What may be difficult for Bush is to tell lawmakers what his plan is and what it is not, since Congress would have to approve.

CNN: Wallace

What these elections cannot tell us is whether politics is as it has been for the last three decades since the 80s - where governments can bounce back after mid-term defeats - or whether we'll soon see a return to the politics of the 70s - of one-term governments thrown out of office.

BBC: Elections - Reading the runes

Also, since it is regulated lightly or not at all, it is hard to tell whether children being taught at home are receiving an adequate education.

ECONOMIST: The growth of home-schooling

"Since I won the Olympics, it is 16 years today, since then no other gold -- that is to tell us actually that we are not doing well and we really need to do something, " she says.

CNN: Nigeria's Chioma Ajunwa's leap to glory after drug scandal

But the market also seems to have penalised some good firms as well as bad (though since so few new technology companies make money, it is often hard to tell the difference).

ECONOMIST: Have the markets really punctured the dot.com bubble?

And, since each individual point you earn is all but worthless, it can be difficult to tell whether the reward was worth whatever extra spending you may have engaged in to secure it.

FORBES: Credit Card Tip Of The Week: Your Rewards Points Are Worthless

Since the year 2003, I've been trying to tell our side of the government that it is very important to accommodate Raila Odinga and his team, who at that time, were part of the government.

NPR: Nobel Laureate Explains Kenya's Battle for Peace

For his part, Fed Chairman Bernanke blithely stated that, since "Shariah-Compliant Finance is still in its infancy, " it was too early to tell whether regulators would have problems monitoring it.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Sell-off or Sell-out?