Left Libertarianism by Darian Worden - Alt Expo X (RAW)
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Left Libertarianism by Darian Worden - Alt Expo X (RAW) - Video
Monthly Archives: January 2013
Libertarian Ponders: FDA
Libertarian Ponders: FDA Exploding Cars...A Feature?
It #39;s Libertarian caller time! This is a particularly amazing libertarian call as we discuss the FDA and live saving drugs and whether Ford warned people about their exploding cars... This clip from the Majority Report, live MF at 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at Majority.FM
By: SamSeder
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November election results mean change of status for Libertarian Party
The party can appoint a candidate directly to the ballot for the 95th state House special election.
Betsy Summers wasn't successful in her bid to become the state's auditor general.
But Summers, of Luzerne County, and some other Libertarians did do well enough to change the status of the statewide party through the 2014 elections, according to Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman.
Summers was one of the Libertarian candidates who exceeded a 2 percent threshold in the November 2012 election, which means that Libertarians in Pennsylvania are now considered part of a statewide minor political party, instead of a political body.
The state Green Party is still considered a political body, Ruman said.
The change influences the requirements Libertarians have in the 95th state House special election, which will be necessary because former state Rep. Eugene DePasquale has become the state auditor general.
"They would have the opportunity to get a candidate on the ballot without having to go through the more extensive signature process," Ruman said.
Libertarians can appoint a candidate directly to the ballot for the special election, similar to the process for Republicans and Democrats.
"There's one little thing that we're allowed to do the same as the other guys," Summers said. "That truly is exciting."
Since the state Green Party is still considered a political body, its candidate would need to gather signatures equal to 2 percent of the largest vote-getter in the last election for that office, which would equal at least 337 signatures in the 95th District.
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November election results mean change of status for Libertarian Party
Lake Titicaca. Floating islands. – Video
Lake Titicaca. Floating islands.
Lake Titicaca. Floating reed islands of Uros people. 2013
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Hart Of Dixie 2×11 "Islands In The Stream" Promo – Video
Hart Of Dixie 2x11 "Islands In The Stream" Promo
Love is never easy, especially in BlueBell. Catch an all new Hart Of Dixie Tuesday at 8/7c!
By: 90210Bronte
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China to survey islands amid tension with Japan
BEIJING: Beijing is to carry out a geographical survey of islands in the East China Sea, state media said yesterday, the latest salvo in an increasingly tense dispute with Tokyo over the uninhabited territory. The announcement came as Japanese fighter jets were scrambled in response to a Chinese state-owned Y-12 plane flying close to but not inside the islands' airspace, according to Tokyo's Defense Ministry. Separately, official Chinese media reported that Beijing's armed forces have been instructed this year to train for battle, while a Tokyo official said US and Japanese fighter jets carried out joint air exercises. This week's tensions come after Japan's hawkish Shinzo Abe won a landslide election victory following campaign promises to re-invigorate Tokyo's security alliance with Washington and take a more robust line against Beijing. The dispute over the islands, known as Diaoyu in Beijing and Senkaku by Tokyo, which controls them, has simmered on and off for years but intensified in 2012 when Japan nationalised those it did not already own, triggering anger and demonstrations in China. The protests were allowed to take place by the Communist authorities in Beijing, who use nationalism to bolster their claims to legitimacy, particularly regarding Japan, which occupied parts of China in the 20th century. China has repeatedly sent maritime surveillance ships to the area and carried out naval exercises, and both Tokyo and Beijing have scrambled fighter jets to the area in recent weeks in a further escalation. Commentators say Beijing wants to prove that Japan does not have effective control over the chain to draw Tokyo into concessions. The cartographic survey was part of a program to map China's "territorial islands and reefs" and safeguard its "maritime rights and interests," the official Xinhua news agency said, without saying when it would take place. It did not make clear whether it would involve activities on land or be purely sea-based, but quoted Zhang Huifeng, of China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, acknowledging there could be "difficulties." "There are some difficulties in landing on some islands to survey, and in surveying and mapping the surrounding sea area of the islands, because some countries infringed and occupied these islands of China," he said. Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, Northeast Asia director at the International Crisis Group, said in an e-mail: "Beijing's goal is to establish as much presence if not more than Japan in the area to demonstrate its sovereignty. "A geological survey is another step in this direction. China has made it clear that there is no going back to the status quo in which Japan largely administered the disputed islands on its own." In September Beijing announced the "base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands", filing details with the United Nations as part of the diplomatic sparring over the issue. China's State Oceanic Administration also released geographic information including "location maps, three-dimension effect graphs and sketch maps for the Diaoyu Islands," Xinhua added. While there have been no actual clashes between the two countries' forces in the area, Chinese state media said Beijing's military had been instructed to raise their fighting ability in 2013 and "should focus closely on the objective of being able to fight and win a battle." Off Japan, six US FA-18 fighters and around 90 American personnel, with four Japanese F-4 jets and an unspecified number of people, carried out joint training exercises in the Pacific, an official said. The five-day drill followed the nation's first military exercise designed to recapture "a remote island invaded by an enemy force" on Sunday. In October Japan and the US dropped plans for a joint drill to simulate the retaking of a remote island, reportedly because Tokyo did not wish to provoke Beijing further.
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China to survey disputed Diaoyu Islands
Published: Jan. 16, 2013 at 6:09 AM
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- China said it will survey the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea to "safeguard China's marine rights," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The survey of the islands -- known as the Senkaku Islands by Japan which administers them -- will be part of a larger project of island and reef mapping started in 2009, spokesman Hong Lei told reporters, a state-run Xinhua news agency report said.
"Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets have been the inherent territory of China since ancient times," said Hong.
The National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation has completed mapping of islands within 60 miles of China's coastline and will start on territories further afield which include the Diaoyu, also claimed by Taiwan.
China has maintained the Diaoyu, which lie around 100 miles north of Japan's Ishigaki Island and 116 miles northeast of Taiwan, are its territory since international treaties in the late 1800s.
At the end of World War II in 1945 the islands were under U.S. jurisdiction as part of the captured Japanese island of Okinawa. Japan has administered them since 1972 when Okinawa was returned to Japan.
Tensions flared between Beijing and Tokyo in September after the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private Japanese owner, triggering public protests in Chinese cities.
Since then China has stepped up naval incursions and patrols around the islands for which Japan has lodged formal diplomatic complaints.
Hong also said that China and Japan continue to discuss at various diplomatic levels and through informal channels possible settlements to settle the dispute.
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From Fitbit to Fitocracy: The Rise of Health Care Gamification
These days, anyone with a smartphone can download a variety of games designed to make them healthier, whether that means helping them stick to an exercise routine, lose weight or manage a chronic illness. The games, invented by health insurers and a host of technology startups, are marketed directly to consumers, who use them to track their progress and record key health metrics such as blood sugar and pounds shed. Players of these games can win rewards, perhaps even cash, if they hit their health goals.
Experts have dubbed this trend "the gamification of health care."It means "applying elements and design concepts from games to other contexts that are not themselves games," says Kevin Werbach, Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics. "Using motivational techniques from games is part of it, as is creating engaging experiences for people." Werbach is co-author of For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business, which argues that companies should think like game designers when they are devising new ways to motivate employees and customers.
In health care, however, gamification presents a distinctive set of challenges. Health care providers that want to offer games to their customers must do so without violating federal patient privacy regulations -- a requirement that can make it difficult to target games to the patients who will benefit most from them. Even companies that are not subject to those regulations are finding themselves under pressure to protect players' most personal data.
Then there is the problem of the games themselves: How can companies make them engaging enough to keep customers interested? "It's sometimes hard to build a game that's sufficiently serious and on topic, but also fun," Werbach says.
