Video: Hillary Clinton's Cutting Edge Digital Diplomacy, go here.
Thanks for visiting! Just got back from my out of town sales calls today and am back at the keyboard posting... :) Happy Monday!
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Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
03 August 2009
Link to Video: Hillary Clinton's Cutting Edge Digital Diplomacy
Video: Hillary Clinton's Cutting Edge Digital Diplomacy, go here.
Thanks for visiting! Just got back from my out of town sales calls today and am back at the keyboard posting... :) Happy Monday!
18 July 2009
Update: Foreign Exchange Students Abuse Scandal
Update: There were such great comments over at Dennys Blog Feeds on this story that I just had to repost this story for you to read. I really like it when someone wants to seriously discuss a social issue. What comes out of any good discussion is more understanding and some new facts to investigate. I have an inkling that this story is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Time will tell as more reporters look into the veracity of the experts and the accusers.
Federal Agents Investigate Burger Kings Treatment of Foreign Students - An excerpt: "RIVERTON, Wyo. – Federal agents from the Department of Immigrations are expected to arrive in Riverton today to investigate a possible indentured service case involving foreign students. Five university students working in the states through an exchange program said they were fired from the local Burger King and evicted from squalid living quarters provided by the company after they complained about the conditions.
They described the 15x15-foot house as a boiler room prison, because the windows wouldn’t open, bunkbeds with air mattresses were the beds, a hot-plate on a counter sufficed for a kitchen stove and the toilet and shower stall were unsanitary due to corrosion.
Riverton police, who executed the eviction notice over the weekend, were appalled at the conditions found and reported the situation to immigrations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Local Burger King management has refused comment and corporate officials in Florida say they were unaware of the situation. The students were matched with the local Burger King through the work/travel programs of Worldwide International Student Exchange (WISE) and Aspire Worldwide. They paid $3,500 to $5,000 each to participate, and were told adequate housing would be provided at an affordable fee.
They said rent for the house was $1,800 a month, paid to Burger King District Manager Peggy Handran. Her phone number listed on the work agreement is no longer in service.
The university students are all men, ages 18-21, coming from Turkey, Mongolia, Azerbaijan and the Ukraine. They have found temporary sanctuary with a neighbor, Donna Michel."
Click on the title link for the rest of the story.
The Discussion
Comments:
smbpott said...
This case is unfortunate and I feel bad for the kids, but the vast majority (95%) of exchanges are positive for the students and the families and communities which host them. I urge the press to investigate Danielle Grijalva, director of Committee for Safety and Chris Gould, a retired British police investigator and PURPORTED consultant to foreign exchange programs worldwide. They say mistreatment of foreign students is significantly underreported. What basis do they use to show underreporting? What is the board make up of the committee for safety? What foreign exchange programs is Chris Gould a consultant for? You will find these two people have NO basis for their setting themselves up as experts, and that they are acting together, but essentially alone (no real committee, no board oversight of organization, restraining order against Danielle...), just trolling the internet for sensationalized cases of exchange student abuse and posting them on one website repeatedly.
16 July, 2009 22:21
Denny Lyon said...
Hi, smbpott, thanks for visiting and leaving your comment!
As with most stories like this, it isn't about how well the majority has been treated but rather about the abused minority that went unreported or not investigated.
This story is really not about the concept of foreign exchange students as it is a great idea culturally. It isn't about the whole organization either.
What this story is about is the fact that nothing was done to address these problems, not enough or perhaps any oversight on the part of our government - most likely the vast majority of issues happened during the Bush years of "non-doing."
It was foolish for our current State Dept. not to fine tooth comb every project they had in operation during the Bush years looking for this kind of thing. As it was the GAO was prevented from investigating AND reporting by Bush and Cheney. Normally, they handle these kinds of investigations as these problems always follow one culprit: follow the money. Most likely, Bush and Cheney cut the funds for oversight and hired outside political cronies as payback for campaign funds.
BTW, do you have proof to back up the stats you give that 95% of the foreign exchange students do not encounter any problem? If there was no oversight, no reporting, no surveys, where did you get this stat?
In the end, we are both coming at this problem from different sides and meeting in the middle in complete agreement: not enough oversight to prove either the good or the bad satisfactorily!
