Echaves: Academic freedom

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IT IS not surprising that students are dominant figures in the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. Often the biggest defenders of academic freedom and free speech in their campuses, joining or co-initiating pro-democracy protests in the streets and public squares merely extends these protesters commitment to the broader picture.

This, especially when pro-democracy groups insist Beijing has refused to honor the 1984 agreement between Britain and China, prior to the latters takeover.

Protesters stress that the agreement assured Hong Kong of a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs. Thus, it has its own legal system, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech.

Such autonomy, protesters say, should cover peoples freedom to elect their chief executive by universal suffrage. The direct elections will be in 2017.

But in August this year, Chinas hidden agenda became visible. No, the elections will not be a free-for-all, but rather from a short list of two or three candidates selected by a nominating committee.

And in wordplay characteristic of people irritated by mortals questioning its authority, its National Peoples Congress Standing Committee stressed that Hong Kong was not promised full, but just a high degree of autonomy.

Criticizing the unofficial referendum organized by Occupy Central, one of the protest groups, the same pro-Beijing spokesperson said that openly nominating candidates would create a chaotic society. Hmm what was that again, that everything looks yellow to a jaundiced eye?

Meantime, the ongoing protests from students and professors bring to mind this years publication of Versions of Academic Freedom: From Professionalism to Revolution by Stanley Fish.

Dissecting the concept, definition and practice of academic freedom in various campuses, the book contends that while the concept is jealously guarded by both students and professors, they themselves exhibit practices that either defend the breach of, or undermine, academic freedom.

Fish states that while emphasis before was on academic, the shift is now on freedom. Defining some schools of thought, he argues against the belief that teaching is a holy calling and that among its goals is to promote world peace.

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Echaves: Academic freedom

Freedom of speech used selectively

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The purpose of this letter is to simply point out the incredible hypocrisy of the left.

The arguments for Steven Salaita's reinstatement are "freedom of speech" and "academic freedom." In his own words, "universities are meant to be cauldrons of critical thinking. They are meant to foster creative inquiry and, when at their best, challenge political, economic or social orthodoxy." And, "respect these ideals (free speech and academic freedom) and do not succumb to financial pressure or political expediency by silencing controversial or unpopular views."

It's interesting then when we look at keynote addresses at university convocations by conservative people. Condoleezza Rice pulled out from her address due to student body and faculty resistance because of her role as the U.S. secretary of state under George W. Bush during the Iraq war. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, bowed out of speaking at Smith College after students there protested.

Robert Birgeneau, who was chancellor at the University of California Berkeley when police used batons to break up an Occupy protest, declined to attend the graduation ceremony at Haverford College, where he was set to receive an honorary degree. Students and faculty had objected to the visit.

You see, liberals don't believe in freedom of speech. They only believe in freedom of liberal speech.

Your arguments for Steven Salaita fall under deaf ears.

THOMAS R. SCAGGS

Champaign

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Freedom of speech used selectively

Deadline approaches for N.C. eugenics claims

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By Martha Waggoner The Associated Press October 5, 2014

RALEIGH

A first deadline for compensation payments to those sterilized under North Carolina's past eugenics program is looming at the end of the month and less than a third of compensation claims have been approved.

Authorities who are reviewing claims say one main reason so few claims have been approved is that a state law setting aside $10 million for the qualifying victims doesn't cover many of those who had been sterilized.

As of Sept. 30, the N.C. Industrial Commission had approved 213 claims for compensation of the 731 claims reviewed, or about 30 percent. The Office of Justice for Sterilization Victims has received another 55 claims that the commission hasn't yet reviewed under the state law, approved in July 2013.

Major reasons for denials which victims can appeal include missing paperwork and a determination someone wasn't sterilized on orders of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina but on orders issued at the county level, said Graham Wilson, spokesman for the state Commerce Department. That department oversees the industrial commission tasked with approving claims.

North Carolina sterilized about 7,600 people whom the state deemed feeble-minded or otherwise undesirable between 1929 and 1974. Wilson noted that compensation is allowed only those sterilized under orders of the state eugenics board.

"It's the way the statute is written," Wilson said. "If counties took it upon themselves to do it under their authority, they do not qualify." Victims can appeal, he said, "but if the documents show the procedure wasn't done under the state authority, they really don't have any case in this process."

