View allAll Photos Tagged Accountable
Oh boy. Part of me wants to delete this photo and go eat candies, but apparently a bigger part of me is so disgusted with that other part that here we go.
My weight today: 61.5 kg
(that's 135.6 for you pound-y people)
(oh, and I'm short: 164 cm / 5'4"
This is the most I've weighed in my entire life (not including the pregnancy of course), and it's getting worse, slowly but surely. Before getting pregnant I weighed 54 kilos (119 lbs), and although I'm not even going to try to achieve that anymore, I would very much like to lose about 5 kgs (11 lbs) that's very firmly sitting on my waist.
My problem is eating a shitload of candies, every day and all the time. My plan is simple: stop eating candies. And maybe drink more water. Let's see how that goes.
Accountability without authority. Work has driven me to Linkin Park on the way home and emergency donning of the soothing bedsocks upon my arrival.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 21, 2013
Around 20 protesters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. They called for more accountability in the banking industry, demanded the Obama administration prosecute bankers for their role in the financial crisis of 2008 and called for relief for families and communities devastated by foreclosures. This event was in solidarity with Wall Street Accountability Week of Action in Washington, D.C., May 18-23.
Signs read:
STAND TOGETHER
STOP
FORECLOSURES
STOP EVICTIONS
occupyhomesmn.org
2013-05-21 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution for: Fibonacci Blue
Wil je meer zien van de conferentiezaal? Bekijk dan de 360° video op Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COn8jBYoqr4
===English===
Would you like to see more of the main conference hall? Watch the 360° video on Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COn8jBYoqr4
The Netherlands, The Hague, July 14th 2022
The Government of the Netherlands is hosting, together with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission, an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague on 14 July.
De Oekraïense president Volodymyr Zelensky spreekt via een videoverbinding met de deelnemers van de conferentie.
===English===
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to conference participants via video link.
===
The Netherlands, The Hague, July 14th 2022
The Government of the Netherlands is hosting, together with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission, an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague on 14 July.
24 March 2009. Westward view along Factory Lane, towards High Road, Tottenham.
_________________________
"If Haringey Council makes a mistake let’s be candid and honest about it; accept responsibility and accountability; apologise with genuine contrition; and correct the error as quickly as possible. In other words, let’s behave like a reputable business instead of someone flogging dodgy DVDs at a car-boot sale."
— My suggestion to Dr Ita O'Donovan, then Haringey's Chief Executive, on 29 March 2009.
_________________________
Lines, Signs and Chasing Fines
On 19 March 2009 Dr Ita O'Donovan emailed me. Listing "Factory Road" as one of the streets in the Tottenham Hale Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ). She was mistaken - and not just about the name of the street.
Dr O'Donovan was told that the CPZ in Factory Lane complied with Statutory Regulations and that parking enforcement was taking place. As my photo shows, there weren't any CPZ bays in this street. At its western end Factory Lane was entirely marked with double yellow lines: meaning no parking at any time. And the restriction was not being enforced when I took this photo.
These elementary errors were not the only glaring
mistakes in the information in Dr Ita O'Donovan's
emails to me during March 2009 about the roads
within and just outside the Tottenham Hale CPZ.
I'd written to her as part of my ongoing attempts since June 2008 to establish that Haringey needed to correct many hundreds of mistakes in parking lines across the borough.
I worked closely on this with Ray Dodds, former Labour councillor for Bruce Grove ward. Another councillor, LibDem Martin Newton, was also raising these issues and finding similar reluctance by the Urban Environment Department even to to admit, let alone correct its numerous mistakes.
Of course, as one of the Tottenham Hale ward councillors at that time, I realised that a Chief Executive cannot micro-manage services across a whole Borough. Nor be familiar with parking lines and signs in each back street. Unfortunately Dr Ita O'Donovan chose to rely on information supplied by staff in Haringey Urban Environment Department - the same people who were responsible for the mistakes and who - at that time - were still denying them.
Naturally I made my best efforts to help Dr O'Donovan by supplying her with detailed and accurate information - including the evidence of my photos posted on Flickr. I illustrated that what she had been told was comical gobbledegook.
Am I exaggerating? Judge for yourself
from the email sequence below.
It begins with my Councillor's Enquiry and Freedom of Information Act request on 13 March 2009. It ends with my email to Dr O'Donovan on 29 March 2009. And - after a reminder from me - her polite but minimal acknowledgement on 19 April 2009 that she had received my email.
═══════════════════════════════════
From : Alan Stanton Tottenham Hale ward councillor
Sent : 13 March 2009 13:39
To : Ita O'Donovan, Chief Executive, Haringey Council
Cc : Cllr Claire Kober (Council Leader); Cllr Lorna Reith (Deputy Leader) ; Cllr Ray Dodds
Subject: Tottenham Hale Controlled Parking Zone.
Freedom of Information Act Request & Member Inquiry
Dear Dr O'Donovan,
Could I please ask you to read the [previous] emails. As you'll see, the reply to my email on 4 March ignored my detailed questions and - as is usual in my inquiries about this area of the Council's service - made unhelpful general statements instead.
I therefore wish to restate my questions:
(1) As a Freedom of Information Act Inquiry; as well as
(2) Repeating the questions as a formal Member Inquiry under the Council's Constitution.
Could I please request your help to facilitate my receiving full and proper answers; and if possible to ensure that I am not required to wait a further 28 days for this information.
As you will appreciate, for many months there has been a clear pattern of delays, denial, obfuscation and supplying partial information about Parking and Lines & Signs issues, experienced by me, Cllr Dodds and Cllr Newton.
Therefore can I make an additional request to you: to discover who made the decision to ignore my detailed questions and supply this vague reply; and their reasons for doing so. Though signed by Ms Hancox, I assume the draft reply would have been considered by more senior officers.
As well as the above could I please make the suggestion that urgent arrangements are put in hand for Mr Niall Bolger and his colleagues to receive training on:
• the general issue of the need for transparency and openness as good practice by local authorities.
• the general law and provisions of the Haringey Constitution regarding councillors' Access to Information
I also wish to make it clear that should I encounter any similar difficulties when making reasonable requests from this Service or Department in response to a future Member Inquiry, I intend
(a) Repeating my Member Inquiry as a formal Freedom of Information Request and,
(b) If necessary referring the matter to the Information Commissioner.
I look forward to your reply,
----- Original Message -----
From : Ita O'Donovan
To : Cllr Stanton Alan
Sent : Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:47 PM
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Councillor Stanton,
Thank you for your e-mail raising your concerns about the response you received to your enquiry about the enforcement of the Tottenham Hale CPZ. I understand that, unfortunately, there has been a misunderstanding as we were dealing with two inquiries from you on this issue at the same time, one a phone inquiry and one by e-mail.
Your phone inquiry on 2nd March to the Parking Service asked for clarification on whether the streets within the Tottenham Hale CPZ were being enforced. This inquiry, reference LBH60474, was the one responded to by Joan Hancox on the 13th March 2009, and cleared by her manager, Beverley Taylor.
On the 4th March you e-mailed Frontline Members with more specific questions on this topic. This inquiry was allocated the reference LBH60583 and an acknowledgement was sent to you on the 9th March saying that a full response will be sent to you by the 18th March 2009. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, a connection was not made between the two inquiries. I have raised this with senior managers in the service who have taken steps to make sure that this does not happen in future.
I would like to reassure you that there was no intention by officers to provide you with a less than full response to the issues you raised and these answers are now provided below. I understand that we have provided you with a number of detailed responses on the issue of parking lines and signs in the past, as you mention. If you are dissatisfied with these responses, as you suggest, it would be helpful for me to have specific details.
In response to your enquiry LBH 60583 please find below an answer to each of the questions you raise.
• Is the Tottenham Hale CPZ currently being enforced or not?
Response
Part is being enforced, please see the list of roads below.
• If not, when did enforcement cease?
Response
Enforcement ceased on the roads listed below in the 14th October 2008.
• If it is being enforced, is this on every road within the CPZ? Or only those roads and for cars parked on lines which comply with the law?
Response
Enforcement is taking place on roads where all signs and lines are compliant.
List of streets where enforcement is not taking place in Tottenham Hale CPZ N17
• Holcombe Road • Dawlish Road • Mitchley Road • Junction Road • • Devon close Road • Scales Road • Malvern Road • Park View Road.
List of street where enforcement is taking place in Tottenham Hale CPZ N17
• Dowsett Road • Kimberley Road • Ladysmith Road • Carew Road • Mafeking Road • Buller Road • Circular Road • Factory Road • Reform Row • Reed Road • Stoneleigh Road
• On what dates is it planned to begin correcting non-compliant parking lines and signs within the Tottenham Hale CPZ; and on what date will the work be complete?
Response
We are currently undertaking inventory surveys to identify the extent of works required and envisage that compliance works will be completed by the end of May.
• If it is being enforced, could you please tell me how many PCNs were issued in Tottenham Hale CPZ in January 2009 and in February 2009.
Response
In January we issued 208 PCNs in the Tottenham Hale CPZ, and in February, 87.
I trust that this now answers your inquiry and clarifies any misunderstanding. However, as you have also requested that this enquiry be treated as an FOI, should you have any further queries, or are unhappy with how we have dealt with your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact the Feedback and Information Team as below. [Address and contact details given].
Yours sincerely
Dr Ita O'Donovan
Chief Executive
----- Original Message -----
From : Alan Stanton
To : Ita O'Donovan
Cc: Cllrs Ray Dodds ; Claire Kober ; Lorna Reith
Sent : Friday, March 20, 2009 3:43 PM
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Dr O'Donovan,
My thanks for your rapid response.
Reading your email, my initial thought was: 'Welcome to the club'. Plainly, whoever in the Urban Environment Department drafted, authorised and checked this reply approached their task with a similar lack of care and concern as they do with an enquiry from me.
The information you have been supplied is factually incorrect in most respects. Before I go on to explain why, let me add my second thought. 'If that's how they respond to the Chief Executive, heaven help residents who write in'.
