FARFETCHED HYPOTHESIS OR LEGITIMATE CERTAINTY

<h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="color: red; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV">Engineering the Eurozone Collapse</span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="color: red; text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">......Food for Thought.......... </span></span></span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/htktdv28EF4?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><h1 id="watch-headline-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"> </span></h1><h1 id="watch-headline-title"><span class="long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Engineering the Eurozone Collapse - F. William Engdahl on GRTV"> </span></h1>

FARFETCHED HYPOTHESIS OR LEGITIMATE CERTAINTY

Engineering the Eurozone Collapse ......Food for Thought..........       

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Deen Family Cookbook: Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies

As you'll soon find out, these cookies had a ton of ingredients in them, making the taste oh-so-delicious.  The resulting texture of the cookie was unexpected.  Mine turned our rather crumbly.  They remained whole when I'd pick them up, but they almost felt like sand in your hands.  Hard to describe, and I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if that was the intended texture.  I saw a few reviews online where people had the same result, so I guess that was supposed to happen?  They were still delicious!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s1600/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s400/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.recipestap.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/5709d_deen-family-cookbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.recipestap.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/5709d_deen-family-cookbook.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><b><u>Deen Family Cookbook - Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies</u> (3 Points+ each)</b><br /><i><b>Ingredients</b></i><br />-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />-1 teaspoon baking soda<br />-1 teaspoon cream of tartar<br />-3/4 teaspoon salt<br />-1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened<br />-1 cup granulated sugar<br />-1 cup lightly packed light brown sugar<br />-1 cup vegetable oil<br />-1 egg<br />-1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />-1 cup puffed rice cereal<br />-1 cup sweetened flaked coconut<br /> -1 cup rolled old-fashioned oats<br />-1 (8-ounce) package toffee bits<br /><br /><i><b>Directions</b></i><br />In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.<br /><br />Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Scrape the sides of the mixer bowl and beat in the oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 small additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each one. Slowly beat in the rice cereal, coconut, and oats. Fold in the toffee bits and refrigerate the dough, covered, for 1 hour.<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.<br /><br />Drop rounded tablespoons of dough on 2 cookie sheets, leaving at least 1-inch of space around each drop. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool.<br /><br />Makes approximately 60 cookies. <i>Mine made 74. </i><br /><br /><i>Note: If you Google this recipe, the one shown on <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/meemaws-kitchen-sink-christmas-cookies-recipe/index.html">Foodnetwork.com</a> is slightly different.  That one shows them dipped in chocolate sprinkled with crushed candy canes, which sound amazing, but this was not how it was published in the cookbook.</i>

Deen Family Cookbook Paula Deen Weight Watcher Recipes Deen Family Cookbook: Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies

As you'll soon find out, these cookies had a ton of ingredients in them, making the taste oh-so-delicious.  The resulting texture of the...

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BULLSH*T THE DIET INDUSTRY TELLS YOU AND WHY YOU’RE STILL FAT

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Look at all the gadgets, products, and weird diets we’ve wasted our money on because their advertisements said we’d lose weight. So far, how successful has the diet industry been at doing what they say? Has the hundreds of billions of dollars Americans spend every year made us the leanest, slimmest country in the worLd? Not yet. No matter how gimmicky the diet seems, if the website says it works, we’ll buy it. Proclaiming “weight-loss” is a cash cow! Why do we continue to believe their billshi*t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s amazing how Americans spend the most money on food and have the most gluttonous culture, but yet we spend the most money trying not to eat any of it, and we’re still the fattest society on the planet. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We’re so side-tracked by the diet industry telling us we need to lose weight, that we skip the part where we are individually accountable: excessive eating as the norm. We pay them, temporarily submit to eating less, but only because we want to lose weight. When the weight isn’t lost fast enough, restricting food isn’t worth it any more. Sound familiar? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">READ THE "WHY WEIGHTING SUCKS" BLOG NEXT</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Let’s get real. The problem is that our culture loves to eat emotionally and excessively as the norm and until we change this, we will continue to have growth in the obesity epidemic (no matter how much money we continue to waste on diets). The diet industry makes billions duping you into believing the only reason to eat less is to lose weight. That’s why weight is the foundation of how they measure success. They give you a temporary system that controls how you eat less and you pay them for it. YOU PAY TO EAT LESS.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This ploy keeps you from changing your personal desires to eat that have nothing to do with body fat and everything to do with emotions and cultural behavior. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This keeps your focus on their diet plan, gives them credit if you do lose weight, and makes you believe your body must have some sort of flaw when you go back to eating with our gluttonous culture and gain back the fat. Thus, you pay more and more and more until you realize their plan sucks. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The diet industry is an enabler, and you are now co-dependent. Why would they want you to eat less without them? If that was the case you wouldn’t have a weight problem and you wouldn’t want to pay or think you needed help. Instead they teach you there are secrets to losing weight. Secrets you need to pay for in order to lose fat, because fat is a mysterious growth. Fat is a plague and you need their secret remedy in order to remove it. BULLSH*T!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is an easy way to see how messed up this dysfunctional co-dependency with the diet industry is. Let’s say there was something cataclysmic that happens that completely obliterates our access to food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>How would you eat? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this situation you’d have to ration the food you have for as long as possible. Would you eat when you were bored? Would you eat without hunger? Would you eat until you were full? Would you refuse certain food because it’s “bad” for you? No, no, no and no. Eating without hunger doesn’t make instinctual survival sense. If you were to limit eating to only when you experience true hunger, and only ate when hunger is tolerably removed, wouldn’t you lose weight easily (eating whatever you want)? Why wait for cataclysm? If our entire culture did this as the norm, obesity would be something we rarely see, the diet industry that has failed us so miserable would go away, the pharmaceutical industry would reduce to less than 90%, etc., etc., etc. You get the gist. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Eating emotionally and excessively is a cultural norm and is somehow excusable and accepted. Haven’t you excused yourself from a diet because of some form of stress or social engagement, believing emotional eating is justified and “normal”? Diets will never market solutions for emotional eating because if you stop, you’d never have a fat problem. Also, they wouldn’t make any money because you’d never pay for something you don’t want. Our culture loves eating to gratify emotions, but we detest the physical outcome. Therefore, you temporarily submit to the diet and obsessively monitor fat loss. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why do diets suck and why are you fat? Because you have never been held accountable to change your desires to eat that have nothing to do with physical hunger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Either you’ve never recognized that as the problem, or you don’t want to. No matter how much fat you lose with any short-lived diet, until you create a desire to eat less, you might as well accept obesity as the outcome. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In short, the focus on weight by the diet industry is the foundation for why they never work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until we stop believing that eating is emotionally rewarding, you’ll always feel deprived by diets and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you’ll always believe that weight-loss is the only reason to eat less. In other words, you should want to eat less whether you lose weight or not. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/">http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/</a></span></div>

BULLSH*T THE DIET INDUSTRY TELLS YOU AND WHY YOU’RE STILL FAT

Look at all the gadgets, products, and weird diets we’ve wasted our money on because their advertisements said we’d lose weight. So far, how...

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BHG Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles

These Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles are very similar to your typical chocolate crinkle cookies, except with a hint of coffee taste.  I'm not a huge fan of coffee, but I did love these - the taste was so subtle. <i><b> </b></i><br /><i><b><br /></b></i><br />The cookies come out similar to the photo below should you choose to use powdered sugar.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/crink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/crink.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my picture, because I totally forgot to take one!  <a href="http://tinyjoys.files.wordpress.com/">Source</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D79NCV4VL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D79NCV4VL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><u><b>Better Homes & Gardens: Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles</b></u><i><b> (1 Points+ for one cookie)</b></i><br /><i><b>Ingredients: </b></i><br />-1/3 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)<br />-1 cup packed brown sugar<br />-2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder<br />-1 tablespoon instant coffee granules<br />-1 teaspoon baking soda<br />-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />-2 egg whites<br />-1/3 cup vanilla yogurt<br />-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />-1/4 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar or powdered sugar<br /><br /><br /><i><b>Directions:</b></i><br />Beat butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa powder, coffee granules, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally.<br /><br />Beat in egg whites and yogurt until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in remaining flour with a wooden spoon.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.<br /><br />Heat oven to 350 degrees F. <br /><br />Place granulated sugar/sifted powdered sugar in a small bowl.  Drop dough by heaping teaspoons into sugar and roll into balls.<br /><br />Place balls 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm.<br /><br />Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool.<br /><br />Makes approximately 40 cookies, though mine made more, making them 1 Points+ each.

Better Homes and Gardens Breast Cancer Cookbook Weight Watcher Recipes BHG Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles

These Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles are very similar to your typical chocolate crinkle cookies, except with a hint of coffee taste.  I'm not...