Some of the victims were as young as 10 and chosen because they were promiscuous or did not get along with their schoolmates, authorities have said. While most were either forced or coerced into having the procedure, a small number of them chose to be sterilized.

But that's just at the state level.

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Deadline approaches for N.C. eugenics claims

REVEALED: ISIS' plan to seize Iran's nuclear secrets

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The Islamic State terror group plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets, unleash a viciouscampaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the dreaded outfit.

The group urged its members to plan for war with Iran and has ambitions to seize Tehran's nuclear secrets in a manifesto believed to have been written by Abdullah Ahmed al-Meshedani, a member of the group's highly secretive six-man war cabinet.

The document, typed on perforated sheets, was seized by Iraqi special forces during a raid in March on the home of one of the commanders of ISIS, The Sunday Times reported today.

In the document, which has been examined by western security officials -- who believe it to be authentic -- Meshedani wrote that ISIS aims to get hold of nuclear weapons with the help of Russia, to whom it would offer access to gas fields it controls in Iraq's Anbar province.

Also, the documents said, Kremlin will have to give up "Iran and its nuclear program and hands over its secrets." Russia would also have to abandon support for Syrian PresidentBashar al-Assad and back the Gulf States against Iran.

Believed to be a policy manifesto prepared for senior members of the ISIS, the document offers a unique insight into the ambitions of the Islamist commanders who have shocked the world with their fanaticism and brutality, the paper said.

The ISIS militants have captured a swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has declared himself as Caliph of the Islamic State.The document contains 70 different plans like launching a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing, Nazi-style eugenics and intelligence gathering operations to consolidate and expand the group's self-declared Islamic caliphate, it said.

Meshedani, whose duties include managing suicide bombers, also calls for stripping Shia Iran of "all its power" and destroying the Shia ascendancy in Iraq. He also incites followers to kill Iraqi military chiefs, Shia officials and Iranian-backed militias fighting for the Iraqi government, the paper said, citing the document.

A security source familiar with the document told the paper: "Nothing shocks western governments these days in relation to ISIS and its fanatical aspirations.

"And we've known and feared for some time that they want to obtain chemical and nuclear weapons." In an indication of ISIS' brutal ideology, Meshedani writes that its intelligence operatives will "eliminate" its own leaders if they deviate from its "desired goal".

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REVEALED: ISIS' plan to seize Iran's nuclear secrets

Deadline for compensation for NC eugenics claims

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A first deadline for compensation payments to those sterilized under North Carolina's past eugenics program is looming at the end of the month and less than a third of compensation claims have been approved.

Authorities who are reviewing claims say one main reason so few claims have been approved is that a state law setting aside $10 million for the qualifying victims doesn't cover many of those who had been sterilized.

As of Sept. 30, the N.C. Industrial Commission had approved 213 claims for compensation of the 731 claims reviewed, or about 30 percent. The Office of Justice for Sterilization Victims has received another 55 claims that the commission hasn't yet reviewed under the state law, approved in July 2013.

Major reasons for denials which victims can appeal include missing paperwork and a determination someone wasn't sterilized on orders of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina but on orders issued at the county level, said Graham Wilson, spokesman for the state Commerce Department. That department oversees the industrial commission tasked with approving claims.

North Carolina sterilized about 7,600 people whom the state deemed feeble-minded or otherwise undesirable between 1929 and 1974. Wilson noted that compensation is allowed only those sterilized under orders of the state eugenics board.

"It's the way the statute is written," Wilson said. "If counties took it upon themselves to do it under their authority, they do not qualify." Victims can appeal, he said, "but if the documents show the procedure wasn't done under the state authority, they really don't have any case in this process."

Some of the victims were as young as 10 and chosen because they were promiscuous or did not get along with their schoolmates, authorities have said. While most were either forced or coerced into having the procedure, a small number of them chose to be sterilized.

But that's just at the state level.

It's not known how many were sterilized at the county level, said Elizabeth Haddix, senior staff attorney with the UNC Center for Civil Rights, which is representing 40 victims. Of those, just 10 had files from the state board, she noted.

"The rest of them, their stories were almost identical in terms of having a social worker come to their delivery room or hospital room," she said. The social worker might tell the patient, usually a black woman, that she wouldn't be eligible for public assistance unless she was sterilized, Haddix said.

