Facebook responds to recent app blocking criticism with policy 'clarification'

After the whole Vine kerfuffle and Yandex situation, Facebook clearly feels it has some explaining to do. Over at the site's Developer Blog, director, platform partnerships and operations Justin Osofsky would like to set some things straight about the social network's platform policies. He begins by assuring developers that most can just keep on keeping on.

Osofky adds, however,

For a much smaller number of apps that are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook, such as not providing users an easy way to share back to Facebook, we've had policies against this that we are further clarifying today

Those developers (and interested civilians) who'd like to drill down a bit further into those newly clarified policies can check the fine print in the source link below.

Filed under: Facebook

Comments

Source: Facebook Blog, Facebook Platform Policy

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/25/facebook-policy-block/

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Help to get health insurance for children | Rick's Blog

I received this email from a Community Health Worker at Sacred Heart Hospital:

Thank you for IN! Read the ?Putting the ACA to Work? with great interest. I am a Community Health Worker working on a grant through Sacred Heart Children?s Hospital to locate children without health insurance in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

After talking to their parents or custodial relatives, I advise what documents to bring to an application meeting. I can then apply online with the parent at my side. Documents are promptly faxed to KidCare for processing.

KidCare provides Health Insurance for children less than 19-years old. NO annual deductible; Co-Pays usually only $5. Monthly premium varies depending on age of child and family income. Children under age 5 cost $196 per month each, over age 5 cost $141 monthly. Insurance includes vision and dental!

If the family?s income is less than certain ranges, the premium drops dramatically to $15-20/monthly per family!

For example: family of 4, less than $46,000, or family of 2 people with income less than $30,200. For more information, contact me or email InsureKindNow@shhpens.org. We also have people available to assist throughout the application process in Okaloosa, Walton, Gulf and Franklin counties in Florida.

PS: If it is thought the child may be eligible for Medicaid, (no premium/no deductible) KidCare will electronically send the information and documents to be processed for Medicaid. There is no cost to apply and help is available. Can you help us to spread the word?

Thank you,
Nancy Lake

Community Health Worker
Sacred Heart Outreach for
KidCare (Low Cost) Health Insurance for Children
(850)416-6379 Office
(850)416-6262 Fax

Source: http://ricksblog.biz/help-to-get-health-insurance-for-children/

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Prior sex abuse claims made against LA teacher

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Just weeks after the arrest of a third-grade teacher accused of sexually abusing nearly two dozen students engulfed Los Angeles school officials in a scandal last year, word surfaced that children were being fondled by a fourth-grade teacher at another school.

Having been jolted by the first case, Los Angeles Unified School District officials moved swiftly. The fourth-grade teacher, Robert Pimentel, was pulled from his classroom, the state teacher credentialing commission was notified, and parents were alerted. When it became clear that years-old allegations against Pimentel hadn't been thoroughly investigated, the principal at his school was also removed.

While it took nearly a year to bring charges against Pimentel, the reaction by the school district shows how recent reforms put in place have reshaped how the school system deals with sexual abuse by teachers.

Those reforms came after the February 2012 arrest of Miramonte Elementary School third-grade teacher Mark Berndt, who is accused of blindfolding pupils and feeding them his semen in a tasting game. The district has since mandated that parents be notified within 72 hours of a report of a suspected abuser, and that each case be reviewed by several human resources staffers to ensure it is reported to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

District officials have also vowed to investigate molestation claims and move quickly to remove suspected teachers from classrooms while investigations are ongoing.

Police were contacted in March by the parents of five students at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School who said Pimentel had touched their children inappropriately. District officials immediately removed him from campus and notifications were sent out.

More than 70 interviews were conducted during the police investigation, and 20 female students were found to have been victimized, Los Angeles police Capt. Fabian Lizarraga said. Another victim was a female teacher who complained that Pimentel had inappropriately touched her, police said.

The alleged abuse occurred in Pimentel's fourth-grade classroom during school hours and in some cases was witnessed by other students, Lizarraga said. The sexual abuse involved fondling over and underneath clothing, he said.

The Pimentel case may have been the first in the district that fell under the new policy, district Superintendent John Deasy said.

"It was very close to the first, if not the first," he said. "I don't know if it was a direct result (of the Miramonte case). There was a potentially serious problem there and we acted and did what we did."

