DOWN IN THE ISLANDS ( Western Partner Dance )
WESTERN PARTNER DANCE " DOWN IN THE ISLANDS " choreographed by JoAnn Andy Cardoza, danced to " Island Song " sung by The Zac Brown Band. If you have enjoyed watching our video and would like to see some more videos of Western Dance, download the dance script, then please visit us at alan-and-sonia.webs.com
By: alsonvideo
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Islands in the SCREAM - Rolly Parton
Goat parody of Islands in the Stream - Dolly Parton Kenny Rogers. Made by Lisa Childs, for the VOTE ROLLY PARTON FOR PRESIDENT campaign at #electionscsu.
By: lisacchilds
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OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET
GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION UNIT
Media Release 04-03-13-Gh
Solomons Islands To Establish Mission In New Zealand
The Solomon Islands Government will establish a Diplomatic Mission in New Zealand later this year.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Hon. Clay Forau confirmed the initiative during bilateral talks with his New Zealand counterpart Hon. Murray McCully in New Zealand Friday last week.
The proposed Diplomatic Mission in New Zealand will elevate and advance Solomon Islands bilateral relations and contact with New Zealand to make way for more high level contacts with the New Zealand Government.
The Mission is also vital to explore and provide relevant advice to the Solomon Islands Government on Trade and Investment opportunities, education and training opportunities as well as provision of consular services to Solomon Islands citizens and nationals in New Zealand.
New Zealand Foreign Minister, Hon Murray McCully welcomed the Solomon Islands Government intention to establish its Diplomatic Mission there and pledged his Governments strong support to assist in whatever way it can to help Solomon Islands establish its office in New Zealand.
New Zealand is an important bilateral partner for Solomon Islands and our diplomatic presence in New Zealand will help strengthen and advance our bilateral relations, Hon Forau explained.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dialogue On Development, Society And Environment Opens In Solomon Islands
Honiara, Solomon Islands, 4 March 2013 (IUCN) The Prime Ministers High Level Roundtable on Development, Society and Environment, opened this morning in Honiara, Solomon Islands, with representatives of government, the private sector and civil society present to discuss important development issues with the hope of agreeing on a development model that incorporates the needs of society and the environment and also considers the long-term needs of the country.
The Dialogue was officially opened by the Honorable Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo.
Prime Minister Lilo indicated that the challenges being faced by Solomon Islands are huge, a result of small populations geographically dispersed over a large ocean. Thus the responsibility for these needs to be shouldered jointly by government, the private sector and civil society in a concerted effort. He said that the lack of policies in the past has resulted in the resource extractive industry having a free rein at the detriment of the environment and society as a whole. Therefore there needs to be a sustainable approach for the management of Solomon Islands fisheries, mining and forestry sectors. Prime Minister Lilo said that this necessitates a serious dialogue on the issues a dialogue among Solomon Islanders to agree on a better model for development.
Prime Minister Lilos speech was followed by an intervention by Mr Taholo Kami, Regional Director of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Oceania Office.
Mr Kami referred to the unique natural resources of Solomon Islands and the threats posed by logging, overfishing, mining and development of this unique environment and suggested the need for extraordinary measures as we recognise that the ordinary ones are failing us.
He said that sustainable development is about changing mindsets and required a rethinking of development models to bring people into a new long-term partnership. He suggested that the dialogue needs to identify key changes or consider and discuss new mechanisms that will ensure that in a commodity dependent economy, extraction carries on but with it the country also gets big environment wins and big social benefits.
The Monday morning session focussed on the state of development in Solomon Islands with the Governor of the Central Bank providing an overview of the state of the economy. Also speaking at this session was Dr Philip Tagini who explored the opportunities open to the Solomon Islands to rethink its development model and Mr Peter Forau, the Director General of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), presented the MSGs perspective of a Green Growth agenda.
The afternoon session will focus on the mining sector. Mr Poul Engberg-Pedersen, the Deputy Director General of IUCN, will be the keynote speaker for this session and will explore the possibilities of building a partnership between mining and environment interests for achieving the countrys development goals.
