But what happens when the companies that keep this list make mistakes? After all, the credit bureaus — which keep the list of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice — are staffed by people who are just as fallible as the rest of us. Theirs is a complicated business. They keep track of billions of pieces of information. Mistakes do happen.

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1. Being a slave to your blackberry or cell phone : You know you have become a slave to your blackberry or cell phone when, almost every time it rings or buzzes, you jump and answer it. Cell phones and mobile email systems can be wonderful tools, but only as long as your control them (i.e. you decide when and how you will pick up and answer). Otherwise, they become a phenomenal time waster eating up to several hours a day. A client of mine, just by deciding to check his email every hour instead of every time his blackberry buzzed, reclaimed a full hour of productive time every day.

2. Working by emergency : Many clients call me for help because they feel overwhelmed, and find that they never have time for what they really want to do. More often than not, it turns out that those clients work by emergencies.

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Stocks had been lower on worries about fallout from the swine flu and banks that may need to raise capital following government “stress tests.”

But a midmorning report showing a surge in consumer confidence tempered those concerns. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index far surpassed economists’ forecasts, an early sign that spending could pick up in coming months.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 7 at 8,018. It had been down as much as 86 ahead of the report.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 1 at 856. The Nasdaq composite index is up 3 at 1,683.

In one of the few countries where prostitution is legal, the industry has responded with an economic stimulus package of its own: modern marketing tools, rebates, discounts and gimmicks to boost falling demand.

Some brothels have cut prices or added free promotions, while others have introduced all-inclusive flat-rate fees. Free shuttle buses, discounts for seniors and taxi drivers, as well as “day passes” are among marketing strategies designed to keep business going.

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Spotting good news these days requires viewing the market not as a glass three-quarters-empty but as a vessel one-quarter-full. Thus the producers of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices reported this morning that “for the first time in 16 months, the annual decline did not set a new record.”

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According to the captain of the ship, Ciro Pinto, six pirates in a speedboat approached the ship and started shooting, but were forced to flee after security started firing pistols and spraying water from hoses at them.

“One white small boat with six people on board approached the port side of the ship and started shooting,” Pinto said, saying that two hundred rounds were shot. He continued that “our security started shooting in the air […] and also we started spraying some water” in an effort to stop the pirates.

Witness reports say that there were many passengers on the ship’s deck when the incident happened, and some of them threw chairs at the attacking pirates.

The ship, which is named the Melody, is owned by the Italian MSC Cruises company. It had departed from South Africa and was en route to Italy.

Piracy is rampant in the waters off the eastern coast of Africa and the Gulf of Aden. Since the start of this month, pirates have attacked approximately a dozen ships, despite the presence of about a score of naval warships patrolling the vicinity.

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

Today I received an email from the lawyers of author Susan Jeffers, PhD., notifying me that I’d infringed on her trademark by inadvertently using the phrase “feel the fear and do it anyway” in my post last week, A Guide to Beating the Fears That Hold You Back.

The phrase, apparently, is the title of one of her books … a book I’d never heard of. I wasn’t referring to her book. I’m not using the phrase as a title of a book or product or to sell anything. I was just referring to something a friend said on Twitter.

Her lawyers asked me to insert the (R) symbol after the phrase, in my post, and add this sentence: “This is the registered trademark of Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. and is used with her permission.”

Yeah. I’m not gonna do that.

I find it unbelievable that a common phrase (that was used way before it was the title of any book) can be trademarked. We’re not talking about the names of products … we’re talking about the English language. You know, the words many of us use for such things as … talking, and writing, and general communication? Perhaps I’m a little behind the times, but is it really possible to claim whole chunks of the language, and force people to get permission to use the language, just in everyday speech?

What if this were taken to an extreme? What if some billionaire (say, Bill Gates) decided to start trademarking thousands and thousands of phrases, so that he could charge us for each use, or so that we’d have to link back to the Microsoft homepage with each reference? The language, in this scenario, could be entirely privatized if we allow this sort of thing.

So, while this post is probably ill-advised (and yes, I realize that I’m actually giving publicity to Ms. Jeffers), I have to object. I think we have a duty, as writers and bloggers and speakers of the English language, to defend our rights to … words. Free speech is a bit of an important concept, I think.

