1. Freedom

Category Archives: Freedom

Freedom, Nazareth, Becahi winners in LVC Softball "Play Day" at Pates Park

Posted on by

4:59 p.m. EDT, April 13, 2013

Freedom senior Emily Gundrum tossed a two-hitter and struck out 11 and freshman Alexis Szaro had the game-winning single in the top of the seventh as the Patriots edged Parkland 1-0 in the first game of three at Pates Park on Saturday, part of the Lehigh Valley Conference Service Electric Don Hunt Memorial "Play Day."

Sam Cabrera started the top of the seventh with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt, moved to third on a Carly Deichman single and scored on Szaro's hit throught the right side.

A walk and a hit batsman gave the Trojans a chance in the bottom of the seventh, but Rachel Smerdon's sacrifice bunt attempt was caught by Szaro at third base and turned into a double play.

Freedom improved to 8-1, while Parkland fell to 7-2. The game did not count in the LVC standings.

In another "Play Day" game, this one at Parkland, Liberty defeated Dieruff 13-2.

Both teams are 4-1 in league play.

Freedom 000 000 1 -- 1 6 0

Parkland 000 000 0 -- 0 2 0

Gundrum and Kline; Rentzheimer and Augustus.

Read the original here:

Freedom, Nazareth, Becahi winners in LVC Softball "Play Day" at Pates Park

Canada Committed to Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom

Posted on by

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 14, 2013) - Protecting and promoting the rights of vulnerable groups is a priority for Canada. The Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation, affirmed this priority and delivered remarks today at an event on religious freedom hosted by One Free World International, an international human rights organization.

"Canada is committed to protecting and promoting religious freedom and has made this an important part of our foreign policy and international development work," said Minister Fantino. "The reality is that excluded groups, including religious minorities, are often the most vulnerable in society."

Canada supports various international commissions and national institutions that protect and promote human rights, including the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Peru's Office of the Ombudsman, and the Organization of American States. Canada also works with governments and civil society organizations to protect and promote the human rights of the most vulnerable and support democratic development.

Through the efforts of the newly established Office of Religious Freedom, and Canada's network of missions abroad, Canada will continue to work with international partners to promote respect for human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief, as well as advance Canadian values of diversity and tolerance around the world.

"There is no right more fundamental to human dignity and to truly free and inclusive societies than freedom of religion. With the creation of the Office of Religious Freedom, the world is looking to Canada as a leader in the promotion of minority rights," said Rev. Majed El Shafie, President and Founder of One Free World International. "Events such as this one are critical to encourage both the Canadian government and the Canadian public not to 'look the other way' when a minority is denied the most basic human rights. When one minority community is persecuted, we are all diminished."

Freedom of religion is enshrined in a number of key international human rights instruments, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Economic Action Plan 2013 reaffirms Canada's commitment to international development assistance including support for freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As announced in EAP2013, the Harper Government will enshrine the responsibilities of the Minister and the priority of international development and humanitarian assistance, for the first time ever, into law. The new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development will enhance coordination of international assistance with broader Canadian values and objectives.

For more information, please visit Canada's Office of Religious Freedom.

Read the original post:

Canada Committed to Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom

Hail, Hail, Freedom in Cyprus: Turning on Immigrants Amid Crisis – Op-Docs – Video

Posted on by


Hail, Hail, Freedom in Cyprus: Turning on Immigrants Amid Crisis - Op-Docs
On the island of Cyprus, the filmmaker Iva Radivojevic explores how the economic crisis has contributed to a rise in hostility toward immigrants. Related art...

By: TheNewYorkTimes

Read the original post:

Hail, Hail, Freedom in Cyprus: Turning on Immigrants Amid Crisis - Op-Docs - Video

Oxnard's Freedom House marks 15 years helping men through recovery

Posted on by

For 15 years Freedom House has lived up to its name.

The large Victorian home at 460 South F. St. in Oxnard has served as refuge for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

Director Jeff Simpson was a former client at the home when it was a state-licensed rehabilitation facility under the name Primary Purpose, which declared bankruptcy in 1995. The location has served its residents for nearly 35 year.

Now a sober living home, Freedom House has provided a haven for hundreds of men eager to free themselves from alcohol and drug dependency.

There were people who didnt think this would last, Simpson said.

Simpson started the program in 1998, believing the strength God gave him to recover from his own addiction would help him help others.

