U. S. senior citizens, noting President Bush’s new budget, which calls for billions to be spent in Iraq while billions are cut from Medicare, are foregoing traditional retirement destinations like Florida and Arizona and opting for Iraq.

The numbers reflect a convincing coincidence. Bush’s budget calls for $100 billion more for Iraq and $100 billion in cuts for Medicare.

Following up on the new retirement trend, we went to Kennedy Airport and caught up with some seniors who were booked for Baghdad.

“Excuse me,” I asked a group of seniors who just stepped off the bus in front of Saudi Arabian Airlines. “I understand you’re all heading for Iraq?”

“That’s right,” a man in Bermuda shorts replied, and reached into his golf bag. He took out a chapeau in the usual mullah fashion. “Got my black turban right here. You know what they say? When in Baghdad, do as the Iraqis do.”

“And I have my black burkah,” his wife added, lifting it from her purse. She slipped it over her head and modeled it. “What do you think?”

“Very cute,” I replied. “You’ll fit right in. Can you please clarify why you’ve chosen to retire in Iraq instead of, say, Miami?”

“Simple, son,” a man with a fishing rod, who happened to be wearing a baseball cap on top of his turban, said, “That’s where the Medicare money is.”

“Not to mention social security,” his wife commented.

“The plain fact is, we’d rather eat in Iraq than starve in America,” another man added.

“But aren’t you concerned about safety issues?” I asked.

“Of course, we are,” the man in the Bermudas replied. “But we’re in this for the long term and, the way things are going, we can hardly count on Medicare and social security in America.”

“We’ve got to follow the food,” another elderly gentleman stated.

“But you could get blown up?” I suggested.

“Oh, we thought about that,” the man with the baseball hat on top of his turban replied. “We’ll just have to take our chances.”

“Never underestimate the power of a senior citizen,” a frail man said, raising his fist. “Didn’t you read about the 70-year-old fella who broke the neck of the kid who tried to rob a busload of seniors?”

“Yes, I did notice that event,” I told him.

“He was a war vet,” one of the women informed me, with evident pride.

“Yep, of one American war or another,” a senior volunteered with a sigh. “Quite a few to choose from.”

“How about suicide bombers?” I dared to ask.

“Bring ‘em on, son,” the frail senior said, assuming the position of a boxer with his dukes up.

“But aren’t you forgetting that most of the money earmarked for Iraq is for military activity?” I asked.

“We’re going for the rebuilding money,” the man in the Bermudas said. “They’re wasting billions. And we figure we can get in the way of some of it.”

“And what do you think is going to happen when Americans see millions of seniors, retired in Iraq? They can’t just let us starve there, can they?”

“Congress will have to divvy up something for us, and that’s more than they’re likely to do if we stay in America.”

“And something is better than nothing,” a woman affirmed.

“But what about the culture gap?” I asked. “Aren’t you a little set in your ways?”

“Yes, we are,” one of the men admitted.

“I notice the turbans. Do you plan on becoming Muslim?”

“Whatever it takes to get in the way of some money,” the man insisted.

“We’ve thought about it,” his wife interjected. “And becoming Islamic is better than not being able to afford medical care.”

“Or starving on what’s left of social security,” another woman added.

“Do you think you’ll be able to enjoy the usual retirement activities there, like golf and fishing?” I asked.

“No problem,” the man with the golf bag said. “Iraq may not have the best golf courses, but I see there’s plenty of desert for sand traps.”

“I’ve noticed a river runs through Baghdad,” the man with the fishing rod said. “Got to be something in it besides body parts.”

“How about you?” I asked a woman with a tennis racquet.

“I haven’t seen any tennis courts there,” she admitted, “but some of the sand should be hard enough for the ball to bounce.”

“What about a net?” I asked.

“I guess there’ll be some sacrifices,” she replied, and looked around at the crowd. “But I know one thing. I won’t have far to look for someone to play with.”

“I brought my racket,” another woman called.

“And, if worse comes to worse,” her husband advised her, “you can teach an Iraqi how to play.”

“Excuse us, son,” one of the men said. “We have to move along now. Can’t miss our flight.”

“We’re bound for Baghdad!” his wife almost sang.

“OK,” I replied. “Thanks for the interview. And enjoy your retirement.”

