Monthly Archives: July 2012

On New Year's Day 1975, Elton John released the single "Philadelphia Freedom." The song was a hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in 1995 the Recording Industry Association of America certified it platinum, marking more than one million records sold.

John penned the song in homage to his friend Billie Jean King. The singer followed King's career, including her time in 1974 with the Philadelphia Freedoms in the World TeamTennis league. John was such a fan that he would dress in the team's uniform and sit on the bench.

He'd be sitting on the bench screaming, "Come on!" He's a maniac.

So anyway, we're going to a concert of his one night, because I used to go with him a lot. I just remember him in this car, in this shell, in this bubble. He can't go anywhere without five bodyguards. One night he's in the back seat and he goes, "I want to write a song for you." I'm looking at him like he's kidding me for sure. Yeah, right. What is he smoking?

"No, no," he said. "I'm serious. I want to write a song for you"

"You're serious?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm very serious. What are we going to call it?"

He goes like this: Clap-clap-clap. He makes decisions quickly. He's just like, "Go! Take no prisoners!"

"What are we going to call it?" he asks. "What are we going to call it? What are we going to call it?"

Link:
Philadelphia Freedom: The story behind the song

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, announced today the 15 recipients of the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The Freedom Award is the DoDs highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of Guard and Reserve employees. These employers distinguished themselves from the 3,236 nominations received from Guardsmen and Reservists, or family members acting on their behalf.

The 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award recipients are:

Employer

Freedom Award recipients stand out by going above and beyond what the law requires of Guard and Reserve employers. They go to extraordinary lengths to support their military employees through both formal and informal initiatives. The 2012 recipients have provided such outstanding support as special hiring and career development programs for Guard and Reserve members; maintaining an open door policy for deployed employees family members in need of assistance; and forming internal veterans networks that maintain contact with deployed colleagues, organize care package drives, and advise managers on issues related to employing members of the military.

"On behalf of the Secretary of Defense, I thank the 2012 Freedom Award recipients for taking such exceptional care of the Guard and Reserve members they employ," said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Jessica L. Wright. "Our military could not meet todays national security demands without the Guard and Reserve, who in turn could not provide such dedicated service without the cooperation of their employers at home. These Freedom Award recipients have distinguished themselves nationally for their remarkable efforts, and we greatly appreciate their unwavering support."

A selection board comprised of senior DoD officials, business leaders and prior awardees selected the 15 recipients. Since 1996, only 160 employers have received the Freedom Award. The 2012 honorees will be recognized at the 17th annual Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C. on September 20th.

For more information about the Freedom Award and this years recipients, visit http://www.FreedomAward.mil.

About ESGR and the Freedom Award:

The Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of ESGR to recognize exceptional support from the employer community. In the years since, 160 employers have been honored with the award. Established as a DoD agency 40 years ago, ESGR develops and maintains employer support for Guard and Reserve service. ESGR advocates relevant initiatives, recognizes outstanding support, increases awareness of applicable laws, and resolves conflict between service members and employers. Paramount to ESGR's mission is encouraging employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian workforce.

Read this article:
Department of Defense Announces Recipients of 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, MI Freedom Work Opportunities of Grand Blanc Township is in need of a new van and residents votes can make that happen.

Freedom Work Opportunities, 5509 Fenton Road, is one of 500 nonprofit finalists in Toyotas 100 Cars for Good program, where the goal is to give away 100 vehicles to 100 organizations in 100 days.

On Saturday, Freedom Work Opportunities will be one of five organizations up for consideration. Every day since May 14 Cars for Good profiled five organizations for the program.

Freedom Work Opportunities is a nonprofit organization that helps empower adults with disabilities find employment and gain valuable skills.

The van being used now was donated used to the organization several years ago and have more than 200,000 miles on it, said Marie Tino, marketing and fundraising director of Freedom Work Opportunities.

The drivers seat is broke on it. There is a lot of rust on it. And its not going to make it much longer, Tino said. It was great to get that but weve definitely gotten our use out of it.

The van is being used to pick up residents from their home or group home take them to work or to a Freedom Work Opportunities facility.

Voting is open from 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday at http://www.100carsforgood.com. Freedom Work Opportunities headquarters are in Highland, so that is the city it will be listed under on the website. But the van, if the organization gets enough votes, will go to the Grand Blanc Township location.

Runner-up will also receive $1,000 from Toyota.

