Unrest!

Arab leaders and governments only have themselves to blame for the unrest and rioting that is taking place in their countries. But they also have their repressive religion to blame. In most of these nations both their government and their religion has have been repressive and have resulted in poverty.

At the age of the internet has matured, as facebook, cheap laptops, and smart cell phones have infiltrated the world the people who live in these Arab nations have had a glimpse at the outside world..... and they like it. They see prosperity in democratic and free market nations while they live in poverty. They see people living in freedom while they fear the regime of their own government. They see peoples of free nations eating while they are starving. They see them working while they remain unemployed.

They have also seen the corruption of their own governments. Their dictators and military leaders live live of luxury while they live in poverty.

Just like you cannot put toothpaste back in the tube, these people cannot be turned back. Thousands of them, perhaps millions, have decided that death is better than the way things are now. They are revolting and cannot be stopped. And, they should not be stopped.

In the US we believe in certain inalienable rights. These are not rights only for Americans but are rights that peoples of all nations should enjoy. These rights do not make you change your religion, but rather, protect your religion. But they also give you the freedom to choose. And everyone should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Leaders of these Arab nations that are now in revolt have squandered their political capital. Over the years they have had plenty of time and opportunity to better the living conditions for their people, but they have not. Instead, in some of these nations they are living at Third World levels while they leaders live in luxury. Now these leaders will either live in exile or become martyrs for their cause, that is, if you can consider these thugs martyrs at all.

The cry is "Give me liberty or give me death!" The repressed peoples do not use those exact words but they are living them out, or should I say, dying for their liberty.

BP

BP are the stock symbols for British Petroleum. This is the stock that dropped by more than 50% because of the oil spill in the Gulf. The stock was actually greatly oversold and the price was artificially low. Ever since the big sell-off on the stock it has been gradually rising and has become one of the least volatile oil stocks for a major oil company. Shares are still very reasonably priced at about $47 per share. Because of the low volatility the options on this stock are very low priced.

For an $8,000 investment you could own 5,000 call options with a July strike price of $50. If the stock price which is now $47. 30 should go up to $50.00 over the next three months, the value of your options could go up from $1.60 per share to $2.60 per share. That would net you approximately $5,000 which is over 62% net earnings.

Just something to think about over your coffee.

A Bargain

When my wife bought her Pro Mac computer, she was offered classes for $100. This proved to be one of the best bargains we have received in a long time. For the next year she can take as many one hour sessions with Apple's experts as she so chooses. And so far she has chosen a lot.

There are some differences between Apple's operating system and Windows and they train you how to use the Apple system. Audrey takes in a list of questions to each session and their experts work out solutions and teach her to use the various programs. Her recent class taught her how to build brochures and to build a website. I already have my new brochure for my business and she is working on the website.

They also helped her set up the internet service, Mobile Me, address book, and calendar. Mobile Me is also quite a service. With this application all our email addresses can be on one page, just click the address and your mail for that address is displayed. No matter what page you have up on your computer, a red number appears at the bottom of the screen indicating how many new emails you have, and the number stays current. I like that.

Anyway, each time I have seen Apple's experts at work, I have been impressed.