Freedom Hold off Late Rally and Sweep

September 1, 2013 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom Washington,PA-The Florence Freedom built an early 5-0 lead and had to hold off a late rally by the Washington Wild Things for a 7-5 win Sunday night at Consol Energy Park.

The Freedom posted a five run second off Washington starter Dayne Quist(8-4). Pablo Bermudez and Aljay Davis produced back to back RBI singles. Kyle Bluestein also hit a three run homerun. It was Bluestein's third homerun of the year and his second on the six game road trip.

Rookie right hander Casey Henn(5-0) stayed undefeated as he pitched seven innings allowing six hits on three runs with a career high eight strikeouts. Two of the three runs he allowed were solo homeruns.

Henn had a no hitter through the first four innings. Stewart Ijames hit his fifteenth homer of the year against Henn in the fifth breaking up the no hitter and shutout. Scott Kalamar also added an RBI single in the inning making it 5-2.

Jim Jacquot doubled to right center in the sixth scoring Byron Wiley who also doubled extending the Freedom lead to 6-2. David Harris launched his fourteenth homer of the year in the eighth giving the Freedom a 7-2 lead.

Washington chipped away late in the game. Mario Mercedes homered off Henn to lead off the bottom of the eighth brining the score to 7-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Mark Samuelson recorded an infield RBI single against Freedom reliever Jordan Conley cutting the deficit to 7-4.

After the Wild Things loaded the bases with one out, the Freedom called for closer Jorge Marban. He struck out Kalamar and then walked AJ Nunziato on a 3-2 pitch forcing home Samuelson making it 7-5.

Marban though buckled down though and struck out Nick Boggan to end the game. The Wild Things left the bases loaded. Marban registered his twenty sixth save of the season.

The Freedom completed a 5-1 road trip and still lead the final wild card spot with just three games left in the season.

Originally posted here:

Freedom Hold off Late Rally and Sweep

Freedom's Tanis Named League's MVP

September 1, 2013 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom FLORENCE, KY - The Florence Freedom are pleased to announce third baseman Jacob Tanis has been named as the Frontier League's Most Valuable Player.

Tanis, 24, was elected the Morgan Burk Award winner as the MVP by managers, coaches, general managers and members of the league's media. Through 91 games this season, the Peachtree, Georgia native is fourth in the league with 17 home runs, and leads the league with 72 RBIs.

"We're so excited to honor Jacob as the MVP," Freedom manager Fran Riordan said. "He has been such a productive player for us both offensively and defensively. He's a great teammate and one of the most professional young men I've ever had the privilege to manage."

Tanis, in his first season with the Freedom, was also recognized on the league's post-season all-star team as the top third baseman. He wins these honors after not making the Frontier League's mid-season classic as an all-star.

"I think this speaks to how clutch he's been to our team down the stretch," Freedom General Manager Josh Anderson said. "He's proven that he's the guy you want at the plate when the chips are down."

The Freedom enter Sunday's action in Washington, Pennsylvania with a record of 51-41 and leading for the Frontier League's final wild card playoff spot by one game over the Gateway Grizzlies.

The Freedom are trying to make it back-to-back seasons with a post-season run. In 2012, the Freedom were league runners-up to the Southern Illinois Miners as the team fell 3-1 in the championship series.

Should Tanis and the Freedom clinch another playoff berth, the most likely scenario for the team to play it's first home game would be Tuesday, September 10 at 6:35pm at University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium.

The team will have the opportunity to clinch their playoff berth at home this week when the team returns home for it's final three regular season games Tuesday though Thursday against the Windy City Thunderbolts.

The Freedom are members of the independent professional Frontier League and play all home games at UCMC Stadium, located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, Kentucky. Playoff reserved ticket vouchers are currently on sale for only $8. The Freedom may be reached at 859-594-HITS (4487).

Read the original post:

Freedom's Tanis Named League's MVP

Freedom Park: Telling the real African story

Freedom Park: Telling the real African story

But this is not another apartheid museum. Nor is it the Hector Peterson Museum, or the Sharpville or Boipatong Monument. It is not Rhobben Island Museum, or the Kliptown Monument. It is much deeper. It goes back 3.6 billion years in history to tell an African story.//hapo attempts to tell an African story that has been distorted, suppressed and silenced. The story is divided into seven epochs.1.Earth - dealing with the creation of the universe. 2. Ancestors - exploring the concept of ancestors from physical to spiritual perspectives. 3. Peopling - showcasing Africa's pre-conquest societies from Timbuktu to Mapungubwe. 4. Resistance and Colonisation - recounting the major historical forces that gave birth to modern South Africa. 5. Industrialisation and Ubarnisation - dealing with exploration of minerals and its impacts on our lives. 6. Nationalisation and Struggle - stories from the tyrannical rule of colonisation and apartheid to a new South Africa.

