Daily Archives: September 2, 2012

1:00 AM

By Kelley Bouchard kbouchard@mainetoday.com Staff Writer

Mainers who have trouble getting information from government agencies soon will have an ally at the State House.

Maine's Freedom of Access Act now includes these clarifications and additions:

Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature this year funded a public access ombudsman's position in the Attorney General's Office. The position was created in 2007 but had never been filled.

It's one of several significant changes in the state's Freedom of Access Act that took effect Thursday and are expected to make it easier for Mainers to get public records.

Mal Leary, vice president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, called the move to finally fund the ombudsman's position "a huge improvement." Lawmakers budgeted as much as $88,000 for the position, including salary and benefits.

"This person will be there for everyone, to hear right-to-know issues so people don't have to go to court," said Leary, who runs Capitol News Service. "That can be a daunting prospect, especially in these economic times."

The Attorney General's Office soon will name a lawyer to fill the ombudsman's position, said Linda Pistner, chief deputy attorney general. The opening was advertised internally and to district attorneys offices across the state. Three people applied and interviews were conducted.

See the original post:
Freedom of Access Act gives Mainers variety of benefits

TWO recent developments - namely the interim findings of an opinion survey by a right-wing American propaganda think-tank called Freedom House and Zanu PFs progressive amendments that have aligned the July 18 Copac draft constitution with the views of the people gathered during the Copac outreach programme contained in an unpublished National Report - have coincidentally combined to wreak untold havoc for the MDC formations in the GPA Government which now do not know whether they are coming or going.

The ensuing havoc that is there for all to see has been made worse by the fact that both developments have far-reaching electoral implications for the two embattled parties which have nothing to show for their presence in the GPA Government except for the self-aggrandisement of their leadership, some of whom have taken to primitive accumulation in three short years while others like Morgan Tsvangirai now have US$3 million houses and are selfishly planning to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the signing of the GPA on September 15 by indulging in a plush wedding to Zanu PF fiances at a time when civil servants and ordinary Zimbabweans they gave false promises in 2009 are struggling to make ends meet.

There are two key questions about this background that beg for interrogation. First, what exactly does the Freedom House survey seek to communicate and to whom? In other words, what really is the purpose of the survey at this juncture in the scheme of national and geopolitical things? This is an important question because as the proverbial saying goes about statistics, while surveys can be revealing, their problem is that they are like miniskirts in that they conceal the essential and most exciting part and therefore useless for that reason. So what is the Freedom House survey concealing while revealing the obvious?

Second, why are the MDC formations going mad over Zanu PFs progressive amendments of the July 18 Copac draft constitution whose demonstrable essence is to align the draft with the views of the people in accordance with Article VI of the GPA?

A lot has been written and said with all sorts of nuances about the preliminary findings of the Freedom House opinion survey entitled, Change and New Politics in Zimbabwe conducted between June 23 and July 7, 2012 involving a nationally representative of 1198 adult Zimbabweans. But the bottom line from the survey that has given Tsvangirai and his MDC sleepless nights is the following Freedom House finding: When asked who they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held tomorrow, 47 percent of respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for (up from 41 percent in 2010). Of the 53 percent who declared their preference, 20 percent said they would vote for MDC-T (down from 38 percent in 2010) and 31 percent Zanu PF (up from 17 percent in 2010).

Instructively, despite his recent outbursts of sophomoric militancy about non-issues that have made him sound like a frustrated student living in the past, Welshman Ncube and his MDC did not feature at all in these stakes despite the fact that this national survey was done between June 23 and July 7 this year at a time when Ncube has been driving around in a pathetic convoy ranting, raving and pretending to be a national leader contending for the presidency of the Republic of Zimbabwe when his party cannot hold multiple star rallies even in one province, in Matabeleland itself.

This important point will be examined further another day, but what should be noted for now - and this is the talking point of the moment - is that the interim findings of Freedom Houses survey show that the MDC-T has dramatically lost support since 2010 - two years after the last election in 2008 - while Zanu PF has sharply increased its support over the same period, with Welshman Ncube having nothing to show.

This has shocked the MDC-T and its pundits out of their wits. Their best but hollow spin has been to claim that Freedom House has done the survey at this juncture in order to wake up the MDC-T and to send Zanu PF to sleep before the forthcoming general election which is now around the corner. If this spin had been spun in 2010, it perhaps could have had foolish takers, but you dont have to be a rocket scientist to understand that theres no political party that needs to be awoken or sent to sleep during an election year. The proposition that the Freedom House survey, done between June 23 and 7 July, is intended to wake up the MDC-T while sending Zanu-PF to sleep is therefore utter and complete rubbish.

