cases, eating easy to digest foods can help you get back fast to your normal health.

This is because, easy to digest foods provide your body with the necessary nutrients without causing more upset and discomfort, and in the same time shorten the recovery time from these conditions. Also the normal aging process could result in decrease in food digestion efficacy, as well as could the use of a Honeywell SilentComfort air purifier.

Easy to Digest Foods

Easy to digest foods are those that are low in fat and fiber. There are lots of choices of these foods which are not only easy to digest, but also nutritious. Below is a list of foods that are easy to digest which should be an integral part in your healthy diet.

Rice

Rice has many health benefits and is useful for your digestive health. Because of the contents of rice that help the digestive system to function efficiently, doctors often recommend more rice in your diet.

Toast

When it comes to easy digestion, toasted bread is a better choice than fresh bread. This is because, the body takes less time to digest toasted bread than fresh bread.

Leafy Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables, especially cooked one, are easy to digest. Cabbages as an example of green leafy vegetables, are nutritious as they are rich in minerals and vitamins. Also leafy green veggies, unlike high fat foods, do not cause slowing down the digestion process as they have plenty of fiber that makes them easily digestible and healthy food. This is why these veggies are main part in many weight loss plans.

Chicken

Skinless chicken, boiled or broiled, is one of the most healthy and easily digestible foods, as it is very low in saturated fat. Make sure that the chicken is cooked properly and avoid fried chicken if you have gastric problems or have a sensitive stomach.

Bananas

Ripe bananas are considered one of the most popular fruits, and this is because of its positive effect on digestive health. Ripe bananas contain certain enzymes that play an important role in accelerating the digestion process. So bananas are very useful for babies and children with stomach problems, and also recommended after stomach flu.

Avocados

One of the most easy to digest fruits. They contain plenty of beta-carotene which converted to vitamin A that is essential for the lining of the gastro-intestinal tract. If you read a few inversion table reviews, you’ll quickly notice they recommend eating avocados before starting your inversion therapy treatment.

Gelatin

Gelatin is very good for healthy digestion, as it is easily digested and in the same time, soothe the digestive tract.

Yogurt

Only live culture yogurt is helpful in digestion.

Plain Crackers

Easy to digest with good taste.

Finally, if you have stomach problems, you have to avoid foods that hinder the process of digestion, instead, go for foods that accelerate digestion. Easy to digest foods listed above are examples of foods you have to go for.

Natural Remedies for Migraines

A lot of natural remedies are gaining ground today for the treatment of headache and migraine in place of the traditional prescription drugs. In this article, I would try to give you an acquaintance with some of the popular alternative medicines for such treatment and would also guide you as to which foods you should avoid to cure the headache.

Before we discuss the remedies, it would be helpful to first point out the underlying causes of headache. Headache can be caused by a number of reasons. Some usual causes include

  • Stress
  • Overeating
  • Unsuitable posture
  • Problems with eyesight
  • Problems with teeth

If you do not learn to control stress, you would eventually fall a prey to headache or even migraine. A fatal mistake committed by many people is to rely on alcohol when they are stressed, rather than the improved air quality and soothing sounds of the Honeywell 50250-S. This way, you further aggravate the problem.

Do not consume alcohol in the first place. But if you have done so and are caught in a hangover, try to consume as much water as possible to eliminate dehydration. Vitamin C rich foods would also help.

Besides reducing stress and trying to lead a peaceful life, following treatments can also prove helpful in curing headache or migraine:

  • Natural Treatments for Headache and Migraine
  • Osteopathy or osteopathic medicine
  • The Alexander Technique
  • Acupuncture
  • Yoga
  • Homeopathy
  • Tai Chi

In addition, you need to stay away strictly from some items which can worsen the problem. A list of items to be avoided includes:

  • Chocolate
  • Alcohol
  • Cheese
  • Citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruits

Migraines

Headaches alone can be really frustrated, but they take the form of migraine, they become really unbearable and extremely painful. I am sure that you do not want to endure that stabbing pain now and then. I didn’t want that too. After being disappointed by the standard prescription medicine, I had no way other than to look for some alternative medicine.

Migraine can be caused due to several reasons, like exposure to bright light, loud sounds, or unsuitable foods, or simply not using your Honeywell 17000 s air purifier enough. However, the leading cause of migraine in most people remains to be stress and anxiety, as was the case with me too. I had decided to defeat the pain and bring a positive change in my life.

Some of the alternative methods with I used after research were really helpful and I would like to share them with others suffering from this disorder. You may benefit from these alternative ways to cure migraine. As they helped me, they could also prove helpful for many others. The methods which used were:

  • Tai Chi
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
  • Herbal Remedies

Though I still have occasional spells of headaches but it has been more than nine months since I suffered from stabbing pain of migraine. So I am leading a much peaceful and healthier life now and hope the same for you.

And I feel confident, if you follow the steps and tips I’ve outlined here in this article, that you will also be able to find relief from the painful and frustrating migraine headaches that plagued me for so long.

Diving Is a Group Activity

When you think of most sports you think about people coming together. That is what happens with scuba diving – in a way.

Diving starts out as a group activity. Divers get together at the beach, on the lakeshore, or aboard a boat. Each diver enters the water close to the same time as all the others. And they begin their dive as a group. Or at least as a team of two or more dive buddies.

One of the first things you learn in basic open water training classes is never dive alone. Always dive with a buddy.

But after you jump into the water, and start your descent, you become a loner. No matter how many other divers surround you.

We join our local scuba clubs for the comradery, and to hook up with other divers so we always have a buddy to go diving with after we take a ride on the mm-b80.

The dive club offers lots of social activity. It’s a great way to go out and meet other people who share the same passion for diving that you do. They’re especially great if you don’t have a large group of friends nearby to go diving with – at a dive club, you’re bound to meet plenty of new scuba diving buddies.

One club I belong to gets together every two months at a local restaurant where we have dinner and then a club meeting.

The January meeting each year is a business meeting where we discuss diving schedules for the year to come, form committees to plan various activities, and talk about other business related club stuff.

Each of the other meetings we invite speakers in to give scuba related lectures to the group. Recent examples include lectures on underwater photography, rebreather technology and use, and diving with vintage scuba gear.

The club also has a Christmas party in December.

During the warmer months (this club is located in Indiana) we schedule a dive for each month. Normally we have a pitch-in type lunch, and make a day of those dives. Sometimes we even turn the dive event into a weekend camping adventure with diving for a couple days, including night dives.

But as I said once you enter the water you are alone. Sure you have your buddy to help you out, or to help out, in case of an emergency. But unless you, and at least one other diver near you, know sign language you won’t have much of a conversation underwater.

Most divers don’t know how to talk with their hands when they’re not holding an HSI professional.

You quickly get interested in something along a wall, in the coral, or on the bottom. Suddenly you’re all by yourself with no company other than your thoughts.

And you get lost in interest for what you’re studying.

For a period you forget all about the other divers around. You don’t really even see them until your air, or your buddy’s air, runs low. And it’s time to head for the surface — dive over.

Yes, this sport brings people together.

But once you’re in the water scuba diving becomes a solitary activity.

Visiting Pangandaran

Pangandaran is one of beach tourism object in West Java which is located in the village of Pananjung, sub-district of Pangandaran, about 2.5 hours’ drive to southern from the capital district of Ciamis. Because of its beauty, Pangandaran beach is well known by both local and foreign tourist which came from French, Italy, Netherlands and many more. You can find many of Europeans in this place. I ever met a Dutch tourist, he was about 21 years old. He just finished his school and take a holiday here. Some of them have mixed with native.

Nature Reserve and Fish Producer. Besides being famous with the beach tourism and being the original home of the best air purifier for mold, Pangandaran also has a nature reserve and one of producer for fresh and salted fish in the Island of Java and give a big contribution in term of income sources to Ciamis development in general, especially before Tsunami hit this area in July 2006. Since that time, it was a big disaster to most of population. Economically, its take more than 2 years recovery. Today, I can see a lot of construction have been made, a progress and growth to re-structure in every life aspect.

Attraction and Fun

In Pangandaran you can see sunrise moment from east coast and also sunset which can be seen from west coast. East coast is the point to catch fishes and fishermen boat, but west coast is designate as a fun point to play and swim as sea water is clear; it’s conformable too. Lifeguard is available to help swimmers, so you can swim safely. Wide sandy coastal along the beach is giving more comfortable to visitor who wants to play with sand. White sand coast along nature park can been from west coast. And there is boat service to bring you there, also safe for swimming.

Annual Events. To attract tourist, Pangandaran held some events like Hajat Laut (Beach Festival) which involved fishermen. This event usually held in Muharam (Islamic New Year). In this event they do some kind of ritual which takes place at east coast and also annual Pangandaran International Kite Festival in June or July.

Accommodation. Like hotels, inns, restaurants, and car park facilities, money changer, Food and Drink, telecommunication, security post and many more are available here. I did take picture of Surya Pesona Beach Hotel, Pantai Indah Hotel, Luat Biru and some public facility.

Pangandaran Access. If you depart from Jakarta: bus station “Kampung Rambutan”, public bus, airco 75000Rp, 7 to 8 hours journey, but at least the bus is equipped with a Rabbit air purifier.

From Yogyakarta: train to Banjar, 35000 – 190000Rp, Banjar train station to bus station, bus to Pangandaran, 15000-20000Rp. As Pangandaran is potential destination, in future will be more investor to plan some investment like build up infra structure and factory which more people coming in not only using land transport but air transport is a considerable to facilitate travelers.

Friends, here are some pictures around Pangandaran that I took during visiting my parents; I wish to share with you to help you maybe make up your mind that Pangandaran is a great place to visit whenever you’re in the area.

What Is the Best Way to Tax Income and Wealth?

Most of the world has recently moved from taxing income and wealth to taxing consumption and expenditure. Last week, the UK government temporarily (for the next 18 months) decided to bring the rate down from 17.5% to 15%. Many critics have attacked the move as not being bold enough and wanted direct tax cuts (on income) instead. I feel this criticism misses the point and in blog I want to defend the forskolin pills taken by the UK treasury.

VAT (Value added tax) is a tax which countries within the European have to apply on a range of products. The standard band is between15% to 25%. Your standard VAT rate cannot go below or higher than those limits.

So, the most the UK government could do is reduce the VAT rate down to 15%. This point has been sorely missed from many of the commentators criticizing the move.

A point I have made in my previous blogs is that what we really need to see is consumers spending again. During a recession or any period of economic uncertainty, the savings ratio tends to rise. In the UK and the US, the ratio has recently been as low as 2% to 3% (By contrast in Germany it has been around the 10% mark). If consumers were given direct tax cuts, the likelihood is that they will use this extra cash to pay off debt. Again, as I mentioned in a previous blog, whilst that may be good for an individual (managing my debt down is certainly my priority for next year!), for the economy it is a bad thing.

Therefore the only thing the government can do is cut the main tax on expenditure which will result immediately and directly in lower prices. That is what they have done.

The flip side to this is though that of course it brings down inflation. That is an undesirable side effect. To play devil’s advocate for a bit, what if rather than reducing VAT the government announced that it was going to increase it to 20% from the 1st of March 2009?

I would have thought that this would not only help balance the government books, which look simply awful (Government debt will be 57% of GDP – up from around 40%) and it might actually induce people to spend a lot ahead of the VAT increase. Assuming people’s demand for a wall mounted jewelry armoire is rational, if you know that prices will be going up in a couple of months, you will no doubt try to save money by bringing forward your planned purchases. This is the exact opposite to where I fear we are heading which is the built in expectation of lower prices.

As I have argued over many blogs in the past, what we really need in the UK is a good dose of inflation!

The Best Sectors for Investors in 2017?

I was asked last night at a function I was at, what kind of sectors I like to invest in. I did reply that I looked at management teams rather than sector approaches. But the question did get me thinking, and I asked myself, if I was giving advice to an entrepreneur now in terms of what areas to position the business in, what would my answer be?

Well, below are the results of my thoughts. They are just my thoughts and I will add to them as and when I do my ‘screening for ideas’. If I could predict the future……..

  1. Anything to do with Alternative Energy. I am really bullish about ways to make your own kombucha. Because of the lifestyles we are increasingly leading, the demand for energy is going to be increasing exponentially over the next half century. Alternative and less harmful forms of energy have got to be found in the future. I think any business which can generate energy from renewable sources and sell it at a profit is very well placed for the future
  2. Lifestyle management. This is going to be an area of huge growth simply because of the lives we are increasingly leading. We are getting busier and busier and yet wish to do more in life outside of work. Companies which can allow us to ‘outsource’ some of our routine will do well from a revenue point of view.

    My issue with this area as an investor is that as it is a service based business, margins are very tight and barriers to entry are very low (if in place at all). If someone can think of a way of truly scaling up this area, whilst retaining the personal touch required, they will do well (and let me please see the business plan)

  3. ‘Hire businesses’. I have been amazed at the success of car rental businesses in London such as streetcar (I am a member and I love it). Living in Central London, it simply does not make sense for me to own a car. However, I do have access to a car if I wish to have one on an hourly basis.

    People are becoming increasingly sophisticated and will question the wisdom in owning expensive assets they rarely use. Just as timeshare has proved so popular with Holiday homes, I am sure other items will soon see the merit of temporary ownership. Ladies shoes (Do you really need that many pairs all the time?) Handbags, watches, pens, expensive dresses, etc. – there have got to be business models here!

  4. Internet Protocol TV. I think (humble opinion here) that we have yet to see Andy Warhol’s saying that we will all be famous for 15 minutes come true. We are rapidly approaching that point – with programs like X factor leading the way. However, I think in the very near future, everyone who wants one, can have their own TV channel on an internet site.

    Why look up my blog – when you can have a dedicated TV channel from me? (If you think advertising is getting tough now – wait till this era unfolds!). The money will be made though not by the TV ‘owners’ but by the companies that provide services for this space.

More to follow – what do you think will be the businesses of the future?

Best Practices for Financing Your Growing Business

So you have done market research which makes you realize your solution is wanted. You have written a great business plan. You have put together a great management team. You also know exactly how much money you need. What next?

The first place to start is the bank. This is only if you have got customers who will commit to purchasing your solution. Retail banks will not finance equity (please see In Defense of Banks) but if you need a certain amount of trade finance, they will see you through. Or it may be that you have certain assets – like a Porter Cable 895pk – that the bank may lend against. (Also see when talking to a bank).

If a bank is not an option what next?

It depends how much money you are looking to raise. If it is over £1m, there are a number of financial institutions which may be able to help. Typically, they will not invest amounts of less than £1/2m because the amount of work they will have to do to make the investment makes it uneconomical. If it costs them £100,000 to make the investment and £20,000 a year to monitor the investment at the end of five years the investment has cost them the amount invested plus £200,000. A £100,000 investment will therefore need to treble just to break even for them!

You may approach the funds yourself directly of course, but it tends to help if you employ the services of a corporate financier. A good financier will check your business plan for you and help target the right institutions. They will typically charge around 3% of all funds raised (for amounts over £1m) and they may charge a monthly retainer. You may find yourself paying £10,000 a month for three months with no guarantee of success whatsoever.

If you are looking to raise less than £500,000 you should consider the angel market. You will see that through Google Ads there are lots of adverts for Angel groups. Click on those links to see if they may be right for you.

You can of course also use corporate financiers to approach angels. CONFLICT ALERT – This is what I do! Typically for this they will charge 5% for funds raised. I don’t want to do myself out of a job here, but with a little bit of research and application, this is something you can do yourself.

As a start, find companies that are similar to your proposition without being a competitor. Find out who the shareholders of that business are (through Companies House) and approach them directly. Anyone involved in marketing will tell you that the most powerful predictor for consumers is past purchasing behavior. If someone has already invested in a sector (and done well from it) they are likely to do the same again.