Recent Changes
I realise that information about signs-and-lines can quickly become out-of-date as errors are corrected. And, as you will appreciate, I have not had time today to do more than re-check a few roads within Tottenham Hale CPZ.
As far as I can tell from my own observations and a quick limited re-check this morning, the only recent changes have been:
(1) Ladysmith Road N17 was resurfaced last year. The lines and signs were completely repainted and - as far as I am aware - are compliant with the Statutory Regulations. (But see 2.)
(2) Many roads within the CPZ have had traffic calming measures; including entry 'cushions' and corner build-outs. In a few cases these obliterated parking lines or part of the lines. Plainly, inspection of these works should have spotted this problem with minor rectification taking place without delay. Of course, it's possible that such works are already in process. (But were I a betting man, I would not put money on it. Nor, I imagine would you.)
(3) A number of parking lines are badly fading. So it could be doubtful if they are compliant. In my view, monitoring and refreshing lines and signs should be a priority call on the parking income. Not - as appears in Haringey - an afterthought.
(4) One aspect I've not raised before is the lack of T-bars on single and double-yellow lines. In one case a Parking Adjudicator ruled this was de minimis. However, I am told there is now a Review pending in the High Court which seeks to challenge that ruling. I assume your colleagues in Urban Environment are aware of this.
Inventory Survey
You said that last October officers in Urban Environment ceased enforcement in roads within the Tottenham Hale CPZ. So I find it mystifying that they are only now "undertaking inventory surveys to identify the extent of works required".
I'm surprised that you have not found it equally perplexing that officers compile a list (albeit a grossly inaccurate one) of roads within the CPZ, saying which ones are or are not compliant and which they are currently enforcing; but without having first carried out an accurate survey.
Frankly, Tottenham Hale CPZ does not cover a large area or many streets. It is perfectly feasible for someone with the necessary expertise and of reasonable intelligence to survey it using a camera and a notebook. My guess is that no more than 2-3 days would be needed for walking round and then producing a comprehensive and reliable report.
The fact that corrective works will not be completed until the end of May I regard as maladministration. Unless I can be given some reasonable explanation for this delay, I am considering taking up the matter with the District Auditor (re loss of income to the Council) and the Ombudsman on behalf of residents in my ward who are paying for a service they do not receive.
Roads within Tottenham Hale CPZ
Below is an alphabetical list of roads in Tottenham Hale CPZ. For some reason not all of them are in the list you were given; and there are also roads in your list which are not within the CPZ.
I have added [original] where a road was in the original CPZ area; and [extension] for roads in the extension. Your email sets out the roads "where all signs and lines are compliant" and enforcement is taking place. I've added my comments below each street where I disagree with this list; giving my reasons why.
As officers in Urban Environment are aware, for many months I have posted photos on my Flickr pages for most of the streets in this CPZ; with comments about the compliance (or otherwise) of the lines. These are part of a group of sixty photos - including from other parts of Haringey and elsewhere. You can find them here.
Buller Road [Extension added to the CPZ] My two photos show the bays are non-compliant. Not compliant as listed in your email.
Burbridge Way [Extension] This road was omitted altogether from the list in your email. Two photos posted - bays are non-compliant.
Carew Road [Extension] Three photos - bays are non-compliant. Not as listed in your email.
Chesnut Grove [Original CPZ] This street was omitted from your email. My three photos show bays non-compliant. However, like many roads in the original CPZ, this one had double white lines wrongly painted at the ends of the street with the correct single white lines in the middle. This elegant variation on the Statutory Regulations means those end bays are non-compliant.
Circular Road [Original] Shown as compliant in your email. This street has pavement parking and I don't know whether or not the existing signage is compliant as I am told the regulations changed since these lines and signs were installed.
Dawlish Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. Three photos posted showing the lines at both ends of the road are wrongly painted with a double white line. Otherwise the bays are compliant.
Devon Close [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. Pavement parking allowed. The signs and lines appear to be the same as the adjacent Circular Road - which is shown as compliant.
Dowsett Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. My four photos show specific non-compliant bays. Some of the bays in this road may be compliant.
Factory Lane [including Palm Tree Court]. [Extension] This is wrongly shown in your list as 'Factory Road'. It's also shown as compliant. I haven't checked today, but as I recall, is not actually in the CPZ but marked entirely with yellow lines. Which should of course, be enforced.
Holcombe Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. My two posted photos show that two bays at the Park View Road end of Holcombe Road are indeed wrongly painted with a double white line. (And no T-bars). But apart from this improvisation, all other bays in this street are compliant and should be enforced.
Junction Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. However, my one photo shows only the two bays at the Scales Road end of Junction Road are wrongly painted with a double white line. Otherwise the bays are compliant.
Kimberley Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. On the contrary, my seven photos show that every bay in this street was wrongly painted with a double white end line - and therefore entirely non-compliant. The end lines at the Dowsett Road junction have been obliterated by the new build-out.
Last week I re-checked all the lines in this street as I have taken-up the case of a resident who was refused a refund of her PCN. Hopefully, this refund will now be forthcoming; either from Haringey or via a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Ladysmith Road [Extension] This is shown in your email as compliant; with enforcement taking place. As I mentioned, this street was resurfaced and re-lined. Although lines obliterated by a new build-out are now needed. Otherwise I agree with your email.
Malvern Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. However my two photos show the same pattern as in other roads in the original CPZ. The end lines of both pairs of end bays were wrongly given two white lines and are non-compliant. However, the middle bays are okay.
Mafeking Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email and enforcement taking place. However my three photos show that the parking bays are in fact non-compliant.
Mitchley Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. One photo indicates the same pattern as in Malvern Road above. Apart from the end lines on the end bays, the others are compliant.
Park View Road This was partly in the original CPZ and partly in the extension.
It is shown as non-compliant in your email. My one photo shows a single bay near the corner with Dowsett Road which has double white transverse lines at the north end of the bay. Apart from this bay, other parking bay lines (on the western side of this street) appear correctly marked. The eastern side of Park View Road is a double yellow line and should be enforced.
Reed Road [Extension] Shown as compliant in your email. However my photo shows non-compliant lines.
Scales Road [Original] Shown as non-compliant in your email. My photo shows one end of the end bay wrongly marked - the same pattern as in the adjoining Malvern Road and Mitchley above. Other bays are compliant.
Stoneleigh Road [Original] Shown as compliant in your email. I posted one photo. In my view, all the bays appear to be non-compliant
Wilson's Avenue This street was omitted from your list. I am unclear whether or not this was properly included in the Statutory Order which authorised the CPZ. It has a parking bay which is wrongly marked. This street is also outside the area demarcated by the CPZ signage. I raised this several years ago and was assured it made no difference. But that is not my reading of the Regulations.
Reform Row. This street was included in your list as compliant and being enforced. As far as I am aware Reform Row is not and has never been in the Tottenham Hale CPZ.
Officers' Intentions
We will have to agree to differ on the matter of officers' intentions. When I send an email requesting full and detailed information, I expect a full and detailed answer. However, I am always willing to discuss with officers whether my request is reasonable and constructive; and if it requires an unfeasible amount of work. What I am no longer willing to accept is being fobbed-off.
I very much regret to say that my experience does not lead to me to draw the conclusion that these officers are committed to transparency. (Although I also realise that this may not be entirely within their control.)
Whatever the reasons, I have - as you put it - frequently been dissatisfied with responses I received. If you would like details, could I please invite you to read my public comments posted on my Flickr photoblog. A search for 'tags' such as: CPZ, PCN, parking; yellow box; should take you to the relevant pages.
My thanks for your help.
Alan Stanton
Tottenham Hale ward councillor
----- Original Message -----
From : Alan Stanton
Sent : 26 March 2009 13:46
To : Ita O'Donovan
Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds Ray; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council); Cllr Lorna Reith
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Dr O'Donovan,
A brief update to my email [above].
As I mentioned, in response to your email last Friday I took new photos of a few streets within Tottenham Hale CPZ. This week I checked two other locations: Wilson's Avenue and Factory Lane.
I couldn't spot any corrections to non-compliant CPZ or yellow lines. In some streets the only change was that markings are more faded than before. In others, traffic calming measures had covered over some lines - which had not yet been repainted.
All my CPZ photos are collected in a Flickr 'set' which you can access using this 'guest pass' link.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Alan Stanton
Tottenham Hale ward councillor
----- Original Message -----
From : Ita O'Donovan
To : Cllr Alan Stanton
Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds ; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council) ; Cllr Lorna Reith
Sent : Saturday, March 28, 2009 1:03 PM
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Cllr Stanton,
Thank you for your further detailed email on the enforcement situation in Tottenham Hale CPZ. You obviously have a real concern about these matters.
In essence these concerns focus on two main issues: firstly, the quality of the responses that you are receiving from Urban Environment and the accuracy of the information which is being supplied to you. Secondly, you are concerned about the length of time it is taking to rectify compliance issues in this area and feel that the end of May is not acceptable.
On the first issue, I understand that you feel that the response mainly addressed the questions that you raised but did not go into sufficient detail to satisfy your concerns about the compliance of lines and signs and our reasons for enforcing or not enforcing.
In response to your question “If it is being enforced, is this every road within the CPZ? Or is it only those roads and for cars parked on lines which comply with the law?”, the response should have explained that enforcement is taking place in locations in the listed roads where signs are compliant as well as where restrictions are not CPZ specific, for example, footway parking and double yellow lines.
I would also confirm that the Council has not ceased enforcement due to the double white line bay markings as it is still clear to drivers where there are bays, irrespective of whether the bay end is marked with a single or a double bay marking. These will of course be addressed as part of our compliance work as will any faded or worn lines.
I apologise that there was an error in the roads within the zone. Two roads were included which are just outside as they are on the same parking enforcement beat. I have stressed to Urban Environment officers the need for accuracy in responding to Member Enquiries.
