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Journalists for Human Rights launches campaign to keep Sierra Leone's elections free and fair.

Posted: October 3, 2012 at 9:16 pm

Canada's leading media development organization kicks off an online drive to fund training for journalists on the elections beat in Sierra Leone.

TORONTO, Oct. 3, 2012 /CNW/ - Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), Canada's leading media development organization, is launching the Sierra Leone Election Drive to raise awareness of the upcoming presidential elections in Sierra Leone and to raise funds to continue JHR's journalist training programs in the country.

On November 17th, 2012 Sierra Leone will hold the third democratic election since the end of its devastating civil war in 2002.

Given the vital role media plays in setting the tone of an election, JHR's presence could mean the difference between a peaceful election or a return to violence.

JHR has been working in Sierra Leone since 2007, training local journalists on how to report on politics and elections accurately and fairly.

A reporter with Awoko newspaper, Betty Milton was promoted to Head of the Elections Unit after receiving JHR training. "We don't want to go back to where we came from," she said, "We need JHR here to help train journalists on how to cover the elections."

For the first time in Sierra Leone's recent history, the 2012 election will have no direct intervention from the UN peacekeeping mission. Without international oversight the election process is unpredictable and violence and political instability are likely.

JHR has a strong track record in Sierra Leone. During the 2008 election, JHR's staff was praised by Ibrahim Seibureh, Editor in Chief of national daily the Concord Times, with keeping the tone of election coverage balanced and fair, as well as by international elections observers and other actors.

The result was a bloodless transfer of power for the first time in Sierra Leone's post-war history.

To view JHR's film about the need to keep elections coverage balanced in Sierra Leone, or to find out more information about the campaign, please visithttp://www.jhr.ca/en/sled.php

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Outrage over human errors in Hong Kong boat crash

Posted: at 9:16 pm

HONG KONG (AP) -- When two boats filled with people collided on Hong Kong's busy waterways, the impact knocked a hole in one vessel's engine room and the water poured in too fast to stop it from sinking. Passengers struggled to find life vests and dozens drowned in the turbulent waters.

Rather than rush to help, however, the crew of the other vessel, a ferry, seemed paralyzed, according to witnesses. After pausing briefly near the doomed ship filled with holiday revelers, the ferry continued on to its berth.

Shock over Monday's crash, which left 38 dead, gave way to outrage Wednesday over what experts concluded was human error. Investigators have not publicly offered a theory of how the collision occurred but have arrested seven crew members, including both captains.

The ferry company denied accusations that the boat left immediately after the crash, but did not say whether its crew did anything to help the other vessel as it rapidly sank.

The captain of the Sea Smooth ferry was in a hospital with rib injuries Wednesday, said Nelson Ng, general manager of Hong Kong and Kowloon (Ferry) Holdings. He said staff members tried to talk to the captain, but he added, "We have to wait for the psychologist's report. ... He doesn't really want to say anything."

When asked whether the captain blames himself for the accident, Ng said, "He's emotionally depressed, so I believe he probably does." He did not release the captain's name.

The collision, Hong Kong's deadliest maritime accident since 1971, has hit at the heart of the semiautonomous territory's identity. Fleets of ferry boats form the backbone of the transport network, and much of Hong Kong's economy relies on its reputation as a well-managed shipping hub.

"We cannot help but be shocked and angry," the English-language South China Morning Post said in an editorial Wednesday. It said "pinpointing fault and ensuring that there is no repeat" would be a matter of "safety, reputation and financial well-being."

All 38 people killed had been on the Lamma IV, a boat owned by utility company Hong Kong Electric, which was taking about 120 of its workers and their families to watch fireworks in celebration of China's National Day and mid-autumn festival.

Survivors from both boats said that after the collision knocked people from their seats, there was chaos as people rushed to find life jackets. About 100 people on both vessels, but mostly from the Lamma IV, were taken to hospitals for injuries.

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LV: Brit Dance-Music Production Crew Conspire With South African MCs

Posted: at 9:15 pm

LV / Photo by Jason Turner

"People presume that what they think of as South African elements on the album are actually that, but the connection is the guys that we were doing this with, rather than any idea of what the music would sound like."

