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Facebook Enables Replies to Comments03/25 2013 Posted in Fuel for Thought | 0 comments
After months of testing, Facebook announced today they will allow users and brand pages to reply directly to comments within the thread on a post. This provides a better user experience, with less spam in long threads, by allowing users to directly engage with the...
Missed Opportunities: Poland Spring & The State of the Union02/14 2013 Posted in Fuel for Thought, Trends | 2 comments
True to the millennial that I am, my favorite hobby in recent years has been live-tweeting big live telecast events. That said, I would like to touch on how brands are or should be tuning into these events, no matter how seemingly irrelevant, to identify...
3 Types of People Ruining Twitter07/24 2012 Posted in Fuel for Thought | 3 comments
I love Twitter. I absolutely love it. I'm a big supporter of quick-witted one-liners, and as far as I'm concerned that's the lifeblood of Twitter. Plus, it gives me a platform through which to convince myself that my arrogance is justified (which is invaluable for...
Who Will Harness the Collective Power of Social Athletes?06/26 2012 Posted in Fuel for Thought | 2 comments
When the Miami Heat beat the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals (call me old fashioned), LeBron James ended his playoff-driven Twitter hiatus with this message:
OMFG I think it just hit me, I'm a CHAMPION!! I AM a CHAMPION!!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 22, 2012
Did You Know 4.010/28 2009 Posted in Trends | 0 comments
This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join...
Welcome to the world of Me-Cast!08/13 2009 Posted in Trends | 1 comment
Once upon a time we lived in a world of 'Broad-cast'. But those days are over. The world of 'Broad-cast' was followed by 'Narrow-cast' with the introduction of direct marketing and interactive. Nice, but again, it's not nearly as effective as it once was."The new...
Social Media, Web 2.0 And Internet Stats07/11 2009 Posted in Trends | 0 comments
I came across a terrific post from Adam Singer listing some mind-blowing statistics. These numbers tell a very powerful story about the power of Social Media.
As our digital and physical lives blur further, the internet has become the information hub where people spend a majority of...
New Social Network Leverages Competition and Comparison
It seems like every year a new social platform or app takes the country by storm. Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest and Vine all made big splashes with rapid growth, and now a newcomer is hoping to replicate their success.
Pivot Conference '13 – Snackable Take Home Lessons
Missed out on Pivot Conference '13? Catch up on the highlights below:
Michoel…Read More
Content to Commerce: [Exclusive Webinar]
Traditional marketing has been turned upside with the development of social media. Standard practices today are anything but standard. How can you ensure your brand stays relevant in a constantly changing digital world? Big Fuel Founder and CEO Avi Savar recently partnered with Sam Decker, CEO and Co-Founder of Austin social experience platform Mass Relevance, to create a webinar to help you do just that.
Focusing on his recently released book, Content to Commerce, Avi discusses his…
What Facebook's Stock Soar Means for Twitter
Facebook's share price skyrocketed late last month from $26 to $33 overnight, followed by steady and impressive growth throughout the next week. On Wednesday, it hit its original IPO price of $38 a share, causing everyone who bought last October at $18 to do a collective backflip and day one investors to finally stop crying. The surge was powered by a strong earnings report that showed an uptick in mobile user growth and ad revenue that was prolonged by speculation of new ad products being released. Let this serve as a lesson to all social networks: mobile usage, plus diversity of ad products and revenue streams, equals public trading success.
Facebook Officially Activates The Searchable Hashtag
Last week, Facebook announced that it would officially activate hashtags, which have typically been associated with Twitter, on their social networking site.
New App Tracks the Journey of your Messages Through the Twitterverse
Have you ever thought about your Tweet's journey through the Twitterverse, through the hands of your followers and complete strangers across the web? Have you ever been curious where and how far your tweets move through cyberspace? "Where Does My Tweet Go?" is a new Twitter analytics tool that traces the viral spread of a Tweet from person to person to person, and could change the way we analyze and track the impact of Twitter messaging.
IBM Research Center Explores Deep Psychological Profiling on Twitter
Researchers at IBM's Almaden Research Center are looking to create "deep psychological profiles" of potential customers to better understand their values and needs. Dr. Eben Haber and his team are building off previous research by Tal Yarkoni that matched bloggers' posts to the 5 modern dimensions of personality: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience. Understanding these personality traits and how they relate to consumerism is critical for companies and brands because it can predict purchase: "Extroverts are more likely to respond to an advertisement for a mobile phone that promises excitement than one that promises convenience or security. They also prefer Coca-Cola to Pepsi and Maybelline cosmetics to Max Factor. Agreeable people though, tend to prefer Pepsi…"
Google+ Gets A New Look and 41 New Features
Yesterday at the Google I/O conference, Google launched a redesign of its social networking platform, Google+. The redesign has a new look and feel with a multi-column layout that echoes that of Pinterest. In addition to the design, there are 41 new features, among which a couple stand out as particularly innovative:
Wolfram Alpha Study on Facebook Friends & Relationships
Image Courtesy of Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha (the computational knowledge engine) recently published an interesting study on demos, interests and behavior of Facebook users, particularly around friendship and relationship patterns.
Facebook Brand Pages on Mobile Get a Facelift
Remember those days when everything on the Internet was optimized for the desktop experience? Dot coms were the kings leading the charge in captivating internet users and driving commerce. Gone are those days now. On Tuesday, Facebook announced the rollout of its new revamped, fully mobile optimized brand pages, starting with mobile web and iOS with the updates on Android devices coming soon.
Since its inception, Facebook has been playing catch-up in the mobile space,…Read More
Is a Facebook Video Ad Worth Seven Figures?
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a million. However, whether or not words and dollars have a one-to-one ratio is a different story altogether.


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February 12, 2014 by MitchH
Filed Under:
Experience this THRILLING once in a lifetime one hour Everglade airboat tour in the Florida Everglades swampland at Captain Mitch's airboat park.
*All online reservation requests should be done 24 hours in advance. If you are planning same day service (less than 24 hours), please call our office to ensure we can get you in right away.
Adults: CASH PRICE: $40.00 per person, plus tax. CREDIT CARD PRICE: $45.00 per person, plus tax (1 hr ride)
Child: CASH PRICE: $20.00 per person, plus tax. CREDIT CARD PRICE: $25.00 per person, plus tax (1 hr ride)
(Boat minimum 2 adults)
Thinking about stopping by and experiencing a fun thrilling everglades airboat ride adventure? Give us a call and learn more about the experience.
Phone: (239) 695-3377
Address: 30999 Tamiami Trail E Everglades, FL 34139
Copyright © 2020 · Capt Mitch's Airboat Tours · Phone: 1-800-368-0065 · Log in

subset: commoncrawl


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The Summer Cancer Research Fellowship/Internship program provides a unique opportunity for current sophomore, junior or senior undergraduate students to engage in innovative integrative biology approaches to cancer research through the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Integrative Cancer Biology Program (ICBP). The ICBP, composed of multi-disciplinary Centers across the United States, focuses on the analysis of cancer using systems biology approaches. Investigators within each ICBP Center integrate experimental biology research with mathematical and computational modeling to gain new insights into the biology and management of cancer.
Selected student participants are paired with a faculty-mentor from a participating ICBP Center based on the student's indicated research interests. Through mentored research projects, faculty lectures, seminars, discussions and other activities, the student gains both an understanding and appreciation of major questions currently under investigation and the novel research approaches being used within the ICBP Centers.
The program begins June 3, 2013 and ends August 2, 2013. Note: some ICBP Centers have modified start/end dates based on the individual Center institution's summer calendars.
Travel, Stipend and Housing
Participants will receive a travel allowance up to $600 for travel to the paired ICBP Center at the beginning of the program and return travel home at the end of the program. Participants will receive a stipend of $3,300 for the nine week summer program. Housing accommodations, up to $100 per night, will be arranged by each ICBP Center in conjunction with the NCI staff.


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Get Your Partner into it! - Hot tips for an active birth with your birthing partner
The all fours position, during the early stages of labour, can really help to alleviate contraction discomfort. This pose can be done on the floor or the bed. It helps to encourage the baby into the anterior position so its spine swings to the front of your belly. It also relieves the pressure in the pelvis as gravity takes the weight away from your sacrum and coccyx (your lower spine)
Get your partner into it!
The other bonus of the all fours position, whether you're on the bed or the floor, is that it exposes the lower back for your partner to apply massage, heat packs or a TENS machine.
This pose is particularly helpful for women who are labouring with a posterior lying baby. The all fours position not only encourages the baby to anterior position, it can also help alleviate the back pain that is associated with the posterior position.
The all fours position can also be used in the second stage of labour.
Bonus Tip!
Try doing this pose throughout your pregnancy, particularly in the last trimester, as it is an excellent way to encourage anterior lying babies.
Try pelvic rotations during labour to increase your comfort either during contractions in the first stage or between contractions in the second stage. There are two ways to do pelvic rotations.
From whichever position you are in, you then do slow circling motions with the hips. This will help to dissipate the discomfort as a contraction grows. In this pose gravity also helps to move the baby into a better position to be born.
The child's pose can be done on the bed or the floor. Take the knees wider than the belly, big toes touching and sit back onto your heels. You can place your arms up on the bed, on your partner, on stacked pillows or on a ball. In this position gravity also helps move the baby down onto the dilating cervix.
Get your partner into it!
Your birthing partner can be involved here by massaging your back, applying heat packs or holding a TENS machine for you if you are using one.
The deep squat position is great for late in the first stage of labour as it helps to widen the pelvic diameter bringing the babies head down onto the dilating cervix. You can do this position on the bed or the floor. During second stage a deep squat can help open the pelvis and help facilitate the baby's birth.
If you're up on the bed, raise the back of the bed to 90 degrees supporting the back, then bend the knees and place the feet flat on the bed.
Get your partner into it!
Lean back onto your partner who is sitting on a chair or the ball and squat down with the knees wide.
When you are preparing your baby's birth, consider buying something special for the baby to wear after it's born. This may be a little pair of socks or a little suit. It can be anything that you feel is beautiful. You can look at it every now and then during your labour and this will help you focus on the end goal.
Zoe, a mother of four and a teacher of both prenatal and baby yoga says: "Understanding and learning these poses will empower pregnant women with knowledge and understanding of active birth positions."


