Category Archives: Freedom

The Dutch Freedom Party has called for a return to the Guilder, becoming the first political movement in the eurozone with a large popular base to opt for withdrawal from the single currency.

"The euro is not in the interests of the Dutch people," said Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing populist party with a sixth of the seats in the Dutch parliament. "We want to be the master of our own house and our own country, so we say yes to the guilder. Bring it on."

Mr Wilders made his decision after receiving a report by London-based Lombard Street Research concluding that the Netherlands is badly handicapped by euro membership, and that it could cost EMUs creditor core more than 1.8 trillion to hold monetary union together over the next four years. "If the politicians in The Hague disagree with our report, let them show the guts to hold a referendum. Let the Dutch people decide," he said.

Mr Wilders is not part of the coalition. However, the minority government of Mark Rutte relies on the Freedom Party to pass legislation. The two men were in talks on Monday on 16bn of fresh austerity cuts needed stop the budget deficit jumping to 4.5pc of GDP.

The study said the eurozone cannot survive in its current form. The longer Europes politicians dither, the more costly it will become. "The euro can only survive if it becomes a fiscal transfer union with national sovereign debt subsumed in eurozone bonds," said co-author Charles Dumas.

Greece will opt for a "negotiated exit" later this year, once the pain becomes excruciating. This will be after the French elections in May, but before the German electoral season begins in 2013.

Portugal will follow in "short order" as markets focus on its struggling banks and nasty logic of recession for debt dynamics. "At that point, if not before, attention will turn to Spain and Italy, both likely by then to be much weakened by savage austerity programmes now being implemented," said Mr Dumas.

That is the moment when the creditor core will face the decision they have "ducked" for the past two years: either accept an EMU reflation strategy, along with debt pooling, fiscal union, and transfers; or accept a break-up.

Under an "optimistic scenario" it would cost 1.26 trillion to shore up Med-Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) , rising to more than 1.8 trillion if Italy and Spain need some form of bond relief. "The staggering trillion bill to preserve the euro only takes us to 2015. In reality, most of the debts will never be repaid and subsidies will need to continue, year in and year out," said Mr Dumas.

The report said exit by Italy would be relatively easy. The country would recover once it regained currency freedom, though foreign bondholders would take an exchange rate hit. Spains exit would be harder to manage since it has a primary budget deficit of 7pc of GDP, and its companies have large euro debts abroad.

See the article here:
Dutch Freedom Party pushes euro exit as €1.8 trillion rescue bill looms

The Freedom Writers Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting at-risk students and their teachers, will host a screening of its documentary "Stories From an Undeclared War" at the Carpenter Center on Monday in an effort to reform the education system through inspiration and empowerment.

Foundation President Erin Gruwell, whom the 2007 "Freedom Writers" motion picture was based on, was an English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach and is currently a visiting professor at Cal State Long Beach.

"Stories From an Undeclared War," directed by Dennis Rice, follows Gruwell and her 150 Long Beach students from their freshman year of high school, in 1994, to their graduation in 1998. The documentary also shows the Freedom Writers' present positions, including many who are now teachers.

The foundation worked with Paramount Pictures to create "Freedom Writers" starring Hilary Swank in 2007.

However, the documentary is said to be more personal. One review noted that the documentary lets the students "tell about their journey in their own voices."

The film has debuted at festivals and events, such as the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and the Philadelphia AIDs Consortium.

It will also show at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival on Sunday.

The CSULB screening will begin at 7 p.m. A question-and-answer session and book signing with Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers will follow.

The event is free, but those who wish to attend must RSVP by calling 562-433-5388, ext.101 or email miguel@freedomwritersfoundation.org.

Originally posted here:
Freedom Writers to show new documentary at CSULB

By Jurjen van de Pol and Maud van Gaal - Mon Mar 05 17:38:15 GMT 2012

Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders said the Netherlands, the euro areas second-largest exporter after Germany, would profit from abandoning the euro and returning to the guilder.

The Netherlands can exit the euro, but you have to be honest, itll cost money, Wilders told reporters in The Hague today, citing the findings of a report by London-based Lombard Street Research commissioned by his party.

Wilders, whose lawmakers support the minority coalition of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Rutte on most subjects, said a referendum is needed on whether the Netherlands should stay in the euro area. The ruling Liberals and Christian Democrats rely on the opposition Labor Party to back their European policy as Wilders opposes further financial aid to debt-ridden euro countries.