Lizarraga added that although there was a spike in parent complaints after the Miramonte case, there wasn't any tie to the Pimentel case.

"These were some really alert parents knowing their kids and noticing subtle changes in their personalities," Lizarraga said.

The accusations against Pimentel, 57, span eight months, dating back to September 2011. He was arrested Wednesday and charged with 15 felony counts.

When the investigation against him began in March, the district was already reeling from Berndt's February 2012 arrest. Berndt has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd acts and is awaiting trial. More than 225 parents and students are involved in various claims for damages against the district regarding that case.

In a separate case, a jury in December ordered the district to pay a boy molested by an elementary school teacher $6.9 million ? among the largest awards in the history of the school system. The jury found the district liable for the repeated molestation of the 10-year-old student in 2008 and 2009 by teacher Forrest Stobbe at Queen Anne Elementary School in the city's mid-Wilshire district.

Pimentel had worked for the district since 1974. A previous report of sexual misconduct against him occurred four years ago at the school, and another complaint was made eight years ago at another elementary school where both a female principal and Pimentel had worked, Deasy said.

"My determination was that she was previously mishandling other complaints," Deasy said. "My intent was to fire them."

The district never got the chance because both Pimentel and the principal retired after the allegations were made.

Police said they will review the principal's failure to report the previous allegations.

Investigators attempted to interview Pimentel last year but he declined. He appeared in court Thursday but didn't enter a plea.

His lawyer, Richard Knickerbocker, told reporters outside court that the allegations are false and that his client will plead not guilty. Pimentel raised a family, volunteered as a soccer coach and was an outstanding teacher, Knickerbocker said.

"If you look at the record, before this, Pimentel has had a pretty exemplary life," he said. "He has no arrest record, for anything."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-24-Los%20Angeles%20School%20Molestation/id-911e77ebdcaa451cbaa8d418a481c816

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Without waiting for Congress, President Barack Obama on Wednes...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=451170538276237&id=109543452438949

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Life insurance payments - Federal Times Blogs

January 15th, 2013 | Uncategorized

Q. How does life insurance pay when I retire? I don?t understand how it is reduced. If I keep the basic life insurance and die at 85, how much insurance will there be?

A. How much basic insurance there will be depends on the level of coverage you elect when you retire. Here are the choices:

No reduction: You retain the same amount of basic insurance you had when you retired. You continue to pay the premiums for the rest of your life.

50 percent reduction: Your coverage is reduced by 1 percent per month beginning at age 65 until it reaches half of the face value. You continue to pay the premiums for the lesser amount of coverage.

75 percent reduction: Your coverage is reduced by 2 percent per month until it reaches 25 percent of its face value. You continue to pay the premiums up to age 65; thereafter, no premiums are charged.

Because the premiums vary depending on the choice you make, you?ll need to check with your personnel office to learn which rates apply.

Tags: federal life insurance, life insurance coverage reduction

FedLine Home | Permalink | January 15th, 2013

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PLEASE NOTE! Do not submit ANY questions via the Comments form. Instead, please send your questions directly to fedexperts@federaltimes.com. Questions submitted via the Comments form will NOT be answered!

Source: http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-retirement/2013/01/15/life-insurance-payments/

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CTL May Cut 130 Jobs As Contract With Mosaic Ending

Published: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 4:23 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 4:23 p.m.

MULBERRY | CTL Transportation is bracing for a jobs shakeup.

CTL, a Mulberry-based trucking company serving the fertilizer and phosphate industry, will have to cut or reassign about 130 workers in the coming months because CTL?s contract with The Mosaic Co. is coming to an end, according to Richard Straughn, general counsel for CTL.

?Mosaic is making a business change. CTL is having to move forward with its business decisions as well,? Straughn said. ?We?ve certainly had a long and beneficial partnership with Mosaic that we wish to continue in the future.?

CTL has worked with Mosaic and its predecessor company for nearly 40 years, Straughn said. Mosaic spokesman Dave Townsend said the firm periodically reviews its major contracts and issued a request for proposals for transportation services last February.

After evaluating companies based on safety performance, pricing, skills and other criteria, Townsend said Mosaic ultimately chose Tampa-based Dillon Transport, and will begin its new contract with Dillon on March 1.

