'I am so happy...' Some thoughts on Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the next incarnation of Wills and his Kate.

Please make comments if you enjoy these articles.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author's Note. To get into the right and proper mood for this article, search any search engine for Sir William Walton's resounding "Crown Imperial." This was the music Their Royal Highnesses heard as they walked the Westminster Abbey red carpet to their future subjects, the cynosure of every eye. Walton was the perfect choice... you'll see.
The State Landau, smart and polished had just driven up to the gate where the newly minted, newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were waiting. The woman who started the day as Kate Middleton, turned to her new husband and said the magic words, so telling because we all felt the sentiment before she even uttered it. "I am so happy," she whispered to her prince, truly charming and a bit abashed by his position this day and perhaps thinking, "Waiting was worth it. I am truly marrying the woman I adore... and everyone is so glad about it. And I do believe she loves me for myself."
The pageantry and ceremony in general.
In the 19th century, the British and their monarchy were a byword for sloppy, disorganized, and often dangerous royal ceremonies. The person who was most instrumental in changing matters was Queen Victoria's "beautiful" (her word) hunk the German princeling Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. From his time at Court in the mid-1800s things got better, slowly but surely, as I detail in my book "Insubstantial Pageant: Ceremony and Confusion at Queen Victoria's Court (1979). By the early 20th century the overall reality of ceremonial muddle had been replaced by a professional approach to showcasing the monarch to his people. The British are now justly renowned worldwide for the flawless pageants that punctuate each sovereign's reign and present him to his subjects and the world just the way he wishes.
The now traditional and punctilious pageantry we expect was very much on display on Friday, April 29, 2011.  It was a joy to watch the  aspects emerge... particularly given the fact that this event operated under peculiar circumstances... the inevitable, could-never-be-avoided comparisons to the pageantry and circumstances of the marriage 30 years before between Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. The marriage and ceremonial arrangements of Diana, Princess of Wales' elder son and his beautiful Kate had to be considered carefully so that all of the inevitable comparisons tilted in favor of the soon-to-be Cambridges... as they most surely did.
Princess Diana's marriage to the heir to "this throne of kings, this England", Prince Charles was an affair of the highest state; after all the groom was the heir to the imperium. In retrospect, what seemed so beguiling at the time appears as more an event than a marriage. Splendor (and perfect coordination) was there... love and affection were not. It was an omen for the tragedy which followed, besmirching the reputation of Prince Charles and ending in Princess Diana's sad demise.
Both of Princess Diana's sons, groom Prince William and justly concerned younger son Prince Harry were clear on what they wanted... a real marriage, a real wedding, true and heartfelt feelings all round.
There is no question but that they got what they wanted... which was a decided relief to the British nation and its Commonwealth... and its Queen, Elizabeth II, who arrived back at Buckingham Palace after the marriage ceremony and proclaimed the day's events "amazing." And so they were...
The Married Couple.
After the cynical, loveless marriage of the groom's mother Princess Diana, the nation and body language experts were on the qui vive for "the truth" about this couple, their wedding, and whether it confirmed (or challenged) the good feelings they had about Wills and Kate, and their pivotal role in establishing just the right reality (not merely image) that will allow the monarchy to flourish after the many crises of the current Royal Family, particularly the much married, much divorced children of Queen Elizabeth, a tawdry, shopworn crew.
April 29th delivered what everyone wanted:  a grounded, affectionate, sincerely attached couple, people who are what they seemed to be, not a scandal waiting to happen.
Kate's gown was the first clue. Lady Diana's overdone gown made her look like a confectioner's bride. Who's idea was the taffeta anyway? But Kate, chic Kate, delivered exactly what one would have wanted for one's own family wedding: a form-fitting dress that breathed classic good taste, undeniable (though understated) elegance. It is the dress of a lady of taste, breeding, good judgement, and, so very visible, care, every one a desirable trait for her future job as one-who-may-be Queen Consort.
The little clues so beloved of commentators and would-be cognoscenti began to stack up:
* The interaction between Princes William and  Harry indicated just how close they are; they needed to be given the scandal and tragedy of their parents' relations. Harry, for all that he's a known wise-acre, will be lonely now; Wills has other things to do which, even with the best will on earth, will limit time with Harry.
* The way he looked at his bride for the first time in her riveting marriage attire... and said, quite simply, "You look so beautiful." And so she did... and what every bride longs to hear, the compliment based on affection, awe, and a dawning awareness that he is really getting married, and to the person he has always wanted.
