Drug Identification Guide

what nursing drug reference guide/book would you best recommend?

What do you call the drug influence reference card that cops carry? Beat cops carry a quick reference guide (laminated card) that enables them to determine what drug an individual is under the influence of. I'm wondering what that reference card is called and where I can get one?

Nursing Drug Guide on Nokia N72? Hey guys. I'm a nursing student and I've been searching around for a drug reference/guide program where I can download into my Nokia N72, instead of carrying around a big book. It would help tremendously in searching for drugs' information such as the generic vs the brand name, appropriate dosage, side effects, etc... If anybody can find a website that will allow me to download that, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm NOT looking for a free version. I know that I will have to pay and it will be worth it. Thanks.

Ipod touch for medical/drug reference? I am thinking about getting an ipod touch. Palm has fallen so far behind in its technology, that its pitiful. I currently use Taber's and Prentice Hall drug guides as reference books. Does anyone know if these programs work on the ipod touch? I have looked at the Skyscape, here is the link http://www.skyscape.com/intro/iPhoneIntro.aspx. The info is kinda vague, but it looks like you can at least get Taber's. How about thru the App. Store? I do not have iTunes to browse around in but it makes it seem like you can get download just about any kind of application imaginable. Does anyone know if these programs are available via this route? I checked the Unbound website for availability on iTouch just before I posted this question.... I just now got an e-mail from Unbound stating that all their software is now available for iTouch and for iPhone. So there you go, my question is answered... I hope that maybe this will help someone else. Here is the link to purchase http://www.unboundmedicine.com/store/nursing_central_pda_wireless?utm_source=pa&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=nc_ip I am putting my Palm TX up for sale on ebay right now. Anyone interested???

Permission needed when using copyrighted materials as REFERENCE only? REFERENCES such as nursing drug guides or merriam medical dictionary-- making a compendium using this 2 as references do you need permission?

Is there a reference guide how to survive the downfall of civilization? Say a disaster like an Electro Magnetic Pulse takes out all the power and communication systems as well as taking out almost anything else with microprocessors like cars, radios, blood sugar monitors, pacemakers, etc. Is there a reference guide to teach us old skills long since lost? Like how to grow our own food in victory gardens and can it. How to live without running water and toilet paper. How to avoid old diseases like typhoid and cholera that we haven't seen in many decades. What to use for medicines when the drugs run out, etc. What I'd really love to see is a really big book with these kind of topics covered and many others. Basically a book for the longer term, beyond the 3 days to 2 weeks until help arrives. How about how to get by for the next year until help arrives.

Does anyone know a good reference to find the peak effect of prescription drugs? I'm currently working on a project that involves putting together a list of drugs. I have most of the project done but can not find the peak action and duration of action for most of the drugs. Right now I'm using the PDR (2009) Nurse's Drug Handbook and the Complete Guide to Prescription and Nonprescription Drugs (2005). Can anyone in the medical field point me in any other directions? Thanks!

Help...I need to know if I am doing this right....? How do I make drug cards for nursing school? I have the preprinted ones and I am using Davis's Drug Guide for a reference...I just don't know how I am suppose to fit all this information on a 5x8 card..Help...is it okay to add another card???? in the spot for nursing interventions is this the same thing as implementation on the actual drug page in Davis's drug guide???

In APA style, how do I cite more than one study at a time? You would think it would be easy to find this in an APA Reference Guide, but I'm having a hard time finding it. In the author-date style of referencing, how do I cite more than one study? Would this be correct, with a semi-colon: Many studies have demonstrated that addictive drugs tend to release dopamine into the brain. (Fowler, Swanson, Volkow & Wang 2004; Bechtel W. & Graham G. 1999)

Medical question Please help!!!!!!!? Interpret the following order. ibuprofen 600 mg qid pc and hs prn muscle spasms a. ibuprofen 600 mg by mouth four times a day for muscle spasms b. ibuprofen 600 mg by mouth four times a day after meals and at bedtime for muscle spasms c. ibuprofen 600 mg by mouth daily after a meal or at bedtime as needed for muscle spasms d. ibuprofen 600 mg by injection three times a day after a meal and at bedtime as needed for muscle spasms e. ibuprofen 600 mg by mouth four times a day after meals and at bedtime as needed for muscle spasms A drug reference book that shows a product identification guide, indexed by manufacturers, products, diagnostics, and brand names, is called the a. nurses' drug book b. GenRx c. PDR d. all of the above e. a and b only

Need help with 5 paragraph essay guide, I'm a little confused.? My U.S. History teacher gave us a guideline for a 5 paragraph essay we were supposed to turn in over a week ago (I've been out, missed the explanation) and it looks like this: Paragraph #1 -Grabber -Background -Stating the question with key terms defined -Thesis and road map Paragraph #2 -Baby thesis for bucket one -Evidence: supporting detail with reference to specific document(s) -Argument: connecting evidence to the thesis Paragraphs 3 and 4 pretty much a repeat of 2. Paragraph #5 -Conclusion: Statement of main idea, along with fresh insight or wrinkle This is her exact wording for the guide, I'm just a bit confused because I haven't seen some of these terms. What is a road map (to go with the thesis), a bucket (I need a 'baby' thesis for one in each body paragraph). and a wrinkle (needed for conclusion). Are these real? Or was my teacher just on drugs when she wrote this up?

an ipad for nursing school? before you say it-i have a laptop!!! I am thinking about the ipad for things like drug references, as i have seen these books on the app store, as well as for a studying guide. also, i am an avid reader:) what do you think?

Is mass effect 2 suitable for a 15 year old? I didn't buy mass effect of the sexual themes i heard of but i really want to buy mass effect 2, I love sci-fi,rpg and shooting games. I'm fifteen years old and im really looking forward to mass effect 2. But my mom wants to know is it suitable for me (she's great). I play a lot of violent games (e.g. bio-shock, prototype, crysis, borderlands,far cry2 etc.) and my mom knows i'm mature enough to handel (again she's great) but sexual themes or content she's not comfortable with. I've read the pegi rating system and its only language and violence. My mom is ok with that, but then i've read the esrb rating and then I wonder. It says: Content descriptors: Blood, Drug Reference, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence Rating summary: In this action role-playing game, players' objective is to defeat an alien enemy that is silently abducting entire human colonies. Players must assemble a team of henchmen, command a space ship, and travel to distant planets across a futuristic galaxy. At its core, the game involves a combination of conversation/interaction with characters, and ground-based (i.e., "run-and-gun") space battle: Players use assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and pistols to kill humans, robots, and aliens in the frenetic third-person firefights. Some enemies emit large splashes of blood when shot (particularly with "head shots"); several enemies lie stagnant in pools of blood—factors for the Mature rating. Henchmen are able to freeze and shatter enemies, engage in melee attacks, set robots on fire, and use telekinesis to disable aliens. A handful of cutscenes depict dramatic interrogations in which human characters are threatened, punched, kicked, and shot (in the leg) by alien creatures. The game contains themes of illicit drug use, addiction, and trafficking—often focal points to the branching storylines; for example, "Morinth likes dancing while on a drug called Hallex," "Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked," and "The asari injecting so many drugs into me was terrifying." During the course of the game, players may enter a bar where alien pole dancing exists (choreography highlighted on big-screen monitors) or hear suggestive comments such as "krogan sexual deviants enjoy salarian flexibility" and "if this is just about sex, maybe you should just f**king say so." [Italics added] Players can also choose to have "romantic encounters" with the alien/human henchmen characters; this involves watching a guided cutscene in which two characters flirt, kiss, and/or embrace: clothed alien/human characters may prop a partner on top of a space console, clear away the clutter from a bed-slab, unzip a future-blouse, or just talk it out. Though an alien/human may gyrate her hips while on top (fleeting—one-to-two seconds), actual sex is never depicted—the camera cuts away to space furniture and ceilings. Sorry i posted everything i'm just making sure about everything. My mom is ok with the language but unsure about the drugs. But she trusts me. The only thing shes really concerned about is the sexual content. So i'm asking you: is it suitable for a 15 year old. My mom will allow me to pre-order it if she years its ok from other people. And please no wise-cracks or anyting like mommas boy, answer the question or don't post anything. thank you