Touring //hapo after a short welcome reception, which involves beating of drums and singing, and before a presentation on the first epoch, a quote from the opening of Thabo Mbeki's monumental speech, "I am an African," a speech which I think inspired Freedom Park, is plastered on the wall: "I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land."

We are told that this speech actually informs all what //hapo is. I was there as a guest of South African Tourism, and I made a mental note to re-read the speech. We were then taken through the African story of creation of the universe. In the beginning, the story begins, there was uMvelingaqangi (the Creator). Then came the figure of uNomkhubulwane (the female water God). With uNomkhubulwane by his side, uMvelingaqangi became inspired and created first the rock, then fire, followed by water. Rock, fire and water mixed and crashed, and from the eruption was formed the endlessness universe. From the fire came the sun, and in a dark night sky, the moon and the stars. Earth came from the rock while water produced the oceans and the rivers. After Water and Earth, life began. Humans came later from the reeds and multiplied. There is no mention of Genesis or Adam and Eve in this account.

And this is how death came into being. uMvelingaqangi instructed the chameleon to send a message that the people would live on earth forever. But the chameleon stopped on the way to eat some berries and took long to arrive. This got the Creator angry. He then sent the lizard to tell people that they would instead die. The lithe lizard moved fast and delivered the message of death to the people before the chameleon, busy with berries, could reach the destination. It is said when chameleon finally arrived, people rejected his message of eternal life as they felt he had acted irresponsibly by putting personal appetite above duty. I am astonished that this story having been told to us innumerable times over, most people have stuck to the Bible version of death. I remember one outing with the boys in the bush when went on a killing spree of both chameleons and lizards after hearing this story.Said the curator of Freedom Park ,Sipho Mdanda: "We don't just state the previously distorted facts. //hapo is a living interpretive centre, one with which every South African will identify personally." But when we left //hapo for the next part of the park, my fascination was with its presentation of African (black) indigenous knowledge. There is a feeling that //hapo was meant to also crush the egos of those who claimed they were 'a superior God's chosen race'.

The next part is the Mveladzo, a Tshivenda word meaning spiral paths. The paths link all the park elements and are meant to take visitors on a "contemplative and painstaking hike symbolising the tough journey that South Africa went through". Visitors are then allowed rest at Uistpanplek, an Afrikaans word meaning resting place. The main memorial is named S'khumbuto (siSwati for memorial) and is a testimony to eight conflicts that have shaped the South Africa of today. These are Pre-Colonial Wars, Slavery, Genocide, Wars of Resistance, the South African War (formerly known as Anglo-Boer War), The First and the Second World War and the Struggle for Liberation. Skhumbuto comprises eight elements, each one with its own symbolism and meaning, namely, Wall of Names (with over 75,000 names of peopled that died in all South African conflicts), Amphitheatre, Sanctuary, Eternal Flame (that pays tribute to the unsung heroes and heroines who died without their names being recorded in history), Reeds, President's Tree (fittingly planted by Thabo Mbeki), Moshate (VIP suite) and Gallery of Leaders.

The Gallery of Leaders is said to showcase those leaders whose contributions stand out in human memory and history. It aims to inspire visitors to emulate the sacrificial and heroic lives of these commemorated leaders. The leaders that Freedom Park urges us to emulate as role models are Argentina's Che Guavara, Angola 's Argostinho Neto, Ghana's Kwame Nkurumah, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere and South Africans, O. R. Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Lillian Ngoyi and Helen Joseph, the latter two being the only women in the gallery.The fifth major element of Freedom Park is Isivivane (Nguni word for scared space). This is the spiritual resting place for those who played a part in the freedom and liberation of South Africa. Isivivane has four key components; Lesaka and its boulders, Lekgotla, water and trees called Umlahlankosi.

