Customers may activate Verizon Wireless service at Fresh Wireless and shop for the latest in wireless technology including data services like two-way text messaging, picture messaging, V CAST service, which brings TV, music and other multimedia services to wireless phones, and the newest version of VZ Navigator(SM) which provides audible turn-by-turn directions and real-time traffic information over the company’s high-speed wireless network.
Verizon Wireless authorized retailers receive extensive training, as well as merchandising support and competitive commissions, after successfully completing a highly selective qualification process. Authorized retailers play a key role in the company’s retail sales distribution strategy which includes 2,400 company-owned and operated Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide.
Verizon Wireless is the only major carrier to offer a 30-day test drive of its network. If at any point during the 30-day Test Drive customers are not satisfied with their experience and take their number to another wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless will refund their money for their voice calls, equipment, activation fee and taxes, as well as release them from their contract without early termination fee when they return their phone within the Test Drive period.
Currently the company is looking for bilingual English-Spanish speaking entrepreneurs interested in joining the Verizon Wireless authorized agent team in
neighborhoods with large Spanish-speaking populations. For more information about becoming an exclusive Verizon Wireless authorized retailer send an e-mail to NewAgents@verizonwireless.com.
About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 67.2 million customers. Headquartered in
, with 69,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: www.verizonwireless.com . To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia .

earthtimes.org

Today we celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha I, the alii who united the Hawaiian Islands in 1795.
It’s a state holiday. Schools and farmers markets are closed, city buses operate on a holiday schedule and state government officials have the day off.
Because the king was born in North Kohala, the small Big Island community honors his birthday with hula performances, a hoolaulea (music festival) and statue decorating ceremonies. Besides Kapaau’s birthday activities, there are celebrations on Maui. Unfortunately, celebrations on Kauai have been cancelled.
The King Kamehameha I statue in Honolulu (pictured above) was decorated last Friday. Despite its fame among tourists, it’s not the original statue. It’s a replacement.
The original King Kamehameha statue stands in Kapaau (pictured left). It was lost at sea, repaired and painted to protect the statue from corrosion. Every year, volunteers wash the Kapaau statue with coconut-fiber brushes before the king’s birthday celebration.
For a more complete story on the Kapaau statue, read our May/June 2007 issue of HAWAII Magazine.
Did you know? The only other state holiday dedicated to Hawaii’s royalty is Prince Kuhio Day, which is held every year on March 26. In fact, without Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Piikoi, we wouldn’t have King Kamehameha Day.
In 1903, Kuhio created the Order of Kamehameha, an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of Kamehameha the Great. The following year, Kamehameha Day was observed for the first time. Today, one hundred and four years later, we’re still wishing King Kamehameha “Happy birthday.”

hawaiimagazine.com

[D]espite Obama’s surging national popularity and rhetorical identification with Latino political strength, many Latinos continue to harbor doubts about his candidacy. As this race enters its final stretch, Latinos owe Obama a second look.
But Obama had some appeal: he won Latinos in Virginia; he supported drivers licenses for illegal immigrants; he said those who blame immigrants for job losses were scapegoating (Clinton wouldn’t go far). And there was his well-pronounced Spanish in an ad in Puerto Rico.
So the decisive lead Gallup shows speaks well of Obama’s chances, given that Latino voters could make the difference in big swing states like Florida. But how important is the bloc? It’s said Latinos propelled Bush to victory, and could play a bigger role in 2008 [pdf], since more Latinos are registering to vote. But some have argued that their numbers are still too small to play a decisive role.
*Photo of Obama and Richardson courtesy Associated Press.

opinion.latimes.com

Reuters; Joe Raedle/Getty Images Robert F. Kennedy, left, is one of the iconic figures of America’s left. Barack Obama, right, has captured some of RFK’s qualities.
In his campaign to become America’s first black president, it is not surprising that Barack Obama would invoke a politician from a previous generation for whom black civil rights was not an issue, but a cause.
He did it in Washington last summer while speaking on poverty, another defining theme in the short political life of the mentor Mr. Obama never knew.
"It’s been four decades since Bobby Kennedy crouched in a shack along the Mississippi Delta and looked in the wide listless eyes of a hungry child," Mr. Obama said. Quoting Kennedy, he continued, "How can a country like this allow it?"
As the 40th anniversary next week of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassinationapproaches, comparisons between the patron saint of America’s left and the man who appears destined to become the next Democratic nominee are impossible to ignore.
Many believe it is Mr. Obama’s hands that will raise the torch dropped by Kennedy when Sirhan Sirhan pulled the trigger at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles soon after midnight on June 5, 1968.
Minutes after claiming victory in the Democratic primary in California, Kennedy was gunned down as he walked through a kitchen pantry shaking hands with chefs and waiters.
In the context of a violent time, it did not come as such a shock. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in Memphis just two months earlier. It was less than five years since Robert Kennedy’s brother, president John F. Kennedy, had been killed in Dallas.
In Vietnam, U. S. troops were dying at the rate of 100 a week. Racial tension exploded into riots in cities across America.
Yet four decades later, the last political assassination in the United States is still a raw wound — as Hillary Clinton discovered when, in a remark intended simply to convey that primary campaigns can be lengthy affairs, she mentioned Kennedy’s violent and untimely death.

