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Phnom
Penh (Ah!)
Travel
Tips
- THE
REAL RIEL DEALS
DJ Ken National Radio Text Service - Sunday June 29, 2008
BERNARD KRISHER ON THE JOB - The Embassy of P.R.China Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of China-Cambodia Diplomatic Ties by presenting the Exhibition of Economic and Trade Cooperation Achievements Exhibition - CAMBODIAN TV BBC Custer Battle - NR TOP SECTIONS AND STORIES - NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES - NR TOP FIVE STORIES PLUS
BERNARD KRISHER ON THE JOB Cambodia Daily publisher Bernard Krisher is having a hard time getting the word out in distributing 6000 copies of the Burma Daily in Cambodia. The government confiscated the publication from Cambodian newsstands. We were fortunate enough to fins a copy of the Monday May 19th edition to see what all the fuss was all about and from out egalitarian point of view there is too much fuss about nothing. Of course with what is going on in Zimbabwe and Thailand Democracy means different thing to different people. As Sly & The Family Stone sang 'Different Strokes For Different Folks.' The front page had headlines Media Ordered To Focus on Reconstruction, Asean Neighbors To Press Junta on Response and Groups Target Most Vulnerable Survivors: Kids. Of the four page publication only one of the eight stories was written by a Burma Daily journalist. The remainder was furnished by The Washington Post, The New York Times, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. In the May 20th edition of his Cambodia Daily Krisher noted that the Burma publication is not copyrighted and anyone can reproduce it. He added the publication has no political agenda. Given the problem Krisher has taken it to another level to alleviate the blockage by making the publication available on the Internet. To make your own opinion or have access to the information the publication may be accessed @: www.burmadaily.org MORE KRISHER Krisher is also known for providing medical help to poor families in the provinces with his Telemedicine program once headed by David Robertson who is no longer involved. When he was in charge Robertson would go to the provinces with a nurse and treat patients on site for free. The Telemedicine project is the culmination of a three-step program. First a satellite dish was donated to a village school. That enabled children to learn how to use a computer and the Internet. E-Commerce and selling the villagers silk products via the Internet followed. Telemedicine utilized the equipment to send X-rays and EKG's of patients to doctors around the world for their opinions and diagnosis. The Harvard Medical School and Sihanouk Hospital in Phnom Penh are frequently contacted. When necessary the patient would be brought to Phnom Penh for medical assistance. If the problem was too complex Robertson would take a digital photo of an X-ray and send via Internet to volunteer doctors in the USA who would reply with their diagnosis. Another Krisher project was building schools with solar power and computers. Robertson said the solar power was not enough to maintain the facilities 24/7 but was useful on a part time basis. Krisher formerly the Newsweek Asia editor also has a project providing mosquito nets for the poor in the provinces. As they advertise in his Cambodia Daily, Save three lives for $5. When you consider American Idol was raising funds to supply mosquito nets in Africa for $10 Krisher has made a better deal. For more information about the program or donation information go to: www.save3lives.com Donations are tax deductible in the USA and Japan. CHINA, CAMBODIA CELEBRATE The Embassy of P.R.China Celebrated the 50th Anniversary of China-Cambodia Diplomatic Ties by presenting the Exhibition of Economic and Trade Cooperation Achievements Exhibition that commenced Friday June 27, 2008 at the Mondial Center. Senior Minister & Minister of Commerce of the Kingdom of Cambodia H.E Dr. CHAM Prasidh gave the welcoming remarks to open the three day event. His speech was followed by a speech by H.E. Mrs. Zhang Jinfeng, Ambassador and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China. Opening speeches were then give by H.E. Mr. HOR Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, High Representative of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia. ELECTRICAL BLACKOUTS With the rapid growth and development of Cambodia come electrical problems resulting in not enough power to supply the demand. It is reminiscent of the same problems in the Philippines whereupon my visit in the mid 90's experienced daily brownouts that from what we're told continue till this day. Given the ongoing new construction and the increasing price of oil you would think that the powers that be and the business avail themselves and plan ahead in using the solar power technology currently available. The sun is in abundant supply in the region and provides the source of energy required to function. But it's like that sign that reads PLAN AHEAD with the AHEAD falling off a cliff. Think about it. CAMBODIAN TV The BBC is currently airing an investigative report program about the corruption involving the contracts valued at BILLIONS OF DOLLARS issued to contractors in the war in Iraq BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq. The point made is there is corruption and the war is about oil. The US taxpayer is being ripped off of those billions dollars dolled out to companies such as Custer Battle for security who are suspected of padding their bills, Halliburton