Category Archives: Liberty

A Liberty County man confronted a pair of pair of suspected burglars early Wednesday, opening fire at them as they tried to steal his welding machine, officials said.

The homeowner spotted two men about 4:15 a.m. as they pulled onto his property near State Highway 321 and County Road 2274, Liberty County sheriff's deputies said.

He came outside, armed with a gun, when he saw the two taking his welding machine. He shot at the burglars and their black and tan Ford Expedition, deputies said.

They fled without taking the welder, officials said.

About 45 minutes later, a man with a gunshot wound was found inside a black and tan Ford Expedition along west U.S. 90 near Beltway 8 in east Harris County.

A passerby saw the sport utility vehicle slow down and come to a stop at the curb. The man inside the SUV told him to call 911, officials said.

Another motorist took him to East Houston Regional Medical Center with wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening.

Liberty County sheriff's deputies said they believe he is one of the two men who tried to steal the welder.

He has not been identified and the search is continuing for the other man, officials said.

The homeowner is not expected to face criminal charges but the case may be referred to a Liberty County grand jury, officials said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Liberty County sheriff's deputies at 936-336-4500.

Dale Lezon contributed to this report.

mike.glenn@chron.com

Read more here:
Liberty County homeowner shoots at suspected burglars

Yesterday, after market close, Liberty Global Inc. ( LBTYA ) declared financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011, which failed to meet our expectations. Despite this, in the previous quarter, the company added a net 380,000 revenue generating units (RGU), up 20% year over year. This is the highest quarterly net RGU addition since 2006.

Quarterly GAAP net loss from continuing operation was $438.2 million or a loss of $1.61 per share compared with a net income of $52.6 million or 5 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. However, fourth-quarter 2011 adjusted (excluding special items) EPS of 10 cents was significantly below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents.

Quarterly total revenue of $2,404.5 million was an improvement of 6.9% year over year, which is well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,615 million. Year-over-year growth of the top line was primarily attributable to the consolidation of German operations.

Quarterly cost of operation was $868.4 million, up 5.1% year over year. Selling, General and Administrative expenses were $462.3 million, up 4.5% year over year. In the fourth quarter of 2011, operating income was $408.2 million, up 5.5% year over year.

During 2011, Liberty Global generated $2,736.6 million of cash from operations compared with $2,329.2 million in 2010. Free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) in 2011 was $809.3 million compared with $638.7 million in 2010.

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had $2,626.4 million of cash & marketable securities and $24,757.9 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet compared with $4,921.1 million of cash & marketable securities and $22,462.6 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet at the end of 2010. At the end of 2011, debt-to-capitalization ratio was 0.87 compared with 0.86 at the end of fiscal 2010.

Subscriber Statistics

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had 19.5382 million customers in 14 countries. UPC Broadband customer was 16.1163 million. Telnet customer was 2.1985 million. VTR customer was 1.1018 million. Puerto Rico customer was 121,600. Total Single-Play customer was 11.4558 million, up 9.2% year over year. Total Double-Play customer was 2.9131 million, up 10.3% year over year. Total Triple-Play customer was 5.1693 million, up 38.1% year over year.

During the reported quarter, Liberty Global added 380,000 net RGUs including net gains of 229,000 and 230,000 subscribers, respectively, for broadband Internet and telephony services and a net loss of 79,000 subscribers for video services. In the fourth quarter, the company added 282,000 digital video subscribers.

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had 8.2 million digital cable subscribers with a penetration rate of 46%. Importantly, 50% of total digital cable subscribers are now using HD/DVR services.

Segment wise Results

Revenue from total UPC Broadband division was $1,558.3 million, up 8.9% year over year. Within this segment, revenue from Western Europe was $1,243.3 million, up 8.9% year over year. Revenue from Central and Eastern Europe was $285.3 million, up 9.7% year over year. Revenue from Central and other operation was $29.7 million, up 3.5% year over year.

