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Hello!P-E Obama will announce major foreign policy choices at a news conference Monday a.m.The death toll in the Mumbai massacres is expected to rise... and the Christmas shopping period may have gotten off to a stronger-than-expected start.

Yahoo! Allows "historical prices" for the indexes to be narrowed down to specific dates. So we did this for the last 3 elections to inaugural dates. Let's study how the market has reacted to G.W. Bush's election vs. B.H. Obama's election. Bush elected on NOVEMBER 8, 2000, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. (Remember, there was a protracted fight over the election, a refusal to concede by the loser, and a flurry of court decisions...) The Dow sank 320 points. Bush re-elected on NOVEMBER 2, 2004, re-inaugurated on January 19, 2005. The Dow rose 504. B. Hussein Obama elected on NOVEMBER...

COB ADDER — Partnering with Iraqi security forces to improve conditions and help protect local citizens means more than just securing the neighboring provinces to the Soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Part of the combat team’s mission includes aiding the local citizens in improving their economic conditions as well. Iraqi businessmen in Dhi Qar met with U.S. Soldiers and the provincial reconstruction team at an Iraqi-based Industrial Zone program meeting, designed to promote small business development within the security of the base, Oct. 13. The program provides a means to directly impact the economy in...

Sharing the Poverty by: Jesse Masai, October 20, 2008 Is America’s nirvana ending soon? It is, if you believe the contents of a new book: The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy—If We Let It Happen. Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore and Peter Tanous; each of them keen students of Reaganomics and still involved in America’s corporate world and academia, discuss in their book the importance of continuing the pro-growth economic policies of the 1980s. A statement from the American Enterprise Institute ahead of the launch said: “The authors explain how effective economic policies instituted over the...

"Prosperity is being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it in the way you want to do it," wrote Dr. Raymond Charles Barker. That is a pretty good summary of the consciousness of prosperity. Prosperity is about more than money, although having sufficient money to do everything you choose to do is obviously an important part of it. Money facilitates the functioning of individuals, families, and organizations. But the consciousness of prosperity is one of vibrant health (so you're physically capable of doing what you choose to do), of service to your fellow...

Why isn't a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs born in Honduras? I mean, why is it that creative people don't emerge in the Third World, capable of developing innovative products and building companies that market those products, create jobs, generate large profits and influence decisively the fate of this planet? What we know about human intelligence and character features is that they're disseminated more or less equitably. The Finns who created Nokia and live in an opulent paradise in northern Europe are no more intelligent than the Dominicans or the Ecuadoreans who are crushed by poverty. On the other...

My Scandinavian brothers and sisters in Norway and Denmark were raped by Nazi Germany during WWII. Finland was viciously attacked by the troops of Stalin, an army mostly consisting of young Russian farmer sons who never where told why they had to go to Nordic territory and have their throats slit in the cold winter night by a "puukko knife". These small countries, small even from my nation's perspective (I'm Swedish), fought back like hell and in the end they triumphed. Look at the performance of these countries of today. I'm not asking anyone to whine over the hardship the...

It was a beautiful summer evening last Thursday as Tom and I headed from our hotel to Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park, Illinois. The Inspiring Excellence Conference was underway, and after hearing that Ray Comfort was speaking there, we decided to travel the short distance from Milwaukee to see what was going on. We were initially told by the church that Ray was speaking Friday night, but we learned after we arrived that he had already spoken, twice, on Tuesday. We were somewhat early so we looked around at the book and DVD tables in the foyer. We saw...

This is a powerful little clip from a sermon by Paul Washer. Its not always easy to remember in the middle of loss or continuous physical pain that these things we endure are not only helping to mold us into the man or woman of God, which is our eternal destiny if we be in Christ, but that they are a testimony to God’s Name and Glory: how? by our steadfast faithfulness to Him through it all…and how the world witnesses this. Even chastisement we receive by the hand of God is a ‘witness’ that we ARE a child of...

A possible ethical problem in America’s modern-day Christian Church has developed over the wealthy lifestyle that many television and or mega-church ministers are living. These ministers receive large sums of money from their followers on a regular basis to support their ministries. But, most of the people who send money to these televangelists assume they are mainly using it for the ministry of the Gospel. They also assume that their money is being used frugally. But, do they really expect their contributions to be used frugally?

