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Christmas is responsible for more waste and consumption than any other holiday. North American’s trash contributions to the landfill increase by 25% during this time of year – which equates to a minimum of 25 million extra tons of garbage going to the landfill. By recognizing the incredible waste that is generated the urgency to do something becomes apparent.

A truly useful or environment friendly gift that provide some convenience or financial benefits is a better ecological choice. At the same time, you can help alleviate the guilt you might feel during this period of high consumption and travel activities. Here is a brief list of frugal and environmentally sound ideas to inspire you.

For the homeowner – A thermostat control that automatically turns the heat down at night; low flow showerhead attachment; draft cozy (placed in front of doors to prevent drafts) and tubes of caulking or weather stripping. Dimmer switches, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) or hot water tank and hot water pipe insulation kits are also excellent ideas. Yellow CFL’s are perfect for exterior lighting because they attract fewer insects. Consider making an eco-package combining some of these items for the homeowner.

For the gardener – A subscription to an organic gardening magazine or a membership to a seed organization is always an interesting gift idea. Bird, bat and butterfly houses, baths and feeders – or the patterns to build them – are a wonderful optional gift. Alternatively consider composting worm bin, gift certificate to a nursery or a membership with an environmental group.

Give Services – Rather than giving an item that must be wrapped, consider purchasing tickets to a performance, restaurant gift certificates or services such as lawn care, diaper, cleaning, music lessons, exercise or dance classes, tune-up or tire rotation services. Don’t forget to look at dog walking, babysitting, and massage, spas or gyms when looking at gift certificates. All of these ideas will help you support local businesses that you believe in while giving something that the recipient can truly benefit from.

Give Food – Home preserves such as dehydrated or canned foods make excellent gifts. Those that find cooking tasks cumbersome treasure frozen meals. Snack foods and deserts are appreciated by most anyone; keep in mind that purchasing Brazil or cashew nuts supports a tropical rainforests. Baskets of healthy foods are another wonderful idea to consider – especially if it contains samples from local producers.

Books – Most of us realize the benefits of literacy and supporting local businesses. You can do both by choosing to purchase books as gifts this year. However, we can also leave a legacy with a book of our own. This could be a journal, a collection of our poetry, a family tree that you’ve researched or even a family recipe book. Perhaps you might consider including quotes from family members or people you admire and possibly a few favorite family photos.

Alternative gifts – A reusable coffee filter and whole organic coffee beans makes a nice gift for coffee lovers. Consider slippers and sweaters – the recipient is less likely to turn up their thermostat. Toys and games with positive environmental or education values and those that emphasize cooperation, exploration or creative thinking. If you choose to purchase electronics, consider those powered by solar or rechargeable batteries.

The Tree: Give or purchase a living tree for yourself this year (it removes carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, ozone and nitrogen oxides). A living Xmas tree can be donated to individuals with space on their land, the city, schools or parks when the season is over. Alternatively, plant it in your own yard for privacy, summer shade or soil and water erosion control.

The Photos – For holiday photo memories, avoid disposable cameras. Instead use a digital camera and load directly to your own computer and CD burner. Alternatively, use a normal camera using 36 exposure film rolls and have the pictures put on CD’s at the development outlet. Choosing these options reduces chemicals, paper and waste, while you save some cash.

~ Dave Brummet: co-author of the books Trash Talk, Purple Snowflake Marketing and Towards Understanding; co-host of the Conscious Discussions radio show (http://www.brummet.ca)

PT, for those of you who are not familiar with the initials, stands for many things. Some of the more popular are Perpetual Traveler or Permanent Tourist. Others are Prior Taxpayer, Privacy Thinker, or Prepared Thoroughly. But what is PT all about?

In a nutshell, a PT arranges his or her business and personal affairs as a Sovereign Individual, by unfurling various ‘flags’ or country bases and by treating governments as service providers instead of rulers. For example, there would be a citizenship flag (“second passport”), an official residence flag, a banking flag and so on. Each of these would be from different jurisdictions. That way, you are not bound to any particular country.

The ultimate PT goal is not to be resident anywhere! That is how you become a Permanent Tourist, at least on paper. You might for example spend five months of the year in one home, five months in another, and a couple of months vacationing, visiting friends or taking a cruise in between. That way each country treats you as a tourist and does not consider you a tax resident. You then keep all your assets stashed safely offshore, earn your money over the internet in other countries, and live totally tax free completely legally. If you drive cars, own real estate etc they are all held in company names, or simply rented or leased. So you don’t appear on any government ‘Big Brother’ style databases.

PT is based on the theory that most countries treat tourists better than citizens.

In fact, the beauty of this idea is its simplicity. As a ‘PT’ wherever you are, you always appear to be from somewhere else!

You can usually live and travel in better style and for less money than it costs to remain where you are. You can also chose to enjoy places that encourage the lifestyle and social norms you have always wanted to live.

PT will appeal to a wide spectrum of people who dream of being able to disappear when events and times in life make it convenient to do so. As a PT, a Perpetual Tourist, you run your own life. Using freedom tools such as the flags theories you can put a significant distance between yourself and bureaucrats that want to determine what is best for you, ‘for your own good’ of course!

A Brief History of the PT Theory

The PT theory was, according to urban legend propogated in the books, inspired by Harry Schultz, a Monaco-based newsletter publisher of North American origin who first coined the “three flags” theory back in the 1960s. Schultz’s claim to fame is that he is quoted in The Guinness Book of Records as the world’s highest paid investment consultant.

Later, a writer using the pseudonym W.G. ‘Bill’ Hill wrote a series of books including PT1, PT2 and The Passport Report which were published by Scope International Books in Hampshire, England. This same company published books by authors including Adam Starchild, Reinhard Stern and Jon Golding and Bob Beckman, also under the imprint ‘Milestone Publications.’

Scope went out of business in the mid nineties and was absorbed by an American direct marketing company who are still using much of the material today. The majority of it however has been toned down somewhat, not surprisingly as it is published from within the USA.

Other writers have taken up the PT theme in books like The International Man by Doug Casey, The Internationalist by Nicholas Pullen, and most recently in 2006 by a group mysteriously calling themselves “Grandpa and Others.” They wrote an attractive-leather bound three-volume set of limited edition books known as Bye Bye Big Brother. Or simply “BBBB.”Bye Bye Big Brother is also available in an abridged, paperback version from Vera Verba, a Chicago-based imprint. But hardcore readers should be aware that the abridged version has edited out some of the more cutting edge, controversial material included in the original.

