"In point of fact—and it is a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless—America is not winning in Iraq, which means that it is losing. Iraq has fallen apart both as a nation and as a state. Its capital and lands containing almost 50 percent of

the population remain deeply insecure and plagued by rising internal divisions. Much of the south, which is somewhat stable, is subject to gangsterish, theocratic and thoroughly corrupt local governments. To recognize this reality does not mean that there is no hope for the years to come. There is—but hope is not a policy." (Newsweek)

Newsweek is concluding that the US is losing Iraq.

"Most of us wish for more time, bigger budgets, and more help in completing projects. Could that be wishing for the very things that push us further away from success? Should we, instead, wish for shorter deadlines, less people to work with, and even for smaller budgets?

Among the most familiar tunes you will hear played over and over on radio stations this holiday season are from Händel's Messiah. While that music is familiar to most ears, a less known fact is that Händel wrote the entire two-and-a-half-hour work in a mere twenty-four days. He had to, mainly to alleviate his pecuniary troubles at the time. Fast-forward about eighty years, and we witness Rossini poring over the score of his new opera, The Barber of Seville—but not for long, for he completed the entire two-act work in just under three weeks. " (Frank Sommers)

"So far in this account I don't think Buddhism in practice comes to startlingly different conclusions about sexual conduct from those of balanced versions of other major religions. But the other religions also have lists of no-no's, of forbidden sexual practices. Some object to partial or total nudity, or masturbation, or cross-dressing, or sado-masochism, or homosexuality, or fetishism, or premarital sex, or oral, anal or group sex, or contracepted sex. Buddhism is notorious for its habit of putting points of practice and doctrine into lists. So where is Buddhism's list of naughty sexual practices?

The answer is short and sweet. Buddhism doesn't (for once!) have a list."

(http://www.buddhanet.net/winton_s.htm)

“When the Muslims used to disagree, they had different schools of thought,” said Sayed el-Qemni, another reform-minded writer who lives in a small city outside of Cairo. “No one would point to the other and say, ‘This is not Islam.’ But when one school of thought says, ‘I am the correct school of thought and everyone else deserves death,’ then you are starting a new religion.”

"MR. BANNA says one of the fundamental problems with religious leaders in Egypt is that they look to the interpretations of their ancestors and not to the Koran itself. To look directly at the book, and not at the words as interpreted by men living in a different time, would have a liberating effect, he says."

(NY Times)

It has been ruled with an increasingly iron fist since 1994 by President Alexander Lukashenko. Opposition figures are subjected to harsh penalties for organising protests.

In early 2005, Belarus was listed by the US as Europe's only remaining outpost of tyranny.

Belarus remains defiant in the face of Western pressure

The country became independent in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

More than a decade later, the sense of national identity is weak, its international isolation is intensifying and the nature of political links with Russia remains a key issue.

In the Soviet post-war years, Belarus became one of the most prosperous parts of the USSR, but with independence came economic decline. President Lukashenko has steadfastly opposed the privatisation of state enterprises. Private business is virtually non-existent. Foreign investors stay away." (BBC)

I glanced over at Karl and turned to look the President in the eye. "Sir, we've given them virtually nothing," I said, "because we have had virtually nothing new to give." The President had been looking down at some papers about the event, but his head jerked up. "Nothing? What do you mean we've given them nothing?" He glared. "Don't we have new money in programs like the Compassion Fund thing?"

I looked again at Karl. He seemed stunned at what I was saying. "No, sir," I told the President. "In the past two years we've gotten less than $80 million in new grant dollars." The number fell shockingly short of the $8 billion he had vowed to deliver in the first year alone." (Time)

This rant is awesome - I find it hillarious.

"So when you look back and put all my documented POVs together, an ugly picture starts to emerge. I want to live in an homogeneous society, have a brutal military that ignores Geneva Conventions, tortures our enemies, mows down entire civilian populations to assure we get the resistors disguised as civilians, stands up un-democratic dictators to do our bidding in the third world, suppress the ability of our citizens to undermine our military strategy, allows no dissent from citizens who dont have the best interests of our nation as a whole having a say in policy, and militarize our borders, shooting everyone we catch trying to cross them.......Basically it appears that I want to live in China, Russia, or maybe even North Korea. Apparently I am a Commie at heart and just didn't know it." (Redneck Texan)

If you were coming in the fall
I'd brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn
As housewives do a fly.

If I could see you in a year
I'd wind the months in balls
And put them into separate drawers
Until their time befalls.

If only centuries delayed
I'd count them on my hand
Subtracting 'till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen's land

If certain when this life was out
That yours and mine should be
I'd toss life yonder like a rind
And taste eternity.

But now all ignorant of length,
Of times uncertain wing,
It goads me like the goblin bee
That will not state its sting!

(Emily Dickinson)

Call me paranoid or that I need to go out more :), but we just have a North Korean Nuclear Test this morning.

“Any ethnic or religious group that is new to American politics is going to go through trouble,” he said, reaching next to his office desk to open a book called “Jews in American Politics.”

He read aloud a passage about how Jews were vilified and blocked from political office until their expertise in various fields proved crucial to the New Deal.

“It’s going to be the same way for Muslims,” he said. “It is just going to take a while.” "(NY Times)

What's unique about the US is that in every decade, there's different ethnic group or religion that get vilified or looked down upon, the poor Irish, the dirty Italians, Japanese, Chinese, the Lebanese, Jews, etc, etc but in the end, those people always manage to rise above and secure themselves in the mainstream strata of US society.

This reminds me of a joke, when a reporter asked whether a certain President whether a Christian can be a President of Egypt; and he answered "not even a Muslim".

Criticism is good but it is not helpful (even a constructive one) in the beginning of an idea development.

It is not easy to grow ideas and make it a reality. There are things that you have to worry about and most people know about them. Help your creative process by concentrating on what is possible and less about what is not perfect.

Repeat, refine, retry.

But spare the criticism, even the good intentioned one.

Wait until it is time.

Otherwise, the idea will have no chance whatsoever to become a reality.

A child will never able to walk if he/she was aware of the situation and being critical about it.

A child has no shame of failure - so she developed this amazing creation and development process that stopped somehow at the age of 13, when boys discover girls and girls realize their power over boys.

Find reasons why an idea would work and execute it ruthlessly. Ideas, like talk, are cheap. Execution is the secret of everything.