* The body language. As all the world knows, these two people took some eight years to get acquainted, know each other, argue and make up with each other, and love each other. The time they wisely took enabled them to become and be a couple, then yesterday, a married couple. They move together well; I was interested to see how they left the Abbey, hand in hand, the new Duke of Cambridge putting down the heel of one shoe on the toe of the other, so as not to hurry his duchess in her gown and (not too long) train.
Mad for Kate.
I have long been a Kate Middleton admirer; I thought she had just the right traits of heart and mind to be a truly helpful, loving partner to her prince, the better enabling him to do the important work he must do to transform and improve the monarchy in a world of relentless change. After yesterday, my already substantial admiration has substantially increased. She played her part faultlessly and, more than that, with her new husband's complete concurrence they turned their marriage from an event of monarchy and nation into a true wedding, dedicated to each other and their friends and family, including their great nation.
Everything was done well, thus delivering just what everyone wanted: two deeply devoted people with a great task, historic task before them, ready now together ready to do the best we well know them capable of.
And so the newest Royal Duke is now His Royal Highness of Cambridge, the old shire, not the University and Kate gets what the Duchess of Windsor could only long for, the coveted letters HRH. True, of the many new Royal Dukes of Cambridge since the 17th century, not one has been notable for anything other than his capacity for strong drink and wrong women and oodles of FitzCambridge children, royal byblows. Queen Victoria always had trouble with the Cambridges of her day, but from these self-same Cambridges came a pillar of the dynasty. That pillar was Queen Mary, Elizabeth II's dutiful, God fearing, monarchy reverencing grandmother... may our new duchess find such traits in herself. God Save the Queen (to be) and may she remain happy and glorious!
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also a recognized royal expert and historian having penned 18 best-selling business books. Watch for his online televised interviews about the Royal Wedding of William and Kate. Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

Those magnificent men in their flying machines to fly no more.... as NASA's shuttle program ends and an era with it.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author's program note. To get into the right  frame of mind for this article, search any search engine for the music and lyrics to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (released 1965, music by Ron Goodwin). Prepare to be aroused as one of the great stories of our lives soars...
For most of us the  space age has a quite specific commencement -- October 4, 1957. That was the launch date of the world's first artificial satellite Sputnik I. I was there. Like every single American, my concerned, curious parents herded my brother and me into the backyard of our suburban Illinois home... as we saw our sense of security destroyed by a 184.3 pound device called a Sputnik. In my mind's eye, I remember the event with complete clarity; I seem to remember, too, that it made a beeping sound... but that may not be so.
What was so was that all the verities of the heartland ended for a generation right then and there.
"Better Red than dead," people said. Was that our new reality? We started to look for Russkies under the bed...
Eisenhower blinked.
Sputnik spooked us at the moment of our greatest power; we thought we were the only game in town... Sputnik was a jolting wake-up call which President Eisenhower, old and full of  honors, missed. A restless Senator John F. Kennedy did not. It was Kennedy who read the thoroughly aroused and anxious public mood better... and in due course made him President of the United States, an office Ike, who established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (October 1, 1958), felt Kennedy unqualified to hold. Maybe so... but Kennedy is rightly seen as the man who galvanized America's fears and turned them into the fuel for conquering space -- and giving us back our lost security.
We had to conquer space... and that meant having a space station and the means to get back and forth to them. From the moment Sputnik flew, 1440 orbits of Earth in only 3 months, the shuttle program was a given. And we put all the king's horses and all the king's men to work on it. The result was the launch of Explorer I (officially Satellite 1958), January 31, 1958. It was the U.S.'s first earth satellite. It was rushed to launch so fast that its tape data recorder was not modified in time to make it onto the satellite. Nonetheless, the nation breathed a sigh of relief... we were back in the game.
Project Mercury followed and the grand era of magnificent men in their flying machines....men whose names the nation knew and whose pictures could be found in every schoolroom of a grateful America... astronaut Alan Shepard (first American in space May 5, 1961)... astronaut John Glenn (first American to orbit the Earth, February 20, 1961)... and all the others... culminating in that never-to-be-forgotten day of American pride,  July 20, 1969 when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked the lunar landscape while Michael Collins orbited above.
These were truly the up, up and away days! We were late to the space game, but having started we approached the matter with characteristic energy, imagination and determination, a great people committed to a great goal.
The first shuttle launch, February 15, 1977.
