George W. Bush set to become motivational speaker

He left office with the US embroiled in two wars, a Great Recession and with his approval rating a toxic 22 per cent. So the next stage in his career is obvious. George W Bush — who last year inspired millions of people to vote Democrat — is about to become a highly-paid motivational speaker.

On Monday the former Republican President will appear as the headline speaker on the popular Get Motivated seminar programme, which describes itself as an “action-packed, fun-filled, explosive, exciting, inspiring, skill-building business event that is world famous for its mega-watt superstar speakers and spectacular stage production.” He will appear again in San Antonio in December.

The Forth Worth event, in Mr Bush's home state of Texas, will also feature Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York Mayor, and Rick Belluzzo, a former Microsoft executive.

The Get Motivated programme has been a huge business success, but the appearance of Mr Bush at a seminar about, among other things, “How to Master the Art of Effective Leadership” has produced guffaws.

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The Free Lakota Bank

Lakota Warriors to Protect New "silver Bank"


Lakota Warriors to Protect New "silver Bank" - The best video clips are right here

An American Indian tribe, the Lakota Sioux, has apparently launched the world's only non-fiat bank.

http://freelakotabank.com/

Secret court seizes £3.2bn from elderly... and even forces furious families to pay to access own bank account

A secret court is seizing the assets of thousands of elderly and mentally impaired people and turning control of their lives over to the State - against the wishes of their relatives.

The draconian measures are being imposed by the little-known Court of Protection, set up two years ago to act in the interests of people suffering from Alzheimer's or other mental incapacity.

The court hears about 23,000 cases a year - always in private - involving people deemed unable to take their own decisions. Using far-reaching powers, the court has so far taken control of more than £3.2billion of assets.

The cases involve civil servants from the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which last year took £23million in fees directly from the bank accounts of those struck down by mental illness, involved in accidents or suffering from dementia.

The officials are legally required to act in cases where people do not have a 'living will', or lasting power of attorney, which hands control of their assets over to family or friends.

But the system elicited an extraordinary 3,000 complaints in its first 18 months of operation. Among them were allegations that officials failed to consult relatives, imposed huge fees and even 'raided' elderly people's homes searching for documents.

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'They say the drugs are also good for eyebrow plucking'

From Think Disease Mongering Started with Direct-to-Consumer Ads? by Martha Rosenberg [Scoop] :

... Depersonalizing "she" ads--"Has She Become a Fixture in Your Office?" "She Hides Anguish Behind Arrogance" "Does She Call You Morning, Noon and Night?---were the norm when doctors, copywriters and drug makers were men and charged with getting women to behave. So was pathologizing everyday conditions, a phenomenon which did not start with direct to consumer advertising.

In the 1960s and 1970s, antidepressants were suggested for telltale bitten nails and overplucked eyebrows, antipsychotics for "excessive use of the telephone" (a real ad) and Dexedrine for "housewives" who were "crushed under a load of dull, routine duties."

Then there was empty nest syndrome (called Magna cum Depression in ads) and divorce for which antidepressants were also prescribed-- and mothers who were "short tempered" with their kids who got antipsychotics.

Psychoneurotic women like "Jan" who were "unmarried with low self esteem" at age 35--"You probably see many such Jans in your practice"--were given Valium.

When women got to the arsenal waiting for menopause it was probably a relief!

Of course the Mephistophelean Marcus Welbys who treated the disease of Lack of a Husband and Kids with psychoactive drugs and the copywriters who mongered same are mostly gone today.

But today's top drugs like Seroquel, Pristiq, Lyrica and Cymbalta are still pushed for women and their notorious anxiety-that-is-really-depression, depression-that-is-really-bipolar-disorder,
PMS-that-is-really-perimenopause and pain-that-is-really-fibromyaglia. ...

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Calling for more female police, UN officer welcomes new pact with Interpol

A senior United Nations official today welcomed a recent landmark agreement with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to strengthen police units in peacekeeping missions around the world, and called on Member States to contribute more women officers to those operations.

The new agreement between the UN and INTERPOL aims to boost policing cooperation in restoring stability in post-conflict areas, UN Deputy Police Adviser Ann-Marie Orler told reporters in New York.

The arrangement, agreed last week in Singapore, includes the exchange of information, cooperation in relation to interim law enforcement, security support to national police and training for the development of national police and other law enforcement agencies.

[ ... ]

In August, the Police Division of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) launched a drive to recruit more police and more female police officers, targeting an increase in the number of women from 8 per cent today to 20 per cent in 2014, said Ms. Orler.

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