The session will also include contributions by the mining sector, including from Mr Rence Sore, Permanent Secretary of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification and from the Gold Ridge and Sumitomo Mines, as well as inputs from the landowners and the Attorney General.
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Alaminos in Pangasinan is riddled with utterly captivating forest green coral islands hugged by cerulean waters, which for the most part, are blissfully deserted. Comprised of 123 sun-kissed islets that houses varied wildlife, the Hundred Islands is the poster boy of the province.
In 2008, it graced the cover of the 501 Must-Visit Islands book published in the United Kingdom. The same year, the book Bird watching in the Philippines was launched at the World Travel Mart in Great Britain and the Hundred Islands is on the list of the 13 best bird watching sites in the country.
Out of the 123 islands, only three have been developed; Governors Island, Quezon Island and Childrens Island. The Governors Island is home to the Pinoy Big Brother House (Teen Edition), a former hit reality TV show. It has a viewing deck offering a scenic view of several islands threaded with azure and teal green waters. From this famed island, you can also wade through the waters to get to a small islet called Virgin Island. Quezon and Childrens Island are the perfect spot for swimming.
The lesser known Shell Island is hugged by cream sands and a shallow lagoon fringed by rock formations. Marcos Island is a favorite spot for cliff jumping because of its stunning underwater cave with emerald green waters. As their name suggests, Monkey Island is inhabited by monkeys while Bat Islands is inhabited by bats, but the Turtle Island however doesnt have turtle residents but is shaped like this timid animal. Cuenco Island has splendid twin beaches and Cuenco Cave is sandwiched in the middle, and the Old Scout Islands is a perfect spot for lazing by the beach as well as Lopez Islands.
Getting to Alaminos, Pangasinan
To get to Hundred Islands, you can ride a bus bound to Alaminos, Pangasinan. From Manila, air-conditioned bus fare wont exceed Php 400. It may take up to 3-4 hours to reach Alaminos and from there, you can charter a tricycle to take you to the jump off point which is Lucas Wharf. But if you want to save a few bucks, head to the Lucas Terminal where you can ride a tricycle for Php 15, but it will only leave once full ( at least 4 passengers is needed).
Fare: Php 800 (estimated roundtrip bus fare) + Php 30 tricycle (round trip /regular fare) = Php 830
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Health Care Discussion / Role Play
By: Oakley Moodie
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Medecinial garden for health care
Efforts are on for the revitalization of India #39;s traditional medicinal heritage. Kerala government will set up medicinal gardens in all schools in the state to enhance the conservation of threatened medicinal plants. The government is keen to utilise ayurveda to its full potential and will framed policies to that effect.
By: DDNewsofficial
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By Mary Agnes Carey Kaiser Health News
Doctors serving Medicare patients. Scientists looking for a better way to treat diabetes. HIV patients who can't afford to buy their medications. These are but some of the many people who will be affected by the automatic federal spending cuts that officially took effect Friday.
Both Democrats and Republicans say they didn't like the budget reductions, called the sequester, but they couldnt agree on how to stop them. The $85.3 billion in cuts for fiscal 2013, which ends Oct. 1, are part of a larger package of $1.2 trillion in trims scheduled to occur over the next decade. The reductions are split evenly between defense and domestic programs.
The sequester would not affect Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor. However, Medicare spending would be cut by 2 percent through reductions in payments to hospitals, physicians and other care providers, including Medicare Advantage plans and the companies running the Medicare Part D plans. By law, the Medicare cuts dont begin until April 1.
But other health care efforts would be among the government programs that face reductions of about 9 percent, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The full impact likely won't be felt for weeks as the cuts roll out, and some lawmakers have suggested that sequestration cuts could be dealt with as part of negotiations to fund the government after the current continuing resolution expires March 27.
Dr. Gary Wiltz, the chairman-elect of the board of the National Association of Community Health Centers, one of the groups facing those cuts, said the reduced federal funding will cause the centers to dramatically curtail services and estimates that as many as 900,000 patients could be turned away from care. "Many of them cannot afford to go anyplace else," he said in a statement.