On the second issue, you may be aware that the compliance work that is being carried out in Tottenham Hale CPZ is part of an ongoing programme to improve compliance of lines and signs. This work has started with Finsbury Park CPZ and Seven Sisters CPZ and a great deal of this has already been completed. The work on Tottenham Hale CPZ is part of this ongoing programme. I do not feel that the timescales for completing this work are unreasonable given the scale of all the compliance work being undertaken.
Thank you for the very detailed information you have provided on the compliance issues within the CPZ. I have asked officers to ensure that this is fed into our work and to invite you to accompany them on a walk around the area, once the compliance work has been completed, to make sure that all of your concerns are fully addressed.
Sincerely
Ita O’Donovan
----- Original Message -----
From : Alan Stanton
To: Ita O'Donovan
Cc : Cllr Ray Dodds ; Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council) ; Cllr Lorna Reith
Sent : Sunday, March 29, 2009 1:43 PM
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Dr O’Donovan,
Thanks for your email yesterday 28 March.
I assume someone else wrote this comical gobbledegook for you. But I’d really appreciate your reading something before it's sent in your name.
But perhaps you did read it? In which case you've apparently failed to grasp any of the key issues for which – to use your words – I have “a real concern”. Nor, it seems, have you the slightest inkling that whoever advised on yesterday's email put you in the invidious position of writing almost precisely the opposite to what you wrote before.
You are correct of course that I have “concerns” about the accuracy of the information supplied to me by the Urban Environment Department.
It is also correct that I am critical about the length of time it has taken to recognise, acknowledge and correct simple errors.
But it may be helpful if I make clear that my main “concerns” are not:
• About officers responding to councillors.
• Nor about my “feeling” that officers have not given me enough detail.
• Nor is all this some anorak-issue of single or double white lines or whether or not yellow lines on roads have T-bars.
There are far more important public issues involved which are at the heart of the relationship between local councils and their residents. These are issues of trust and confidence; openness and accountability.
I asked simple questions. Do the signs and lines in one CPZ comply with the Law of the Land – the Statutory Regulations? Are they being enforced as such?
In response to my formal enquiry and Freedom of Information Act request and an enquiry from you as the Chief Executive, we get the answers:
"No". "Yes". "Here’s a list." "Well, what we meant to say was not these bays and not these lines." "Oops, sorry, the list is wrong." "It's an ongoing programme." "We are about to do a survey." "We’ll walk round with you at the end of May."
It’s like wading through porridge. And if it wasn’t serious it would be hilarious.
But it is serious. And not just because we're taking people’s money for permits and fines. We are breaking an implied agreement with our residents. They buy permits; they are entitled to expect and trust us to put in legally correct lines and signs. We enforce these; and they are entitled to expect and have confidence in us to follow the legal rules.
If local authorities behave as if they are above the law that is corrosive of the trust and confidence in these councils, in council staff, and in elected councillors.
Openness and Accountability.
Local government is now fond of referring to ‘customers’; and to ‘business units’, ‘business plans’, delivery', and ‘service offers’. So let’s take an example from a real business.
Suppose Waitrose were to overcharge you because their scanning equipment was faulty. You would no doubt be outraged. You would insist they apologised to you and all the other customers; immediately stopped using the faulty equipment and fixed it; and refunded any overcharges. As they are a reputable trader they would do so. And without delay, obfuscation, disinformation; and using weasel-words like “addressing the problem”. I would expect them to be candid and open; because they value the trust and goodwill of their customers.
So if Haringey Council makes a mistake let’s be candid and honest about it; accept responsibility and accountability; apologise with genuine contrition; and correct the error as quickly as possible. In other words, let’s behave like a reputable business instead of someone flogging dodgy DVDs at a car-boot sale.
Sincerely,
Alan Stanton
Councillor Tottenham Hale ward
----- Original Message -----
From : Alan Stanton, Tottenham Hale ward councillor
Sent : 09 April 2009 13:45
To : Ita O'Donovan
Cc : Cllr Claire Kober ; Cllr Lorna Reith; Cllr Ray Dodds
Subject : LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Dr O'Donovan,
I would be grateful if you would let me know if and when I am likely to receive a reply to my email below.
Yours sincerely,
Alan Stanton
----- Original Message -----
From : Ita O'Donovan
To : Cllr Alan Stanton
Cc : Cllr Claire Kober (Leader of the Council); Cllr Lorna Reith ; Cllr Ray Dodds
Sent : Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:37 PM
Subject : RE: LBH 60583 [not 60474] - Tottenham Hale + FOI Request ref 81000153
Dear Cllr Stanton
I am confirming that I received and read your email of the 29th March.
Sincerely,
Ita O’Donovan
Muzikale opening – een lied van Katie Koss – een Nederlandse zangeres met Oekraiense roots. Bekijk de video op youtu.be/mdiG6epoNYg
===English===
Musical opening - A song by Katie Koss - a Dutch singer with Ukrainian roots. You can watch the video on youtu.be/mdiG6epoNYg
===
The Netherlands, The Hague, July 14th 2022
The Government of the Netherlands is hosting, together with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission, an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague on 14 July.
Photo: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2022
Governor Hogan Signs an Executive Order Regarding School Accountability Initiatives. by Joe Andrucyk at Governors Reception Room, 100 State Circle, Annapolis MD 21401
I started dieting April 15, 2012. Yes, I remember the day bc I glorified it for so many years. I started bc I didn’t physically feel well a lot of the time & I struggled with body image. We all know the cure for that: DIET & EXERCISE! Right?? I posted about my journey for “accountability” and got so much positive feedback. “You look amazing! You’re such an inspiration! Can you help me too?” I was so excited bc I hadn’t ever moved my body or honored it in anyway prior to that. Fueled by the results & positive reinforcement, I kept looking for better ways to diet and exercise for a few years. Then I found CrossFit, an entire global community of dieters & exercisers looking to do as much of both as possible. Perfect! For over 5 years I learned to micro-manage every seed I put into my mouth and sweat more than I ever had in my life. I was so proud to be a woman that was strong. And I still am. But things started to change eventually.
Every morning I’d wait until I pooped to weigh myself naked so that I would know the REAL number. What’s this?? How did my weight go up when I paid someone to tell me exactly how much to eat?! Must have been too much broccoli. I’ll pack food to bring to the pizza party. I’ll go “super clean” before the trip, party, event, etc. Everything I learned about, I tried. When information conflicted, I hedged my bets and restricted more of it. I wanted to be the gold standard and I wasn’t going to let anything mess that up. I even became Precision Nutrition “certified” because paying people to tell me what they learned in that one book - that apparently gave them the legal right to charge people to help them restrict food without any other credentials in nutrition or psychology - wasn’t working, so I opted to just become certified myself. And then the inevitable happened... it all stopped working. No matter what I did, who I paid, the results just stopped. My body began to bloat in ways I couldn’t anticipate, no matter what I added or eliminated. Physical discomfort I didn’t know how to stop. The stress of this sent me spiraling emotionally. The only logical explanation was that I was doing something wrong, that there was something I wasn’t doing, and that I wasn’t doing enough. My mind and time were consumed with how to control my body through food & exercise. Devastated when those around me succeeded with less perceived effort than me. I gave myself no leeway.
In May 2017 I was in the thick of this. I had been single for about a year and was ready to start dating again. I had been strict intermittent fasting, 8-10 hours of eating & 14-16 off, no matter what. I was asked on a date by someone I was actually really excited about. We had met a few years back working a wedding together and he was really cool. We made the date for a Wednesday night. I was coaching early on Wednesdays then, which meant I needed to start eating earlier in the day. 7-5 to be exact. I decided to do this even though I knew I was going out that night. NO EXCUSES!! Unfortunately the 2 drinks I had over the 4 hour date left me absolutely drunk and spinning.
We were having a fun evening up until that point.
I didn’t feel unsafe going back to his place to sober up.
I thought I could trust him.
I was tragically mistaken.
When I came to and stopped him I remember him trying to explain why it was ok that he was doing what he was doing. He really liked me and would be my boyfriend, he said. Date rape is a terrible and confusing thing to have happen to you. It took me over a week, walking around like a zombie, and a very concerned response from a friend when I told her the story, to really understand what happened to me. I broke ties with him immediately and tried to move on. I acknowledged the truth, felt what I needed to, and opted to learn from it. That year I only shot one wedding and it was out of state. I pulled up to the venue and I see him walking towards me. Out of all the videographers they could have possibly hired, they chose him. And I worked with him. I knew I had to. I could not go up to a bride on her wedding day, as she’s getting ready, and tell her I can’t do it. I learned a lot about my strength as a woman that day.
I think it’s important to understand that this happened to me at a time when I least expected it to. I was, and still am, at a point in my life where I consider myself to be a very happy person. I had become self-employed and was enjoying the successes of that. I didn’t view my dieting and exercising as anything bad at the time, and took a lot of pride in my discipline and knowledge. I was happy being single and very selective about who I went out with. I was confident I’d never put myself into a dangerous position again. I felt strong and empowered. It took me a long time to realize how my dieting/exercise routine had contributed to the events of that night. That guy is 100% responsible for his actions that night. It also breaks my heart to think about that version of myself that was so afraid to eat food. A version that weighed her options and chose to drink on an empty stomach and put her trust into her date’s hands.
My best friend got married in August 2019, and I was thrilled to be her Maid of Honor. A very special role with a lot of responsibilities and investments. I cleaned up my eating for months beforehand, and was exclusively strict for the month leading up to the big day. By the time the wedding day came, I was happy enough with my results. I was still struggling with my body image and not looking how I felt I should have with the amount of effort I put in. All that effort paired with the time and money invested into the wedding, I became terrified that if I ate any of the food at the wedding I would either A.) get sick because I knew how my body would react to foods I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat, and/or B.) bloat up and undo all the hard work I’d put in for months to look a certain way. So when everyone else was grabbing slices from the pizza food truck, or sampling the dessert options, I was eating cucumbers and hummus at my table. I wasn’t happy about it either. I felt sorry for myself and made up for it at the open bar. I had a great time at her wedding, but know now just how much more fun and enjoyment I could have shared on this most memorable of occasions.
