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It can be very beneficial to tie your book subject with current events. This is especially effective with press releases, blogs and online articles. These examples will show how this promotion works. Do you have an example of an article or press release which ties your book to a current event? If you have a topic related to your book that is in the news, contact me at nikki_leigh22939 at yahoo.com.

Review the posts on the site to see various examples of how other people used current events to promote their books.

Youth Soccer Takes a Nasty Turn by Garasamo Maccagnone

ST JOHN OF THE MIDFIELD

An almost mystical story of Bobo Stoikov, one of the world’s greatest soccer players, who escapes death in communist Bulgaria to find the American Dream. Due to severe injury during Bobo’s escape, he is unable to play once he arrives in America. Though he finds peace and happiness in simply coaching soccer to youth travel teams, his eccentric ways of teaching and his success lead to a hate-filled rivalry, and eventually, his death.

This is a current event that ties into St John of the Midfield.

YOUTH SOCCER TAKES A NASTY TURN

I recall a few winters back, while driving down I-94 west near the Romulus airport, that I had the misfortune of driving through a white-out. Having lost my sense of direction and distance in the blinding whiteness, my only means of survival was to follow the dim redness of a snow-caked rear light of a flat-bed trailer. Had the driver of the truck pulling the trailer fallen off the side of a cliff, I certainly would have followed. As it was, fate served me well that day and the two of us made it through. Unfortunately, sixty four cars behind us didn’t, as one after another smashed into each other in one of the nastiest massive pile-ups the Michigan free-ways have ever seen.

Obviously, those drivers in the accident took a different turn. Casting aside an easy metaphor, that’s what I see happening with the new decision by the National soccer team in regard to their new agenda on how to identify and create great soccer players. It seems they have decided that great players can be created or manufactured only by the National team coaches, so they have bucked the state organizations in favor of a top down methodology on developing youth soccer talent.

Hmmmm. Let’s think about his. Where has a restriction of trade and competition benefited a culture, economy, organization, or group of people? Outside of the communist Kremlin, I can’t think of anything. In my limited knowledge of history, I do recall Nixon fixing gas prices back in the 70’s, which of course restricted competition and caused all those wonderful lines at the pump, and of course, there was this guy named Hoover, who decided to place tariffs on products which of course resulted in a minor calamity called the DEPRESSION. Again, wasn’t that just another instance of restricting trade of reducing competition, which a free-economy is built around?

Perhaps you believe I’ve stretched a bit far here, but consider that an elite group of soccer clubs around the nation were chosen by the National staff members and Nike, the sponsor, to fly to the Nike headquarters to sit at a conference table and be awarded prestigious franchises to house and train the nation’s soccer elite. At that table, where I picture club owners frothing at the mouth like the godfathers did in Godfather III as they received their casino checks from Michael Corleone, it was decided the country would be carved up by regions and only certain clubs would be able to teach the best players in the country. For instance, a player in Michigan, who was trained from the time he was five in the reputable WAZA soccer club, would now have to transfer at a certain age to either the Michigan Wolves/Hawks or the Vardar Soccer Club. It doesn’t matter that the boy developed as a great soccer player in the WAZA club. The National team staff has determined that only the Michigan Wolves or the Vardar Club can take that boy to the next level.

As you can imagine, the crazed soccer moms and dads who have talented children have quickly packed up their loyalties to the clubs who have served them well and taken residence inside the new established elite clubs. That occurred within a New York minute. Therefore, the clubs who lost all their shining stars are now forced to become second rate clubs, or, as many of us predicted, will end up closing shop all together.

Without even discussing the huge surge in costs for the parents in these new established elite clubs, as a means of practicality, let’s for a second consider how the other top sports in America work. Did Michael Jordan learn the game of basketball in the playground or was he handpicked at an early age by a scout who knew instantly he would become the greatest player of his time? What about Tiger Woods? I thought I read it was Woods’ father who introduced the game and the two of them played together for fun in the early years of Tiger’s development. In my reading, I don’t remember a talent scout scooping Tiger up at five and manufacturing him into the greatest golfer of all time.

The Brazilians, who are arguably the greatest players in the world, learn soccer on the street, in their villages, playing often with rolled up socks or newspapers as a ball. They play for the fun of the game, then have their skills refined as they get older in competitive clubs, clubs which have a vested interest in finding and developing talent.

I believe this latest power play by Bob Bradley and his national staff tyrants will end up causing a disaster in the youth soccer programs inside America. Like the cars that piled up in the whiteout I averted, those that follow Bradley will end up with a mess to clean up. Without allowing the game to flourish on the streets, in the school yards, in the clubs of the player’s choice, look for the interest in the game to wane, falling dramatically more behind the traditional major sports in America. The state organizations, which were blind sided by the move, need to fight back for the sake of survival. If they don’t, the game and their organizations won’t be able to revive themselves.

I can hear the sirens now.


AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY



In the early 80's,Garasamo Maccagnone studied creative writing and literature under noted American writers Sam Astrachan and Stuart Dybek at Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. A college baseball player as well, Maccagnone met his wife Vicki as a junior at WMU. The following year, after injuring his throwing arm, Maccagnone left school and his baseball ambitions to marry Vicki. After a two year stint at both W.B. Doner and BBDO advertising agencies, Maccagnone left the industry to apply his knowledge of marketing in a new venture in an up and coming industry. Maccagnone created a company called, "Crate and Fly," and turned it from a store front in 1984 to a world-wide multi-million dollar shipping corporation by 1994.

