Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (5/6) – Video

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Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (5/6)
Average people on the streets of Washington, DC share their views on the NSA surveillance controversy and whether or not they think these actions infringe or promote our liberty. http://www.brooki...

By: Brookings Institution

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Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (5/6) - Video

Liberty's Malone breaks silence on Comcast deal

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Comcast reaches deal with Charter

The "Squawk on the Street" news team discuss details of a proposed divestiture between Comcast and Charter Communications, as Comcast attempts to close in on a deal to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion pending regulatory approval.

"It's been a large learning curve for me and my guys," Malone said, looking back over the last four decades. "A lot of it has been growing up and making things work in environments as they change."

Raised in Milford, Conn., Malone was a bright middle-class kid with a newspaper route and a small radio-repair service. His dad, who he says was "absolutely" an inspiration, was an electronics engineer who started his own firm. Malone earned an engineering and economics degree at Yale in the mid-1960s and then studied industrial management and operations research at Johns Hopkins.

He went on to high-level work at Bell Labs, where he was present at the creation of the computer industry; McKinsey & Co.; and General Instrument/Jerrold Electronics, which developed the nation's first cable TV systems in the 1960s. That routelined with a host of strong mentorseventually delivered Malone to the Denver doorstep of Tele-Communications founder Bob Magness, a crusty old Texas cowboy who loved cable TV but couldn't run a company.

When Malone reported to TCI in 1973, the place was a shambles. The Colorado cable TV company booked $13 million in yearly revenue, but it owed $130 million. Growth was nil, the physical plant decrepit. And TCI's bankers were just about ready to call their loans.

Malone, an engineer-turned-rookie CEO, got down to cases, spending the next six years of what he calls "nuclear winter": squeezing nickels in a bad economy. He could build infrastructure only by the inch, had nothing to spend on marketing and devoted a good deal of time stiff-arming lenders.

By 1979, though, the tide began to turn. Malone refinanced TCI with some progressive insurance companies that gave him carte blanche. Then the feds approved small dishes to download satellite signals, which nurtured cheap distribution of TV programming.

Flush with a few bucks, Malone began to acquire cable systems, invest in programmers like CNN and USA and expand subscribers' TV-channel lineups whether they liked it or not so that TCI could raise monthly rates and strengthen its cash flows.

Read MoreSteve Case peers into the future of the Internet

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Liberty's Malone breaks silence on Comcast deal

Liberty names CEO

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AMSTERDAM - Liberty's Board of Director's President Ken Adamowski recently announced Jennifer Saunders has been hired for chief executive officer at Liberty, the Montgomery County Chapter of NYSARC, Inc.

Saunders has served as Liberty's chief financial officer since 2008.

"Jennifer has proven to be a leader who can step back from the entire system, and see a plan to build a more collaborative, more innovative system that will work well over a long term. Her efforts as chief financial officer have guided Liberty to be well positioned for the challenging times that lie ahead," Adamowski said in a news release. "Jennifer has proven to have the courage to take action, where others might seem to hesitate. The Board of Directors feels that Jennifer clearly understands the heart of our organization and its people, and using our core values can guide us to achieve our mission"

As CFO, Saunders was responsible for all facets of the financial operations of the organization. She has been employed by Liberty's Finance Department since 2005, initially as a reimbursement manager and as controller.

"I'm honored to be named Liberty's newest CEO and proud that the Board of Directors and nominating committee have placed their confidence in me," said Saunders in the release. "I look forward to continuing the agency's long tradition of providing top-quality supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, as well as strengthening our commitment to Liberty's mission and our community."

Saunders serves on the American Network of Community Options and Resources investment committee, sits on the Montgomery County Mental Health Association Board of Directors and is a member of the Amsterdam Rotary Club.

A native of Jamesville, Onondaga County, Saunders received her bachelor's of business administration degree from Alfred University in 1993.

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Liberty names CEO

Liberty Co. man arrested after body found in barn

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LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas -

A tip led Liberty County Precinct 3 Constable deputies and the sheriff's office to a dead body in a local man's barn Monday, investigators said.

It was around noon Monday when the tip came in.

Constable Mark Davidson and Sgt. Investigator Brian Bortz of the Liberty County Sheriff's Office arrived at the home the to a home in the 26000 block of Highway 146 in north Liberty County.

Deputies said they were checking on a report that there was a body on Billy Ray Bennett's property.

Bortz said he was able to get consent to search the property, and when he did he found human remains wrapped in a tarp.

Bortz said the remains appeared to have been there for six or seven months.

Investigators said because of the condition of the remains, they were unable to determine the age, sex or race of the person.

Sgt. Investigator Chris Ungles was able to get a search warrant from Judge Chap Cain's 253rd District Court.

Deputies said an autopsy was also ordered to determine a possible cause of death and other vital information.