nationalpost.com

(CNN)—Hillary Clinton’s landslide victory in West Virginia’s primary Tuesday proved the New York Senator is still in the race. In the latest installment of CNN=Politics Daily, CNN’s Jessica Yellin reports on Clinton’s call for cash and push toward the upcoming primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, while Barack Obama begins campaigning in the fall battleground states of Missouri and Michigan.
Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider reports on the voter trends in West Virginia that helped seal the deal for Clinton’s victory, while Chief National Correspondent John King uses his ‘magic wall’ to show what states and how many delegates the New York senator is looking to pick up in the handful of remaining contests.
Finally: The Kentucky and Oregon primaries are just around the corner on June 20. CNN’s Dan Lothian reports on the top concerns of voters in Kentucky.
Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.
The latest political news from CNN’s Best Political Team, with campaign coverage, 24-7. Sign up for our twice daily Ticker emails. Got a news tip or feedback? For complete political coverage, bookmark CNNPolitics.com.
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politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

U.S rockers the Foo Fighters returned to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to tour their latest hit record, Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace and did so with the unrelenting energy of a group of monkeys on speed; but don’t be confused, the Foo Fighters know what they are doing. Each time they return to Australia, they bring with them a bigger and better show and they always try to make it enjoyable for everyone in the crowd … no matter where you are. Indeed, one wasn’t expecting half way through the set that a mini circular stage would descend from the darkness into the middle of the stadium, treating the entire crowd that was situated at the back, to a front row view.
Stage antics aside, the Foo Fighters sounded fantastic opening the show with Let It Die off the new record. It was then followed by the first single off the album, The Pretender which was a definite favourite with the crowd. They pulled a wide variety of songs from their repertoire which included, Everlong, Monkey Wrench, Big Me, My Hero, Best of You, Times Like These, Long Road To Ruin, Breakout, Stacked Actors and Taylor Hawkins’ contribution to the In Your Honor album, Cold Day In The Sun.
What was a delightful edition to the band’s performance were the touring musicians with them which included Jessy Greene (cello, violin, backing vocals), Rami Jaffee (keyboards, piano, accordion), Drew Hester (percussion) and former band member, Pat Smear (guitar). No Foo Fighters show would be complete without the Grohl banter which involved how the song Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners came to be. Grohl was joined on stage by support act Kaki King who featured on the song.
Grohl and Hawkins serenaded the crowd numerous times with their envious talent on their respective instruments and they did so which such explosive energy and enthusiasm it was almost tiring to watch … almost. The show also included the longest encore I have ever experienced bringing the show to a close at the 2 and a half hour mark. No one minded of course.

pubsandclubs.net.au

What to watch while exercising …
• 7 p.m. — Womens Final Four: Connecticut vs. Stanford; LSU vs. Tennessee. It’s going to be UConn-Tennessee again, so why bother? [ESPN]
• 8 p.m. — MLB: Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers. Save some run support for the rest of the team, Brandon Inge. You wouldn’t want to spoil your dinner. [ESPN2]
• 8 p.m. — Movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Complete with deleted scenes, including the one where Frodo Baggins sneaks on a roller coaster by standing on Sean Astin’s shoulders. [TNT]

deadspin.com

The respected actor has confirmed on his website that he will play the wizard again, delighting fans of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
When questioned as to whether he would take up the role, Sir Ian writes: “Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor”.
It is believed that a contract has not yet been signed but that plans are underway to start shooting one of two of The Hobbit films next year.
When asked by another fan if he has been approached by Peter Jackson or anyone else he replies: “Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn’t imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf.
“Their confidence hasn’t yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009.”
There has been concern over the making of The Hobbit as last year it was reported that the studio that produced the Lord of the Rings had told director Peter Jackson that he will never work for them again.
Robert Shaye, the New Line co-chairman, waded into a public row between Jackson and the New Line after Jackson initiated legal action against the studio over profits from the three films.
But the parties came to an agreement last December, paving the way for Jackson to work on the eagerly-awaited New Line adaptation of The Hobbit, the novel that precedes the Lord of the Rings.
Jackson, whose third film in the trilogy, The Return of the King, won the biggest ever haul of Oscars, has agreed to be executive producer of The Hobbit, which will be filmed in the same New Zealand location.
Sir Ian was made a Companion of Honour by the Queen in this year’s honours, recognising his popular portrayal of the wizard and also his acclaimed Shakespearean performances.

telegraph.co.uk

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., The Black Unity Family, a diverse, nonpartisan coalition of groups and individuals co-convened by Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner and Melanie L. Campbell, released the following “Letter to Fellow Americans:”
Where Do We Go From Here?
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly…. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy….” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dear Fellow Americans:
On this, the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we, a diverse, nonpartisan, intergenerational coalition of African-American groups and individuals, have come together so that our voices will be clearly heard.
Our community has a great stake in this presidential election, and issues that we are most concerned about must be addressed.
We share with all Americans a call for the prompt ending of the war in Iraq, universal health care, access to quality education, affordable housing free from predatory lenders, quality jobs and economic stability.
Our particular domestic and global priorities include: re-creating a high-wage economy, transforming underserved schools, increasing funding for historically Black colleges and universities, restoring communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, reconstructing a Supreme Court committed to justice for all, sustaining strong enforcement of civil rights laws and rebuilding urban and rural infrastructures.
We also call for expanding HIV/AIDS research, the recognition of workers’ rights to organize, entrepreneurial opportunity, environmental justice, criminal justice reform, the reduction of disproportionately high incarceration rates, and support for the growth and development of Caribbean and African nations. These are critical human rights issues.
Our churches have been our moral foundation and prophetic witness for justice and equality since slavery, holding up a mirror on areas where the nation falls short of these virtues.

send2press.com