what should I do when The H.Pylori IgG (EIA) result is positive and it is equal 52.3? Hello this is Farideh Eskandai I got a blood biochemistry test. The H.Pylori IgG (EIA) result is positive and it is equal 52.3 it is dangerous because the reference range is more than 30 and positive. The doctor told me the it may caused to cancer and I should use these drugs for 14 days: 1-Metronidazole (4 tablets after a meal every day) 2-Amoxicillin ( 2 tablets every 12 hours ) 3-Omeprazole 20 (2 tablets before breakfast everyday) 4-Bismuth sub citrate (1 tablets before a meal everyday) I’m so much worry about this disease .would you please guide me that if I should eat this tablets?and if not ,please tell me that what should I do. With the best regards.

According to the Bible, what are permissible reasons for divorce? Most of us have heard that divorce is a valid reason for divorce. However, according to a Christian book I read, rape, physical and emotional abuse, and abuse of drugs and alcohol are also reasons for divorce. However, I was wondering is: desertion, rape of your child or another person, murder or crime against another person, and deception of e.g. ones sterility are also valid reasons for divorce? What is your husband or wife breaks a promise that would have been a deal breaker (e.g. you say you will ONLY marry the person if they move with you to Europe in the future)? What if your husband or wife decides to convert to another religion? Are there any specific Bible references you can guide me to? Thanks PS I am not married or anything, just curious. I am not only looking for Bible quotes, I am wondering how you feel about each scenario (e.g. would you divorce your wife or husband if they raped your child) and your interpretation of the Bible and Christianity. Thanks again:)

What is 'Imagination'? please, no examples of...? So, in the case of Imagination... the guiding hand of creativity, of hallucinations, of dreams... what IS it? In the arts of divining, astral projection, summonings... in the wakeful dreaming states of spiritual rapture, of drug and poison-induced hallucinations, of divine visions... WHAT GUIDES THE HAND OF THE MIND? The answer 'god' is forbidden in this answering, for not only does it show the inability to vary your answers, but it does not satisfy my curiousity. Being that I study the Qabalah and use many references to gods, angels, kings, etc... I tend to say that it is the 'creative powers of the archangels', but merely a metaphore is all that that is... for what? It seems that Imagination has purpose, it gave us literature/ language/ art/ science/ and more...

Is This Is A Good Idea For Legalizing Marijuana? So I was sitting in my bathroom after finishing a bowl when I thought of what could possibly be one of the best ideas to help legalize Marijuana. Any common pothead will tell you that Marijuana is the best thing since sliced bread and considering that their are millions (possibly billions) of individuals currently smoking weed on a day-to-day basis, the thought of legalizing this wonder plant races through millions of minds a day; theoretically. Well, I need the minds of these dedicated and extremely intelligent (contrary to popular belief in regards to constant reefer smoking) minds to help guide me on a quest to making history. So we all know that Marijuana has had an extensive history of legal issues that began with its original banning when African Americans had, yet again, something else taken away from us but the consensus that I have gathered is that Marijuana has remained illegal for so long because of tax purposes. Well that's all political jargon when referencing an actual plant but what about the good stuff; y'know, the stuff that we're in it for: THC baby!! Basically, what if there was a way to extract THC (Like with Hash Oil or simply Hash) and artificially inject or place it into other common and very legal things so that the actual active ingredient in Marijuana is savored and re-used? I know it's kind of hard to understand but I guess the best way to wrap one's head around it would be to imagine walking into the local corner store or gas station and seeing a pack of candy with the concentration of THC printed on the bag in some fancy lettering or going to the local Mom & Pop's and picking up a vile of Hash Oil that one can use with virtually anything. Granted, the idea is heavily undercooked but imagine the larger picture. Not only can the government begin to tax the drug but then they can begin to cultivate the plant, develop labs to perfectly extract the THC, and reintegrate it with more common items. As many seasoned potheads are aware of, whenever even a low grade of Marijuana is used to make Hash or Oil with, the concentration of the THC is profoundly increased so imagine how much the government could raise the prices for some real "Bubblegum Kush". Obviously, this would clear many other impurities in our society that can be found when listening to any average 6th grader's report on why Marijuana should be legal but I truly do think that, if put into the right person's hands, this idea could possibly be tightened and altered into a historical legalization. If you think this is a possibility, please also direct me to who the proper individuals that would need to be aware of this would be. Anything would help and big points (Woohooo??) go to the best answer. Thanks guys!

Scenario AnalysisIn this assignment you are required to apply Fuller’s Principle, as cited above, and respond? Scenario Analysis Lon L. Fuller, then Carter Professor of Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School, observed in The Morality of Law, “Even if a man is answerable only to his conscience, he will answer more responsibly if he is compelled to articulate principles on which he acts.” Source: Lon L. Fuller, The Morality of Law (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1975), p. 159. Assignment: In this assignment you are required to apply Fuller’s Principle, as cited above, and respond to three real-life scenarios regarding ethical decision making within the field of criminal justice and policing. In considering each of the three scenarios, you are asked to respond to the following four questions: Is there a moral problem presented in the scenario? If so, what is it? Does policy or law dictate an appropriate response, or does it require that professional discretion be applied? What criteria (considerations), principles and consequences should guide your decision? What would you do? Articulate, justify and defend your position. First, read each scenario. Second, analyze the ethical dilemma within the context of the four questions specified above. Third respond in writing to the each of the four questions. Each essay response should be brief, not more than one page. The entire paper should be two to four pages in length. You may use references to support your responses, but the essays responses must be original. Scenario 1 - Drugs at a Friend’s House You are an off duty police officer at a party at the house of an old high school friend. Everyone is still in the backyard drinking. You go into the house to use the restroom and observe several of your buddy’s friends (whom you do not know) snorting cocaine. You do not know whether or not your friend has knowledge that people are using drugs in his house. Scenario 2 - Accepting a Gift It is the day before Christmas and you are a community policing officer. An owner of a small market has been friendly to you throughout the year and has participated faithfully in community crime prevention meetings. He calls you behind the counter and gives you a fruit basket for your family and a Christmas card with a $30 gift certificate as an expression of his appreciation. Scenario 3 - Homosexual Partner You are a supervisor on a medium-size police department. Office Ted Jones is an excellent officer and has been on the force for sixteen years. He is also a homosexual and hangs out at a known gay bar in his off-time. You have two person patrols and Jones was recently teamed with Officer James Davis. Officer Davis comes to you and asks to be assigned to another partner because Jones is a homosexual.