Health insurance providers were among the first to dip their toes into gamification. Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group, for example, launched OptumizeMe, an app that allows people to participate in fitness-related contests with their friends, and the company is pilot testing Join For Me, a program that encourages adolescents who are obese and at risk of developing diabetes to play videogames that require dancing or other physical activites. Healthways has a Boston subsidiary called MeYou Health, which has developed a rewards program for people who complete one health-related task per day.
Several technology startups have burst onto the scene as well, many of them focused on fitness. Boston-based GymPact uses GPS to track its users to the gym. Members who meet their workout goals win cash, much of it from GymPact members who pay penalties for failing to exercise as promised. Fitbit, based in San Francisco, markets wireless tracking devices that sync to smartphones and computers so that users can track their fitness activities. Then there is New York's Fitocracy, which is more of a Facebook-likesocial network, where people can track their workouts, challenge friends to exercise contests and earn recognition for meeting goals.
Werbach notes that there has also been a plethora of smaller companies inventing games for people with challenging health issues, such as SuperBetter Labs, a San Francisco company that is beta testing an online social game designed to help people coping with illnesses, injuries or depression. The company collaborated with scientists and doctors to develop the game.
Encouraging Patient Activation
Bonnie Henry is CEO of GameMetrix Solutions, which draws inspiration from classic games like Jeopardy and Solitaire to invent fun platforms for managing chronic illnesses, particularly diabetes. "We're primarily based on a belief system that games and game mechanics are really going to be the motivating factor for chronic conditions that people struggle with on a daily basis," Henry says. "In the health care arena, there's a lot of discussion around patient activation, meaning getting people going [with games] and looking at the change in their engagement levels." GameMetrix provides platforms for companies, such as insurers, to create games for their customers tailored to specific health parameters.
GameMetrix's developers knew that pulling patients into the games would be a challenge, Henry says, which is why they decided to model their products on known properties. "One of the challenges companies face is they're trying to build new kinds of games and game mechanics. We focus on classic games where customers already know the game mechanics. They are games that have already been proven and tested."
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From Fitbit to Fitocracy: The Rise of Health Care Gamification
Gambling on health care exchange could pay off for residents
I dont remember voting on whether to turn down a health care exchange.
Nor can I recall anyone canvassing neighborhoods, polling passersby or otherwise soliciting input about whether Indiana residents want to buy into the federal health care exchange.
Indiana taxpayers will still foot part of the bill for the national health care exchange that will provide individuals and small businesses a place to shop online for relatively more affordable health coverage. However, Gov. Mike Pence has said he does not want to institute a health care exchange in Indiana.
Pence said in a letter to Former Gov. Mitch Daniels that the health care reform as a whole erodes the freedom of every American, opening the door for the federal government to legislate, regulate and mandate nearly every aspect of our daily lives under the guise of its taxing power.
That must be easier to say when your own family can afford coverage than it would be if you had a severely ill family member and no insurance.
Lawmakers have a duty to represent their residents, so on issues as pervasive and potentially life-changing as expanding the national health care system, elected officials should make sure their actions reflect their publics desires. The state should give residents more opportunity for input, and residents should step up to offer their thoughts on the health care exchange.
Though, for a majority of college students, the most relevant part of the Affordable Care Act allowing young adults to remain on their parents health care plan until age 26 already has taken effect, the majority of state lawmakers hesitate to support further action.
Indiana officials have told the federal government they want more information, specifically information on long-term costs, about the plan. Though its good that our state is exercising caution, time is running out and this decision will prevent the Affordable Care Act from benefiting several hundred thousand Indiana residents.
Regardless, Pence said in the same letter, there is no evidence that this investment (into a health care exchange) will improve the lives of Hoosiers.
Pence cites the existing Healthy Indiana Plan, a state-sponsored, income-based program funded by cigarette taxes that charges enrollees a nominal fee for full health benefits, as a reason to reject the exchange. However, the Healthy Indiana Plan accepts few childless adults and has a waiting list that spans several years. According to a report by Indianapolis-based WRTV, within the last few years, that waiting list has included tens of thousands of names at a time.