From Three Flags to Six Flags

 The original theory espoused by Harry Schultz and Harry Browne (“How to Find Freedom in an Unfree World”) talked about three flags:

• Have your citizenship somewhere that does not tax income earned outside the country.  
• Have your businesses and speculations in stable, low or no tax countries.
• Live as a tourist in countries where what you esteem is valued, not outlawed.

Later W.G. Hill added two more flags – business havens where you make your money, and playgrounds where you spend your time, as a separate flag to your official residence – thereby creating a five flag theory – the level of complication or sophistication is up to you! Finally, in Bye Bye Big Brother, a sixth flag was added – cyberspace, where all the other five flags come together, a place where you can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time!

Shortcomings and Concerns about the PT Theory – and the Dangers of Camouflage Passports!

View on the PT theory is that it’s a great idea, provided you treat it as what it is: a slightly tongue in cheek knock at the establishment with a wicked sense of humor. A client of mine recently read it and said it was riveting, like reading a novel.

PT is a well thought out idea to break free and escape, especially if you like international living and the traveling lifestyle. It’s probably aimed more at those with well over a million safely tucked away in a Swiss bank seeking the kind of asset protection arrangements that their lawyers would not tell them about… while being less useful (but nonetheless interesting reading) for those who are just starting out on their quest for offshore wealth building opportunities.

PT is certainly not a step-by-step plan you should follow blindly. Indeed, it’s clearly not for everybody. We say, “by all means read the literature.” It’s an idea you can read about, absorb and enjoy… and then adjust to your own situation.

 always had a slightly different vision, and still do today.  What’s the difference? Well it’s not easy to live out of a suitcase, or to have to worry about counting the days you are in a certain country due to limited tourist visas or the concern that you will become a tax-resident. There are more sophisticated plans available today, and we write about them in our newsletter for members. We also tend to focus more on opportunities for creating wealth.

An Important Warning about the Legalities of the PT ‘Six Flags’ Theory

Here’s an important warning. Some of the tactics in the original PT books might have seemed like harmless fun back in the eighties, but in today’s world they could get you into hot water.

By way of example, one of the products frequently promoted was the so-called camouflage passport. Camouflage passports are booklets that look like passports from countries that used to exist but don’t any more – the intention being to fool anyone who might have learned about countries like Ceylon, Dutch Guiana, British Honduras or the U.S.S.R. in their school history classes, but who didn’t know that those countries today are called Sri Lanka, Suriname, Belize and Russia. Camouflage passports were promoted as a way to avoid terrorist attacks, by confusing terrorists in a hijacking situation into thinking that you came from a neutral country rather than a target country like the USA, UK or Israel. However in the current environment merely having a camouflage passport in your possession is more likely to get you labeled as a terrorist than anything else!

Indeed, it has been said that ‘Big Brother’ thinks PT stands for Potential Terrorist!

Peter Macfarlane is an author and lecturer on offshore finance, investment, due diligence and wealth creation matters. He is joint editor of The Q Wealth Report http://www.qwealthreport.com

Reading has always been a difficult chore for me. I call it a chore because when I was young and in school it was one of the hardest thing I ever had to do. I would do anything I could to get away from reading.

Most of the time the subject matter of the books offered in class held no interest to me so I had little interest in reading. I mean, after all, how long can you find joy in watching Spot run? And I didn’t even know Jane or Dick. Why would I want to read about them?

I also suffered a little dyslexia and the jumbled up letters of each word were sometimes a little hard to make sense of. I would need to read some words several times before it made sense. Sometimes I had to read the entire sentence over and over.

Back then, those many years ago, the teachers didn’t have the time or patience to work with each student and they never knew the problems faced by slow readers.

Today I am still bothered by my inability to read correctly. I still find myself rereading words and sometimes even missing words completely. By missing a word or two the whole paragraph is lost or it may take on a wrongful meaning. The need to reread the paragraph is still there.

I have tried some of the reading remedies but it is too late. the damage is already done. Even though I write articles like this and I read a lot of information over the Internet I still find a difficulty in reading.

My disbelief in reading was set in my mind as a very young child. I wish I had developed an interest in reading while I was still young.

What I’m saying in these few word is simply when you see your child struggling over a book don’t just turn away and think that a teacher will take care of it. Each teacher has 20 or more students in the class and may not be able to give the attention needed.

Take an interest in your child’s ability to read. Show him or her that reading can be fun. Read with them. If you read with the child and throw in a giggle or laugh now and then the chore becomes more exciting, fun and desirable.

Like I said before, who wants to watch Spot run? Give the kids something that they like. Something like Hannah Montana or “The Lord Of The Rings” Books they find exciting and interesting. Give them books that were designed for the younger generation.

There is a whole series of Harry Potter books that would be ideal for helping your child enjoy reading. In fact, J.K. Rowlings, the author of the Harry Potter series has written a new book titled “The Tales of Beedle The Bard” Which again, was written with children in mind.

Get a copy of that one and sit down with your children to discover something new. Something no one else has seen.

I wrote this article because all my life I struggled with my own limited reading capabilities. I have missed out on so many exciting and wonderful adventures only gained through reading. At the ripe old age of 68 I still struggle. Don’t let it happen to your children. Give them all the help you can.

I’m sure there are others in your location who would like to help their children learn to enjoy reading. Why not do them a favor and pass this along.

You can find more information about J.K. Rowlings new book at my web address listed below.
Len Roe has written articles for over 10 years. He wrote this article and several more on the subject. If you found it interesting there is more information on his website

http://www.TravelWestVacation.com

Stop by for a visit and more points of interest.

So you’ve been to Clickbank and browsed around. You’ve seen the pitch or sales pages for a number of products. In this article we will take a little more in depth analysis of what goes into creating a powerful pitch page for a Clickbank sales page and give you some tips on how to create one yourself.

The first thing you notice is that every pitch page for a Clickbank product is one single page. There are no sites with links to other pages featuring other products by the publisher. The reason for this is simple. To understand that reason one must realize that there are two ways a visitor might make it to a Clickbank sales page. First, they may have done a search for a product on-line and found the site in the organic listings on YaHoo!, MSN, Google or some other search engine. Let’s call these people “fresh visitors.”

