Monthly Archives: March 2012

NRA responds; Krull reloads

Posted: March 24, 2012 at 12:05 am

Editor's note: On March 13, we ran John Krull's column on the National Rifle Association's endorsement of Richard Mourdock for U.S. senator. That inspired the following response from the NRA and rebuttal by Krull:

The NRA on endorsing Mourdock

By Chris W. Cox National Rifle Association

The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech. Your columnist, John Krull, appears to have exercised his constitutional right with little, if any, common sense.

The foundation of democracy is that every vote counts. And people band together to amplify their voice. That's basic civics.

Indiana has tens of thousands of National Rifle Association dues-paying members. Sen. Richard Lugar has not represented their interests or the interests of other gun owners and hunters for decades.

In past Senate races, these voters have not had a viable choice. They do now.

Richard Mourdock has stated his strong support for our hunting heritage, self-defense rights and the Second Amendment.

In stark contrast, Sen. Lugar has demonstrated disdain for gun owners. He has aligned himself out of the bipartisan majority of U.S. senators who signed amicus briefs in the historic Heller and McDonald cases, and in opposition of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty that could severely restrict civilian ownership of firearms in our country.

Mr. Krull's derision of the NRA is an extension of his disgust for the Second Amendment. His prejudice reveals his patent contempt for our Founding Fathers, our Constitution and the democratic process.

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NRA responds; Krull reloads

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Violence warnings on video games may harm free speech, says EFF

Posted: at 12:05 am

A newly proposed bill in the House, which seeks to slap a warning label on nearly all video games, may violate the First Amendment, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties advocacy group, says that requiring video games to carry a waring that they may cause violent behavior in players may harm freedom of speech. The EFFs warning is in response to a bill, the Violence in Video Games Labeling Act (HR 4204), introduced this week by Reps. Joe Baca (D-CA) and Frank Wolf (R-VA), which seeks to make the inclusion of these cigarette-style warnings a requirement for nearly all video games.

Rep. Baca tries to cloak his anti-speech bill by the inapt comparison for tobacco warning labels in the press release announcing the bill, writes Parker Higgins, an EFF activist. But while there is a wealth of proof that cigarettes are dangerous, studies simply havent conclusively demonstrated a causal link between video games and aggressive behavior.

Under the Baca/Wolf bill, the packaging of video games rated E (Everyone), Everyone 10+ (Everyone 10 and older), T (Teen), M (Mature), or A (Adult) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) must include a label that reads, WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior. Only games rated EC (Early Childhood) would be exempted from the rule. However, as Higgins points out, there is no conclusive evidence that video games cause players to act violently (pdf).

(It should be noted that the ESRB voluntarily labels games with these ratings. They are not required by law, just as the inclusion of movie ratings by the MPAA and Parental Advisory labels on albums by the RIAA are not legally mandated.)

Not only is HR 4204 potentially on the wrong side of science, it appears to be on the wrong side of the law. A 2010 Supreme Court ruling (pdf) declared that video games qualify for First Amendment protection, just as books, plays, and movies do. Because of the precedent set by this Court decision, as well as other lower-profile cases, video games are legally protected speech, and cant be singled out for special restrictions, says Higgins. Any attempts by state or federal governments to impose such restrictions will likely be shot down in court.

Of course, it is still possible that video games actually do cause violent outbursts, or at least desensitize frequent players to violence. A study published last year by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology showed that young adults who played excessively violent video games did display noticeable cognitive differences from those who played non-violent games.

A single exposure to a violent video game wont turn someone into a mass murderer, Dr. Bartholow of the University of Missouri told CBS News. But if someone has repeatedly exposed themselves, these kinds of effects in the short term can turn into long-term changes.

Regardless, the evidence on this matter is far from conclusive, which means the Baca/Wolf proposal is, at the very best, premature. To fight back against this bill, the EFF has created an Action Alert that easily allows concerned citizens to contact their representatives in Congress.