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HCG BUSINESS'S LOOP HOLE AROUND THE FDA AND FTC

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced there will be penalty for selling “homeopathic” HCG products online and in retail outlets, as oral drops pellets, and sprays. Why? Because of unsupported claims made and marketed by hCG diet businesses. Their biggest problem isn’t the hCG but rather the claims that hCG induces weight loss. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">They believe weight lost is not due to the hCG but because of the very low calorie diet the protocol suggests. In the press release David Vladick, the director of the FTC’s Beureau of Consumer Protection, says, “Deceptive advertising about weight loss products is one of the most prevalent types of fraud.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is the scam-like advertising they disapprove of. </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Click here to read their news release: <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/MedicationHealthFraud/ucm282465.htm">http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/MedicationHealthFraud/ucm282465.htm</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Can any of you argue the diet industry has been the biggest fraud? How many of you have spent thousands and thousands of your hard earned money on products that claim you will lose weight, have leaner bodies, and will look like the model selling it, without results? The hCG protocol has become huge business and I can see why there are red flags, especially when hCG businesses are claiming weight loss in excess of 30 pounds in less than 40 days. Seriously, didn’t you think the hCG protocol sounded like a scam when you first heard these types of claims? They sound ridiculous especially when the business implies there is no personal responsibly or need for change to the way you eat regularly. But, once you’ve done the protocol, skepticism turns into converted believer. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">What weight-loss business (that has integrity and has your long term health in their best interest) would advertise this way? None. So I don’t blame the FDA and FTC for being so harsh and skeptical. However, the only way to get their attention and to let them know this is a consumer driven product is to switch things up. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The hCG protocol industry needs to completely change the way they are selling the product</i> s. We need to change our claims to something the FDA would have to do further research to disprove. And better, let’s claim something that has integrity so they look bad by disproving it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Here’s the loop-hole: HCG protocol businesses need to abruptly change the way they advertise. Remove all ads that claim weight-loss and instead, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">claim the hCG protocol will help you learn to eat less. </i>How could anyone argue with this statement? The obvious long term result of weight-loss doesn’t need to be the center of attention. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As the consumer, you can blog, discuss, post, and say anything you want about how much weight you’ve lost</i>. Weight-loss <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as a result of eating less</i> is something the FDA cannot stop the consumer from claiming.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">In short:  Businesses advertise eating less. Consumers post their incredible results.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">The diet industry is ruthless and there are thousands of books, products, and services that have been making the same superficial claims for decades. In order for the hCG protocol to stand out we need to take a very different approach. Let’s market it in a way that the FDA will have difficulty proving us wrong. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">Yes, the hCG protocol helps you eat less. It will change the way you eat so that you never go back to the dysfunctional eating that caused your fat gain in the first place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s make the protocol a way to change our gluttonous culture. The hCG protocol is an emotional eating rehab. This is a cause and a claim the FDA will want us to continue. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math", "serif";">If you want to take control back, we need to act fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Post this to every hCG site you can and hope things change quickly. Find out more about the author at <a href="http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/">http://www.mindbodyhcg.com/</a> </span></div>

HCG BUSINESS'S LOOP HOLE AROUND THE FDA AND FTC

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced there will be penalty for selling “homeopathic” HCG...

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tied up with a bow

I took advantage of a morning full of holiday spirt (you gotta feel Christmasy after spending a morning with Santa and his elves) to tackle my mantel before I thought too much about it and psyched myself out. I found my inspiration and got an idea.<br /><br />I'll make all those hurricanes I have stashed in the basement useful and <strike>stick</strike> artfully arrange Christmas lights in there and make those suckers glow. But my big honkin strands of lights we use on the tree were not fitting into my little hurricanes.<br /><br />One trip to Hobby Lobby later and I had 4 boxes of the shortest strand of lights I could find - a white string of 25 for $1.99. Wahoo.<br /><br /><i>Lazy note/sign of a faux crafter</i>: There are serval tips on Pinterest about how to drill a hole in your glass to get the strand to feed thru the bottom so the cord doesn't show etc. However I'm of the opinion that if you are standing close enough to my mantel that you see little white cords popping from the top/back of my hurricanes and this horrifies you, you have yet to have enough cocktails. Sit down, I'll shake you another drink.<br /><br />So with my hurricanes all light up I started to play with my <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-doesnt-want-to-wear-ribbon.html" target="_blank">ribbon</a>. Tie it around the hurricane? Boring. Wrap it? Not without my glue gun. String it from the... huh? Yeah no, not working.<br /><br />It was about this time that I had to run some errands and being the excellent example and Mom that I am, I of course neatly organized and cleaned up my project before I left. Yeah right. When I came back though, I saw my 'clean up' stuffed in the hurricanes and thought, you know what, that doesn't look half bad. With a little fluff here and there, I ended up with this. (Sometimes a haphazard clean up pays off)<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_DPpTQzs6D6tQnZrLVHSVlN2MVQIJyQXL5ug45hu4psIqPzj9wt4Eai-zIpUCzhwzizY1m9XU0DnXPgTBZj9qPKHhF6xHl8lMUdWlZ-QJp0Cr0HAARcet6hv0n-SeFjAaUUz-RMUqGVd/s1600/PC061701.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_DPpTQzs6D6tQnZrLVHSVlN2MVQIJyQXL5ug45hu4psIqPzj9wt4Eai-zIpUCzhwzizY1m9XU0DnXPgTBZj9qPKHhF6xHl8lMUdWlZ-QJp0Cr0HAARcet6hv0n-SeFjAaUUz-RMUqGVd/s640/PC061701.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We call this casual ribbon placement</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Xhfc9VBEehNCWoVZi7b3H_jnm2e0GV1djddlnEAyNsyIu-b0tITJMP-mOYcfMJGpclpHP3qTXwdx3cGki1C-uBU_-_WAwv8JZrj9vZ0Vc3htadRpuDz_QNFfFVwfFKg3tQZloR-6PIuD/s1600/PC061709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Xhfc9VBEehNCWoVZi7b3H_jnm2e0GV1djddlnEAyNsyIu-b0tITJMP-mOYcfMJGpclpHP3qTXwdx3cGki1C-uBU_-_WAwv8JZrj9vZ0Vc3htadRpuDz_QNFfFVwfFKg3tQZloR-6PIuD/s640/PC061709.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For shame - my cord!</td></tr></tbody></table>One piece down. A few more to go.<br /><br />I also wanted a bit of height and greenery. I'm not spending major duckets to pop those mamma jammas in front of my faux hearth. So I went with a scaled down version. And we will plant them in the backyard when we are done.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7CvhGJm0lMOv6vRefU3rJlRjF_WvNKdKcmFt0VmwKLET2Gov-Hxh6ZsfkqMVeGO6MqoZNW7NCW_6EBaYMXIgiZZx7-aEcfNyqJLTPtkxkr2vHW8WDayXiUNtZX06dyP-i5znf5bI1Peg/s1600/littleblackdoortreemantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY7CvhGJm0lMOv6vRefU3rJlRjF_WvNKdKcmFt0VmwKLET2Gov-Hxh6ZsfkqMVeGO6MqoZNW7NCW_6EBaYMXIgiZZx7-aEcfNyqJLTPtkxkr2vHW8WDayXiUNtZX06dyP-i5znf5bI1Peg/s640/littleblackdoortreemantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br /><br />I was feelin good, feelin pumped.  But that big black hole was sucking all the festiveness out of my progress.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFi_eLGponQf3quZmlW9G2cdpviRHddQcliTbYNLqg6rEwqQx3eXkfmtgZGV-nPdRLHK3jg9ne44MvrwOE8bW-tv7wfBcGcyinXGOHJvYyYJn_vFOrn90BYUag8wIkALn9GIhG0tADBNP/s1600/PC061685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFi_eLGponQf3quZmlW9G2cdpviRHddQcliTbYNLqg6rEwqQx3eXkfmtgZGV-nPdRLHK3jg9ne44MvrwOE8bW-tv7wfBcGcyinXGOHJvYyYJn_vFOrn90BYUag8wIkALn9GIhG0tADBNP/s640/PC061685.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlc1ZK4nN7T-djnU83y5Sojzh6ho8_sfrOgDW5xkr-_T1mzPAlJz56L58u6eoBE6jNaXBLCdqj2eJQLf794hyphenhyphenB1lhK4L38sLz6az3TE-GI-zG5S42v5J53SXTOQxjC0dRVl19YF3ECuHm/s1600/littleblackdoorchristmasmantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTlc1ZK4nN7T-djnU83y5Sojzh6ho8_sfrOgDW5xkr-_T1mzPAlJz56L58u6eoBE6jNaXBLCdqj2eJQLf794hyphenhyphenB1lhK4L38sLz6az3TE-GI-zG5S42v5J53SXTOQxjC0dRVl19YF3ECuHm/s640/littleblackdoorchristmasmantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">how <i>DO</i> you take a picture of a mirror without yourself smack in the middle?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I love this idea (if only my fireplace worked I would be all over some red wood).<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Great way to fill in the dead space in my fireplace. http://decorartsnow.com/2011/11/09/november-9-2011-store-tour-c-wonder-ful/" height="320" src="http://media-cdn.pinterest.com/upload/6896205649022807_cOFRPMGw_b.jpg" style="height: 241px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="253" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div id="PinActionButtons"><div class="colorlight" id="PinSource">From <a href="http://decorartsnow.com/2011/11/09/november-9-2011-store-tour-c-wonder-ful/" target="_blank">decorartsnow.com</a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><a class="PinImage ImgLink" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649022807/"> </a><br />So a few snips of wrapping paper and here we are. Thanks Target for making wrapping paper that satisfies my red addiction and my polka dot addiction all in one. And it sparkles too.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYuU-af2VgvxYjEh_Cnp2sK9byVR5qdmfFpMGLE1nI6Gxvl7vtyrMRPJHW6JlcALPpEdg4Z_Rd6UyjN4Fu_ET4BwN74Te-wQiMgvYsZqNCzcgjlNpB8c3h11ClskNbrrCvGeGzidt1KSU/s1600/littleblackdoorwrappingpapermantel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoYuU-af2VgvxYjEh_Cnp2sK9byVR5qdmfFpMGLE1nI6Gxvl7vtyrMRPJHW6JlcALPpEdg4Z_Rd6UyjN4Fu_ET4BwN74Te-wQiMgvYsZqNCzcgjlNpB8c3h11ClskNbrrCvGeGzidt1KSU/s640/littleblackdoorwrappingpapermantel.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><br />Ewww. Ahhh. Ohhh.<br /><br />So there you have it. (I'll try to take some more moody night time lights pictures if I can figure out the while balance on my camera.) The mantel is done and I'm ready to move on to the tree. <br /><br />What have you done with your mantel? Do you have trouble getting your stockings to stay in place with little hands around? (we've had to take our down until the big night) Any holiday decorations you are excited about? It can't be just me people. C'mon!<br /><div class="ImgLink" id="PinImage"></div>

tied up with a bow

I took advantage of a morning full of holiday spirt (you gotta feel Christmasy after spending a morning with Santa and his elves) to tackle ...

