Liberty, with 15-20 record, earns NCAA berth

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) ? Liberty coach Dale Layer doesn't care how many losses it took to get his players to the NCAA tournament.

The Flames became just the second 20-loss team to reach college basketball's marquee event, beating Charleston Southern 87-76 Sunday to win the Big South Conference title. Liberty opened the season with eight straight losses and had never won more than three in a row until this week. Yet, it joined Coppin State in 2008 as the only schools with 20 or more defeats in the field of 68.

The Flames' .429 winning percentage (15-20) is the lowest for an NCAA tournament team since Oakland (Michigan) had a 12-18 record (.400) in 2005.

"That's awesome," the fourth-year coach said of his team. "We've got the hats, right?"

Yes, you do, Coach.

The Flames finished their best stretch of basketball this year, winning their fifth in a row ? and their fourth game since Tuesday ? to take their first Big South tournament crown since 2004. John Caleb Sanders led the way with 27 points and tournament MVP Davon Marshall had 20 off six 3-pointers.

Marshall and Sanders got things going in a hurry over top-seeded Charleston Southern (19-12) with 3-pointers in the first 90 seconds ? and the Flames barely lost their outside touch. Marshall was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc and Liberty finished 9 of 18 on long-range baskets.

The performance ended a hard-to-imagine run through the field where Liberty defeated home-standing Coastal Carolina and both Big South divisional winners in High Point and Charleston Southern. Sanders said the team began to believe when they topped the Chanticleers 78-61. "When you can beat Coastal by 20 on their home floor, we knew we could beat anybody in this tournament," he said.

That played out over the week at the HTC Center with the improbable run.

"We've played four of our best games in these four games of the tournament," Sanders said. "Talk about peaking at the exact right time."

Count on Liberty being near the bottom of the 68 NCAA seeds and a likely candidate for the tournament's first-four contests. Sanders says he and the Flames don't care which opponent they face.

"I feel like if we do us, we can give them a game," he said.

Saah Nimley had 18 points to lead the Buccaneers, who as the Big South's regular-season champs will play in the NIT.

The Flames and their cheerleaders rushed the court when the game ended, the players piling on top of each other in celebration. And why not, since Liberty was among the longest of longshots to be cutting down the nets in this one?

Liberty will try and pull off a Big South tournament double later Sunday when its top-seeded women's team takes on Longwood for that NCAA berth. The Flames women have won 14 of the past 16 Big South tournament titles.

The Flames fell behind for a final time, 40-37, on Arlon Harper's 3-pointer with 18:10 lead. That's when Sanders' jumper started a 17-7 run the next six minutes to take control. The charge was capped by Marshall's long 3-pointer that put Liberty ahead 54-47. The lead eventually grew to 14 points as the Bucs could not match Liberty's success from the field.

Charleston Southern was just 9 of 28 from behind the arc and Nimley, who made the all-Big South Conference team, was just 1 of 7 from three. The Bucs finished with five players in double figures.

Buccaneers coach Barclay Radebaugh said he told people after his team's 79-75 victory at Liberty on Jan. 26 that he wanted no part of what the Flames were building a second time.

"I think they're lying in wait," he said. "That's a scary team. They've got size, they've got depth. They're guards are good. They're strong."

Charleston Southern came in the tournament's top seed and would have hosted this final under the Big South's old home-court format. The league began a three-year deal to play at the recently opened, $35 million HTC Center on the campus of Big South member Coastal Carolina ? about 10 miles or so west of South Carolina's Grand Strand, Myrtle Beach resort area.

The Buccaneers hadn't been to a Big South final since 2005 and last won in 1997, also the last time they advanced to the NCAA tournament. They got to the championship by defeating Winthrop in the tournament opener and rallied from 5 points down at the half to oust VMI, 71-65.

Charleston Southern had gone from nine victories in 2009 to back-to-back 19-win seasons the past two years. Both their leading scorers in Nimley and Harper are sophomores so Radebaugh believes the Bucs aren't done contending for Big South crowns. First things first, though.

"I'm really looking forward to the NIT," Radebaugh said. "It's not going to be a show up game for us."

Liberty was next to last in the Big South's six-team North Division. That's when the Flames found their game, topping host Coastal Carolina in the opening round before knocking off one of the tournament favorites in High Point, 61-60, in the quarterfinals. The Flames led throughout against High Point, taking a 19-point lead and holding on.

Liberty kept the run going on Saturday with a win over Gardner-Webb.

The Flames didn't let up against Charleston Southern. Sanders, the team's leading scorer this year at 13 points a game, nearly reached that mark with 12 points in the period while Marshall added 11.

Tavares Speaks hit a bucket as the halftime buzzer sounded that put the Flames ahead 35-34 heading into the break. Speaks ended the game with 18 points.

