Local sports briefs: Channel Islands to play in Watts Games

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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL

Channel Islands to play in Watts Games

The Channel Islands Raiders will play Animo today at 12:30 p.m. and Baldwin Park at 2:15 p.m. in the Los Angeles Watts Games.

The Raiders will play at Ted Watkins Park, 1335 East 103rd Street, L.A. CI will play Drew King on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

SPORTS TRAINING

Speed sessions offered at Camarillo

Unique Fitness will hold speed training sessions for youth starting Monday at 10:30 a.m. at Camarillo High.

Sessions will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Cost is $75 for the month of June or a $10 drop-in fee.

July fee will be $100.

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Local sports briefs: Channel Islands to play in Watts Games

Channel Islands High School graduating class remembered for its family feeling

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The Channel Islands High School class of 2012 was a successful one, according to principal Maricruz Hernandez, who is enjoying her second year heading up the school. The school's held its 45th commencement Friday at Ken BenefieldStadium.

"We have a lot of students who accomplished their goals," Hernandez said. "In sports they really excelled. The school's varsity football, varsity soccer and varsity volleyball teams made it to the California Interscholastic Federation playoffs, and the school's spirit teams won nationaltitles.

"I feel very comfortable that each of these graduates is ready to be a productive member of the community," Hernandez said, adding that the success of the school comes in its tradition. "It's a family environment here. We have 37 faculty members who are alumni, includingme."

One of the five class valedictorians and Top 10 scholars at the school, Jeanine Ruiz, said she owes her academic success to her teachers. She said she plans to attend UCLA, where she is thinking of pursuing pre-medstudies.

"The spirit teams and the spirit in the school make students feel more comfortable. School is more than a place to study. You can do so much more than that," shesaid.

Dennis Lopez, 17, is planning to go to UC Santa Barbara, where he plans to major in mechanicalengineering.

"I left more united with everybody," he said, adding that he really enjoyed the water polo program. "I think the class of 2012 is academicallyadventurous."

Rufina Torres, 18, decorated her mortarboard with a necklace andglitter.

"I just wanted to stand out," she said, explaining that she plans to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. "Going to Channel Islands High School gave me strength. A bunch of people tried to hold me down, but by graduating, I'm proving them wrong. I have the power within me to do what I want no matter whattheysay."

Associated Student Body President Daniel Galang dubbed the class of 2012, "the class of change" as he introduced the class history portion of the commencement program, which was highlighted with an Army color guard and music by the school's concertband.

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Channel Islands High School graduating class remembered for its family feeling

Obama Aides Helped Plan Ads to Back Health Bill, GOP Says

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By Drew Armstrong - 2012-06-09T04:00:00Z

House Republicans say a drugmaker- funded advertising campaign run by supposedly independent groups was part of an agreement with the Obama administration to help pass the U.S. health-care law in 2010.

Republicans are using e-mails and memos to agitate against the overhaul ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the laws constitutionality, due later this month. The correspondence involved White House aides, drugmaker lobbyists and Democratic strategists as they built support for the law.

The documents, released on May 31 and yesterday, suggest presidential aides helped plan a $150 million advertising campaign paid for by the drug industry. The advertisers were seemingly independent groups created by the lobbyists in consultation with strategists linked to the administration, the memos suggest. The organizations were called Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care.

The memos show that the White House traded billions of dollars in policy concessions to PhRMA for millions of dollars worth of advertising, said House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio. PhRMA is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industrys Washington lobby group.

The accusations are baseless and politically driven, wrote Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman, in an e- mail. Republicans, who previously admitted this is not serious and merely a partisan effort to distract the Presidents re- election campaign, are now attempting to recycle an old story that was well covered during the original debate.

The drug industry agreed to $80 billion to $125 billion in taxes, discounts and other concessions to help fund the health laws programs during the run-up to approval in March 2010. They avoided potentially harmful policies, including one that would have allowed importation of cheaper brand-name drugs, an issue PhRMA lobbyists discussed at length with the Administration, according to the memos released last month.

At a news conference yesterday in Washington, Boehner called the groups created by the lobbyists to run the ad campaign a Super PAC paid for by PhRMA, and run by Jim Messina out of the West Wing of the White House.