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Wirefly helps you save on cell phones and plans by offering innovative comparison tools so consumers can make educated choices. Start saving today with Wirefly!
Wirefly helps you save on Internet service by offering innovative comparison tools to compare Internet providers in your area.
Test your current internet connection with our speed test and see what services your provider can handle. Find out your download speed, upload speed, latency, and more.
Test Your Internet SpeedInternet Speed Test
Health insurance is an insurance category that covers part of the costs of the insured person's health costs, including medical and surgical expenses. Different types of health insurance are available. Depending on the coverage desired by the insured, the individual pays out-of-pocket costs and receives reimbursement from the insurer or the insurance company directly pays the insured's provider. Wirefly simplifies the health insurance plan comparison process in Clarksville, OH. Get a free online health insurance quote from Wirefly.
Health insurance policies in Clarksville, OH may be available through an employer group insurance policy or through a private insurance policy between the insured and the insurance company. Health insurance is also available to senior citizens and disabled persons through Medicare. Medicaid is a federal insurance program that is administered at the state level. It helps low-income individuals get health care. Both Medicare and Medicaid programs provide health insurance at lower costs than private health insurance policies.
Private health insurance is available to the insured with various levels of coverage. For instance, a plan with inexpensive premium costs may cover only catastrophic events while a higher-cost premium plan offers full health care coverage. It is important for individuals and families to anticipate health care needs before selecting a health insurance plan.
Forecasting your future health needs can be a difficult endeavor since life is so unpredictable. Therefore, you cannot accurately approximate the amount of coverage you will require for the following year. The best way to analyze your health needs is by using past health records to determine what you are likely to require in the near future.
For example, people who are generally healthy and do not go to hospital often are best suited for low cost health coverage. However, a person who is suffering from a chronic condition and needs to see the doctor regularly will need to get a package that has wider coverage.
Catastrophic-only insurance is among the cheapest health insurance policy types in Clarksville, OH. This type of coverage is meant for persons who rarely go to the hospital and who only want to insure themselves against an unprecedented emergency. This coverage may also suit people who are involved in high-risk activities since it caters for regular doctor appointments and ER visits.
Higher insurance coverage involves high monthly premiums. Therefore, the more one pays in terms of monthly costs, the more their insurance company will pay for their health care needs. Therefore, it is important to factor your health history and lifestyle when choosing a medical insurance plan. You should cover the basics before considering additional coverage.
There are a variety of options for health insurance coverage in Clarksville, OH. Although plans may offer similar coverage terms, their convenience and other details may differ significantly. Just a few of the choices include a PPO, an HSA, an HMO, a POS, an FSA, and HRA, or an MSA. Although these different plans may seem overwhelming or confusing, it is important to understand the differences before choosing a plan. Read on to learn the basic differences between these coverage options.
HMO is short for Health Maintenance Organization. A network such as this requires the covered individual to select a primary care physician to handle all of their health-related issues. This means that if you are seeking treatment from a specialist, you are required to see your primary care physician first to get a referral. Your primary care doctor in Clarksville, OH must deem it necessary for you to receive treatment from a specialist before you are able to meet with one. Although HMOs typically have lower premiums compared to other options, the network of available physicians may be limited since certain doctors refuse to accept HMO plans. The advantage of HMO plans is that they do not require deductibles and the out-of-pockets expenses are usually reasonable.
PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans in Clarksville, OH generally involve a broad network of participating health care providers. The insured individual is allowed to select any primary care physician within the network and is also able to receive treatment from specialists without the need for a referral. If you visit doctors or hospitals within your network, this will offer you the best financial assistance. However, you can typically receive partial coverage for out of network costs as well. Generally, PPOs involve co-payments, deductibles, and limits on your out-of-pocket spending.
A Point of Service (POS) plan is basically a combination of HMO and PPO plans. POS plans offer a fairly large network of physicians to select a primary care physician from. As long as you receive treatment from a health care provider within your network, you are not responsible for any deductibles and the cost of co-payments will be reasonable. However, if the insured individual needs to see an out-of-network provider, deductibles and copayments will be high.
In addition to the more traditional approaches to health insurance, there are plans such as a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA), a Health Savings Account (HSA), a Health Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA), and a Medical Savings Account (MSA). These non-traditional plans are based on the premise that yourself or your employer sets aside tax-exempt money to cover any medical expenses. This money can be used to cover visits to your physician, surgical procedures, prescriptions, and, occasionally, over the counter medicines. These coverage options offer an increased level of flexibility in terms of how much money is used. Certain plans even allow leftover money to be rolled over into the following year.
To have health insurance coverage in Clarksville, OH, people will pay premiums each month. Even if you do not go to the doctor, you will not get the money back. Depending on the insurance plan, a deductible might be required. A deductible is the amount of money a person will be required to pay at the doctor's visit. Many doctors require the deductible to be paid up front.
Deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses are different. A deductible means the amount a person will pay yearly before the insurance begins, and out-of-pocket expenses is what individuals will pay before the insurance company will pay the full bill.
When a new year begins, both deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses will reset. Going forward, the previous year's expenses will affect what happens. For example, if a person in Clarksville, OH has a deductible of $4000 and they spend $3000 out-of-pocket, the insurance plan will remain the same for the next year. The $3000 does not carry over, so they out-of-pocket expenses will be $0. Some plans allow rollovers to occur. Therefore, the deductible amount a person paid can be used for the first quarter of the next year.
When a person visits the doctor, he might be required to pay a copayment or coinsurance. If the co-payment is $50 each time a doctor's visit occurs, the insured will be required to pay $50. The insurance will pay the remaining portion of the bill. Co-payments will not be put toward the deductible.
In some cases, an insurance company will offer a maximum lifetime benefit. This is the most amount of money that the insurance company will completely pay for the healthcare. After a person has used all of the money, the company will no longer pay for any medical services.
Where a person works has a huge impact on health insurance coverage. Larger companies will provide a group health insurance plan. These are usually less expensive than if a person chooses a private plan. However, by law individuals are not required to participate in an employer's plan.
Self-employed or unemployed individuals have the choice to buy private individual health insurance. Government programs, such as Medicare will assist seniors in receiving health care. Medicaid will assist people who make lower income.
Individuals need to ask their physician in Clarksville, OH which insurance plans they take if they want to continue seeing a certain doctor. If a person's insurance plan changes he needs to make sure he informs his doctor of the change. If the insured has any questions about coverage, he should contact the insurance company with any questions.
Since it's impossible to predict what will happen from one day to the next, having health insurance is definitely a great decision that will benefit both you and your family. While it can sometimes be very difficult to ascertain which health insurance plan is the best, Wirefly can make the search very simple and hassle-free. Just by entering a ZIP code, you will receive a health insurance quote detailing the available plans in Clarksville, OH.
When deciding on a plan, make sure not to skimp on your specific health care needs. Though it's certainly possible to save some money if certain coverage types are excluded, it's essential that you don't eliminate coverage types that you'll actually need in the future. While the premiums for insurance plans aren't exactly affordable, the out-of-pocket expenses associated with medical care when not insured can be far higher. By using Wirefly, you can find the best insurance plan for your needs, which can save you a lot of time and money. Just enter your ZIP code for a free quote today.
Wirefly offers great deals on a large selection of smartphones, cell phones, tablets, mobile hotspots, and other wireless devices for the nation's most popular carriers. Use Wirefly's innovative cell phone and plan comparison tools to ensure you are getting the best deal on the market. Shop with confidence knowing that Wirefly wants to help you find the best prices on cell phones, cell phone plans, TV, and Internet service.


