Monthly Archives: May 2012

Free speech 'strangled by law that bans insults' and has triggered series of controversial arrests

Posted: May 16, 2012 at 8:10 am

Campaigners say Public Order Act is unclear and has resulted in string of controversial arrests Groups join forces to have insulting words or behaviour phrase removed from legislation Former shadow home secretary David Davis: 'Nobody likes to be insulted, but nor does anyone have a right not to be insulted'

By James Chapman

PUBLISHED: 17:37 EST, 15 May 2012 | UPDATED: 02:35 EST, 16 May 2012

Reform: Campaign groups have urged Home Secretary Theresa May to modify the controversial Public Order Act

Theresa May is being urged to reform a controversial law which bans insulting words or behaviour amid mounting evidence that it is strangling free speech.

Campaigners say the Public Order Act is being abused by over-zealous police and prosecutors to arrest Christian street preachers, critics of Scientology, gay rights campaigners and even students making jokes.

Currently, Section 5 of the 1986 Act outlaws insulting words or behaviour, but what constitutes insulting is unclear and has resulted in a string of controversial arrests.

Human rights campaigners, MPs, faith groups and secular organisations have joined forces to have the insulting words or behaviour phrase removed from the legislation, arguing that it restricts freedom of speech and penalises campaigners, protesters and even preachers.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis, a leading campaigner for civil liberties, said reform was vital to protecting freedom of expression in Britain today.

There is a growing list of examples where the law against using insulting language has led to heavy-handed action by police and prosecutors. It is not only distressing for the individuals concerned, it constitutes a threat to Britains tradition of free speech, he said.

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Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson to Receive Award with President Obama Following Historic Week

Posted: May 13, 2012 at 12:13 pm

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

On Monday, Evan Wolfson, Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, will share the stage with President Barack Obama at the graduation ceremony for Barnard College, a women's college in New York City. Following his historic comments supporting same-sex couples freedom to marry, President Obama will deliver a commencement address to the Class of 2012, and then receive the college's highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, alongside Wolfson who has been credited with helping President Obama through his widely publicized evolution, ultimately resulting in his full support of same-sex couples freedom to marry.

Wolfson has been leading the charge on efforts to win the freedom to marry since writing his law school dissertation, which laid out a clear path to victory, nearly thirty years ago. He is available to discuss his personal experience of standing with the President after this historic week as well as the next steps in the fight to win the freedom to marry nationwide.

About Evan Wolfson

Wolfson, dubbed the Godfather of Gay Marriage by Newsweek, is the Founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide, and author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay Peoples Right to Marry. After getting a BA in History from Yale, Wolfson served in the Peace Corps in West Africa and then earned his JD from Harvard Law School. In 2004, TIME magazine named Wolfson one of the "100 most influential people in the world."

Prior to founding Freedom to Marry in 2003, Wolfson launched the ongoing global marriage movement as co-counsel in the landmark Hawaii marriage case, Baehr v. Miike. He also contributed to the legal teams in the Vermont case that led to the creation of "civil unions" and Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which led to marriage in Massachusetts. In 1976, he was a Senate intern for Vice President Joe Biden, who this past Sunday came out in support of the freedom to marry. Wolfson argued before the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School. Wolfson married his longtime partner, Dr. Cheng He, this past October after winning the freedom to marry in New York.

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Freedom, Parkland and Emmaus lead Freddy 2012 nominations

Posted: May 12, 2012 at 7:15 pm

Freedom, Parkland and Emmaus are again the top schools to beat in the Freddy Awards.

Freedom garnered 17 nominations while Parkland and Emmaus received 12 each in Thursdays ceremony broadcast on Channel 69-WFMZ. For the past two years, the three schools have been in the ranks of the highest nomination-getters. All three are competing for the Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical award this year, joined by Notre Dame High School and Southern Lehigh High School.

Every school is eligible for that award, but once nominated a school is taken out of the running for the Outstanding Overall Production by a Smaller School category (named for those with less than 1,000 students), said Freddy Awards Producer Jamie Balliet.

The Freddy Awards honor the best in high school theater programs at 29 schools in Lehigh, Northampton and Warren counties. The Freddy Awards ceremony will be held 7 p.m. May 24 at the State Theatre in Easton.