Tom Attea, humorist and creator of http://www.NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway. Critics have called his writing “delightfully funny,” “witty,” with “good, genuine laughs” and “great humor and ebullience.”

If you like betting baseball run lines but want even more variety to your wagering menu, then know you have other options. Actually there are a couple of alternatives – the two different varieties of alternate run lines. A traditional run line is essentially a moneyline with a point spread of 1.5 – the favorite has to win by two or more runs for a bet on them to pay off, while the underdog can lose by one and you will still win your bet. Alternate run lines work in the same way, only they allow you to bet on different spreads.

The first alternate run line, offered by online books including Bodog, Pinnacle and SuperBook, essentially turns the tables on the traditional bet. Instead of laying 1.5 runs, the favorite takes 1.5 runs. The favorite becomes the underdog. Obviously, that means that the original favorite in the game will be facing a much lower payout, and the original underdog will pay off much better than it otherwise would.

If you don’t have that much confidence in the underdog, or you like the favorite more than that, then the other alternative will be more attractive. Instead of laying 1.5 runs, it is possible to lay 2.5 runs. The risks are higher, but the bet has the advantage of turning even a heavy favorite into an underdog with a much nicer payoff.

The alternate run lines, like traditional run lines, are obviously not for every situation. They are a tool to be pulled out in the circumstances in which they make the most sense. There are at least three such cases:

1. Exploiting a mismatch for the favorite. The only thing better than winning a bet is winning a bet on the same team at a much better price. In some cases your handicapping will lead you to believe that the favorite is not only going to win the game outright, but that the margin of victory stands a good chance of being fairly significant. Factors that could lead you to that belief could include a team with hot bats, a starting pitcher that is almost unhittable according to recent form, a starting pitcher for the opponent that doesn’t match up well or an opposing bullpen that has been beat up in recent games. In those cases, the risk of laying 2.5 runs may be worthwhile given the extra reward. The reward can be significant, too – it is not uncommon to see a team that is a -160 favorite on the moneyline at -2.5 (+170) on the alternate run line. If the team were to win by three or more runs, then, a $100 bet would net $170 on the alternate run line instead of $62.50 on the moneyline. The chances of losing are much higher, but your winning percentage doesn’t need to be nearly as high to make a profit.

If you think a team stands a solid chance of winning by three or more, yet you aren’t comfortable risking a whole bet on that belief, then you can use the alternate run line in combination with the money line to reduce your risk while increasing your potential payout. Using the above scenario it could, or example, make sense to bet $55 on the money line and $45 on the alternate run line. If your team loses, then you lose your whole bet, but you were going to do that anyway. If the team wins by three runs or more than your profit would be $34.38 from the money line and $76.50 for the alternate run line, for a total of $110.88. That’s much less than the $170, but it’s much more than the $62.50 of the straight money line bet. The advantage of betting this way, though, comes if your team wins by just one or two runs. On the straight alternate run line bet you would lose $100. In this case you would still collect the $34.38 from your money line bet, so your loss would be just $10.62. You have sacrificed some upside to protect some downside.

2. Exploiting a strong dog. If your handicapping leads you to believe that the underdog stands a chance of not only winning but winning handily then the alternate run line can help you maximize your income. A +145 dog could be expected to be about -1.5 (+210) on the alternate run line. That’s almost 50 percent more return, and that could certainly be attractive in a situation in which you are confident that your team could win handily anyway.

As above, you could combine this scenario and the money line to increase the payout while accepting less risk. You could, for example, bet $75 on the money line and $25 on the alternate run line. In that case, the profit would be $161.25 if you win by two or more runs, and $83.75 if you only win by one run. In other words, you are accepting odds of about -120 if you only win by one run, but you are getting +161 if, as you expect, you win by two or more. You could increase your payout by more than 10 percent. That could be worth the extra risk in some cases.

3. Providing a cushion for well-priced favorite. This would certainly be the most conservative use of the alternate run lines, and as such wouldn’t make a lot of sense in most cases, but it could have its place. If you have identified a favorite that you are fairly confident is going to win and it is a lukewarm favorite, then you may look to the alternate run line to increase your winning percentage while lowering your potential payout. Since more than a quarter of all games are decided by just one run, you will boost your winning percentage significantly if your favorite can also lose by a run. A -110 favorite could be expected to be about +1.5(-210). This could be especially attractive if you think that -110 was a better payout than would have been fair. That lower payoff for lower risk may be attractive by itself, or it could work when blended with a money line as above.

