Monthly Archives: March 2012

Liberty, Hampton draw No 16 seeds in women's tournament

Posted: March 13, 2012 at 4:49 am

By: VIC DORR JR. | Richmond Times-Dispatch Published: March 13, 2012 Updated: March 13, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Who is out was a hotter topic than who is in when the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament announced selections and first-round matchups Monday night.

In: Big South champion Liberty and MEAC champion Hampton. No surprise there. Both earned automatic invitations by winning conference tournaments. Out: the Virginia Cavaliers, whose 22-10 record included a 69-64 victory over Tennessee, the most aristocratic program in the women's game. Big surprise there.

Committee chairman Greg Christopher, the athletic director at Bowling Green, said the Cavaliers were among the last four teams excluded from the field of 64. Also included in that unhappy group were Oklahoma State, Southern Cal and Temple. The last four in: Florida, Kansas State, Michigan and Texas.

Christopher said deliberations concerning the final teams in the field "were really difficult. Ultimately, we probably spent four hours close to four hours, certainly talking just about those eight teams." The tipping point, Christopher said, was big-game success. The last four in "elevated their play. They stood up and got some significant wins that we didn't see from the others."

Then, perhaps recalling Virginia's overtime upset of Tennessee, he specifically addressed the Cavaliers' ACC rsum. Virginia finished 10-8 against ACC opponents. Said Christopher: "Their (conference) wins came against teams below them in the standings. None, really, came against teams that finished above them."

The Cavaliers finished 0-1 against Duke, 0-2 against North Carolina and 0-3 against Maryland.

While Virginia found itself on the outside looking in, Liberty and Hampton find themselves on the bottom looking up. Each was tagged with a No. 16 seed, which means each will face a No. 1 when subregional play begins this weekend. Hampton (26-4) was placed in the Fresno regional and was permitted to stay close to home. The Pirates, winners of three consecutive MEAC titles, will make the short drive to nearby Old Dominion University to face top-seeded Stanford (31-1) on Saturday at approximately 1:40 p.m.

A much longer journey awaits Liberty. The Flames (24-8) were placed in the Raleigh regional. They will travel to South Bend, Ind., for Sunday's 2:40 p.m. appointment with No. 1-seeded Notre Dame (30-3).

Flames coach Carey Green said his players are more eager than apprehensive about their first-round assignment.

Link:
Liberty, Hampton draw No 16 seeds in women's tournament

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on Liberty, Hampton draw No 16 seeds in women's tournament

Liberty draws Notre Dame in NCAA first roun

Posted: at 4:49 am

When Libertys named popped on the screen during the NCAA womens tournament selection show Monday night, the team, which was gathered on the club level of the schools football press tower, let out a cheer.

Flames coach Carey Green, however, was a little taken aback by where the tournament committee had placed his team. Liberty will open tournament play on Sunday in South Bend, Ind., as a No. 16 seed against the top seed in the Raleigh Region, homestanding Notre Dame. Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPN2.

The Fighting Irish went 30-3 during the regular season, losing only to undefeated No. 1 Baylor, NCAA team West Virginia and No. 3 Connecticut, a team the Irish beat twice in the regular season. Liberty, which won the Big South tournament title on Sunday in High Point, N.C., hasnt been seeded 16th since going undefeated in the regular season in 1998. Libertys reward that season was a trip to Tennessee.

It was a little bit of sticker shock, Green said. I thought the team deserved a little bit of a higher seed than that. It was a slap in the face.

Liberty (24-8) won 18 of its final 19 games, including two victories against High Point on its home floor. But the similarity between the 2011-12 team and the 1997-98 version of the Flames is strength of schedule. Liberty won just five non-conference games this season, with only two coming against Division I opponents.

Both of those opponents were weak. Liberty won at UNC Greensboro, which went 4-25 and finished dead last in the Southern Conference, and the Flames beat Lipscomb, which went 6-23 and tied for last in the Atlantic Sun, on a neutral floor.

