Fareed Zakaria sat down with John King to discuss the global consequences of the debt crisis. Fareed explains how default would effectively impose a massive tax on the American people and balloon the deficit. But the real question haunting Fareed is realestate apartment for sale in Lebanon the damage is already done.

John King: So, how does this confusing and sometimes ugly debate over raising the debt ceiling and a package of spending cuts compare to past big political divides and how is it impacting the U.S. standing and reputation around the world? Fareed, it does remind you of the old saying, 'Never let them know how you make the sausage.' What's happening in Washington right now is not pretty.

Fareed Zakaria: It's not pretty at all. You know, it was Bismarck who said that you don't want to be watching the insides of sausage-making or legislation-making. But what is odd about this one is it is a really manufactured crisis. The Speaker of the House has said that we could end this crisis very easily, but the whole nature of the crisis is self-inflicted. Most countries don't even have this thing called raising a debt ceiling.

هل أنت راضٍ عن أداء وزارة البيئة

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf

Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and sexual activities from dawn until sunset. Fasting is intended to teach Muslims about patience, humility, and spirituality. It is a time for Muslims to fast for the sake of God and to offer more prayer than usual. During Ramadan, Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils, and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds. As compared to the solar calendar, the dates of Ramadan vary, moving backwards about ten days each year depending on the moon. Muslims believe Ramadan to be the month in which the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Iftar

In many Muslim and non-Muslim countries with large Muslim populations, the faithful will abstain from food from sun up to sundown, but at dusk the family will gather for fast-breaking, known as Iftar. The sundown meal starts with the ritual eating of a date — just as Prophet Muhammad was believed to have done. Then it's time for a prayer to thank Allah followed by the meal. In many homes, this is a simple meal of fruits and vegetables along with traditional Middle Eastern fare.

Over time, Iftar has grown into banquets and small festivals. This is a time of fellowship with families, friends and surrounding communities, but may also occupy larger spaces at mosques or banquet halls, where a hundred or more may gather at a time.

Most markets close down during evening prayers and the Iftar meal, but then re-open and stay open for a good part of the night. Muslims can be seen shopping, eating, spending time with their friends and family during the evening hours. In many mid-east countries, this can last late into the evening, to early morning. However, if they try to attend to business as usual, it can become a time of personal trials, fasting without coffee or water.

Eid ul-Fitr

The holiday of Eid ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر‎) marks the end of the fasting period of Ramadan and the first day of the following month, after another new moon has been sighted. The Eid falls after 29 or 30 days of fasting, per the lunar sighting. Eid ul-Fitr means the Festival of Breaking the Fast; a special celebration is made. Food is donated to the poor (Zakat al-fitr); everyone puts on their best, usually new, clothes; and communal prayers are held in the early morning, followed by feasting and visiting relatives and friends. The prayer is two Raka'ahs only, and it is optional (mustahabb) prayer as opposed to the compulsory five daily prayers. Muslims are expected to do this as an act of worship, and to thank God.

New Born Babies

Babies fuss sometimes. It’s part of being a baby, and there’s not a whole lot you can do to stop it. Fussiness and crying can be brought on by anything from hunger or discomfort to loneliness or a sense of frustration. Babies have a difficult time communicating what they want, and in many cases really don’t even know what they want. Their ability to process why they don’t feel happy at the moment is almost as primitive at first as their ability to express their frustration is.

Of course, some babies are more strong willed and prone to being fussy than others. That’s perfectly normal. How many parents have told you that one of their babies was a “good baby” and the other one was a “terror?”

Regardless of how often, how hard, or how long your baby cries or fusses, though, you can do yourself and your baby a favor by remaining calm. Emotions are powerful things, and you can bet that your baby picks up on yours. When you are frustrated or angry, she picks up on that. Likewise, when you are happy and peaceful, she senses that as well.

It can be difficult to stay calm when your baby is crying. Your natural instinct as a parent is to try to meet her needs, and when nothing you try seems to be working it can be very frustrating, especially if you don’t have a naturally calm temperament. Here are some things you can do to help yourself remain calm when your baby is anything but:

• - Sing. Soft, sweet songs not only help baby calm down, but mom and dad as well.
• - Pray. If it’s not your thing, that’s fine, but many people do find a lot of comfort in praying.
• - Meditate. We don’t suggest doing this while the baby is actually fussy and needy, but many parents find that meditating for a little while every day helps them to relax and stay calmer throughout the day.
• - Play soothing music. Turn the radio or mp3 player on to something nice and relaxing. Soft jazz or Classical music is perfect for this.
• -Talk calmly to baby. Using a soothing tone, even in speaking, calms you as much, and maybe more, than it does baby.
• - Step out of the room if you need to. Make sure baby is someplace safe, of course. Understand that being with baby and being overly frustrated isn’t helping meet baby’s needs. Take a step away. Your baby will be OK until you get back, and you will be better prepared to take care of her.
• Send a new born baby gift to lebanon, log on to All Best Ideas.

