The Flingeran Center

Some years ago in a book by Lee Iacocca, who was President of Ford Motor Co. prior to taking over Chrysler Corp. and leading them out of bankruptcy, I read that Mr. Iacocca’s boss, Henry Ford II, drank two bottles of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild every day. Two bottles per day is an awful lot and wouldn’t be advisable, but I did like the thought of drinking fine wine every day. Today, depending on the vintage, two bottles of Chateau Lafite can cost upwards of $1,000 or even more. If your name is Henry Ford you can no doubt afford this, but most of us have to settle for something a little less prestigious for our nightly dinner pairing.

The point of this article is simple: One can drink good, sometimes even excellent wines, at very
reasonable prices.

The easiest way to do this is to wait for your local liquor store to have their periodic sales. For
example, about once a month a large liquor store nearby our home, which carries a reasonably
good selection of wines from around the world, has a sale for 15% off for those on their “family
plan”. So that’s obviously the time to stock up.

The next question is what wines to choose. Unless you already know some good producers
and have your favorites, the best guides are the little tags which give wine ratings by wine
critics such as Robert Parker of “The Wine Advocate”, the “Wine Spectator”, and “The Wine
Enthusiast”, among others. Most good liquor stores make a point to display these tags for the
wines that the critics have tasted. As an example of wine ratings, here are the criteria used by
Robert Parker, considered by many to be the foremost of wine critics:

“96-100 An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes
expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find,
purchase, and consume.

90-95 An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific
wines.

80-89 A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and
flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.

70-79 An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a
straightforward, innocuous wine.

60-69 A below average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity
and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.

50-59 A wine deemed to be unacceptable.”

To be sure, you will not find fine wines rated at 96 or above on the cheap, 15% off or not! However, it is entirely possible to find wines rated in the upper 80’s (very good) or even low 90’s (low
outstanding range) for good prices, often $10 or less on sale! If your wine or liquor store does not display the ratings tags, suggest that they do so, or if necessary find another store that does.

The main advantage of the above strategy is that you are basing your purchases on some opinion. If you simply choose a wine without knowing anything about it, you might still find a pleasurable bottle, but the chances of success are considerably diminished.

Another resource for choosing fine wines is a good local wine specialty shop. In our town we have a shop run by a young man who is extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of wine, from vineyard practices to production to tasting, and he is truly passionate about the subject. I have learned to trust his judgment, and when he recommends a wine, I can count on it being a good choice. Of
course he needs to charge more than the large volume liquor stores for his wines, but his
knowledgeable inputs more than make up for the extra cost. So I routinely make a point to pick up
some bottles at this shop in addition to stocking up as described above.

If you can afford to purchase and cellar great fine wines, then by all means go for it. But if your
wine budget is a little more down to earth, try the procedure outlined above. I have found the
wines recommended by the critics are almost always good, (nothing is foolproof, however, as
evidenced by a solidly mediocre Tuscan wine we tried last week), but you’ll be pleased most of
the time. Personally I like the choices of Robert Parker as well as those of The Wine Spectator. Also, I like to learn what I can about the wine, the grapes used, and also production methods used such as oak aging, malolactic fermentation, etc. This is easily accomplished using the LaRousse Encyclopedia of Wine or other reference books. The more you learn about wine the more you will enjoy the experience, and you’ll also learn more about how fine wines make food taste better. And as the old adage goes, “life is too short to drink bad wine”.

Walt Ballenberger is founder of Beaux Voyages
which provides active tours in France including bike tours, wine tours, and Tour de France bike tours. He has lived and worked in France and speaks the language fluently.

Remember that even the simplest gas grill is more complex than a charcoal grill or pellet grill. Making a gas grill work can be tricky - and you need more than just a matchbox and good weather to pull it off. So before you even consider buying a gas grill, read this first.

