GA Radio this Saturday: Are Your Children at Risk to International Sex Traffickers?

5 August 2010
Global American Series

Are Your Children at Risk to International Sex Traffickers?
Yes…

You can hear our first Global American Radio broadcast on International Trafficking this Saturday, August 7, at 9 a.m. on Business 1110 AM Houston, streamed on http://business1110ktek.com/ and also available worldwide at our new Global American Radio website at:
www.GlobalAmerican.org

Did you think slavery ended in the U.S. in 1862 with the 13th Amendment? Did you know that over 12 million people have been trafficked worldwide - and that nearly every city in the United States has people being held against their will for sex services and forced labor? According to official sources, 300,000 American children are at risk of becoming victims – including some of the 450,000 runaway children each year.

Did you know that human trafficking is today’s third largest criminal activity in the world – after arms and drugs? It’s a $10 billion/year business. It still exists on your street or in the massage parlor, the nail salon or private homes.

Many cities in the U.S. are hubs of trafficking, from San Francisco to Houston. Texas is a major hub and Houston is the hub of the hub. Over 90 languages are spoken in Houston. Its diversity allows traffickers to hide almost in plain sight. One group of labor trafficked men were made to take off their clothes and live on the second story of a house—the kidnappers lived downstairs--until they could ransom them to their families. But the same story is happening in American cities everywhere.

Did you know that despite the huge number of people being held in bondage, from 2001 to 2005 only 140 defendants have been convicted of human trafficking in U.S. courts – and that was a 109% increase from 1996-2000!

Children are preyed on by pimps and predators hanging out at bus stations etc., promising love that turns out to be a Dr. Jeyll and Mr. Hyde trap into an isolated controlled world of forced commercial sex and abuse. They are denied their own money. They can’t own a phone or talk to their family or friends. They are moved from city to city, living in apartments or massage parlors, and even private homes. The traffickers are also getting more violent against their captives.

80% of the trafficked are women, 50% of them are minors. Boys are also trafficked. Solution? Police still are not trained to recognize a trafficked person, who often hide or deny their victim status to official authorities who arrest them – and also take advantage of their plight. On August 5, the Houston Chronicle ran an article on two Houston vice officers who were caught taking nude photos of a prostitute – way beyond normal procedure. It is not an isolated incident according to many sources. Harris County Texas, however, gets high marks for training its officers to recognize a trafficked person. The Houston Police Department does not. I was informed that some HPD use the services provided by the massage parlors and don’t think of these women as being trafficked.

Europeans are ahead of the U.S in trafficking laws. Sweden has a model law that criminalizes the DEMAND for prostitution (arrest the guy asking for sex) but decriminalized prostitution itself. “Sex Purchase Laws’ have reduced prostitution by 50%!

The UN passed a law in 2004 and it ranks countries on their trafficking efforts. Kuwait flunked and ranked as the worst. It is unwilling to prosecute its own citizens -- who hire thousands of overseas workers and have a history of serious abuse cases. It makes you wonder why we saved their butt from Saddam?

There is only one person providing services to help people who have been trafficked in the Houston area. Dozens of groups provide help for drug or alcohol issues, but an empty hole exists for victims of sex trafficking. U.S. Law Enforcement needs training to recognize trafficked persons, and we need a system to get these people help. International trafficking victims can get help without being charged with a crime, but a domestic U.S. sex trafficking victim has to be charged with a crime to get assistance for counselors, etc.!

Attention needs to be paid to this important issue that could affect your sister, daughter, niece, brother, nephew , etc.

Michael Fjetland
Global American Series
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/

Sponsored by Armor Glass International, Inc.
www.ArmorGlass.com
“Saving Energy and Providing Security”

"Where there is no vision, the people perish:..."-Proverbs. 29:18

It's supposed to be a recession, right? If its a recession why don't they return calls?

Explain to me if it is so bad that nearly a half dozen real estate agents failed to return calls from my agent about properties for sale on Clear Lake? Either they have more business then they need -- OR our service hustle has fallen through the floor.