Telenet revenue was $487.6 million, up 7.8% year over year. VTR revenue was $214.6 million, down 2.1% year over year. Corporate and other revenue was $164.1 million, down 1% year over year.

Businesses Restructuring Update

On July 11, 2011, Liberty Global decided to divest its operations in Australia. Liberty Global holds 54% stake of Austar United Communications Ltd., a leading pay-TV service provider in Australia. Austar announced that Liberty Global and Foxtel, the largest pay-TV operator in Australia, have entered into a definitive agreement, whereby Foxtel will acquire 100% stake of Austar for approximately $2.1 billion. Liberty Global will get around $1.08 billion through this divestiture.

Foxtel is jointly held by Australian telecom giant Telstra, News Ltd., a division of News Corp. ( NWSA ), and Consolidated Media Holdings. All these three shareholders agreed upon the deal. However, the proposed acquisition still needs to clear the Australian regulatory hurdles. However, Liberty Global is confident that this deal will be completed in 2012.

Recommendation

We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Liberty Global. Currently, it holds a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) on the stock.

 
LIBERTY GLBL-A ( LBTYA ): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
NEWS CORP INC-A ( NWSA ): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

The rest is here:
Liberty Global Underperforms - Analyst Blog

Yesterday, after market close, Liberty Global Inc. (NasdaqGS:LBTYA - News) declared financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011, which failed to meet our expectations. Despite this, in the previous quarter, the company added a net 380,000 revenue generating units (:RGU), up 20% year over year. This is the highest quarterly net RGU addition since 2006.

Quarterly GAAP net loss from continuing operation was $438.2 million or a loss of $1.61 per share compared with a net income of $52.6 million or 5 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. However, fourth-quarter 2011 adjusted (excluding special items) EPS of 10 cents was significantly below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 21 cents.

Quarterly total revenue of $2,404.5 million was an improvement of 6.9% year over year, which is well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,615 million. Year-over-year growth of the top line was primarily attributable to the consolidation of German operations.

Quarterly cost of operation was $868.4 million, up 5.1% year over year. Selling, General and Administrative expenses were $462.3 million, up 4.5% year over year. In the fourth quarter of 2011, operating income was $408.2 million, up 5.5% year over year.

During 2011, Liberty Global generated $2,736.6 million of cash from operations compared with $2,329.2 million in 2010. Free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) in 2011 was $809.3 million compared with $638.7 million in 2010.

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had $2,626.4 million of cash & marketable securities and $24,757.9 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet compared with $4,921.1 million of cash & marketable securities and $22,462.6 million of outstanding debt on its balance sheet at the end of 2010. At the end of 2011, debt-to-capitalization ratio was 0.87 compared with 0.86 at the end of fiscal 2010.

Subscriber Statistics

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had 19.5382 million customers in 14 countries. UPC Broadband customer was 16.1163 million. Telnet customer was 2.1985 million. VTR customer was 1.1018 million. Puerto Rico customer was 121,600. Total Single-Play customer was 11.4558 million, up 9.2% year over year. Total Double-Play customer was 2.9131 million, up 10.3% year over year. Total Triple-Play customer was 5.1693 million, up 38.1% year over year.

During the reported quarter, Liberty Global added 380,000 net RGUs including net gains of 229,000 and 230,000 subscribers, respectively, for broadband Internet and telephony services and a net loss of 79,000 subscribers for video services. In the fourth quarter, the company added 282,000 digital video subscribers.

At the end of 2011, Liberty Global had 8.2 million digital cable subscribers with a penetration rate of 46%. Importantly, 50% of total digital cable subscribers are now using HD/DVR services.

Segment wise Results

Revenue from total UPC Broadband division was $1,558.3 million, up 8.9% year over year. Within this segment, revenue from Western Europe was $1,243.3 million, up 8.9% year over year. Revenue from Central and Eastern Europe was $285.3 million, up 9.7% year over year. Revenue from Central and other operation was $29.7 million, up 3.5% year over year.

