Stop the Insanity

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Einstein's ubiquitous quote about the definition of insanity as "doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result," is so widely used because we see this behavior all the time, particularly in election season. Armed with enthusiasm and often more money than sense, candidates dutifully make the rounds telling crowds what everyone wants to hear-that by simply pushing the button for the "right" candidate on Election Day it will solve all our problems. Lulled into complacency by rousing rhetoric and adoring crowds, politician and public alike support each other's lunacy by believing that what they are doing is truly making a difference.

Before the sobering reality of the morning-after Election Day hits and we begin tearing down those who we have just built up, perhaps we can take a moment to reflect on what really creates change.

- Ryan Hreljac, was a six-year-old Canadian boy so upset upon learning that many children in African didn't have access to clean water that he began raising money to build his first well there by the time he was seven. Now a college student his foundation has built 319 wells in Africa and impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people including his own in many various and magnificent ways.

- Leymah Gbowee was a homeless mother of three children having been abused by her husband. In her war torn home of Liberia she worked herself through school in trauma counseling before becoming the head of a peace movement that toppled the dictatorial regime of Charles Taylor, allowing the election of the country's first female president. In her historic remarks before the President and other government officials, she stood for her values and spoke for thousands of Liberian women, "We are tired of war. We are tired of running... We are now taking this stand, to secure the future of our children. Because we believe, as custodians of society, tomorrow our children will ask us, "Mama, what was your role during the crisis?"

These are only two of numerous examples of ordinary people, who by simply following their conscious and doing what they can to change the world-did it. They didn't wait until they had money, neither did. They didn't wait until they were in a position of authority; neither of them was. And they didn't let the "reality" of the world stop them from being their best. A young Canadian boy who wished to help Africans and a poor women from Liberia quite literally changed the world because they did not let others to tell them what they could or couldn't do and they didn't wait for someone else to it for them-they believed in themselves and they took action to make their vision a reality.

So why are we constantly lulled into the belief that elected officials will actually change things? Because it feels easier to think that "someone else" will solve the problem, rather than sinking into our knowing that we are the only ones who can truly change things. And like providing drugs to an addict, elected officials are all too willing to tell us they are the ones who will be different, who will change things. The truth we all know is that there is nothing elected officials can do for us, there are only the steps that we can make together that will ever have any lasting impact. No, I don't believe that every political leader is a drug dealer, and there are too many of them who refuse to talk about what is really going to make a difference for fear it will turn the voters off. Instead they make promises they can't keep and then tell it us it was the fault of the "other side" when they don't.

The way forward is to stop believing that someone else is going to make the changes we wish to see in the world. Right now we have two ends of the spectrum searching for this reality. In Egypt we see a fledging democracy trying to avoid Western control while the political players fight for position and power as good as their American counterparts. In the US, citizens are engaged in the quadrennial pastime of testing their ability to suspend logic and believe in the power of elections to solve our problems.

For both countries, and indeed the world, the answer lies in our capacity to trust ourselves and to know that true democracy is not about ceding power to the elected, rather it is found in the glory of each person bringing their best to the community. And perhaps the best place to begin is by answering a question posed by one successful leader, "what was your role during the crisis." Now think about the answer you would give your children-then go start doing it.

Kathleen Schafer is at the forefront of leadership development with more than 20 years experience. Grounded in the rough and tumble world of politics, experienced in business, honed in academia and broadened by her own journey to create a balanced life, she brings remarkable insights on how individuals can develop their leadership potential to successfully create productive and fulfilling lives. Kathleen's personal presence in one-on-one coaching, seminars, and keynote presentations transforms people's perspective on what they can accomplish and how to walk it in the real world everyday. Her leadership tools are simple, easy to understand allow you to quickly integrate them into your life, starting now!

If you are interested in creating change in your life, your organization or your community, please visit http://www.leadershipconnection.net/ for additional resources, podcasts, on-line courses, and tools to start your leadership journey today.