The complaints about service came from the agent (from the Woodlands no less) who was trying to line up properties to view over the weekend. He said that despite numerous calls to agents several failed to even return his call. Obviously, the agents had "checked out" for a weekend and weren't that desperate for a fee. If they needed a deal, they should have been calling right back, right?

What's astonishing is that the agent said this happens all the time. And agents don't use technology to make it more efficient.

I was talking with another guy at a Rotary meeting about the state of things and he felt that people now just did enough to "get by." I think that attitude exists in a lot of industries.

Without a change in our attitudes, we are in serious trouble regardless of what government does or does not do. The best government in the world can't help a population that is by hanging on to old technology when the rest of the world is adopting the new.

I see this happening - America is losing its leadership in the world because we aren't moving forward. India and China both have adopted "Green technology" drives to reduce carbon and increase their dominance of this emerging 21st century technology. While America does nothing....

Our grandchildren will pay the price: in lost high-tech jobs and an overheating planet.

Remember this. "Where there is no vision, the people perish:..."-Proverbs. 29:18

America loses its leadership when its' people have no vision.

Announcing “The Global American” radio show on "Business 1110 AM"

For Immediate Release (Revised)

26 July 2010

Announcing “The Global American” radio show, designed to give Americans a one-stop source of insight into the current global threats and opportunities that impact our future -- and our childrens’ future.

In the high tech, inescapable global economy of the 21st century, Americans cannot lead in a world they know nothing of. Does a new medical student have the same expertise as a surgeon with 20 years experience?

The Global American presents "the big picture" and insights of what is happening in the world from the perspective of its host, Michael Fjetland, who has negotiated in over 50 countries on big and small business for the Fortune 500 and individuals.

It is a perspective not of far left or right, but centrist and solution focused.

“The Global American” will begin airing every Saturday on August 7 at 9 a.m. on Business 1110 AM, Houston. Webcasts will be archived at our website (under construction) at www.GlobalAmerican.org

The first hour will be on NASA versus Entrepreneurs in space. Future segments will cover vital current issues including immigration, human trafficking, climate, energy, education, the drug war, the 21^st century technology race, etc.

Stay tuned.

For More Information, contact:

Michael Fjetland

GlobalAmerican2020@yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/

Sponsored by Armor Glass International, Inc.

www.ArmorGlass.com

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Technology Black Holes - Blackberry and MS Pitfalls

We assume the new computer we get will work with our existing Blackberry, etc. but beware the "Technology Black Hole" that sucks you in on a mission of no return - getting the damn things to work together.

I have a Blackberry Storm that was working fine with my Blackberry sync program and Office 2007 - until I bought a new notebook computer and wanted to start syncing with it. The new notebook had Office 2010 trial (my old laptop had Office 2007), so I tried it since the notebook doesn't have a disk drive and Microsoft won't let you download Office 2007 for love or money.

That is when the black hole swallowed me - two days and a whole blown weekend spent trying to get my Office 2010 Calendar to sync with my Blackberry. Despite trips to Microsoft and Blackberry's website I found nothing indicating a problem

Only after several Google searches did I find the answer: Blackberry won't sync with Office 2010 - and won't until 2011!

I guess it didn't occur to anyone that someone of us would get a new computer with 2010 software and expect it to work! After all, it wasn't a big surprise that Office 2010 was coming out.

So what is Blackberry thinking? It's roll-out is slower than NASA's development of the Constellation! How do you wait to 2011 to service a 2010 product? No wonder Apple's Iphone is eating people's lunch. Yet I like the BB because I need the calendar and address book apps more than apps to find a restaurant in the middle of China.

Companies have got to do a better job. Blackberry is Canadian but I see this with American companies all the time. I finally had to buy an optical drive and reload my Office 2007 disk-which I fortunately still had-and finally got back in sync - so I don't miss appointments and can keep up with contact information. This is the most critical need in business and even personally.

Even Congress recently pulled the plug on more advanced technology (and the private space entrepreneurs) in favor of the mediocre technology that has become a NASA jobs program.

We have to do better. It shouldn't take three days and an online detective investigate to hook up a new computer and carry on your business.