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Hungry Girl 1-2-3: Fiesta Bites

These Fiesta Bites were a huge hit at the <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/weekend-recap.html">cookie exchange</a>.  No one knew they were "diet friendly" food either, which I love :).  That little "secret" makes them all the more delicious, wouldn't you say?  I topped some with tomatoes and some without, since the chef doesn't eat tomatoes unless it's coming from a Heinz bottle!    <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQKkwF_BOg58C2FCjXQrKlJ1EgQqjc5y8hsSRWNZKznn2yRx6PolQAWTnlqyZx5IncxsWE1bC6BTga4ECHTsfJn6umcEnuGcJD0WcxFu0INUmFC2GzTqndrnMyYgaIV-a8cWTWECcJsA/s1600/cookie+exchange+013+redone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQKkwF_BOg58C2FCjXQrKlJ1EgQqjc5y8hsSRWNZKznn2yRx6PolQAWTnlqyZx5IncxsWE1bC6BTga4ECHTsfJn6umcEnuGcJD0WcxFu0INUmFC2GzTqndrnMyYgaIV-a8cWTWECcJsA/s400/cookie+exchange+013+redone.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Please note my modifications that make them come out to 1 Points+ each.  Also, my version below is doubled.  In her book the recipe is halved - making only 12 servings. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID660/images/hungrygirl123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID660/images/hungrygirl123.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><u><b>Hungry Girl Fiesta Bites</b></u> (1 Points+ for one "bite")<br /><br /><i><b>Ingredients</b><b>: </b></i>  <br />-24 small square wonton wrappers <i>(I ended up using 30)</i><br />-4 tablespoons taco sauce<br />-2 tablespoons fat-free cream cheese, room temperature <i>(I used WW block cream cheese)</i><br />-2 teaspoons dry taco seasoning mix<br />-Two 9.75-ounce (or 10-ounce) can 98% fat-free chunk white chicken breast in water, drained and flaked<br />-1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed<br />-1/2 cup corn, thawed from frozen<br />-1/2 cup shredded fat-free cheddar cheese <i>(I used 2% shredded cheddar)</i><br />-2 plum tomatoes, chopped<br />-Optional: salt and black pepper to taste <i><b><br /></b></i><br /><i><b>Preparation: </b></i></blockquote><blockquote>Preheat oven to 350 degrees.<br /><br />Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray. Place each wonton wrapper into a cup of the muffin pan, and press it into the bottom and sides.<br /><br />Lightly spray the wrappers with nonstick spray. Bake in the oven for about 4 minutes, until the corners begin to brown. Leaving the oven on, set muffin pan aside to cool.<br /><br />Mix taco sauce, cream cheese, and taco seasoning together in a bowl. Add chicken and stir until coated. Add beans, corn, and cheddar cheese. Stir well. If you like, season to taste with salt and pepper.<br /><br />Evenly distribute mixture into the wonton shells, about 2 tablespoons each <i>(Note: I only used 1 Tbsp for each won ton, which seemed to be plenty!)</i>. Return pan to the oven and bake for about 8 minutes, until the chicken mixture is hot.<br /><br />Once cool enough to handle, remove the filled wonton shells, and top evenly with tomato. Serve and enjoy!<br /><br />MAKES 30 SERVINGS</blockquote>Have you had these before?  What is your favorite Hungry Girl recipe?

Hungry Girl Weight Watcher Recipes Hungry Girl 1-2-3: Fiesta Bites

These Fiesta Bites were a huge hit at the cookie exchange .  No one knew they were "diet friendly" food either, which I love :).  ...

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Weekend Recap

I knew <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/weigh-in-results.html">this weekend</a> was going to prove challenging when it was going to be focused around food!  Alas, I have already blown one of my <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/weigh-in-results.html">weekly goals</a>, and so I'm hoping I can somewhat redeem myself for the remaining 4 days I have left in my WW week.<br /><br />But wait!  What happened, you might ask?<br /><br /><b>Half Success</b><br />Saturday I had lunch with some lovely ladies at a local and delicious restaurant called Carlyle.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with french fries.  I ate half of the sandwich and only a few fries (they were shoe string fries too).  I considered this a huge success.  I even planned to take half of it with me, but forgot the box at the table when we left.  It was probably better that way anyhow!  Then I didn't have to feel obligated to eat the leftovers. <br /><br />After that, I headed to a friend's house to visit.  Her and her husband just bought a house and so we hung out Saturday evening.  I had dinner there and tried to be modest with my eating as much as possible.  Still, I went over my daily Points+ for Saturday.<br /><br /><b>Failure Begins</b><br />Sunday was the big cookie exchange.  Could there be a worse event for a Weight Watcher?<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv9vzo-4d0BbNn6y3c3jB5XtUwdh0vsLdaVSpSBP6YTl02ctbCCFw5qdEQs8cX_7bTVDPkOVhEwJWTdR_KEHhNv1kEE-iYuMS4Ho6D_fmV6mVIPjeMiiYWXi2pXAeFBiD9Pb_Af-RdSNg/s1600/Cookie+Exchange+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv9vzo-4d0BbNn6y3c3jB5XtUwdh0vsLdaVSpSBP6YTl02ctbCCFw5qdEQs8cX_7bTVDPkOVhEwJWTdR_KEHhNv1kEE-iYuMS4Ho6D_fmV6mVIPjeMiiYWXi2pXAeFBiD9Pb_Af-RdSNg/s400/Cookie+Exchange+015.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tempting spread... and this didn't even include the appetizers</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>*sigh*  </i></div><br />I spent all day Sunday baking two separate types of cookies, as well as an appetizer (recipes to come for all).  <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQKkwF_BOg58C2FCjXQrKlJ1EgQqjc5y8hsSRWNZKznn2yRx6PolQAWTnlqyZx5IncxsWE1bC6BTga4ECHTsfJn6umcEnuGcJD0WcxFu0INUmFC2GzTqndrnMyYgaIV-a8cWTWECcJsA/s1600/cookie+exchange+013+redone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQKkwF_BOg58C2FCjXQrKlJ1EgQqjc5y8hsSRWNZKznn2yRx6PolQAWTnlqyZx5IncxsWE1bC6BTga4ECHTsfJn6umcEnuGcJD0WcxFu0INUmFC2GzTqndrnMyYgaIV-a8cWTWECcJsA/s400/cookie+exchange+013+redone.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hungry Girl Fiesta Bites - 1 Points+ each</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I made Fudgy Cappuccino Crinkles (1 Points+ each) from the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cook-Book-Limited-Pink-Plaid/dp/0696227320">breast cancer Better Homes & Gardens cookbook</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMt5_4YGrB31GOwy7ZJxUEU_b8mbHvt4ic9ATdBgAmBNht3YTO7FCQZyl8p5NYy5F_tW-ai1Y-YgFJFKHZDnl1BBkz5KC874rfvwTcliJFpDZotGVQ-HdRJo_bT1iQYYRrwrsLCxOeeo/s1600/cookie+exchange+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMt5_4YGrB31GOwy7ZJxUEU_b8mbHvt4ic9ATdBgAmBNht3YTO7FCQZyl8p5NYy5F_tW-ai1Y-YgFJFKHZDnl1BBkz5KC874rfvwTcliJFpDZotGVQ-HdRJo_bT1iQYYRrwrsLCxOeeo/s400/cookie+exchange+001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />You can kind of see them in the lower left hand corner of the bowl.<br /><br />I also made Meemaw's Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies from the <a href="http://www.foodnetworkstore.com/the-deen-family-cookbook-hardcover-by-deen-paula/shop/141685/">Deen Family cookbook</a> (3 Points+ each).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s1600/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVCCIdaAz2OVmor3zPAYIpSU6IDAhOu5obQFztMemx20yFq3CT6NiCM5_h2dswyMF1z95qQLwqKAh2IvZeQQ6K-0U2wvpLTI2XTPE3Szao3kQv0msiAbfB77VSMt6a1rb1wkigmzD7Omo/s400/Cookie+Exchange+011.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />They had a million things in them!  But everything I made was sooooo good!<br /><br />Still, as you might imagine, it didn't end well.  Remember how I told the host that I wouldn't be taking any cookies home?  I knew that I would be interrogated by the ladies for why I wasn't taking cookies (that is the entire point to this, afterall!), and I didn't feel like fielding questions.  <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/11/part-1-how-i-approach-ww-in-public.html">I'm still not crazy about sharing my journey with others</a>.  I sampled several (or a million - who's counting?!) cookies.  Still, I brought that entire cookie bag to work today and let those people go at it.   At least that's good right? <br /><br />I kept a few favorites and hid them in the back of my pantry, like these babies:<br />  <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAdOAiyVSKC8IdlQV65L4NjlpqOAJJjFL5Pb-Ybdl5C07SK1h_20DZCuYTQtM4MxXEsATe4DO1NsUmUlEyHyLMGBvYc1ePijuHlop2UzfxxtwRIrxJ-mC2ceWzRipCSNYMKU9ZEeeLkA/s1600/Cookie+Exchange+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrAdOAiyVSKC8IdlQV65L4NjlpqOAJJjFL5Pb-Ybdl5C07SK1h_20DZCuYTQtM4MxXEsATe4DO1NsUmUlEyHyLMGBvYc1ePijuHlop2UzfxxtwRIrxJ-mC2ceWzRipCSNYMKU9ZEeeLkA/s400/Cookie+Exchange+020.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies - kind of taste like <br />Girl Scouts Thin Mints</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Out of site, out of mind... I hope?!  <br /><br />How was your weekend?  Do you participate in a cookie exchange (or something similar) during the holidays?