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Gambling on health care exchange could pay off for residents
Some in health care refusing flu vaccine – Wed, 16 Jan 2013 PST
January 16, 2013 in Health
The Spokesman-Review
Kathy Plonka photo
Kootenai Health recruiter Brittany Stockstill decided to wear a mask instead of getting a flu shot while working in the business services department at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur dAlene. Six percent of hospital staff chose a mask over thevaccination. (Full-size photo)
Hospitals, clinics and nursing homes increasingly are requiring their employees to get a flu shot, but some health care workers are refusing, putting their jobs on theline.
A Newman Lake woman said she felt she had no choice but to resign from Kootenai Behavioral Health because she would not comply with a new policy directing employees to get vaccinated for influenza or wear a mask at work during fluseason.
Sarah Peterson, a mental health specialist, resigned Dec. 7 after more than 17 years at Kootenai Behavioral Health, which is part of KootenaiHealth.
They have every right to make it mandatory, and I have every right to stay or quit, said Peterson, adding she didnt want to befired.
Two other workers at Kootenai Health have resigned for the same reason rather than face discipline that could lead to their dismissal, spokeswoman Kim Andersonsaid.
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Some in health care refusing flu vaccine - Wed, 16 Jan 2013 PST
Study analyzes health care safety net in Monterey County
With major implementation of the Affordable Care Act about a year away, local health officials are publicly unveiling a study aimed at analyzing the county's health care safety net, including its current capabilities and its capacity for expanding to meet the demands of national health care reform.
The study, dubbed the "Phase I Report: Preliminary Profile of Health Care Needs & Safety Net Providers that serve Residents of Monterey County," will be presented at five public meetings set for the next week and a half at various locations throughout the county. The meetings, which begin Monday with a two-hour session at 6 p.m. at the Castroville Library, will also offer attendees an opportunity to ask questions and offer comments.
Subsequent sessions will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Seaside's Oldemeyer Center on Tuesday, the county Health Department in Salinas on Wednesday, the Big Sur Grange Hall on Jan. 21, and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in King City on Jan. 24.
The first phase of the study, which was completed in June by Cal State University faculty researchers under contract with the county health department, is a collaboration between county health officials, the university's Institute for Community Collaborative Studies, and the county's safety net providers, including local hospitals, clinics, physicians and other health care organizations.
The health care safety net is described as organizations that offer care to uninsured, underinsured and
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear a report on how the county is planning to implement the Affordable Care Act by the beginning of next year.
The supervisors are also set to receive updates from county health officials on a pair of proposed health care programs Via Care and Access Point aimed at offering temporary health coverage or improved access to care for hundreds of poor and uninsured county residents as a precursor to national reform.
Last fall, county health officials backed off plans to implement the Via Care pilot program that would have provided temporary health coverage to up to 1,500 poor and uninsured residents.
The officials argued that putting the long-planned program into place even on a short-term basis would have endangered local health care funding from state and federal sources. Instead, they proposed expanded access to care without insurance under an alternative program they called Access Point.
According to an executive summary of the safety net analysis, the first phase of the study focused on providing an initial profile of the region's population, including demographics and socioeconomic variables, and current safety net providers, including location and available services.
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Experts take quantum leap in gene therapy to treat muscular dystrophy
Washington, January 16 (ANI): In a preliminary study in a canine model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), researchers have shown a giant leap using gene therapy to treat muscular dystrophy.
Muscular dystrophy occurs when damaged muscle tissue is replaced with fibrous, bony or fatty tissue and loses function. Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common type of muscular dystrophy predominantly affecting boys.
Patients with DMD have a gene mutation that disrupts the production of dystrophin, a protein essential for muscle cell survival and function. Absence of dystrophin starts a chain reaction that eventually leads to muscle cell degeneration and death.
For years, scientists have been working to find the key to restoring dystrophin, but they have faced many challenges.
One of the largest hurdles in DMD gene therapy is the large size of the gene. Dystrophin is the largest gene in the human genome, containing approximately 4,000 amino acids.