This is wrong and the administration must be held accountable for their actions, Boehner said.

At the time of the e-mails, Messina was an aide to then- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. He now manages Obamas re-election campaign. The health-care law was passed without a single Republican vote.

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Obama Aides Helped Plan Ads to Back Health Bill, GOP Says

Health Care Reform Boosts Health Insurance For Young Adults, Gallup Poll Shows

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The rate of young adults without health insurance has dropped because of President Barack Obama's health care reform law, but expanded coverage for the age group could disappear if the Supreme Court strikes down the statute, a Gallup poll out Friday shows.

When health care reform became law in March 2010, 28 percent of Americans aged 18-25 did not have health insurance. During the first quarter of this year, that rate had fallen to 23 percent. Obama's law allows people under age 26 to remain on their parents' insurance plans, which has provided health benefits to a population that historically has been less likely to have coverage.

The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision by the end of this month on whether Obama's health care reform law is constitutional. Justices could uphold the law, invalidate the individual mandate that most people must obtain health coverage or other provisions, or strike down the entire statute. Under the last scenario, young adults would lose the guarantee of coverage they now have through their parents' insurance.

"The young adults who appear to have taken advantage of the provision allowing them to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26 may lose their coverage. Thus, these young adults will be even more reliant on an upturn in the economy for access to health insurance," according to Gallup.

Overall, 16.9 percent of Americans have no health insurance, Gallup reports. The Census Bureau estimates that almost 50 million people in the U.S. are uninsured. Young adults continue to have higher rates of uninsurance than older Americans. Because Medicare covers anyone aged 65 or older, just 3 percent of senior citizens had no health insurance during the first three months of this year. The uninsured rate for working-age adults between 25 and 64 years old was 19.6 percent in the first quarter, which is almost five percentage points higher than in January 2008, according to Gallup.

Health insurance coverage translated into better access to medical care in states that enacted their own laws for young adults prior to the national reforms, according to a recent study from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. It doesn't fix everything, however, as the Commonwealth Fund illustrates in a report issued Friday. Costs remain burdensome even for young adults with health insurance: 36 percent of people aged 19 to 29 reported they had difficulty paying medical bills or were in debt because of health care expenses.

There's a chance young adults might not lose the health coverage they get through their parents, even if Obama's law is repealed. Health insurance companies may be reluctant to dump young adults because their parents, who are the paying customers, like the policy. Likewise, some congressional Republicans have indicated that they would attempt to restore this popular provision of health care reform, though the party remains divided about how, or whether, to respond to a potential repeal of Obama's law.

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Health Care Reform Boosts Health Insurance For Young Adults, Gallup Poll Shows

Dental Plans: Paying More For Less?

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With all the attention paid to affordable health care, experts say standard dental coverage has changed little over the last 20 years while leading to greater out-of-pocket costs for consumers.

As with the rising costs of overall health care, many times only the wealthiest have access to important dental care.

Dr. Paul Glassman DDS, professor of dental practice and director of community oral health at University of the Pacific, said dental benefits and the cap on dental health plan benefits have not changed much in the past 20 years. But the cost of dental care has increased "dramatically."

"A plan that covered $1,000 used to get a lot," he said. "Now if you have an exam and get fillings, you've used your maximum."

As a result, more people are paying out of pocket if they want additional work done, he said.

And those who struggle to afford oral health care may find even more problems down the line, with gum disease possibly contributing to ailments like diabetes and heart disease.

Real out-of-pocket dental expenditures increased to $332 in 2008 from $270 in 1996, according to the American Dental Association's (ADA) report published in April called, "Breaking Down Barriers to Oral health for All Americans: The Role of Finance." The ADA said the figure dropped to $323 in 2009, but "this likely reflects the state of the economy, rather than any improvement in dental benefits."

Real per capita expenditures on overall personal health care reached $6,819 in 2009.

Glassman said a number of issues have contributed to dental care's higher costs. One major reason is that labor costs have increased in dental offices.

"Despite the recession, demand for their services was pretty good," he said. "So they were able to raise prices and still able to have busy practices."

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Dental Plans: Paying More For Less?