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Global Warming Tricks Destroying Our Energy Security - Intervention By EPA and Obama Administration

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Not long ago, someone actually told me that Global Warming Theory was a fact. In case you don't know what the theory is - it is defined as; Humankind's emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases are causing the planet to heat up. In other words, Global Warming is not just that the planet ambient temperatures are heating up in our atmosphere (which hasn't exactly been proven either), but that it is occurring because of humans. To say that this theory has been proven, decided, or rendered as fact is completely false. Okay so, let's talk shall we?

On March 28, 2012 there was a troubling piece which flew across my environmental socialist" radar screen, yet another breach of our airspace with income bombers dropping yet another round on our energy security, and it's the White House letting them do it. The EPA is bomber and the Obama Administration is their command and control - metaphorically speaking of course. The article I read was on CFACT (Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow) titled; "Obama EPA enacts cap-and-trade agenda," which stated;

"In its latest move to drive up the cost of energy to consumers, businesses, and manufacturers, the Obama EPA March 27 issued a final CO2 cap on emissions from electric utilities. EPA's action will effectively ban the construction of new coal-fired power plants and likely cause rolling blackouts."

Indeed, that is a very fair assessment. The article also noted that the new restrictions for CO2 Output are just a little lower than the best current technology can produce. While the Obama Administration works on funding through the DOE all sorts of nonsensical solar and wind schemes, even biomass, they have fallen short on funding research on clean coal technology.

For me, this seems rather bizarre considering our energy sector where coal is the dominant source in energy generations, which produces CO2 as an output - that we should be collecting the CO2 and use it to make future technology - carbon composites, carbon nano-tubes, and graphene coatings to build better and more efficient homes thus using less energy, and stronger and lighter transportation devices which would use less fuel.

Now then, to set the limits of CO2 output from coal fired plants to a point beyond the current clean-coal technology, all the while denying funding for such technology, and yet pushing taxpayers monies to alternative energy technologies which are unreliable and/or too costly to produce seems almost a planned attack on the energy sector. Why are we worried about terrorists when we are allowing our own government to terrorize the industry into submission of pie-in-the-sky cap-and-trade schemes? Something is amiss. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on 2012 American Politics. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Half Staff / Half Mast: Protocols for Lowering the Flag

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Every year, on the anniversary of 9/11, we remember those who died, it brings to mind the way we honor our fallen heroes. One of the ways we show respect for the deaths of those who have died while in the service of our country is by lowering the US flag to half staff, or half mast. There is, however, a list of protocols associated with this honorarium. The protocols are easy to follow though.

The Tradition Behind the Half Staff

Flying the flag at half staff began centuries ago when nations would lower the flag on the pole by one flag width. This left room for the "invisible flag of death" as a sign of respect toward someone that had died and as a symbol for officially mourning for their death. Today, flags around the world are lowered approximately halfway down the flagpole, though placing the flag from 1/3 to 2/3 of the way up the flagpole is considered acceptable

Half Staff Procedure

The steps required for lowering the US flag begins with first raising the flag to the top of the pole momentarily, then lower it to the halfway point. When taking the US flag down in the evening, it's to be lifted briefly to the top of the pole, then lowered and removed from the pole, folded and stored properly. For flags that cannot be lowered to half staff - for example, home flags permanently affixed to a pole or wall flags - black ribbons may be attached at the top corner above the star field.

Half-Mast or Half Staff?

So what's the difference between half staff and half mast? The Associated Press Style Book states that the differences hinges on where the flagpole is located. The term half mast refers to flags hanging from a ship's mast or flag poles in a naval station. Flags flying at half staff are located elsewhere on dry land.

When Flags should be flown at Half-Staff

In the US, flags are flown at half staff for specific holidays: Peace Officer's Memorial Day (May 15), Memorial Day (last Monday of May), Patriot's Day (September 11), Fire Prevention Week (1st Sunday in October), and Pearl Harbor Day (December 7), or - by Presidential proclamation - on any day following the death of a US public officials and foreign dignitaries.There are other days on the US calendar when the flag is flown at the top of the flag pole, including July 4 and Veteran's Day.

How long Flags Are to Be Lowered

Protocols for the length of time that US flags are allowed to fly at half staff varies with the person being honored and mourned.