Who:This South London trio Simon Williams, Gervase Gordon, and Will Horrocks has been subtly absorbing and reinvigorating underground British dance sounds since 2007. But Gordon's bi-continental birthright (he's British and South African) has acted as a fresh conduit for their latest album,Sebenza, and the producers collaborated with some of South Africa's brightest young MCs including Spoek Mathambo, Okmalumkoolkat, and Ruffest to integrate contemporary Johannesburg futurism with London's dance-floor avant-garde. While British beat trends shift every time the Queen walks her Corgi, LV have taken the gleaming, syncopated rhythms of UK funky, kwaito, kuduro, electrofunk, and straight-up house to forge their own distinct, holographic path.

Pirate Anthems:"People presume that what they think of as South African elements on the album are actually that," says Horrocks. "But the connection is the guys that we were doing this with, rather than any idea of what the music would sound like." The trio insists that there was no grand plan to explicitly link Jo'burg with London. But both South Africa and England have built formidable dance scenes largely inspired by pirate radio, and if anything most resemblesSebenza's beat clatter, it's the clamor of electronic beats on fuzzy renegade airwaves.

Snatching Victory from the Jaws:LV spent three years assembling tracks in both London and South Africa, and at various points, they thought the project wouldn't pan out. "The fact that it came together and that it has a coherent vibe?" marvels Williams, "I think it's quite standard to get halfway through and be like, hang on, is this as good as I think it is? Am I just making my life difficult for no good reason? But we're fueled by defeat," he adds, wryly. "That's how we roll." Once the songs sat side by side, though, notoriously selective Hyperdub boss Kode9 requested an album and an EP, with stray singles and instrumentals from the sessions to come.

Majoring in Beatmaking:Three is an odd number for collaborating on production, but LV doesn't know anything else, having discovered their mutual love for music-making while ditching class at university together. "We started skipping lectures to play with incredibly poor keyboards and my MPC," says Williams. "We used to record bass guitar on MiniDisc and then re-sample it onto an MPC, while Gerv played lamentable, regrettable chords." The crew still owns the music, but it won't be seeing the light of day anytime soon. "I'd like it if people bought [Sebenzafirst], but I think that's implied," he says, laughing.

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Infographic: Mapping The 70-Year Gestation Of Street Art

Posted: at 9:15 pm

In the annals of "Fine Art History," graffiti is usually placed squarely outside of the mainstream dialogue. Usually, its relegated to a foggy category sometimes called Urban Art--or worse, Urban Contemporary. Those are not terms that came from the graffiti or street communities, says writer and theorist Daniel Feral. They may be a result of categories created by the auction houses. I usually hear the terms used when discussing sales of art.

Click to enlarge.

Feral is the creator of the eponymous Feral Diagram, a map that revises the role of graffiti and street art in the canon of modern art. From Ferals perspective, graffiti and street art have been critical drivers of the art world for well nigh 40 years now. Framing them as outsider art is not only lazy, but incorrect. As an alternative, Feral has literally redrawn art history, showing how 1960s graffiti and street art emerged from major mainstream movements, from Pop Art and the Situationists to 1940s Art Brut. By way of looping arrows and signs, he also demonstrates how street art evolved, conceptually, alongside the likes of Gordon Matta-Clark and Jenny Holzer. And thankfully, Feral also parses out the boilerplate-in-their-own-right terms, graffiti and street art, into specific groups and movements, like Wildstyle and Otaku-tinged Childstyle.

Whats clever about the Feral Diagram is that it utilizes the visual language of another very famous diagram, created by the first director of MoMA, Alfred H. Barr, in 1935. In his visualization, Barr used looping black arrows and Futura type to explain how Cubism and Abstract Art evolved from a mixture of high art and pop culture influences, ranging from Japanese prints to the Neo-Impressionists. I wanted to honor Barrs intellectual brilliance, Feral writes. By utilizing his visual language to tell a story other than that sanctioned by the Fine Art establishment, it made me feel like I was subverting the system too. It made me feel like I was doing what my friends were doing: reclaiming public space.

MoMA director Alfred H. Barrs 1935 original.

A special edition of Ferals diagram was released this week in support of a new film and book, Futurism 2.0, documenting an emerging school of street artists known as Graffuturism, which began a few years ago as a secret Facebook group and has blossomed into a full-fledged movement. Now, Feral explains, it deserves its own mention on the diagram. A gallery show of Graffuturist art opened at Londons Blackhall Studios on September 28th.

You can buy a poster of the diagram here.