Please rate this start of non fiction book? I am writing a book on how to make the most out of high school. It is meant to be a funny, light hearted book, and has a couple of references to humor. Here are the table of contents and the first couple of pages! Table of Contents PART I. GRASPING THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF HIGH SCHOOL Introduction: What you should know. Unit 1: Beginning the Journey Chapter 1: The First Day… Section 1: Friends Section 2: Teachers Section 3: The Upper Classmen Chapter 2: Adapting… Section 1: Knowing what to do Section 2: Recognizing workload Section 3: Adjusting habits Chapter 3: Taking the next step… Section 1: Learning grading systems Section 2: Getting Known Section 3: Keeping Goals in mind Unit 2: Making a successful Journey Chapter 4: Extra Curricular Activities and Sports Section 1: The Importance of Extra Curricular Section 2: How to select which ones to be involved in Section 3: Involvement Chapter 5: Character development Section 1: Being a good citizen Section 2: Drunk Driving Section 3: Drugs and Peer Pressure Chapter 6: The Problem Bank Section 1: Bullies Section 2: Problems with teachers Section 3: Problems with other peers PART II. MASTERING ALL OF THE CONCEPTS OF HIGH SCHOOL Unit 3: Being Successful! Chapter 7: Academics Section 1: Classes Section 2: Grades Section 3: Working with teachers Chapter 8: Necessary Skills Section 1: Time management Section 2: Studying Skills Section 3: Volunteering and being prepared Chapter 9: Getting help when needed Section 1: Family Problems Section 2: Difficulties with grades Section 3: Teachers’ Expectations and your Expectations Unit 4: Stress Chapter 10: Partner Problems! Section 1: How to make loved ones happy Section 2: The Importance of breaking up Section 3: How to get over it... Chapter 11: Introduction to a social and academic life Section 1: How to deal with friends Section 2: How to make friends Section 3: How to successfully live a stress free social and academic life Chapter 12: How to overcome stress Section 1: Finding the proper help and Guidance Counselors Section 2: The Importance of a Stress-Free life Section 3: Special Exercises and dealing with problems Unit 5: Ending the journey Chapter 13: Your expectations Section 1: Academic expectations Section 2: College Expectations Section 3: Being ultimately successful Chapter 14: College! Section 1: Applying Section 2: How to prepare Section 3: The SAT Chapter 15: Successfully going out of high school Section 1: What you should have successfully performed Section 2: Analyzing mistakes Section 3: Learning the true importance of high school and conclusion Introduction Before you start reading anything I have to say to you, let me assure you that this book is not intended for you if you are not willing to work diligently. If you do not care about where you end up in life, then you can throw this book away. Or sell it. Or burn it. Or feed it to your dog. Or just eat it yourself. Now, let’s get to the important part. This book is a complete guide on how to make the most out of your high school journey. If you were a student that failed continually throughout your elementary and middle school career, this guide may actually help you change, but only if you are willing to learn how to change. If you are determined to go to an excellent university and experience the enjoyment, opportunities, and wonderful moments high school offers, than this guide will help you achieve your dream. High School is arguably the most important phase of one’s life, besides puberty, because it determines where one will end up in life. Of course, you can drop out of high school and still be exceedingly rich, but that only happens if luck likes you. Luck was certainly on Bill Gate’s side when he dropped out. But if you want to be well educated and get a career the proper (and maybe normal) way, then high school serves as a key portion of your life. Education doesn’t actually begin in high school; in fact education doesn’t even begin in Pre K or kindergarten, or even daycare. Education is simply defined as the process of acquiring knowledge. This process will last you your entire life, and begins for you on the day you were born. When you were a little baby, drinking out of your sexy little pink bottle, you were acquiring knowledge. Obviously you weren’t thi

Please tell me what you think? This is the begining to one of the chapters in a book I am writing, please tell me what you honestly think. Thank you :) The following morning Isla was suffering from the excruciating pain of a migraine. She refused to even open her eyes in hopes of sleeping off the horrible throbbing sensation; she knew the morning sunshine would only contribute to her symptom. It was not unusual for Isla to be the victim of a severe headache, but it was not only her head that was bothersome. In fact, her whole body ached from head to toe. Her stomach was nauseous and her entire lower body was extremely tender and sore; especially in the groin region. It was as if she had a bad case of the flu that had escalated beyond the common cold. The pain was so intolerable that it was all Isla could think about. Isla battled with these terrible aches and pains for what seemed to be an hour without any luck of being relieved. She decided to finally give up and open her eyes, only to find that she couldn’t see anything. “Oh my God,” she shuddered in panic. She closed her eyes once more only to see the same nothingness when they reopened. She reached for her eyes and discovered there was nothing there to mask them. “What the hell?” she rubbed her eyes vigorously in desperation. Had she gone blind? Isla’s mind became overwhelmed with fear and confusion. She felt extremely dizzy, like her brain had jolted around in her skull; but with no reference point in sight Isla couldn’t confirm this. Was she delusional? “Oh my God, Oh my God,” she repeatedly shrieked in horror as she began feeling her surroundings, searching for answers. The last clear memory that came to Isla’s mind was smoking a joint in Rodney’s car, but she couldn’t remember for the life of her the events that had followed. Where was she? How did she get there? Why was she blind? An entire piece of Isla’s life had been erased and she was determined to put the pieces together. She first felt around next to her, the ground feel rough and sturdy; certainly not a bed at the Marriott. Isla’s arm guided her hands until they reached a wall, which was about six inches away on each side. She then stretched her arms upward; they couldn’t even fully extend before reaching the ceiling that was only and an inch or two above her. Isla’s initial reaction was that she was in a coffin, waiting to suffocate to death. But a small tunnel of light beamed through the corner of the ceiling, Isla was not blind after all; she was trapped in some sort of dark box. “Help!” Isla began to scream as she banged loudly against the roof of the box, she continued to scream and bang until her voice grew hoarse and hands became bruised. Isla reached a terrible realization; she was drugged and raped last night without even knowing it. She vomited at the thought. This must have been some sort of crazy nightmare, but Isla knew it was all too real thanks to her lack of common sense last night. How could she have been so stupid? She had never been unfaithful to Jack and now her stupidity was the only one to blame. If Isla had never left the Barry’s house she would have never found herself in this situation. She began to think of how many times Jack must’ve called her phone, wondering where she was as much as she did herself.