We are extremely proud to receive the recognition from both our audiences and the broader Lehigh Valley community through the Freddy Awards, said Jennifer Wescoe, Freedom High School Theatre Company Advisor and Director. Its just a great day.

While the Freedom nominations rang in, there was a yelp of excitement across the river. Jan Labellarte, theater instructor and drama director at Warren County Vocational Technical School, cheered as her daughter, Kate Dawson, got the nod for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.

I thought (director) Jen Wescoe helped her a lot and pulled a great performance out of her, Labellarte said of her daughters challenging role as Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie. The role required the Freedom junior to learn two different accents.

Though Labellarte said theater is a big part of the Bethlehem Township familys life, she insists: Kate did this on her own. Im very proud.

Labellartes own cast and crew picked up four nominations.

It was intense, Labellarte said of her students gathering to watch the live nominations. I thought someone was going to pop an artery.

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Navy ship Freedom is Singapore-bound despite inspection trouble

Posted: at 7:15 pm

The Navy littoral combat ship Freedom will head to Singapore for a 10-month deployment in the spring of 2013.

The warship will be forward stationed in the Asian city-state under a program to place a vessel there for a lengthy stretch but rotate crews in and out.

The Navy mentioned the timing at a media telephone conference Wednesday, during which it also defended the ship in the face of a leaked internal report that showed the Freedom performing poorly in a pre-inspection.

This will be the second deployment for the San Diego-based Freedom, the first ship in a new vessel class that is supposed to be fast, light and versatile for coastal patroling, but that also has been dogged by criticism about early performance and questions about whether it can survive a battle.

The Freedom arrived in San Diego in April 2010 after a maiden deployment from the Florida to San Diego.

The vessel has spent time in the shipyard since then, in part to repair cracks found in her hull. The Freedom is now preparing for its final exam, the congressionally mandated Board of Inspection and Survey test. Failing an INSURV is an enormous black eye in the Navy.

An early May pre-INSURV inspection report something that isn't usually released but leaked out in a Navy-related blog shows that half of the inspected areas were rated red, or no-go, according to a Navy Times story Wednesday night. Eight categories received yellow marks, while six were rated green, or go.

A spokesman at Naval Surface Forces in San Diego said the Freedom isn't the only ship to not fare well in a pre-INSURV review, called a Type Commander Material Inspection Team evaluation. The Navy started performing these pre-inspections last summer as a way to tell if a ship was in danger of failing the final exam.

Since mid-2011, the San Diego-based ship command has conducted eleven of these pre-inspections.Of these, six ships including the Freedom were characterized as "high risk/no go" for INSURV, three as "medium risk" and two as "Ready to Proceed," said spokesman Cmdr. Jason Salata in a written statement.

The Freedom gets two more rehearsals before it will face the big INSURV test.

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Romney Tells Liberty Grads What Really Matters

Posted: at 7:14 pm

Enlarge Jae C. Hong/AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va, Saturday.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va, Saturday.

"Culture what you believe, what you value, how you live matters," Romney told graduates gathered in the football stadium on Liberty University's campus in Virginia on Saturday.

"Culture what you believe, what you value, how you live matters," Romney told graduates gathered in the football stadium on Liberty University's campus in Virginia on Saturday.

Mitt Romney's Mormon faith has shaped his life, but he barely mentioned it as he spoke to graduates at an evangelical Christian university Saturday.

And he barely touched on hot-button social issues like abortion and gay marriage, instead offering a broad-based defense of values like family and hard work.

"Culture what you believe, what you value, how you live matters," Romney told graduates gathered in the football stadium on Liberty University's campus in the Virginia mountains. "The American culture promotes personal responsibility, the dignity of work, the value of education, the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self, and at the foundation, the preeminence of the family."

Instead of a red-meat conservative policy speech, Romney discussed his own family and offered a defense of Christianity, saying that "there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action." Still, he was inclusive: "Men and women of every faith, and good people with none at all, sincerely strive to do right and lead a purpose-driven life," Romney said.

He had one sustained applause line in a 20-minute speech delivered days after President Barack Obama historically embraced gay marriage. "Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman," Romney said to a cheering crowd of students who have to follow a strict code of conduct that considers sex out of wedlock and homosexuality to be sins.