Prior to the opening of the park, cleansing and healing and Return of Spirits ceremonies were performed throughout the areas of conflict in South Africa and internationally. We hear that soil from these conflict areas was brought to Lesaka as part of laying the spirits to rest. Each of the nine South African provinces provided a boulder from a place of importance to construct Lesaka. These nine boulders plus two others representing South Africa's national government and the international community form the circular face of Lesaka.I removed my shoes, in accordance with the requirement for visitors who enter Isivivane to pay homage to thousands of 'my people' who perished in these conflicts. I circled around Lesaka touching each boulder and silently uttering salutations to the thousands of spirits resting here.And this is how we do it in Africa. Mbeki observed in 1996: "Today, as a country, we keep an audible silence about these ancestors of the generations that live, fearful to admit the horror of a former deed, seeking to obliterate from our memories a cruel occurrence which, in its remembering, should teach us not and never to be inhuman again." Like the water bowels that our society keeps at the entrance of homesteads during funerals, water points are stationed at the exit of Isivivane for visitors to wash their hands when leaving this sacred place. I obliged accordingly and felt good to be African, now that there is a place where an African story is told by an African voice.

Originally posted here:

Freedom Park: Telling the real African story

City freedom plans for Van Morrison

3 September 2013 Last updated at 03:27 ET

Plans to give singer Van Morrison the freedom of Belfast have moved a step closer.

A proposal to grant the honour to the 68-year-old passed without comment during a meeting of the city council.

Members are expected to approve the move during a specially-convened sitting later this month.

Speaking afterwards, the DUP's Gavin Robinson said the east Belfast musician had made an outstanding contribution to civic life.

He said: "Van Morrison has projected a positive image for the city of Belfast through difficult decades with outstanding musical creativity."

I can think of no better individual, who poetically paints a majestic vision of the area I live, love and have the privilege to represent, to receive the honour of freedom

Mr Robinson nominated Morrison for the accolade - the highest a council can bestow.

In his nomination letter, Mr Robinson said: "I can think of no better individual, who poetically paints a majestic vision of the area I live, love and have the privilege to represent, to receive the honour of freedom.

"From humble beginnings, living just behind 'the bright side of the road', Van has rightly achieved international acclaim."

See the original post here:

City freedom plans for Van Morrison

Freedom Foods sees continued growth

September 2, 2013 Sophie Langley

Australian food manufacturer Freedom Foods has announced an Operating EBDITA of $11.6 million for the 2013 financial year, an increase of 113 per cent on the previous year.

Freedom Foods said the results reflected increased sales and profitability in the Freedom Foods brand, consolidation of Pactum Australia for 12 months and a contribution from Specialty Seafood.

Operating Pre-tax Profit was $7.5 million for the year to 30 June 2013, reflecting a 117 per cent increase on the previous corresponding 12 month period.

The Company said the reported Net Profit of $13.7 million included non-operating after tax profit of $8 million from the sale of 40 million shares in dairy company A2 Corporation (A2C), employee share option expense of $246,000 (after tax), bad debts provision of $205,000 (after tax) and resolution of a long term employee claim of $140,000 (after tax). Freedom Foods said it would utilise future income tax benefits to reduce cash tax payable on the sale of the A2C shareholding.

Freedom Foods brand

The Freedom Foods business unit continued to build momentum, delivering overall sales growth of 29 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period.

The Company said it drove the Freedom branded portfolio with a focus on promotional price points, new product innovation and increased merchandising in major retailers and independent channels to improve distribution and stock weights. As a result, Freedom Foods sold 1 million cereal cases, equal to volume growth of 50 per cent and gross sales growth of 41 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period, according to the Company.

Freedom Foods said it continued to focus on leveraging its Cereal base into breakfast snack alternatives, as well as meeting demand for nut free snacks, with growth in volumes of 127 per cent, albeit from a small base.

According to the Company, dairy alternative beverage sales (soy, rice and almond) continued the trend from the 2012 financial year with volume growth of 14 per cent and sales growth of 24 per cent compared to the previous corresponding period. Freedom Foods said the growth reflected increased market share of Australias Own Organic and Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Milk brands.

Read the original:

Freedom Foods sees continued growth

Freedom, Responsibility (1)

Our father, God, has also given us the invaluable gift of freedom. By the manner in which we are naturally made up, we are free; and by natural law, coming from God, no one should be able to take that freedom away from us.

It should come as no surprise that we all yearn for freedom. Especially when we are repressed, and our freedom is being violated, that yearning becomes even more intense, and we are prepared to put up with anything in order to regain and re-enjoy our freedom.

As we get on with our life's journey, much of what we do is to expand our options through the exercise of our very fundamental right to be free: free to choose between those options; and free to decide and act on the basis of the options we have chosen. Indeed, the pursuit of our personal mission should be marked by the use of the freedom with which we have been gifted.

