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As I expect you know, volunteer work is a great way to help build stronger communities and in the same stride assist the poor. But scheduling this can be a mite time consumung in its own right, and before you know it you don’t have nearly as long left to actually do some good. And you’ll have more fun volunteering when your co-workers are pitching in right along with you! By way of solving this issue, a number of firms are creating points of organization to help their employees support the community through volunteer activities. One of the leaders in this is Adaptive Marketing LLC who also offer shopping programs including Leisure Exclusives (MVQ*LSUREXCLUSIVE) to consumers. If you think of company-supported charitable effort, you probably think of giving blood, perhaps a Christmas donation drive, nothing more, but that’s simply not true in today’s world. Tennis shoe recycling initiatives and more active work like tree-planting weekends — these and other activities have been arranged for its workforce by Adaptive Marketing. Once all the information — time, date, location, details, etc — had been clearly announced it is a simple matter for staff to decide the precise amount of time they’d be giving and how they’d be using it. Making sure volunteers have their say in what programs are available is essential. Staff members from Adaptive Marketing, the firm who developed the membership program Leisure Exclusives (MVQ*LSUREXCLUSIVE), select from among a number of drives. When looking for possible projects you see so many, after all; taking part in the education of children and young adults, helping with environmental programs, or improving the area’s aesthetic through artistic projects to list a few that have already been tried. The result is that Adaptive Marketing volunteers are presented with the opportunity to use their time as efficiently as possible and enjoy getting involved. Usually a company supported charity project — getting involved with a local school, say, or helping out at a homeless shelter — is either for a one-off event or on a regular schedule designed to achieve a bigger goal. There may be people who assert they don’t have the time, but even they may be able to squeeze in a Saturday morning park clean-up or the public library’s sale of used books.

It has always been a regular practice for firms to help out the people living around their premises. Like many other businesses, Adaptive Marketing supports volunteer programs in part to spread goodwill through the local community through its members of staff actions. Another upside is, the benefits of volunteer work include a sense of generosity and accomplishment — an upbeat feeling that influences the entire corporation. Helping your members of staff to find the time to volunteer can be its own reward.

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Yaz side effects range from quite moderate to critical. The most common side effects appear to be weight gain as well as complete loss of sex drive. Other Yaz side effects include but are not limited to vaginal discharge, increased appetite, and yeast infections. All of these side affects appear to take place far too often and can perhaps have deadly consequences. The more serious Yasmin side effects include loss of vision, depression, migraines, and heart attack. Even though less common, these side effects are far more critical.

Although Yaz went through clinical trials and obtained FDA approval in the United States, the competitive promotion of the oral contraceptive for its effect of cutting back the incidence of PMDD and acne led to its popularity and exposure. This exposure was to a much larger array of young ladies than were initially involved in the clinical trials and subsequently, far more sufferers of the Yasmin side effects were identified. The more serious side effects include stroke, kidney failure, and gall bladder disease. Among the modest and far more average side effects are headaches, increased appetite, and reduced sex drive.

Due to the high occurrence of numerous Yasmin side effects, it is crucial to know what do if you are going through them. The absolute foremost step is to consult your physician and if necessary to obtain a second opinion. Most doctors who have the updated histogram on their patients will be able to determine if a specific drug would not be recommended. If your doctor should confirm that your symptoms are indeed caused by Yaz then you should immediately stop taking your birth control pill and consult with a lawyer.

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A volunteers’ camaraderie can strengthen the local community spirit, and of course it will help those incapable of supporting themselves. It’s a lot more straightforward to get involved when a volunteer event is pre-planned. Of course you’ll have more fun volunteering when your colleagues are pitching in by your side.

Companies like Adaptive Marketing LLC, that developed financial and shopping benefits programs such as Passport to Fun, are stepping up to become the organizing points enabling their employees to make time for reaching out.

Fortunately, company sponsored charitable work is more than blood drives and annual collections for charity. To take one example, Adaptive Marketing has provided its staff with a chance to help with anything from athletic shoe recycling campaigns to tree-planting events. By centralizing the organization the initiatives grew into larger programs, with specific times, dates, and locations published in advance to make time management easy for those signing up.

Of course, it’s important to let volunteers support projects in line with their own preferences. At Adaptive Marketing, the company behind Passport to Fun, staffers are given the chance to choose from a diverse list of projects. You’ll soon see your members of staff environmental initiatives etc. The result is that Adaptive Marketing volunteers are presented with the opportunity to find the most effective way to work and love joining in the process.

Most often a company supported charity project - fundraising with a local school or helping out at a homeless shelter - is either for a one-off event or on a regular schedule designed to achieve a bigger goal. There are people who assert they don’t have the time, but even they may be able to arrange a Saturday morning park clean-up or the public library’s sale of used books.

It has always been a fairly common practice for business firms to help to support the community in which they’re based. A sense of community goodwill is created by the projects undertaken by Adaptive Marketing’s employees over the course of company-sponsored initiatives like the ones touched on above. The fact is, one of the benefits of volunteer work is feeling better about yourself - a positive feeling that leaves not just the employee but the whole company more upbeat. Encouraging your members of staff to find the time to volunteer is beneficial in some very real ways, as we hope we’ve shown.

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In the last two weeks, two non-senior US officials indirectly called on Israel to start planning on cancelling its nuclear weapons programs. Even though they said this is not intended for ‘the foreseeable future’, their publicly terming Israel a nuclear power on a par with India and Pakistan might be a sign that the US perceives of nuclear issues as too serious to condone the double standards it employs freely on other issues.