As an aside, I think the idea of jealously protecting copyright and trademarks, in this digital age, is outdated and ignorant. You want your ideas to spread, and you should encourage people to spread your ideas, not put up all kinds of boundaries and restrictions and obstacles to that being done. This blog, for example, is Uncopyrighted, and will always be free, because I want people to spread my posts and ideas. I think it’s actually good for me as a writer, and it’s (not insignificantly) better for the writing community in general if we can share each others’ work freely. I’m hoping that with posts like this, and the good work of thousands of other like-minded people, the old mindset of fencing off ideas and language will slowly change.

So, no, I will not be adding a Registered Trademark symbol to the previous post. And no, I won’t be adding a phrase of legalese to the post. And no, I won’t even attribute the phrase or link to her book, as I wasn’t referring to the book. And no, I won’t remove the phrase.

I’d rather be sued.

Oh, and I’m not going to change the title of this post either. You’ll have to remove it from my cold, dead iMac.

—

On a side note: You may feel free to use the title of my book, The Power of Less, in any of your blog posts, on Twitter or even (gasp) everyday conversation.

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This being said though, it comes back to the bigger issue I’ve been having for awhile. As each day goes by, I grow more and more disgusted with this country as a whole. I remember back in the day watching BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY. I remember watching it intently, and thinking to myself, “this guy really is a douche. How can he hate America?” Really, I’m starting to understand now. If you watch the news from day to day, it’s far too easy to realize that today’s America just isn’t what it’s supposed to be. Remember back when you were growing up? The thought was “your parents raise you, you find success, and in the end you take care of your family. From there, you have kids and the cycle would continue. It was the American “circle of life”, so to speak. Well, that’s pretty much gone now, isn’t it? Every day there’s another story about a kid killing their parent or vica versa. We make celebrities out of people like the mother of Caylee Anthony, Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, etc. Family murder these days is little more than ratings fodder for the news channels, who battle each other to find the more shocking interview with Joran Van Deer Sloot or the exclusive new interview with Chandra Levy’s murderer. It’s pretty horrific, but the reality is that there’s a much deeper meaning to all of it.

Maybe I’m just a calloused guy, but I just won’t believe anything I see on TV, and I wonder constantly what the media is hiding when the overindulge us with story after story that means little to nothing. But these days, I’m astounded at how much interference the media is running for the government. Look at the past few weeks as a prime example. There’s major, major news breaking that directly effects our lives. Bernie Madoff somewhat quietly took the patsy deal and is off to prison. Yes, the media mentioned it. It’s now come out that he stole $65 Billion dollars…yes, billion with a “B”. He’s going to jail. Fine, but let’s look at what we should be looking at. Let’s examine what should make every single person out there infuriated; whether you are a taxpayer, a kid, or just a citizen that lives in this country legally. This guy stole $65 billion dollars, but in his deal, there is no talk at all of where the money is. None. Zero. Zip. For point of reference, that kind of money would pay off about ½ of every mortgage in the United States. While the media has been quick to show us photos of Madoff walking in and out of court, there’s not a sole looking for that money. In the old days, the news people would be looking into this and wondering why. Today, the rubes of the world that get their news from puppets like Brian Williams, Greta Van Susteran and Anderson Cooper just accept that this guy must have spent $65 billion dollars, it’s now gone, and yes, he was able to steal $65 billion dollars all by himself with no help or accomplices. But what is the news doing? Diverting all attention. While all this Madoff stuff has been going on, what did the talking heads at the news talk about? Well, we got story after story about how Rush Limbaugh, an entertainer, was dangerous to the democrats. When that wasn’t enough to keep the focus off Madoff, along comes another home run attention getter – new charges in the Anna Nicole Smith case. I read recently that some traction was looked for in the last few weeks by bringing up another big attention getter – Chandra Levy. Sadly for the media, that fizzled because no one cares anymore.