Telenet revenue was $487.6 million, up 7.8% year over year. VTR revenue was $214.6 million, down 2.1% year over year. Corporate and other revenue was $164.1 million, down 1% year over year.

Businesses Restructuring Update

On July 11, 2011, Liberty Global decided to divest its operations in Australia. Liberty Global holds 54% stake of Austar United Communications Ltd., a leading pay-TV service provider in Australia. Austar announced that Liberty Global and Foxtel, the largest pay-TV operator in Australia, have entered into a definitive agreement, whereby Foxtel will acquire 100% stake of Austar for approximately $2.1 billion. Liberty Global will get around $1.08 billion through this divestiture.

Foxtel is jointly held by Australian telecom giant Telstra, News Ltd., a division of News Corp. (NasdaqGS:NWSA - News), and Consolidated Media Holdings. All these three shareholders agreed upon the deal. However, the proposed acquisition still needs to clear the Australian regulatory hurdles. However, Liberty Global is confident that this deal will be completed in 2012.

Recommendation

We maintain our long-term Neutral recommendation on Liberty Global. Currently, it holds a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) on the stock.

Read the Full Research Report on LBTYA

Read the Full Research Report on NWSA

Zacks Investment Research

More From Zacks.com

View post:
Liberty Global Underperforms

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Liberty Interactive Corporation (Nasdaq: LINTA, LINTB) (“Liberty”) today announced that its board of directors has approved the recapitalization of its common stock into shares of the corresponding series of two new tracking stocks, Liberty Interactive and Liberty Ventures.

“We are pleased to announce the Board’s approval to recapitalize Liberty into two tracking stocks,” said Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty. “We expect this recapitalization to highlight each tracking stock’s operations and financial aspects of the attributed assets, provide greater investor choice, and raise capital while maintaining an optimal capital and tax efficient structure for Liberty.”

The Liberty Interactive tracking stock group initially will have attributed to it QVC, the eCommerce companies, a 34% stake in HSN, approximately $500 million of cash, $2 billion principal amount of QVC’s bonds, QVC’s $2 billion bank credit facility and approximately $1.1 billion principal amount of Liberty’s publicly traded senior notes and debentures. Cash to be attributed to Liberty Interactive and Liberty Ventures will come from various sources including cash on hand, cash from operations and proceeds from QVC’s bank credit facility with an expected balance at closing of $1.3-1.5 billion.

The Liberty Ventures tracking stock group initially will have attributed to it Liberty’s interests in Expedia, TripAdvisor, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, AOL, Interval Leisure Group, Tree.com and Liberty’s green-energy investments, approximately $1.25 billion of cash, additional cash raised from the exercise of Liberty Ventures subscription rights, and approximately $3 billion principal amount of Liberty’s publicly traded exchangeable debentures.

In the recapitalization, Liberty stockholders will receive one share of the corresponding series of Liberty Interactive group tracking stock for each share of series A or series B Liberty common stock they own and one share of the corresponding series of Liberty Ventures group tracking stock for every 20 shares of series A or series B Liberty common stock they own. In addition, stockholders will also receive a subscription right to acquire one additional series A or series B share for every three shares of series A or three shares of series B Liberty Ventures tracking stock they receive in the recapitalization.

The subscription rights are being issued to raise capital for general corporate purposes of the Liberty Ventures tracking stock group, including investment in new business opportunities to be attributed to that group. The subscription rights will:

Enable the holders to acquire shares of the applicable series of Liberty Ventures common stock at a 20% discount to the 20 trading day volume weighted average trading price of the Liberty Ventures tracking stock following the closing of the recapitalization Become publicly traded, once the exercise price has been established Expire forty trading days following the closing of the recapitalization

The proposed recapitalization is intended to be tax-free to stockholders and its completion will be subject to various conditions, including the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of Liberty’s outstanding shares present in person or by proxy at the stockholder meeting, voting together as a single class, and the receipt of a tax opinion from counsel. Subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to closing, the recapitalization is currently expected to occur this summer.