We are free to be lazy or diligent in the use of our freedom, and in the tapping of the opportunities that are open to us - precisely opportunities broadened and widened by the life-long use of our reason. We can choose to let life pass idly by, with little effort on our part as well as with plenty of distractions and passing fancies. Or we can choose to focus all our attention and direct all our energies towards achieving our life's end, as articulated in our personal mission.

We are free to expand our options precisely by lifelong study and by the continuous use of our reason. The more we study and the more ably we equip ourselves with knowledge, skills, expertise, and proper attitudes, the more options open up to us at work and in service of others. The higher up we go, in part because of our training and diligent use of our time and of the opportunities within our reach, the more critical our work can be for the greater welfare of a greater number of people.

We are then free to choose among the many more options that become available to us, and among the many strategic initiatives we can pursue within those options we have chosen. Our personal mission statement guides us in making these critical choices: we pick those options that can more easily and speedily transform us; and we pick those initiatives that enable us to make the most progress, efficiently and effectively, towards putting flesh and substance to the options we have chosen.

Freedom to commit to use the talents and opportunities given to each of us; freedom to broaden and widen the options and opportunities to show our love for God in the work we do and in the service we render to others; and freedom to pick specific initiatives in exploiting those options: freedom, and more freedom, indeed, freedom everywhere!

The use of our freedom, however, is in service of our achieving our central aim in life, which is to be able to fulfil our personal mission. The exercise of our freedom is directed towards ensuring that at life's end we shall have transformed ourselves in line with what we articulated in our personal mission statement.

This is still another reminder that having a clear personal mission to which we commit our life of work and service to others provides a direction to all the decisions and actions we choose to take. Moreover, we are also reminded that freedom is ours to use: it has to be directed towards the accomplishment of our life's mission.

See the original post:

Freedom, Responsibility (1)

William H. Macy and Shameless Costars Search for Freedom on Their Harleys

By Sheila Cosgrove Baylis

09/03/2013 at 11:30 AM EDT

William H. Macy and his Shameless costars Justin Chatwin and Steve Howey took off on a 900-mile motorcycle ride from Los Angeles to Aspen in search of freedom, a quest that was inspired in part by Macy's wife, Felicity Huffman, who asked him to describe his love for his Harley Davidson.

"Felicity was saying one time, 'Well what is it? You don't like to ride in a car, how come the motorcycle, which is a lot more uncomfortable, how come that's so great?' " he told PEOPLE exclusively. "It's freedom, it's such freedom. And she said, 'Well there's the road, what do you mean by freedom?' So that was the kickoff point."

Macy, 63, exclusively released to PEOPLE the video of his adventure with his castmates, who helped him to search the open road last summer for a better understanding of the elusive concept of freedom. They hoped to define it for themselves and to learn what it meant to those whom they encountered along the way.

Macy explained that while they weren't able to pin down a definition, they found a deep connection with one another. "I'm afraid [freedom is] relative to each person and that's what we found out, but boy, there sure is a feeling that the three of us shared when you're on the road," he said.

"There's a fraternity, a confraternity, a tribe, if you will, of bikers," he said. "Truthfully, I don't spend that much time in the company of men. I mostly go to work and have my family. And so I find it so wonderful and refreshing and non-threatening too, because we all ... got something in common, which is the road, which is the bikes."

The trio rode their Harleys up to eight or nine hours a day, and Macy admitted that the long rides could be a pain in the you-know-where.

"As you're riding along you go over on your right cheek until that starts to hurt and then you'd go on your left cheek," he said, somewhat kiddingly.

Macy's love affair with Harleys began while he was filming Wild Hogs. "I just loved it and loved the guys that I rode with, John Travolta and all those guys, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence."

Go here to read the rest:

William H. Macy and Shameless Costars Search for Freedom on Their Harleys

Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.1 – Video


Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.1
A security expert, Olatunbosun Abolarinwa on Tuesday said the recent prison break which led to the release of 175 inmates from the Ondo medium security prison is a wake-up call to the Nigeria...

By: channelsweb

Here is the original post:

Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.1 - Video

Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.2 – Video


Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.2
A security expert, Olatunbosun Abolarinwa on Tuesday said the recent prison break which led to the release of 175 inmates from the Ondo medium security prison is a wake-up call to the Nigeria...

By: channelsweb

Here is the original post:

Jail Break Not Unusual, Inmates Always Want Freedom, Expert Tells Prison Authority Pt.2 - Video

MCPIF on freedom of expression and speech

There is an ongoing debate on rights and freedom of speech and expression in the Internet age. For the Philippines, it began with the CyberCrime Prevention Act of 2012, with the inclusion of Online Libel provisions. It continued with the petitions before the Supreme Court. It goes on today with Nancy Binays e-violence bill, and the Santiago-Conjungco Magna Carta on Philippine Internet Freedom (MCPIF).

