Letter: Smorgasbord of various and miscellaneous thoughts

If I had a nickel for every time that I said, I cant take it anymore, I could buy a new Rolls-Royce (luxury edition).

Hey Slats, why is it that very few preachers in the area write letters to the editor? American pastors hide in their comfort zones of preaching to the choir, replies Slats.

As for myself, I am so smart because experience is the best of teachers.

Once a body gets past the smorgasbord of baloney and hoopla propaganda readily served up on the radio and TV and The Associated Press, you will actually notice that real life is quite serious.

Wisdom, a byproduct of actual and costly experience, has taught little old me that many people in this nation are not under God. They worship dead presidents on a dollar bill and the collection plate more so than life after death. There is absolutely no outer limit to what some people will do for money. Heck, throw in provisions and an underground bomb shelter and the baby goes out with the bath water! The surest way to wipe the smile off their faces is to ask them to help you with 25 or 30 cents for some gasoline. That smile they just displayed will beat-feet!

Please dont even get me started about those who steal in the name of the Lord! These are those were up against; deliver us from evil, thy government come, thy will be done.

Treat your neighbor as youd like to be treated? Shoot, bang, explode — tell it to a child.

Were all cousins, because were all children of Adam and Evil (Eve).

Posted at 02:57 PM ET, 02/07/2012
D.C. Council rejects Internet gambling
By Tim Craig

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to repeal the city’s controversial Internet gambling law, capping a year-long debate about whether it improperly snuck the concept past the public without proper vetting.

After supporters unsuccessfully mounted a last-minute effort to salvage the measure, the council voted 10-2 to end the city’s contract for I-Gaming and reverse the legislation that authorized the games.

Council member Michael A. Brown tried to salvage the concept of Internet gambling.
(BILL O’LEARY – THE WASHINGTON POST)

“I want to make sure we get the best deal for the city,”said Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), the sponsor of the repeal. “I believe it should be set up, so the city gets the best price and the best revenue.”

Internet gambling was quietly added to the city’s lottery contract as a “non-traditional games” option more than three months after the contract passed a 2009 council vote; it was later legalized through first-in-the-nation language added to a 2010 spending bill.

When the contract became entangled in a broader debate about how the council and Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) managed the city’s lottery contract, gambling opponents gained crucial momentum to repeal the law.

Before the vote, council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) said some members were not aware of what they were voting on when they approved Internet gambling in 2010.

“They didn’t even use the word ‘Internet gambling,’” Wells said. ”They used word ‘I-gambling’…We voted as a city, and decided as a city, that we didn’t want slots….It has to go through a public process. This didn’t go through a public process, but it’s slots.”

Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At large), who pushed through the initial law, attempted Tuesday to salvage the concept. Brown was willing to scrap the city’s contract for I-Gaming with Intralot, which also operates the city, while preserving the underlying legislation that permits Internet gambling.

Brown noted it’s unclear whether the new Republican-controlled Congress, which did not block the 2010 law, would reauthorize Internet-gambling. Brown has also raised concerns that so-called “casino interests” are trying to federalize the Internet gambling in the District.

“This was going to be our thing, our laws, governed by us,” Brown said. “We were going to reap the benefits from tourist, from residents.”

The repeal, which Gray supports, will cost the city an estimated $13.1 million in revenue through September 2015. City officials are working to identify new revenue or spending cuts to account for the change.

While city taxpayers have yet to spend a dime on developing the program, its lottery contractor, Intralot, has spent more than $5 million preparing an iGaming system. It’s possible the company could sue to recoup its costs.

Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), the only member to vote with Brown, derided his colleagues who suggested they did not know what Internet gambling was when the council approved it.

“What kind of legislature are you?” Barry asked. “You giving the public the impression, you didn’t know what you voted for. This council already has a low approval rating… and you are telling me, you didn’t know you voted on something?”