But Green has an argument. Liberty is ranked No. 95 in the RPI, and Samford (No. 103), Tennessee-Martin (No. 104) and Navy (No. 188) all earned No. 15 seeds. The tournament committee did some shifting to keep lower seeds closer to home. Navy will make the short trip to College Park to face Maryland, while Samford will make a 200-mile trip from Birmingham, Ala., to Nashville, Tenn., to face Duke.

Hampton, which is No. 63 in the RPI, ahead of 12 tournament teams, was dropped to a No. 16 so it could play Fresno Region No. 1 seed Stanford in nearby Norfolk.

It is what it is, Green said. Its a dream, though, a great opportunity for us. Were playing our best basketball of the year at this point in time. Well be prepared.

The Flames will face a significant challenge in the Irish, who advanced to last years national title game before falling to Texas A&M. Notre Dame has won at home by some incredibly lopsided margins this season, including wins over Indiana State (99-34), Hartford (98-43), Marquette (95-42), Purdue (66-38), Central Florida (90-38), Longwood (92-26) and Pittsburgh (120-44).

See original here:
Liberty draws Notre Dame in NCAA first roun

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on Liberty draws Notre Dame in NCAA first roun

Suspensions raise free-speech questions

Posted: at 4:47 am

The fallout from an act of vandalism at McDowell High School has sparked debate on whether or not students First Amendment rights were violated.

Several students received short-term suspensions after posting words of encouragement and support on classmate Alex Mayes Facebook wall.

Last week, Mayes and a friend spray painted phallic symbols on several different areas at McDowell High School, including Titan rock.

On Wednesday, both Mayes and his associate were questioned and then arrested. It was after his arrest that students began posting comments about the act and forwarding pictures of the rock.

Principal Ben Talbert was out of town when the incident occurred and he said he believed at the time that suspensions were the only way to protect the school.

The decision was made because I felt like we were in a position of being very vulnerable, Talbert said Monday. To glorify a guy for doing this we thought created a negative environment. Im just amazed that kids supported him. Many of the parents Ive spoken to are amazed their kids supported this.

Ken Paulson, president/chief executive at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., said this incident is one of many dealing with social media and a students First Amendment right to free speech.

This is an emerging area of the law, Paulson said in a telephone interview Monday. The question of whether public schools can discipline students for free expression outside of the classroom is still being refined. Its still being addressed by the courts in surprisingly different ways. Students have First Amendment rights. Courts have different ways of applying them when dealing with a school. The test is always whether the speech substantially disrupts school operations.

Disruption was the main reason why Talbert chose to give five students short-term suspension.

We thought this kind of activity was disruptive, he said. It was kind of like having a fight break out and having students cheer the participants on.

Follow this link:
Suspensions raise free-speech questions

Posted in Free Speech | Comments Off on Suspensions raise free-speech questions

Global media watchdog names enemies of Internet

Posted: March 12, 2012 at 8:43 pm

PARIS (AP) The Arab Spring is changing the face of Internet freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, which released its latest "Enemies of the Internet" list Monday.

The annual report classifies as "enemies" countries that severely curtail freedom of expression on and access to the Web. It also draws up a list of states "under surveillance."

The group added Bahrain to its enemies list, citing a news blackout and harassment of bloggers in an attempt to quell a yearlong Shiite-led rebellion against the Sunni monarchy.

The country had previously been under surveillance.

"Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures: exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and netizens (one of whom died behind bars), prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, disruption of communications," the Paris-based group's report said.

But the Arab Spring the name given to a cascade of revolts across the Arab world has also led to the opening up of some regimes.

Libya, where the repressive rule of Moammar Gadhafi was thrown off in a violent revolt, was removed from the list of countries under surveillance.

"In Libya, many challenges remain but the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime has ended an era of censorship," the report said.

The group said that the Arab Spring had also highlighted the importance of the Internet and therefore the importance of protecting access to and expression on it.

"The Internet and social networks have been conclusively established as tools for protest, campaigning and circulating information, and as vehicles for freedom," the group said. "More than ever before, online freedom of expression is now a major foreign and domestic policy issue."

