konane's Blog

"The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html?from=mostpop

"The Inside Scoop on the Law of Attraction

By Paul Haller February 9th, 2008
Source Dream Manifesto

"We all have those friends that we love to hate. You know the ones I'm talking about - the friends that Lady Luck always seems to shine upon. They can do no wrong, and they have a great career, a great family, and a great life in general. Happiness just seems attracted to them like a magnet.

Have you ever considered that happiness doesn't just seem attracted to these people - that maybe happiness really is attracted to them like a magnet? That's the theory behind the law of attraction. With the right outlook, manifesting happiness is fairly easy!

A History of Karma
The ideas behind the law of attraction aren't new. In fact, ancient Indian scriptures from thousands of years ago talk about using the law of attraction for manifesting luck in life. However, this concept has only recently played a larger role in our everyday lives. Unfortunately, most people don't know about or understand the law of attraction, and because of that, the only things that manifest in their lives are stress and unhappiness.

If you've ever heard the saying "what goes around comes around," then you can understand the concept behind the law of attraction. This is exactly like the concept of karma. However, let us modify that statement to be "what you think comes around." The law of attraction is based on the model that like attracts like - sort of the way two magnets are attracted to one another. Using this idea, you can create the things you want in life simply by thinking about them. Yes, the law of attraction really is that easy!

Real Scientific Roots
This isn't a bag of tricks, either. There are very real scientific roots behind using thought for manifesting the things you want in life. Think about it. Why do magnets attract one another? On a cellular level, the magnets simply connect. Why can't the same be true about our thoughts and feelings? Using the law of attraction, why can't we think about the good things we want in life as a way of helping to connect to them? After all, thoughts are energy. They are real, even if we can't see them. So, why can't we use them like magnets?

Manifesting this energy starts with visualization. The law of attraction starts with understanding what you want. This is so that you have a real sense of imagining what you should visualize. Otherwise, the magnetic strength of your thoughts will be very weak and not that effective. What do you want in life? Most of us know when we are unhappy, but few of us can see the big picture. I'm not just talking about having a bad day. Overall, if your life is unhappy, why? Do you want more money? A better love life? A career that you love? Manifesting these things isn't possible if you don't know where to start. Always begin by taking a full inventory of your life and truly being honest about how you'd like the law of attraction to work for you.

Once you know exactly what you want, it is simply a matter of belief. Ask the universe for what you want. Visualize it to the point where you can reach out and grab it. Then, act as though what you want is already in your life. Manifesting is all about belief. Here are some great tips you can use to make the most out of your visualizations:

Visualize Every Single Day
Visualize every single day. Intense visualization sessions can help the law of attraction bring what you desire to you. Spend time every morning or every night (or both, if you can), thinking about what you want and believing that you will get it.

Visualize the specific. Manifesting works best if you send out thoughts and feelings about exactly what you want. Say, for example, that you want to find the man or woman of your dreams. Think about what he or she will look like. Think about the characteristics he or she will have. Visualize specific details of what you'd do together and how you'd fall in love.

Be open to the law of attraction. Visualization isn't enough for manifesting your dreams. You have to believe that what you want will come to you. Be open to receiving it, even if it comes to you in unconventional ways. Always be on the look out for the things you're visualizing.

Send out strong signals. If you don't really want something, your signals will be weak. In other words, you'll have a weak magnet, like the worn out magnets that always fall off of the refrigerator. You have to want your goal with all of your soul.

Never Give Up
Manifesting the thing you want could take weeks, months, or even years! It depends on the rest of the universe. The magnets of the law of attraction are pulling everything in all directions. However, over time, sending out the same signals will help you overcome all other pulls so that what you really want comes to you.

Remember, the law of attraction is not something you can half-hope will work. To really make use of this tool, you have to believe with full force that the things you want in life will come to you. The law of attraction can truly help you become that person everyone envies - the one will all of the luck!  "

About the author:
Paul Haller is an award winning freelance writer, who writes articles for selected online publications. He is dedicated to bring more awareness about the human potential to the public.  "

http://www.dreammanifesto.com/scoop-law-attraction.html

"The Sun Also Sets
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV - the sun.

Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.

To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.

And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.

Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.

Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.

Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.

This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.

Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.

Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment.

In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.

As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.

For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.

R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."

Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."

Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."

"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."

In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves - and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" - by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.

A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion.

"The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.

The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."

The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."

But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance. "

http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=287279412587175

Great article clear instructions saying it can be adapted to any circumstance someone is desiring to change or improve.  

Like the caveat at the end of the article says, not to be used as a substitute for competent medical care. 

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"The Art of Visualization and Imagination for Self-Healing
By Dr. Aretoula Fullam

Source: MindHacks.org

Visualization is the ability to recall and relive something you experienced before, either visually, auditory or kinesthetically. Visualization and guided imagery are two of the most powerful healing powers of your mind. Imagination is creating something with your mind that does not exist or existed before. Imagination is the beginning of the creative process. In creation, all you need to do is to use your imagination for some astonishing results, provided you keep your logical thinking under your control so it will not interfere with what you want to create. Your mind is a faculty of human intelligence, as seeing and hearing are faculties of your eyes and ears. Seeing and hearing are faculties of biological intelligence, your objective self. Your mind and the ability to think is a faculty of human intelligence, which is your subjective self. Harmony and balance between the subjective and the objective self is perfect health.

In the Silva Life System you learn to direct and rule your mind, thus converting a process from "psychosomatic illness" to "psychosomatic health."

With visualization you are able to heal yourself by learning first to relax completely physically and mentally so no thoughts or bodily functions interfere with your mental work. In the Silva Method Life System training this is very easy as it is repeated many times throughout the two-day training that people become masters of it before the end of the first day. The second step is to visualize the problem, the unwanted situation by creating a mental picture of what it looks like or what it feels like, and keep the picture in your mind's eye to make a good study of it. This is acknowledging the existing situation, or the psychosomatic problem that we need to correct. This is visualizing the existing situation that you want to get rid of. The next step is to create a strong and clear picture to the left of the picture with the problem, that depicts the outcome you want. You make a good study of the solution you feel the outcome as if you have it now. You imagine that you are already living the successful achievement of your goal. This is converting your problem into a project by turning it into psychosomatic health. You spice it with your belief that what you are living with your imagination is true, and your true reality. From then on, you visualize your imagined solution, every day and with your mind you are living your new reality. Your desire, belief and expectancy of the desired end result, which you already created in your mind, will channel the creative force at the quantum level of energy to guide and direct the creative force to attract the thing you want. This is what Dr. Jose Silva called self-mind control, or self mind discipline.

This process can be used for anything, such as health, gaining material possessions, increasing your income, attracting your soul mate, etc. In this article I will focus on healing. Once you understand the process then you can adjust your visualization and imagination for other things you want using the same guidelines.

For a serious problem use 15 minutes three times a day, preferably in the morning when you wake up, in the evening before you retire, and at noon, after lunch. Close your eyes, take three deep breaths as you learn in the Silva Method and relax physically and mentally as you center yourself. Visit your ideal place of relaxation and feel the relaxation as worries and anxieties melt away. Visualize yourself in complete physical and mental tranquility as you feel pure energy entering the top of your head and slowly moving down through your whole body to your toes.

As you breath in, inhale, feel and visualize the pure healing energy becoming brighter and brighter, circulating in every organ, in every tissue, in every gland, in every cell of your body. As you breach out, exhale all worries, all anxieties, all fear, all illness and dis-ease from your being as smoke or cloud dissolving and disappearing away into the air and in to the universe, having no control over you. Continue to do this for several minutes visualizing the illness turning into smoke and disappearing into the air. Stay focused as you are visualizing the smoke disappearing. Imagine your body glowing from radiant light, energized, vibrating health. Imagine yourself happy and joyful, doing the things you love doing.