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Violence warnings on video games may harm free speech, says EFF

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Freedom Belles roller derby = Friendship, fitness and fun

Posted: March 23, 2012 at 11:28 am

Team Andrews member Airman 1st Class Kevin Pertuit, 779th Medical Squadron medical logistics technician, demonstrates his skating skills during tryouts for the Freedom Belles roller derby league at the Waldorf Roller Rink on March 14.The Freedom Belles are a Class 3 Modern Athletic Derby Endeavors (MADE) flat-track rookie league. For more information on how to join the league or volunteer, visit the Freedom Belles roller derby open tryouts Facebook site.

Whoosh! An exhilarating breeze filled the air in the Waldorf Roller Skating Rink as military members and their dependents coasted over the high-shine wooden floor during tryouts for the Freedom Belles roller derby league on March 14.

Air National Guard spouse, Veronica Cecil, founded this Class 3 Modern Athletic Derby Endeavors (MADE) flat-track rookie league.

According to http://www.skatemade.org, the mission of MADE is to serve as a modern implement of roller derby; to protect and promote athletes while providing spectators with an organized and entertaining experience.

The Freedom Belles roller derby league was established primarily for military members and their families; however, civilians are welcome to tryout as well, said Cecil. When my husband, Senior Master Sgt. Kevin Cecil, Air National Guard superintendent of recruiting and retention, and I were stationed at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan for a year and six months; I was on a league there. Thats when I found that I loved this sport so much that I couldnt live without it. So I decided to start my own league here.

Cecil evaluated participants on balance and comfort level on skates during the tryouts and said a more in-depth assessment of crossovers, falls and other derby techniques will occur during an upcoming six-week clinic.

People trying out for the league ranged from experienced derbies with athletic prowess to novice skaters.

I was pretty intimidated at first because I havent really skated since I was ten, said Melissa Tripsy Sparkles Fowler, Freedom Belles Army spouse. Ive been at it for about four months and its a fun, really good workout.

The school of hard knocks seems to be the best teacher when it comes to learning the heart-pounding, fast-rolling sport of roller derby.

Falling is part of the fun, as noted by the chorus of applause and cheer from teammates who are there to help you get up and rolling again should you fall.

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Freedom Belles roller derby = Friendship, fitness and fun

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In Virginia, the Second Amendment means freedom to buy unlimited number of guns – Video

Posted: at 11:26 am

22-03-2012 16:53 Virginia is for lovers — of guns. Last month the state overturned a 20-year-old law that barred residents from buying more than one handgun a month. In Virginia, firearms are like potato chips — you can't stop at just one. Governor Bob McDonnell in February repealed Virginia's prohibition of purchasing more than one handgun per month. Virginians are now free to buy as many guns as they want. The law was intended to curb gun trafficking, but many Virginians felt it curbed freedom instead. Thirty years after a powerful gun control movement swept the country Americans are embracing guns with a zeal unseen since the days of muskets and militias. For many in the United States, freedom is symbolized by the barrel of a gun. It's Democracy, locked and loaded. Like us and/or follow us: twitter.com http://www.facebook.com

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In Virginia, the Second Amendment means freedom to buy unlimited number of guns - Video

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Marine still outspoken despite facing dismissal

Posted: at 11:26 am

SAN DIEGO (AP) A Marine facing dismissal for running a Facebook page called Armed Forces Tea Party that criticizes the Obama administration is still speaking out but has been getting little support from military law experts and free speech advocates who say he may have crossed the line.

Sgt. Gary Stein planned to speak at a tea party meeting in San Diego County later Thursday, a day after the Marine Corps notified him that it is moving to dismiss him for violating the Pentagon's policy barring troops from engaging in political activities.

The military has had a policy since the Civil War limiting the free speech of service members, including criticizing the commander in chief.

David Loy, of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego County, said he has not followed Stein's case closely, but that based on what he has seen in the media he thinks there may be a legitimate concern on the part of the Corps about Stein appearing to be speaking as a member of the armed forces because of his Facebook page's name.

"The military has a very strong interest and appropriately so to remaining neutral," he said. "The last thing we want is our military taking side on political issues."

Former Navy officer David Glazier, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, agreed.

"He's really rubbing the government's nose in it," he said. "It's really hard to have sympathy for him."

Stein said he is not swayed. He said he received hundreds of emails from service members and the public in support of him.

"They're entitled to their opinions but I still think this is a freedom of speech issue," Stein said. "I'm standing up for the Constitution."

Stein, a nine-year member of the Corps, said he started the page to encourage fellow service members to exercise their free speech rights.