The dangers of diet culture were completely unknown and unheard of in my life until I met my friend Iona. She and her partner run a movement based community in Boston, and I fell in love with them immediately. They used to be Crossfitters so I knew I would be understood there. She would talk a little bit about Crossfit and why she wasn’t doing it anymore and why she had stopped restricting food. Sounded good for her, but I couldn’t imagine not watching what I ate. But we’d keep chatting, and followed each other on social media so I was seeing the things she was sharing on the topic. Some things she shared didn’t sound like me at all. I had never been as great as she was and didn’t feel like our stories were the same. I had started a deep mediation practice at the beginning of 2019 that started to shake the foundation of my food & body beliefs. As I listened more to her story, and as I deepened my own personal awareness, I found myself deeply resonating with her. I was having a hard time putting uncomfortable feelings into words. She recommended two books to me: The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner, and Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole.
It has been a year since I read The Fuck It Diet, and it shook me down to my core. So much of what she was describing sounded just like everything I was feeling. I felt angry at an industry I was a loyal disciple of for years. I felt ashamed of all the preaching in it’s favor I had done over the years. I felt overwhelmed in realizing that all the work I had put into optimizing my body was actually doing the opposite. I knew without a doubt that this was what my body and soul needed. A release from the confinement of diet culture. So I purchased Intuitive Eating and the accompanying workbook, and spent the last year slowly chipping away at the 10 principles of IE. In TFID she mentions that it can take 3-6 months for people to heal from disordered eating, some more and some less. I figured I’d be done nice and quick. Nope. This shit is HARD. So hard. Especially when the world shuts down 1 month into your practice and turns your world upside-down. I suffered a lot during the quarantine, and I did it silently. I couldn’t share my pain, and didn’t know how to. But I kept at it. I knew I couldn’t give up on this, too much was on the line. I moved in with my boyfriend during the pandemic which threw in a whole new twist and added challenges. I started unfollowing influencers & nutrition pages by the dozen. I utilized a food delivery service to help me take the pressure off of thinking about food so much. I was sick of it. I reached out to Iona for support. And I kept at it, even when it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I kept at it. I knew my life depended on it.
Then some amazing things started to happen. I would put the pint of Ben & Jerry’s back in the fridge instead of eating it all at once. I could eat half my food at a restaurant and easily ask to bring the rest home. A package of cookies went stale in the cabinet because I just didn’t feel like eating them. I started buying new clothes that fit my body now, and even went as far as to go shopping when I felt most uncomfortable and bloated so I knew I could trust my clothes to truly bring me comfort. I can say no when I’m not hungry. I’m starting to be able to truly identify my hunger and fullness cues, and honor them. I’m starting to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and that it knows what size it wants to be. I can trust myself around food now because I know, without a doubt, that I can have it if I want to. Restriction is what leads to overeating, not the other way around. This, by far, has been the hardest but truest lesson I’ve learned in the decade I’ve spent educating myself on fitness and nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, practice makes progress, and progress is never linear.
I have chosen to share this experience for a few reasons. First, the bravery of my friend sharing her vulnerable yet powerful healing experience inspired me to do the same for myself. This is the biggest hope for this project. We don’t get to choose who we influence, or how our influence is received. But we all have a story, and someone out there needs to hear YOUR story. Second, this has been one of the biggest personal items I have been working on recently and has caused a big upheaval in how I approach my life and my work. I pride myself on being openminded and allowing myself the grace to change my mind. Changing my mind on fitness and nutrition was not something I was expecting, and it is not what big diet culture wants us to believe. It is woven into our healthcare, media, and schools. Third, this is a topic I know millions of people, especially women, struggle with every single day. Fourth and final reason is the intersection of so many things in this experience. Self-worth, body image, sexism, science as a religion. Too much of what we think has been put there by someone else. My hope is that sharing my experience with diet culture, date rape, and orthorexia (eating disorder with the preoccupation with eating healthy food) that someone else will be inspired to free themselves from these cages and live life a little happier. Food CAN be neutral and our bodies do know what they’re doing.
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-21-526
Facial Recognition Technology:
Current and Planned Uses by Federal Agencies
Marked up with additional text in the notes.
Should this be a venn or is it a pyramid?
For more information:
Transparency, Publicity, Accountability – The missing links
Daniel Nauri
Paper for the CONNEX-RG 2 workshop on “Delegation and Mechanisms of Accountability
in the EU”, Uppsala 8-9 March 2007.
www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/projekte/typo3/site/fileadmin/re...
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887383006268321792
The Government of the Netherlands, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the European Commission are hosting an Ukraine Accountability Conference at ministerial level at the World Forum in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 14 July 2022.
© Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2022
Proverbs 5:3-5 GUYS, my brothers! This is one every guy struggles with, some more than others, but till we take our last breath...young, old, married, single... BEWARE! Put stuff on your computer, phone, etc...road blocks! Have accountability with someone you know will call you out and that you will be embarrassed with. Guard your heart. I strongly recommend the book Every Man's Battle. Don't get me wrong, every guy wants a beautiful girl, and every guys definition of beautiful is different, am I right? Lol but when you know her heart isn't after God, that she is looking for things you aren't, when she might be easy, or seducing you... We are easily trapped. One verse says she has brought down even strong men... Think of king David, a man after God's own heart... Run! Stay away! This verse is fact and you can go anywhere in the world and find it's proof, it's evidence in broken homes, broken lives, tear stained pillows... No matter if you come from a strong family or a broken home, be rock firm determined to not be the player, to not be that guy that uses and takes for selfish gain, to not be the one who tears hearts into sheds.... Be men of God! Arise and oh man of God...be wise. If you have fallen, today is a new day. If you have never, then vow to never... Don't let her beauty fool you. Don't let her eyes lure you. I pray for myself and all men. Girls don't be this girl! Vow deep in your soul to be pure, to be godly, to be willing to think enough of yourself to be worthy of a strong God fearing man! No guy is perfect, but guard your body, heart, future for the right one. Don't sell it for a feeling of love, acceptance, and feeling attractive, desired, wanted... It's not worth the price you'll pay.
Men, real men, guard all girls purity, bodies, hearts! Doesn't mean they don't want to ravish you ;) we are all animals at heart, and never be fooled into thinking less, girls. Guys are animals! I am one, i know and i tell my sister and girls I love this truth. But God designed the beauty of a man and woman in a way that is right and fun and perfect...but the devil will sell you lies and yes! It will feel gooood! But the price is your soul! It destroys us men! Don't let it! Fight! Ask forgiveness everyday and stay close to God through His Word, church, good godly friends, preaching, serving... May we all find God's mercy and grace as we strive to be and become godly husbands, fathers, sons, daughters, wives, leaders, servants, Christ followers! Amen?
check out more at
www.instagram.com/proverbsdailiy
Board Governance, Leadership & Accountability resources and tips is shared by NAD President Chris Wagner.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 21, 2013
Around 20 protesters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. They called for more accountability in the banking industry, demanded the Obama administration prosecute bankers for their role in the financial crisis of 2008 and called for relief for families and communities devastated by foreclosures. This event was in solidarity with Wall Street Accountability Week of Action in Washington, D.C., May 18-23.
Signs read:
STAND TOGETHER
STOP
FORECLOSURES
STOP EVICTIONS
occupyhomesmn.org
2013-05-21 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution for: Fibonacci Blue
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Zag - bit.ly/1Ohf1bl
Who's accountable?
Photo by Eric Ziegler (@ericzigus)
When I first joined my latest team, I specifically went and met with each team that reported up to me. As I did my introductions, I let my teams all know that I am a big fan of soccer, so much so that I even play.
Because I am who I am, I read many different blogs and listen to many different podcasts that cover topics that span topics such as leadership, soccer, and technology. I read and listen to podcasts to stay up on the latest trends and to keep abreast of the latest things happening on things I am passionate about.
Recently, I was listening to the soccer podcast, Men in Blazers (@meninblazers +Men In Blazers) .(btw, I highly recommend listening to these gentlemen if you like soccer. Not only are they informative, they are rather funny). During a recent podcast, they were interviewing Jose Mourinho, the current manager of Chelsea. As I listened to the interview, he provided insights that I believe apply to any team anywhere, especially teams that in companies.
These insights were about how the team is the most important thing, and that individuals are important as part of the team. This sentiment is absolutely important for any long running successful teams.
"It's about the team, not the individual"
"The manager is no more or less important than the individuals on the team"
Why would he say these statements? He hints at holding the individuals accountable for their actions, even the manager.
He uses an example in the podcast to get his point across, There is a section in the podcast where he talks about the bus leaving on time. You could take it as a control from the top, but listen carefully on how he talks about the situation. He says that the team has agreed that at 9 am the bus will leave. And if you are not on the bus at 9 am, the bus leaves without you, because the team agreed it would leave at 9am. And if the manager is not on the bus at 9am? the bus leaves without the manager.
While you might think this is a power game for Jose, I look at it differently. What he is saying is that the team is important, and to hold the team back because someone was not holding themselves accountable to being on time is not acceptable. Hence, each person is accountable for their actions and accountable for making sure the team meets the team goals.
3 May 2019 - Panelists discussed the experiences of the past 3 years documented in the 2018 Learning Report on Implementation of the Accountability Mechanism Policy at the 52nd ADB Annual Meeting.
Visit the event page for more information on this event and the list of speakers.
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
New York City Mayor Eric Adams holds a rally with union leaders for mayoral accountability on the steps of City Hall on Monday, May 9, 2022. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
A slide from my presentation at TCEA in February 2006, "Cultivating Digital Literacy Through Blogging and Podcasting." (Available as an audio-only podcast and enhanced podcast.)