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Click below to refine your search. Find, for example: a winery (or restaurant, accommodation, tour or whatever you are interested in - under 'what'), wherever you want (under 'where'), open on any day you choose, producing e.g. shiraz, or organic, or with childrens' facilities, a cafe or al fresco dining (under 'with'). Then simply press 'advanced find' - it's easy to find the right experience just for you .
Huntington Estate is one of Mudgee and NSW's most respected winegrowers »Wobbly Boot Vineyard
Wobbly Boot Vineyard is a boutique vineyard located in the Coal River Valley region of Southern Tasmania »Gartelmann Hunter Estate
Gartelmann Wines is a boutique, family owned cellar door and wine producer, based in the idyllic Hunter Valley in NSW. They specialise in fine hand crafted wines ... read moreCrittenden Estate and Geppetto Wines
Crittenden Estate is a small family-owned wine estate near Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. Crittenden's vineyard, which began life as ... read more919 Wines
919 Wines is located just a few minutes from Berri in the Riverland of South Australia. The winery is certified organic, and their wines are made from many European grape varieties»
Kassebaum is now a little over 30 acres of which 17 acres are planted to Shiraz. It is located in Marannaga, in the heart of the Barossa Valley wine region of South ... read moreReilly's Wines
Established in 1993, Reillys Wines is a South Australian family owned business using traditional winemaking methods to create quality, award winning wines »Fisherman's Wharf Market
On Sundays a large antiques and bric a brac market with 150 stalls takes over the fish market, on the Port Adelaide Wharf. read moreLane Vineyard (The)
At The Lane Vineyard the Edwards family step to the beat of a different drum. John, Helen and sons Marty and Ben all play roles in bringing you some superb wines ... read moreFern Hill Estate
Fern Hill Estate was founded in McLaren Flat, South Australia in the 1970's by Wayne and Pat Thomas. In those days the winery was known as Thomas Fern Hill and it ... read more
It's cabernet sauvignon that attracts visitors to Australia's Coonawarra. In this day's itinerary of cellar door tastings, you can taste some of the Coonawarra's best cabernets »South Australia – Barossa Valley – a global winner
Winding roads, bluestone cottages, outstanding wine and food and an abundance of things to do and see make the Barossa Valley not so much a destination as a way of life. Find out why the Barossa Valley wine region is so fabulous »South Australia – Barossa Valley – The best in a day
If you have one day to experience the best of Australia's wine scene, where would you go? Some say to spend it in the Barossa Valley, an hour north of Adelaide »
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The Future of International Cricket - Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravi Bopara, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Salman Butt, JP Duminy
Proud Supporter of the Bangladeshi Tigers
Ryan ten Doeschate - A Legend in the Making
MSN: firstname.lastname@example.com
Cricket Web's current Premier League Tipping Champion
- As featured in The Independent.
"Ben Stokes, that most unlikely saint, worked the second of the two miracles he needs for his canonisation." - The Guardian's Andy Bell on the England all-rounder's Headingley ton
Any predictions for that match?
Ok. Which player played in the first 4 world cups?
No one? Maybe I'm overestimating the union nerdism on the site.
Ok, a clue as I'm off to bed shortly: he's one of Turb's fellow conutrymen but his name makes him sound like he belongs in a male voice choir.
Fitzy came close...but no cigar
DING DING DING! You're up.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


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Alexander Bolton
The Hill
April 13, 2013
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is launching a round of television ads to pressure seven Republican senators and two Democrats to vote for a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks.
The new ad invokes the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and subtly chides the Senate for taking up gun control legislation more than 100 days after the tragedy.
"Some Democrats and Republicans are coming together to support comprehensive background checks on gun sales," a male narrator states in reference to a deal unveiled earlier this week between Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who both have A ratings from the National Rifle Association.
"Ninety percent of America supports comprehensive background checks. Call your senators and urge them to join the bipartisan effort for comprehensive background checks," the narrator says. "Demand action. Now."
Also, Ultra 12 is back by popular demand! Get the ultimate source of energy at 40% off now!


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Christopher Nolan has revealed making a Superman movie is harder than bringing Batman to life on the big screen.
The director - who helmed the 'Dark Knight' trilogy starring Christian Bale - serves as a producer on Superman reboot 'Man of Steel', directed by Zack Snyder, and admits it's been a much tougher process to make because of the complex mythology and super-human powers the iconic Krypton-born superhero has.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said: "In my honest appraisal, taking on Superman and creating that world is far more difficult than creating the world of 'The Dark Knight'. He has a lot of finishing to do on the movie - it has a very long post-production schedule because, unlike Batman, Superman flies.
"I actually feel guilty talking about it because I'm sitting here having nothing to do to it. I try to be as supportive as I can, and I'm just amazed by what he [Zack] is doing. It's not something I would know how to do."
Although it's been a tough journey to get 'Man of Steel' on screen, Christopher has nothing but praise for the film's director Zack, insisting he's the right man to take on the mammoth task.
He explained: "Zack was the perfect man to take this on. He is unbelievably skilled at creating a coherent, cohesive world - whether it's a very stylised world, like '300', or something that's more challenging, more varied, like he did with 'Watchmen'."
'Man of Steel' stars British actor Henry Cavill in the role of Superman and features a stellar supporting cast that includes Russell Crowe, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner and Michael Shannon.
The film is scheduled to be released in 3D in June 2013.


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(Phoenix, Ariz. – Nov. 18, 2005) Attorney General Terry Goddard today announced his Office has filed a lawsuit against William Lyon Homes Inc., alleging the company violated Arizona's Fair Housing Act.
An investigation conducted by the Civil Rights Division concluded there is reasonable cause to believe a William Lyon's sales agent deliberately told Henry and S. Marie Gates that they were sold out of lots in the Mountain Gate at Copper Rancho Vistas community in Surprise because the couple is African American. Misrepresenting the availability of housing because of race is prohibited under the Arizona Fair Housing Act.
The Gateses toured the development's model homes on Feb. 28, 2005, and expressed interest in buying a home in the community. The sales agent told the couple the community was sold out, but they could be put on a waiting list for the model homes. The investigation revealed the homebuilder planned to release five to seven more lots the same day, and the agent was aware of the plan.
The following day the Gateses learned that the sales agent misrepresented the availability of the lots to them and called William Lyon's sales office to complain. A different sales agent confirmed there were lots available in the Surprise development, and that William Lyon kept a waiting list for those lots, a fact the original sales agent failed to tell the couple. After a number of days passed, William Lyon contacted the Gateses and offered to sell them a lot released on Feb. 28. The sales agent told the Gateses that the price of the two-story home they wanted had increased from the Feb. 28 base price of $518,000 to $583,000.
The lawsuit was filed after a required 30-day conciliation period expired, and a settlement could not be reached. William Lyon denies that it discriminated against the couple because of their race and denies that it violated the Arizona Fair Housing Act.
The Arizona Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on a person's disability, race, color, religion, sex, familial status or national origin. Anyone who believes that their civil rights have been violated should call the Arizona Attorney General's Office Division of Civil Rights toll-free statewide at 1.877.491.5742. The Attorney General's Office has 16 satellite offices throughout Arizona, and volunteers are available to take civil rights complaints. Please visit the Attorney General's Web site at www.azag.gov for location information.


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GCH CH Shadagee Caught Red Handed
Everyone in the dog world was breathlessly waiting for the showdown between our two top contenders today in Columbus OH at today's Sandusky Kennel Club show. The Smooth Fox Terrier, GCH CH J'Cobe Kemosabe Vigilante Justice, and the Pekingese, GCH CH PalaceGarden Malachy, both have defeated nearly 70,000 dogs this year and are just a handful of points apart. Both met today in Christine E. Calcinari's final. Also on hand were the Irish Setter, GCH CH Shadagee Caught Red Handed, the 15" Beagle, CH Langrigg Star Of The Stage, the Siberian Husky, GCH CH Kontoki's A Bend In The Road, the Bulldog, GCH CH Kepley's Showbiz Razzle Dazzle, and the Bearded Collie, GCH CH Tolkien Raintree Mister Baggins.
Proving just how tough the competition was the Irish Setter, Emily, as the Number Three Dog All Breeds bested both of the leaders taking home the top prize of the four day opener and leaving us totally clueless as to who has the Number One Spot. Our congratulations to breeders Debbie Burke, Timothy Burke, & Ellen Bieler, owners Debbie Burke & Nancy Lee Conner, and handler Adam Bernardin on the big, big win.


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Hello all you avid artists out there and welcome back to another drawing tutorial that will once again fall in the tattoo category. I think most of you will find this next tattoo design absolutely amazing and full of animal energy. I am going to show you how to draw a tiger tattoo step by step. Tiger tattoos are probably one of the most popular animals that get inked on people's bodies no matter what body part that might be. I love tigers, and because of that I wanted to draw a tattoo that sort of resembles my fathers tattoo that he has on his shoulder. The yin tang was a nice touch I think because as you know tigers, are often used with Asian designs. The flames are freakin awesome as well and I also added three Chinese words that represent each object in the drawing. I think you will find drawing animal tattoo designs is a lot easier than most people think. I am putting this art in my favorites section on my art portfolio that I have. Well anyway, I am going to leave you guys now but I shall return with more drawing fun. In the mean time you should tackle this lesson on how to draw a tiger tattoo step by step. Peace out and happy drawing.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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CHS (CHS) Class of 1951 Alumni List
Help us Update the CHS 1951 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
Registered Alumni
1951 Class List
Know CHS Class of 1951 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 1951 Class List by adding missing names.
1951 Chilton High School Yearbook
1951 Chilton High School Yearbook
Click here to view at Classmates.com®
Quo Vadis? was the top movie in theaters in 1951, with a lifetime gross of over $30,000,000. Among TV shows in 1951, Texaco Star Theater was the most popular of the year.
Reunions and Chilton High School News
More 1951 alumni from Chilton HS have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 1951 alumni.
If you are trying to find people that graduated in '51 at Chilton High in Chilton, WI, check the alumni list below that shows the class of 1951.
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Be: Women of Color Exhibition by Walter Cruz
Saturday, March 24, 2018
9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
This event repeats every week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 3/1/2018 and 3/31/2018.
Please note: This event has already taken place. Please use the Search options on the right to find upcoming events.
The Poe Park Visitor Center proudly presents Be: Women of Color Exhibition, for Women's History Month!
Artist Walter Cruz's exhibition, Be: Women of Color, is a collection of acrylic works that depict women living their everyday lives. The simplified forms serve as a slightly blank slate for viewers to imagine themselves as the subjects. Complimentary colors have been chosen as the palettes to create a welcoming presence within each piece.
We are reflections of each other. Let's hold one another as such.
Event Organizer
Poe Visitor Center
Contact Number
(718) 365-5516