The Presidents argument in the inclusion of online libel in the Cybercrime Prevention Act is sound. We have rights, but it shouldnt be abused. Thats not whats wrong with the Cybercrime law. Whats wrong about it is how it goes about it.

The same tone exists with Nancy Binays e-violence bill. It seeks to prevent electronic attacks. The Binay argument is based on what the senator experienced during the campaign. Never mind that the bill she wishes to file doesnt actually protect her. Never mind that its inclusion into the Violence Against Women and Children, muddles VAWC. Never mind that e-violence goes about solving the purported protection for women, in the same way the cybercrime law does. To put it simply, a misnomer.

A meme, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. A meme is a shortening of the Greek word, mimeme, and the word meme was first coined by Richard Dawkins. And an Internet meme is of course speech, and expression spreading from social networks, in email, as hashtags, video, photos, and so on. Even as viral marketing. It was meant to be shared. Meant to be viewed. Memes have been in existence since the dawn of the Internet.

Internet meme in the political context has taken over what political cartoons used to be. Public figures and public personas are the favorite targets of meme. President Aquino is a target. And his successor would be too. Just ask many Internet sites, and Facebook pages that love to attack the president.

Sometimes the meme is totally baseless, intellectually dishonest and at times, propaganda and opinion. The deputy press secretary, Abigail Valte, for example has been a victim of meme attacks. Her face, embedded with words she didnt actually say. Perhaps, it is the cognitive bias built by an echo chamber that exist only to validate their world view.

During the 2013 Senatorial campaign, Nancy Binay has been a victim of memes. A favorite target partly because she refused to engaged the online world, and partly because the online community is hardly her demographic. And so, apparently her ego bruised by the recent campaign.

President Aquino, Nancy Binay and Abigail Valte share the same problem. They are publicly attacked. Now, it can be argued that all three are public figures. Do they deserve it? Whether the attacks had basis or not, is beside the point. Every public figure should be ready to have their reputations and image disfigured because we live in a democracy that doesnt place unnecessary demand of intelligence to be heard. So the bar of libel and the bar of tolerance ought to be set higher than the ordinary citizen. It can be argued that as public officials ought to have thicker hides. it can also and rightly argued that sometimes public opinion can take it a bit far, and below the belt.

Would an amendment on Violence against women help protect Deputy Press Secretary Valte or Senator Nancy Binay? The quick answer is: No because the matter is not a domestic issue because the Violence against women and children is focused on domestic violence so the proposed e-violence bill doesnt work for them. Whats more, the leveling of playing field that is the Internet doesnt give any sex more power or less power on the Internet. While it is true, that women are far more easy targets in the real world, on a purely statistic basis, there are 47% male users and 53% female Facebook users in Philippines, compared to 49% and 51% in United Kingdom and 49% and 51% in France.

More:

MCPIF on freedom of expression and speech

Send Former Freedom Player to MLB All-Star Game

July 7, 2013 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom FLORENCE, KY - Former Florence Freedom pitcher Steve Delabar, now of the Toronto Blue Jays, needs the fans of his former team's help.

Announced on Saturday, Delebar is among five finalist in the American League Final Vote to join his peers in New York for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.

Fans can vote for Delabar to send the former Freedom right-hander to the mid-summer classic at MLB.com.

Delabar pitched for the Freedom briefly during the 2008 season, appearing four times and compiling a 2.84 ERA. He was later signed that year by the San Diego Padres organization and was sent to low-A in the Midwest League.

In 2009, Delabar thought his baseball career was over. His story to the big leagues is fascinating.

Once thought done after having screws inserted into a surgically repaired throwing elbow, Delabar went through a revolutionary arm strengthening program called Velocity Plus (offered now by the Freedom). Delabar went from coaching high school baseball, to the major leagues after clocking in at 96 mph.

Before the strength training and surgery, the highest he had hit was 92 mph.

The Freedom urge local Greater Cincinnati fans to keep his great story going. Vote Delabar for the American League Final Vote!

The Freedom are members of the professional Independent Frontier League and play all home games at University of Cincinnati Medial Center Stadium, located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, Kentucky. Check out the Freedom's 2013 schedule at FlorenceFreedom.com.

Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board... Digg this story Add to Del.icio.us

Read the original post:

Send Former Freedom Player to MLB All-Star Game