Visit Doc’s Spots daily as they gear up for the Run for the Roses. Doc’s 2007 Kentucky Derby page will have updated daily content, Kentucky Derby odds and Kentucky Derby picks.

Whether you’re a Classical Homeschooler or an Unschooler, does it seem as if there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish what you want to do? Between schlepping the kids to the library, lessons, sports and get-togethers there’s not much time for the chores and errands we all have to do. Something has to give, and oftentimes, it’s Mom’s spare time that gets stolen away by daily work. However, there are ways around this. One thing that has to be done daily is feeding everyone. Doesn’t it seem as if you just clean up from one meal and it’s time for the next? Or is someone always interrupting you to ask for a snack?

Well, how about making dinner while you’re having breakfast? It takes less than a half hour to microwave a box of Spanish Rice mix and if you add leftover chicken from last night’s supper or some canned, sliced olives or even pepperoni, you have dinner in the fridge all ready to nuke and serve that evening. Of course, any kind of rice mix will do. Just pick one that goes with whatever additional meat or veggie you have on hand.

Homemade soup is as easy as adding a chopped onion, some celery and carrots finely chopped, a cup of frozen mixed veggies and a half cup of pasta to four cups of boiling chicken broth. Cook until the pasta is soft and the veggies are cooked. Add leftover chicken just before serving. Make double recipes of everything on the weekend, and freeze half in meal-sized containers for later on in the week. Cook chicken parts, pork chops, roasts, or meat loaves ahead in the oven, then freeze them in family-sized portions. Use the microwave to bake potatoes and cook veggies to go with them, or serve sweet potatoes, which are both a starch and a veggie with antioxidants that are so good for you.

Snacks can be ready in the fridge or something that kids can fix themselves, depending on their ages and skills. If you spread crackers with peanut butter and jelly and put them into baggies, kids can help themselves and it’s much cheaper than prepackaged ones. Buy a big bag of veggie chips or corn chips or pretzels and put servings into baggies and store them in the cupboard, so that kids won’t eat more than a serving at a time. And they don’t have to ask you to get them for them.

Cut cheese into slices, spread celery with peanut butter or cream cheese, or portion out mini carrots and put them on a plate with a small cup of ranch dip, then cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge where kids can reach them. If kids have access to ready to eat, healthy snacks, they’ll eat them.

For drinks, make sure that kids can reach paper or plastic cups and the water faucet. Water is really the best drink for everyone. However, everyone likes variety, so maybe you can mix juice half and half with seltzer in a pitcher, and add orange slices or other fruit for a change of pace. Or how about Lazy Lemonade made by squeezing two lemon wedges into a glass of water and stirring in two tsps of sugar. It’s almost as good as the real thing and you can make it in restaurants. Just ask for water with lemon. Best of all, it’s free.

With these tips, you should be able to free up some time and create healthier snacks for your home schoolers, while also saving money. Now that’s something worth learning.

Lill Hawkins writes about family life, home education and being a WAHM at

http://hawkhillacres.blogspot.com

Get the News From Hawkhill Acres: A mostly humorous look at home schooling, writing and being a WAHM, whose mantra is “I’m a willow; I can bend.”

There is no greater influence on your health than the food you eat. But genetic factors, such as your unique “body chemistry”, influences how you process what you eat.

As such, knowing your genetic make-up – how you process certain foods; what ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is right for you; how certain foods react with your body chemistry – makes all the difference in health and longevity.

Since you are a unique individual, how do you know if you are eating properly?

That’s where “body signals” comes in. Within one or two hours after you eat, your body sends you clear and easy signals that tell you if you’ve eaten properly. Most people, however, don’t know about these signals, or how to interpret them if they receive them.

How does your body signal you about the results of your last meal? Your body communicates with you in three different ways: (1) through your appetite and cravings, (2) through your energy levels, and (3) through your mental and emotional reactions.

Appetite and cravings are extremely easy-to-notice signals. If after one to two hours after a meal, you feel full and satisfied, have no sweet cravings, and don’t desire more food, you have done an excellent job of meeting your body’s needs.