FOX NEWS POLL: Majority say ObamaCare violates rights- VIDEO: ObamaCare's effect on hospitals

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Nearly six in ten American voters want the Supreme Court to overturn at least part of the 2010 health care law, according to a new Fox News poll.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision on the law by the end of June.

Click here to view the full results.

The poll, released Friday, finds 38 percent of voters think the Supreme Court should toss out the entire law, while another 21 percent would keep most of the law, but invalidate the mandate for Americans to buy health insurance. Three voters in 10 think the court should let the entire law stand (30 percent).

When asked directly if the requirement to buy health insurance is a violation of individual rights protected by the Constitution, 60 percent of voters say yes -- almost identical to the number who think the court should overturn at least that part of the health care law.

Nearly nine of 10 Republicans (87 percent), two-thirds of independents (66 percent) and a third of Democrats (33 percent) think the individual mandate is a violation of individual rights.

Democrats (53 percent) are more than twice as likely as independents (22 percent) and five times more likely than Republicans (10 percent) to think the Supreme Court should let the health care law stand.

A 65-percent majority of Republicans and a 40-percent plurality of independents want the law overturned completely. Some 14 percent of Democrats agree.

In general, more voters oppose the new health care law than favor it (49-40 percent). In April, soon after the court heard oral arguments, 53 percent were opposed and 40 percent favored it.

Slightly more voters say they trust Barack Obama (43 percent) than Mitt Romney (40 percent) to handle the health care issue. Nine percent say neither.

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FOX NEWS POLL: Majority say ObamaCare violates rights- VIDEO: ObamaCare's effect on hospitals

Specialized Hospital Care for Elderly Patients Could Significantly Cut Costs

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UCSF Researchers Studied Program That Could Reduce National Health Care Expenses By $6 Billion a Year

Newswise Creating specialized hospital units for elderly people with acute medical illness could reduce national health care costs by as much $6 billion a year, according to a new study by UCSF researchers.

The team assessed a program called Acute Care for Elders, or ACE, which offers individualized care for older patients in specially designed hospital units. It is being piloted in 200 hospitals nationwide, serving an estimated 100,000 patients annually.

The Medicare proportion of the health care budget is going up faster than anything else, and the cost of hospital stays is one of the fastest growing components of that care, said senior author Seth Landefeld, MD, chief of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. This was really an opportunity to look at how you can deliver higher value care while maintaining or improving quality and reducing cost.

In their research, published this week in the June issue of Health Affairs, Landefeld and his colleagues conducted a randomized controlled study of 1,632 elderly patients seen either in the ACE program or a traditional inpatient hospital setting between August 1993 to May 1997. They found that the average length-of-stay was shorter for patients in the ACE program 6.7 days versus 7.3 days. They also found that patients in the ACE program incurred lower hospital costs, $9,477 versus $10,451, or a savings of $974 per patient. Nationally, said Landefeld, these numbers could translate to a one percent saving of all Medicare expenditures or $6 billion a year.

Whats encouraging about this is the outcomes were identical in both groups. So we were able to save money while maintaining the quality of care, said first author Deborah Barnes, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF. So despite being released about half a day earlier, patients had similar levels of function at discharge, and also the readmission rates were identical in two groups over three months.

Landefeld and his colleagues say minor changes in the current health care model can yield significant results. Leaving patients in their hospital beds, for example, or constantly interrupting them in the middle of the night for disruptive evaluations, can lead to longer recovery time and longer hospital stays, he said.

What do most elderly people want to do at the hospital? They want to go home, and they want to get there as soon as possible, Landefeld said. In the ACE program, families were involved from day one as opposed to being quarantined from their loved ones. And we looked at restructuring how hospitals work to get more of the benefit without the unintended consequences.

The ACE program works by creating an interdisciplinary team environment that specializes in the care of older patients. The number of clinical staff per patient is similar to traditional units, but patients are assessed daily by the team, and the level of independence and accountability of the nurses is increased.

Part of what ACE does is improve communication and decrease work. And thats a strategy thats generally popular with lots of folks involved, Landefeld said. Youre not asking people to do a lot of extra work. Youre just asking them to do their work differently. The researchers say barriers to ACE being implemented on a larger scale include the ability for clinicians to change ingrained work cultures and adjust schedules to meet and talk about the patients.

