Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Enjoyable
"Daily Motivations"
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. -- Leo Tolstoy
Let Employees Solve Their Own Performance Problems
One of your team members has a performance problem. So, you meet with him or her to discuss the issue. You describe the problem and ask for an explanation. Then, you come face to face with an all-too- common trap: Telling the person what he or she needs to do to solve the problem. DON’T GO THERE!
Granted, you probably have good ideas about what works and how to accomplish expectations. Keep in mind, however, that it’s the employee’s responsibility to resolve the problem – not yours. Your job is to facilitate the discussion so that the person understands the problem and is given an opportunity to correct it. Be prepared to offer suggestions if asked, but give the employee a chance to come up with his or her own solutions. Why do it that way? The answer is simple: Ownership! People tend to work harder for their own ideas. Solutions they participate in developing become commitments that are much more likely to yield quick and permanent results.
You can guide the employee in identifying solutions by asking three simple questions:
What specifically can you do … by when?
(This helps the person pinpoint specific actions)
Can you think of anything that would prevent you from doing that?
(This helps identify potential obstacles and eliminates “down the road” excuses)
Will you do that?
(This locks-in the employee’s agreement/commitment)
People commonly respond with I’ll do my best or I’ll try harder. These aren’t solutions – they’re just statements … with lots of wiggle room. If you hear them, respond by telling the employee that you appreciate his or her cooperation, and then ask, “What specifically will you do to carry out these good intentions?”
"Daily Devotions" (NASB and/or NLT)
The Foundation of Emotions God created man in His own image... male and female He created them (Gen. 1:27). God made Adam and Eve like Himself. And what would that include?
"'I don't have a husband,' the woman replied. Jesus said, 'You're right! You don't have a husband--- for you have had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man you're living with now.'" (John 4:17-18)
"The Patriot Post"
"War is not the best engine for us to resort to; nature has given us one in our commerce, which if properly managed, will be a better instrument for obliging the interested nations of Europe to treat us with justice." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Pickney, 29 May 1797
"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions." -- James Madison, letter to Edmund Pendleton, 21 January 1792"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virture to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust." -- Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, Federalist No. 57, 19 February 1788
How the economic stimulus works
Young Barry in Illinois bought a horse from a farmer for $100.
The farmer agreed to deliver the horse the next day.
The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news... the horse died."
Barry replied, "Well, then just give me my money back."
The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."
Barry said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead horse."
The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?"
Barry said, "I'm going to raffle him off."
The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead horse!"
Barry said, "Yes, I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."
A month later, the farmer met up with Barry and asked, "What happened with that dead horse?"
Barry said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898."
The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"
Barry said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."
Barry now works for the government.
"The Web"
Bless My Friends
http://www.angel-stardust.com/verse/blessmyfriends.html
Preserve the "Secret Ballot" On Union Votes
http://workforcefairness.com/luxurious/?ref=316thvid
AIG Bonus Details Revealed - Read the entire article by the "link" below.
Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street
http://news.lp.findlaw.com:80/hdocs/docs/aig/exec-bonuses-cuomo31709ltr.html
AIG (American International Group, Inc.) paid out tens of millions in taxpayer 'retention' bonuses to company executives "whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure" of the insurance company, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Information obtained about these taxpayer-funded bonuses reveals that:
The top AIG bonus recipient received more than $6.4 million;
The top seven 7 AIG bonus recipients each received more than $4 million;
The top ten AIG bonus recipients received a combined $42 million;
22 executives received AIG bonuses of $2 million or more, worth a combined $72 million;
73 people received AIG bonuses worth $1 million or more; and
Eleven people who received AIG 'retention' bonuses of more than $1 million are no longer employed by the company, including the executive who received the largest bonus.
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE
March 16, 2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
5th Circuit: Texas moment of silence is constitutional
ADF filed friend-of-the-court brief in defense of state law
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Monday upheld a Texas law allowing students to observe one minute of silence following the Pledge of Allegiance. The Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case last year. ADF ally Liberty Legal Institute also filed a brief and represented schoolchildren in a hearing before the court.
“A moment of silence is not a government endorsement of religion just because someone might use the time for prayer,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. “No student is compelled to pray under the Texas law. The 5th Circuit was right to uphold the district court’s determination that the law is not an establishment of religion.”