A new kind of politics? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0704060020apr06,1,1855420.story?coll=chi-news-hed&?track=sto-topstory MEXICANS IN CHICAGO: A NEW KIND OF POLITICS Influence on both sides of the border Activists' political power is rising in Chicago and their homeland, as they seek reforms through marches and money Advertisement By Antonio Olivo and Oscar Avila Tribune staff reporters April 6, 2007 To outsiders, the men and women gathered inside a sleepy West Side restaurant may have seemed unlikely power brokers: a janitor, a real estate agent and others hardly known outside their circuit of neighborhood dances and back-yard barbecues. Jose Luis Gutierrez, who plotted strategy with the group as a soccer match flickered on a nearby TV, was himself a wholesale grocer until last year. But Gutierrez is now a top aide to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and he was joined at the table by leaders of Chicago-area Mexican immigrant clubs, the engines behind a new political movement that is making itself felt from Illinois to Michoacan. Gutierrez received smiling nods when he likened the political muscle of the region's 563,000 Mexican immigrants to the power of Irish-Americans in the 19th and 20th Centuries, who came to control the Chicago machine. In May, the strength of Mexicans will be on display when many of the region's 300 immigrant clubs -- known as "hometown associations" -- will help organize a march in downtown Chicago a year after their political coming-out party, demonstrations that flooded the Loop last spring and charged the national immigration debate. For decades Mexican hometown associations have functioned as social networks whose members pooled their money earned here to help build new schools or churches back in Mexico. But leaders in Chicago's largest immigrant group have a more ambitious worldview than their predecessors, even more than the ethnic blocs that preceded them decades ago. Some, like Gutierrez, wield growing influence in both countries. One morning, he's unveiling a blueprint for more immigrant services in Illinois as director of the state's Office of New Americans Policy and Advocacy. The next night, he's brainstorming with activists in his home state of Michoacan about a slate of candidates for Mexico's congress. An active role in Mexican politics might seem at odds with building political influence here. But Gutierrez and others say they form a budding new political consciousness among Mexican immigrants -- a "third nation" of sorts that transcends the border, advancing the community's cause on both sides. "The nation-state concept is changing," said Gutierrez, 46, who came to Chicago in 1986 and led one of the Midwest's largest federations of hometown associations. "You don't have to say, `I am Mexican,' or, `I am American.' You can be a good Mexican citizen and a good American citizen and not have that be a conflict of interest. Sovereignty is flexible." That concept worries some U.S. officials and scholars who see the dual loyalty as undermining the assimilation of Mexican immigrants. Irish, German and Polish immigrants eventually melded into Chicago's landscape, their ties to their native soil largely sentimental. But Mexican immigrants today are linked to their homeland like no group before, scholars say, connected by NAFTA, satellite TV, the Internet, cell phones and cheap non-stop flights. In Mexico, their power stems from the nearly $25 billion these immigrants send home every year, the country's second-highest source of income behind oil. Their political influence surfaces in places like Teloloapan, far up in the cactus-filled hills of the state of Guerrero, where a Chicago restaurateur helped build new roads and business. Grateful townspeople elected him mayor in a landslide. In the U.S., immigrants' power is driven by numbers and a growing deftness at the levers of this country's political machinery. That recently manifested itself in a fledgling political action committee called Mexicans for Political Progress, which raised $23,000 for Blagojevich's re-election and rallied volunteers to walk precincts during November's election. An unfolding movement Fabian Morales, a soft-spoken Realtor with a well-clipped mustache, stands at the center of the unfolding movement. He handled logistics for three massive immigration marches in Chicago last year -- including a four-day walk to suburban Batavia -- and co-founded Mexicans for Political Progress. After coming to Chicago in 1970, Morales helped launch one of the city's then-few hometown clubs, devoted to his tiny native village of Xonacatla, Guerrero. Back then, Xonacatla was without roads, potable water or electricity. It was a slow journey from other towns by foot or horseback, Morales said. The club members in Chicago resolved to change that. Collecting $50 to $100 at a time, Morales and others raised enough through barbecues and door-to-door soliciting to replace a house used for worship services with a towering marble church that rises from the green hillside. Morales has since helped develop CONFEMEX, an umbrella organization for most of the hometown clubs in the Midwest. Among other things, the group is a central voice in economic development in Mexico, representing an estimated $340 million in projects generated by U.S.-based hometown associations in the last five years, according to Mexican federal officials. "We want to focus on creating more jobs there so they don't have to think about emigrating," Morales said. The rising activity of hometown associations caught the eye of the Mexican government, which eventually created a "3-for-1" matching project, where federal, state and local governments split the cost of a new bridge or computer center with the U.S.-based groups. Those projects have given Mexican immigrants "a great moral authority" in their homeland, as well as political cachet, said Carlos Gonzalez, executive director of the Institute for Mexicans in the Exterior, or IME, a Mexican federal government agency that fosters stronger ties with expatriates. "During the 1970s, [Mexicans] called the people who left Mexico and acclimated to the U.S. 'pocho,' which, if you look in the dictionary, means 'spoiled fruit,' " Gonzalez said. "The change we've seen in the public perception of Mexicans in the exterior has been 180 degrees." In 2006, citizens abroad were allowed to vote in Mexican presidential elections for the first time. Leaders are also pushing for changes that would allow expatriates to vote in local elections and even hold elective offices while residing abroad. Recently, Gutierrez and others persuaded Michoacan to become the first state in Mexico to extend voting rights to expatriates. Their rationale: Almost half of those born in Michoacan, Zacatecas and several other Mexican states now live in the U.S. Timoteo "Alex" Manjarrez, 44, is among a small but growing number of Mexican immigrants making a bolder claim in their motherland. Arriving from his native town of Teloloapan, Guerrero, in 1980, Manjarrez spent 19 years in Chicago. The stocky, boyish-looking immigrant worked for years as a dishwasher at the Columbia Yacht Club and, eventually, became owner of three Mexican restaurants in the city. Fulfilling a desire shared by many immigrants, Manjarrez moved back to his native town in 1999 with enough money for his family to live comfortably. But the place he had longed for all those years was still frustratingly poor, despite the investments Manjarrez's hometown club made in new roads and other improvements. Manjarrez, who holds both Mexican and U.S. citizenship, settled in and quickly built a new health club and a hacienda-style restaurant named La Condesa, after the three he still owns in Chicago. In 2004, he ran for mayor of Teloloapan. With long-distance backing from his hometown club friends in Chicago, who sent money and telephoned friends and local officials on his behalf, Manjarrez won handily. 'The city that works' Since taking office, the man who sees Mayor Richard M. Daley as a political role model has pushed to remake Teloloapan into a Mexican version of "the city that works." The effort includes newly paved streets, a recreation center that replaces a local swamp known as "black waters," and a towering hotel being built privately by Manjarrez's family. Next to a new medical clinic, a donated Chicago ambulance sits in the parking lot. Its emblem has been painted over, but it serves as a reminder of the continued links Manjarrez has to his former city, where he maintains a home near Midway Airport, votes in U.S. elections and checks in on his businesses. Aurelio Santamaria Bahena, mayor of a town near Manjarrez's called Tlapehuala, labeled such changes "a blessing" for an area of Mexico dominated by crumbling lean-to houses and children in bare feet pulling bone-thin donkeys. But, as with other parts of the country where the immigrant handprint is deepening, the introduction of U.S.-style governance has also bred resentment. Local leaders of Manjarrez's own Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are trying to drum him out of office, arguing he is too brash and condescending. The mayor counters the fight is about his efforts to take away "a plate of corruption that they've been able to eat from for years." The conflict was an uncomfortable backdrop during a recent PRD strategy meeting at a restaurant in Chilpancingo, Guerrero's capital. Headlines that morning featured a march against Manjarrez, orchestrated by his opponents. "People see you as an outsider," a worried Santamaria cautioned Manjarrez. "People don't think you see things as they are here." Manjarrez, wearing a black "La Condesa" windbreaker, patted his friend on the back and smiled. He had a media plan, one that might have made Daley proud. "We'll publish photos of the streets of Teloloapan before and after I came into office," Manjarrez said. "And, we'll ask the people: `Which would you prefer?' " That same week, Mexican immigrants from the U.S. and Canada met in Mexico City, as members of an advisory council created by the Mexican government. With a brash American style, they soon escalated their advice to demands, the members' voices echoing through the meeting hall. Morales, the Chicago Realtor, and about 100 other council members pushed Mexico to lobby the U.S. harder on immigration reform. They chastised their hosts for not creating more jobs. Buttonholing federal legislators in hallways, they reminded elected officials how much their districts relied on money sent from the U.S. They want 'results now' Gregorio Luke, a blond member of the council from Los Angeles partial to designer suits, observed that this kind of behavior wouldn't exist in a purely Mexican forum, where deference toward authority guides nearly all dialogue. "These people come here speaking Spanish, but they're negotiating as Americans," said Luke, a museum director who once oversaw cultural affairs at the Los Angeles Mexican Consulate. "They want to see results now." The meeting of the advisory council also illustrated the provocative overlap of Mexican and American political action. In addition to all-day strategy sessions on how to improve Mexico, council members brainstormed over late-night drinks on next moves in the fight for U.S. immigration reform. Many members had used their existing e-mail network to coordinate simultaneous demonstrations in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. Though not active participants in the U.S. immigrant movement, Mexican officials urged their compatriots to keep on fighting. "Let there be no barriers or walls between Mexicans here on the inside and the outside," former Mexican President Vicente Fox told the group, referring to a 2006 U.S. law that allows for a 700-mile fence to be built at the border. The audience stood and cheered. The idea that the Mexican government might be helping its nationals shape U.S. politics has raised red flags, both in the halls of academia and in the more volatile world of talk radio and the Internet. Robert Leiken, director of the immigration and national security program at the right-leaning Nixon Center in Washington, argued that binational activism among Mexican immigrants is bad for both countries. In the U.S., the meetings in Spanish and the often-passionate interest in Mexico's future hinder assimilation, he said. In Mexico, the relationship to hometown associations fosters an unhealthy economic dependence on U.S. remittances. "If I went out to Pilsen and spent some time with people from a hometown association, I'd think these are really cool people," Leiken said. But, "Standing back and looking at this from a social policy standpoint, I see some real problems." James McCann, a Purdue University political science professor, found that immigrants interested in Mexican affairs were more likely to participate in U.S. politics. He helped interview about 1,100 Mexican immigrants and found that hometown clubs promoted activism. "The conventional wisdom is that any transnational engagement is going to suck the oxygen out of your civic life in the States," McCann said. "But it seems that if you open a new avenue of expression in Mexico, that new avenue might pay some other dividends in the U.S." Some of those dividends went directly to the Blagojevich campaign last fall, when the governor found himself being serenaded by a trumpet-playing mariachi band inside the Hacienda Tecalitlan restaurant on the Near Northwest Side. Near a trickling courtyard fountain, Morales praised the governor in Spanish at the kickoff dinner for the Mexicans for Political Progress PAC. While Morales once raised money for his hometown with $1 tamales, the price here was as much as $500 a plate. "Let us demonstrate our political power by voting in the election, by voting for our friends interested in the prosperity of Mexicans. Friends like Gov. Rod Blagojevich!" Morales told the crowd. Blagojevich, who speaks a hint of Spanish, took the microphone and shouted: "Viva Chivas!" a reference to a popular Mexican soccer team. When the laughter and applause subsided, he switched to English and added: "By organizing, you are empowering a community. Your voice will be heard." The mood is darker in northwest suburban Carpentersville, where a growing Mexican community has rallied in large numbers in the face of a local backlash against undocumented immigrants. Last fall, about 3,000 Mexican immigrants and their supporters turned up outside Carpentersville's City Hall in an unexpected show of opposition to a proposed ordinance that would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. The crowd was so riled a vote on the ordinance was postponed and has yet to be taken. The quick response came largely due to the hometown association representing the village of La Purisima, Michoacan, local activists said. The club turned to its telephone list of 400 families, said Salvador Balleno, the group's president. The turnout was a victory, but it has not deterred Carpentersville trustees from other proposals that would allow local police to trigger deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants and make English the village's official language. And as Balleno has struggled to register voters and rally volunteers for this month's village elections, even sympathetic politicians have seemed hesitant to link themselves too closely with the hometown association. Balleno now fears the village's hard-liners have the upper hand, intimidating some of the immigrants who protested last fall. "The [club] members know that if these people stay [in office] it is going to affect their kids," Balleno said, sounding anxious that an opportunity was slipping through his fingers. Jose Artemio Arreola, a key organizer of next month's march in Chicago, has been actively monitoring the battle in Carpentersville. He sees the activity there as part of a plan to create a political empire for Mexican immigrants, one linking hometown associations in Chicago and other cities to labor unions and Mexico's congress. His strategy includes moving back to his native state of Michoacan to run for congress there, something Arreola never imagined doing when he left a town overrun by poverty and ruled by local drug kingpins. He got his start in Chicago working in a plastics factory. Frustrated by the union representation there, he ran for shop steward and won. Unable to speak English, he relied on his bilingual co-workers to help him negotiate union contracts. He has since become a school janitor in Oak Park. The position pays little, but it has allowed Arreola to climb the ranks of the Service Employees International Union, where he has become key in that union's national efforts to tap further into the country's exploding Mexican immigrant workforce. All the while, Arreola has used the sharp elbows and old-school union tactics acquired in Chicago to become a power broker in his hometown of Acuitzio del Canje. He started in 2004 when the local mayor refused to back projects proposed by his hometown association. Arreola, a burly backslapper partial to gold neck chains, recalled thinking: "I need to take them out." He recruited a teacher to run for mayor in the Mexican town. Arreola then brought back a town phone book and, with others in Chicago, called voters one by one, promising a stream of U.S. investment if his candidate won. The incumbent opted for traditional rallies and car tours through town with a bullhorn. More than two years later, sitting in a Pilsen restaurant, Arreola opened a laptop computer and showed off the fruits of what proved to be an easy victory. Pictures of a new retirement home popped onto the screen, one featuring a grinning Arreola at a groundbreaking ceremony. Another showed a new computer lab with 40 computers for local schoolchildren, an investment in the future of Acuitzio del Canje. The town's name comes from an 1865 decision to make it the site for a "canje," or exchange of prisoners between warring Mexican and French troops. Sitting deep in the dusty mountains of Michoacan, it was neutral ground back then, Arreola explained, territory that didn't fully belong to either country but, in some ways, belonged to both. ---------- aolivo@tribune.com oavila@tribune.com - - - IN THE WEB EDITION Jose Artemio Arreola is one of several Mexican hometown association leaders in Chicago with multiple connections in Mexico and the U.S. From helping organize last year's massive immigration marches to slating political candidates in his home state, he wields influence on both sides of the border. To learn more about Arreola, watch videos and see photo galleries, go to chicagotribune.com/mexicansinchicago. Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Your Views? So here I am taking time out of my busy schedule to let you and maybe a few other people know that I disagree with McDonalds's cynical threats. The following text regards my complaints of recent days against McDonalds and its subtle but refractory attempts to concentrate all the wealth of the world into its own hands. I've repeatedly pointed out to McDonalds that it has been repeating its lies so often and so loudly that they're beginning to drown out the truth. That apparently didn't register with it, though. Oh, well; I guess I plan to stop McDonalds's encroachments on our heritage. This is a choice I have made; your choice is up to you. But let me remind you that McDonalds refuses to come to terms with reality. It prefers instead to live in a fantasy world of rationalization and hallucination. I once tried to explain to McDonalds that its ballyhoos will substitute breast-beating and schwarmerei for action and honest debate. Rather than feel ashamed of itself, McDonalds got angry at me. What this says is that it is hardly surprising that McDonalds wants to transform our whole society to suit its own vitriolic interests. After all, this is the same cheeky drunk whose noxious prattle informed us that everyone who doesn't share its beliefs is a ridiculous practitioner of scapegoatism deserving of death and damnation. McDonalds's moral immaturity is a perilous failing and an insult to the celebrated virtues of our ancestors. Hard to believe? Then consider the following statement from one of McDonalds's parasitic worshippers: "The majority of spleeny, ill-bred psychics are heroes, if not saints." Pretty debauched, huh? Well, McDonalds is an unsavory lumpenproletariat. I use that label only when it's true. If you don't believe it is, then consider that most people want to be nice; they want to be polite; they don't want to give offense. And because of this inherent politeness, they step aside and let McDonalds use every conceivable form of diplomacy, deception, pressure, coercion, bribery, treason, and terror to retain an institution which, twist and turn as you like, is and remains a disgrace to humanity. I, hardheaded cynic that I am, unquestionably hope that the truth will prevail and that justice will be served before McDonalds does any real damage. Or is it already too late? There aren't enough hours in the day to fully answer that question but consider this: McDonalds has come up with proven methods to create an untrue and injurious impression of an entire people. All you have to do is let your guard down. McDonalds is not just pertinacious; it's uninformed, too. While I don't question McDonalds's motives, and I certainly understand the frustrations of its comrades, it justifies its jealous deeds with fallacious logical arguments based on argumentum ad baculum. In case you're unfamiliar with the term, it means that if we don't accept McDonalds's claim that incontinent fribbles are all inherently good, sensitive, creative, and inoffensive then it will slander those who are most systematically undervalued, underpaid, underemployed, underfinanced, underinsured, underrated, and otherwise underserved and undermined as undeserving and underclass. This is particularly interesting when you consider that every time McDonalds tells its vicegerents that salacious vermin are easily housebroken, their eyes roll into the backs of their heads as they become mindless receptacles of unsubstantiated information, which they accept without question. If McDonalds honestly believes that some of my points are not valid, I would love to get some specific feedback from it. I like to think I'm a reasonable person but you just can't reason with hidebound gasbags. It's been tried. They don't understand, they can't understand, they don't want to understand, and they will die without understanding why all we want is for them not to convert our children to cultural zombies in a mass of unthinking and easily herded proletarian cattle. Regardless of whether we consider McDonalds a lunatic, an evil aggressor, or whatever, its values are so inverted, they would make Lewis Carroll blush. It may mean well but it has been trying hard to protect what has become a lucrative racket for it. Unfortunately, that lucrative racket has a hard-to-overlook consequence: it will encourage a deadly acceptance of intolerance when you least expect it. Many of us do not wish to live within McDonalds's walls of prætorianism. Do I blame society for this? No, I blame McDonalds. Too many emotions to count raced through my mind when I first realized that McDonalds attracts short-sighted backbiters to its philistinism movement by telling them that one can understand the elements of a scientific theory only by reference to the social condition and personal histories of the scientists involved. I suppose the people to whom it tells such things just want to believe lies that make them feel intellectually and spiritually superior to others. Whether or not that's the case, I have to laugh when McDonalds says that it can see to it that all patriotic endeavors are directed down blind alleys where they end in frustration and discouragement and get away with it. Where in the world did it get that idea? Not only does that idea contain absolutely no substance whatsoever but it frequently avers its support of democracy and its love of freedom. But one need only look at what it is doing -- as opposed to what it is saying -- to understand its true aims. I think we can truly say that given a choice of having McDonalds rot our minds with the hallucinatory drug of totalitarianism or having my bicuspids extracted sans Novocaine, I would embrace the pliers, purchase some Polident Partials, and call it a day. Does McDonalds really know anything about the pranks it claims to support? No, it doesn't. I mean, McDonalds keeps stating over and over again that the Eleventh Commandment is, "Thou shalt elevate McDonalds's assertions to prominence as epistemological principles". This drumbeat refrain is clearly not consistent with the facts on the ground -- facts such as that if McDonalds can't stand the heat, it should get out of the kitchen. For the nonce, McDonalds is content to cashier anyone who tries to give our young people the values that will inspire them to shelter initially unpopular truths from suppression, enabling them to ultimately win out through competition in the marketplace of ideas. But by the end of the decade, it will install a puppet government that pledges allegiance to its truculent retinue. If McDonalds were as bright as it thinks it is, it'd know that I recommend paying close attention to the praxeological method developed by the economist Ludwig von Mises and using it as a technique to find the inner strength to show you, as dispassionately as possible, what kind of squalid thoughts McDonalds is thinking about these days. The praxeological method is useful in this context because it employs praxeology, the general science of human action, to explain why ever since McDonalds decided to turn back the clock and repeal all the civil rights and anti-discrimination legislation now on the books, its consistent, unvarying line has been that it is a spokesman for God. McDonalds dismisses its critics as either servants of an existing power structure or as suffering from false consciousness. Don't make the mistake of thinking otherwise. McDonalds does, and that's why if we are to prescribe a course of action, then we must be guided by a healthy and progressive ideology, not by the deceitful and savage ideologies that McDonalds promotes. Still, we shouldn't jump to conclusions, even though it is a known fact that it is easy to see faults in others. But it takes perseverance to change the world for the better. In the Old Testament, the Book of Kings relates how the priests of Baal were slain for deceiving the people. I'm not suggesting that there be any contemporary parallel involving McDonalds, but McDonalds has delivered exactly the opposite of what it had previously promised us. Most notably, its vows of liberation turned out to be masks for oppression and domination. And, almost as troubling, McDonalds's vows of equality did little more than convince people that McDonalds finds reality too difficult to swallow. Or maybe it just gets lost between the sports and entertainment pages. In either case, sometime in the future McDonalds will establish a world government complete with a world army, a world parliament, a world court, and numerous other agencies that suck up to the worst types of mawkish Neanderthals there are. Fortunately, that hasn't happened...yet. But it will undoubtedly happen if we don't push a consistent vision that responds to most people's growing fears about foolish airheads. McDonalds's causing all sorts of problems for us. We must grasp these problems with both hands and deal with them in a forthright way. As I see it, McDonalds has planted its expositors everywhere. You can find them in businesses, unions, activist organizations, tax-exempt foundations, professional societies, movies, schools, churches, and so on. Not only does this subversive approach enhance McDonalds's ability to silence critical debate and squelch creative brainstorming but it also provides irrefutable evidence that it is offended by the truth. So what's the connection between that and its codices? The connection is that McDonalds's reason is not true reason. It does not seek the truth but only uncongenial answers, petulant resolutions to conflicts. If the mass news media were actually in the business of covering news rather than molding public attitudes to befuddle the public and make sin seem like merely a sophisticated fashion, they would honestly report that people tell me that McDonalds should exercise greater judiciousness when extolling vigilantism. And the people who tell me this are correct, of course. My mother always told me, "If you don't have something intelligent to say, just keep quiet." Apparently, McDonalds's mother never told it that. Lastly, I myself can't end this letter without mentioning that McDonalds's camp is reminiscent of the French Jacobin Club and its morbid obsession with power, death, and interdenominationalism.