Feeling hungry before the next meal tells you that your last meal didn’t work! Or if you feel physically full, but still feel “hungry” (your meal was missing something), or especially if you have sweet cravings, you didn’t eat the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for that meal.

The second signal is your energy level. After one to two hours after eating, consider how you feel. Did your energy levels increase? Did you have a good, lasting, “normal” sense of energy and well-being? If so, you met your body’s need for the right ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for your energy needs.

But perhaps instead, you experienced too much or too little energy. Maybe you felt hyper on the surface, but exhausted underneath. Or your energy completely dropped, and you felt fatigued, drowsy, or listless. Those are sure signs that you either (1) ate something incorrect, or (2) ate incorrect proportions of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

The third signal is your mental and emotional well-being. If one or two hours after a meal, you feel an improved feeling of well-being, feel refueled and restored, have an uplifted feeling of emotions, improved clarity and acuity of mind, and normalization of thought processes - you’ve eaten correctly.

However, if you feel mentally sluggish, spacey, or unable to think clearly, you’ve eaten the wrong food or wrong proportions. If you feel hyperactive with overly rapid thoughts, unable to focus/hold attention, or you feel “hypoactive” (apathy, depression or sadness), your diet needs correcting.

So you don’t need to listen to so called “diet experts.” The skill of reading “body signals” can help you discover the foods and ratios that are best for you. Reading your body signals can help you lose weight and feel great, without feeling as if you are depriving yourself.

** About the Author

Carole Taylor is a living example of what she preaches. Nearly 70 years old, but with the energy, vigor and looks of someone in her 40’s, Carole holds certifications in nutrition, exercise, and brain chemistry. Carole is also co-author of the forthcoming book, “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health”.

For free newsletters and articles on health, nutrition, and longevity, please visit her website at:

http://www.YoungAfter50.com

The law of attraction is way over-rated. All around you are all these new guru type people preaching this new gospel about attraction. You are probably wondering about the law of attraction. Its basic principle is this: Whatever you focus on expands. In other words, think positive thoughts and you attract positive things into your life The problem with that is it works in reverse too! Worry and you get more to worry about. If you think something bad will happen and worry about it, then that bad thing will happen.

The sad thing is we have been taught since our youth to be negative. We learned at an early age to worry about stuff. We watched our parents argue about not enough money and were told that it was normal. We learned to expect crap and live with crap and be crap. Like all skills, the more you practice, the better you get. We are experts at worry and low expectations. If we think something bad will happen, then by-golly it does. We are fantastic at manifesting our own crap. We are good at maintaining our poverty. We are gurus when it comes to having bad stuff happen to us. Most of us can tell a story of some heartbreaking mis-adventure. When we do those who listen agree and tell us that’s just the way life is. We have been told to get a job and be useful to society. Most of us have. However we have backbreaking hard jobs that we are told to work hard at, as hard work is the way to success. That is the law of attraction at work.

Aren’t you starting to get tired of working hard for a living only to barely make ends meet? If hard work is the way to success and riches then construction workers should be the richest people in the world.

Then there are the criminals. Why are they criminals? They want something different than a job; 40 years of work and then retire (maybe) grow old and die. They too have been taught that life is not fair, take what you get or get nothing. They have been shown how to have low self-esteem and instead of using their natural entrepreneurial skills to start a business they figure out how to commit crimes instead. They do not value other people or themselves enough to try to give value to their lives. Instead they try to take it rather than make it. They refuse to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Thus becoming a criminal. That is the law of attraction at work.

Then there are the people with other problems. Alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, neurosis, phobias, and so on. They too have been taught wrong. They can’t help it, they are victims. They do not know how to think of the right things. All they worry about is the next fix, the next drink, and so on. So their miserable lives continue to be miserable. That is the law of attraction at work.

People who talk about conspiracy theories are right. There is a great conspiracy. The universe wants to give us what we want. Most of us call the universe God. God wants to give us what we want. How does God know what we want? By listening to our thoughts! What we think about is what we get. That is the law of attraction.

Think about stuff and it happens. Unfortunately we have not been taught the right way. We have learned the negative, the wrong way to think. We expect life to be hard and cruel, and that is exactly what we get. We think money is something we either have or do not have. We worry about having enough money to pay the bills. That’s what we get, barely enough to pay the bills. That is the law of attraction at work.