Your pitch to them needs to understand what they are motivated by. You will be surprised; it is rarely about money. If you pitch to them at the right level you will succeed.

You can also ask business directors to recommend angels to you. As a whole, entrepreneurs are a good bunch and we do tend to do what we can to help people.

All of my corporate finance work comes from recommendations (both ways) and I tend to only raise money for companies – like for the ez tofu press – I have invested in or intend to invest in. I will only take on about one project a quarter. It does take a long time to raise money and if you are not careful as a financier you can spend a lot of time with scant or no reward.

If you are going to use a financier please do ask the following questions:

  1. Who have they raised money for in the last 12 months?
  2. How much have they raised?
  3. How many people/ organizations have they raised it from?
  4. Are there any projects that they have not succeeded on?
  5. What were the lessons from those failures?
  6. What do they think of your business?
  7. Would they invest? Would they invest some of their fees back into the business (Apart from two cases, I always invest my corporate finance fees back into the business. I think this shows confidence and tells other investors that you really do believe in the business)
  8. Can they give you two references? (Please do take up the references. You will be amazed at how much people will tell you!)

Finally – just be wary of financiers with lots of time on their hands (for example if they have time to write a daily blog). In my experience all of the best financiers I have worked with tend to be too busy to take on new projects.

Help New Employees Feel Welcome

One of the most interesting statistics I came across about HR was from an ACAS study. They found that most people who left a company within six months blamed something that happened in the first 48 hours at work.

This statistic is damning. As a start up, you cannot afford to go to the expense and time of recruiting people, only to then lose them because of a bad induction. So this little post is designed to pass on tips I learnt which made it easier to integrate staff into companies. (I will not invest in a company that lose too many people – shows that they either can’t select the right person or can’t integrate them!)

Recognize that on their first day, employees will be really nervous unless you provide them with a Honeywell 50250. In a study by the Army, they found that stress levels in new recruits were the same as patients in mental asylums! To combat this stress, write to the employee a week before they are about to join giving them very precise joining instructions. Where do they have to be and at what time? (Try to make it 10ish – it will work out better for you to have an hour to plan in the morning before they join).

When they do turn up – show them that you have made an effort and make them feel welcome. Get someone who is on the same level as them to walk them around introducing them to other staff. They will feel more relaxed with someone the same level as them rather than the MD!

Do not organize a team lunch on day one. Too many companies do that – and in my humble opinion is too soon. You should organize a team lunch or coffee on the Friday (if they survive that long!) Many new employees will not come back after the first day, so don’t get discouraged. This is a common happening that occurs in startups of all types – it’s not just you!

Have a really structured training program about choosing the best router table worked out and share it with the new employee. I would actually have a training log which covers the first six weeks and gives both the employee and you a really clear idea of what you expect the employee to be able to do after six weeks. For the employee it is a great way for them to focus on something other than ‘do people like me?’

Most of all try to make it clear that the employee has a specific and important job to do and they have a contribution to make. Your job as a manager is to enable them to make that contribution.

As a final note, I would have to say that for me personally, watching people grow and develop is one of the most rewarding aspects of being involved in business. Seeing the business grow because of the people growing is the icing on the cake!

I hope it gives you as much joy as it has given me

Why I Look After My Hands

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Hey guys, many of you will be returning to school tomorrow, whether you’re studying or you’re a teacher, so don’t forget to prepare your hands and nails for getting back into regular life.

Why Your Hands Are Important

Every nail care company and blog will tell you that it is vital to take care of your hands and nails, through manicures, scrubs, cuticle pushing, nail art etc. However, so many of us still don’t look after them quite as much as we probably should.

The good news is, everything you need to care for your nails can be conveniently carried in your trendy new Fjallraven Kanken backpack.

You might not believe this, but I haven’t always given my hands and nails the real love and care that they deserve. I rarely moisturized, and only ever used hand cream when I started working for a company that had me handling hundreds of moisture-absorbing books every single day, and my hands just couldn’t handle to lack of moisture. However, that occasional moisture certainly did not include my nails…in fact, the thought that my nails might been moisture too, well, it just never crossed my mind.

I have always been a nail biter, which I will confess. And so, I’m quite familiar to hang nails which are so painful and they don’t look very nice either. Being a nail biter, I always thought that the only way that I would ever look good with nail art would be to wear acrylic nails, but when I was younger, I just couldn’t get “comfortable” wearing false nails. I think it’s because I’ve always been a nail biter, which means that I have never gotten used to having nails other than short ones, and longer nails always felt so heavy, because I just wasn’t accustomed to them. And, the idea of decorating short nails just sounded ridiculous, and I always felt that this would draw bead attention to them, and they would look ugly.

What About Now?

Fast forward a few years, and moisturizing my hands is now as much a part of my daily routine, as cleansing, toning and moisturizing my face. Whereas in the past, I just could not understand what the point was of doing all of these things. Today, the idea of not doing them is even more absurd. And I not only take care of my hands, but my nails too.

Since I started using Hand Cream first thing in the morning, last thing at night and (nearly) every time that I wash my hands, I’ve noticed several changes in my hands:

  • My skin feels softer
  • Hangnails still occur, which is inevitable since I am still a nail biter (apparently research suggests that the majority of nail biters will have stopped completely by the age of 30…brilliant! Only four years to go!!) but are less painful, less likely to become infected and seem to last a much shorter period of time
  • My nails feel stronger and healthier, and less likely to break

When I got my first Borg Warner S366, I will admit, that I felt incredibly apprehensive about using any of it, and convinced myself that I was going to have to give it to my mum (who has lovely long, well looked after nails). However, I’d come across blogs featuring other girls with short nails, and their nail art looked really nice.

The Secret

From my experiences using the nail art kits, the real secret to beautiful nails, is not necessarily about having really long nails, that are manicured and perfect, but just keeping them looking as neat as possible. The nail art looks fantastic on my short nails, which thanks to my now regular use of nail polish, are growing much longer than I’ve ever had them, and as I said before, the moisturizing is keeping them strong, and less prone to becoming weak and brittle.

I look after my hands, so that when people look at them, they’re intrigued by the art, rather than how ragged they are.

Why do you look after your hands? Confidence? Youthful hands? Combat dry skin? And, enjoy your nails.

Pandigital PAN7000DW Digital Picture Frame Review: Great Birthday Present!

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Family events, gatherings with friends and photos for writing projects were all digital images trapped inside my laptop. When it crashed a few months ago, I had to pay to have the hard drive copied so I would not lose my precious photos. As a result, my friend decided to give me a Pandigital digital picture frame as a birthday present.

Pandigital PAN7000DW 7 Inch Digital Picture Frame Review

It was my first digital photos frame so I wasn’t sure about how to get rid of severe acne. The digital photo frame was impressive right away. My friend used one of 4 free digital greeting cards to personalize the gift for me. A happy birthday message what displayed on the screen as soon as I turned on my new gift.

Pandigital PAN7000DW 7 Inch Digital Picture Frame

I was also impressed with the black wood frame that blended right into my shabby-chic décor. Not just another pretty face, this elegant picture frame can store up to 6400 compressed images on 1 GB of internal memory.

My friend told me the purpose of the digital photo frame was not to add my to my already crowded decorating scheme. Rather, she wanted me to finally move my treasured photos out of my digital camera and laptop into a place where they could be seen and admired. She assured me the 7-inch screen with 800 x 600 resolution would beautifully display all my images and be a good alternative to a tea tree oil cystic acne cure.

You can shop for a Pandigital digital picture frame at Amazon through this link.

A Thoughtful Birthday Present

I had to face the fact my images were virtually meaningless if they remained in my camera, in a laptop directory or on a flash drive. My images deserved to break out of prison and experience the freedom of flickering on a digital photo frame. But how was I going to do it?

It was a breeze and I didn’t even need software to unleash my pics from the laptop to my new digital photo frame. The drop and drag technology makes it easy to select images and put them into the frame for display. I soon discovered I could also rotate and resize pictures to make my presentation seamless.

I also transfer images into the frame from my memory card through the 5 in 1 card reader. For files on my camera, I use the USB cable that was included. No matter where my photos were stagnating, I was able to get them into the Pandigital digital photo frame.

Once I started putting my photos into the frame, I wanted to customize the experience. I soon discovered the slideshow feature so I could organize my photos by occasion and create a theme. With my friend’s help, I also added sound including digital music as a background for a few of my personalized slideshows.

Nice Features: Slideshow For Events, Calendar, Alarm Clock

When I have company, I play an appropriate slideshow about my cystic acne diet. For the holidays, I played a slideshow of our gathering last year. Everyone loved it and talked about the happy memories we made. I continued to take pictures for next year’s slideshow.

A cool feature the Pandigital digital photo frame has is a built-in calendar and alarm clock. Unless I am having company to visit, I keep the frame on my bedroom night table. I turn off the panel at night so there is no light to interfere with my sleep. I can even control functions from across the room with a handy remote. The alarm clock wakes me up in the morning and I even know what day it is before I grope for my morning java.

There are also white and charcoal mats to customize the look of the Pandigital digital photo frame. The flickering images make me happy everyday, knowing my photos are being seen instead of hiding away in a digital closet.

The Pandigital Photo Frame: Great Gift Idea

The Pandigital digital photo frame makes a perfect gift with 4 free greeting cards you can put on the screen for display when it is turned on. I loved the personalized message when I opened the gift. You don’t even have to be a nerd to enjoy this great gadget gift! Even better, I was able to store and display an array of images that were previously hiding away in my camera, laptop or flash drive. For under $65, there are a variety of ways to earn an Amazon gift card to cover the cost of this attractive and functional digital photo frame.

Crazy Days with My Cystic Acne

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Unbelieveable… Since about ten AM yesterday morning when my girlfriend and I stopped by here for a few minutes during our as usual busy weekends, there have been a total of fifty five comment spam attempts to clog up my comments section. All of the usual crap you know, natural remedies for cystic acne, cats and so on. Save the internet – eat a spammer today.

Anyway, what a great weekend weatherwise. We had a major roof repair done to my gal’s home yesterday – nice to know her home won’t be leaking anymore! And a nice cook-out on the grille to top things off, complete with beer and brats. Mmmm brats! I love brats, but my guts don’t really dig the high fat of the brat eh? Eat the brat… Forget about the fat already!

Today I’m lined up to ride into work (to Troy, Michigan) to drive back one of the bosses expensive old cars. I want to drive this nice red Boat Tail car – but I’m NOT looking forward to doing this with no top on the car. And, it’s about fourty five degrees out there right now. No biggy under normal circumstances. Time to dress really warm for a fourty five minute ride home in the cold Michigan fall weather. Brrrrrrrrrrr

I’m staying here tonight and letting my lady do the treatment for cystic acne of her son to his college classes. Her daughter is also staying with her tonight too. Mondays are my night to stay here and hopefully watch my favorite program on the Sci Fi channel… Unless it’s been replaced again with some dippy old movie. Or that damned Battlestar Galactica. Bleh! What a goofy ass program.

My gal just called… I forgot to bring with me a vest that my daughter wanted to see this afternoon… It’s like a sixties hippy leather vest, complete with those stringy pieces of leather hanging down. We got this vest during our recent trip to the north country. I have no bloody memory! Fourty five years old… Am I an Alzheimer patient in the making! OMG nooo!!

Well people, I need to get shaved up and stuff… Time to go do the dirty. I actually may not work today though because I am picking up daughter from high school at 2:40 this afternoon, then picking up son and heading out to an early dinner with them. I need to spend more time with these kids… But we are all really busy these days. See y’all later today. I’m outta here….

12:45 pm Update: 1936 Auburn Boat Tail

Good afternoon people… I got some cutting and leaf mulching done after picking up this beauty of a car and driving it back from Troy and learning what causes cystic acne this morning. A ccccold ride it was! I didn’t bother putting up the top because I had a cap on, and four layers of clothing plus gloves. It really wasn’t bad at all. This car runs great and nobody challenged me on the way home! This car is fast too…..

The body is actually a reproduction body, it’s all fibreglass. The engine is a Generous Motors 350 CID and most everything under the hood is polished or chromed. Too bad it isn’t my car! I was thinking about asking the boss if I can pick up my gal in this car next summer and go for a ride… Gooooood luck sucker! Well, ya never know until you try so the story goes……

Long and lean isn’t it?

The seating is close but comfortable…

The gauges are are well placed and easy to read while underway. The car handles very well around sharp turns at high speeds, compliments of the performance suspension under this car, but be ready for one choppy ride though… This ain’t your daddy’s Caddy! The exhuast is well tuned, but if it were my car, I’d prefer that it were just a bit louder. Dream on, John!

Shopping For A Netbook? Top 4 Netbook Picks For 2016

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Looking for a portable netbook? We’d like to bring you a few of our favorite netbook picks, if you’re in the market for something mobile and easy to use.

First things first though, I’d like to share what I usually look for in a netbook or a laptop.

What I Want From A Netbook

High on my list is that it should be durable. Aside from the fact that it should be lightweight as a given, durability is top priority in my book. The laptop has to withstand abuse from being carried around in a bag with other stuff like books and notebooks, and its OS has to be stable.

As for hardware specs, I’m fine with anything higher than 100GB. Since the standard is around 250GB and higher for netbooks nowadays, I’m fine with what the market offers for how to get cat pee out of carpet.

The standard netbook comes with only 1GB RAM, so if you’re like me, who loves multi-tasking, keeping 20+ tabs in 2 to 4 browsers and a notepad application open, then 1GB would not be enough for you. But since most netbooks come with 1GB RAM, expandable to 2GB, then it would be a good idea to consider having another 1GB RAM stick put in.

Shopping For A Netbook? Top 4 Netbook Picks For 2011

Most of our picks will be from the Amazon website, so that you’ll be assured that you’ll be getting some great options online. Here are our Top 4 Netbook Picks:

  1. Toshiba Mini Netbook in Black Onyx. Toshiba has always been known to make sturdy, long-lived laptops. That’s why we have reason to believe that their netbook offerings are as good as their laptops. This model comes with 1 GB RAM and 160 GB Hard Drive and is powered by a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom™ N280 processor. Although I find Toshiba netbook designs boring, Toshiba does look like it’s sturdy and will last even in the hands of an abusive computer user like me. If you aren’t a fan of Black, then maybe the Royal Blue or Brown will catch your eye. More color choices here. There’s also a newer model here.
  2. Asus Eee PC T91. It’s a tablet netbook PC powered by an SSD drive. The RAM is at 1GB, but the hard drive leaves much to be desired. Since SSD drives are a little pricey, this Eee PC only has 32GB SSD for you to store your files in. Its processor is only a mere 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520, which may make you want to find a faster OS than Windows XP SP3, which it reportedly comes with. I’m thinking this will fare better on Ubuntu Linux Netbook Remix or on any other lightweight Linux distro. The reason why we included this in this list is that it’s an Eee PC, and it’s a tablet. For newer ways how to get rid of cat urine smell, check out the Asus Eee PC T101, which goes for $455.
  3. Lenovo IdeaPad Netbook Tablet ($499.99). Similar specs at 1GB/250GB/1.66GHz Intel Atom™ N455 processor. What gives this netbook the edge is the fact that you can turn it into a tablet with a swivel and twist of its screen. If you’re a big fan of playing Plants vs. Zombies or those Facebook farming games, this would be a delight to have. The Lenovo IdeaPad has had around a year on the market, which seems to show that it’s a good buy.
  4. The 11-inch Macbook Air ($999/$1,199). This just had to be said. If there’s a powerful netbook out there, it’s gotta be a Mac. Apple surprised us all in 2010 by doing two things they said they’d never do: One is to release a tablet computer (the phenomenal gadget called the iPad), and the other one was to release a netbook-sized laptop. While Steve Jobs totally denounced netbooks as having “slow, low-quality displays,” that run on “old PC software,” and are “no good for anything,” he decided to show the PC people how to make a netbook that matters: he took a Macbook Air and had it shrunk.