President Barack Obama Tuesday called on Congress to work out a different scenario for dealing with the nations fiscal problems and avert the "painful, arbitrary budget cuts." Addressing workers at a shipbuilding facility in Newport News, Va., he said, "Instead of cutting out the government spending we don't need -- wasteful programs that don't work, special interest tax loopholes and tax breaks -- what the sequester does is it uses a meat cleaver approach to gut critical investments in things like education and national security and lifesaving medical research." He is urging a combination of spending cuts and additional federal revenues through changes in the tax code.
But Republicans are opposed to any increase in taxes to fund the spending. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the president Thursday for failing to offer "a serious plan."
"Instead of directing his cabinet secretaries to trim waste in their departments, he's going to go after first responders. And teachers," McConnell said. "And almost any other sympathetic constituency you can think of. Hell say he has no choice but to release criminals into the streets and withhold vaccines from poor children. And somehow, it will be everyones fault but his. Nonsense."
The president and congressional leaders are meeting at the White House today on the issue.
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OAKLAND -- Set on a gritty corner of Oakland's International Boulevard, the nonprofit Street Level Health Project offers free checkups to patients who speak a total of 22 languages, from recent Mongolian immigrants seeking a doctor to Burmese refugees needing a dental exam.
It also opens a window on one of the challenges for state leaders who are trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul.
Understanding the law and its possibilities for ordinary citizens is a task even for politicians and bureaucrats, but delivering its message to non-English speakers who can benefit from it is shaping up as a special complication. That is especially true in places
Chan Lai Ly has his feet examined as part of a regular check-up related to his diabetes, by Honghue Duong, a physician's assistant, Friday, March 1, 2013 at International Community Health Services in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (Ted S. Warren)
Even deciding what to call a health insurance program generates angst in a polyglot state. California's health-care insurance marketplace staff is testing "Covered California."
That would be "California Cubierto" in Spanish, but "what does it mean?" asked Laura Lopez, the Street Level clinic's executive director.
But the main feature of health care reform -- the state's health insurance exchange opening next year -- will require consumers to contrast and compare the features and costs of a range of private health insurance policies to select the one most
That could be a tall task for native English speakers, but more so for residents who speak English "less than very well."
Zaya Jaden, a 35-year-old from Mongolia visiting the Oakland clinic, said she would not know how to translate it into her native language. Advocacy groups say the state should translate it into Arabic, Armenian, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Farsi (Persian), Hmong, Khmer (Cambodian), Korean, Russian, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
Jaden was in the clinic getting free care for her sister's migraine, a much higher priority than considering how the expansion of the nation's social safety net through the Affordable Care Act might benefit her.
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Health care reform opportunities a challenge for highly diverse population with many languages
Click photo to enlarge
Laura Lopez, left, checks the blood pressure of Santos Aguilar Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, at the Street Level Health Project in Oakland, Calif. In trying to brand California's new health care exchange, state officials had a hard time coming up with a name that signified health insurance, let alone one that would translate well into other languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The exchange's 5-member board settled on "Covered California" and is currently testing tag lines to see which words resonate best in focus groups. Lopez applauds the exchange for pledging to offer written materials in different languages. But she says the state will have to commit to providing one-on-one interpretive resources because some are illiterate, some don't believe they are qualified for assistance, and some don't know how to advocate for themselves. Many families will also have members with different legal statuses. Covered California estimates there are 5.6 million Californians without health insurance, or 16 percent of the population under age 65. Of that number, 4.6 million people are eligible for coverage under the Affordable Care Act and one million are ineligible due to their immigration status. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
OAKLAND -- Set on a gritty corner of Oakland's International Boulevard, the nonprofit Street Level Health Project offers free checkups to patients who speak a total of 22 languages, from recent Mongolian immigrants seeking a doctor to Burmese refugees needing a dental exam.
It also opens a window on one of the challenges for state leaders who are trying to implement the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul.