US-Israeli relations at high level are however unlikely to be subject to much change over the issue. Much to the chagrin of the rest of the international world, which wants the US to apply pressure on Israel to actually make good on its signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention by ratifying it. Israel might also be called up to sign the Biological Weapons Convention, which it would do if it were serious about its endorsement of the objective to creating a nuclear free zone in the Middle East.

At the highest level, the US tends to avoid the Israeli nuclear issue as an element of its foreign policy toward the rest of the Arab world, but perhaps the Iranian developments no longer render this position indefinitely tennable.

Israelis, always on their guard for potential threats of size, appear a little bit nonplussed at the US’ officials remarks. An article in the daily Haaretz newspaper, where diligent reporters make note of two instances -as if they are in need of counting- of official comments by US policymakers that might indicate the end of bilateral hush hush on this core issue.

Referring to a the five yearly NPT review conference next month, Jackie Wolcott Sanders, who is the ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament and the special representative of the president for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, wrote in the State Department’s electronic journal that the goal of universal NPT adherence ought to be highlighted. She said that it should be ‘reaffirmed that India, Israel and Pakistan may join the NPT only as non-nuclear-weapon states.’ Thereby implicating that Israel is a nuclear power, something the US officially doesn’t do very often.

This instance might have be brushed aside as clumsily worded, but the rest of Sanders’ words leave nothing to the imagination; ‘Just as South Africa and Ukraine did in the early 1990s, these states should foreswear nuclear weapons and accept IAEA safeguards on all nuclear activities to join the treaty. At the same time, we recognize that progress toward universal adherence is not likely in the foreseeable future. The United States continues to support the goals of the Middle East resolution adopted at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, including the achievement of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.”

Almost concurrently, another State Department official, Mark Fitzpatrick made similar comments Fitzpatrick speaking at a security conference of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Both spokespeople made it look as if the US is starting a harsher line on Israel. US official recognition of its nuclear arsenal is certainly a fact now. At least, that’s how the message is taken in Israel, where the Al Haaretz newspaper reports a ‘[contradiction] in the custom of senior administration officials to avoid any possible confirming reference to Israeli nuclear weapons. Instead of referring to Israel’s ‘nuclear option’, officials placed the country on par with the similar nuclear powers of India and Pakistan, thereby bluntly referring to Israel’s estimated arsenal of an estimated over 20 nuclear bombs as its ‘nuclear capability’.

The officials though low and mid level ranking, could very well be indicating a change in stance by Washington. The call on Israel to ‘accept international Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on all nuclear activities’ lacks any urgency, but then it would. If the US foreign policy were to clearly steer in this direction, possibly to reduce Iranian risks, its early start would only be very subtle like this.

Applying pressure on Israel now does make sense because it would capitalize on the momentum achieved in Iraq and Libya, which has direct bearings on the credibility of telling Iran to stop what it is doing. Both Libya and Iraq have recently disarmed, Libya voluntarily in what’s cited as a major coup d’etat for the International Atomic Energy Agency and UK and US diplomats. Israel’s nuclear weapons also are the pretext for Arab nations to continue their efforts to create a nuclear device and their disposal would create trust.

The US, keen to see Iran get rid of its entire arsenal, is under criticism all round because of its perceived double standards on this issue. The US has long been seen to be taking clauses of the NPT only seriously as and when they suit its international program and so shortly after the Iraq debacle could’t for shame be seen to be careless in Iran. An Iran as a nuclear power doesn’t fit in the US picture of the wider world one single bit however. The dilemma now is how to contain Iran -which is not cooperating adequately with international weapons inspectors and therefore not fulfilling its obligation as an NPT signatory- and not to create a situation of urgency.

Next Monday, EU negotiators and Iranian officials are meeting up to continue negotiations they started late last year. The US is not taking part in them, but is carefully watching over the backs of the three European countries conducting the talks, France, Britain and Germany. Iran has indicated it has warm feelings for the French. Discussions will center on a proposal that the Iranians have drawn up.

Meanwhile, the US’ Israel policy will have to be seen to be somewhat in tune with its wider efforts in the region during the key five year NPT conference in May. US comments that it is working on making the Middle East nuke free are conditioned by the statement that this is not going to be happening in the foreseeable future. This makes sense; the biggest threat to destabilising the Middle East region is Iran’s acquiring of nuclear weapons (which it might well be in the process of or have completed) and Israel’s non compliance to treaties it has signed. Both issues require patience and tact.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, Iranian born, recently said that the Jewish state would follow Europe in adopting diplomatic measures to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear capabilities, opening the way for diplomacy rather than going along US lines that might be tougher.

Angelique van Engelen is a freelance writer who has lived for over three years in the Middle East. She runs http://www.contentClix.com and also contributes to http://www.clixyPlays.blogspot.com. You can email her on angeliqueve@contentclix.com.

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Those who are above the law or act as such are a problematic situation for civilizations. Maybe this is why the CIA is so effective in screwing up other nation’s government. There is a problem when these ladies and gentlemen retire. They often use contacts from the government and agency to network and work the system. This is a problem because invariably it hurts an honest and law abiding citizen.

We can fix this easy enough. Simply chip them. We put a satellite RFID - Radio Frequency Identifier and track them wherever they go. We know the many ex-CIA are involved in the drug trade in our nation. This is bad because these illegal drugs coming into the country that they make money on, tend to cause an increase in law enforcement, rehabilitation and health care costs. It would be cheaper for us to simply pay them a lifetime pension. Track them and then hold them to the full extent of the law times five in the case of any misdeeds in the country.

When you hire someone to lie, cheat, manipulate and show them how to operate outside the system, you have created a real negative dynamic in the system. Many of these people end up with juicy contracts, employment and above the law lifetime status and as any human well trained in the arts of Machiavellian technique we are finding them abusing the privilege. Some are calling for the killing off in the line of duty of such folks or kicking them out of the country after they are completed in their careers. I disagree, by using technology we can implant them with chips and allow them to integrate back into society without having to kill them.

