Category Archives: Freedom

When Freedom girls volleyball coach Joe Yoo finished rattling off his team's list of injured players last week, he couldn't help but chuckle -- though he probably didn't find it very funny.

The Patriots, who are 1-4 entering tonight's game against Pleasant Valley, were without four of their nine varsity players when they were swept by Nazareth last Thursday.

Seniors Arielle Nicholson and Shaylyn Jaworowski, junior Logan Close and sophomore Hannah McMullan were out of the Freedom lineup nursing various injuries.

Still, despite a being ravaged by ailments, the Patriots didn't seem too far off. Which is something Yoo and opposing coach Jill Lichty noted afterwards.

Junior Caralyn Reese is a strong finisher and solid defensively for Freedom, and two-time Express-Times first-team libero, Rylie Haas, can stand on her head to keep kills off the floor and her team in the game.

"I think she gets kids excited by the fact that she's playing so well and passing well," Yoo said of Haas. "It gets you involved in the game. She does everything she's asked."

The Patriots already had to deal with losing two-time Express-Times Player of the Year Brianne Giangiobbe (who had to handle her own set of injuries last season) to graduation. That's a task hardly attainable when the full squad can't get on the floor at the same time to build chemistry.

It's been rough sledding so far, but if Freedom can shake the injury bug, opposing teams are going to hate seeing the Pates in the latter part of the year.

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Freedom High School girls volleyball team battling through several injuries

More than three quarters of citizens have access to the Internet, theres widespread e-commerce and e-government services, and the press and bloggers are free to say anything online.

No, its not the U.S. Its Estonia.

- Freedom House report

The Baltic country of 1.27 million topped a list from Freedom House published Monday assessing the state of the net in 2012, with the fewest obstacles to access and violations of Internet rights.

Estonia has become a model for free Internet access as a development engine for society, the report concludes, noting that the programs focus has shifted from basic concerns such as access, quality, and cost of Internet services to discussions about security, anonymity, the protection of private information, and citizens rights on the Internet.

The U.S. earned second place in the report, with a score of 12 out of 100 just two points shy of first place.

The report, titled "Freedom on the Net 2012," cautioned that recent developments may threaten that freedom, however.

The current administration appears committed to maintaining broad surveillance powers to combat crime, the report says. Moreover, reports have emerged that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking expanded authority to ensure that communications can be intercepted when necessary.

Other countries that earned high marks for freedom included Germany at 15, Australia at 18, and Hungary at 19.

Countries lagging on the list come as no surprise. In last place is Iran, with a score of 90 out of 100 -- indicating a near total lack of freedom online. The country announced on Sunday that it would filter access to Google's services, after a video on YouTube titled "Innocence of Muslims" led to widespread rioting and violence across the Muslim world.

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U.S. lags Estonia in web freedom, reports says

If there was an opportunity to promote a cool consensus position on Muslims in Australia, Mariam Veiszadeh took it.

None of my best friends are Muslims.

Not that I have anything against Muslims.

It's just that women my age were migrants (or children of migrants) of other races and religions. But it is also true that none of my best friends are Chinese or Vietnamese.

So I'm in my little white ghetto in my little white house with my little white friends.

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Despite that, even from deep inside the gated community of class and culture in Australia, even a complete raving idiot could see that not all Muslims, or Chinese, or Vietnamese are the same. And blaming all Muslims for the craziness of rioting and bombing is like blaming me for Martin Bryant or Ivan Milat. Those two serial murderers arose in a culture of white Australia but no-one blames Australian culture. Instead, all the material I've ever read about them talks about individual backgrounds; how those two came to be who they are.

That's what needs to happen now. Find the person - or people - who sent the computer-generated text message inviting - actually inciting - a riot in Sydney on Saturday and discover what it is that transformed them from your garden-variety Muslim (normal, peaceful, law-abiding, nagging their children) to Koran-thumping craziness.

What made them think it was OK to get six- and seven-year-old children holding up placards that incite brutal murder? And how the hell can we fix it - and them - right now?

Of course the problem is fixable. I know this because, when my parents lobbed into Australia (after years in a displaced person's camp), no white Christian Australian was allowed anywhere near their beloved children (me and my siblings). No English at home. No fraternising. We definitely weren't allowed sleepovers. Now I sleep over with a white (formerly Christian) Australian every night of the week. The sky has not fallen in. I have not become (terribly) disreputable.

