MCPIF on freedom of expression and speech

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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.

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MCPIF on freedom of expression and speech

Send Former Freedom Player to MLB All-Star Game

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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.

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Send Former Freedom Player to MLB All-Star Game

Advertisement from the Freedom From Religion Foundation

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Editors note: On Thursday, July 4, there was a full-page advertisement in the news section, placed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Published in full color, the advertisements main message was Celebrate our godless Constitution, and it featured portraits and quotes from six of Americas Founding Fathers. The advertisement was paid for by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and does not reflect the views of The Seattle Times.

Religion is a protected right

Having just returned from vacation in Pennsylvania, named for William Penn, who worked to ensure freedom for religion and nonreligion, it is illuminating to see the full-page ad from the Freedom From Religion Foundation on July 4 promoting the removal of all things religious from the public domain.

Even Thomas Jefferson stated in our founding document that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, explicitly establishing a religious basis for the liberty we celebrate today.

Freedom of speech, too, is a fundamental First Amendment right for all, rather than being limited only to those with no religious basis. Sadly, we seem to be losing the First Amendment protections of freedom of religion.

Ron Carson, Renton

Advertisement was informative

Thanks to The Seattle Times for printing that very attractive, informative full-page ad from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Its about time that people learn the truth about our Founding Fathers thoughts on religion and the need for separation of church and state.

Phyllis Becker, Port Hadlock

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A walk to freedom

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The word ''freedom'' is used so often in our everyday lives from political speeches to advertisements that it's easy to think of it as having lost all meaning.

But for the country's PWDs (persons with disability), freedom is something they struggle for on a daily basis. Whether it's freedom from poverty, discrimination, or teasing and bullying, the country's PWDs have to fight the good fight every single day.

That's why it's only fitting that a celebration of the unity of PWDs and the people who support them be dubbed the ''Freedom Walk.'' Held last month at the Bonifacio Global City, the Freedom Walk involved government agencies, non-government organizations, and PWD support groups.

The government agencies include the National Council for Disability Affairs (NCDA), the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Philippine Information Agency, the Department of Transportation and Communication, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the House of Representatives Committee on Social Services, the Department of Health, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Metro Manila D

For the non-government organizations, those taking part were Alyansa ng may Kapansanang Pinoy (AKAP-Pinoy), the Philippine Academy on Rehab Medicine, the New Vois Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Federation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled, the Philippine Association of Citizens with Developmental and Learning Disabilities, the Autism Society of the Philippines, the Philippine Blind Union, as well as the SM Disability Affairs Program.

BIGGER AND BIGGER

The idea for the Freedom Walk was first conceptualized in 2011, when a group of PWD leaders met and planned for an Independence Day celebration with PWDs. It took a technical working committee, spearheaded by AKAP-Pinoy, three months to organize the event.

The decision to call it Freedom Walk came about mainly because the organizers wanted to hold the event in June.

''The event is dubbed the 'Freedom Walk' as a way for the PWD sector to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. This is also an expression of their desire to be free from shackles of discrimination, inequalities and poverty,'' explains Capt. Oscar Taleon, president of AKAP-Pinoy.

This year, the Freedom Walk went with the theme ''Each Right-full step We Take, All Barriers We Break,'' which the NCDA says focuses on the progressive realization of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-CRPD), as well as the adoption of the Incheon Framework to ''make the right real'' for persons with disabilities.

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A walk to freedom

Freedom to fly, drive celebrated at event

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Why have a Fourth of July weekend festival that celebrates both cars and airplanes?

Ask Kim Fisher that, and shell look at you like youre a slow child.

Its part of the Freedom Fair, right? she says. Theres freedom in both -- the freedom to fly, the freedom to drive.

Thats the essential premise of Wings & Wheels, Pierce Countys annual celebration of fast machines, held at and above the Tacoma Narrows Airport.

Wings & Wheels is a companion festival to the July 4 Freedom Fair along Ruston Way, and it features not only aerial acrobatics but also buffed up vintage cars and pickup trucks.