There are also visitors coming to Clickbank sales pages who clicked on a link from an affiliate for that product and that click resulted in them being taken to the Clickbank site. In such a case the visitor clicked on what is called a “hoplink” to the sales page. The affiliate created that hoplink which Clickbank will monitor and place a cookie on the visitor’s computer when they reach the pitch page. If the visitor ends up buying the product on that page, Clickbank will read the cookie and award the affiliate his or her commission for referring the customer to the sales page in question.

If a publisher were to sell more than one product from their Clickbank site, it would interfere with Clickbank’s tracking and make it nearly impossible for Clickbank to award commissions to affiliates properly. THis is why all Clickbank sales pages are only one page long and never promote more than one product.

Now, what about the content of the page? Most Clickbank pitch pages start with either an attention getting header graphic, or a big bold heading in 18 or 24 point text. Often Tahoma or Impact fonts are used, but sometimes something like Times or Times Roman are used. The headline needs to grab the reader’s attention. You only have a few seconds to pull the visitor in to want more information.

Some Clickbank publishers will tell exactly what their product is all about in the headline, others will create a sub-header to do that task–but however it’s done, the reader must become locked into the site within the first 10 seconds.

About one-third of the way through the pitch page most of the power seller’s pitch page will begin with a, “From The Desk Of…” message to the reader. The purpose of this is to establish a relationship with the reader. This part of the page is more personal–they try to make it sound as if they were right across the table talking to you. This is important, the seller must infer some degree of trust to the reader before they can ask for credit card information.

Virtually every Clickbank ebook seller will also have an opt-in form on their pitch page as well. Some use static, in-line forms–but most use a pop-up or “hover-over” type form. Collecting name and email info is a top priority because the publishers will work their lists aggressively to harvest more sales.

And one more key feature: The vast majority of power sellers will have some kind of exit-capture strategy for visitors clicking to leave their site without ordering. The two most common exit-capture systems are provided by IntelliChat and VirtualSmartAgent. You’ve see this used. You go to click to leave the site and a pop-up appears with a chat box and a virtual sales agent. The agent will offer you a $10 or $20 discount you order through them. These companies collect a commission on every sale they capture through this technology. Before you purchase any Clickbank product, I would recommend closing the pitch page to see if you are offered a discount rather than ordering directly. You can often save a few bucks.

My last ket point involves the testimonials. Here’s a little secret: A great number of testimonials on Clickbank pitch pages come from affiliates who are promoting the product on which their testimonial appears. I’m not suggesting this is wrong, but you should know that many of these are not testimonials from the average “Joe on the street.” There are a handful of affiliates who have their testimonials appear on dozens and dozens of Clickbank sales pages.

This is partially because they are affiliates for these products, and also because the big guys always include the URL for the web site of the person giving the testimonial. This is sort of a “pay-back” for the comment as some visitors will then click on the affiliate’s web site.

Mike McMillan is a former inner-city teacher who left teaching in 1989 to devote full time to writing over 40 nonfiction books and ebooks. He has been interviewed on over 80 radio stations and televisions programs including ABC World News on the topic of self publishing. Mike’s on-line self publishing course is offered through over 1,400 colleges and universities across the U.S.

His newest ebooks include Big Money Writing Little Books, and Cleaning Out The Vault: Secrets of the eBook Power Sellers Exposed.

Download Mike’s newest eBook, Creating An Affiliate Army To Promote Your eBook, for free at http://www.extreme-self-publishing.com

What a difference a year makes. People entering retirement early last summer had a strong market to boost their nest eggs and cushion any anxiety over their life transition. On July 19, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high, closing above 14,000 for the first time. To the extent that the subprime crisis had even registered, most observers expected the damage to be contained within the housing sector.

The investment outlook has darkened since then, however, especially for those who may not have decades ahead to smooth the effects of volatility. Regardless of how the markets perform, most retirees count on withdrawing income regularly from their nest eggs, while preserving as much of their principal as possible.

On an institutional level, foundations face a similar task. Congress requires them to give away at least 5% of their assets each year; their challenge is to grow principal to keep pace with inflation, so they can meet commitments to grantees and cover operating expenses. It’s like retirement… in perpetuity. “The problems of the retired investor and of the endowed institution are very closely related,” says Laurence Siegel, director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation. “Both seek to produce an income stream that grows with inflation.”

You don’t need to invest your clients’ nest eggs exactly like the Rockefeller or Ford Foundations-to say nothing of Harvard or Yale. In fact, most investors can’t act like Harvard or Yale, despite the books and articles that espouse to teach how-they just don’t have enough money. But foundations and endowments can teach advisors strategies for constructing and maintaining retirement income portfolios. Here’s a look at how.

All-Important Allocation

Retirement income planning didn’t even exist a couple of generations ago. Through the mid-20th century, most people didn’t have a decades-long retirement, for the simple reason that life expectancies were shorter. People stopped working, lived a few years on Social Security and then died. Later on, in the 1980s, retirees could pack their portfolios with double-digit-yielding Treasury bonds and bank certificates of deposit and live comfortably off that income. During the same decade, as inflation cooled, a bull market began that persisted for the rest of the century.

Today, the picture is decidedly more complex. People are living longer than ever. The life insurance industry has adopted new actuarial tables reflecting this: As of January 1, 2009, all policies must be issued with rates that extend through age 121, replacing tables that end at age 100. And the markets are less friendly. Market watchers predict that stocks may languish for years in a range-bound market that provides none of the oomph of the bull market that ended in 2000.

Meanwhile, people’s spending needs haven’t changed-if anything, they’ve risen, as healthcare costs have exceeded inflation-and inflationary pressures have mounted. Yet 30-year Treasury bond yields hover under 4.50%.

Recent research reinforces the importance of asset allocation in retirement as one of the safest, most efficient ways to meet long-term portfolio needs today. Because of compounding, more than half of every dollar that’s withdrawn from a defined contribution plan comprises investment returns generated after retirement, according to a study conducted by Russell Investments and released last month. The study looked at a prototypical 25-year-long retirement of a 65-year-old who dies at age 90. Out of each dollar the retiree withdrew from a defined contribution plan, 10 cents came from contributions made to the plan while working, 30 cents came from investment returns generated prior to retirement, and a full 60 cents came from investment returns generated after retirement. “The pool of assets is so much bigger after retirement,” says Bob Collie, director of investment strategy for Russell. Post-retirement investment returns account for an outsize portion of each dollar withdrawn from a defined contribution plan simply because the asset pool is larger in retirement, and because people’s longer lives are putting their money to work over longer horizons than before.