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Deadline for compensation for NC eugenics claims

ISIS document disclose plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets

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London, Oct 5: he Islamic State (ISIS) terror group plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets, unleash a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the dreaded outfit.

The group urged its members to plan for war with Iran and has ambitions to seize Tehran's nuclear secrets in a manifesto believed to have been written by Abdullah Ahmed al-Meshedani, a member of the group's highly secretive six-man war cabinet.

The document, typed on perforated sheets, was seized by Iraqi special forces during a raid in March on the home of one of the commanders of ISIS, The Sunday Times reported today. In the document, which has been examined by western security officials - who believe it to be authentic - Meshedani wrote that ISIS aims to get hold of nuclear weapons with the help of Russia, to whom it would offer access to gas fields it controls in Iraq's Anbar province.

Also, the documents said, Kremlin will have to give up "Iran and its nuclear program and hands over its secrets." Russia would also have to abandon support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and back the Gulf States against Iran.

Believed to be a policy manifesto prepared for senior members of ISIS, the document offers a unique insight into the ambitions of the Islamist commanders who have shocked the world with their fanaticism and brutality, the paper said. The ISIS militants have captured a swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has declared himself as Caliph of the Islamic State.

The document contains 70 different plans like launching a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing, Nazi-style eugenics and intelligence gathering operations to consolidate and expand the group's self-declared Islamic caliphate, it said.

Meshedani, whose duties include managing suicide bombers, also calls for stripping Shia Iran of "all its power" and destroying the Shia ascendancy in Iraq. He also incites followers to kill Iraqi military chiefs, Shia officials and Iranian-backed militias fighting for the Iraqi government, the paper said, citing the document.

A security source familiar with the document told the paper: "Nothing shocks western governments these days in relation to ISIS and its fanatical aspirations.

"And we've known and feared for some time that they want to obtain chemical and nuclear weapons." In an indication of ISIS' brutal ideology, Meshedani writes that its intelligence operatives will "eliminate" its own leaders if they deviate from its "desired goal".

"The leadership of the political wing must know that it is being watched and listened to by the intelligence apparatuses which pass on everything," he warns them.

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ISIS document disclose plans to seize Iran's nuclear secrets

Daesh document disclose plans to seize Irans nuclear secrets

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London: The Daesh extremist militant group plans to seize Irans nuclear secrets, unleash a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing and Nazi-style eugenics to consolidate and expand its self-declared caliphate, according to a seized policy manifesto of the outfit.

The group urged its members to plan for war with Iran and has ambitions to seize Tehrans nuclear secrets in a manifesto believed to have been written by Abdullah Ahmad Al Meshedani, a member of the groups highly secretive six-man war cabinet.

The document, typed on perforated sheets, was seized by Iraqi special forces during a raid in March on the home of one of the commanders of Daesh, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.

In the document, which has been examined by Western security officials who believe it to be authentic, Al Meshedani wrote that Daesh aims to get hold of nuclear weapons with the help of Russia, to whom it would offer access to gas fields it controls in Iraqs Anbar province.

Also, the documents said, the Kremlin will have to give up Iran and its nuclear programme and hands over its secrets. Russia would also have to abandon support for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and back the Gulf states against Iran.

Believed to be a policy manifesto prepared for senior members of Daesh, the document offers a unique insight into the ambitions of the Islamist commanders who have shocked the world with their fanaticism and brutality, the paper said.

The Daesh militants have captured swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria and their leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi has declared himself the Caliph of the Islamic State.

The document contains 70 different plans such as launching a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing, Nazi-style eugenics and intelligence gathering operations to consolidate and expand the groups self-declared Islamic caliphate, it said.

Al Meshedani, whose duties include managing suicide bombers, also calls for Shiite Iran to be stripped of all its power and for the destruction of the Shiite ascendancy in Iraq.

He also incites followers to kill Iraqi military chiefs, Shiite officials and Iranian-backed militias fighting for the Iraqi government, the paper said, citing the document.

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Daesh document disclose plans to seize Irans nuclear secrets

Tougher line on shark threats

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Tougher line on shark threats

Sharks seen at popular beaches will be targeted more aggressively under the State Government's imminent threat policy, Colin Barnett says.

Clarifying comments he made after WAs environment watchdog rejected his drum-line program last month, the Premier flagged changes to the way the threat policy is applied rather than the guidelines themselves.