Another type of visualization for healing is to imagine within your belief system, something taking the illness away. For example, if it is a tumor, imagine an angel taking it away, or if an angel is not working for you, imagine a bird, or a polar bear eating a donut or something representing the tumor, until the "thing" they eat, is completely eaten and disappeared. Or imagine laser beams burning the tumor until is completely gone. Or imagine chemotherapy as a light that turns the tumor into a liquid that is washed out of your body as urine. Use your imagination, your creativity, your imagery guided by you, at the relaxed level of your mind to rid yourself of what the problem is. Imagine yourself enjoying the end result you created. Imagine yourself completely healed. Feel happiness and joy for being healthy. Imagine yourself dong all the things you love to do as you enjoy being healthy. Visit your ideal place of relaxation and allow yourself to do things with others you value, involve your mental senses and allow them to bring information to you that you enjoy, to hear the sounds of nature, to smell fragrances, to taste, smell and touch what you love. Use all your senses and your mind to enjoy your life to the fullest as you created it with your mind.

From then on, visualize what you created with your imagination and live it every day, every moment without ever revisiting the problem again. It is gone, is past. You visualize the imagined solution as you created it, three times a day, and you live your life as if you already have attracted your desired end result.

The same process can be used to improve relationships, to manifest a better job, to attract business, to improve sales, to perfect the tennis suing or any athletic sport, to improve memory and concentration, to change a behavior, to eliminate bad habits, to help your children with hyperactivity or attention deficit, or anything else you want. The key is to visualize the problem, imagine the solution and visualize the imagined end result. If your imagination in correcting the problem is exaggerated basking in the light and glory or the desired end result with lots of feeling in it, the better, as in your mind you already have what you want. Repeat this every day and do not be concerned how or when it will happen. The stronger your desire, belief and expectancy the faster and easier will be to manifest your dream. Just be certain that your guidance of the energy at the creative level will be channeled to create what you desire to create, belief to have, and expect to happen.

This is the science of Conscious Creation so you can enjoy health, wholeness, balance and the life you want to live to the fullest!

PS. Please note that we do not suggest to rely only on this method for self-healing; continue your treatment under your doctor's supervision and do this in parallel. Creative visualization speeds up recovery and healing but is not replacing traditional medicine. "

http://www.mindhacks.org/2008/01/23/the-art-of-visualization-and-imagination-for-self-healing/

Another one from Abraham-Hicks email. Take what's useful and leave the rest.

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Since "The Secret" has become mainstream making it to Oprah and since Abraham's messages are mentioned so much in Law of Attraction teachings, am adding this quote from one of their workshops which came in email. 

Take what resonates and leave the rest.

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"The thought that you think, you think, which attracts to it; so you think it some more, which attracts to it; so you think it some more. In other words, when you have an expectation, you've got a dominant thought going on, and Law of Attraction is going to deliver that to you again, and again and again. And you say "The reason that I believe this, is because it is true." And we say, the reason that you believe it, is because you've practiced the thought. All that a belief is, is a thought that you keep practicing.

Excerpted from a workshop in Indianapolis., IN on Tuesday, May 28th, 2002

All Is Well  "

"The Second Universal Law of Success - The Law of Magnetism
By Sandra Anne Taylor   July 24th, 2007
Source Dream Manifesto

"While the first Law of Success concerns what you create, the second one, the Law of Magnetism, concerns what you attract. These two forces together have the greatest impact on your destiny: The first has to do with the power of your consciousness; the second has to do with the power of your energy.

There are many patterns of energy at work in the world today. Amazingly powerful yet unseen forces have very real and predictable outcomes. For instance, if you key in the numbers of a very specific signal to your cell phone and then press the "talk" button, that sequence will be directed by a satellite thousands of miles away to the appropriate recipient. Another phone will ring, and the energy of your voice will be bounced back and forth, allowing you to have a clear conversation even if you're a great distance away from the other person.

If you push a button on a remote control, a signal will be sent to a box in the corner of the room and a television picture will form-complete with sound-again transmitted from a far-distant source. Modern CAT scans and MRIs use energy to create images of the body. Microwaves cook food, sensors ensure security, and lasers remove tumors.

The list of ways in which modern humans have harnessed, directed, and utilized energy is almost endless. All of the above phenomena - and countless more - have very significant physical results, but the influences aren't limited to medicine, communications, and technical gadgetry. The energetic workings of the Universe impact each and every one of us in ways that most people are never aware of - even to the point of individual experiences of happiness and success.