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Justice for Assange
Irregularities in the conduct of the Swedish prosecution in the investigation against Julian Assange
- Leaked Police Report: English and Swedish
- Why does the Prosecutor refuse to Question Assange?
- Prosecutor insists Assange be held in remand incommunicado, pre-charge, pre-trial
- Abuse of Process Argument (February Hearing)
- Issuing EAW is for an 'improper purpose'
- Failure to disclose evidence to the defence
- Prosecutor Discloses Assange's identity to the Press within 2 hours
- Media Reaction to Prosecutor's Disclosure
- Senior Prosecutor Finne demands and explanation
- No remedy for Assange
- News
Swedish police report in Swedish and in English
Sweden does not follow the so called "investigating judge model", and Swedish public prosecutors have very strong powers compared with the situation existing in other Member States: They may decide on any kind of measures during investigations, including coercive measures… e.g. phone surveillance, or detention. (European Commission Evaluation Report on Sweden, Doc 99227/2/08 REV 2. October 2008, para 2.1., cited in the submission by the Appellant to the Supreme Court, paragraph 24)
Al Jazeera interview with Julian Assange on 21 August 2010, just after the rape investigation was dropped
It is highly irregular in Sweden for an international arrest warrant to be sought in relation to allegations of this kind, and for a preliminary investigation where there is no charge. The only recent example of Sweden issuing an INTERPOL Red Notice and The European Arrest Warrant for sexual offences involved a repeat-offending paedophile.
What I have to say will not make me very popular with prosecutors: the suspect's right is not always respected, prosecutors are not objective, prosecutors fight too hard to get a conviction somewhere down the line – I have seen too many accusations of this type to believe that this doesn't happen. – Göran Lambertz, former Chancellor of Justice, 2006
Why is the Swedish Prosecutor refusing to Question Assange?
The only beneficiary from delaying the questioning of Julian Assange for 1,5 years is the US, which is preparing it's case against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks, and Bradley Manning. The delay in no way benefits the two women, who were reportedly not seeking to report Assange to the police anyway, nor Julian Assange, who has been robbed of his liberty in the 500 days spanning from his detention on 7 December 2010 to the Supreme Court judgment. Marianne Ny has given no explanation, either to the two women or to Assange, why she has chosen to delay the case and handled it in such an extraordinary manner. The behaviour of the prosecutor even conflicts with her own directives to the Swedish authorities, which call for the speedy questioning of the suspect.
As can be seen from the history of these proceedings, the Swedish prosecutor takes an adversarial stance towards the person under investigation. For example, in this case, the prosecutor applied to the Stockholm District Court for a detention order in absentia for the purposes of interrogation. When the Appellant appealed to the Svea Court of Appeal against the making of that order, the Swedish prosecutor made written submissions in opposition to this appeal. The same prosecutor (Marianne Ny), having participated as a party to these proceedings before the Swedish courts, later issued the EAW, purportedly as a "judicial authority". Cited in the submission by the appellant para 25
Marianne Ny's misleading statements about legality of questioning abroad
One of the baseless arguments is are often repeated in the Swedish press is that Julian Assange has been avoiding questioning. The press has failed to demand explanations from the disproportionate and coercive actions demanded by the prosecutor, who has not charged Assange with any crime. Marianne Ny demanded to the UK judges that Mr. Assange remain detained while in the UK, pre-charge, pre-trial. Had Marianne Ny obtained what she had asked for, Assange would have remained in prison while challenging the European extradition warrant for over 500 days. Instead, he remained under solitary confinement for 10 days and under strict house arrest conditions ever since, reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag on his ankle, as well as abiding to a curfew and the inability to move for 10 hours/day.
As the High Court judges, Ousley and Thomas, pointed out in the High Court Ruling, Prosecutor Marianne Ny has not given a satisfactory reason as to why she has refused to use less coercive measures against Mr. Assange. As Justice Ousley pointed out, the system of mutual trust within the EU is conditional on the use of mechanisms such as the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which establishes the mechanism for questioning a suspect abroad, particularly where the investigation has not reached an advanced stage.
The prosecutor Marianne Ny has misled the public by stating that Swedish and UK law do not permit her to question Julian Assange in the UK. Three days after Marianne Ny had issued the EAW for Julian Assange, (05 December 2010), Ny falsely stated: "Both British and Swedish law prevent me from questioning Assange in London."
Prosecutor Marianne Ny has also claimed that questioning in the UK was illegal in a Time interview on 3 December 2010. This is false. Mutual Legal Assistance is clearly permitted by both Swedish and UK law. There is also a legal precedent from the Swedish Supreme Court from 2007, which acknowledges questioning via video link as proportionate when the subject is abroad. The same ruling (NJA (2007) 337) finds that it is disproportionate to issue an arrest warrant for a person who is cooperating with the judicial authorities at the preliminary investigation stage, before a decision has been made whether to prosecute.
Incidentally, Ny's comments to the Swedish press stating that she is not permitted to question Assange in the UK have subsequently been redacted: compare the original to the redacted version. (If these links are broken click here.)
Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny insists Assange be held in remand, incommunicado, while the investigation progresses, and before any charge is brought against him.
Ms. Ny will argue before the Swedish court that once Assange is surrendered into Swedish custody, he must be held incommunicado even though he has not been charged with any crime. Ms. Ny's approach raises serious proportionality concerns given that Assange has complied for 500 days with daily visits to the UK police, a daily curfew, and agreeing to an ankle tag in order to monitor his whereabouts.
Swedish remand prisons were described by Birgitta Winberg, President, International Prison Chaplains' Association Worldwide, as 'the worst in Europe': "In no other country are people in isolation before they are charged", said Winberg. One article stated: "A high proportion of prisoners – as much as 70 per cent at Kronoberg, in Stockholm – are placed under restrictions that may see them in their cells for 23 hours a day. Only visits from a lawyer and priest are allowed."
'Police and prosecutors are very powerful in Sweden, the odds are stacked against the defence. They represent the strong state and, once a suspect is arrested, there is this belief the state is always right.' – Prison Chaplain Birgitta Winberg
A Council of Europe report from 2009 said that of most remand prisoners in Sweden, an 'overwhelming majority had been given no explanation of the restrictions imposed on them. Many considered that the only reason why they were being prohibited contact with their family members was to 'break' them.'
Abuse of Process: February Hearing (2011)
At the Magistrate's Court, the Swedish Prosecution authorities are at the centre of the challenge to the validity of the EAW issued for Julian Assange:
The Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny had not decided whether to prosecute, according to her own admissions after issuing the EAW.
The Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny was seeking extradition for the purposes of questioning in order to further the investigation, not for the purposes of prosecuting.
Arrest for the purpose of questioning was disproportionate given that Julian Assange fully cooperated with the Swedish authorities through his lawyers in Sweden and in the UK.
The proper, proportionate and legal means of requesting a person's questioning in the UK in these circumstances is through Mutual Legal Assistance.
Assange's defence team argued that the Swedish Prosecution Authorities handled the preliminary investigation in a way that undermined Julian Assange's right to a fair trial. The prosecution's conduct amounts to an abuse that cannot be remedied in Sweden.
If I were Assange, I would not feel safe going to Sweden now. Though Assange has not been charged in Sweden, the Swedish public prosecutor has declined many offers over the past year that she question him in the UK. This raises questions of good faith. – Tony Kevin, retired Australian diplomat
Expert witnesses
The highly controversial decision to issue an EAW and an INTERPOL Red Notice for the purposes of questioning a person who was fully cooperating with the authorities was addressed by the expert witnesses at the February Hearing:
Leaked INTERPOL document where Marianne Ny describes herself as "Marianne Ny, Director of International Public Prosecution Office in Gothenburg". This version of the red notice is intended for judicial authorities and police only.
Brita Sundberg-Weitman
"Most significantly, I consider it inappropriate and disproportionate that Ms. Ny sought an INTERPOL arrest warrant and EAW for Mr. Assange. It is not clear why she refused to interview him in London, since doing so would be in accordance with the rules set forth under the terms of Mutual Legal Assistance. Ms. Ny is reported to have stated that it was incompatible with Swedish law to interrogate Mr. Assange in London. This is clearly not true. According to the International Judicial Assistance Act (2000:582), Chapter 4, Section 10, prosecutors may hold interviews by telephone during a preliminary investigation if the person in question is in another state, if that state allows [this was also confirmed in a Supreme Court ruling in Sweden, NJA 2007 337].
Expert opinion of Sven-Erik Alhem
"To use the European Arrest Warrant without first having tried to arrange an interrogation in England at the earliest possible time via a request for Mutual Legal Assistance seems to me to be against the principle of proportionality… In my view only when it was shown that it would be impossible to get Assange interrogated in England by using Mutual Legal Assistance from England, should an application for an EAW have been submitted. Since I understand that he has been willing to be interviewed by these means since leaving Sweden, I regard the prosecutor's refusal to at least try to interview him as unreasonable and unprofessional, as well as unfair and disproportionate."
"In my opinion, a reasonable and professional prosecutor would have sought to interview Mr Assange in London in order to advance the investigation and in order to find out as soon as possible if there were reasons or not to complete the investigation… This would be possible if the British authorities agreed and I see no reason why they would not agree to that course of action. This would have been the best and most appropriate solution in order to conduct the interrogation and to obtain Mr. Assange's extremely important evidence. I therefore really cannot understand why the prosecutor did not pursued (sic) that course."
Prosecutor Marianne Ny informed Björn Hurtig via SMS on 11 January 2011 that she could not interview Julian Assange in England because of 'investigative technique requirements'. This is because in Sweden, suspects of sexual offences are held in indefinite incommunicado detention (a practice that has led to criticism from the UN Committee Against Torture, see Rule of Law), until a decision is made of whether there are grounds to charge the suspect.
Use of EAW is for an 'improper purpose'
The Swedish prosecution repeatedly stated, shortly before and after the issuing of the EAW, that the warrant had been issued for questioning and not for prosecution. On 5 December 2010, prosecutor Marianne Ny was interviewed on the national television channel, SVT:
"We have only heard one side [of the story], not Julian Assange's version about what happened. It's far too early to determine whether he will be charged. – Swedish Prosecutor Marianne Ny, 5 December 2010 (3 days after EAW was issued)"
On 17 December, the Head of the Legal Department of the Swedish Prosecution Authority stated in an interview with the BBC:
"there is no charge in the sense that the criminal investigation is still going on and the prosecutor has not yet decided whether to prosecute or not." – Head of the Legal Department, Swedish Prosecution Authority, 17 December 2010 (15 days after the EAW was issued)
Issuing an EAW for the purposes of questioning is a "wholly disproportionate use of the EAW system, particularly in light of the availability of Mutual Legal Assistance. This breaches the EU principle of proportionality and is clearly not what the EAW system was intended for." (Briefing note for the EU Parliament, 'Assange's EAW and Political Purposes', June 2011).
Expert opinion of Sven-Erik Alhem:
"[A] prosecutor should not seek to arrest and extradite Mr. Assange simply for the purposes of questioning as long as other means have not been tried or failed."
"It should be regarded as a breach of the principles of proportionality to try to have Mr. Assange extradited purely for the purposes of questioning him in order to further the investigation."
The February Hearing also went into some detail of the wording in Swedish, specifically the meaning of the word 'lagföring'.
Undue delay for Julian Assange's interrogation
Julian Assange stayed in Sweden from the day of the complaint (20 August) to 27 September. During this time he fully cooperated with the investigation. On 30 August he voluntarily submitted himself to questioning with regards to the only allegations that were being investigated at the time, concerning AA's complaint. After the 'rape' allegation was revived by prosecutor Marianne Ny, his lawyers continued to cooperate with the prosecution. His defence counsel Björn Hurtig made repeated requests to the prosecutor for Julian Assange to submit himself for questioning. The prosecutor was aware that Assange had other commitments and was planning to leave the country. Ny authorised his departure on 15 September 2010, although he stayed on until 27 September.