Read the original here:
Global media watchdog names enemies of Internet

Posted in Freedom | Comments Off on Global media watchdog names enemies of Internet

Liberty comes from behind to win title

Posted: at 8:42 pm

By: BY BENJAMIN CATES | For The Register & Bee Published: March 12, 2012 Updated: March 12, 2012 - 9:20 AM

HIGH POINT, N.C. You dont usually think of a team learning something from a win. That phrase is typically reserved for squads on the losing side.

But after top-seeded Liberty defeated host High Point, 81-73, to capture its 14th Big South tournament championship and earn another automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the Lady Flames walked away knowing a little more about themselves.

With senior center Avery Warley limited to just 23 minutes of action after being hampered by foul trouble early, Liberty had to look elsewhere for a spark. Enter junior guard Devon Brown.

Luckily for Liberty, Brown really enjoys playing in the Millis Center. She scored a career-high 29 points here in a win over High Point in 2010.

Brown (24 points, 14 rebounds) took grit and determination to another level on Sunday.

Devon Brown is as good as they get, Liberty coach Carey Green said. This was an outstanding game. She wanted to win and she wanted to go to the Big Dance.

Freshman guard Reagan Miller added 15 points and eight assists and Warely (14 points, 12 rebounds) still found a way to get her 15th double-double of the season by adding eight points when Liberty needed them in a critical second-half stretch.

While they cruised to the finals with big wins over UNC-Ashville and Charleston Southern, Liberty struggled to overcome a scrappy, physical High Point squad that looked to knock off them off for the second time this year. The two teams previously split a pair of meetings this season.

Liberty found it difficult to contain junior guard Erin Reynolds as the Panthers squeaked by the Lady Flames by four points in January. A month later, the Liberty needed double-digit scoring from five players to down the Panthers.

Originally posted here:
Liberty comes from behind to win title

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on Liberty comes from behind to win title

Solange Knowles' Son Julez Accused Of Making Illuminati Hand Sign

Posted: at 8:42 pm

Solange Knowles' son Julez has been accused of making an Illuminati hand sign by one of the star's Twitter followers.

The youngster was celebrating his ninth birthday party over the weekend and proud mother Solange was busy snapping away. One photo which she posted on her Twitter page, shows the Julez throwing up a rockstar hand sign, however, one Twitter user interpreted this as him pledging allegiance to the Illuminati.

"@solangeknowles Cute. But do you know that he's throwing up the baphomet hand sign? The bloggers will have a field day with this pic Solange," the Twitter user wrote.

Solange seemed to ignore the attack on her son, and instead focused on making Julez birthday special.

"Julez is having a Bey Blade Battle at the house today," she wrote.

"My plan of action... get the moms feeling good on sangrias.... get the kids feeling good on cookies."

What do you make of the Illuminati rumours surrounding the Carter and Knowles families?

Go here to read the rest:
Solange Knowles' Son Julez Accused Of Making Illuminati Hand Sign

Posted in Illuminati | Comments Off on Solange Knowles' Son Julez Accused Of Making Illuminati Hand Sign

Editorial Board: The right of protection

Posted: at 8:41 pm

DOES THE Second Amendment protect an individual right to carry a gun outside the home?

Last week, a federal judge in Maryland concluded that it does and in the process struck down a Maryland licensing provision for carrying concealed weapons in public.

Judge Benson Everett Legg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Maryland issued a thoughtful and measured decision but one that should be reviewed by the federal appeals court.

Marylands laws concerning concealed-carry permits are among the countrys most restrictive. To obtain such a permit, an applicant must undergo a criminal background check and provide employment verification and medical and psychiatric history. The board that assesses requests must also take into account an applicants propensity for violence or instability, and it must determine that the applicant has a good and substantial reason to carry a concealed weapon. Security guards, armored-car drivers and others whose professions expose them to danger often meet this latter requirement, but permits may also be issued to those who prove that carrying a concealed weapon is necessary as a reasonable precaution . . . against apprehended danger.

