Monthly Archives: March 2012

Voice Assist, Inc., (OTCQB:VSST), today announced that it is collaborating with Frankie Avalon, a teen singing idol from the 1950s and 1960s, to develop commercials reaching out to parents and grandparents urging them to provide their teen-age family members with Voice Assists hands-free speech technology solution as a safe alternative to texting while driving.

We are delighted to team up with Frankie Avalon who shares our concern and passion to help people, especially teens, to drive safe using our handsfree solution, said Michael Metcalf, Voice Assist Chairman and CEO. Texting while driving is a dangerous combination and illegal in many states. Were excited to have such a well known celebrity as Frankie Avalon to help create public awareness about the Voice Assist handsfree voice activated solution.

Frankie Avalon commented, I have eight children and ten grandchildren so I want to know that my family as well as other families are as safe as possible when driving and the Voice Assist solution helps deliver the peace of mind that were all looking for. I also appreciate the convenience and productivity-enhancing features of the Voice Assist option for myself.I can issue a voice command to deliver an email or a text message, which eliminates the need to fumble with a phones sensitive touch screen or a small keyboard - a real benefit for older eyes. I can also use a voice command to initiate a phone call or post a message to my grandkids on Twitter or Facebook. They all think this is super cool and I love it because its so easy.

Frankie Avalon was a child star who went from being a trumpet playing prodigy at age nine, to one of the biggest teen idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1959, his breakthrough hit Venus, sold more than a million copies. Frankie went on to Hollywood fame in many films such as the Alamo with John Wayne, and the Beach Party movies with Annette Funicello and is well known for his popular role as The Big Kahuna in Back to the Beach and The Teen Angel in the wildly popular movie Grease. Frankie is always busy, while performing and thrilling audiences around the world.

About Voice Assist, Inc.

Voice Assist is the award winning speech platform designed to be used from any phone.Voice Assist eliminates the need to press buttons on smart phones, tablet PCs or any other network connected device.Mobile developers and cloud based service providers can leverage Voice Assists platform to provide voice access to any application. Voice Assists rapid application development environment and mobile widgets make it easy to add a simple yet powerful voice interface. Voice Assist also offers its hands-free safe driving application and CRM by voice applications direct to the public and/or through resellers and private label OEM relationships.

For more information on the company, visit http://www.voiceassist.com.

Forward-Looking Statement: Statements such as " Voice Assist offers a safer option and enables drivers to use to voice commands to make calls, send or respond to text messages and e-mails, or post to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter all without looking at your phone or typing." involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to functionality of our technology, and any other difficulties related to risks and effects of legal and administrative proceedings and governmental regulation, future financial and operational results, competition, general economic conditions, and the ability to manage and continue growth.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those indicated. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make in this news release include market conditions and those set forth in reports or documents we file from time to time with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect current events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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Frankie Avalon, 50’s and 60’s Teen Idol and Movie Star, Helps Promote Voice Assist’s Speech Command Technology

Teamsters, Union Members, Civil Rights Groups, Community Supporters Say NO to SB 469

ATLANTA, March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Teamsters are calling on supporters of free speech and workers' rights to come to the Capitol on Thursday, March 29 as part of an all-day show of opposition to Senate Bill 469 on the last day of the session.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO )

SB 469 is expected to be voted on Thursday.

SB 469 would intimidate working families' right to free speech and allow the government to intrude on workers' choice to support a union. It is opposed by the Atlanta Tea Party, environmental advocates, unions, faith groups and civil rights organizations.

"The Legislature hasn't done anything meaningful to lower Georgia's 10 percent unemployment rate," said Randy Brown, president of Teamsters Local 728. "The least they could do is to stop their attacks on workers' rights."

Senate Bill 469 would also criminalize non-violent protest and picketing of labor disputes.

A press conference will be held at 10 a.m. on the Washington Street side of the Capitol. Supporters of working families are asked to come any time between then and midnight, when the session will end.

Excerpt from:
Teamsters to Hold Rally for Free Speech, Workers' Rights

A member of the goon squad orders Bryan Kellert, 19, second from left, out of Tidelberg for assembling during the Society of Professional Journalists First Amendment Free Food Festival at the University of Alabama Wednesday.

In an invasion unanticipated by most at the University of Alabama, insurgents from the small nation of Roll Tidelberg established borders on the southwest corner of the campus Quad Wednesday afternoon.

With no opposition, the camp's numbers began to swell as Roll Tidelberg officials enticed passersby into citizenship with a free barbecue sandwich.

But with citizenship and a delicious lunch came a heavy burden: Those who signed up to become citizens of the little-known country signed away the First Amendment rights they enjoy on American soil.