A gas grill works on three elements - spark (fire), oxygen and gas. The spark is normally supplied by the igniter, which is usually a push button or knob (sometimes built into the gas grill) that makes a popping noise to produce electricity to ignite the gas. The noise you hear is actually a little spring-loaded hammer hitting a crystal, causing the generation of thousands of volts inside the crystal’s face. The resulting voltage is enough to generate a spark that lights the gas in the grill. Subsequently, the burner mixes gas and oxygen, spreading it out over the cooking area. Each burner has a pair of electrodes linked to the ’starter’ or igniter.

Grill smokers are also available as an option, if you want to use grilling and smoking at the same time. The smoke comes through a smoker attachment fastened to the usual parts of the grill. Portable campsite gas grills are great on camping trips. It can be useful in short trips such as picnics and other events. They are also easy to use and even give your food a nice flavor.

Normally, portable gas grills are made of high quality stainless steel and other high quality materials. They are very versatile - they can travel anywhere.

Gas grill accessories such as lights, power burners, gas conversion kits and attachable outdoor fans make grill cooking easy, so you should invest in them as well. The grill accessories should be made of high quality materials and with great craftsmanship.

The first time I read the statistic, I was having a quick bite of breakfast before scooting off to run a seminar at the Houston office of a customer service consulting client.

“It costs five times more to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing customer” bellowed the article in the Houston Chronicle.

“Wow!” I thought. That’s a lot.

But then, that statistic bothered me, for several reasons:

(1) Who said so? On what authority did they say it?

(2) How much, in dollar terms, are we speaking of?

(3) What business or industry is keeping the customer?

(4) What business or industry is attracting the new customer?

(5) What measures are being used to determine sales costs versus retention costs?

Anyway, I put these concerns aside for some time, and until I saw the same assertion, yet it said: “It costs ten times” as much to get a new customer.

Well, inflation is kicking up, but then, wait a minute!

Let’s research this point. I went to Google and asked the question: “Costs of keeping versus losing customers?”

The results varied. One source, a college business journal, which would be expected to track down these claims, actually perpetuates the confusion by saying:

“It is generally accepted that it costs a business anywhere from five to ten times as much to acquire a new customer as it costs to retain an existing one. Some studies have estimated that U.S. organizations lose half their customers every five years and that a five percent incremental improvement in customer retention rate could double profits. On the downside, disloyalty is estimated to decrease corporate performance by 25 to 50 percent.”

I don’t “generally accept” statistics on their face value, nor should you.

If you really want to know the value of a customer, track it for yourself in your own business.

Then, you’ll really know what you’re talking about and you’ll be able to allocate your training and marketing resources, appropriately.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com

There are a lot of places to visit in Puerto Rico on your trip. Most people concentrate on the main attractions on the metropolitan area of the island, here we feature 5 nice places to visit out of the way, they are worth the driving and the experience, enjoy.

Las Cuevas de Camuy National Park

This national Park features on of the largest cave systems in the world. visitors will walk into parts of the caves and explore a small part of the system. The surrounding areas feature some nature settings that make for very good views.

La Parguera, Bioluminescence Bay

Another very unique place to visit on the island. this bay has micro organisms on the water that when disturbed they “light up” and produce a beautiful display on the water. this phenomenon happens on various places around the world, but in Puerto Rico is the only place that is guaranteed for it to happen every night.

Arecibo radar observatory

In the north par of Puerto Rico you can visit the famous radio telescope, the largest of this kind of the world. Its large receptor plate it’s larger than 12 football fields, used to spot signals from planets and in the SETI research for extraterestrial life. Inside the Observatory there are science related exibitions of different subjects to watch.

Mayaguez Zoo

Mayaguez is home to the only public zoo in the island. The zoo 2 main animal selections are the African Forest and the African Savannah. Also it features a Beautiful bird sanctuary.

Ponce Art Museum

The Ponce Art Museum has the largest art collection of the Caribbean between pictures and sculptures. Its collection have many European works such as works by Velasquez, Rubens and Rodin, and others.

The writer of this article is the webmaster of Paradores en Puerto Rico Website. On this website you can find all the information you need about the Paradores, or small country inn’s in Puerto Rico.

I like Google Adsense. It contributes a nice little chunk of
change to my income each and every month.