Approximately 130 CTL employees ? truck drivers and support staff ? who work for the company in Mulberry and Tampa could be affected by the loss of Mosaic?s business, Straughn said.

?The business change is resulting in a reduction in force, but we have made appropriate steps to offer potential employment at our sister companies,? he said.

CTL has about 430 total employees.

The business was founded in 1964 and joined Auburndale-based Comcar Industries in 1985. Comcar has other subsidiaries and affiliate companies in Georgia, Arkansas and South Dakota, according to its website.

Two current CTL drivers who spoke with The Ledger said they fear the company won?t be able to retain enough staff for local work.

?A lot of guys are looking for jobs right now,? said one driver, who asked to remain anonymous.

[ Kyle Kennedy can be reached at kyle.kennedy@theledger.com or 863-802-7584. ]

Source: http://www.theledger.com/article/20130115/news/130119574

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African Troops Ready to Help Neighboring Mali Fighting Militants

VoA - News Sunday 13th January, 2013

Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal pledged on Saturday to send troops, one day after France started airstrikes against the militants.

Officials said Saturday French forces pushed rebels from Konna with airstrikes and ground forces. The recent militant takeover of the town northeast of the capital, Bamako, had put militants in a position to seize the nearby city of Mopti - the northern-most municipality under government control.

A reporter in Mali tells VOA French to Africa service that dozens of Islamist fighters were killed in the Konna operation. The reporter also said the Malian army held the town late Saturday with retreating Islamists fighters holed up in the towns of Bore' and Douentza.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

Source: http://www.zambianews.net/index.php/sid/211918000/scat/c1ab2109a5bf37ec

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Somali witnesses to failed rescue describe mayhem

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? The night of mayhem and death started with the sound of helicopters above pitch-black fields. When it was over, the French intelligence agent who had been held hostage for more than three years was almost certainly dead, as was at least one French commando, and the home that served as the agent's final jail was destroyed. And now the Somalis living in the muddy farm town had new cause to fear the militants controlling their street.

It was too dark to see beyond the brief glow of flashlights, but noise was everywhere, said Ali Bulhan, who woke up when the earth started vibrating to the beat of the helicopter rotors. And the flashlights were abruptly extinguished when the French soldiers shot the Somalis who had turned them on to see what was happening in their town in the dead of night, said town elder Hussein Yasin.

The commandos were there to free a French intelligence agent captured on Bastille Day in 2009. The man, known by his code-name Denis Allex, was chained up, abused and moved from one safe house to another, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday. Le Drian said the government decided to stage the rescue a month ago, when Allex's location seemed to have settled down "in a spot accessible by the sea."

Helicopters were dispatched from a French ship that had been on an enforced news blackout for weeks, according to the French newspaper Le Point. When the commandos arrived in Bulomarer late Friday, children began screaming in confusion and fighters from the Islamist al-Shabab, which has controlled the town for years, began racing along the streets, their cell phones pressed to their ears.

"They had a terrible night as well," said Ali Bulhan, who refused to give his last name for fear of reprisal.

President Barack Obama said Sunday that the U.S. military provided "imited technical support" to French forces leading the operation, but the Americans had no direct role in the assault on the al-Shabab compound. Obama disclosed the U.S. role Sunday in a letter alerting Congress about the deployment of U.S. forces.

Obama said U.S. combat aircraft briefly entered Somali airspace to support the rescue operation, if needed, but did not employ their weapons during the operation. The president said he directed U.S. forces to support the French rescue operation "in furtherance of U.S. national security interests."

The local accounts, along with that of a Somali intelligence official and the French defense minister, offer a glimpse into a chaotic rescue attempt in which nothing seemed to go as planned.

"Extracting a hostage is extremely difficult," Le Drian said.

Yasin said the gunbattle started on the ground when the French commandos encountered an Islamist checkpoint. Al Bulhan said only a few hours could have passed between that moment and the time when the French helicopters stopped firing on homes and instead ferried the surviving French troops to safety "but it felt like an entire day."

French officials, including the president, and a Somali intelligence official said Allex was almost certainly killed by his captors. The intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press, said Sunday that the home where the agent was held was destroyed in the attack Saturday, and that intelligence networks "do not have any information indicating he is still alive."

Al-Shabab has offered no proof for its claims that Allex was still alive and that a wounded French soldier was in its custody as well. French officials acknowledge a missing soldier, but say they believe he is dead.