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Specialized Hospital Care for Elderly Patients Could Significantly Cut Costs

New health care groups say Oregon's reforms could sputter without more cash

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Provider groups that stepped up to be the cutting edge of Oregon's health reforms say the state is reneging on promises of a financial helping hand.

Led by Gov. John Kitzhaber, lawmakers earlier this year approved ambitious reforms that would turn over the state's Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan to beefed-up managed care groups called coordinated care organizations.

Now, members of the new groups are crying foul after a directive Thursday that they'll receive no new funds for the additional responsibilities they've agreed to take on -- mental health care, prevention efforts, quality measurements and new patient-care staff, among others.

They say the success of the reforms is at risk because revamping the care of 600,000 people takes money.

"We're stunned," said Janet Meyer, interim CEO of a consortium of Portland-area hospitals and other providers called the Tri-County Medicaid Collaborative. "That wasn't the impression we had been given throughout the process."

But the new groups simply have to be more creative, says Oregon Health Authority Director Bruce Goldberg, who is overseeing the reforms. "There are no additional dollars," he said.

The state asked the new care groups to submit rate requests based on their projected costs, but on Thursday informed the groups that those requests should be no greater than last year's rate, which itself was an 11-percent cut.

The message was "if it's not around this number -- and very close -- you will not be accepted as a CCO," said Jeff Heatherington, who heads FamilyCare, a Portland-based physician group that is among the new care groups.

The state's mandated CCO rates -- about $250 per member per month, in some cases -- are about 20 percent less than what the groups requested based on costs.

Some managed care groups "have really been struggling" and need more money, said pediatrician Bob Dannenhoffer of Douglas County's Umpqua Health Alliance. He said he hopes the state makes allowances on requirements such as quality of care reporting.

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New health care groups say Oregon's reforms could sputter without more cash

NYT: Drug industry pushed Obama

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WASHINGTON After weeks of talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous. To cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure that President Obama would stop a proposal intended to bring down medicine prices.

On June 3, 2009, one of the lobbyists e-mailed Nancy-Ann DeParle, the presidents health care adviser. Ms. DeParle reassured the lobbyist. Although Mr. Obama was overseas, she wrote, she and other top officials had made decision, based on how constructive you guys have been, to oppose importation on a different proposal.

Just like that, Mr. Obamas staff signaled a willingness to put aside support for the reimportation of prescription medicines at lower prices and by doing so solidified a compact with an industry the president had vilified on the campaign trail. Central to Mr. Obamas drive to remake the nations health care system was an unlikely collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry that forced unappealing trade-offs.

Other political news of note

Under fire from Republicans, President Obama clarified an earlier assessment of the health of the private sector, explaining that it's "absolutely clear" the economy is not doing "fine."

The e-mail exchange three years ago was among a cache of messages obtained from the industry and released in recent weeks by House Republicans including a new batch put out Friday detailing the industrys advertising campaign supporting Mr. Obamas health care overhaul. The broad contours of his dealings with the industry were known in 2009, but the newly public e-mails open a window into the compromises underlying a health care law now awaiting the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Obamas deal-making in 2009 represented a pivotal moment in his young presidency, a juncture where the heady idealism of the campaign trail collided with the messy reality of Washington policy making. A president who had promised to negotiate on C-Span cut a closed-door deal with a powerful lobby, signifying to disillusioned liberal supporters a loss of innocence, or perhaps even the triumph of cynicism.

But the bargain was one that the president deemed necessary to forestall industry opposition that had thwarted efforts to cover the uninsured for generations. Without the deal, in which the industry agreed to provide $80 billion to expand coverage in exchange for protection from policies that would cost more, Mr. Obama calculated he might get nowhere.

Throughout his campaign, President Obama was clear that he would bring every stakeholder to the table in order to pass health reform, even longtime opponents like the pharmaceutical industry, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said Friday. He understood correctly that the unwillingness to work with people on both sides of the issue was one of the reasons why it took a century to pass health reform.