That said, I don’t and won’t follow the lead of those whose
sites earn only through Google Adsense.

What happens when their Adsense accounts are shut down by
Google? It does happen, and they’re left scrambling to replace
lost income!

Don’t believe me?

Try clicking on your own site’s Google Adsense links once or
twice and see how fast Google shuts down your Adsense account.
(No, don’t really do that!)

Does it make sense to build an entire site around financial
products to make a few bucks on Adsense clicks, when you can
earn up to $40 for a completed credit card application?

Not to me, it doesn’t.

I use Google Adsense to supplement my affiliate income, not
replace it.

Basically, it comes down to value. Value for you, and value for
your visitors.

Sites that monetize only with Adsense aren’t getting real value
from their site’s real estate.

Too, it’s important to me that my visitors find information of
value to them on my sites, and I do that by offering balanced
product reviews and articles on the related topic.

If after reading my material, they’re not interested in the
product offerings, then perhaps they’ll see an Adwords ad that
captures their interest.

Placing Google Adsense on your site is a strategy that will put
money in your pockets even if your visitors don’t buy.

However, in the same way you need to be smart about choosing
lucrative affiliate programs, you also want to do your homework
when monetizing topics with Adsense.

For example, I was recently re-reading some information about
under-represented niche topics with huge markets.

One of the topics suggested as a winner was ’snakes’.

I found that hard to believe, so I did my own research.

The term ’snakes’ had 152,857 searches at Overture and its
partners in January, so yes, that’s a pretty sizeable interest
in ’snakes’.

OK, but who’s your market? Kids looking for snake pictures for a
school project? People who want to buy snakes? Someone who wants
to visit Snake River?

What are you going to sell? Snakes? The game, ‘Snake’? A $10
book on which you make a 15% commission? A $60 poster from
allposters.com on which you earn a 30% commission seemed to be
the best bet, but how many people want to pay $60 for snake
posters?

To me, that’s not enough interest or commission potential to
build a site around ’snakes’.

So, what about incorporating Adsense to boost potential
profitability?

Well, search Google for ’snakes’. See what comes up in the
Google Adwords column?

NOTHING!

If you want to monetize with Adsense, you have to pick topics
whose Adwords advertisers spend mega-bucks per click.

How do you figure out what those topics are?

Easy!

If you haven’t already done so, open up a Google Adwords account
and create a new campaign. Add a list of keywords (one niche
topic at a time), then click on ‘estimate traffic’. The
resulting page will show you the average cost per click for each
keyword.

Make note of the most expensive words in that list and optimize
your pages for those phrases.

THAT’s how you’ll really profit with Google Adsense.

Warning! Warning! Warning!

Once you find a lucrative topic that is projected to cost you
$36,987.57 per day, don’t forget to pause that campaign, or
delete it altogether!

—————————————————————–
—————

To learn more about making money with Google Adsense, check out
Joel Comm. He’s the undisputed master of all things Google
Adsense.

Joel Comm - What Google Never Told You About Making Money With
AdSense

© Copyright Rosalind Gardner, All Rights Reserved.

Article by Rosalind Gardner, author of the best-selling

Year   Item                   Price   Rate of Inflation
03/80  Gasoline (per gallon)  1.252
03/05  Gasoline (per gallon)  2.065   2.02%

03/80  Bread, white, per lb   0.502
03/05  Bread, white, per lb   1.002   2.80%

03/80  Consumer Price Index   80.10
03/05  Consumer Price Index   193.30  3.59%

Source: U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov)

What is Inflation?

Inflation is an indication of the rising cost of goods and services in the economy. For example, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was 1.252 in March of 1980. Comparatively, that same gallon was priced at 2.065 in March of 2005. Therefore, over the last 25 years, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased at an average annual rate of inflation of 2.02%. As another example, during the same 25 year period, the price of white bread increased at an annual rate of 2.80%.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is widely accepted as the measurement of general inflation in the United States. The CPI is calculated monthly by the U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is an index based on the cost of items in more than 200 categories. They include: breakfast cereal, milk, wine, bedroom furniture, men’s shirts and sweaters, jewelry, physicians’ services, televisions, sports equipment, college tuition, postage, and haircuts.