Eight years ago I took a sexual purity online course, and it was the best Christian teaching I got. It was a daily online course for two months and I loved every day of it. One thing though I disagree with them is that they said many members who do not follow the precautionary rules (such as: move your computer to an open space in the house, or install Internet filtering software, or acquire an accountability partner, etc) fall back into sin even though they were free from it for a period of time. The problem I have with that statement is that I believe a person is only truly free if he is free on the inside through being set free by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think the best way to explain this topic is by talking about what it means to be born-again and what it does not mean.
Many new believers believe that they now have a new holy nature along with their old sinful nature. (I definitely believed that in the beginning, and only after listening to sound Biblical preaching that I came to understand what the Bible really teaches.) New believers believe that because before coming to Christ they were told they have a sinful nature, and after coming to Christ they were told they have a holy nature but from their experience they realize they are still sinning so they conclude, “I must have two natures: a holy one and a sinful one.” This idea is unbiblical because the Bible teaches: before Christ we had a sinful nature, but after Christ this sinful nature had died and now we only have a holy nature. The reason we are still capable of sinning is that we still have physical bodies that get tired, get hungry, and have desires. Another reason we continue to sin for a while after coming to Christ is that sinful behaviour has become a habit in our lives. In other words: we initially continue to sin not because we are sinful in nature and cannot resist sin, but because we are used to live a sinful lifestyle. Let me tell you some examples from my life:
The first incident happened few years after I came to Christ when my sister’s family asked me to go with them to Canada’s Wonderland. I did not want to go to Wonderland because I knew how the girls dressed at such places. After some pressure from my sister and because I had a little nephew and niece I decided to go. The first two hours were horrible! I did not look anywhere except the ground! I kept struggling with God in prayer: I begged Him to help me! After roughly two hours I gave up! I said, “Sorry, Lord, but I really can’t live this Christian life. I am done. I can’t live this horrible life of continuous struggle against myself, against my sinful desire to lust.” So I looked up and the place was so crowded, but what surprised me is that I did not want to lust. I mean, girls dressing sensually were everywhere but I just did not care. I could see girls were around, but to me they were just another person who I had no particular interest in the way they dressed, or looked, or anything else. I felt so free—it was so wonderful!
Another time I was praying in my bedroom begging God to help me overcome sin. The next day I was listening to Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries and he said something like, “God has given you the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life through you. What else do you need? You already have all you need!” I realized I should be able to live the Christian life, and the next morning as I went to work I decided to test if I was sinning because it was my nature or because sin was a habit in my life. Soon I realized that sin had no attraction to me—I could stop sinning anytime I wanted—but I was doing it because it was a habit in my life.
Here is another example:
In high school my classmates and I were used to telling dirty jokes, but few weeks before graduation I was becoming increasingly overcome by conviction that what I was doing is sinful and it displeases my heavenly Father. (I am not sharing my sins with you because I am proud of them, but because it glorifies my heavenly Father when you read about His wonderful grace that He sent the Holy Spirit to change a sinful man like me.) So after I graduated and started working in the warehouse I decided I would not swear, tell or laugh at dirty jokes again. Days passed, and months passed, until few years later I was receiving some shipment from a UPS driver and another UPS driver came and the first driver told the second driver, “Have you realized this man never swears?” The second driver told him, “I know, I know! He is a good man!” I stopped for a second to see who they were talking about then I realized they were talking about me! I thought back to the high school days and realized stopping this sinful practice of swearing or telling dirty jokes was not a spiritual struggle—this sin had no power over me, and I just did it because it was a sinful habit in my life.
The One who is in you, the Holy Spirit, is much greater than Satan, the spirit of this world (1 John 4:4).
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I learn by examples best, so I think the best way to explain what being born-again means is through an example:
Let us say you are a cat, and you want to live as a human. So you start your day by trying to wash your face but the sink is too big for you and the faucet was not designed to be turned on by paws. Then you try to make the bed but the bed is so big--because it is a human bed--that there is no way you can do it. Then you try to put on a shirt but shirts were designed for humans so they will not fit you and you cannot button up the shirt with your paws anyway.
Even if you succeeded in doing those tasks the fact of the matter is that you are still a cat. You can try to pretend to be a human for a while but eventually you will be exhausted, you will feel miserable, and you will definitely fail at some tasks; for example, how can a cat drive to work and work as an accountant?!
The only way for you, a cat, to be able to live as a human is that if you were changed by becoming a human. Otherwise, all attempts are futile. Now, once you become a human then you will not go back to live as a cat: you will not go back to sleeping in a basket, or licking your noise, or playing with a yarn ball. Now, you sleep in a bed, you scratch your nose, and you play sports.
In this example being a cat is equivalent to being lost—having a sinful nature. The human tasks are equivalent to the commandments of God. And being a human is equivalent to being born-again—having a holy nature. You cannot be both a cat and a human at the same time. And if you are a cat then you will live like a cat and if you are a human then you will live like a human. Now, both the cat and the human have physical bodies that get hungry, tired and have desires, but the cat is not a human and the human is not a cat. They are two different creatures! The cat has not been cleaned, groomed, trained, taught, or discipled! No, the cat has been transformed!
The Bible puts it this way,“Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) This verse is saying once you are born-again then you cannot go back to your old way of life, because you have been transformed. And it is also saying the old has passed way (your sinful nature), and you have become a new spiritual creature (your new holy nature); you do not have both natures at the same time.
“It is said that St. Augustine was accosted one day on the street by a former mistress some time after he had become a Christian. When he saw her he turned and walked the other way. Surprised, the woman called out, ‘Augustine, it is I’. Augustine as he kept going the other way, answered her, ‘Yes, but it is not I.’”
Here are few more examples of what it means to be born-again:
All religions treat sin as an act and therefore they combat it with righteous acts. In Christianity, sin is a state of being and therefore sin is combated by a changed being. To explain this as an example: let us say your leg is broken and therefore it is swollen. All religions would be dealing with the swelling and how to bring the swelling down. But Christianity deals with the broken bone—once the bone is mended then the swelling will come down naturally.
To explain the concept better, all religions’ approach to righteousness is as this: because you do surgeries then you are a doctor; and because you can draw then you are an artist; and because you can fly an airplane then you are a pilot. Christianity’s approach is as this: you can do surgeries because you are a doctor; and you can draw because you are an artist; and you can fly an airplane because you are a pilot. In other words, the being has to change first then his actions will follow (remember the cat and the human analogy?)
All religions approach sin like this: let us say someone has cancer but that person is very health conscious: exercises, has a healthy weight, eats healthy, does not smoke or abuse any substance—but the fact of the matter is that this person has cancer no matter how healthy he lives. Christianity deals with the cancer.
Christianity can deal with the root of the problem because of the Holy Spirit: a Christian does not fight Satan, his fleshly desires, and the world on His own. No, a Christian simply lets the Holy Spirit lives through Him (remember the story of the submarines vs the fish?)
The problem lies in the fact so few people know who the Holy Spirit is. To the non-Christian, the Holy Spirit is such a vague concept after all they are used to laws and regulations and suddenly here is God who wants to live in you and through you! Even those who grew up in the “church” have no idea who the Holy Spirit is! I know for a fact if I ask all my many cousins who the Holy Spirit is, collectively they will not be able to write a sentence about Him.
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It is actually a blasphemy to tell people who are not born-again about the commandments of God and expect them to live by them. Because when we do that we are implying that a lost person, with a sinful nature can live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, when a lost person fails to live up to the standards of God then we should not be surprised, because that is exactly the purpose of the commandments: to show a lost person how far off from God’s goal of holiness he is, and how impossible it is for him to attain that goal of holiness by his own efforts. Living by the commandments was never a way to attain forgiveness, and that is why they had to sacrifice blemishless animals in the Old Testament—it has always been by the blood. Let me tell you a little story:
In Iraq when Ramadan, the fasting month in Islam, comes almost everybody becomes extra religious. One thing men do is that when a girl who is dressed sensually passes them by, then look at her then say, “Allah, make her a cow in my eyes!” Another popular saying they have is, “One hour for your god, and one hour for your heart.” Implying that their god’s desires are not the same as their heart’s desires. That is because when you try to live to those strict holiness standards in your own power you will eventually break, and they deal with it by: either sinning knowingly then asking for forgiveness; or live for their god one hour and then live for their sinful nature in the next hour—they have to give their sinful nature an outlet to express itself.
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Let me explain my point using another analogy:
In 1960 a small manned submarine called the Trieste reached a record 10,911m (about 36,000 ft) depth in the Challenger Deep—the deepest known point in the oceans. What surprised the two mariners is that there was life there! Fish had such small skin that you can see through them actually lived there, while most submarines with shells made of inches of steel would be crushed by the weight of the water way before they reached 25% of that depth!
The fish was able to withstand such high pressure from the water column weight because the pressure on the inside was as much as the water pressure from the outside—so their skin could be as thin as it gets and they would be fine. (This fish has no gas filled swim bladder because if they did they would be crushed since water is much denser than air.)
Living the Christian life is similar: you can put all the external layers of precautionary measures you want to avoid sinning but you will if on the inside your joy is not complete in the Lord. You can impose 1000 ways to prevent someone from sinning, but if that person wants to sin then he will find 1001 ways to sin! And the only way for a human being not to want to sin is if he finds no joy in sinning, but we humans have to find joy in something so for us not to sin our joy has to come from the Lord. We have to be filled with the Holy Spirit on the inside—Who is more powerful than Satan—not to be crushed by Satan’s temptations.
When Joseph was tempted by his master’s wife to sleep with her he left his cloak in her hands and ran out of the house, not because he did not see her, did not hear her, or did not have physical desires, but because his desire to live for God outweighed all other desires.
