Positive News from the USA

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 25 Jan 2014 09:11

(CNN) -- A 15-year-old Massachusetts boy was indicted Friday on an additional count of aggravated rape in connection with the death of his high school math teacher, authorities said.
Philip Chism pleaded not guilty last December to murder, aggravated rape and robbery charges stemming from the killing of Colleen Ritzer, 24, on October 22 in the girls' bathroom of Danvers High School. Police said a box cutter Chism had taken to school was the murder weapon.
The Essex County district attorney's office said Friday that it presented a grand jury with additional evidence. The new youthful offender indictment alleges that Chism forcibly had sexual intercourse with the victim.
"Aggravated rape is charged when there is serious bodily harm and/or when the rape was committed during the commission of another felonious and assaultive crime," the district attorney's office said in a statement.
Denise Regan, Chism's public defender, could not be reached for comment.
Chism, who is being held without bail, is set to appear January 30 in Salem Superior Court for a pre-trial conference.
According to a police affidavit, a ninth-grade student told investigators that Chism became visibly upset when Ritzer spoke after class on the day of the crime about his home state of Tennessee.
When Ritzer noticed that Chism was upset, she changed the subject, said the unidentified student, who described Chism as "talking to himself."
The affidavit includes testimony from witnesses as well as a school video surveillance timeline showing Chism and Ritzer in the same area of the school during the teacher's final moments.
In the video, Ritzer appears to enter a second-floor girls' restroom -- apparently a faculty restroom was occupied -- and Chism, wearing gloves and red sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, appears to enter the restroom about a minute later, according to the affidavit.
Shortly after, a female student enters the bathroom and then quickly walks out, according to the court papers. She told investigators she saw the back of a person who appeared to be changing clothes; the person's rear was exposed, with clothes piled on the floor.
The video shows Chism leaving the restroom, returning later with a recycling barrel, and again leaving the restroom pulling the barrel -- this time with a black mask on his forehead, the court papers say. He pulls the barrel outside the building and toward the student parking lot. Investigators said the video shows what appear to be blood stains near the bathroom and on Chism's pants.
Court papers detail horrifying final moments of teacher's life
After Chism was reported missing by his mother on the evening of October 22, police had his cellular phone company "ping" the location of his phone. The phone was found to be in the vicinity of the Hollywood Hits Theater, where investigators learned the teen had purchased a movie ticket and then left.
The affidavit said that, when Chism was spotted by a police officer the next day, he was carrying a knife; a search of his backpack turned up a bloodstained box cutter. Asked where the blood came from, Chism allegedly responded: "The girl." He was also allegedly carrying credit cards and driver's licenses belonging to Ritzer, as well as a pair of woman's underwear.
Friends, relatives bewildered by arrest of 'storybook kid' in teacher slaying
The armed robbery indictment alleges that Chism robbed Ritzer of credit cards, an iPhone and her underwear.
Police discovered Ritzer's body in a wooded area near the school, covered with leaves and debris in an apparent attempt to conceal it, the court papers said. Her throat was slit.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/justice/m ... ndictment/

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 25 Jan 2014 09:27

those school stuff - now which other country does that.

why yes...their dear friend packistan with their "abdul had 2 kalashnikovs and 5 bullets. how many kaffirs can he kill. answers - 30, 50, 72, 786."

Rupesh · Post by **Rupesh** » 25 Jan 2014 09:30

Smile...You're Under Arrest!

All of the cases featured in Smile…You’re Under Arrest! involve the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department of Phoenix, AZ under the command of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is known as “The Toughest Sheriff in America”. He has a reputation for unusual law enforcement tactics such as reinstituting chain gangs, housing prisoners in a desert “tent city” and forcing them to wear pink underwear. Arpaio believes that these stings provide a unique service to his community.

http://www.mcso.org/About/FAQ/Default.aspx

When Sheriff Joe Arpaio
first proposed housing his
sentenced inmates in tents,
reactions varied from
shocked disbelief to
thinking he was joking.
Both the staff and the
public have learned better.
You always take this
sheriff seriously.

About Sheriff Joe Arpaio

In 1992, Arpaio successfully campaigned to become the Sheriff of Maricopa County. Since then he has been reelected to an unprecedented six 4-year terms. During his tenure as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arpaio has consistently earned high public approval ratings.

With over five decades experience in law enforcement, Arpaio knows what the public wants, “The public is my boss,” he says, “so I serve the public.” He has served them well by establishing several unique programs.

Arpaio has between 7500 - 10,000 inmates in his jail system. In August, 1993, he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates. Two thousand convicted men and women serve their sentences in a canvas incarceration compound. It is a remarkable success story that has attracted the attention of government officials, presidential candidates, and media worldwide.

Of equal success and notoriety are his chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery.

Also impressive are the Sheriff’s get tough policies. For example, he banned smoking, coffee, movies, ***** magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. The average meal costs between 15 and 40 cents, and inmates are fed only twice daily, to cut the labor costs of meal delivery. He even stopped serving them salt and pepper to save tax payers $20,000 a year. AOA

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Jan 2014 09:48

Going by the news posted here, I think there are sufficient grounds for denying extradition of wanted persons in cases in US courts for violation of human rights, abuse, unhygienic conditions, forced labour, officially sanctioned assault on inmates , lack of reformation activities for inmates . Their prisons could be inspected and court procedures could be reviewed and rated on standards and I am sure they would figure much lower in ranking so as to deny extradition on those grounds alone. If they deny inspections, their request could be kept in abeyance till verifiable and monitored proof emerges.

If someone is interested in knowing then I can assert and certify that USSD and courts have been denying extradition requests of India on these grounds citing poor prison conditions etc though GOTD does not choose to make it public.

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 25 Jan 2014 10:05

New Biophysical experiments at the Human physical limits center in the great Institute of Human Biology in USA

The biologists who created the experiment gave some inside info exclusive to this reporter. It was to see what the human body does when its subjected to a potential difference of > 10,000 volts while carrying a live fetus within it. The key points of this study is that it is open source and also the subject is chosen totally at random and thereby does not know what hit them and are usually shocked for sometime after the experiment. This study was designed as a part of a continuing study on how much potential difference a human body can withstand when pushed to its extreme. The results are published in newspapers for everyone to read, bringing invaluable service to humanity.

