Monthly Archives: September 2012

Freedom & our faltering economy

Posted: September 24, 2012 at 6:18 am

Which candidate, President Obama or Mitt Romney, has the right prescription for what ails the US economy? Its a question maybe the key question that every voter should ask. But first you need the answer to a different puzzler: What went wrong?

Why did the US economy surge in the 1980s and 1990s, only to stagnate and sink in the 2000s?

Imagine if you could time travel back to 1999 and tell people then what the next unlucky 13 years held. The 99ers might well guess the Y2K problem really had crashed all the worlds computers at midnight. But once you informed them the Millennium Bug was a bust, what would you say next?

Barack Obama would tell them a story. A liberal fantasy, really. It would be a tale about how the Long Boom was manna for Wall Street but a mirage for Main Street. And finally over the past decade, all the tax cuts and deregulation and inequality finally caught up with the US economy and led to a financial crisis and Great Recession.

As Obama told a crowd in Osawatomie, Kansas, late last year, There is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, lets respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. The market will take care of everything, they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes especially for the wealthy our economy will grow stronger. But heres the problem: It doesnt work. It has never worked.

And how would Mitt Romney explain why from 1981 through 2000, the US economy grew at an average annual rate of 3.4 percent and created some 42 million jobs but from 2001 through 2011, it grew at less than 2 percent, creating no net new jobs?

Since Romney is famous for loving deep dives into data, he should check out a new study from the Fraser Institute. Obama, too, for that matter.

Every year, the Canadian think-tank ranks the worlds nations on how free their economies are (or arent) based on factors such as size of government, security of property rights and freedom to trade. In the 1980s and 1990s, it listed the United States consistently as one of the freest economies in the world, typically ranking 2nd or 3rd through that entire period.

Since then, however, the US economys freedom ranking had steadily eroded to 8th in 2005, 15th in 2009 and 18th in 2010. The United States is now nestled between Qatar and Kuwait.

One problem is weakened property rights, the institute notes, such as the increased use of eminent domain to transfer property to powerful political interests . . .[and] the violation of the property rights of bondholders in the bailout of automobile companies.

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Freedom & our faltering economy

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Limits on speech to get U.N. hearing – Sun, 23 Sep 2012 PST

Posted: at 6:16 am

September 23, 2012 in Nation/World Speakers may revive debate onblasphemy

Hannah Allam McClatchy-Tribune

UNITED NATIONS The divide in world opinion over what constitutes free speech will be on display again this week at the United Nations, where arguments over a proposed blasphemy law were an annual feature for the past decade. This time its the global reaction to a YouTube video that disparages Islams Prophet Muhammad thats sure to roil the meeting of the U.N. GeneralAssembly.

Muslim leaders have vowed to discuss the offensive video from their U.N. platforms, sowing concern among free-speech activists of a fresh push toward an international law that would criminalize blasphemy. Human rights groups and Western democracies resisted such a law for years and thought they had finally quashed the matter after convincing enough nations that repressive regimes use blasphemy laws to imprison or executedissidents.

I expect that well regress to where we were a couple of years ago, said Courtney C. Radsch, program manager for the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House, a Washington-based nonprofit group that promotes democraticvalues.

Human rights are not about protecting religions; human rights are to protect humans, Radsch said. Who is going to be the decision-maker on deciding what blasphemyis?

At one end of the spectrum is France, where a magazine last week published cartoons of Muhammad as a naked, cowering man to underscore a point that even the most offensive expression should beprotected.

At the other end of the spectrum is U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who surprised and disappointed many free-speech activists by suggesting limitations to freedom of speech when its used to provoke orhumiliate.

We are living through a period of unease. We are also seeing incidents of intolerance and hatred that are then exploited by others, Ban told the 193-member General Assembly at the gatherings opening last week. Voices of moderation and calm need to make themselves heard at this time. We all need to speak up in favor of mutual respect and understanding of the values and beliefs ofothers.

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Pierson, Liberty close out season with 91-74 win

Posted: September 23, 2012 at 1:18 am

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Plenette Pierson had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists as the New York Liberty beat the Tulsa Shock 91-74 on Saturday.

Essence Carson, who left with an apparent leg injury in the fourth quarter, had 18 points and and Cappie Pondexter scored 17 as New York (15-19) finished the regular season 9-8 at home. The Liberty will take on Connecticut in the first round of the playoffs.

''Tulsa's three guards they had out there gave us trouble and I think we contained that in the second half, which allowed us to be better offensively,'' Pondexter said. ''Defense definitely gave us that aggressive edge that we need and that we played with all season.''

Ivory Latta had 16 points and six rebounds for the Shock (9-24), who already have their best record in three seasons since moving from Detroit. Tulsa, which was a combined 9-59 the last two years, dropped to 3-13 on the road heading into the season finale at Indiana on Sunday.