Layer previously led Colorado State into the NCAAs back in 2003. He said it was difficult to compare experiences and chooses to concentrate on his happy players, snipping away at basketball nets to take back to campus.

"It's life changing. I'm just looking at their faces and trying to soak in every moment," he said. "That's what you're doing this for."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/liberty-15-20-record-earns-ncaa-berth-183606220--spt.html

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Ch?vez funeral: How do you spot a true Ch?vista?

They spend all day in line in the searing heat for a chance to pay their respects. For Hugo Ch?vez?s supporters, waiting in line for 12 hours or more to spend a few seconds in front of his coffin has become something of a required pilgrimage.

?It?s something that all Chavistas should do. Something they need to do,? says Higdalia Az?car, who was not deterred by stories of daylong waits ?We came here for the love. We wouldn?t miss it.?

The line stretches for miles, weaving through shade and sunlight, past public parks and in front of the bleachers where Venezuelans watched Ch?vez salute military parades.

RECOMMENDED: Hugo Ch?vez 101: a quiz about Venezuela's president

On Friday morning, state-run television said more than 2 millions Venezuelans had made the trip to the low-slung military academy where Ch?vez?s open casket has been since Wednesday.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who will be sworn in as interim president this evening, on Thursday extended the viewing for an additional seven days due to the response. Thereafter, Ch?vez?s body will be embalmed, much the way Russia?s Vladmir Lenin and China?s Mao Zedong were, and displayed in a glass case for eternity, Mr. Maduro says.

Once inside, visitors said they saw Ch?vez wearing his signature red beret and sash. Photography was not permitted, but visitors say that on Wednesday and Thursday, Ch?vez was dressed in a blue suit. That was swapped out this morning ? before his funeral ? for his military fatigues.

?I was filled with sadness when I approached his casket,? says Juana Uscategui, an elementary school teacher. She waited 15 hours in a wheelchair to catch a glimpse. ?When I finally saw, I was overcome with joy, as he was finally resting. He wore his red hat, his suit and medals. He was beautiful.?

For Lenin Benitez, a political organizer, it was a two-day journey.

After driving overnight from the state of Lara in the northwest, he queued up because it was ?necessary to see him again and to show to the world that Venezuela stood with their president.?

He adored the idea of embalming the president.

?In the rest of the world, people tell their children stories about fictitious heroes, like Batman and Robin,? Mr. Benitez says. ?Here in Venezuela, we can tell our story of Hugo Ch?vez and his deeds. But more than that, we can show him to our children and continue to inspire the revolution.?

RECOMMENDED: Hugo Ch?vez 101: a quiz about Venezuela's president

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ch-vez-funeral-spot-true-ch-vista-230526342.html

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Fellowship Announcement: Rutgers Institute for Law & Philosophy

The Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy is soliciting applications for its Visiting Fellows program. This program is intended to attract scholars in law and philosophy who can contribute to the life of the Rutgers law and philosophy community. We welcome scholars from any stage of their career who would like to spend a semester or the academic year at Rutgers Law in Camden. We will provide office space, a computer and IT support, and a very modest research stipend. Applicants will need to provide their own funding.

The Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy is among the most active such centers in the nation. In the past twelve months alone, we have hosted conferences on criminal law theory, law and neuroscience, and tort theory. A full list of the events that we have hosted is available here: http://lawandphil.rutgers.edu/past-conferences.

To apply, please email lawandphil@rutgers.edu with your CV.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2013/03/fellowship-announcement-rutgers-institute-for-law-philosophy.html

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From 'Moneyball' to Money Bombs: What Sports Analytics Can Teach Political Nerds (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/289961367?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Universal Preschool: How It Would Impact Your Family?and the ...

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama proposed making high-quality preschool available to all children in the United States.

?Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on?by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime,? he said.

Since then, the pundits have been scrutinizing whether such education for youngsters actually has substantial benefits.

In fact, a number of studies show that there are long-lasting benefits. But, as it goes when studying something as intangible as the long-term effects of preschool, other studies seem to indicate that the advantages of a preschool education fade by third grade.

While the proposal is still in the early stages of being sketched out?the administration hasn?t yet detailed how it plans to pay for the program, though it could do so in Obama?s budget, expected in March?we dive into the numbers to see whether this investment by society is a waste of money or boon to us all.

In the State of the Union, Obama said, ?Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America,? but his proposal?is actually more limited. It aims to provide federal matching dollars to states to provide public preschool to all four-year-olds from families with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty limit, which for a family of four would be $47,100. States who expand public pre-K slots to middle-class families would be eligible for more funding, and those families would pay tuition rates based on a sliding scale.?

RELATED: Obama?s State of the Union Address: What You Need to Know

As Sara Watson, director of Ready Nation, a group of business leaders that supports early childhood policies, said, his plan targets ?families who are the working poor?ones who are working but at minimum-wage jobs. They make too much to qualify for Head Start??a federal program that offers education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to support low-income children and their families??but not enough to pay for preschool.?

