What We're Fighting Against

Today was like every day of my life; there was something about it that I observe, feel and know through my experience every single day. And my life is no different to yours if you're reading this. Chances are that you're reading this because you're a caring person. You care about people, our planet, and yourself, for instance. And you see the same thing I do each day. It's part of life, frustratingly so.

That thing that we see each day is the motorist that thumbs their nose at the road laws, or the adult that abuses or neglects a child, or the legal system, which yet again, decries the victim. One feels for authorities like the Police and Customs who are at the pointy end of the cursed life where things routinely get just plain ugly. We could certainly understand a hardening of attitude in these circumstances over years of one person's career. There's no immunity. But, we all taste this life because none of us is immune to it.

What we're fighting against each day is a lack of justice and respect and often a sense of gross unfairness. Only today I had to counsel a couple of contract employees for horseplay--that phenomenon we don't see much of these days. Horseplay is not only "rough and boisterous play," as the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it; in the workplace it's often a reckless endangerment to parties beyond those engaged in it.

The types that engage in this rebellious behaviour normally take a dim view of being taken to task, and they normally have a rampant distaste and disregard for authority. And we might ask, 'How did they get these attitudes?' There are probably many reasons why the minority don't respect authority figures, and thrive on injustice to others, creating the sort of inequity of fairness that leaves us outraged, if not simply bewildered.

Is there a comparison we could make here to the typical spoilt child? Perhaps these people have never been disciplined and trained to conform to societal norms, i.e. sacrifice of self for the benefit of the many. We look at parents of young children who can't control them and we just want to take over and be firm; and this is where I believe it starts. These children who've never been exposed to strong, firm but fair parental discipline will either be disciplined by others who love them less later in life (and this is rare) or not at all.

And then there is us. We are the people left to deal with the problem. We ought not to give up and get despondent--although there are times when we will, inevitably. We need the support of our own; people who will encourage us to go on in our good work in the defence of justice, respect, and fairness. That's what we're fighting for.

Copyright ? 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Steve Wickham is a safety and health professional (BSc) and a qualified lay Christian minister (GradDipDiv). His passion in vocation is facilitation and coaching; encouraging people to soar to a higher value of their potential. Steve's key passion is work / life balance and re-creating value for living, and an exploration of the person within us.

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The Truth About Credit Repair...

Have you ever wondered what companies send you when they claim you can erase bad credit overnight? How about those ads that say you can get any major credit card without a deposit or a credit check? Ads abound almost everywhere these days (online and off) selling books, systems and secrets to help you fix your credit. Many of these programs have claims, which read like the covers of supermarket tabloids:

"In 3hrs my credit score jumped from 580 to 676!"...

"Erase bad credit and smash your debts with just 2 Magic Letters!".

Are these types of claims ALWAYS too good to be true? The answer is "Yes and... no".

While many people would love for you to believe the only thing that can fix bad credit is time; in reality... nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, time is only one factor, which can fix a credit report, but it is a far cry from being the only factor. How can I back this up? Easy.

Under a consumer, protection law knew as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (a.k.a. the FCRA) the only negative information, which can remain, on your credit report is not what is accurate... but what can be proved as accurate under the FCRA. What is this mean to you?

It means any negative item on your credit report can only remain there if it is accurate and can be proved as such under the guidelines of the FCRA. This undisputable fact presents consumers with both good news and bad news.

The good news is that through the FCRA your credit score can most likely be improved dramatically in a very short period with only a modest amount of effort on your part.

The bad news is that while the actual "work" will take very little of your time, it is vital that you have good information on "how" to go about it. This is the bad news; 9 out of 10 courses on restoring your credit will do nothing more than lead you into snake pits because they will provide you with what the industry refer to as "Boiler Plate" dispute letters. These are nothing more than form letters and... Frankly (more bad news) the Credit Bureaus and Creditors will laugh at you if you try to use them.

While I agree with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that "Anything a Credit Repair Clinic can do for you legally, you can do for yourself at little or not cost"... the key element you need for success is the latest inside techniques and procedures to get the results you want. This involves strategies such as "Proof of Contract", "Constructive Notice", "Challenge of Procedure" or "Restrictive Endorsement" and many others.

All these terms may "sound" impressive but they are really quite simple. In the end, it is nothing more than a method of communication, which exercises your consumer protection rights, gets the results you want and raises your credit score. Even more impressive, once you learn how simple it can be by doing it for yourself, you will find there is a fortune to be made doing it for others!