Republicans see the deal as hypocritical. He said it was going to be the most open and honest and transparent administration ever and lobbyists wont be drafting the bills, said Representative Michael C. Burgess of Texas, a Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee examining the deal. Then when it came time, the door closed, the lobbyists came in and the bills were written.

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NYT: Drug industry pushed Obama

Genetic testing doesn’t drive up demand for more health services

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Patients who have genetic testing done to detect their risk for multiple health conditions do not use more health services after testing than those who elect not to be checked, says a study published online May 17 in Genetics in Medicine.

Genetic tests increasingly are being marketed directly to patients, raising concerns among some physicians that they could cause a spike in patients requesting unnecessary screening and procedures, said Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD, lead study author and associate investigator with Group Health Research Institute in Seattle.

Certainly, there is a lot of concern in the country that doing indiscriminate testing of individuals around their genetic susceptibility will alarm them and increase demand, he said.

Researchers studied 1,599 insured patients between age 25 and 40 from the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. Of those, 217 opted to get genetic tests. Patients who received the tests had more specialty physician visits before the checks than the untested group, but the study found no change in overall use of health care services among those who had the evaluations done and those who did not (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22595941/).

Researchers analyzed health care usage by participants for 12 months before and 12 months after genetic testing. Dr. Reid said the study took a conservative approach. It looked only at screening and procedures associated with four of eight conditions whose risk could be detected from the multiplex genetic susceptibility tests: type 2 diabetes mellitus, atherosclerotic coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and lung cancer. Also, the tests were thoroughly explained to all study participants something that doesnt necessarily happen in everyday practice, Dr. Reid said.

They certainly had a fair amount of material on which to base their decision, and they had follow-up to help them understand the results, he said. In most cases there is not a lot of counseling beforehand or a lot of explanation afterward.

One surprising factor was how few patients opted to have the testing done, Dr. Reid said.

Blacks were significantly less likely than whites to choose testing, as were those with just a high school education or less. The age group studied could be a factor, as younger individuals may feel that such tests offer little value at that stage in their lives, he said.

More research needs to be done to determine how genetic tests impact behavior in larger groups of patients. Such tests may have a positive impact by motivating some patients to make healthier lifestyle choices.

If someone is told they are at risk for heart disease or diabetes, it might prompt them to maintain a healthy body weight, try to lower their cholesterol or stop smoking, Dr. Reid said. I think that is the next stage to see if it promotes positive health behavior.

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Genetic testing doesn’t drive up demand for more health services

Futurist, Trends, And Innovation Expert To Deliver Keynote Address At The Opening General Session Of WEFTEC 2012

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Jim Carroll will talk about innovation and transformation strategy

Jim Carroll, a respected author, columnist, media commentator and consultant who links future trends to innovation and creativity, will deliver the keynote address during the Opening General Session of WEFTEC 2012 this fall in New Orleans, LA. The opening session will kick off the Water Environment Federations (WEF) 85th annual technical exhibition and conference, a five-day event that is expected to draw thousands of water quality professionals and exhibitors to the New Orleans Convention Center from September 29 to October 3, 2012.

As one of the worlds leading international futurists, trends and innovation experts, Carroll has provided strategic guidance and insight to some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. He is recognized worldwide as a thought leader and authority on global trends, rapid business model change, business transformation in a period of economic uncertainty, and the necessity for fast paced innovation.

We live and work in a period of unprecedented change, said Carroll. Intelligent infrastructure concepts continue to emerge from the hypothetical to the real while new design methodologies and concepts challenge water professionals to keep ahead of these fast paced developments. I'll cover the key trends that will provide challenge in the future and outline how to turn them into opportunity."

The theme of this years Opening General Session will focus on A New Direction for WEF and tie into the organizations new Strategic Direction that was announced earlier this year. Carrolls presentation on innovation and transformation strategy is expected to frame the larger program theme and provide some tools and tips for how to achieve a higher level of success through significant, transformative change.

This is a very exciting time for the water profession and specifically for the Water Environment Federation as we continue on this new path to drive innovation in water, enrich the expertise of the water sector, and increase awareness of the value of water, said WEF Executive Director Jeff Eger. We believe that Mr. Carrolls insights and experiences will help reframe the important work of the water sector in the twenty-first century and reveal the incredible opportunities that come from a relentless focus on innovation and creativity.