But several members, including Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Wells, said they would prefer to start the debate from scratch about whether the city should legalize Internet gambling.

“I believe there is a place we can try this,” Cheh said. “ I just think it can be controlled.”

Staff writer Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.

By Tim Craig
 | 
02:57 PM ET, 02/07/2012

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The proposal (PCS for HB 1263) drew concerns and, in some cases outright opposition, from pediatricians, a statewide public health group and county officials. They raised questions about issues such as funding for county health departments and the future of the Childrens Medical Services program, which serves children with serious and chronic health conditions.

We feel like its really not ready for prime time, Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge told the House Health Human Services Quality Subcommittee.

But sponsor Matt Hudson, R-Naples, said the bill is part of a three-year effort to revamp and more narrowly focus the Department of Health. He said county commissioners are in a better position than the state to know local health needs.

We stand here today with the opportunity to do something bold, innovative and right for Florida, said Hudson, who is a key player on health issues because he is chairman of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee.

The subcommittee voted 7-4 to approve the bill, which emerged as lawmakers get ready to hit the halfway point of the legislative session Wednesday. It remains unclear whether the Senate would support such a bill, as its committees have not considered similar proposals.

The bill calls for the Department of Health to put together a plan by Oct. 1 to decentralize public-health services, including transferring responsibilities and employees to county health departments. The decentralization would take effect in January 2014, with the state sending block grants to counties to pay for services.

The 152-page proposal includes numerous other changes such as merging two divisions that are part of the Childrens Medical Services program. Also, it would allow the department to establish a provider-service network, a form of managed care, to serve children in the program.

Other changes in the bill include calling for the long-debated closure of the AG Holley state tuberculosis hospital in Palm Beach County and repealing a 2010 law that would require septic-tank inspections across the state.

Lucy Gee, acting deputy secretary at the Department of Health, said the changes could lead to eliminating 12,000 state jobs.

The strongly worded statement is a call-to-arms against recently reaffirmed guidelines requiring new insurance plans to cover preventive services, including contraceptives, free of co-payments and other charges under the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, Carol Brite, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois, not only praised the ruling but added, according to a recent poll, 77 percent of Catholic women voters support no-cost contraceptive coverage.

That, and other surveys, she said, say to me all women, including Catholic women, deserve access to birth control.

Catholic bishops, who lobbied for broad religious exemptions, have promised a legal challenge. Jenky urged parishioners to take up a legal and political fight.

Under the Constitution, no president has the authority to require our cooperation with what we consider to be intrinsic evil and mortal sin, he said of the guidelines, which he described as a bigoted and blatant attack on the First Amendment rights of Catholics.

I am honestly horrified that the nation I have always loved has come to this hateful and radical step in religious intolerance.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced the final details Jan. 20. The rules religious exemption language does not apply to religious employers who serve or employ large numbers of people of different faiths, as many Catholic institutions do.

Contrary to Jenkys assertions, it is not clear how many Catholic institutions would be affected by the rules. Those with grandfathered health care plans, such as OSF Healthcare System, one of the areas largest employers, already are exempt.

OSF Healthcare spokesman Jim Farrell said the institution wholeheartedly supports the bishops view but it is not subject to HHS regulations on coverage of preventive health services for employees.

The rule takes effect Aug. 1 for non-grandfathered health plans. Church-affiliated organizations with non-grandfathered plans have an additional year to comply.

Sebelius said, in a news release, the proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respective religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.

The federal guideline was based on an Institute of Medicine recommendation and research that shows increased access to birth control is directly linked to declines in maternal and infant mortality and other positive health outcomes, according to Brite.

Over the weekend, Catholic clergy across the country called for congregations to pressure Obama to back down.

To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their healthcare is literally unconscionable, said Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a statement last month.

Jim Towey, president of Ave Maria University in Florida, who also served in the administration of President George W. Bush, said on Tuesday he would fight the provision using all lawful means at our disposal.