By that time, Assange had stayed in Sweden for 37 days from the day of the complaint. Upon his departure, two laptops went missing from his luggage at Arlanda airport. The airline carrier refused to cooperate with Assange. His Swedish lawyer, Björn Hurtig, made a request to the prosecutor's office regarding the theft, but received no reply. Hurtig continued to attempt to arrange a date with the prosecutor's office, this time for 9 or 10 October. The prosecutor's deputy declined, because it was a weekend. Hurtig then suggested the week starting 11 October, to which Marianne Ny responded "It's too late". At that point, Assange traveled to the UK and instructed his Swedish and UK lawyers to arrange to be questioned in the UK, which is provided for by EU regulations of Mutual Legal Assistance.
Despite repeated efforts to arrange for questioning, the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny refused to cooperate. It is against procedural recommendations to delay questioning with a suspect for such a long period of time.
Sundberg-Weitman, expert witness statement at the February Hearing:
"Despite Ms Ny's stated policy that men should be detained after the event and that interrogation of the suspect must take place as soon as possible, there was undue delay in questioning Mr Assange while he was in Sweden."
Failure to disclose evidence to the defence
Assange's Swedish lawyer Björn Hurtig makes repeated requests for disclosure under Swedish Judicial Procedure Code 23.18 but is categorically denied each time by Prosecutor Marianne Ny.
According to Article 23.18 of the Swedish Procedure Code, the suspect has the right to be informed of hte charges against him in his own language and to be continiously informed of hwat has emerged from the investigations against him. This provision is subject to the proviso "to the extent that it will not affect the investigation", which in my view is interpreted too broadly by many prosecutors – including Ms. Ny in this particular case- to the detriment of the due process rights of suspects. – Expert witness Brita Sundberg-Weitman.
Finers Stephens Innocent (the law firm that represented Assange in the UK prior to Brinberg Peirce and Partners) asked Marianne Ny for a specific description of the charges and evidence in English as a condition for returning Julian to Sweden for interrogation. Marianne Ny refused.
One example is the evidence submitted by Göran Rudling, who discovered complainant AA's deleted tweets (see Evidence Destroyed). Rudling submitted these to the investigating authorities on 15 September 2010. The prosecution never informed the defence lawyer of the existence of this evidence, "despite the fact that it revealed evidence of obvious and crucial significance to the defence, namely that one complainant had acted entirely inconsistently with her story the very day after the alleged assault and then tried to destroy the evidence".
The Swedish defence counsel Björn Hurtig was not allowed to see the notes from the new interviews with the complainants.
Hurtig was briefly allowed to view SMS from the complainants prior to the complaint. The messages spoke of revenge and of selling the story to the tabloids. Hurtig was not permitted to take copies or show Julian Assange. Hurtig was also told by the prosecutor that he should not reveal the content of the messages at the February Hearing. Hurtig consulted the Swedish Bar Association, which advised him that he was permitted to reveal these facts at the UK hearing.
The Swedish press obtained evidence from the preliminary investigation directly from the prosecution in August and September, despite the prosecution refusing to disclose this same evidence, which was already in the possession of the press, to Julian Assange's lawyers in Sweden and in the UK. Björn Hurtig only received the police dossier in November, as a result of the Svea Court of Appeal hearing.
The transcripts of the questioning of Julian Assange and Johannes Wallström were immediately leaked to the press, and appeared verbatim in the tabloids. Both Assange and Wallström had asked for assurances that their testimony would not be leaked to the press.
The EAW was the first time Julian Assange was informed in writing of the specific allegations and potential charges against him in English.
The first case document received by Julian Assange or his UK lawyers was the EAW. None of the documents of the investigation have been provided to Julian Assange in English. For his UK trial, he has had to spend £20,000 for official translations in order to build his defence.
Unlawful disclosure by Prosecutor: Assange's name disclosed to the Swedish Press 2 hours after police complaint is activated
The Expressen journalist, Stefan Söderström, was the first to receive a tip-off of the arrest warrant via SMS at 19:52. The arrest warrant had been active for just under five hours. Shortly after the tip-off, Stockholm prosector on duty Maria Häljebo Kjellstrand unlawfully disclosed to the media that Julian Assange was wanted for questioning regarding 'rape'. No action was taken against the prosecutor, although a complaint is filed to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for justice by the rights watchdog RO. That same night Expressen published the news on its frontpage. Within hours there were up to 5.000.000 references online to 'Assange+rape'. A Google search of 'WikiLeaks rape' in June 2011 gave 11.000.000 hits.
In his expert witness statement Sven Erik Anhelm remarked:
"Let me first briefly comment on the remarkable event of the prosecutor, at the outset of the investigation on 20 August 2010, confirming to the media that Mr. Assange was considered a likely suspect of rape in Sweden and was remanded in his absence. Such confirmation to the media is, in my view, completely against proper procedure and in violation of the Swedish law and rules regarding preliminary investigations. In accordance with Swedish secrecy and confidentiality laws, confidentiality applies to everything that occurs during a preliminary investigation. The prosecutor, by confirming the identity as a suspect under investigation of rape at that early stage, therefore acted in breach of these rules – this should never have happened, but there is no remedy for it and the prosecutor has not been disciplined. The confirmation from the prosecution led to the news spreading around the world."
Media reaction to Prosecutor's Unlawful Disclosure
Expressen 20 August 2010 ran the breaking news "WikiLeaks' Julian Assange hunted down, suspected of rape" – the 'hunted down' part of the headline is not found on the online version of Expressen's article anymore (the article was updated online on 21 August 2010 after senior prosecutor Eva Finné reversed the arrest order and found there were no grounds for the 'rape' allegations), but a picture of the full headline is available here. Mårten Schultz writes:
"At that point Assange's integrity (confidentiality) was hugely impacted. The whole world's media had relayed Expressen's news, according to which Assange was suspected of rape. According to the later prosecutor's judgement the rape allegation was false. This false information has spread all over the globe due to the Swedish media."
(Contd) "The Assange story is disgrace. After a prosecutor decided to arrest Assange, one of the most talked about people this year, all the newspapers decided to print his name. Now all of them have to redeem themselves. This story clearly illustrates the hollowness of the principle of protection of personal integrity in this media-driven society." Mårten Schultz
The chairperson of the Swedish Journalists' Organisation stated that the Prosecuting authorities should be investigated in an interview about the disclosure with the newspaper 'Journalisten' because it "raises concern over the state of due process/presumption of innocence (rättssäkerheten) in Sweden when a person who has been reported all of a sudden finds himself arrested in absentia without having had the opportunity to give their version of what happened".
The disclosure of Assange's identity by junior prosecutor Maria Häljebo Kjellstrand and the media flurry that ensued led to the Prosecutor General intervening in the case on 21 August. Senior prosecutor Mats Åhlund confirmed to the tabloid Expressen that the Prosecutor General called him and instructed him to change the prosecutor handling the case on 21 August 2010.
The new lead prosecutor decided to reverse the decision of the first prosecutor (Maria Häljebo Kjellstrand). At 16.48 (21 August 2010) Assange's in absentia detention was cancelled. The investigation into the alleged rape investigation was dropped. Finné issues a press statement: "I consider that there are no grounds for suspecting that he has committed rape."
Swedish Prosecution authority defends the prosecutor's arrest and unlawful disclosure
Al Jazeera interviewed Karin Rosander, spokesperson for the Prosecution Authority, who defended the decision of the on-duty prosecutor (MHK). The spokesperson claimed that the issuing of the arrest order was 'no mistake' because it had been part of 'normal procedure' and she 'had to make a decision very quickly'. She claimed that the reason why the 'rape' allegation was withdrawn on 21 August by senior prosecutor Eva Finné was she 'had more information than the prosecutor the previous afternoon'. Rosander stated in an interview in the Swedish press: "The prosecutor will continue to look at the complaint and the investigation continues. It is natural to begin with the most serious allegation first because it implies the deprivation of liberty. It is a serious infringement of integrity."
The information that senior prosecutor Eva Finné had had access to on 21 August that the on-duty prosecutor (MHK) on 20 August did not was the testimony of complainant SW.
MHK (prosecutor 1) issued the warrant for Assange's arrest at 17:00 (20 August 2010), although the questioning of complainant SW had only begun at 16:21. It lasted until 18:40, when Irmeli Krans decided to interrupt the questioning because Krans and complainant SW were informed that Prosecutor 1 arrested Julian Assange in absentia for her rape. The next day the senior prosecutor Eva Finné (prosecutor 2) reviewed the evidence, which prosecutor 1 (MHK) had not had access to, and rescinded the arrest warrant.
Senior prosecutor Eva Finné demands an explanation
In connection with the cancellation of the arrest warrant and damage control, the second prosecutor Eva Finné asks the supervisor Linda Wassgren at Klara police station to explain how the decision to request an arrest warrant came about, and how the complaint was handled when the complainants arrived at the police station. The memo from Wassgren to Finné was released to the press. Entire sentences are blanked out.
In the memo, Wassgren states the initial allegation was that both complainants had been raped. Complainant SW had contacted complainant AA on 19 August, and they decided to go to the police station together. After an initial conversation with both women at the police station, Wassgren spoke to the two women separately (this conversation is not on record). Wassgren called the domestic violence unit and the head of Norrmalm police station to request how to proceed. Wassgren then contacted Prosecutor 1 (MHK) via telephone, who decided to arrest Julian Assange in absentia for rape at 17:00. Everyone she spoke to agreed that the case (or cases?) concerned rape [despite the fact that the formal interrogation of complainant SW had not yet been held].
The memo makes no mention of sexually transmitted diseases (at least as far as the disclosed part shows). Wassgren refers to the two women "arriving at the police station in order to get some guidance about two earlier events because they were unsure about how to proceed". She then she goes on to say:
"Initially rape was mentioned [the memo does not specify by who] in the case of both complainants", AA and SW. Therefore both complainants' investigations were initially treated as 'rape' cases (this is also in keeping with the 'double rape' headline in the Expressen tabloid that appeared that same evening. (See page 8 of Göran Rudling's witness statement.)
No remedy for Julian Assange
Both the unlawful disclosure and the negative Media climate in Sweden are abuses originating in the Swedish prosecution that cannot be remedied, along with the Prime Minister's interference with the court case (further creating hostility in the Swedish media against Julian Assange) on 7 February 2011. The District Court judge acknowledged that "There has been considerable adverse publicity in Sweden for Mr Assange, in the popular press, the television, and in Parliament (by the Swedish Prime Minster (sic) )" in his judgement, p. 10 item 19).
But the judge said that this would 'play no part' in the trial because 'the jury system… is robust' (p. 25 of the judgement). In fact the system of lay judges has been criticised from within Sweden for some time. See Lay Judges.
See a general analysis of the Swedish press' reporting on the allegations against Assange and the court case in the UK in Media climate in Sweden.
- 12 March 2012: What hard evidence is the prosecutor withholding? Dave Phillips offers a A Most Wanted List of Missing Items in the Julian Assange Case, guest featured in Proffessor's blogg (March, 2012). See Investigation for more.
- 8 December 2011: A compilation of recent critique on Marianne Ny's use of the EAW as a fishing expedition (that is to say, simply for questioning in a preliminary investigation instead of for the purposes of prosecution when a decision has been made to charge and an indictment has been initiated). The commentary also talks about Sweden's use of pre-trial detention, which has been deemed unlawful by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and other Inhumane and Degrading Treatment and the UN Committee Against Torture.
Jennifer Robinson: Brief to Canberra meeting of MP's re Julian Assange (04 March) 2011
Brita Sundberg-Weitman's Expert Opinion
Björn Hurtig's letter to Jennifer Robinson
Björn Hurtig: Sweden breaches Human Rights Convention
Rixstep: Per E. Samuelsson interview
Julian Assange's clear and present danger, 14 december 2011
thinq_: Summary of briefing to the Australian Parliament by Jennifer Robinson