Though Maccagnone was asked and toyed with running for the United States Senate that year, the burden of such a race would have been too much of a strain on his young family. Instead of getting involved in politics, Maccagnone chose to start his writing and youth soccer coaching career. During that time, he wrote the children's book, "The Suburban Dragon," and his collection of short stories and poetry entitled, "The Affliction of Dreams." He also took his new found love for soccer so seriously he created a youth club and built an indoor soccer training facility.

It was during the year of 1996 that Maccagnone met the former Bulgarian national player Jordan Mitkov. It was in the time Maccagnone spent under Mitkov's tutelage that the idea for St. John of the Midfield was incubated. Ten years later, Maccagnone resurrected a writing career when the story finally burned out of him.

The Grim State of Israel

Has the Israeli-Palestinian peace process received new wind in its sails at the Annapolis Conference in November? How much success can we expect from the recent visit of Vice President Dick Cheney to Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas?

There exists a grim view, not only regarding the establishment of peace and harmony in the Middle East, but also in regard of the longevity of the State of Israel as a Jewish homeland. There is little secret why the Bush Administration has waited seven years before making its first attempt to act as peacemaker: The futility of any such attempt was obvious as all previous efforts have ended in failure and there were and still are no new strategies known to heal that conflict.

During the past six decades – the lifetime of Israel – we have witnessed seven wars, beginning with the Palestine War of 1948/9 and ending in the 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. In addition, there was a continuous chain of armed exchanges, filling in the interwar periods and often running one on top of the other. We know them all, the cross-border gunfights, raids, suicide bombings, retaliatory missile attacks, drawn-out intifadas and so much more. The bitter belligerence spread across their borders, if you remember the OPEC oil embargo, hijackings, the Lebanese Civil War of 1975/6, or the Hezbollah bombings of American, French, and Italian troops in Beirut in 1983. To the extent that my survey was accurate, only a single year, 1961, was free of any armed exchange and was truly peaceful. That would be one year out of sixty.

During the same six decades, there have occurred over fifty international attempts of peacemaking such as United Nations Security resolutions, armistices, peace treaties and blue-helmeted UN soldiers occupying buffer zones. In spite of this plethora of such goodwill interventions by the major powers and other countries, the appalling level of mutual rancor has not diminished one iota. There is no conflict in the world that has received as much international attention as this one – over fifty in sixty years – nor has any country been subjected to uninterrupted hostility for such a time period.

It sounds cynical to say this but it is merely a logical conclusion: The way things stand and with the methods used so far, the conflict will neither be resolved in another twenty years, nor in fifty.

In addition, we are confronted with the all-too obvious demographic problem. The higher birthrate of the Israeli Arabs over that of the Jewish Israelis, even if we disregard the Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza, forecasts a time in the not too distant future when the Jews will be a minority in their own country. Expressed politely, that ominous evolution puts the permanence of the Jewish homeland in the land of Zion in undeniable doubt.

You may wonder why, despite our loyalty to the Israelis, I paint the devil on the wall in such a seemingly cynical manner. One reason is that it never pays off to fool oneself. Ignoring the facts will never eliminate the problem. But I have a much more important reason. I have come upon a possible solution, one – if good fortune stands by our side – which would resuscitate our failing endeavors with unimaginable vigor. It is an intervention that is most extraordinary and that to a degree where many people would look at it as totally unrealistic, yet instead it does becomes very realistic, once we have accepted the grim view of Israel’s future as described above. In effect, it says that the only way to cure the State of Israel’s maladies and to save it for a permanent and happy future, after all previous treatments have failed, is for it to undergo a surgical operation. The name of that operation is the transplantation of the State of Israel to the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Yes, I did say it is extraordinary. It is unheard of. It almost sounds politically incorrect. Many will call it preposterous and absurd. But it is thinking outside the box and that’s what we do when confronting an unacceptable alternative. I have described it, and the reasoning behind it, in a short book entitled Quo Vadis, Israel? It is best to read it adopting the attitude of a patient who is informed by his physician that his disease is incurable and that in the end it will be fatal. Once faced by such a prognosis, it is common for us to eagerly consider even radical cures. The way it looks at present, such a major undertaking would be highly successful with few risks and offering the promise of a permanent cure. Its execution could be launched without delay if it weren’t its extraordinariness. As described in the book, nothing can commence until the incredulity of the Israelis and the Russians has been overcome and the concept has undergone thorough discussion.

I won’t give the secret away, for you would not enjoy the book unless you are truly concerned about Israel’s future and have been searching for a possible solution yourself. But if you actually were to read it and do so with earnest interest, you might recognize a promising light at the end of a frightening tunnel.