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Mitt Romney courts evangelicals at Liberty University

Posted: at 7:14 pm

Mitt Romneys Mormon religion has been a problem for some evangelicals. At conservative Liberty University Saturday, Romney stressed Christian values without mentioning his own faith, part of an apparently successful effort to win over evangelicals and other social conservatives.

Without dwelling on or barely mentioning his own faith, Mitt Romney Saturday portrayed himself as a religious conservative who believes that there is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action.

Central to Americas rise to global leadership is our Judeo-Christian tradition, with its vision of the goodness and possibilities of every life, Romney declared.

His commencement address to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. put Romney in front of his largest audience so far in his presidential campaign (an estimated 35,000).

The institution, founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell and billing itself as the largest Christian university in the world, was a crucial setting for Romney who is a Mormon as he tries to attract evangelicals and other social conservatives whod held out hopes for Rick Santorum and other Republican presidential candidates now fallen by the wayside.

RECOMMENDED:Gay marriage issue: Who does it hurt most, Obama or Romney?

Pushing both Romney the presumptive Republican nominee and President Obama off their economic message this week was same-sex marriage. Preempted by Vice President Joe Bidens comments in support of same-sex marriage last Sunday, Obama found himself having to jump aboard.

That forced Romney to reiterate his position: That marriage as limited to one man and one woman should be enshrined in the US Constitution.

As Americans increasingly and apparently rapidly approve of gay marriage, this puts Romney on what critics call the wrong side of history on a civil rights issue, especially among younger voters (18-34), 70 percent of whom approve of same-sex marriage. Women too are more likely to be comfortable with gay marriage than men a portion of the electorate Republicans need to attract in greater numbers.

But among social conservatives especially evangelical Christians Romney is right.

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Liberty Center girls, Archbold boys reign

Posted: at 7:14 pm

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Published: 5/12/2012

BLADE STAFF

BRYAN -- The Liberty Center and Wauseon girls track teams engaged in a tug-of-war to decide the Northwest Ohio Athletic League meet championship Friday night.

In the end, the Tigers outlasted the Indians, winning the 1600 relay - the final event of the night. Liberty Center placed first with 149 points, followed by Wauseon's 148, Archbold 109, Evergreen 68, Bryan 64, Delta 45, Montpelier 36, Patrick Henry 27, and Swanton 14.

In the NWOAL boys competition, Archbold dominated with 166 points, followed by Bryan with 98, Patrick Henry 80, Wauseon 77, Swanton 72, Evergreen 50, Montpelier 44, Delta 40, and Liberty Center 33.

Liberty Center girls won the 400 relay (52.77); Evergreen the 800 relay (1:49.0). Archbold took first in the 1600 relay (4:12.78).

Allison Righi of Liberty Center cleared 5-2 to win the high jump; Bryan's Alyssa McBride won the pole vault (12-6). Archbold's Kinsey Smith won the long jump with an effort of 16-1.50.

Liberty Center's Ali Busick won the shot put (35-11.50); Delta's Alexa Salsbury won the discus event (114-9).

Wauseon's Kendall Weber won the 100 hurdles (15.74) and the Indians' 3200 relay took first (9:55.79).

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Congratulations to Steve Jackson Games!

Posted: at 7:14 pm

Just a quick note to let you know (if you havent already heard the cheering in the streets) that Steve Jackson Games (SJG) finished its OGRE Kickstarter project with $923,680 raised in backer funding. Yes, thats right almost (pinky to corner of mouth) one million dollars raised for a game that sold well over 30 years ago for $5 and came in a small plastic baggie.

One major milestone that was reached was the $700,000 mark which is where SJG promised to do a Car Wars Kickstarter campaign. Ill be writing up a Retro Review hopefully in the next few weeks on Car Wars, but the bad news is that we wont likely see the Car Wars Kickstarter for some time and the actual game isnt expected to be delivered (if its successfully funded yeah, right!) until late 2013. Of course, this gives all of us who backed OGRE plenty of time to start saving our pennies, selling plasma, and/or visiting Vegas to raise the proper funds that this next SJG Kickstarter will surely devour.

SJG definitely has a handle on how to deal with stretch rewards, and every time we (backers) thought wed reached the maximum money that could be raised along would come another stretch award that enticed a large number to either increase their funding or another large number to finally make the commitment.