To fit the dystrophin gene into a vehicle that could deliver the gene to the appropriate site in the body, one has to delete 70 percent of the gene. The highly abbreviated gene is known as the "micro-dystrophin" gene.
Previous studies suggest that micro-dystrophin can effectively stop muscle disease in mice that are missing dystrophin. However, mice that are missing dystrophin show minimal DMD symptoms, and results from mice often do not predict what will happen in humans.
In contrast to mice, loss of dystrophin results in severe muscular dystrophy in dogs. If micro-dystrophin can work in dystrophic dogs, it will likely work in human patients. Unfortunately, when micro-dystrophin was tested in dogs in previous studies, it was not successful.
To overcome these hurdles, a team led by Dongsheng Duan, the Margaret Proctor Mulligan Professor in Medical Research at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, engineered a new micro-dystrophin gene that carries an important functional region missing in previously tested micro-dystrophins.
"We placed the new microgene into a virus and then injected the virus into dystrophic dogs' muscles," Duan said.
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Experts take quantum leap in gene therapy to treat muscular dystrophy
Futurist John L. Petersen on VeritasRadio.com | Choosing Our Future | Segment 1 of 2 – Video
Futurist John L. Petersen on VeritasRadio.com | Choosing Our Future | Segment 1 of 2
This is Segment 1 of 2. Segment 1 is being provided as a courtesy of VERITAS Radio. To listen to Segment 2 of this exclusive interview, subscribe at http://www.veritasradio.com to watch the rest. Veritas is censorship- and commercial-free and survives on your voluntary subscriptions. Thank you for supporting our work. ~Mel Fabregas S ynopsis Many believe that the world is entering a time of monumental historic change that will accelerate in the next five years. Our leaders need to be prepared to address life-altering events such as a rapid climate change, a severe restriction of the oil supply, a tipping point in the global financial system, disease, population explosion. The future of the world depends on the choices we all make. Through his futurist think tank, John L. Petersen connects dots and describes the future. B io Futurist, Strategist, and Large-Scale Change Agent John L. Petersen is considered by many to be one of the most informed futurists in the world. He is best-known for writing and thinking about high impact surprises mdash;wild cards mdash;and the process of surprise anticipation. He edits and publishes an internationally acclaimed e-newsletter, FUTUREdition, which highlights weak signals and early indicators of significant futures. John conceived of, designed and developed the world #39;s first national surprise anticipation center for the country of Singapore. In 1989 Petersen founded The Arlington Institute (TAI), a non-profit, future-oriented research institute. TAI ...
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Futurist John L. Petersen on VeritasRadio.com | Choosing Our Future | Segment 1 of 2 - Video
Jeremy Rifkin – Futurist and Speaker on Economic Changes and Trends – Video
Jeremy Rifkin - Futurist and Speaker on Economic Changes and Trends
Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of nineteen bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages and are used in thousands of universities, corporations and government agencies around the world. His most recent books include The Third Industrial Revolution, The Empathic Civilization, and The Hydrogen Economy. More about Jeremy Rifkin: http://www.thesweeneyagency.com
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Jeremy Rifkin - Futurist and Speaker on Economic Changes and Trends - Video
Oh, Freedom! (banners return edition) at the Solidarity Sing Along on January 16, 2013 – Video
Oh, Freedom! (banners return edition) at the Solidarity Sing Along on January 16, 2013
Traditional spiritual by Lucy Kinchen, revised lyrics by SNCC, adapted David Rolnick Oh, Freedom (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS: And before I #39;d be a slave I #39;d be buried in my grave And we #39;ll all fight for freedom #39;til we #39;re free! No more fear (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS No permits (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS There #39;ll be chalking (three times) Over me CHORUS No more tickets (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS No more Erwin (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS There #39;ll be singing (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS There #39;ll be banners (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS There #39;ll be justice (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS Oh, Freedom (three times) Over me (over me) CHORUS
By: Mary Ellen Schutz
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Oh, Freedom! (banners return edition) at the Solidarity Sing Along on January 16, 2013 - Video
Obama Tries to Shake GOP Stranglehold on 'Freedom'
President Barack Obama speaks on proposals to reduce gun violence at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
President Barack Obama sought to engender popular support for his gun reform proposals announced Wednesday by fighting critics on their own linguistic turfframing them in terms of freedom.