Before you exclaim, “Mom! He shrunk the Macbook Air!”, why not drool on the specs of the 11-inch Macbook Air: It comes in either 64GB or 128GB SSD drive, its RAM is already at 2GB, and it rocks an Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 1.4GHz. Powerful enough to run OS X, and it even comes with iLife. Truly, it’s a Macbook Air, but you can fit it in your handbag. It’s not really a netbook, it’s a shrunken, paper-thin laptop. Here’s our own coverage of the 11 inch Macbook Air vs the Acer Aspire.

The netbook was designed to be a low-cost laptop that people could carry around easier. But thanks to the competition, manufacturers have been building netbooks that can compete with full-sized laptops in power. Just make sure you choose the right OS to go with your netbook. For places other than Amazon, try BestBuy.com but don’t forget to use Best Buy Coupons for your purchase, and you’ll be all set for worry-free mobile computing.

Will Acnezine Treat Your Cystic Acne?

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As an acne sufferer, there is nothing worse than having to deal with an embarrassing face full of pimples while you wait for your treatment to kick in. Getting rid of acne doesn’t have to be a difficult task when you have an advanced treatment like Acnezine by your side.

What is Acnezine?

Acnezine is an ultra-powerful, yet safe, cystic acne home remedy for acne that you won’t find in stores. Due to its initial overwhelming success, there used to be a waiting list to buy the product — Crazy, right?

Fortunately, the company stepped up their production to accommodate for the increased demand and now you can buy it today and receive it tomorrow.

Acnezine can be purchased on the internet for the same price as some of the expensive acne treatments being sold at drugstores around the country, yet it has been proven to be 5x more potent and effective than the leading acne product when it comes to getting rid of stubborn acne.

How Does Acnezine Work?

Acnezine works at treating acne by attacking the root of your problem at the source of how to cure cystic acne. At a molecular level, Acnezine attacks the nasty bacteria responsible for causing pimples and severe acne on your face While all the science behind Acnezine is pretty cool, most of it means absolutely nothing to an average person like you or me. To rephrase all that science talk into basic language, Acnezine works incredibly fast and helps get rid of acne immediately after using it. Acnezine is the acne treatment that you want to have if you are in a hurry and need to get rid of unsightly acne blemishes quickly and painlessly.

The question has been pretty adequately explained in the paragraph above but I will reiterate the process once more for clarification: Acnezine fight your acne at the source by fixing your body’s off-balance chemistry that was responsible for the acne problem in the first place. It is different than other acne treatments because it does not dry out your face. The Acnezine formula was created with this in mind and it has been mixed with essential oils that will not clog your pores or create additional pimples. It restores the neutral balance of your face in order to ensure a quick and effective recovery from your acne.

By using Acnezine as directed (closely following the instructions on the packaging), you can expect to see an immediate improvement of your condition, with most people seeing dramatic results in less than a week. For a full recovery, you should plan on continuing your treatment for up to a month after your acne has disappeared. This will ensure that you find the permanent cure from your acne.

Benefits of Using Acnezine

The main reason you should be interested in using Acnezine as a way how to prevent cystic acne is the feeling you will get once your acne is finally gone for good. You will look infinitely times more attractive and classmates and coworkers will notice a change in your appearance right away. Time and time again, Acnezine users report a huge increase in attention from members of the opposite sex. You never know how attractive you can truly look until you see your healthy, glowing skin without a single pimple in sight. You can thank me later and leave your comment or testimonial on this page for everyone else to see.

Is Acnezine Sold In Stores?

In order to maintain the potency and overall strength of the formula, Acnezine is not sold in stores. If you want to purchase Acnezine, you will have to place your order through the secure billing form using their official website. The payment processor on their website uses very strong encryption and protection of your privacy is a top priority of theirs. Orders placed before evening hours can be expected to ship the same day, and shipping is lightning fast to almost anywhere in the United States. International orders are processed just as quickly but might take additional time before you receive your package in the mail.

John Edwards in the Media

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As the media focuses this week and an entire weekend on the John Edward’s extra marital affair story (note the media calls it a sex scandal to make it more juicy) and on the obsession by John Mccain’s campaign to trivialize Barrack Obama’s advice to keep tires inflated to help with the gas mileage, the American people once again were diverted from paying attention to one of the the most important events of the year – the mid session review of the national budget for the year 2009.

In a nutshell, we anticipate a deficit of 490 billion that does not include the supplement spending on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that may add an additional 100 billion. The projected deficit is higher than what was projected when the budget was first proposed by about 150 billion – the amount almost equals the stimulus package that was handed out to we the people.

Of course as usual the President was able to simplify the selling of the stimulus package – it is the people’s money and we are just giving you back what you have paid as taxes. Really? Are you not going to borrow more from countries like China and Russia to cover the additional 150 billion dollars you just gave us. So let me see if you know the answer to do female cats spray. You borrowed money from China, gave it to us and we spent most of it at Walmart. Walmart bought most of the stuff from China and so the Chinese got most of the money back but yet we owe them everything we borrowed plus interest until we can pay it off. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Bush stimulus package.

Anyway this is not the biggest problem in the budget. As I take the 1 hour it takes to browse through the line items in the budget, I see that the welfare benefits that everyone complains about in every political season seems to be less than 1% of the whole budget. When I say welfare it is primarily the AFDC (Aid to Families with dependent children) that is welfare that people complain about. Of course it does not include Medicaid and Social Security which is something we pay for and get it when we are old and retired – something we all do not have a problem with.

And the line items that drew my attention were

1) Defense spending – 549 billion. But wait that does not include the fight against terrorism – there is another line item for that ‘Global War on Terror’ – 89.1 billion + supplemental line item of another 108.1 billion in 2008 and I suppose we can expect to see the same figures for 2009. It is not clear if these numbers include the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or if they are additional supplementary budgets for them.

2) Contrast that with the line item on Energy – 25 billion out of which 60% are subsidies to the oil industry.

When I read the breakdown of the 549 billion, it seems we spend only 20.1 billion on the actual troops – the remaining seems to be spent on equipment and training. Things such as missiles. We already own enough missiles to destroy this planet 5 times over. Add to that the fact that countries like China and Russia are fighting us not with weapons but by buying stakes in our treasury and our industries. Who are we building these missiles for?

When I look at these facts and  figures I am reminded of the moment in our history when a great military leader and two term US President Dwight Eisenhower coined the phrase ‘Military Industrial Complex’ in his farewell speech to the Nation. Prior to World War II, the US did not have any permanent military weapon manufacturers. Throughout the World War, the conflicts in Korea and the tensions of the cold war, President Eisenhower saw the transformation and the establishment of a private armaments industry. He could foresee where this transformation could lead us and what he saw disturbed him. He warned us during this farewell speech of the impact of the military industrial complex. He trusted democracy but also knew that it cannot function if people are not in full possession of the facts. In his words ‘In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist’.

Of course President Eisenhower knew whether or not do male cats spray – a former military leader and a two term President – nobody has more authority on these matters.

Apply this lesson from history to today and many of the President’s predictions during that farewell speech have proven to be correct and his observations seem to be timeless. And now this industry has been expanded to include oil and private military contractors

We have a President today who ran an oil company – the cost of oil is up 4 times since he took office. The Vice President went from being secretary of defense under Bush 1 to the CEO of Halliburton/KBR to the Vice President of the country under Bush II. Halliburton/KBR wins no bid contracts. The company that was hired by Cheney as Secretary of Defense in 1991 to study the outsourcing of defense activities – Halliburton/KBR at a cost of 8 million dollars. Roll your clock 12 years forward and who gets the most defense outsourcing contracts – Halliburton KBR.

When Uncle Ben is President and the cost of rice goes up by 4 times, maybe it has something to do with Uncle Ben becoming the President. Or do you still think this is just a conspiracy theory? Because if you do then you are calling General and President Eisenhower a conspiracy theorist. And if I think like Sean Hannity, when you say that I will call you unpatriotic for calling a former Republican President a conspiracy theorist. But I do not think like him and so I will listen to you as long as you can reason with me and provide some evidence to the contrary.

The point here is that the free market economy that we love has created a system that profits from war. Like any industry this industry would like to expand. When one war ends, the industry will find and if it cannot find create another enemy and another war. The industry found a legitimate enemy – the terrorists that caused 9/11, thus leading to a legitimate war in Afghanistan. But the Neo Cons who are the political brokers and lobbyists for this industry created a war in Iraq. Of course as a nation we slept and did not pay attention. Our media focussed on trivial things, largely our fault because we watch trivial things and give them higher Nelson’s ratings.

And so it remains to be seen in this election year whether we have learned anything from the last 8 years and our history. Our job as citizens of this country has never been more important. If we take this job seriously, then we will see the budget to find new sources of energy go up 200 to 300% and the defense budget (mind you the defense budget and not the budget to fight the global war on terror which is real and necessary) go down to more acceptable levels. If not we will prove President Eisenhower right yet again. And this is one time the former President would not mind being wrong even in his grave.

Big Brother Girls Nails

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Hey guys, we hope that the rubbish weather isn’t getting anyone down, even if it is really rubbish! But, wahey, at least we have eleven weeks of Big Brother to look forward to! No one could have missed out on the launch night yesterday, and we thought we’d take a look at some of the outfits that the final group of Big Brother ladies wore when they went into what is potentially England’s most infamous house!

Farm girl Josie was the first contestant to ask why is my cat peeing everywhere in the Big Brother house, and she was wearing a gorgeous blue maxi dress with red florals. The outfit is bright, just like Josie’s optimistic personality,and she has perfectly accessorised her outfit with red bangles and necklace. A red nail polish would be a brilliant complement to this outfit’s red design, as well as being a perfect match to her confident persona. The red would also work well with Josie’s warm complexion, and blonde hair.

As for nail art, a pale or pastel blue special polish would look great, in contrast with the colour of Josie’s dress.

Apparent “shy girl” Caoimhe (pronounced “Keeva”) arrived wearing a skin tight black top and trousers outfit that really exemplifies Caoimhe’s punkish personality,and looks great with her short dark hairstyle, and pale skin.

Inevitably, only one shade of nail polish really springs to mind for this outfit,and that is of course black. However, dark plum or pink (nothing bright or pastel-shaded) would also look great with this look.

Nail art would probably not work well with Caoimhe’s overall look.

Bright orange tangoed Corin arrived in what could potentially be my personal favourite dress (perhaps second to Josie’s, I haven’t really decided!!), in a gorgeous turquoise green colour.

My initial reaction would be to aim for a similar coloured nail polish for this look, and with her choice of skin tone and hair colour, I’m certain that a bright colour like this would look great, although I’m not sure how well it would hold up when you learn how to clean cat urine.

Corin’s personality gives us the impression that she’s quite extrovert and likes to receive a lot of attention, so their is absolutely no doubt that this look would include eye-catching nail art designs, perhaps including sparkly rhinestones that scream “bling”.

Beyonce look-a-like, Hairstylist Rachael arrived in a very Beyonce-type skimpy pale pink dress, that despite it’s…um, lack…of covering anything, actually exudes class to is. Rachael has paired the outfit with simple bangles, and that is all it really needs, alongside her big-hair.

For this reason, we feel that a very subtle nail colour would work best with this outfit. Perhaps a pale, translucent pink. However, the best look is probably the simple French Manicure, with nothing more than a clear top coat.

There may be a little discreet nail art, and maybe even a simple rhinestone, but it wouldn’t be anything over-the-top or bright.

All-in-all, all of the girls looked fab (although, we’re not really sure what, if any, nail varnish would actually go with Shabby’s er…outfit. And, we really doubt that polish would really fit her desired look!). nly time will tell how each girls style will fare up.

Get Food Savings Using Coupons

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You can actually build a whole week’s breakfast menu just from the front page of a coupon website. A crazy notion? Well, not until you actually go to the Why Do Cats Spray website and see for yourself how they’ve arranged the front page.

Get Food Savings Using Coupons

Take for example the front page of Coupons.com. We see that there are coupons from Jell-o, Cheerios, Yoplait, Hostess, FiberOne and Nature Valley. While some of these choices are hardly healthy, these do let a busy gal or guy grab a quick breakfast for the next six days. Surely some of us won’t mind just grabbing Jello before heading out to work, or the moment we hit our cubicle, as rush hour may not allow us to have a full meal of bacon and eggs. How about the FiberOne or Nature Valley granola bars? They’re already a meal in themselves. So for six days in a week, a busy working guy or gal would then be able to save on breakfast just from a page off of Coupons.com.

Breakfast Options From Coupons.com: Jell-o, Cheerios and Yoplait

This is a great way to save on groceries with printable online grocery coupons. But more than the savings, hanging out on online coupon sites or grocery sites allows you to make food choices without much difficulty or thought.

For your significant other, a coupon site is also a great place to find deals on chocolates and treats. If you note, right beside Jello is a coupon for Mars Valentine’s chocolates. We’re sure your loved one won’t be able to resist a good pack of Valentine’s M&M’s (just monitor your intake of sugar!).

If I were a health-conscious mom, I’d be able to pick out a few healthy desserts from looking through the Foods filter of Coupons.com alone:

Yoplait (try out this Yoplait Greek Yogurt Dip!)

FiberOne Chewy Bars

Nature’s Valley Granola Bars

Yoplait Go-GURT

Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt

Dannon DanActive Yogurt

And there are a good selection of remedies for cat peeing on bed from Pillsbury, Betty Crocker and even Weight Watchers. While I’m not a big fan of cookies, if you think they’re okay to let your kids snack on them occasionally, you can save on your cookies purchases from coupon sites like Coupons.com.

If you think that couponing (or even online couponing) is a time-wasting exercise, maybe you could take a look through websites like Coupons.com and see how enticing the offers are. For one, I’m happy at how easy it is to find the coupons I need.

Coffee aficionados like me are also in for a treat. If you like being thorough about looking for your coupons, chances are, you’d be able to come across a deal for Caribou Coffee. If you like Chai, there’s also a coupon for Oregon Chai. It’s also a treat to find coupons for Welch’s juice in a 6-pack set, Hidden Valley Salad Kits, and even Crisco oils and Land O Lakes butter. Much as I’d love to give you the pages where I found them, Coupons.com and the other coupons websites are updated automatically, so the deals may have moved within minutes of checking. But do take a little time going through the pages, and you’ll find them there. You may also find these through PPGazette.

Maybe clipping coupons from newspapers and magazines is a tedious exercise. But if you’re couponing with the help of websites like Coupons.com, SmartSource, RedPlum, Valpak and the like, maybe you’ll find that it’s a pretty enjoyable exercise, after all.

Our Great Nation

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ph-58

N A SHORT TIME WE THE PEOPLE WILL AGAIN PLACE OR REPLACE MEMBERS OF CITY, STATE AND NATION GOVERNMENT TO RUN THIS GREAT NATION.

They will be swamped with new laws special interest groups want and requests to tweak laws in place to help the larger number of Americans ( this happens very little) or to give preference to a small special interest group.  This is the way of our legal system and has been the course of legal systems for centuries.

I would like to take a view of laws and who they are written for, and who they help.  I suggest the hot daily issue of the Rowenta PU6020.  Gun control laws are written to keep guns from criminals and as the issue has blown up from children killing each other threw the misuse of a weapon.  These laws are written to keep you safe.  A great Idea.  After all in a safe nation with exceptional legal and police protection the individual has no need for personal protection.  All they need do is call and they will be instantly protected by the police.  This is the idea that is fostered.