"I was inspired by some German scientists of the 1940s and their experiments." said the scientist in charge. He continued, "The results of the German experiments have been kept secret by the US govt to this day. I hope the data from this experiment proves valuable open source data and this experiment serves as an inspiration for the future generation in my profession to boldly take the human body where it has never been before."

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 25 Jan 2014 11:56

Brown niggas commenting on fair Amreekis.
White, blue eyed , compassionate & forgiving Jesus Vs Dark, blood-shot eyes,skull-wearing, half nekkid, blood drinking Kali-maa.
Ting-ting. Round 1.
And that is not even the best part.
I saw some panick....lotsa uncomfortable shifting & moving not knowing how to react. And not from the resident bleach boy!

Sagar G · Post by **Sagar G** » 25 Jan 2014 12:43

Getting more ~~bojitivity~~ positivity from US of A, they have now accepted that their nuclear arsenal isn't safe "something is wrong with it" and they are now going to fix it.

US military admits something is wrong with its nuclear weapons

VOWING redneck vow is a huge thing to look hard at signs of trouble inside the US air force's nuclear missile corps, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says it's clear "something is wrong". though the "vowing redneck" himself doesn't know what is wrong but still he has taken a vow which is very bojitive

Hagel told reporters that he is confident the problems will get fixed and that the country's arsenal of nuclear weapons will remain safe and secure. that's it listen to the redneck now let's get back to lecturing India how to keep your nuclear weapons safe

He was commenting on the air force's dual investigations of drug use and exam cheating within its nuclear missile force, as well as a series of disclosures last year by The Associated Press about security lapses, leadership failures and other problems among those who operate and protect the Minuteman 3 missile force.

Hagel said he will convene a high-level meeting soon to probe the problems.

At a Pentagon news conference, he said the issues are complex and derive from a post-Cold War mindset that has reduced the focus on the nuclear weapons mission and led people to "just take for granted" that it will function correctly.

"This is cultural," he said, noting that the US military has been intensely involved in fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade - conflicts with little direct relevance to the role of nuclear warriors.

"Over the years I do think we have taken some focus off of the responsibilities of these very dedicated, very bright young officers" who operate intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, stationed in five US states, he said. very bright, very young rednecks on drugs and cheating in exams protecting american nuclear weapons since their inception AWWWWWWW YISSSSSS

On Thursday, Hagel announced that he also will assemble a small group of outside nuclear experts to study personnel problems within the nuclear force and to recommend remedies. He has not yet said who will serve on that panel.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 25 Jan 2014 12:51

African American
American
Native American

So much confusion onlee.
Oh Amurikuh!

Meanwhile, if you look carefully, http://slate.me/1axdiws

But, as Cable notes, zooming in illustrates clear delineations between predominantly Asian, white, and black neighborhoods.

SanjayC · Post by **SanjayC** » 25 Jan 2014 13:25

ramana wrote:Positive news about India started with Katherine Mayo whose work Mahatma Gandhi said was a drain inspector's report.

It goes back some 500 years. Positive news about India started as soon as missionaries landed in the country with the Portuguese, and appointed themselves as the main interpreter of Hindu culture for the Whites. (Missionaries have a strategy to become the main informers of Christians about non-Christian cultures to manipulate how Christians relate to the rest of the world. They are terrified of the flock falling for mystical Eastern religions with a superior philosophy. Their knickers were in a twist during the hippie movement in the 1960s.)

The game has not stopped since -- even today, missionary scholarship about Hindu culture is taken as gospel truth by the Whites, who never once point out the conflict of interest. So the main reason for atrocity literature about Hindus in Western press is the brainwashed monotheists taking potshot at the non-believers -- I mean nothing can go right with pagans if they continue to worship false gods, can it?

Swami Vivekananda speaking in 1894 in the US:

One thing I would tell you, and I do not mean any unkind criticism. You train and educate and clothe and pay men to do what? To come over to my country to curse and abuse all my forefathers, my religion, and everything. They walk near a temple and say, "You idolaters, you will go to hell." But they dare not do that to the Mohammedans of India; the sword would be out. But the Hindu is too mild; he smiles and passes on, and says, "Let the fools talk." That is the attitude. And then you who train men to abuse and criticise, if I just touch you with the least bit of criticism, with the kindest of purpose, you shrink and cry, "Don't touch us; we are Americans. We criticise all the people in the world, curse them and abuse them, say anything; but do not touch us; we are sensitive plants."

You may do whatever you please; but at the same time I am going to tell you that we are content to live as we are; and in one thing we are better off — we never teach our children to swallow such horrible stuff: "Where every prospect pleases and man alone is vile." And whenever your ministers criticise us, let them remember this: If all India stands up and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are doing to us.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 25 Jan 2014 16:05

[>>quote="SanjayC"]Swami Vivekananda speaking in 1894 in the US:

"Don't touch us; we are Americans. We criticise all the people in the world, curse them and abuse them, say anything; but do not touch us; we are sensitive plants."

[/quote<<]

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 25 Jan 2014 17:18

Special Report (continued) paying homage to my compatriot Mr Jones who has motivated us to reach new heights in journalism)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare
http://charm.stanford.edu/
keywords: humility, big-dig, mirror

(January 25, U-NSN staff volunteer, severely berated for poor transcription) With due homage to compatriot Mr Jones who exhorted us to partake this journey, and has since mysteriously disappeared. We understand his brand new mercedes threw up its engine, it went 100s of yards clear away from the car -- it has been happening a lot lately, bad German engineering we understand. He is busy convincing the engine to return home as he noted above.

When we left you, we were noting the great achievements of the United States in robotics. Earthworm robots for fertilizing the soil, snake robots for crawling in collapsed third-world buildings, cockroach robots for smelling poison, fish robots for creating a census of the sea, cat and dog robots for keeping the elderly happy, and big dogs and mules for carrying heavy loads. Birds of prey to watch from above. The glorious scientists had built them all.

Huge large machines with long chopsticks operate on sick people in clean industrial conditions, repairing every possible malady within hours. Magic, pure magic to our untrained interns. Thus we justify our glorious leader aiming to add $100 billion to the American debt in the next decade. My own tax dollars at work (and when we imminently retire and the interns start getting paid, theirs too!).

But we were looking for the contribution from one of the leading scientists. To find it, the oft-berated intern had to travel to a grand institution. On return, we received reports of bewilderment, as they could not believe what they were seeing --- a glorious campus, tree lined expanses, with malls on one side and more malls on the other side, and an ancient trade route passing near by, this massive edifice contained all the marvels of modern education. Legend has it, a russian immigrant once built the greatest spying gadget there (google.com), before moving it into a garage near by.