Our non-Catholic employees and students understand fully that the University must adhere to Catholic teaching and they do not expect us to provide such services, he said in a statement.

REPUBLICANS SEE ASSAULT

The controversy centers on a provision in the 2010 healthcare bill which requires health insurance to cover basic preventative services for women. An advisory group, the Institute of Medicine, had recommended covering a fuller range of contraceptive services to help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius adopted the institutes recommendation but included an exemption for churches, although not related religious organizations such as hospitals.

Twenty-eight US states already require health insurers to cover contraception.

The issue quickly took on political dimensions, with Republican presidential contenders criticizing the administration for violating religious liberties. Obama is seeking re-election in what many see as a referendum on his performance during the last three years.

Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, in Colorado on Tuesday, called the requirement an assault on religion.

Republican rival Rick Santorum, who is Catholic, called the White Houses comments ridiculous while speaking in Colorado on Monday. Rival Newt Gingrich, also a Catholic, has also declared the policy a war on religious freedom.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whose name has surfaced as a possible Republican vice presidential candidate, has introduced a bill to further expand the exemption for religious employers.

On Capitol Hill, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, urged the Obama administration to rescind the provision.

As currently written, this mandate will result in litigation that could be avoided if HHS issued a regulation that showed greater respect for religious freedom, Grassley said in a letter to Sebelius.

In remarks on the Senate Floor, Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said the debate was off in the wrong direction. For the first time in a long time, our nation is talking about womens health, … but unfortunately, too much of it isnt really about womens health. It is politics disguised as womens health, Mikulski said.

ALLAYING CONCERNS

Just how religious-based organizations could implement the rule to meet the Obama administrations criteria while still holding fast to their core beliefs remains to be seen.

Carney offered no details but said the White House would discuss possible avenues over the next 18 months.

Jennifer Duffy, senior political analyst for The Cook Political Report, said neither side was likely to back down in the run-up to the election.

I dont think the bishops have any intention of letting this fade and, especially if their position is intractable, then its a fight, she said. It becomes a staring contest.

Emergency contraception, also known as the morning after pill and seen by many conservatives as akin to abortion, for the most part would not fall under the rule since it is already available without a prescription to those 17 and older.

Womens rights groups and other contraception supporters, who were disappointed last year when the Obama administration rejected a push to make emergency contraception more widely available, had feared Obama might widen the exemption.

Susan Wood, a health professor at George Washington Universitys Jacobs Institute of Womens Health who backs birth control, said religious groups should have no more control over what employees do with their insurance than with their salaries.

This is an employee benefit issue. This is not the Catholic Church having to provide a service directly. No Catholic hospital is going to be required to write a prescription or provide a pack of pills.

Two polls released by Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control and reproductive services, showed the majority of voters, including Catholics, support contraceptive coverage.

(Reporting By Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Steve Holland in Colorado, Laura MacInnis in Washington and Greg McCune in Chicago; Editing by Marilyn W. Thompson, Eric Beech and Todd Eastham)

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Since Health Services moved into its new facility in 2008, the
center has served almost double the number of patients — growing
from 11,647 patients served in 2007 to nearly 21,000 in 2011–
according to a report given at January’s Board of Regents
meeting.

TORONTO, February 8, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Aradial (
http://www.aradial.com ), a global provider of AAA, billing, customer management and policy control solutions for IP service providers (including WiMAX, Wi-Fi, ADSL, LTE, VoIP, IPTV and mobile data), today announced that AfriConnect Zambia, an Internet Solutions Provider in the Vodacom Group of companies, has deployed the Aradial AAA and Policy Control solution to provide Wimax and future LTE services to the city of Lusaka and several other major cities in Zambia.

The first phase of the project will see several thousand subscriber terminals installed in Lusaka, and are expected to expand coverage into additional towns and cities.