Weekend Recap Weekend Recap

I knew this weekend was going to prove challenging when it was going to be focused around food!  Alas, I have already blown one of my weekl...

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RESURRECTION OF A CONTINENT

<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Latin America unites in new bloc, US not invited</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thirty-three LATIN AMERICAN leaders have come together and formed a new regional bloc, pledging closer economic and political ties. The Community of LATIN AMERICAN and CARIBBEAN STATES (CELAC) pointedly excludes the USA and CANADA.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">­On the second day of a summit in the VENEZUELAN capital, Caracas, all LATIN AMERICAN leaders, both right and left, officially signed into effect the formation of the CELAC bloc. The foundation of the bloc has been praised as the realization of the two-centuries-old idea of LATIN AMERICAN “independence” envisioned by Simon Bolivar.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Analysts view CELAC as an alternative to the Washington-based ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS) and as an attempt by LATIN AMERICAN countries to reduce US influence in the region.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">However Washington does not see CELAC as a replacement to OAS. US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said the US will continue <i>“to work through the OAS as the pre-eminent multilateral organization, speaking for the hemisphere.”</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Political analysts are of the opinion that the US views CELAC as a potential threat to its hegemony in the region.</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QvgQdiggLfg?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The 33 leaders pledged to withstand the financial crisis that has struck EUROPE and other developed countries. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">BRAZIL’S Dilma Rousseff stressed that the LATIN AMERICAN countries would need to rely more on their neighbors amid the global economic turmoil. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“The economic, financial crisis should be at the center of our concerns,”</i> Rousseff said. She said LATIN AMERICA should<i> “realize that to guarantee its current cycle of development despite the international economic turbulence, it means that every politician must be aware that each one needs the others.”  </i></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHILEAN President Sebastian Pinera, who assumed the initial rotating presidency at CELAC, expressed hopes that the bloc would help build regional cooperation despite the differences between some of the 33 member states.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The leaders also discussed cooperation in the field of drug trafficking and climate change.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">CELAC should be a <i>“political union to build a large power center of the 21st century,”</i> the VENEZUELAN president said, stressing strong regional growth as many countries in the region develop closer ties with ASIA or EUROPE and reduce their traditional reliance on the US.</span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The formation of CELAC was warmly welcomed by rising global power, CHINA. Hu pledged to deepen cooperation with the CELAC and underlined that in the 21st century the relations between CHINA and LATIN AMERICA have seen all-round and fast development with expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation, according to Xinhua news agency. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The countries of CELAC have a combined population of nearly <b>600 MILLION PEOPLE</b>, and a <b>COMBINED GDP OF ABOUT US$6 TRILLION</b> – about a <u>third of the combined output of the US and Canada.</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

RESURRECTION OF A CONTINENT

Latin America unites in new bloc, US not invited Thirty-three LATIN AMERICAN leaders have come together and formed a new regional bloc, pled...

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The Shop Around the Corner (1940): A Lubitsch Christmas

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzt1SDq_UCjXtGsFUectodi0C84FwSFK3utZ78NgblIAlEekAFJSrW5fWEinH4E6ix2pvnwuXQlLjK0VUm0-rh_fOlwIsW0Dtl1_AeFN9lAnmkVw1gUVxcmUq9l44aL8_UMBocYH0BwXx/s1600/Shop-Around-the-Corner+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAzt1SDq_UCjXtGsFUectodi0C84FwSFK3utZ78NgblIAlEekAFJSrW5fWEinH4E6ix2pvnwuXQlLjK0VUm0-rh_fOlwIsW0Dtl1_AeFN9lAnmkVw1gUVxcmUq9l44aL8_UMBocYH0BwXx/s1600/Shop-Around-the-Corner+2.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It is only occasionally that a film ages with extraordinary grace. Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 classic,</span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Shop Around the Corner</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">, has mellowed in the manner of</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> a rare and prized bottle of Hungarian Tokaji </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Aszú...</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRVIHjfaog4jbW36Mi0nl9Adt9qc0_NG8ULdtOUOhQOQdj1HO36fe4E2Szz1HL1vhWfxkDRn8GZAFFSufGspKyTMrUuy36bBDnM4slz8dlPgvBGAq8crDBJc7iNx9TUXkUn5gk1B6HR4C/s1600/shop+7+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRVIHjfaog4jbW36Mi0nl9Adt9qc0_NG8ULdtOUOhQOQdj1HO36fe4E2Szz1HL1vhWfxkDRn8GZAFFSufGspKyTMrUuy36bBDnM4slz8dlPgvBGAq8crDBJc7iNx9TUXkUn5gk1B6HR4C/s400/shop+7+a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Balta Street, Budapest</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Director Lubitsch, revered for sophisticated films spun with his light-as-air "touch" and at an artistic peak in 1940, took special care with <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>. It was one of his favorites of own films, and he wrote, “Never did I make a picture in which the atmosphere and the characters were truer…” This atmosphere is unmistakable. With the first strains of “Ochi Tchornya” heard over Leo the Lion’s roar, in the dreamlike setting near Budapest’s historic Andrassy Street and in unique and distinctive characters, the spirit of old Europe is alive on screen. </span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Set during Christmastime in the snow-dusted capital, the story follows a series of mix-ups and missteps between employees of a picturesque gift shop in the heart of the city. Two clerks carry on a battle-of-the-sexes while romantically pursuing anonymous pen pals; the shop owner suspects betrayal at home and at work; a duplicitous clerk is up to ugly mischief and a wisecracking errand boy has an eye for the main chance…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidFfYhqjUwui2PBxIzu2Zu2-uYY6knwaNWDL1IrA5th_tx_fpcS6kgoqzdwtD9qdakPeCzKIGAYfXML01IKcNMd9PuzFtI-_AqvGEN0mwDpNb3KROUFdVvKIOHUFz4gDAEoK69Si0JJWzT/s1600/shop+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidFfYhqjUwui2PBxIzu2Zu2-uYY6knwaNWDL1IrA5th_tx_fpcS6kgoqzdwtD9qdakPeCzKIGAYfXML01IKcNMd9PuzFtI-_AqvGEN0mwDpNb3KROUFdVvKIOHUFz4gDAEoK69Si0JJWzT/s400/shop+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Matuschek's gift shop</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Samson Raphaelson (<i>Suspicion</i>, <i>Green Dolphin Street</i>) penned a screenplay based on Nikolaus (Miklós) László’s play; William H. Daniels (<i>The Naked City</i>, <i>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</i>) shot it and Werner Heymann (<i>Ninotchka</i>, <i>To Be or Not to Be</i>) wrote the score.<br /><br />A sparkling ensemble cast features several of MGM’s top supporting players. Among them is Frank Morgan in one of his most interesting roles as Mr. Matuschek, the colorful charmer who owns the gift shop. A somber turn in the subplot gives Morgan a chance to portray his character's darker emotions. <br /><br />Peerless Felix Bressart plays the meek/endearing clerk, Pirovich. Versatile Joseph Schildkraut defines ‘loathsome’ as Vadas. Also in the featured cast are Sara Haden, William Tracy and Inez Courtney.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TD7Nsdb1_Lk" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Felix Bressart and James Stewart</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The legendary  chemistry between stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan illuminates the screen. Stewart is at his most appealing as Mr. Kralik, head clerk and right hand man to Mr. Matuschek. In this role, Stewart's broad signature mannerisms are tempered by the sensitivity with which he portrays Kralik's romantic yearnings. But it is Sullavan's performance that mesmerizes. Her Klara Novak, a headstrong shop girl blinded by lofty ideals, is a high-strung romantic whose breathless eagerness is offset by her brittle fragility. </span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="margin-left: 12.0pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td></tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYhgyPNMYbIptxP_Hmyl3MJRCmrmPA98t_Q00R8XlBuVJHFW_bsPKmzgZ7Awk-yumiW5xTag4zML5nBlKf42iOFQQVKXolb_TdxmRNTE0_HviA802SGGJ-lu4ZfLbAPkbQ0GYghXf5G13/s1600/the-mortal-storm-margaret-sullavan-1940%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYhgyPNMYbIptxP_Hmyl3MJRCmrmPA98t_Q00R8XlBuVJHFW_bsPKmzgZ7Awk-yumiW5xTag4zML5nBlKf42iOFQQVKXolb_TdxmRNTE0_HviA802SGGJ-lu4ZfLbAPkbQ0GYghXf5G13/s400/the-mortal-storm-margaret-sullavan-1940%255B1%255D.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Margaret Sullavan</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Margaret Sullavan was discovered on Broadway by director <span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">John M. Stahl</span> (<i>Leave Her to Heaven</i>) who brought her to Hollywood to star in <i>Only Yesterday</i> (1933) with John Boles. By this time Sullavan had already married and divorced Henry Fonda and would soon marry director William Wyler. By 1936 the actress was married to agent/producer Leland Hayward and about to make her best films: <i>Three Comrades</i> (1938), for which Sullavan earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination, <i>The Shopworn Angel</i> (1938), <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i> (1940) and <i>The Mortal Storm</i> (1940). In the last three she co-starred with Stewart. The pair had first worked together on <i>Next Time We Love</i> (1936), a result of Sullavan suggesting her friend Stewart for the part. In <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>, the third of the their four collaborations, the co-stars seem to all but dance together, such is the rhythm between them. <br /><br />With the closing scenes of <i>The Shop Around the Corner</i>, Lubitsch demonstrates his consummate finesse…</span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"></td> </tr><tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal"></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCGycQSweTQgc_UXeQoQeE7cl4ekvm0DNsOlRbJwl65gzmvsbV2oZw6vrK5tBMuakXS9o-qmd2IsHGPStnDAYw8J2_BzGLumEZTELWC3Yf3Lb-ea3ZSky8pQ1qkuShgusWS8j9BH2FB_N/s1600/shop+5+a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCGycQSweTQgc_UXeQoQeE7cl4ekvm0DNsOlRbJwl65gzmvsbV2oZw6vrK5tBMuakXS9o-qmd2IsHGPStnDAYw8J2_BzGLumEZTELWC3Yf3Lb-ea3ZSky8pQ1qkuShgusWS8j9BH2FB_N/s400/shop+5+a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Frank Morgan and Charles Smith</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Mr. Matuschek returns to his store on Christmas Eve to total the day’s receipts, thank his staff and hand out bonuses. It is closing time and as the wistful shopkeeper departs, he says goodnight to, and we have our last glimpse of, most of the other characters as they depart for the holidays. <br /><br />When the shop's new errand boy, Rudy (Charles Smith), emerges, Matuschek takes him under his wing and out to a glorious Christmas dinner of roast goose, potatoes in butter…and “a double order of apple strudel in vanilla sauce.” The two, no longer facing a lonely Christmas Eve, strike up a jubilant rapport.<br /><br />Inside the darkened shop, Stewart and Sullavan move in perfect harmony as Kralik and Klara finally discover each other. This last scene, one of the most deeply romantic and witty ever confected, reveals the distilled essence of Lubitsch’s “touch.”</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcv9y8lr_bVCbjtWt0ieoEsDl2ThvGWLJl-sp30h0rowKzVOJQ-hsazlAOEoBcn0iWk1oNZMAQEfF4FsUIBAFdcTSTIiyTnyOuCUJJAA3rD1eTgEIqYD87voz1x5Afs8Vb0_KjzzWFXaY/s1600/shop+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcv9y8lr_bVCbjtWt0ieoEsDl2ThvGWLJl-sp30h0rowKzVOJQ-hsazlAOEoBcn0iWk1oNZMAQEfF4FsUIBAFdcTSTIiyTnyOuCUJJAA3rD1eTgEIqYD87voz1x5Afs8Vb0_KjzzWFXaY/s400/shop+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div>