Today’s long life expectancies mean that an overly conservative asset allocation won’t go the distance for most retirees. Indeed, advisors recognize that only their wealthiest clients can derive a secure retirement from, say, bond ladders. “You can’t do it with bonds alone, because that would erode the assets,” says Thyra Zerhusen, manager of the $1 billion Aston/Optimum Mid Cap Fund and of a New York-based foundation’s portfolio, which she declined to name and which she runs the same way as her mutual fund. When Zerhusen began managing the foundation’s portfolio, it had roughly 70% of its assets in bonds and the rest in stocks. This breakdown mirrors the traditional retirement portfolio. But longer life expectancies, lower bond yields and a potentially stagnating stock market have zapped the effectiveness of this allocation. Zerhusen persuaded the foundation’s finance committee to adopt the inverse allocation, and today the portfolio is roughly 70% stocks and 30% high-quality bonds.

Alpha Alternatives

The foundation portfolio Zerhusen manages is unusual in that it doesn’t have an allocation to alternative investments. “We only buy what we understand,” Zerhusen says. Her expertise in identifying undervalued and misunderstood mid-cap stocks has helped the foundation meet its annual operating goals, which involve withdrawals of 8% to 10% per year, without sacrificing principal.

Most large foundations and endowments (foundations are mandated to give away a minimum of 5% of their assets per year, while endowments are not) have at least a quarter of their assets in investments outside of traditional, long-only publicly traded equities and bonds, Siegel says. “Alternative investments are, in principle, a more efficient way of generating alpha (if the manager has skill) than traditional, long-only investments,” he writes in an email message. “This is because short selling, the ability to leverage and use derivatives, the ability to lock up funds for long periods of time, and other features of alternatives each contribute in various ways to portfolio efficiency (the expected return per unit of risk taken).”

The Harvard and Yale endowments have about 50% of their portfolios in alternatives such as private equity, hedge funds, real estate and commodities, according to Frontier Capital Management, a Boston-based investment management firm. At $34.6 billion and $22.5 billion, respectively (as of the end of fiscal year 2007), Harvard and Yale’s endowments could weather any liquidity challenges that this high alternative allocation presents. But less-capitalized funds and private foundations without access to new money from alumni or other contributors (and whose circumstances are more analagous to those of retirees) could face trouble in a bear market if they allocate such a high percentage to alternatives, Siegel says. Margin calls or forward commitments on private equity can force the selling of assets, and there are fewer liquid assets to choose from if a large chunk of the portfolio is in real assets. Similarly, your clients will have less flexibility in their income withdrawals if they have too much allocated to real assets.

Some advisors have embraced the use of alternatives. “In portfolio design, the ultimate goal is to have investments that are not correlated,” says Greg Plechner, principal and senior wealth manager at Greenbaum and Orecchio, a fee-only advisory firm in Old Tappan, N.J. “With alternative investments, you’re able to attain that.” Greenbaum and Orecchio allocates an average of between 15% and 20% of their clients’ portfolios to alternatives. Retired clients have a slightly smaller allocation to alternative investments, he notes, since their fixed-income portion is higher.

The firm’s clients with more than $1.5 million to invest have access to private investment partnerships, while those with less than $1.5 million can access similar strategies through exchange-traded funds and notes, and institutional share mutual funds. For example, the firm uses PIMCO CommodityRealReturn Institutional, Vanguard Energy ETF, and Rydex Managed Futures Fund for market-neutral exposure.

Choosing private equity and hedge fund opportunities requires considerably more due diligence than does selecting investments sold on an exchange, as the former have far fewer reporting requirements. Greenbaum and Orecchio employs three full-time professionals whose sole job is to evaluate private investments and do the related legal work.

Endowment Products for the Rest of Us

Over the past year, the financial services industry has introduced new products to help consumers generate retirement income and to capitalize on the wave of retiring baby boomers. Endowments inspired the design of at least one of the new retirement income mutual funds on the market: The Vanguard Managed Payout Funds, launched in early May. The three funds of funds target payout rates of 3%, 5% and 7%, respectively, while maintaining capital, and in this approach function something like a university endowment, Vanguard executives say. The underlying funds are Vanguard stock and bond funds, and other investments, including REIT and TIPs (inflation-protected Treasury bonds) funds and commodity-linked investments.

Vanguard’s approach contrasts with that of Fidelity Investments, whose new payout mutual funds are designed to liquidate an investor’s principal by a target date. Vanguard chose its approach because “there was a sense generally that there’s a strong desire among retired clients to preserve their capital in liquid form for the duration,” says John Ameriks, a Vanguard principal and economist. Vanguard’s research among the company’s mutual fund shareholders reveals that many older people continue to save in retirement. “It’s very hard for people to turn on a dime in retirement,” Ameriks says. “They’ve been saving their whole lives.” In other words, even if your clients aren’t saving enough for retirement, their saving habits are nonetheless ingrained.

According to the Vanguard funds’ prospectus, the 3% payout fund is expected to appeal to investors who want to see their capital and payouts increase over time and seek only a modest current payout from their assets; the 7% payout fund, on the other hand, is expected to appeal to those who need a greater payout to satisfy immediate spending needs. While the payments and capital on the 7% fund are not expected to keep pace with inflation, Vanguard will seek to preserve the fund’s original value. The 5% fund is designed to provide long-term inflation protection and capital preservation. The funds could function as the investment vehicle of a small endowment, and in fact, Vanguard has fielded a few inquiries from such institutions, Ameriks says.

The funds’ payout rates are targets, not guarantees. “These products are not annuities,” which offer a guaranteed income stream for life, Ameriks notes. “There are positives and negatives to that.” The company believes that positives, such as liquidity and flexibility, outweigh the lack of a guarantee. Indeed, annuities have failed to gain widespread acceptance in the marketplace largely because consumers are loath to relinquish access to their principal.

But Then Again…

As much as retirees and foundations share similar challenges, there are some noteworthy differences between the two. For starters, individuals die. No one needs to produce income in perpetuity, as foundations endeavor to do. Retirees need to plan for at least 30 years in retirement, and annuities can insure they won’t outlive their assets. Amid the general unpopularity of these insurance products, advisors and their clients often overlook the benefits provided by risk pooling. “Annuities produce a much higher income than bonds or TIPs because the people who die help pay for those who survive,” Siegel explains in his email. In fact, you need 25% to 40% less capital to provide for yourself in retirement using risk pooling than you would structuring an investment portfolio on your own, according to a study by David F. Babbel and Craig B. Merrill of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, co-sponsored by New York Life.