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Freedom of religion is a really great thing

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

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Fitch Ratings has published a report on Financial Freedom, a Division of OneWest Bank. The report is available at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Additional information is available at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research: Financial Freedom, a Division of One West Bank http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=688587

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: http://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE http://WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE.

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Fitch Releases Report on Financial Freedom, a Division of OneWest Bank

by Michael Dixon Thepress.Net

San Leandro strong safety Finau Mataafa cant snag Freedom wide receiver Devontae Young during his 44-yard catch-and-run. The Falcons defeated the Pirates 43-6 on Sept. 14. Photo by Kyndl Buzas

Senior Darrell Daniels scored three touchdowns, including a 90-yard kickoff return to open the game, and junior running back Joe Mixon added three of his own to spearhead a Falcons 43-6 victory over San Leandro on Sept. 14.

I saw a big hole, Daniels said of the opening kickoff return. Everybody hit their blocks. I just hit the hole and saw daylight. We came to play as a team. Working week-by-week, day by day, were going to put up numbers like that every week.

A 7-0 lead in the games first 15 seconds is an electrifying start, but Freedom head coach Kevin Hartwig was nervous: the Falcons losses to Amador Valley and Franklin were marked by early TDs. Its good, but its hard, Hartwig said. In a way, its a letdown and it got us in two games. Tonight, we didnt do that. Its a learning process.

The Falcons few mistakes Friday didnt hurt them. On a point after touchdown, senior quarterback Dante Mayes muffed a snap but managed to beat the defense to the goal line for a two-point conversion. Later, Freedom jumped offside on the extra-point attempt following San Leandros only touchdown. The penalty gave the Pirates the idea to go for two, but the Falcons stuffed them.

Mixon and Daniels led the Falcons all night. Mixon carried the ball 11 times for 153 yards; Daniels three times for 97 yards to augment three catches for 45 yards plus that 90-yard kickoff return.

While a 2-2 start isnt what the Falcons envisioned before the season started, theyre confident about the rest of their games. I think were going to finish strong and go 8-2, Mixon said. I know for a fact that were going 8-2. We just have to keep going strong week by week.

Next up for Freedom is a trip to Castro Valley to take on the 2-2 Trojans, which downed Liberty 40-14 on Friday and then its on to Bay Valley Athletic League competition.

The night was just as successful for the Freedom JV squad, which beat San Leandro 53-12.

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Freedom runs away from San Leandro

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Networking For Future, Inc. (NFF), the only locally owned and headquartered IT Technology Solutions provider and Cisco Gold Partner in Washington DC, received the Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) certification for Ciscos Identity Services Engine (ISE) solution. ATPs are only granted from Cisco on a by-invitation-only basis and serve as an endorsement of the companys investment in training, demo capabilities, and additional personnel certification prerequisites, which must be met.

Organizations feel the need to support employee bring-your-own-device (BYOD) to work policies and desire more secure access for their data center and virtualized resources. Ciscos Identity Services Engine (ISE) is the solution of choice to support this. With a context-aware and identity-based platform, organizations can reliably enforce compliance, enhance infrastructure security, and streamline service operations.

The Authorized Technology Provider for ISE designation validates NFFs ability to help organizations deploy ISE across an enterprise infrastructure. As of this time, there are only very few Cisco partners (about 85 of almost 1000 Cisco partners in the U.S.) with the ISE ATP designation. We are very proud to be part of this elite group of Cisco partners and NFF is ready to assist our customers with ISE services and implementation, said Glen Carter, NFFs Director of Technology Services.

"Security is the primary consideration to properly supporting any customer's initiative around BYOD. Technology solutions such as ISE provide the control mechanisms necessary to maintain the insight and threat mitigation needed to enable any open endpoint policy, said Glen Carter, Director of Technology Services. "NFF's engineering capabilities and expertise in identity solutions backed by Cisco's Advanced Technology Partner (ATP) accreditation enables our customers to proceed with confidence on BYOD initiatives."

A long-established partner with Cisco, in addition to the ISE, NFF holds two additional ATP designations in Data Center Unified Computing and TelePresence Video Express. Earlier in 2012, the technology integrator NFF received the Cisco Customer Satisfaction Award for the 16th time consecutively.