Ernst Lubitsch Felix Bressart Frank Morgan James Stewart Joseph Schildkraut Margaret Sullavan The Lady Eve (author) The Shop Around the Corner The Shop Around the Corner (1940): A Lubitsch Christmas

It is only occasionally that a film ages with extraordinary grace. Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 classic, The Shop Around the Corner , has mello...

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Global Warfare

<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" id="ViewArticleTable"><tbody><tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td align="left" colspan="2" valign="top"><div class="articleTitle"><span style="font-size: large;">Where will Obama’s Strike Next? "Preplanned Wars" will lead to "Preplanned "Results" </span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="articleAuthorName"><span style="font-size: large;">by Richard Skaff</span></div><div class="articleAuthorName"></div><div class="articleAuthorName"></div><div class="articleAuthorName"><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /><div class="bigArticleText" style="margin-right: 10px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>While promoting his book on October 3, 2007 at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco California, former four star general, NATO Supreme commander, politician, hawk, and 2004 presidential candidate Wesley Clark stated in a surprisingly significant speech that the neocons had committed a “policy coup” and took over the direction of American policy but forgot to notify the rest of the country. </i></span></div><div class="bigArticleText" style="margin-right: 10px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i> </i> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Clark went on to say that he met with Donald Rumsfeld in the Pentagon ten days after 9/11. He added that on that same day he also met with an officer from the joints staffs who discussed with him and attempted to show him a classified memo issued by the secretary of defense’s office that called for invasion and destruction of governments in seven countries (besides Afghanistan) in the near East and Africa in a five year period. According to Clark, these countries listed in the memo were Sudan , Syria , Libya , Lebanon , Iraq , Somalia , and Iran .[1]. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">In addition, Clark connected this classified memo to another meeting he had with Paul Wolfowitz in the Pentagon in 1991, when Mr. Wolfowitz was the undersecretary of defense for policy (number 3 position in pentagon) and after the first invasion of Iraq by the US in Desert Storm. Clark edified that Mr. Wolfowitz wasn’t satisfied with keeping Saddam in power at that time. However, he allegedly told General Clark that the US learned an important lesson during Desert Storm. The moral of the lesson was that the US can use their military power in the Middle East and the Russians won’t intervene or stop them. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">In addition, Wolfowitz allegedly pontificated to Clark that they had about 10 years to clean up those old soviet client regimes like in Syria , Iraq , Iran , etc, before another great super power emerges and challenges them. [1]. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Clark’s 2007 speech was eerie in a sense that it clearly illustrated the plan to reshape the Middle East has been at work for many years. The vision of Oded Yinon is unraveling, and the Arab Spring is far from being a spring where life is rejuvenated, but instead it is a path to the underworld and to the total destruction of the entire region. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">One of the nagging questions would be why has Russia never interfered or objected to the US military interventions in that region as claimed by Wolfowitz? </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">A possible answer would be is that post Soviet Russia became the ill and feeble patient of Eurasia who always was dependent on capitalist money, and has become satisfied with being a spectator who is rewarded with any bones or carcasses that the West will throw their way. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Ironically, The alleged Arab Spring widened beyond the seven countries mentioned in the Pentagon’s 2001 classified memo, and apparently became more comprehensive to ensure that new boundaries for every country in the region are remolded. President Obama, Nobel peace prize winner seems committed to complete his predecessor’s job, and to the cause of restructuring the Middle East and North Africa . </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Subsequently, Mubarak of Egypt had to go just like the Shah of Iran did after years of loyalty to his Anglo-America bosses. The time is right for the old CIA allies “the Muslim Brothers” to be finally appointed as rulers of Egypt . </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">I am certain that Mr. Obama’s administration and the intelligence agencies will eventually facilitate a bogus election in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood will win in a landslide making Egypt the new extremist Sunni state that will empower the Sunnis all over the region. Backed by American-Saudi money Egypt will take a stand against the extremist Shiite state of Iran . Meanwhile, the Saudis will applaud once again the destruction of another secular Arab State that was the cradle of Arab Nationalism during the reign of the late Gamal Abdel Nasser who was also opposed by the Saudis as their competitor to the leadership of the region. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMh10ocSRoP1T44_2hRUAlhl79KIYgnOUsmRKrcHVDPHIoBdPXSZlVpUWUM82xMxeEfYSuiWLUmkmZ_slygagyC6E4go7UzLBkiqUUMiY2RJuPVLWzvZK2hZEFJwuWm-buPhzf4RXNhcgS/s1600/Sunni-Shia-Divide.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMh10ocSRoP1T44_2hRUAlhl79KIYgnOUsmRKrcHVDPHIoBdPXSZlVpUWUM82xMxeEfYSuiWLUmkmZ_slygagyC6E4go7UzLBkiqUUMiY2RJuPVLWzvZK2hZEFJwuWm-buPhzf4RXNhcgS/s320/Sunni-Shia-Divide.png" width="320" /></a></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Pan Arabism is a thing of the past while Islamism will be the future for the region. Fundamentalism is essential for globalization and balkanization of nations. That is clearly why the US and their allies have worked hard for years to finance fundamentalism in the US and abroad, while providing opposite rhetoric against it in the media. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, the Saudi hyenas will howl in celebration of the Muslim brothers’ victory, which will strongly renew their old pact with the US as their corrupt monarchs maintain their wealth and power. Ironically, on an official visit to Paris on May 18-20, 1998, the late Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declared the following in the Paris-Match: “You should be aware that, under the current conditions for international terrorism, the attack that took place at Luxor (referring to the November 17, 1997 Luxor attack in Upper Egypt ) could happen anywhere in the world. And we already know who fomented it: The residues of the war between the Afghans and the USSR , the alleged Mujaheddin that are financed by the CIA and the inexhaustible source of drug money.” It is the first time that the leader so specifically pointed a finger at the America “Big Brother,” who gives more than $2 billion in direct assistance to Egypt every year. [2]. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Brief history: </b></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">The old pact between the US and the Saudis was sealed on board of the “Quincy” (Quincy was a 60 year-old pact 1945-2005, that granted the U.S. a monopoly on the exploitation of all the oil-bearing layered discovered in Saudi Arabia, and in return a protection of the kingdom’s integrity and a long term economic, financial, and commercial partnership, non-interference in Saudi domestic politics) between president Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud was already an exchange of oil for security and political protection. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">From that point forward, the Americans and Saudis would play Islamism and all other forms of religious fanaticism against secular and progressivist forms of Arab nationalism. The end result would be the establishment of a pax Americana that feeds on a “Lebanization” of the world. This order has produced a mafia-like links between organized crime and the great business networks of global capitalism, where the unifying thread of Islamic terror is not religion but money. [2]. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Absurdly, Islamists and Zionists are complementary enemies, who work toward the same ends. Per example, with Hamas always upping the ante, the Likud is all the freer to pursue its broad scale policy of establishing colonies using immigrants from The Soviet Union and other nations, and completing the encirclement and Judeification of Eastern Jerusalem. [2]. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conclusion: </b></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Finally, don’t be surprised and be ready to finance new and expensive sham wars that are actually military exercises due to the weakness and the insignificance of the alleged enemies. These new preplanned conflicts will only lead to their preplanned results. The current regime in Iran will definitely be changed in the near future, and British Petroleum with their global oil cohorts will be eagerly waiting to re-renter Iran and take over their oil resources, which will be privatized by a new puppet government possibly led by an American stooge like the oldest son of the late Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi. </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">As a conclusion, the fulfillment of the Yinon’s covenant in the near east by the Obama administration will definitely guarantee Mr. Obama a second term as president of the United States . </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Notes </b></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">1. <a href="http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/80552/Libya_D">www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/80552/Libya_D</a></span><span style="font-size: large;">  </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">2. Richard Labeviere, (2000). Dollars for terror. Us and Islamism. Algora publishing, New York  </span></div></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td> </tr><tr><td align="left" rowspan="1" width="1"><br /></td><td align="right"><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 200px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 200px;"></ins><br /><ins id="aswift_0_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 200px;"></ins><br /><ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 200px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 200px;"></ins><br /><ins id="aswift_1_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 200px; margin: 0; padding: 0; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 200px;"></ins><br /></td> </tr><tr> <td align="left" colspan="2" nowrap="nowrap"><br /></td> </tr><tr> <td align="left" colspan="2" nowrap="nowrap"><br /></td> </tr><tr> <td align="left" colspan="2" nowrap="nowrap"><br /></td> </tr><tr> <td align="left" colspan="2" nowrap="nowrap"><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" id="digTable"><tbody><tr align="center"> <td width="60"><br /></td> <td valign="center" width="60"><br /></td> <td width="60"><br /></td> <td align="center" width="60"><br /></td> <td width="60"><br /></td> </tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr> <td align="left" colspan="2"><div class="bigArticleText" style="margin-right: 10px;"><i><br /></i></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