Relying on Aradial’s AAA and Policy Control for Wimax and internet services, the solution integrates with Airspan 4G Wimax and other Wimax vendor’s gateways to manage the access from base stations and CPE access and assist in billing the subscribers.

“We are very happy with this project,” said Ori Etkovitz, Aradial’s CEO. “The Wimax and internet services product supports bandwidth management, real-time network policy control and enforcement, all driven by our powerful AAA Enforcer. This breadth of functionality will further enable the operator to implement volume, time and expiration enforcement and to extend its current offering to current and future subscribers. As well there is a clear path to upgrading the operator to Aradial Convergent Billing.”

“As a leading communications provider, we are committed to providing our customers with reliable and affordable services,” said Mark Bennett, MD of AfriConnect. “We are rolling out a 4G network in order to take advantage of the new lower-cost international fiber bandwidth coming into the country, and considerably increase the number of internet users in the country. The new solution from Aradial will enable us to exercise full control over the usage of our WiMAX and LTE very cost effectively, while improving our subscribers’ service experience.”

About Aradial Technologies

Aradial Technologies serves ISPs since 1997. Both entry-level and high-end service providers with millions of subscribers can easily integrate Aradial into their IT and network infrastructures. Aradial is a high-end Radius server and convergent billing software. With more than 400 deployments in over 70 countries around the world, the suite can be installed on small and affordable hardware, on Windows, Linux operating systems, and over a variety of databases. The company’s products open a new window of opportunities for ISPs, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, VoIP, LTE and Mobile 2G/3G operators.

About AfriConnect Zambia

AfricConnect is Zambia’s largest ISP. They offer a range of data solutions to the corporate, SME and residential markets. The corporate client list includes multinationals, banks, government, embassies, professional services and Zambia’s prolific mining companies. AfriConnect Zambia is headquartered in Lusaka with over 20 offices elsewhere around the country. The company was established in Zambia in 2005 and was proud to become part of the Vodacom group in 2010.

For additional information, please contact:
Tel: (+1)416-410-3518
Email: presales@aradial.com
Site:

http://www.aradial.com

SOURCE Aradial Technologies

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

ABOARD THE USS. WASP This 40,000-ton assault ship can launch deadly sea and air attacks against enemies ashore and afloat. Just dont expect it to load a website in under three minutes.

The big-deck ship is a formidable floating base for sailors and Marines who had better prefer to stay in limited contact with the outside world in their off-hours. The communications infrastructure onboard is a reminder that the Wasp began its service to the Navy in 1989: the flight control station has a big, black telephone with a big, black spiral cord attached. Marines temporarily stationed to the Wasp for this weeks giant Navy-Marine war game, known as Bold Alligator, sigh when they need to get online and say that the best way to get in touch with their comrades aboard is to walk the narrow metal halls until they physically find them.

But looks can be deceiving. The ships communications gear feels like a throwback to a pre-wired era, and it runs up against some serious bandwidth limits. But its also got advantages on civilian communications infrastructure: Iridium satellite hookups mean that the Wasp can sail around the globe and never encounter a dead zone.

The Wasp presents a microcosm of the strengths and the limitations of communications infrastructure aboard Navy ships. And to understand both, those serving aboard her say, its best to remember first what a ship is and isnt.

The Wasps top communications officer, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Angela W. Elder, points out that her ship is a self-contained organism. Its on-board generators have to power everything from the communications gear to the propulsion systems to the navigation systems to the fluorescent lights. Its one system, and everything connects into it, Elder says.

When we civilians on dry land make a cellphone call or send a text, we dont have to worry about draining our car batteries. Navy ships dont have that luxury.

That helps highlight the differences with the other military services. The Army has prioritized developing its data networks in the hope of rapidly getting tactical information down to low-ranking soldiers, possibly through smartphones in the future. The Air Force hearts bandwidth, in order to stream video captured by its family of surveillance tools, from drones to giant blimps to manned spy planes. All that is less feasible aboard a ship commissioned in the Reagan era.

