Note from Editor:

Burning or destruction of religious icons

causes powerful emotional reaction

Religious symbols have deep emotional connections. Note even how these images affect you. Therefore when a person or organization sets out to destroy the religious icons of another person, a strong reaction can be expected. Destruction of a house, or commercial building, a secular novel, a coloring book, will get a notice, but not near the emotional reaction of destruction of a religious symbol. Destroy a church, a temple or mosque, a Bible, a religious monument or a Koran, and the reaction will be emotional and strong.

It is important that we respect the symbols of religion. I recall once, a Tibetan seeing a Bible in a bathroom in the USA and saying: "If you consider this a Holy Book, you would not put it in a dirty place."

For many, just the sight or thought of this

creates an emotional response

Religious symbols speak to the heart, and normally have multiple meanings. They bring back memories of tradition, family, funerals and births. For some people religious symbols help hold their mental and spiritual lives together. So when we heard the story of the little church, run by a man with a big ego,announcing that he would “burn” the Koran, we again were amazed at the lack of discernment and the ignorance that exists among some church leaders .

The USA allows freedom of speech but that when combined with the freedom of ignorance can cause damage, even get innocent people killed.

Unfortunately, ignorance isn’t considered a “vice” with fervent fanatics. This act, merely fuels flames of radicalism. The USA’s leading General, David H. Petraeus sees it first hand on the battlefield, and we file this report, showing how serious he believes this is. Certainly the act of publicly burning this religious book, will cause American boys to be killed and create more strife.

President and CEO of Super Bowl Committee Speaks in Fort Worth!

Bill Lively says Super Bowl will bring hundreds of millions of $ to D/FW

It was our pleasure to talk to and hear Bill Lively, President and CEO of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, in Fort Worth, August 31st. He is an impressive communicator, quick, witty and intelligent. As President and CEO of the SuperBowl Committee, Lively reports to the Host Committee and its Chairman, Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman Vice Chair, Ross Perot Jr., Emmitt Smith, and Mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and other VIP’s in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Football is all about money. Big money. If you think it is only about the sport, just look at some of the facts. Texans put up big money for football. If you ask a Texan what his religion is, he might say: "FOOTBALL".

The North Texas Super Bowl XLV has now raised more money, than any other Super Bowl Committee in history, MANY OF THEM WERE $1,000,000 EACH.

“The Board of Directors and Executive Committee, expanded its membership to include more North Texas business, civic, cultural, education and religious leaders, and confirmed the highest number of million-dollar sponsorships in Super Bowl history.” Said Lively to the Fort Worth audience. But the money will come back to us. It is estimated that fans will spend: $60,000,000.00 on hotel rooms alone, an estimated $72,000,000 on food and refreshments, $3,500,000 on taxis and car rentals, $32,000,000 on parties, $75,000,000 on air fares, $45,000,000 on retail items. And the list goes on and on. This trully is an "economic stimulus" for the Fort Worth/Dallas area.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent here during the Super Bowl. It might be the biggest single economic boost we have ever seen. The estimates are amazing"

Said Mr. Lively. “This Super Bowl is expected to attract 150,000 people to Fort Worth/Dallas just by air travel alone, plus some 3,900 private airplanes, not to mention some 4500 press media reporters, 17,000 additional security and law enforcement officers, plus teams, coaches, and all the support groups that come with them.” All of that means jobs, economic stimulus, and more funds in the local economy. And you thought it was just about a football game!

This is one of my grandkids. He deserves a change to achieve his destiny.

Looking to the future!

Dear Mr. Obama,You are a talented man, and unlike most politicians, you probably aren't obsessed with the need to be re-elected to keep your self image intact. You are young, brilliant, financially secure, you have a creative and active life ahead, whether you are President or not.

But I would like, on behalf of my grandkids, my family, and millions of American, to ask you, to do just a few morethings while you are President. Things that will make the world, history, your legacy and most Americans, appreciate you.

President Obama, my 86 year old mother has lived through depressions, wars, sickness and death. As a widow her income has dropped from $80,000 per year, to $11,000 per year. She called me a few months ago, and said she was worried that she might not have enough to live on,to pay her bills. This woman has been a great citizen, paid her taxes, and been loyal to the United States. She has given this nation enough cotton production for thousands of clothes, enough cattle to feed a small city, hired workers, built homes and lived a good life. Now her world, this economy is squeezing her last savings from her. We need you, Mr. President to do a few things for us.