"Bullets rattled every corner," Ali Bulhan said. "Helicopters were firing at nearby homes."

The fighting took an even steeper toll on the Islamists, according to French officials and locals. Ali Bulhan said he thought the fighters had already taken away the bodies of their comrades. French officials said they counted 17 dead among the Islamists.

After the sounds of battle faded and the helicopters were gone, frightened al-Shabab fighters locked down the town, added checkpoints, arrested junior commanders for fear someone had tipped off the French forces, and seized cell phones of residents, Ali Bulhan said.

"I was told that the dead French soldier was hiding and was shot after he turned on a flashlight," he said. He did not know when, but later saw the body of a European being dragged into a car.

Businesses shut down for the day Sunday.

"It was a burial day for the fighters," Ali Bulhan said, "and a deadly day for the French as well."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somali-witnesses-failed-rescue-describe-mayhem-190259681.html

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5 steps nurses can take to keep their New Year's fitness resolutions ...

Thinkstock | istockphoto

It?s that time of year. The new year is upon us, so it?s time to make those ever-?permanent? New Year?s resolutions. Something related to health, wellness and fitness always rounds out three, if not five, of the top 10 popular resolution goals.

The long-standing joke is that most of us never actually follow through with any New Year?s resolution, let alone all the fitness-related goals. They just never seem to ?stick;? I think I read that more than 30 percent of people fail at their resolutions.

I thought I?d share some sure-fire tips on how to ensure your fitness-related goals will stick this year.

Make it a S.M.A.R.T. decision

• Specific:?Be as specific as possible. Don?t simply say ?I want to lose weight,? say, ?I want to lose 10 pounds in the next six months.? The more specific the better. The details matter.
• Measurable: It can?t be something you guess at. Making it measurable requires you to be accountable for the results.
• Attainable: While shooting for the moon is admirable, make your goal difficult but attainable. Don?t expect to move mountains. Start small.
• Realistic/Relevant: This has to do with you as a person and your life. If it doesn?t have value in your life, then why will you stick to it? I won?t resolve to be a better gardener, because I?m just not that interested in gardening.
• Time-dependent: This is paired with specific. Give it a timetable so you have to be accountable. No timetable means that you won?t adhere to the discipline needed.

No bargaining

• Stop playing the bargaining game with a goal. ?If I go for a run after work, I can eat my entire meal from the vending machine right now.? All that does is rationalize a weak moment, and even make it OK to repeat. Don?t let that happen.

Don?t believe the hype

• If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. There is no such thing as easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?

Don?t compare

• You are not your friend, you are not your coworker and you are surely not the same as that guy or gal on TV. Don?t expect to get the same results they did just because you do the same thing.

Bad days are OK

• If you can learn to accept minor setbacks, you will be successful. It?s the setbacks and ?falling off the wagon? moments that usually lead to quitting. If you fall down, just get back up.

While none of my suggestions will guarantee success, I can confess from my own experiences these tips have helped me get through some of the toughest goals I have set.

Best of luck in 2013?make it a great one!

For more Wellness Tips pick up the latest issue of Scrubs magazine, available at a retail store near you!

Sean Dent is a second-degree nurse who has worked in telemetry, orthopedics, surgical services, oncology and at times as a travel nurse. He is a CCRN certified critical care nurse where he's worked in cardiac, surgical as well as trauma intensive care nursing. After five years as an RN Sean recently attained his BSN and is now a full-time Nurse Practitioner student. He has been in healthcare for the past 15 years. He originally received a bachelor's degree in Exercise and Sport Science where he worked as a Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC). More

Source: http://scrubsmag.com/5-steps-nurses-can-take-to-keep-their-new-year%E2%80%99s-fitness-resolutions/

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Ali Landry: Estela Is ?Very Protective? of Marcelo

Courtesy Doritos Ali Landry can scratch one stressor off her list: getting 5-year-old daughter Estela Ines to enjoy her education. “She loves school,” the actress and model, 39, told PEOPLE on Friday. “Yesterday was the first day back, and I told her she could miss it, and she insisted on going because she had to [...]

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/hGaz0S9wdrk/

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Is Russia trying a dead whistle-blower because of a US law?