Summer Activities

Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. It is marked by the longest days and shortest nights. The seasons start on different dates in different cultures based on astronomy and regional meteorology. However, when it is summer in the southern hemisphere it is winter in the northern hemisphere, and vice versa. In areas of the tropics and subtropics, the wet season occurs during the summer. Tropical cyclones develop and roam the tropical and subtropical oceans during the summer. In the interior of continents, thunderstorms are most likely to produce hail during the afternoon and evening. Schools and universities have a summer break to take advantage of the warmer weather and longer days.

In most countries children are out of school during this time of year for summer holidays, although dates vary. In the Northern hemisphere, some begin as early as mid-May, although in England and Wales, school ends in mid- to late July. In the Southern hemisphere, school holiday dates include the major holidays of Christmas and New Year's Day. Summer school holidays in Australia begin a few weeks before Christmas and end in late January to mid-February, with the dates varying in different states.

In higher latitude locations, summer is the time for road resurfacing, as winter ice and snow leaves potholes behind in the pavement due to the expansion and contraction of ice and snow during the winter months. Construction jobs tend to have minimum temperature requirements in order for work to be accomplished, such as the laying of concrete. This is because materials like concrete take increasingly longer to dry within cold temperature regimes. Also, working within warmer weather regimes is done to prevent expansion of ice within the new material, which decreases its potential strength and integrity.

People take advantage of the warmer temperatures by spending more time outdoors during the summer. Activities such as traveling to the beach and picnics occur during summer months. Sports such as cricket, volleyball, skateboarding, baseball, softball, soccer, tennis, water polo, and football are played. Water skiing is a uniquely summer sport, which is done when waters approach their warmest of the year.

One of the most famous summer activities is swimming. Swimming aims for exercise and for cooling down from the hot summer temperatures. People usually wear a swimming suit when swimming, log on to www.allbestideas.com and shop for a trendy swimming suit. Be fashionable in swimming.

Spring Time

The spring of the year is a favorite season for many people, and it is certainly easy to understand why this is so. The spring is when the earth comes back to life after a long cold winter, and it is in the spring when the first flowers begin to bloom and the green world begins to return after its winter slumber.

The power of spring and its regenerative effects are evidenced by the fact that every major religion includes a major holiday in the spring season. From Passover to Easter, it seems that every culture marks spring with a celebration of renewal and new life. It is easy to understand how in times past ancient cultures were overjoyed by the power of spring and the beauty of new life.

The spring is an important season for many hobbies, including of course gardening. For the gardener, the spring is one of the most pleasant times in the garden. The spring is the time when the bulbs that were carefully planted in the fall begin to grow and blossom, and the spring is when the first seedlings are carefully nestled in the garden. There is no doubt that the spring is one of the most beautiful, and most colorful, of all seasons for the gardener.

The spring is also a favorite time for home improvement projects that could not go forward while the weather was too cold. Whether it is a small project like installing new downspouts or a large project like building a new garage or storage shed, the spring is one of the best times to work at improving the value and livability of the home. In the spring, the weather is neither too hot nor too cold, and the homeowner has plenty of daylight in which to work. It is no wonder that the spring season is one of the busiest for home improvement stores and warehouses.

For the outdoor sports enthusiast, there is nothing like the coming of the spring season. For the fisherman, the coming of spring means the first day of trout season. For the avid hiker, spring means that those favorite trails are no longer impassable due to snow, and for the horseback rider spring means being able to take a ride without first bundling up. And of course spring means the opening of baseball season, a joy for spectators and players alike.

Send Gifts, Flowers, Cakes, Balloons, Pets, Perfumes, and many more. Send Gifts to Lebanon via www.allbestideas.com

Easter

Easter is a time of springtime festivals. In Christian countries Easter is celebrated as the religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the celebrations of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity.

Scholars, accepting the derivation proposed by the 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, believe the name Easter is thought to come from the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre," both Goddesses of mythology signifying spring and fertility whose festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox.

Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.

The Christian celebration of Easter embodies a number of converging traditions with emphasis on the relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name used by Europeans for Easter. Passover is an important feast in the Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8 days and commemorates the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.