Scheduled for Monday, October 1 in the Conference Auditorium of the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, the opening session will also feature remarks from Eger and 2011-2012 WEF President Matt Bond as well as recognition of the 2012 Stockholm Junior Water Prize winners.

Recognized as the largest annual water quality conference and exhibition in the world, WEFTEC 2012 offers access to 142 technical sessions, 24 workshops, more than 1,000 expert speakers, six facility tours, and nearly 900 exhibitors (to date). In addition, this years event will include a new Innovation Pavilion, Stormwater Pavilion, expanded exhibition hours, new mobile sessions, and more!

Dont miss out register by July 13 to receive the Super Saver Discount. Visit http://www.weftec.org for registration information and for the latest conference details.

About WEF Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 36,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. WEF members, Member Associations and staff proudly work to achieve our mission to provide bold leadership, champion innovation, connect water professionals, and leverage knowledge to support clean and safe water worldwide.

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Futurist, Trends, And Innovation Expert To Deliver Keynote Address At The Opening General Session Of WEFTEC 2012

Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally protests health care mandate

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Photo by Kyle Kurlick // Buy this photo

Nancy Webster bows her head in prayer during the rally. Attendees say the health care mandate is not only an attack on employers but on their freedom to say no to something they believe is wrong.

Few Downtown Memphis workers stopped for the lunchtime rally on Friday.

But that didn't dampen the zeal of the approximately 150 people who took part in the Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally at Civic Center Plaza on North Main.

The gathering, one of 160 events in other U.S. cities, was in protest of the Affordable Care Act's Health and Human Services Mandate which requires faith-based employers like schools and hospitals to provide contraceptives and other forms of reproductive care.

"This campaign is about stirring the whole community in a grass-roots effort to mobilize people to stand up for the freedom of religion," said organizer Kent Pruett.

Attendees say the mandate was not just an attack on employers but on their freedom to say no to something they believe is wrong.

"It's an infringement upon the freedom of conscience and as far as I'm concerned the freedom of conscience is the big thing," said Stan Schulz of Germantown. "That pertains not only to health and human services, that pertains to abortions, where you can send your children to school, where you go to church, where you can hold rallies like this. It pertains to many different things."

The First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion, prohibits laws that inhibit the free exercise of religion and guarantees the right to free speech.

And while we often hear about free speech, it is worth noting that freedom of religion is mentioned first in the First Amendment, said speaker Paul Houghland, the Family Action Council of Tennessee's director of community relations for Shelby County and West Tennessee.

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Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally protests health care mandate

India's struggle for online freedom

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One of the many controversial cartoons drawn by Aseem Trivedi. Photo: Aseem Trivedi

"65 years since your independence," a new battle for freedom is under way in India according to a YouTube video uploaded by an Indian member of Anonymous, the global "hacktivist" movement.

With popular websites like Vimeo.com blocked across India by court order, the video calls for action: "Fight for your rights. Fight for India." Over the past several weeks, the group has launched distributed denial-of-service attacks against websites belonging to internet service providers, government departments, India's Supreme Court, and two political parties.

Street protests are being planned for today in as many as 18 cities to protest laws and other government actions that a growing number of Indian internet users believe have violated their right to free expression and privacy online.

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A lively national internet freedom movement has grown rapidly across India since the beginning of this year.

The most colourful highlight so far was a seven-day Gandhian hunger strike, otherwise known as a "freedom fast," held in early May on a New Delhi pavement by political cartoonist Aseem Trivedi and activist-journalist Alok Dixit. Trivedi's website was shut down this year in response to a police complaint by a Mumbai-based advocate who alleged that some of Trivedi's works "ridicule the Indian Parliament, the national emblem, and the national flag."

Escalating political and legal battles over internet regulation in India are the latest front in a global struggle for online freedom not only in countries like China and Iran where the internet is heavily censored and monitored by autocratic regimes, but also in democracies where the political motivations for control are much more complicated.

