A school dinner lady sacked for revealing details of a bullying incident at an Essex school fails to win back her job…. From BBC News. Full story

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106!8 versucht sich in Sprache!

Weil scheinbar auch der dümmste Hörer dieses Senders nicht begriffen hat, dass mit “Face Off” der Beginn eines Eishockeyspiels bezeichnet wird, hat Alsterradio jetzt den “Eröffnungsbully” kreiert!

Als im amerikanisch bewachtem Sektor West- Berlins aufgewachsener Mensch kann ich  nicht behaupten dieses Wort jemals auf dem Eis gehört zu haben. Auch nicht auf US- Englisch: ” Opening Bully” oder “Starting Bully”?

Ich bin gespannt, wie  Alsterradio 106!8 versucht den “Suicide” eines Footballspiels zu übersetzen…!

DON´T PANIC

ON ENQUIRY to dgm on 26082009

THE HINDUOnline edition of India’s National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 25, 2008
Opinion – Letters to the Editor
The merger of the subsidiary banks with the SBI will give pension as a third retirement benefit to the employees. Yet, the trade unions oppose the merger. The banking sector is moving away from office-based banking with the advent of technology. The trade unions’ allegation that the government’s initiatives will affect branch expansion is thus unconvincing. And bank employees by themselves cannot stop the flow of FDI into any sector.

The two-day strike, which will achieve nothing, will only help private banks increase their business.

R. Sajan,

Aluva

To,
The First Appellate Authority under RTI Act/
The Dy.General Manager,
State Bank of Travancore, Zonal Office,
Panampilly Nagar,
Ernakulam
_______________________

Sir,
As I am aggrieved by decision No. DGM/EKM/AS/304 of your Central Public Information Officer, I hereby file this appeal for your kind decision.

1. Details of appellant
1.1 Full Name : R.Sajan
1.2. Full Address :Ramuvinte Veed; Desam, Aluva 683103
1.3 Phone/Cell No. : 9447105579
1.4 Email ID :rsajannair@gmail.com

2. Details of CPIO:
2.1 Name/Designation: Chief Manager-Admn
2.2 Full Address : State Bank of Travancore, Zonal Office, Ernakulam
2.3 Name of Public Authority: State Bank of Travancore