For current and former Presidents, flags are lowered for 30 days.For current Vice Presidents, present or retired Chief Justices of the US, and the Speaker of the House, flags are lowered for 10 days.For Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Cabinet Officers, former Vice Presidents, State governors members of Congress, flags are lowered only on the day that they died.

Other Protocols

State flags can be flown at half staff along with the US flag, either on a separate pole or below the US flag on the same pole. Other national flags remain at fully raised, however. State Governors can call for state flags to be lowered only on the death of current or former state governors or in cases of the death or deaths of military members from that state. Companies cannot use this honorarium to pay tribute to current or former employees who have died. Schools cannot lower US flags to honor the death of former students that died while in military service.

The protocols and etiquette for lowering the US flag to half staff are rather specific. If you don't find the exact circumstances you're looking for regarding lowering the US flag, contact your local American Legion or VFW groups. Also check out these websites.

USA Flag Site: Rules for Display of the American Flag

http://www.usa-flag-site.org/etiquette-display.shtml

Flag and Banner: Flag Etiquette

http://www.flagandbanner.com/fab/flag.asp?cpage=etiquette1

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Inserting Conservative Religious Beliefs Into National Politics Is Dangerous

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When a person of faith speaks about compassion, justice, diversity, civility, empathy, care of the disadvantaged, and does so with a smile, listen to them. They might be giving you something valuable to think about.

When a person of faith speaks to you about their religious beliefs, or tells you how you "should" live your life, or assures you that they possess absolute truth and knows exactly what God wants from you, it would probably be a good idea to check the batteries in your bulls**t detector and walk away.

While you're walking away, note that these persons seldom smile if you disagree with them. In the words of humorist Dave Barry, "People who want to share their religious views with you, almost never want you to share yours with them."

Unfortunately, many of the politicians in this current national election are in the second category I've listed above. They mean well, but I'm concerned they are taking us down a dangerous road.

They are running for public office on the assumption that when their religious beliefs, the religious beliefs of their 2000 year old religion, are inserted into the national laws and public policy of our 21st century culture, the problems that face our nation will somehow disappear.

It would be great if the solution were that simple. Unfortunately it's not.

Faith beliefs in themselves are not the problem. The problem is they only represent the faith beliefs of one particular religion and the cultural and moral worldviews of a religious culture over 2000 years old. Our nation is a 21st century culture comprised of citizens from many different faith beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

I would agree that the challenges facing our nation and our world are indeed moral issues that need our national attention, but they are not religiously based moral issues. They simply reflect the lack of character and moral courage of our nation's electorate, and our politicians, to embrace with honesty the painful reality that we have been living far beyond our means for decades.

We are now facing the inevitable consequences of this collective denial of reality and our overwhelming lack of moral courage. We have allowed greed and personal comfort to pass the consequences of our denial, and our moral bankruptcy, onto future generations; the generation of our children.

Unfortunately, our politicians are attempting to blame the consequences of our decades long collective denial to face reality on scapegoat issues such as abortion, the rights of women, immigrants, gay marriage, care for the poor and disadvantaged, health care, and of course members of the opposing political party.

To state the problem simply, we are still unwilling to face reality. We have not yet awakened.

We all have household budgets. A balanced budget is not rocket science. When the debt gets too high we have to earn more income and we have to cut back on our standard of living. On a national level we have to cut spending and raise taxes.

It's that simple.

Everyone impacted by the family budget has to wake up to the reality that there is a "family" problem and accept the simple reality that everyone in the family will be impacted. Everyone is going to feel the pain.

The national and global issues that we need to address, including challenges to the viability and survivability of our human species, will be solved only when we have the wisdom and courage to awaken our individual and collective consciousness, and embrace the uncomfortable reality that denial is no longer a viable option.

We have created the problems that face us, and we are responsible for solving them. But using the same level of consciousness to solve them that we used to create them is not going to lead us to the creative solutions we so badly need.

As conscious human beings, we were born out of mystery and we will return to that mystery.

Unfortunately, in between those two realities the development of the human mind is at the mercy of the human ego.

From birth on, our human developmental journey takes us through the reality distorting beliefs of early childhood. The belief for example that we can get what we want if we scream loud enough, or the best way to navigate the world is through the use of black-and-white, all-or-nothing dualistic thinking. I'm right, you're wrong.