Easter is observed by the churches of the West on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or following the spring equinox (March 21). So Easter became a "movable" feast which can occur as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

Christian churches in the East which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observe Easter according to the date of the Passover festival.

Easter is at the end of the Lenten season, which covers a forty-six-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter. The Lenten season itself comprises forty days, as the six Sundays in Lent are not actually a part of Lent. Sundays are considered a commemoration of Easter Sunday and have always been excluded from the Lenten fast. The Lenten season is a period of penitence in preparation for the highest festival of the church year, Easter.

Holy Week, the last week of Lent, begins with the observance of Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday takes its name from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the crowds laid palms at his feet. Holy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, which was held the evening before the Crucifixion. Friday in Holy Week is the anniversary of the Crufixion, the day that Christ was crucified and died on the cross.

Holy week and the Lenten season end with Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Lebanon is one the countries that celebrates Easter. Send an Easter gift to your close ones in Lebanon, Send Chocolate eggs to Lebanon. Click Here

Mother's Day History

The history of Mother's Day is centuries old and goes back to the times of ancient Greeks, who held festivities to honor Rhea, the mother of the gods. The early Christians celebrated the Mother's festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. Interestingly, later on a religious order stretched the holiday to include all mothers, and named it as the Mothering Sunday. The English colonists settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time. In 1872 Julia Ward Howe organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace. It is a landmark in the history of Mother's Day.

In 1907, Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948), a Philadelphia schoolteacher, began a movement to set up a national Mother's Day in honor of her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis. She solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create a special day to honor mothers. The first Mother's Day observance was a church service honoring Anna's mother. Anna handed out her mother's favorite flowers, the white incarnations, on the occasion as they represent sweetness, purity, and patience. Anna's hard work finally paid off in the year 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.

Slowly and gradually the Mother's day became very popular and gift giving activity increased. All this commercialization of the Mother's day infuriated Anna as she believed that the day's sentiment was being sacrificed at the expense of greed and profit.

Make your Mom happy on her special day of the year. log on to www.allbestideas.com and choose for her the gift she will never forget.

Connecting Flower's Color to Aspects of Life

Roses come in a wide range of colors. Each different color has a different meaning. It sends a silent, yet extremely important message from the sender to receiver.
Make sure you are sending the right message when you select roses for someone, else he or she will get the wrong message!


 

Red	Love, beauty, courage and respect
White	Purity and innocence, silence or secrecy, also reverence and humility
Pink	Appreciation, “Thank you", grace, perfect happiness, and admiration
Dark Pink	Appreciation, gratitude
Light Pink	admiration, sympathy
Yellow	Joy, gladness, friendship, delight, the promise of a new beginning
Orange	Desire, and enthusiasm
Red and White	Given together, these signify unity.
Red Rosebud	A symbol of purity and loveliness
White Rosebud	Symbolic of girlhood
Thorn less Rose	Signifies "Love at first sight".

Figure out what you want to indicate when sending a flower, then log on to www.allbestideas.com, choose the specific flower or bouquet, and send it to the person you want.

Valentine's Day Statistics

Valentine's Day, the season of love, romance, and more love. For many, Valentine's Day is a mad rush act of booking the perfect restaurant, ordering the perfect arrangement of jaunty roses, and wrapping that perfect, extravagant Valentine gift. While for some, the season of hearts passes by quietly, unceremoniously, just like any other day.

Valentine's Day has often been criticized as just an excuse for consumerism, an opportunity for businesses. Consequently, cynics everywhere have also unfairly stained the well-meaning tradition of sending Valentine cards. As if it is Hallmark's fault that people are only sending cards perfunctorily, without thought at all, but just to get over the holiday. Indeed, Valentine's Day is the second largest card-exchanging holiday next to Christmas, making Hallmark the unmistakable industry leader.

Other Valentine's Day statistics are:

-85% of all Valentine cards are bought by women.

-73% of flowers are bought by men, and only 27% are by women.

-Chocolate and candy sales reach profits of $1,011 billion during Valentines.

-Approximately one in four Americans do not celebrate the holiday at all. In addition, 15% of American women (and even men) send flowers to themselves on Valentine's Day.

-There is no shortage of places where you can buy flowers for your valentine: there were 26,400 florists nationwide, employing 123,600 persons, in 1995. 

-2005 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey,  found the average consumer will spend $97.27 on Valentine's Day, down slightly from $99.24 last year.

-BUT 61.8 percent of consumers plan on celebrating the holiday, which is up from 59.8 percent one year ago.

-In all, 2005 Valentine's Day spending was forecasted to reach $13.19 billion.