In the worst case, if the guilder appreciates 10 percent, well suffer a loss of 51 billion euros ($67 billion) in 2012, Wilders said, citing the report. That will be compensated starting in the second year, because its smaller than the 37 billion and 38 billion euros we will save in 2013 and 2014 by not contributing to maintaining the euro zone.

European leaders agreed last week to provide capital faster for their planned permanent bailout fund to strengthen the single-currency blocs defenses against a debt crisis that has necessitated two bailouts for Greece and rescues for Portugal and Ireland. They also signed a deficit-control treaty, putting tighter limits on spending.

The importance of the euro zone cant be underestimated and one shouldnt make the calculations in the first five or 10 years, European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said in an interview with Dutch television program Buitenhof yesterday, before the report was published. I havent seen this study, but I assume that you can always find a research institute to prove what you want to be proven.

Wilderss presentation coincided with the start of negotiations between the Freedom Party and Ruttes government on further budget cuts needed to bring the Netherlands deficit in line with the European Unions current limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Next years shortfall will be 4.5 percent of gross domestic product, government planning agency CPB said last week. The 2013 forecast equates to a 9 billion-euro overshoot of the EU limit, it said. The Dutch economy went into its second recession in three years in the second half of 2011 as budget cuts and Europes sovereign debt crisis curbed consumer demand.

Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said today that Lombard Streets findings were just one of many reports on the euro, according to broadcaster NOS.

Link:
Netherlands Would Benefit From Exiting Euro, Freedom Party Report Argues

FORT WAYNE, Ind., March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Freedom Energy Holdings, Inc. (Pink Sheets: FDMF.PK) today provided a corporate update outlining all the ongoing projects that involve the company's proprietary technology KC-9000.

The last several months has been extremely rewarding on a couple of different fronts. There have been several parties that have expressed some confusion regarding the recent press releases regarding our flagship technology KC-9000. KC-9000 is to be tested at several locations in the Middle East. The objective of these trials is to show the effectiveness of the KC-9000's ability to remove the hydrocarbons from oil soaked drill cuttings or otherwise referred to in the United States as drill tailings. In short, the mud and gravel that is removed in the well drilling process.

In the United States wells are drilled with water, air or another type of drilling mud and stored in pits on site. The procedure in the Middle East uses oil to drill, as it is more available and less costly than importing water. Consequently, it creates an environmental problem to dispose of the cuttings. A very expensive method of removing the hydrocarbons is currently being used and even then the current technology does not reach satisfactory levels.

Laboratory tests have shown the KC-9000 to effectively and efficiently remove the hydrocarbons to levels that are satisfactory for easy disposal. A concentrated form of KC-9000 is being shipped presently to our agent in Dubai for these trials. For security reasons, the locations or countries that these trials are to be conducted have not been disclosed but all funding has been received by the Company to include travel expenses for Senior Management to attend these trials. More information will be released as it is made available.

ABOUT FREEDOM ENERGY HOLDINGS, INC:

Freedom Energy Holdings, Inc. (FDMF.PK) is a publicly traded company that specializes in the identification and development of technologies with commercial applications in the energy industry sector. The company's original primary focus is the commercial development of its proprietary, heavy oil technology. KC 9000, a breakthrough technology, provides an effective and cost efficient system to enable heavy oil deposits to flow without heat. Recent research has developed and shown a new product SR-139 to be effective at breaking down asphalt shingles allowing the extraction and recovery of hydrocarbons.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

This press release contains certain "forwardlooking" statements, as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Statements, which are not historical facts, are forwardlooking statements. The Company, through its management, makes forwardlooking public statements concerning it expected future operations, performance and other developments. Such forwardlooking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the Company's best judgment based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by the Company. They include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to develop operations, the Company's ability to consummate and complete the acquisition, the Company's access

to future capital, the successful integration of acquired companies, government regulation, managing and maintaining growth, the effect of adverse publicity, litigation, competition, sales and other factors that may be identified from time to time in the Company's public announcements.

Contact: Brian Kistler CEO, 260-490-9990Freedom Energy Holdings, Inc.

Visit link:
Freedom Energy -- Corporate Update Regarding KC-9000® Trials

For veteran dissident Ko Ko Gyi, freedom after almost two decades behind bars has brought guarded optimism about Myanmar's future, and no thoughts of revenge against the regime.

The former student activist, one of hundreds of political prisoners released in January in the country formerly known as Burma, said that he was ready for reconciliation if the quasi-civilian government continues its reforms.