And this self-focused primitive ego narcissism of childhood will continue to control our lives until we find the courage to become self-aware and begin the challenging task of awakening and transforming our consciousness; individually and collectively.

All authentic, compassionate, unconditionally loving spiritual growth is directly dependent on our ability to awaken our consciousness through intentional self-awareness. Until we do this work, our character, our behaviors, and the energy we unconsciously send into the world will tend to be ego driven; judgmental, controlling, and self-serving.

In other words, the challenges that face us personally and globally have not been created by a lack of religious morality but rather by our unwillingness to evolve and mature our human consciousness.

The issues and problems that face us are rooted in our human ego's unwillingness to change our reality distorting beliefs when we encounter new information that challenges those old beliefs. When reality challenges beliefs that give us our self-identity, instead of being open to change, our ego hardens our beliefs and rejects or ignores the new information.

We do this in science by denying the evidence of global warming and the insights of evolution.

We do this in our personal relationships when we deny the unconscious shadows of our dark nature. Our denial harms those close to us when we unconsciously project those things we don't like about ourselves onto others. Especially our fears, our self judgment, and our pain.

The current draconian attacks on women and woman rights, our prejudice toward gays and other minorities, our attitudes toward immigrants and immigration reform, and our unwillingness to address the growing gap between the rich and the poor, nationally and globally, are all good examples of projection and our deep-seated refusal to awaken our consciousness and embrace reality.

Rather than change our existing beliefs, biases, and prejudices, we would rather pass onto future generations the long-term consequences that come from ignoring the reality of these challenges.

This is especially true when it comes to conservative religious beliefs. Resigning Senator Olympia Snowe who is leaving Congress because of the regressive nature of the current political environment said "It feels as if we are going back to another era".

Healthy religious teachings are about compassion, selflessness, humility, and self-transformation; awakening our consciousness to the beams in our own eye, not the specks in the eyes of others.

Stated simply, when a religiously conservative politician or political party claims to possess the absolute truth on any subject, they are peddling a dangerous ignorance called "absolute certainty"; the religious imperialism of a minority projecting their "holy" criticism and judgment onto the majority.

They are inviting us to follow them down a dangerous yellow brick road; a road devoid of compassion and care for all of the members of our national family.

Like or not, the future is coming.

Let's hope we have the moral fiber, character, and courage to awaken our consciousness so we can begin creating a future in which our grandchildren can thrive.

Dick Rauscher, M. Div., licensed mental health counselor and life coach writes Stonyhill Nuggets on paths to growth and healing and awakening our primitive ego to achieve true happiness and success in life. His articles focus on taking full responsibility for the lives we are creating for ourselves, developing the skills required to achieve happiness and become more successful in life, and incorporating the day-to-day psychological and spiritual practices needed to achieve a deeper and more authentic spirituality. http://www.stonyhill-nuggets.com/

Sign up to get his free newsletter here and receive a free article on ways to be happy.

Copyright 2010 Dick Rauscher

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Would Obama Be a Good Tour Guide?

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On my business trip to Beijing, China, I took a couple of half day tours to see some of the famous tourist attractions the city has to offer. On one of these excursions, our tour guide was Lisa (English names make it easier for everybody to communicate). We saw the Forbidden city, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. They were all beautiful places, however, at the end most of us wished we saw them under different circumstances.

It started out with the confusion of who is taking our tour versus another one. As the buses collect the tourists in the morning, they pick everybody up from each hotel regardless of their destination. At one point they meat up and sort it out who goes where. Lisa forgot to discuss this with us so as the tourists asked each other what their destination was they started panicing and asking her questions. That is when she realized she had forgotten something.

Half of our group was tourists from different parts of China, the other half a very diverse group of people from all around the world. Lisa started complaining from the beginning that it will be very difficult for her to handle the situation.