2 First Appeal Under Right to Information Act 2005

3. Details of RTI application to CPIO:
Date of Application : 02/06/2009
Date of receipt by CPIO :

4. Particulars of payment of filing fee:
Paid Rs.30/- by SBT bank draft

5. Details of information sought:
Please give the following information in detail—

1. Furnish date on which SBT first housed any of its offices in premises at Mercy Estate, Perumanoor.
2. Furnish 1.date of such first occupation and 2.date of signing related Lease/Rent agreement
3. Furnish details of offices housed there from then till now, with dates of occupation and relief.
4. Furnish details of rent paid, area used, periods, dates of signing/renewing leases from then till now, with details of cases of occupation prior to signing/renewal of leases, arrears of rent thus paid in bulk, and details of rent/lease enhancements from time to time.
5. Furnish names and addresses of officials who proposed, recommended, inspected and sanctioned the leases/hiring from time to time from then to now.
6. Furnish whether the issue of close proximity of the Bar was considered at any time by any official of any time and if not, why.
7. Furnish whether security hazards and issues of decency due to such proximity was considered or pointed out any time.
8. Furnish details of Bank’s offices that are housed in Bar premises (e.g.; Kaduthurutty, Ettumanoor, Perumanoor, Edappilly Training Centre etc etc).
9. Furnish distances from Office door to Bar door in all cases.
10. Furnish details of all loans made available by the Bank for construction/repair/modification of premises at Mercy Estate, with amounts and conditions of sanction; and dates of closure.
11. Furnish names and addresses of officials, who proposed, recommended and sanctioned such loans.
12. Furnish details of KSEB power supply at Bank’s Mercy Estate offices, like permitted loads, monthly usage from 1996, charges paid therefore. Furnish KSEB sanctions/orders.
13. Furnish date from which electricity power was bought from Mercy Estate owners. Furnish usage per month in Units from then, agreed rates of cost, demanded rates and charges paid from the beginning till now, as well as details of bills with usage and charges therein.
14. Furnish total estimated power required monthly for running equipments and fixtures at Perumanoor branch with details of equipments and fixtures; power drawn from KSEB monthly for it; power drawn monthly from Mercy Estate for it with individual break up of usage from each agency.
15. Furnish name and address of officials who proposed, recommended and permitted buying power from Mercy Estate; dates and orders of sanctions. Give copies of sanctions/orders.
16. Furnish details of officials who are given such powers and authority of decision/sanction for it as per Bank’s delegation of powers.
17. If no such authorized procedure and sanction were done, furnish reasons therefor.
18. Furnish whether Mercy Estate has been authorized in Kerala Electricity Supply rules to re-sell KSEB power. Has Bank verified it? If not, why?
19. Has the Bank reported to or obtained sanction from the authorized KSEB/Government officials for such illegal obtaining of power from a private person/persons? If not, furnish why?
20. What is the total amount paid to Mercy Estate from beginning till now on account of electricity charges? Have Bills detailing units of power and rates been obtained for paying it? If not, why? Furnish Bills for the past 60 months.
21. Has the matter of un-metered payment of power charges illegally to Mercy Estate brought to the notice of the GM [V], MD, DGM [EKM] by anyone? If so, what action has been taken? Furnish details of action taken with dates and names of officials involved. If no action was taken, furnish why? Have complainants been advised of action taken? Has action been taken instead against persons who brought this issue to the Bank’s notice?
22. Furnish names and addresses of officials who negotiated, recommended, sanctioned, and signed the latest renewal of Lease with Mercy Estate. Furnish enhancements in rent allowed. Furnish date of signing the latest deed. How much bulk amount was paid as arrears, if lease was from prior date?
23. How much money does the Mercy group owe the Bank now? Furnish names and addresses of officials who proposed, recommended and sanctioned the loans to the new Mercy Business Hotel. Give the names of the officials who recently proposed and allowed release of securities of the loan.
24. Have any of the Bank’s officials been promoted after their banking/lease involvement with the Mercy group? Have any of them been promoted at the first chance itself? If so, give details of all the candidates that came for the promotion and the number of chances that they have so appeared. Is any official thus involved with Mercy Estate due for promotion to AGM or other post this year?
25. How many allegations of corruption related to taking of premises on lease have been noticed by the Bank during 1997-2009? What action has been taken on them?

6. Particulars of Decision of CPIO:
Letter reference No : DGM/EKM/AS/304
Date of CPIO’s Decision : 07/07/2009
Date of receipt of decision by the appellant: 13/07/2009

7. Brief facts of the case:
As available here.

8. Reasons/grounds for this appeal:
The Reply has deliberately omitted and suppressed easily available facts as if to hide lack of transparency of actions.
Item:
4. Dates of signing of lease and renewals are not given. Details of occupation prior to validity/revalidating of lease are not given. Arrears of rent of such instances paid in bulk are not given. Records of them are readily available.
5. The officials have done it all in their official capacity. As soon as an Officer takes charge, his name etc are published on the Office Notice Board for the information of the public. This procedure has been circularized by SBT and is government instruction. There is nothing private in the matter. The CPIO has not even given the job titles and job addresses of the officers involved at the time of the actions. There is no issue of commercial confidence etc. These are done under public tender.
6. to 9: Environment study is done before leasing premises. Review is done in every higher official’s visit and Audit. Records of them are available. If claimed not available at CPIO, the relevant portion of the Petition should have been sent to concerned office and information obtained.
10. There is no fiduciary relationship here. If such stand were correct, no activity of any financial institution can be revealed under RTI. The matters are subject to scrutiny by any government agency including the CBI or courts of law.
11. Please refer to 5 above.
12. The reply speaks of ‘arrangements’. Were there not documented agreements? How can a Bank owned by the public enter into secret ‘arrangements’? Does the Branch not have KSEB connection in its name? That records of payment of charges to KSEB and the landlord for the periods are not available anywhere is false.
13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20. No reply/details are given. RTI Act is subverted. All details are ordinarily available if matters are transparent. There is wilful suppression.

18. as above.
20. as above.
22. as above.
23. See 13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20. See 5 and 10.
24 to 25. See 13 to 21 excl 14, 18, 20.