Many politicians believe that many of the ex-CIA know too many secrets and know too much about the actual politicians which they use to bribe them with and prefer to have them killed as to not spill the beans on a shady or disreputable back door deal or government operation. There are plans a foot to do just that in some inner circles.

If all this sounds too much like a spy novel to you, it is okay for you to not wish to address this serious problem as it may or may not actually affect you personally, but it does affect our nation in a serious way. Since we are the land of second chances, let’s just chip the ex-CIA operatives and bureaucrats and be done with it. We own the government and as long as they wanted the job in the first place, we own them too. Think on this.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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Robert Davis made a mistake. And a busy intersection in the New Orleans French Quarter in twenty-first century America transformed itself into a street pitted by the hatred of decades ago, where he found himself gazing up at old-south bubbas confidently reconstructing him into a bloody mass of tissue as he writhed in his own blood.

The father of Khursheda Sultanova made a mistake and the elitist beasts still roaming the Russian landscape stabbed his 9-year-old daughter to death on an open street in the middle of a civilized society. In the presence of all of his social order, Yusuf Sultanov couldn’t protect his daughter from the murderous voracity of a group of attackers who in their racist insanity felt threatened by one little girl.

The parents of Anthony Walker made a mistake and allowed their teenage son to leave their home. They didn’t know that the day would bring him into contact with famished wolves racing among the sheep, hungry for the flesh of those it hadn’t been able to taste in a long time. But the color of the terrorists’ skin in London’s subway bombing unleashed the blood-lust long waiting and in one of the oldest civilizations in Europe their son’s head was cloven in two.

They, like Jean Charles de Menezes, the mother of Suzie Pena, Devin Brown, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Anthony Baez and tragically numerous others, made the same mistake. The mistake of thinking they were equal and free in a part of the world where certain heinous individuals still questioned the validity of their continued existence. They believed they lived in societies civilized to the point that the enemies of mankind couldn’t rise up to harm them or their families and they were wrong.

In the beating of Davis we saw the beginnings of the process of death and in most of these others we saw the conclusions. And though some of these acts of violence upon the people named above were not all committed by police in uniform but by civilian mobs, I contend that the same spirit was just as much in the uniform as in the swastika-labeled clothing of the neo-Nazi skinheads who stabbed Sultanova to death. Just as it was there when Menezes and Pena lost their lives. It’s the same spirit wearing a black boot that will kick a man as he lies in the midst of his own blood. Violent, vicious, merciless.

This is the spirit of the bestial among us and they are not always terrorists or other so-called criminals, at least, not in the sense that we would define them. Unlike terrorists and criminals, these beasts are often officially and culturally-sanctioned and live freely and even honored among the societies. They populate our corporations, our law enforcement agencies, our cities, our towns. But in times of revelation, they are recognized by the spirit of the mob, a spirit that gets its strength and fuel from the small unaddressed hatreds that occupy men’s hearts but never finds place for expression except in the pack.

These beasts are also not always physically violent, but intellectually so. They occupy the highest echelons of governments and universities in extremists who tear and chew at the thoughts of any group or any one who demands equality in disagreement or freedom in dissent. They propagate and proselytize beliefs that outside the pack, they would never dare to condone.

Yet the most common and recognizable of them is found in the uniformed brutes who viciously assaulted Davis. They thrust themselves upon our worlds in rude and violent forms. Yet most often in the form of the mob.

A mob characterized by the violence it carries out in the light, in the light of the camera, in the sight of men, in the village square, it does not hide. It is this characteristic that subliminally frightens. Because most people know that some of the vices of the human heart are kept in check only by the light and and keeps many from sinking into the abyss of human depravity.

But in a bright and blinding light, the New Orleans police officers persisted. And in that one lone detail they reached a level of group brutality seldom witnessed before. They reached a level that the murderers of Sultanova and Walker and Pena didn’t reach.

They persisted, despite the presence of the AP producer. They persisted through screaming witnesses and rebukes. They persisted despite the glare of the camera. They persisted. What can be said about the characters of such individuals? If that kind of light will not deter them, nothing will.

Theirs was a persistence that shocked the soul. And we must not make the mistake of failing to recognize the source of it as some others who would twist reality. It finds its heart in the irrational, unremorseful, unrepentant spirit of the mob. And the mind-set and sadistic rule of the mob must not be tolerated.

http://www.thepoliticalview.com

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Edward R. Murrow is back in the nick of time, just when we need him the most.

“Good Night and Good Luck” is a feature film account of Murrow’s 1953 and 1954 “See It Now” broadcasts assailing Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the nation’s anti-Communist hysteria.

From the moment in a 1950 speech when McCarthy waved his infamous (and never-identified) “list of 205 Communists working in the State Department,” the senator exploited the country’s Cold War paranoia, relentlessly pursuing those he deemed Communist sympathizers. (San Fransico Chronicle, 10/8/05).

We are once again at this point, blacklisting the American known as the sexual offender. The collective “we” have allowed politicians to exploit our most vulnerable fear, the safety of our children, for personal political advantage. We are all responsible for allowing hysteria driven legislation, at the city, state, and federal level, to remain unchecked due to the manipulation of our emotional bonds to our children by politicians.

