Giramonda.com

Beginning today, I will be contributing to a well-established blogomentary covering La Antigua Guatemala. Rudy Giron, the developer and administrator for AntiguaDailyPhoto.com kindly invited me to begin posting as the blog’s first guest contributor. I feel honored. Please visit the website by clicking here to view my post with this picture along with a description.

Also, please check back daily. This entire first week of July will include submissions from me!

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Continued from Random Roadtrip…

“Now, Walter is in Italy… pursuing his dreams just as I am mine.”

Mako wouldn’t wake up when I came a knocking. But, that turned out better because I would up calling Walter and meeting up with him. This trip back to SPS I was able to spend much more time with Walter and I even ended up accompanying him to one production of a sports TV show that he began co-hosting while I was away in Europe and in the States. The show is produced at his University and I must say I was quite impressed with the studio the school had set up. We were in Honduras so I didn’t know what to expect but, from what I could tell, the school was equipped with nearly everything MU’s infamous broadcast program can boast. I was also surprised to see how well Walter performed on TV. Read more »

Continued from Lost and Found…

“El Doctor reckons we should make the trip together. Ahem… not if you’re after what I think you’re after. Too bad his intentions couldn’t be only amicable. If they were, I’d be on the back of that Harley yesterday. Sigh…”

That evening I caught I ride with Dennis to the pitch to play futbolito. I was quickly becoming “one of the guys.” As we relaxed at the nearby shop just as they day before I learned about the upcoming organized soccer match the boys had in La Ceiba. In fact, they would be leaving the next day. Of course, they’d be sticking around for the festival…

It wasn’t long before they offered an invite for me to join them. Random road trip to La Ceiba where I’d get to meet up with my travel buddies for the Punta festival?? Heck ya! Walter, one of the guys that played with us, informed he had space in his car. Thus, it was settled… the next day I was leaving for La Ceiba. Read more »

“A Coup In Honduras” is an opinion peace by Roger Noriega published on Forbes.com.

Meeting in urgent session in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, the Organization of American States (OAS) issued a demand that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya be restored to power, calling his ouster earlier that day “an unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order.” The OAS Permanent Council proclaimed that it would not recognize any government resulting from that “coup d’état.” Pretty strong stuff–but too little, too late. Read more »

The following are comments posted to the article “Coup Rocks Honduras” published in the Wall Street Journal:

Daniel Sheridan: Let’s see a country standing up to a president that tries to run roughshod over established laws and a constitution?

No wonder President Obama condemned it.

Interesting that he didn’t have to think as long on that issue as he did with the tragedy in Iran.

Paul Newton: Unbelievable! The Honduran Supreme Court orders the arrest of a clear criminal, who violates their laws as a matter of course, and we side with Chaves, Castro, Ortega, and every communist strong man in CA and SA? What country is this? What happened to America? Are we so far gone we cannot tell the difference between right and wrong? What about the rule of law? This is disgraceful. I am ashamed to be an American today.

John Mcrae: Present copy corrects many errors in AP release. When does WSJ stop calling it a ‘military coup’ when ex-Presidente Manuel Zelaya received a ‘military escort’ to a safe haven out of the country by order of the Supreme Court.

Jeffrey Vojta: its good that the Honduran military, courts and congress lived up to their democratically drafted consititution and held the ex president to account. We should welcome the enforcement of their laws and removal of a criminal from office. Read more »

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The situation in Honduras is still shaky with an overnight curfew and continued threats from Chavez. Read the clip from BBC.com below:

Interim President Roberto Micheletti has imposed an overnight curfew in Honduras, hours after being sworn in.

The Congress speaker took office after troops ousted elected leader Manuel Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica.

The removal of Mr Zelaya came amid a power struggle over his plans for constitutional change.

Mr Zelaya, who had been in office since 2006, wanted to hold a referendum that could have led to an extension of his non-renewable four-year term.

Polls for the referendum had been due to open early on Sunday - but troops instead took him from the presidential palace and flew him out of the country.

The ousting of Manuel Zelaya has been criticised by regional neighbours, the US and the United Nations.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to hear ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya describe the moments before his arrest.

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One of my many goals while I’m here in La Antigua Guatemala is to become involved in helping Non-governmental organizations and aid organizations to become more inline with the invaluable tools of today’s Social Media.

Watch Katherine Fulton’s TED talk about the changing landscape of philanthropy:

Also check out socialbrite.org, a new website to help NGOs become more tech savvy.

Socialbrite.org is launching with a rich set of resources:

• A directory of Web 2.0 Productivity Tools in dozens of categories that can help organizations get a handle on the social Web.

• A Social Media Glossary that offers a deep, friendly introduction to dozens of social media terms in plain English.

• A first-of-its-kind Twitter widget that tracks tweets about nonprofits or social causes in real time.

• A Free Photos Directory, Free Video Directory and Free Music Directory that offers nonprofits, cause organizations and Web publishers a guide to hundreds of online resources for adding legal, high-quality content to their own Web sites, blogs, newsletters, printed materials or online presentations.

• A Causes widget that points to charitable actions and donations on other sites such as GlobalGiving and Facebook Causes.

Click here to read more about what socialbrite.org is offering in the name of philanthropy.

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