Understanding the law and its possibilities for ordinary citizens is a task even for politicians and bureaucrats, but delivering its message to non-English speakers who can benefit from it is shaping up as a special complication. That is especially true in places
Chan Lai Ly has his feet examined as part of a regular check-up related to his diabetes, by Honghue Duong, a physician's assistant, Friday, March 1, 2013 at International Community Health Services in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (Ted S. Warren)
Even deciding what to call a health insurance program generates angst in a polyglot state. California's health-care insurance marketplace staff is testing "Covered California."
That would be "California Cubierto" in Spanish, but "what does it mean?" asked Laura Lopez, the Street Level clinic's executive director.
But the main feature of health care reform -- the state's health insurance exchange opening next year -- will require consumers to contrast and compare the features and costs of a range of private health insurance policies to select the one most
That could be a tall task for native English speakers, but more so for residents who speak English "less than very well."
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Health care reform opportunities a challenge for populations with many languages
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Kofax plc (KFX.L), a leading provider of smart process applications for the business critical First Mile of customer interactions, today announced that a leading national provider of publicly funded health care insurance programs has invested more than $500,000 to expand its Kofax solution to increase efficiencies in processing a larger volume of Medicare claims and related correspondence, thereby significantly reducing labor costs and expediting claims payments.
The customer is using the additional Kofax software to increase the volume of Medicare claims forms and related documents to 24 million per year, and other correspondence to 12 million documents per year. This increases medical claims processing efficiencies by significantly reducing labor costs and expediting claims payments.
In the American Medical Association's fifth annual National Health Insurer Report Card released in June 2012, Dr. Robert M. Wah, the association's board chairman, stated, "Paying medical claims accurately the first time is good business practice for insurance companies that saves precious health care dollars and frees physicians from needless administrative tasks that take time away from patient care."
Kofax is committed to providing health insurance providers with solutions that cut costs while improving quality, said Howard Dratler, executive vice president of Field Operations at Kofax. Kofax automates document driven processes by capturing all health, patient or financial information at the point of entry, and transforming it into actionable information in a secure and auditable manner. By accurately and more efficiently automating claims processes with Kofax solutions, insurance providers can realize bottom line benefits.
About Kofax
Kofax plc (KFX.L) is a leading provider of innovative smart capture and process automation software and solutions for the business critical First Mile of customer interactions. These begin with an organizations Systems of Engagement, which generate real time, information intensive communications from customers, and provide a fluid bridge to their Systems of Record, which are typically large scale, rigid enterprise applications and repositories not easily adapted to more contemporary technology. Success in the First Mile can dramatically improve an organizations customer experience and greatly reduce operating costs, thus driving increased competitiveness, growth and profitability. Kofax software and solutions provide a rapid return on investment to more than 20,000 customers in banking, insurance, government, healthcare, business process outsourcing and other markets. Kofax delivers these through its own sales and service organization, and a global network of more than 800 authorized partners in more than 75 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit kofax.com.
2013 Kofax, plc. Kofax is a registered trademark and First Mile, Kofax Capture, Kofax Transformation Modules, and Kofax Monitor are trademarks of Kofax, plc.
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Leading Health Care Insurance Provider Expands Medicare Claims Processing with Kofax
Juana Vergara sits in Volunteers in Medicine's free dental clinic in Wilkes-Barre waiting to be seen.
The 39-year-old woman, who moved to Wilkes-Barre from Mexico 12 years ago, speaks Spanish and has trouble communicating with others asking her questions.
Vega is among a growing number of Spanish-speaking area residents who has difficulty accessing the health care system as a result of her language barrier.
The passage of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act is intended to lead to more access to health care for a greater population of citizens, including those who do not speak English. A challenge, officials said, is trying to bring the health care changes to limited-English speakers and hard-to-reach populations.
Volunteers in Medicine Free Medical and Dental Clinic, founded by Dr. Susan Sordoni to treat the working poor who are uninsured or underinsured, has recruited volunteer translators to assist with non-English-speaking patients, said Executive Director Kelly Ranieli. All forms distributed at the clinic are in Spanish and English. The clinic also has a few volunteers and health care providers who are fluent in Spanish, she said.