And right in the middle of this glory --- was this great big hole. Mechanical engineers were still digging deeper, as computer scientists and administrators stood around and supervised. It was already large enough to bury a decent size self-respect or integrity, but the work was ongoing to make it bigger when U-NSN visited. They must want to bury a whole system. Unclear of the purpose, we move on. Turn-by-turn directions from Google Scholar, thanking our stars for not falling in, looking over our shoulder for large birds, andcontinuing our quest of the contribution.

Then, when least expecting it, we found it! There it was:

http://imgur.com/2o99oTX

the MAJOR CONTRIBUTION, in great glorious IEEE format in glowing form it towered over the institution. At long last, and with millions in National Science Foundation support behind it, it had been accomplished (http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0205318). Displayed in glorious golden letters it glowed as it showed off the first author's contact information, and the senior author's achievement. An awe-inspired crowd of visitors and students stood looking at the facade announcing man and machine had finally been combined, to work as one. Obviously, neither (http://ijr.sagepub.com/content/24/9/731) nor (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F11008941_18) hold a candle to it. It stood, in the finest fonts and two-column formatting, all own its own. So don't be confused with those minor items.

(@!#$%! and curses, our intern was unable to look at the glory of the contribution without squinting and long enough to determine the forum it had graced. Intern --- with all our remaining patience, @@#$%%!~ --- you are holding up the news reporting now, take that samosa out of your mouth and stop being over-awed by this sorcery.

So there you have it, great science that gets you counted in the top five scientists in the country and will lead us into the next century in a matter of decades instead of waiting the whole 100 years like the last of the world. Accomplished via a multi-institutional, nay multi-national collaboration.

There is a minor matter of the missing publisher, venue, or citation, but I am sure Mr Jones can assist us there. Will you, Mr. Jones, pretty please? Our interns are totally useless and we are already having a hard time holding back @#$@#%@% in their praise. Your contacts can be Ms. Allison Okamura (Principal Investigator), or Mr Goodson (Chair) -- what a weird name to have, chair?, or Ms. Heafey (Director) among many others that your good friend Google will easily provide, as it provided us. We don't know any more than you do. Of course, you can also reach out to Mr. Griffin at the National Science Foundation. This was public money, after all, and Freedom of Information Act applies everywhere, great glory to our constitution!

With this, we conclude this short science journey. You always have a soft corner for your own countrymen, and Mr Jones' requests needed to be catered to. But There is so much more ground to cover -- freedom of speech, rule of law, contracts and salaries, and the anniversary is fast approaching. While awaiting the not so important minor details from eager volunteers like Mr. Jones, we move on to the next day's regularly scheduled programming. Positive news waits for no one.

PS - If you go, please do ask about the hole too. What will they bury in it? Where will the mud go? We are curious.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Jan 2014 17:56

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/0 ... uns-flags/

What is the bigger risk inside a state capitol building: openly carrying an American flag or an assault rifle? In Virginia, visitors to the state legislature cannot bring American flags and signs affixed to sticks, because capitol security considers sticks a public threat. Firearms, however, are allowed.
A group of gun violence prevention activists discovered this when they arrived on Monday to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event. According to Virginia Capitol Police, the groups were informed beforehand of the restriction barring sticks at permitted rallies, because they can be used as weapons. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America’s Gena Reeder said they were aware of the rules, but “certainly not in our wildest imagination thought that could apply to the American flag.”

While the moms tore out the dowels of their flags, capitol grounds visitors with firearms were ushered through the entrance. That day, Virginia Citizens Defense League and other gun rights groups organized a “Guns Save Lives” day. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that about half of the crowd was armed, packing weapons that ranged from handguns to assault rifles.

This is the andher nagari that is the USA today.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 25 Jan 2014 18:46

From perspective of native Americans, some numbers are more than alarming.
Sexual violence is tearing Native American communities apart
Some points:
Ø natives have no rights to prosecute within reservation areas even when policing is scarce.
Ø the House decided to write their own bill that excluded these provisions to allow natives to prosecute non natives who committed violence
Ø 87% of rapes within native reservation regions committed by outsiders, only 13% of rapes are reported.
Ø 33% or one in three native women is raped in lifetime, this within reservation area.

vic · Post by **vic** » 25 Jan 2014 18:53

USA = United in Sexual Assaults

habal · Post by **habal** » 25 Jan 2014 19:48

USA Supreme Court will pass resolution (5-4 no less) supporting constitution disallowing natives to prosecute anyone anywhere in USA. All FOBs can now please appreciate USA democracy in action.

USA UCA USCA USSA

United States of Americans | United in Sexual Assaults | United in Cavity Assaults | United States of Cavity Assaults | United States in Strip Search Assaults.

So as you can see

Names may be different
Meaning is all same

SanjayC · Post by **SanjayC** » 25 Jan 2014 19:53

vishvak wrote:From perspective of native Americans, some numbers are more than alarming.
Sexual violence is tearing Native American communities apart
Some points:
Ø natives have no rights to prosecute within reservation areas even when policing is scarce.
Ø the House decided to write their own bill that excluded these provisions to allow natives to prosecute non natives who committed violence
Ø 87% of rapes within native reservation regions committed by outsiders, only 13% of rapes are reported.
Ø 33% or one in three native women is raped in lifetime, this within reservation area.

Amazing -- I never knew how these Whites have been treating native Americans even today, and then preaching human rights to the whole world. The dishonesty is staggering. It is like Churchill who used to give a speech every day about how he is determined to fight for democracy and freedoms against Nazi dictatorship, and then coolly say that his concern for democracy and freedoms does not extend to Indian natives because British have a God given right to occupy India by force. These charlatans survive only by one-sided propaganda and the ability to speak from both sides of the mouth.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 25 Jan 2014 19:59

I'm not ashamed to admit that this 4 page old thread has already made me aware of things I didn't know before. About America. And this is not sarcasm. Thanks to the people who cam up with it. USA might have given up feudalism but strongman rule is still a very prevalent sociobiological instinct.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 25 Jan 2014 20:14

chaanakya wrote:If someone is interested in knowing then I can assert and certify that USSD and courts have been denying extradition requests of India on these grounds citing poor prison conditions etc though GOTD does not choose to make it public.

Bhell .. if more positive news on prison conditions in the great country of US is required .. my 1/2 cents worth cross post.