Journalists have not asked the hard-nosed questions and have not informed or educated the public about the relative ease of how one becomes an offender. This perpetuates the myth that all offenders are child molesters. The majority of offenders registered have been “convicted” of poor behavior choice offenses which involve no victim-teenage consensual sex, public urination, online “chat” with undercover police officers. Most charged persons lack adequate funding for a legal defense to fight such charges and deplete their personal funds at the median figure of $15,000. The resulting plea bargain is followed by automatic sexual offender registration as decreed by Florida Statute 943.0436 . Our politicians have even legislated judicial discretion, the power of a judge to impose a fair and just sentence. Registration is for life or 20 years, whatever comes first and permeates every aspect of the registrant’s life. I challenge journalists to stop editorializing about offenders and investigate the truth.

Politicians run unchecked with this issue, due to guaranteed press coverage and easy votes. Off the record, many politicians will admit their discomfort with these laws….but to do so publicly will result in political suicide. State Representative David Simmons of Longwood reflects this attitude quite blatantly with his recent comment regarding yet further proposed residency restriction proposals at the state level, “Who’s (going) to complain?” (Florida Today, 10/9/05). Although a group of Americans and their families are being blacklisted, banished, and segregated, our politicians will not come forward to their constitutuents with the truth.

The Palm Bay City Council was presented 10/6/05 with the most current data provided by the United States Department of Justice, which definitively determined in a 10,000 person study, the treated sex offender recidivism rate to be 5.3%.” Instead of tabling the issue for further research, the Council instead opted to schedule the proposed ordinances for second reading and public hearing 10/20/05. These ordinances will impact an offender’s ability to make a living and provide for family, which sets a dangerous unconstitutional precedent.

Voters have not demanded the truth from their elected representatives and have allowed politicians to legislate the safety of our children. Parents, that is your responsibility, not the federal government. Should your family endorse the registry, demand your politicians restructure the registry to reflect a tier level system of risk instead of “lumping” all offenders into one pot. Give them “permission” to revamp a law originally passed with only good intentions.

Should an offender live in your neighborhood, I challenge residents to educate yourself regarding the offense of your neighbor by obtaining a police report. The FDLE registry does not reflect the true nature of the conviction and is often, simply incorrect. Once educated with the real facts, only then are you and your family truly “notified” as the law originally intended.

As Edward R. Murrow indicated in his famous October 15, 1958 “Wires and Lights” speech regarding the duty of broadcast journalism to inform and educate the public,
“There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference….We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.” It is our duty to question authority because without scrutiny, authority remains unchecked and corrupt

Sharon Wilson is a free lance writer and a member of SOHopeful International.

http://www.sohopeful.org

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In every national budget, there is a part called “Public Procurement”. This is the portion of the budget allocated to purchasing services and goods for the various ministries, authorities and other arms of the executive branch. It was the famous management consultant, Parkinson, who once wrote that government officials are likely to approve a multi-billion dollar nuclear power plant much more speedily that they are likely to authorize a hundred dollar expenditure on a bicycle parking device. This is because everyone came across 100 dollar situations in real life - but precious few had the fortune to expend with billions of USD.

This, precisely, is the problem with public procurement: people are too acquainted with the purchased items. They tend to confuse their daily, household-type, decisions with the processes and considerations which should permeate governmental decision making. They label perfectly legitimate decisions as “corrupt” - and totally corrupt procedures as “legal” or merely “legitimate”, because this is what was decreed by the statal mechanisms, or because “this is the law”.

Procurement is divided to defence and non-defence spending. In both these categories - but, especially in the former - there are grave, well founded, concerns that things might not be all what they seem to be.

Government - from India’s to Sweden’s to Belgium’s - fell because of procurement scandals which involved bribes paid by manufacturers or service providers either to individual in the service of the state or to political parties. Other, lesser cases, litter the press daily. In the last few years only, the burgeoning defence sector in Israel saw two such big scandals: the developer of Israel’s missiles was involved in one (and currently is serving a jail sentence) and Israel’s military attache to Washington was implicated - though, never convicted - in yet another.

But the picture is not that grim. Most governments in the West succeeded in reigning in and fully controlling this particular budget item. In the USA, this part of the budget remained constant in the last 35(!) years at 20% of the GDP.

There are many problems with public procurement. It is an obscure area of state activity, agreed upon in “customized” tenders and in dark rooms through a series of undisclosed agreements. At least, this is the public image of these expenditures.

The truth is completely different.

True, some ministers use public money to build their private “empires”. It could be a private business empire, catering to the financial future of the minister, his cronies and his relatives. These two plagues - cronyism and nepotism - haunt public procurement. The spectre of government official using public money to benefit their political allies or their family members - haunts public imagination and provokes public indignation.

Then, there are problems of plain corruption: bribes or commissions paid to decision makers in return for winning tenders or awarding of economic benefits financed by the public money. Again, sometimes these moneys end in secret bank accounts in Switzerland or in Luxembourg. At other times, they finance political activities of political parties. This was rampantly abundant in Italy and has its place in France. The USA, which was considered to be immune from such behaviours - has proven to be less so, lately, with the Bill Clinton alleged election financing transgressions.

But, these, with all due respect to “clean hands” operations and principles, are not the main problems of public procurement.

The first order problem is the allocation of scarce resources. In other words, prioritizing. The needs are enormous and ever growing. The US government purchases hundreds of thousands of separate items from outside suppliers. Just the list of these goods - not to mention their technical specifications and the documentation which accompanies the transactions - occupies tens of thick volumes. Supercomputers are used to manage all these - and, even so, it is getting way out of hand. How to allocate ever scarcer resources amongst these items is a daunting - close to impossible - task. It also, of course, has a political dimension. A procurement decision reflects a political preference and priority. But the decision itself is not always motivated by rational - let alone noble - arguments. More often, it is the by product and end result of lobbying, political hand bending and extortionist muscle. This raises a lot of hackles among those who feel that were kept out of the pork barrel. They feel underprivileged and discriminated against. They fight back and the whole system finds itself in a quagmire, a nightmare of conflicting interests. Last year, the whole budget in the USA was stuck - not approved by Congress - because of these reactions and counter-reactions.