I'm glad these people have finally gotten the courage to speak up and speak out about their abuse. It went pretty much the same in the religious community, especially Catholic, when for decades people complained about sexual abuse. The same arguments abounded that it wasn't that bad, it wasn't true, that 95% etc., etc. Since then the abused began to speak up and the whole truth came out: there were thousands worldwide who were badly abused for decades.
My policy is never to deny a listen to anyone who has been abused, especially when it was as a result of an institutional entity for which as part of the public I am partly responsible.
17 July, 2009 08:57
From Anonymous:
Hello:
Thought you may find this of interest:
Federal agents investigate Burger King's treatment of foreign students
Leslie Stratmoen KVOW/KTAK News Director
July 16, 2009
http://www.ktakradio.com/news/2009/jul/16/federal-agents-investigate-burger-kings-treatment-/
Too many exchange students leave our country with a horrible impression of America.
17 July, 2009 16:16
From Denny: This is a video story I tried to put up yesterday but CNN did not yet have it up on its site until today. Unbelievable what foreign exchange students have lived through when visiting the United States during the Bush years and recently. The truth is just now coming out.
It's a real horror story that our own government funded this abuse and did not take the interest to regulate these agencies that promote and place these students in American homes. Some of those homes were convicted felons, students were raped, starved, forced to live in filthy situations, even placed with known and registered sex offenders! How perverted can you get?
Politics foreign exchange students rape sex offenders starvation abuse America United States State Department investigation
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Federal Agents Investigate Burger Kings Treatment of Foreign Students - An excerpt: "RIVERTON, Wyo. – Federal agents from the Department of Immigrations are expected to arrive in Riverton today to investigate a possible indentured service case involving foreign students. Five university students working in the states through an exchange program said they were fired from the local Burger King and evicted from squalid living quarters provided by the company after they complained about the conditions.
They described the 15x15-foot house as a boiler room prison, because the windows wouldn’t open, bunkbeds with air mattresses were the beds, a hot-plate on a counter sufficed for a kitchen stove and the toilet and shower stall were unsanitary due to corrosion.
Riverton police, who executed the eviction notice over the weekend, were appalled at the conditions found and reported the situation to immigrations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Local Burger King management has refused comment and corporate officials in Florida say they were unaware of the situation. The students were matched with the local Burger King through the work/travel programs of Worldwide International Student Exchange (WISE) and Aspire Worldwide. They paid $3,500 to $5,000 each to participate, and were told adequate housing would be provided at an affordable fee.
They said rent for the house was $1,800 a month, paid to Burger King District Manager Peggy Handran. Her phone number listed on the work agreement is no longer in service.
The university students are all men, ages 18-21, coming from Turkey, Mongolia, Azerbaijan and the Ukraine. They have found temporary sanctuary with a neighbor, Donna Michel."
Click on the title link for the rest of the story.
The Discussion
Comments:
smbpott said...
This case is unfortunate and I feel bad for the kids, but the vast majority (95%) of exchanges are positive for the students and the families and communities which host them. I urge the press to investigate Danielle Grijalva, director of Committee for Safety and Chris Gould, a retired British police investigator and PURPORTED consultant to foreign exchange programs worldwide. They say mistreatment of foreign students is significantly underreported. What basis do they use to show underreporting? What is the board make up of the committee for safety? What foreign exchange programs is Chris Gould a consultant for? You will find these two people have NO basis for their setting themselves up as experts, and that they are acting together, but essentially alone (no real committee, no board oversight of organization, restraining order against Danielle...), just trolling the internet for sensationalized cases of exchange student abuse and posting them on one website repeatedly.
16 July, 2009 22:21
Denny Lyon said...
Hi, smbpott, thanks for visiting and leaving your comment!
As with most stories like this, it isn't about how well the majority has been treated but rather about the abused minority that went unreported or not investigated.
This story is really not about the concept of foreign exchange students as it is a great idea culturally. It isn't about the whole organization either.
What this story is about is the fact that nothing was done to address these problems, not enough or perhaps any oversight on the part of our government - most likely the vast majority of issues happened during the Bush years of "non-doing."