How do I organize my books? I have a bunch of square shelves that my books are on now. I will be moving them to one continuous 'floating' shelf that goes around 2 walls in my room. I'm 14, so nothing too complicated. here's a list of my books, read if you would like, but most of you probably don't have the time. LIST OF BOOKS, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS LIST Nancy Drew/ antique books The Lost Files of Nancy Drew – Grosset & Nunlap Nancy Drew #7, The clue in the Diary – Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #9, Secret of the Spa- Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #10, Uncivil Acts - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew # 11, Riverboat Ruse - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #12, Stop the Clock - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #13, Trade Wind Danger - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew # 14, Bad times, Big Crimes - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #15, Framed - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #16, Dangerous Plays - Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew #173, Danger on the Great Lakes - Carolyn Keene The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Kate Douglas Wiggin Fun with Dick and Jane – William S. Gray Mad About Madeline (all Madeline stories) – Ludwig Bemelmans Crafting/ 'Fun' books 1500 best bars cookies muffins cakes & more – Esther Brody Paige by Paige – Paige Davis 200 Braids – Jacqui Carey Simply Sewing – Judy Ann Sadler The Pastel artist’s bible – Claire Waite Brown Hair Wraps – Anne Akers Johnson Step by Step Presents – Wendy Boase The Magic of Salt Dough – Brigitte Casagranda Origami and Papercraft – Paul Jackson & Vivien Frank The Philosopher cat - Kwong Kuen Shan Poetry/ Self Help/ Auto-biography but mostly fiction novels The giving tree – Shel Silverstein When the sidewalk ends - Shel Silverstein Falling up - Shel Silverstein A light in the attic - Shel Silverstein Mr Poppers Penguins – Richard and Florence Atwater When the Nines roll over – David Benioff Mon Journal Ful Nul – Jim Benton The Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum The land of Oz – L. Frank Baum Ramona The Pest – Beverly Cleary The Adventures of Pinocchio – C. Colidi Code Orange- Caroline Cooney The Boy next door – Laura Dower Tomorrow Code - Brian Falkner Lush – Natasha Friend Freshman – Michal Gerber Paper Towns - John Green An Abundance of Katherines - John Green Flush – Carl Hiassin The Tail of Emily Windsnap – Liz Kesslen Lily B. On the Brink of Cool - Elizabeth Kimmel Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman Side effects – Amy Koss Sunshine Sketches of a little Town – Stephen Leacock Rules – Cynthia Lord Betsy Tacey – Maud Hart Lovelace Betsy, Tacey & Tib – Maud Hart Lovelace The Doll People – Ann M. Martin & laura Godwin The accidental Chearleader – Mimi McCoy Twilight – Stephanie Meyer New Moon – Stephanie Meyer Eclipse – Stephanie Meyer Breaking Dawn – Stephanie Meyer The Host – Stephanie Meyer Letters from a Nut – Ted L. Nancy The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama My sister’s keeper – Jodi Picoult Wreck this Journal – Keri Smith Peak – Roland Smith Drums, Girls and Dangerous pie – Jordan Sonnenblick Eggs – Jerry Spinelli Lost it – Kristen Tracey Safe as Houses – Eric Walters The Bvlgari Connection – Fay Welden The rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin The Strictest School in the world – Howard Whitehouse Each little bird that sings – Deborah Wiles Learning to Float – Lily Wright Reference/ Information/ Music Canadian Oxford World Atlas The Story of English – Robert McCrum, William Cran, & Robert MacNiel The Great Scientists – John Fardon Math Tricks, Games and Puzzles – Raymond Blum Jumbo Book of Number Puzzles The Giant Book of Games – Will Shortz The Old Farmers Almanac 2009 A-Z of Lovehearts, friendship and other Slushy stuff – Tracey Turner A-Z of Ghosts Skeletons and other haunting horrors – Tracey Turner A-Z of Crackers, mistletoe and other Christmas Turkeys – Tracey Turner Piano Chords – Jake Jackson Guitar Chord Bible – Phil Capone The Songwriters Notebook – Matthew Teacher The Complete Beatles Volume 1 The Complete Beatles Volume 2 Best of Dave Matthews Volume 1 Guitar Teach Yourself to play piano Jack Johnson In Between Dreams – Guitar and Vocal 2007 Greatest Pop and Movie Hits The Science Book – National Geographic Innovations in Glass – The corning museum of Glass Atoms – Chris Oxlade An Intimate Guide to the Cosmos Do Penguins Have knees? – David Feldmen So, Now you Know - Harry Bright and Harlan Briscoe Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas – Jay Ingram The David Suzuki Reader – David Suzuki An inconvenient truth – Al Gore The Otesha Book: From Junk to funk The Finger Ratio – John Manning The Human Body – DK Books Goldfish 2nd Edition – Gregory Skomal Unshelved Bad News (A book about the decline in American News) The Dictionary of Science and Technology, 2nd edition. Webster's French English Dictionary Larousse French English Dictionary Webster's English Thesaurus