Prison Staff Not Held Accountable For Sexual Abuse Of Inmates: Report

Nearly half of prison staff who sexually abused inmates faced no legal consequences, according to a new federal report.

..
"The key takeaway here is the levels of impunity in detention facilities," Jesse Lerner-Kinglake, spokesperson for Just Detention International, told The Huffington Post. "Corrections agencies are not punishing sexual abuse committed by staff members nearly enough. These are known cases of sexual abuse and we're talking about nearly half of staff who were found to have committed sexual misconduct who didn't face any legal sanction."

The report also said that just 27 percent of staff who were referred for prosecution were arrested, and only 1 percent were convicted.

The BJS said officially reported sexual assaults increased significantly between 2005 and 2011, from 6,241 to 8,763. But the report captures a small fraction of the total number of assaults that take place in prisons, according to Just Detention.

A press release from the organization cites a previous BJS self-report study that found 200,000 people behind bars were sexually abused in a single year.

"That's a sign that inmates are not comfortable reporting sexual violence because of fears of retaliation, Lerner-Kinglake said. "They don't think these reports will be taken seriously."

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 25 Jan 2014 20:25

Another 1/2 cents cross post on the greatest and the bestest prison system in the world.

When Good People Do Nothing: The Appalling Story of South Carolina's Prisons

One could say the same thing about the citizens of the state of South Carolina, who stand condemned today by one of their own. On Wednesday, in one of the most wrenching opinions you will ever read, a state judge in Columbia ruled that South Carolina prison officials were culpable of pervasive, systemic, unremitting violations of the state's constitution by abusing and neglecting mentally ill inmates.

The evidence is now sadly familiar to anyone who follows these cases: South Carolina today mistreats these ill people without any evident traces of remorse. Even though there are few disputed material issues of law or fact in the case, even though the judge implored the state to take responsibility for its conduct, South Carolina declared before the sun had set Wednesday that it would appeal the ruling—and thus likely doom the inmates to years more abuse and neglect. That's not just "deliberate indifference," the applicable legal standard in these prison abuse cases. That is immoral.

..
Where was the state's medical community while the reports piled up chronicling the mistreatment of these prisoners? Where was the state's legal community as government lawyers walked into court year after year with frivolous defenses for prison policies? Where were the religious leaders, the ones who preach peace and goodwill?

No one in power came forward. Even as the evidence became more clear and compelling that something horrible was happening inside those prisons.

..
He started with the basics. "The evidence in this case has proved," Judge Baxley wrote, "that inmates have died in the South Carolina Department of Corrections for lack of basic mental health care, and hundreds more remain substantially at risk for serious physical injury, mental decompensation, and profound, permanent mental illness."

..
Those are the antiseptic words judges often use to describe unconstitutional conditions. What do they mean? They mean that one mentally ill inmate, James Wilson, was kept in solitary confinement for at least 2,491 consecutive days. It means that an intellectually disabled (and schizophrenic) man named Jerome Laudman was abused and neglected, and then left to rot in his own feces and vomit, until he died of a heart attack. It means that force was used 81 times on a severely mentally ill inmate named James Howard. It means that some mentally ill inmates were restrained at length in what they called a "crucifix position."

It means some mentally ill prisoners were "routinely placed" naked "in shower stalls, 'rec cages', interview booths, and holding cells for hours and even days at a time." It means that suicidal prisoners who were supposed to be receiving anti-psychotic medication were not receiving them.

..
It means that mentally ill inmates are routinely caged for days in their own feces and urine, having to eat literally where they shit.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Jan 2014 20:43

And they have branded and merchandized even this abominatipn of a prison system with numerous natgeo and discovery pgms like prison break, supermax etc.
prisons have also been outsourced to pvt cos as they govt is short of resources to manage so many inmates and wants to cut costs.

vic · Post by **vic** » 25 Jan 2014 20:52

It seems from statistics that at least 40% of the population of USA are either been raped or are rapists.

rajanb · Post by **rajanb** » 25 Jan 2014 21:20

Thank you very much Shiv and other posters.

This has been an eye opener for me. These 4 pages.

Happy to know that the United States of All, includes white in their cavity searches. But hold on a minute. Is the ratio of whites:African Americans:Hispanics:Injuns,both red and brown; in accordance with the ratio of population?

Or is it in the same skewed ratio as the ratio of the aforesaid colours, in jail.

If the ratio of whites is different, as in higher than in jail, then methinks, the Cavitor maybe doing it for purposes totally sexual.

(Cavitor: N; One who has the freedom to check, of any sex, anal, aural, belly button, oral, urethral, vaginal cavities for foreign objects such as drugs, diamonds, gold, $$$, MnMs, chocolates, pearls, hamburgers and anything else the Cavitor may think of, without a warrant)

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Jan 2014 21:21

thanx pankajs

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Jan 2014 21:23

vic wrote:It seems from statistics that at least 40% of the population of USA are either been raped or are rapists.

If you count SOP rape then practically everyone is either a rapist or rape victim in United States of A$$.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 25 Jan 2014 22:25

Wow , this is too much. US is inserting racism in electronics and computer softwares as well
http://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/oba ... sight-race

In December 2009 Wanda Zamen and Desi Cryer, two employees at a camping supply store in Waller, Texas, noticed something peculiar about an HP computer at the shop. The computer featured a digital camera that detected and tracked human faces. The system had no problem identifying and following Wanda, who is white, but it could not do the same for Desi, who is black. He demonstrates the glitch in a YouTube video that has been viewed almost 3 million times. “As you can see, the camera is panning to show Wanda’s face. It’s following her around. But as soon as my blackness enters the frame, . . . [the camera] stops,” he says.

A similar bug was found in the Nikon Coolpix S630 digital camera. Designed to overcome the timeless challenge of a blinking subject, the camera detects faces and alerts the photographer when it senses closed eyelids. But when Joz Wang, a young Taiwanese woman from Los Angeles, tried to take pictures of her family, the camera kept showing the same error message: “Did someone blink?” To which Wang responded on her blog, “No, I did not blink. I’m just Asian.”

And Microsoft’s popular Xbox 360 Kinect video game system, which uses facial and body-motion detection to enable interaction, has also had trouble recognizing nonwhite faces.

See this Utube video for proof. HP computers are racists.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 25 Jan 2014 22:32

Contrary to Obama's promises, the US military still permits torture

The United States Army Field Manual (AFM) on interrogation (pdf) has been sold to the American public and the world as a replacement for the brutal torture tactics used by the CIA and the Department of Defense during the Bush/Cheney administration.