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Liberty Co. man arrested after body found in barn

Hannah Louisa M. Strock [1916-2014]; Liberty Center woman taught about 60 years

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Published: Tuesday, 4/29/2014

BY JANET ROMAKER BLADE SAFF WRITER

LIBERTY CENTER, Ohio Hannah Louisa M. Strock, a lifelong teacher, died Saturday just hours after Northwest State Community College officials named her coordinator emeritus of the colleges Center for Lifelong Learning. She was 98.

Mrs. Strock died of heart failure, said her daughter, Cecily Rohrs.

She often said she wanted to live until she died. She did just that.

Her energy? Folks wanted to bottle and sell it.

Consider: When she moved into the Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center a few weeks ago, Mrs. Strock had furniture arranged to meet her needs as she continued to pursue various projects.

And she insisted on a connection to her laptop computer.

Tom Stuckey, president of Northwest State near Archbold, visited Mrs. Strock a couple days before the Saturday ceremony.

There she was, he recalled, juggling several projects, including editing a newsletter for the Henry County Retired Teachers Association and developing plans for summer events in Liberty Center.

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Hannah Louisa M. Strock [1916-2014]; Liberty Center woman taught about 60 years

Human remains found in barn behind Liberty County home

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A Liberty County man has been jailed after authorities found human remains in a barn behind the man's home, authorities said.

Billy Ray Bennett, 44, was charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, officials with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office said on Monday.

Authorities went to Bennett's house on Texas 146 after receiving information about a body behind the home, officials said. Human remains were found wrapped in a tarp in the barn, about 30 yards behind the home, officials said. The remains appeared to have been there for about six or seven months.

Officials could not immediately determine the age, sex and race of the remains, officials said.

An autopsy has been ordered.

Bennett could face other charges. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning.

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Human remains found in barn behind Liberty County home

What Libertarianism Is Not

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Submitted by Logn Albright of the Mises Canada blog,

As libertarianism begins to gain in popularity and seep into the youth culture, there is increasing pressure from certain strains of the movement to attempt to modify the theory and transform it into something that it is not.

To begin with, let us examine what is meant by the term libertarian, what its limits are, and what it attempts to explain. Libertarianism is exclusively a political philosophy describing the legitimate use of force in society. It claims that humans have the right of self-ownership, and that theft, assault and other forms of aggression violate this right, except in the case of legitimate self-defense against an aggressor. This is where the philosophy begins and ends, and although some libertarians dispute the circumstances under which force is acceptable (the Night Watchman state versus no state at all), it still has the legitimate use of force as its core.

It is not an economic philosophy, although its conclusion tends to support free market capitalism due to the lack of coercion inherent in such a system. Still, there is no dictum against collective ownership so long as it is voluntary. This is what anarcho-communism is all about.

Similarly, libertarianism has little to say about politics except for what follows directly from its central precept. Taxes are immoral because they involve coercion. Democracy is no better than dictatorship if it imposes the will of the many onto the few by force. And so on.

But because libertarianism has become fashionable among a certain segment of the population, and because we wish to expand the movement and convert others to it, there has been a push to expand this simple definition into a more holistic ethical code encompassing every aspect of life, almost akin to a religion. We are told that non-discrimination based on superficial characteristics like race and sex is an inherently libertarian position. It is not. So long as discrimination does not violate anyones rights of self-ownership, the theory simply has nothing to say about it (although we can observe that a capitalistic system is unlikely to encourage such behavior due to the way it tends to impact profits.)

Where these well-meaning meddlers go wrong is in assuming that just because libertarianism per se doesnt have a position on racism, that libertarians qua human beings do not have such a position either. This is absurd. Libertarianism is by its nature a narrow philosophy, with plenty of room to coexist along with other philosophies as well. Just as being a vegetarian does not exclude one from being Jewish, so does being a libertarian not exclude one from being a humanitarian.

We are more than a simple political philosophy, and while this defines the moral lens through which we see much of the world, it is not the totality of our being. For example, libertarianism has nothing to say on the subject of suicide. If we own ourselves, we have the right to terminate ourselves. Period. However, no libertarian I have ever met would encourage such an activity, and most would find it utterly reprehensible. The point is that you can hold a belief that something is wrong without having to fold it into a specific political philosophy where it has no business being.

Granted, certain ethical outlooks fit nicely within libertarianism while others do not. Kants categorical imperative that we treat humans as ends in themselves rather than means to an end works well, as does the Biblical Golden Rule, treat others as you would like to be treated. They are not explicitly part of libertarian theory, but they are compatible with it.On the other hand, one would be hard pressed to combine a restrictive set of laws, such as Sharia, with the non-aggression principle.

The trouble is that by attempting to redefine a narrow political philosophy to encompass all things that we like and think are nice like non-discrimination, like treating people as ends rather than means we dilute its power and simplicity. We destroy what makes it great. Once we proceed down the road of declaring everything we think is good to be libertarian, we will quickly find that libertarianism suddenly has no meaning at all.