Simply stated, the CPI tells us the average change over time in the cost of goods and services. From March 1980 to March 2005, the inflation of general goods and services averaged 3.59% annually.

How is Inflation Relevant?

Inflation has an impact on our plans for the future. When saving for retirement, college, a house, or simply budgeting for the next 12 months, the cost of goods and services have a direct impact on your goals. Due to inflation, your goals may cost more in the future than today. A meal that costs $10 today may cost $10.36 in one year. A car that costs $10,000 today may cost $10,359 in one year, and almost $12,000 in only 5 years. So, when planning for the future, you must consider inflation and the effect it may have on your goals.

Ways to Combat Inflation

One way to overcome prices that may rise due to inflation is to make your money grow at a rate higher than inflation. For example, if inflation is 3.59% annually, you will need to make your money grow at 3.60% or higher. Otherwise, though you may be saving and investing toward your goals, you may never actually achieve them.

Many investments provide a vehicle for “outpacing” inflation. Generally, stocks and bonds have historically earned an annual rate above inflation. Through careful planning and investing, it is possible to overcome inflation and its impact on prices.

In summary, a plan that does not account for inflation is in danger of failing. Therefore, it is important to remember inflation and invest in assets that will enable you to achieve your goals despite the effects inflation may have on the cost of goods and services.

Jonathan Citrin provides financial goal planning services. Go to http://articles.citringroup.com for hundreds of educational articles about Personal Finance, Retirement Planning,Investment Planning, and College Savings.

No matter where you are in life — whether we’re living in the pit of despair or having everything comin’ up roses — there’s always a larger perspective that could produce a quantum shift that leads to a more joyful perspective.

To live a life that continuously expands moving into uncharted territories of joy, bliss, and abundance, we must be conscious, awake, and willing to explore.

Until we take time to reflect and celebrate all that makes us fortunate, we miss the opportunity to truly size the fulfillment, joy, and love that is available to each of us.

Each of us, has literally, a never-ending stream of reasons to be grateful. If nothing else, we can be grateful for the air that we breathe and it’s continuous supply of oxygen and life.

Here’s a quick list of amazing, yet simple things to be grateful for:

The ability to smile

The ability to feel love

The ability to give to others

Having a friend who cares

Having food to eat

Fresh water you can drink

The sight of a sunset

The feel of soft fabric

A place you can call home

The sun

It is our responsibility to taste, touch, feel and savor the miracles, blessings, surprises, and possibilities that are unfolding deliciously at every moment of our existence. This is how to be alive. Failure to miss the delectable beauty that exists inside every moment is the failure to live.

Inside gratitude, presence of all aliveness awakens and exposes itself to our hearts. Here is where our hearts swells with love, appreciation, joy and profound divine acceptance of all that is. Gratitude is where our divinity and our humanity merge.

The level of joy you experience in your life is in direct proportion to your experience of gratitude.

You can have all the money, love, and success in the world, but if you are not present to the happiness, fun, ecstasy, and bliss it gives you - if you let the moment of joy pass you by - then despite your outer circumstances, your life will always feel meaningless and empty.

But with gratitude, you can be in a jail cell, eating bread and water, and discover the uncontainable joy of being alive and aware. Maya Angelou’s book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings depicts that freedom of the soul to discover joy transcends all external cages.

Whenever we are in disempowering situations, we must learn to accept it is because we are entering the situation with a disempowering attitude.

Gratitude is the shift we need to bring us back into empowerment. Gratitude is a choice available through inquiry and practice.

At any moment — even emotionally challenging moments — you can choose to stop, breathe and create gratitude, by asking these four simple questions that can transform your life:

What complaint, belief, or excuse can I surrender right now to feel closer to gratitude?

What can I be grateful for right now?

What is the lesson or wisdom of gratitude at this moment?

What action can I take right now to let in the feeling of gratitude?

Living a life filled with gratitude is a muscle that needs to be developed. Surrendering your complaints and excuses is another muscle. I invite you to make the choice to develop these complementary muscles as a regular practice in your life.