Annuity companies have introduced cash refund options that have increased their products’ popularity. This popular feature insures that investors’ heirs will receive money back after they die, yet it eats into the benefits of risk pooling. A 65-year-old male would receive 8% less income and a 75-year-old man 13% less from an immediate annuity with a cash refund than he would from one without, says Mike Gallo, senior vice president for retirement income at New York Life.

Another approach is to deconstruct the traditional annuity by layering a low-cost insurance guarantee on top of a separately managed account. In March, Pershing LLC launched such a hybrid retirement income product, which pairs a managed account solution with a lifetime income guarantee offered by The Phoenix Companies. The product, known as Lockwood Investment Strategies Longevity Income Solutions, or LIS2 for short, will ensure that investors won’t outlive their assets, says Len Reinhart, the former president of Lockwood who worked on the product design and now consults for Pershing Managed Account Solutions.

LIS2 features a 5% annual payout, after fees, which begins when an investor is 65 years old. The 5% rate is applied to the initial investment for a fixed dollar amount that stays the same each year. For example, an investor who puts $1 million into the product would get $50,000 each year for the rest of his or her life. The Phoenix Companies buys 10-year puts as hedges for the guarantee, which assures consumers of their fixed payout regardless of the underlying funds’ performance.

This structure will ensure that investors don’t become too conservatively invested in retirement, Reinhart says. “The whole point is for the client to be in an aggressive growth strategy,” he says. In other words, ensured of a guaranteed income stream through LIS2, retirees can invest the rest of their portfolios more aggressively. This argument is frequently applied to annuities as well.

Another major difference between retirees and foundations lies in their tax treatment. Private foundations pay an excise tax of 1% to 2% on investment income and realized capitalized gains, and endowments pay nothing. Needless to say, individuals don’t enjoy such favorable treatment at the hands of the Internal Revenue Service.

Furthermore, many retirement income strategies are not designed for their tax efficiency. For example, investors in Vanguard’s Managed Payout Funds receive a 1099 tax form each year stating how their monthly payments were generated for the previous year, whether by a combination of income, capital gains or a return of capital. This complex tax treatment means investors would benefit from holding these funds in a tax-advantaged account. If Lockwood’s LIS2 product is able to generate income payments through income or capital gains, then investors will be taxed at the 15% capital gains rate, Reinhart says. But if the account balance plunges and the insurance company must make the payments, the investor will be taxed at regular income rates. Investors who open an IRA account managed by Lockwood Capital Management and hold the LIS2 offering inside it would enjoy tax-deferred treatment on the income.

Advisors at Greenbaum and Orecchio actively work to minimize their clients’ tax burdens. If a client needs income, the firm uses iRebal rebalancing software to quickly determine how to use principal, income and rebalancing proceeds to generate the income in the most tax-efficient way, Plechner says. Clients with more than $1.5 million to invest may choose the firm’s ETF and mutual fund-based alternative investment strategy for tax purposes, he notes. Clients with alternative investments including hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and real estate receive a K-1 tax form that state the investor’s share of the partnership’s taxable income. The forms often come late, requiring clients to file an extension on their taxes, Plechner says, a hassle some wish to avoid.

Despite the most careful planning, many institutions and individuals will fail to meet their income goals at some point. Following a year of poor returns, a foundation can simply cut the size of its grants. Your clients’ bills, however, won’t disappear in a bear market. When clients fail to meet their income goals, they can cut their spending or increase their equity allocation, says Deena Katz, chairman of Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. The choice, as her partner Harold Evensky puts it, is clear: “Do you want to eat less well, or sleep less well at night?”

For more information, visit our website at http://www.financial-planning.com — the leading resource for the informed independent advisor.

Abortion is dalai lama Dalai Lama crime in Jamaica. The 1864 Offenses Against Persons Act renders steep penalties for obtaining or attending an abortion. In Jamaica, abortions are only legal in order to save the life of the mother, or to preserve her physical and/or mental health. According to the 1864 Act, abortions are not legal in cases of rape, incest, impairment of the fetus, and especially not simply because the pregnancy is unplanned, unwanted, or inconvenient, however, common law will allow abortion in cases of rape, incest and fetal abnormality even though both the woman and the abortion practitioner can be jailed for the abortion itself. The law on the books and the common application of the law are extremely contradictory. Anyone found guilty of self-inducing an abortion, or assisting someone in getting an abortion may be subject to life in prison. Even with penalties this steep, Jamaican women are risking imprisonment and sometimes even death in order to end an unwanted pregnancy.

The Medical Association of Jamaica reports that, in 2004, the third leading cause of maternal death was abortion and, that, despite the current laws against abortion, it was committed to making sure that all women, who chose to do so, had Dalai Lama to safe and properly performed abortions. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that more than 19 million illegal abortions are performed around the world each year and that those abortions are often performed under conditions that are not sterile and are performed by unlicensed practitioners.

Teen pregnancy rates are at an all time high in Jamaica and, even though teenage girls have been offered the option of the abortion pill, they still continue to seek illegal abortions. By the age of 19, a full 45 percent of Jamaican women have been pregnant. As an added complication, the rate of HIV and AIDS is on the rise in Jamaica due to the number of young women resorting to prostitution in order to pay for an abortion. Women’s groups are currently discussing their own positions on abortion. Most are pro-choice, but others seem reluctant to go public with a firm stance.

In the United States, Roe vs. Wade decided the abortion issue in legal terms. This is not to say that abortion does not remain a heated debate in this country and many others. Ultimately, Jamaica will have to pass a firm law that defines abortion and the access to abortion services for that country’s women. Either way that decision goes will elicit debate and possible violence.

Rebecca J. Stigall is a full-time freelance writer, author, and editor with a background in psychology, education, and sales. She has written extensively in the areas of self-help, relationships, psychology, health, business, finance, real estate, fitness, academics, and much more! Rebecca is a highly sought after ghostwriter with clients worldwide, and offers her services through her website at http://www.forewordcommunications.com/

Like most people I used to hear about people making good money trading forex and wonder how they did it. What used to confuse me was that there seemed no simple or cheap way to learn the basics that you need to get going. However after a couple of months looking I found a system that allowed me to learn how to trade “on the job” and even make money doing so.

In this article I will tell you exactly how I did it and how you can do the same. If you want to get started trading forex and make money from the currency markets then this could be one of the most important articles you have read in a long time.

