A Brighter 2011!

Yay, I say.

An AP report in Washington says that the economy will gorw faster than envisioned threee months ago.

According to the latest quarterly AP Economy Survey, there is growing optimism among leading economists.

Still, unemployment will stay chronically high — nearly 9 percent by year's end.

Also a majority of economists say it will be 2016 or later before unemployment drops to a historically normal rate of around 5 percent.

Economists have become more confident 19 months after the worst recession since the Great Depression ended. Lower Social Security taxes and higher stock prices will embolden Americans to spend more and help power the economy, they say.

Well, as far as I'm conerned, that's good news.

NURIN ALERT! NURIN ALERT!

There is no denying that the story of Nurin Jazlin can never be forgotten.
The 8 yr-old went missing near her home in Wangsa Maju, KL< in August, 2007 and her dead brutalized body was found stuffed in a sports bag miles away in Petaling Jaya in September, almost a month later.

Today, some 3 years later, the Malaysian government is going to put into place a child abduction alert, modelled on AMBER (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) Alert that's being used in the US.

It's going to be called NUR (Nationwide Urgent Response) Alert. But, wait. The original name is NURIN (Nationwide Urgent Response Information Network) Alert. intiated and advocated by a group of bloggers soon after Nurin's body was found.

I sense the exasperation in Nuraina's blog. She pushed for it in her blog. I remember very well. Farina, a reader of Jalan Sudin, who also is a blogger (PrincessJournal) reminded Nuraina of AMBER Alert in the US. Immediately, Nuraina blogged about it and if I remember correctly, Rocky's Bru suggested that it should be called NURIN Alert, after Nurin and to stand for Nationwide Urgent Response Information Network.

The initiative started in the blogospher and gained huge support.

Nope. The government never thought about having this alert system.

Nurin's killer is still out there somewhere. The beast has not been caught.

We all wept for little Nurin. As Nuraina said -- we remember Nurin. She did not die in vain.

Yes. There were other kids too. We weep for them.

But we remember Nurin because she came back, dead. We all failed her.

So, please please...let's do it for our kids. Let's call it NURIN Alert.

Lauren Booth Converts To Islam

Tony Blair's sister-in-law has converted to Islam after having what she describes as a "holy experience" during a visit to Iran.

Journalist and broadcaster Lauren Booth, 43 – Cherie Blair's sister – now wears a hijab whenever she leaves her home, prays five times a day and visits her local mosque whenever she can.

She decided to become a Muslim six weeks ago after visiting the shrine of Fatima al-Masumeh in the city of Qom.

"It was a Tuesday evening and I sat down and felt this shot of spiritual morphine, just absolute bliss and joy," she said in an interview today.

When she returned to Britain, she decided to convert immediately.

Booth – who works for Press TV, the English-language Iranian news channel – has stopped eating pork and reads the Qur'an every day. She is currently on page 60.

Booth has stopped drinking alcohol and says she has not wanted to drink since converting.

Before her spiritual awakening in Iran, she had been "sympathetic" to Islam and has spent considerable time working in Palestine, she said, adding that she hoped her conversion would help Blair change his presumptions about Islam. -- The Guardian

Arab-American Babe is Miss USA 2010

Rima Fakih is a hot babe. She is 24, from Dearborn, Michigan, Muslim and is the new Miss USA who will represent this land of milk and honey in the Miss Unverse pageant.

This dark-haired beauty, I reckon, just broke that glass ceiling, as it were. I sure don't recall any Arab-American or/and a Muslim ever being chosen Miss USA.

And the Donald (Trump) might have been the one to have made it possible for Rima!

You wanna know more...just click HERE!

Just waiting for any brickbats and negative feedback from sore, oka ok...ugly Americans over Rima's win!

Lena Horne : 1917 -2010

The day Lena Horne died, President Barack Obama twitted: "Saddened to hear about the passing of Lena Horne, a great enetrtainer and a tireless worker for justice and equality."

That said it all.

"Lena Horne, the enchanting jazz singer and actress who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, died Sunday (May 9). She was 92. (The Associated Press)

The Greek Story -- And What You Must NOT do.

You must not have too much free lunch because, someONE has to pay for those free lunches.

Here's from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Greece's problems with money shouldn't seem so foreign.

Anyone with a checking account knows you can't buy more than you spend -- at least not indefinitely, anyway.

"People like to pretend budget deficits and entitlement programs are so complicated and hard to understand," said Craig Thomas, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. "They really aren't. You have income coming in and spending going out. ...

"Greece shows it's not more complicated than this."

Despite promises of a $146.5 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund and other countries that use the euro, Greece's deep debts threaten to take down the European Union -- and perhaps jump across the Atlantic.

Rioting by Greeks upset over proposed cuts in wages and public benefits left three people dead last week.

Indirectly, the European crisis caused jitters on Wall Street, adding to a dramatic decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday and instability through week's end. The Dow on Friday ended down 139.89, to close the week at 10,380.43.

The message about Greece's carefree spending translates around the world, economists said.

If countries want to provide great social services, that's fine -- but they need to pay for them.

"What is happening in Greece is expected," said Dan Donchev, a private economic analyst in Tetovo, Macedonia, which shares a border with Greece. "Obviously, the time has come when our southern neighbor should pay for its free lunch."

Check Your BO The Next Time You Take A Flight

BO : body odour.

Here's why.

A man on Jazz Air, a regional airline in Canada that also serves U.S. cities, was reportedly kicked off a plane earlier this month because of his strong body odor.

And I'm wondering if this is the first ever case.