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Myth and Truth About Libertarianism

Posted: at 1:16 am

[This essay is based on a paper presented at the April 1979 national meeting of the Philadelphia Society in Chicago. The theme of the meeting was "Conservatism and Libertarianism."]

Libertarianism is the fastest growing political creed in America today. Before judging and evaluating libertarianism, it is vitally important to find out precisely what that doctrine is, and, more particularly, what it is not. It is especially important to clear up a number of misconceptions about libertarianism that are held by most people, and particularly by conservatives. In this essay I shall enumerate and critically analyze the most common myths that are held about libertarianism. When these are cleared away, people will then be able to discuss libertarianism free of egregious myths and misconceptions, and to deal with it as it should be on its very own merits or demerits.

This is a common charge, but a highly puzzling one. In a lifetime of reading libertarian and classical-liberal literature, I have not come across a single theorist or writer who holds anything like this position.

The only possible exception is the fanatical Max Stirner, a mid-19th-century German individualist who, however, has had minimal influence upon libertarianism in his time and since. Moreover, Stirner's explicit "might makes right" philosophy and his repudiation of all moral principles including individual rights as "spooks in the head," scarcely qualifies him as a libertarian in any sense. Apart from Stirner, however, there is no body of opinion even remotely resembling this common indictment.

Libertarians are methodological and political individualists, to be sure. They believe that only individuals think, value, act, and choose. They believe that each individual has the right to own his own body, free of coercive interference. But no individualist denies that people are influencing each other all the time in their goals, values, pursuits, and occupations.

As F.A. Hayek pointed out in his notable article, "The Non Sequitur of the 'Dependence Effect,'" John Kenneth Galbraith's assault upon free-market economics in his best-selling The Affluent Society rested on this proposition: economics assumes that every individual arrives at his scale of values totally on his own, without being subject to influence by anyone else. On the contrary, as Hayek replied, everyone knows that most people do not originate their own values, but are influenced to adopt them by other people.[1]

No individualist or libertarian denies that people influence each other all the time, and surely there is nothing wrong with this inevitable process. What libertarians are opposed to is not voluntary persuasion, but the coercive imposition of values by the use of force and police power. Libertarians are in no way opposed to the voluntary cooperation and collaboration between individuals: only to the compulsory pseudo-"cooperation" imposed by the state.

This myth has recently been propounded by Irving Kristol, who identifies the libertarian ethic with the "hedonistic" and asserts that libertarians "worship the Sears Roebuck catalogue and all the 'alternative life styles' that capitalist affluence permits the individual to choose from."[2]

The fact is that libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life.

"What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism."

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What Is Neoclassical Liberalism?

Posted: at 1:16 am

Jason Brennan, an outstanding libertarian political philosopher who teaches at Georgetown University, has written Libertarianism as an introductory guide, and much of the material in it will be familiar to readers of the Mises Daily; but it deserves careful study by anyone interested in its subject. Brennan has a talent for explaining libertarian views in striking and effective ways. The book consists of 105 questions about libertarianism and Brennan's responses to them.

In defending libertarianism, Brennan stands resolutely against the consensus position of his fellow political philosophers. Today, books touting the virtues of deliberative democracy are ubiquitous; but Brennan dissents.[1] Libertarians

do not regard democratic participation and deliberation as the highest form of life. Many nonlibertarians have an almost religious reverence for democracy. They love democracy so much that they wish to see democracy in every aspect of life. They want democracy to be a way of living. They want everything open to democratic deliberation and decision making. Libertarians instead want to insulate people from political control. They do not want every decision to be subject to discussion. They believe one of the greatest freedoms of all is not having to justify yourself to others. If your entire life resembles a committee meeting, you are not free. (p. 69)

Brennan's objections would apply even to a democracy of the intelligent and informed; but in practice, democracy turns out to be rule by the incompetent. Brennan in his comments suggests a reborn Mencken:

Voters not only are systematically mistaken about basic economics, but they cannot figure out which candidates know more than they do in democracy incompetent leaders with false beliefs win. Libertarians say: If the candidates seem clueless, it is because the system works. (p. 72)

Brennan displays little respect for the chief icon of the American democratic tradition. He notes that

many Americans would rate Abraham Lincoln as the greatest president. Yet Lincoln fought the civil war not to free slaves, but to force the South to remain part of the United States. In the course of war, Lincoln suppressed habeas corpus, created the first national draft, suppressed free speech, censored and punished newspaper editors who criticized his war efforts, and was at least complicit in waging total war against innocent Southern civilians. By normal standards, this makes him a monster. (If I did these things, you would regard me as a vile and despicable person.)[2] (pp. 623)