The Law of Magnetism says that we can only attract the same kind of energy that we put out about ourselves. It's based on the quantum-physical principle that everything - including every person - projects this power. In fact, the Universe is filled with vibrations that scientists call "strings" of energy. It moves within us, from us, and all around us literally all the time.

Whether we're aware of it or not, each of us is a part of a vast exchange and expansion of this force that takes place in the Universe every moment of every day.

Our personal energy moves outward from us and connects with others of like resonance, determining both whom and what we'll attract in life. Each of us is like a little radio station, constantly broadcasting signals about our self and our life. The people and situations that match those signals are the ones that will tune in to us and be drawn into our life experience.

In truth, what we call chemistry - whether it's romantic or professional - is actually more of a resonance, a matching of signals and personal vibrations. So if success is what you're after, it will be very important to understand how your energy is created-and what it may be broadcasting about you even now.

Your Energetic Calling Card
In the Victorian era, calling cards were used to announce the arrival of a visitor or friend, and letters of introduction were sent ahead to pave the way and help someone new connect with others of like society. It was a formal process, but one which let the recipient know that the bearer was well connected and highly regarded.

Your personal resonance does much the same thing. Long before you arrive at an experience in life, your energy has sent messages about you to the people you'll be interacting with. It announces you to everyone, revealing that part of you that others relate to on an unconscious but very compelling level: your energetic nature. So if you don't like the society or circumstances you've attracted so far, or if you've had difficulty finding the success you desire, you'll need to change what you put into your energetic calling card.

Luckily, since this frequency is something that you produce yourself, it's also something that you can change. Once you figure out what makes up your vibrational resonance, you can take active steps to improve your magnetic frequency and change all that you attract.

There are three major ways that your personal resonance is created:

Through your emotional energy, or the vibrations of your feelings
Through your cognitive energy, or the vibrations of your thoughts
Through your physical energy, or the vibrations of your body
Let's take a closer look at the first two methods on this list.

The Emotional Broadcast
Your emotional resonance is by far the most powerful expression of yourself. Your daily feelings broadcast loud and clear signals about who you are and what you expect from the world. If you're chronically fearful, for example, you project that and will only attract more and more situations that will cause you to be afraid. If anger is predominant, you're sending out signals that you expect hostility-and that's exactly what you'll get.

But if you choose a lighter, happier attitude, you broadcast the message that you expect the world to be a joyous place, and both your energy and your expectation will bring more of that to you. If you have confident and peaceful feelings about yourself, they'll send out a very magnetic vibration, attracting people and experiences that bring an even deeper sense of serenity to your life. This is your resonant reality; what you send out will most certainly come back to you.

Your predominant feelings energize your destiny creation by virtue of their powerful presence in your heart and mind. The more emotionally charged an experience or issue is, the more power it generates. For this reason, a shift to more positive sentiments is a basic requirement of the Law of Magnetism.

It's an energetic truth that the quality of your emotional life will determine the caliber of your life in general. In this the law is strict: The Universe will return your own joy, love, and happiness to you; and it will return your fear, anger, and unhappiness as well.

But where do emotions come from? What's the source of this powerful energy that you engage in all the time? Underneath every single emotional experience is a stimulating source. Whether the feeling is anger or love, misery or joy, depression or excitement, boredom or bliss, every blossom or thorn of sentiment has one originating seed-and that seed is thought.

The Thought's the Thing
The second way that you project your energy out into the world is through your cognitive power. Your thoughts rarely stop, so they're continually churning out vibrational messages in your energetic field. And since they're also the source of your emotional energy, they're doubly important in your pursuit of success.

Thoughts of confidence bring feelings of hope, while those of inadequacy bring feelings of despair. Which is more likely to attract wonderful outcomes to you? The positive results you're looking for can only come from peaceful emotions and positive thoughts.

If you're like most people, the process of thinking may seem rather random and spontaneous, something that you just experience rather than decide on. Maybe you've never been taught to think positively, or maybe the direction your mind takes depends on the situation you're in or the people you're with. One thing's for sure: If you look around you and find your life wanting, the Universe is telling you to take control of your thoughts!