Many of the president's detractors have long felt his domestic agenda includes tearing apart individual freedoms, particularly the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
A letter circulated by the National Rifle Association during a gun conference in Las Vegas Wednesday said the White House's series of meetings with outside groups to listen and discuss possible gun reform measures was a "lie."
[PHOTOS:Obama Unveils New Gun Control Proposals]
"They didn't listen to gun owners' concerns," wrote Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Post. "They didn't consider any real solutions on how we can keep our kids safe. Instead Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to BLAME you, VILIFY you, BULLY you and STRIP you of your Second Amendment freedoms."
This attitude is also widely reflected in the conservative online community, with countless blog writers expressing their concerns that Obama seeks to limit their access to guns in order to prevent a revolution and compare him to Stalin, Hitler or Castro.
"The administration's intent could not be more clear," writes Tom Blumer in an entry for Frontpagemag.com. "It wants to bureaucratically create a de facto repeal of as much of the Second Amendment's clearly stated and correctly interpreted individual 'right of the people to keep and bear Arms' as possible by Jan. 20, 2017 and if that requires shredding what's left of the Constitution's separation of powers, so be it."
[WATCH:NRA Ad Targets Obamas Children]
But Wednesday, Obama also turned to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to support his case for gun reform, which includes calling on Congress to enact an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.
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Lis4cg Announces Ryan Ferguson American Freedom Tour
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Life Insurance Services for Charitable Giving announces the Ryan Ferguson American Freedom Tour featuring professional singer/songwriter David Cavan Fraser and drummer / percussionist Special K. The tour kicks off in Columbia, MO this spring and will pass through the Lower 48 States to build grassroots support calling for the reversal of the well publicized wrongful murder conviction of Ryan Ferguson. In addition, the tour will expand public awareness about the staggering number of unjust convictions caused by systemic defects in the justice system.
The goal of the Ryan Ferguson American Freedom Tour is to raise money from individuals, corporations and nonprofit organizations. The funds will be allocated towards (1) Fergusons bond, legal defense and reentry expenses, (2) an enhanced reward to any informant providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of Kent Heitholts killer and (3) the Innocence Project,whose mission isto bring substantive reform to the justice system responsible for unjust imprisonment and to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.
About Ryan Ferguson (freeryanferguson.com)
Ryan Ferguson was convicted in 2005 of the 2001 murder of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt and is currently serving a 40-year sentence. Ferguson was falsely convicted solely on the testimony of two non-credible witnesses who have since recanted, leaving no forensic or testimonial evidence linking Ferguson to the crime.
About Lis4cg (Lis4cg.com)
Lis4cg is a social philanthropic business enterprise promoting human advancement by engaging in diverse, innovative fundraising activities for public and charitable purposes. Lis4cg collaborates with donors, intermediaries and nonprofit organizations to cultivate outright cash gifts and deferred gifts using life insurance.
About David Cavan Fraser (davidcavanfraser.com)
Fraser is a young professional artist who has been performing in Canada since 2007 with drummer / percussionist Special K. Together they produce a live performance that is fun, engaging and memorable. After watching a national news report, Fraser became involved with Fergusons plight by writing and recording Justice for Ryan Ferguson to capture his emotional outcry to criminal injustice. The song aptly defines Frasers honest and straightforward approach to songwriting which helps people laugh, cry and reflect deeply about their lifes purpose in fresh and creative ways.
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Freedom Food Certification 'sets bar very low' for Scottish Farmed Salmon
A Salmon and Trout Association report raises serious concerns over the RSPCAs Freedom Food certification scheme for farmed salmon.