If Brennan rejects democracy, what has he to put in its place? It will come as no surprise that his answer is libertarianism, but it is a different sort of libertarianism from that which the term will suggest to many of my readers. Followers of Murray Rothbard regard each person as a self-owner. Self-owners have the right to acquire property; and although the free market that results from implementing libertarian rights leads to greater prosperity than any alternative arrangement, the principal justification for these rights does not lie in their good consequences. To the contrary, they are natural rights.

To Brennan, this is not libertarianism sans phrase, but "hard libertarianism." It is but one of three forms of libertarianism, and not the one he prefers. Indeed, he says that in "some respects, it is an aberration inside classical liberal political thought" (p. 11).

What are the other forms? First is classical liberalism. Supporters of this position, though they favor the free market,

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Park HS principal leaving for central office job

Posted: at 1:15 am

RACINE Park High School Principal Dan Thielen will leave his leadership post at the school Oct. 15 for a human resources job at Racine Unifieds central office, the district announced Tuesday.

Thielen, a Racine native and Parks principal for the past six years, will serve as interim executive director of human resources, filling a spot vacated when Steve Hejnal retired Sept. 30.

Thielen said district officials asked if he would be interested in the position and he said yes, choosing to take on the new job to enhance his district-level experience and understanding.

Im enrolled in a superintendent program through Cardinal Stritch and Im looking to get my superintendent license, he explained. Ive always been one in this district who wanted to understand all aspects of running a school district, not only being a principal or a teacher but the central office side too.

Thielen was selected for the human resources position because of his experience with elementary, middle and high schools as well as with staffing and scheduling, Unified spokeswoman Stacy Tapp said.

An email about the change was sent to staff Tuesday, Thielen said.

Thielens directing principal job will be filled on an interim basis by Park Blue School Principal Dennis Christensen. The Blue School principal post will get filled by Park Spanish teacher Tana Winski, and her job will be filled by a long-term substitute, Thielen said.

When asked what hell miss about Park, 1901 12th St., Thielen quickly replied, Everything.

Im gonna really miss everything. The staff, the staff is wonderful. The students. Im gonna to miss the spirit of this place. Theres such positivity that flows through this building.

Thielen has heard some staff speculate he is being moved out of Park on purpose because of the schools achievement levels. But thats not the case at all, he said.

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Minister denies Indonesia's 1965 rights abuses happened

Posted: at 1:15 am

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - The Indonesian government has rejected the findings of its independent state body National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declaring the 1965 communist purge a gross human rights violation and has refused to apologise for the victims of the atrocity.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto rejected the Komnas HAM conclusion and insisted that the mass killings, which were state-sponsored according to the rights body, were justified to save the country from communists.

"Define gross human rights violation! Against whom? What if it had happened the other way around?" Suyanto said on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives' budget committee yesterday.

Suyanto indicated that the mass killings during the communist purge were justified as they were aimed at protecting the country.

"This country would not be what it is today if it didn't happen. Of course there were victims [during the purge], and we are investigating them," Suyanto added.

After a thorough investigation lasting nearly four years, Komnas HAM finally declared the killings in the 1965 purge a state-sponsored gross human rights violation.

The investigation found that widespread mass killings had occurred during the period and featured similar patterns, starting with victims being arrested and detained in military camps, where they were interrogated, tortured, raped or murdered.

Following its investigation, Komnas HAM recommended the government set up a reconciliation and truth committee, and that a presidential apology be made to the families of victims as well as to survivors.

However, according to Suyanto, such a recommendation was unreasonable due to the lack a legal basis.

"We can't do that because the Constitutional Court has repealed the law on truth and reconciliation," he said.