It came as the Abbott Government again signalled it was unlikely to approve WAs extended drum-line program, despite issuing a special exemption to kill sharks after the latest attack.

Under WA's imminent threat policy, Fisheries or contracted fishermen are allowed to catch and kill sharks deemed a public safety hazard, provided they get Commonwealth approval.

Mr Barnett said yesterday that instead of granting new or expanded powers, he simply wanted the policy to be applied more readily when a threat to people was identified.

He said Fisheries' fast efforts to catch two great white sharks on Thursday after Sean Pollard was attacked showed how the policy could be put into action quickly.

And he flagged its further use in future, suggesting it could be invoked in the South West during busy periods if a shark was seen hanging around popular beaches for extended periods of time.

We won't have drum lines off the beaches as a matter of course, but where a shark is seen to be a threat, particularly around popular swimming areas, and if it stays in that area, then we will use a drum line to catch that shark, Mr Barnett said. We just act thats the change.

On Thursday, the Premier wrote to Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt seeking an urgent exemption from Federal environment laws to allow the State to catch and kill the sharks thought responsible for biting Mr Pollard.

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Tougher line on shark threats

Astronomy – Ch. 5: Light & E&M Radiation (14 of 30) Why is UV Radiation Dangerous? – Video

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Astronomy - Ch. 5: Light E M Radiation (14 of 30) Why is UV Radiation Dangerous?
Visit http://ilectureonline.com for more math and science lectures! In this video I will explain why UV radiation is dangerous and harmful to us.

By: Michel van Biezen

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Astronomy - Ch. 5: Light & E&M Radiation (14 of 30) Why is UV Radiation Dangerous? - Video

Oblateness of Kepler Planets: Zhu et al. (2014c) OSU Astronomy Coffee Brief – Video

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Oblateness of Kepler Planets: Zhu et al. (2014c) OSU Astronomy Coffee Brief
Title: Constraining the Oblateness of Kepler Planets Authors: Zhu et al. (2014c) Video made by Wei Zhu: http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~weizhu/

By: OSUAstronomy

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Oblateness of Kepler Planets: Zhu et al. (2014c) OSU Astronomy Coffee Brief - Video

Ebola As ISIS Bio-Weapon?

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ISIS may already be thinking of using Ebola as a low-tech weapon of bio-terror, says a national security expert, who notes that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria andterror groups like it wouldnt even have to weaponize the virus to attempt to wreak strategic global infection.

Such groups could simply use human carriers to intentionally infect themselves in West Africa, then disseminate the deadly virus via the worlds air transportation system. Or so says Capt. Al Shimkus, Ret., a Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.

Ebola virus virion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And with a significant portion of West Africa now in an open epidemic, it arguably wouldnt be difficult for a terrorist group to simply waltz in and make off with some infected bodily fluids for use at a later time elsewhere.

They wouldnt even have to isolate it, says Shimkus, who teaches a course in chemical and biological warfare. He says that if ISIS wanted to send half a dozen of its operatives into an Ebola outbreak region and intentionally expose themselves to the virus, they very well could. The idea is then once they had intentionally infected themselves, they would try to interact with as many people in their target city or country of choice.

The average fatality rate from Ebola, classified as a hemorrhagic fever, is 50 percent; but without medical treatment, that figure can range as high as 90 percent, reports the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO also notes that although there are two potential vaccines undergoing evaluation, at present none are licensed.

The virus was first documented in humans in 1976 during two simultaneous outbreaks, one in Sudan and the other in the Congo, in a village near the Ebola River. The WHO reports that a type of fruit bat is thought to act as the virus natural host.

The virus apparently spreads into the human population via direct contact with infected animals ranging from chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines; as well as the fruit bat itself be they found ill or dead in the rain forest. According to the WHO, Ebola can then be spread via contact with the infecteds bodily fluids; even bedding and clothing contaminated with such fluids.

The idea of using human carriers to intentionally spread deadly pathogens has been around for centuries. As Shimkus points out, in the Middle Ages, adversaries threw infected corpses over their enemys city walls in order to spread the deadly Bubonic Plague.

If ISIS or another terrorist actor were to use Ebola in a similar manner today, Shimkus says the possibility of identifying those infected as they enter and leave the country is excellent but not 100 percent.

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Ebola As ISIS Bio-Weapon?