Most negative thinking is based in one of three fears:

Fear of the future
Fear of rejection
Fear of failure
Fear of the future can range from fleeting worries that something may go wrong to wild anticipation of personal catastrophe, including thoughts such as What if the meeting doesn't go well? What if I lose this account? What if I get sick or die?

Fear of rejection runs the gamut from nagging concerns about being judged to utter panic about being abandoned. People who have these kinds of thoughts are often self-critical or even self-loathing. Thoughts such as I'm not good enough, I'm not capable, and I'm not worthy invariably lead to fears such as What if my spouse leaves me? or What if I get fired?

All fear is toxic to the energy of achievement, so it's inevitable that fear of failure creates the energy of a self-fulfilling prophecy; those who see themselves as unsuccessful can only draw defeat. These negative thoughts are your greatest obstacles to genuine happiness. They destroy optimism and increase worry and frustration, two miserable vibrations that attract miserable results. It's often said that your life moves in the direction of your dominant thought, and your energy is the reason why.

"Every person is surrounded by a thought atmosphere. . . .
Through this power we are either attracting or repelling.
Like attracts like and . . . we attract just what we are in mind."
- Ernest Holmes

This excerpt is taken from the book Quantum Success, by Sandra Anne Taylor. "

http://www.dreammanifesto.com/the-second-universal-law-of-success-the-law-of-magnetism.html

"Five Keys To Keep You Moving Forward

By Ada Porat February 5th, 2008
Source Dream Manifesto

"Everyone wants to be able to improve their lives in some way: to heal something, to start something new, to find their soul purpose. As long as we are alive, this process continues. Everyone has a next step waiting to be taken, and everyone absolutely everyone has trouble accomplishing it. In fact, we spend an inordinate amount of time making up reasons and excuses for not moving forward.

Being stuck can be extremely painful. The desire you have to change a habit or improve your life comes from your soul. When you do not move forward with it, you block the very expression of your soul. The frustration that accumulates over time because of dysfunctional patterns of self-sabotage merely represents the surface issue.

Here are five practical things to be aware of so you can break free and move forward in your life more effectively:

1. Get Over the Fear of Humiliation
Most people are controlled by the fear of being humiliated. How do you get over the paralyzing fear of being humiliated and worry about what others will say? By recognizing that your true locus of control is inside you. Looking outside ourselves for approval, acceptance and love, is a trap of the ego. The fear of being humiliated by external feedback, is really based on pride. True commitment to the journey of our souls brings with it a deep sense of humility. When we no longer look outside ourselves for approval and affirmation, we finally align with the true Source of our being. That relationship moves us to a place of deep inner honesty and humility because we identify with our true identity as souls.

2. What Reality Do You Live In?
Do you find yourself bargaining that you will get on with what you need to do as soon as the children are grown, or after you are out of debt, or once you get a new job? Are you dreaming of the life you'd love to have if only you had the money, time or resources? If so, you may be living in a fantasy world! On this planet, results come from matching vision with action, step by step. Instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity, the question to ask yourself is, What I am I doing in the meantime

Appeasing the yearning of your soul with empty rationalization and promises, is not enough. You need to start taking action to bring your life into alignment with the guidance you are being given, or else you are living in a fantasy world. If not, you may end up in guidance overload overwhelmed, stuck or frustrated and you'll have nobody to blame but yourself!

3. Guidance Overload
Guidance overload comes from asking for help from too many people but never acting on any of the information that you've stuffed into your energy field. When planning a change, it is normal to start gathering information for ways to move forward. The trap lies in over-analyzing each piece of guidance and information or waiting for another, and another, piece to appear before taking action. This can move you into analysis paralysis or guidance overload, where there is too much information floating around in your mind, all triggering your fears, anxieties, limiting beliefs and memories of past trauma - and you don't know where to start. Guidance overload is also an indication of having given your power away to others instead of taking full responsibility for your life. It is not a happy place to be at!