The shuttle program was our way of saying that our connection with space was a permanent one, that we'd be going back and forth as part of our preparation for ever grander explorations. And so...
2/15/77, OV-101, Enterprise (yes, it was named after the television series), performed its first (taxi) test flight as part of the shuttle program. It never flew in space and was cannibalized for parts.
Then April 12, 1981, OV-102, Columbia, blasted into orbit, becoming the first successful space flight in the space shuttle program. (STS-1, Space Transportation System.) It returned on April 14, 1981, after orbiting Earth 36 times. Columbia carried just two crew members: Apollo veteran John W. Young and rookie pilot Robert L. Crippen.
August 30, 1984, OV-103, Discovery, was first flown on mission STS-41-D, launching two communications satellites and becoming the third operational NASA orbital shuttle following Columbia and Challenger.
But tragedy lay dead ahead.
We must never forget that at the core of the shuttle program was danger. Good men and women, dedicated, our nation's finest, always understood that death was always a possibility. That no matter how often the system was tested; no matter how many experts signed off on the matter, catastrophe was always a real possibility.  They all accepted that as part of the adventure, the great game, the cost of doing business.
January 28, 1986, STS-51-L Challenger, a nation shocked, a nation mourns.
This was supposed to be another day of American triumph; instead,  with the disintegration of the Challenger over the Atlantic Ocean it became a signature day of national mourning.
These 7 crew members gave their lives:
Francis (Dick) Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair,  Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe; the plucky teacher who meant to teach the world's school children about space and instead taught them all about the shortness of life and the costs of commitment. That day the nation was reminded of the terrible costs that may come when frontiers are challenged. That day, too, the nation was fortunate in its president; Ronald Reagan's decency and empathy were notable. We were all grateful for that.
975 days later, September 29, 1988, STS-26 Discovery launched with five crew members into space, always beckoning, always challenging, with so very much more to discover, study and know.
On February 1, 2003, tragedy struck again and again it was brought home to the nation that the costs of "conquering" space included periodic tragedy as it did this day when STS-107 came to an abrupt and tragic conclusion. Seven crew members died...
Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, Laurel Clark.
And again the shuttle flew. It was the American way.
Now, however, changing budget priorities have done what no great tragedies succeeded in doing. Thus the shuttle, after just a few more flights, will end, thirty years and 133 missions later. Is this the last word on the matter? For the shuttle, probably; but for space? As long as one child looks up and wonders what there is in the great beyond, determined to find out, this story will never end...
Readers: for a thorough bibliography on the history of the space shuttle, search for "Toward a History of the Space Shuttle: An Annotated Bibliography " compiled by Roger D. Launius and Aaron G. Gillette.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

Review of Extreme Niche Empires

Let me ask you a question. Are you fed up with all the lies and garbage put out by a lot of so-called “GURUS” recently? I know I am.
It is getting crazy out there, paid actors (that are really not that good), fake screenshots of trillion dollar incomes, outrageous claims that are just so far out there they are in ORBIT!
Then we have the “Push Button Millionaire” overhype with magic software that will have $1000s flying out of your computer every time you press that button! Really? Are you serious?
Well, even though I have become the ultimate skeptic as I am sure you are now, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Someone has finally stepped up and is setting the record straight… that person is Sean Donahoe.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you should have heard of Sean Donahoe. He was the guy behind the bestselling Video Marketing Goldmine course earlier this year. He is known for “Telling it like it is!”. I really love his no-BS message and REAL solutions for marketing and what actually works.
There are several things you need to know about Sean. First, his products are top-notch and very high-quality and he consistently over delivers. Second, his stuff just works!
No pie-in-the-sky claims, he will tell you straight “Getting wealthy online is possible but it takes work”. Now, that being said, he does show you how to do things the right way to avoid any pitfalls and hassles to really streamline things dramatically.
That is why I am really excited and writing this today. Sean is doing something AMAZING on April 28th. He is finally releasing his Extreme Niche Empires course. This course has been under wraps for almost a year as he honed, optimized and streamlined one of the most powerful money making strategies I have ever seen (and we have seen 100s of these over the years)
What Sean has done is nothing short of INCREDIBLE. He is going to share how he created an EMPIRE of high-authority autopilot income sites targeting niches that scare almost everyone else off… and he is making a FORTUNE doing it.
Now it’s your turn. This incredible course outline exactly how to do this yourself and do it the EASY WAY. This is not some crazy site building software that will get Google slapped (like many of them did after the recent Google Panda update). No, Sean is very unique, he shows you how to create laser-targeted, high authority sites that the search engines LOVE and rank like crazy.