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What Libertarianism Is Not

As libertarianism begins to gain in popularity and seep into the youth culture, there is increasing pressure from …

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Submitted by Logn Albright of the Mises Canada blog,

As libertarianism begins to gain in popularity and seep into the youth culture, there is increasing pressure from certain strains of the movement to attempt to modify the theory and transform it into something that it is not.

To begin with, let us examine what is meant by the term libertarian, what its limits are, and what it attempts to explain. Libertarianism is exclusively a political philosophy describing the legitimate use of force in society. It claims that humans have the right of self-ownership, and that theft, assault and other forms of aggression violate this right, except in the case of legitimate self-defense against an aggressor. This is where the philosophy begins and ends, and although some libertarians dispute the circumstances under which force is acceptable (the Night Watchman state versus no state at all), it still has the legitimate use of force as its core.

It is not an economic philosophy, although its conclusion tends to support free market capitalism due to the lack of coercion inherent in such a system. Still, there is no dictum against collective ownership so long as it is voluntary. This is what anarcho-communism is all about.

Similarly, libertarianism has little to say about politics except for what follows directly from its central precept. Taxes are immoral because they involve coercion. Democracy is no better than dictatorship if it imposes the will of the many onto the few by force. And so on.

But because libertarianism has become fashionable among a certain segment of the population, and because we wish to expand the movement and convert others to it, there has been a push to expand this simple definition into a more holistic ethical code encompassing every aspect of life, almost akin to a religion. We are told that non-discrimination based on superficial characteristics like race and sex is an inherently libertarian position. It is not. So long as discrimination does not violate anyones rights of self-ownership, the theory simply has nothing to say about it (although we can observe that a capitalistic system is unlikely to encourage such behavior due to the way it tends to impact profits.)

Where these well-meaning meddlers go wrong is in assuming that just because libertarianism per se doesnt have a position on racism, that libertarians qua human beings do not have such a position either. This is absurd. Libertarianism is by its nature a narrow philosophy, with plenty of room to coexist along with other philosophies as well. Just as being a vegetarian does not exclude one from being Jewish, so does being a libertarian not exclude one from being a humanitarian.

We are more than a simple political philosophy, and while this defines the moral lens through which we see much of the world, it is not the totality of our being. For example, libertarianism has nothing to say on the subject of suicide. If we own ourselves, we have the right to terminate ourselves. Period. However, no libertarian I have ever met would encourage such an activity, and most would find it utterly reprehensible. The point is that you can hold a belief that something is wrong without having to fold it into a specific political philosophy where it has no business being.

Granted, certain ethical outlooks fit nicely within libertarianism while others do not. Kants categorical imperative that we treat humans as ends in themselves rather than means to an end works well, as does the Biblical Golden Rule, treat others as you would like to be treated. They are not explicitly part of libertarian theory, but they are compatible with it.On the other hand, one would be hard pressed to combine a restrictive set of laws, such as Sharia, with the non-aggression principle.

The trouble is that by attempting to redefine a narrow political philosophy to encompass all things that we like and think are nice like non-discrimination, like treating people as ends rather than means we dilute its power and simplicity. We destroy what makes it great. Once we proceed down the road of declaring everything we think is good to be libertarian, we will quickly find that libertarianism suddenly has no meaning at all.

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As libertarianism begins to gain in popularity and seep into the youth culture, there is increasing pressure from ...

South Sound | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby’s real estate – Video

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South Sound | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby #39;s real estate
http://www.sircaymanislands.com/eng/south-sound http://www.sircaymanislands.com South Sound - Heading out to the east from George Town you will travel through South Church Street to South...

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South Sound | Grand Cayman | Cayman Islands Sotheby's real estate - Video

Canary Islands bedeviled by albino snakes

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Pet snakes have led to big problems in the Canary Islands, quite literally: Biologists say an albino variety of California kingsnake, bred in captivity in San Diego, is now obliterating native animal populations after some of the snakes came to the islands as pets and escaped.

The snakes are 30% bigger than their California equivalents, and their size isn't the only thing booming: Free of natural predators, their population now numbers in the thousands per square mile in some areas of the Spanish archipelago, where native species, not programmed to fear snakes, haven't been able to adapt in the short window since the snakes started causing issues, in roughly 2007, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Experts from the US are headed to the islands, northwest of Africa, next month to help scientists and government officials figure out a game plan. So far, dogs and hawks have been set on the snakes, to little effect: The species spends much of its time underground.

Fewer than 2,000 of the snakes have been snared so far on the surface, and one expert offers this unpleasant thought: "The fact that you're removing hundreds of visible snakes means, unfortunately, that it is likely that there are many, many thousands more out there you can't see." What to do? One expert suggests plowing up infested areas.

(Guam is also battling snakes, using Tylenol-filled dead mice.)

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Canary Islands bedeviled by albino snakes