At the center of the stormiest US-Russia diplomatic crisis since the cold war stands the enigmatic figure of Sergei Magnitsky, for whom the US Senate has named a punitive new law that imposes harsh visa and economic sanctions against scores of Russian officials who are deemed to have committed serious human rights violations.

The tale of Mr. Magnitsky, a corporate lawyer who blew the whistle on a vast corruption scheme, was arrested by the same officials he had implicated, and was allegedly beaten to death in prison over three years ago, appears to validate all the worst suspicions held in the West about the nature of Vladimir Putin's Russia. The Magnitsky Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama last month, is a controversial new breed of legislation that aims to compensate for the perceived failures of Russia's justice system by meting out punishment to about 60 Russian officials deemed to have been involved in the wrongful prosecution and alleged murder of Magnitsky.

Do you know anything about Russia? A quiz.

The Kremlin's incandescent response makes it likely that the mutual acrimony will expand in weeks to come. Mr. Putin called the Magnitsky Act a "purely political, unfriendly act" that demanded a stern riposte. Last week he signed the retaliatory Dima Yakovlev Act, whose key provision is a ban on all adoptions of Russian children by US citizens.

But in an apparent effort to overturn the widely-held Western narrative, which sees Magnitsky as the victim of corrupt officials and a lawless state, Russian prosecutors have announced they will put the deceased Magnitsky on trial later this month, seeking to prove that he and his former boss, Bill Browder, head of the London-based Hermitage Capital, were the real criminals.

The pending trial has been fiercely opposed by Magnitsky's mother ? who will be required to stand in for her dead son ? and lawyers, who argue that a posthumous trial is against Russian law in all cases except when a family asks the court to "rehabilitate" a victim of an unjust verdict (a common legacy of the Stalin era).

"We did not ask for this, and we do not think the deputy prosecutor had any right to revive Sergei's case after it was closed upon his death," says Natalia Magnitskaya, Magnitsky's mother.

"We seriously doubt that the very same people who prosecuted Sergei hold out any prospect of rehabilitating him. So, our family doesn't want to take any part in these illegal actions," she adds.

Last week a Russian court acquitted Dmitry Kratov, a prison doctor who is the only official ever to have been charged in connection with Magnitsky's death. Mr. Kratov had been accused of failing to render timely medical assistance on the night Magnitsky died in handcuffs on the floor of a Moscow prison cell. A post-mortem report issued by the Russian Ministry of Health indicated that "the injuries on Magnitsky's body were most likely caused by multiple injuring impacts of a blunt object that might possibly be a rubber baton."

"This case was never properly investigated by authorities," says Lyubov Volkova, a member of the Public Oversight Commission, an independent watchdog mandated by Russian law to report on prison conditions. It was the first non-governmental group to look into the circumstances of Magnitsky's death.

"In Kratov's court case, both the judge and prosecutors acted as though they were his lawyers.... It seems that Kratov was just a scapegoat from the very beginning. That's not surprising, since deputy prosecutor Viktor Grin's name is on the US Magnitsky List, so obviously he wants to do everything possible to protect himself and make Magnitsky look guilty."

The narrative of Magnitsky's prosecution and death accepted by the US Senate, and several other Western legislatures that are considering variants of the Magnitsky law, is largely based on a 75-page report compiled by investigators working for Mr. Browder and also a 2011 investigation presented to then-President Dmitry Medvedev by the Kremlin's own in-house human rights commission. At the time, a somewhat shaken Mr. Medvedev appeared to agree that "at least some crimes" had been committed leading to Magnitsky's death.

According to that version, Hermitage's attorney Magnitsky went twice in 2008 to the Kremlin's State Investigative Committee to testify that corrupt police and tax officials had embezzled $230 million paid in taxes by Hermitage Fund companies, using corporate seals and charters seized in an earlier police raid on Hermitage's Moscow headquarters.

"My offices and our law firm's offices were raided by about 25 officers of Russia's Interior Ministry, who took all our official company documents," says Browder ? once the biggest foreign investor in Russia ? who had been barred from re-entering Russia about 18 months earlier on "national security" grounds.

"Those documents were then used in a complicated scheme to steal $230 million we had paid in taxes the previous year to the Russian government," he says. When Browder complained, he was charged by the same officers, in absentia, with underpaying his taxes in 2001.