2012 and 2013 are going to be interesting times for SJG fans, and I imagine that the success of this Kickstarter campaign is going to have other gaming companies looking at reviving some of their old titles. (I would love to see SJGs Illuminati redone, but one big non-SJG game on my wish list would be Traveller.)

What about you? Any classic games youd like to see given the Kickstarter treatment? And dont say Metamorphosis Alpha that ones already been successfully funded!

Congratulations to Steve Jackson Games!

Author James Floyd Kelly lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and two sons. He is the founder of thenxtstep.com (LEGO Mindstorms blog) and his latest books are "Teach Yourself iOS 5 in 10 Minutes" and "Mars Base Command."

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UK court rules Nokia infringed patent, Finns party on anyway

Posted: at 7:14 pm

A top UK court has ruled that Nokia's old 3G handsets infringed a telecoms patent owned by technology warehouse IPCom, which wants a ban on every mobile made by the Finns.

The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected Nokia's attempt to dismiss IPCom's case against it. The two companies, both of which claimed victory, continue to argue over the validity, applicability and utility of mobile phone patents originally filed by Bosch.

This latest ruling means that, in the eyes of UK law, Nokia's older handsets infringed IPCom's patent EP 1 841 268, but that's far from the end of the matter. The Finns are still hoping to have the patent invalidated at a European level, and got a ruling along those lines from European Patent Office last week - a ruling against which IPCom is appealing against.

If IPCom is successful then Nokia will be running out of places to go, but if the patent family is indeed ruled invalid at an EU level then its IPCom who'll be looking for alternative vectors of attack.

Not that it is bereft of options, the EP 1 841 268 is only one of the patents which IPCom acquired from Bosch when the engineering company decided to get out of mobile telephony. IPCom launched its case against Nokia in 2007 and both parties have been pissing money into lawyers' pockets since then.

The patent covers the mechanism used by a 3G phone to prioritise calls made by a specific group; so when the New World Order seizes control of Earth, Illuminati agents will be able to make calls despite our overloaded networks. That's part of the 3G standard (the priority, not the Illuminati), but the mechanism by which agents' phone identify themselves is open to patent. IPCom reckons that phones from Nokia, and just about everyone else, use a mechanism covered by its patent, or did until 2008 at least.

When Nokia launched the N96 it changed the way in which phones identify themselves, and since then the Finns have introduced half a dozen variations - some of which have been ruled as non-infringing. Nokia claims everything after the N96 is unencumbered, but IPCom disputes that and also reckons Nokia's refusal to share all the details of the new mechanisms (which are commercially sensitive) means it can't be certain Nokia isn't still infringing.

During the case against which Nokia was appealing the Finns argued that the patent was too obvious, that it was a natural development and that modifications made it too broad. The court rejected those arguments, Nokia appealed against that decision, and has now lost that appeal.

IPCom claims to be offering Nokia a FRAND (Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory) deal, but FRAND is normally reserved for patents that are essential if a device is going to conform to a standard, something Nokia fiercely disputes. FRAND is also normally a reciprocal arrangement between companies within an industry, but IPCom is in the patent-exploitation industry.

Next stage is the EU court, but if IPCom wins then Nokia will only be the first casualty of IPCom's ongoing business model.

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Senate advances measures to bolster Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans

Posted: at 7:12 pm

The full Senate this week advanced two measures to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of Oklahomans. The proposals now await the Governors signature.

Senate Bill 1733, by State Sen. Anthony Sykes and State Rep. Jeff Hickman, would allow citizens licensed to carry a firearm under the Oklahoma Self Defense Act to carry their weapon openly or concealed. SB 1733 passed the Senate Thursday.

Approved by the Senate on Wednesday, Senate Bill 1760, by Sen. Sykes and Speaker Designate State Rep. T.W. Shannon, would prevent cities or state government from disarming citizens during a state of emergency.

The Legislature has made it clear that Oklahomans will have the right to defend themselves, said Sykes, R-Moore. The right to self-defense is God given and inalienable, and we intend to do everything in our power to defend it. This legislation further guarantees this right will not be taken from Oklahomans who choose to protect themselves and their families.

Another important Second Amendment measure, Senate Bill 875, has now been signed by the Governor.

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