So why am I rambling on about this? Because it’s part of the bigger issue at hand. It’s part of a massive scheme being orchestrated by some organization somewhere. I watch news constantly, yet I’ve not heard 1 single word about who else is truly part of this Madoff scheme. Am I the only person in the world that has more questions? Where is the money? Who else is involved? Am I supposed to really believe that an operation this big, that was able to steal this large of a percentage of the US economy, was simply the master plan of a lone guy with a good idea? I don’t think so. How about the alternative theory. How about that Bernie Madoff is part of a much more powerful “pump and dump” scheme that’s been designed to steal our country’s wealth and help in a bigger scheme to force the hand of the one world government. Am I wrong? Maybe. But it sure is convenient over the last five years when you look at everything that’s gone on that the government establishment continues to take more and more control over everything and the regular citizen gets less and less. AIG, GM, Ford, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were all enormous businesses that failed on the backs of ridiculous decisions made at the highest levels. They get bailed out. Where’s the help for the little guy, that owns a small business that’s going under as the weight of this economy bears down on it? It’s nowhere to be found. Half of all Americans right now can’t afford to take their family to the doctor on a regular basis because health care costs are out of control. The government’s solution – nationalized health care where you lose the choice of care. Instead, you get pushed into government controlled facilities, which will definitely lead to more regulation or standards that you must follow to get care. It will certainly lead to the government telling you, “you have to get this immunization in order to get government sponsored treatment”. Is that really what we want?

My problem though isn’t the government stealing our ability to live freely. My real issue is that the citizens are either too dumb or too lazy to do anything about it. You have to give it to our parents and grandparents. They were willing to stand up for what they believed in. They were willing to get wrapped in the teeth with a baton in order to stand up and say, “hell no” to government abuse. They were willing to die at Kent State. They demanded to be heard. Today however, with all the ability we have to communicate with each other and share ideas, thoughts, outrage, etc., there’s little to no outrage. There’s guys like Alex Jones out there that tell it the way they see it. There’s sites like prisonplanet.com and whatreallyhappened.com that do their best to say that things are wrong. Being honest, they all are a bit over the top to me with their “everything is a conspiracy” rhetoric. However, at least they put it out there so people can check it out for themselves and make their own decisions. They want you to be outraged. Sadly though, people are more outraged if their favorite character on 24 is killed off than they are that their way of life is dying.

It’s really sad.

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• House Approves Senate Amended Stimlus Package

The tax cuts are part of a $787 billion economic recovery plan passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress over Republican opposition. The aim is to put more money in the pockets of Americans and stimulate the economy by increasing consumer spending.

“I’m pleased to announce that this morning the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks, meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.

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On Wall Street, talk of nationalization of Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp., prompted investors to continue to balk, worried that the government would have to take control and wipe out shareholders in the process. Citigroup fell 20 percent, while Bank of America fell 12 percent in afternoon trading but also came off their lowest levels.

“This administration continues to strongly believe that a privately held banking system is the correct way to go, ensuring that they are regulated sufficiently by this government,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said when asked about nationalizing the banks.

“That’s been our belief for quite some time, and we continue to have that,” Gibbs said.

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The seized land will be integrated into the Israeli city of Efrat, a city which is to house 30,000 people according to the mayor of Efrat.

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni has stated that in order to make peace, settlement expansion must stop and furthermore Israeli settlers should leave lands already settled in. Livni’s party, Kadima, beat the right wing Likud party in elections last week by one parliament seat, not enough to form the required majority. Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that he firmly supports settlement expansion and has said that peace talks with Palestinians are a waste of time.

Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president in the West Bank, has previously stated that there will be no negotiations as long as settlement expansion continues. “We oppose settlement activity in principle, and if the settlement activity doesn’t stop, any meetings (with the Israelis) will be worthless,” Abbas said Monday.

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din has stated that these settlements are a violation of international law, saying that the occupying power is supposed to work for the benefit of the people being occupied. The United Nations agrees saying that the settlements are a violation of the fourth geneva convention and international law.

