Your State Dept. your money.

[CoyoteChris]

Ref; the following message about your state dept.
Let me get this one straight....the US borrows money from China so we can send skaters to other countries to conduct skating clinics?
If the USFSA wants to spend their money to do this...fine....I have been assured that my donations go to young US skaters....but I am having an
issue with the government, which is 15 trillion in debt, borrowing more to send skaters/coaches to Sweden. There are a couple of ladies already there
that skate pretty well and their mother that can hold clinics. And I am pretty sure they even Speak Swedish. If anyone finds out just how much money the
state dept is forking over for this boondoggle, let me know. Personally, I would rather they spend their money finding and helping the next Mirai Nagasu. Here.
In this country.

Evan Lysacek chosen as U.S. envoy
Updated: April 6, 2012, 7:59 PM ETAssociated Press

WASHINGTON -- Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek will travel to Europe as a sports envoy for the United States.
The 2010 Vancouver champion will conduct skating clinics with youth in Stockholm, Sweden and Minsk, Belarus, from April 6-13 on a trip sponsored by the State Department and U.S. Figure Skating.
Lysacek didn't skate competitively in 2010-11, and skipped the U.S. championships this year. But he has said he plans to compete in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The State Department's sports envoy program sends current and retired athletes and coaches abroad to work with youth and stress the importance of education and health.

[Mathman]

I don't mind programs like this. They cost peanuts, relatively speaking, and supposedly promote good will and maybe show a few people here and there that not all Americans are as bad as we are made out to be.

The State Department has sent Michelle Kwan as a "Public Policy Envoy" to several countries where she holds skating clinics, gives cheerful speeches about truth, justice and the American way, and provides comfort and encouragement to children who are handicapped, orphaned, and otherwise in great need of a friendly smile.

Will it make the price of oil cheaper or stop Iran from developing an atom bomb? Maybe not. But when I read the reports of Michelle's "missions" to the far corners of the globe I always think of the little ditty,

"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar,
"So brighten the corner where you are. "

[Olympia]

Agreed, Mathman.

[skateluvr]

In better times these junkets would be fine but we need to reduce them from senators to congressmen to superstar athletes. MK can continue-on her dime, We are putting millions at risk with every kind of life and death cut. Sorry O and MM, I think CC is right on this at this terrifying time.

[brightphoton]

This sports envoy business is small potatoes. The potatoes are so small, if you boiled them, mashed them and put them in a stew, you would then say, hey where did my potato go? And they you'd notice a potato flake lining the edge of the bowl.

If you really wanted to save the big bucks, you'd would cut Medicare & Medicaid and Social Security. Old people would suffer, but I say let the oldies fend for themselves. j/k oldies!

[MoonlightSkater]

This sports envoy business is small potatoes. The potatoes are so small, if you boiled them, mashed them and put them in a stew, you would then say, hey where did my potato go? And they you'd notice a potato flake lining the edge of the bowl.

If you really wanted to save the big bucks, you'd would cut Medicare & Medicaid and Social Security. Old people would suffer, but I say let the oldies fend for themselves. j/k oldies!

Yes, but if you collect 100 small potato flakes, you'd find they amount to something.

[tulosai]

I don't mind programs like this. They cost peanuts, relatively speaking, and supposedly promote good will and maybe show a few people here and there that not all Americans are as bad as we are made out to be.

The State Department has sent Michelle Kwan as a "Public Policy Envoy" to several countries where she holds skating clinics, gives cheerful speeches about truth, justice and the American way, and provides comfort and encouragement to children who are handicapped, orphaned, and otherwise in great need of a friendly smile.

Will it make the price of oil cheaper or stop Iran from developing an atom bomb? Maybe not. But when I read the reports of Michelle's "missions" to the far corners of the globe I always think of the little ditty,

"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar,
"So brighten the corner where you are. "

I also agree with this.

[Jaana]

I don't mind programs like this. They cost peanuts, relatively speaking, and supposedly promote good will and maybe show a few people here and there that not all Americans are as bad as we are made out to be.

The State Department has sent Michelle Kwan as a "Public Policy Envoy" to several countries where she holds skating clinics, gives cheerful speeches about truth, justice and the American way, and provides comfort and encouragement to children who are handicapped, orphaned, and otherwise in great need of a friendly smile.

Will it make the price of oil cheaper or stop Iran from developing an atom bomb? Maybe not. But when I read the reports of Michelle's "missions" to the far corners of the globe I always think of the little ditty,

"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Brighten the corner where you are.
"Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar,
"So brighten the corner where you are. "

Mathman, wonderfully put!!!