Within the crudely roped-off borders of the young nation, masked goons patrolled the grounds with rifles that shot foam-like, but seemingly lethal projectiles. They paced silently before objecting to any instance of talking or assembly, and deported any members of the press who made their way in to record the somber events inside.

After several students had been sent to a makeshift jail or deported for their crimes, a group of Jewish students donning houndstooth yarmulkes rushed into the country shouting for their right to religion and free speech. At gunpoint they were forced back onto American soil but not before one accused the goon forcing them out of being Jewish himself.

Of course, there was no real invasion Wednesday. But the First Amendment Free Food Festival, hosted by UA's student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, did help many students understand what it feels like to lose these very basic freedoms.

Kristen Mather, president of the SPJ chapter, said the group got the idea for the event from similar events that SPJ student chapters have held on other campuses.

We want students to not only be aware of their First Amendment rights but to exercise them in an ethical way while realizing that not everyone has the freedom of speech that we do here, Mather said.

Although visitors were aware that the event was a playful illustration, those who entered the borders of Roll Tidelberg were made immediately aware of the fact that their every action was being scrutinized by rulers making judgments based on a whim.

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Student SPJ chapter takes away free speech at Nerf-gun point

Monday, March 26, 2012

Ice-T is best known to millions as the actor who plays police officer Odafin Fin Tutuola on the hit TV show Law & Order: SVU. But Ice-T has been a public figure since the 1980s, bursting on the scene with his particular style of rapping and as a pioneer of the so-called gangsta rap genre.

In his interesting memoir, Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption from South Central to Hollywood, he reflects on freedom of speech and censorship over his song Cop Killer. Ice-T released the song with his rock band Body Count on its debut album as a protest against police brutality. The lyrics outraged many police officers and others nationwide. Politicians across the country railed against the song and the singer.

In July 1992, Ice-T and Time Warner decided to remove Cop Killer from Body Counts album and re-release the album. Some accused Ice-T of capitulating to censorship. Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, called the move police correctness. Ice-T said Time Warner had received death threats.

The rapper, who says he decided on his own to remove the song because of the intense heat over it, offers some interesting perspectives on free speech and censorship in his book.

I thought free speech meant I could say whatever I wanted to say, he writes. Now looking back on it, this is what I learned. Yes, you have the right to say whatever you want in America, but you have to be prepared for the ramifications for what you say.

In other words, the price of free speech can be high. Individuals have the First Amendment right to offer critical and controversial speech. But as Ice-T warns, there may be consequences.

Tags: music, music censorship, music lyrics

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Ice-T reflects on free speech and censorship

When the FBI prepared to arrest nine Hutaree militia members two years ago in a homegrown terrorism case, the lead agent made one point clear.

"We haven't worked a year and a half on this investigation and risked (an undercover agent's) life to walk away from this with 3 arrests," the agent wrote in an e-mail that surfaced during trial.

In the end, that's exactly what the FBI got.

In a sharp rebuke, a federal judge on Tuesday acquitted the remaining Hutaree members of plotting a violent revolt against the U.S. government with weapons of mass destruction -- crimes that could have landed them in prison for life. Just two are left standing in the case on a handful of weapons violations. One previously pleaded guilty, and one was found incompetent to stand trial. U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts concluded that federal prosecutors, who rested their case last week, failed in five weeks of trial to prove the Hutaree had a specific plan to kill a police officer and attack law enforcement personnel.

"The government's case is built largely of circumstantial evidence. While this evidence could certainly lead a rational fact finder to conclude that 'something fishy' was going on, it does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants reached a concrete agreement to forcibly oppose the U.S. government," Roberts wrote in her 28-page ruling.

The ruling was hailed by defense lawyers as a major victory for free speech. They had long argued the defendants never had any real plans to harm anyone and were merely engaged in tough talk, a protected First Amendment right.

"Judge Roberts understood that you just don't charge individuals with doing certain things, then lump a lot of bad, scary evidence against them and expect a jury to convict," said defense attorney Mark Satawa, whose client Michael Meeks was jailed for two years until Tuesday. "Her opinion shows exactly what we as lawyers have been saying all along: They did nothing wrong."

The FBI arrested nine Hutaree members after a paid confidential informant and undercover agent infiltrated the group for months and secretly recorded conversations and videotaped various trainings.

Satawa also lambasted the government for charging the defendants in the first place and jailing his client.

"My client got locked up for two years but never gets that time back ... The U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the U.S. government should be ashamed of themselves," Satawa said.

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Defense lawyers hail Hutaree acquittals as free speech victory