..
But a close reading of Department of Defense documents and investigations by numerous human rights agencies have shown that the current Army Field Manual itself uses techniques that are abusive and can even amount to torture.

Disturbingly, the latest version of the AFM mimicked the Bush administration in separating out "war on terror" prisoners as not subject to the same protections and rights as regular prisoners of war. Military authorities then added an appendix to the AFM that included techniques that could only be used on such "detainees", ie, prisoners without POW status.

Labeled Appendix M, and propounding an additional, special "technique" called "Separation", human rights and legal group have recognized that Appendix M includes numerous abusive techniques, including use of solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 25 Jan 2014 22:36

anybody watch the "Blue Bloods" episode from 1/24/14?

it's the DK/SR episode word for word. although there is no DK.

full of SD grandstanding about "respect" for other countries' laws. in this case it was Turkey.

The American Establishment really does love the "law and customs" of Islamic nations. there's no two ways about it. they see a lot of progress in hijabs, stoning, raping with baseball bats (must be an inner admiration that Islamics can do all these things and get away scott free: no Geneva Convention for them, heheheheeee).

any behavior that is rooted in violent action as a display of power is admired.

that sums up all Western foreign policy thought. in one line.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 26 Jan 2014 02:33

Shreeman wrote:Special Report (continued) paying homage to my compatriot Mr Jones who has motivated us to reach new heights in journalism)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare
http://charm.stanford.edu/
keywords: humility, big-dig, mirror

(January 25, U-NSN staff volunteer, severely berated for poor transcription) With due homage to compatriot Mr Jones who exhorted us to partake this journey, and has since mysteriously disappeared. We understand his brand new mercedes threw up its engine, it went 100s of yards clear away from the car -- it has been happening a lot lately, bad German engineering we understand. He is busy convincing the engine to return home as he noted above.

When we left you, we were noting the great achievements of the United States in robotics. Earthworm robots for fertilizing the soil, snake robots for crawling in collapsed third-world buildings, cockroach robots for smelling poison, fish robots for creating a census of the sea, cat and dog robots for keeping the elderly happy, and big dogs and mules for carrying heavy loads. Birds of prey to watch from above. The glorious scientists had built them all.

Huge large machines with long chopsticks operate on sick people in clean industrial conditions, repairing every possible malady within hours. Magic, pure magic to our untrained interns. Thus we justify our glorious leader aiming to add $100 billion to the American debt in the next decade. My own tax dollars at work (and when we imminently retire and the interns start getting paid, theirs too!).

But we were looking for the contribution from one of the leading scientists. To find it, the oft-berated intern had to travel to a grand institution. On return, we received reports of bewilderment, as they could not believe what they were seeing --- a glorious campus, tree lined expanses, with malls on one side and more malls on the other side, and an ancient trade route passing near by, this massive edifice contained all the marvels of modern education. Legend has it, a russian immigrant once built the greatest spying gadget there (google.com), before moving it into a garage near by.

And right in the middle of this glory --- was this great big hole. Mechanical engineers were still digging deeper, as computer scientists and administrators stood around and supervised. It was already large enough to bury a decent size self-respect or integrity, but the work was ongoing to make it bigger when U-NSN visited. They must want to bury a whole system. Unclear of the purpose, we move on. Turn-by-turn directions from Google Scholar, thanking our stars for not falling in, looking over our shoulder for large birds, andcontinuing our quest of the contribution.

Then, when least expecting it, we found it! There it was:

http://imgur.com/2o99oTX

the MAJOR CONTRIBUTION, in great glorious IEEE format in glowing form it towered over the institution. At long last, and with millions in National Science Foundation support behind it, it had been accomplished (http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0205318). Displayed in glorious golden letters it glowed as it showed off the first author's contact information, and the senior author's achievement. An awe-inspired crowd of visitors and students stood looking at the facade announcing man and machine had finally been combined, to work as one. Obviously, neither (http://ijr.sagepub.com/content/24/9/731) nor (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F11008941_18) hold a candle to it. It stood, in the finest fonts and two-column formatting, all own its own. So don't be confused with those minor items.

(@!#$%! and curses, our intern was unable to look at the glory of the contribution without squinting and long enough to determine the forum it had graced. Intern --- with all our remaining patience, @@#$%%!~ --- you are holding up the news reporting now, take that samosa out of your mouth and stop being over-awed by this sorcery.

So there you have it, great science that gets you counted in the top five scientists in the country and will lead us into the next century in a matter of decades instead of waiting the whole 100 years like the last of the world. Accomplished via a multi-institutional, nay multi-national collaboration.

There is a minor matter of the missing publisher, venue, or citation, but I am sure Mr Jones can assist us there. Will you, Mr. Jones, pretty please? Our interns are totally useless and we are already having a hard time holding back @#$@#%@% in their praise. Your contacts can be Ms. Allison Okamura (Principal Investigator), or Mr Goodson (Chair) -- what a weird name to have, chair?, or Ms. Heafey (Director) among many others that your good friend Google will easily provide, as it provided us. We don't know any more than you do. Of course, you can also reach out to Mr. Griffin at the National Science Foundation. This was public money, after all, and Freedom of Information Act applies everywhere, great glory to our constitution!

With this, we conclude this short science journey. You always have a soft corner for your own countrymen, and Mr Jones' requests needed to be catered to. But There is so much more ground to cover -- freedom of speech, rule of law, contracts and salaries, and the anniversary is fast approaching. While awaiting the not so important minor details from eager volunteers like Mr. Jones, we move on to the next day's regularly scheduled programming. Positive news waits for no one.

PS - If you go, please do ask about the hole too. What will they bury in it? Where will the mud go? We are curious.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

Hussain, are you seriously asking me to explain the reasoning of fleshy headed mutants? I am just a scion of the Puppetteers. I have no earthly reason why the Hind Most decided to finagle the mating rituals and sexual reproduction proactices of Indian graduate assistants. It could be just for entertainment. Have you seen the movie Akeelah and the Bee? I am sure the Hind Most was very pleased with his finagling when he saw that movie. I myself stick to red ant farms under glass.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 26 Jan 2014 03:31

TSJones wrote: Hussain, are you seriously asking me to explain the reasoning ...... myself stick to red ant farms under glass.