Slow Economy, Slow Job Gains

Job growth will probably rebound from April's meager gain, but not by much. Employment will track the economy's tepid growth rate.

April's ho-hum job figures reflect an economy in low gear as well as attempts by companies to preserve profit margins by limiting new hiring. But the less-than-expected gain of 88,000 jobs -- the lowest monthly tally in about two and a half years -- doesn't mean the economy is heading into a tailspin. In fact, more than half a million jobs were added in the first four months of this year -- not as strong a pace as last year, but by no means indicative of a slump.

Some of the slowdown in Friday's Labor Department report is a bit deceptive. It arises from complex seasonal adjustment estimates each spring relating to the construction sector, which officially shed 11,000 jobs in April. In effect, these adjustments probably made the decline in construction seem worse than it actually was. The employment report also featured a surprising loss of 26,000 jobs in the retail sector, which is likely to pick up again this month as stores start to sell summer merchandise.

There is also good reason to believe that manufacturing, which lost 19,000 jobs last month, could soon post a better performance. March factory orders -- a harbinger of the future pace of business -- posted a solid gain, while a recent survey of purchasing managers in manufacturing showed them to be upbeat about the orders outlook and about future hiring.

That said, don't expect a significant upswing in job creation. Although the economy is likely to steer clear of a recession, the pace of economic growth will remain tepid -- in the 2% to 2.5% range this year. For all of 2007, we expect a total of 1.3 million jobs to be added on a net basis, or an average of about 110,000 a month.

The job report includes some good news on the inflation front: Growth in average hourly earnings slowed a bit, rising a relatively modest 0.2% in April and 3.7% for the past 12 months. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.5% from 4.4% a month ago.

The Federal Reserve is counting on slower economic growth to loosen up the labor market a bit and hence reduce inflation pressures. This would allow the Fed to avoid raising interest rates and exacerbating the economic slowdown.

We think job trends are on the Fed's preferred path. The unemployment rate is likely to continue to creep higher, reaching about 5% by year end. However, the Fed probably won't feel comfortable about cutting rates until the central bank sees solid evidence that inflation is on a sustainable downward path. So we stick with our outlook for steady rates through this year.
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How Save Money On International Calls?

I think that if you are emigrant, tourist, hard truck driver or student, you often need to call to your family and friends. And what will you do if your home located on other continent and you have no enough money to call from hotel? Yes, right way is internet! This article will help you to find ease way to make domestic and international calls at lowest rates.

So, you use search engine and find many sites, that selling prepaid phone cards. How make a choice? One way is to ask your friends; maybe they have used prepaid phone cards yet. Another way is find site with simple tool that can help you find best rates to your direction! For example you want to call from US to Europe: choose countries and push button find. It’s all! Program finds best rates for your destination and shows you large quantity of calling cards. One of shops cheap-cards.com looks interesting and have hundreds of calling cards and rates!

If you have international business and often call to overseas countries you can buy refillable phone card and add funds where your balance is low. It’s very convenient because you need to remember one address of online shop where you buy card and one pin. You can call from your mobile phone from anywhere and any time, because phone services work 24 hour a day and 7 days a week. There are pin less phone cards: you register one phone number (for example your cell phone number) and add funds to your number where balance is low. I think that it’s most simple and convenient method.

In some shops you can find online phone cards on sale. So you can save on certain cards from 1$ up to 10$! Always check news of telephony. Prices on international calling cards continuously drop and now 1 minute from US continental to Netherlands (for example) costs 1 cent. It’s very cheap! Also you can find plastic phone cards on shops, railway stations, airports and etc., but they are very expensive! Do you now why phone cards online much cheaper then plastic cards? Because in case online cards you pay only for talking time; you get pin on email and you at once can call. In second case you pay to couriers, shops for their work and phone companies fore producing “real” plastic cards! Calling cards is really best answer!

In conclusion I want to say that times when you paid 10$ for 10 minutes of talking send away. Living alone in foreign country is not easy, so it is important to you to keep in touch with your family and friends.

Role of the World Bank's International Development Association

The Monterrey Consensus, in addition to framing commitments for increased ODA, “codified” the call for development effectiveness. This call was reinforced in July 2002, when donors to the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)—the world’s primary source of confessional (near-zero-interest) finance for development in the low-income countries—made replenishment contingent on the establishment of a results-based measurement system for IDA programs. IDA provides assistance to the world’s 82 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. It is the single largest source of donor funds for basic social services in the poorest countries.