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Secret Off-the-Menu Items
Buzzfeed's put together a page on Secret Off-the-Menu Items at different restaurants, and it's fun to look through whether or not these are places you eat at. I'd argue that In-N-Out's secret menu is somewhat of an oxymoron now since it's on their corporate site but I had no idea Jamba Juice had secret flavors! The White Gummi sounds gooood.


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Product Overview
Cisco UCS® Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components of the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS) across multiple chassis, rack servers, and thousands of virtual machines. Cisco UCS Manager manages Cisco UCS as a single entity through an intuitive GUI, a command-line interface (CLI), or an XML API for comprehensive access to all Cisco UCS Manager functions.
Cisco UCS Manager is embedded on a pair of Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects using a clustered, active-standby configuration for high availability. Cisco UCS Manager participates in server provisioning, device discovery, inventory, configuration, diagnostics, monitoring, fault detection, auditing, and statistics collection. An instance of Cisco UCS Manager with all Cisco UCS components managed by it forms a UCS domain that can include up to 160 servers.
By enabling better automation of processes, Cisco UCS Manager allows data center managers to achieve greater agility and scale in their server operations while reducing complexity and risk. Cisco UCS Manager provides flexible role- and policy-based management using service profiles and templates. The system's information can be exported to configuration management databases (CMDBs) for use in ITIL processes. Cisco UCS Manager also provides detailed Cisco UCS system visibility to higher-level systems management tools from independent software vendors (ISVs) such as BMC, CA, HP, and IBM, and others. ISVs and in-house developers can use the Cisco UCS XML API to enhance the value of the Cisco UCS platform based on their unique requirements.
Cisco UCS Manager 2.1 and later can register with Cisco UCS Central in a large-scale multi-domain Cisco UCS environment. The physical connection of Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers within a domain is also simplified.
Features and Benefits
Service Profiles
An important feature of Cisco UCS Manager is its use of service profiles to provision and manage Cisco UCS blade servers and rack servers and their I/O properties within a single management domain. Service profiles are created by server, network, and storage administrators and are stored in the Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects. Infrastructure policies needed to deploy applications are encapsulated in the service profiles. The policies coordinate and automate element management at every layer of the hardware stack, including RAID levels, BIOS settings, firmware revisions and settings, server identities, adapter settings, VLAN and VSAN network settings, network quality of service (QoS), and data center connectivity.
The service profile consists of a software definition of a server and the associated LAN and SAN connectivity that the server requires. When a service profile is associated with a server, Cisco UCS Manager automatically configures the server, adapters, fabric extenders, and fabric interconnects to match the configuration specified in the service profile. Service profiles improve IT productivity and business agility. With service profiles, infrastructure can be provisioned in minutes instead of days, shifting the focus of IT from maintenance to strategic initiatives. Service profiles enable preprovisioning of servers, making it possible to configure new servers and associated LAN and SAN access settings even before the servers are physically deployed.
Service profiles benefit both virtualized and nonvirtualized environments. Workloads may need to be moved from one server to another to change the hardware resources assigned to a workload or to take a server offline for maintenance. Service profiles can be used to increase the mobility of nonvirtualized servers. They also can be used in conjunction with virtual clusters to bring new resources online easily, complementing existing virtual machine mobility. Service profiles are also used to enable Cisco Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM‑FEX) capabilities for servers that will run hypervisors enabled for Cisco Data Center VM-FEX.
Service Profile Templates
Service profile templates are used to simplify the creation of new service profiles, helping ensure consistent policies within the system for a given service or application. Whereas a service profile is a description of a logical server and there is a one-to-one relationship between the profile and the physical server, a service profile template can be used to define multiple servers. The template approach makes it just as easy to configure one server or hundreds of servers with perhaps thousands of virtual machines. This automation reduces the number of manual steps needed, helping reduce the opportunities for human error, improving consistency, and further reducing server and network deployment times.
Management Interface Options
Cisco UCS Manager has a GUI as well as a CLI for use by server, network, and storage administrators. Cisco UCS Manager also provides a powerful XML API for integration with existing data center systems management tools. Some examples of additional management interfaces are Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI); keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM); serial-over-LAN (SoL); and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). The XML interface allows the entire system to be monitored or configured externally by higher-level systems management tools from Cisco's many ecosystem partners. Figure 1 shows the Cisco UCS Manager GUI showing components in a Cisco UCS server chassis.
Table 1 summarizes the main features of Cisco UCS Manager.
Table 1. Features and Benefits
Embedded device management
Cisco UCS Manager is delivered embedded in the Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects. It is not a separate entity, and no separate management station or associated software is needed.
Service profiles
The service profile allows Cisco UCS servers to be treated as raw computing capacity that can be allocated and reallocated among application workloads, enabling a much more dynamic and efficient use of the server capacity than exists in today's data centers. Server deployment with service profiles takes minutes instead of the many days or weeks that server deployment takes in many existing data centers. Service profile templates help ensure consistent policies within the system for a given service or application.
Policy-based management
Cisco UCS Manager implements policy-based management of the Cisco UCS server and network resources. Network, storage, and server administrators all participate in creating policies in their areas of domain expertise. Policies are consumed in service profiles, allowing Cisco UCS Manager to fully configure the servers, adapters, and fabric extenders and the appropriate isolation, QoS, and uplink connectivity on the Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects.
Firmware provisioning
Cisco UCS Manager provides an easier, faster, more flexible, and unified solution for managing firmware across the entire hardware stack than traditional approaches to server firmware provisioning. Using service profiles, administrators can associate any compatible firmware with any component of the hardware stack. After the firmware versions are downloaded from Cisco, they can be provisioned within minutes on components in the server, fabric interconnect, and fabric extender based on the required network, server, and storage policies for each application and operating system. The firmware auto-installation capability simplifies the upgrade process by automatically sequencing and applying upgrades to individual system elements.
Autodiscovery and dynamic pooling
Cisco UCS Manager automatically discovers devices that are added, moved, or removed from the system; adds them to its inventory; and applies service profile configurations as appropriate. Using policies, servers can be automatically grouped into dynamic pools based on capacity, scale, or performance as they are discovered.
Storage topology flexibility
Cisco UCS Manager supports a variety of storage topologies with multihop Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), Fibre Channel zoning, and unified connect with NetApp storage.
Cisco Data Center VM-FEX
Cisco UCS implements Cisco Data Center VM-FEX technology. This technology consolidates virtual and physical networking resources into a single infrastructure. Data center administrators can use it to provision, configure, manage, monitor, and diagnose virtual machine network traffic and bare-metal network traffic within a unified infrastructure.
GUI and CLI
All aspects of Cisco UCS Manager can be controlled through a Java-based GUI that is automatically downloaded from the Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects or through a fully functional CLI.
XML-based API
A full-featured XML API exposing more than 9000 objects provides powerful new opportunities for service providers, ISVs, and users interested in customizing the behavior of Cisco UCS to enhance its value in their own unique environments.
Integration with leading systems management solutions
Tested, optimized integration with higher-level systems tools covering the entire operation lifecycle, from orchestration through deployment to monitoring and analysis, helps IT ensure transparent workload migration and simplified operations and accelerate service delivery, using familiar processes and tools.
Role-based access control (RBAC)
RBAC simplifies operating tasks that span server, network, and storage administrator teams, while preserving the specialized knowledge that exists in each group. This approach allows subject-matter experts to continue with their normal procedures, but all the configuration data is captured in a single, unified device manager, instead of in the separate, individual device managers that exist in today's data centers.
High availability
Cisco UCS Manager is designed for enterprise data centers that require high availability. Two fully redundant instances of Cisco UCS Manager are replicated across a pair of Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects, so the loss of a single fabric interconnect will not affect Cisco UCS Manager access or use.
One Cisco UCS Manager instance can manage two Cisco UCS 6200 or 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects, up to 20 Cisco UCS 5100 Series Chassis, up to 40 total Cisco UCS 2200 or 2100 Series Fabric Extenders, and 160 Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers or Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers.
Cisco® Call Home support
The Cisco Call Home feature provides proactive diagnostic information and real-time alerts when problems are detected.
Management Scope
Cisco UCS Manager provides end-to-end management of all the devices in the Cisco UCS domain it manages. Devices that are uplinked from the fabric interconnect must be managed by their respective management applications.
Cisco UCS Manager is provided at no additional charge with every Cisco UCS platform.
No Additional System Requirements
Cisco UCS Manager resides as embedded software on the Cisco UCS fabric interconnects, fabric extenders, servers, and adapters. No external management server is required, thereby simplifying administration and reducing capital expenses for the management environment. The communication between the Cisco UCS Manager on the fabric interconnect and the subsidiary functions found in the fabric extenders, chassis, servers, and adapters is built in and automatic. This feature reduces the challenges and costs associated with implementation and maintenance of connectivity between traditional central management servers and the devices they are tasked with managing.
Why Cisco?
Cisco has significant experience in responding to customer requirements with solid technology innovations for the enterprise data center. Enhancing Cisco's ability to deliver standards-based solutions is a broad ecosystem of industry-leading partners that provide end-to-end customer solutions and services that can accelerate the transition to a unified computing architecture. Unified computing elevates the traditional product classification of network, server, storage, operating systems, and applications to a data center-wide vision. Cisco Unified Computing Services helps our customers quickly deploy data center resources, simplify ongoing operations, and optimize infrastructure to better meet business needs. For more information about these and other Cisco Data Center Services offerings, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/unifiedcomputingservices.
For More Information
● Understanding Cisco UCS Manager Service Profiles (white paper): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10281/white_paper_c11-590518.html.
● Cisco UCS Manager Architecture (white paper): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10281/white_paper_c11-525344.html.
● Manage Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers (white paper): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10281/whitepaper_c11-701809.html
● Cisco Unified Computing: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/netsol/ns944/index.html
● Cisco UCS Manager: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/products/ps10281/index.html
● Forrester Report, Total Economic Impact of the Cisco UCS: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns517/ns224/ns944/total_economic_impact_forrester_research.pdf