has come under intense international scrutiny for receiving no-bid contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq. Current US Vice President Dick Cheney was its CEO prior to becomming The US Vice President. KBR once a Halliburton company that provides catering, Parsons for building medical facilities. Halliburton has made billions of dollars from the wars in Vietnam, Bosnia and Iraq and Bechtel regarding the manner in which it received Iraqi rebuilding contracts after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Politicians in the United States and in Europe have made accusations of cronyism between the George W. Bush administration and Bechtel. The investigative report includes politician Henry Waxman. Critics in both the United States and allies like Britain have questioned the process by which the U.S. awarded Iraq contracts to American companies. The profiteering from the destruction caused by the shock and awe at the beginning of the war has caused Bechtel to be accused of disaster capitalism. The program includes Bunnatine Greenhouse, a civil servant with 20 years of contracting experience, who had complained to Army officials on numerous occasions that Halliburton had been unlawfully receiving special treatment for work in Iraq, Kuwait and the Balkans. Investigations were opened by the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Pentagon's inspector general to open criminal investigations that continue today. In one of the many examples of abuse, Greenhouse said that military auditors caught Halliburton overcharging the Pentagon for fuel deliveries into Iraq. She also complained that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office took control of every aspect of Halliburton's $7 billion no-bid Iraqi oil/infrastructure contract. The program notes that there are more contracted employees in Iraq than soldiers as well as pointing out that the Halliburton stock was selling for $10 before the Iraq war and as of 2008 selling for $48 a share. With the questionable use of donor and US taxpayer money by some NGO's in Cambodia this is a must watch. For more information about the program contact: www.bbcworld.com/contactus NR TOP SECTIONS AND STORIES Surprisingly Cambodia Sports took over the number one spot on the National Radio sections most visited. There is no reason why since we abandoned our coverage on Cambodian sports almost two years ago. Our archival coverage could be the only interest since to our knowledge we were the first outside of Cambodia to report on Cambodian sports. Upon from return from the Pre Sea Games football competition in Bangkok in 2005 we met a foreign journalist from America who we though had a lot of talent. Having been covering the Cambodian football team since the 2000 tiger Cup we asked who he was. He gave his name and said he was the only one who covered Cambodian football in Cambodia. "Really" was our reply. He asked our name and when told he admitted that he read our stories. He also acknowledged that he had been living in Cambodia for only a year while residing in the USA prior to his arrival. In investigative journalism school we were taught to recognize that if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and sounds like a duck IT'S DUCK. With his story we knew we were listening to a giant BABY HUEY SIZED DUCK. It was hard to believe that someone had written on the subject before us since there was nothing on the Internet not even from FIFA when we did our research prior to the 2000 Tiger Cup Press conference in Bangkok where we met Cambodian Football President Ravy Khek and Tola May. The former Cambodia manager Joachim Fickert had to scrape through what was available for information to help with our stories since the Khmer Rouge destroyed all previous records. Khek, May and former Cambodian star Hok Sochetra also contributed. When I think about this individual who lacks integrity, I think about people who really are somebody and know what dignity, class, integrity and respect are all about. I'm talking about a real journalist who earned his reputation as being one of the best journalists of all time. I'm talking about Pulitzer Award winning journalist Jim Murray. I've yet to meet anyone in Cambodia or Thailand who have Murray's qualities. Integrity is supposed to be an integral part of journalism yet this person misrepresented himself and worked for the two top English language newspapers in Cambodia. He has since left the country. Unfortunately this is the type of individual Cambodia largely attracts. In the remaining slots for sections most visited soccer/International Football dropped to the second position followed by our Phnom Penh column that retained the third spot. The NFL (National Football League) remained in the fourth position with FIFA News taking the fifth spot from the Los Angeles Lakers. Since they lost the NBA title race to the Boston Celtics the Lakers fell off the charts like a ton of bricks. As the saying goes nobody like a loser. NR TOP 5 The Top 5 most visited sections are: 1 . Cambodian Sports 2. SOCCER - International Football 3. Phnom Penh 4. NFL (National Football League) 5. FIFA NEWS Previous Top 5 most visited sections are: 1 . SOCCER - International Football 3. Phnom Penh 4. NFL (National Football League) NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES We are published in five languages, English, Thai, French, Russian and Khmer (Cambodian language). Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns are legally available ONLY on our National Radio site.