Global Warfare

Where will Obama’s Strike Next? "Preplanned Wars" will lead to "Preplanned "Results" by Richard Skaff While prom...

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SYRIA - PSY OPS WAR?

<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SYRIA….WHY?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The ongoing conflict in Syria has become a complex situation in which no one can verify what actually is occurring in the country and what intentions are behind the uproar. If adhering to main stream media information the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian opposition council in the UK are waging a war for freedom and democracy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If one looks at the situation from an alternative angle the situation is more complex and one could come to the conclusion that indeed foreign entities are waging a PSY OPS war which is supported by foreign entities in which TURKEY was chosen to play the proxy for the USA in order to topple the SYRIAN Regime. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE ALTERNATIVE TO LIBYAN STYLE INTERVENTION SYRIA – PSY OPS AND INFILTRATION THROUGH PROXY’S</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The big question is the why? In recent past it was assumed that though ASSAD is a brutal dictator, it was the better evil then to have an unstable fundamentalist Islamic Regime governing Syria which in most likelihood would end in civil war, something ISRAEL and the USA would dearly try to avoid. Now it seems that this theory is one of the past. There are entities that sincerely wish to tumble the ASSAD regime, no matter the cost. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">A LIBYAN style NATO intervention in SYRIA had been ruled out from the beginning since RUSSIAS and CHINAS have vetoed such move right from the start. Furthermore it is and was difficult to sell such expensive intervention to potential voters among western “coalition countries” in times of a major financial crisis where the same governments demand from citizens as well as industries to curb in spending, thus it would have been hard to sell such expensive military style intervention to the public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">This still leaves us with the question why suddenly so much emphasize is put on the tumbling of the ASSAD regime. Regardless of the outcome of the SYRIAN sage, life for the common people will not turn for the better and democracy will continue to be just a dream in the region.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">See also: <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ML02Ak01.html">http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ML02Ak01.html</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A far fetched point of view?  </b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-5jj-WtX2Bs?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZoM9TnnA5z0?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><br /></div>

SYRIA - PSY OPS WAR?

SYRIA….WHY? The ongoing conflict in Syria has become a complex situation in which no one can verify what actually is occurring in the coun...

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DOES YOUR HCG BUSINESS LOOK LIKE A SCAM?

<div class="summary">If you sell or prescribe hCG you might want to rethink how you advertise it. The reason the hCG diet will eventually disappear like other "fad" diets is because there is very little emphasis placed on the behavioral change required to maintain weight that was lost. Without this fundamental lesson learned, participants will gain the weight back, just as all ignorant skeptics have predicted. <br /><br />It's as simple as making sure all participants know that no amount of weight lost will change emotional desires to eat. So until they change their desires to eat emotionally, they might as well accept the fact that their bodies will always have extra fat, no matter how much weight they temporarily lose. <br /><br />The entire diet industry needs a revolution. This revolution will only happen if we, the hCG protocol industry, make the protocol very different than any other diet. The difference: holding accountable the emotional changes that the participant must make to perminently end the mistreatment of their body with food. Fat is not a cancer, it is a force of creation cause by hormonal imbalance. For the majority, this imbalance is caused and self-inflicted by eating behavior. Until we hold our cultural emotional eating disorder accountable and stop blaming fat as the problem, no diet ever created will work perminently and nothing will heal the diseases caused by over-eating. <br /><br />If you sell or prescribe hCG, I highly suggest you stand out from the crowd and start advertising something other than 30 pounds lost in 40 days. Now when you look at that advirtiesment, you are no different than the rest of the short-term, quick-fix scams that have come and gone. Don't taint the most incredible hormonal therapy with your lack of integrity. Sell vaccuums instead.</div>

DOES YOUR HCG BUSINESS LOOK LIKE A SCAM?

If you sell or prescribe hCG you might want to rethink how you advertise it. The reason the hCG diet will eventually disappear like other &q...

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Weigh In Results

The scale told the tale this morning....<br /><br />After a week of eating foods like this:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jozh7cgsrlSXh5UGRVmhyphenhyphenwWlGec1PRyNiInSGlrNYw4eiDAL-v_0SbjaIfp-xsmoAA8ZK_G_iCPoE_6r8tu7J3Oe6An1NSSUWv9FvxIczeUY-TpT3MhNKoqEjgZo1YBbict2et2BjFw/s1600/Scale+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1jozh7cgsrlSXh5UGRVmhyphenhyphenwWlGec1PRyNiInSGlrNYw4eiDAL-v_0SbjaIfp-xsmoAA8ZK_G_iCPoE_6r8tu7J3Oe6An1NSSUWv9FvxIczeUY-TpT3MhNKoqEjgZo1YBbict2et2BjFw/s400/Scale+014.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WW 5 Points+ Pumpkin Pie - found on Etools</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Several indulgences in Asti and beer..<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3O5mYaPagHTQ_gviboxr2FTc6np8hggHYjj_hRTEzqUXanUSd7RFyen17vaFJe6bARvq1Bkd2C7EYsnIILAu3IK4rVvrwwwADy_6ObxvxEZ0AKAHqtLM50qPtUW18q_z9JoFca15z74/s1600/Scale+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3O5mYaPagHTQ_gviboxr2FTc6np8hggHYjj_hRTEzqUXanUSd7RFyen17vaFJe6bARvq1Bkd2C7EYsnIILAu3IK4rVvrwwwADy_6ObxvxEZ0AKAHqtLM50qPtUW18q_z9JoFca15z74/s400/Scale+001.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />And just generally enjoying a lot of food due to the holiday and TOM cravings...<br /><br />The verdict is in!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">I gained 0.4 pounds this week.  </div><br />Uhm.  I will <i>take </i>it!  This was not my most stellar WW week ever, but I am still proud of how I <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/12/post-thanksgiving-week.html">combated</a> the big eating holiday that is Thanksgiving.  I am also proud that I managed to track every single thing I ate... even if it did put me into the <b><span style="color: red;">red</span></b>!<br /><br />I am looking forward to a fresh week of staying within my daily Points+ range.... and definitely staying within my Weekly.  <br /><br />I use both eTools and the paper tracker.  At the start of every week with the paper tracker (the book, not the individual pamphlets given out at meetings), it asks you to define any goals for the week, any potential challenges with solutions, and break out your planned exercise schedule.  Rarely do I ever write anything down in this section.  Well this week, I'm going to try something different:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPHHXZcGayhBxS9vC7YcoFq6_ZHzGYSWuOo-BlOdbMWpof09vHPM20Oa2UQfXqzy0bmBTUxveiaJW5X_APpzAfF_nB2GxclJGudMWazU-Mg7SUXmA6CUvvFRcVYsiloZLUl2ZEVaEQ0A/s1600/weight-watchers-diet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEPHHXZcGayhBxS9vC7YcoFq6_ZHzGYSWuOo-BlOdbMWpof09vHPM20Oa2UQfXqzy0bmBTUxveiaJW5X_APpzAfF_nB2GxclJGudMWazU-Mg7SUXmA6CUvvFRcVYsiloZLUl2ZEVaEQ0A/s1600/weight-watchers-diet.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span style="color: blue;">Goals for the week:</span></b><br />Stay within daily Points+ allowance for 5 of the 7 days.<br /><br /><b style="color: blue;">Potential Challenges + Solutions:</b><br /><ol><li>First up is a lunch date with some friends on Saturday. Lord knows <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-do-you-track.html">I struggle with eating out</a> and counting Points+. This time, I'm going to look up the menu ahead of time, have my selections already mapped out, and then I won't be tempted to order something less Points+ friendly if I would have waited until doing so at the restaurant.<br /></li><li>Then, there is a cookie exchange on Sunday with another group of friends. I've already informed the host that I will not be taking any cookies home this year because of our commitment to WW and getting in shape for the wedding. She was totally cool with it :).</li></ol><b style="color: blue;">Planned Activity: </b><br />I have not been consistently active since the beginning of October. Joel and I did finish the first "set" of the <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20Rules%20of%20Lifting%20for%20Women">New Rules of Lifting for Women</a>, but we never moved on to the other weeks, and I would like to get back to doing that. Weight lifting provided some variety that I enjoyed. So, to keep my goals attainable and expectations low, I'm going to plan to do just 2 days of activity this week. If I do more, so be it. But I want to ease back in to regular activity.<br /><br />What are your weekend plans?