It is a nightmare. We attract crap because we think crap and then we wonder why. Here is another bitter pill to swallow. When we complain “how can God do this to us?” We are only attracting more crap. Its not fair and we don’t have to put up with it.

We can take control of our lives. We can make our lives better.

So what can we do differently that can change our life so it is no longer a crapload of crap?

The answer is very hard to actually do. It is so hard that most people who read this will not do it. They will make an excuse that they cant for some reason and then continue to have a life of crap.

Remember the words of Henry Ford. “If you think you can or you think you cant, your right”.

So what is it? Here it is: Be conscious of your thoughts. That’s right, be aware of what you are thinking. Only think about what you want to happen. Do not think about what you do not want. Whatever you think about, that is what will happen. That is the law of attraction!

The problem is in controlling your thoughts. After years of thinking about all the bad stuff, and making excuses, it will be hard to stop. If you want your life to continue as it has, then do nothing but what you are doing now. However if you want to see changes then you must teach yourself to think a different way. You must teach yourself to think only about what you do want. That is the law of attraction.

You must teach yourself to not complain. The more you complain the more you get to complain about. You must teach yourself to not worry about your fears or they will come into your reality. Instead of complaining and worrying, try to give compliments to people and change what you worry about. Wouldn’t it be great to worry about paying too much taxes? I think it would be better to think about paying ten grand in taxes than think about only earning ten grand. If you are paying ten grand in taxes you have made way more than ten grand in income.

Start thinking about what you want. Whenever you start the old “woe is me” again, stop and think about that resort vacation instead. Correct thinking is thinking about your dreams, goals, and helping other people. Once you have mastered correct thinking, the law of attraction will be working for you instead of against you.

It takes some time to be aware of your thoughts and then a bit longer to learn to control your thoughts. You must make the effort. If you just try a little every day, you will soon find it easier and easier to think positive. Can you try to have just one positive thought every day? Once you find this positive thought is easy to do, then you can work on the next thought. Work every day on replacing your thoughts with good thoughts. If you catch yourself thinking about something bad, STOP. Then think something good. This is how you control the law of attraction.

The law of attraction works whether you want it to or not. Its like gravity, it works all the time and affects everyone equally. You might as well use this for your advantage instead of letting it use you. Let us plot together, how can we make this darn law of attraction work for us?

The first thing we need to do is remember our dreams. When you were a kid did you want to grow up to be a night shift cashier? On the other hand, did you want to be an astronaut? Now realize that its not too late, you can be whoever you want to. You can still be what you want to be.

The second thing to do is write it down. If you cant do that then find a picture of the thing you want to be. A pilot, a police officer, a firefighter, a business owner, your own lawn service or your own restaurant. What is it you want? Write it down, find a picture, draw a picture, something to bring your dream back to the present. So it is no longer buried in the past.

The next step is to think about it. Put the paper where you can see it everyday. This will remind you of what it is you want from life. Then you need to think about it. What will it feel like when you have it? What kind of clothes will you be wearing? Where will your home be? Will you have your own truck or car, or will you be in a limo? Think about it every day. When you find yourself with nothing to do like waiting in line, then think about your dream. When you catch yourself starting to worry about something, worry about your dream instead.

When you take these steps you will see your life changing. Miracles will soon be common in your life. You will meet people who can help you, circumstances that are favorable, and the whole thing will start to come together. Your life will change when you change what you think about.

So change your thoughts. Stop thinking about bad things and think of good things. Try it you’ll like it.

Live well

Ralston Heath recently retired from 25+ years of active duty. Now that his life is his own again, he is working to share with the world all he knows.

Check him out on his blog http://manifesting-dreams.blogspot.com

Let’s talk about the easiest weight loss ever. The easiest form of weight loss would require no work, no thought, no “extra” effort…sounds good doesn’t it?

Easy weight loss is possible…using the power of your mind. You may not believe it, but your mind is a powerful tool that is responsible for your success or lack of success in life. If you believe that you’ll never be able to lose weight, then you are setting yourself up for failure.

You’ve no doubt heard the saying “what the mind believes can be conceived”. It’s a true statement. If you believe that you are a thin person, then your subconscious mind will do everything in it’s power to make it happen.