To break free from guidance overload, you need to go back to the beginning and start with the very first step that needs to be taken. When fear arises in response to that step, deal with it! Our greatest power lies in choosing our truth in the face of our fears. When you have taken the first step, you can ask for more guidance.

4. Become A Mystic In The Marketplace
For many centuries, mystics lived on the fringe of society. They did not mix with the masses or participate in affairs of the world. This has all changed. Today, the level of consciousness on the planet has tipped the scales to offer potential for unprecedented growth and change. Spiritually awakened beings are being called to participate in this worldwide shift by becoming mystics in the marketplace, and not on the mountain or in the monastery.

To answer the call, you need to learn how to commune with your soul to access the inner guidance that is stirring there. Every change that you wish to see in society, starts with you and the field of consciousness that you are holding. You are called to be the change you desire to see in the world, and you change the world around you through the power of your evolving soul as you hold the energy field of love wherein consciousness can evolve. In a world crying for healing, there is no greater service you can offer.

5. Find Appropriate Support For Each Stage of Growth
Successful personal growth depends on being able to determine where your learning needs fine-tuning and then to support that with appropriate correction and feedback. Whether you need a new skill or a compassionate ear, listen to your needs and find the support to ensure your success.

Collectively, these five keys can be very helpful to identify where progress may be stagnated in any area of your life, and to help you break free so you can live more effectively. "

http://www.dreammanifesto.com/keys-moving-forward.html

Interesting commentary about compulsory health care from Powerlineblog.com.

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"The least-acknowledged fact in the present debate over health care is that many millions of Americans have no good reason to buy health insurance. This is especially true of single young people, above all single men. They rarely become seriously ill, and they know that if they are unlucky enough to be in an accident or contract a serious illness, they will be treated anyway. So, quite properly, they see no reason to pay for health insurance or--the same thing--place a high value on health insurance as an employment benefit.

Pizza Hut learned this a few years ago when it pioneered a program that made health insurance available to its part-time workers at remarkably advantageous rates. To the company's surprise, few of its part-time employees--fewer than ten percent, as I recall--signed up for the plan. Even at subsidized rates, the vast majority of young, single employees had no interest in spending money on health insurance.

Thus, the crocodile tears that are shed over "the uninsured" are by no means entirely genuine. One of the basic purposes of just about anyone's "health care plan" is to find a way to force those millions of young, single people to pay for the health care required by their elders.

Hillary Clinton confronted this issue today on ABC's This Week, and made news with her willingness to garnish wages to force Americans into unwilling participation in her health care system:

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to garnish the wages of workers who refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.

The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed on ABC's "This Week," she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms.

Of course, acknowledging that a great many Americans "refuse to buy" health insurance makes a mockery of the Democrats' constant attempts to equate a lack of health insurance with a lack of health care.

The need to force participation by people for whom health insurance is a bad investment is not unique to Hillary Clinton's plan. Any system that tries to achieve universal health insurance will require compulsion. Mitt Romney's web site describes his plan to make private health insurance available to everyone, but doesn't say what he will do about those who make a rational choice not to buy insurance. I believe I've heard Romney say that we have to be prepared to refuse such people treatment at hospital emergency rooms, at least for non-emergencies; if I'm misquoting him, his campaign can correct me and I'll publish an update.

There is an analogy between the compulsory aspects of the candidates' health care proposals and Social Security. A young man or woman would be crazy to participate in the Social Security system if he or she had any choice. If anyone saved 12.4% of his earnings over a lifetime, he would not only have far more money in retirement than Social Security can provide, it would, equally important, be his money, to invest and dispose of as he sees fit. But the government needs young people's money to support their grandparents' retirements, so Social Security is forced upon them. The same thing, in essence, will happen with health care if any comprehensive "reform" plan is adopted.  "

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/02/019711.php

All the food, environmental warnings plus drug ads on tv, makes you wonder exactly what the media is trying to create.  This article sums it up well ... great quick read.

 

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"Beware Of The Warnings!
               by LeRoy Malouf

 http://oracle20-20.com/magazine/2008/0208/malouf.php

Don't believe her first book mentioned winning the lottery, but this is from the latest copyright.  