As we started touring the Forbidden city, Lisa provided very little information regarding what we were seeing. She kept rushing ahead and made faces if someone got behind. Then some people started missing. Others in the group helped out so those can find the group again. As she got angry, she started complaining and tried to blame those who could not find the group. She communicated even less with the group as her resentment grew. As it was less obvious what the plan was, people started to get separated from the group even more. Sometimes we had to wait twenty minutes or more before we could get reunited. As the cycle got worse and worse she did not try to change her method, instead, she started blaming more people. She turned the Chinese half of the group against the foreigners, as she convinced them that it was all their fault. It may have seen like a legitimate reason except more and more "Chinese friends" started missing as well. I could also compare the situation to tours that I took on previous days. I do not remember a single person ever missing. I learned a lot about what I was seeing and never even felt rushed.

On the way back to the hotel! I was thinking how bad of a leader she was. After all, her primary job was to lead us through these famous places so that we have a problem free, nice day. She certainly failed every leadership attributes that exist.

Every good leader knows that communication is very important. Good leaders do not blame others, since they know that 99% of problems are their fault. Instead, they inspire, unite and adopt as circumstances change.

As I thought about how Lisa could have done a better job, I realized how similar these issues are to what we are facing in the US. President Obama came in as a person who will make everything better. However, as time went by and the economy did not improve, he started blaming everybody else for it. It was the Tsunami, the Arab Spring, Europe, the republicans, etc. just like Lisa, the president did not and could not change course. Instead he is setting up a stronger and stronger rhetoric to divide the population along racial, gender and economic lines.

So my answer to the question is a resounding no. Obama would be a terrible tour guide just like Lisa would be a terrible president. Even though on a different scale but the same leadership principles apply in both cases. The lack of those qualities lead to disastrous results. Although I can always just go back to Beijing and revisit those places. However, unlike the tour, millions of Americans cannot get their lost opportunities, their lost dreams back. Mr. President you should have practiced on a smaller group first like a small group of tourists.

On the way back to our hotels, Lisa handed out evaluation forms, that her company requires. It allows the tourists to give feedback on the experience they had. As Lisa handed out the forms she stood over every person, one by one and demanded that we all included a positive feedback regarding her performance. We all cowered and followed her demands rather than face the uncomfortable consequences. This election we will also have a chance to give a feedback to Mr. Obama. First of all I hope nobody will be looking over our shoulder and telling us what to say on the ballot. Secondly, I hope that we will have more courage and we will really tell the President what we think about his performance.

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Administration Instructs Regulators to Stop Oil Price Manipulation - Insists on Carbon Tax Credits

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Fuel prices are high and people want answers. The GOP claims it is the administration's fault, and whereas, it is true that there is more than ample evidence of that, there is still much more to the story. So, here we are in an election year, a year with once again high oil prices that are smothering the economic recovery. What are they doing about it? Well, nothing really, but lots of talk and podium pushing and posturing. Okay so, let's talk shall we?

On or about April 17, 2012 Devin Dwyer wrote an interesting piece on the ABC News Blog titled; "Obama Seeks $52M, New Regs to Fight Oil Manipulation," which stated that the President wants more IT money to purchase state-of-the-art computer equipment to help the CFTC or Commodity Futures Trading Commission police the oil commodity traders, and;

"Obama also proposes a ten-fold increase in civil and criminal penalties for energy market manipulators, from $1 million to $10 million. And he wants to give the CFTC power to raise margin requirements in markets, and to share data more widely within government to look for patterns of misbehavior."

Sounds great right? Well, hold your horses there a second because CSPAN had segment a Congressional segment on where the regulators were talking with Democrat Legislators about the need for funding and asked for quite a bit of money about $105 million. It is interesting that the Obama Administration is preempting this request with their own public mass media announcement, thus, taking credit for the idea, and using their bully pulpit to press forward.

Now then, I'd seriously like to question this chess move and counter with some more facts. If new regulations are put into place, it will give the bigger commodity trading companies the advantage and take out the little guys, and even hurt those companies that MUST hedge against price spikes for instance trucking, aviation, railroad, etc.

Further, I question this push right now in an election year, as now there will be a new law put into place, and all those concerned will come to lobby Congress and the President with big purse strings from Chicago to have that law and new regulations custom tailored to their liking, just as all laws are done in Washington DC.