Saying positive thoughts to yourself is not enough though; you must believe it. And you must feel the emotions that go along with what you want. How would you feel if you were at your goal weight? Hold on to that feeling, and tell yourself that you are happy you are at your ideal weight. Positive affirmations work best when they are said in the present tense.

So how do you make your subconscious mind work for you? Hypnosis is one option that works wonders, and positive affirmations can make a difference also.

Hypnosis works by reprogramming your subconscious mind to believe you can and will meet your goals. Hypnosis can be performed by a therapist, or you can purchase hypnosis sessions on CD.

Positive affirmations are statements that you make to yourself on a daily basis. Look at yourself in a mirror and say positive statements that are in the present tense, such as “I’m so happy that I’m at my ideal weight”. Although you may not believe yourself at first, after time it’ll become much easier.

If you can’t afford hypnosis sessions, and you keep forgetting to do your positive affirmations, there is a simpler solution. Download a track onto your mp3 player. Not just any track, but one that is laced with subliminal messages.

Subliminal messages work in the same way that hypnosis works. These messages are heard by your subconscious mind, and the more often your mind hears them, the more your mind believes them. This is the easiest way to make your mind work for you; you don’t have to put in any effort besides for pushing the play button.

Whatever your diet and exercise plan, you can achieve your goals faster with the power of your mind. When your mind is in sync with your goals, you may achieve the easiest weight loss ever.

AJ Stamp is a health and fitness junkie. To follow her weight loss journey, visit http://www.BodyForLifeChallenge.net

Niche Marketing is growing in popularity in the world of internet marketing.

We have been taught to carefully select the niche when going into internet marketing. The market is too large for a person to fully cover. A certain percentage of the market is all what we want.

Finding the right niche is very important in all business and that includes your online business.

Not all niche is profitable.

Some niche is too small and some niche is too over populated. Some niche is dead and some is too volatile. You have to carefully select the right niche for your online business.

You should always ask yourself if your customers would buy your product or not? You sell to the customers and not to yourself.

Getting the right niche will determine the success of your internet business. You have to carefully select your market.

Going through the market research process correctly will tell you if the product you are embarking on will be profitable or not. This will be the first step you should take before even venturing into any products.

Most marketers did not fully done a complete market research on the market they are going into. They go into the market or start their online business on impulse. Most of them actually based their research on their own sentiment and not on the customer’s sentiment.

Many failed in their online business because they end up with the wrong niche. Either they end up with a small niche with very few buying customers or over populated niche with million other marketers selling the same product.

Even if there’s no competition, believe it or not, it does not always mean a good sign. It is possible that many others have tried to penetrate this market and failed.

Proper market research will save you all the time in successfully setting up your online business. From the results, you can now carefully select the best niche that is selling at the moment.

Getting the right niche, you will then be able to fully focus all your effort in marketing the product to the right people and making more sales instead of worrying about not getting sales from the wrongly chosen niche. Visit http://www.thenichemarketingstrategy.com to know more about finding the right niche.

Zack Haris is an author, marketing coach and an Internet Marketing Expert specializing in Search Engine Optimization.
His newest book, The Niche Marketing Strategy, identifies the strategy that really works to successfully bring your website to the top of search engines. His book can make the difference between success and failure in an internet business.
Zack offers small group personal internet marketing coaching to motivated individuals, providing practical marketing advice and strategies unique to your business. To receive his newest rare information on how to successfully bring your website to the top of Google or contact Zack, visit http://www.thenichemarketingstrategy.com a site devoted exclusively to bringing your website to the top of Google and other major search engines.

Large financial service organizations tilt the playing field against consumers. Metlife and, more recently, AXA Advisors are in the news for possibly offering incentives to representatives to recommend house products. It has been reported that some companies require the sales of proprietary products in order for agents to qualify for health insurance and other employee benefits.

Are consumers aware of this secret agenda when they meet with an agent? I am hesitant to use the term “advisor” because that would insinuate the salesperson has the client’s best interest at heart. I am embarrassed to admit that I was offered a position with one of the companies mentioned in this article and was shown an impressive array of financial products available. It was then explained to me that house-brand life products and annuities paid much higher commissions than the “outside” products and house-brand vehicles would help me qualify for incentive trips much faster.