It wasnt easy at the beginning, said Simpson, who was in the restaurant business for more than 20 years but has no formal business education.

Simpson worked hard to get recognition from jail officials, probation officers, mental health workers and others.

The facility can accommodate 21 men in the main house and seven more in a house on the back of the property, set aside for graduates who have been with the program for more than six months.

Most of the men are on parole for alcohol- and drug-related offenses and need help with the fundamentals of living, Simpson said. Residents must complete a 60 to 90 day program but some have stayed for three years.

Originally posted here:

Oxnard's Freedom House marks 15 years helping men through recovery

Press freedom and its abuses

Posted on by

Editorial Desk

The Daily Star

Publication Date : 13-04-2013

There is no question that the Bangla Amar Desh newspaper and its editor have, over time, abused press freedom by publishing unverified and sometimes maliciousreports and provocative comments. At times, the paper seems out todeliberately arouse religious fury in Bangladesh through false or exaggerated reports with the avowed purpose of inciting violence. Much of its recent reporting on bloggers, for instance,was highly exaggerated and hateful,enveloped inthe so-called atheism controversy.While professing love for religion, it did not hesitate to falsifying news or photos, without a thought as to whether this was right.

Having said all the above, we arestill concerned that the editor has now been arrested, and Amar Desh's printing press put under police control. We recall that it is not the first time that this paper and its editor have been on the receiving end of government action.

Wherever there is freedom, there are those who abuse it. But the answer cannot be to curtail it. Abusing press freedom is not an uncommon thing in a democracy, and ways to handle such cases are also well known. We believe that the abuses of press freedomthat Amar Desh indulged in should, first of all,have been handled through appropriate legal action, namely going to the Press Council, issuing legal notices, filing of cases for false reporting, among other avenues.

Our worry is further compounded by the specific charges that have been brought against the editor. The publication of the text of the said Skype conversation was already in the public domain. The Economist had already published it and it was widely available inside the country via the Internet. We are of the opinion that reproduction of that text was in public interest and the cause of proper trial of the war criminals were better served by exposing the incident. This gave the Tribunal an opportunity to correct itself, which it did, before the trial went to the appeal process.

As for the other two charges against Mahmudur Rahmanregarding inciting violence during shutdowns and obstructing the police in carrying outtheir duties- in both instances, his name was not on the originalFirst InformationReports, and therefore the accusationspatently lack credibility, and appear meant only to harass him.

Given the above circumstances, we are forced to stand in opposition of the governments move as one meant to stifle a critical voice, which cannot be a healthy practice for any country or people valuingfreedom of press. Just as we take a firm position in support of freedom of the press we also would like to caution all against abuse of this freedom which we have gained through decades of struggle, both on the part of the general public as well as the journalist community.

See the original post:

Press freedom and its abuses

Report: Arizona trails 10 states in overall freedom

Posted on by

WASHINGTON -- Arizona has a reputation as a state full of mavericks and independent thinkers, but a couple of academics have bad news for state residents.

We're No. 11.

The George Mason University report, Freedom in the 50 States, ranked Arizona 11th in the nation on a scorecard of personal and economic freedoms that takes into account everything from tax burden to seatbelt laws - to the freedom to party unfettered.

It may have been that bachelor-party ranking - Arizona finished 49th in the category that measured alcohol, prostitution and marijuana laws - that brought the state's overall standing down.

"We happily concede that different people value aspects of freedom differently," the report's authors wrote, by way of explaining why they break freedom into 40 different areas based on 200 types of policy.

The report, the third produced by George Mason's Mercatus Center, measured overall freedom by balancing tax policy and regulation - high points for Arizona - against personal freedoms, where Arizona lost ground.

Arizona was No. 1 for gun-control freedom, second for educational choice and 15th for its tax burden. The report made fiscal and regulatory policies count for almost 70 percent of the overall grade, which is why Arizona did well. The state moved up 12 places in the standings from the last report, in 2009.

Jason Sorens, a political science professor at State University of New York at Buffalo and one of the authors of the report, conceded that the final score is not a perfect measure of individual freedom. What they were trying for was an index that reflects the average American's idea of freedom, he said, an almost-impossible goal.

"Some people might be happy to pay taxes as long as everyone else is," Sorens said of the relative importance the report placed on freedom from taxation, for example.

The goal, Sorens said, is to "get people to think about what freedom means to them."