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Marine still outspoken despite facing dismissal

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Letter to the editor: Recent federal law will deny free speech

Posted: at 11:26 am

There is a new federal law on the books that we should all be aware of because it directly affects our freedom of speech. When proposed, it was called the Trespassing Bill. Its HR 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act. U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, voted for it.

The law makes it a federal crime to exercise your right of free speech in any area the Secret Service designates as a no speech zone. Our country was founded on free speech ideals, and this goes against the grain of what it means to be an American, to say we cant stand on a street corner to protest against anything we choose the color of the sky, the Giants winning the Superbowl, the policies of our elected officials and so forth.

As for the Secret Services designation, how the heck would anyone be able to figure that out? Isnt the very nature of their work secret? It reminds me of the scene from the movie Animal House, where fraternity members are placed on double-secret probation by the headmaster. Only in our case, the penalty is not expulsion from school, but incarceration as a felon.

KIMBERLY GILBERT Putnam

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Letter to the editor: Recent federal law will deny free speech

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Gov. Chris Christie on Veterans Haven, Freedom House: 'We need more places like this'

Posted: March 22, 2012 at 9:46 pm

The nonprofit Freedom House substance abuse center will remain open as a partner to a new state facility for homeless veterans, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie confirmed Wednesday morning during a visit to Hunterdon County.

Freedom House will provide services to neighboring Veterans Haven North, the governor announced during a visit to Freedom Houses location on the grounds of the states Sen. Garrett W. Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital in Lebanon Township.

Christie was in the township to reaffirm the states plan to convert Hagedorn into the northern chapter of Veterans Haven, a state program that helps homeless veterans find jobs and homes.

Veterans Haven North is scheduled to begin operating July 1, the day after Christie has said Hagedorn will close to save the state money.

We need more places like this, Christie said after a tour of Freedom House. ... Im happy to see Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital will help people who served our country.

But the governor was non-committal about the future of Hagedorn patients and workers.

People will be placed where they need to be placed, he said of patients at the 288-bed facility. He said the states Department of Human Services will decide how many workers are retained but, We probably will not need all of those employees.

The closing of Hagedorn angered employees and patients' families, and on Wednesday a group of protesters stood on Sanatorium Road near the hospital with signs urging the governor to keep Hagedorn open as a psychiatric hospital.

"It's a better transition than where I was" previously, Pyzik told the governor.

'Totally unacceptable reality'

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What price freedom (of information)?

Posted: at 9:46 pm

But at a time when public sector budgets are being slashed, it can be difficult to defend the costs of freedom of information.

Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council, said: "We spent 365,000 in 2010 answering freedom of information requests. What else could I do with that money? More social workers, more school inspectors, more spent on road maintenance."

Although the majority of requests are borne of genuine concerns, a small but significant number are vexatious or frivolous, often cited by FOI's critics as an example of wasted resources.

Thornber added: "We were asked how many drawing pins the council owns, and how many of those are presently installed in pinboards. Others have asked how much we have spent on biscuits for council meetings or on bottled water in a year.

"It's a waste of staff time to answer these questions, and every response has to be researched, written and checked by a senior officer before it goes out. We need some mechanism of deterring frivolous requests - such as a 25 charge."

A 2010 survey of local government by UCL's Constitution Unit estimated the cost of FOI at 31.6m, and that civil servants spent 1.2m hours responding to nearly 200,000 requests.

Central government received 27,294 requests during the same period. If every request costs an average of 293 and takes 7.5 hours to process - figures calculated by Frontier Economics - the total spend across central government would total 7.9m, and take an estimated 200,000 hours.

It is this money - and time - that could be put to better use, claim many in the public sector, especially when frontline services are being cut back while 270,000 jobs have been lost over the past year.

Nevertheless, it is important to keep these figures in context.

In the NHS, one recent estimate put costs at 30m, roughly equivalent to the NHS annual spend on chaplaincy.

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What price freedom (of information)?

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Freedom Environmental Services, Inc. is Featured in the Global Listing Exchange's (GLX) Sector Report on the Waste …

Posted: at 9:46 pm

ORLANDO, Fla., March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Freedom Environmental Services, Inc. (OTC: FRDM.OB - News) was featured today in a newly released GLX Sector Report on the business of waste treatment with focus on two notable growth segments: waste-to-energy (WTE) and waste-to-products (WTP).