I receive a monthly financial industry magazine that devotes much of their pages to advertisements from annuity companies pitching their wares. Each ad focuses on their high agent commission payout. One company will send my wife and I to Switzerland if I sell $2 million of their annuities. One ad is from a life insurance company offering a whopping 107% first year commission on the sales of their whole life policy! Another company’s full-page ad touts an average $17,000 commission per annuity and an annuity-selling coach explains that he is willing to teach me the secrets that helped him earn an “incredible $381,522 in annuity commissions in only 6 months!”

One annuity company offers an a 7% commission on one annuity and an 11% commission on another annuity product. Here are some questions consumers should be asking.

Why would the company be willing to pay me 58% more compensation to sell one product over another? Answer: The higher-commission product is in the company’s best interest, not the client’s.

If an agent sells you a product paying 11% commission, will he advise you that he could have sold a product that paid him much less but he chose not to? Answer: I don’t think so.

Who is really paying the extra 58% in salesperson compensation? Answer: You, the client.

As a financial consumer, do I deserve to know any factor that is influencing the recommendations of my salesperson? Answer: A definitive YES.

Did the annuity salesperson hold himself out as a trusted financial advisor? Probably.

The problem with the real-life annuity example shown above is that the client has no way of knowing how much commission was earned by the agent. The 11% commission product will pay a much lower interest rate to the investor and/or have a much longer surrender period, tying the client’s money up for years. Fixed annuities and equity index annuities need complete commission transparency. Annuity companies know that higher commissions influence the sales practices of insurance agents and they also know annuity clients have no idea of the high price they are paying for a false sense of peace of mind.

I brought these issues up at a recent industry association luncheon. At my table, I had an insurance agent on my left side and an attorney on my right. To quote the agent, “caveat emptor” or buyer beware. The solution for consumers, don’t be a buyer! See a fee-only advisor who is not tantalized by trips to Switzerland and high commission insurance products with no commission transparency. Also, consumers should demand legislation that forces all annuity commissions to be equal and completely disclosed to the client. The insurance and annuity industry should be embarrassed and any bad reputation is probably well deserved. The good news is that quality no-load annuities are available but don’t count on your average annuity salesperson to tell you about them.

Mark Diehl is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Consultant, and author of The Wealth Management Manual available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

You can learn more about Mark at http://www.markdiehl.info or call 800-304-1232.

Child prostitution is horrific, brutal and evil and what you can do to stop it! The first thing to do is to be aware that this dreadful disease of the mind is spreading worldwide and the only way to stop it is to gather all the good forces available from the world leaders, billionaires, and people who care enough to take action to stop the atrocities and senseless destruction of innocent children’s lives!

When you key in “Child Prostitution” on Google Search you will find many organizations that are doing their best to fight this evil disease, I called it a disease because it is spreading worldwide and we must stop this disease completely till every child is saved! As long as there is one child suffering from this horrible crime, we have not done enough!

One effective way to fight child prostitution is to ensure everyone knows about this horrible disease and to use all resources available to wipe out this disease from the face of this earth! It is a war that needs world leader’s utmost attention because it is a great crime against humanity to allow innocent lives be destroyed by lust, poverty and sickness of the mind!

To allow child prostitution is as good as allowing criminals to get away with killing children! Why would we allow so many serial killers running loose and destroying innocent lives? It’s time we get the world leaders and people who can do something to stop this horrible crime to do more to protect and save these innocent children!

Through the power of the Internet, the most powerful communication tool we can educate people about what’s happening right now and how they can help in one way or another to protect these children.

Through the power of network marketing, we can help people make more money so they can contribute money to the organisations that are fighting child prostitution.

Through donations from companies that are socially conscious of what’s happening and through the money and efforts from foundations set up by billionaires to make this world a better place!

Search for “Child Prostitution” at youtube.com and you will find many videoclips that are educating people on how these children are suffering and crying for help!

How can you help? You can give some donations to organizations that are fighting child prostitution, If you can give more, give more because every cent means a lot to help free these children from child prostitution!

You can tell your friends about how children’s lives were ruined by child prostitution and how we can help stop it! Tell them to find out more information from the Internet, watch the videoclips at youtube.com and report any suspicious acts of child prostitution to the police!

One way is to fight poverty, one of the causes of child prostitution, and another way is to educate people about the great suffering caused by child prostitution. As long as child prostitution exist, it is a testament to the shameful failure of society to protect these innocent children!