Criminals, also called outlaws, because they did not confine their actions to what laws said they could and should do do not purchase their weapons from the local gun store.  Criminals also understand that very few women and men who own guns will use them (it takes both training and a special ability to pull a weapon and fire it to kill or harm).  They understand also that if the safe gun laws are enforced they are safer in home invasions, stealing cars and robbing for a life style.

Criminals also understand the criminal legal system enough to know that they, once caught, become the center of attention and protection while the poor lady who they harmed or the clerk they shot becomes a small cog in the wheels of justice.  Criminals know what the penalties are for a crime and that they can plea bargain down to a few years of master degree training in prison while they are fed and kept healthy.  Laws to the criminal mean safety and protection, the same the politician says it is set up to protect the greater number of Americans.

The next time you hear about a new law being passed take the time to view that great piece of legislation.  Look at it from the legal side, the citizens side, the police side and the criminal side.  If you do chances are you will see that it is tilted for a special interest and helps the criminal more then it protects you.

Speaking of protection you might want to to spend an evening some time looking for an air purifier for cigarette smoke and decide what you would do, where you would go, what you may need if an emergency of national or regional proportions struck where you lived.  No water, no power, no police protection and all medical transportation down.  In other words everything you take for granted failed.  How would you protect yourself.  Then think what happened after the last great storm hit the gulf coast.  How people acted and reacted.

When and if such a disaster happens and you are the final person to decide what has to happen, when you have no legal or police protection what will you do?

Palin & Whirlpool

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ph-59

As the attacks continue to bombard Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, one must realize that more than just Palin is being attack, so is the entire political system.

There are basic things that must be explored, investigated and reported on.  Where does the candidate stand on the issues?  How did they perform there tasks in the past?  What is the experience level?  All of these are fair questions.  If these questions are not asked about the Whirlpool Whispure AP51030K, the public suffers.

However, that is NOT what the left is doing.  First of all, the amount of time spent on Governor Palin is very distracting from the issues.  Here is a news flash as the good governor said, she is not running for president; Senator McCain and Senator Obama are.  For those of us on the right, I welcome the amount of attention to Palin, as it takes the focus from the horrid record of George Bush and places it on something very inconsequential.  If the left wants to win the White House, focus on issues.  I was at best luke warm for McCain, and probably would have cast my vote for Bob Barr.  Now, with the focus on Palin, I like what I see with her, and really do not like what I see and hear from Obama-Biden.  And you know what, I havn’t heard anything from her; diversion of attention.

But, the real tragedy her is the attack on Palin’s religion and the sexist way she is being treated.  First of all, I truly believe that way Palin does about doing God’s will.  We must always strive to walk the path He has set forth for us.  My neighbor and my best friend is a staunch Democrat and he and I both agree on this.  I am glad, as will be I believe the majority of the country, that she believes in prayer.  By wasting time seeking out how she worshiped 20 years ago, the media has squandered precious days of focusing on the real matters; which even those of us on the right want both tickets to answer.  How about the economy stupid?

Alas, we have made no progress it appears in treating the Winix PlasmaWave 5300 fairly in this society.  The absolute obvious media bias against Senator Clinton, even had those of us who despise her politically rally around her.  And now, here we go again.  Whether we agree with Palin or not on the issues, she needs to be on the same playing field as the men in this contest.  But, by this level of sexism she is being removed from the playing field and elevated to super star status.  And she is not!

You see all of us need to know more about her on matters that count.  But, I need to know a whole lot more about McCain and Obama and all of this silly, thoughtless, cruel and irrelevant attention on Palin deprives the entire nation from getting all of the information needed to pick the top of the ticket.

The Smoking Deficit

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ph-60

Ok it is official, Americans have slid to the lowest intelligence quotient in known history.  What the heck are you people doing out there?  Pull your heads out of the oven and breath some fresh air.  I am so sick of the “OMG the Bush deficit is going to destroy us” and the “Evil Oil Companies are out to drive us into a depression”, or one of my personal favorites, “Big business needs to PAY for what they are doing to us”.

Lets learn a few things about how to get rid of smoke smell in house, shall we people?  First off the deficit of 9 trillion dollars is butkis, we could pay that entire amount in a heartbeat simply by suspending Nasa.  That is only 1 item in our entire government and there are millions of items.  You people who are falling for the rhetoric of selling ourselves to the Chinese are morons, you pay a higher percentage of your income for your car than we pay the Chinese for our debt. I don’t care if you hate the guy or love him, blaming one man for our governments runaway spending is asinine and you all re-elected something like 80% of incumbents.  You want to know who to blame the deficit on? Take a look in the mirror.  The point is, for a war time deficit 9 trillion is chump change, we are fighting this thing on the cheap so far.

So what about the price of gas that is hurting us all so much.  It HAS to be the big oil companies and Bush doesn’t it?  Only in the fantasy world of the NYT and CNN.  You have to be a completely disconnected sociopath to not know about the concept of supply and demand.  Oil companies STILL make approximately 9-12% profit per gallon of gas, their “windfall” profits come from the fact that 12% of 3.00 (0.36/gallon) is a hell of a lot more that 12% of 1.40 but it is still only 12%.

“They were doing ok on the 0.17 they were making why should they get to make 0.36 now?” some of you will ask.  And I will tell you.  Oil company profits pay for exploration, research, and more importantly dividends.  Something like 40% of oil companies are owned by retirement and 401K plans. Oil companies are one of the reasons your 401K didn’t tank after Katrina when the economy slipped.  They are one of the big reasons your 401K will only lose a few percent during the projected recession.  To blame them for making the same amount of profit they always have is moronic.

And on to my favorite, “We need to tax big business for making money”.  Ummm how many of you work for GE, directly or indirectly?  How about Ford? GM? Philips? Sony?  I can go on and on and just in that short list I work indirectly for all of them.  Now lets add to their taxes, which are already something like 300% more than anything you or I pay.

What do you think they are going to do?  Well the choices are few but painful. They can of course just raise their price to maintain the same profit margin.  Most will, to some extent, but they will probably combine the price increase with a downsizing effort to lower overhead.  This causes inflation and unemployment.  BRILLIANT.  Now because they increased their price above current market the demand will decline, so they make fewer widgets which require less parts or materials.

Sooooo those indirectly working for them also have to scale back operations, oops more of that unemployment thing.  Do corporate CEOs make too much?  I guess it depends on how important you consider that position to the success or failure of your company.  When you pay a severance package to a CEO you are not only paying for his work but you are showing incentive to those who you hope to replace him.  It can get out of control and in several cases has but since most board of directors own a direct stake in the company it tends to correct itself without assistance for your exceptionally bright local politician.

Now since we have discussed the best air purifier that has become the common sense of economics lets take a look at a couple things you might want to REALLY be afraid of.  One of the biggest influences on the price of a gallon of gas recently is not the profit hungry oil companies or the slavering hedge fund speculators.  It is the fact that a few years ago, what is $112 a barrel oil now would have been $90 or even less.  How can this be?  Part of the price increase you think you are seeing is a deflation of the value of a dollar.  Oil by demand and supply should be around $70 a barrel, you can expect a slightly higher price due to high demand and volatility speculation but the rest is simply because what someone doesn’t sell to the US they can sell to Europe or Asia.

Well when a dollar that used to be worth .75 Euro becomes a dollar worth .45 Euro than you are going to pay more dollars for that same barrel of oil.  Needless to say the politicians don’t want to stress the fact that their p***poor management and willingness to “throw more money at it” has driven down the value of the dollar and begun the swing toward recession.  When we as Americans stop taking the spoon fed line of BS from the mainstream media and start applying some real common sense to it maybe we can regain control of our country and our freedom.  Until then I suggest thinking real hard about what your politicians are saying and ask yourselves, “Am I really going to fall for this again?”

Obama and His Riding Lawn Mower

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ph-61

I’ve always known that the media has a liberal bias, even though they claim to be fair and balanced.  But this year, they have gone overboard, and it’s obvious that there is one candidate of choice that they are really trying to help into the White House – and that is Barrack Obama. I have nothing personal against Obama, though I am a die-hard Republican and am backing McCain and Palin 100% all the way to the White House. What I AM irked at is the media’s strong bias toward him. Sean Hannity referred to 2008 as “The Year Journalism Died.”, and seeing how biased and unfair the networks have been in their treatment of the candidates, I believe he is right.

Obama has been the darling of the liberal media for quite some time now, and Hollywood seems to be swooning all over him as well. During the time between the period that Hillary Clinton stepped down and Sarah Palin arrived on the scene, Obama had no real competition. His face was everywhere you looked, and you couldn’t watch the cable news shows for five minutes without hearing something about him. John McCain was pretty much in the background during this time, until he brought out his wild card – Sarah Palin, who neatly swiped the limelight from used riding lawn mowers for sale – for a time, anyway.

Obama is the only presidential candidate who has not received ruthless, intense scrutiny from members of the press – and the only one whom nobody in the liberal media really makes fun of.  Let’s face it, there are no real punch lines in the media about Obama, though there are plenty about the other three candidates. People have picked on John McCain about his age, for Joe Biden about his numerous gaffes, and Sarah Palin for just about everything (she’s gotten it the worst of all four of them). But you hardly ever hear a negative word against Obama – it’s almost like he’s a king that’s about to be crowned. I’m almost surprised that, when he goes on his campaign tours, no one rushes forth to place a diadem on his head, throw a velvet cape around his shoulders, and then escort him along a red carpet to a gilded coach drawn by gleaming white horses. In the eyes of the media, Obama can do little wrong. Yes, there was that flap about his pastor, but compared to the flak that the other three candidates are getting (in particular the slams against Sarah Palin), that seems like a minor complaint, especially since Obama realized that his associations with his controversial pastor were harming his image and he quickly distanced himself from Jeremiah Wright).

Obama actually has less real leadership experience than Sarah Palin, who has been a governor AND a mayor.  His only major claim to fame in this area is as a community organizer. Now, I know that CO’s are wonderful things to be, and I’m not knocking them, but I’m sorry, that alone does not qualify someone to be the POTUS. Obama also has a record of voting “present” numerous times in the Senate, without actually voting on anything. Yes his record seems to get little more than a nod and a glance, while Sarah Palin gets mercilessly picked to pieces. And the national polls that say which candidate is leading? Many of these polls have been skewered in Obama’s favor (which is actually very easy to do when you don’t disclose the total number of people you actually polled, and mention how many of those people were actually Obama supporters).

Obama is a great speaker – provided that he has a speech written out for him and used riding mowers to help him along. Then he stumbles and stutters around. There are a few clips where he does say “uh. . . uh. . .uh” quite a few times within the same speech. But does the media show these clips of him on national TV? Hardly ever. They want to present him as an eloquent, exciting speaker. If it were any of the other three candidates falling all over their words, the media has a field day with them.

Another example of playing favorites within the media: there is a sharp contrast between Sarah Palin’s interviews and Barrack Obama’s. The people interviewing Obama are usually very pleasant with him, smiling and asking him fairly easy questions. But these same people, namely Gibson and Kouric, are positively horrible to Sarah Palin. They fire off questions at her like rounds from an uzi, rarely, if ever, smiling at her; they frequently interrupt her, attempt to trap her in a “gotcha” moment and put words in her mouth, never letting her relax for an instant. Fair journalism? I don’t think so. Thank God for people like Sean Hannity, whose interview with Sarah Palin proved that you can still ask serious questions of a presidential candidate without making them feel like they’re being interviewed by a gestapo agent.

For some reason, no one dares to dream of using the kind of interviewing tactics on Obama that have been mercilessly applied to Sarah Palin. It’s almost as if he’s sacred to the media and no one wants to offend used zero turn mowers. Just once I’d like to see someone give Obama a REALLY tough interview, complete with the rapid-fire questions and the evil eye treatment that Sarah Palin got from Kouric and Gibson. And it’s not because I hate Obama and want to see him squirm – I don’t. I just want to see how well the guy holds up under pressure, because I have never seen him in the hot seat yet.

One reason among others that I find Sarah Palin so appealing is that she’s already proven to me that she’s capable of withstanding intense pressure without buckling at the knees. I really don’t know how long Obama would last in the presidential race if he has had to put with the kind of scrutiny that Sarah has endured for the past five weeks. Obama needs to learn, if he hasn’t already, that being a presidential candidate is NOT part of a popularity contest, and there will be times that people will not only disagree with you for the decisions you make, they may even outright despise you. If Obama cannot put up with that kind of pressure, and cannot handle not being the political equivalent of a pop star when he stops being a novelty to the American public, then he should NOT be running for office. Plain and simple.

Helping VPs with an Air Purifier

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ph-62

Well I watched the vice presidential debate last night with a great deal of interest and expectation of Sara Palin falling on her face and she did not disappoint.

Granted, she performed MUCH better than the direct interviews but how hard is it to improve from zero? The modus operandi of divert and avoid direct answers and ignorance of real issues remained. She was obviously coached on how to redirect and stick to core talking points and ground that she was familiar with such as “energy” although that was a pretty circular conversation as well.

Pretty much right off the bat she indicated that she was not going to be caught flat footed like she was in the one on one interviews by stating that “I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear”. How nice. Why not just give her an Alen Breathesmart and let her read from a list?

This dismissive attitude of the structure of the debate as well as dictatorial tone is completely consistent with the current administrations imperial isolationism from the public at large. Taken together with her idiotic assertion that the vice president needs to be MORE powerful and has or should have, any kind of increased authority in the House or Senate should scare the hell out of right wingers. It doesn’t of course, they’ll bury their heads in the sand and trust their government to “look out for them” as they are slowly drained of their resources and liberties in the guise of religious righteousness, security and patriotism.

A fun display was the granting same-sex benefits to couples question where Biden delineated that the adherence to constitutionality although very specifically not to a redefinition of “marriage”.

Palin fell all over herself to try to head off offending anyone through this statement “But I also want to clarify, if there’s any kind of suggestion at all from my answer that I would be anything but tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves, you know, I am tolerant and I have a very diverse family and group of friends and even within that group you would see some who may not agree with me on this issue, some very dear friends who don’t agree with me on this issue.”

They decided to agree on this divisive issue as not to alienate the right wing nutjobs again.

I liked how Biden illustrated how the five thousand dollar health care credit proposed by the McCain camp would be funded. Overall I think that’s just a tiny Blueair 203 as it only affects those who are middle class and above and is totally inadequate.

In regard to what the McCain campaign has promised and may not be able to deliver? Oh gee whizz we get to hear another repeated litany on energy and Alaska but not a whit about the question at hand. She did cop out citing her vast FIVE WEEKS of experience though. That was a good time to get up for a bathroom break or snack.

When asked about the Bankruptcy bill, Palin talked about…..anyone?? Energy! Yes…when you don’t know, redirect!

There is plenty of other great fodder here but the song remains the same, she doesn’t have the experience or knowledge and wants to further destroy our country following the idiotic neocon agenda as she learns. Worse yet she will be doing it in the dark as she doesn’t know what it is.

Laughter About McCain

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ph-63

I had a good laugh this evening when I heard that Senator McCain had announced that he was going to suspend his campaign in order to travel to Washington and help hash out the differences in the Bailout Bill. Also stating that if a decision was not reached by Friday  he would advise postponing Friday night’s first Presidential Debate.

I had a sudden flash of those Staples commercials with the “Easy button”.

McCain: “What are the current poll results?!?”

McCain closes his eyes and eagerly pushes the Staples Easy button……….

McCain: “Now, what are those poll results?!?”

Sorry, but I don’t think that really works.