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2008-09 financial crisis

More articles about the 2008-09 financial crisis on Wikinews:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at lowest level in six years
• Obama signs $787 billion stimulus package
• US automakers GM and Chrysler seek more government aid
• 20,000 Californian state workers may lose their jobs
• US Congress passes $787 billion stimulus package

Read more about the 2008-09 financial crisis on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Logarithmic graph of the DJIA from Janary 2000 through December 2008

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its lowest level in over six years on Thursday, having lost 1.16%, or 89.68 points, bringing it to a level of 7,465.95. It had, at one point, set an intraday bear market low of 7,447.55. It was the lowest ending for the index since October 9, 2002. The Dow has fallen almost fifteen percent since the start of this year.

Two other US indexes also fell today: the Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P) fell by 9.48 points, or 1.20 percent, to 778.94 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.71% or 25.15 points, closing at 1,442.82.

The S&P had seen its fourth consecutive loss on Thursday, its longest losing streak since last October. It has lost almost fourteen percent since the start of 2009.

Dan Cook, the senior market analyst at IG Markets, said that the Dow’s descent is worrisome since without that level of support, investors may worry that the markets can fall even further. “It’s kind of like if we’re walking across a frozen pond. If that ice starts to crack a bit we’re going to be very wary,” he said.

Other analysts, however, point out that despite the bad news, the stock market had not descended as quickly as it had been in October and November, and volume was low, suggesting a lack of conviction.

“There’s not that panic that there was in November,” said Paul Nolte, the director of investments at Hinsdale Associates.

Among some of the losers at the stock market today were Citigroup, which fell 13.8% to US$2.51 a share, and Bank of America, which dropped 14% to $3.93.

In the overseas markets, the British FTSE index increased by 0.3%, and Germany’s DAX was up by a fifth of a perce

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

Unfortunately, when times get hard, many people turn to credit cards to help them make ends meet … and only dig themselves into a deeper hole.

I’ve been through this myself, buying things on credit when I had no other way to pay for them. I’m not talking about plasma TVs, but about necessities like medical bills. As a result, I dug myself deep into debt, and one of the biggest decisions of my life was to get rid of credit cards and begin eliminating my debt.

At the beginning of this year, I finally got completely out of debt, and I celebrated. But it wasn’t easy. It took some hard decisions, some sacrifices, and a commitment to change my spending habits.

I highly recommend that people get out of debt and stay out of debt, especially as the economy hits difficult times. It’s not a good position to be in if you lose your job while burdened with lots of debt. Better: become debt-free, with a good emergency fund and a small budget. That’s recession-proof personal finances.

Here’s how to get there in six steps:

1. Curtail spending. The first step is to stop the bleeding. If you’re trying to get out of a hole, you’ve got to stop digging first. So make the decision right now to not use your credit card except in emergencies. Cut back on your spending in any way you can, at least for now as you try to get out of debt. Consider tracking your spending for a week or two at least, writing down every purchase, so that you can see where your money is going. Some suggestions for cutting back: eating out, going out, magazines, expensive coffees or other drinks and snacks, new gadgets, non-essential clothing purchases, non-essential furniture or home purchases, to name a few. Now, I’m not suggesting that you never eat out or go out to have fun — but I am suggesting that you cut back on these types of spending. Find other ways to have fun that don’t cost as much.

2. Save an emergency fund. With the money you save from Step 1, begin saving an emergency fund as quickly as possible. Let’s say you identify $200 per paycheck that you can save from cutting back on specific spending items (as an example — your amount will vary). Now put that $200 into a savings fund each paycheck, and within 5 paychecks you’ll have a $1,000 emergency fund saved up. This is extremely important, as there will always be unexpected emergencies that come up (you have to go to the hospital, you car breaks down, you home floods, etc.) and many people will use credit cards to pay for these expenses when they don’t have an emergency fund. If you have an emergency fund, you can avoid going deeper into the hole when these expenses inevitably come up.

3. Make debt elimination a priority. Once you have a small emergency fund saved up ($1,000 is best to start with, but you can get by with as little as a $500 fund), begin channeling your extra money toward debt repayment. Make this a top priority, or you won’t get to it. That means make it your first payment each payday: set up an automatic payment at your bank where you automatically pay an extra amount to your highest-interest debt. Pay the minimum on your other debts for now, and once you pay off the highest-interest debt, put all your extra money to your next highest-interest debt … and so on, until all debts are paid off. An alternative is to pay your smallest debt first, then focus on the next biggest debt, and so on.