Fisher, who lives in Spanaway, is okay with the airplanes, but she thinks of them mostly as a sideshow at Wings & Wheels.

She barely notices the Ace Maker T-33 Shooting Star, the Cobra helicopter and the P-51D Mustang.

Her passion is big Dodge muscle cars, especially her husbands 1966 Polara. Its a smooth ride but still muscular, she said. It has power.

Theres nothing like the roar of the engine of a Mopar, she said. Theres really nothing else like it.

(For the uninitiated, Mopar translates roughly to Chrysler.)

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Freedom to fly, drive celebrated at event

Bilderberg Eugenics Hanseatic League Jurriaan Maessen Explosive Reports – Video

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Bilderberg Eugenics Hanseatic League Jurriaan Maessen Explosive Reports
Jurriaan Maessen from Dutch website Explosive Reports on the resurgence of Eugenics and the historic German Hanseatic League which he sees as a medieval precursor of the modern day European...

By: PublicEnquiry

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Bilderberg Eugenics Hanseatic League Jurriaan Maessen Explosive Reports - Video

Legislature can still do eugenics compensation

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The N.C. legislature is still attracting attention for all the wrong reasons last week, it was stealth Senate approval just before July 4th of unnecessary and likely health-endangering restrictions on abortions. But lawmakers have time to get notice and praise for an action that has bipartisan support as the right thing to do.

They can include money in this years budget to compensate victims of the states disgraceful and long-running eugenics program. The N.C. House and N.C. Senate are still butting heads over the budget. As they work through their differences this week, they should reach agreement that the state own up to this responsibility this year. That shameful episode wont be laid to rest until they do.

Back in March, we gave kudos to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory for including compensation money in his budget plan. Weve praised GOP House Speaker Thom Tillis for supporting compensation both this year and in the previous legislative session. The House budget this year includes $10 million for sterilization victims. That pot of money would enable the state to pay living victims $50,000. Thats small recompense for what happened to them.

The details have been documented in extensive research over the last several years, and more recently in the testimony of some of the surviving victims, of which there are at least 150. Many told their stories to a state task force that was charged with figuring out what the state should do.

Tearful victims told of being cajoled, tricked and too often threatened to gain their consent to have their tubes tied or undergo some other sterilization procedure. (State officials reportedly said they would take their children or take away state food and other benefits if they refused). Some victims were mentally impaired and didnt know what was going on. State officials would carry out the procedure sometimes on the basis of a single comment or complaint about a victim.

The program was one of the longest and most aggressive in the country running from 1929 through 1974. It lasted far longer than any other program in the nation. It aimed to save the state welfare system money. Its victims included whites, blacks and Native Americans.

Ironically, saving the state money is the reason the N.C. Senate has balked at compensation efforts. It has included no money for restitution, with some Senate leaders saying the state cant afford it.

That sounds a bit disingenuous, given that the Senate budget contains several tax breaks for businesses and wealthy residents. And lawmakers found a way to aggressively repay money the federal government loaned to bolster the states unemployment insurance program, which bad policies and a deep recession left with insufficient revenues. Of course, their fix was to unwisely slash state benefits, a move that resulted in more than 70,000 N.C. residents losing federal benefits last week.

The state owes a debt to the victims of their misguided eugenics program, too. And the debt should be paid as expeditiously as lawmakers have decided to repay the one to the feds. Theres still time this legislative session. McCrory and Tillis should push for it. Repaying this debt will be something all North Carolinians could point to with pride.

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Legislature can still do eugenics compensation

Justice League – The Flashpoint Paradox – Clip # 1 – Cyborg and Batman – Official (2013) [HD] – Video

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Justice League - The Flashpoint Paradox - Clip # 1 - Cyborg and Batman - Official (2013) [HD]
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/ - Justice League - The Flashpoint Paradox - Clip # 1 - Cyborg and Batman - Official (2013) [HD]! https://twitter.com/comicbook_movie - Follow CBM on Twitter!...

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Justice League - The Flashpoint Paradox - Clip # 1 - Cyborg and Batman - Official (2013) [HD] - Video