We are just humoring each other Mr Jones. The truth is always in plain sight. Obvious even to puppets. A mirror is an essential tool in every man's arsenal, Mr Jones. 15 years have turned back 200 years of civilization, and we must not be oblivious to the fact. When one rule is broken, all rules had already become reading matter . You just noticed it now.

This is regularly scheduled programming Mr Jones. Meaningful knowledge, even for those interested in ants. Not everything is prettty, or 99% of humanity would never procreate. Let nature take its course, everything has a true personality, it will energe and justify the flaws or it will emerge and magnify them.

panduranghari · Post by **panduranghari** » 26 Jan 2014 04:17

No one has educated many about Amirkhan than Jerry. Apparently Saddam Hussain was also a fan.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 26 Jan 2014 04:46

Self deleted due to faulty data

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 26 Jan 2014 05:09

This story bears repeating, for it was last told seven years ago, and remains relevant. Some of it got press, that is this part:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15711135

what they ignored or hid in plain sight was obvious only to few puppets. It has been my misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, over and over again (or making it the wrong place/time just by being there). This was just another instance where I was installed by threads not of my own making.

Shreeman wrote: On an early fall day, I was already into my 10th or 12th hour of travel and second flight connection. For some wonderful reason, the transportation industry wanted me to touch as many bases as I could, even if my humanly remains could no longer bear the stress. This last portion, was a short hop.

On the east coast, in a small plane made in Brazil. The seating is 2, aisle, 1. For reasons above and after a long walk, I sulked into the uncomfortable single class assigned seat on the 2 side. Looking to see if I can snag one of the single seats when everyone else had seated, the only way of straightening legs that were desperate by then to catch a break.

For some unknown reason (well, the start of school, really), the airplane could have taken off from Lucknow. It was full of young Indian students, oblivious to their surroundings, even to airline rules, they occupied pretty much every seat. And went about their teenage business. Except three seats. All on the 1 side. It looked like I was in luck, for none of these young hooligans appeared interested in moving, I was on the aisle side and wanted to move over, as soon as the doors closed.

Then this gentleman walked in. Elderly, silver locks, trademark personality. And the kids remained oblivious. Their language gave away their nationality. Yet, not one noticed who was among them. Two other dark grown ups, younger than that first, followed. They took the three empty seats.
The older gentleman sat just opposite me across the aisle.

The flight took off. The kids continued their merry-making. I was completely astounded. How is this even possible? Its not like the man was wearing a burka. He was quiet, confident, composed. One could not make out any signs of what had just taken place, and probably not too long before this short hop.

Difficult it may be for me to bend down, and these little hoppers don't leave you much space to walk in the aisle. If you want to talk to someone you must practically be on your knees (in my case literally). But it had to be done. There is not much time on short hops where you are allowed out. And health demanded other maintenance even on this short a flight. So I got out, got on my knees and asked the elderly gentleman how he was doing. Fine, he said, nonchalantly. I welcomed him and asked him about his itinerary. He noted the NASA was on his calendar next, and then on to see one Mr. Reddy, before going to Houston.

This was difficult. I was there. What he had come to visit had more to do with me than most of his itinerary. Yet, I could not invite him, nor introduce myself to him properly nor to the assistants who had stretched their own necks by now to assist. Not being able to stay longer, I thanked him for his time and the opportunity, wished him luck and walked to the back of the plane. The bathroom was not functional. There were dry wash sachets in the sink. I am glad he did not need to use it.

I made it back to the seat, its not a long flight. I mentioned to the young hooligan in the next seat who he had the good fortune of being graced by. Some sanity restored, the young ones started fidgeting for their cameras. The plane landed. Hand carried luggage is brought air side, everyone had to wait. The young ones all wanted pictures. They surrounded him and took many pictures, oblivious to what had happened or even realizing what was happening then. I stood aside and waited by my bag, strictly not being a photo person. It came, we parted.

I have met many presidents, but not like this one. I am not glorifying the man, just noting one salient quality -- grace. My regret is not that I was not in those pictures, it remains to the day the opportunity that was lost and never regained.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 26 Jan 2014 05:14

Shreeman wrote:
TSJones wrote: Hussain, are you seriously asking me to explain the reasoning ...... myself stick to red ant farms under glass.
We are just humoring each other Mr Jones. The truth is always in plain sight. Obvious even to puppets. A mirror is an essential tool in every man's arsenal, Mr Jones. 15 years have turned back 200 years of civilization, and we must not be oblivious to the fact. When one rule is broken, all rules had already become reading matter . You just noticed it now.

This is regularly scheduled programming Mr Jones. Meaningful knowledge, even for those interested in ants. Not everything is prettty, or 99% of humanity would never procreate. Let nature take its course, everything has a true personality, it will energe and justify the flaws or it will emerge and magnify them.

Here's the deal: I can't find any puppetteers in the US that really cares. This Indian-US tamasha doesn't even rate an honorable mention by the fleshy headed mutants at foreignpolicy.com. So Indian will supply the drama and the US will supply the "huh?". Oh, there are a few puppetteers that follow this forum but only so that they can be warned of future threat scenarios and inform the Hind Most. But that's about it. A pitiful handful. I mean India's anti-homsexual laws don't even rate a squeak of outrage in the US LGBT community. They are all focused on Russia's anti-homosexual obessions and the possible impact at the winter olympics. Meanwhile this forum can regale in it's anonymity except for a few of the security minions of the Hind Most.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 26 Jan 2014 05:23

TSJones wrote: Here is the deal...

We are all small tools in the grand scheme of some even older civilization, Mr Jones. Everything happens for a reason. What must, shall. So, retain humor and follow along. Ours not to question why, but also not to close our eyes.

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 26 Jan 2014 06:19

“Pot” Luck Teacher Arrested for Bringing Weed-Laced Food to Dinner

Read more: Teacher Brought Weed-Laced Food To Dinner, Cops Say | TIME.com http://nation.time.com/2014/01/25/pot-l ... z2rSmiDtg7

Rupesh · Post by **Rupesh** » 26 Jan 2014 06:32

Nope!. Its not Somalia.

Apocalypse, New Jersey: A Dispatch From America's Most Desperate Town

Instead of shaking hands, people here are always lifting hats, sleeves, pant legs and shirttails to show you wounds or scars, then pointing in the direction of where the bad thing just happened.