9 Any other information in support of appeal:
1. Kindly call for and peruse Guidelines for Officers designated as First Appellate Authority under the RTI Act, 2005 – No.1/3/2008-IR issued by the Government of India Ministry of Personnel, P.G. and Pensions-Department of Personnel & Training at New Delhi, on 25th April, 2008.
Among other things, the guidelines insist that:
“5. The Act gives the citizens a right to information at par with the Members of Parliament and the Members of State Legislatures. According to the Act, the information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a State Legislature shall not be denied to any person. It also includes information relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under any law for the time being in force.
The Act requires furnishing of information so available after the lapse of 20 years even if such information was exempt from disclosure under sub-section (l) of Section 8. It means that the information which, in normal course, is exempt from disclosure under sub-section (1) of Section 8 of the Act would cease to be exempted if 20 years have lapsed after occurrence of the incident to which the information relates.
Sub-section (1) of section 8 and section 9 of the Act enumerate the categories of information which is exempt from disclosure. Sub-section (2) of section 8, however, provides that information exempted under sub-section (1) or exempted under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 can be disclosed if public interest in disclosure overweighs the harm to the protected interest. Further, sub-section (3) of section 8 provides that information exempt from disclosure under sub-section (1), except as provided in clauses (a), (c) and (i) thereof, would cease to be exempted after 20 years from the date of occurrence of the related event etc The RTI Act has over-riding effect vis-à-vis other laws inasmuch as the provisions of the RTI Act would have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than the RTI Act.
If the subject matter of the application concerns any other public authority, it should be transferred to that public authority. If only a part of the application concerns the other public authority, a copy of the application may be sent to that public authority, clearly specifying the part which relates to that public authority.
Deciding appeals under the RTI Act is a quasi-judicial function. It is, therefore, necessary that the appellate authority should see to it that the justice is not only done but it should also appear to have been done. In order to do so, the order passed by the appellate authority should be a speaking order giving justification for the decision arrived at.”

2. Any fees that needs to be remitted for the information may please be informed and would be remitted on receipt of such demand.

10. Prayer/relief sought for: All information as sought in the original Petition may please be furnished.

11. Grounds for prayer/relief sought for:
Easily available ordinary information that is available in honest acts is seen refused to be furnished.

12. Personal Presence at hearing: YES

13. Enclosures:

14. Declaration:
I hereby state that the information and particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. I also declare that this matter is not previously filed with any information commission nor is pending with any Court or tribunal or authority.

Place: Desam [submitted electronically through Email]
Date: 05/08/2009

Signature of appellant

Lobna Abdelrehim

Abdelrehim’s lawsuit states that she has been subjected to an “overtly and disturbing sexually hostile work environment” at GDS International’s Wall Street offices. The complaint describes a workplace that is “rife with unwelcome sex-based bodily contact, such as hugs, patting, and face and forehead kissing.”

Abdelrehim alleges that sexually inappropriate company-wide emails referring to topics such as “MILFs” were regularly distributed.  In addition, her lawsuit claims that she and other saleswomen were given “overtly sexist and demeaning sales propaganda, exhorting [them] to use their feminine wiles as a sale closing technique.” 

For example, one company memo was entitled “Using your SEX to Sell and the Boulevard to Bombshell Bitchiness,” which included tips for female employees to “flirt to get what [you] want” and how female employees “can get away with being aggressive because its sexy.”

Abdelrehim, a Muslim, also claims that religious discrimination against Muslims was common at GDS International.  For example, emails were circulated among employees “depicting men in Muslim garb as raging homicidal terrorists.”

After Abdelrehim complained to the HR manager about the hostile work environment, she alleges that company management “made no attempt to credibly investigate, let alone redress,” her complaints.  Instead, she claims that she was retaliated against for having complained by being demoted shortly afterwards, and she was told that she would be fired if she didn’t achieve an extremely high and “unrealistic” sales quota.

——————–

Got a tip about a bad boss that eBossWatch should feature?  Do you want to expose your toxic boss?  Let us know!  Send us an email at tips@ebosswatch.com 

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Joi 26 nov
Noaptea devoratorilor de SHOTURI!
Toate shoturile: 1+1 Moka
Punch 400 ml – 6 ron
Hai Karate
BassMusic
Bully & Tony031R
22.00

Did you read about this one yet? This is an unbelievable story out of Florida about 15-year-old Michael Brewer, who was doused with rubbing alcohol by 5 bully youths ages 13 to 15 and then set on fire. This young man’s life will never be the same.