The second problem is the supervision, auditing and control of actual spending. This has two dimensions:

• How to make sure that the expenditures match and do not exceed the budgetary items. In some countries, this is a mere ritual formality and government departments are positively expected to overstep their procurement budgets. In others, this constitutes a criminal offence.

• How to prevent the criminally corrupt activities that we have described above - or even the non criminal incompetent acts which government officials are prone to do.

The most widespread method is the public, competitive, tender for the purchases of goods and services.

But, this is not as simple as it sounds.

Some countries publish international tenders, striving to secure the best quality in the cheapest price - no matter what is its geographical or political source. Other countries are much more protectionist (notably: Japan and France) and they publish only domestic tenders, in most cases. A domestic tender is open only to domestic bidders. Yet other countries limit participation in the tenders on various backgrounds: the size of the competing company, its track record, its ownership structure, its human rights or environmental record and so on. Some countries publish the minutes of the tender committee (which has to explain WHY it selected this or that supplier). Others keep it a closely guarded secret (”to protect commercial interests and secrets”).

But all countries state in advance that they have no obligation to accept any kind of offer - even if it is the cheapest. This is a needed provision: the cheapest is not necessarily the best. The cheapest offer could be coming from a very unreliable supplier with a bad past performance or a criminal record or from a supplier who offers goods of shoddy quality.

The tendering policies of most of the countries in the world also incorporates a second principle: that of “minimum size”. The cost of running a tender is prohibitive in the cases of purchases in small amounts.

Even if there is corruption in such purchases it is bound to cause less damage to the public purse than the costs of the tender which is supposed to prevent it!

So, in most countries, small purchases can be authorized by government officials - larger amounts go through a tedious, multi-phase tendering process. Public competitive bidding is not corruption-proof: many times officials and bidders collude and conspire to award the contract against bribes and other, noncash, benefits. But we still know of no better way to minimize the effects of human greed.

Procurement policies, procedures and tenders are supervised by state auditing authorities. The most famous is, probably, the General Accounting Office, known by its acronym: the GAO.

It is an unrelenting, very thorough and dangerous watchdog of the administration. It is considered to be highly effective in reducing procurement - related irregularities and crimes. Another such institutions the Israeli State Reviser. What is common to both these organs of the state is that they have very broad authority. They possess (by law) judicial and criminal prosecution powers and they exercise it without any hesitation. They have the legal obligation to review the operations and financial transactions of all the other organs of the executive branch. Their teams select, each year, the organs to be reviewed and audited. They collect all pertinent documents and correspondence. They cross the information that they receive from elsewhere. They ask very embarrassing questions and they do it under the threat of perjury prosecutions. They summon witnesses and they publish damning reports which, in many cases, lead to criminal prosecutions.

Another form of review of public procurement is through powers granted to the legislative arm of the state (Congress, Parliament, Bundestag, or Knesset). In almost every country in the world, the elected body has its own procurement oversight committee. It supervises the expenditures of the executive branch and makes sure that they conform to the budget. The difference between such supervisory, parliamentary, bodies and their executive branch counterparts - is that they feel free to criticize public procurement not only in the context of its adherence to budget constraints or its cleanliness - but also in a political context. In other words, these committees do not limit themselves to asking HOW - but also engage in asking WHY. Why this specific expense in this given time and location - and not that expense, somewhere else or some other time. These elected bodies feel at liberty - and often do - intervene in the very decision making process and in the order of priorities. They have the propensity to alter both quite often.

The most famous such committee is, arguably, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It is famous because it is non-partisan and technocratic in nature. It is really made of experts which staff its offices.

Its apparent - and real - neutrality makes its judgements and recommendations a commandment not to be avoided and, almost universally, to be obeyed. The CBO operates for and on behalf of the American Congress and is, really, the research arm of that venerable parliament. Parallelly, the executive part of the American system - the Administration - has its own guard against waste and worse: the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Both bodies produce learned, thickset, analyses, reports, criticism, opinions and recommendations. Despite quite a prodigious annual output of verbiage - they are so highly regarded, that virtually anything that they say (or write) is minutely analysed and implemented to the last letter with an air of awe.

Only a few other parliaments have committees that carry such weight. The Israeli Knesset have the extremely powerful Finance Committee which is in charge of all matters financial, from appropriations to procurement. Another parliament renowned for its tight scrutiny is the French Parliament - though it retains very few real powers.

But not all countries chose the option of legislative supervision. Some of them relegated parts or all of these functions to the executive arm.

In Japan, the Ministry of Finance still scrutinizes (and has to authorize) the smallest expense, using an army of clerks. These clerks became so powerful that they have the theoretical potential to secure and extort benefits stemming from the very position that they hold. Many of them suspiciously join companies and organizations which they supervised or to which they awarded contracts - immediately after they leave their previous, government, positions. The Ministry of Finance is subject to a major reform in the reform-bent government of Prime Minister Hashimoto. The Japanese establishment finally realized that too much supervision, control, auditing and prosecution powers might be a Pyrrhic victory: it might encourage corruption - rather than discourage it.

Britain opted to keep the discretion to use public funds and the clout that comes with it in the hands of the political level. This is a lot like the relationship between the butter and the cat left to guard it. Still, this idiosyncratic British arrangement works surprisingly well. All public procurement and expenditure items are approved by the EDX Committee of the British Cabinet (=inner, influential, circle of government) which is headed by the Ministry of Finance. Even this did not prove enough to restrain the appetites of Ministers, especially as quid pro quo deals quickly developed. So, now the word is that the new Labour Prime Minister will chair it- enabling him to exert his personal authority on matters of public money.