Read this article:

Report: Arizona trails 10 states in overall freedom

PAKISTAN: Does the country enjoy freedom of expression?

Posted on by

PAKISTAN: Does the country enjoy freedom of expression to any extent?

Baseer Naveed

Freedom of expression is today at its lowest in the history of the country. The people of the country have, in fact, never enjoyed freedom of expression. However, during the last decade or so the governments have claimed that they have given freedom of expression to the media. This is not borne out by the number of journalists that have been killed, tortured or struggled as victims of unemployment due to working to the dictates of their conscience and not to the self-censorship the government and media houses would like to see. A point of confusion is how the people compare the freedom of expression with the freedom of the media houses. The two are completely difference and far distant from each other.

In fact, much of the self-censorship comes from the media houses themselves as they do not wish to draw the ire of the government, judiciary, the armed forces and more so, that of the Muslim fundamentalists. Sadly the voices that really need to be heard, those of the peasant farmers and labourers in the industrial areas are ignored and therefore silenced by the media whose sole purpose is to gain advertising revenue. It is no longer a secret that the media houses are 'driven' by the armed forces through their Inter Services Public Relations office. The judiciary, which has always been a poodle of the armed forces, neither of which has never really served the nation in its history, have both been given the status of a sacred cow.

One point of proof that freedom of expression is absent in the country is the fact that the media houses seldom allow any real criticism of the military, Muslim militants or religious extremists.

One example is as to how the state institutions and media houses have curbed free speech. The restriction on the freedom of expression may be dated back to the very creation of the country. Pakistan was created on the 14th August 1947 and the father of the nation gave his inaugural speech three days earlier on the 11th August. It is interesting to note that the speech of the Governor General-to-be, Mr. Jinnah, was itself censored. The interesting point was that only those portions were censored which were purely secular in their nature where Mr. Jinnah said that you are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. He further said now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.

Two years after the creation of Pakistan the so-called legislators passed a resolution entitled the Objective Resolution of Pakistan. In this resolution it was declared that sovereignty lay with Allah. This later became part of the constitution and denied the people the right to democracy, thereby creating the guidelines on the restrictions for the freedom of expression and the freedom to practice the religion of your choice. The country was declared a theocratic society where only Islam can prevail and no one else had any rights, the citizens were divided into Muslims and non Muslims. A clear demarcation was made between the majority and the minority, so all rights were recognized for Muslims and those who were not Muslim had no rights. The concept of equality for various sections of the society was supposed to be determined on this basis.

Again through the 1973 constitution, which was the first time anything was passed unanimously, the state took the responsibility to decide who is Muslim and who is not by making the fourth amendment in the constitution where the Ahmadis were declared as non-Muslim. Through this amendment state has the power to declare who is Muslim, strengthened the pressure groups, the Muslim fundamentalists, to take the responsibility of declaring Muslims and non Muslims.

The objective resolution was made part of the pre-amble of the constitution. But during the military regime of General Zia ul Haq the Objective Resolution was made as the part of the constitution. Those rights of minorities which were given in the original Objective Resolution were also deleted. General Zia has made three famous laws, the Blasphemy laws by inserting clause B and C, Qisas and Diyat, through which the evidence from women denied and the Had ordinance. So the rights of women and religious minority groups were denied.

This has resulted in self censorship of the media as the rules and regulations concerning the blasphemy laws are not being adhered to. These are that the arresting and investigating officer must be of the rank of Superintendent of Police. However, people are being arrested by the mob and if they are lucky, handed over alive to any police officer who happens to be present.

Read this article:

PAKISTAN: Does the country enjoy freedom of expression?

EDITORIAL: Press freedom and its abuses

Posted on by

Dhaka (The Daily Star/ANN) - There is no question that the Bangla Amar Desh newspaper and its editor have, over time, abused press freedom by publishing unverified and sometimes malicious reports and provocative comments. At times, the paper seems out to deliberately arouse religious fury in Bangladesh through false or exaggerated reports with the avowed purpose of inciting violence. Much of its recent reporting on bloggers, for instance, was highly exaggerated and hateful, enveloped in the so-called "atheism" controversy. While professing love for religion, it did not hesitate to falsifying news or photos, without a thought as to whether this was right.

Having said all the above, we are still concerned that the editor has now been arrested, and Amar Desh's printing press put under police control. We recall that it is not the first time that this paper and its editor have been on the receiving end of government action.