OLD MAN IN THE WHATABURGER

Running out the clock...

I had seen the old man before. He sat in Whataburger every morning alone, looking at the newspaper, drinking his coffee.

He was balding, his face wrinkled, and he wore loose casual clothes, the “uniform” of old men. He had a cane with him.

Sometimes, his face would look off into space. I wondered what was passing in his mind, because he seemed melancholy, almost wistful. His face seemed to suggest memories, ghosts. Every day I would watch as he drifted into the past. His facial expressions told stories of those times.

Unhappy Starbucks

It was a Saturday morning. I decided to ride my bicycle to Starbucks, get some exercise, and drink a warm cup of coffee. I had just used my I-Phone to pull up the day’s news.

We the "connected generation"

read our news on a phone at

our cool coffee shops!

Suddenly a group of people gathered around me and started a religious service. They were with a local Baptist Church, and had decided to have their devotional. Fifteen of them sat all around me and I heard one whisper, “He was here first, perhaps he will leave.” I wasn’t about to leave, and as I pulled up the New York Times, they started praying, and one mumbling a strange language. I think he was “speaking in tongues”. It was hard to enjoy my coffee, while they prayed, sang, spoke in tongues, and in general dominated the Star Bucks. I noticed that some people (who weren’t there for a religious service) left, but I was determined not to be driven out of a nice cup of coffee and a peaceful newspaper reading by a group of religious people. I did wonder, why they didn’t meet at their church, so they wouldn’t bother me, and everyone else in the room. Their singing was in conflict with “Nora Jones” on the speaker system, but they just sang louder.

Finally, one of them, swaying in a religious gesture, hit my arm and caused me to spill coffee on my I-Phone, and I uttered an expletive as the hot coffee hit a sensitive area. That attracted a glare, which was enough. As I left, I told a lady watching “The Crusaders have won, I retreat” as she laughed and said; “I’m leaving too”.

I wrote Star Bucks a letter asking if it was their company policy to let religious groups hold services in their stores and they said: “Our policy is that anyone can meet at Starbucks!” and I shuddered to think I was going to miss my hot coffee at Starbucks. I imagined various religions, doing Isalmic prayers, Hindu sutras, Krishna bell ringings and red Buddhist robes in Starbucks. (Then I thought, no, none of those groups would be that impolite, they will keep it in an appropriate place).

A few days later, I went to a “Mega Church”, there were over a thousand people gathered and the auditorium had no empty seats. In this church, there is a “Generic” coffee shop, made to look like Starbucks, even with strange names and high prices. Their idea?

This age of "click and order" not "brick and mortar" has changed the way we live.

Wired!

A few years ago, I started a small retail site on Yahoo. To our surprise, we had thousands of dollars of sales, and in the months of October and November, sales skyrocketed. It was a beginning of “Internet” shopping, which heralded a current multi-billion dollar market in the USA.

Even the grand old traditional retail stores, have web sites, and often merchandise can be purchased cheaper “on line” than in the stores. It is similar with services, such as airline tickets. Southwest Airlines taught the industry that to give a discount for “on line” reservation tickets would earn the passenger a cheaper air fare. “Click and order, not brick and mortar”.

Record snows have added to rising energy costs, pushing food prices upward. In the United States, east of the Mississippi had one of its snowiest winters in years, and food producers

Tomato Prices up, worth their weight in Gold!

report that this will take a bite out of our pocketbooks.

We have been researching the relationship of oil prices, electricity prices, and food prices. As oil goes up, food goes up faster. But crop failures, and interuptions in production can cause huge price increases as well. Florida, where winter and early spring produce is grown, reportedly has lost upwards of 70 percent of it's normal crop.

A 25-pound box of tomatoes that a year ago shipped for $6.50 is now fetching $40. Also destroyed were fields of sweet corn, beans and squash, not to mention those delicious Florida oranges displayed so appealingly in our groceries.

Another problem is that the the mass production food system of the USA tends to produce crops that have less "taste" because they are often picked green to allow longer shelf life and less "bruising". The result is less protein, lower vitamin levels, and poor taste. Visitors from Europe or Asia complain that our "grocery shelf" vegetables simply have no taste, and believe the "weekend market" system of most nations provides fresher and better quality food than the mass production system of America.

