This week I have been taking closer look at WikiLeaks,
its alleged classified documents, and it’s strange and unusual
founder Julian Assange.
On December 1st I decided to look for the wikiLeaks web page
It took about 15 minuets to find it but once I did find a mirror
site that was not take down off of the internet I spent time looking
through it.
Most of diplomatic cables are pretty much what you would be expecting
our diplomatic core to be doing. They are not written very well
and there are numerous spelling mistakes in a lot of the documents.
Also the diplomats use a lot of abbreviations for words and nationalities.
I found a very interesting cable from the London embassy were
they describe the trip that a British diplomat took to North Korea.
In this report he describes the plane ride. A Old Russian jet
liner, the plane was about 80% full and half of them were people
from Iran. Below is the raw cable that I got from WikiLeaks.
Mitropoulos said he had few expectations for the
North, but was surprised further by what he found, beginning
with the flight from Beijing on a dilapidated Russia-made
passenger jet. He the flight was about 80% full, with over
half the passengers Iranian. He noted, "How do they expect
the West to believe their nuclear program is not a threat
when flights to the country are full of Iranians?" He was
housed in a huge eight bedroom guesthouse with no other
guests, and enjoyed a modern TV which included 114 channel,
only one of which worked - the government's channel. When he
got off the plane, he was greeted by a party including
officials bearing flowers that he "might want to dedicate"
to
the Great Leader. Feeling he had no choice without creating
an incident upon arrival, Mitropoulos laid a wreath at a
statue of Kim Il Sung while TV cameras whirred. He was then
asked if he had brought any gifts for the Great Leader, even
though his staff had made it clear that he would not be
bringing gifts on the trip. When he visited port facilities,
he felt that there had been no special preparation for his
visit, and the Port Security Manager was unavailable to
escort him on the tour of the Port's security system.
The most outrages revelation from these leaks is that our democratic,
freely elected Government is cracking down on the free and open
exchange of information on the Internet. The US government and
its allies are attacking the Internet in a Chinese style take
down.
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Holiday office party survives.
Yahoo odd news report
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a time when chain smoking, off-color
jokes and three-martini lunches have largely faded from the workplace,
the holiday office party survives.
Despite being toned down amid a shaky economy, sensitized by
sexual harassment cases and sobered by the dangers of drunk driving,
those parties are a minefield of potential embarrassments and
worse.
Hoping to keep bad behavior at bay, companies may host a party
in an art gallery, perhaps during the day, with alcohol limited
to beer and wine, experts say. Even the food has gotten healthier
and the portions smaller.
"You want it to be fun. It's always a balance between managing
your legal risks and also having a fun party," said Michael
Johnson of Global Compliance, an ethics training and compliance
firm.
Behind much of that conscience is the threat of legal liability,
be it for employees driving home drunk or bosses harassing underlings,
workplace experts say.
"There's some obvious things, like I don't think many clients
are suggesting hanging mistletoe or suggesting, 'Oh, let's have
a game of Twister,' kind of obvious danger zones," said Johnson.
Despite the pitfalls, almost 80 percent of companies throw holiday
parties, a recent survey showed. The study, by executive search
firm Amrop Battalia Winston, revealed that the number of companies
having parties was down to its lowest level in 22 years to 79
percent, and two-thirds are restricted to employees only.
"Parties aren't going away," said Dale Winston of Battalia
Winston, who noted they are less about entertaining clients and
drumming up new business than rewarding employees.
But workers, when asked in another survey if they would rather
receive a bonus than swill eggnog at an office party, overwhelmingly
chose cash. The survey of 1,008 people for Randstad U.S., a worldwide
staffing company, found 93 percent of respondents would ditch
the year-end party for more money.
And with research showing companies are planning to spend no
more than last year, it is more likely than not a company will
host the festivities in its own building.
Although the office party may no longer be an alcohol-fueled
extravaganza, it is still important to relax, mingle and have
a good time, experts say.
"This is the last vestige where people can just show up,
have a couple of glasses of wine and socialize," said Winston.
The trick for a cringe-free party is to find a balance between
fun and moderation, corporate behavior experts say. One drink,
absolutely. More than two? No way.
"Too many people let loose," said Barbara Pachter,
a workplace behavior expert. "The bottom line is the holiday
party is a business event, and people forget that."
Another land mine to avoid is using the party as a moment to
flirt with a colleague or make public an office romance.
"It's not the time to flirt," said Pachter. "If
you are dating somebody at work and people don't know it, that's
not the time to let your guard down, even if you're snuggling
all night."