Inviting oneself into gratitude at our most difficult times can often deliver us from resistance, from our story, from our fears. It transforms our experience from one of misery to one of hope.

Gratitude teaches us that the purpose of every moment is to love what is — to peer into divine perspective and discover the beauty all around.

If you connect to this higher purpose, of loving what is, you empower your life with new energy, perspective, passion and humility. You open yourself to the wonder, surprise, and reverie of life.

Gratitude is a catalyst to seeing the world free of resistance. From this perspective, you can allow life to be. You can allow others to be. And finally, you can finally allow yourself to just be.

Here is the process of filling your whole being with gratitude - and ultimately, with pure joy, power and love:

Invoke gratitude for everything that brings you joy

Invoke gratitude for everything you ignore

Invoke gratitude for every experience you endured in the past

Invoke gratitude for everything you resist or struggle in the present

Gratitude allows us to transform our chains into our freedom. When we fully receive and understand the truth - that we are perfect, the world is perfect, and everyone else is perfect just as they are - then we can finally be free.

Then we can finally accept the divinity, the abundance, the wisdom that we already have. That is our transformation from humanity to divinity.

Copyright 2005 Coco Fossland

About Coco Fossland

The author of the forthcoming book, The Power of Trust: Trust Yourself, Transform Your World, Coco Fossland is a nationally recognized expert in personal transformation, self-empowerment and self-healing. Blending a decade of technology and strategy consulting with her expertise in self-trust transformation, Coco’s business is focused on supporting people passionate about creating businesses that make a difference in the world. She helps her clients fuse their higher path with their businesses, creating institutions and organizations that profoundly impact the world one person at a time. http://www.cocofossland.com

The stress of visiting a physical betting hall provides plenty of reasons to drop the idea if you can avoid it. You won’t need to leave your desk to try your hand at online poker or other preferred games since you’ll do everything from your domestic environment provided you have a functional personal computer and, obviously, broadband Internet access. Nonetheless, do yourself a favor and read on because there’s plenty of instructions that you need to become familiar with regarding online poker or other preferred games, notably if you’re still a tenderfoot regarding this subject.

Visit the hottest casino gambling net review rooms on the web - CLICK HERE

The very first thing that a savvy Internet player like you is certain to pursue is an online poker or other preferred games establishment of the kind capable of offering top odds. Establish for certain that the online poker or other preferred games establishment is partnered with a decent bookkeeper so as to establish their actual online games pay-out at fixed intervals. You definitely must take care to ensure the virtual casino gaming establishment holds a legit license, such as by checking the certified permit on the casino site’s pages. If it’s not possible to determine any certified permit on a given virtual casino gaming establishment, do not attempt any gaming rooms with this site.

Moreover, another crucial bit of advice would be to try your luck for a start with lesser sums in lieu of drain so much that it hurts on the fly. To begin with, check the health of this virtual casino gaming framework rather than triggering any serious hazard- notably in regards to money… Finally, here is another suggestion regarding online roulette. It is, expectably, this– always to bear in mind that online gambling is entirely about amusement and not about money. Gambling in online casinos isn’t a livelihood, but, instead, a diversion that is supposed to help you feel bright and your overall life enjoyable. So, simply having followed all these suggestions, now go and give in to the charms of virtual casino gaming!

Now that New Orleans is underwater and the Speaker of the House feels it shouldn’t be rebuilt. Now that Home Land Insecurity Chief Michael Chertoff and FEMA Director Michael Brown have made fools of themselves by giving press conferences three days after Hurricane Katrina crushed the Gulf Coast by telling everyone what a wonderful job they’re doing (they did nothing).

Now, one week after the biggest and most preventable disaster in this nation’s history was not prevented and was not even dealt with until yesterday, it’s time we finally realized what a bunch of thoughtless, greedy jerks we have running this country.

For years New Orleans has asked for money from the Federal Government to renovate their infrastructure and rebuild the ever-eroding shoreline.

“Too much pork,” said the Congress.