Gain Weekly Weight Watchers Goals Weigh In Results

The scale told the tale this morning.... After a week of eating foods like this: WW 5 Points+ Pumpkin Pie - found on Etools Several indulgen...

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Post-Thanksgiving Week

How did you survive Thanksgiving?  Yes, a week later and I am just now getting around to this!<br /><br />First, we had Thanksgiving at Joel's family on Thursday.  I was extremely mindful of my eating, and practiced Mental Rehearsing beforehand (a WW concept).  I told myself over and over to only eat small portions ("mini islands of food" - as we were advised at last week's meeting) and not to finish anything I did not truly enjoy.  I passed up bread.  I left the stuffing and sweet potatoes on my plate.  And I was even able to enjoy my favorite part of Thanksgiving: the 5 Points+ Pumpkin Pie I made especially for Thursday.  I was so pleased, impressed, and proud of how well I did on this holiDAY (as Sharon, my WW leader reminds us, it's not a holiMONTH or holiWEEK, it's a holiDAY).  My non Weight Watchers weigh in day is on Friday, and as you can see, I had a nice loss for the week.  Success!<br /><br />However, then I had to travel to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving Part Deux.  I started Saturday off with a trip to the local-PA WW meeting center.  I clocked in at a loss for the week on their scale as well.  Great!<br /><br />Still, currently I'm sitting at well over <b style="color: red;">-</b><b>35 WEEKLY Points+</b> for the week.  Fellow Weight Watchers, did you read that correctly? NEGATIVE WEEKLY!  Ugh.  How did this happen???    <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniEjr8Nuhq8jvfZo7EMrtroePWEbEoOT_V33pZ_y494LYxQs-lQilUUX6A_zgdp10krtSfouR6PPQt7ViCwHnty9ECyEJEJCYGTimCc3tmrotwDnDr8tW_IzNvMohQFfQS6QENA5iS08/s1600/thanksgiving+food.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniEjr8Nuhq8jvfZo7EMrtroePWEbEoOT_V33pZ_y494LYxQs-lQilUUX6A_zgdp10krtSfouR6PPQt7ViCwHnty9ECyEJEJCYGTimCc3tmrotwDnDr8tW_IzNvMohQFfQS6QENA5iS08/s400/thanksgiving+food.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My salad size plate at my sister's house: turkey, mashed potatoes, noodles,<br />stuffing and green bean casserole.</td></tr></tbody></table>I used a small plate, and made small islands of food.  Everything was a 1/2 cup size or less.  I thought I did well.  I only had seconds on the green bean casserole.  <br /><br />I had these <a href="http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-pumpkin-spiced.html">pumpkin cupcakes</a> for my dessert (and very small servings of 2 other desserts my mom made - which I accounted for):<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzvVMINuEtSZSIaWuzPRxOxDVeQoZ_5ScLfqOFIdiDnAZ1W8RzfqpaLmv3a_Jl-sAu_snz-196sNeixx5u3VA9NrZmULt5_DvyWuiCd1LOW70WInwSJISCQX04OZ0ps7R5e4x-8KNxpA/s1600/cupcakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSzvVMINuEtSZSIaWuzPRxOxDVeQoZ_5ScLfqOFIdiDnAZ1W8RzfqpaLmv3a_Jl-sAu_snz-196sNeixx5u3VA9NrZmULt5_DvyWuiCd1LOW70WInwSJISCQX04OZ0ps7R5e4x-8KNxpA/s400/cupcakes.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />While I didn't eat much of this on T-Day Part Deux (it was bland and needed more spicing up), I have been eating this in my lunch all week:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9sortvM61D_Ihy_6Un95Wg0G5qs1VMA2OubMWOKlte4q36fzNVj6gKUMPeVGdAE8KNeN6d-fz82Qw-3pySRSHrrESTUUtv0WMxRk0XZ_u9-9NEiObcTwh5kM9oGc17fUKN-cRypbWqM/s1600/casserole.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9sortvM61D_Ihy_6Un95Wg0G5qs1VMA2OubMWOKlte4q36fzNVj6gKUMPeVGdAE8KNeN6d-fz82Qw-3pySRSHrrESTUUtv0WMxRk0XZ_u9-9NEiObcTwh5kM9oGc17fUKN-cRypbWqM/s400/casserole.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/10/sweet-potato-casserole.html">Sweet Potato Casserole</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />IF I have a gain tomorrow, and I'm praying I do <i>not</i>, but IF I do, it will be because, yes, I did eat a little more than I normally would this past week due to Thanksgiving.  Also, it was.... that special time of the month, and I have been absolutely ravenous all week.  Actually, I believe a lot of the negative Points+ have come as a result of this more than Thanksgiving to be honest. Do you ladies ever get like this during the actual week of the "event"?  No amount of food or anything in particular has been satisfying.  Not even chocolate!<br /><br />I was able to avoid one "war" this week with <a href="http://www.fiveguys.com/">Five Guys</a> (Joel was having a craving and he indulged, I did NOT)... but I lost the battle last night to Japanese from our <a href="http://kodorirestaurant.com/">favorite restaurant</a>.  Still, I had very small portions of the Japanese food and only ate until just satisfied.  <br /><br />I really don't want a gain tomorrow, not only for obvious reasons, but because I am really proud of how I handled Thanksgiving this year.  I am proud of how I managed Joel's family's feast, and how I even managed my own family's spread.  I'm also proud that I made 3 WW friendly substitutions (pie, casserole and cupcakes) and that I have still accounted for EVERYTHING this week, even if I am in the deep, deep red of Points+.  It really does feel better when you write it down, even if you are borrowing from next week's Points+ bank ;). I'm also proud that I visited WW while traveling.  I'm really trying to stay focused!  <br /><br />Today (Thursday) I am sucking down the water and trying to stay within my 39 Points+ for the day.  Tonight we have a happy hour for the 3 couples who got engaged in my office, and so I'm going to have to fight another war tonight... I will get 1 beer and that is it! I <3 beer.  But I don't love gains, and no amount of beer is worth a gain!!<br /><br />What is your self assessment of how you handled Thanksgiving?

Random Weight Loss Thoughts Weight Loss Challenges Weight Watcher Recipes Weight Watchers Post-Thanksgiving Week

How did you survive Thanksgiving?  Yes, a week later and I am just now getting around to this! First, we had Thanksgiving at Joel's fami...

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12 places to find global projects for your class to get involved in