4. Scale back your lifestyle. While Step 1 asked you to find ways to cut back on spending immediately, there are longer-term changes you can make that will have a big impact on your spending. For example, you could trade in your large car or SUV for a smaller, less-expensive car that gets better gas mileage. You can eventually move to a smaller home and get rid of a lot of the clutter in your house that requires a lot of space. You can work at cooking at home more instead of eating out, brown-bagging it to work instead of having expensive lunches, making your clothes last longer instead of buying new clothes all the time, and deciding you don’t really need the latest computer, TV, video game system, or smart phone — the ones you have work well enough already. These changes may take time, but a commitment to scaling back can pay huge dividends over time.

5. Make sacrifices and buy on cash. This is an extremely important habit that may become the keystone to this entire plan. While many people buy on impulse and put purchases on credit cards so they can have it now, that’s rarely necessary. Rarely do you really need to make a purchase right away. A much better habit is to save up until you have enough money to buy the item on cash. Get into the habit of waiting. Sure, maybe you need new shoes, but can you wait until you have the $50 to buy them? Yes, you can. Sure, maybe you need a new computer, but can you save up the $1,000 you need for it? It’s possible. It’s even possible to make your current car last longer and save up enough to buy your next car on cash — I did this with my last car purchase (actually it was a slightly used mini-van), trading in my SUV and paying the balance on cash. The key is to wait, save up, and buy on cash.

6. Make a commitment to stay away from credit. Getting into some debt may be unavoidable — student loans, for example, or housing loans are usually seen as good debt, especially at low interest rates. Even auto loans aren’t necessarily bad debt, although as I said above, it’s possible to save up enough money to buy a decent used car on cash so you can avoid getting into that debt. But credit card debt is rarely ever desirable, for the average person. I’m not saying you should never use credit cards — obviously they are convenient for online purchases or traveling, although for these purposes you could use a debit card that’s backed by a major credit card company in most cases (I have). But my advice is to just have one credit card (cancel all the rest) and to keep the balance at $0. Only use it when you actually have the money in the bank, and then pay it off immediately. Don’t use your credit card when you don’t have the money — that will just lead to trouble. Make a commitment to doing this, and you’ll avoid credit problems and be in good shape, whether a recession hits or not.

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But context is everything: The 2008 inflation rate of 5.6% is more than double last year’s rate (2.4%) and well over 1991’s 4.4%. And while financial aid spending has increased, it is not keeping pace with tuition increases.

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In a letter sent to Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N), Citigroup Inc (C.N), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), State Street Corp (STT.N) and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), he also asked their boards to explain what mechanisms they have put in place to protect taxpayer money.

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Another alleged plot involved the assassination of Presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to affidavits, the suspects’ “final act of violence” would be when they assaulted Obama while wearing white tuxedos and top hats and driving “their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows.”

Photo from Schlesselman’s MySpace page

The two suspects are Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee. According to court papers, they met last month over the internet through a mutual friend. Schlesselman and Cowart are alleged to share “very strong views” about White Power. Schlesselman listed on his MySpace page “being racist” as his occupation. He further wrote: “I’m white. I’m proud. I get angry. I like guns. I like weapons. I need money wiggers … be afraid.” Cowart also had a MySpace page on which photos of weapons were presented under a heading of “My Guns”. On his page he wrote, “Better to die quick fighting on your feet then [sic] to live forever begging on your knees.” Some have questioned the pair’s ability to carry out the alleged schemes, but authorities have been very concerned about Obama as the first black presidential nominee from a major party. “We honestly don’t know if they had the capability or the wherewithal to carry out the kind of plan that they talked about,” said Malcolm Wiley, of the United States Secret Service in an interview with The New York Times. “But we take any threat seriously no matter how big or how small it is.” Cowart and Schlesselman are scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursday. They are being held without bond. No co-conspirators have been found or alleged.

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

.

The emblem of the United States Northern Command, which was created to support local authorities with homeland security.

________________

US President Bush deployed the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to a new role on United States soil last Wednesday, training for dealing with national crises. Critics claims that act of the Executive Branch violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military participation in domestic matters.