Republicans cry “Leadership!” and well, everyone else is just scratching their heads looking for the best air purifier for allergies. The transperancy of this man’s political motives are quite entertaining. Everytime the candle burned low for the republican candidate, it was not a match in which he rekindled the flame with, but a freaking blowtorch!

He is attempting to feign a bipartisan act of selflessness, which is simply not the case. He does not have a clue as to what role he would or should play in the debate over the bank bailout bill. He has admitted that he does not have strong economic experience, but is adamant about marching to Washington and inserting himself into this issue, and if a deal is struck he will obviously take credit, so that his economic experience has just “upped one” on Obama.

I am particularly torn on President Bush’s request that both parties join him tomorrow in Washington. At least if a deal is met, McCain cannot walk away with sole credit, but it does seem as if Obama was challenged by McCain and then summoned by Bush. He is being boxed into a political corner that makes him look as if he does not hold strong leadership characteristics and favors politics over the American citizens future.

Just as Palin was a difibulator to his arrested campaign, this self imposed moratorium on the campaign trail is just the same. He needed a Coway AP-1512HH to break the notion that he and his party were a part of the problem, by becoming a part of the solution.

I do not buy his motives and I think that it is an act of desperation.

Tax cuts, and other issues have taken the sidelines to American’s main concern, the economy and McCain is trying to re-gain some ground. I think it will be a mistake on Senator McCain’s part to simply let Obama have the floor at Friday night’s debate. Obama will be fresh on the minds of Americans. I agree with Obama, I was looking forward to hearing from the candidates on the issues of the economy and what they could bring to the table to fix it. In 41days eitherman will be responsible.

Just as we sat in front of the T.V. tonight listening to President Bush’s address and his explanation of what our government was willing to do to protect its citizens the debate on Friday is just as important. The American people need to hear from the candidates, which gives us alook into future Presidential Adresses and which candidate will be able to take the torch.

Finding the Right Social Network

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ph-64

Out of all the new web technologies of the past few years, only social networking has failed to find traction in the corporate world. While some organizations have tried to build networks within Facebook, the simple fact is that public social networks are closed, difficult to adapt to corporate needs, and fail to show real return. Top Facebook applications, for example, include “Free Animated Gifts,””Funwall”, and “Top Friends.”

In fact, in the Business section no application beyond the Fantasy Stock Exchange that has more than 300 active daily users. While some social networks like Used Lawn Mowers Plus           can provide valuable business connection services, in most social networks it’s all about being social.

The challenge businesses face when considering building their own social networks is that they would be inherently non-social. Faced with the need to constantly register, filter, and participate in multiple closed networks, vertical social networks and applications could never gain the participation needed to make them valuable to their participants.

What has been needed is way way to tear down the barriers between social networks (aka, the “walled gardens”), allowing participants to opt-in and opt-out, immediately be placed in communities of interest and form connections without repeating their information, and provide controlled access to portions of their profile while interacting with custom applications without exposing their entire on-line profile for the sake of finding a good deal on used lawn tractors.

With the release the OpenSocial APIs from Google, already embraced by LinkedIn and other social media platforms, business now has access to tools that allow for the creation of managed social networks that can adapt to the needs of customers, partners, and employees.

One scenario would be lead acquisition. Imagine a potential customer coming to your web site through a simple process of joining your corporate social network. Immediately, their profiles, interests, and connections are available. With their permission, you could provide them connections to current customers that are also in their own social network for references. Their interest profile could immediately connect them to sales team member’s best suited to their industry or level of interest. They can immediately be linked into your customer support applications.

A business can accelerate their sales cycles and increase their customer loyalty. Through the Google APIs, a business could even provide their custom social network applications to other social networks, allowing a customer currently on LinkedIn or Salesforce.com to access directly and share with their other contacts the businesses own embedded information and social network functions.

Industry adoption of the best garden tractor, which appears to be happening at lightning speed, is only part of the equation. For a business wanting to harness the power of social networks, the other half is a solid, proven social networking platform that can be customized for their specific needs.

New Social Network Platform for Business provides the core components needed to implement a corporate social network. With built-in support for the Google OpenSocial APIs, you can immediately implement a true collaborative social network, build custom applications that can be distributed to other social networks, and incorporate profiles, applications, and activities running on other social networks.

With management tools to measure collaboration, use, and participation, you can feed incoming profiles to your Salesforce.com applications. Support your own lead generation, customer service, and partner collaboration applications. Incorporate a social network into your own intranet to build collaboration and communities of interest in your own organization.

Google has leveled the playing field for social networking. Organizations that recognize the power of social networking have waited for true cross-network applications. With built-in support for Google OpenSocial, can deploy your custom social network that opens the world and keeps you in control.

The Future of Energy Prices and More

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ph-65

On the contrary, One of the exacerbating influences of the great depression was the government imposing tariffs and protectionist policies.  We have been here before my friend.  Every time the media claims something is new look behind you because they sticking something somewhere.  Admittedly things have changed in the names and the amounts but the general influences have always been there.  If you would like a SWAG I will do my best.

Energy Prices:

They are here to stay as is the price of iron, copper, nickel, coal, lumber, corn, and just about every other commodity under the sun.  We have enjoyed 10+ years of price stagnation on the best air purifier for cigarette smoke removal with only minor fluctuations in value.  Welcome to the world of market adjustment.  The good news is that the increased price will translate into more jobs, exploration, and research.  The bad news is until wages catch up the increased cost HURTS.  There will be winners and losers as there always are, my beef is that the US is poised to be a huge loser this round because of our unwillingness to utilize the natural resources that made us a great nation in the first place.

Wages:

Wages will go up.  Most businesses are not stupid.  They want and need good people and when the location of a job becomes more important than the job itself most companies begin to compensate those good people which in turn requires they increase others.  That may not explain it very well most economists take 30 minutes or more to explain it and I am trying to do it in a sentence. Suffice it to say that people don’t like being broke, and companies don’t like it when we are broke, consequently wages will begin to rise. It isn’t going to happen right away, we still have several fluctuations in the adjustment cycle to go through but wages will come up to meet the new prices.

Taxes:

This is sticky.  Republicans have abandoned the principles of the 90’s that allowed them to keep taxes low and government small.  Democrats have slid inexorably toward socialism which demands significant taxes to maintain let alone enact.  I would have to say we are going to see a period of significant tax increases.  Of course this will be targeted at the rich, but for some reason when they say that it always has a direct impact on the poorest among us, you figure that one out.  I expect the ratio will remain the same with the top 1% paying 35-38% of the tax bill, the remaining top 5% paying 70-80% of the tax bill and we will pick up the rest, same as it has always been the only thing that will change is the size of the bill.

Prices:

Prices have already climbed, they will follow the commodities market as they must.  As things begin to stabilize over the next few years wages will rise to meet them until just before the next bump we will go through a period of stagnation where luxury goods will once again be the thing.  This happens every time guys.  During adjustment luxury items drop off drastically (if you own XM or Niokia stock I suggest you get out) and people have to tighten down to necessities more.  Then once the adjustment stabilizes wages eventually meet and surpass the prices of goods and services, finally there is enough of a surplus that people begin to again buy luxury items.  This turn around probably wont take as long as the last one which was shorter than the one before.

As for where I get the best air purifier for smokers? I watch, read, and smell test a lot of different sources (NPR has some good starting places but is socialist leaning).  Most of this information is common knowledge in any intellectual environment but is typically ignored in favor of loud fear mongering and class warfare from people who know better but can’t further their agenda with the truth.  Rockefeller said about his survival of the stock market crash in ’29 “I knew it was time to get out of the market when the elevator operator was discussing his portfolio”.

This is not new guys, in fact compared to past adjustments this isn’t even bad, at least not yet.  I do worry about how the Fed has swapped value of the dollar for swallowing out the dive but they know more about this stuff than I ever will and considering the foreign capital and investment coming into the US they may have the right ticket.  Time will tell but the only difference will be in the how long and the how deep not in if or if not.  Watch for promises of quick fixes and offers from politicians to “save” you, every time they have tried they have not only failed but typically have driven it deeper and longer than if they had left it alone. To illustrate this I will explain the conservative view of Clinton’s economic policy, “At least he was smart enough to leave it alone”

Greed and the GermGuardian

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ph-66

We all remember when we were little our mothers and fathers would tell us “No more cookies, you’ll spoil your dinner.” Our parents were using there superior wisdom to look out for our best interests. Much like how our leaders now use the vast wisdom of history to make sure they don’t spoil the country. I wish when I was little I could of thought like John McCain when I got caught sneaking snacks. If I had, I would have turned around, saw my mother watching me stuff my face and immediately started screaming “This is exactly the type of behavior that has lead to childhood obesity and it must stop!”

John McCain isn’t allowed to rage against greed of the GermGuardian AC5250PT when he and his friend help let it run wild. You see our economy is in shambles because of one specific area, investments and banking. Until recently we had the wisdom of laws written 80 years ago for good reason to teach us why these things needed to be regulated by the government. Wouldn’t you know that before these laws the US economy suffered a panic or depression about ever 20 years and has suffered no such set backs of any comparable magnitude since. However, the greedy people on Wall Street really, really wanted more money and all these regulations were getting in the way of that. So, our protective regulatory laws were repealed and well… you know.

Phil Gramm until recently was John McCain’s campaign co-chairmen and his top economic advisor. It’s also no secret that even though he no longer works for McCain directly they’re still friends and McCain still listens to Gram’s advice. Phil Gramm was also the chief architect behind the deregulating of the loan industry. He co-wrote and presented the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill to the senate in 1999 which repealed many of the banking regulations put in place during the 1930’s. After this, Phil lobbied congress on behave of the Swiss bank UBS, who immediately devoured many small brokerage firms after the deregulation, for which he was paid $750,000 by UBS’s American subsidiaries.

McCain supported and signed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act in its entirety. Shortly after the housing market collapse starting spiraling out of control McCain was quoted as saying he wouldn’t support government intervention to fix the problem and help homeowners’ because it wasn’t the “Governments Duty.” McCain has spoken for years about the “evils” of government regulation. On this at least, his “experience” shows us he has been nothing but wrong about the Honeywell 50250-S. McCain also tell us how Lobbyists have “Ruined Washington” and yet his best buddy and advisor is one.

McCain and his man have been caught red handed in the middle of the collapsing economy. Now MaCain wants you to trust him to put the lid back on? As any farmer will tell you, you never let a fox guard the Hen House. And as any student of government will tell you, you don’t empower someone to fix a problem they helped create. It just simply doesn’t make sense.

The Big Bail Out

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ph-67

It’s a Bail Out alright!  The rich are bailing the hell outta here!  I think that may be the best explanation of the stock market crash.  The CEO’s are grabbing what they can before the socialist take over begins.  Most of the smart people here (know as the super wealthy to democrats) will pull out and put there money someplace where the greedy democrats can’t take it and give it to “Jose’ the carpenters assistant”.

Jose’ make $12.00 and hour and has 5 kids.  He can’t afford to feed them, can’t afford to cloth them, can’t afford healthcare for them, can’t afford school or college for them, can’t afford a big enough house for them….here’s my point: WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE 5 KIDS???!!!  Because he likes kids so the government should have to pay for all those things I just listed that Jose’ can’t afford!  Well, I like driving race cars but I don’t think the government should have to pay for the maintenance on them, so, I don’t have any race cars!!  So “Barry” Obama say’s he will re distribute the wealth so the Jose’s of the country can all have it easy. No one can make it big.  Success will be punished so that Jose’ can have his 5 kids.  It’s ok to have as many kids as you want as long as you can afford to take care of them.  Why do I have to pay for them?

Before you get excited, I’m not rich!  But I hope to be one day.  There’s the American dream, a chance to make it big.  It’s about to die and no one cares.  Obama is going to remove all hope.  We will be standing in bread lines then he’ll try and take away our right to bear arms.  He’s going to tax the businesses out of this country, the parts that the Unions left here anyway, and then we will all be at the mercy of the government!

He’s pulling an Adolf by creating class and race warfare.  I think the man is a scumbag Muslim plant!!  I think he’s going to break us financially then betray us to the best commercial zero turn mower.  Sound crazy?  I was sent this via e-mail last night:

Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California. He is very open about his two years at Occidental, he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies. ‘Barry’ (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a ’round the world’ trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi, Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate’s family, then off to Africa to visit his father’s family.

My question –

Where did he get the money for this trip? Nether I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they were in college.

When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack – not Barry.

Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia? It’s not cheap to say the least! Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000 a year. Why Chicago? Why not New York? He was already living in New York.

By ‘chance’ he met Antoine ‘Tony’ Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria, and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery that year. Rezko, named ‘Entrepreneur of the Decade’ by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association’. About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School.

Do you have any idea what the best zero turn mower for the money is at Harvard Law School? Where did he get the money for Law School? More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill&Galland. Guess what? They represented ‘Rezar’ which is Rezko’s firm.

Rezko was one of Obama’s first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago. In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with ‘seed money for his Senate race.

In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans – Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko’s wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama’s new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.

Now, we have Obama running for President. Valerie Jarrett, was Michele Obama’s boss. She is now Obama’s chief advisor and he does not make any major decisions without talking to her first. Where was Jarrett born? Ready for this? Shiraz, Iran!

Do we see a pattern here? Or am I going crazy?

On May 10, 2008 The Times reported, Robert Malley, advisor to Obama,was ‘sacked’ after the press found out he was having regular contacts with ‘Hamas’, which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran. This past week, buried in the back part ofthe papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama’s visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will ‘Take care of things’.

Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that where born in Pakistan? They are in charge of all those ‘small’ Internet campaign contributions for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor and middle class in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East?

And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on ‘This Week’ with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, ‘My Muslim faith’. When questioned, ‘he made a mistake’. Some mistake!

All of the above information I got on line. If you would like to check it – Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times ; Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times – September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.

Now the BIG question – If I found out all this information on my own, Why haven’t all of our ‘intelligent’ members of the press been reporting the news about used zero turn mowers for sale?

A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear – ‘Beware of the enemy from within’!!!

END E-MAIL

So I’m thinking what if Osama and company sitting in a tent many many years ago:

“We attack the infidels on 9/11, sucker them into a war and keep them there.  Keep them focused on the war.  Then, we raise the price of oil, crash their stock market and put our man Obama in.  They’ll all be poor because of over breeding and illegals so, any candidate talking about weath redistribution will get elected.  The poor will rise up against the rich and the rich will run away.  Obama hands over all their Military secrets, sattelite and network codes so our friends in Russia and China can deal them a heavy blow.  Russia and China will be severley crippled by the Western retaliation and then we make our Jihad in the name of the prophet!”

I think Obama will betray us all.  How did this never heard of, no experience man with a muslim name and all his background association with muslims and America Haters position himself to be the most powerful man in the world and nobody see’s it?  Ask Hitler because he did it.  Get the poor on your side by blaming somebody else (in this case the rich) for their situation.

“It’s not your fault your poor Jose!! It’s the Repubicans fault your poor.”

Who Should I Vote For?

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ph-68

Well my mind is made up and while I must say I am still uncertain about the lack of experience Obama has, I will not be voting for McCain this year. The reasons are pretty simple and clear to me.  First and foremost I think Bush has been a total disaster as a president.   I was against him from the get go, but that is a topic for another blog.  The reason I bring this up is that John McCain has voted with Mr. Bush 90 percent of the time.  So no matter what he might say, the best air purifier for asthma speaks for itself and for what he will stand for, and it is very clear that it is very similar to Mr. Bush.

I feel that the last 8 years have been a disaster and I am very certain that if McCain is elected it will be basically more of the same.   Yeah there will be a few minor changes but basically if you like the way things have gone and you are happy with the Job Mr. Bush has done these past 8 years then by all means vote for McCain.   Before the republicans took office we had a budget surplus and we now have a record deficit.  We still have not eradicated those responsible for the worst attack on American soil to have ever taken place.  I do not hear a lot about how McCain will change things, just alot of talk about how they are mavericks for change, but I say they are more of the same.