Democratically elected governments all over the world are failing to find the right balance between demands from constituents to fight crime, control hate speech, keep children safe, and protect intellectual property, and their duty to ensure and respect all citizens' rights to free expression and privacy. Popular online movements many of them globally interconnected are arising in response to these failures.

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India's struggle for online freedom

NC House approves Eugenics compensation

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Published 11:09am Friday, June 8, 2012

RALEIGH A bill to compensate victims of the states former Eugenics Board program was passed Tuesday (June 5) by House members and now advances to the Senate.

The House version of the proposed legislation includes Gov. Bev Perdues call to pay $50,000 lump sum compensation to living victims, as well as fund continuation of the N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, which provides services to victims.

Both local House representatives from the Roanoke-Chowan area Annie Mobley of District 5 and Michael Wray of District 27 voted in favor of the bill.

I thank the House for passing this measure with bipartisan support, Gov. Perdue said. It is time for the State of North Carolina to show leadership and take responsibility for what was done to our own people. I urge the Senate to take this bill up soon.

Gov. Perdue established the Sterilization Victims Foundation in March 2010, as well as the Eugenics Compensation Task Force, whose report formed the core of her budget recommendations.

Legislators spoke emotionally about the subject, expressing both concern for victims and for allocating a $10 million fund for compensation during a difficult budget year. An amendment to reduce the payment from $50,000 to $20,000 was opposed by House Leader Paul Stam and failed.

It is impossible to overstate the historical significance of the action taken today in the North Carolina House of Representatives, said House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg). With the bipartisan vote of 86 House members, our state took a bold step toward providing a small amount of justice for the victims of a horrific program. North Carolina is poised to become the first state in the nation to compensate victims of a state-operated eugenics program, and that is a distinction to be proud of. Todays vote has been long overdue, and I congratulate everyone who had a role in this process. Todays vote puts North Carolina on the doorstep of history.

This is a huge step in the right direction, said Foundation Executive Director Charmaine Fuller Cooper. The horrors of history can never be changed. But, todays bipartisan vote showed that we can learn from history and ensure that past horrors are not repeated.

Currently, 132 individuals, one of which resides in Bertie County, have been verified by the N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation, of which 118 (about 90 percent) are living. More verification requests are being researched with assistance from State Archivists as it is believed that as many as 2,000 sterilization victims are still alive.

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NC House approves Eugenics compensation

Robot Chicken goes free range, Seth Green says

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By Bill Brioux Special to the Star Jun 09, 2012

For years, Seth Green used to beg friends to lend their voices to his cheeky little blast of attention-deficit television, Robot Chicken.

Now, as the stop-motion animation series reaches the 100-episode milestone (Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on Teletoon at Night), the stars are coming to him.

Including a certain judge from The Voice.

I ran into Cee Lo Green at the MTV awards four years ago, says Green says on the phone from L.A., and he grabbed me by the shoulders with his jewel-encrusted hands and said, When am I going to be on Robot Chicken? And I was like, Please tell me one of these people standing next to you is your agent or manager or scheduling coordinator.

One of them was. Cee Lo was booked for a recording session and, according to Seth Green, he killed: So fearlessly funny.

Besides Green and co-creator Matt Senreich, the voices of Alex Borstein, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane and Breckin Meyer can often be heard on the series. Celebrity guest voices have ranged from Mark Hamill to David Hasselhoff to Hugh Hefner to Hulk Hogan and those are just the Hs.

Using a mix of animated dolls and toys, the series takes bratty pot shots at all aspects of pop culture. The 100th episode ventures into live action and traditional two-dimensional animation, especially during a goof on the old Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera cartoons. (Yogi and Boo-Boo morph into live action Power Ranger-type heroes.)

Green says hes become somewhat of an expert on how far you can go parodying well-known properties. You dont get permission as much as you do your due diligence to make a specific kind of joke thats allowable without permission, he says.

Crossing genres and platforms is also something Green, 38, has become an expert on. Hes had an impact in film and TV roles, such as the Austin Powers movies and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but also on webisodes and video games, especially the wildly popular Mass Effect series as flight lieutenant Jeff Joker Moreau.

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Robot Chicken goes free range, Seth Green says