About NFF

NFF is a Technology Solutions provider, specialized in Secured Network Infrastructure, Data Center Virtualization, and Unified Communications. NFFs industry certifications, proficiency, and experience with Information Security allow its customers to rely on them as a single source for design, deployment and long-term support of their complex IT projects. The NFF team has a long and successful history of providing enterprise security solutions for their Federal, enterprise, and commercial clients. NFF evolved its security solutions to meet the challenges of virtualization, cloud computing, and mobility. From data center to the desktop and into the cloud, NFF provides high performance and cost effective technology solutions, Delivering Net Results. For more information visit http://www.nffinc.com/ISE. Subscribe to NFF on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

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Device freedom and network security key to increasing efficiency and enhancing productivity

CLARKSTON, Mich., Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Clarkston, Mich.-based Freedom One Financial Group, a 401(k) plan recordkeeping and administrative service provider, announced today that Freedom One Investment Advisors, Inc. will provide 401(k) plan advisory services for Sterling Heights, Mich.-based Custom Data Solutions. Freedom One Financial Group Vice President of Strategic Growth & Development Errol Hau made the announcement.

Custom Data Solutions was founded as a software development company specializing in providing high end, innovative solutions in various industries, such as insurance, property management, manufacturing and distribution. Today, they have grown their business to become the premier data collection and processing service in the Vending, Fund Raising, Concession, Specialty, and Foodservice channels. Freedom One Financial Group will work with Custom Data Solutions to handle the company's retirement assets for 25 participants.

In a prepared statement, Michael L. Nudi, president and CEO of Custom Data Solutions, stated "Our process in determining what company would manage our 401(k) plan was very thorough. Knowing the great impact a 401(k) plan has on our employees' lives and plans for the future, we understood the importance of finding a company with a proven track record to ensure our employees achieve the maximum benefit. Additionally, we looked to partner with a company that shares many of the same business philosophies as our own company. Freedom One Financial Group brings all of these things and more to the table and with their prudent investment process, we feel comfortable with their direction."

"We are pleased to add Custom Data Solutions as a client," said Hau. "Freedom One Financial Group continues to grow our client roster based on client referrals, positive feedback on our investment process and our long track record of client loyalty."

About Freedom One Financial Group

With more than 20 years of successful experience, Freedom One Financial Group team members specialize in providing state-of-the-art employee communications and administrative services to more than 1,000 clients across the United States. Freedom One Investment Advisors, Inc. is a trusted 401(k) plan advisor to employees, employers and other fiduciaries who value independent and unbiased advice for their retirement plans. Plan design, implementation, and employee communication services provided by Freedom One Retirement Services. Registered investment advisory services provided by Freedom One Investment Advisors.

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Custom Data Solutions Retains Freedom One Financial Group As 401(k) Plan Advisor

The surprise team of the Lehigh Valley Conference so far this season has no superstar scorer but a lot of offensive weapons including underrated ones like senior midfielder Brendan Kaulius.

The team has no clamp-down defender, although the core five in the backfield rotation are pretty solid and play in front of a good goalie in Josh Wasilick.

The squad also has a five-game LVC winning streak and remains in first place in the East Division following today's 2-0 win over Northampton.

Say hello to the Freedom High School boys soccer team, which won a total of four games last season and set a school record with 13 losses.

"I'm a little surprised myself," said beaming Freedom coach Michael O'Connell, who inherited a good portion of last year's team and in eight games has completely turned around its attitude. "We're playing a team game and supporting each other and not relying on one player."

Freedom (6-2 overall, 5-1 LVC) immediately took control of play on its home field. Northampton (4-4, 4-2) was flat even though it came riding a four-game winning streak. Only three Konkrete Kids teams, in 29 years, ever won as many as five games in a row.

"Our touches were rough, we had our heads down, we were not anticipating well and we were playing slow," Northampton coach Craig Carvin said. "I'm not sure why. Maybe we thought it was going to be as easy as some of our other games."

Junior midfielder Nigel Long gave the Patriots a 1-0 lead 7:34 into the contest with his second goal of the season. He scored from 15 yards out with a low shot after taking a pass from Baidy Ba.

Freshman Stephen Gabor scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season to make it 2-0 just 1:52 into the second half on a pass from Brendan Kaulius.

"That's how we score a lot of our goals," Kaulius said. "Dribbling it down and laying it off and somebody putting it in."