"I been shot six times," says Raymond, a self-described gangster I meet standing on a downtown corner. He pulls up his pant leg. "The last time I got shot was three years ago, twice in the femur." He gives an intellectual nod. "The femur, you know, that's the largest bone in the leg."

"First they hit me in the head," says Dwayne "The Wiz" Charbonneau, a junkie who had been robbed the night before. He lifts his wool cap to expose a still-oozing red strawberry and pulls his sweatpants down at the waist, drawing a few passing glances. "After that, they ripped my pockets out. You can see right here. . . ."

Even the cops have their stories: "You can see right here, that's where he bit me," says one police officer, lifting his pant leg. "And I'm thinking to myself, 'I'm going to have to shoot this dog.'"

"I've seen people shot and gotten blood on me," says Thomas Bayard Townsend III, a friendly convicted murderer with a tear tattoo under his eye. "If you turn around here, and your curiosity gets the best of you, it can cost you your life."

In September, its last supermarket closed, and the city has been declared a "food desert" by the USDA. The place is literally dying, its population having plummeted from above 120,000 in the Fifties to less than 80,000 today. Thirty percent of the remaining population is under 18, an astonishing number that's 10 to 15 percent higher than any other "very challenged" city, to use the police euphemism. Their home is a city with thousands of abandoned houses but no money to demolish them, leaving whole blocks full of Ninth Ward-style wreckage to gather waste and rats.

It's a major metropolitan area run by armed teenagers with no access to jobs or healthy food

On January 18th, 2011, the city laid off 168 of its 368 police officers, kicking off a dramatic, years-long, cops-versus-locals, house-to-house battle over a few square miles of North American territory that should have been national news, but has not been, likely because it took place in an isolated black and Hispanic ghost town.

After the 2011 layoffs, police went into almost total retreat. Drug dealers cheerfully gave interviews to local reporters while slinging in broad daylight. Some enterprising locals made up T-shirts celebrating the transfer of power from the cops back to the streets: JANUARY 18, 2011 – it's our time. A later design aped the logo of rap pioneers Run-DMC, and "Run-CMD" – "CMD" stands both for "Camden" and "Cash, Money, Drugs" – became the unofficial symbol of the unoccupied city, seen in town on everything from T-shirts to a lovingly rendered piece of wall graffiti on crime-ridden Mount Ephraim Avenue.

Cops started calling in sick in record numbers, with absenteeism rates rising as high as 30 percent over the rest of 2011. Burglaries rose by a shocking 65 percent. The next year, 2012, little Camden set a record with 67 homicides, officially making it the most dangerous place in America, with 10 times the per-capita murder rate of cities like New York: Locals complained that policing was completely nonexistent and the cops were "just out here to pick up the bodies." The carnage left Camden's crime rate on par with places like Haiti after its 2010 earthquake, and with other infamous Third World hot spots, as police officials later noticed to their dismay when they studied U.N. statistics.

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 26 Jan 2014 06:35

chaanakya wrote:Wow , this is too much. US is inserting racism in electronics and computer softwares as well
http://bostonreview.net/books-ideas/oba ... sight-race

Well, that seems pure and simple a bug in the software across both the US & Japanese products without any malice intended, probably solved by increasing the test cases and making the software more robust. As matter of fact, around 2007, there were Japanese PCs being sold with eye recognition already in the Indian market, worked well most of the time, but just crashed sometimes with the average Indian face. Ditto with fingerprint recognition. Sometimes time to market issues mean test schedules are compressed, test subjects are those the easiest ones available (i.e. local engineers) with the occasional snafu happening when products are introduced to new markets.

The US IT majors & Japanese ones are the most gung ho on the Indian market (and despite severe domestic opposition) have invested heavily in India with more & more high end services functions (consulting, R&D, delivery) moved to Indian locations, plus see Asia as a critical market, so deliberate racism is not a part of their charter. Plus its the one way they can compete with Indian IT majors who had otherwise started getting a significant cost advantage.

The occasional teething problem with product/s is common across the entire tech industry, plus they are tailored to the easiest available testers. E.g. try using Siri (Apple) - it simply cannot recognise the average Indian accent (mine included) and the voice recognition in Android/Korean variants of those phones is almost equally bad.

OT for this thread I know, but just a few thoughts.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 26 Jan 2014 06:50

US Police don't favor the powerful

You may think that the US police brutalize the weak but go easy on each other. If you do you have another think coming. Justin Bieber, a famous nautanki performer of American style was given a police escort form the airport. But the police escort did not follow proper procedures. So the police personnel have been suspended with pay. This means that they will get nothing but their salary during their suspension. They will get no work at all and will be at serious risk from boredom. This shows how the rule of law is consistently upheld by US police forces - even in border states like Florida, which is a faraway state like NorthWest Frontier Province where infiltrators can come in from neighbouring terrorist and drug exporting countries like Cuba and Mexico

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Jan 2014 07:04

Human Trafficking-Hotlines save lives

Viewpoints: Human trafficking hotlines save lives
By Claire Lipschultz
Special to The Bee
By Claire Lipschultz
Last modified: 2014-01-25T00:35:58Z
Published: Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014 - 12:00 am
Copyright 2014 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I am still haunted by the image of a very young woman I saw several years ago. She is dressed in baggy sweats, her bedroom slippers flapping, her loose ponytail on top of her head, askew. She seems dazed as she is pulled across a busy street by a man talking on his cellphone. He looks around furtively and then pushes the girl into the back seat of an expensive black car which has pulled to the curb. The car, driven by an older man, disappears into the urban traffic. I did nothing, not knowing whom to contact about a situation that just did not seem right. Today, I would call the National Trafficking Hotline phone number, where trained staff are available 24/7 to respond to my concern about this young woman.

The crime of human trafficking flourishes from lack of community awareness of activities that are often hidden in plain sight. It preys on the vulnerability of the victims, which is fed by youth, fear, coercion and lack of choices. This year the news reported horrific accounts of children being sold for sex, and workers held captive by employers. Just last week a 14-year-old girl in Union City in the Bay Area, forced to work as a prostitute, tipped off detectives about a sex-trafficking ring.

These stories are not unique. Sex trafficking of women and children continues to grow at an alarming rate in the United States. It is a low-risk, high-reward business that occurs behind closed doors. There is little available data; lack of coordinated foster care, social welfare, educational, medical and law enforcement services; and an overwhelming lack of public awareness of the magnitude of the issue.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it presents an opportunity for the California business community to actively join in the fight against modern day slavery. In 2012, the National Council of Jewish Women California section sponsored a bill, now law, that requires certain businesses to post in public view two hotline help numbers, one operated by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and the other by the California Coalition Against Slavery and Trafficking.