Who You Are..........? A young man looks at himself in the mirror and he asks himself: Why am I here? Why do I do the things I do? What's my purpose? Another young man looks at himself in the mirror and he tells himself I know why I am here, I know why I do the things I do and I have a purpose in life. He smiles to himself and feels satisfaction in his heart as he thinks of his lord, ALLAH (GOD). The first young man stares at his seemingly happy face but his heart aches. His heart fills with a dull pain and he is left to wander aimlessly after true happiness. The vital difference between the confidence and happiness of the second young man and the lack there of in the first young man is ISLAM. Islam is a religion that teaches one to give up their desires and to fulfill the desires of their lord Allah (Praise be to him). People are not truly free until they break free from the chains of inner passions and surrender to the will of Allah. As a Muslim one's ultimate goal is to please Allah. Thus, a Muslim becomes a fighter and survivor in this world full of temptations and evil. One must fight and break away from the voice of Satan urging to fall into the traps of evil. This battle against evil does not go unseen. For at the end Allah promises the ultimate prize and glory. This prize is entrance into the doors of paradise. It is this knowledge that drives a Muslim closer to his lord and keeps him away from evil. His heart is filled with happiness as he seeks ways to get closer to the paradise promised him. A Muslim has a goal, a destination, and a path to follow. He will never be lost as he looks towards Allah and his message. A disbeliever does not have any of these things. He has no one to guide him; he has no destination, no path. He is lost. Yet, he cannot give up on his mission to find happiness. He searches and is filled with answers like, enjoy life while it lasts, don't worry be happy, and follow your dreams. In the quest for answers these prove to be unsuccessful and lead down a winding path of turmoil. Without any strong hold on one's desires a disbeliever defies all limits to enjoyment in life, and is bombarded with problems. Problems he tries to solve by forgetting about them. He tries to forget with drugs, alcohol, and drowning himself in a life filled with ecstasy and pleasure. In Islam, enjoyment in life is a blessing from Allah. However, it is not a driving force in life. Enjoyment is allowed within the realms of Islam. Allah protects his creation and he cuts harmful things at their roots. An excellent example is drinking. A mother holds the dead body of her three-year-old son as she cries out in pain Why? Why? to the drunk driver who barreled into their car. Another innocent life taken away by drunk driving, and added to the thousands killed each year. Drinking is the cause of many social problems that plague our society. Islam has not only forbidden drinking, but it also forbids people from buying, selling and transporting any alcoholic related beverages. By having such a full approach against this problem Islam prevents victimization of innocent people, death by liver disease and break up of families. So many lives are shattered as men come home drunk, brutally hit their wives and children, and in the morning cannot remember a thing. No law mandated against drunk driving or battery can stop these tragedies. The highest authority, Allah, deals with it by making it forbidden and thus preventing any of these things from occurring. He provides an incentive to obey him (paradise the ultimate reward and his pleasure) and a mechanism to make it easy for his creation to follow his commandments (such as the five daily prayers and fasting). Allah, through the Holy Quran, guides Muslims to remain on the straight path, the path that will attain happiness in this world and the next. This straight path can be found in the guide for all of mankind, the Holy Quran. The Quran is the manual for life. It gives one a focus and a destination. Every single aspect of this life is covered in the Quran. As a follower of Allah's words one can never fail. The Quran tells of relationships with parents, rights of a wife, rights of orphans, etc. Allah gave mankind this manual and he blessed us with the final Messenger as the most beautiful examples for all of humanity to follow. Islam is the solution. Without this solution a disbeliever will forever look in the mirror and his head will fill with hundreds of unanswered questions. The boundary between right and wrong will become a blur to him. He w ill forever be lost, like he is, now in this evil illusion inspired by temptations and desires. The problems of the world will always entangle him until he submits to Allah, the one God who has created him. References: (The Nightmare of Disbelife) http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=256&Format=pdf (A BRIEF ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM) http://www.islam-guide.com/islam-