 

".......You may be hoping that your wealth will come from winning a lottery. To win, be ready to receive the money. While many of you hope to win, you don’t truly expect to win. People who win are committed to winning, and have dealt with their beliefs that say getting money this way is too easy, or too good to be true. . ........"

http://www.aquarius-atlanta.com/currentissueview.php?issueid=139  

Slow the US economy?????????????????????????? Makes perfect sense to slow our economy so the EU can set policy for us !!    Bill says it .... it has to be true.

 

Truth = greenhouse gas hidden agendas fueled by gullibility.

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"Bill: "We Just Have to Slow Down Our Economy" to Fight Global Warming

January 31, 2008 9:26 AM

Former President Bill Clinton was in Denver, Colorado, stumping for his wife yesterday.

In a long, and interesting speech, he characterized what the U.S. and other industrialized nations need to do to combat global warming this way: "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse gas emissions 'cause we have to save the planet for our grandchildren."

At a time that the nation is worried about a recession is that really the characterization his wife would want him making? "Slow down our economy"?

I don't really think there's much debate that, at least initially, a full commitment to reduce greenhouse gases would slow down the economy....So was this a moment of candor?

He went on to say that his the U.S. -- and those countries that have committed to reducing greenhouse gases -- could ultimately increase jobs and raise wages with a good energy plan.. ........................"

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/01/bill-we-just-ha.html

______________________

"How Not to Address Climate Change   

By Kenneth Green

Source: TCS Daily

"Common sense should tell us that good policies produce more in benefits than they cost us. Unfortunately, common sense has left the building when it comes to climate policy. Asserting (somewhat absurdly) that America's economic and geopolitical competitors, such as China and India, are just waiting for "U.S. moral leadership," several voices are renewing their call for domestic cap-and-trade legislation to control greenhouse gases.

But cap-and-trade schemes are fundamentally flawed, and particularly ill-suited to greenhouse gas control. The current poster child for cap and trade is the Warner-Lieberman Climate Security Act of 2007 (S. 2191). If enacted, Warner-Lieberman will cause economic harm without producing any environmental or climate-protective benefits. This is the hallmark of irrational policy.

First, let's look at the likelihood that the legislation's goals can be met. Economist Margo Thorning observed in Congressional testimony, "In order to meet the emission reduction targets in S. 2191, U.S. per capita emissions would have to fall by a total of 13.8 percent over the 2000-2012 period, an additional 20.2 percent from 2012 to 2020 and a further 27.6 from 2020 to 2030. In other words, the required reductions in per capita emissions are about 25 to 35 times greater than what occurred from 1990 to 2000. The technologies simply do not exist to reduce total (and per capita emissions) over the next 17 years by the amounts mandated in S. 2191..." Thorning is not alone in this belief: in a 2004 Science article, a team of 18 prestigious scientists observed that meeting projected growth in energy demand while sharply curbing greenhouse gas emissions requires carbon-free technologies that "do not exist operationally or as pilot plants."

Now, let's look at the costs. Economist Anne Smith testified to Congress that her state-of-the-art economic modeling estimates that Warner-Lieberman would cause net reduction in 2015 GDP of 1.0% to 1.6% relative to the GDP that would otherwise occur. That loss rises to the range of 2% to 2.5% after 2015. Smith found that the annual loss in GDP would increase to the range of $800 billion to $1 trillion, which is serious money. By 2020, Smith estimates losses of 1.5 to 3.4 million jobs -- and that is net jobs, after adjusting for the new "green" jobs that might be created by the bill.

None of this is surprising as experience has shown cap-and-trade schemes are fundamentally flawed. Here are four reasons. First, capping carbon essentially puts a regulatory drag on economic growth. When the economy grows, energy demand rises, which means the demand for the limited number of carbon permits would rise, strangling growth in its cradle.

Second, everyone involved in a cap-and-trade system has incentives to cheat. Companies have incentives both to overstate historical emissions, and to exaggerate the benefits of new technologies to generate bogus emissions that become ready cash. Experience in both the US and Europe shows that firms usually get away with it: validating historic emissions is nearly impossible. And governments won't look very hard - wanting to appear green, they have strong incentives to turn their eyes away from carbon credit malfeasance.