The president?s proposal could also have an effect on the quality of preschool education. His plan will take some cues from an Alabama program that requires preschools to?employ teachers with bachelor?s degrees in early childhood education or child development, to have class sizes of less than 20 children, and to follow a state-approved curriculum.

Additionally, although much of the attention has been on his preschool proposal, Obama actually intends to address a whole spectrum of issues from birth through kindergarten entry. He also plans to:

• Invest in a new ?Early Head Start-Child Care partnership? that would expand and improve early learning programs for infants and toddlers.
• Expand voluntary home-visiting services that allow nurses, social workers and other professionals to connect families to services aimed at improving a child?s health, development and ability to learn.?

Watson says of home visiting,??highly trained professionals work with expectant and new parents to teach them to be great nurturers of their children. They learn how to soothe them, nurture them, teach them and read to them from a very early age. Those seemingly simple parenting actions make a big difference in children being able to learn.?

Source: http://www.learnvest.com/2013/03/universal-preschool-how-it-would-impact-your-family-and-the-economy/

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Tim Valenti: Australia Censors Gay Film: What Gay Filmmaking Can Learn From Porn

I've worked in the gay porn industry for over a decade -- producing, distributing, and making hardcore sex films. Two years ago, an unusual proposal came across my desk. A young filmmaker named Travis Mathews was looking to direct his first feature, a frank meditation on gay life in San Francisco called I Want Your Love, and he thought I might be able to help. He was looking for backers. It turned out, I could do a lot more.

We took on the project because we liked it. And because we were familiar with the gay market. But we also knew that we could give something to I Want Your Love that another, more traditional distributor couldn't: freedom.

From its early days, gay filmmaking has faced constraints when finding an audience that straight filmmakers don't. Earlier gay filmmakers, like Jack Smith and Kenneth Anger faced obscenity prosecution for even broaching the subject of sexuality. In the late '60s, even featuring someone in drag could result in an X rating. The culture has changed dramatically since then, but in some ways gay filmmakers still face challenges in bringing their movies to a market. Just this week, Australian censors banned I Want Your Love from screening at all in the country -- even at festivals.

It's too bad for them. I Want Your Love is a tremendous film, part meditation on gay identity, part love letter to San Francisco. It also happens to include segments with explicit gay sex. Watching the film evolve it struck me as to the difference between gay film and straight films. Unlike straight filmmakers that tend to play up the heat, gay filmmakers tend to de-sensationalize the sex, to make it seamless within a story, to play it down. Sex is an integral part of our lives, but that doesn't stop outsiders -- or traditional distributors -- from labeling it obscene or pornographic.

I Want Your Love has much in common with those early gay filmmakers -- and I think it also offers a way forward. Part of the reason I was so intrigued by the film as a producer was because I don't shy away from sex. And I knew that unlike mainstream distributors, we could help allow Travis to produce a version of the film that wasn't compromised by outdated ratings codes or theatrical discomfort. I Want Your Love screened at festivals across the country last year -- including a packed house at Lincoln Center, but when it's released this Monday, it's main distribution platform will be VOD -- video-on-demand.

Video-on-demand, a platform pioneered by porn companies like NakedSword, holds the possibility of a new era of gay filmmaking. Gay film festivals in places like New York, San Francisco and Provincetown will remain cultural events, but distribution -- the lifeblood of filmmaking -- will be increasingly virtual, allowing them to reach a larger and more targeted audience, and hopefully to finance their next project.

You see, porn hasn't had a theatrical revenue base for almost forty years. And what we've done in the meantime has been to build up email lists, to learn audience behaviors, and find ways to bypass the gatekeepers. We've always been the insurgents of the film community, with more in common with Roger Corman than any Burbank studio exec.

What does this mean for gay film? It means that our lives can be told in more varied, complex stories -- and still be profitable. It's like the difference between CBS and Netflix. To make a program successful, CBS needs to reach a broadest possible audience. Netflix, on the other hand, can create a successful production just by targeting a very specific segment of a larger audience. In many ways, this is what porn has been doing for years.

We're eager to help I Want Your Love find that audience, so that more stories like it can be told. People always ask me about the unlikely partnership between an indie filmmaker and a porn company. After all, if it were just about the money we could have made a more explicit film much more cheaply. So I tell them that it's not so much about the sex as it is the love -- for the audience, for the community, for the future of gay filmmaking.

?

Follow Tim Valenti on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NakedSwordTim

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-valenti/i-want-your-love-gay-film_b_2819335.html

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North Korea vows nuclear strike on U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea vowed on Thursday to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, amplifying its threatening rhetoric hours ahead of a vote by U.N. diplomats on whether to level new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

An unidentified spokesman for Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said the North will exercise its right for "a preemptive nuclear attack to destroy the strongholds of the aggressors" because Washington is pushing to start a nuclear war against the North.