Tulsa led by 10 at the half, and got 14 points, four rebounds and four assists from Riquna Williams.

''We played a really good first half and we came out aggressive,'' Shock coach Gary Kloppenburg said. ''We were going inside-out, we were getting shots and they stepped their defense up in the second half. We were in a lot of trouble getting good looks. They (The Liberty) came out with a lot of energy wanting to win their last home game.''

The Liberty secured a playoff berth earlier in the week, and that may have been the cause of a slow start vs. the Shock. On Thursday, when Chicago was eliminated with a loss to Atlanta, New York clinched a spot minutes after losing by double digits at Tulsa.

They did so in the second half, outscoring the Shock by 27 points. The Liberty finished with four players in scoring double figures, including Kia Vaughn (14), who also had nine rebounds.

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Pierson, Liberty close out season with 91-74 win

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Speeches at UN likely to attack free speech

Posted: at 1:16 am

THE division in world opinion over what constitutes free speech will be on display again this week at the United Nations, where arguments over a proposed blasphemy law have been an annual feature for the past decade.

This time the global reaction to a YouTube video that disparages Islam's prophet Muhammad is sure to roil the meeting of the UN General Assembly.

Muslim leaders have vowed to discuss the offensive video from their UN platforms, sowing concern among free-speech activists of a fresh push to criminalise blasphemy internationally. Human rights groups and Western democracies resisted such a law for years and believed they had finally quashed the matter after persuading enough nations that repressive regimes use blasphemy laws to imprison or execute dissidents.

''I expect that we'll regress to where we were a couple of years ago,'' said Courtney Radsch, program manager for the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House, a Washington non-profit group that promotes democratic values. ''Human rights are not about protecting religions; human rights are to protect humans,'' Ms Radsch said. ''Who decides what blasphemy is?'' McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

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DNA helps Wyckoff police nab 'motorcycle burglar'

Posted: September 22, 2012 at 11:18 pm

WYCKOFF Police arrested a man known they called the "motorcycle burglar" this morning after matching him to DNA found at one of his victim's homes.

According to Wyckoff Chief Benjamin Fox, officers responded to a Nancy Lane residence in July 2011 after a homeowner reported that approximately $3,000 worth of jewelry had gone missing from her home.

A neighbor had observed a man activating an alarm system as he fled the home, and the man rode past the homeowner on a motorcycle as she was arriving home.

During an investigation, police found droplets of blood inside the home, along with a crowbar and a pair of latex gloves that had been discarded as the man rode away on the motorcycle, Fox said. They then matched DNA samples from the blood and gloves to 51-year-old Lee Malsch of Paterson, whose extensive criminal history included past burglaries.

Police obtained a warrant for Malsch's arrest on Sept. 11, but had trouble locating him. With the help of the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, however, they were able to find him this morning and take him into custody.

He was charged with burglary and theft, and is currently awaiting a bail hearing at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack.

Fox praised the work of the investigating officers, saying that burglaries can often be difficult to solve.

"My guys don't solve every crime. No department does. But when they have evidence to works ith, they do everything that they can to apprehend those responsible," he said. "That's what they did here, and this community should be grateful."

Police were unable to recover any of the jewelry stolen from the home in 2011.

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Oral arguments scheduled for Cutler Files case – Video

Posted: at 10:15 am

21-09-2012 06:14 Oral arguments are scheduled for Friday morning in US District Court to determine if a website criticizing former gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler qualifies as free speech. News 8's Thema Ponton reports.

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Ads Coming To Metro: Free Speech, Hate Speech, Or Both?

Posted: at 10:15 am

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA)- Is it free speech, hate speech or both?

There are some controversial ads that you may see in the future on your commute. They may be coming soon to a Metro stop near you. The provocative ads that equate Muslim radicals with savages will roll out in New York's subway system starting on Monday. But their controversial content has prompted Metro to put them on hold.

"Throughout our history, there have been people who have engaged in hate speech. This is just the next generation," said Corey Saylor, a CAIR Spokesman.

In New York, it took a federal court order to allow the ads to run. A judge determined the language was protected speech under the First Amendment.

Said the advertiser, Pamela Geller of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, "Honestly anyone that disagrees with me, I would take a bullet for their right to disagree with me. This is the beauty of America, the free exchange of ideas."

In recent weeks, the ads have been plastered on San Francisco city buses, prompting some to deface them and remove words like jihad, or holy war.

"I think in the end what hate speech really does is bring out the better people," said Saylor. "Strong communities are much better than those people who want to tear them down and rip us all apart."