He has packed this course with a ton of his INSIDER SECRETS that I have never seen anywhere else. This stuff is so powerful that it would blow your mind and has made me even rethink how I do things.
So, go check it out. If you are reading this before April 28th he has some very powerful videos that he is releasing too that will AMAZE you and give you a great idea about what is going on and even share some powerful tactics that you can start using right now.
I encourage you to go watch these videos and learn from one of the true masters of Internet Marketing and someone you should listen to!
 Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

'Happy and glorious...' Kate marries her Wills and every grumbler on earth has a field day. April 29, 2011.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
What can  you say about the quintessential non-event that has over 2 billion viewers showing up to watch with unfeigned interest?
Plenty, if you're Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham, "God save me from  the Queen," she wrote on April 24, as if her pen were filled with acid reflux. "And especially from their Wedding of the Century."
Then she goes on her hackneyed way, "I didn't embrace citizenship of a country defined by its violent rejection of monarchy to turn around and be surrounded by all things royal."
My, my Mother Abraham is in a pother today... and will, if she keeps on this way, be positively apoplectic by the time Kate becomes, at the touch of a golden ring symbolizing eternity, Her Royal Highness and the world oohs and aahs.
Ms. Abraham is Australian (she has to get that in in every column she writes), and Aussies can be amongst the rudest people on earth;  too often priding themselves on just how cheeky and brash they can be. It's a sign of their often blatant need to "grow up" and abandon their egregious manners for better ones. But Abraham just cannot let go...
"Come Friday, the birthplace of the revolution will be lousy with cucumber sandwiches, Pimm's Cups and jelly donuts shaped like hearts (Et tu Dunkin D?)"
Why does the lawful marriage of one young man of striking good looks, a mega-watt smile, good posture and average intelligence to one young woman of intelligence, undeniable beauty, a coal miner's grand daughter who once denied him and broke off their thing, irritate so many... turning otherwise sensible folks into grumps and bores on the subject?
Such people tumble over themselves to recite the reasons for their loud lamentations and hostilities.
* The day for a monarchy has, they assure us, passed... down with the Windsors and every other crowned entity on earth.
* No  one should be so privileged as the Windsors are and their ilk. It's time for them to get with the republican agenda.
* America, as Yvonne Abraham has naggingly reminded, went to war, bloody, long, vicious, to get rid of the very people the wedding glorifies.
* The monarchy is a symbol of all that's wrong with the world... being at once elitist, privileged, coddled, protected, immune from the realities of life from which we should all be suffering, prince or pizza maker.
Let's examine these remarks. Is there anything here beyond unsubstantiated opinion, bias, and the need to mouth off?
First and foremost: this is above all else the celebration of a fundamental rite, marriage, the selection for life of one smitten by another, hopefully equally smitten, or even more. A marriage celebrates the decision to try to love, honor, cherish. For 50% or so of the people so venturing divorce and mayhem loom... but people want to try anyway. And they are glad that their princes, too, embrace the concept.
As clever 19th century British journalist Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) wrote in his insightful book "The English Constitution" (published 1867): "A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it rivets mankind." Spot on.
This marriage will feature more carriages, more guests, more presents, and more media coverage than you got at your wedding... but the heart of this wedding will be the same as yours: "Do you...? Do you...?" And they with all their palaces, wide acres, jewels and powdered footmen to spare will then offer the same simple kiss that you gave your new spouse, the kiss that symbolized your desire to love and live for this now very special person and your sanctified relationship. And at that moment, with that kiss the two billion viewers will be thinking not just of the prince and new princess... but of themselves, of their marriages, their ceremonies... and their personal dreams and illusions. And of how not even princes emerge from fairy tales unscathed.
Their way will feature different problems than yours, but they will face problems all the same. What they are saying is that they want to be with each other as they face these problems. They deserve the same chance that you had and like all newly married couples the same generous good wishes from those of us who know better than they that even princes will need those good wishes in future since no one lives on this planet without costs of every kind and amount.
And as for the comments by designated commentators like Yvonne Abraham, angry that America, the first great republic of modern times, should waste its time watching people whose ancestors robbed, plundered and pillaged amongst us. Have we forgotten that, well have we?
Slow down, darling', most assuredly you have got your knickers in a twist... and every word beside the point.