"We had a bitter experience for a very long time, but we can forgive, not only myself, but also my comrades," he told AFP in an interview.

"We do not want to dwell on the past, but instead face the brighter future... It is not going to be easy to forget, and we say that if we have to engage in politics the time is now, not in the past."

Ko Ko Gyi said he and other prominent former student leaders who were at the vanguard of a failed 1988 uprising would give their full support to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is standing for a seat in parliament for the first time in April 1 by-elections, as well as to a new generation of activists.

"There is now a change of guard on the streets from us to the younger generation," he said.

"I am now 50 for example. I am now more engaged in politics in this democratic space, but we welcome the involvement of more and more younger students to this cause."

He said his group would engage with civil society and pointed to the government's decision last year to halt a Chinese-backed mega-dam in response to public opposition as an example of the potential of people power.

But more than a month after he was freed along with hundreds of other political detainees, Ko Ko Gyi said he had yet to enjoy true liberty.

"Freedom? There is no new freedom. Sometimes they are still watching," he said at his home in Yangon, referring to intelligence agents in civilian clothes he believes have been assigned to watch him.

See original here:
Freedom bitter-sweet for Myanmar activist

AAP

Adelaide have shed their robotic AFL image and been gifted more freedom under new coach Brenton Sanderson, says winger Brodie Smith.

Long derided as Crowbots under former coach Neil Craig, Adelaide have won all three of their pre-season games under Sanderson.

"It's a bit more exciting footy, I guess," Smith said of the changed game plan.

Advertisement: Story continues below

"It's not so much structure as last year and a bit more licence to have a bit of a crack."

The Crows will test their new style against Collingwood when they host the competition powerhouse on Friday night.

Another win would seal a cup grand final berth, but Smith said making the pre-season play-off was not a priority.

"It's not as important as getting all our structures right and improving for round one (of the premiership season)," he said.

"Obviously, it would be nice to be there, but it's not top of the list."

Here is the original post:
AFL's Crows given freedom by new coach

Reporting from Washington -- Israeli President Shimon Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this spring, President Obama announced at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington.

"Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, 'slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity and freedom,'" Obama said as he announced the award. "He has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings."

Obama spoke privately with Peres after the main conference session and congratulated him on the award. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America's highest civilian honor.

Delegates to the conference, who had an otherwise mixed reaction to Obama's speech, greeted the announcement with applause.

"It's extremely well-deserved, the man has dedicated his life to peace," said Milton Salzer, a first-time delegate from Illinois. "His whole life he's had the message, peace is the first alternative, war is the last."

"He's done a lot for the relationship between Israel and America," said Jeffrey Freimark, a delegate from Florida. "There's a bit of a political ploy to it, but nonetheless it's good solid recognition of someone who's every much deserving."

The Israeli head of state spoke ahead of Obama at the conference, after being greeted onto the stage by a choir of children. Peres expressed hope that the younger generations in Israel's Arab neighbors will embrace democracy, while emphasizing Israel's need to defend itself against Iran.

Here is the original post:
Obama announces Medal of Freedom honor for Shimon Peres

'Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War'

by Guy Gugliotta

Hill and Wang, 512 pp., $35

The United States Capitol, as everyone knows, is where Congress meets and does nothing. It wasn't always that way; before the Civil War, Congress actually voted to do something: expand the Capitol to its present size

Former Washington Post reporter Guy Gugliotta tells how it happened in this fascinating new book. It's a tale of political intrigue, famous personalities, technological innovations and bitter feuds, all under the pervasive shadow of slavery and the threat of secession and Civil War.

The original Capitol, dating to 1800, was reconstructed after the British burned it during the War of 1812. By 1850, Gugliotta writes, it was a wreck: "Walls were cracking, roofs sagged, timbers rotted." The Senate sweltered in summer and froze in winter. Acoustics were so bad in the House that members couldn't hear one another. Something had to be done, and the man who got it started was the junior senator from Mississippi Jefferson Davis.

From April 1850 until he left Washington 11 years later to become president of the Confederacy, Davis was the new Capitol's "political champion, benefactor, and shepherd," Gugilotta writes

Bringing it into existence involved battles with presidents, other congressmen, architects and contractors. It didn't help that the man in charge of the project, Army Capt. Montgomery Meigs, a Davis protg, was arrogant and stubborn and clashed with the principal architect, Thomas U. Walter. But Meigs also was something of an engineering genius who devised many new construction techniques, especially for the Capitol dome. Meigs later became quartermaster general of the U.S. Army, ironically playing an important role in the eventual defeat of Davis' Confederacy.