In 2007, the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act was introduced; it overturned the Posse Comitatus Act by allowing the Commander in Chief to suppress ‘insurrection’ and ‘restore order’. When it was repealed in 2008, Bush stated that he did not respect the later repeal.

The combat team, renamed CCMRF, has been assigned for year-long training at Fort Stewart to prepare them for “civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios” such as security or natural disasters. After a year, a new unit will take its place.

CCMRF will be under the control of the Northern Command, and now has the same legal authority as a unit deployed to Iraq under the direct control of the Executive Branch. The unit will have use of engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, and a Navy weather team, as well as members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. A spokeswoman for Northern Command added that both wheeled and tank vehicles would be available for the CCMRF.

In July the unit was assigned a new commander, Col. Roger Cloutier. “If we go in,” he said proudly of the deployment, “we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil”. CCMRF will be training in both traffic and riot control equipment, and will be the first to use the Army’s new nonlethal package, which is intended for war-zone and not domestic use.

The action has raised concerns for some citizens like journalist Naomi Wolf, an author critical of the Bush administration, who referred to the deployment as a ‘coup’ in a well-circulated viral video and issued Americans a call to action.

NorthCom is a joint command established post-9/11 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities. When Hurricane Katrina damaged Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas, but were not assigned to Northcom, but instead individual commands under provisional authorities.

Military officials have not yet responded to a request for comment.

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

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The real question is why you are not further ahead. And the answer, my friend, is tha many Americans, including me are uneasy. We are not just uneasy about our economy, but we are also uneasy about you.

WE ARE UNEASY about the fact that you started your political career in the household of a couple of married terrorists who are unrepentant about killing police and soldiers. While our troops are scattered all over the world trying to fight terrorism, you have befriended and worked closely with terrorists right here at home. This seems to be poor judgment at best, or a lack of moral character at worse.

WE ARE UNEASY that you spent 20 years in a church at which the preacher stated such things as “God____ America , not God Bless America” and after 9/11 said the “Chickens have come home to roost.” In twenty years you heard no evil, and only after you were called on it did you leave that church. This also seems to be poor judgment at best, and brings to mind the fact that one’s character reflects who their friends are.

WE ARE UNEASY because you have expressed a desire to meet with the President of Iran unconditionally, even after he has stated that he wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. To give that man a standing equal to the President of this great nation is to deprecate the office of the presidency in a repulsive manner

WE ARE UNEASY that in your four years as a senator, you have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign funds from the very people who ran Freddie and Fanny into the ground along with our economy. In fact, Chris Dodd, your democrat partner in this crime, was the only one in the senate who received more contributions than you, and he and others had been receiving them for four additional years.

WE ARE UNEASY because you worked for ACORN, a community action group that pressured banks to loan money to people for houses they could not afford. A group that your fellow democrats gave $80,000,000 to in last summer’s stimulus package, and that is now using that money in Ohio and other places to buy early votes for your party.

WE ARE UNEASY because with medicare and Medicaid running tremendous deficits your first answer to the health insurance crisis in this country, is basically more government control and expense. You do not even consider how a well regulated, competitive insurance model with individuals and their doctor’s making decisions for themselves might work. Sure the government should step in to help those with pre-existing conditions and those who cannot afford the insurance, but nationalizing health care will only make the existing system more broke than it already is.

WE ARE UNEASY because in these economically trying times your answer is to raise taxes on those individuals who run small businesses and create jobs. First you said you would raise those taxes to fund a national health insurance plan. Then you said you’d raise them to fund rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. And finally you said you’d raise them to give everybody else a tax cut. WE ARE UNEASY because if you are going to do all of these things, you’ll need a lot more money than you can raise from the over 250 crowd, and we don’t know where you are going to get it.

So, my friend, let me say that the reason you are not kicking my ass, is that you hang with suspicious people, that and your answer to everything is more and bigger government. Not to mention that if elected President, you will be working with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, two individuals who share your same philosophy, and with whom, in the past you have never disagreed.

The country is in enough trouble already. Electing you, an individual with poor judgment and a penchant for large and growing government is the last thing we need.