---
I said all that to bring you back to the initial topic: spiritual freedom. If a person is addicted to pornography, for example, then he is only truly free if his joy in the Lord is complete, that is: if he has a close union with the Holy Spirit on daily basis throughout the whole day by living a surrendered life for the will of God. Having to move the PC to a more open space in the house, keeping the curtain open and the lights on, installing a filter on the Internet, having an accountability partner, etc, are only precautionary measures—they will not change the man from the inside out. For example, locking up a murderer will only prevents him from murdering, but it will not stop him from being a murderer. And that is not what the Christian life is about: it is about being that transforms our doing, and not doing for the sake of having a fake appearance of being.
I am not against those precautionary measures—I for one have an Internet filter installed on my PC—but a person can only be truly free if his joy in the Lord is complete. That does not mean if a person is born-again then he will not sin no matter what and now he can watch anything he likes, go anyplace he likes, and does whatever he likes! We have been freed from sin, and not freed to sin! The Bible says:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)
What I am saying is this: our approach in Christianity to sin should not be the same approach of all religions to sin and that is by covering it with a band aid here and there and everywhere and hoping all will go well. No, we should bring our sins in confession to God, wrestle with Him in prayer, and let the Holy Spirit live in us and free us by living a victorious spiritual life that is pleasing to God through us.
(Toronto, ON; summer 2011.)
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-610SP
SCIENCE & TECH SPOTLIGHT: E-CIGARETTES
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
Supporting Social Accountability For Better Results Event at the 2012 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. on April 19, 2012.
Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank; Maya Harris, Vice President, Democracy, Rights and Justice Program, Ford Foundation; Laila Iskandar Kamel, Managing Director, Community and Institutional Development Group, Egypt; Corazon “Dinky” Juliano Soliman ,Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines; Sam Worthington, President and CEO, InterAction.
Photo by Ryan Rayburn/World Bank
This image is related to a U.S. GAO report:
Combating Wildlife Trafficking: Agencies Are Taking Action to Reduce Demand but Could Improve Collaboration in Southeast Asia
Parliament has reacted to recent allegations with immediate changes and demands for measures to close loopholes in existing transparency rules.
Following Tuesday’s debate, Parliament has adopted a resolution on the suspicions of corruption by Qatar and the broader need for more transparency in the EU institutions, with 541 votes in favour, two against, and three abstentions.
MEPs are appalled by the recent allegations that MEPs, former MEPs and EP staff are involved in corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation, and support the full cooperation of the House with the ongoing investigation, noting that internal systems failed to prevent corruption. They also denounce the alleged corruption attempts by Qatar, which would constitute serious foreign interference in European democracy.
Immediate suspension of all legislative work related to Qatar
As an immediate measure, MEPs have decided to suspend all work on legislative files relating to Qatar, particularly concerning visa liberalisation and the EU aviation agreement with Qatar, as well as planned visits, until things become clearer. They also ask that security passes for representatives of Qatari interests be suspended until the judicial investigations provide clarity.
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20221212IPR6454...
This photo is free to use under Creative Commons license CC-BY-4.0 and must be credited: "CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2022– Source: EP". (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) No model release form if applicable. For bigger HR files please contact: webcom-flickr(AT)europarl.europa.eu
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887394069361680385
The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.
A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.
Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.
In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.
In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.
With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].
As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.
Speakers:
Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation
Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University
C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife
Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi
Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan
Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability
M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel
Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements
A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum
Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements
Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand
Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel
Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability
Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat
Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti
Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha
Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar
Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh
Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon documents excess equipment disposal on Caserma Ederle Aug. 25.
This year’s U.S. Army Europe Supply Excellence Award winners are at it again, and they haven’t got much to show for it.
Not much, that is, in terms of the excess equipment and supply backlog that U.S. Army Africa, Headquarters Support Company, Supply team has just about eliminated since the command came into being in late 2008.
“Nobody really sees what it was like here two and a half years ago,” said Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon, HSC Supply Seargent.
In that time, Falcon and her staff have accounted for, documented and removed 3,000 pieces of various equipment valued at $1.6 million from Army Africa’s inventory: military end items, computers, digital printers — a small mountain range of diverse material that wound up on the supply company’s to-do list in mid-2009.
“Nobody ever knew how to turn in equipment, I suppose,” Falcon said.
“When I first got here, there was nothing. The supply room had no system at all. We built this from scratch. It’s been about two and a half years of working on it. Now it’s a question of maintaining,” she said.
Whatever the source of the landslide of stuff that has made its way through the company’s motor pool on Caserma Ederle since then, Falcon and her crew have cleaned house with flying colors. HSC Supply has two back-to-back, first-place finishes in the annual Army Supply Excellence Award competition at the USAREUR level to prove it.
With any luck, the HSC Supply Company may go all the way to the winner’s circle at the Army level later this year.
“By winning, the Department of the Army will now come down to inspect us. That should be in the November-December timeframe. We don’t have an exact date yet,” Falcon said.
“Once they come, they do the evaluation. It’s not really an inspection; they just talk to you like normal people and evaluate you. But your adrenaline’s running. Even just getting put into the system, to be evaluated by DA, is an accomplishment. To be able to call home and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I won this.’ They’re so proud. It’s great.”
Though the big bulge in the python’s belly may have passed, there’s always something to prepare for removal from Army Africa’s inventory. Falcon and her staff of two soldiers and two contractors have another deadline looming Oct. 1.
“That’s a date we set on the heels of the DA Campaign Plan on Property Accountability to get rid of our excess,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio, USARAF G-4 Supply Division chief.
In the past week alone, HSC Supply accounted for and emptied three 20-foot cargo trailers, making the property available for removal to the Lerino Supply Support Activity, said Daniel Brown, G-4 Property Book Office.
“There were lots of technical inspections to turn in the paperwork. My main priority is — still to do my job, but focus on deadlines,” Falcon said.
“They’ve done an outstanding job; in fact, we’re ahead of schedule,” said Consiglio. “Our end state was Oct. 1, and at the rate the team has been executing, they will exceed the milestone date,” he said.
A visit to the supply company by USARAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, in August had a positive effect on the overall process, Falcon said.
“We’ve always had support, but he put the word out. Everybody was . . . ‘What can we do to help?’ So now it’s a focus,” Falcon said. “By Oct. 1: everything gone. We can take care of it, we can do it right here ourselves.”
And with a little help from Army Africa’s friends in USAG Vicenza Directorate of Logistics, said Consiglio.
“Since requesting support from DoL, their director made us the priority for our excess turn-in, and this has been the key enabler in allowing us to surge at such a higher rate. Their staff has been fantastic, from the SSA support to doing technical inspections for us during the 45-day process,” he said.
What’s next after the Oct. 1 finish line?
“Just keeping up on the daily paperwork and the filing system,” said Spc. Benjamin Roalson. “Just the day-to-day thing that keeps us rolling.”
“The next benchmark is preparation for the DA CSA Supply Excellence competition, continual cultural awareness of supply discipline across the command, and monitoring lifecycle replacement,” said Consiglio.
Whatever follows, Falcon will be on the job and taking the lead. The Houston, Texas, native has taken to the trade, and to the Army too.
“I’m extending. I just got my grade,” Falcon said.
“I really enjoy working supply and logistics. It’s hard work; it’s long hours. I go home at the end of the day thinking there’s not enough hours in the day,” she said.
“Logistics is constant, constant, constant.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica
Excess equipment is inspected for disposal on Caserma Ederle Aug. 25.
This year’s U.S. Army Europe Supply Excellence Award winners are at it again, and they haven’t got much to show for it.
Not much, that is, in terms of the excess equipment and supply backlog that U.S. Army Africa, Headquarters Support Company, Supply team has just about eliminated since the command came into being in late 2008.
“Nobody really sees what it was like here two and a half years ago,” said Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon, HSC Supply Seargent.
In that time, Falcon and her staff have accounted for, documented and removed 3,000 pieces of various equipment valued at $1.6 million from Army Africa’s inventory: military end items, computers, digital printers — a small mountain range of diverse material that wound up on the supply company’s to-do list in mid-2009.
“Nobody ever knew how to turn in equipment, I suppose,” Falcon said.
“When I first got here, there was nothing. The supply room had no system at all. We built this from scratch. It’s been about two and a half years of working on it. Now it’s a question of maintaining,” she said.
Whatever the source of the landslide of stuff that has made its way through the company’s motor pool on Caserma Ederle since then, Falcon and her crew have cleaned house with flying colors. HSC Supply has two back-to-back, first-place finishes in the annual Army Supply Excellence Award competition at the USAREUR level to prove it.
With any luck, the HSC Supply Company may go all the way to the winner’s circle at the Army level later this year.
“By winning, the Department of the Army will now come down to inspect us. That should be in the November-December timeframe. We don’t have an exact date yet,” Falcon said.
“Once they come, they do the evaluation. It’s not really an inspection; they just talk to you like normal people and evaluate you. But your adrenaline’s running. Even just getting put into the system, to be evaluated by DA, is an accomplishment. To be able to call home and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I won this.’ They’re so proud. It’s great.”
Though the big bulge in the python’s belly may have passed, there’s always something to prepare for removal from Army Africa’s inventory. Falcon and her staff of two soldiers and two contractors have another deadline looming Oct. 1.
“That’s a date we set on the heels of the DA Campaign Plan on Property Accountability to get rid of our excess,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio, USARAF G-4 Supply Division chief.
In the past week alone, HSC Supply accounted for and emptied three 20-foot cargo trailers, making the property available for removal to the Lerino Supply Support Activity, said Daniel Brown, G-4 Property Book Office.
“There were lots of technical inspections to turn in the paperwork. My main priority is — still to do my job, but focus on deadlines,” Falcon said.
“They’ve done an outstanding job; in fact, we’re ahead of schedule,” said Consiglio. “Our end state was Oct. 1, and at the rate the team has been executing, they will exceed the milestone date,” he said.
A visit to the supply company by USARAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, in August had a positive effect on the overall process, Falcon said.
“We’ve always had support, but he put the word out. Everybody was . . . ‘What can we do to help?’ So now it’s a focus,” Falcon said. “By Oct. 1: everything gone. We can take care of it, we can do it right here ourselves.”