What concerns me the most is that this particular administration and those same members in Congress were quite heavy handed when Enron was trading commodities, as that company was big supporters of Congress too, but mostly the Republican Administration at the time, suffice it to say, this is what brought forth Sarbanes Oxley which didn't do a lick of good, judging by the same off-balance sheet accounting going on before the big financial crisis of 2008.

And lastly, these Democrat Gentlemen are the same folks that want to initiate a carbon-credit CO2 trading "Cap and Trade" tax scheme and they want to model it after what's being done in the EU, which by the way has been fraught with fraud from the very first day of trading. What am saying here? Well, it's simple, let's stop the hypocrisy, show-boating, and pretending that the Democrats are looking out for the people. They aren't - it's all about staying in power - obviously. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Hot Political Topics. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Arab Spring

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Arab spring sprouted into autumn and on its way to a very stormy winter.

The immature approach and handling of the Arab spring is threatening the achievements and therefore hopes of Arab nationals all over the world.

Prior to the uprising in the Arab world citizens of the region held a conservative view surrounding their high hopes and expectations restricting it to a day by day living in humility and self contempt due to a long practice of imbalanced wealth distribution, strategic planning and a great lack of governance by authorities at all levels...

Now with the winter is on the doorsteps of Arab world I predict a huge storm strong enough to uproot stability in even the least troubled parts of the Middle East.

A swift counter measures are urgently needed if we are to avoid any further deterioration in this volatile region which not only represents a major source of energy but stands as the center of human history and the turning point of human spirituality therefore, the core of conflict between good and evil in our species culture.

Retroactively, as faith and religion sprang from the Middle East at the beginning of times, also did, Evil when it managed to parallel its start up point striding step by step chasing after the path enlightenment...

The final countdown for this clash of the titans is certainly approaching nigh and very rapidly, and there is so much that needs to be done and done immediately if we are to prevent a major human catastrophic outcome.

- First step should be uprooting evil tyrants from any governing posts, but if this is not rapidly replaced by appropriate, just and authoritative publicly accepted figures then there will certainly be a very undesirable vacuum created which will eminently spread throughout the region country by country.

- What needs to follow is even more crucial and very delicate yet should be swiftly implemented act of reform that is the redistribution of wealth amongst people on equal basis. Though, easily said, but almost fictional in implementation since we are all familiar with human nature and the concept of what is yours is yours and mine and what is mine is mine and none else...

- Then there is the inevitable academic studies and research that needs to be conducted very thoroughly and extensively in every single Arab region and community regardless of socio/economical status or ethnicity.

- We can start with carrying on surveys amongst our youth to form a basic idea of the level of education and nature of qualifications amongst the masses.

- Industrialization based upon strategic planning is urgently needed to prompt an immediate conversion of our communities from consumer to producer status. This should include evaluating the existing infrastructure and its capacity to accommodate the needed development.

This will involve surveying market needs and demands, nature of production and consumption and the habits and habitats of consumers based upon thorough studies of the changing trend of individual and communal consumer behavior in comparison to today's modern changes in market demands and requirements.

- Government recruitment agencies needs to be formed and such governmental bodies needs to carry on their own surveys to base their strategy and approach upon scientific findings in the process of ushering fresh graduates and the unemployed towards a successful participation in positive social construction.

- The establishment of a coordinating body with regional and local committees aimed to unite efforts to tackle unemployment and massive negative consumption on regional and local levels.

The regional socio/ethnical nature dictates such coordination.

For this long sighted view to be achieved within a period of five years intervals it is absolutely crucial to have such body of diversified committees to be none politically driven and free of any sort of influence be it finance or foreign interests. None bias body neutral and most probably works in interim elective and selective process.

Based upon our own survey we know that the majority of our visitors and members are university graduates and from all walks of life.

We therefore wish to extend our open invitation to all of you to share with us your thoughts and participate in finding a solution to this new challenge which is about to engulf the Middle East region and which may very well end up influencing the world as a whole in future to come unless it is tackled promptly and positively by all and on all levels.

Look forward to hear your comments
Adam El masri

Adam El Masri
Author & Researcher
http://www.paradetect.com/

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