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This is especially true when you’re working toward long term goals that might not be realized for a few months or even years. I’ve been working on building my blog for the past seven months. I eventually want to turn this into the main source of my income, so I can quit my job and stop selling my time to someone else. While I feel very passionate about this goal, it probably won’t be realized for a few months or a year (at the most). It’s difficult for me sometimes to stay excited about my goals, when I’m currently working toward someone else’s to pay the bills (see this article).

It’s time like these when I get bored with work. I get bored with routines and monotony. The opposite of happiness after all isn’t sadness or depression.

It’s boredom.

I recurrently have to keep myself in check. I have to balance my goals that will be realized in the future, with being happy now. After all, isn’t now all we’ve got?

So how can we stay excited about life? How can we remain passionate about living, and not get trapped in the cycle of routines?

Here are some things that I personally do to help keep me stay excited about life.

1. Return to simplicity. Simplification is about de-cluttering your life. It’s not just de-cluttering our homes and spaces though, it’s simplifying our mental and emotional realms. It’s shedding the baggage of self-limiting beliefs and constant mental chatter. It’s finding some quietude in your life.

2. Stop labeling. It’s amazing how much we think we’re experiencing life, but we’re really just thinking about it. I want you to try a little exercise with me. Take a look at something around you. Maybe it’s a photo, a plant, or your keyboard. Our normal state of mind is to think about the object we’re looking at, to conceptualize it in our mind and place labels on it. Now look at the same object and don’t think about it. If this is difficult for you, that’s okay. Relax and just look. Let go. Notice a difference? That’s because when you’re not thinking about what you’re things, you’re actually experiencing life directly. The labels in our mind are simply abstractions, they’re not reality itself. Try doing this more often: when you’re in line at the grocery store, walking your dog, listening to music, etc. You’ll start to enjoy your experience much more.

3. Enjoy the simple things in life. This goes along with quieting our minds as well. The next time you eat a piece of fruit or enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, simply enjoy it. Sounds like a pretty obvious suggestion right? Well it is, but most of the time we do exactly the opposite. We’re not just eating or drinking, we’re thinking about all sorts of things. We’re thinking about the next item of action; taking out the dog to use the bathroom, the mail we need to take to the post office, etc. The next time you eat or drink, just do that. You will experience the flavors and tastes at if it were the first time.

4. Change things up. Try something new. Do something you’ve always wanted to do, but have never gotten around to. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play tennis, go out and buy a tennis racket and a ball. If you don’t have a partner, you can always play the wall. =)

5. Make time for what you love. We often get burnt out because we’re busy working and attending to obligations. If we are not doing anything we’re excited about, we’ll likely start resenting our lives. It’s important to make time every day doing things you really enjoy.

6. Drop unwanted commitments. Just as we need to make time for doing things we love, we also need to prune the things we aren’t passionate about. Some things aren’t really negotiable. If you don’t pay your electricity bill, you will be eating by candlelight. But other so-called obligations aren’t really necessary. A good test is to ask yourself if your commitment is something that’s really adding to your life. Is it enhancing your life, or is it just adding more stress? Sometimes quitting is the best answer when simplifying your life.

7. Focus on what matters. I have a tendency to want everything to be perfect. I want to edit every article I write until I can’t tell whether or not it’s good anymore. Then I edit it some more. I later realize that even when I don’t get as good of a response as I hoped for, no one really care. Except me. You have the option to not care about things being less than perfect too. Realize that your return on investment decreases rapidly. Studying for 8 hours a week might get you a 3.8 GPA, while studying for 20 hours might earn you a 4.0. Is that extra .2 really worth it? Focus on what matters and stop stressing so much that you’re no longer enjoying life.

8. Let go. Relaxation is possible. I know, it scares me too. The thought of not obsessing over all the things I didn’t get done today is often terrifying. But it’s okay. There will always be tomorrow. On your deathbed do you really think you’re going to be thinking about the to-do list you didn’t complete? I don’t think so. You’ll probably be thinking about how you wished you would have had more fun, spent more time with your family and enjoyed life more.