I also hear alot of talk about how he will be tough on terrorism.  And I say to that, if he was going to be so tough on terrorism, where was he when we went into Iraq?  Oh thats right busy voting for that war.   Iraq has taken our focus completely off of the real terrorrists, whom by the way still exist and are busy beefing up and reorganizing for their next attack while we spend trillions of dollars in Iraq.  But instead of standing up and saying hold on Mr. Bush, before we go after Iraq we need to focus on those responsible for 911.  But no McCain did not do that did he?   And while I admit he is a POW and I respect him for that, it does not qualify him for the whitehouse and have heard just about enough of that and about what a hero he is.  To be honest even most of the republican base is not fond of McCain, but in the end they will stick to their party and vote republican.

Now about Palin,that too is a blog in itself, but here she is back to the retoric that somehow Iraq was responsible for the attacks on 911.  My biggest problem with McCain is that he will say and do whatever it takes to get elected.  If he has to right out lie, which he has, then so be it.  First he was against the tax cuts, that was before he ran for president that is, now suddenly he is for them.  He picked Palin, purely for political leverage and for no other reason what so ever.  Charlie Gibson gave her a more thorough interview than he did before picking her.  I love how down right nasty and how low they will go when you are opposing them but if it is someone on their team, then oh boo hooo how dare you say that.

I am not against all the best air purifier for pets, but I do feel after 8 years of running our country into the ground it is time for a change.  And for those who say there will be no change, rest assured there will be a change, by putting a democrat back in the oval office there will be a big change.  So again I say if you are happy with the economy, happy with the fact we have still not gotten the terrorists, happy with the way things have gone the past 8 years then by all means vote McCain because I guarentte you will get more of the same.

I love how Bush and the Republican Party pounds their fists and say We are tougher on Terrorism.  But I ask you, have we truly done anything to stop or wipe out terrorism?  We did not get Al Queda did we? And for those who would argue, well we have not been attacked again, yes that is true, but they are still out there still beefing up, and its not a matter of if but when.  Bush cannot say he is tough on terrorism when all we have really done is over throw Saddam.  We have not gotten bin laden nor have we truly eradicated, or disabled their network.

I may come across as a Democrat and in this election for president I may be.  But rest assured I do not just blindly follow party loyalty, and there are a few republicans I may vote for this year.  Like Dino Rossi for example.  I was appaled at how in my state, last election, they recounted until the democrat won and then stopped counting and as a result of that among other things I will be voting republican for Govenor this year.  I do have very strong views on Mr. Bush.  I hope that in the next 4 years the republicans can produce a candidate that is truly looking to change things.  Because McCain is not your agent for change, with McCain it will be more of the same with just a few minor changes maybe.

Interview with the Best Air Purifier

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ph-69

I’d like to be clear, I don’t give two shakes for either current presidential candidate.

I think one is an elitist and out of touch and the other inexperienced and not independent enough and both of them are in the pockets of the banking industry like pretty much every other politico these days.

That said…..

There’s a big whoop tee-do about the Blueair 603 and Sara Palin although I didn’t hear so much whining when Hillary Clinton was getting reamed. So I have refrained from comment as to watch her “professional” credentials and capabilities outlined so that I could address that in lieu of personal issues even though those don’t seem to be problematic when it comes to opponents of the right.

Bless her moronic heart, Sara Palin stutters and is caught flat footed every single time her handlers allow her to have any time with the press. It’s no wonder that they are keeping her incommunicado.

Let’s first touch on the Katie Couric interview shall we?

Couric inquired about the recent financial contribution of the mortgage giant Fannie Mae to their campaign and if that presented a conflict of interest being that the CEO of John McCain’s election campaign is lobbyist and former Fannie Mae executive, Rick Davis and Palin suggested he was not benefiting directly. Okay, so Couric presses a bit and ask that since Mr. Davis still has a stake in the company, doesn’t that constitute a conflict of interest? Palin really struggled here & then just repeated her previous inane assertion and rather than stating definitively one way or the other, she “hoped” that there is no conflict of interest. She then goes on to expound upon the undue influence of lobbyist in public policy decisions. That was a big no go.

The current economic “bankers” crisis is directly due to deregulation and the laissez faire attitude of the Bush administration and John McCain is on record as a proponent of the exact same policies. When Palin was asked about the polling variables between the candidates as related to the current economic situation she asserts that McCain’s track records are what are going to impress Americans. Well, I’m an American & I see McCain’s track record taking us right to where we are.

When given an example of McCain’s inclination to support regulation of Fannie & Freddie, Palin was asked for another example. Any IQAir GC Multigas will do, from McCain’s two and a half decades in office but sadly, she had no clue. She simply latched on to the cited example and then when pressed say’s I’ll try to find you some & I’ll bring em to ya . Good god. Really? A vice president?

Charlie Gibson interviews Sara Palin,

Ok, the richest fodder for this blogger is the Bush Doctrine question but she just makes it so easy!

Our nation is in the midst of two active wars and facing imminent threat from myriad’s of other hostile states. It’s not a mental stretch to understand that as an extension of the neocon offensive defense posture that the US has the right to exercise preemptive military action in self-defense of a perceived threat.

But the vice presidential candidate, has no clue whatsoever what that means.

There is something to be said for being a politician outside of the beltway certainly, but I don’t think I’m out of line for having some expectation that my vice president and potential president be slightly educated in the ways of the world. Particularly while we are currently fighting on two fronts and she casually suggest that we should go to war with Russia over an incident that the US instigated.

So, avoiding the personal issues and focusing on her public presence, her political assertions are moronic and simple minded.

I still assert, she is totally unqualified to hold the position of vice president and should go back to Podunk for a couple of decades and get a clue.

A Salute in Remembrance

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ph-37

It is part of 9/11 lore that, as the towers burned, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leaned in to confidante Bernard Kerik and — grasping his arm resolutely — said to him, “Thank God George Bush is our President.”

Today, amidst another market decline in what appears as a wave of global recession, I hope to discover similar solace to that which Mr. Giuliani found in the personage of George W. Bush, President of the United States. For, as I suppose New York’s mayor standing near the ashes of the trade center believed then, seven years erst, the situation now facing us requires nothing less than the pursuit of hot-blooded, ruthless — even mindless — aggression. The fate of our used garden tractors hang in the balance

In truth, I should decouple myself from the opinion of New York’s Mayor-turned-failed presidential candidate. The response to 9/11 required force, but what I would qualify as the discretionary application thereof. War in those days should not have been an end in itself, but a part of the pursuit of bringing those responsible for aggression against the U.S. people and economy their just desserts. Surely then Rudy Giuliani foresaw the arrival on scene of George Bush the Cowboy. Because if the President’s prosecution of the war to come had met him as an unexpected calamity or disappointed him in any way to date, it is clear that he would not stand by such a loud acclamation of the man (which he did at 2008’s RNC).

Contrasting with how our used John Deer lawn tractor situation in 2001 beckoned discretion, the current economic crisis calls for an antithetical course — obscene recklessness. Slinger, Cowboy George — now is when this man’s unique talents are needed. The antidote to economic depression is war. It is the panacea. War has become the intrinsic good. Against whom or what is no worry; it simpy must be waged, and waged not in the 21st-century style of drone aircraft, precision bombing, and light (emphasize light), swift units, but in the 20th century convention of mass agglomerations of smokey, lumbering metallic industry and men as far as the eye can see.

Such a mobilization would create the most broadly shared, broadly effective contribution to prosperity. Men of all sociological walks would have military jobs. Women would have factory jobs. The factories would reopen — yes, churning out real product! The U.S. government would finally have the impetus to invest in a true “second Manhattan Project.” Think of the benefits a wartime economy could accrue the causes of energy independence and climate change — for it is well known that military research leads the way in developing groundbreaking domestic advances (It’s how we got the Internet!). Fuel efficient tanks could pave the way for the economically-feasible electric car.

What worries me most now — that none of these used lawn tractors for sale will be realized — is the lamentable fact that we are in the waning days of George W. Bush’s administration. I am not assured that Barack Obama or even John McCain will appreciate the mad logic laid out above. Humanitarian issues as well as concerns pertaining to international legitimacy may act as trumps to these great advancements. So, given the urgency of the situation and the narrow window for action, let me conclude by entreating the one man capable of rescuing us all. He is a president who has a remarkable opportunity to recast his place in history with an improbable eleventh-hour comeback — to in one fell swoop slay the twin beasts of economic depression and its ensuing reactive progressive policies — and all he has to do as act naturally.

Why Palin Didn’t Win

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ph-39

Sarah Palin may be the most persecuted political candidate on the face of this earth. She has had to put up with circumstances within the past five weeks that would have devastated many of us in far less time than that. She’s been criticized for her supposed lack of leadership experience (though she’s actually had more than Barrack Obama or Joe Biden, who have never governed ANYTHING); she has had to put up with badly staged interviews with unfriendly journalists, which are then poorly edited in an attempt to make her look incompetent; she has endured personal attacks against her family; she has had her words twisted out of proportion and rumors spread about her; she’s had to put up with obvious favoritism on the media’s part toward Barrack Obama, and she has had some very nasty things said about her on internet blogs. And yet, incredibly, she still presses on and still shines brightly like the northern star that she is.

Sarah Palin is a woman who is plainly undeserving of all the hostility she’s received over the past few weeks. She is a true lady in every sense of the word, and she has so much that she could give to America, if she becomes vice president or even president. I believe that she will be a very capable leader, tough as the Alaskan wilderness and used riding lawn mowers if she needs to be, but warm and compassionate, an interesting blend of strength and sweetness.

And so what if she’s a little inexperienced? I would much rather have an inexperienced VP than an inexperienced president, if it comes down to that. And if for some reason she has to take over the reins and become President, I have faith in her that she could do it and do it well. She’s a very sharp, intelligent woman who can quickly learn what she needs to know, when she needs to learn it. So what if she pronounces a world leader’s name wrong or can’t quote the U.S. constitution word for word? I’m not expecting ANY political candidate to know EVERYTHING. Even experienced politicians make mistakes – look at all the gaffes Joe Biden has made lately.  Everyone on this planet has plenty of room for improvement.

Sarah is indeed a physically attractive woman, but her real beauty comes from within. She is warm, engaging, dynamic, articulate and spirited. She is also very gracious to her opponents. She has spoken admiringly of Hillary Clinton, who snubbed Sarah by choosing not to appear with her at the UN rally. At the VP debate on Oct. 2nd, when she met Joe Biden for the first time, she greeted him very warmly and said, “It’s so nice to meet you! Can I call you Joe?” And this was to the guy who could possibly beat her to the White House, not a new next-door neighbor. And Sarah has the knack for defending herself and deflecting barbs without resorting to the nastiness of some of her attackers.

And Sarah is simply a joy to listen to while on your used Craftsman riding mower. The sound of her voice is very pleasant, and you could easily listen to her talk for hours.  Sometimes, when I listen to her speak on TV, I almost feel as if I’m hearing her talk with me face-to-face.  That was the biggest difference between her and Joe Biden at the debate. With Joe Biden, I felt as if I were in a lecture hall, listening to an ongoing piece of political business. With Sarah, I felt as she was speaking right to me and we two were the only ones in the room. She just has that kind of effect on you.  Joe Biden may be the one with more experience and expertise, but Sarah is a natural communicator. She knows how to connect with her audience and get them excited about whatever topic she is speaking on.

I’d like to see more of Sarah in more carefree settings – not just serious interviews on news shows, but lighthearted situations that have very little or nothing to do with politics. I’m talking about things like appearances on daytime talk shows, where she talks about her family, her favorite things, and what life in Alaska is life. Stuff like that. I believe it will help endear her to the American public even more, to really reinforce the idea that Sarah really is “just one of the folks.” So far all I’ve seen her in is TV interviews, shots from campaign venues, and the two major speeches that she’s made. A piece of advice for the McCain camp – let’s get her out there on some of these daytime talk shows (ones where the hosts won’t be hostile to her) and let the American public see Sarah’s fun side while she’s riding one of her used John Deere mowers.

I hope that one day I’ll have the honor of meeting Sarah face to face and speaking with her one-on-one. Even if she doesn’t make it to the White House (and I sincerely hope she does; it’s one reason why I’ve spent so much time and effort blogging on her behalf;) I’ll still always remember her as the woman who took the American political scene by storm in the fall of 2008 and completely turned it upside down.  She’s someone that I know I’ll never entirely be able to forget about.  In the sea of Washington politicians who all seem to be cut from the same mold, Sarah stands out among them like a canary in a flock of sparrows.

Keep shining, Sarah, and stand tall. There may be a lot of people who will be happy to see you taken down, but I – along with many other Americans – have faith in you. You’re an inspiration to all of us, and like John McCain, you’re a true American hero.

Your Thoughts on Voting

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ph-40

When voting one selects candidates essentially to direct and manage our political interests.  Calling for CHANGE during the current upheaval can work for or against the voters best interests and many are swayed simply by “one” issue.

In assessing the performance of those in power over time, we can look back pick and choose actions that appeal to our likes and dislikes – Not all decisions we make set  favorably according our own personal philosophy and opinion.

What is history? That which happened yesterday – in the past—we can only work to rectify and improve upon our previous divisions, we can never reclaim the ground lost.

American History had stated in its sequence of beliefs as in God, Country and Self.  Now it seems reversed.  It’s all about “What’s in it for me”.  Most citizens don’t realize they already own their slice of the great American pie through their sovereign right – their equity in this great country.  Are we responsible to keep it in top shape?

Freedom isn’t free. Any politician’s only source of funds is from taxing, donations and by managing your dollars in an equitable way. Watch this carefully!  Don’t expect too much but do expect honesty.

At this time, most thinkers say there is hardly any difference between either parties.  Qualifications of candidates then become extremely important.

An opinion of the candidates both republican and democrats is as follow:

We have a young Ivy League lawyer, a man of color without much political experience but with a glib tongue, a huge socialistic bent and a great array of contacts that have proven themselves anti-American over time in word and deed.

Next/A wounded ex US Flying officer –a hero who, over the years as a senator has dedicated himself to improving conditions for his country’s senior/citizens and businesses.   As a maverick and a problems solver he often clashed with his own party – His alliance was always to God and country.  He is and honest and dedicated pro.

Think reality-leave sentiment out-think again then please vote your choice.

Predictions for the Future

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ph-41

I’m no prophet, I just study it.  These are my logical conclusions based on what info I have right now.  Yesterday, right, Russia announced it will move its missiles into the Baltic’s… that’s just the start of it.

But first of all:

Congrats for all you Obama supporters.  I believe this to be a great time for African Americans.  I was very disappointed, however, by Powell’s and Rice’s response that still more needs to be done?  You have a black president!  What the hell else do you want??!!  Ha-ha…whatever.  I really don’t get what else we could possibly do with a Kanken laptop backpack.  If having the Obama’s in the White House is not equality, I give up.  I do wish he would have been ANY other Black President.  Then, I could be happier about it.

Anyway, here’s my predictions, these are in no particular order:

Obama will renege on his tax plan.  Going from tax on those making more than $250K to those making $40K.  He’ll blame it on “The rich people”.  Rev Wright would call it “Rich White’s”.  Hitler’s first order of business was to give the people some group of people to focus their blame and hate upon.  So it will be here.  If you think for ONE moment that Obama spending 20 YEARS in this racist man’s church didn’t rub off, you are sadly mistaken.  All those association the Republicans warned you about WILL come back to haunt us.