An effective way to stop child prostitution is to stop the demand for it by implementing harsh punishments and empowering police to have constant raids on places where there is child prostitution.

We can stop the effects but we must also treat the causes of it and they are basically poverty, ignorance and a sick mind! It is insane to allow these mad people to abuse innocent children and destroy their lives just as it is insane to allow serial killers to run loose and kill children!

I am sure the world leaders and people who are responsible for protecting these children will put in more effort if they can imagine what these children had to suffer every night as their bodies are being abused again and again, some of these young girls had to sleep with as many as 10 men in one night! And some of them are as young as 12, 10 and even 9 years old! Especially if these world leaders have children of their own, they will be more sensitive to the suffering of these children!

So in summary, these are the things we can do to help, contribute time , effort or money to help organizations who are fighting child prostitution. Use the Internet, the most powerful communication tool to educate people on the evils of child prostitution and how they can help stop it! Ask your friends to go to youtube.com to watch the videoclips of how these young children are suffering from child prostitution, a picture says a thousand words and a moving picture says much more!

Write articles about child prostitution to article directories so that more people are aware of this horrible crime and why we must stop these “serial killers” who are killing children over and over again and must be stopped!

I am in network marketing, and I know the power of word-of-mouth.If you are in network marketing, let your group know that one of the reasons for making more money is that they will have more money to help stop child prostitution! It is a good purpose for making more money! Through the power of network marketing, we can help millions of people earn more money and in this way millions of people will be able to do more to help stop this sickening criminal act on children!

I am sure this article would have trigger some great ideas to stop child prostitution and it is everyone’s responsibility to stop this shameful, brutal and sickening criminal acts on children!

If you can close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself as an innocent child caught up in the web of child prostitution, alone, desperate and helpless, wouldn’t you wished someone would care enough to come to rescue you?

Share this article with as many people as possible and help to stop child prostitution - the most evil, brutal and shameful crime!

Bruce Seah, Marketing Consultant, Infopreneur and Author. Bruce loves to spot major trends and profit from them. His website is http://www.BusinessAtAClick.com Bruce supports the fight against child prostitution, for more information, go to:http://www.ecpat.net

How to request a link

Every webmaster knows that the best way to promote their site, increase traffic, achieve better page rank and search engine placement is by acquiring quality inbound links to their site. The problem is getting them.

What is a relevant or quality link? A quality link would be defined as a link from a well written, content rich relevant site (a site that is related in content to your site) with at least some page rank. Google ranks each site listed in their search engine with a quality rank from 0 to 10. The higher the rank the higher the quality of the site according to Google. You can find out where each page that you visit ranks by downloading the free Firefox web browser with Google tool bar or if you use Internet Explorer you can download just the tool bar. I personally prefer the Firefox browser.

Note: Webmasters should use more than one browser when building web pages. Test your pages in each web browser because not all browsers display pages the same. I test each page in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera web browsers.

Finding quality back links The best way to find quality back links is to do a search. Simply type in keywords relevant to you site and let the search engine do it for you. Visit each of the top sites and find the ones that you would most like to make a link request. Once you have done this, familiarize yourself with the content of each of the sites that you have selected. The next step is to contact the webmaster with your request.

Example of a link request This is an example of an email I use as a link request. You can use this example and modify it to suit your needs.

Date: Monday April 6, 2007

To: john@whoever.com

From: pro-dezign.com

Subject: Link Request

Hi John,

My name is Daryl and I am contacting you regarding your site, whoever.com.

I am the webmaster of another web site design and development site called pro-dezign. My site is located at http://www.pro-dezign.com/.

I would like to request a link to my site in your Links to Other Internet resources section at http://www.whoever.com/resources/. My site is a comprehensive collection of beginners lessons and advanced tips for webmasters and I feel it is a valuable resource for all web developers. If you need more information I can be reached via email at daryl@pro-dezign.com.

I have also subscribed to your weekly newsletter and look forward to reading it.

Thanks

Daryl Putnam

http://www.pro-dezign.com

Good luck

Daryl is the creator of the popular web site Web Essentials and other web based educational Internet sites. He is also the author of numerous authoritative articles on web design and development topics.
To learn more about web development visit Web Essentials at http://www.pro-dezign.com/.