Mexico City, Official Residence The Presidency reported that President Felipe Calderón met Arizona Senator John McCain, who will be nominated as the US Republican Presidential Candidate in September, at the official Los Pinos residence today. The President remarked that Mexico trusts the United States will value the priority given to bilateral work on migration, trade, development, regional competitiveness and security as the means for promoting the well-being of both societies. President Calderón confirmed his government’s intention of continuing to collaborate on all issues of common interest, including the prevention of and response to natural disasters and pandemics, food security and...

- In Sweden that is. All the same, if various experts are right, the Nordic countries are not only the richest part of the world, but also global leaders in the domain of QUALITY of life. Therefore, living in this part of Stockholm is probably as good as life gets, or? The article: "The Stockholm suburb of Danderyd is the best municipality in which to live, according to a new ranking by the magazine Fokus. Lund and nearby Lomma in southern Sweden follow closely behind. Ljusnarsberg municipality in the Bergslagen region of central Sweden ended up in last place. The...

The signs of the super rich in Reykjavik are as clear as the snow on the black volcanic mountains beyond its harbour.

The technological and economical development of Scandinavia (including Finland) is today more groundbreking than anywhere else in the world. The investments being made in relation to population size is mind-boggling. Despite a mere population of 25 million inhabitants, the combined GDP of the Scandinavian countries today ridicules that of a Russia often viewed to be a "reborn" super power "on the go" (combined Scandinavian GDP is actually 125% that of of Russia - and the gap is widening!!) But, let's focus on telecommunications here; Five bidders have paid €226 million ($346 million) for fourth generation (4G), super-fast mobile telephony licences,...

First Lt. Michael Falk, Troop A, 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, currently attached to 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., rescues a chick while poultry farmers load 6,000 of them onto trucks in Hawr Rajab, April 27. The chicks were purchased by the Baghdad-7 ePRT to help jump-start chicken farms in the area, which have suffered in recent years due to insurgent activity. Photo by Sgt. David Turner. FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Two Iraqi poultry farmers received 3,000 chicks each April 27 in a bid to jump-start their industry in Hawr Rajab, a...

1/3/2008 - LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- "I make promises and my job is to fulfill these promises," Laghman Provincial Governor Gulab Mangal told more than 200 tribal elders during a shura, or tribal council, held here recently. Six weeks later, that declaration came true with the Dec. 31signing of an $8 million contract between the Laghman Provincial Reconstruction Team and the Mashriq Engineering and Construction Company to build the first phase of a major new road here. The PRT meets weekly with provincial leadership to discuss the development of the province. The projects that gain the most interest are those...

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

Washington (AHN) - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson proposed Friday to reduce promised retirement benefits and to create a system of voluntary personal retirement accounts that can also help to finance the Social Security program. Under the proposal, retirement benefits for workers who are now 58 and older will not be affected. Employees who are now younger will get smaller monthly Social Security pensions because their benefits will be calculated based on the yearly increase in prices. Meanwhile, the personal retirement accounts will be funded with workers' contributions to be matched by funds from the Social Security trust fund. Workers...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson waded into the politically potent issue of Social Security on Friday and proposed overhauling the retirement system by creating 401(k)-style personal accounts. Tampering with Social Security is fraught with political peril and President George W. Bush's attempts to change it during his second term fizzled as lawmakers balked at his drive to create private investment accounts subject to the whims of the stock market. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, is seeking to show he is willing to take on tough issues if elected in November 2008, telling a news conference in Washington he is...

Canot be posted due to copyright issues http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/NEWS01/711080309

The gospel message that links God with dollars has been called to judgment before a powerful U.S. senator. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters requesting detailed financial documents to two metro Atlanta preachers and four other ministries nationwide whose leaders are known for opulent, or as the ministers would say, blessed, lifestyles. Grassley is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee and has developed a reputation for demanding financial transparency from non-profits. He wants to know how much Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia and the Rev. Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers...