And with a little help from Army Africa’s friends in USAG Vicenza Directorate of Logistics, said Consiglio.
“Since requesting support from DoL, their director made us the priority for our excess turn-in, and this has been the key enabler in allowing us to surge at such a higher rate. Their staff has been fantastic, from the SSA support to doing technical inspections for us during the 45-day process,” he said.
What’s next after the Oct. 1 finish line?
“Just keeping up on the daily paperwork and the filing system,” said Spc. Benjamin Roalson. “Just the day-to-day thing that keeps us rolling.”
“The next benchmark is preparation for the DA CSA Supply Excellence competition, continual cultural awareness of supply discipline across the command, and monitoring lifecycle replacement,” said Consiglio.
Whatever follows, Falcon will be on the job and taking the lead. The Houston, Texas, native has taken to the trade, and to the Army too.
“I’m extending. I just got my grade,” Falcon said.
“I really enjoy working supply and logistics. It’s hard work; it’s long hours. I go home at the end of the day thinking there’s not enough hours in the day,” she said.
“Logistics is constant, constant, constant.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Speakers included:
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887388056600399873
Excellent journalism, after all, has never been simply about information. It’s information provided to enable knowledge, published or broadcast as a public exchange by people accountable for its accuracy. Networks can enhance quality by linking the work of newspeople and many others to support journalism’s public service functions: accountability, timeliness and accessibility.- Melanie Sil, The Case for Open Journalism Now
www.annenberginnovationlab.org/OpenJournalism/
www.annenberginnovationlab.org/OpenJournalism/SillOpenJou... (PDF)
Slideshare
Paul Nyberg, Army Africa G-2 sub-hand receipt holder gets guidance from Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon on Caserma Ederle Aug. 25.
This year’s U.S. Army Europe Supply Excellence Award winners are at it again, and they haven’t got much to show for it.
Not much, that is, in terms of the excess equipment and supply backlog that U.S. Army Africa, Headquarters Support Company, Supply team has just about eliminated since the command came into being in late 2008.
“Nobody really sees what it was like here two and a half years ago,” said Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon, HSC Supply Seargent.
In that time, Falcon and her staff have accounted for, documented and removed 3,000 pieces of various equipment valued at $1.6 million from Army Africa’s inventory: military end items, computers, digital printers — a small mountain range of diverse material that wound up on the supply company’s to-do list in mid-2009.
“Nobody ever knew how to turn in equipment, I suppose,” Falcon said.
“When I first got here, there was nothing. The supply room had no system at all. We built this from scratch. It’s been about two and a half years of working on it. Now it’s a question of maintaining,” she said.
Whatever the source of the landslide of stuff that has made its way through the company’s motor pool on Caserma Ederle since then, Falcon and her crew have cleaned house with flying colors. HSC Supply has two back-to-back, first-place finishes in the annual Army Supply Excellence Award competition at the USAREUR level to prove it.
With any luck, the HSC Supply Company may go all the way to the winner’s circle at the Army level later this year.
“By winning, the Department of the Army will now come down to inspect us. That should be in the November-December timeframe. We don’t have an exact date yet,” Falcon said.
“Once they come, they do the evaluation. It’s not really an inspection; they just talk to you like normal people and evaluate you. But your adrenaline’s running. Even just getting put into the system, to be evaluated by DA, is an accomplishment. To be able to call home and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I won this.’ They’re so proud. It’s great.”
Though the big bulge in the python’s belly may have passed, there’s always something to prepare for removal from Army Africa’s inventory. Falcon and her staff of two soldiers and two contractors have another deadline looming Oct. 1.
“That’s a date we set on the heels of the DA Campaign Plan on Property Accountability to get rid of our excess,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio, USARAF G-4 Supply Division chief.
In the past week alone, HSC Supply accounted for and emptied three 20-foot cargo trailers, making the property available for removal to the Lerino Supply Support Activity, said Daniel Brown, G-4 Property Book Office.
“There were lots of technical inspections to turn in the paperwork. My main priority is — still to do my job, but focus on deadlines,” Falcon said.
“They’ve done an outstanding job; in fact, we’re ahead of schedule,” said Consiglio. “Our end state was Oct. 1, and at the rate the team has been executing, they will exceed the milestone date,” he said.
A visit to the supply company by USARAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, in August had a positive effect on the overall process, Falcon said.
“We’ve always had support, but he put the word out. Everybody was . . . ‘What can we do to help?’ So now it’s a focus,” Falcon said. “By Oct. 1: everything gone. We can take care of it, we can do it right here ourselves.”
And with a little help from Army Africa’s friends in USAG Vicenza Directorate of Logistics, said Consiglio.
“Since requesting support from DoL, their director made us the priority for our excess turn-in, and this has been the key enabler in allowing us to surge at such a higher rate. Their staff has been fantastic, from the SSA support to doing technical inspections for us during the 45-day process,” he said.
What’s next after the Oct. 1 finish line?
“Just keeping up on the daily paperwork and the filing system,” said Spc. Benjamin Roalson. “Just the day-to-day thing that keeps us rolling.”
“The next benchmark is preparation for the DA CSA Supply Excellence competition, continual cultural awareness of supply discipline across the command, and monitoring lifecycle replacement,” said Consiglio.
Whatever follows, Falcon will be on the job and taking the lead. The Houston, Texas, native has taken to the trade, and to the Army too.
“I’m extending. I just got my grade,” Falcon said.
“I really enjoy working supply and logistics. It’s hard work; it’s long hours. I go home at the end of the day thinking there’s not enough hours in the day,” she said.
“Logistics is constant, constant, constant.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica
Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 21, 2013
Around 20 protesters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis. They called for more accountability in the banking industry, demanded the Obama administration prosecute bankers for their role in the financial crisis of 2008 and called for relief for families and communities devastated by foreclosures. This event was in solidarity with Wall Street Accountability Week of Action in Washington, D.C., May 18-23.
2013-05-21 This is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Give attribution for: Fibonacci Blue
Scenes from the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) Side Event: A Feminist Accountability Framework: What the World Needs to Achieve Gender Equality and All the Sustainable Development Goals, co-sponsored by ICRW and its partners Equal Measures 2030, Save the Children, Global Citizen, Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO), UN Women, the Government of Costa Rica, and the Government of Zambia. Held at the Church Centre in New York on 18 July 2017.
Pictured Above: Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Eleanor Blomstrom, Co-Director and Head of Office at WEDO, Women’s Major Group Chair
Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar, at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University
Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
Ambassador Rolando Castro, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Wallace Nguluwe, Gender Specialist, Ministry of Gender, Zambia
Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Program Director, ARROW (representing Women’s Major Group)
Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
Jenny Ottenhoff, Policy Director, Global Health at ONE
Grace Choi, Associate Director for Global Gender Policy & Advocacy, Save the Children USA
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
On Twitter: twitter.com/UN_Women/status/887394403370905601
I started dieting April 15, 2012. Yes, I remember the day bc I glorified it for so many years. I started bc I didn’t physically feel well a lot of the time & I struggled with body image. We all know the cure for that: DIET & EXERCISE! Right?? I posted about my journey for “accountability” and got so much positive feedback. “You look amazing! You’re such an inspiration! Can you help me too?” I was so excited bc I hadn’t ever moved my body or honored it in anyway prior to that. Fueled by the results & positive reinforcement, I kept looking for better ways to diet and exercise for a few years. Then I found CrossFit, an entire global community of dieters & exercisers looking to do as much of both as possible. Perfect! For over 5 years I learned to micro-manage every seed I put into my mouth and sweat more than I ever had in my life. I was so proud to be a woman that was strong. And I still am. But things started to change eventually.
Every morning I’d wait until I pooped to weigh myself naked so that I would know the REAL number. What’s this?? How did my weight go up when I paid someone to tell me exactly how much to eat?! Must have been too much broccoli. I’ll pack food to bring to the pizza party. I’ll go “super clean” before the trip, party, event, etc. Everything I learned about, I tried. When information conflicted, I hedged my bets and restricted more of it. I wanted to be the gold standard and I wasn’t going to let anything mess that up. I even became Precision Nutrition “certified” because paying people to tell me what they learned in that one book - that apparently gave them the legal right to charge people to help them restrict food without any other credentials in nutrition or psychology - wasn’t working, so I opted to just become certified myself. And then the inevitable happened... it all stopped working. No matter what I did, who I paid, the results just stopped. My body began to bloat in ways I couldn’t anticipate, no matter what I added or eliminated. Physical discomfort I didn’t know how to stop. The stress of this sent me spiraling emotionally. The only logical explanation was that I was doing something wrong, that there was something I wasn’t doing, and that I wasn’t doing enough. My mind and time were consumed with how to control my body through food & exercise. Devastated when those around me succeeded with less perceived effort than me. I gave myself no leeway.
In May 2017 I was in the thick of this. I had been single for about a year and was ready to start dating again. I had been strict intermittent fasting, 8-10 hours of eating & 14-16 off, no matter what. I was asked on a date by someone I was actually really excited about. We had met a few years back working a wedding together and he was really cool. We made the date for a Wednesday night. I was coaching early on Wednesdays then, which meant I needed to start eating earlier in the day. 7-5 to be exact. I decided to do this even though I knew I was going out that night. NO EXCUSES!! Unfortunately the 2 drinks I had over the 4 hour date left me absolutely drunk and spinning.
We were having a fun evening up until that point.
I didn’t feel unsafe going back to his place to sober up.
I thought I could trust him.
I was tragically mistaken.
When I came to and stopped him I remember him trying to explain why it was ok that he was doing what he was doing. He really liked me and would be my boyfriend, he said. Date rape is a terrible and confusing thing to have happen to you. It took me over a week, walking around like a zombie, and a very concerned response from a friend when I told her the story, to really understand what happened to me. I broke ties with him immediately and tried to move on. I acknowledged the truth, felt what I needed to, and opted to learn from it. That year I only shot one wedding and it was out of state. I pulled up to the venue and I see him walking towards me. Out of all the videographers they could have possibly hired, they chose him. And I worked with him. I knew I had to. I could not go up to a bride on her wedding day, as she’s getting ready, and tell her I can’t do it. I learned a lot about my strength as a woman that day.