H. Peter Nennhaus, a retired surgeon and Illinois resident, was raised in Berlin and became a U.S. citizen in 1961. He is the author of Boyhood, the 1930s and World War II, Memories, Comments and Views from the Other Side. Among his various interests, the study of the history of the 20th century, the Holocaust, and anti-Semitism has been a persistent focus. You can visit him on the web at http://outskirtpress.com/quovadisisrael

The Feminine Majority - Gender, Values, and the Democrats

• Self-promotion

As the only group targeted by a political party using a value-based strategy, evangelicals are seen as the only people who match their actions and politics to their values. Values, however, are a universal human phenomenon. In their simplest form, values are socially constructed views about how the world should be. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes wrote about the subjectivity of values and how we shape our values to fit our ideas of what makes a perfect society. But whatsoever is the object of any man’s appetite or desire, that it is which he for his part calleth “good”; and the object of his contempt “vile” and “inconsiderable.” For these words of good, evil, and contemptible, are ever used with relation to the person that useth them. There being nothing simply and absolutely so; nor any common rule of Good or Evil, to be taken from the nature of the objects themselves.

Looking past Hobbes’s notorious pessimism about the human condition, this idea highlights that everyone acts on values and that values are socially constructed. Therefore, values vary from person to person, and a person has the ability to change his or her values. Although Hobbes refers to an individual’s values, his message translates to larger community values. Americans, for example, hold American values. Every political candidate, on the right or the left, knows that most Americans respond favorably to the idea that a person should be rewarded for hard work. This is a capitalist, American value. Members of other societies might feel that a person should be rewarded for his or her skin color or family bloodline. Every person is socialized into the values of his or her community or nation, and these values then intersect with other values the person has, such as those based his or her religion, race, and socioeconomic class. Perhaps the most important set of socialized values, however, is based on a person’s gender. We term these values feminized values and masculinized values. In this book, we will outline how men’s and women’s different value systems create divergent views about what America should be.

We argue that Americans carry gendered attitudes into the voting booth and, like the evangelicals, vote based on how these values translate to specific political issues. Just as some groups’ values fall to the more conservative end of the political spectrum, other groups’ values fall to the left. Evangelicals usually support right-wing candidates, because their moral values are highly conservative. We will introduce a group of voters whose values reflect progressive ideals: feminized values voters. If evangelicals represent the key to Republican electoral victory, then feminized values voters represent the chance for Democrats to usher in a new progressive era. Feminized values are the values into which women are socialized; a majority of women hold these values, as do a smaller percentage of men, for reasons we will describe shortly.

The potential for a more progressive era arises because the women and men who hold feminized values make up today a majority of the country and of voters. We term feminized values voters the feminized majority. These women and men will not only change election outcomes, but also will transform American values and the American Dream. The feminized majority supports a strong welfare state, views social issues through a lens of egalitarianism, and feels that government should do more in general to help its most vulnerable citizens. Feminized majority voters support stem cell research, comprehensive sex education, and environmental protection. They reject violent imperialism. They worry about their long-term economic security and fear that neither party will provide them with adequate health care. In a much deeper and richer way than American masculinized voters, the feminized majority yearns for a progressive, populist America. We call these voters the feminized majority because the values they carry truly are becoming majoritarian. We will describe the political and economic changes that have led to this point. It is important to remember that President Bush changed the 2004 election by mobilizing evangelicals, who represent only 23 percent of voters. Now, Democrats have the opportunity to change America in dramatic ways with the support of a much larger part of the electorate. While the general perception is that the United States is a conservative country, we shall show that feminized values are held by an increasingly robust majority of voters in the country who are prepared to support a progressive politics of social justice.

The Democrats can lead the feminized majority if they are willing to abandon their triangulation strategy and create a values-based platform. This approach seems unorthodox, because we usually conflate values and morals with religion and conservatism. However, values are nothing more than socially constructed ideals that provide a moral compass for each person, regardless of where he or she falls on the political spectrum. Once Democrats recognize the power of values in elections, they can begin appealing to values voters. A noted social critic, Charles Derber is a Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Katherine Adam is the Outreach Director for the Philadelphia GROW Project of the Drexel University School of Public Health. She has been active in Democratic Party politics at the federal, state, and local levels, including interning for Senator John Kerry. Derber and Adam collaborated on the newly released nonfiction title, “The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women’s Values” which can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and from the publisher’s website.

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/New-Feminized-Majority-Katherine-Adam/dp/1594515689/

Barnes and Noble http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-New-Feminized-Majority/Katherine-Adam/e/9781594515682/?itm=1

Helping a Friend After the Trauma of an Abusive Church

Foreword

In Summer 2005 Precious Times Magazine published an article that I started writing in the summer of 1993, Helping a Friend After the Trauma of an Abusive Church. The article is a complement to The Amen Sisters. I wrote it hoping that it would help people who have friends and family involved in abusive church situations.

I am blessed to report that The Amen Sisters is accomplishing its purpose. I have spoken with so many women who say they have experienced the same pain Francine Amen experienced. Women have written that The Amen Sisters is "their" story, in that it closely mirrors events in their lives.

Recently, I have started to ask myself the question: Why do we allow our faith to be shaken when our ministerial leaders fall? I'm still pondering that one so you'll have to wait for you. For now, I share a slightly updated version of "Helping a Friend After the Trauma of an Abusive Church" with you, hoping that you will share it with the people in your life that you think might be helped by reading it.