Yes, it’s been on the TODAY show and the news, but does it really sink in? It’s one thing to be taunted. It’s another to be punched or even threatened with a weapon. But, to me, there is not many worse ways to hurt someone severely than with burning. I’m sure there will be all sorts of excuses made by lawyers like, “the boys are too young to understand the nature of what they did”. Well the end truth is that Michael Brewer’s life has been ruined for absolutely no reason and his recover will be painful and lifelong. Over 65 percent of his body has been burned.

His doctor summed it up in an article on the ABC News website.

“Every part of his body is affected…his torso, legs, arms and head. It does look like the burns to his face and hands are not as bad as they could be,” said Namias.

The use of an accelerant means the burn injuries will likely get worse in the coming weeks. “We consider flame burns to be worse that most other types of burns,” the doctor said.

After the attack, when the bullies were caught, the police said they were still laughing about it. I have to ask myself why? The other question that seems to be coming to mind after blogging about this for a while is, why is FLORIDA such a problem state for bullying. So many of the national stories on bullying seem to come from this state. What is going on (or not going on) in Florida that makes the bullying issue worse and why is the legislature not taking any action?

Any Florida folks out there want to respond with your comments about why you think this state in particular continues to have some of the worst bullying stories coming from it. I am certainly interested in hearing why this pattern seems to be happening. Also what do you think should happen to these bullies? So far, it’s been reported that the 13 year old boy is the only one showing remorse. He made a statement to the press today about how sorry he was with his involvement in the attack. What should happen next? I wish Michael a speedy recovery and hope the best for him and his family.

Promila Awasthi, an Indian-born American citizen who works at Infosys as a computer consultant, filed a lawsuit on Monday that accuses her bosses of subjecting her to a hostile work environment that included being ridiculed Awasthi for celebrating American holidays like Thanksgiving and not being compensated for overtime hours worked.

Awasthi, who worked at the Infosys office in Fremont, CA from February to November 2008, described the working conditions there as being “intolerable.”  Infosys is one of the large India-based technology outsourcing companies that has recently been expanding its presence in the US to try to halt criticism that these firms are outsourcing American jobs overseas.

The lawsuit alleges that Infosys bosses routinely criticized Americans, including Awasthi, for not having “family values,” and they stated that layoffs in America are good because those jobs will then be outsourced.   Awasthi claims that her managers told her that she should not be celebrating Thanksgiving because she is Indian, and they insisted that she work on Thanksgiving Day.

Infosys management also allegedly harassed Awasthi and her children for celebrating Thanksgiving and called them derogatory terms such as “ABCD,” which stands for “American-Born Confused Desi,” which is used to mock people of Indian ancestry who identify with and have integrated into American culture.

———————-

Got a tip about a bad boss that eBossWatch should feature?  Do you want to expose your toxic boss?  Let us know!  Send us an email at tips@ebosswatch.com 

Connect with eBossWatch on Facebook and Twitter and support our struggle against workplace bullying!

JW, IS, SHOUTING, AT, ME.

He is blaming me for the divorce papers taking so long to get served. As usual, he has made up his own time-frames and tells me that “HE, HAS, BEEN, WAI,TING, FORRRR, NINE (pronounced NAAN), MONTHS, FORRRR, THOSE, PAPERS, MY ,IN,COM,PE,TENT, LAW,YER, IS, SUP,POSED, TO, GET, TO, HIM!” He puts commas between every syllable, roles his r’s and takes on a very strong Afrikaans accent when he gets abusive.

Of course the fact that I instituted the divorce four months ago, and that every time the sheriff has been around to serve the papers he has been holidaying in Kenya, or Mocambique, Hoedspruit or on a fishing trip, has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I think that it must be part of his warped psyche that he thinks that even though I left him seven months ago, he can still bully me. Although to stay married to JW, you need the strength to cope with the neglect, (apparently a quality I have in buckets) you mustn’t be stronger than he is, because how can he dominate and argument and put you down if you can outwit him? Then he has to resort to his own biased version of the truth.

I am just making sure that I don’t rise to the bate and I am keeping it cordial and friendly. When he shouts I sweetly say “good bye” and put the phone down.

My mother taught me to use coals of fire. (When you react in a friendly, polite way to someone who is shouting at you; it’s supposed to be very disarming, and you come out of the situation the better person.) Unfortunately alcohol has desensitised JW’s brain so much that this subtlety escapes him. His natural reaction to conflict with people he has decided are weaker than him, is to bully and shout.