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Freedom High School boys soccer team wins fifth straight Lehigh Valley Conference contest

The latest wave of Muslim hysteria and violence has now spread to more than 20 countries. The walls of our embassies and consulates have been breached, their precincts abandoned to triumphant mobs, and many people have been murderedall in response to an unwatchable Internet video titled Innocence of Muslims. Whether over a film, a cartoon, a novel, a beauty pageant, or an inauspiciously named teddy bear, the coming eruption of pious rage is now as predictable as the dawn. This is already an old and boring story about old, boring, and deadly ideas. And I fear it will be with us for the rest of our lives.

Our panic and moral confusion were at first sublimated in attacks upon the hapless Governor Romney. I am no fan of Romneys, and I would find the prospect of his presidency risible if it were not so depressing, but he did accurately detect the first bleats of fear in the Obama administrations reaction to this crisis. Romney got the timing of events wrongconfusing, as many did, a statement made by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for an official government response to the murder of Americans in Libya. But the truth is that the White House struck the same note of apology, disavowing the offending speech while claiming to protect free speech in principle. It may seem a small detail, given the heat of the momentbut so is a quivering lip.

Our government followed the path of appeasement further by attempting to silence the irrepressible crackpot pastor Terry Jones, who had left off burning copies of the Quran just long enough to promote the film. The administration also requested that Google remove Innocence of Muslims from its servers. These maneuvers attest to one of two psychological and diplomatic realities: either our government is unwilling to address the problem at hand, or the problem is so vast and terrifying that we have decided to placate the barbarians at the gate.

The contagion of moral cowardice followed its usual course, wherein liberal journalists and pundits began to reconsider our most basic freedoms in light of the sadomasochistic fury known as religious sensitivity among Muslims. Contributors to The New York Times and NPR spoke of the need to find a balance between free speech and freedom of religionas though the latter could possibly be infringed by a YouTube video. As predictable as Muslim bullying has become, the moral confusion of secular liberals appears to be part of the same clockwork.

Protesters burn the American flag in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Sept. 14, 2012, during a demonstration against the film "Innocence of Muslims." (Rahmat Gul / AP Photo)

The freedom to think out loud on certain topics, without fear of being hounded into hiding or killed, has already been lost.

Consider what is actually happening: some percentage of the worlds Muslims5 percent? 15? 50? Its not yet clearis demanding that all non-Muslims conform to the strictures of Islamic law. And where they do not immediately resort to violence in their protests, they threaten it. Carrying a sign that reads Behead Those Who Insult the Prophet may still count as an example of peaceful protest, but it is also an assurance that infidel blood would be shed if the imbecile holding the placard only had more power. This grotesque promise is, of course, fulfilled in nearly every Muslim society. To make a film like Innocence of Muslims anywhere in the Middle East would be as sure a method of suicide as the laws of physics allow.

What exactly was in the film? Who made it? What were their motives? Was Muhammad really depicted? Was that a Quran burning, or some other book? Questions of this kind are obscene. Here is where the line must be drawn and defended without apology: we are free to burn the Quran or any other book, and to criticize Muhammad or any other human being. Let no one forget it.

At moments like this, we inevitably hearfrom people who dont know what its like to believe in paradisethat religion is just a way of channeling popular unrest. The true source of the problem can be found in the history of Western aggression in the region. It is our policies, rather than our freedoms, that they hate. I believe that the future of liberalismand much elsedepends on our overcoming this ruinous self-deception. Religion only works as a pretext for political violence because many millions of people actually believe what they say they believe: that imaginary crimes like blasphemy and apostasy are killing offenses.

Most secular liberals think that all religions are the same, and they consider any suggestion to the contrary a sign of bigotry. Somehow, this article of faith survives daily disconfirmation. Our language is largely to blame for this. As I have pointed out on many occasions, religion is a term like sports: some sports are peaceful but spectacularly dangerous (free solo rock climbing, street luge); some are safer but synonymous with violence (boxing, mixed martial arts); and some entail little more exertion or risk of serious injury than standing in the shower (bowling, badminton). To speak of sports as a generic activity makes it impossible to discuss what athletes actually do, or the physical attributes required to do it. What do all sports have in common, apart from breathing? Not much. The term religion is scarcely more useful.

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The Freedom to Offend “God”