Britain, under the previous, Tory, government also pioneered an interesting and controversial incentive system for its public servants as top government officials are euphemistically called there. They receive, added to their salaries, a portion of the savings that they effect in their departmental budgets. This means that they get a small fraction of the end of the fiscal year difference between their budget allowances and what they actually spent. This is very useful in certain segments of government activity - but could prove very problematic in others. Imagine health officials saving on medicines, or others saving on road maintenance or educational consumables. This, naturally, will not do.

Needless to say that no country officially approves of the payment of bribes or commission to officials in charge of public spending, however remote the connection is between the payment and the actions.

Yet, law aside many countries accept the intertwining of elites - business and political - as a fact of life, albeit a sad one. Many judicial systems in the world even make a difference between a payment which is not connected to an identifiable or discernible benefit and those that are. The latter - and only the latter - are labelled “bribery”.

Where there is money - there is wrongdoing. Humans are humans - and sometimes not even that.

But these unfortunate derivatives of social activity can be minimized by the adoption of clear procurement policies, transparent and public decision making processes and the right mix of supervision, auditing and prosecution. Even then the result is bound to be dubious, at best.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of “Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited” and “After the Rain - How the West Lost the East”. He is a columnist in “Central Europe Review”, United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

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Live Aid was one of the most important events in my life. Millions of people came together from all over the planet to put an end to poverty in Africa. It was one of the most positive, life affirming actions ever created by people of my generation. It created hope. It opened my heart.

But now, twenty years on we realise it was slightly nave, with much of the money donated by genuine and well-meaning people ‘disappearing’ before it reached the people in need. Live 8 takes a very different track to raise awareness of poverty - but can we rely on governments behind the G8 to actually make that much difference?

How can we Make Poverty History when the forces causing economic devastation in our world are the same forces that provide our governments with their funding? As long as GDP (GNP in US) is deemed as the most valuable measure of our national ‘worth’ we are tied to money and its unfair systems - these will always cause poverty in places that don’t have resources to exploit and even some that do.

There is enough to go round on this earth - enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed as the saying goes. Does the political will exist to make changes where the system is fair for all? It doesn’t seem so. The global financial system and our method of deriving wealth by exploiting capital assets (the earth’s resources) will never be equitable. Consumer capitalism relies on poverty as a major motivator. In order to ‘have’ we need ‘have-nots’.

But already the pressure of Live 8 has caused a shift in the agenda of major governments - with both Blair and Bush keen to be doing something more than just wearing the band. But how much can they realistically give away to third world debt? It certainly won’t be enough to actually solve the root causes of economic disadvantage experienced in many corners of the world. It certainly won’t change the system that results in these economic disadvantages.

But this exciting event will be a paradigm shifter for many people who will look at the deeper causes of poverty, maybe for the first time. People will realise that there are important alternatives to economic globalisation, GDP slavery and ‘celebrity’ consumer capitalism. Even that many peoples we describe as economically poor may have happy and fulfilled lives.

People will see for themselves how to shift their energy away from earth exploiting activities into more wholesome and fairer ones. This is where the real power to change the situation lies, not just in donating our ill-gotten gains to the poor, or even in heckling governments to ‘do something about it’, but also in the choices we make every day as individuals.

Choices about how we earn and spend our money, our time, our energy, our resources. Choices about where we go, how we get there, what we look at, how we cope with change. Choices about how we invest in a sustainable future for our finite planet. At present we are using up the resources of this world at an alarming rate, leaving our ancestors-to-come with serious problems. At the moment our investment policies are based on stealing the future from our children.

By divesting ‘the GDP economy’ of our energy and putting it into non-exploitative practises we tackle the root causes of poverty. By increasing local self-reliance and enhancing ‘community’ there is much we can do to secure a future where we work for, rather than in competition with each other. Investing our energy in making self-reliant communities for the future may yet turn out to be a better bet than any amount of pension planning.

There are many alternatives to our present economic system. Different systems of shopping - where the people who do the actual work get rewarded, such as Fair Trade, local farmers’ markets, vegetable box schemes and local trade systems.

There are different ways of working, earning and saving that do not invest in earth exploitation - such as LETS (Local Economic Trading System), co-operatives, ethical banking, credit unions and other group activity.

There are different value systems that value the hand-made craft item over the industrial, the mended over the built-in obsolescence, the home-made or found over the purchased, the grown over the bought.

There are ways of thinking that generate creative new solutions to old problems, helping us all to do more with less. There are improvements in communications that help us all with making these changes.

We can reclaim our power from the forces that create poverty with the choices we make every day.
Respect to Sir Geldof and all who are focusing on the problems of poverty. Bringing pressure to bear on the G8 for a fairer world is a grand move - but there is only so much that governments can and will do.