Donors agreed in March 2005 to a 14th replenishment of IDA worth $33 million in new resources over three years. Now the 15th replenishment of IDA is on the horizon, with donors expected to decide on contributions for the next three-year cycle by December 2007. IDA is at a watershed, in part because of debt relief contributions-- IDA is providing $54 billion in debt relief to poor countries: $18 billion under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and $36 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).This represents one third of IDA’s total resources and it lowers available credit reflows. Without additional resources, IDA would need to cut its financial support for poor countries currently benefiting from debt relief. For this reason, a generous replenishment of IDA is crucial.

Through its leadership on harmonization and alignment, IDA also leverages the assistance of other donors in support of country-owned programs and projects. These efforts are forging stronger partnerships between aid providers and recipient countries.

Given its unique capabilities and its track-record, IDA serves as a cornerstone of the international aid system in many poor countries. IDA’s platform ensures that aid is less fragmented, more predictable, and increasingly results-focused, which is fundamental to countries seeking to achieve the MDGs.

Harmonization, the Results Agenda and the Bank’s role

Central to the international community’s more unified approach is a concerted focus on development results.

The Third Roundtable on Managing for Development, held in Hanoi in February 2007 and involving the World Bank and a range of other donors, built on the findings of the 2004 Marrakech Second Roundtable on Better Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing for Development Results. The Hanoi meeting enabled delegations from selected developing countries to compare their experiences and to initiate a country action planning process, with targets for steps to be completed in advance of the Ghana High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in September 2008. The Hanoi Roundtable provided compelling evidence that country partners are eager to improve the effectiveness of development assistance and domestic resources by strengthening systems to enable information on expected and actual results to be used in decision-making.

The inter-agency Common Performance Assessment System, or COMPAS initiative is developing common systems that all multilateral development banks can use to monitor their results orientation. Its 2006 report found that: efforts to implement country strategies are still weak in some cases; that performance-based grants are on the rise; that efforts to apply operational lessons of experience are not systematic enough and that multilateral development banks are starting to link salary increases of staff to the accomplishment of agreed objectives.

Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entrepreneur and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management, merchandise, ownership, internet entrepreneurship, investments, media and writing amongst others. Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com, http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com

Civil Society

Civil society has grown exponentially over the past decades and today is recognized as an important development actor throughout the world; monitoring public policies, providing technical expertise, and partnering with governments to provide community services.

The Bank has greatly increased its cooperation with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the past 20 years, and today it is estimated that CSOs are involved in 72 percent of new Bank-financed projects each year.

The Bank funds thousands of civil society initiatives each year in areas such as: post-conflict reconstruction, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental protection, and poverty reduction.

More than 120 civil society specialists work at the World Bank to ensure the views of CSOs are considered and to encourage CSO involvement in Bank-financed projects. The Growth of Civil Society

The Civil Society sector – composed of non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, trade unions, indigenous people’s groups, charitable organizations, community groups, and foundations among others – has emerged as a major force in international development in the past 20 years. There has been a dramatic expansion in the size, scope, and capacity of civil society which has come in the wake of growing democratic governance throughout the world. The number of international NGOs was reported to have increased from 6,000 in 1990 to 26,000 in 1999. CSOs have also become significant players in global development assistance, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reporting that as of 2003 at least $12 billion in international assistance flows through CSOs.

CSOs’ have demonstrated an increased influence and ability to shape global public policy over the past two decades. This dynamism is exemplified by successful advocacy campaign movements which have mobilized thousands of supporters around the world on issues such as: the banning of land mines, debt cancellation, and environmental protection. The most recent example of the vibrancy and importance of civil society was the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), which was organized by a coalition of international CSOs to influence the discussions on debt and trade at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005. The campaign was estimated to have mobilized over 100 million citizens around the world to demonstrate their concern for global poverty by wearing white wristbands, attending concerts, and lobbying their government officials.

"KINSEY" -- a smart movie on sexuality

I was pleasantly surprised by the movie Kinsey. I had expected a hagiography, but instead found a remarkable, relatively balanced portrait of the famed sex researcher, a movie which lends itself well to good conversation. And, I believe, an important movie for gay men and lesbians.