This announcement and Liberty’s fourth quarter and year end 2011 earnings will be discussed on a conference call today at 11:00 a.m. (ET).

Please call Premiere Conferencing at (888) 452-4034 or (719) 325-2145 at least 10 minutes prior to the call. Callers will need to be on a touch-tone telephone to ask questions. The conference administrator will provide instructions on how to use the polling feature.

Replays of the conference call can be accessed through 2:00 p.m. (ET) on March 1st, by dialing (888) 203-1112 or (719) 457-0820 plus the passcode 1032754#.

In addition, the conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet. All interested participants should visit the Liberty Interactive Corporation website at http://www.libertyinteractive.com/events to register for the web cast. Links to the press release and replays of the call will also be available on the Liberty Interactive website. The conference call and related materials will be archived on the website for one year.

About Liberty Interactive Corporation

Liberty (Nasdaq: LINTA, LINTB) owns interests in a broad range video and online commerce businesses including QVC, Provide Commerce, Backcountry.com, Celebrate Interactive, Bodybuilding.com, Evite, and Expedia.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the proposed recapitalization of Liberty’s common stock, a related rights offering and other matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including, without limitation, the satisfaction of conditions to the proposed recapitalization. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and Liberty expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Liberty's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Please refer to the publicly filed documents of Liberty, including the most recent Form 10-K, for additional information about Liberty and about the risks and uncertainties related to Liberty's business which may affect the statements made in this press release.

Additional Information

Nothing in this press release shall constitute a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell shares of Liberty’s proposed new tracking stock or Liberty’s existing common stock. The offer and sale of shares of the proposed tracking stock will only be made pursuant to an effective registration statement. Liberty stockholders and other investors are urged to read the registration statement to be filed with the SEC, including the proxy statement/prospectus to be contained therein, because they will contain important information about the issuance of shares of the proposed tracking stock. Copies of Liberty’s SEC filings are available free of charge at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov). Copies of the filings together with the materials incorporated by reference therein will also be available, without charge, by directing a request to Liberty Interactive Corporation, 12300 Liberty Boulevard, Englewood, Colorado 80112, Attention: Investor Relations, Telephone: (720) 875-5408.

Participants in a Solicitation

The directors and executive officers of Liberty and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of proposals relating to the approval of the issuance of the new tracking stock. Information regarding the directors and executive officers of Liberty and other participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their respective direct and indirect interests, by
security holdings or otherwise, will be available in the proxy materials to be filed with the SEC.

More here:
Liberty Interactive Corporation Announces Plan to Recapitalize into Two Tracking Stocks

Liberty Asset Management, LLC, a leading investor in residential and commercial real estate in Kansas and the Midwest, announces a new website development that meets communication and accessibility goals for the new year and beyond.

Wichita, KS (PRWEB) February 23, 2012

Liberty Asset Management, LLC, a leading investor in residential and commercial real estate in Kansas and the Midwest, announces a new website development that meets communication and accessibility goals for the new year and beyond.

Liberty Asset has launched a new version of the company website, a project that began in Q4 of 2011 and recently completed. “In conjunction with the move into our new headquarters location, the new Liberty Asset Management website is a development meant to grow our connections with clients and keep them informed about changes in our business and our market. Going into 2012, Liberty Asset is committed to becoming more accessible and building client relationships. The new website development project is an essential element in our growth and communications strategy,” said Clark Moeller, Vice President at Liberty Asset Management. “We moved locations in 2011, and our new offices put the company in a useful position at the northeast end of Wichita.

The new location proved to be an immediate benefit to our clients. In addition, the new website allows our clients to reach us from any location – via their computers and mobile devices. Becoming more accessible to our clients was one of our key objectives going into 2011, and we have every intention to continue that effort this year and every year going forward.”

The new website at http://www.libertyasset.com/ is a resource that allows clients to learn more about Liberty Asset Management and its partners, read related news and articles, and easily contact the company.

More company information, news and executive biographies can be found at the new LibertyAsset.com website.