The only people he bullies are his staff, the domestic worker and ex wives (to be). He is afraid of unpleasant clients, lawyers and almost obsequious to people who owe him money.

He is most afraid of what people will think of him, to the extent that the bigger the loser the more out of his way he will go to help them financially or with counselling (over brandies and coke at three in the morning.) I believe that this makes him feel powerful. He will buy decrepit cars off them, or stay over at their house validating them. He always boasts that people confide in him, of course they do, after enough drinks, they would confide in the dog if it was buying a round.

What is going to happen when he has no one left to bully? He used to be such a kind man, and still is in public, but at some time there won’t be anyone who has been manipulated into giving him the power to bully them.

Actually there will always be someone with a low enough self esteem to be taken in by his now fleeting charm and fading good looks. His ideal partner must just stay good looking, so that his friends admire her, thin and earning enough money to support him. She mustn’t have his kids, that is where the neglect starts. This would be recipe for a marriage made in purgatory.

I would like to start by saying that I am writing this post from a Starbucks. I went along with Tyrus to work because I get so bored at home. He made me some fancy drink like an egg nog chai or something. It was yum. So, I’m feelin kinda artsy and creative sitting here. Thus I shall begin.

I like to create some sort of link between my posts, just so there’s a sense of continuity. And I wanted to branch off a little bit from owning, I think an appropriate topic would be: bullies. Everyone knows of one, whether you were bullied or not. Perhaps you were the bully. Grammar school – stealing lunch money and pudding… those were the days.

Apparently, bullying is a huge problem nowadays, especially in schools. They actually made a game centered around bullying. It is creatively titled:
Bully.

The game is created by Rockstar Games (same guys who made Grand Theft Auto). Basically in this Bully game you play Jimmy who, at the beginning of the game, is dropped off at a boarding school. Everyone there wants to beat him up, so he has no choice but to fight back. And the purpose of the game is to become the head honcho of the school by bullying. Interesting. He even gets to use weapons like itching powder, a slingshot, and eventually a bottle rocket launcher. Nice.

Yeah, I wouldn’t mind trying this game out sometime, just to see what it’s like. It has been pretty controversial, and it’s banned in some countries. But I think, if kids can channel their aggression into a game rather than other children, then its a win. BUT, then again, this game is rated Teen – meaning that the teens who are channeling their aggression into this game have probably already beat up/bullied dozens of kids already and maybe this game is just giving them more ideas. Maybe. I think I read somewhere that Jimmy is also supposed to kiss other guys in the game as well…

SO in conclusion, it really seems like a quality quality game for children.

My Glory Days

Some of you may know this already, but as a young me, I was a bully. No joke. There were several people I beat up during my childhood. The victims of the beatings were always boys. But I’m pretty sure I was mean to girls too. For example, my family tells me that when I was a youngin (prob about 3), I always hit my cousin Kai (who is a year older than me). Along with hitting him with my hands on a regular basis: one time I pushed him down and he hit his head on the corner of a coffee table. Another time, I hit him hard over the head with a telephone.

One word: hardcore. He still lives in fear to this day.

I also used to hang out with some family friends from the neighborhood. One day, when I was probably about 4 or 5, a couple of my guy buddies came over for a play date, while the parents chatted in the other room. I didn’t like how one of them pet my cat, so naturally, I proceeded to throw him to the ground. lol. [I remember this clearly in my mind.] I felt completely justified in my actions.

Then the two boys proceeded to threaten me, explaining that they would tell on me. Then I, in order to escape this event, said “sorry”. Then one of them said to me “sorry is not good enough”. Now I don’t know where he learned that line, but I know in my head I was thinking “This is ridiculous. WTH? Sorry isn’t enough??” Well it was not those words exactly, but it was something like that.

That was the closest I ever got to being an MMA fighter.

Now these are just a few stories (I also used to take toys from other kids in preschool and I would also scare my cousin Jenny, every chance I got. We also actually have a home video of my other cousin, Nick, saying “MARI, DON’T HIT ME”). My parents were pretty embarrassed with my actions. I’m sure they thought that my actions reflected the quality of their parenting.

Those were my glory days. Luckily, for my parents, this phase was temporary. Since then, I have calmed down quite a bit. I think all of my aggression was utilized that time. Now, I very rarely get into verbal arguments with others, let alone physical fights. [But I have always wondered how well I would do if I got into a fight. Perhaps the inner beast would awaken and I would own.]