As such, there must be more to the saga than meets the eye. If Freedom House was an independent think-tank which does research for its own sake, then there would be no need to split hairs about whats going on here. Indeed, if that were the case, the MDC-T would not be losing its empty head and going mad over the matter. The reason why all hell has broken loose is that Freedom House is not a think-tank but a propaganda tank which, along with the International Republican Institute, has been at the forefront of building the capacity of Morgan Tsvangirais MDC as a direct component of Americas so-called Zimbabwe Democracy Act (Zidera) to seek illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

In other words, and there is a lot of public evidence out there to support this, Freedom House has been one of a few but critical instruments of choice to effect regime change in the country. In the run-up to the 2008 harmonised elections, Freedom House combined forces with the International Republican Institute under the tutelage of the likes of the infamous Melinda Ferris of the CIA to hold training seminars and workshops on electioneering, mainly in South Africa, for the MDC-T and its associated NGOs and developed the campaign strategy and even messages including designing and producing campaign jingles for Tsvangirais party.

More here:
Unmasking Freedom House

September 1, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom Evansville,IN-Brad Allen(4-1) pitched eight dominant innings to lead the Florence Freedom(56-39) past the Evansville Otters(45-49) with a 4-2 win to clinch their first playoff berth in franchise history.

The Freedom moved to Florence in 2003 and the 2012 club will be the first to play for a Frontier League Championship when the playoffs begin on Wednesday, September 5. Florence's first home game will come Saturday, September 8 at 6:05pm.

Allen went eight innings giving up a solo homerun to Matt Sheely in the third which was the only run he allowed. He scattered three hits during his masterpiece while striking out three.

Evansville had a 1-0 lead going into the fourth, but that's when the Freedom took control of the game.

With two on base, Eddie Rodriguez hit a two run double over the head of right fielder DeAngelo Mack to give the Freedom a 2-1 lead. Peter Fatse also provided an RBI single and Stephen Cardullo produced a SAC Fly for the other Freedom runs.

Jorge Marban pitched the ninth for the Florence. He allowed an RBI double to Luis Parache, but got Nick Schawaner to fly out to left field to end the ballgame. It was Marban's sixteenth save of the season. Peter Fatse led the Freedom going 2-4 with an RBI.

The Freedom have won five in a row and twelve out of their last thirteen as they go for a series sweep Sunday night against the Otters. It will be the regular season finale as RHP Brandon Mathes (4-0, 3.61) takes the mound for Florence while Evansville will have LHP Adam Champion(8-4, 2.44) on the hill. The game can be heard starting at 6:50 pm with Steve Jarnicki on Real Talk 1160 AM and realtalk1160.com.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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: Freedom Playoff Bound for First Time

TWO recent developments - namely the interim findings of an opinion survey by a right-wing American propaganda think-tank called Freedom House and Zanu PFs progressive amendments that have aligned the July 18 Copac draft constitution with the views of the people gathered during the Copac outreach programme contained in an unpublished National Report - have coincidentally combined to wreak untold havoc for the MDC formations in the GPA Government which now do not know whether they are coming or going.

The ensuing havoc that is there for all to see has been made worse by the fact that both developments have far-reaching electoral implications for the two embattled parties which have nothing to show for their presence in the GPA Government except for the self-aggrandisement of their leadership, some of whom have taken to primitive accumulation in three short years while others like Morgan Tsvangirai now have US$3 million houses and are selfishly planning to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the signing of the GPA on September 15 by indulging in a plush wedding to Zanu PF fiances at a time when civil servants and ordinary Zimbabweans they gave false promises in 2009 are struggling to make ends meet.

There are two key questions about this background that beg for interrogation. First, what exactly does the Freedom House survey seek to communicate and to whom? In other words, what really is the purpose of the survey at this juncture in the scheme of national and geopolitical things? This is an important question because as the proverbial saying goes about statistics, while surveys can be revealing, their problem is that they are like miniskirts in that they conceal the essential and most exciting part and therefore useless for that reason. So what is the Freedom House survey concealing while revealing the obvious?

Second, why are the MDC formations going mad over Zanu PFs progressive amendments of the July 18 Copac draft constitution whose demonstrable essence is to align the draft with the views of the people in accordance with Article VI of the GPA?

A lot has been written and said with all sorts of nuances about the preliminary findings of the Freedom House opinion survey entitled, Change and New Politics in Zimbabwe conducted between June 23 and July 7, 2012 involving a nationally representative of 1198 adult Zimbabweans. But the bottom line from the survey that has given Tsvangirai and his MDC sleepless nights is the following Freedom House finding: When asked who they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held tomorrow, 47 percent of respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for (up from 41 percent in 2010). Of the 53 percent who declared their preference, 20 percent said they would vote for MDC-T (down from 38 percent in 2010) and 31 percent Zanu PF (up from 17 percent in 2010).