It was foolish for our current State Dept. not to fine tooth comb every project they had in operation during the Bush years looking for this kind of thing. As it was the GAO was prevented from investigating AND reporting by Bush and Cheney. Normally, they handle these kinds of investigations as these problems always follow one culprit: follow the money. Most likely, Bush and Cheney cut the funds for oversight and hired outside political cronies as payback for campaign funds.
BTW, do you have proof to back up the stats you give that 95% of the foreign exchange students do not encounter any problem? If there was no oversight, no reporting, no surveys, where did you get this stat?
In the end, we are both coming at this problem from different sides and meeting in the middle in complete agreement: not enough oversight to prove either the good or the bad satisfactorily!
I'm glad these people have finally gotten the courage to speak up and speak out about their abuse. It went pretty much the same in the religious community, especially Catholic, when for decades people complained about sexual abuse. The same arguments abounded that it wasn't that bad, it wasn't true, that 95% etc., etc. Since then the abused began to speak up and the whole truth came out: there were thousands worldwide who were badly abused for decades.
My policy is never to deny a listen to anyone who has been abused, especially when it was as a result of an institutional entity for which as part of the public I am partly responsible.
17 July, 2009 08:57
From Anonymous:
Hello:
Thought you may find this of interest:
Federal agents investigate Burger King's treatment of foreign students
Leslie Stratmoen KVOW/KTAK News Director
July 16, 2009
http://www.ktakradio.com/news/2009/jul/16/federal-agents-investigate-burger-kings-treatment-/
Too many exchange students leave our country with a horrible impression of America.
17 July, 2009 16:16
From Denny: This is a video story I tried to put up yesterday but CNN did not yet have it up on its site until today. Unbelievable what foreign exchange students have lived through when visiting the United States during the Bush years and recently. The truth is just now coming out.
It's a real horror story that our own government funded this abuse and did not take the interest to regulate these agencies that promote and place these students in American homes. Some of those homes were convicted felons, students were raped, starved, forced to live in filthy situations, even placed with known and registered sex offenders! How perverted can you get?
Politics foreign exchange students rape sex offenders starvation abuse America United States State Department investigation
Bloggers Unite: Global Human Rights Abuses
From Denny: This is a post I ran over at The Social Poets Friday evening for the Bloggers Unite Human Rights Day post on 17 July 2009. Bloggers everywhere are all blogging on the same day about human rights.
***
Humanity is at a crossroads in our world history where we must make a profound decision. It’s time to live better.
Currently, human rights abuses are no longer exclusive to certain regions of the globe. There is a sharp increase in human rights abuses worldwide for decades now and situations are increasing in violence yearly.
Stories abound globally of the most heinous crimes to humanity. Nothing good is accomplished by mankind trying to annihilate mankind. Just what is going on in the world? Here are just a few areas:
• Hamas and Taliban Islamic terrorists and other terrorist groups worldwide are on a bloodthirsty killing spree with bombings of civilians, women and children in many places in the world.
Photo by azrainman @ flickr
• Rogue unstable governments, covertly cozy with terrorist groups, working feverishly to acquire the nuclear bomb so they can kill off their neighbors they don’t like because they are another religion, a different economic or another kind of social system – or just plain won’t give them what they want.
• Genocide in Africa because people of different tribes can’t work out their differences like civilized people.
• Jailing journalists - trying to report the truth - as political temper tantrums to get their own way: North Korea and Iran.
• Tortured prisoners worldwide with the most notable recent heinous acts perpetrated during the Bush years on terrorist suspects never given trials, mainly because there was no real hard evidence.
• Under Taliban Islamic law and culture women are still regarded as subhuman and not deserving of first class treatment like men.
• Here in the United States, during the Bush years, women were raped, often savage gang rapes, at our military universities yet went unreported.
• Then there are battered women worldwide from Islamic to Christian countries whose husbands will not stop pummeling them.
We, the majority, are allowing the few to terrorize us, our neighbors and our loved ones. We must mobilize to stop it. How? Education for starters.
In the end, in order for humanity to not come to an end, we must consider a working alternative to what exists today in the way of abuses. It is a basic human right to be loved. Loved, you say? Yes, loved. We all have the right to be loved.
Love comes in many forms. We have the human right to certain expectations of basic decency and civility. We have the human right to healthy drinking water and sanitation and affordable housing. We have the human right to expect our political leaders that are guardians of our country to be honest and get serious about addressing pressing social and economic issues.
Photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr
Human rights abuses worldwide, in our own countries, in our homes will continue until the average person stands up and says "No!" to it all. Human rights abuses will continue until we all get serious about connecting up to create a tsunami force to push humanity along until we all do better, choose better and, in the end, start living better. Now that’s Love in action! We all have the human right to be loved. Let’s give Love.
A few places you can go for education and plug in to help:
Bloggers Unite where you can help by blogging
Youth Movement For Human Rights - worldwide
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International, dedicated to bringing world attention to human rights abuse
North Korea, United States, denny lyon, Human rights, Nuclear weapon, Africa, Amnesty International, Human Rights and Liberties, Sharia, The Social Poets
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05 July 2009
Video: Independence Day Trivia
From Denny: This is well worth the watching! While I knew most of the dry facts - what I didn't know were some of the ancedotal stories that went along with those historical facts that spoke a lot to the personalities and conflicts of that time.
Watch CBS Videos Online
Independence Day Fourth of July America Thomas Jefferson George Washington Declaration of Independence people and society holidays United States CBS videos American history
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Watch CBS Videos Online
Independence Day Fourth of July America Thomas Jefferson George Washington Declaration of Independence people and society holidays United States CBS videos American history
Video: The Crown of Liberty
Watch CBS Videos Online
CBS Statue of Liberty freedom America United States travel renovation video Obama tourism New York Manhattan Society and culture United States
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04 July 2009
Fourth of July Quotes: Serious and Funny
Photo by Morgan Frederick @ flickr
From Denny: I just love the fireworks on this day. I also like to remember all the soldiers over the centuries who lost their lives preserving our freedom, whether they voted Democrat, Republican or not at all.
Courage is always to be respected and admired. We may not agree on whether there should be a war at all, how to conduct a war once started or how to end it. What we can agree on is to respect those who were sent to fight as our first line of defense. They paid a hefty price for the rest of their lives for those wars were always with them.
Here are some very serious awesome quotes and a few light-hearted ones as well to give you pause and a grin on this solemn national holiday.
Serious Quotes
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.” – President John F. Kennedy
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." ~ Thomas Paine
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself." ~ Thomas Paine
"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." ~ Elmer Davis
"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
"Let freedom never perish in your hands." ~ Joseph Addison
"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." ~ President Dwight D. Eisenhower
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved." ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt
"May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!" ~ Daniel Webster
"We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls." ~ Robert J. McCracken
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." ~ Abraham Lincoln
"If our country is worth dying for in time of war let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace." ~ Hamilton Fish
"I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery." ~ Author Unknown
"Without freedom, no one really has a name." ~ Milton Acorda
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." ~ Benjamin Franklin
Funny Quotes
The United States is the only country with a known birthday. ~ James G. Blaine
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” ~ Erma Bombeck
"There, I guess King George will be able to read that." -
John Hancock, after signing the Declaration of Independence with a huge signature well flourished to stand out from the crowd!
Stay safe this holiday; Happy Fourth of July! Thanks for visiting!
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30 June 2009
A Spiritual Perspective: Michael Jackson
Featured over at The Social Poets today is a post about Michael Jackson:
A Spiritual Perspective: Michael Jackson
Photo by frdgr @ flickr
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16 June 2009
Awwww Sniffle Sniffle Sigh Awesome Photos
From Denny: This is one of those endearing profound emails you receive every now and then. Thought I'd share with you these awesome pictures. Thanks, Colleen in New Jersey! Try making your own version of this idea of matching photos with meaningful words that strike a chord in your heart! Feel free to share this post with others to enjoy.
*****
The Real Meaning of Words
LOVE
SORROW
INNOCENCE
DEPARTURE
PAIN
SOLITUDE
RESPECT
COMPASSION
FRIENDSHIP
MUSIC
PATIENCE
RESCUED
BEST FRIENDS
DIVINE
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
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*****
The Real Meaning of Words
LOVE
SORROW
INNOCENCE
DEPARTURE
PAIN
SOLITUDE
RESPECT
COMPASSION
FRIENDSHIP
MUSIC
PATIENCE
RESCUED
BEST FRIENDS
DIVINE
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
15 May 2009
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14 April 2009
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