Although North Korea boasts of nuclear bombs and pre-emptive strikes, it is not thought to have mastered the ability to produce a warhead small enough to put on a missile capable of reaching the U.S. It is believed to have enough nuclear fuel, however, for several crude nuclear devices.

Such inflammatory rhetoric is common from North Korea, and especially so in recent days. North Korea is angry over the possible sanctions and over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills. At a mass rally in Pyongyang on Thursday, tens of thousands of North Koreans protested the U.S.-South Korean war drills and sanctions.

"Now our enemies are trying to make additional sanctions against us, but we can never accept this," said Ri Kum Il, a Pyongyang citizen at the rally. "We will make a preemptive nuclear attack against our enemies wherever they are and turn their strongholds into a sea of flames."

The U.N. Security Council is set to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Pyongyang in a fresh attempt to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current council president, said the council would vote on the draft sanctions resolution Thursday morning.

The resolution was drafted by the United States and China, North Korea's closest ally. The council's agreement to put the resolution to a vote just 48 hours later signaled that it would almost certainly have the support of all 15 council members.

The statement by the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

It accused the U.S. of leading efforts to slap sanctions on North Korea. The statement said the new sanctions would only advance the timing for North Korea to fulfill previous vows to take "powerful second and third countermeasures" against its enemies. It hasn't elaborated on those measures.

The statement said North Korea "strongly warns the U.N. Security Council not to make another big blunder like the one in the past when it earned the inveterate grudge of the Korean nation by acting as a war servant for the U.S. in 1950."

North Korea demanded the U.N. Security Council immediately dismantle the American-led U.N. Command that's based in Seoul and move to end the state of war that exists on the Korean Peninsula, which continues six decades after fighting stopped because an armistice, not a peace treaty, ended the war.

In anticipation of the resolution's adoption, North Korea earlier in the week threatened to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War.

North Korean threats have become more common as tensions have escalated following a rocket launch by Pyongyang in December and its third nuclear test on Feb. 12. Both acts defied three Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from testing or using nuclear or ballistic missile technology and from importing or exporting material for these programs.

U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said the proposed resolution, to be voted on at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), would impose some of the strongest sanctions ever ordered by the United Nations.

The final version of the draft resolution, released Wednesday, identified three individuals, one corporation and one organization that would be added to the U.N. sanctions list if the measure is approved.

The targets include top officials at a company that is the country's primary arms dealer and main exporter of ballistic missile-related equipment, and a national organization responsible for research and development of missiles and probably nuclear weapons.

The success of a new round of sanctions could depend on enforcement by China, where most of the companies and banks that North Korea is believed to work with are based.

The United States and other nations worry that North Korea's third nuclear test pushed it closer to its goal of gaining nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. The international community has condemned the regime's nuclear and missile efforts as threats to regional security and a drain on the resources that could go to North Korea's largely destitute people.

The draft resolution condemns the latest nuclear test "in the strongest terms" for violating and flagrantly disregarding council resolutions, bans further ballistic missile launches, nuclear tests "or any other provocation," and demands that North Korea return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It also condemns all of North Korea's ongoing nuclear activities, including its uranium enrichment.

But the proposed resolution stresses the council's commitment "to a peaceful, diplomatic and political solution" and urged a resumption of six-party talks with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula "in a peaceful manner."

The proposed resolution would make it significantly harder for North Korea to move around the funds it needs to carry out its illicit programs and strengthen existing sanctions and the inspection of suspect cargo bound to and from the country. It would also ban countries from exporting specific luxury goods to the North, including yachts, luxury automobiles, racing cars, and jewelry with semi-precious and precious stones and precious metals.

According to the draft, all countries would now be required to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to North Korea's nuclear or missile programs.

To get around financial sanctions, North Koreans have been carrying around large suitcases filled with cash to move illicit funds. The draft resolution expresses concern that these bulk cash transfers may be used to evade sanctions. It clarifies that the freeze on financial transactions and services that could violate sanctions applies to all cash transfers as well as the cash couriers.

The proposed resolution also bans all countries from providing public financial support for trade deals, such as granting export credits, guarantees or insurance, if the assistance could contribute to the North's nuclear or missile programs.

It includes what a senior diplomat called unprecedented new travel sanctions that would require countries to expel agents working for sanctioned North Korean companies.

The draft also requires states to inspect suspect cargo on their territory and prevent any vessel that refuses an inspection from entering their ports. And a new aviation measure calls on states to deny aircraft permission to take off, land or fly over their territory if illicit cargo is suspected to be aboard.

___

Lederer reported from the United Nations. Foster Klug in Seoul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/furious-over-sanctions-nkorea-vows-nuke-us-092213643.html

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