Metro has not rejected the ad, but has notified the advertiser that it's been put on hold. A spokesman told us that move was out of concern for public safety, considering the current protests around the world. The advertiser responded by filing a lawsuit yesterday in D.C.

Written by Andrea McCarren

9NEWS NOW & WUSA9.COM

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Ads Coming To Metro: Free Speech, Hate Speech, Or Both?

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SpaceX, NASA target Oct. 7 launch for resupply mission to International Space Station

Posted: at 8:14 am

ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2012) NASA managers, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) officials and international partner representatives Thursday announced Sunday, Oct. 7, as the target launch date for the first contracted cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

International Space Station Program managers confirmed the status and readiness of the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon cargo spacecraft for the SpaceX CRS-1 mission, as well as the space station's readiness to receive Dragon.

Launch is scheduled for 8:34 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A back up launch opportunity is available on Oct. 8.

The launch of the Dragon spacecraft will be the first of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station and marks the second trip by a Dragon to the station, following a successful demonstration mission in May. SpaceX services under the CRS contract will restore an American capability to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to the orbiting laboratory -- a feat not achievable since the retirement of the space shuttle.

The Dragon will be filled with about 1,000 pounds of supplies. This includes critical materials to support the 166 investigations planned for the station's Expedition 33 crew, including 63 new investigations. The Dragon will return about 734 pounds of scientific materials, including results from human research, biotechnology, materials and educational experiments, as well as about 504 pounds of space station hardware.

Materials being launched on Dragon will support experiments in plant cell biology, human biotechnology and various materials technology demonstrations, among others. One experiment, called Micro 6, will examine the effects of microgravity on the opportunistic yeast Candida albicans, which is present on all humans. Another experiment, called Resist Tubule, will evaluate how microgravity affects the growth of cell walls in a plant called Arabidopsis. About 50 percent of the energy expended by terrestrial-bound plants is dedicated to structural support to overcome gravity. Understanding how the genes that control this energy expenditure operate in microgravity could have implications for future genetically modified plants and food supply. Both Micro 6 and Resist Tubule will return with the Dragon at the end of its mission.

Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will use a robot arm to grapple the Dragon following its rendezvous with the station on Wednesday, Oct. 10. They will attach the Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module for a few weeks while crew members unload cargo and load experiment samples for return to Earth.

Dragon is scheduled to return in late October for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California.

While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system.

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NASA: Dragon prepared for space flight

Posted: at 8:14 am

Published: Sept. 21, 2012 at 6:22 PM

HOUSTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- NASA says the first contracted cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station is targeted for early next month in Florida.

NASA and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. said the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon cargo spacecraft are ready for the SpaceX CRS-1 mission Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A backup launch opportunity is available Oct. 8.

"The launch of the Dragon spacecraft will be the first of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station and marks the second trip by a Dragon to the station, following a successful demonstration mission in May," NASA said Thursday in a release. "SpaceX services under the [Commercial Resupply Services] contract will restore an American capability to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to the orbiting laboratory -- a feat not achievable since the retirement of the space shuttle."

NASA said the Dragon will be filled with about 1,000 pounds of supplies and will return with about 734 pounds of scientific materials, as well as about 504 pounds of space station hardware.

Dragon is scheduled to return in late October for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

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SpaceX launch to space station is Oct. 7

Posted: at 8:14 am

A private space capsule's first contracted cargo mission to the International Space Station is slated to launch Oct. 7, NASA officials announced Thursday.

SpaceX's robotic Dragon spacecraft is set to blast off atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:34 p.m. EDT on Oct. 7. A backup launch opportunity is available the following day, officials said.

The mission will kick off Dragon's first-ever bona fide supply run to the station. California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion NASA contract to make 12 such unmanned flights.

When it leaves the pad, Dragon will be carrying about 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of supplies, officials said. Much of the gear will support the 166 different scientific investigations including experiments in plant cell biology, human biotechnology and materials demonstrations planned during the station's current Expedition 33.

If all goes according to plan, Dragon will rendezvous with the station on Oct. 10, at which point Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide will grapple it with the orbiting lab's robotic arm.

Dragon will stay attached to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module for several weeks while the Expedition 33 crew unloads the capsule and then loads it back up again with cargo to return to Earth.

Dragon is scheduled to depart the station in late October. It will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, carrying 734 pounds (333 kg) of scientific materials and 504 pounds (229 kg) of space station hardware, officials said.

The Oct. 7 flight won't mark Dragon's maiden mission to the $100 billion orbiting complex.

In May, Dragon became the first private vehicle ever to visit the station during a historic demonstration mission that sought to gauge SpaceX's readiness to begin its contracted flights.

NASA also inked a $1.9 billion deal with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make eight unmanned supply runs to the station with its Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket.

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