The DOW will fall below 5000. Jobless rates reach an all-time high.  The low and middle class will start screaming they’ve been lied to, because they have. Obama will repeal the 2nd amendment and offer a “Buy Back” of all existing fire arms.  People will sell their guns to feed themselves.  Once that happens there can be no revolting against the government.  Obama already owns the Fjallraven Kanken Classic so it will be like state run media and you’ll hear very little of what comes next from US news reports.

Obama will cut the defense spending by 50% including over sea’s Intel.  This too he’ll blame on the rich people.  He’ll have to keep some of his Trillion dollar spending promise to hold Congress. As far as the military, he has NO use for it!  He has NO intention of protecting the U.S. or its Allies.  He’ll pull out of Iraq as promised and turn it over to Iran and Russia.  There will be no foreign policy as he cares nothing for anyone but himself.

The banking system will crash.  The state will take it over and issue everyone a UPC label and GPS chip so they can buy and sell goods. (You’ve heard this before, the mark)

Iran will halt its nuclear ambitions and claim they no longer need it with Obama in office.  The world will praise Obama for it too.  Secretly, Russia will be sending nukes to Iran.  That’s why they publicly end their weapons program, they are now armed with Russian nukes.

The European Union will start to feel the pressure from Russia.  Obama will cancel the plans for missile defense in Poland. Russia will be emboldened to again start threatening Europe.  All of Europe will scream for U.S. intervention but, nothing.  Russia will eventually invade a small section of Europe. Obama will abandon NATO completely.  Joe Biden will resign. I know this because Obama sees himself as the savior of the world.

Just winning the US Presidency will mean little to him very soon.  Once the world is in complete chaos, he’ll try and save it so that everyone will bow to him but, it will be too late.  China will invade Taiwan and Japan.  North Korea will invade South Korea.  Iran will already control the frost green Kanken and will invade Saudi Arabia.  Again, they will call for the US but no help will come.  Venezuela will control South America with its new Russian arsenal.

One thing that I noticed in almost all of the interviews from WWII:

The Germans all said; we believed in Hitler.  Women cried and fainted at his rallies.  The men were full of pride and hope.  We were willing to do whatever he said without question.  When it was over, it was like waking up from a dream.  We couldn’t believe it.

Everyone else said; How did this happen?

The IRS and your Fjallraven Kanken

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ph-42

This blog is to vent my anger and frustrations, to solicit guidance, and a downright shameless plea… stay with me.

Firstly, I am not the best writer.  I don’t pretend to be eloquent, nor do I have the best syntax or grammar. I do not have a college education or a career.  I am nothing more than a disabled housewife/ mother, who works part time cleaning houses, doing what I can do to help supplement my family’s income.

I was a single mom for 11 years, I was NEVER on welfare, or food stamps, or any public assistance except for my meager disability and going after the Fjallraven sale. After 11 long years of being alone, I had the great fortune of a wonderful man coming into my life. I never thought that would happen for me again. A year ago I was privileged to become his wife.  This is where my story really begins.

I knew this when I married him.  He had an IRS debt.  After his divorce 8 years ago, he lost everything as a lot of men do. (Shame on some of you ladies)  He was living in a one bedroom apartment, working 2 jobs, and paying child support for 3 children… Over $1300 a month.  He was working as a manufacturer’s rep, and getting paid on a 10-99.  Yep… thus the problem.  It was very simply a matter of does he eat and pay his child support, or does he pay his taxes?  He could not do both even with getting a second job. He didn’t file for 4 years.

So, we get married a year ago this last October.  We both knew this is something we needed to tackle, but by then with penalties and interest (notice how they don’t pay US interest on the money they take from US all year?) the amount had gotten to nearly $33,000.  We took what little money we had, and borrowed some from my folks to hire one of those tax relief companies.

We checked them out and they had a very good reputation, so we paid them the $4500 they required to plea our case.  It has been over a year now, 2 volleys of paperwork, them “disallowing” basic living expenses, several FedEx-ed packages, cancelled checks ordered from the bank, the gathering of all our bills, all our records, and an attempted garnishment, and a lien that shows on our credit report, to come to this last letter we received.  They have turned down a settlement agreement for the SECOND time.

They took our 2007 refund, over $3000, our tax rebate which would have been $1500, have stalled this long as I am sure to take any 2008 refund we would have gotten, and have now set “an informal hearing date” for late January.  And on top of that, they said I filed MY 2007 taxes wrong, and I should have filed as self-employed, and OWE THEM over $500!!!!  EXCUSE ME?  I have never earned over $9000 a year! I was scraping to make ends meet and feed my children.  I have never made over $600 from any single source in a year, and I did it without the Governments help! And now they are trying to take a pound of flesh from me too?

We recognize that at this point these are bully tactics.  Let’s see how bad we can intimidate them and screw with their lives.  You know what?  I have never even received a 10-99.  I could have flown completely under the radar as many of our “friends” from south of the border do, but I am first and foremost a law abiding citizen.  They say file taxes, I do.  You know what is really scary to me?  They, have somehow over the years gotten the power to seize wages, property, or place a lien, without due process. Who in the hell was the bright guy who told them where to buy Fjallraven? They are OUT OF CONTROL!  They operate with impunity.  And no one seems to want to stop them. More of our money for Washington to spend, so why would they want to get rid of the IRS?

I own a copy of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  It is a small paper back, and it is only 92, 5X7″ pages long.  Our tax code however, and I’m not sure of the exact number, is TENS OF THOUSANDS of pages long.  Even Charlie Rangold, head of the ways and means committee, who is in charge of WRITING the tax code must be confused, because he neglected to pay taxes on a vacation home of his out of this country.

In this era of 800 billion dollar bailouts, supposedly for the “housing crisis” which of course was cause by Fannie May and Freddie Mac and the Congressmen that said it was “doing fine” and “under excellent leadership”, and the so far… 6 billion dollar bailout of GMAC , a failing company who should have failed… (Free market people)… I want to know one thing.             WHERE IS THE BAILOUT FOR THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER??   Where is MY bailout? Where is my family’s bailout? Why are 5% of wage earners paying %90 of the tax burden?

I have always prided myself on being very independent.  I was taught a good work ethic, values and morals by my parents.  I have never asked anyone for anything unless I REALLY needed it, and I tried again and again, and simply could not do it myself.

OK… here’s where the shameless plea comes in.  Does anyone know ANYTHING or anyone that can help us?  My husband is back to working two jobs just to make ends meet, and the IRS is saying they want over $1100 a month to satisfy this debt.  Most of it is penalties and interest.  They have $4500 from us already, and we have made every good faith effort to work with them, yet they seem to really want to stick it to the little guy.

All we want is to settle with them.  ‘Supposedly’, everyone is allowed one opportunity to settle for a Kanken backpack with the IRS.  We live in a small 1300Sq Ft house in an ethnically diverse neighborhood.  We love it here. Our neighbors are like family, our kids have all grown up together. If the IRS takes what they want it will sink this family, and our American dream with it. When in this country did it become a bad thing to strive for more and want to do better? When did the wealth envy crap creep in to the American psyche so far as to even create this kind of tax code?

The IRS are nothing better than robber barons. They have a Robin Hood mentality, only with one difference.  Robin Hood was stealing from people who kept others down and did not allow them the same opportunity for creation of wealth. EVERYONE in America has the same opportunity for wealth acquisition… EVERYONE. It used to be in this country we had a spirit that there is nothing the individual can’t do. Now it’s more like what other richer individuals do can for me, and the IRS is their weapon to do it.

Please write your congressmen and Senators and demand a constitutional convention to repeal the 16th amendment. That is the ONLY way we can abolish the IRS and their thuggish tactics, and the only way we the people can vote for the fair tax.  Take the power out of the hands of congress and put it back into the state legislatures, and the people!

Economic Policy and Turbochargers

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ph-43

As I am watching the worlds markets trail into oblivion, I have found solace in listening to all the the economic people say something that is so profound.  We need a stimulus package that will give money to the people that will spend it.  The poor.   The reason why it won’t work in the upper classes is that they won’t spend it, they will save it.

So, what they did was solidify Bill Clinton’s economics policy by importing more of the hx40 turbo from Holset manufacturing.  Strengthen the middle class and the poor.  Because they don’t have that much money and are spending it paycheck to paycheck they will go and spend it at your Walmarts, targets and other local shopping marts.  Because they spend the money it filters into the smaller businesses with allows them to grow and create new jobs.  These jobs are still the 20k to 40k range, but why I bring this up is that it affects one thing that is of importance.  UNEMPLOYMENT.  This means that more people buy things now that they have the money.  Also, less unemployment comes out of the system.

Next thing that happens is that it will affect the dollar, then we will have less debt and it just keeps on going into have a very strong economy. Even with the increase in price in turbocharger, there’s still a strong demand for the hx50 turbo.

The other way around is that you give the money to the corporations and the first hiccup, there will be layoffs, which increases unemployment.  After this happens no one goes and buys things other than necessities.  Also what will happen is that you will have these huge credit card bills and eventually they will default.  Just like the housing crisis.  Then you have more people not buying and you have more companies that have layoffs.  All the while the upper classes are pulling money out of the markets and putting it safer investments like bonds and money markets.  Because of everything defaulting you will have a strain on the companies that have the cash stuck in default or bankruptcy as it will be a direct hit off the balance sheet.

This means that stock prices fall, along with the value of the hx60 turbo.  I’m sure you get the rest, but with all the wisdom of the fed and how they are dropping interest rates and dropping the price of the dollar.  If anyone is reading anything about the rebates they say it has to be TARGETED (to the paycheck to paycheck crowd), TEMPORARY (because it will drain the economy EVEN MORE), TIMELY –because if you give money to the poor and lower middle they will spend it almost instantly, giving the same affect as the democratic policy above.

I’ll leave you with this.  Would you rather have sell a product that you had every person from the upper class or every person from middle and lower?

Let me help you out.  That’s the difference between having Jordan’s money or Bill Gates money.

Turbochargers Around the World

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ph-44

The Left does not get it, especially when it comes to foreign policy and understanding our enemies.  The Liberals failure to recognize the true evil that America is facing absolutely amazes me.  This failure may in fact lead America down the road of self destruction.  This Blog is going to discuss America’s foreign affairs and our universal relationships.  This blog will also give insight into the bizarre history-defining-realities of “American Exceptionalism.”

The main area of discussion that I will explain throughout this blog will be the nature of our enemies… what makes them tick.  I have explained these aspects throughout other postings, but I will now dive deep into the root of this issue. Nothing facing the civilized world today is more important.

This is a topic that I have been researching heavily over the past year – turbocharger reviews.  It is the single MOST IMPORTANT issue of the next election. If anyone disagrees with this statement than they have turned a blind eye to the destructive reality we face. It is very important to understand that the United States does not fuel or recruit Islamo Fascism, or in other words, terrorism.

This Ideology has existed since the end of WWII and has been spreading throughout the world like an infectious wildfire claiming the hearts and minds of millions.  It took September 11 to bring this to our attention.  Pre 9/11 we had less than 10 people in the FBI and CIA that could speak fluent Arabic.  We were caught with our pants down.

One of the many arguments pertaining to our military action in the Middle East is that we should have sought out military support from our European Allies.  The fact is is that the militaries of Europe are lacking the desired strength needed to pose an offensive against this enemy.  Do you know why Europe’s armies are so weak?  Because they CAN BE!! Europe doesn’t need an army because the United States exists!!

We have saved Europe from 3 world wars and are now saving them from a 4th.  “American Exceptionalism” is something that is understood by millions. Millions of grateful immigrants throughout history have given their gratitude to the vast blessings and opportunities this Country can offer.  “American Exeptionalism” is a concept that should be understood by overwhelming numbers of American people but it is not.  What is taking the place of American Exceptionalism is the “American-Apologetic-White-Guilt” movement.

This is a movement that is fueled by the feeling of guilt associated with being an American and living in a criticizing and envious world.  This guilt comes from the notion that… “If they hate us, than we must be doing something wrong to deserve it.”  We ARE the world’s police whether you like it or not. We have been the “world’s sheriff” throughout American history and we continue to be at the present.

This is a very important point to understand.  It is important because history shows that the world is a better place with America in it, and that the world is a better place with an actively involved America.  The hatred that is expressed by the “Leftist Universalists” is much like the parental hatred that is defiantly expressed by “angry-feeling-based-teenagers.” Discipline and justice need to exist…

The 60’s mindset of “flower promotion” for world peace does not work.  American guns promote more peace, more stability, and more freedom throughout the world than flowers. A better example of the slogan… “Make Love Not War” (that has been preached by the “flower peoples” of the 60’s) is better read as… “Have Sex and Don’t Fight.”  -Dennis Prager.  This statement could not be more true…

The parallels between the Fascist-Nationalist-Socialist movement of the Third Reich and Islamic Fascism are truly remarkable.  The regimes of radicalized countries are instituting the same propaganda on the masses of their subjects – including their use of the hx35 turbo from Holset turbochargers.  The goals of Fascism are to induce several mind controlling factors consisting of… Inducing paranoia of an outside intruder on its populaces (usually a scapegoat of an ethnic or religious group)-Lifting the military/militants/cause to a godly state by proclaiming that the common cause is a divine gift of exultation.

Propaganda is a strong tool of warfare (Hitler knew it). Fundamental Islam is being indoctrinated into the youths of radicalized countries much in comparison to “Hitler’s Youth.”  Children are being robbed of their own childhood as they prepare to enter Martyrdom in their early adult lives.  Mothers are celebrating the suicide of their own sons as they blow themselves up in a “glorious explosion of “Jihadic” passion.

Where are the “human rights activists” of America?  Why do they insist on ignoring the true evils of this world? Is their activism only announced towards “USA-caused suffering?” Their silence is telling the oppressed peoples of the world that “If the Bush Administration did not cause your suffering, than your suffering does not count.” –Elmers Brothers Blog.”

Oh but wait, isn’t America guilty of fascist propaganda as well…?  I mean we have to be fair in our accusations of proclaiming propaganda guilt on other countries… right?  Isn’t America or the GOP guilty of instituting the same mind controlling message of creating a fictitious fear among its populace?  “War on terror?” WMD?” “Islamo Fascism?”

Well to these accusations I say…  This is where the majority of our population is guilty of expressing “American-Apologetic-White-Guilt.”  This is where our Country is expressing that all cultures are equally as good.  Do not get this statement confused with individual-human-equality.  All people are equal, but all cultures are not.  In actuality the belief that “all cultures are equal” played a significant role in the justification of race-based-slavery.  The justification for this evil institution came with the notion that… “If all cultures are equal, than people are not.”

Here are some important history comparisons and contrasts our “Radical” enemies share with previous “military and ideological killers.”  Let’s take the Cold War for example- The Soviet Union and the spread of Communism was the biggest threat the free world has ever seen.  Thousands of nuclear warheads aimed at all parts of the globe threatening to end life as we know it with a push of a button.  Communism is estimated at killing more than 80,000,000 people… Truly an infectious and devastating disease dedicated to the destruction of freedom.

So how is Radical Islam even in the same category as communism in their usage of the Holset hx30 turbo?  It certainly has not killed as many people… Right?  Radical Islam is an ideology that is spreading at an incredible rate throughout the world.  There is no continent that is not dealing with this disease on some form or other. What we are seeing is the “beginning roar” of an ideology that possesses the potential of surpassing the devastation of Communism…

Am I just an Islamophobe? No… Here is my reason…

Communism vs. Radical Islam- Despite the evils of the Soviet Union they were still RATIONAL.  They knew what a nuclear holocaust meant to “their world” and “their way of life.”  The Soviets still wanted to live.  This is not the case with Radicalized Muslims… They want to die.