###

Clark Moeller
Liberty Asset Management
(316) 425-8183
Email Information

More here:
Liberty Asset Management Announces New Website

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - U.S. cable group Liberty Global is considering a bid for Dutch cable firm Ziggo, estimated to be worth 8 billion euros ($10.6 billion) and which is planning a stock listing, Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported on Thursday without citing sources.

Liberty Global, which owns Dutch cable firm UPC and is led by billionaire John Malone, is the only company which could buy Ziggo, which is too expensive for strategic buyers because of its advanced network, the paper said.

Liberty Global in the Netherlands and UPC were not available to comment. Ziggo declined to comment.

Malone has been building and buying cable assets across some of Europe's smaller economies.

On Tuesday, De Telegraaf reported, citing unnamed sources, that Ziggo could be listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange by the end of March.

Analyst Tim Poulous of research firm Telecompaper values Ziggo at 8 billion euros, the paper said on Thursday.

($1 = 0.7552 euro)

(Reporting by Roberta B. Cowan and Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Dan Lalor)

See the original post here:
Liberty Global mulls bid for Ziggo: paper

BOSTON, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Marijuana use is on the rise among teens and is currently at its highest level among eighth- to-12th-graders in 30 years.(1) Perhaps equally disturbing is that one-in-five (19 percent) teen drivers reports that they have driven under the influence of marijuana, according to the most recent teen driving study by Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions).  In fact, marijuana influence is significantly more prevalent among teen drivers than alcohol, as compared to the 13 percent of teens surveyed who report that they have driven after drinking. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110607/NE15669LOGO)

The study, which Liberty Mutual and SADD have regularly conducted since 2000, highlights a dangerous misconception:  many teens don't even consider marijuana use as a distraction to their driving.  More than one-third (36 percent) of teens who have driven after using marijuana say the drug presents no distraction to their driving.  Also alarming, among the teens who say they have driven after drinking, 19 percent of them believe alcohol use does not present a driving distraction. 

"Marijuana affects memory, judgment, and perception and can lead to poor decisions when a teen under the influence of this or other drugs gets behind the wheel of a car," said Stephen Wallace, Senior Advisor for Policy, Research, and Education at SADD.  "What keeps me up at night is that this data reflects a dangerous trend toward the acceptance of marijuana and other substances compared to our study of teens conducted just two years ago."

Indeed, in a prior Liberty Mutual Insurance/SADD study in 2009, 78 percent of teens were at the other end of the spectrum, characterizing marijuana use as "very" or "extremely" distracting to their driving.  However, in the most recent study two years later, the percentage of teens who felt this high level of concern declined to 70 percent.

"Teens are faced with potentially destructive decisions everyday and don't always make the best ones," said Dave Melton, a driving safety expert with Liberty Mutual Insurance and managing director of global safety.  "It's our job as mentors, parents, role models or friends to effectively communicate with them to ensure they are armed with the right information and aware of the dangers of marijuana and other substances, especially while driving."

Power of the Passenger
Friends do play a significant role, as most teen drivers say they would stop driving under the influence of marijuana (90 percent) or alcohol (94 percent) if asked by their passengers.  Yet even teen passengers are seemingly less concerned about riding in a car with a driver who has used marijuana than with one who has used alcohol.  While a significant majority (87 percent) of teen passengers would speak up and ask the driver to refrain from getting behind the wheel after drinking, only 72 percent of teen passengers would do the same for a driver who has used marijuana.  Girls are far more likely to speak up to the driver than boys are in either circumstance.

Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD have been working together since 1991 to help empower parents and teens to communicate openly about the critical issues young people face every day.  Helpful information on how to effectively communicate, including tips on how to be a safe and responsible driver, can be found at http://www.LibertyMutual.com/TeenDriving.  The website also provides guidelines from SADD and Liberty Mutual on how to have good family communication,  information about distracted driving, state-by-state teen driving laws, practice permit tests, and video demonstrations of safe driving techniques including parallel parking.  Other important safety information can be found at http://www.sadd.org.