It was almost a year ago when I started looking for information to trade forex. It seemed like the only options were to pay for an expensive course or sit down and try and apply the theory from text books to reality. I opted for the latter and failed miserably at it. What was described in the text books made little connect in my mind to what I was supposed to be doing. The net result was that I was too scared to even place 1 trade on!

What changed everything for me was when I found a Forex trading system that trades by itself. It seeks to take advantage of very small price movements and make a small amount of money on each trade it make. Little and often is its strategy. I used this tool like a training simulation. I set it off trade trade with very small amounts and simply sat there and watched it.

To me this was as good as sitting and looking over the shoulder of some top gun trader. I could actually sit there and watch how t made money. I learned more on that first day than in about 2 weeks previously when my head was buried in the books.

Here is the link I found that got me making money forex trading within 2 days: http://www.frogfinance.com/investing/forex_trading.php

It’s a shame that the American people have to endure all the campaign rhetoric and listen to the two presidential candidates and soon to be their vice presidential picks who will only add more to the criticizing and stage craft that focuses more on the weaknesses of the other candidates. It would be pleasing to hear what each candidate has to offer in terms of how he proposes to fix our country. It’s amazing to me that Joe Biden and John McCain have been friends for so many years and now that Senator Biden is a vice presidential candidate he started his first day on television criticizing Senator McCain. By the way, I’m a veteran of the Vietnam war and clearly heard Senator Bidens comment that Senator McCain was only a war hero and what we need is a leader.

I think any war hero is a leader and should be commended. I’m sure I wasn’t the only American veteran listening. The American people need to know what each candidate plans to do about the following which is only a few of the problems we face.

1. How do you propose to pull our country out of the recession we’re in which is hurting everyone?

2. How do you propose to fix the energy crisis which needs immediate attention?

3. How do you plan to correct the health care problems facing the entire nation?

4. How do you propose to handle the foreclosure disaster which is destroying our country?

5. Do you plan to do anything about the poverty within the United States?

6. How do you plan to get job creation going again before everyone in our country faces poverty?

7. The Christian values which you both proclaim to have can be shown much clearer by your actions than by your words.

8. What is your stand on abortion and stem cell research which are two other big concerns in our country?

9. Where do you stand on foreign issues and how do you plan to show strength as well as compassion in dealing with other nations?

These are just a few of the issues facing our nation today but they are very important ones and need to be addressed honestly. Again, the American people deserve honest answers and not political ploy. While Obama is trying to blame John McCain for everything that George Bush has done over the past eight years he needs to remember that Senator McCain has stood against Bush many times but he cannot control him any better than Obama could control his preacher Jerimiah or the other preachers condemning America. This is probably one of the most important elections this country has ever had and whoever wins has his work cut out for him. Please Americans, listen to what the candidates are proposing, not just their ridicule.

About The Author

Garrett Golden is very knowledgeable in the political arena. Having served sixteen years in local county government and having won more elections than anyone in county history, I am constantly observing local, state, and national elections and giving my opinions at every opportunity. Anybody can watch the candidates and listen to what they are saying and determine what is real and what is just political talk to get them elected. Please pay close attention in this presidential election not only to the candidates promises but also look at their past actions. This will help you make the right choice and last but not least, be sure to VOTE.

I haven’t written a book on politics yet but I am gathering a lot of facts and information in preparation for writing a hard cover book in the very near future.

Resources: The best resources to count on now comes from the vast news coverage on CNN, FOX, and all the major news channels. They tend to show what the candidates are actually saying whereas the books, the internet, and the magazines have a better opportunity to tweak what is being said. Also, there seems to be a lot of coverage heading into the conventions and the fall debates. Listen closely!

This is meant to be informative only.  This is not to be taken as legal advice.

Very surprisingly, only a small percentage of the U.S.A. population takes advantage of the wealth of informative material provided by the world’s largest publisher – the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Here is a source of priceless, accurate and official information which is reported and written by experts. Almost every conceivable subject has been reported upon in detail in some government publication – topics such as energy, employment, health, business, investments, science and technology, education, careers, transportation, veterans and personal benefits, consumer advice, foreign trade, law, space, food and diet, astronomy, gardening, medical, maintenance, housing, money management, equipment, hobbies, travel – the list goes on and on.

These publications are available to you upon request. In fact, you indirectly helped pay for them. A part of your tax contribution is allocated to operate the government printing office.

Many of these publications feature business sand personal matters that may directly help you make or save money. This report, however, will outline the most simple and ideal method to reap a huge financial gain from these publications – selling this information by mail.

You undoubtedly have noted ads offering reports on government surplus, oil lotteries, land acquisitions, energy, etc. These ads appear in many national magazines monthly. year after year. Such reports contain information extracted from government publications. Often they are copied word for word. The “insiders” know how and where to get this valuable information free, or at low cost, then use this material to earn huge profits for themselves.

Few people realize that government publications are not copyrighted. Anyone has the authority to use this material for his own personal benefit. That includes copying it word-for-word if desired, reproducing it, and selling the information in the form of books, manuals or reports.

From this vast source of published material are many thousands of ideas you can adopt to prepare an informative publication which can be profitably sold by mail.

The first step, obviously, is to find out which publications are available, what subjects they cover and where they can be obtained. The second step is to select topics which would inform, appeal to and attract a large number of people who would be willing to buy your information by mail. The third step, is to compile this information into a book, manual or report, get it printed, then go about the business of marketing it profitably.

Step 1

Besides a huge volume of official documents, the government printing office issues about 25,000 other booklets and reports with topics that concern and interest the general pubic. The government also publishes guides which lists and describes new issues when they become available.

Write to the Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO 81009. Request to be placed on their mailing list to receive the “Consumer Information Catalog” which is issued periodically during each year. Also request to receive “Selected U.S. Government Publications” from: Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.

Many public libraries stock these catalogs and some government publications. You can check for titles of current and back issues and order anything that interests you or copy any information you need. You may also find copies at other U.S. and State agency offices and perhaps at your local chamber of commerce office.

Publications may also be obtained from government offices such as the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Agriculture, etc. These agencies offer many publications pertinent to matters in their field. For example, the Department of Commerce can provide data and information assistance in various business matters, foreign trade, etc.

The ruling powers in Washington are cutting funds to many agencies. It is likely that in future not as many free publications will be available as were printed in the past. The low cost of any government publication, however, is still a tremendous bargain. Never hesitate to pay a small amount for valuable information that could be the source of financial benefits for you.