If YOUR child is the bully:

One thing I find interesting is that all of the special ABC and PBS programs on bullying describe how to protect your own child from a bully. And I understand there is a need for that information. But what are you supposed to do if your child is a bully? Like my parents situation. They weren’t terrible parents. They definitely did everything they could. But my pwn-like nature was just too overwhelming.

My theory is that I lost my desire to own everyone because… my parents had my brother. He was born when I was almost 4. It took a little time for me to be completely subdued. But I did stop bullying eventually. I believe my bulliness peaked before he was born, then slowly declined. I no longer had to prove my dominance over my peers, but now I actually have legitimate authority over at least one person forever: my brother.

I don’t even need to bully him to prove it. I just know it deep down within.

I’ll always be higher on the ‘food chain’:  the straight flush to his high card, the Friday night to his Monday morning, the flash drive to his floppy disk, the Charizard to his Bulbasaur, put plainly – I will always have him in a hierarchy headlock. And you can take that to the bank.

So my advice to people with children that are bullies: have more kids. (and hope that those children are not bullies as well)

p.s. Please don’t take my advice seriously. That might be a disaster. Thanks.

…Led to this local NC commercial by Red House Furniture:

A Vietnamese former employee at Williams Mullen, a large law firm based in Richmond, Virginia, has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the firm, accusing it of discrimination and sexual harassment.

The lawsuit states that Robert Eicher, a partner at Williams Mullen, “repeatedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviors and made ethnic slurs.  Shortly after (Hanh Nguyen) Allgood’s hire, Eicher approached Allgood in her cubicle, introduced himself and asked if she was from Viet Nam. When Allgood responded in the affirmative, he then gestured toward her genital area and asked whether her vagina was horizontal or vertical.”

Robert Eicher

In what the lawsuit refers to as the “cucumber incident,” Eicher allegedly put a cucumber in his pants pocket and then hugged and pressed the cucumber up against Allgood’s thigh desipte her attempts to pull away from him.  Allgood complained to management and other employees, several of whom told her that they were also victims of the cucumber incident.

The complaint states that Eicher “often walked around the firm dressed as a doctor showing his gloves and asking female staff if they wanted to be ‘examined.’  Eicher also had several sexual relationships with employees and publicly described his sexual encounters with them.”

Douglas Nabhan, another Williams Mullen partner, often made racially derogatory comments about Allgood’s meals insinuating that she prepared her food with dog and cat meat.  Nabhan also referred to Allgood’s ex-husband as “the wet back” because he is Hispanic.

Douglas Nabhan

Allgood claims that no action was taken by the firm to address her complaints of sexual harassment.  As a result, the sexually hostile work environment allegedly became worse for Allgood.  Moreover, the firm allegedly carried out a campaign of retaliation against Allgood as a result of her complaints, and she was ultimately fired in March 2007.

This is not the first workplace bullying lawsuit that was filed by employees against Williams Mullen.  Last year, seven former and current employees filed discrimination complaints with the EEOC claiming a hostile work environment.

—————————–

Got a tip about a bad boss that eBossWatch should feature?  Do you want to expose your toxic boss?  Let us know!  Send us a confidential email at tips@ebosswatch.com 

Connect with eBossWatch on Facebook and Twitter and support our struggle against workplace bullying!

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island showed this week how to stop bullying. He refused to allow himself to be privately bullied by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.

Bullies require victims who believe he deserves the bullying, and does not protest or get help.

Patrick Kennedy was none of those. He exposed private letters sent from the bishop asking him to stop receiving  communion because of Kennedy’s support of abortion rights, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women and married men as priests.

Tobin’s office said in a statement,  ”Any previous correspondence or conversations between the Bishop and the congressman is still considered private at this time.”

Kennedy busted Tobin in the same way Martin Luther King Jr. busted the bullying of blacks in the south: he turned the cameras on it. The image of Selma Police Chief Bull Connor using a fire hose to intimidate peaceful voting rights protestors is a watershed moment.

The day I called out, “Stop that!”  and interrupted Mr. Penn’s seventh grade math class when Dana started his daily pestering regime was the last day of his bullying.

Speaking up empowered me. I made the teacher and other students aware of the situation. I refused to sit quietly any more and be victimized by his hitting, tapping, taking my school supplies, copying, and whispering while I was trying to learn.