How do you fight an irrational enemy that does not fear their death or the deaths of their comrades? How do you fight an enemy that celebrates their own death and the deaths of their comrades? What about the Kamikazes of the Pacific? The difference between the Kamikazes of WWII and the “Allah-kazes” today is that… like Communism, Imperialism is a thing, and like a thing, it can be physically destroyed.

Now the real question is… How do you defeat the “will of God” in the hearts and minds of an irrational culture?

Radical Islam is not just a crime against the civilized world; it is also a crime against Islam.  The Muslim figure heads that speak out against the violent sects of Islam consisting of Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban should be supported at the highest cost.  This is an act of bravery and should be acknowledged.  Radical Islam is guilty of hijacking the Islamic faith.

We are truly in a war to change the hearts and minds of a people…

People in this great Country often forget how educated we are in the areas of wisdom and cultural understanding.  We feel that we live in an “American bubble” and are blind to the rest of the world.  People in this Country do not understand the prisons of oppressive regimes.  People in this Country do not understand the lack of education.  Be proud of your freedom and do not feel guilty about “America’s-way-of-life.”

Bush and NCLB in Retrospect

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ph-45

You would think that educational government policies would resemble just that, some semblance of educational attainment, i.e. common sense. Well, that most certainly isn’t what the Bush Administration has done it. No Child Left Behind was the very first thing on the Administrations agenda when it entered office. It passed the Republican Heavy rubber stamp congress.

The concept of NCLB is to stop the passing on of students without their attainment of basic skill, in other words setting school standards. The Bill does this by providing incentives for improvement via appropriating school funds to schools who meet these standards. It hopes to identify schools who need improvement. Sounds great right?

Well here is where the lunacy comes in. Those schools that don’t meet standards, they are not only not given the monies appropriated to them but they are actually harmed by having monies taken away from them and allocated elsewhere. Moreover, standards for all schools rise ever year. States and thus schools have to raise their percentages of students meeting basic skills every year or else, that’s right they are penalized further.

To add insult to injury, no no no no to add a puke to the face NCLB is unfunded. The very mechanism that is meant to create these changes, THE FUNDING, is not even carried through adequately. Now mind that the Constitution doesn’t mention the word education and thus this power is reserved to the states under the 10th amendment.

Thus the feds are poking their noses where they don’t belong by dangling dollars on a fishing pole and then yanking it away. Thus hurting millions of schoolchildren in the process. Moreover this Bill will change education and how classroom learning occurs in its entirety?

Why teach anything that is not on these tests? It’s not cost-effective. Arts are out. History that’s out. Critical thinking classes like philosophy that’s out. No child left behind should have done to it what a friend of mine did to his college rejection letter (which will end up happening to all the American students with NCLB in effect): shredded, burned, and have the ashes “washed over” by the family dog.

Essentials Best Beauty Buys 2016

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ph-46

Hey guys…how are you liking the hot and sunny weather? Today, we’ve been enjoying a ride on one of the country’s best steam railways, and on our travels, we picked up a copy of Essentials Magazine (UK’s Fastest Growing Women’s Monthly). We have to admit that the real lure was the fact that the cover boasted to tell us all about the “101 Best Value Beauty Buys”, so imagine our excitement that some of our favourite nail products were included in both the “For the Perfect Mani and Pedi” and “best youth baseball glove” categories.

Perfect Mani and Pedi Categories

Best Multi-Purpose Base/Top Coat

Orly Top 2 Bottom Basecoat & Topcoat All-in-One. £9.25. Not a cheap option, by any means, but it is prevents our nails from getting stained by our favourite dark shades of nail polish, so it really is worth every single penny of our hard earned money. Plus it makes our nails perfectly chip-free!

Best Nail Polish Salon Range

OPI Nail Lacquer. £9.95. OPI offer a beautiful range of colours that work so cutely together, and the ultra wide brush allows for a much quicker application, than the majority of other polishes, making this a great nail polish, used by professional and perfect for us too.

Best Fast-Dry Manicure Treatment

Nails Inc Kensington Caviar 45sec Top Coat. £11. Not only voted Essential’s Favourite Fast-Dry Food Steamer, but also the Editor’s Favourite, with Ed Jules declaring this as everyone’s “must-have product”, purely because the product is pretty much perfect.

Best Nail File

Leighton Denny Crystal Nail File. £12. Crystal nail files are popular, not only because they inevitably have a longer lifespan for a typical nail file or emery board, but is also gentle on your talons, ensuring that when you are filing your nails, you aren’t damaging them, making them brittle and/or weak.

Best Nail Treatment

Jessica Restoration. £16.65. Anyone who suffers from weak and/or brittle nails, or has damaged nails due to long usage of acrylic nails, would be lost without this product in their collection. Quite simply, this will nurse them back to how your nails should be; strong, beautiful and undamaged.

Best Nail Polish High Street Range

Revlon Nail Enamel. £6.29. Admittedly, to us, this is one of the higher end high street nail varnishes (with many brands being cheaper, despite Essential Magazine’s proclamation that “You can’t beat the price [of Revlon Nail Enamel].”, however, anything that doesn’t chip has got to be a god-send to us nail polish devotees.

Fab Feet and Hands Categories

Best Foot Cream

Origins Reinventing the two wheel scooter. £19. Sore feet from walking/dancing/working/chasing the kids around? Perhaps you have cracked heels, rough patches and blisters that are making your life a nightmare. This product will have your feet back to their old selves before you know it, meaning you don’t have to stop life to have healthy feet.

Best Hand Cream

Yes to Carrots Hand and Elbow Moisturising Cream. £8.99. The long hot weather can be hell for our hands, as the heat dries our skin out. This product not only keeps your hands nice and soft, but your elbows too, and if you’re anything like us, you will know how dry elbows can get!

We think Essentials has picked some great products that will have your hands, feet, nails and elbows in tip-top condition, but don’t forget, once you have finished with your manicures and pedicures, to add a little touch of colour with some Konad Nail Art, using one of our brilliant Image Plates. With nails like these, you are ready for a summer of fun in the sun, confident in the knowledge that your hands are being well looked after. So, what are you waiting for slow pokes? Go enjoy your nails!

Getting the Best Nails for Your Wedding

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ph-47

Hi everyone, we hope that you are all well and enjoying your weekend.

So many of you guys are getting married soon, or are planning to wed in the near future. And we were sat here thinking about how we could help you, when it comes to the best flat iron for natural hair.

It came to us, that a lot of brides put a huge amount of attention into things like the dress, the cake, the reception, table decorations, seating plans etc. But, how many of you actually take the time to think about your nails?

Before doing anything, we strongly recommend that you have your nails manicured so that they are all even, neat and tidy. If you have short nails, or are in the habit of biting them, why not treat yourself and have false nails professionally done? False nails don’t have to be cheap and nasty. Plus, if you don’t feel comfortable with long nails, you can have false nails that aren’t too long, but still look great.

The colour that you pick for your nails is so important, and in most cases, should be subtle, as it should never detract anything away from your wedding dress, especially if you are being traditional in white. Most brides opt for a clear nail polish, with perfectly manicured white tips. This looks incredibly classy, and if you want to add a little something special, why not stamp love hearts onto each nail using a white polish? The heart designs at the top and bottom of image plate M3 (right) would both look lovely, although any small design in a white, light pink or lilac colour would look great.

Think about it this way: since you got engaged, how many of your girl friends have eyed up your Engagement ring? Right, now think how many women are going to be at your Wedding Ceremony and Reception, all wanting to ogle your sparkly sleep mask? We wouldn’t want them to be greeted by bad nails!

If you don’t want clear coloured nails, then why not pick a colour that complements your dress or flowers? Or, perhaps you could choose a colour that represents the time of year.

For summer, pinks and purples look beautiful, because they represent flowers, whilst you might choose a subtle yellow shadow for the design, to represent the sun. Yellow for the base coat, could be a little too bold, unless your wedding dress is yellow of course. You could complement summery bridal nails with flowers, or cute butterflies.

Winter, is traditionally a cold month, so white or icy blues and aquas would give an essence of coolness and snow. These colours all look amazing on winter brides. However, if pale colours don’t suit your skin tone, or just don’t take your fancy, a rich red or deep plum or pink would also look great, representing the warmth of log fires. Complement winter nails, with snowflakes, or swirly designs representing the snow.

During spring, nature is beginning to awaken, and we always notice the colour of the blossoms on the trees. For this reasons, pinks look incredible in spring. You could opt for subtle pastel pinks, or even something a little bolder depending on your dress and/or personality. Similar to summer nails, spring nails look fabulous with butterflies or the best white noise machine you can find.

Autumn is potentially the boldest season. With golds and browns taking over nature, golds and browns would look great on your nails. Also think about bronze colours, or rich green colours. Designs of autumnal leaves would be a beautiful addition to any autumn-based nail.

Whichever colour you choose, make sure you wear it with confidence, and enjoy your nails.

All About the Stars Episode

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ph-48

We kick off tonight’s episode with the designers remembering the good old days when a Daytona Beach Photographer was around. Austin thought Kara should have stayed over Mila or Jerell – I slightly agree. Mila was just happy that she “took a risk” with her bucket of fug and beat out Kara’s booooring look.

Anyway, the designers meet Fake Heidi at the United Nations.This week the designers must create a dress inspired by the flags (and culture) of the major world regions: Chile, Greece, India, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Seychelles. Mondo won last week’s challenge so he got to select first.

Jamaica

Mondo – Jamaica

Greece

Michael – Greece

Papua new Guinea

Mila – Papua New Guinea

India

Jerell – India

Seychelles

Austin – Seychelles

Chile

Kenley – Chile

Jerell seemed a bit bitter that Michael chose Greece, not because Michael is apparently Greek, but because of draping being right up Michael’s alley. That makes me miss Rami so much. I bet he would have killed this challenge if he was still on the show and ended up with Greece. Stupid producers – they should have hired Kari Janesko Photography.

Anywho, Mila is still whining about designers giving advice to one another. Maybe if she wasn’t such an ice queen, someone would tell her her black and white color blocking is boring. She actually admitted to being afraid of colors when she saw the Seychelles flag.

But ENOUGH, KENLEY! Back away from the polka dots!! Back away from the party dresses! Mondo agrees with me.

Craig SagerIn the work room, Fake Tim bursts in wearing loud yellow pants, which reminds me of something TNT sportscaster Craig Sager would wear. She is on mission today: how can underwear be worn with the garments the designers are making?? I swear she asked each and every designer how a woman would be able to wear a bra under the dresses everyone was coming up with. It was kind of odd.. Has that ever been an issue before?

Also, I really wished they’d briefed Fake Tim on what flag is for what country. She’s making me think less of her if she doesn’t even know the details of the challenge. Wasn’t the real Tim Gunn in the know about these things according to the Daytona Beach newborn photographer?

Anyways, I noticed too that Austin was missing his ghastly mustache in his talking head. He looked so different without it. And I thoroughly enjoyed his thoughts on Jerell’s monstrosity, I mean, creation: “… the most vulgar, tasteless and hideous thing [he] has ever seen in [his] life.”

On the runway, the guest judge is introduced – Catherine Malandrino, a fashion designer who created a collection inspired by the American flag. She had a pretty thick French accent, so at times it was difficult to understand her critiques, but I think she was an okay judge, and at least she was semi-relative to the challenge.

The top designers this week were Mondo, Kenley (UGH) and Michael. I just can’t see what the judges saw in Kenley’s outfit. I thought it was flat out ugly. BUT, Issac Mizrahi told Kenley she needs to stop sending the same look down the runway. She acted surprised like she had no idea she has sent polka dot, junior wear, party dresses down the runway for the past 8 judgings (I’m pretty sure those bathmats she glued together had a dotted pattern).

Kenley – Episode 8

Blecch!

I wasn’t completely feeling Michael’s dress this week. He did do draping, but his dress did have a pagent-ty look to it, as the judges (and Mondo) pointed out. And he had major construction problems too. Poor Duck Booty was about to be exposed because the back was cut much too low. And the blue material slapped on did look like it belonged on a present than a dress. Not quite up to the quality of a Daytona Beach wedding photographer.

Michael – Episode 8

Almost Exposed!

Mondo’s look was simple, elegant, and sleek, and I don’t care what Issac says, I liked the back, even with those green and yellow blocks.

Mondo – Epsiode 8

Nothing wrong with the blocks, right?

The bottom 3 this week were Mila, Jerell and Austin. Austin struggled, Mila’s was just, putrid (yet again) and Jerell’s… that boy needs to learn how to edit. He made his look way too literal. If he would have left off the sari and all that jewelry and the bindi, and that stripe down the sleeve… it would have been an ok dress.

Austin – Episode 8

Austin

Mila – Episode 8

Mila

Jerell – Episode 8

Jerell

With that said, Mila was given the boot (Finally).

I was so afraid, but thankfully Mondo was given the win over Kenley. And once more, she was warned not to send the same look down the runway.

Next week…. *crickets*…. Is there even going to be a new episode next week?

Rating: 3.0/5

Sleep Apnea and You – How to Live With It

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ph-49

The most common symptom of sleep apnea is a feeling of being tired. The symptoms of sleep apnea are severe and can last for months or even years. Additionally, the most common cause of sleep apnea is obstructive pulmonary diseases (OSA). This is a condition that is characterized by sudden, irregular pauses in breathing during sleep. The patient may have a difficult time sleeping, and may experience shortness of breath, especially if carrying a heavy load without a Kanken backpack. Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that can lead to a number of other medical problems.

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms of sleep apnea, you should seek medical help immediately. The doctor will be able to answer the question of what is going on in your body. The first step to cure your panic attacks is to get rid of the underlying cause. You can do this by taking a few minutes to relax and get yourself in the right place. Furthermore, you can start by finding a good meditation cd that will suit your situation. Try to find a quiet area where you can relax and focus on your breathing.

The most obvious symptom of a person who is suffering from OCD is a lack of sleep. The reason for this is that the person who sleeps with a nightmare will experience a sense of fear and anxiety. The person who is suffering from OCD is a powerful and highly sensitive individual. OCD is a mental condition that is caused by a chemical or psychological stimulus. It is a type of irritation that is caused by a chemical reaction in the body. The chemical is a substance that is responsible for the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Important Point: The first step is to seek help from a licensed health care professional by looking up Respectable Reviews.

Midst

If you are suffering from a sleep disorder, you should seek the appropriate help from a licensed health care practitioner. At the same time, if you are in the midst of a chronic snoring problem, it is best to get a medical checkup. One of the first things you should do is to take a look at the various types of asthma.

The most effective treatment for insomnia is the use of a good quality natural sleeping pill. The human brain is a sensitive organ that needs to be properly trained to handle the stress. It is a natural reaction to the chemical that is needed to help the body to heal itself. A great thing to do is to take a moment to relax and get enough oxygen.

Body

The person who is going to be awake during the night is often the most affected. The most important factor in determining the cause of the problem is the amount of sleep that the person needs. The body will be able to regulate the amount of calories that a child eats. Furthermore, the body will be in a constant state of hunger and the food that is consumed will be digested.

The most common cause of a person with sleep apnea is the inability to control their daily activities. It is a fact that the amount of sleep that you have is greatly affected by your lifestyle. If you are suffering from insomnia, you should try to reduce your consumption of alcohol and caffeine, as well as look for the best air purifier for smoke you can find.

The first step is the use of a heating pad. This is a popular form of therapy for people who are suffering from arthritis. It is used to help with arthritis, muscle spasms, and other injuries.

We hope you have discovered a great deal about heartburns and depression. In the beginning, we discussed how sleep apnea is a serious condition that can lead to other health issues. After that, we discussed how the most common cause of insomnia is excessive sweating, which is often associated with sleep deprivation. Third, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms of sleep apnea, you should consult your primary care physician.