An excerpt from the Sector Report that best outlines the essence of the information reads as follows:

Firms in the waste-to-energy segment take the waste that they treat and create usable energy from burning the waste (i.e., incineration) or create energy products from that waste (biofuels or other types of usable fuel). This has been a growing business as the input cost (waste) is often cheaper than ethanol or other types of energy creating inputs. Furthermore, the industry is supported by the Renewable Portfolio Standard and other government programs that incentivize the creation of renewable energy. Highlighting the growing nature of this trend, large players in this industry have entered the WTE business at an increasing pace over the past five years.

How to get exposure to the growing parts of the waste treatment industry:

To get the full GLX Sector Report go to http://www.GLX.com.

About Global Listing Exchange:

GLX.com is a groundbreaking social networking platform which serves as the world's most comprehensive resource to the global capital markets. The GLX platform will transform the way each and every member of the world's capital markets gets information, communicates, and transacts.

The GLX-IR team provides interactive advertising, digital IR/PR, journalism, market intelligence, media/marketing, news dissemination, research, conference and event coordination, video production and ancillary specialty communications services to publicly traded companies worldwide.

About Freedom Environmental Services, Inc.

Freedom Environmental Services (www.freedomwaterservices.com) is one of Florida's only 100% "Green" grease and wastewater collection, processing, and recycling companies headquartered in Orlando, Florida. FES provides the most comprehensive, cost-effective and reliable treatment systems and services. FES provides full capture and processing of organics and grease from both commercial and residential accounts. FES processes all wastewater and grease, normally sent to a dump site, and produces a reusable bio-fuel feedstock. Working in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Protection, major utility providers, and local health departments, FES provides Wastewater and Storm-water System Management, Grease and Organics Collection, Processing, and Disposition, Commercial Plumbing and Water System Management, Septic service and maintenance, lift station maintenance, line jetting and excavations.

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Freedom Environmental Services, Inc. is Featured in the Global Listing Exchange's (GLX) Sector Report on the Waste ...

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Domestic, sexual violence topic of April 29 Liberty meeting

Posted: at 9:46 pm

Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:46 pm | Updated: 1:50 pm, Thu Mar 22, 2012.

Dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence, the Houston Area Womens Center reported that it received more than 40,000 24-hour hotline calls from women and men in crisis in 2011. Nearly 1,200 women and more than 1,000 children lived in the safety of the organizations shelter.

The sexual violence hotline is 713-528-RAPE (7273), and the lifeline for domestic violence victims is 713-528-2121.

Liberty rental property owner Brenda Wooldridge believes it may be time to consider a hotline devoted to Liberty County residents in crisis. Such a hotline certainly would not replace the others, but it would be a place to reach helpers who know the lay of the land. It's something we need to talk about, she said.

A localized hotline is an idea that Wooldridge would like to discuss as she hears experts speak on domestic and sexual violence during the monthly Community Awareness Meeting that First United Methodist Church in Liberty will host at 6 p.m., Sunday, April 29. The church is located at 539 Main St. Wooldridge makes the meeting arrangements there.

A fundamental premise of this discussion is that no community is immune from such violence.

It is a serious problem everywhere, Wooldridge said. Living in Liberty, from what I can see here, there is still a lot of that 1950s mentality, me Tarzan, you Jane. We just need a phone number that somebody can call and talk to someone locally, someone who lives here, who understands some of the problems that people are addressing here.

It is just like the difference between having a hotline in Houston and having the national hotline.

For instance, there is a protocol for getting people in crisis to the shelter. When someone needs to be picked up someplace other than home, localized crisis intervention may provide the safest options.

You need to get to a public location, and then we can send a taxi to pick you up and take you to the shelter, because there is also the safety of the people in that intermediate stage, Wooldridge explained in regard to when she volunteered in Houston. The taxi driver is at risk, and you dont want whoever it is following you to the shelter. So the person that is local knows a little bit more about where you can go to find this. They can give you directions to wherever the counseling may be. Here in Liberty, the resources are more limited than in Houston, and the victim will need help that is actually available in Liberty.

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