The light of day exposed Dana. The same with the bishop. The media glare will inspire the bully to behave.

In school situations, the glare of the teacher can defuse bullying. Victims must be coached to speak up and stay within the glare of the teacher when they feel threatened. Schools must respond to students’ complaints and empower them to speak up and avoid bullying.

My mother coached me when I told her what was happening. “Have you told the teacher or spoken up?” she asked. In 1970, we didn’t have the term “bullying.”

“No,” I said. I was a compliant “good girl” who didn’t want to make trouble.

The day I yelled in the middle of a math lesson, “Stop that. Give me back my pencil,” was the day I found my voice and quit being a “good girl.”

Thanks, Dana and Mom. Well behaved women rarely make history. My life has been a lot more interesting and productive since I found my voice.

Adica ne batem cu muzici cu bass de la House la UK Funky, de la Techno la Dubstep si prin toate cele subintelese. Ne vedem la Expirat dupa 23:00, Joi pe 26 Noiembrie.

The school says they have a zero tolerance policy for bullying.  Is that really the truth?  I am beginning to wonder. 

Darling daughter is having a difficult time at school.  This is a hard time in life due to hormone changes, social changes, higher stress at school, etc.  Add to that the attention problems she’s always had, her speech issues, and the fact she takes everything to heart…the other kids have her pegged.  She’s a perfect target.

She’s cried so many times at the little things and big things alike the teachers just don’t seem to pay her any mind.  She says other kids bother her or pick on her or hurt her feelings and she tells the teacher (I’m thinking this is a duty teacher) but the problem isn’t given much attention.  I love my daughter but will be the first to admit she’s a whiner.  I tried to teach her “not to squeal unless it’s a big deal.”  Tried to make her learn to handle the little things and get help for the big stuff.  I’m sure the teacher(s) have grown tired of her whining, her getting upset over every little thing, and her severe over-reactions.  I know that part of what is going on at school she has done to herself.

All of that does NOT change the fact that my sweet-spirited little girl is quickly loosing all self-esteem, believes everyone hates her, and is crying more times than she is not.  I’m helplessly watching her become withdrawn.  I keep trying to draw her to me to no avail.  I tell her to talk to God about it but I don’t think she does.  Her big bright eyes now look stormy more often than not.  She seems to always be stewing on the problems of the world. 

I try to remember what is was like when I was that age.  I never fit in.  I got my feelings hurt easily.  I was a whirlwind of emotion inside.  But I was never this open with it and didn’t have the same kind of torture as Anna.  I am always honest with Anna and tell her that I cannot fix this.  I will listen.  I will love.  I will not judge.  I will hug her and stroke her hair.  But I cannot fix this.  This is one of those kid things you have to let them get through with as much love and support as you can offer.  But they have to work it out.  How else are they learn how to handle problems in the real world if they are not allowed to handle problems as they grow? 

But, again.  I am wondering what happened to the zero tolerance rule.  I know Anna is bringing a lot of this on herself.  At the same time, the other kids are supposed to get into serious trouble for it whether she asked for it or not.  The mom in me wants to do something so badly I can’t stand it.  I am the one with zero tolerance.  I seem to be the only one.

In the meantime, I am praying for my daughter.  I want her to be happy and to believe in herself.  I pray the Lord will bring her comfort and strength during this trying time.  And I pray my daughter feels how much her Father loves her; and her mommy, too!

The TTC continues to fall down all over itself this week – and like some bullied little child in the school yard, I almost feel sorry for it. It’s getting nearly embarrassing to watch screw-up after screw-up with no thought to public optics.

First we had fare hikes, then an unforeseen accident shut down a major section for a night, then there was token “hoarding,” followed by the brilliant answer – time sensitive tickets (except they don’t have enough tickets, so in the meantime we’re still using tokens). Who’s ever in charge of controlling the message they’re doing a lousy job.

So imagine the frustration riders must have felt at Bloor/Yonge station today when they were herded like cattle down towards the end of the platform in an attempt to stop people congesting the end where the entrance is.

In theory, this isn’t a bad idea. The first 3 train cars are always smashed and loading and unloading times add valuable seconds to the trip. But were 30 or 40 TTC employees and security guards needed? Were endless signs and barriers necessary? Did they really need to be shouting at us like prison guards?

The TTC reminds me of some over-the-top sitcom character where – no matter how good their intentions – the execution is always disastrous.