Our interest in this marriage and attendant events has absolutely nothing to do with being seduced away from our republican constitution and government. Even the question is silly. First, many millions amongst us have a high regard for the old countries of the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Ireland. They are part of our history and heritage. To abjure them is to abjure a part of ourselves. Why would we ever want to do that? Even the Founding Fathers didn't advocate such a course. The men who had toppled George III and his emblems in every colony worked hard after the Revolution to establish diplomatic relations with England. Then they worked long and hard to turn mere relations into an alliance of heart and mind, not just politics and commerce. The United Kingdom, whose monarchy we rebelled against and expelled from our land, is now our closest ally and friend.
Suppose for a moment that you had once quarrelled with your parents. Suppose terrible things, regrettable things were done and said by you and them. Would that end matters, in grief and recrimination? Certainly not, for are they not your parents still and have you no regard for them and the good things they did? And here's the point: if they invited you to an important event, say a wedding, would you refuse to be friends again? You'd go of course, for auld lang syne.
That is why billions of people will gather round their television sets this Friday, April 29. for us on this side of the Pond at very early hours indeed. We shall watch closely, commenting freely and, for nearly all, in good humor. And when these young now married people go onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace for The Kiss, our hearts will go out to them, not as gaudy royalty but as good people on whose slender shoulders a valued thousand year old institution will in due course be placed. Then they will surely need from us not just cheers, but support. They shall have it from me.
One last word for you, Mother Abraham. In 1999 the citizens of Australia voted in a national referendum about whether to abolish the monarchy and become the Republic of Australia, or not. Your fellow citizens voted  55-45 percent to keep the Windsors and the monarchy.

About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also a noted historian and author 18 best-selling books.  Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

GOP desperate for a winning 2012 presidential candidate. But is it desperate enough for Donald Trump?

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Donald Trump. The name conveys many things
-- open mouth, insert silver foot.
-- knows everything about everything and never hesitates to tell you.
-- braggart
-- billionaire
-- bankruptcies galore
-- women
-- more women
-- much younger women.
And now President of the United States?
He's signaling the nation he  wants it, but there is not a single reputable authority in the land who believes he'll actually throw his oversized hat (for that oversized head) into the ring. Or that he'll ever get into the Oval Office, unless he's got a visitor ticket.
Except, that is, my go-fer Aime Joseph. The other day Mr. Joseph (as we call him) let me know in no uncertain terms that Trump was his pick for president next year. Given the fact that he was rabid for Obama last time round, this is a monumental change of mind.
What caused it?
Mr.Joseph's reasons were these:
-- Trump's demonstrated business acumen.
-- His knowledge and exploitation of the media, giving him near universal name recognition.
-- His money.
-- His money...
Get the picture?
More GOP presidential candidates than ever... no clear-cut leader or even early favorite amongst them.
It has long been a given of American politics that Republicans select presidential candidates they know well and who have generally already run for president before, even if they've lost. This description fits Richard Nixon (defeated 1960, elected 1968); Ronald Reagan (defeated 1968, elected 1980); Robert Dole (defeated for vice president on the Gerald Ford ticket 1976, then defeated for president 1992); John McCain defeated 2000, then defeated again 2008).
The man who fits this mold for 2012 is former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, defeated by McCain 2008. But while he's the likeliest at this hour to become the next GOP nominee, the Grand Old Party is not yet ready to crown him.. or Sarah Palin either, who unlike Romney, actually got on the McCain ticket, only to go down to defeat with the man who chose her.
Which leaves the Republicans with the largest field of presidential candidates since 1964.
Here Trump sees his advantage... and with billions at the ready, he'd certainly be a strong candidate, right?
Absolutely not. Take a look at these...
1) First, the little matter of presidential manner, seriousness, temperament and demeanor. We like our presidents to be.... well, presidential. And even a tyke in grammar school will give a reasonable definition of what that means. We want a president (man or woman) who without much stretch fits the truly gigantic shoes of George Washington and company.
For openers Trump's favorite subject is Trump. In fact, he hardly knows another. And when attention turns to that subject, Trump is always ready with yet another egregious, bumptious, tasteless battery of arrogance and self-congratulation. America may have near universal name recognition of the man... but we also know Trump stands for a brand of noisome self-aggrandizement that permanently closes the door to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
2) Complete lack of suitable experience for the presidency. Americans so liked the idea of our first black president that it swallowed Barrack Obama despite his thin resume with national affairs. Still, he was a sitting United States senator at the time of his nomination and election.