I think it’s important to understand that this happened to me at a time when I least expected it to. I was, and still am, at a point in my life where I consider myself to be a very happy person. I had become self-employed and was enjoying the successes of that. I didn’t view my dieting and exercising as anything bad at the time, and took a lot of pride in my discipline and knowledge. I was happy being single and very selective about who I went out with. I was confident I’d never put myself into a dangerous position again. I felt strong and empowered. It took me a long time to realize how my dieting/exercise routine had contributed to the events of that night. That guy is 100% responsible for his actions that night. It also breaks my heart to think about that version of myself that was so afraid to eat food. A version that weighed her options and chose to drink on an empty stomach and put her trust into her date’s hands.
My best friend got married in August 2019, and I was thrilled to be her Maid of Honor. A very special role with a lot of responsibilities and investments. I cleaned up my eating for months beforehand, and was exclusively strict for the month leading up to the big day. By the time the wedding day came, I was happy enough with my results. I was still struggling with my body image and not looking how I felt I should have with the amount of effort I put in. All that effort paired with the time and money invested into the wedding, I became terrified that if I ate any of the food at the wedding I would either A.) get sick because I knew how my body would react to foods I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat, and/or B.) bloat up and undo all the hard work I’d put in for months to look a certain way. So when everyone else was grabbing slices from the pizza food truck, or sampling the dessert options, I was eating cucumbers and hummus at my table. I wasn’t happy about it either. I felt sorry for myself and made up for it at the open bar. I had a great time at her wedding, but know now just how much more fun and enjoyment I could have shared on this most memorable of occasions.
The dangers of diet culture were completely unknown and unheard of in my life until I met my friend Iona. She and her partner run a movement based community in Boston, and I fell in love with them immediately. They used to be Crossfitters so I knew I would be understood there. She would talk a little bit about Crossfit and why she wasn’t doing it anymore and why she had stopped restricting food. Sounded good for her, but I couldn’t imagine not watching what I ate. But we’d keep chatting, and followed each other on social media so I was seeing the things she was sharing on the topic. Some things she shared didn’t sound like me at all. I had never been as great as she was and didn’t feel like our stories were the same. I had started a deep mediation practice at the beginning of 2019 that started to shake the foundation of my food & body beliefs. As I listened more to her story, and as I deepened my own personal awareness, I found myself deeply resonating with her. I was having a hard time putting uncomfortable feelings into words. She recommended two books to me: The Fuck It Diet by Caroline Dooner, and Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole.
It has been a year since I read The Fuck It Diet, and it shook me down to my core. So much of what she was describing sounded just like everything I was feeling. I felt angry at an industry I was a loyal disciple of for years. I felt ashamed of all the preaching in it’s favor I had done over the years. I felt overwhelmed in realizing that all the work I had put into optimizing my body was actually doing the opposite. I knew without a doubt that this was what my body and soul needed. A release from the confinement of diet culture. So I purchased Intuitive Eating and the accompanying workbook, and spent the last year slowly chipping away at the 10 principles of IE. In TFID she mentions that it can take 3-6 months for people to heal from disordered eating, some more and some less. I figured I’d be done nice and quick. Nope. This shit is HARD. So hard. Especially when the world shuts down 1 month into your practice and turns your world upside-down. I suffered a lot during the quarantine, and I did it silently. I couldn’t share my pain, and didn’t know how to. But I kept at it. I knew I couldn’t give up on this, too much was on the line. I moved in with my boyfriend during the pandemic which threw in a whole new twist and added challenges. I started unfollowing influencers & nutrition pages by the dozen. I utilized a food delivery service to help me take the pressure off of thinking about food so much. I was sick of it. I reached out to Iona for support. And I kept at it, even when it felt like I wasn’t making any progress. I kept at it. I knew my life depended on it.
Then some amazing things started to happen. I would put the pint of Ben & Jerry’s back in the fridge instead of eating it all at once. I could eat half my food at a restaurant and easily ask to bring the rest home. A package of cookies went stale in the cabinet because I just didn’t feel like eating them. I started buying new clothes that fit my body now, and even went as far as to go shopping when I felt most uncomfortable and bloated so I knew I could trust my clothes to truly bring me comfort. I can say no when I’m not hungry. I’m starting to be able to truly identify my hunger and fullness cues, and honor them. I’m starting to trust that my body knows what it’s doing and that it knows what size it wants to be. I can trust myself around food now because I know, without a doubt, that I can have it if I want to. Restriction is what leads to overeating, not the other way around. This, by far, has been the hardest but truest lesson I’ve learned in the decade I’ve spent educating myself on fitness and nutrition. I still have a lot of work to do, practice makes progress, and progress is never linear.
I have chosen to share this experience for a few reasons. First, the bravery of my friend sharing her vulnerable yet powerful healing experience inspired me to do the same for myself. This is the biggest hope for this project. We don’t get to choose who we influence, or how our influence is received. But we all have a story, and someone out there needs to hear YOUR story. Second, this has been one of the biggest personal items I have been working on recently and has caused a big upheaval in how I approach my life and my work. I pride myself on being openminded and allowing myself the grace to change my mind. Changing my mind on fitness and nutrition was not something I was expecting, and it is not what big diet culture wants us to believe. It is woven into our healthcare, media, and schools. Third, this is a topic I know millions of people, especially women, struggle with every single day. Fourth and final reason is the intersection of so many things in this experience. Self-worth, body image, sexism, science as a religion. Too much of what we think has been put there by someone else. My hope is that sharing my experience with diet culture, date rape, and orthorexia (eating disorder with the preoccupation with eating healthy food) that someone else will be inspired to free themselves from these cages and live life a little happier. Food CAN be neutral and our bodies do know what they’re doing.
Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon documents excess equipment disposal on Caserma Ederle Aug. 25.
This year’s U.S. Army Europe Supply Excellence Award winners are at it again, and they haven’t got much to show for it.
Not much, that is, in terms of the excess equipment and supply backlog that U.S. Army Africa, Headquarters Support Company, Supply team has just about eliminated since the command came into being in late 2008.
“Nobody really sees what it was like here two and a half years ago,” said Staff Sgt. Tasha Falcon, HSC Supply Seargent.
In that time, Falcon and her staff have accounted for, documented and removed 3,000 pieces of various equipment valued at $1.6 million from Army Africa’s inventory: military end items, computers, digital printers — a small mountain range of diverse material that wound up on the supply company’s to-do list in mid-2009.
“Nobody ever knew how to turn in equipment, I suppose,” Falcon said.
“When I first got here, there was nothing. The supply room had no system at all. We built this from scratch. It’s been about two and a half years of working on it. Now it’s a question of maintaining,” she said.
Whatever the source of the landslide of stuff that has made its way through the company’s motor pool on Caserma Ederle since then, Falcon and her crew have cleaned house with flying colors. HSC Supply has two back-to-back, first-place finishes in the annual Army Supply Excellence Award competition at the USAREUR level to prove it.
With any luck, the HSC Supply Company may go all the way to the winner’s circle at the Army level later this year.
“By winning, the Department of the Army will now come down to inspect us. That should be in the November-December timeframe. We don’t have an exact date yet,” Falcon said.
“Once they come, they do the evaluation. It’s not really an inspection; they just talk to you like normal people and evaluate you. But your adrenaline’s running. Even just getting put into the system, to be evaluated by DA, is an accomplishment. To be able to call home and say, ‘Hey, Mom, I won this.’ They’re so proud. It’s great.”
Though the big bulge in the python’s belly may have passed, there’s always something to prepare for removal from Army Africa’s inventory. Falcon and her staff of two soldiers and two contractors have another deadline looming Oct. 1.
“That’s a date we set on the heels of the DA Campaign Plan on Property Accountability to get rid of our excess,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Joachim Consiglio, USARAF G-4 Supply Division chief.
In the past week alone, HSC Supply accounted for and emptied three 20-foot cargo trailers, making the property available for removal to the Lerino Supply Support Activity, said Daniel Brown, G-4 Property Book Office.
“There were lots of technical inspections to turn in the paperwork. My main priority is — still to do my job, but focus on deadlines,” Falcon said.
“They’ve done an outstanding job; in fact, we’re ahead of schedule,” said Consiglio. “Our end state was Oct. 1, and at the rate the team has been executing, they will exceed the milestone date,” he said.
A visit to the supply company by USARAF Commander, Maj. Gen. David R. Hogg, in August had a positive effect on the overall process, Falcon said.
“We’ve always had support, but he put the word out. Everybody was . . . ‘What can we do to help?’ So now it’s a focus,” Falcon said. “By Oct. 1: everything gone. We can take care of it, we can do it right here ourselves.”
And with a little help from Army Africa’s friends in USAG Vicenza Directorate of Logistics, said Consiglio.
“Since requesting support from DoL, their director made us the priority for our excess turn-in, and this has been the key enabler in allowing us to surge at such a higher rate. Their staff has been fantastic, from the SSA support to doing technical inspections for us during the 45-day process,” he said.
What’s next after the Oct. 1 finish line?
“Just keeping up on the daily paperwork and the filing system,” said Spc. Benjamin Roalson. “Just the day-to-day thing that keeps us rolling.”
“The next benchmark is preparation for the DA CSA Supply Excellence competition, continual cultural awareness of supply discipline across the command, and monitoring lifecycle replacement,” said Consiglio.
Whatever follows, Falcon will be on the job and taking the lead. The Houston, Texas, native has taken to the trade, and to the Army too.
“I’m extending. I just got my grade,” Falcon said.
“I really enjoy working supply and logistics. It’s hard work; it’s long hours. I go home at the end of the day thinking there’s not enough hours in the day,” she said.
“Logistics is constant, constant, constant.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
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