NR TOP FIVE STORIES PLUS Old columns top the list of the top five most read Phnom Penh stories. On our overall list we focused on columns published from January 1 2007 to June 23, 2008. Through this period there are over 500 stories to select from. In addition it is a more accurate barometer of most recent read material since much of the older articles are accessed direct from fan sites and special sites with special interests. Since Phnom Penh is a monthly column there are only twelve stories a year to evaluate. With that being the case we take an overall view on this column data analysis. Our number one story this month is from our July 2006 edition which focuses on the government turning down the Miss Cambodia contest to go on. It also features Vann Molyvann the designer of Olympic Stadium and the Cambodian Premiere Football League being postponed AGAIN. Number two went to the company GOLD QUEST which was believed to be a pyramid scheme from out April 2005 edition. A surprise entry was a Phnom Penh related story stating STACIE ORRICO WOWS CAPACITY CROWD IN PHNOM PENH from out Video Beat column of March, 2008. We also noted in that column that MORE MYSTERY LOOMS OVER FRESHIE. The list below goes on with direct links to the story. Read on….
INTERNET THEFT? In researching the findings we have found that search engines Yahoo, Google and MSN are all guilty of misleading the public. They have linked our story information to other sites without our permission. Those sites include Thai Visa, Washington University in the USA and UNESCO. We have tried to contact Yahoo regarding this matter but there was no response. For our story on Digital Divide Data titled Bridging The Digital Gap Yahoo linked our information to UNESCO and Washington University web sites as noted below. Cambodia (PDF) 13 James Loving, "DDD - Bridging the Digital Gap of Have and Have. Notes," (by James Loving, National Radio Text Service, 8 April 8, ... www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ict/Metasurvey/CAMBODIA.PDF - 117k - View as html The questions are: 1. Why would a company that is valued at billions of dollars employ dishonest practices? 2. Who is responsible for manipulating information that is misleading to the public? 3. Who is responsible at UNESCO in permitting the practice? Yahoo used the same story to mislead the public to the Washington University (USA) web site as noted below: Cambodia (PDF) 13 James Loving, "DDD - Bridging the Digital Gap of Have and Have. Notes," (by James Loving, National Radio Text Service, 8 April 8, ... www.com.washington.edu/ict4d/upload/2004052712430458_03760155.pdf - 117k - View as html WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY Our Roman Wanderaugh columns have been linked to other web sites by all three search engines without our permission. The most flagrant violator is Thai Visa. We have contacted them in the past but they have ignored our request to take our stories off their site. All three of the mentioned search engines have used our story information and linked it to Thai Visa without our permission. Thai Visa actually stole our story and posted it on their site. In the past they not only stole our Cambodia By Land & Sea story but also used our photo. Since that time the photo is not on our story on their site. Google provides advertising for the site. The question is why would a company that is worth billions of dollars resort to supporting a web site that steals? The information of our information page on the Google site also had the following endorsing going to the Thai Visa site. ©2007 Google - Google Home - Advertising Programs - Business Solutions - About Google FRONT PAGE WITH THAI VISA MSN did the same. They listed incorrect information and linked our work to Thai Visa as noted below: Thaivisa.com The latest updated Thai visa immigration news; work permit and residence permit in ... Friday, 15 December 2006 Cambodia visa trip "TRAVELING AROUND" by Roman Wanderaugh o www.thaivisa.com/344.0.html o ˇ¤ 7/14/2007 o ˇ¤ Cached page Cambodia visa trip "TRAVELING AROUND" by Roman Wanderaugh "AN INEXPENSIVE TRIP from BANGKOK to CAMBODIA by LAND & SEA" If you're an adventurous traveler the trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia from ... o www.thaivisa.com/border-run/page_2.html o ˇ¤ Cached page o +Show more results from www.thaivisa.com MSN also listed the headline TRAVELING AROUND on the Cambodia Land & Sea story. It raises the question why was it necessary to make two listings on the same story to link to the Thai Visa site? Roman Wanderaugh and any other National Radio columns are only legally available on the Internet on National Radio. We DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION for any other web site to use our material including soliciting our photos to the public. We negotiate directly with interested parties for use. We are published in print in five languages. We do not approve of Thai Visa using our material and all of the search engines misleading the public to other web sites using National Radio information. Isn't a search engines job to lead the public to the information they seek? It is clearly stated on our National Radio web site: © Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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