Excerpt from:
Freedom Work Opportunities in Grand Blanc Township needs votes to win a new van

[Day 23 of Robert Wenzel's 30-day reading list that will lead you to become a knowledgeable libertarian, this article originally ran June 03, 2010.]

It seems incredible that in the last days, a fundamental right of the whole of humanity, the freedom of association, has been denounced by the New York Times and all major opinion sources, even as a national political figure was reluctant to defend his own statements in favor of the idea, and then distanced himself from the notion. Has such a fundamental principle of liberty become unsayable?

Or perhaps it is not so incredible. An overweening government, in an age of despotism such as ours, must deny such a fundamental right simply because it is one of those core issues that speaks to who is in charge: the state or individuals.

We live in antiliberal times, when individual choice is highly suspect. The driving legislative ethos is toward making all actions required or forbidden, with less and less room for human volition. Simply put, we no longer trust the idea of freedom. We can't even imagine how it would work. What a distance we have traveled from the Age of Reason to our own times.

Referencing the great controversy about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Karen De Coster put the issue to rest by turning Rachel Maddow's question on its head. She demanded to know whether a white businessman has the right to refuse service to a black man. Karen asked, does a black businessman have the right to refuse service to a Klan member?

I don't think anyone would dispute that right. How a person uses the right to associate (which necessarily means the right not to associate) is a matter of individual choice profoundly influenced by the cultural context. That a person has the right to make these choices on his or her own cannot be denied by anyone who believes in liberty.

The right to exclude is not something incidental. It is core to the functioning of civilization. If I use proprietary software, I can't download it without signing a contractual agreement. If I refuse to sign, the company doesn't have to sell it to me. And why? Because it is their software and they set the terms of use. Period. There is nothing more to say.

If you run a blog that accepts comments, you know how important this right is. You have to be able to exclude spam or ban IP addresses of trolls or otherwise include and exclude based on whether a person's contribution adds value. Every venue on the Internet that calls forth public participation knows this. Without this right, any forum could collapse, having been taken over by bad elements.

We exercise the right to exclude every day. If you go to lunch, some people come and some people do not. When you have a dinner party, you are careful to include some people and necessarily exclude others. Some restaurants expect and demand shoes and shirts and even coats and ties. The New York Times includes some articles and excludes others, includes some people in its editorial meetings and excludes others.

When business hires, some people make the cut and others do not. It is the same with college admissions, church membership, fraternities, civic clubs, and nearly every other association. They all exercise the right to exclude. It is central to the organization of every aspect of life. If this right is denied, what do we get in its place? Coercion and compulsion. People are forced together by the state, with one group required at the point of a gun to serve another group. This is involuntary servitude, expressly prohibited by the 13th Amendment. One presumes that a freedom-loving people will always be against that.

Read the original:
Freedom of Association

Kindred Durant was perched on a stool Monday, surrounded by eight rising sixth graders brimming with energy and anecdotes, trying to focus their attention on the themes of a story poem.

I think we need to read this one more time because I dont think we fully understand what the poem says, said Durant, a recent USC graduate who will begin teaching full time in August.

The youngsters, all rising students at W.A. Perry Middle School, werent hesitant about reading out loud or dissecting the images, even as they got creatively sidetracked by stories of the occasional neighborhood confrontation, the epistemological meaning of whats up, bro and whether it is appropriate to cultivate boyfriends and girlfriends in middle school.

Video from around the world

Welcome to Columbias first Freedom School, a project of the Childrens Defense Fund that aims to enhance reading skills even as it instills a message that middle school students have big contributions to make if they are willing to put in the time to excel.

Durant, one of 11 motivational interns, was happy when the kids chimed in with strong opinions about the book.

He puts in more angry words than the other one, Shakiyah Craig, 11, said of the poetic narrator.

He says do your thing, be yourself, said Deshon Thomas, also 11.

USC education professor Tambra Jackson is the creative force behind the five-week Columbia summer school, which is offered free to 110 middle school students. She remembers her own exhilarating experience in 1996 as a Freedom School intern while she was a student at Miami University in Ohio.

For me, it sealed the deal that education is what I wanted to do, Jackson said. After Jackson joined the USC education faculty in 2006, she began lobbying potential community and corporate sponsors who might be willing to contribute toward the $106,000 it takes to run a summer Freedom School. There are currently 130 Freedom School sites in 27 states, seven in South Carolina.

Link:
Freedom School: ‘Reading is not just opening a book'