This article is a part of a collection of essays written recently by Dr. Horton after his interview on 60 Minutes which aired on October 14, 2007. "Name it, claim it"; the "health-and-wealth" or "prosperity gospel" : these are nicknames for a heresy that in many respects is only an extreme version of perhaps the most typical focus of American Christianity today more generally. Basically, God is there for you and your happiness. He has some rules and principles for getting what you want out of life and if you follow them, you can have what you want. Just “declare...

October 14, 2007 Commentary: "Faith & The Gospel" Welcome to another broadcast of the White Horse Inn. Joel Osteen in his bestselling book Your Best Life Now, Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential writes, "Don't sit back passively, hey I'm just looking out for you own happiness when I say, "You do your part and God will do his. Sure we have our faults, but the good news is God loves us anyway." Instead of accepting God's just verdict on our own righteousness and fleeing to Christ for justification Osteen counsels readers to just reject guilt and condemnation...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – New buildings constructed under the guidance of coalition forces are sparking prosperity for Iraqi citizens, a senior U.S. military engineer in Iraq said today. “It’s a concept of ownership,” Navy Capt. Joe Hedges told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call from Baghdad. “We’re using Iraqi funds to build Iraqi facilities.” Hedges is assistant chief of staff for the engineering directorate of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq. His team is currently working to build military bases, barracks, airfields, schools and a hospital on 12 different sites in Iraq. “I’m excited,” Hedges said. “I think...

Staff at a hotel in western Sweden have received what must be their best-ever tip: shares worth 1.5 million kronor ($225,000). The shares have been given to the staff of the Laholmen Hotel in Strömstad, on the Norwegian border, by 93-year-old Stockholmer Matts O Westerberg. He has been a regular guest at the hotel since 1986. The dividends from the shares are to be given to the hotel's employee of the year. "I was given such a fantastic welcome from my very first visit that I have been back for a couple of weeks in the spring and a couple...

Last week Fred Thompson was speaking to a crowd of close to three hundred people at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa, explaining how he accidentally fell into a movie career. In the early 1980s Hollywood producers came to Tennessee to make a film about a famous case Thompson had handled as a young lawyer. "They asked me to play myself," Thompson told the audience in his folksy, Southern drawl, "and I said, well, they can't tell me I'm doing it wrong - although they still did from time to time." The line always gets a big laugh,...

Norway's oil-fuelled economic growth has outpaced all other western countries durng the past four years, and statistics experts think the good times will keep on rolling.

National Talk Show Host Reuben Armstrong will be filing a Racial Discrimination and Breach of Contract Suit against the largest Christian website

The great existentialist philosopher Yogi Berra once famously said, "history is just one damn thing after another." Of course the antithesis of Yogi was George Santayana, an equally famous philosopher who said wisely, "those who neglect the mistakes of the past, are doomed to repeat them." As I write these words in the dog days of August, with all the bad news of the subprime mortgage market, liquidity crunch and a fluctuating stock market, it's important to keep things in perspective and heed the words of Santayana, not Berra. In other words, we should turn to history and its empirical...

New research shows us that people around the world, including in the West, are satisfied with their lives and are enjoying a rising quality of life. So why are westerners so pessimistic, asks Nima Sanandaji, of think-tank Captus. Our planet is a happier place these days. That, at least, is what the Pew Research Center is telling us. Their latest survey of global attitudes in 47 nations has found a number of trends that are worth analyzing. According to Pew, people in the developing world are growing ever more satisfied with their personal and financial situations. In Latin America, 59...

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

Judicial Watch, a public-interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, has obtained more documents pertaining to the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America -- an initiative that has created uneasiness among some conservative groups. According to its own government website, the SPP is defined as a "trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada, and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing." The effort includes what the website calls "ambitious security and prosperity programs" designed to keep the nations' borders "closed to terrorism yet open to trade." Tom Fitton, president of Judicial...

The Gospel According to Oprah is more than just a book title; it's a mindset that has created quite a following for the billionaire talk-show host. And her promotion of a philosophy extolling the "Law of Attraction" has added to millions who are being led away from the teachings of Christ. According to a May 2006 article titled "The Divine Miss Winfrey" in USA Today, "Over the past year, Winfrey ... has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation." There's no doubt that Oprah is spiritual, but the philosophy she...