“Too much money,” said the Administration,

“I’d rather go to Iraq and cut my rich buddies taxes.” That’s what they said.

When the hurricane became a category 5 last Friday and the radar picture on the TV told even a 10-year-old child this storm was a monster; when evacuations were called for that same day, what were the bureaucrats in Washington doing?

Fund raising and glad-handing each other saying, “It can’t happen here,” or worse “Who cares, it’s a Democratic state full of poor people, they don’t vote for us, the hell with ‘em.” (And if you don’t think that’s how this elite bunch of toadies thinks then you’re as guilty as they are.)

On Sept.3, during the second day of a much, maligned and outrageously slow beginning to the Federal recovery effort, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Rehnquist died. Guess what, Bush lowered the flag to half-mast … for him. He says it’s for the American victims of the hurricane, but I wonder.

It’s possible that 10,000 Americans drowned in their homes in New Orleans because a bunch of smug, self-satisfied politicians refused to finance New Orleans reconstruction and were too full of themselves to get off their butts and do something about it when it counted.

This country needs to wipe the slate clean and start over again from scratch. If it takes a new system of government and new people running the show all I can say it’s about time.

How dare they be so smug? How dare they? These people represent us! We pay their inflated salaries with our sweat and taxes! And what do they do for a populace who actually believe their representatives know what they’re doing? They represent themselves. They dump on the working man while they give themselves raises and push through massive tax cuts and start meaningless wars they can’t even afford.

Look at Iraq. It was started for a lie and when they got into the big Iraqi trap, they rifled the treasury to save face in a failed policy that never had a chance of succeeding … just the same way as they are handling the fallout from Hurricane Katrina.

Makes you think, doesn’t it.

Then when Hugo Chavesz, the democratically elected President of Venezuela (where we get lots of our exported oil) offers us tons of water and equipment to help with the recovery effort in the Gulf, we throw the offer back in his face because we don’t like his “communist” policies. Yet we trade with China, and praise them at every turn. The biggest damn Communist country in the world! It’s completely and utterly insane. And more than half of us were brainwashed into voting for this bunch of phonies.

When will it stop?

Just like they used 9/11 for the last five years every time they got in trouble, they’ll use something else to scare us into believing they know what they’re doing.

I have an idea. Why don’t we put the fear of God into them and –
Throw the bums out … Now!!!!

Have a special election this November and recall every single one of them Republican and Democrat and replace them with working men and women who actually know what it is to work hard for a living, know what it is to actually fight in one of their bullshit wars and know what it is to actually balance a budget.

Imagine what would happen then. The special interest groups would self-destruct, the Religious Right would have to shut up and America could become the tolerant, liberal society our forefathers had originally planned.

Whew! How about that?

So, how about it? Are you ready for a real change? Are you ready to take our country back? If so Throw the bums out NOW!

As an award-winning writer/reporter for the Taconic Press, Robert Lachman helped elect the first new mayor in Millbrook NY in 15 years, exposed illegal town judges in Dutchess County NY who had not filed their oaths of office with the County Clerk’s office and, as the Millbrook reporter, was instrumental in helping the citizens of Millbrook get a new high school. He has written theater, film and DVD reviews for the Taconic Press’ Weekend Magazine entertainment section and is the main film and theater reviewer for local popular entertainment magazine, Pulse. He also covers the NYS Legislature for The Citizen, a hard-hitting political magazine based in Dutchess County NY. Check out his website at http://www.virtualwordone.com

“People on this night are going to be on several different
levels. No doubt we are on the lowest level, so we are hoping in
this night to attain the honor and illumination granted in it.
When we reach a higher level and as it is a holy night in the
heavens as well, we will begin to sense something [of the great
power being manifested] on this night. Whoever is at the highest
spiritual level must be present for this night in the Divine
Presence of the Lord.”
http://www.crescentlife.com/spirituality/laylat_al_qadr.htm

“Sources in the defense establishment believe tomorrow will be
the day on which the Palestinians will ask to disconnect Arafat
from life support and announce his death. Tomorrow night marks
Lailat al-Kader, the night Muslims believe God revealed the
Koran to the prophet Mohammed. The death of the Palestinian
leader on that day will, therefore, be symbolic.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/498629.html