Step 2

Which topics to consider for your publication? What type of printed information will the public buy? Basically, to sell successfully by mail, your product must fill a People need or desire. It must offer a specific appeal factor that will make the public want to obtain the product. Some of the strongest appeals are found in products which promise to help people:

Make Money Be Safe & Secure Have Fun & Enjoyment Save Money Eliminate Problems Find Out Where to Get Save Time & Effort Be Popular Something Beneficial Enjoy Comfort Do Things Better Something Useful Enjoy Health Gain Success

Thus, your publication should deal with the “How To” and “Where To” type of subjects. This is the main information the buying public seeks and will buy. The stronger information appeal your publication offers, the larger number of people will be attracted to you offer. This factor will translate into a greater sales volume and ultimately higher profits.

Emphasized again, the subject matter of your publication must interest and appeal to a large number of prospects. Among large group categories are: households, blue collar and white collar workers, opportunity seekers, investors, dieters, recipe fanciers, gardeners, teenagers, senior citizens, mail order aspirants, health and exercise enthusiasts, fix-it-uppers, hobbyists, sportsmen and many other specific classes of people seeking helpful information to fulfill their desires and needs.

Step 3

When you decide upon a suitable subject or subject or subjects, you next step is to compile the information into your own publication. You can copy word-for-word from the government literature, extract portions of the copy, express the ideas in your own words, or add some of your own ideas and thoughts to enhance the subject and provide the reader with additional information.

The size of your publication will depend upon how many words are necessary to fully cover the subject. Provide every essential and important detail so the reader will completely understand and benefit from the information. Don’t skimp, but don’t include anything that is superfluous or inappropriate to the subject. Give the customer at least what he expects – more if possible. A happy, satisfied customer is a confident prospect for your future offers.

For example, a publication entitled “Second Opportunities”, explaining a large number of money-making activities, might require a booklet form of many pages. A publication entitled “How to Grow Prize-Winning Roses” might be a report of just a few pages.

As stated previously, you can reproduce any government printing, even page for page, if that size would fit the style of your publication. to test your offer, you can get initial copies mimeographed, but the best-looking reproduction can be provided by an offset printer. He can reproduce printed copy. Type your own copy on a machine with carbon ribbon. It will provide clear, dark copy which the printer can reproduce with sharp results.

Adopt a title for your publication that will create attention. The title in a descriptive circular, or stated in a classified or space ad, can affect sales. The title should explain the subject matter in as few words as possible. Bring out as many of the appeals listed in Step 2. Yet, keep the title short without sacrificing any word or phrase that might keep a reader form becoming a customer. Look through magazines for titles of books and reports sold by mail. You will get ideas for preparing titles to attract the mail order buyer.

What price to charge for your publication? Only testing can determine the right price. The right price is the selling price that brings in the most profit Not total sales necessarily, but profit… the bottom line in any business activity. Set a price initially based on the suggestions in the following paragraph. Later tests may determine that you can make more profit by charging more and selling less. Or, tests may prove that by lowering the price and selling more units, you earn more total profits. Often the introduction of a new mail order product requires testing… and testing again… until the most effective sales copy and the right selling price is established to provide the most profit from each promotion.

To make big money selling information by mail, consider pricing your publication at least 10 times its cost. And, that’s just the norm for a multi-paged publication. A report of just a few pages must be sold for 15 to 20 times its cost to realize adequate profits from promotions. To start, get just a few copies printed. but, don’t base your selling price on this cost. Request the printer to quote you on 1,000 and higher quantities. This will be the volume you will be purchasing if your publication is successful and that cost should be the basis for initially pricing your publication.

To promote sales of your publication, use one or all of the usual mail order methods… classified ads, space ads and direct mail.

Classified ads are seldom productive if the advertiser solicits orders for items priced over $3.00 directly from the ad. Classified ads are mainly used to obtain inquiries for higher-priced items. So what can you do with a publication that must sell for $5.00 or $6.00? You should promote this publication through space ads or include the publication in a descriptive circular or catalog featuring this publication among other offers of your own or that of other publishers.

Space ads are what the terms implies; they feature more space than a classified ad. This greater space allows for bold headlines, more details about the offer and inducements for the reader to send in an order. If space permits, an order form is included in the ad.

Direct mail consists of People your offer to a list of names. These names could be your customer list or names obtained from a list broker. Use only name lists that will be responsive to your offer. For example, an offer for a gardening publication should not be sent to a list of auto mechanics. Such a mailing would stand little chance for success. Also, it would hardly pay to send out a mailing for a $5.00 or $6.00 offer. Use direct mail to promote $10.00 or higher items, or send circulars or catalogs featuring several publications to receive orders for multiple items and higher dollar average per sale.

Selling information by mail profitably, requires application of the basic methods used by other successful mail order operators. This report, of course, cannot provide a complete course in mail order techniques. Obtain some books which explain how to operate a mail order business efficiently.

To summarize, check over the list of government publications that might provide suitable material for your own book or report. Then send for it. Determine if the contents can be the basis for a publication with strong appeal to a large group of prospects. Compile this information into an interesting book or report. Promote your offer slowly and carefully at the start. If promotional tests are favorable you can increase your advertising and promotion efforts, sell larger volumes of your publication and earn larger profits.

Follow these procedures faithfully and you could be on you way to earning a fortune – making your start with free government publications.

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

Note to editors:
To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo ad. Simply send an email to People by using the form on the contact me page on my website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine it was used in.

DeAnna Spencer is a virtual assistant that helps entrepreneurs run a successful business by providing affordable administrative help. She also publishes a blog for small business owners. Visit this small business resource today.

By now we have heard of Governor Sarah Palin’s invocation of God in order to obtain a natural gas pipeline in Alaska: “God’s will has to be done in getting a 30 billion dollar gas pipe line” for Alaska, “so pray for that.”

And her belief about God’s role in the war in Iraq:

“. . our national leaders are sending them [our soldiers] out on a task that is from God-pray for them-there is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

These comments from a potential Vice President of the United States are of concern from a number of different points of view:

1. The idea that whatever we, citizens and politicians alike, think is in our interest can or must also be in God’s best interest. This suggests that God’s interests are synonymous with ours and all we have to do is pray for this congruence to occur. What we want is what God wants for us-a pipeline and to invade Iraq as we did, or that new house on the block and rising stock prices.