“This law is about freedom. Students have the freedom to pray, meditate, or simply think about their day. It took real intolerance for someone to sue to try to stop students from choosing prayer as their option,” said ADF-allied attorney Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute.
School boards in Texas are required to set aside one minute per day at each school in order to allow students to “reflect, pray, meditate, or engage in any other silent activity that is not likely to interfere with or distract another student.” In 2006, David and Shannon Croft, parents of three children who attend school in the Carrolton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, filed a lawsuit claiming the requirement “causes harm” to their children and is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
In January 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas upheld the law, ruling that it is constitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed briefs in opposition to the law. Several courts have upheld similar moment-of-silence laws against Establishment Clause challenges.
In its unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit wrote, “The statute is facially neutral between religious and non-religious activities that students can choose to engage in during the moment of silence…. As Justice O’Connor stated in her Wallace concurrence: ‘It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.’ None of the courts examining moment of silence statutes have found that the primary effect has been to advance or inhibit religion, and the Crofts point to no case law that supports their contentions.”
• Opinion from the 5th Circuit in Croft v. Perry
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family. ADF President Alan Sears is co-author with Craig Osten of the book The ACLU vs. America (www.acluvsamerica.com).
www.telladf.org
Obama's Attack on Medical Civil Liberties - Read the entire article by the "link" below.
By: Newt Gingrich and Rick Tyler
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/gingrich_obama_conscience/2009/03/15/192127.html?s=al&promo_code=7C2F-1
Candidate Barack Obama offered a compelling but formless message of hope and change. Many Americans desiring a new national direction filled his empty rhetorical vessels with their dreams and aspirations. It worked.
But now, obliged by his office, President Obama is giving those words definition and shape bewildering even some of his most ardent supporters.
While the media remain fixated on a slumping economy that gets sicker with each punishing presidential prescription, a different set of defining and similarly freedom-diminishing policy directives emerging from the White House goes dissimilarly unnoticed.
Earlier this month, the President took the first step in rescinding a Bush administration moral conscience regulation which enforces existing legal protections against discrimination and intimidation for doctors and other healthcare professionals who invoke conscience by refusing to participate in medical procedures they believe immoral.
The rule, which was finalized last year placed no restriction upon any legal medical procedure; it simply brought the executive branch into compliance with several existing laws including:
the 1973 "Church Amendments" which protect doctors and other healthcare professionals from discrimination due to religious belief or moral conviction;
the 1996 “Public Health Service Act Amendment” which prohibits government from discriminating against individual and institutional healthcare providers who choose not to provide abortion services or receive abortion training; and
the 2004 "Hyde-Weldon Amendment” which prohibits certain federal funds going to federal and state agencies and programs that discriminate against healthcare providers who decline to offer or refer abortion services.
Simply put, these three venerable laws passed by Congress and signed by former Presidents protect doctors and nurses from being professionally threatened because they allow their conscience to dictate their professional actions.
Healthcare Hypocrisy: Obama May Back Tax on Health Benefits - Is this just another broken pledge? Read the entire article by the "link" below. - oyh
By: Jim Meyers
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_health_care_tax/2009/03/16/192352.html?s=al&promo_code=7C3A-1
During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama said rival John McCain’s plan for taxing employee health benefits would represent “the largest middle-class tax increase in history.”
But now the Obama administration is signaling to Congress that he could support such a plan to help pay for overhauling the healthcare system, The New York Times reports.
Since companies began offering group health insurance on a large scale during World War II, the value of that benefit has never been counted as income, reducing workers' taxable earnings by an average of $9,000 a year for family coverage. The average family healthcare plan today costs $12,000, a burden shared by many employers.
Though there are several plans that have been offered by lawmakers who have toyed with the idea of taxing benefits, the Obama administration is unclear about what form of taxation they would support. If benefits were taxed at prevailing income rates, a family making between $30,000 and $49,000 could be looking at a tax increase of $2,500, based on the average savings per tax return calculated by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. A family or individual earning $75,000 could be looking at an increased tax bill of at least $3,000 while those making above $100,000 could pay about $4,500 if benefits were taxed at the prevailing rate.
Thus far, the Obama adminstration has been quite coy about how far they want to take the idea of taxing benefits. On "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace," Austan Goolsbee, a key member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, wouldn't dismiss the idea.