A new Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA) report into the RSPCA / Freedom Food certification of Scottish farmed salmon details major concerns over the failure of Freedom Food to take proper account of the wider environmental impact of the accredited farms. Worryingly the report exposes the fact that some farms with a dismal record on pollution and parasite control are still granted Freedom Food status.
The Freedom Food logo is used extensively on supermarket packaging for farmed salmon and on salmon farming companies websites as an indication predominantly of good animal welfare practice, but also of good environmental stewardship. Freedom Food certification of farmed Atlantic salmon is overseen by an RSPCA/Freedom Food farmed salmon working group of 19 members, 15 of which are either fish farmers or from companies with a direct commercial interest in fish-farming.
It is estimated that Freedom Food charges between 800,000 and 1 million per annum for farmed salmon certification (made up of a licence fee and per kg charge), but as there is no published list of certified farms, this figure can only be an estimate.
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Freedom Food Certification 'sets bar very low' for Scottish Farmed Salmon
Freedom Plaza initiates new award
By TBO.COM | Staff Published: January 16, 2013 Updated: January 16, 2013 - 12:00 AM
On Feb. 1 Freedom Plaza will host another Wear Red Day, joining the national effort to call attention to the prevalence of heart disease in women. As in last year's similar event, there will be a guest speaker, music, socializing, prize drawings and appropriate refreshments.
Last year's event also introduced an additional element to the concept of "heart," one referring to the nonphysical aspect of the word, its emotional connotations. Rationalizing that good deeds start "in the heart" with an impulse to perform an act of kindness without thought of recognition or reward, we sought out a resident who demonstrated that attribute.
With so many Good Samaritans at Freedom Plaza, the task was not easy. Eventually, we selected and at the Wear Red Day event publicly recognized Shirley Dawley for her heartwarming act. This is how it came about:
Borrowing both title and concept from the movie, "The Bucket List," Freedom conducted its own bucket list project. Residents were invited to submit their fondest, yet unfulfilled, wish for consideration.
The bucket filled fast. Some wishes were simple and uncomplicated, others more involved. One wish, however, was unique in that it was totally unselfish.
Shirley wished that Freedom Plaza pay for the Ruskin United Methodist Church's youth group to visit the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry. Such a wish proved irresistible and arrangements were made for the group to not only tour MOSI but be treated to a pizza party on the premises. Shirley happily hosted the excursion.
This year, nomination forms have been sent to all Freedom Plaza residents requesting their suggestion for a 2013 From the Heart award recipient. The winner will be feted at the forthcoming Feb. 1 affair and presented with our first From the Heart trophy.
We are indebted to Shirley Dawley for her generous, kind-hearted act, which inspired the award and motivates all of us to "love our neighbor as ourselves."
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Freedom House assesses Serbia as “free country”
Source: Tanjug
WASHINGTON -- Freedom House NGO has given Serbia a status of a free country in its annual Freedom in the World 2012 report.
Countries of the region have been categorized as free and partly free countries. Serbia is in a group of free countries that have political competition, respect civil rights and freedoms and have independent media.
When it comes to the region, aside from Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro have also been given a status of free countries.
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, which was rated separately from Serbia, are classified as partly free due to limited respect of political rights and civil freedoms. They are also plagued by corruption, lack of the rule of law, frequent ethnic and religious conflicts and their political scenes are dominated by a single party despite a certain level of parallelism.
Democracy around the world was in decline in 2012 for the seventh year in a row.
The Freedom House non-governmental organization found 90 countries now enjoyed full freedom, up from 87 nations in 2011, but 27 places saw new restrictions on rights of assembly, expression and the media.
Some three billion people, or 43 percent of the global population, enjoyed full political rights and civil liberties, while 1.6 billion resided in partly free countries, where there is only limited respect for freedoms in place, AFP has reported.
Around 34 percent of the world's population, or 2.3 billion people, however live in countries deemed to be not free.
Russia, Iran and Venezuela were singled out by the report.
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