Read other articles on poverty and new economics at http://Simon-Mitchell.com

Thirty positive actions for a sustainable Earth:
There are many ways we can use our human energy to lighten the load on natural resources and tread lightly on our home planet. Check how many of these you do already:
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=49

Eyes down for the prize fight:
Present philosophy verses eco-philosophy. Henryk Skolimoski provides a startling model of two opposed value systems. This spider diagram reveals a mind map by a genius who was Philosopher in Residence at Dartington Hall.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42

Economics verses Earth:
The laws of human economics are in conflict with the laws of the Earth. Where do you draw the line ? Guest article by Donella Meadows, author of Pulitzer Prize-nominated weekly column, ‘The Global Citizen’.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=41

The Cruel Lords of Nature:
Around 10,000 years ago, after Earth had emerged from 90,000 years of the last ice age, when mammoths roamed and northern humans shivered in caves, the people who lived in the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, in modern day Iraq, invented agriculture. Guest article from author and broadcaster GuyDauncey.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40

The End of Education?
Prince Charles is right on the ball concerning his comments on education. The development of human potential is a crucial issue on 21st century Earth.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=30

Get creativity?
Creativity is central to the management of our individual lives, but in modern times few people are able to access this as a resource. Globally at the moment there are many problems facing mankind. Diminishing natural resources and increasing populations mean that we are in a spiral of entropy.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=16

Paradigms of modern disease:
A paradigm is a sort of cultural, consensual pattern of thought or model of something. Paradigms change, like the impact of Galileo’s work on disproving the flat-earth theory or Copernicus’ heresy that the Earth moves round the Sun. These new ideas met a great deal of resistance from orthodox philosophy but eventually gave rise to a changed perception of the world we live in - a paradigm shift.
http://www.simon-mitchell.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10

About the Author

Find Simon Mitchell is a member of the StarFields Network. Find us at:
http://simon-mitchell.com

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Mexico the country of Salsa, Tortillas and Corruption;
I first arrived in Mexico City in February 2002 as an instructor for the WFB - the World Federation of Bodyguards. A Mexican security service had contracted Anders Sorenson, the Norwegian WFB instructor and I, to set-up a training program for BG’s in Mexico.

I came through customs and the weapons search, shaking my head at the Mexican officials who only spoke Spanish, making my visa interview a complete waste of time.

That was one of my first lessons about Mexico; almost all Mexicans dream of going to the US to live however, the vast majority speaks nothing but Mexican Spanish. This lack of English knowledge goes all the way from the basic uneducated labour worker to the university-educated attorney at law!

The Assassination:

On my second day in Mexico, I witnessed a Mexican Assassination complete with a “Hollywood-Movie” car chase. Sitting in our chauffeur driven vehicle, I was enjoying the sights in the city of Morelia, Michoacan, when I suddenly heard the well-known sounds of automatic rifle fire. A few seconds later a Bronco jeep, riddled with bullet holes sped past us. The jeep rammed into a vehicle right in front of us and stopped momentarily. The front seat passenger was hanging half out of the shattered side window, half his head gone with brain mass showing, in the rear a woman slumped covered in blood. Then the driver regained his senses and sped off down the street ramming other cars as he fled.

The sounds of automatic fire bursts came again but much louder and nearer. Seconds later a black jeep sped by, with two shooters hanging out the windows firing automatic bursts from AR-15’s. By now, from the rear seat, I was yelling at our chauffeur to give chase and try to ram the second vehicle; however, the chauffeur were paralyzed with shock and did not react, until Anders slapped him back to reality.

When we finally gave chase we just glimpsed the assassins jeep, take a right turn at an intersection 30 metres away. Our chauffeur was whining about it being to dangerous to get close to the assassins, however he managed to give a speedy chase. As we turned right at the intersection we witnessed 10-15 heavily, armed Police officers surround the assassins jeep.

The driver of the Bronco jeep were slumped dead over the steering wheel, he had done all he could to evade the attack site and escape the assassins. Realizing the assassins would not relent, the driver had driven with the horn flaring into the no-parking zone, surrounding the heavily guarded high-security police detention centre, where he knew help were immediately at hand.

The assassination turned out to be a drug cartel hit, the dead man in the front were a cartel leader, the woman in the rear was his wife and the driver was his personal bodyguard. The three assassins were arrested and charged with three counts of murder; they all pled guilty and subsequently each received a 12-year prison sentence, with parole after 8 years.

My real surprise about the assassination was the fact that the assassins continued their attack after the target had evaded the attack-site.

This contradicts all “normal” modus operandi for professional assassins, as giving chase across town exposes the whole assassin team to witnesses and law enforcement. Months earlier, I would have argued that this type of “spray and pray” car chase could only happen in a Hollywood movie.

When I discussed this matter with the CEO of the local TV-Azteca, he told me the reason for the continued attack, was that the assassins had more fear of botching the hit, than being arrested by the police. They knew that their Cartel leader would not accept failure and that he would reward their loyalty and commitment. They received the best legal defence money could buy, bribes to the attorney and judges, grease to the prison guards etc. Eight years in prison was simply not such a bad deal for the assassins! This is a similar situation to what is happening in Russia, where standard CP preventive methods, just will not protect your ass either.

The assassination proved to be a blessing in disguise, at least to Anders and I, who suddenly were the two most “wanted” persons in Morelia city. We had requests and questions about training, coming in from police VIP protection teams and security managers for the filthy rich. The WFB could not have arrived in town on a better day.

Being the flavor of the month:

Everyone in protection and his dog wanted to see what we had to offer in the training field. Everyone was very interested but also very sceptical about our training, the Mexicans are wary off gringos with the solutions to all their problems. Very candidly, they told us that they had “enough” experience with no-good American (US) templates for everything. Our schedule was quickly filled with meetings followed by training contracts.

In the next months we provided training seminars and courses to corporate VIP protection units and various police departments in the states of Michoacan and San Luis Potosi. The Police departments we provided training to included state SWAT teams and Ministerial Hostage Rescue Teams. These courses were hosted by the State Police Academies and we even held a seminar for the Army during Army Day.

Kidnapping Industry:

Mexico has more than its fair share of drug related crime, robberies, kidnaps and assassinations. In 2002 Mexico became the number 1 country for kidnappings, taking the lead over even Columbia, a position Mexico held until toppled by China in 2004. There are currently about 4000 kidnappings a year in Mexico. A report published in 2002 by the Mexican Ministry of Justice, found that former or serving Police Officers were involved in the planning or cover up of 80% of all kidnappings.