Then there are the security restrictions. For most of Sunday, the Wasp switched off its internet access for hours as part of the Bold Alligator exercise, to simulate the precautions the ship would take in a real amphibious assault. Sometimes we dont want information to leave the ship, Elder says, so well take down information thats not vital to whats going on. That impacts our NIPR net, an unclassified military network.

If the unclassified web feels like a non-priority aboard, thats because for the most part, it is. With limited bandwidth for voice, text and data Elder wont disclose specific connection speeds the ship must prioritize the communications channels that sailors and Marines need to do their jobs. This [ship] is designed to support the warfighter, says Marine Maj. Robert Evans, the communications chief for Expeditionary Strike Group 2, which is headquartered on the Wasp for Bold Alligator. Facebook, Twitter thats not taken into account.

During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the US military extended enormous effort and treasure to allow troops could email at home. Even at the lonliest, tech-starved outposts, there was access to the unclassified internet. At sea, its a very different story.

There are exceptions, though. The Wasp rations access to the broader civilian web through judicious disbursement of logins. But Marines and sailors can relax or eat through their downtime by playing Call of Duty in the ships library computer lab.

Communications upgrades are a long time in coming, usually occurring during the six to nine months the Wasp spends in the shipyard between deployments. Patches are more typical than comprehensive upgrades. The last one aboard this ship occurred 18 months ago and the Wasp has better bandwidth than many other ships, Elder and Evans say.

But dont think for a second that the Wasp which Evans calls a giant floating tactical electromagnet is out of touch. The Navy needs very, very badly to stay in touch with the approximately hundred ships it always has deployed around the world. The satellite connections aboard the Wasp make sure that the ship is always communicating with the chain of command, absent a major power failure. No dead zones. Ever, says Evans.

Still, both Evans and Elder concede that bandwidth limitations are a challenge especially as newer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance gear comes online to give the fleet more persistent pictures of whats over the horizon. The Navys Fire Scout drone is already used in Latin America to help spot drug-mule ships; more sea-based drones are on their way. The ship is not equipped to receive full-motion video on demand, Evans says. I would think, eventually, that would need to change.

But its not as if extracurricular web browsing is impossible. Login, click on Internet Explorer, and prepare to wait. You may not hit the website you need on the first, second, third try, Evans says, but itll get done.

Photo: Mark Riffee/Wired.com

Under Armour
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‘s finance chief Brad Dickerson on Thursday after the Baltimore sportswear maker reported fourth-quarter earnings growth of 42 percent.

Dickerson talked about future product lines and the timeline for expansion at Tide Point.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

On new products:

The company will unveil Feb. 25 a new T-shirt and golf shirt dubbed “Coldblack.” The product uses a finishing technology that reduces heat build-up and provides protection from ultraviolet rays. The shirt, designed for golfers and runners, will be made in darker colors, as opposed to traditional white.

“It makes a black shirt feel like a white shirt in the glaring sun,” said Dickerson, Under Armour’s (NYSE: UA) chief financial officer.

The product will start at $32 for a T-shirt and run as high as $80 for a coldblack women’s tennis dress. Men’s golf shirts will cost $65-$70.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank mentioned to analysts on Thursday the company will unveil soon its a new $120 shoe under its lightweight Charge RC running line. Dickerson said the company will also roll out additional new shoes, but not until later in the year.

Plank, meanwhile, reiterated the company has yet to build its defining product and he added we have good reason to believe it may very well be a shoe.”

On plans to expand Tide Point campus in South Baltimore by 400,000 square feet:

Much of the large-scale work will be done over the next five to 10 years and is part of a “long, long-term” view Under Armour has for Tide Point, Dickerson said.

Under Armour will continue to do “small tweaks” in the short term at Tide Point, he said. The biggest development over the next 18 to 24 months will be the construction of a large-scale retail store, he said.