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The name "Illinois" derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa -"he speaks the regular way".
Representing the Illinois diverse economic base, and major transportation hub.
- All-weather vinyl sticker
- Die cut to state shape
- Size: Approximately 2 x 4 inches
- Sticky back for outside placement
- High quality vinyl, UV protection, and waterproof
This is a decorative, self adhesive, laminated, easy to apply vinyl sticker. Ensure that the surface that you are applying the sticker to is dry and clean while sticking on it. Lifespan is of 3-5 years depending on the environmental conditions.
Clean a smooth, flat surface, dry, apply sticker from the center and smooth outward.
On occasion, air bubbles can appear during application, simply pop any bubbles with a pin and press air out. Repeat as necessary.
Place on any smooth surface: water bottle, car, bicycle, phone, laptop, etc.
Our Stickers are professionally made to make it so easy that anyone can do it without a problem.


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Italian Garlic Toast
"EVERY Italian meal must have its garlic bread, and this recipe is not only delicious but also attractive. It's rich which cheese and butter and colorful with paprika. Auntie Ann always waited until we were all seated before bringing out her garlic bread, warm from the oven."
- 1 loaf (1 pound) unsliced French bread
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Paprika
- 1. Split bread lengthwise; place, cut side up, on a large baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine butter, cheese, garlic and oregano; brush onto cut surfaces of bread. Sprinkle with paprika.
- 2. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until lightly toasted. Serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
© 2020 RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC


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There are some clinical trials starting and there are some that have already started. Please help me update this list. These are the ones that are supposed to start-up in 2007. Those groups already in the treatment phase are not included (Lima, Novosibirsk, Huang [fetal olfactory cells], Cells4Health, etc.) since these are not clinical trials, but active treatments.
1) Kierstad, USA, hESC, acute only
2) Huang Hongyun, China, combination therapy, chronics
3) Wise Young, China, combination therapy, acutes and chronics
4) Darwin Prockop, USA, adult stem cells, acute only
5) Borgens, USA, electromagnetic fields/inosine
6) Raisman, UK, OEC
Please help me update this list. Groups such as Neuraxo-Biotec (cordaneurin [acutes] and chordachron [chronics]), Novartis (Nogo), Aventis (HP184) and others need to be listed but I know little about the current status of these trials.