Training the Police:

One of the interesting facts about Mexico is the enormous amount of Police Officers pr capita. Even in a medium size state such as SLP there are more than 3000 State Police Officers. Add that on top of a heavy presence of City, Federal and Ministerial Police Officers. For a “European” the shear amount of Police Officers and independent departments are staggering and the jurisdictions are often over lapping and confusing. There are almost zero communication between the different departments and Petty rivalries are commonplace, between departments of the State Police and the Federal and Ministerial Police.

During a course for the Ministerial Police HRT, we had to stop early because the course was held at the State Police Academy, which were shared by State and the Ministerial Police. However the State Academy chief were annoyed with the Ministerial Police and decided suddenly that they could not use the firing range as it was officially under supervision of the State Police etc.

This is one thing foreigners need to bear in mind in Mexico, politics are part of everything and corruption is not a dirty word. Every “chief” were looking for “what’s in it for me” and if you could provide him with something he wanted, there were ends to what you could do. Firearms are a very delicate matter in Mexico, only the Police and Army has the right to bear arms. Bodyguards are not officially allowed to bear arms, but if you know the right “chiefs” the law means nothing.

However that does not prevent other Police departments from having a say about you carrying arms. During our third course in Mexico, we were training a Corporate VIP Protection unit of the Industrial Police. The Industrial Police were simply a “name” for a unit sponsored by the wealthy in a certain state; they would hire their Bodyguards and then have them “hired” on paper by the Industrial Police. This way the Corporate VIP protection units could legally carry arms. The Bodyguards would thus receive a salary from the Industrial Police and a substantial cash bonus by the corporation they were working for.

Weapons or rather a lack of weapons:

Another interesting problem in Mexico is the acquirement of weapons as the only “body” who have the legal right to import arms and ammunition is the Army. Even the Police Departments have to purchase or lease their weapons and ammunition through the Army. This unfortunately means that the prizes for legal weapons and ammunition are absolutely outrageous. The Army uses its monopoly to fund its own weapons and ammunition purchases and needs, thus the Army have “free” weapons and ammunition due to the tax they levy on the Police.

One result of this is that you can now see Soldiers brandishing new MP-5s used for guard duty, while the local Police SWAT team are still relying on UZIs and Beretta M-12s. It also results in an outrageously low amount of ammunition allowed for training Police Officers in the use of firearms. The majority of Police Officers fire less than 20 bullets a year and in one state, I witnessed the weapons training and the following weapons certification of Police Cadets, after having fired only 12 bullets from a revolver! More than two thirds of the Cadets did not hit their target with more than 2 bullets out of 12, from a 10 meter distance! After this I was “scared” when around armed Police Cadets, I jokingly told the local Chief of Police, to please not attempt to rescue me should I be kidnapped.

Among the interesting aspects of Mexican “Bodyguarding” we found that the vast majority preferred to stick their gun in the back of the pants, gangster style. And avidly claimed that this was the safest and easiest method of carrying a handgun, however during training courses the guns would be dropping all over the place. The main reason for this is that the Bodyguards are not assigned a firearm, but usually pass it between when changing shifts, thus they are to “cheap” to buy their own holster. We made it “clear” that this was unacceptable and students only made the mistake of “tugging” their gun in once!

Bodyguarding the Mexican style:

Another interesting aspect of Mexican “Bodyguarding” is the fact that many VIPs prefer (demands) to drive their own vehicle, thus the Bodyguards are merely following in a back up vehicle. There were daily stories of smart ass VIPs (usually the sons of the wealthy) simply out-driving the Bodyguards, the sons were of course driving Ferrari’s or other sport cars. One Fortune 500 VIP we trained for preferred to drive himself around in a two seat Mercedes Cabriolet, which of course made protecting him hell for the BGs.

Those readers who have access to the first issue of Protection News, can see a picture of the WFB adapting its Embus and Debus training to accommodate the VIP driving his own car. We also found that most wealthy VIPs had a huge luxury bus, which they used for cross state travelling inside Mexico. Due to this we had to improvise and adapt Embus and Debus drills to accommodate this and teach linear assault on busses, during the Counter Assault Team training.

A True Life Experience:

Mexico was a breath of fresh air to me as a European CPO, everything were different from working in Europe and the threat level were far higher and by experience we learned that the BGs can not rely of the Police. The vast majority of BGs and Police Officers I met and trained with (several hundreds) were all highly motivated and good guys, who really wanted to learn. They were all sick with the way things were in Mexico and especially the corruption, but there were little they could do about it. Mexico is truly a land of opportunity for the European BG training provider, as long as you accept the rules of business; “corruption” and status quo. If you want to earn money in Mexico, simply go there on vacation and drop in for a visit, by the VIP security managers and local Police Chiefs and soon you will find yourself immersed in the Mexican BG business.

One night when I was having a drink with a local Police Chief, I complained about the obvious drug trafficking. The chief looked at me and said; when I started this job I got a mail package, within it were two packages, one contained $10.000 the other a bullet! When I asked what he did about it, he quietly said; well I am still here…

Dan Sommer is the author of the SD Agent, a Surveillance Detection Manual, he has been part of the process of designing, implementing and training a SD team for a European Embassy. His 17 years security career started in 1986 and he has active experience from military, security, close protection, counter assault team and surveillance detection operations. Since 1994 the author has been writing training material’s for security companies and police departments. He has been instructing courses world-wide for security officers, bodyguards, police officers, counter assault teams and surveillance detection units. Dan currently acts as the International Director of the World Federation of Bodyguards and has a private business as a Security & Protection Consultant. His work can be viewed at his website http://www.DanSommer.Biz

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