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Transportation Disaster Response, Post-Accident Communications, and Accident Investigation …

Posted: at 1:15 am

October 2, 2012 - NTSB is offering courses in disaster response, post-accident communications, and accident investigation at its training center just outside Washington. Courses will include Transportation Disaster Response - Family Assistance; Transportation Disaster Response - Emergency Responders; Aircraft Accident Investigation Orientation; Managing Communications Following An Aircraft Accident or Incident; Cognitive Interviewing for Accident Investigators; and InvestigatingHuman Fatigue Factors. National Transportation Safety Board 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC, 20594 USA Press release date: September 26, 2012

The National Transportation Safety Board is offering the following courses in disaster response, post-accident communications, and accident investigation in the coming months at its training center just outside Washington:

The TRANSPORTATION DISASTER RESPONSE FAMILY ASSISTANCE course (Oct. 10-12), which was developed for commercial transportation officials, representatives of federal agencies, staff of non-governmental relief organizations and emergency managers, is instrumental in understanding how any organization involved in the accident response can most effectively support the family assistance efforts. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Ycqm

The TRANSPORTATION DISASTER RESPONSE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS course (Nov. 14-16) for emergency responders and planners provides participants with the tools to most effectively manage a major transportation disaster. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/YcqJ

The AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION ORIENTATION course (Oct. 23-24), led by senior NTSB management and investigators, details how the Safety Board investigates major aircraft accidents and what it expects of participants in an investigation. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3Sk

The MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS FOLLOWING AN AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT course (Oct. 25-26) will teach participants what to expect in the days immediately following an aviation accident or incident and how they can prepare for their role with the media. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/YcqT

The COGNITIVE INTERVIEWING FOR ACCIDENT INVESTIGATORS course (Nov. 13-14) provides participants with the tools to conduct sound investigative interviews of participants in, and witnesses to, transportation incidents or accidents. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3hR

The INVESTIGATING HUMAN FATIGUE FACTORS course (Nov. 15-16) will provide participants with information and guidance to evaluate the role human fatigue plays in accident causation. It will cover fatigue-related issues including sleep length, sleep disorders, circadian rhythms, work schedules, and the effects of fatigue on performance and alertness. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3hC

Information about the NTSB Training Center, course registration information and a complete listing of all public courses offered there is available at http://go.usa.gov/T8A

NTSB Training Center: 571-223-3900

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Human Circuit to Integrate Cutting Edge Media and Technology Solutions for the Howard University Health Sciences …

Posted: at 1:15 am

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Circuit announced its collaboration with B-Line Medical to integrate cutting edge media and technology solutions for the Simulation Center's Management System at Howard University.

Bruce Kaufmann, chief executive officer for Human Circuit, said the company's systems are designed to maximize the full potential of B-Line Medical's software.

"We are confident that we will provide the optimal turn-key solution for managing and operating the Howard University Health Sciences Simulation Center Management System," Kaufmann said. "No othersystems integratorhas developed simulation centers that utilize the advanced network enabled digital video distribution topology and equipment pioneered by Human Circuit."

To better prepare health sciences students for careers as healthcare providers, simulation and clinical skills training facilities offer hands-on opportunities in clinical situations. These facilities digitally record and store student performance footage on video servers so that administrators and instructors can view and evaluate students in real-time.

B-Line Medical and Human Circuit have integrated video and audio equipment into several of these types of facilities and applied designs and applications specifically for case study rooms, self-teaching labs, patient exam rooms, observation rooms and the AV control and computer rooms.

The technology within the simulation center is a web-based digital solution that allows faculty to capture, debrief and assess student encounters.The video allows the faculty to assess the learners and provide feedback, but most importantly, it allows learners the opportunity to self-assess their skills.There is a master control room that acts as a central location for managing the technology.

Human Circuit has extensive working experience with healthcare institutions and teaching hospitals. "One example is the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center in Baltimore," said Jim Hatcher, Human Circuit chief technology officer."This project is one of many that represent the quality of work that Human Circuit and B-Line Medical can provide," Hatcher said. "It highlights our ability to collaborate with an architect and general contractor as well as a university or hospital IT department, institution project manager and end user resulting in successful project implementation. "It is a privilege to add Howard University to our long list of prestigious clients."

About the Howard University Simulation Center

The Howard University Health Science Simulation Center is a state-ofthe-art educational facility that provides the ideal environment to teach fundamental and advanced clinical and technical skills and procedures. The philosophy of the Center is that skills are better learned when students are afforded the opportunity for deliberate practice in a controlled environment. The Center will provide a simulated environment where medical students, nursing students, allied health students, dental students, post-graduate physicians, practicing physicians and other health care professionals learn and hone their clinical and technical skills. The ultimate goal is to promote patient safety through education.

About Human Circuit

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