2. There is a deep presumption of knowing the will of God. It seems to me to be the height of arrogance to lay our plans for any foreign or domestic policy initiative at the temple of God, because in some sense this may absolve us of responsibility. If things don’t work out as planned, then we can just say, “It wasn’t God’s will that we reach this particular objective.” If we reach our goals, then we can loudly trumpet, “See I told you so. It was God’s will that the Surge succeed, that violence was reduced, that the Iraqis came together to reach political amity.”

3. You must have a very personal concept of the Almighty to think that He concerns Himself so deeply in human affairs that we can invoke Him to ratify our own approaches to life’s problems. When I was a “born again Christian” my freshman year at Harvard I went to a number of fellowship meetings where some of my classmates would intone, “Well, God willing, I’m going down to the bookstore to get my economics text.” I was always slightly amazed at this-thinking that God cared whether or not you got your required reading done.

4. This, of course, leaves atheists, agnostics and some of the rest of us to rely on ourselves and our best thinking in order to solve problems. It may be that folks like Sarah Palin and President Bush also think we must try very hard to succeed even if we have invoked the blessings of the Almighty. When I was in high school I prayed everyday not for peace in the world, but for good grades. I believed what Norman Vincent Peale had taught in The Power of Positive Thinking-that prayer can move mountains. I invoked God for my own personal success. So I prayed nightly, right after spending four to six hours doing homework.

Thomas Merton, author of The Seven Storey Mountain and many other works of contemplation, noted that “Our discovery of God is, in a way, God’s discovery of us.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)

Prayer is one way of establishing a conversation with God through which He discovers us, not by which we gather all the material pleasures we want unto ourselves.

5. And, finally, the essence of Palin’s claim is that she can determine God’s will, God’s plan for Iraq and for natural gas in Alaska. I’m sure we’d all agree that Iraqis deserve to enjoy all the freedoms we do in this country. But was it God’s plan to invade Iraq with so few troops we couldn’t control the country, couldn’t prevent the insurgency that robbed over 4,000 of our fighting men and women of their precious lives? Robbed so many Iraqis of their lives and millions of Iraqis of their homes.

This is the height of arrogance to claim to divine the will of the Almighty.

But among the most troubling consequences of this marriage of God and foreign policy is where it might take us-to Iran, for example. What if McCain becomes President and thinks the only way to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons is to launch an air, missile and limited ground attack? What if, under the influence of his own religious views or those of his VP, he tells us this attack is much better thought out than the one launched against Iraq in 2003 AND, most importantly of all, it has God’s blessing, or it is part of God’s plan?

What this gives any administration is the audacity and arrogance to claim that whoever disagrees is putting interests other than country first. We’ve seen these assertions in McCain’s allegations against Obama. The Illinois Senator has stated his desire to end the war in Iraq and put forces where he, as well as others, believes, they can be more useful-in Afghanistan, in capturing bin Laden.

McCain charged that Obama was seeking votes rather than victory, that he put country second to, as Sarah Palin has phrased it, the desire for votes. This may be tantamount to being unpatriotic, unchristian and treasonous. How can you vote against God’s plan as you divine it?

Hence, the bumper sticker “Country first” as if some of us do not put our country first-always.

All of this emphasis on invoking God in politics is very troubling for someone who considers himself a religious person with a small “r.” I do not go to church regularly, but in my youth, as mentioned above, I had my days with the fundamentalist Christians at Harvard. But, eventually, the emotional zeal withered away as I was simultaneously learning how to fire weapons and command men at sea and perhaps in battle, as part of an NROTC educational program.

So, today my religious concerns focus upon the beautiful mystery of God and His Creation. Again as Thomas Merton noted, “Faith incorporates the unknown into our everyday life in a living, dynamic and actual manner.” How does this work, I wonder.

But I am also a healthy skeptic, wondering what kind of Deity I do believe in-whether the very personal one who cares about my every thought or, at the other extreme, one who set the Big Bang in motion and let all the physical laws of space, time, energy and matter develop as they have, creating stars that became galaxies that merged creating our own Milky Way and some galaxies with super massive black holes deep in the center millions of times as massive as our sun.
This, to me, is the magical mystery tour.

In the last analysis, I wish politicians would be more like Biden, McCain and Obama-keeping their religious beliefs more or less to themselves.

Palin scares me because I do not want another leader like George Bush in the White House who, according to Bob Woodward, failed to seek the advice of his earthly father prior to his pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. He supposedly told Woodward he appealed to a “higher” power or father. The Heavenly Father.

Maybe this invocation told him that whatever plans he made for this invasion, as short-sighted as they were in terms of troop levels would gain the “Mission Accomplished” banner. Perhaps this was why he ignored Secretary of State Colin Powell’s desire for overwhelming force and General Shinseki’s prediction that to control Iraq would require several hundred thousand troops, far more than Rumsfeld and General Franks were willing to commit. He might have thought God’s will was in the Bush, Rumsfeld, Franks plan.

Perhaps, because it was God’s will Bush failed for so long to recognize what Powell did early on-that our invasion had not only rid the world of a butcher, but had also unleashed the very forces of civil war that Brent Scowcroft and Dick Cheney (then Secretary of Defense) had warned against in 1991 as reasons for not going to Baghdad at the end of the First Gulf War.

Many of us believe in God. Many believe in widely different concepts of what the Deity is and can do in our universe and in our lives.

But beware those politicians who claim God is on the side of their own special policy in foreign and domestic affairs. Maybe all we have to do is pray hard-whether for good grades or federal largesse to reach our own private, sometimes very selfish objectives.

Or maybe faith, prayer and belief in God are gifts from the Almighty as ways of establishing a conversation we hope will lead to understanding Him and the mysteries of Creation.

I believe it was Abe Lincoln who cautioned us about God’s being on one side or the other: “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”

John Barell
Author, Quest for Antarctica-A Journey of Wonder and Discovery (2007) and Why Are School Buses Always Yellow? (2007)
http://www.morecuriousminds.com
jbarell@nyc.rr.com

John Barell is a national consultant to schools desiring to foster inquiry, critical thinking and authentic assessment in classrooms for all students. He is author most recently of Why Are School Buses Always Yellow? (2008); Surviving Erebus–An Antarctic Adventure (2008); Quest for Antarctica–A Journey of Wonder and Discovery (2007) and “Inquisitive to a Fault”–Preserving American Democracy.

http://www.morecuriousminds.com