Yet, when Vergara and Maritza Vega visited the clinic, no translators were available.
Vega, 39, of Nanticoke, speaks Spanish. As she is being examined in a room at the free medical clinic, physician assistant and King's College teacher Pam MacNeely and physician assistant student Amanda Evans struggle to communicate with her.
"In most cases, it is very helpful if they bring someone, a family member or a friend, who speaks English and Spanish and could help interpret," MacNeely said. "That's the best scenario for them to bring someone with them into the room because that helps us be able to understand the patient. Most do speak some English, but it does make it difficult to get a good history and an understanding of what their condition is."
A small number of patients who speak Russian, Polish, Arabic and dialects from India also visit the Volunteers in Medicine Free Medical and Dental Clinic and it is a challenge at times to find volunteer translators who are fluent in these languages and can visit at the times of the patients' appointments, Ranieli said.
These situations are rare, she said. When all efforts have been expended, she said they request that the patient bring someone to help with translation.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that his state would accept the Medicaid expansion that is part of the ACA.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and "Governing America."
(CNN) -- The politics of health care is changing fast. President Barack Obama's Affordable Health Care Act was vulnerable during his first term when Republicans demanded repeal of the law. Even after the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality, there were still many voices who objected to it.
However, with each passing day, it appears that the program is in good shape, slowly becoming part of the fabric of American government.
Last week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, one of the main potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, said that his state would accept the Medicaid expansion that is part of the ACA. Christie had been one of the president's toughest critics, frequently lambasting the program as a prime example of big government liberalism. But he has changed his tune.
Julian Zelizer
The expansion of Medicaid will allow about 104,000 of the poorest residents in New Jersey to gain access to health insurance. Christie said: "Let me be clear: I am no fan of the Affordable Health Care Act. I think it is wrong for New Jersey and for America. I fought against it and believe, in the long run, it will not achieve what it promises. However, it is now the law of the land. I will make all my judgments as governor based on what is best for New Jerseyans."
Christie's announcement comes on top of an even more dramatic reversal, that of Florida's Gov. Rick Scott.
The former health industry executive, who was elected to lead the Sunshine State in 2010, has been one of the more conservative voices in the GOP. Scott, who once warned that "Obamacare will result in the rationing of health care, significant tax increases, significant job losses and the inability of many Americans to keep their existing health insurance" also announced that Florida would accept the new Medicaid funds.
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Since the start of the Bahraini uprising in February 2011, ongoing unrest has created unique challenges for the countrys health care system.
What began as part of a revolutionary wave of protests aimed at gaining greater political freedom and equality for the countrys Shiite population, and to put an end to the reign of King Hamad, had turned violent, resulting in the overcrowding of emergency rooms by injured protesters and dwindling access to quality health care for the sick and dying. The Bahraini government soon began to view hospitals and medical clinics as hubs for members of the opposition trying to destabilize the country.
Initially, when the whole crisis occurred, there was a shamble within the health care system. Clearly that was brought to a quick resolution and now there's a little bit of a civil order especially in terms of the health care services provided to the civilians, Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan, an international health consultant and director of the Center for Abnormal Placentation at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, told FoxNews.com. I think the challenges that they have, clearly, are the protesters and especially the opposition.
Al-Khan said for the most part, there is order in the hospitals and medical centers in Bahrain -- a far cry from the chaos that ensued at the Salmaniya Medical Complex, the countrys largest public hospital, after at least a dozen medical staff were arrested for joining the opposition in protests.
While Al-Khan acknowledged that the Bahraini government has been working to make sure public hospitals are functioning at full-capacity to provide exceptional health care to its citizens, protesters for the opposition are still making it difficult for sick citizens to get care and compromising the lives of children along the way.
They are having this battle, they are trying to compromise with the opposition, the opposition still have small children who are using all sorts of devices gas tanks, which is becoming a huge problem right now, and I witnessed that and quite frankly, it's scary, Al-Khan said.