Republicans have traditionally been sticklers for offering the nation men who had blue-ribbon resumes with plenty of valid experience. Trump offers absolutely none of that; not a single example of foreign policy experience and (except for specialized tax information) absolutely no experience with any important subject of national affairs. In addition, he has not one scintilla of experience with members of congress. Not a cream puff amongst them, they will soon show a putative President Trump that he needs more than bombast and  one-liners to deal with them.
3) A lifetime of often silly, sophomoric, ill-considered  very much on-the-record remarks.
Trump is quotable alright... in spades. However, his remarks range from mean-spirited to vituperative; just plain stupid to wildly ludicrous. The media of the world love him. Voters won't.
They know the importance of the American presidency; it's the most important office in the world and the nation won't tolerate an ignoramus in the job, for all that he's rich.
4) And while we're on the subject of the Trump billions, I reckon one very good reason The Donald won't run for the roses is his tax returns. He'll have to publish them of course; folks would rightly wonder at their contents if he didn't.
But is Trump willing to bet that the nation and its tax-pressed citizens will overlook any even minor infraction that may surface? Being just the third billionaire to run for president (Nelson Rockefeller 1968 and Steve Forbes 2000),  you can bet your bottom dollar each and every line of every document he is forced to release will be examined under a microscope... forcing Trump to defend the taxes he paid, the deductions he took... thereby pushing his campaign off message for days, weeks... or even stopping it altogether.
5) The women.
Trump has gloried in his ability to pick up chicks, all but his first wife years younger than he is. He should open a museum called Trophy Wives inside one of his casinos. Inquiring minds want to know.
The thing about collecting and discarding chicks (married or otherwise) is that the discarded ones wait a lifetime for sweet vengeance. Trump is a sitting duck. And God only knows how much of the iceberg of domestic catastrophes is known... just the tip?
As for his platform, policies, beliefs, and recommendations for a Trump- lead renaissance? He's on an odyssey around America right now inciting kooks everywhere on the matter of President Obama's right to be president because of where or where he was not born. Yup, Trump's a "birther", despite the fact that the State of Hawaii long ago certified Obama's birth there.  It's typical Trump has lead with an item that has no benefit for America but that ensures buckets of free media attention from shock jocks suckled on conspiracy theories.
In short, it's petty, beside the point, trivial.
In other words, perfect for Trump in these heady days when he looks at his unkempt locks in the mirror and sees a President Trump none of us looking hard can ever see at all for all that he's rich as Croesus.

About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

'And the days dwindle down...' Thoughts for dear friend and colleague Wallace Johnson upon the occasion of his 86th birthday April 18, 2011.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WALLACE!!!!


Today is a special day, a festive day, a day of  celebration and hijinx... today Wallace Johnson, friend, turns 86 years young; legions of his friends and well wishers will gather via the Internet to toast, to laugh with and to note the day and the man.
Wallace, for all that he was a test pilot with the Apollo Project, (and so truly flew high)  is a man of sentiment, art, culture. So I looked for a suitable song to mark this event, and had no trouble selecting "The September Song" by Kurt Weil (music) and Maxwell Anderson (lyrics). It first appeared in the Broadway musical "Knickerbocher Holiday" (1938).
It is a grand tune with haunting music and a message that grows more apt and poignant day by day.
A host of top artists have recorded this song, and no wonder; Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante (in 1955 in a particularly touching manner). I select Lotte Lenya. She did, after all, know Weill best; she married him twice. Her rendition is mesmerizing. Go to any search engine and find it; let the music and its lyrics envelop you as you read an article straight from the heart on this his special day.
".And the days dwindle down To a precious few September, November And these few precious days I'll spend with you. These precious days I'll spend with you."
Thoughts from a whippersnapper of only 64.
Readers, if you're lucky in life you have a friend and colleague like Wallace. He is dedicated, conscientious to a fault, and he knows the fine art of handling a CEO, which (being the CEO in question) I appreciate more than he knows Today, greatly daring, with grave temerity, this self-same CEO offers a few limpid reflections and observations in the hope that they are welcome...and, more to the point, correct.
1) You've lived.
In 1955 best-selling author Patrick Dennis wrote a pip of an novel entitled "Auntie Mame". It offered this pithy admonition well loved by my mother, "Live! Live! Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death."
Wallace, you are a lucky man; you have lived... you have loved... and most importantly you have been loved, and still are. You have known and lived by the truth of Sigmund Freud's famous observation that the best life is composed of love and work.  It is not given to all to know, much less to benefit from, this.