The squeeze on tomatoes and the scarcity of Florida produce has boosted prices at groceries and in restaurants. In the meantime, many Americans are growing gardens. Reports indicate more interest in food gardens than we have seen in decades. Farmers who have been addicted to large wholesale crops of milo, wheat, cotton, are now seeing huge profit opportunity in vegetable production. We may see "farmer's markets" again become an important income source for agricultural communities. More food chains, such as Central Market, are adding locally grown crops from small producers to their shelves, because the taste is better, and the quality, although not uniform, is of appeal to consumers. More growers are moving to "organic" production, with strict rules against harmful chemicals. Why? Consumer demand for "organic" is high.

NON-PROPHET MURDERS, by Becky Wooley, is a "Must Read!" about church in small town America. Funny, exciting, insightful and good drama pushes the plot to highs.

Non Prophet Murder, by Becky Wooley,

a "Great Read"

I was hooked by the engaging story, in the beginning, that told of a small town preacher committing “adultery”, with not one bored housewife, but "serial" repeats of his lusts. Thousands of real life ministers just like him have quietly been chased off from church after church, and continue to thrive in Churches across America.

My childhood Sunday school teachers, were similar to those in the book; Sunday School teachers who taught religion with only absolute good or bad, no grey. No room for thought or refection, just react!

This is not a boring book. It is a read so well done, that I couldn’t wait to turn the pages. The characters and plot development are astonishing. This book may well become a movie, and you will imagine DiCaprio and Brad Pitt taking on the establishment and “Windy, holier than thou, blowhards” that reflect many real ministers in this novel. It is a skillful mix of unique culture, drama, humor, and cutting insights that will keep you reading, smiling and thinking. I found myself telling friends about events in the book over lunch and at the office.

· A suffering woman walks in the door of THE TRUE CHURCH needing grace and finds damnation instead, and is told that she is going to hell. She of course prefers to just go away from that church!

Posted February 8th, 2010 by theStockMasters in Financial News

We reprint this article because this report confirms numerous other studies. Note, it is not attacking "diet" cokes, but, cokes that are sweetened with sugars derived from corn. So, consider this, in spite of loud and well financed protests from Coke and Pepsi, studies do show that these drinks have a link to pancreatic cancer.

No to Coke!

According to WebMD today, a new study finds that drinking as little as two soft drinks a week appears to nearly double the risk of getting pancreatic cancer. Will the study have any affect on PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) or Coca-Cola ( NASDAQ:COKE) shares?

Why the link with sugary sodas? Mueller says they are not certain. "What we believe is the sugar in the soft drinks is increasing the insulin level in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth. That increase in insulin is what may be leading to the development of the cancer."

As you would expect, the beverage industry protested the results. ''The study has a lot of weaknesses in it," Richard Adamson, PhD, scientific consultant for the American Beverage Association in Washington, D.C., said.

Many are facing unprecidented challenges to survive during this recession. Dianne Rose has an answer for you. Use what you have, never give up, be enthusiastic, and use good PR!

Dianne Rose, no "Bllind Luck" for

her! She is making her future!

Dianne Rose is not only doing well, but achieving things with gusto! She has an energy, and bubbly enthusiasm that will not be quenched. Vision-impaired with glaucoma all her life, Rose became blind as a result of an accident in 1984, a mere four days before she was to undergo a cornea transplant. But that condition not slowed her down, Rose has used it to serve as a means to motivate others to achieve their true potential. Plus she has been smart in a business way. She has used good PR to get the word out.

She has used her lack of sight as a springboard to give motivational talks both within and beyond the context of her ministry, Rose of Sharon Ministries. "The way I look at it, if I can do what I have done, without sight, how much can you do?" she said. While it is normal to be a little suspect of people who mix religion with business, to achieve their goals, it is also important to get to the basics. What is she doing? The book says: "By their fruits you shall know them." She is using what she has, to help others! She is encouraging and motivating those who normally might just give up and live on hand outs! This woman is working, speaking, creating, moving, and is an example for every business executive. So, perhaps her "religious/business" mixture is a good one. The fruits? Her approach helps her make a living, and she gets the satisfaction of helping others.

Her achievements are considerable. Even without sight, Rose was involved in the Nashville music scene as a journalist covering the various aspects of, and personalities in, country music.

And it's not as if she has been dabbling at quilting, either. "I have been doing it since 1998," she said, "and I have made more than 475 of them." She also had a goal to make 500 quilts by Aug 14th 2008 which was her 10th anniversary of making quilts.