If you have a story or word of encouragement to share, please share it here. If you prefer, you may e-mail me privately at the address on the Contact page of my website at www.angelabenson.com. You are not alone.

God bless you.

Helping a Friend After the Trauma of an Abusive Church

How do you share with a friend the pain you feel after finding out your pastor is sleeping with several of the female members of the congregation? How do you confide to your friends that your savings account has a zero balance because you funded the pastor’s new wardrobe? How do explain to them that you get more sleep on your job than in your home because of all night Bible Studies? These were things that I wanted, and needed, to talk about after I left, what I now know, was an abusive church. Because I didn’t feel anyone would truly understand my involvement in such a scripturally unsound environment, I kept my thoughts–and my pain–to myself. As a result, the journey to recovery was long and lonely for me. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you have a friend or loved one who has left an abusive church, there are five things you can do to support your friend through this traumatic time.

1. Forgive her.

She already feels a lot of guilt for the hurt she caused and realizes that although she had good intentions, she was wrong about a lot of things. The abusive church that I left had very strict rules of conduct and man-made restrictions on what it means to be a Christian.

I accepted those rules as truth and tried to warn my friends and loved ones away from their own “worldly” church. I even called some of them “sinner” in my attempt to get them to see the “truth” that I had found. Later, I felt guilty and ashamed. Asking for forgiveness was hard and I never felt the words “I’m sorry” were enough, but they were all I had to give. When your friend asks for forgiveness, give it.

Don’t shrug her request off as nothing, because it’s something to her, and don’t withhold your forgiveness as a way of punishing her for hurting you. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

2. Don’t bad mouth her old church.

Though your friend has physically left the church, she may still have an emotional bond to it. It may be difficult for you to understand, but there were some good things that drew your friend to the abusive church. Your friend has to resolve the conflict that she feels over the good and godly that she at one time saw, with the evil and ungodly that she now sees. Any effort on your part to bad mouth the church will make her feel she has to defend it. If she makes negative comments, you can agree with her, but don’t go overboard. “Don’t talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow!” Proverbs 10:19-21

3. Resist the urge to say, “I told you so.”

You probably told your friend that “something wasn’t right in that church.” Though she now realizes you were right, she does not need to hear you say it. My mother waited about three years to say the dreaded “I told you so” to me and she’ll never know how much her self-control was appreciated. She said those words at the right time, a time when we could both look back on my experience with the wisdom of hindsight and the clarity that only comes with time. As Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7 (NIV) tells us, “there is a time for everything” including “a time to be silent and a time to speak.”

4. Don’t rush your friend back to church.

While you may be worried that your friend has lost her faith and will never return to another church, you have to remember that, despite the situation, God is in control. God opened your friend’s eyes to see the evil in her old church and He gave her the strength to leave. Allow Him to use you and your relationship with Him to make this a time of faith-building for your friend. Invite her to join your circle of Christian friends on outings and informal gatherings so that she can see sincere Christians enjoying life and each other. She’s seen “false” Christians; seeing you and your friends loving God with all your hearts will reaffirm for her that sincere Christians do exist. “set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and purity” 1 Timothy 4:12b (NIV).

5. Pray.

Not only does your friend need your prayers as she recovers from her abusive church experience, so do the people she left behind at the church: the other victims, the victimizers, the enablers, and the innocents. The other victims and the victimizers are easily identifiable but the enablers and the innocents may not be as easy to label. Enablers know about the abuse and, either by silence or encouragement, allow it to continue. Innocents, on the other hand, have no knowledge of the abuse; they are the most likely targets for future abuse. Pray that the Lord helps the other victims to recognize their victimization and take advantage of the opportunity for escape that He always provides. Pray that the eyes of the innocent are opened so that they can escape before being harmed. We’ll only see abusive activity in the church end if we treat it like the spiritual warfare it is. “we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood,
but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those might powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms” Ephesians 6:12 (NLT).

The bad news is that church abuse is much more prevalent that we want to believe. The good news is that God is bigger than any problem. Our hope is in Him.

Fiction Imitates Life – Van Gogh Missing from Heist - and in Miniature

Police were still searching Monday for three masked men responsible for the daring heist of four Impressionist paintings Sunday from a private art museum in Zurich. The paintings, valued at $163 million, included works by Cezanne, Degas, Monet and Van Gogh.

The burglary follows on the heels of an earlier theft, also in Zurich, of two Picassos on loan from Germany. In a case of fiction imitating real life, the search for another missing Van Gogh is the focus of “SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT,” A Miniature Art Mystery by Christine Verstraete, coming in May from Quake/Echelon Press, LLC.

The missing painting is a miniature replica of Van Gogh’s famous work, “The Starry Night.” In SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, Sam and her best friend, Lita, with the help of a mischievous Dachshund named Petey, try to find the missing painting so Sam's mother can get it to the museum, where it belongs.

Spooky family secrets unfold, Petey digs up an ancient curse, and Sam fears her friendship with her best friend is doomed. Can she find the miniature masterpiece before it's too late? Will she and her best friend, Lita, go home forever friends – or enemies?

Art Recovered! And.... was it a protest? See

http://stolenvermeer.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

The article was posted on February 18th.

SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT will be published in May ’08 from Quake/Echelon Press, LLC, www.quakeme.com ISBN: 978-1-59080-579-4

Contact: Christine Verstraete

Thousands Participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Oakland, Calif. --- www.NaNoWriMo.org --- October, 2007 --- There are some who say writing a novel takes awesome talent, strong language skills, academic training, and years of dedication.

Not true. All it really takes is a deadline – a very, very tight deadline – and a whole lot of coffee.

Welcome to National Novel Writing Month: a nonprofit literary crusade that encourages aspiring novelists all over the world to write a 50,000-word novel in a month. At midnight on Nov. 1, more than 100,000 writers from over 70 countries – poised over laptops and pads of paper, fingers itching and minds racing with plots and characters – will begin a furious adventure in fiction. By 11:59 PM on Nov. 30, thousands of them will be novelists.

NaNoWriMo is the largest writing contest in the world. In 2006, over 79,000 people took part in the free challenge. And while the event stresses fun and creative exploration over publication, sixteen NaNoWriMo novelists have had their NaNo-novels published, including Sarah Gruen, author of New York Times #1 Best Seller, Water for Elephants.

Around 18% of NaNoWriMo participants "win" every year by writing 50,000 words and validating their novels on the organization's website before midnight on Nov 30. Winners receive no prizes, and no one at NaNoWriMo ever sees the manuscripts submitted.

So if not for fame or fortune, why do people do it?

"The 50,000-word challenge has a wonderful way of opening up your imagination and unleashing creative potential like nothing else," says NaNoWriMo Director (and eight-time NaNoWriMo winner) Chris Baty. "When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both. Also, it's a great excuse for not doing any dishes for a month."

For the past eight years, Baty has sent out weekly pep talks to participants in November. This year, he's passing the pep talking torch to established authors, including mystery writer Sue Grafton, master storyteller Tom Robbins, and renowned fantasy writer Neil Gaiman.

Last year, Christee Gabour Atwood attracted national attention as she completed 50,000-word challenge in the window of a Waldenbooks while wearing a chicken suit.

Why? “Because I knew that someday someone would beat the record of writing a book in a store window, but I doubted that anyone else would be silly enough to do it in a chicken suit. It’s my moment in history … as pitiful as that sounds.”

Atwood is keeping her 2007 “NaNo Identity” secret at this time and plans to reveal it in the window of Waldenbooks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on November 1.

The daily word-count goal is 1,667 words. Municipal Liaisons around the world organize local meetings to provide writers with advice, inspiration, and support. This year Atwood serves as the ML for much of the state of Louisiana.

If you would like more information about National Novel Writing Month, or would like to talk to participants from NaNoWriMo chapters in your area, please visit our website at www.NaNoWriMo.org, or contact Christee Gabour Atwood at Christee@Christee.biz to find out about NaNoWriMo events in Louisiana.

Scientists Need to Explore All Cells to Find Treatment

Stem Cell Research: Scientists Will Need to Explore All Types of Cells to Find Treatment for More Illnesses and Conditions

Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America Compares Embryonic Stem Cells with Adult Stem Cells and Gives Reasons Why Both Should be Federally Funded

A new book written by Nashville author, Yvonne Perry, challenges preconceived religious and political ideas in hopes of changing the way Americans view blastocystic (embryonic) stem cell research. Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America (ISBN: 978-1-933449-41-8) was released on October 1 by Nightengale Press to coincide with the start up of the 2008 presidential election campaigns.

The book contains biological facts and scientific data about all types of stem cell research in a way that most people can understand. One question Perry poses in her book is this: “If cord blood, amniotic fluid, and bone marrow contain stem cells, and there is no controversial issue with these cells, then why do we need research on blastocyst (embryonic) stem cells?”

The simple truth is there are no substitutes for pluripotent stem cells. While cord blood, amniotic fluid, adult stem cells, reprogramming of cells and other alternate research certainly deserve study, no credible expert supports using them as a replacement for blastocysts stem cells leftover from in-vitro fertilization. Each type of cell has its own unique characteristics and abilities.

There are no moral issues attached to the use of cord blood and amniotic fluid, but like adult stem cells, these have already differentiated and have different characteristics than in-vitro blastocyst (IV-B) stem cells. Days-old blastocyst stem cells allow a range of research on the very earliest stages of human development and are more versatile than adult stem cells or fetal cells extracted months later from amniotic fluid or from cord blood at birth.

Scientists are still trying to discover which set of stem cell characteristics will ultimately be needed to cure or treat certain diseases. Here are a few key features we know about IV-B stem cells and adult stem cells (ASC):

IV-B stem cells are indefinite, robust, and self-renewable. IV-B stem cells can transform into virtually any type of cell of the body. Pluripotency disappears as differentiation occurs and development continues.

ASCs are limited in the number of cells they are able to transform into; in other words, they can only create more of the same type of cells as they already are. For that reason, adult cells are not able to do the same things as IV-B stem cells, which have the characteristics researchers believe are needed to cure some diseases.

Stem cells exist in relatively large numbers in IV-Bs. IV-Bs will not always be needed once a stem cell line of every race and condition is created by nuclear transfer cloning.