WARNING--this post contains spoilers, so if you have not seen the movie and don't want to know how it turns out, read no further.

The movie shows Kinsey emerging from his own sexual inhibitions to become almost a crusader for sex without inhibitions, but shows, through the drama of his story, the consequences of unrestrained sex. A virgin when he married, Liam Neeson's Kinsey takes up (after he has been married) with a fetching research assistant, played by the always-brilliant Peter Sarsgaard while on a research trip to Chicago. He tells his wife, played by the ever-amazing Laura Linney. While he inveighs against sexual restraint -- seeking a society free of all his inhibitions, she notes that "those restraints are there to keep us from hurting one another." As she has been hurt by his dalliance -- and will he be hurt by her dalliance with the same man.

Kinsey defends his research in the name of science, but his wife wonders if he is using science to justify infidelity. Linney's words (well, actually the words are those of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Bill Condon, but she speaks them) and Neeson's acting really help show the tension between the ideology of uninhibited sex and our emotional make-up. Waiting on the stairs for his wife to finish up with the sexy Sarsgaard, Neeson's Kinsey is trying to pretend that he is not affected by her infidelity, but his face (and the tone of his voice) shows that he is. Each spouse is hurt by the other's infidelity.

This sequence alone prevents the movie from being a hagiography and shows that no matter how much scientists and philosophers try to rationalize uninhibited sex, the human heart has impulses which science cannot measure. Indeed, writer/director Condon addresses this in the concluding sequence, where, in a mock interview with Kinsey, one of his researchers asks him why he doesn't deal with love. Neeson's Kinsey replies that he is a man of science and science involves measurement, but you can't measure love.

While acknowledging the accusations of Kinsey's flawed methodology, the movie does not delve into their specifics. His biographers, including James H. Jones in Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life and Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy in Kinsey: Sex The Measure Of All Things note how Kinsey oversampled prison inmates and single people while attempting to exclude those with strong religious views. In his chapter ("Science!") in Intellectual Morons, despite some overheated rhetoric, Daniel J. Flynn addresses some of flaws in Kinsey's research (as well as some unusual aspects of the scientist's private life).

Despite the flaws in his research, the movie makes the case that Kinsey did some good in moving us away from that limited view of sexuality that dominated American society (indeed, dominated most societies) up until the middle of the last century. In a touching monologue by the brilliant Lynn Redgrave (playing a lesbian), the film shows the meaning of our move away from the narrow view of sexuality. After reading his book, this woman realized that her feelings for a female co-worker were not unusual. That book helped give her the courage to approach that co-worker -- and learn that the feelings were reciprocated. A loving relationship resulted.

It is that story which helps make the movie worthwhile even as it undermines one aspect of the real ideology of Alfred C. Kinsey--his zeal to root out all sexual inhibitions. The story of Lynn Redgrave's character is not of a woman seeking wanton sexual relationships with a great variety of women, but of a woman finding an intimate relationship with one particular woman.

Kinsey has helped moved our society away from a narrow view of sexuality where we only condoned sexual relations in married couples. But, his zeal to create a society free of sexual inhibitions created the kind of emotional entanglements he and his wife experienced when each had an affair with the same man. In short, Kinsey attempted to throw out the baby with the bath water. We see the results of his ideology throughout the gay community where too many of us seek sex without strings. Where it is all too easy to get laid, but much more difficult to find love. Where we attempt to explain away the emotional emptiness that often follows a "hook up."

While we, as gay people, should be grateful (as is Ms. Redgrave's character), for Kinsey's research showing how normal our sexuality is, we need to be wary of his ideology. Sex cannot be reduced to mere science, as Kinsey would have liked. I believe our sex drive an aspect of the true erotic (and by erotic, I refer to the Greek Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love), that human longing for connection.

We all need to find a balance between our sexual drives and our emotional needs. This movie does a good job of showing the limitations of Kinsey's reliance on science as a tool to understand sexuality. Other authors have wisely quoted poetry in their studies of sexuality. It is one thing to throw off the inhibitions of the past. It is quite another to deny their meaning altogether. We, as gay people, need to understand that acceptance of our sexual difference does not mean abandonment of all sexual mores. We need to find a way to keep our sexuality attached to its emotional roots. To discover that our sexuality does not merely mean physical attraction to those of our gender, but also involves an emotional longing for a real human connection.