JANUARY......'A NEVER ENDING MONTH FOR THE DEDICATION TO CHILDREN OF THE WORLD'

January 2013. The beginning of a world-wide movement dedicated to all children of the world.

January of each year to start of a new year to mark the beginning of our world dedicated to protecting innocent victums of the world, the children. Each of us are children of the world and can mark this as a dedication to making changes, dedicating ourselves in our homes, local communities, counties, states, national governments, kingdoms, regimes, to ensuring the protection of innocent children, and to ourselves as children of the world.

Enough is enough, governments are created by the governed. A signal has to be sent to the world from all children of the world to protect them from all the dangers in the world. To leave great legacies for each of them, and us.

January 2013 shall be the start of BEMA's 'A NEVER ENDING MONTH FOR THE DEDICATION TO CHILDREN OF THE WORLD' focusing in on all aspects of protecting children of the world, collaborating with any and all organizations committed to protecting children, looking at programs in every nation of the world created for the protection and advancement of children of their nation and around the world.

This is not an organization, non-profit, or government sponsored event, but an event that starts from the most simpliest grass-roots level to signal the world that each of us care for all children.

There is goodness, and their is its' opposing opposite.  More of the former has to be promoted for the world.

No financial investments, no donations, no ROI, no costs whatsoever. I care for all children of the world.

Sincerely,


Charles D. Sharp

Charles D. Sharp
Chief Executive
Black Emergency Managers Association   bEMA
2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.  S.E.
Washington, D.C.  20020

Office:   202-618-9097

"I CARE....."

www.BlackEmergManagersAssociation.org

Helping Children Cope After Traumatic Events

The shooting tragedy in Newton, Connecticut has deeply affected our country. Such  incidents of mass violence can lead to emotional distress. Children are particularly vulnerable to such events, especially when the victims of the violence were children. When such events occur, it can be difficult for parents and teachers to know how to help kids understand and cope with the situation. Here are some Tips for Talking With and Helping Children and Youth Cope After a Disaster or Traumatic Event. Remember, you are not alone. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration maintains a disaster distress hotline for help. This toll-free helpline operates 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. This free, confidential and multilingual, crisis support service is available via telephone (1-800-985-5990) and SMS (Text ‘TalkWithUs’ to 66746) to U.S. residents who are experiencing psychological distress as a result of a natural or man-made disaster, incidents of mass violence or any other disasters. Callers are connected to trained and caring professionals from the closest crisis counseling center in the network. The helpline staff provides confidential counseling, referrals and other needed support services. For more information on coping with violence and traumatic events, visithttp://www.samhsa.gov/trauma/.

Rhonda Lee Fired: TV Station Responds To Meteorologist's Claim She Was Fired For Facebook Comments About Her Natural Hair

 The Huffington Post  |  By Julee Wilson

The news that Louisiana television station KTBS fired meteorologist Rhonda Lee is getting a lot of folks ... well, fired up.

Twitter is ablaze with outraged comments like "KTBS owes Rhonda Lee an apology & shld [sic] give her back her job!" and "sistah just can't win!!! Meteorologist fired for responding to ignorant posts." Online petitions are also starting to pop up in support of Lee.

Lee was terminated from her position at KTBS 3 News, an ABC affiliate in Shreveport, La., after responding to racially charged remarks about her short natural hairstyle. The exchange between Lee and a KTBS viewer happened back in October on KTBS 3 News’ Facebook page, where a viewer, Emmitt Vascocu, posted a comment that referred to Lee as the "black lady that does the news" and suggested that she should "wear a wig or grown some more hair." Lee responded to Vascocu's comment at length on the Facebook thread, saying, "I’m sorry you don’t like my ethnic hair. And no I don’t have cancer," Lee wrote. "I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair. For your edification: traditionally our hair doesn’t grow downward. It grows upward."

In the end, Vascocu apologized to Lee via Facebook and reportedly called KTBS’s station manager to express his regret as well.