About the Study
Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD commissioned ORC International to conduct a qualitative and quantitative study to measure teen driving attitudes and behaviors.  The study was initiated with a series of four focus groups held in Harrisburg, Pa., and San Francisco, Calif., in October 2010, followed by a survey of 2,294 teens in eleventh and twelfth grades from 28 recruited high schools across the country in January 2011.  Overall findings for the study can be interpreted with a 95 percent confidence interval with an error margin of +/- 2.02 percent. 

About Liberty Mutual Insurance
"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on A.M. Best Company's report of 2010 net written premium.  Liberty Mutual Insurance also ranks 82nd on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2010 revenue.  The company has over 45,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual Insurance (libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance.  The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 13,500 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.

About SADD
SADD, the nation's leading peer-to-peer youth education, prevention, and activism organization, is committed to empowering young people to lead initiatives in their schools and communities. Founded in 1981, today SADD has thousands of chapters in middle schools, high schools, and colleges.  SADD highlights prevention of many destructive behaviors and attitudes that are harmful to young people, including underage drinking, other drug use, risky and impaired driving, and teen violence and suicide. To become a Friend of SADD or for more information, visit sadd.org, parentteenmatters.org or follow SADD on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

(1) According to the University of Michigan and National Institute on Drug Abuse's 2011 Monitoring the Future Study.

Read this article:
Hazy Logic: Liberty Mutual Insurance/SADD Study Finds Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana a Greater Threat to ...

In a new line of attack on the Obama administration, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Tuesday that the administration has fought “religious liberty” in the country, prompting the Obama campaign to call the comments “disgraceful.”

“I will make sure that we never again attack religious liberty in the United States of America,” said Romney, in response to a question about protecting religious freedom at a campaign stop in Michigan. “You expect the president of the United States to be sensitive to that freedom and protect it and unfortunately -- perhaps because of the people the president hangs around with, and their agenda, their secular agenda -- they have fought against religion.”

Those words prompted a stern rebuke by the Obama campaign, which linked the remarks to earlier statements by Republican candidate Rick Santorum, who has said that Obama espouses a “phony theology.” “These ugly and misleading attacks have no place in the campaign,” said Liz Smith, an Obama campaign spokeswoman.

Religious liberty has been a burning topic over the past few weeks in the wake of the Obama administration’s decision to mandate that insurance companies cover birth control costs even for people employed at church-affiliated institutions. In campaign appearances, Romney has typically steered clear of hot-button social issues.

Originally posted here:
Romney: Obama Opposes 'Religious Liberty'

Liberty Join or Die, a new t-shirt company with focus on apparel that reinforces the founding of America.

Orlando, Fl (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

Liberty Join or Die is a new T-Shirt company that is focusing on Shirts that reinforce the founding of America. We create apparel that is up lifting and patriotic. Our goal is to provide patriotic apparel that is fun and thought provoking.

    Looking at T-shirts, mainly patriotic shirts, we could find plenty of shirts with the flag, supporting the military, etc. What we could not find was patriotic shirts that reinforced the founding of America or its values. We wanted designs that were for everyone, for all Americans. So we started Libertyjoinordie.com as the place for that.

    We decided to go with Direct to Garment printing for the shirt production. This is a remarkable process that gives lots of flexibility in how we design shirts and products. We work with a printer, Printfection, that prints the shirts right here in the USA and ships directly to you. We print on Gildan shirts, great quality shirts with a wide selection of colors and sizes.    To reinforce the American theme, we have decided to use Old Glory Flag colors that were the colors of the flag from the founding. Many of the designs use images to build metaphorical or allegorical references to America. The best example is our logo, The Liberty Tree.

    The Liberty Tree, was an American Elm tree in Boston where the Sons of Liberty met. The Liberty Tree is a part of American history that is not well known, but is a vital part of the fabric of this country.    Our logo has a representation of the Liberty Tree with the Sons of Liberty motto, Liberty Join or Die and the 13 Stars of the colonies all underneath the trees' branches.