ASC or multipotent progenitor stem cells have not yet been found in all tissues of the body. In fact, they are scarce in the brain. If neural stem cells are needed, they must be generated from blastocyst stem cells. Bone marrow stem cells must be revved up with medication to stimulate their growth before they can be used for transplantation in the treatment of cancer.

Any knowledge gained from blastocyst stem cells will complement studies of adult and all other types of stem cells, and vice versa. Most scientists agree that therapy advances will be found by responsibly investigating all aspects of stem cell biology.

“Regardless of whether the therapies come from adult stem cells, cord blood, amniotic fluid, or IV-B research, all of humanity stands to profit from stem cell treatment and technology,” says Perry. “Whether it comes from the U.S. or another country, the cure for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, spinal cord injury, diabetes, or other illness or injuries is within reach.”

With a foreword by Dr. Evan Snyder of Burnham Institute and endorsements from Cure Paralysis Now, Don C. Reed of California’s Prop 71, Christopher Reeve Foundation, and many others, Perry’s book, while controversial, is a concise and accurate picture of the biology and legislation regarding stem cell research in the U.S and globally. For more information about the book see www.right2recover.com

Reverend Dan Bloodworth of The Brian Bloodworth Stroke and Head Injury Research Foundation gave Ms. Perry Biblical references to support blastocystic stem cell research. An entire chapter is dedicated to helping Christians understand this incredible gift God has given humanity. Rev. Bloodworth says, “It is such a pleasure to work with a writer like Yvonne Perry. She has truly researched the research and spent hundreds of hours to find the facts to share with the readers of RIGHT TO RECOVER. Over the years I have read literally thousands of articles and documents from around the world about this subject and RIGHT TO RECOVER is the most complete work I have ever read. It provides an honest evaluation and asks readers to consider the facts and then form their own opinion instead of listening to people who have never researched the subject.”

To purchase the book online go to www.nightengalepress.com or amazon.com. The book may be ordered in bookstores as well.

Obama Flap over Black Gospel Singer Shows Race is Issue in Presidential Race

The Hutchinson Political Report

Media Release

October 23, 2007
for Immediate Release
Contact: Earl Ofari Hutchinson
323-296-6331

Author Says That Obama Flap over Black Gospel Singer Points to Race as a Continuing Issue in Presidential race

Forthcoming Book The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House

Political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson publicly challenged Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama to repudiate the anti-gay bashing views of black Grammy winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. Obama scheduled a late October gospel tour in South Carolina with McClurkin. Obama issued a statement in response insisting that he supports gay rights and disagrees with McClurkin’s views.

However, Hutchinson notes that the black vote in South Carolina and other states is crucial to Obama’s success, as well as the success of his chief rival Hillary Clinton. In his forthcoming book The Ethnic Presidency: How Race decides the Race to the White House (February 2008 Middle Passage Press), Hutchinson details the huge role race and ethnic politics will play in the fight for the White in 2008.

The McClurkin flap is part of that fight since the singer is loved and admired by a large segment of evangelical leaning African-American voters. Obama wants and needs those votes. “Obama, Clinton, Edwards and the top Republican presidential contenders will embrace and ignore racial issues during their campaigns,” says Hutchinson,” But no matter what course they take those issues won’t be far from the political table.”

Hutchinson’s book, The Ethnic Presidency, details how the approach and avoidance on race and ethnic politics by the candidates will define their campaigns and influence voter decisions. The Ethinic Presidency available in January 2008.

Political Analyst Disputes Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Hispanic Values

Author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson disputes the contention of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that Hispanic values are American values. Gonzales inadvertently feeds the myth that there are two sets of values for Hispanics and Americans

Middle Passage Press 5517 Secrest Dr. Los Angeles, Cal. 90043 323-296-6331 http://www.middlepassagepress.com

October 3, 2007 For Immediate Release Contact: Barbara Bramwell 323-296-6331 Political Analyst Disputes Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Hispanic Values in His New Book The Latino Challenge to Black America

Author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson disputes the contention of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that Hispanic values are American values. Gonzales inadvertently feeds the myth that there are two sets of values for Hispanics and Americans. That fear has fueled much of the debate, rancor, and hostility over illegal immigration. Gonzales for instance praises his father for his hard work and sacrifice but that hard work and sacrifice that he holds in high esteem is no different than the hard work and sacrifices that all Americans have made in their lives to move up the social and economic scale. That’s not a Hispanic value, that’s an American value. “Gonzales also feeds the fears of many Americans,” says Hutchinson, “That Hispanics have a separate and distinct culture from those of other Americans.” Hutchinson in his new book, The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics tells why so many Latinos have embraced American culture and values. He details how their support of military service, their rush to learn English, and their fight for better educational and job opportunities has enriched the American experience. “This is the American way,” says Hutchinson. His book tells why that is, Gonzales’s view to the contrary.

Interview Earl Ofari Hutchinson 323-296-6331

About Hutchinson Political Report
Hutchinson Political report is a cutting edge news and public issues reporting and commentary blog site. Its focus is on political, minority, and African-American issues and commentary by Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

This is the Place by Carolyn Howard Johnson

This particular blog --current events-- interested me most, though. For one thing, in The Frugal Book Promoter I tell authors that they should watch current events and try to tie their novels to them. It's easy for nonfiction writers to do this but it seems a hard concept for many novelists to get.