Until 2009, Raymond Woollard was one of the roughly 47,000 individuals in possession of a Maryland concealed-carry permit. Mr. Woollard obtained the permit in 2003 after his intoxicated son-in-law broke into Mr. Woollards home and threatened the family. The state renewed Mr. Woollards permit in 2006, shortly after the son-in-law was released from prison, but it refused to do so three years later after concluding Mr. Woollard could no longer prove he needed the permit for self-protection. Mr. Woollard sued, arguing that the states licensing scheme stomped on his Second Amendment rights.

Judge Legg agreed, building on the 2008 Supreme Court decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. The court emphasized the saliency of the right especially in the home and especially for self-defense. Judge Legg concluded that the Constitution and the high courts holding must also be read to protect an individuals right to carry weapons outside the home. Marylands good and substantial requirement impermissibly infringed on that right, he said.

A citizen may not be required to offer a good and substantial reason why he should be permitted to exercise his rights, Judge Legg concluded. The rights existence is all the reason he needs.

Maryland will appeal, as it should. Judge Legg makes a serious argument that the Maryland law impermissibly burdens the individual with proving he is entitled to exercise his rights; the burden should be on the government to show why an individual should be stripped of that right.

But the state has a duty to protect public safety, and careful oversight of who can walk around with lethal weapons may be a legitimate component of that. Judge Legg too quickly dismisses as a rationing scheme the states compelling interest in maintaining order in the public arena. Second Amendment rights should be respected, but public safety need not be thrown out in the process.

Excerpt from:
Editorial Board: The right of protection

Posted in Second Amendment | Comments Off on Editorial Board: The right of protection

Having it both ways on ‘religious freedom'

Posted: March 11, 2012 at 11:34 pm

Published: Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 5:27 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 5:27 p.m.

Recent tension between health care advocates and predominantly Catholic institutions about preventive health care measures that include insurance coverage for contraceptives has again highlighted conflicts involving religious freedom. It's not a new debate.

Religious organizations have sought and occasionally received exemptions from rules that apply to others. Courts have examined religious exemption clashes case by case; for example, protecting the ability of churches to make core religious decisions, but denying broader claimed exemptions from health and safety regulations.

Lawyers, scholars and civil libertarians have differed on how to resolve conflicts between sometimes competing values: an individual's right to exercise religious expression free of government regulation; the need to uniformly enforce neutral rules on important issues like rules barring employment discrimination, the obligation of government not to interfere in the core mission of religious institutions and the need to safeguard the religious freedom of those of one religious faith (or no religious faith) from being subjected to the rules of others' faith. The government's efforts to ensure that all women have access to contraceptives as part of the national health care law is creating conflict with the Catholic Church and some religiously affiliated organizations. The government's current plan is to require that insurance companies provide coverage for contraceptives for women not only to regulate fertility but that doctors also prescribe to treat a variety of medical conditions. (This includes women whose religious principles do not bar the use of contraceptives.)

But this most recent flare-up is especially troubling in Florida. Here, some of the same groups that are demanding exemption, based on religious freedom, from parts of the national health care plan are, at the same time, asking voters to give them long-forbidden access to tax dollars to help fund their religious activities.

This radical departure from Florida's 125-year constitutional tradition of "no aid" to religious institutions will appear as proposed Amendment 8 on November's ballot, written by the Legislature in a cleverly deceptive way that is designed to seduce voters into supporting "religious freedom." On closer inspection, "religious freedom" means the "freedom" to get access to tax dollars.

These Florida groups want to exempt themselves from some government laws if those laws conflict with their religious practices, while insisting that government fund those very same religious practices. They want the money but not the rules.

That position seems a bit hypocritical. It is also short-sighted. Many defenders of religious liberty and far-sighted faith leaders oppose government funding of religion in part because government money comes with government strings. It's naive to think that government will not require recipients of public funds, including religiously affiliated institutions, to account for how those funds are spent.