Jumping Fish & a Hurricane

The fish are really jumping this morning in Clear Lake. They don't always do it but today has been active --maybe it's the change in the air brought on by soon-to-be Hurricane Alex.

The sky has a different look from the usual summer haze. The air is a crisp blue and towering clouds are building. A brief torrent of rain hit about 3 a.m. - fortunately I had brought in the balcony TV or it would have been soaked.

Business is booming. People always wait until the train is coming before deciding to act. It's a good problem to have, considering the alternative. I still remember having nothing to do during the Texas 80's bust.

Yet being offline can be beneficial in ways you can't imagine. I'm still careful about what I spend and it was during the 80's and 90's downtime that I first developed a fiction manuscript about a potential terrorist attack on the U.S. That is what led to doing TV appearances as a terrorism analyst. And all that led to setting up a green company that provides protection for people and their property.

Standby for a wild week with Alex. I will be in my car office constantly this summer/fall...You can follow those activities from our new Armor Glass blog: http://armorglass.blogspot.com/

A Whale of a Skimmer - Should Be An EPA No-Brainer

It's a "whale" of an oil skimmer - over 200 times the size of the puny boats battling millions of gallons of crude in the Gulf of Mexico, and it's a new invention.

Yet the EPA has to "study" whether we should allow it to be used in the Gulf of Mexico. Are they crazy? How could anything designed to take more fouling oil out of the Gulf be anything but a godsend at the moment? What is there to "study"?

This is the problem today - America has fallen behind on technology and common sense seems to be missing in action. If this giant machine invented by a Taiwanese CEO does anything it would help - so why the red tape?

America needs to become a technology player again - our skimmers and booms are jokes. It was an Asian with the big idea that looks like it is a better way to clean water than the flyspeck boats we have been using.

Here is another example. An American company has invented a machine that will pull the oil from the sand using microbes to return clean sand. It can do miles of beaches a day. Yet the governments in Louisiana won't commit to it, afraid BP won't cover the $25,000/ day it costs to operate. Instead, we have thousands of people standing around in the heat with plastic bags and shovels fighting millions of gallons a day - how ridiculous is that.

Is that another joke or what? You might as well invite another million illegal immigrants to help out since it will take a lot more people with shovels to fight this kind of war (See my point?). It's not a winning strategy against mountains of toxic oil.

What has happened to American technology leadership? We spend trillions on oil yet little or nothing on these novel ways of cleaning our fouled waters.

Worse, local and national governments put up roadblocks from using these new technologies that could save our spoiled waters and beaches. Our major companies have ignored the inventions of our American and global entrepreneurs that could solve this problem. Even actor Kevin Costner has an invention that would separate oil from water - but BP was as sluggish as the government in adopting it.

Our Fortune 500 companies often act as ponderous and stupid as government bureaucrats who have to "study" whether a giant oil skimmer from Taiwan would pose a bigger threat than millions of gallons of spewing crude oil.

How long should that take to approve? Yep. No time - ESPECIALLY with tropical storm ALEX already our first tropical storm of 2010 - ahead of the "normal" hurricane schedule. We don't have time to waste.

If America is to lead, we have to do better than this. This an opportunity to upgrade our technologies on a number of levels. Let's start with a "Whale" and use our entrepreneurs that have new technologies that can address these disasters.

We can't get there using yesterday's know how.

Don't Blame British for BP Blunder - Need More Action and Less Bull

I am hearing strange news - that people are blaming the BRITISH people for the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing could be more stupid.

BP is an OIL COMPANY. It is not the British public. Like more than a few American oil companies it has had a loose attitude towards safety. The problem is the oil company attitude's, not the English people, who have no control over what a company negligently does than President Obama.

So, to blame anyone other than BP is wrong, and just another sign we have fallen into this mindless bigotry of blaming other countries when something goes wrong. Not right. And not cool...

BP's problem is entirely BP's. They have acted with arrogance and stupidity.

Our Government officials have studied more than acted, even when it came to no-brainer decisions -- like adding sand berms to protect bird sanctuaries from oil.

I'm not impressed with anyone in this disaster. We need more action and less bull shit.