"Happiness is composed of love and work." (Glück ist Liebe und Arbeit zusammen.")
You have, of course, made errors; not one of us is immune from that. But I suspect, as well as one human can know another, that yours were the faults of generosity. You, I know, are quite capable of giving too much to those who may not have been worth the gift, being neither capable of understanding nor reciprocating. If this is a "fault", it is a good one to have. It is, after all, always better to have given, even if from time to time, to the unworthy. Let a man be evaluated by such errors...and he shall be found, assuredly, a good man, a kind man, a man of heart. That man is you.
2) You  served America proudly, regarding her as needing the support of all who love her, a bastion, not a milch cow for exploitation.
Wallace, you have been since your earliest days, a man who knew the secret of life was always to look up, to the place beyond the rainbows, for it is only by the exertions of untrammeled people that progress can come. You looked up and saw the cosmos as a subject of study, as a great adventure, as a never-ending source of wonder; a place to embrace and excite, never to shrink from. As a test pilot for the Apollo Project during the heady days of its inception and development, you saw first-hand what this great nation can do... no technical impediment too difficult... no vision too unlikely... no destination too remote.
You are one of the very elect who can say, and proudly, "I was there... and it mattered." And so it did. The salary was meager; the hours long; the effect profound and inspiring. And you were there, dedicated.
3) You have been a great teacher.
Ask a new member of our Worldprofit community to name a single member, a single monitor, and the odds are overwhelming they will name you. I know why. First because you saw in us the best of you and in joining did no lip service but made the most serious of commitments. You resolved not merely to take, but to enhance, improve, and through every season and year, to give.
You learned our innovative business... you excelled.  You understood, as so many have not, that the Internet is not a destination; it is a process, a process of  connecting the members of our species, wherever they are located, so that they may communicate the very best of which we are capable.
You embraced this mission as you embraced all your missions: with seriousness of intent, with full commitment, and with an unexampled talent for training other good people worldwide who understood the vital importance of our monitor program and wanted to add their talents to the corps epitomized by you. As such you have, first, touched the lives of these monitors, directly, personally, diplomatically, thoroughly. In turn these monitors, with their important tasks, have touched the lives of untold thousands, who may perhaps never know they have benefited from you and your gift of giving.  But they most assuredly have.
4) You have helped your CEO, a "lad" still on the sunny side of Social Security, just.
Wallace, many people today, and on many days to come, will extol  your virtues, and rightly so. But I am the only man in the universe who can extol you for this: that you have helped your CEO, not least by your empathy, diplomacy, and the art of knowing just when to offer home truths, the better to attend to them... and to listen. I appreciate your deftness... and your unflagging assistance.
Many people, 2 decades and more senior in age, would have found ways to roil the waters. You chose  with consummate loyalty, to smooth the road... without the slightest hint of servility or arriere pensee. You have been amidst so many loyal, the most loyal of all.
You have given me the benefit of wisdom, without condescension. You have listened... you have spoken candidly... you have reminded when necessary and "forgotten" when prudent. I am appreciative, in your debt, impressed and grateful.
"And these few precious days, I'll spend with you."
If we are known and greatly defined by the company we keep, then surely we are here at Worldprofit, all of us the beneficiaries of this: that from a multitude of other companies and opportunities, Wallace Johnson selected us.
Now my 86th birthday gift to you, Wallace, is this:
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face...
(ancient Irish prayer).
Wherever you go, whenever you go there, you take a particle from us with you, just as we carry a bit of you on our own unique journey through time and space.
Readers: for more information on Wallace Johnson and the Apollo Project, visit any search engine.

About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/

Admonition to myself: 11-hour workdays boost heart disease risk.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Actung! I am writing this article for myself... and for the legions of ultra-busy people who work 11 hours a day or more. We are the people who keep the world going... but to be able to do so, we need to stay healthy and alive.
On April 6, 2011 Bloomberg News reported that we're at risk and need to take immediate action to minimize the problem.
The facts.
Adults who worked 11 hours a day or more had a 67 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who worked eight hours, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported (April 5, 2011). The researchers also found that by adding working hours to a standard heart attack risk assessment model, they could increase the accuracy of heart disease predictions by 5 percent.
Heart disease, the nation's leading killer.
According to the National Institutes of Health, heart disease is the nation's leading killer. More and more people succumb to it because more and more people are working more and more hours, making ours the least leisured generation ever, the one with the greatest challenges and risks.