By asking to be let out of rules that apply to everyone else, churches also are creating a slippery slope. If churches can opt out of policies that infringe on their beliefs, taxpayers might claim the right to opt out of paying taxes used for religious practices they don't support. They also may want to opt out of having to pay taxes for even nonreligious uses they disagree with or that violate their conscience, such as funding wars or providing foreign aid.

But we can't. Taxes aren't optional.

Read the original here:
Having it both ways on ‘religious freedom'

Posted in Freedom | Comments Off on Having it both ways on ‘religious freedom'

Freedom: Corporations aren’t people

Posted: at 11:34 pm

12:00 PM

By Erin Rhoda erhoda@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

FREEDOM A majority of residents at the annual Town Meeting on Saturday expressed their dissatisfaction with corporate funding of political campaigns when they took a non-binding vote in support of abolishing corporate personhood.

The town will now send a letter to President Barack Obama and Maines congressional delegates to urge them to amend the U.S. Constitution to state that corporations do not have the same rights as people. The ultimate goal is to require corporations to disclose their contributions to political campaigns, events and advertisements.

About 65 people attended the meeting at Dirigo Grange, but not all people supported the resolution. Scott Holmes was one of several people who spoke against it.

To amend the Constitution doesnt sit well with me, he said. I think it should stay the way it is.

Sarah Bicknell, a Unity College student who lives in Freedom, organized the petition to bring the measure to a vote at the Town Meeting.

She said her effort was largely a reaction to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the government may not limit corporations political spending. The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money, without disclosure, on campaigns. Resident Doug Van Horn argued in response to Holmes that the Constitution has been amended before.

The Supreme Court has the right to change our Constitution, and it has done that in this particular case. We are asking essentially to ... counteract what the Supreme Court has done, he said. Resident Martha Story-Foisy argued in favor of the resolution, saying it would send a message that we dont like whats happening as far as these corporations getting involved in our election process and really, in some cases, buying elections.

First Selectman Ron Price said that while the vote was non-binding, he didnt like the idea of the whole town making a political statement. And he would have preferred a private vote at the polls, he said.

Visit link:
Freedom: Corporations aren’t people

Posted in Freedom | Comments Off on Freedom: Corporations aren’t people

West Liberty worship: 'We may have lost our church, but we haven't lost our heart'

Posted: at 11:34 pm

WEST LIBERTY For decades, Rose W. May has been the musical heart and soul of the West Liberty United Methodist Church.

A retired Morgan County English teacher, she has played graduations, baptisms, weddings and funerals. The March 2 tornado that ripped through town took her church, her house and her grand piano. It even took her sheet music.

But it couldn't take her songs.

Sunday, as members of several churches destroyed by the tornado gathered in an auditorium at Morehead State University's West Liberty campus, Rose May was there, pouring out the old hymns like balm on wounded souls.

"This is the first time she's played since it happened," said Terri Walters, her daughter, of Pikeville. "She is at home, isn't she? At her keyboard."

Sparing a wink over the top or a wave to well-wishers, May swept through a medley ofchurch classics, with a few other emotional favorites mixed in.

She tried to keep it upbeat, and almost threw in the school fight song but decided that might not be proper.

As members of the congregations of the Methodist, First Baptist, Broadway First Church of God, Church of Christ, and Christian churches all destroyed hugged and wiped away tears, Rose May's "My Old Kentucky Home" was the soundtrack of their emotional reunion.

Nine days earlier, May had been on the phone with Walters as the tornado approached and when her daughter said "It's coming," May calmly said good-bye, picked up her purse and headed for the basement.

On the way down the stairs, she heard a terrible sound and the roof lifted off her house. She made it to cover in a corner. Once it got quiet again, the basement wall had fallen away and May just walked right out, unharmed and unafraid. She's staying with Walters in Pikeville but knew she had to come to Sunday's service.

Continue reading here:
West Liberty worship: 'We may have lost our church, but we haven't lost our heart'

Posted in Liberty | Comments Off on West Liberty worship: 'We may have lost our church, but we haven't lost our heart'