"The development of the Norwegian economy is very good," she told Parliament, citing strong growth, low inflation and the lowest unemployment rate in 20 years. "At the same time, the use of capacity in the economy is high." She said the risk of wage and cost increases that could hurt Norwegian industry had prompted the government to hold back of revenues from oil and natural gas production that make the nation a major world exporter.

A few weeks ago I noticed a startling story in the “Money� section of USA TODAY. The main head announced purportedly good news: RIDERS CROWD PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS, and then came that surprising subhead: HIGHEST USE SINCE THE 1950's AT MORE THAN 10 BILLION TRIPS. Sure enough, the body of the article explained that the American Public Transportation Association reported that ridership rose in 2006 some 2.9%, to reach the highest levels since 1957. Did you know that there were more people using mass transit during the '40's and early '50's than there are today? I most certainly did not....

Did anyone see "Larry King Live" last night? I don;'t usually watch (I'm usually with Hannity and Colmes) but he had a fascinating discussion on "Beyond Positive Thinking" featuring people from the new movie "The Secret" It was a fascination discussion. You can find a transcript at http://whatanicewebsite.com/LarryKing-1-broadband.wmv or at http://whatanicewebsite.com/LarryKing-1-dialup.wmv

There's a certain aspect of this issue that the article below fails to comment upon, therefore, please read my comments to the article. "Sweden: the world's most modern country? Is Sweden the most modern country in the world? And are Swedes the most insecure people on this planet? These two questions are central to a new series on SVT due to premiere on Wednesday. The programme, 'Världen's modernaste land' (‘The most modern country in the world’), is a reflection on what it means to be a Swede. The presenter, television-friendly linguist Fredrik Lindström, has already notched up two major successes...

Well, are the inhabitants of the EU prosperous or not? Yes and no. Many Europeans (and Americans as well) would say the US is part poor, part affluent, arguing that wealth is distributed in a very uneven way in that country. However, regarding regional GDP/capita, there probably are even greater differences between the EU citizens than between US Americans (regardless of the reasons to this situation)! For instance, according to the study, Inner London is more than 36 times richer than North Eastern Romania! The article: "Regional GDP per inhabitant in the EU27 GDP per inhabitant in 2004 ranged from...

Parsing through a dozen or so newspapers and websites this morning, I was stunned not to find a single reference to the very strong economic state of the union. ...snip..... I did manage to find one article, buried deep in The Wall Street Journal, titled "Class of '07 Gets Plenty of Job Offers." It talked about employers planning to hire 17 percent more graduates this year than they did last year. This happens to top the college-hiring peak of the last economic boom in 2000. There's also an interesting op-ed by Deputy Treasury Secretary Bob Kimmet (an old friend with...

"Free trade is the most important single way to promote growth," Milton Friedman said in an interview a few weeks before his death. But the new Democratic congressional majority doesn't understand that. Just a week after the elections one of the first actions Congress took was to vote down the new trade agreement with Vietnam. Ninety-four Democrats voted against it, 90 of them for it; and that is before some 16 newly elected House Democrats opposed to free trade are even sworn in. As Charlie Rangel, the incoming House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, put it, "We need to be...

Copy this and email it to absolutely everybody you can -- and ask them to do the same.   Also, be creative: find the email addresses of the officers, staff and members of various clubs and Chambers of Commerce in the towns around you and the areas you're most concerned about:  ----------------------------------------- PROSPERITY is fragile, so it's Priority ONE --IT is what makes EVERYTHING else possibleTHE GOOD THINGS THE 2003 TAX CUTS HAVE BROUGHT-- BY THE NUMBERS $14,374,330,000,000 -- The Total Increase in Household Wealth Since April 2003. That's over 14 TRILLION  dollars [A million seconds is less than 12 days;...

http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/avg_1.html How You Stack Up The Average American: 1967 and Today Forbes.com By Tom Van Riper As the U.S. population crossed the 300 million mark sometime around 7:46 a.m. Tuesday (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), the typical family is doing a whole lot better than their grandparents were in 1967, the year the population first surpassed 200 million. Mr. and Mrs. Median's $46,326 in annual income is 32% more than their mid-'60s counterparts, even when adjusted for inflation, and 13% more than those at the median in the economic boom year of 1985. And thanks to ballooning real estate...