Who You Are..........? A young man looks at himself in the mirror and he asks himself: Why am I here? Why do I do the things I do? What's my purpose? Another young man looks at himself in the mirror and he tells himself I know why I am here, I know why I do the things I do and I have a purpose in life. He smiles to himself and feels satisfaction in his heart as he thinks of his lord, ALLAH (GOD). The first young man stares at his seemingly happy face but his heart aches. His heart fills with a dull pain and he is left to wander aimlessly after true happiness. The vital difference between the confidence and happiness of the second young man and the lack there of in the first young man is ISLAM. Islam is a religion that teaches one to give up their desires and to fulfill the desires of their lord Allah (Praise be to him). People are not truly free until they break free from the chains of inner passions and surrender to the will of Allah. As a Muslim one's ultimate goal is to please Allah. Thus, a Muslim becomes a fighter and survivor in this world full of temptations and evil. One must fight and break away from the voice of Satan urging to fall into the traps of evil. This battle against evil does not go unseen. For at the end Allah promises the ultimate prize and glory. This prize is entrance into the doors of paradise. It is this knowledge that drives a Muslim closer to his lord and keeps him away from evil. His heart is filled with happiness as he seeks ways to get closer to the paradise promised him. A Muslim has a goal, a destination, and a path to follow. He will never be lost as he looks towards Allah and his message. A disbeliever does not have any of these things. He has no one to guide him; he has no destination, no path. He is lost. Yet, he cannot give up on his mission to find happiness. He searches and is filled with answers like, enjoy life while it lasts, don't worry be happy, and follow your dreams. In the quest for answers these prove to be unsuccessful and lead down a winding path of turmoil. Without any strong hold on one's desires a disbeliever defies all limits to enjoyment in life, and is bombarded with problems. Problems he tries to solve by forgetting about them. He tries to forget with drugs, alcohol, and drowning himself in a life filled with ecstasy and pleasure. In Islam, enjoyment in life is a blessing from Allah. However, it is not a driving force in life. Enjoyment is allowed within the realms of Islam. Allah protects his creation and he cuts harmful things at their roots. An excellent example is drinking. A mother holds the dead body of her three-year-old son as she cries out in pain Why? Why? to the drunk driver who barreled into their car. Another innocent life taken away by drunk driving, and added to the thousands killed each year. Drinking is the cause of many social problems that plague our society. Islam has not only forbidden drinking, but it also forbids people from buying, selling and transporting any alcoholic related beverages. By having such a full approach against this problem Islam prevents victimization of innocent people, death by liver disease and break up of families. So many lives are shattered as men come home drunk, brutally hit their wives and children, and in the morning cannot remember a thing. No law mandated against drunk driving or battery can stop these tragedies. The highest authority, Allah, deals with it by making it forbidden and thus preventing any of these things from occurring. He provides an incentive to obey him (paradise the ultimate reward and his pleasure) and a mechanism to make it easy for his creation to follow his commandments (such as the five daily prayers and fasting). Allah, through the Holy Quran, guides Muslims to remain on the straight path, the path that will attain happiness in this world and the next. This straight path can be found in the guide for all of mankind, the Holy Quran. The Quran is the manual for life. It gives one a focus and a destination. Every single aspect of this life is covered in the Quran. As a follower of Allah's words one can never fail. The Quran tells of relationships with parents, rights of a wife, rights of orphans, etc. Allah gave mankind this manual and he blessed us with the final Messenger as the most beautiful examples for all of humanity to follow. Islam is the solution. Without this solution a disbeliever will forever look in the mirror and his head will fill with hundreds of unanswered questions. The boundary between right and wrong will become a blur to him. He w ill forever be lost, like he is, now in this evil illusion inspired by temptations and desires. The problems of the world will always entangle him until he submits to Allah, the one God who has created him. References: (The Nightmare of Disbelife) http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=256&Format=pdf (A BRIEF ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM) http://www.islam-guide.com/islam-gu