    On this President's day, February 20, 2012, we are letting everyone know about Libertyjoinordie.com. We are a small and new company making patriotic shirts that reinforce the Founding of America and its values. We just want to promote Liberty and Freedom and the values that make America great by using a simple T-shirt.

###

Ivan
Liberty Join or Die
622-2500
Email Information

Read more from the original source:
Liberty Join or Die - Patriotic T-Shirts for American pride

I had lunch the other day at Leela’s restaurant in Little Haiti and, boy, was it tasty. Crunchy-on the-outside, moist-on-the-inside fried grouper, fresh veggies and white rice. Simple and good. I’ll be back for more.

That’s precisely what the city of Miami’s Community Development Department hoped for when it invested $430,000 in Community Development Block Grant money from Washington to upgrade the facades of Leela’s and 14 other nearby businesses in Little Haiti. The goal was to improve the look of the neighborhood in order to attract more customers, including folks — frankly, white folks — who normally would never think of going to Little Haiti for anything, much less eating and shopping. These improvements may make some at least consider it. I’m among them.

“We hope that by improving these businesses with their appearances,” said Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, who represents the neighborhood, “it will begin to get more people to come into this particular corridor to shop, dine and explore.”

That’s a lofty goal that would have been inconceivable even a year or two ago. And it still remains to be seen if perceptions about Little Haiti will change just because its “downtown” — the stretch of NE Second Avenue between 54th and 62nd streets — has been nicely spruced up.

But I’ll be the first to say that downtown Little Haiti now has a fighting chance to attract new visitors, what with Caribbean colors brightening a few blocks of contiguous shops that shine with new paint, awnings, windows and doors. It doesn’t take an urban planner to see that because the refurbished businesses are mostly adjacent to each other there’s a nice synergy. It’s also reassuring that an impressive non-profit called NE2P (Northeast 2nd Avenue Partnership), which includes a cross-section of Little Haiti leaders, is behind the push for these and other improvements. “I believe the facade project is just a taste of what is to come in Little Haiti,” says NE2P staffer Joann Milord. The early evidence indicates she may be right.

But what does the evidence say about similar facade refurbishments in Liberty City? I’m less optimistic. In fact, I’m downright skeptical, as I said in my last column. Not since I wrote about the death of our dog Zoe have I received such an outpouring of reaction from readers. More than 90 percent were supportive, including several residents of Liberty City who see the Northwest 7th Avenue Rehabilitation Project as the latest in a string of political boondoggles. Certainly there were a few Liberty City residents who took umbrage at my “lipstick on a pig” analogy and the leader of the nonprofit that will oversee the Northwest 7th Ave. work, Leroy Jones of Neighbors and Neighbors Assn., which will be paid $62,482, blasted me for prejudging a project that hasn’t even begun. Fair enough.

But ire was nothing compared to Spence-Jones’, who, after spying me in the audience at a recent Miami City Commission meeting, remarked on the “many calls” she was getting from constituents who thought my column and comments were “racist.” She made it clear she agreed.

I asked her at the Little Haiti ribbon-cutting why they’d been able to rehab 15 storefronts there, but would do only four in Liberty City for the same amount of money. Her answer was that there might be more than four. Shouldn’t she know? It’s her district and she’s taking credit for the project.

Last week I took a second, closer look at the four businesses along Northwest Seventh Avenue in Liberty City where $428,000 in CDBG money will be spent to refurbish facades. I came away even less convinced this project will achieve much. None is adjacent to another. They sit on a busy, gritty, crime-ridden street where as many stores seem to be closed as open. It’s an area where a lot of people, black and white, would not be comfortable or safe at night.

Let’s see what the finished product looks like, but this money — which has strict spending guidelines — could be better used for other programs in Liberty City, whose needs are legion. Putting $428,000 in taxpayers’ dollars fixing up the facades of four or even half a dozen businesses on Northwest Seventh Avenue will do nothing of lasting value for the people of Liberty City.

The rest is here:
Liberty City, a second look