However, in the wake of all the publicity surrounding Lee's firing, KTBS has issued a statement making it clear that they do not typically comment on personal matters, but felt that due to the interest surrounding the issue, it has decided to speak out. Here is KTBS' official statement:

On November 28, 2012, KTBS dismissed two employees for repeated violation of the station’s written procedure. We can confirm that Rhonda Lee was one of the employees. Another employee was a white male reporter who was an eight year veteran of the station. The policy they violated provided a specific procedure for responding to viewer comments on the official KTBS Facebook page. Included is an email that was sent to all news department employees informing them of this procedure. This procedure is based on advice from national experts and commonly used by national broadcast and cable networks and local television stations across the country. Unfortunately, television personalities have long been subject to harsh criticism and negative viewer comments about their appearance and performance. If harsh viewer comments are posted on the station’s official website, there is a specific procedure to follow. Ms. Rhonda Lee was let go for repeatedly violating that procedure and after being warned multiple times of the consequences if her behavior continued. Rhonda Lee was not dismissed for her appearance or defending her appearance. She was fired for continuing to violate company procedure.

Wednesday morning Lee spoke with CNN's Soledad O'Brien about KTBS's statement.
"I have yet to see this policy. Upon my termination I asked, 'Could I see it?' and I was told, 'No,'" Lee told CNN. "I pled for my job again just this past Friday and asked to see the policy and was told that there isn't anything written down."

While that may be true, KTBS provided O'Brien with an email that was issued to the staff on Aug. 30, 2012, that outlines how employees should respond to Facebook complaints from viewers. In short, employees are encouraged not to respond, but if they do, the "only proper response" is to provide the viewer with the contact info for a designated staffer that can help with any pressing issues.
Lee told CNN that she did see the email, but that she feels as though she is being harshly punished for defending herself.

The station provided HuffPost with a copy of the email sent

Examiner.COM: Study finds Fox News viewers more misinformed than non-news watchers

Study finds Fox News viewers more misinformed than non-news watchers

  A recent university study confirms what many have suspected; people who watch Fox News are less informed than people who don't watch the news at all.

The University of Maryland conducted the poll. Among the results it was found that Fox News viewers were 30% more likely to believe that "most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring." Further embarrassment was found when Fox viewers were 14% more likely to believe that "the stimulus bill did not provide any tax cuts." The stimulus bill included one of the largest tax cuts ever for middle class Americans.

The study's findings were first mentioned by usnews.com, who reported that a stunning 31% of Fox viewers honestly believe that "it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States."

Those who claim non-partisanship of the poll might be interested to learn that there was no difference in terms of Republicans who watched Fox, and Democrats who watched Fox. Both groups of people were, surprisingly, equally as misinformed.


http://www.examiner.com/article/study-finds-fox-news-viewers-more-misinformed-than-non-news-watchers

Webinar: Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012. 12:00 Noon. Pre-Disaster Recovery

Pre-Disaster Recovery Planning

Avoiding the Rush to Normalcy

December 12, 2012 -- 12:00 Noon Eastern

For our last program of 2012, EMForum.org is pleased to host a one hour presentation and interactive discussion Wednesday, December 12, 2012, beginning at 12:00 Noon Eastern time (please convert to your local time). Our topic will be the importance of developing a recovery and reconstruction plan well before a catastrophic disaster strikes, to incorporate efforts to mitigate against future hazard events and other improvements, and to resist community pressures to "return to normal" that frequently overwhelm a more planned approach.

Our guest will be Carolyn J. Harshman, MPA, CEM®, President of Emergency Planning Consultants, and subject matter expert in the fields of hazard mitigation, risk assessment, and recovery planning.

Please make plans to join us, and see the Background Page for links to related resources and participant Instructions. On the day of the program, use the Webinar Login link not more than 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Please note: a password is no longer required for login.

As always, please feel free to extend this invitation to your colleagues. 

In partnership with Jacksonville State University, EIIP offers CEUs for attending EMForum.org Webinars.  See http://www.emforum.org/CEUs.htm for details.