Instructively, despite his recent outbursts of sophomoric militancy about non-issues that have made him sound like a frustrated student living in the past, Welshman Ncube and his MDC did not feature at all in these stakes despite the fact that this national survey was done between June 23 and July 7 this year at a time when Ncube has been driving around in a pathetic convoy ranting, raving and pretending to be a national leader contending for the presidency of the Republic of Zimbabwe when his party cannot hold multiple star rallies even in one province, in Matabeleland itself.

This important point will be examined further another day, but what should be noted for now - and this is the talking point of the moment - is that the interim findings of Freedom Houses survey show that the MDC-T has dramatically lost support since 2010 - two years after the last election in 2008 - while Zanu PF has sharply increased its support over the same period, with Welshman Ncube having nothing to show.

This has shocked the MDC-T and its pundits out of their wits. Their best but hollow spin has been to claim that Freedom House has done the survey at this juncture in order to wake up the MDC-T and to send Zanu PF to sleep before the forthcoming general election which is now around the corner. If this spin had been spun in 2010, it perhaps could have had foolish takers, but you dont have to be a rocket scientist to understand that theres no political party that needs to be awoken or sent to sleep during an election year. The proposition that the Freedom House survey, done between June 23 and 7 July, is intended to wake up the MDC-T while sending Zanu-PF to sleep is therefore utter and complete rubbish.

As such, there must be more to the saga than meets the eye. If Freedom House was an independent think-tank which does research for its own sake, then there would be no need to split hairs about whats going on here. Indeed, if that were the case, the MDC-T would not be losing its empty head and going mad over the matter. The reason why all hell has broken loose is that Freedom House is not a think-tank but a propaganda tank which, along with the International Republican Institute, has been at the forefront of building the capacity of Morgan Tsvangirais MDC as a direct component of Americas so-called Zimbabwe Democracy Act (Zidera) to seek illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.

In other words, and there is a lot of public evidence out there to support this, Freedom House has been one of a few but critical instruments of choice to effect regime change in the country. In the run-up to the 2008 harmonised elections, Freedom House combined forces with the International Republican Institute under the tutelage of the likes of the infamous Melinda Ferris of the CIA to hold training seminars and workshops on electioneering, mainly in South Africa, for the MDC-T and its associated NGOs and developed the campaign strategy and even messages including designing and producing campaign jingles for Tsvangirais party.

See the original post here:
Unmasking Freedom House survey

BREWER, Maine Stories about how fugitive slaves in the 1800s made their way to freedom in Canada by way of Brewer are pieces of local lore that should never be forgotten, historian Richard Dick Campbell said Saturday.

Nothing was documented, he said, but there are lots of tidbits of history that link Brewer to the Underground Railroad.

Brewers Chamberlain Freedom Park is home to the only official Maine memorial to the Underground Railroad, a vast network of secret routes and people credited with helping thousands upon thousands of runaway slaves escape the tyranny of their southern owners.

The park sits at the location of the former Holyoke House, a brick house once occupied by wealthy abolitionist John Holyoke, where a slave-style shirt was found tucked in the eaves of the attic in 1995 and a stone-lined shaft was discovered the following year when the Department of Transportation tore down the house to improve the four-way intersection at State and North Main streets.

The handstitched white shirt is now on display at the Brewer Historical Society, which oversees the park that features a historic display, a bronze statue of Brewer native and Civil War hero, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, and the North to Freedom statue.

The statue depicts a runaway slave looking back toward the south and leaning to the north as he hoists himself out of an underground tunnel to freedom. It serves as a tribute to slaves who used the Underground Railroad, to the abolitionist movement and to the role the state played, Campbell said.

Houlton sculptors Glenn and Diane Hines created the historic figure that sits on a grate over the stone-lined shaft that Campbell, fellow historian Brian Higgins and others believe was used to hide slaves. The shaft is located where the root cellar of Holyokes summer kitchen once stood. The home also was known as the Christmas House.

Oral traditions are that it was the site of the Underground Railroad, Campbell said.

Even though every state in the north had legally abolished slavery in the first decades of the 1800s, thanks to abolitionists who believed slavery was against their Christian faith, the federal government continued to pass laws allowing the capture of runaway slaves, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centers website states.

The federal government had passed Fugitive Slave Acts as early as 1793 that allowed slave catchers to come north and force runaways back into slavery, the site states. By the 1830s and 1840s, these laws were expanded in reaction to increased Underground Railroad activity. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, assisting or helping hide fugitive slaves became a federal offense, making all Underground Railroad activity subject to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Continued here:
‘North to Freedom’ statue in Brewer only official Maine memorial to Underground Railroad