ICU On Sunday at 11:00 AM
In a hospital's Intensive Care Unit, patients always died in the same bed, on Sunday morning, at about 11:00am, regardless of their medical condition.
This puzzled the doctors and some even thought it had something to do with the super natural. No one could solve the mystery as to why the deaths occurred around 11:00 am Sunday, so a worldwide team of experts was assembled to investigate the cause of the incidents.
The next Sunday morning, a few minutes before 11:00 am all of the doctors and nurses nervously waited outside the ward to see for themselves what the terrible phenomenon was all about.
Some were holding wooden crosses, prayer books, and other holy objects to ward off the evil spirits.
Just when the clock struck 11:00, Kenneth Roberts, the part-time Sunday sweeper, entered the ward and unplugged the life support system so he could use the vacuum cleaner.
GROCERY LIST
Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries.
She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.
John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once.
Visualizing the family needs, she said: 'Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.'
John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.
Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family.
The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'
Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O.K.' he said, 'put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.'
Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.
The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down and stayed down.
The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, 'I can't believe it.'
The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.
The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement.
It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which said:
'Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands.'
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence.
Louise thanked him and left the store.
The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said;
'It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs.'
THE POWER OF PRAYER: When you receive this, say a prayer. That's all you have to do.
Just stop right now, and say a prayer of thanks for your own good fortune. Then please send this to all your friends and relatives.
I believe if you will send this testimony out with prayer in faith, you will receive what you need God to do in your and your families' life
So dear heart, trust God to heal the sick, provide food for the hungry, clothes and shelter for those that don't have as we do. Amen & Amen
There is no cost but a lot of rewards. May you always walk with Angels!
God Bless!
"The e-mail Bag"
PRICELESS!!
If you’ve ever worked for a boss that reacts before getting the facts and thinking things through, you will love this!
Arcelor-Mittal Steel, feeling it was time for a shakeup, hired a new CEO. The new boss was determined to rid the company of all slackers.
On a tour of the facilities, the CEO noticed a guy leaning on a wall.
The room was full of workers and he wanted to let them know that he meant business. He walked up to the guy leaning against the wall and asked, ‘How much money do you make a week?’
A little surprised, the young man looked at him and replied, ‘I make $400 a week. Why?’ The CEO then handed the guy $1,600 in cash and screamed, ‘Here’s four weeks’ pay, now GET OUT and don’t come back.’
Feeling pretty good about himself, the CEO looked around the room and asked, ‘Does anyone want to tell me what that goof-ball did here? ‘
From across the room came a voice - - -
‘Domino’s Pizza delivery guy!!!’
THE TINY CABIN
A social worker from Boston recently was transferred to the Mountains of North Carolina and Georgia and was on the first tour of her new territory when she came upon the tiniest cabin she had ever seen in her life.
Intrigued, she went up and knocked on the door. 'Anybody home?' she asked.
'Yep,' came a kid's voice through the door.
'Is your father there?' asked the social worker.
'Pa? Nope, he left afore Ma came in,' said the kid.
'Well, is your mother there?' persisted the social worker.
'Ma? Nope, she left just afore I got here,' said the kid. Thinking she had her first violation to report, she persisted, ‘'But are you never together as a family?'
'Sure, but not here,' said the kid through the door. 'This is the outhouse!'
DIE-vorce
A married couple is driving along a highway doing a steady 60 miles per hour. The wife is behind the wheel. Her husband suddenly looks across at her and speaks in a clear voice. 'I know we've been married for twenty years, but I want a divorce.'
The wife says nothing, Keeps looking at the road ahead but slowly increases her speed to 65 mph. The husband speaks again. 'I don't want you to try and talk me out of it,' He says, 'because I've been having an affair with your best friend, And she's a far better lover than you are.'
Again the wife stays quiet, But grips the steering wheel more tightly and slowly increases the speed to 75 He pushes his luck. 'I want the house,' he says insistently..
Up to 80. 'I want the car, too,' he continues.
85 mph. 'And,' he says, 'I'll have the bank accounts, all the credit cards and the boat!'
The car slowly starts veering towards a massive concrete bridge. This makes him nervous, so he asks her, 'Isn't there anything you want?'
The wife at last replies in a quiet and controlled voice.
'No, I've got everything I need,' she says.
'Oh, really,' he inquires, 'so what have you got?'
Just before they slam into the wall at 85 mph, The wife turns to him and smiles. 'The airbag.'
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