International human rights advocates and some of the country's doctors have reported that the Bahraini government blocked ambulances from aiding wounded patients and in some cases, hospitals were being used as detention centers, causing injured protesters to avoid seeking much-needed medical care. But government officials have said that members of the opposition were only handed over after medical treatment and vowed to investigate claims of violations.
Al-Khan said that politics and medicine can sometimes go hand-in-hand and have a domino effect when it comes to the health care system in a country at a political crossroads, but noted that both the government and the citizens of Bahrain need remember what is really important for the countrys future.
Let's focus on issues thats more important to the children of Bahrain, to the region, as opposed to these political issues, Al-Khan said. The psychological stresses of politics affect an individual's health if you have a huge political issue that causes casualties, that affects health.
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Doctor: Bahrain health care crisis improving, but still an uphill battle
What do Futurists actually do? Futurists Andrew Musgrave, Neil Jacobson, Doug Vining, Gerd Leonhard
A short conversation between Andrew Musgrave, Doug Vining and Neil Jacobson of http://www.futureworld.org and me (Gerd Leonhard) of http://www.thefuturesagency.com We discuss what it means to be futurists, and what it does not (eg magic wands etc:) Please note: you can now download most of my videos by simply subscribing to this iTunes video feed (via Blip.tv) gerd.fm Audio-only versions are being made available here: gerd.fm or on the web at http://www.futuretalks.com My vimeo channel is here vimeo.com (also allows downloads). Gerd Leonhard Futurist, Author and Keynote Speaker Basel / Switzerland http://www.gerdfuturist.com CEO http://www.thefuturesagency.com Mobile apps road.ie The Future of Business blog http://www.futureof.biz Twitter: http://www.twitter.com about.me
By: Gerd Leonhard
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Freedom Rights-Talent
By: SeattleNubianUnity
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Freedom Reigns
Cover of the song Freedom Reigns. I love the words of this song. Especially where it says " where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom". I know that the spirit of the Christ dwells within us and therefore we have that freedom. We just need to realize it.
By: tyoung1122
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No sooner had a "religious freedom restoration act" sailed through the state House last week than Internet commentators started hailing it as a victory for Kentucky's Rastas and their sacrament of marijuana use.
The online sages were blowing smoke, but it's not at all clear what unanticipated consequences House Bill 279 could have if it becomes law.
Critics say the legislation, which strengthens people's ability to disobey state laws on religious grounds, would undermine vital public protections, by, for example, making it easier for parents to withhold lifesaving medical treatment from children on religious grounds.
The bill could make it harder to pursue criminal prosecutions and civil remedies in everything from child abuse to housing discrimination when a religious defense is invoked.
It also could undermine civil rights protections in Lexington, Louisville, Covington and Vicco the four Kentucky cities that have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Senate should slow down this train and study the effects in the 13 states that have enacted such laws.
Another concern is whether the legislation violates the Kentucky Constitution, and the cost to taxpayers of defending it.
Last year the Senate tried to enact the same provisions in the form of an amendment to the state Constitution. If enacting the new standards required a constitutional amendment last year, how can they be enacted by a mere change in the law this year?
Indeed, the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2012 ruled that the Kentucky Constitution allowed the state to require reflective signs on all slow-moving vehicles, despite objections by some Amish buggy drivers that the bright orange triangles violated their religious beliefs.
If HB 279 had been the law then, the state could not have enforced the safety requirement on the Amish, according to the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville.
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Bill could create chaos, not liberty; 'religious freedom' already protected
A different kind of terror attack hit India on the evening of March 3, 2013. This was an attack different from the one we witnessed in Hyderabad a few days ago but it was an attack enough to shake the collective conscience of Indians. The victims of this dastardly attack were intellectual freedom, freedom of speech as well as the sensibilities of the people of India.
Finding the perpetrators of the attack was not at all difficult. In fact, there was plenty of intelligence reports' predicting the attack. This was neither their first attack nor will it be their last. It is just one minor attack on as a part of their self-created ongoing struggle for truth and justice' for the world at large. No prizes to guess that the event I am talking about is the highly deplorable decision taken by Wharton to cancel Narendra Modi's keynote address at the Wharton India Economic Forum. The masterminds behind this are the Intellectual Taliban of self-seeking 5-star activists, pseudo intellectuals and pseudo secularists who have made lucrative careers out of berating Modi.