Now to current events for my novel. This Is the Place has seen a revival recently because it ties to three current events. But first, you should know that This Is the Place is a novel set in Utah in the 50s, a time and place when repression was severe. It explores several aspects of intolerance.

So, currently:

Big Love, the HBO series about a polygamist cult just completed its 2nd season. Yes, there are polygamists (the original settlers in Utah) in This Is the Place.

Jeff Green is finally going to trial as an accessory for marrying a young girl to one of his relatives. He is the prophet of the unrecognized sect of Mormonism in Utah and Arizona.

Mitt Romney is running for the Republican nomination for president. Because he is a Mormon, he calls Utah his Zion. And, there is actually a minor character in This Is the Place running for public office.

As an aside, This Is the Place, won eight awards including a Reviewers' Choice Award.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for authors. Introducing The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success, now available for pre-orders at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870/

Please sign up for my "Sharing with Writers" newsletter: Put "Subscribe" in an e-mail to HoJoNews@aol.com. Learn more athttp://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com . , http://www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com, and http://www.authorscoalition.blogspot.com.

Blogs: http://www.TheNewBookReiew.blogspot.com

Brides For Sale?

Brides for Sale?

By Shobhan Bantwal

Author of THE DOWRY BRIDE – On sale now

Recently I read an article in Newsweek titled “The Bride Buyers.” At first I was shocked and dismayed to read about some website called MarryourDaughter.com that offered young girls for sale as brides. Teenagers of 15 and 16 years of age were being offered by their parents for thousands of dollars. What was more, the site got millions of hits within a week after it appeared on the Web. It just goes to show how many pedophiles are lurking in cyberspace – a frightening prospect!

However, later on the article explained that the whole thing was a hoax, and I exhaled a breath of relief. The website’s creator, John Ordover, a viral-marketing consultant based in Brooklyn, N.Y. set it up as an experiment to see where it would go. It looks like he was rather surprised himself at how many hopeful grooms were willing to pay hefty sums of money to acquire pretty and accomplished pubescent girls, and how many crazy parents were actually insane enough to place an ad to sell their daughters.

This article brought to mind my own debut novel, THE DOWRY BRIDE, a story set in India about a young bride, Megha, who is coerced into marrying a man who is willing to accept the lowest dowry. Even that small dowry is too high for her debt-ridden parents and her in-laws are about to kill her for not producing the promised money. Megha discovers the murder plot in the nick of time and escapes. She embarks on an extraordinary journey to freedom with the help of a young man who puts his own life on the line to protect her from a gruesome death by fire. More information is on my website: www.shobhanbantwal.com

Upon reading the Newsweek article, I sadly realized that the dowry system in India, although the opposite of bride-price (buying a bride instead of buying a groom) is no less perverse than the idea behind MarryourDaughter.com. Many desperate parents, in the hope of finding their daughters a good husband and a secure home, are willing to go into debt for life to raise enough money to pay an acceptable dowry.

If there was such bizarre websites in India and other parts of the world where dowry is blatantly practiced despite laws banning the custom, the title could easily have read: MarryourSon.com or SonforSale.com. The only difference would be the price – the lower the asking dowry the more flurry of interest from potential brides and their families.

Unfortunately this type of site would probably receive millions of hits each and every day. The sadder part is that neither the law enforcement agencies nor social codes of ethics seem to deter the folks determined to grab a dowry.

Read the Newsweek article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20781129/site/newsweek/?GT1=10357

Boycott by Illegal Immigrants Could Fuel Tensions with African-Americans

September 14, 2007
for Immediate Release
Contact: Barbara Bramwell
323-296-6331

Planned National Boycott by Illegal Immigrants Could Fuel Greater Tensions with African-Americans

Political Analyst Warns in His Forthcoming Book

The Latino Challenge to Black America

A spokesperson for Mexicanos Sin Fronteras (Mexicans Without Borders) says that his group will call for a national boycott of employers and businesses on October 9. The group wants to send the message that illegal immigrants don’t take jobs from Americans and indeed are productive and law abiding workers. Many American workers, and in particular African-American workers, reject that message.

Author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson details the anger and hostility that many African-American community activists and rank and file workers express toward illegal immigrants in the workplace in his forthcoming book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics. They vehemently contend that illegal immigrants do take jobs from blacks, especially poor, unskilled young blacks.

Hutchinson assesses the impact of illegal immigration on jobs and the economy in black communities. "Illegal immigration has touched a raw nerve among many blacks, "says Hutchinson, "they are absolutely convinced that they contribute to crime, violence and chronic unemployment in black communities. Hutchinson also closely examines the views of immigrant rights groups. They are just as vehement in disputing the notion that undocumented workers have created the economic ills in black communities, and indeed in American society. Hutchinson says the polar opposite views of many blacks and immigrant rights groups on illegal immigration could result in even greater tension and conflict between the two groups. He tells why and how the planned October 9^{th boycott could add to that tension between blacks and Latinos.}

Interview Earl Ofari Hutchinson 323-296-6331

"The job loss to blacks that they attribute to illegal immigration is as much perception as slight reality. However, when the perception becomes a widely-held public belief and is continually repeated as fact, it soon takes hold in public opinion. The sensitivity of blacks over jobs and illegal immigration has made even top black civil rights leaders tiptoe lightly around on the issue. "

Excerpt from Chapter 9, "Illegal Immigrants versus Black Workers," in the Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics

(Middle Passage Press, Los Angeles , October 2007).

