Valentine's Day Isn't about Being Alone; It's about Being
Yourself, Says Self-Empowerment Entrepreneur

There's a reason Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" became a pop classic - because it's true!

But breakups can also be a time to reflect and embark on a new chapter in your life, says Jay Ryan.

"Many people have been through a romantic heartbreak, which can be among life's biggest challenges. But being single after a committed relationship can also be a good time to rejuvenate yourself," says Ryan, co-founder of breakupgems.com, an online retailer specializing in breakup and divorce jewelry that "celebrates new beginnings."

"We cater to the growing number of people looking for meaningful ways to bring closure to their past and move forward with confidence," he says.

For those who've recently experienced a split, Ryan shares several ways to turn your breakup into a makeover -- a "breakover."

• Empower yourself with the gift of health. It's almost a cliché that exes lose weight after splitting up; some lose their appetite due to melancholy and some are motivated to look and feel better with exercise and dieting. Don't punish yourself with spartan regimens, Ryan advises. Eat nutritious foods and train sensibly.

• Treat yourself to a new wardrobe. Clothing can be the bearers of painful reminders, like the sweater he or she got you last year. Consider freshening up your style with new clothes - hey, you'll probably need them anyway with all that exercise. A new wardrobe can serve as a healthy reminder of the new you.

• Be proactive with your reading. There are many genres of self-help literature, from spiritual to academic. But don't limit yourself to nonfiction; classic literature not only gives you a great education, it also helps readers increase empathy and better understand emotional complexity.

• Consider a healthy reminder of the new you. It's a tradition in our society to commemorate a romantic union or celebration with jewelry. Your breakup may likewise be a blessing that allows you to grow as an individual. Consider a ring or other piece of jewelry that will not only mark this milestone but be a personal reminder of your transformation and new beginning.

• Travel adds perspective on a new journey. Whether or not you realize it, a breakup is the beginning of a new life trajectory. Travel - whether it's time for a change of domestic scenery or a vacation - perfectly symbolizes a new journey. Overcoming a painful separation requires an outside perspective, which is often gained through travel.

• Invite friends over for a dinner party. The depression that is liable to ensue after a breakup often leads to isolation, but that is when you most need your friends! Why not host a breakup party? Rather than blowing it out with a large group of people, which may include strangers, keep it simple with intimate friends you can trust.

About Jay Ryan

Jay Ryan is the co-founder of BreakupGems.com, an online retailer that specializes in fine breakup and divorce jewelry. Each piece in the collection conveys an empowering message of freedom and renewal with designs that are both stylish and meaningful for anyone overcoming a recent breakup or simply celebrating happy singlehood.

It's only natural to want quick weight loss results once you make the commitment to shed a few pounds - but slow and steady is the way to go. Eating a healthful diet and sweating it out regularly are the best ways to reach your weight-loss goal. Here's how to make these two pound-shedding tools work to your advantage: · Sweat it out. It takes time and effort to see results ? especially when it comes to exercise. At a minimum, adults should get 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity, coupled with two or more days of strength training all muscle groups to boost your weight-loss efforts. · Find a diet buddy. Almost everything is more fun with a friend, and that includes shedding pounds. Try to find a buddy to team up with on your quest for healthy weight loss. You can motivate each other by sharing recipes and weight-loss tips and by hitting the gym together. · Watch your beverages. Pay attention to what you drink as well as what you eat when looking for boost your weight-loss success. Alcohol, sodas, and even lemonade and juices are full of calories that can undermine a healthy diet. Instead of these sugary beverages, try drinking water, tea, or coffee. Get seven more tips to lose weight faster.

DES MOINES - Today, AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the Des Moines Airport Authority's Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 11:

"We continue to feel that the proposed Pro-Tec contract will imperil the safety of airport customers. The Board's agenda says they will vote on the proposed contract. Once again, we are encouraging concerned members of the public to attend the Authority Board meeting on Tuesday, February 11th at 9 am in the second floor boardroom at the airport terminal in order to express their opposition to the outsourcing plan."

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See below report from the Center for American Progress.  Reaction statement from Jeremy Funk, Comm. Director, Americans United for Change: "It's not surprising Big Oil insists they can't live without billions in taxpayer subsidies despite reporting $93 billion in profits. It's not even surprising that Big Oil turns around and uses those taxpayer dollars/profits to inflate their own stock and their CEOs bonuses. With greed this out of control, the only thing that could surprise anymore is if BP or Exxon tried to declare themselves tax-exempt religious organizations.  Big Oil's greedy behavior is so predictable that if they are successful in convincing Washington to gut the Renewable Fuel Standard and hobble their cheaper, cleaner competition  (like the ethanol industry that unlike Big Oil, don't take subsidies), it will come as no surprise when prices go north at the pump and the nation relapses on its addiction to oil from unstable overseas regions."