Gugliotta tells the story well. But meanwhile, comfortably situated in the expanded Capitol, Congress continues to do nothing.

Originally posted here:
'Freedom's Cap': the U.S. Capitol's big remodel

by Billy Todd Staff Writer The Sampson Independent

Courtesy photo The Freedom From Smoking program offered by CAPRI, has only limited space for 16 people. Class begins Tuesday, March 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Have you tried to quit smoking? Do you want to kick the habit? If so, the Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation Institute (CAPRI), offered through Sampson Regional Medical Center, has a plan for you the Freedom from Smoking program.

The American Lung Association produced the program that has been around since 1980. Research has proven that this class is very beneficial in the cessation of smoking and has been called Americans gold standard in smoking cessation programs.

CAPRI manager Frank Bray, RRT, CPFT, RCP, HFS, is a registered respiratory therapist and certified pulmonary function technologist who instructs the Freedom From Smoking class at the Center for Health + Wellness. Class begins March 13 and continues through April 24. The class meets from 6 to 8 p.m. each Tuesday evening with the exception of the fourth week when it meets on Tuesday and Thursday.

Bray explains that there are three phases for the class. The first three weeks we prepare the class members to stop smoking. The Tuesday of the fourth week is Quit Day. We even have a service where we bury the habit. The Thursday class is for reinforcement. The last three weeks we spend time on maintaining our new habit of not smoking, explained the instructor.

The Freedom From Smoking program focuses on behavior change. Bray asserts, You have got to want to quit to do it. The program has a positive focus. It emphasizes the benefits of better health and improved lifestyle habits, as well as mastery of ones own life. The activities and assignments provide the class members who smoke with proven strategies for changing their behavior and lifestyle.

The instructor shared that he felt the area needed a proven smoking cessation program that was medically and ethically sound, cost-effective and evidence-based and able to be replicated, something the Freedom From Smoking program has been shown to accomplish.

In 1975, the leadership of the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society, and Congress Lung Association staff launched a project to develop a smoking cessation program. Each organization offered a unique contribution: The ALA had the concerned and committed volunteers, ATS supplied scientific research and expertise, and the CLAS provided practical experience as health education professionals.

Bray stresses that it is vitally important to understand that as a result of this research and development, the Freedom From Smoking self-help manuals were introduced nationwide in 1980. The Freedom From Smoking Clinic Program was first introduced in 1981, and has helped hundreds of thousands of smokers quit since then. The newest intervention approach designed by the American Lung Association, Freedom From Smoking Online, was first offered in 1996 as an Internet chat room. It was redesigned and launched in 2001 and now offers 24-hour, 7-day-a-week access to intervention sessions and message boards at http://www.ffsonline.org. All Freedom From Smoking products are regularly reviewed and updated to make sure Freedom From Smoking remains the gold standard in smoking cessation programs.

More here:
CAPRI to offer second Freedom From Smoking class

Sgt. Luis Alfonso Beltran has endured 14 years of jungle prisons as a captive of leftist rebels while three of his aunts and uncles died and eight new nieces and nephews have been born.

Now, finally, he is expected to be freed.

Beltran, 43, and fellow Sgt. Luis Arturo Arcia are the longest-held captives of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, taken in a March 3, 1998, rebel ambush that killed more than 60 soldiers.

The FARC announced last weekend that it will shortly release all remaining "prisoners of war" and halt all ransom kidnappings, which along with the cocaine trade have funded its nearly five-decade-old insurgency.

No one could be happier than Beltran's 70-year-old mother, Virginia Franco, who keeps vigils in a small, concrete home with light green walls in a poor barrio in Bogota's south that she shares with another son and his family of four.

"There hasn't been a single party in my house in 14 years, because all the happiness died," said Franco. "All that keeps me alive is the hope that my son returns, and my grandchildren."

This past week there was more heartache. Beltran's favorite aunt died.

In contrast to such celebrated FARC hostages as former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who was freed along with three U.S. military contractors in 2008 and went on to write a highly praised memoir, few Colombians know the faces of the plebeian Beltran and Arcia.

The last proof of life for both men, who were bachelors at the time of their capture, came in September 2009 in video obtained from a captured FARC courier.

Cristina Arcia says her brother, who is now 41, barely speaks in the video and looks "mistreated, aged, ruined because they didn't let him enjoy his youth and have a dignified life."

More here:
In Colombia, Freedom Nears After 14-Year Captivity