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- Description
- Features & Specs
- Images
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- More Info
- Reviews
Today's service pro is smarter, faster, and has more to do than ever before. Shouldn't their equipment match? That's why year after year, more people are turning to Ranger for exceptional quality advanced automotive service products.
Ranger has developed the RTB-8D 8-Drawer Super-Wide, along with the entire Super-Wide series, to outlast and outperform the rest. Top-notch materials, rugged construction, superior design, generous space, tons of features and killer looks are all part of what makes these tool chests pure Ranger. This unit is designed to be the perfect starting point for a new garage or an expansion kit for your existing storage setup. The RTB-8D is Ranger's top-of-the-line tool chest topper and it features 4 standard-width drawers and 4 extra-wide drawers. The proof of quality is in the weight of the chest, and this beast weighs a whopping 135 lbs. without a single tool in it! The RTB-8D comes equipped with a protective rubber top mat, turning your new 8-drawer tool chest into a convenient mechanic's workstation. And if you ever need even more storage, safely stack the RTB-8D on top of the RTB-13DC 13-Drawer Super-Wide Tool Cabinet. That's the beauty of the entire Ranger tool storage system: the superb modular design allows your storage space to grow at the same rate as your tool collection.
Just don't make the mistake of confusing these high-quality tool storage units with your typical run-of-the-mill, mass produced, lightweight junk boxes. Those flimsy drawers with their "lunchbox" construction have nothing on Ranger's line of commercial-grade toolboxes and cabinets. All Ranger toolboxes are built with the strictest quality standards. They feature high-grade 16-gauge and 18-gauge steel cabinets and drawers, welded continuous beam construction and rolled edges for better durability, added strength and safety. Each toolbox sports full-length brushed aluminum drawer handles that incorporate replaceable drawer identification labels with see-through plastic covers. Covered in the triple-baked, protective powder coat paint finish, our chests resist scratches, oil, dirt and most solvents. The drawers alone make these cases an incredible value. Each one features finger-release locks on the slides to allow for easy removal and cleaning. Rugged, full extension, double acting HD-chrome ball bearing drawer slides permit smooth drawer extension and the slide-limit stops keep drawers from extending beyond the chest frame. "Lok-Latch" drawer latching system keeps drawers secure when closed and the tamper-proof, tumbler key-lock rear pivot drawer locking system cannot be reached by bolt cutters or hacksaw. Multiple drawer selections offer convenient sizes for storing a wide variety of equipment, in addition to bulk-storage of large tools and miscellaneous repair items. As an added convenience, padded rubber drawer liners come standard and built-in large, tubular steel push / pull handles allow for easy handling. Ranger cabinets also feature durable internal cage construction and reinforced sidewalls. Heavy-gauge steel top, bottom and back panels are securely welded to those internal cage sidewalls for maximum strength. 1-piece bottom panels are welded outside the cabinet, providing a solid foundation to help absorb bumps and eliminate stress on the cabinet spot welds. Finally, easy-roll, low-drag, heavy-duty fixed and swivel urethane casters with toe brakes can be used in most wet or corrosive environments.
Ranger's got the competition beat on every front. Need more proof? Just check the shipping weight. Pound for pound, Ranger cabinets and boxes are the very best value in their class.
Want a Super-Wide tool chest topper with a sturdy lid instead of a rubber top? Check out the RTB-8DT.
- Extra-wide body design
- Protective rubber top mat
- Brushed aluminum drawer handles
- Chrome side handles
- Electrostatic triple-baked protective powder coat
- Glossy red finish
- Rubber drawer liners
- Full-extension / full-width drawers
- Rolled edges for added strength and rigidity
- Double rolled hinged lid with chrome lid stays
- Full-extension ball bearing drawer slides
- Tumbler key-lock pivot drawer latching system
- Durable roll-cage continuous beam construction
- Width: 41-1/2" / 1,054 mm
- Height: 19" / 483 mm
- Depth: 18-1/2" / 470 mm
- Total number of drawers: 8
- Left 4 drawer dimensions: 23-1/2" x 15-3/4" x 3" / 597 mm x 400 mm x 73 mm
- Right 4 drawer dimensions: 13-1/4" x 15-3/4" x 3" / 337 mm x 400 mm x 73 mm
- Shipping weight: 134 lbs. / 61 kg
- Shipping dimensions: 21" x 44" x 21" / 533 mm x 1,118 mm x 533 mm
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Ranger Tool Storage Cabinet 13-Drawer RTB-13DC
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Freedom in the World
Freedom in the World 2008
Global Freedom in Retreat
The year 2007 was marked by a notable setback for global freedom, Freedom House reported in a worldwide survey of freedom released today.
The decline in freedom, as reported in Freedom in the World 2008, an annual survey of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, was reflected in reversals in one-fifth of the world's countries. Most pronounced in South Asia, it also reached significant levels in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. A substantial number of politically important countries whose declines have broad regional and global implications—including Russia, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Venezuela—were affected.
"This year's results show a profoundly disturbing deterioration of freedom worldwide," said Arch Puddington, director of research at Freedom House. "A number of countries that had previously shown progress toward democracy have regressed, while none of the most influential Not Free states showed signs of improvement. As the second consecutive year that the survey has registered a global decline in political rights and civil liberties, friends of freedom worldwide have real cause for concern."
While the profile of world freedom as measured by the number of countries designated in Freedom in the World as Free, Partly Free, or Not Free changed little during the past year, there were many negative changes within these broad categories. In all, nearly four times as many countries showed declines during the year as registered improvement.
Many of the countries that moved backward were already designated Not Free by the survey. The past year saw the intensification of an effort by authoritarian regimes—Egypt and Pakistan are two examples—to consolidate power through the suppression of democratic opposition, civil society, and independent media in their own societies. Especially important in carrying out this assault on freedom of association was a group of market-oriented autocracies and energy-rich dictatorships, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and China.
Not one of the countries that registered the lowest possible scores in the Freedom House index—the "worst of the worst"—exhibited signs of improvement. This represents a break from a trend formerly observable even in past years when world freedom stagnated or declined, in which progress was registered in some of the world's most tightly controlled dictatorships.
Just as concerning, countries that had made progress towards freedom in recent years took significant steps backwards. In Asia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines all saw declines in their ratings. In the Middle East, hopes for movement forward in Palestine and Lebanon were dampened by negative trends in the last year in both countries. The deterioration within Nigeria and Kenya, two of Africa's most important countries, should be of great concern for those who had hoped that the incremental gains of recent years would continue. Two countries that had "color" revolutions in past years—Kyrgyzstan and Georgia—also saw disturbing declines.
Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, urged supporters of freedom to redouble their efforts to support freedom's advocates and activists in other societies. "Right now, authoritarian regimes have been able to use their influence to slow freedom's advance and, in some cases, reverse positive progress. Democratic governments have not worked together effectively to counter these trends. Those who support freedom—both governments as well as nongovernmental actors—must get serious and redouble their efforts to support the frontline defenders of democracy who are under duress," said Ms. Windsor.
Free: The number of countries judged by Freedom in the World as Free in 2007 stood at 90, representing 46 percent of the global population. The number of Free countries did not change from the previous year's survey.
Partly Free: The number of countries qualifying as Partly Free stood at 60, or 18 percent of the world population. The number of Partly Free countries increased by two from the previous year, as Thailand and Togo both moved from Not Free to Partly Free.
Not Free: Forty-three countries were judged Not Free, representing 36 percent of the global population. The number of Not Free countries declined by two from 2006. One territory, the Palestinian Authority, declined from Partly Free to Not Free.
Electoral Democracies: The number of electoral democracies dropped by two and totals 121. One country, Mauritania, qualified to join the world's electoral democracies in 2007. Developments in three countries—Philippines, Bangladesh and Kenya—disqualified them from the electoral democracy list.
Asia: A number of Asia's most important countries, many on the Indian subcontinent, suffered setbacks in freedom during 2007. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka all experienced downturns due to increased restrictions on civil society and, in three of the four cases, increased military activity. Declines were also noted in the Philippines, Burma, and Malaysia. A positive development in the region was the improvement of Thailand from Not Free to Partly Free due to the holding of elections by year's end.
Former Soviet Union/Central and Eastern Europe: In the formerly communist countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan—all countries with entrenched authoritarian leaderships and growing energy wealth—registered declines in 2007. Former democratic aspirants Georgia and Kyrgyzstan also moved backwards in 2007. In contrast, however, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe continued to move ahead with the process of democratic consolidation. Poland showed a modest gain, while Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina registered slight declines.
Middle East and North Africa: The period of modest gains that had marked the political landscape of the Middle East in the post-9/11 period came to an end in 2007. Backward movement was registered in three important countries of the Arab Middle East: Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. Major declines were also noted in both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli-Occupied Territories. Tunisia, long one of the region's most repressive states, also experienced a further decline in political rights in 2007.
Sub-Saharan Africa: While Sub-Saharan Africa has made incremental if uneven progress in the last several years, 2007 saw an overall deterioration of freedom on the continent. Fifteen countries registered reversals, while six countries marked improvements. Togo moved from Not Free to Partly Free, and Mauritania was designated an electoral democracy this year. Two countries that were conflict zones, Cote d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone, showed major improvements, as did Mozambique and Rwanda. However, political manipulation of ethnic tensions and intolerance by many of the region's leaders were important factors in the declines of a number of countries, including Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria. Mali and Niger registered declines in civil liberties, while in East Africa, Somalia's already low score declined further. Other countries that showed declines included Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Comoros, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Guinea- Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Malawi.
Americas: Latin America today is largely governed by parties that have demonstrated a commitment to the electoral process, freedom of expression, and a broad range of civil liberties. However, Freedom in the World judged that freedom in Venezuela remained under duress, and Nicaragua also suffered a decline. On the positive side, Haiti showed signs of modest progress.
Western Europe and North America: Both North America and, with a few exceptions, Western Europe received the highest ratings on the Freedom House index. However, the flawed response to an upsurge in immigration in Europe and the United States has revealed potentially serious imperfections in these countries' democratic systems, especially in Western Europe. Furthermore, they continued to grapple with problems posed by the continued threat of Islamic terrorism.
Note: Click on the second tab below for reports on individual countries and territories. Territories are identified with asterisks.


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Nicko McBrain's Wife to Face Judge After Alleged Assault
The wife of Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was arrested on domestic battery charges back in February after apparently attempting to stab the heavy metal stickman, in addition to throwing logs at him, at their Boca Raton, Fla., home. Rebecca McBrain is now set to face a judge on May 3 to defend herself against the charges.
Update: The Boca News Now website has altered its story to report that it is now unclear whether the man who was allegedly attacked is Nicko McBrain. The rest of this article has been updated to reflect this new information.
According to a March 10 article from Boca News Now, Rebecca was arrested Feb. 24 when she allegedly tried unsuccessfully to stab two individuals with a decorative lance.
Additionally, she is accused of throwing fire pit logs at the two people, causing minor injuries. She was freed upon posting $3,000 bond after being booked at Palm Beach County Jail.
In an update posted April 17, Boca News Now initially reported that one of the people she assaulted was Nicko himself. However, the website later changed the story to report that it is unclear whether the victim in this case is Nicko. Either way, Rebecca will face a judge May 3 after entering a 'not guilty' plea on the charges.
Rebecca and Nicko have been married since the late '80s, and the drummer played on and produced a solo album called 'Voyager' released by his wife in the early 2000s. Listen to one of the songs in the player below.
Rebecca McBrain, 'Voyager'