Remarks by Mike Kivimaki, project lead researcher.
Current evidence on coronary heart disease prevention emphasizes the importance of focusing on the total risk rather than single risk factors. "People who work long hours should be particularly careful in following healthy diets, exercising sufficiently, and keeping their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood glucose within healthy limits," said project director Kivimaki.
Srihari Naidu, director of the Cardiac Catheteriization Laboratory at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York, said these data show that how people live -- their stress levels, sleeping, eating, and exercise habits -- can affect their risks for heart disease. "The choices we make in our lifestyle may have consequences," Naidu said.
Study details.
The research followed 7,095 civil service workers in London who were ages 39 to 62 at the start of the trial. They were screened for heart disease every five years. The study found that 192 people developed heart disease over 12.3 years of follow up. Those who worked 10 hours a day had a 45 percent higher risk of heart disease than those who worked seven to eight hours.
Self-Talk for myself.
If you're one of those people who work 10 hours plus a day, listen up. I'm one of you.... and like you I need to take such warnings with more seriousness. So, for me, for you, I've created a list which I intend to keep right next to my computer. You should, too....
1) Don't ignore this warning, the way you've ignored previous warnings.
You're no spring chicken; you're getting older... and if you want to get older still, don't just read these survey results... LIVE THEM!
The plain fact is, researchers have known for a long while the risk factors causing heart disease. You've seen, what, a few dozen warnings... and managed to ignore most of them, not the least of which comes from your physician as he urges you for the umteenth time to stop smoking.
Personal note: I don't smoke cigarettes, never have. That's a must for all those who value life over nicotine.
2) Get up and boogie.
I spend my entire, extended work day at the computer. To force myself to get up, I keep a list of peppy, jump-up music readily at hand. Who doesn't want to get up and boogie when the song is Michael Jackson's "Don't stop 'til you get enough".... or any other lively number that gets more than your feet moving.
Music on... jump up... and move that body.
Okay, so you're not Fred Astaire. So what? Exercise and its benefits are for the do-er, not the watcher... and it's your heart we want to keep in tip-top shape.
3) Walk.
Make it a point to walk, briskly too, at least 40 minutes a day. 
Walk, too, every other chance you can... to the post office, the barber, to the local cinema. You know the advantages of walking; you've known them all your life. Now decide to do something. Leave the car at home... and walk.
4)  Eat small portions more often.
The obesity phenomenon which was once pretty much an American affair has gone universal with a vengeance.  Heart disease and excess pounds are, we know, related. But you can start solving this problem... today... by eating  more often throughout the day but eating less.
Here, too, I bet you already know what  to do.... you just aren't doing it. So, vow to make changes now, exchanging those high sugar, high salt, high fat foods for celery and company.
Get over the "giving up" mentality. Replace with the "here's what I'm getting" mentality.  What you get here is plain: more of the distinctly limited time which is the most important thing you can get. Getting more time is the absolutely essential thing, and you have it within your power to get more of it.
Now for strictly work-related observations.
There are many reasons for working 10 hours a day or more. You might have hefty bills to pay and need the extra bucks. You might like the finer things of life. You might think yourself, and actually be, indispensable to your business. You might even be one of those who works hard to avoid the turbulence of unceasing family problems. Whatever your reason... enough is enough.
1) Review what you do, everything you do. What is essential and what merely desirable? It's time to find and jettison what you can. Put your daily work life and activities under a microscope and scrutinize closely.
2) Got people who can help?  Learn to delegate. No, these people will NEVER be as good at what you do as you are... but they're there and good enough to assist. Besides, they can learn. Cutting back on one task or another may give them the chance to show what they can do to help you even more.
3) Ask yourself how much good you really do in your 10th or 11th  hour on the job, where the principle of diminishing returns applies.
Can you legitimately postpone a task until tomorrow? Is the physical price you pay, the extra fatigue, not to mention cumulative health risks worth overworking today... when it could easily be done, and freshly so, tomorrow?
You determine your fate.
The ancient Greeks believed that Clotho spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle; Lachesis measured the thread of life with her rod, and Athropos cut of the thread of life and chose the manner of a person's death.
Now you have replaced them all... how much of life, even the matter of your death, is at the very least influenced by you. I want more of it... and I now vow to do everything to lengthen my thread, not curtail it. Will you join me? Lach haim.

About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Ray Wisniewski <a href="http://cashgrowthunlimited.com/