What Is Social Entrepreneurial Student Leadership?

On Wednesday, February 11th, I had the distinct pleasure of volunteering for the SESL high school kick-off held in Concord at the Grappone Center. This is the fourth year of this organization's existence co-founded by Howard Brodsky CEO and Chairman of CCA Global Partners and Elizabeth Foy. Along with nineteen other business leaders who volunteered and over 100 students from 15 high schools around the state, an atmosphere of impressive innovation allowed the students to consider what goals their teams could set for community projects which also enable them to learn entrepreneurial and leaderships skills in the process of achieving these goals.

Some of the goals spoken were: a fund raising program to benefit Children's Hospital at Dartmouth, developing a program to better prepare teachers to work with today's modern students, global awareness, organizing a recycling program, benefiting a homeless shelter, another program to benefit the elderly in nursing homes, preparing monthly charity food nights at a homeless shelter and on and on.

You can follow the progress of these wonderful students and observe how they achieve their goals and follow the group's events by bookmarking and logging onto: http://www.seslchallenge.org/.

Chapter Forty-One Mafiya Sends Sample From Nuclear Warhead

“Alright Dimitri, this is what we will do. Hamid is going to send you a titanium container with a lead lining. We are going to ship you this container via United Parcel Service over-night. Your people will place the sample in this container and lead seal it so it cannot be removed. United Parcel will provide you with a return shipping label that will enable you to return the container to us without any charge. You must mark the contents as x-ray materials for lab use. We are not intending to value the components other than their normal insurance benefits so as not to arouse any interest in it. The package will be returned to us via over-night delivery. The day you send the package to UPS and we have a tracking number we will electronically transfer your initial deposit.”

“How will you know the tracking number from United Parcel Service?”

“Having an account with United Parcel we will receive an e-mail saying the package has been picked up and giving us a time of delivery. Now it is up to you to give me your account number so we can wire you the money.”

“Just a minute while I get my checking account number.”

After obtaining the numbers, Kamil tells Dimitri the container will be shipped out to him tomorrow and he will have the package the following day. He also tells him to turn it around for reshipment within twenty-four hours.

Kamil hangs up the phone and pushes off the speaker button. “What do you think, Hamid?”

“I think Jibril’s idea of waiting ten days has really got him anxious to get his money.”“I believe you are correct. I don’t believe both of us have to go to Pakistan to send the container and wait for the return shipment. Do you want to go or should I go?”

Clark's Pond, Auburn, NH

Hiking trails now converted to snowmobiling and cross country skiing trails. Still fun!

Chapter Forty Mossad goes to Washington

President Egan replies, “We know of a number of facilities producing weapons grade materials. They already have four Kilos. What makes Bampur different and two more subs big news for you?”

Ariel responds, “Their Shahab 3 with a nuclear warhead possibly being fired from a submarine is big news for us. It is something you possibly should be concerned about as well. “Also, Bampur is not enriching uranium. It is reprocessing plutonium.”

Suddenly startled, everyone else in the Oval Office just looks at each other. Damn this is a new area they were not aware of.

“John, why don’t you share with Ariel, how we found out about his insertion and how we monitored their movements until they departed.”

John Walker goes into the explanation from the time the Los Angeles class submarine tracked their sub, to the National Security satellites tracking the team.

Ariel smiles because he is not surprised that this happened. He is just thankful it was not an Iranian submarine.

The president asks, “Ariel, are you receiving any word of the Russian Mafiya working with the Iranians?”

“No sir, not to the best of my knowledge.”

“Allison, tell Ariel what your contacts found around Bampur after his team left, what we know of the two remaining Kilos in Russia and the Mafiya.” Allison goes on to explain to Ariel what she had previously reported to the president.

Again, Ariel is not surprised at what he is hearing. “Thank you for sharing this information. It is most helpful. The real reason I am here on the orders of our prime minister is the following. Our team recorded some conversations with five individuals who were swimming just outside of the Bandar Abbas base. We believe that they are engineers and are working on redesigning their Shabab 3 missile so it can be fired from their Kilos. The comments specifically said, “Won’t the United States be surprised.” Another comment said, “So will Israel.”

“If that is not something for the two of our countries to be concerned with, I don’t know what is.”

Winter Sunset

Our house faces west. I grabbed my camera last night and took these photos. They are unretouched, I just made them smaller so they would load faster. The snow melted a little bit this past week, but I'm sure we'll have more before spring arrives.

Chapter Thirty-Nine The President speaks with Israel's Prime Minister

President Egan picks up his phone, “Yaakov, how was dinner?”

“Well, Mr. President, dinner was the usual stuff but the Knesset discussion was more than enlightening for a change. You don’t call me this late in the day without good reason, what is going on?”

“Well Yaakov, a certain situation has surfaced that we need to clear up immediately.”

“A certain situation, can you be more specific?”

“We identified one of your dolphin submarines off of the coast of Iran a couple of weeks ago. We know the submarine placed a covert team inside of Iran.”

(Pause) NO REPLY

President Egan continues, “The navy advised me regarding the drop and I ordered our National Security people to monitor the team. We tracked your people to Bampur and then to Bandar Abbas. We do know that they have departed Iran. We assume it was by submarine. I didn’t want to contact you until I knew the team was safe and secure.”

“If what you say is true, sir, I will have to check with our IDF to find out who authorized such a mission. This is highly irregular for us to enter Iran.”

“Well, we think so too, Yaakov. However, you might have decided that it was necessary.”

“Give me a couple of days, Mr. President and I will get back to you.”

“Fair enough,” You sly old fox got yourself caught in the hen house, did you?

Marigolds

This is a pencil study I just finished in my drawing class. I'm enjoying the class and I see a big improvement in my work. I found the process of drawing very satisfying, almost meditative and not as stressful since it's easy to erase mistakes.

Chapter Thirty-Eight Getting Debriefed Inside Mossad Headquarters

“Wish we could have gotten more,” Natan says. “We could only work with what we had.”

“Trust me, you did fine,” Ariel assures them. “Now, the building you requested we monitor by satellite seems to be some type of technical assembly room for engineers. We have been watching it now for over two weeks. Only five men have been using it, which leads us to think that it must hold something of a highly secret nature. Especially as it appears to be guarded twenty-four hours a day.”

“That was our impression,” Mark confirms and Ariel nods.

“Last but not least, the conversations you picked up from the five men who went swimming outside of the fence area, is nothing short of alarming. It sounds as if Iran is redesigning their latest missile to be capable of being fired from a submerged submarine. Not the kind of news you want to hear as we prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I am afraid.”

Both Natan and Mark register a degree of alarm appropriate to Ariel’s remarks.