The news by Wharton, coming after immense freedom from this Intellectual Taliban disappointed me in many ways. First and foremost, it convinced me that the writ of this Taliban runs even in the most reputed institutions, ironically in the land that prides itself as the land of free speech and liberal democratic foundations. When a reputed institution like Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) decides to call an event off, it is clear that such an institution has no right to sit on the high table of reputed world universities. An institution that cannot safeguard another's right to freedom of speech has little right to boast of any kind of excellence, academic or otherwise.
Going back to the dark forces that muzzled free speech at Wharton, one can see the consistent pattern in their modus operandi. Take the case of Ania Loomba, the activist who spearheaded' the do not invite Modi to Wharton' bogey.
Take a look at whatever is publically visible on Loomba's Facebook profile and you will see a very predictable schedule. In the beginning of the month, she was busy galvanizing protestors to oppose Modi's SRCC speech, which has now gone down in history as one of the most inspiring speeches that left thousands of youngsters mesmerized. A few days later, a large part of her precious time went in protesting Afzal Guru's unfortunate' hanging (if this is unfortunate, I shudder to think what she defines as fortunate?). In addition to periodic outbursts against capitalism she then took the lead role in the latest Intellectual Taliban attack to prevent Modi from addressing students at Wharton.
The other major issue is that of free speech. As individuals and groups we are free to disagree with Modi, his views, his politics and his policies but does that merit such activism that denies him a chance to express himself? As Voltaire said, "I may disapprove of what you say but I will defend till death your right to say it."
Modi himself is the strongest advocate on the need to have critics. By not willing to listen to Modi, the self styled activists are simply displaying their own paranoia and lack of conviction in their arguments. It shows that they are not willing to debate ideas but only prefer to use arm-twisting tactics to make their shrill voices heard.
The arbitrary behavior of Wharton brings the rest of the participants and sponsors to the spotlight- is not high time they rise to the occasion and withdraw their participation from the event? I was very happy to read Gautam Adani and Suresh Prabhu cancel their participation. I wonder what is preventing Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dilip Cherian, Milind Deora from doing so. Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi are among the invitees at the Forum- what is preventing them from withdrawing their names?
The entire fiasco brought uncomfortable questions to my mind. If Incredible India is listed as a partner for the event, does the Government of India give its support to the actions of Wharton? How can the Union Government allow a Chief Minister of a state to be treated in this manner by a University? Would things have been the same if Delhi University, Mumbai University would have prevented an American Governor from speaking?
The founding fathers of USA dreamt of a land that is the ultimate bastion of free speech and liberal democratic practices. Our founding fathers safeguarded the right to freedom of expression and gave a voice to each and every individual irrespective of caste, creed or religion. It is a crying shame that with the actions of Wharton and the Intellectual Taliban operating in India, George Washington, Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar would be turning in their graves!
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By Mitch Hotts For The Oakland Press
Freedom Hill Amphitheatre on Monday announced three more shows of its upcoming summer concert schedule at the resurrected outdoor venue in Sterling Heights.
The entertainers include:
June 28: legendary country singer Randy Travis
June 29: alternative rockers Cake
Aug. 15: a double blues-rock bill featuring George Thorogood & The Destroyers and Buddy Guy
Tickets for all three shows will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
Promoters previously announced the country music superstar trio Lady Antebellum will play Freedom Hill on June 13.
The concerts are the first acts at Freedom Hill since the venue on Metropolitan Parkway closed in 2009. The 7,200-seat county-owned facility is now being managed by Funfest Productions, the entertainment company responsible for the Stars & Stripes Festival, the Uncle Sam Jam, and St. Clair Riverfest.
I think these acts show how diverse our summer lineup is going to be, said Funfest talent buyer Joe Nieporte. We are excited to have lined up 30-plus shows for this summer covering all different musical genres. Were going to have some big names coming in.
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