9. Embrace your inner geek. We’re all geeky about certain things. I admit that I’m a design geek. I can sit for hours obsessing over typefaces, color palates and white space. I seriously live for this stuff though, so it’s okay to obsess a little. The point is, when I design, draw, and write, I lose track of time. I embrace my inner geek and all I’m thinking about is what I’m doing. I’m not worrying about how it will turn out, I’m not thinking about the phone bill I need to pay. I’m just there. Think about what really makes you geek out. A good indicator is that it’s something you get super excited about that makes other people give you strange looks.

10. Be grateful. I’m certainly not the first one to say this. But it bears repeating. Every time I am in a rut or feeling sorry for myself, I try to remember to be grateful. Just being grateful to be alive is a powerful thing. You never know when you’re going to leave this world. You never know if you’ll have another chance to write that novel you have been meaning to, run that marathon or tell your lover how you feel about her.

11. Reassess your priorities. Are you living for today, or solely for the achievement of your next project? Do you stress out about what’s on your to-do list more than living in the moment? If you’re at all like me, you occasionally fall into this rut as well. We have to find a balance in achievement and contentment. Sometimes it’s not about getting what you want, but wanting what you have. It’s not about achieving the completion of a project, but enjoying the process of creativity.

When striving for personal growth, it’s easy to get caught up in living for our next achievement. Our next success and the next mountain that we aim to conquer. But if we’re not living for today, what’s the point? If we’re never able to enjoy life now, it’s probably time we reassess our priorities.

Milestones and achievements —graduations, promotions, etc.— make up a small fraction of life.

If the majority of our days are “normal day” then maybe we should spend more time trying to find everyday bliss.

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The day began with the announcement that another big bank — Wachovia — had been taken over, just days after Washington Mutual collapsed and was sold. In early afternoon, the House rejected the bailout package for the financial industry. Stocks plunged, with the Dow ending the day down nearly 778 points in the worst single-day drop in two decades.

What is a regular investor to make of it all? What about people who have money in bank accounts? Below are some answers to questions that are probably on your mind…

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From the bank’s perspective, your mortgage is an income-producing asset, and it can be sold to another institution at any time. In fact, this is quite commonplace…

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It’s a sign of the times. As Congress listens to administration officials explain why taxpayers should offer hundreds of billions to help bailout banks that are teetering due to investments in bad loans, homeowners far from Wall Street or the Capitol continue to feel the direct effects of these mortgages gone bad. According to RealtyTrac, banks now own a record 820,000 homes, up from 224,000 at the end of 2006 and 440,000 at year-end 2007…

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At 0800 UTC, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the United States Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank jointly announced that they would be working together to provide reciprocal credit arrangements to institutions facing a financial crush from the U.S. dollar. The credit arrangements, also known as “swap lines”, will be used to help short-term funding of smaller loan groups.

Totaling US$180 billion, the Federal Reserve arranged to increase existing swap lines with the European Central Bank from US$55 billion to US$110 billion, and with the Swiss National Bank from US$12 billion to US$27 billion. Additionally, it opened new swap lines with the Bank of Japan for up to US$60 billion, up to US$40 billion with the Bank of England, and up to US$10 billion with the Bank of Canada. These swap lines will be available until January 30, 2009.

In its press release, the Federal Reserve stated, “These measures, together with other actions taken in the last few days by individual central banks, are designed to improve the liquidity conditions in global financial markets. The central banks continue to work together closely and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures.”

In the first 90 minutes in the American stock markets, the Dow Jones surged nearly 200 points, the NASDAQ was up nearly nine points, and the S&P 500 was up nearly 15 points. Mid-day trading in the European markets saw the UK’s FTSE 100 was up 25 points, the DAX was up over 54 points, and the CAC 40 was up nearly 15 points. While Japan’s Nikkei index closed at a three-year low of 11,489.30 points, and the Hang Seng bottomed out at 16,283.72 points before closing at 17,849.97 points.

The Russian markets continued to remain closed for a third day under orders of the Russian government. Russia announced that it would be infusing their own markets with an additional US$19.7 billion, half of which would come from the federal budget. Russia’s exchanges will re-open on Friday morning.

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