Religion Has No Place in the Federal Funding Decision for Stem Cell Research

Contact: Yvonne Perry

write_on_yvonne@comcast.net

Valerie Connelly, Publisher

publisher@nightengalepress.biz

Religion Has No Place in Government or in the Decision Regarding Federal Funding for Stem Cell Research

Metaphysical Author Challenges Separation of Church and State in Her Controversial Book on Stem Cell Research

NASHVILLE, TN--A new book written by Nashville author, Yvonne Perry, challenges preconceived ideas in hopes of changing the way Americans view blastocystic (embryonic) stem cell research. Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America (ISBN: 978-1-933449-41-8) will be released this fall by Nightengale Press to coincide with the start up of the 2008 presidential election campaigns.

You may not realize it, but America was not founded upon Christianity. That may be what you were taught in school, but proof of such is not reflected in the writings of our founding fathers. Billy Graham agreed that the United States of America is not a Christian Nation. In a televised interview on May 30, 1997, David Frost asked Mr. Graham, “Say, is this still a Christian Country?” To which Billy Graham replied, “No! We’re not a Christian Country. We’ve never been a Christian country. We’re a secular country, by our constitution. In which Christians live and which many Christians have a voice. But we’re not a Christian Country.¹⁷

There can be no religious freedom whenever religion controls the masses through the government. Yet, this is exactly what has occurred in the U.S. Each time a law is passed giving government jurisdiction over what happens in a person’s home, marriage, healthcare or religion, we lose another personal right that was assured to us in the founding documents of our country.

Time and time again, religious groups have violated our Constitutional right to keep church and state separate. The neoconservative and fundamentalists’ unfounded opinion about blastocystic stem cell research is hindering the physical health of our nation.

“Only a lack of knowledge and stubbornness could cause someone to oppose this science and fight to withhold funding for research that offers such potential to help humanity,” says Perry. “In my book, I will address the lack of knowledge with factual information provided from the experts I have interviewed. Many people who oppose the research do not know why they believe what they believe because they have been programmed by religious leaders to think a certain way. I will take modern-day Christianity back to its original roots in order to challenge the limited mindset that stems from organized religion and show how it does not belong in government.”

Right to Recover is set to be released by Nightengale Press in October 2007. To preorder your copy now, go to www.nightengalepress.com . For more information about the book see www.right2recover.com or contact Valerie Connelly at Nightengale Press at www.nightengalepress.biz to review a galley copy.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research—a Leveraging Tool for the Democratic Party

Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research—a Leveraging Tool for the Democratic Party in Presidential Campaigns

Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America—a new book by Nashville Author, Yvonne Perry, is a Must-Read for all Candidates.

Nashville, TN – The pub date for Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America—a book thoroughly covering all types of stem cell research—has been strategically selected to coincide with the start up of the 2008 presidential election campaigns this fall. As the debate heats up over who will take the seat in the White House, issues such as federal funding for blastocystic (embryonic) stem cell research will be a topic of importance for voters deciding which candidate to vote for.

Recent polls and studies show that 70 percent of Americans and 63 percent of Democrats agree that research should be allowed on IVF-derived blastocysts leftover from couples seeking assistance with fertility regardless of the date they are created. Most Republican leaders have adamantly opposed the research due to their belief that a human life is destroyed in the process. This comparison has been used by the Bush Administration to garner additional support for adult stem cell research which already receives federal funding. Ultra-conservative right wing groups report that multipotent (adult) cells have the same characteristics and abilities as pluripotent (blastocyst) cells, yet this theory has not been proven. In fact, adult stem cells have proven safety and efficacy on only nine conditions.

In order to help members of Congress better understand blastocystic stem cell research, Ms. Perry is sending a free advanced reading copy (ARC) of her book Right to Recover: Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America (ISBN: 978-1-933449-41-8) to Senators who respond to her offer. Since the topic will be a leveraging tool in the Presidential election campaigns, it also would be beneficial for all Presidential candidates to take notes from Perry’s book.

Yvonne Perry is a published author and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. With over 400 hours of research and interviews with scientific and religious experts, Perry presents an educational tool to readers in Right to Recover while expressing true hope for healing through all types of stem cell biology.

Interviews included in the book are with: Dr. Madan Jagasia, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Susan Fajt, a patient who was scammed by the creators of the fabricated Prentice List and Mary Schneider, whose son was infused with his own cord blood stem cells. Facts were checked by Don C. Reed of California’s Prop 71 and Shane G. Smith, Ph.D. Science Director, CNS Foundation, Former Science Director, ‘Yes on Proposition 71.’

Dr. Smith says, “Yvonne Perry counters long-standing myths of the American stem cell debate with bright, accessible prose. Policymakers and everyday citizens who want to make informed choices about stem cell research need to read Right to Recover.”

To preorder your copy now, go to www.nightengalepress.com . For more information about the book see www.right2recover.com or contact Valerie Connelly at Nightengale Press at www.nightengalepress.biz to review a galley copy.