 

Report excerpt: Of course, when it comes to spending their money, the priorities of oil companies are fairly obvious. All of the companies, except for ConocoPhillips, spent a combined total of $32 billion, or nearly 40 percent of their total profits, to repurchase their own stock. (see Table 1) This increases the value of the remaining shares, providing a bounty to senior executives, boards of directors, and other large shareholders. The CEOs of these five companies had a combined compensation of $96 million in 2012, the last year for which data are available, or nearly $20 million per CEO. This is nearly 400 times greater than the $51,107 median income for a family of four during that same year. These five major oil corporations also spent $45 million on lobbying in 2013; every $1 spent on lobbying helped the companies protect $53 of their tax breaks?an outstanding rate of return.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2014/02/10/83879/with-only-93-billion-in-profits-the-big-five-oil-companies-demand-to-keep-tax-breaks/

With Only $93 Billion in Profits, the Big Five Oil Companies Demand to Keep Tax Breaks

By Daniel J. Weiss and Miranda Peterson | February 10, 2014

The 2013 profit totals are in for the big five oil companies?BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Shell. Their financial reports indicate that they earned a combined total of $93 billion last year, or $177,000 per minute. (see Table 1) After years of oil production declines, the big five oil companies actually increased their total production by 34 percent in 2013, predominately due to BP and ConocoPhillips almost doubling their total production. The companies' higher oil production yet lower profits indicate that it is becoming more expensive to produce oil as the number of newer, easier, and cheaper fields shrink. This is why, despite their outsized earnings, the oil companies are not only fighting to keep their tax breaks but also lobbying to lift the crude oil export ban. But doing so could hurt working families, our economy, and our energy security. Instead, we need to invest in cleaner transportation alternatives.

As mindboggling as it sounds, Big Oil's $93 billion in profits in 2013?impressive by any standard?were nonetheless a 27 percent reduction in profits compared to 2012, primarily because gasoline averaged 16 cents per gallon?or 4 percent?less. Despite the decreases, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Chevron still had the first, seventh, and eighth, respectively, highest profits of any global public company on the 2013 Fortune 500 list. BP finished 30th, while ConocoPhillips ranked 50th, mostly because it spun off its refining business partway through 2012.

It would not be surprising if the big five oil companies use their 2013 decline in profits as another excuse to pressure Congress to retain their $2.4 billion-per-year tax breaks. The largest of these special provisions allows these companies to qualify for the "limitation on section 199 deduction attributable to oil, natural gas, or primary products," which will cost taxpayers $14.4 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. This tax break was enacted in 2004 and was designed to encourage manufacturing to remain in the United States rather than move overseas. It ought not apply to oil and natural gas production since the oil and gas fields cannot be moved to another nation.

The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the second-largest deduction was for "modifications of foreign tax credit rules applicable to major integrated oil companies which are dual capacity taxpayers." This provision is worth $7.5 billion over 10 years. Seth Hanlon, former Director of Fiscal Reform at the Center for American Progress, best describes why this tax break is unwarranted:

Our tax system allows companies that do business abroad to reduce from their tax bill any income taxes paid to other governments. The rules are supposed to prevent oil companies from claiming credit for royalty payments to foreign governments. Royalties are not taxes; they are fees for the privilege of extracting natural resources.

... oil companies have been permitted to claim credits for certain payments to foreign governments, even in countries that generally impose low or no business tax (suggesting that these payments, or levies, are in fact a form of royalty). Dual capacity taxpayer rules, therefore, are a subsidy for foreign production by U.S. oil companies.

The decline in profits is also why the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil, and other oil companies are lobbying to lift the crude oil export ban, which would enable them to sell their domestic oil at the world, or Brent, price that fetched nearly $10 per barrel more than the domestic, or West Texas Intermediate, price on February 7. Lifting the ban would force the United States to import more expensive foreign oil to replace the exported domestic oil, which could raise gasoline prices. Banking giant Barclays Plc predicts that lifting the current ban could add $10 billion annually to gasoline prices paid at the pump.

If there is any good news here for American families and businesses, it is that gasoline prices, which hit a record high in 2012, were lower in 2013. This cut at the pump reduced the average household's annual gasoline expenditures.

The fact that profits decreased in 2013 despite production increasing by 34 percent calls into question the big five companies' reliance on finding and developing more difficult, dangerous oil fields?such as those in the Arctic Ocean. It is fairly clear that such a business model is not economically sustainable. Instead, they?and we?could benefit from greater investment in cleaner, alternative transportation technologies.

Of course, when it comes to spending their money, the priorities of oil companies are fairly obvious. All of the companies, except for ConocoPhillips, spent a combined total of $32 billion, or nearly 40 percent of their total profits, to repurchase their own stock. (see Table 1) This increases the value of the remaining shares, providing a bounty to senior executives, boards of directors, and other large shareholders. The CEOs of these five companies had a combined compensation of $96 million in 2012, the last year for which data are available, or nearly $20 million per CEO. This is nearly 400 times greater than the $51,107 median income for a family of four during that same year. These five major oil corporations also spent $45 million on lobbying in 2013; every $1 spent on lobbying helped the companies protect $53 of their tax breaks?an outstanding rate of return.

In addition to receiving unjustified tax breaks, the big five oil companies also benefit from the lack of federal limits on carbon pollution generated by oil and gas production, transportation, and refining. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that "petroleum and natural gas systems" and refiners were the second- and third-largest sources of carbon and other climate pollution among the major industrial sectors that must report their emissions. Since there are no federal limits on this pollution, American families and businesses must bear the costs of more climate pollution, such as damages from extreme weather events, heightened smog, and tropical diseases. These?and other?oil companies can dump their carbon and other climate pollution in the sky for free. And at our expense.

Despite the decline in profits in 2013, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Shell are some of the richest, most profitable companies in the world. They produce a valuable commodity that is essential to our economy. However, their proposal to eliminate the crude oil export ban, their battle to keep some unnecessary federal tax breaks, and their uncontrolled climate pollution all could or do impose real costs on American families. It's up to President Barack Obama and Congress to retain and adopt policies that benefit all Americans, not just Big Oil's bottom line.

Daniel J. Weiss is a Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress. Miranda Peterson is a Special Assistant for the Energy Opportunity team at the Center.