This past April the California attorney general’s office made available model notices for businesses to download and post. Mandated businesses include rest areas, truck stops, transportation hubs, job recruitment centers, farm labor contractors, establishments selling alcohol, adult entertainment venues, certain massage parlors, hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers, among other places where trafficked victims and members of the public might see the hotline number. The real impact of posting this lifeline to safety depends on the compliance by business within the spirit and letter of the notice law. Yet, since April there have been very few sightings of the notices.

To educate businesses about their legal responsibility to post the hotline numbers and to enlist their help in fighting human trafficking, local groups around the state are launching initiatives in their communities. Task forces of city and county officials, law enforcement, survivor groups, women’s groups, service providers, and faith and other community based organizations have come together to disseminate notices to businesses in their areas by mail and in person.

Scores of volunteers are being trained to visit the businesses, educate them about human trafficking and its indicators and provide copies of the hotline number notice. News conferences and press releases about the initiative are bringing the issue of human trafficking to the attention of the public, which has a vital role to play in identifying suspicious situations. These task forces understand that local action is needed to stem this global problem.

In states that have similar posting laws, national human trafficking hotlines have experienced a significant increase in calls after implementation. The calls were from concerned community members who had a hunch that something was wrong and from the victims, or survivors, themselves. These hotlines have saved lives in other states, and they can do the same in California.

It takes all of us to fight the heinous crime of human trafficking. Businesses that are required by law to post must do so. Other public places, especially where teens and young adults gather, such as malls, schools and recreation centers, should consider posting the hotline notice as well. Community members must educate themselves about the indicators of human trafficking and pay attention. And when in doubt, call. It can be the difference between freedom and slavery.

Claire Lipschultz, an attorney who lives in Carmichael, is a state policy advocate for the National Council of Jewish Women.

Yet she nor the paper give the hotline number

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Jan 2014 07:13

Wall Street Journal. Must be serious

Move to protect Au-Pairs

Au pair Ina Hassmann, of Germany, gets the 4-year-old son of attorney Miriam Porter ready for a trip to the park last month in Sacramento, Calif. Max Whittaker/Prime for The Wall Street Journal

The federal program that brings foreign au pairs to the U.S. will come under review this year, as the State Department weighs better monitoring and other protections for the mostly young females who provide child care to American families.

Nearly 14,000 foreigners—typically young women from Europe, Latin America and Asia—came to the U.S. in 2012 to work as au pairs, traveling on visas designed to promote educational and cultural exchange. Au pairs are supposed to provide 45 hours of child-care-related work each week for a stipend and an educational allowance, as well as room and board and meals.
More

* House GOP Sets New Push to Overhaul Immigration

But there have been a spate of complaints from au pairs who say they quit after being overworked or otherwise mistreated. One au pair from Thailand said she had to carry heavy furniture and provide her own meals. An au pair from Brazil returned home last summer after she worked far longer hours than she expected. In 2011, a German woman sued the father of her Oregon host family and an au pair agency in state court over alleged sexual advances that he made toward her, according to court records. Both cases were settled on undisclosed terms without the father admitting or denying wrongdoing.

While the State Department wouldn't elaborate on possible changes to the program, it pointed to issues related to the private agencies it accredits to place au pairs with families. State requires these agencies to report incidents pertaining to au pair health, safety and welfare. But advocates believe a majority of problems with host families go unreported, largely because au pairs "are afraid they'll end up on the street if they complain," said Julie Garcia, who helped run an au pair blog when she was an au pair in California.
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robin Lerner said the program has safeguards to prevent mistreatment of au pairs. Still, she said, "there are areas of weakness that we should address." The department plans to review training and certification of agency field representatives; agencies' monitoring practices; and the level of compensation paid by families to au pairs.

The au pair concept originated in Europe and formally began in the U.S. in 1986. By 2007, the peak year of the program, more than 17,000 au pairs came to the U.S. Participants, who must be 18 to 26 years old, can stay for as long as two years.

A host family pays about $7,000 to one of 15 accredited agencies that place au pairs and provide training and background checks. Families then pay a typical au pair $200 a week—about half to one-third what American nannies would command—plus as much as $500 a year toward a course of study. Au pairs are brought to the U.S. on J-1 Exchange Visitor visas, which also are issued to young foreigners working at places such as ski resorts and amusement parks.

Many au pairs, of course, have positive experiences: Ms. Garcia, who is back in her home country of Brazil, remains in touch with her host family in California.

Miriam Porter, a Sacramento, Calif., attorney and mother of four, has used au pairs for years and said she appreciates their flexible schedules. But while she is careful to follow the program's rules, she said there appears to be "little enforcement" of them, apart from a monthly check-in with her and her au pair, Ina Hassmann, from an agency representative.

"The cultural exchange rubric enables the government to delegate oversight to private recruitment agencies that have strong financial incentives to overlook and even hide worker exploitation," said Janie Chuang, an American University law professor and author of a recent study critical of the program in the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender.

San Francisco-based placement agency Au Pair Care declined to comment. Another large agency, Cultural Care Au Pair in Cambridge, Mass., said representatives are compensated "based on quality and growth in their regions." The agency said the "vast majority" of au pairs have a positive experience, but acknowledged occasional "unacceptable" behavior by a host family or an au pair.

Some au pairs have used the program to find a spouse to secure residency. Others have used illegal drugs. British au pair Louise Woodward's highly publicized manslaughter conviction in the 1997 shaking death of a Massachusetts infant prompted changes in au pair screening and training.

Last year, au pair agencies successfully lobbied against a provision in the Senate immigration bill that would have defined J-1 Exchange Visitor visa recipients, including au pairs, as workers. Advocates say this would have ensured they receive more protections under U.S. labor law.

Michael McCarry, executive director of the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange, which represents au pair agencies, said the measure would have raised costs for families. The program's mission is "to build friendships and better understanding, not to harvest crops," he said.

Au pairs and families usually meet remotely via video services such as Skype and exchange details before agreeing to a match. But there is no guarantee that will work. Luciana Pereira, a university-educated Brazilian, had a good experience with one host family but went back home after problems with another. "When someone asks me, I don't recommend the program," she said. "It's the luck of the draw."

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

See the graphs to et an idea where(which countries) the program is geared to.