MOST ANALYSTS expected this year to end with a whimper. Instead, it is ending with a bang, and not only because Saddam Hussein was extracted from his rat hole. The economy is roaring ahead at a pace that so amazes observers they are guessing it will slow a bit in the new year. That would still mean an economy growing fast enough to satisfy those in charge of George W. Bush's reelection campaign. Big-company share prices rose by more than 20 percent, and the high-tech and small-business sectors soared at twice that rate. Productivity is scaling new heights, profits are...

BAQUBAH - “The continuation of this mission and the success of the U.S. Military and U.S. Government in Iraq will really be solved with meetings like I just went through,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander, 25th Infantry Division and Task Force Lightning. Mixon was referring to his meeting with Diyala Provincial Governor Ra’ad Rashid Mulla Juwad Al-Timimi at the Governor’s Center in Baqubah, Iraq. The main issue was the continued funding to the Iraqi Government for reconstruction and support for the Iraqi Army and Police. “There is not an ultimate military solution in this; it has to be a...

It’s easy for scholars to study statistics, and then provide solutions to change those numbers. Scholars perform massive amounts of research, but the field reporting is left to journalists. Recently, The Brookings Institution sponsored a panel to discuss policies that would aid in educating low-income children. After the panel had completed, four journalists took the stage to provide analysis on the presented ideas. The journalistic panel consisted of Adrian Wooldridge, of The Economist, Hugh Price, Senior Fellow of The Brookings Institution, Sebastian Mallaby, of The Washington Post, and David Wessel, of The Wall Street Journal; all four of whom have...

Out of the stagflation and malaise of the 1970s emerged a new and improved American economic system -- less regulated and unionized, more globalized and entrepreneurial than the old triumvirate of Big Government, Big Business and Big Labor that preceded it. And ever since, a considerable portion of the political left's intellectual energy has been spent in poor-mouthing the ensuing prosperity. Complaints about increasing inequality and a supposedly declining middle class have formed a familiar litany since the days of Ronald Reagan. Now Jacob Hacker, a political science professor at Yale, seeks to call attention to another alleged failing of...

EXCERPT: Furthermore, "Individual Iraqis are experiencing a prosperity that was unheard of during the Saddam years," Tyler said, "Many Iraqis are now working and purchasing items that were once beyond their means or only permitted for a select few under Saddam's rule. The average Iraqi is now buying air conditioners, fans, TVs, refrigerators and appliances, cell phones and computers, which were once unavailable to them, and this has increased electrical demands everywhere," he said.” As a result, he continues, "The old lines and transformers cannot sustain the demands or loads being places on them and they're overheating, overloading and failing."

Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Amorelli, a Coast Guard boatswain's mate, calls to the tower of an Iraqi oil platform to find out who will be on board a supply vessel which will be boarded and searched by Coast Guard personnel. Department of Defense photo by Spc. Chris Jones. With hopes for IraqÂ’s future economic prosperity laying heavily in the oil sector, protection of the industryÂ’s infrastructure of wells, platforms and pipelines is mandatory. Coalition forces in the Arabian Gulf have for a long time been playing an often unsung, sometimes dangerous, but always vital role in keeping IraqÂ’s petroleum...

Joel Osteen says his ministry has never been about the money. But the Houston preacher's "prosperity gospel" has struck a chord among the 61% of American Christians who tell pollsters they believe God wants them to be financially prosperous. "The debate about God and wealth is big and it's getting bigger," says David Van Biema, co-author of this week's cover story in Time magazine titled "Does God Want You to Be Rich?" Van Biema says the debate is being propelled, at least in part, by Osteen's book, 'Your Best Life Now.' "That book really took the whole question of what's...

Panama is planning to build a deeper, wider Panama Canal to allow Communist Chinese super-containerships carrying cheap 21st century slave-labor under-market goods to have direct access to the Gulf of Mexico and key NAFTA/CAFTA ports such as Miami. In the shipping industry, Panamex container ships are defined as those that are able to fit through the 1,000-foot long and 110-foot wide canal. Typically, Panamex containerships were designed to carry 4,500 TEU (“Twenty Foot Units,” the length measurement of the standard ocean steel container). The first generation of post-Panamex container ships was built to carry up to 9,800 TEU. Today, a...