Third, cap-and-trade creates a perpetual group of rent-seekers - those raking in profits in new carbon trading - who will call for ever-tighter caps, and who will staunchly oppose any other approach to dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. Once a company holds millions of dollars in carbon credits, they can be expected to spend large sums of money lobbying against anything that would devalue their new currency.

Finally, carbon cap-and-trade will raise the costs of energy, goods, and services. If that does not happen, there is no incentive for anyone to cut back on energy use, and the attendant emissions it produces. This could be offset, in theory, if the carbon permits were all auctioned off, and the revenues used to lower other taxes. But no emission trading system has ever auctioned off a majority of permits, and Warner-Lieberman is no exception: at first, it auctions only a trivial share of emission permits, and even when that ramps up decades hence, the revenues are used as a wealth-redistribution tool focused mainly on funding dubious energy research schemes rather than protecting the overall economy from the impact of higher energy prices.

The post-Bali refrain is that the US should "lead" by enacting carbon cap-and-trade. Apart from the silliness of assuming that our economic and political competitors are waiting on the US for "moral leadership," carbon cap-and-trade is simply bad policy: its costs are high, and benefits non-existent. Rational climate policy would consist of a short-term focus on adaptation, and a longer-term effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via a modest revenue-neutral carbon tax.

Kenneth P. Green is a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=013008A

 

For those who like country music, found this gem spinning the dial ... "Small Town Southern Man" by Alan Jackson.  Album to be released March 4. 

First link to the video vault of "94.9 The Bull" .... hope you're not redirected, but if so they have a video challenge going between "Small Town Southern Man" and another video.  Also video search for umpty artists.

http://www.bullatlanta.com/cc-common/videos_on_demand/
 

Second link to vocal ... no video.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxXq_LNMb4

 

 

used http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr to translate

" [ 原创 ] in snowstorm Nanjing 1,912 "................

Chinese site 

http://pop.pcpop.com/zpt/default.html?MainUrl=http://pop.pcpop.com/080131/3826885.html&referrer=http://pop.pcpop.com/top/5-2.html

Couple of good ones.

---

"HILLARY AND MCCAIN

"Now that Florida results are in it would seem that the presidential beauty contest has been pretty much narrowed down to Clinton, Obama, Romney and McCain. There is only one conservative in the bunch, and that would be Mitt Romney.

Just as we discussed yesterday, Hillary won on the strength of the female vote. The polling isn't comprehensive enough to show whether or not these Hillary supporters were married .. but I think it's safe to assume that Hillary's biggest support block out there was comprised of single (unmarried, if you wish) women. Now I'm not trying to chase listeners away here, but this is serious business. Our country is in trouble. Self reliance is on the way out, and government dependency is taking its place. When it comes to government dependence, Hillary is our gal!

Can you believe it? Here's a woman who has been harboring a rapist for how many years? And she's poised to become president?

You've probably heard that the Florida delegates won't be seated at the Democrat convention. Don't believe it. Now that Hillary has won Florida you can be absolutely assured that the delegates she won will be seated. Every one. And they'll count. The Clintons will crank up their machine and see to it.

As for McCain? Look, I'm sure he's a genuinely nice guy .. and there are many things that he gets right. I believe that McCain recognizes the threat we face from radical Islam, and is prepared to continue the fight. It's hard, though, to ignore his vote against the Bush tax cuts, his antipathy to free political speech and his unwillingness to do something about the Mexican invasion. "

http://boortz.com/nuze/200801/01302008.html#election

___________________________

"YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF..........

1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.

3. You have more wives than teeth.

4. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon "unclean."

5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.

7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.

8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

9. You've ever uttered the phrase, "I love what you've done with your cave."

10. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.

11. You bathe at least monthly whether necessary or not.

12. You've ever had a crush on your neighbor's goat.

It seems to me that a lot of these things apply to much more than the Taliban. "

 

http://boortz.com/nuze/200801/01302008.html#taliban