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our world is definitely becoming a  global village! It is so much easier to connect with classes around the world in our technological age than ever before. It is really worth finding a global project to involve your class in. If you are looking for ways to connect with others here are a few ideas of places to start.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. Global collaborative projects </b></span><br /><a href="http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Global_Collaborative_Projects.htm#Start%20Your%20Own%20Collaborative%20Project">http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/Global_Collaborative_Projects.htm#Start Your Own Collaborative Project</a> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAH1uPb3S4K3mWPIooGUR01Gf4l-tii5hZzet3m4gAecwivrcJQL212XCh2jE_VmFU1lis-Vcu2rgJUT2dAZu-hZoxD2rtih8XjHXQaw4QlIREw-0cqV307MQBqEB-gbKJF7OkruowJXc/s1600-h/image3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQQHXtzc8vfETS2sGxHoJq29xVC_KRDsHctTVqnc5LfVlpcjXfqDYf2fGLzz0LOz8SXOkQWuRgjtdXHhSwmMXBUA__6e3lGd9krw071nY7IFgUKcJCQJLwA5XFQz3FYRvUHs056qZRJo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. Kidlink</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.kidlink.org/kidspace/start.php">http://www.kidlink.org/kidspace/start.php</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittU3_4B8ExLCnldrenmq_2AmNM2CfIa2jMGuQiwi_3bkUmDgLEbRS9Nh-UNoq6JlfdUDHy5wnlzN_R4ArXSuqcwX7I99YR7eiOc0_5W3iI2w6dYbMDhvGxJxqLCUwEY2SOUFy_qAU4nk/s1600-h/image6.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2b_PCa4JYrcHdkxxlv-pn4aLT1CZS5LJzCQCnZSvngYZe4Uh7hOlC-l0oHqtT6HFut36WvkJGc9y-JxScfpOpbtANR8McY6-lt90eoot_ywFDWyLufzv-BN9gqqceOfLZ7ckHi6xiD8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. iEARN</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.iearn.org/iearn-project-book">http://</a><a href="http://www.iearn.org/iearn-project-book">www.iearn.org/iearn-project-book</a><br /><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2011/10/latest-20112012-iearn-project-book-has.html">http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2011/10/latest-20112012-iearn-project-book-has.html</a> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4fptlQJBwjS52gqhhLb4GJe_GLRYFhwqbeNr3Ql2eP_nlB2YWVajdvJx5pFUiFiQlCf_-6iNIkt72vgT3CcyWxgVOku2zrFf3Fc96xly3GuJbc9d72Adpu_058_fXw7tx7c__yMxOWWY/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRXLnqUk1lQ-YAJ6CoQkni3aerao8-urLgWj0SZwSvqpQ_fh_W2GjG_KSzUh5ufPICMAkrFJzVjg5I4kd9Z8jxtbBQ53Y6HaQPELda-sIyVpH4f9zsM4_fSEa1ePrRgiicZpKM1sCFay8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. Internet projects registry</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsh/pr/search.cfm">http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsh/pr/search.cfm</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgUuIG45U_vVm4NhPl4xBqTMhLYzX1ZtnyAK-PbSJpxSLRPEREI8ccGDCZdi9QEX0xiJ-BEAy-STGHhVyrixmQA88nKLh60OkXTprF4GFpY9dLlKS-xzuQ8F_tRgtz8zaskuMjYbaSU0/s1600-h/image12.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrZD-ER1pEy3G9GX3LbOPA3UuGHw9D6nS_6U0CD0lG8J7yWeUIROqnxEKTIjNSKGwDzPYOt1cRMjxWV8EwxeDBo-jwWAi1wSXmPdp6ZpZe2J9qbWPwQMb497g37-6gMn0SQ_qn3L6jaoY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. Projects by Jen </b></span><br /><u><a href="http://www.projectsbyjen.com/">http://www.projectsbyjen.com/</a></u> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7gXQMpdcRp1DRCURTWfYJ4wjDLGXEmgB4ghGGEIE8sXT6xQJ_oSIPg1d1GCJ70Qfma5MU-oTMlW-YoJ08StsrWmwAOeScQ0TWHCIuXOV1bsYVRp2HkkO5KQgEoW0kJhoaexarIws6BI/s1600-h/image15.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5KLIjNexRXla1OteJIUvxCoPkN4qyWqLo1rvhA5UmSaXhp1h-m_J7F7I54MsJRQIvBC-AjomxNqyMF0odFYB94SuEMh9acVSeLpq_F4i2pnDg6IaVi6G3cSmGt4IiI7bzysdtD3OFHA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6. Global Schoolnet</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.globalschoolnet.org/">http://www.globalschoolnet.org/</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Hl9Y2mT_aL0DK9IYzspQHNLzJ5Ck39PNmdKj4ZZqmgLuQI48xqubqMc5Fy2y6F42OS9AfoDyyombynzIMWe-Krlh3oScaEVdZz4kP8wmwhdOcnBU3cGpGuEvet6QGD-qUlyX5S-3CV0/s1600-h/image18.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTppZrYoOuIam2f4WYHD0DiumO65vAkd-ha8f419FVhuv0xRLSfyBKCEfdDfwVEruEj0jZT9n179xCctHszLV-UkrlJzF21u2D2ZXD6rcR6BUKWZQZZd0WWstUKXRY6xUTqL0td1BbEU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">7. Global virtual classroom</span></b><br /><a href="http://www.virtualclassroom.org/clubhouse.html">http://www.virtualclassroom.org/clubhouse.html</a><br /><u><br /></u> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSifGBHbWlPrHuA1F37LQmyjMmneEw9puwxcd2TXH2r9mj4EFtjTCpmbX8NELtlkb9OzqxBEgDHDHJ9VT_2y1Z9tmFuApNDif_pCKDoZwkiy6rVweMCibQMoDPFDWjzKw5jgkd41-6Rj0/s1600-h/image21.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0yntZDoNX4HqO6Vuo9LHkGlY_Yh_3k767H9rGu1JDisIWWBK9QvFpb-GSZUlsZOJ0b0aUq3LEnOPRqN2AB1NSsN4raaMEHfmq0PtYC4mkffnAsegrfPWkmBGT11c5ys_-WeteJN89so/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br />  <br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>8. The global education collaborative </b></span><br /><a href="http://globaleducation.ning.com/notes/Global_Project_Database">http://globaleducation.ning.com/notes/Global_Project_Database</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcaJt_C9kouSDqz8s_nf4t7gnUTr49keN1Td9l5TI_EyE42k7VV1r0AOe3mqoEboamQ9Uwjgv8-mVdsntjFUU-PwAlUzE3qZi0xR4WyXtdV2LX_Pzp0S25C8eDjzklpBOxQJPQjFP0V74/s1600-h/image27.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_3V5n1DZp1X_xmmKBqQIYOOYF1282DQasLquP-Ojy5c3oW2Lss6KS-YqhY0vlnl4QoU6pl-xzXAnJa7PJCOWJmq0mpoUF6fHDuNyUIqC5yFvo5f_Iz9TRd6dTk7K25rgwXSwNeOMnxc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>9. Going global</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/13429981/WEMTA-Going-Global-Lucy-Gray">http://www.scribd.com/doc/13429981/WEMTA-Going-Global-Lucy-Gray</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPSa9MjnfyxNr51n6f-cpVn-SSo5__RxIsVK5DV-Hdo6WRl2ddaKwEYw0Hkk9GpERTDNixaJ2zvOHbhALooiGVegQQNHZ8gX_WCVfWts-cRBLk9oAr7rThIXHYtfcXpRePTjDrAqCtxo/s1600-h/image33.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SEsK8hQomP_76jVfGnlqd-3O31LXOUXOK0wqMDMYyCTzyvpaxG3UKEGQpszechN-qExayqxARARnr1j41gWXtoBNF_Xq0yYqCi41EQcnQ16TcgZHuiCzGpq73iMsjYUHPi6tOWOfi24/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="286" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0T33GiFW3SKLEd_2E2MDe3yrwz-Vv2HVnbHvrtfU5Z6KwGo5WGQofL-R5V3Gp-wzauzWDxmhRkQ4sGEuZmDvBr_0bW3Tey49nvNcVrGkfzzXt0xHNcR3utogLpRfaY02g-ZQnN5pXsNQ/s1600-h/image30.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHg1UxQa62QAeHSyWPfyRF3wD14aTvGgvYOb7vsWM8Iy4lClzUEMI8J8_qKvA95zDnzhaE47wEpI0oYwSHa8IyfgH_lshiev_U8PTHzLpSKZ6Hq36fG2FM1TpiIbSsDx_xb4tHFC2MF1E/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="288" /></a></div>    <br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">10. Taking it Global</span></b><br /><u><a href="http://www.tigweb.org/about/">http://www.tigweb.org/about/</a></u><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDWHCEk6YN-FPBJT2XgB1I_JubsGeykFsdbaJJiGY2VgaHfz2_cjgkqSucxy955KrMJ8H-jAf6odcTMui-1opl-oOEzvk8b4YiTVpgp5jPsOAPC2CCzbFappKndkymgeFQvqrEBQGPzw/s1600-h/image36.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjipDBeal5ylyZnHVvppAAZtMaZGVPeQ9pvZLdgUBi5sHlQEbos8uUNINGLRsqm_XAWcltXIYrXcgJ2cCxPISsdebR0FyDPKWaWcDdbsrwXTw6qe1cSghzf7VXxX1ebXJVH9dkVSIvgcR8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">11. The Educators PLN</span></b><br /><a href="http://edupln.ning.com/">http://edupln.ning.com/<br /></a><br /><a href="http://edupln.ning.com/"><br /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqRZ1iiSU9OdBLhcqag32Y8wBbF0zk7V2JRfXUPG3sro7I28hL1lUWQ273T0u3pRXNC89uJyJw6edQb3X2iMP8HBnZtFo9fkDOjvxAEYi7M22mwjMs0Fgdph8H4VtdcPKDa_6VyB6rnUk/s1600-h/image39.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZw-Hoxi3BMTeqsFo_uuIsBT_ynjXxxHEUMYReC_AExJVCQ0rDgjGHWbYtJyXV1ezDexWFs50txHurpRVOuhTbt-GN2XaVHKhMLD60m8meynfSuWHFjzWusGRl4AUusrkG6neutymUNP4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>12. Global Learning</b></span><br /><u><a href="https://sites.google.com/a/sanandres.esc.edu.ar/global-projects/">https://sites.google.com/a/sanandres.esc.edu.ar/global-projects/</a></u><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVyssEKc39nCsJAaytBJOCmU5VvjQG6OdcN3NoDhAiGLF8DoO8AaaCJnExoh9zM7nwY2HhEvoR6tmVO6vNOMB546Mm3LEGeXZIBTxWGMC3TzwakpkOxMmJMGL4aSw2LoHo8zA5bN3cVTk/s1600-h/image42.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTIaym4HEjVN-oJ4Pr0nPGmIGpS_uIzoM57WhXkXL4dUzgTAuWoBqANk2iUm_rFnhODhwCy8YHAJQixE92ItUXhFMbiit17Q7h6zHGQ2voDZI9CUb6CkHRlr-0RKZWeCjZl4nDEPddR4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></div></div>

Collaboration Project-based learning 12 places to find global projects for your class to get involved in

Our world is definitely becoming a  global village! It is so much easier to connect with classes around the world in our technological age t...

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