Who You Are..........? A young man looks at himself in the mirror and he asks himself: Why am I here? Why do I do the things I do? What's my purpose? Another young man looks at himself in the mirror and he tells himself I know why I am here, I know why I do the things I do and I have a purpose in life. He smiles to himself and feels satisfaction in his heart as he thinks of his lord, ALLAH (GOD). The first young man stares at his seemingly happy face but his heart aches. His heart fills with a dull pain and he is left to wander aimlessly after true happiness. The vital difference between the confidence and happiness of the second young man and the lack there of in the first young man is ISLAM. Islam is a religion that teaches one to give up their desires and to fulfill the desires of their lord Allah (Praise be to him). People are not truly free until they break free from the chains of inner passions and surrender to the will of Allah. As a Muslim one's ultimate goal is to please Allah. Thus, a Muslim becomes a fighter and survivor in this world full of temptations and evil. One must fight and break away from the voice of Satan urging to fall into the traps of evil. This battle against evil does not go unseen. For at the end Allah promises the ultimate prize and glory. This prize is entrance into the doors of paradise. It is this knowledge that drives a Muslim closer to his lord and keeps him away from evil. His heart is filled with happiness as he seeks ways to get closer to the paradise promised him. A Muslim has a goal, a destination, and a path to follow. He will never be lost as he looks towards Allah and his message. A disbeliever does not have any of these things. He has no one to guide him; he has no destination, no path. He is lost. Yet, he cannot give up on his mission to find happiness. He searches and is filled with answers like, enjoy life while it lasts, don't worry be happy, and follow your dreams. In the quest for answers these prove to be unsuccessful and lead down a winding path of turmoil. Without any strong hold on one's desires a disbeliever defies all limits to enjoyment in life, and is bombarded with problems. Problems he tries to solve by forgetting about them. He tries to forget with drugs, alcohol, and drowning himself in a life filled with ecstasy and pleasure. In Islam, enjoyment in life is a blessing from Allah. However, it is not a driving force in life. Enjoyment is allowed within the realms of Islam. Allah protects his creation and he cuts harmful things at their roots. An excellent example is drinking. A mother holds the dead body of her three-year-old son as she cries out in pain Why? Why? to the drunk driver who barreled into their car. Another innocent life taken away by drunk driving, and added to the thousands killed each year. Drinking is the cause of many social problems that plague our society. Islam has not only forbidden drinking, but it also forbids people from buying, selling and transporting any alcoholic related beverages. By having such a full approach against this problem Islam prevents victimization of innocent people, death by liver disease and break up of families. So many lives are shattered as men come home drunk, brutally hit their wives and children, and in the morning cannot remember a thing. No law mandated against drunk driving or battery can stop these tragedies. The highest authority, Allah, deals with it by making it forbidden and thus preventing any of these things from occurring. He provides an incentive to obey him (paradise the ultimate reward and his pleasure) and a mechanism to make it easy for his creation to follow his commandments (such as the five daily prayers and fasting). Allah, through the Holy Quran, guides Muslims to remain on the straight path, the path that will attain happiness in this world and the next. This straight path can be found in the guide for all of mankind, the Holy Quran. The Quran is the manual for life. It gives one a focus and a destination. Every single aspect of this life is covered in the Quran. As a follower of Allah's words one can never fail. The Quran tells of relationships with parents, rights of a wife, rights of orphans, etc. Allah gave mankind this manual and he blessed us with the final Messenger as the most beautiful examples for all of humanity to follow. Islam is the solution. Without this solution a disbeliever will forever look in the mirror and his head will fill with hundreds of unanswered questions. The boundary between right and wrong will become a blur to him. He w ill forever be lost, like he is, now in this evil illusion inspired by temptations and desires. The problems of the world will always entangle him until he submits to Allah, the one God who has created him. References: (The Nightmare of Disbelife) http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=256&Format=pdf (A BRIEF ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM) http://www.islam-guide.com/islam-