Wherever there is freedom, there are those who abuse it. But the answer cannot be to curtail it. Abusing press freedom is not an uncommon thing in a democracy, and ways to handle such cases are also well known. We believe that the abuses of press freedom that Amar Desh indulged in should, first of all, have been handled through appropriate legal action, namely going to the Press Council, issuing legal notices, filing of cases for false reporting, among other avenues.

Our worry is further compounded by the specific charges that have been brought against the editor. The publication of the text of the said "Skype conversation" was already in the public domain. The Economist had already published it and it was widely available inside the country via the Internet. We are of the opinion that reproduction of that text was in public interest and the cause of proper trial of the war criminals were better served by exposing the incident. This gave the Tribunal an opportunity to correct itself, which it did, before the trial went to the appeal process.

As for the other two charges against Mahmudur Rahman regarding inciting violence during shutdowns and obstructing the police in carrying out their duties - in both instances, his name was not on the original First Information Reports, and therefore the accusations patently lack credibility, and appear meant only to harass him.

Given the above circumstances, we are forced to stand in opposition of the government's move as one meant to stifle a critical voice, which cannot be a healthy practice for any country or people valuing freedom of press. Just as we take a firm position in support of freedom of the press we also would like to caution all against abuse of this freedom which we have gained through decades of struggle, both on the part of the general public as well as the journalist community.

Go here to read the rest:

EDITORIAL: Press freedom and its abuses

Land of the free? Report says Arizona trails 10 states in overall freedom

Posted on by

WASHINGTON Arizona has a reputation as a state full of mavericks and independent thinkers, but a couple of academics have bad news for state residents.

Were No. 11.

The George Mason University report, Freedom in the 50 States, ranked Arizona 11th in the nation on a scorecard of personal and economic freedoms that takes into account everything from tax burden to seatbelt laws to the freedom to party unfettered.

It may have been that bachelor-party ranking Arizona finished 49th in the category that measured alcohol, prostitution and marijuana laws that brought the states overall standing down.

We happily concede that different people value aspects of freedom differently, the reports authors wrote, by way of explaining why they break freedom into 40 different areas based on 200 types of policy.

The report, the third produced by George Masons Mercatus Center, measured overall freedom by balancing tax policy and regulation high points for Arizona against personal freedoms, where Arizona lost ground.

Arizona was No. 1 for gun-control freedom, second for educational choice and 15th for its tax burden. The report made fiscal and regulatory policies count for almost 70 percent of the overall grade, which is why Arizona did well. The state moved up 12 places in the standings from the last report, in 2009.

Jason Sorens, a political science professor at State University of New York at Buffalo and one of the authors of the report, conceded that the final score is not a perfect measure of individual freedom. What they were trying for was an index that reflects the average Americans idea of freedom, he said, an almost-impossible goal.

Some people might be happy to pay taxes as long as everyone else is, Sorens said of the relative importance the report placed on freedom from taxation, for example.

The goal, Sorens said, is to get people to think about what freedom means to them.

Originally posted here:

Land of the free? Report says Arizona trails 10 states in overall freedom

Freedom beats Parkland 1-0 in battle of one-loss softball teams

Posted on by

12:51 p.m. EDT, April 13, 2013

Freedom senior Emily Gundrum tossed a two-hitter and struck out 11 and freshman Alexis Szaro had the game-winning single in the top of the seventh as the Patriots edged Parkland 1-0 in the first game of three at Pates Park on Saturday, part of the Lehigh Valley Conference Service Electric Don Hunt Memorial "Play Day."

Sam Cabrera started the top of the seventh with a single, moved to second on a sac bunt, moved to third on a Carly Deichman single and scored on Szaro's hit throught the right side.

A walk and a hit batsman gave the Trojans a chance in the bottom of the seventh, but Rachel Smerdon's sacrifice bunt attempt was caught by Szaro at third base and turned into a double play.

Freedom improved to 8-1, while Parkland fell to 7-2. The game did not count in the LVC standings.

In another "Play Day" game, this one at Parkland, Liberty defeated Dieruff 13-2.

Both teams are 4-1 in league play.

Freedom 000 000 1 -- 1 6 0

Parkland 000 000 0 -- 0 2 0

Gundrum and Kline; Rentzheimer and Augustus.

Read this article:

Freedom beats Parkland 1-0 in battle of one-loss softball teams


  1. Freedom