The thing that really irks me is that this whole debacle has forced me to do something I never thought I could – agree with Toronto city councillor Denzil Minnan Wong. Talking about the token shortage Wong was quoted as saying:

“A billion-dollar corporation should be able to plan and anticipate events such as these,”

That would be sensible and contrite – traits sorely lacking from the TTC.

Emily groaned as she sat down in her seat, feeling something sharp puncture her behind was about the last thing she expected and the last thing she needed.  She jumped up out of her desk chair quickly a look of horrification on her face.  “What the hell…” she thought, and looked down to see the thumb tact,  all shiney and pointy.  She looked up face red  and noticed the three boys laughing.  “Ugh!”  She said bending over to flick the tact off her chair and quickly turned around to sit down.

“Hey fatty like that.”   She heard Dennis Grear say behind her.  Emily turned and looked at him snarled her nose and stuck her tounge out at him.

It was the same thing day after day, some jerk, picking on her and teasing her.  She would love to believe the old saying teen boys only pick on you because they like you… but she really thought they hated her.  Hated her because of her awful hair and her fat body.   Emilys self esteem was shot.  She believed pretty much everything the seventeen year old boys told  her. 

Deep inside Emily was so thankful it was her Senior year and graduation was right around the corner.  She had had it with this school and a lot of the people in it. 

Thing was though, Emily wasn’t really that fat, and she really was a pretty girl.   So many times she had heard.. “You have such a pretty face.”  One to many times really. 

Emily straightened in her chair and gently wiped away the tears that was forming in her eyes.  ” I won’t let them see me cry this time.”  She thought, as she opened her book and focused on the paragraph the teacher in front of the class was reading.

I realize I remembered it all when I saw her email today; a face from the childhood has somehow found me. I replied back and then came her reply… back and forth and back….

Things kept coming back like flashes of lightning, things I did not think I remembered… light blue school uniforms, two tight plaits, white socks, laughter, the angry Dhaka sun, bully kids, school buses full of kids singing chirping and shouting, noisy traffic, paan chewing bus drivers, feriwalas…. and amidst that all that busy-ness somewhere…. the face.

A face that remembers me from 19 years back; a face who was a good friend that saved me from bullies a number of times; and then one day- all of a sudden- she stopped being a friend- just like that, I never knew why. I don’t know how she found me again, but it was important for her to do so… and apologise to me for something she did when she was… what… 10 years old?

I had almost forgotten her, I do remember she was mostly a good friend; but the fact that she cared enough to find me to make peace after all these years- meant something to me.

As Crazy said when I told him, it does sound like an episode from ‘My Name is Earl’… it feels weird; but good too.

Richard Miniter, the former editorial page editor and vice president of opinion for the Washington Times, has filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC against the newspaper.

Miniter alleges that he was “coerced” by company executives into attending a Unification Church religious ceremony last December that he deemed “creepy.”  The Washington Times is owned by officials of the Unification Church.

Miniter claims that he “was made to feel there was no choice” other than attending the religious ceremony if he wanted to keep his job.  He also said that Washington Times executives gave him “examples of people whose careers at the Times had grown after they converted” and became followers of the Unification Church.

Miniter, a former Wall Street Journal editorial writer and author of several books, was fired unexpectedly in September.  He also filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of age and disability discrimination while employed with the Washington Times.

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Brooke Hundley, the 22-year-old former ESPN production assistant who was fired together with baseball analyst Steve Phillips after their affair became public in October, claims that she was threatened and suffered harassment by Phillips.

Hundley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she did not stalk Phillips, as he has alleged, and that she is the victim in this controversial incident.  Hundley said, “I was in a situation where I felt like if I didn’t do what was asked of me, then everything I had worked for, for the past six years, everything I had done to establish myself as a successful media professional, could be gone like that.”

In August, Hundley filed for a restraining order against Phillips, claiming that he threatened her career and her reputation, and told her that he could get her fired if she didn’t keep the affair a secret.  She later withdrew the restraining order request.

In 1998, Phillips took a brief leave of absence as general manager of the New York Mets after being sued for sexual harassment.  Phillips admitted to having consensual sex with the woman, Rosa Rodriguez, and he admitted to having several additional affairs, but he denied sexually harassing Rodriguez.  The civil suit was settled out of court.

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Funnnnyyyy…Damn fat boy was smashing dude head in..i just happened to find this watching youtube videos