“The bill specifically forbids Arafat from being buried anywhere
in Israel. “Because of his disease,” the bill reads, “the State
of Israel allowed Arafat to leave for the sake of medical
treatment. This bill requests a ban on his return to Israel or
to the Palestinian Authority areas, whether to stay or to pass
through. The bill also wishes to prevent his burial in these
areas, lest the site turn into a pilgrimage attraction, a
symbol, and a source of inspiration for the war against Israel’s
existence.”" Arutz-7 news: Tuesday Nov 9, 2004

“”We chose Ramallah because it is close to Jerusalem, where we
are hoping to bury him in the near future,” said Hassan
Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council
and member of a special committee entrusted with overlooking the
funeral arrangements. Palestinians said that after Arafat would
be buried there, a mosque and monument would be built inside the
compound.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/P
rinter&cid=1099973628375&p=1078113566627

“Sha’ath said there is no talk of removing Arafat from life
support. “We are not really believers in euthanasia. The man is
not suffering; he is in a coma … It’s out of the question that
anybody is thinking of taking any such decisions,” he said.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/09/arafat/index.html

Waiting till the Night of Power to pull the plug on Arafat’s
life support would have effectively placed him on the “highest
spiritual level” quoted above, and therefore, “in the divine
presence of” allah. However, as the PA officals didn’t remove
his life support, even his burial in Ramallah, complete with a
mosque and monument to boot, will do one of two things in the
minds and hearts of Muslims worldwide who revered Arafat in this
life.

1) Arafat will be elevated to prophet status, and his teachings,
sayings, decrees, etc, spread throughout the Islamic world, and
be followed even more devoutly than in his lifetime. Thus
ensuring PA leadership, that their goals to wipe out the Jews
and Christians wherever they may be found, will be carried out
in even greater numbers, dedication, and determination than in
the past.

In this situation, pulling the plug on Lailat al-Kader would
have been a ploy to ensure that policies, goals, ideology, and
commitment to Arafat’s cause is further entrenched and carried
out. Such a ploy would have taken advantage of Muslim thought
and desire on this day, and basically forcing what many call
“the new Islam” down everyone’s throat, as refusal to honor a
prophet brings harsh discipline.

Burial complete with mosque and monument will very likely do the
same thing in the minds of the moslem people, as not only will
they come to mourn, but also come to worship.

2) Arafat will receive the burial fitting for a prophet, and
many will come merely to mourn his passing, but no elevation to
prophet status will occur.

This is less likely to happen, as in order to have his death be
symbolic on the night of Lailat al-Kader, moslems would have to
admit that Arafat was spoken to by allah himself, and that his
death is a sign that his words are to be whole-heartedly honored
and obeyed.

It’s bad enough that the IDF is bracing for riots and increased
violence in PA-controlled areas following the news of Arafat’s
death. But to have millions of moslems suddenly claim Arafat as
a prophet will make matters worse for Jews, and Christians
around the world. It’s already bad enough that a BBC reporter
cried over his release to a Paris hospital. The added sympathy,
honor, mourning, and allegiance to his teachings will only
congeal supporters world-wide as well.

I see therefore, a potential polarization of East versus West,
of People of the Book versus Islam in the coming days. Saudi
Arabia is already treating the war in Iraq as a holy war.
PA-bred terrorists are already in Iraq killing Americans and
other national groups the same way they’ve been killing Jews in
Israel for years.

Arafat is not another Louie
Riel(http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Pa
rams=J1ARTJ0006837), to be decried, then enshrined, then
decried, then a statue built, repeatedly going from hero to
villain and back again. Arafat, plain and simple, is a villain
on a massive scale. He will be a hero to the strain of Islam he
revived and its sympathizers, and a villain to those who don’t
adhere or sympathize with his ways and teachings.

I say be watchful in coming days. Whether intended by the PA
leadership or not, Islam may have just turned a corner. Jews and
Christians beware.