After Magnitsky testified, Browder says, the same officers arrested him and placed him in the Butyrka prison, where he died a year later.

The investigations bankrolled by Browder have found that many of the police officers and other officials implicated by he and Magnitsky have since become inexplicably wealthy, and some have purchased expensive foreign properties. Aside from the doctor, Kratov, no Russian investigations have been opened into any of the 60 or so officials Browder alleges to have been involved in the corruption scam and the subsequent prosecution and untimely death of Magnitsky.

The Russian government's case, which will feature at Magnitsky's upcoming posthumous trial, appears to be summarized in a document handed out to US senators last summer by visiting Russian parliamentarians. It alleges that Browder, who had long championed minority shareholder rights in Russia, was guilty of acquiring more shares of the state natural gas monopoly Gazprom than he was legally entitled to, and that Hermitage companies had engaged in tax evasion and other wrongdoing. It also appears to claim that the $230 million tax theft was the work of Browder ? who had been exiled to London more than a year earlier ? operating in league with Magnitsky.

"The case against Magnitsky and me was entirely trumped up," says Browder.

"The clear aim of Putin and his government is to say 'Magnitsky died of natural causes, he was not killed, and his arrest was lawful because he was a criminal'. In order to create the right formal backdrop for that narrative they have exonerated all 60 people who played a role in the Magnitsky case. The most recent was Kratov last week," he says.

"Now their next step is to prosecute and convict Magnitsky [and me].... This obviously won't play well in any forum where people have looked at the evidence, but Putin is more concerned about what they can put on state television to justify their actions before the less informed Russian audience," he adds.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-trying-dead-whistle-blower-because-us-law-173033952.html

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'Fiscal cliff' deal to block pay hike for Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Legislation to prevent the government from going over the so-called fiscal cliff will also block a $900 automatic pay hike for members of Congress.

It's one more reason for lawmakers to vote for the measure extending Bush-era tax cuts on individual income up to $450,000 while increasing rates for earnings above that threshold.

Under a 1989 law, lawmakers are supposed to receive automatic cost-of-living pay hikes, but as Congress' approval ratings have fallen, lawmakers have routinely voted to reject the raise.

Lawmakers make $174,000 a year. They had already voted in September to block the pay raise through March 27, but President Barack Obama recently issued an executive order to implement it, along with a pay increase for federal workers.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-31-Fiscal%20Cliff-Congress%20Pay/id-fc706dff21534d598fb6252d48e55e2d

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PFT: Woodson cleared to return for Packers

Black Monday had a dual meaning this year.? In addition to seven coaches and five General Managers losing their jobs, every player suffered a defeat when Judge David Doty refused to permit a collusion claim against the NFL proceed.

Doty, who did the NFLPA a favor by issuing his ruling on the last day of the 2012 calendar year and the hectic first day of the 2013 offseason, ruled that the players had released all claims that could have been made against the league when signing off on the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement.? The NFLPA believes that Doty?s ruling is incorrect, and we?re told that the union is now considering its next move.

The options are limited.? The union can ask Judge Doty to take a second look at the issue (known in the legal industry as a ?motion for reconsideration?), the union can file an appeal to the federal court that oversees Judge Doty, or the players can punt, figuratively.? (Or literally, if they decide to wad up the written decision into a ball and kick it.)

The best move could be to move on.? Though the players believe the settlement agreement that released all claims that could have been made by the union (including a claim for collusion arising from an allegedly secret salary cap in the uncapped year of 2010) required formal court approval, it?s a technicality at best.? And judges tend to ignore meaningless technicalities that would point to an unfair result.

There are three reasons why the result would have been unfair.? First, if the lawyers had presented the paperwork to Doty for approval, he would have applied the rubber stamp and banged the gavel without giving the settlement agreement serious consideration.? Second, the NFLPA affirmatively accepted the cap penalties imposed on the Cowboys and Redskins that triggered the claim for collusion in order to obtain a higher per-team salary cap for 2012.? Third, and as we explained at the outset of this specific controversy, the NFLPA arguably ratified any collusion by agreeing to permit punishment to be imposed on the Cowboys and Redskins for failing to comply with the collusive behavior.

Judge Doty didn?t delve into those issues.? Indeed, he generally avoided in his 11-page written opinion any commentary that would have ?called out? the NFLPA or otherwise made the players or their leadership or their lawyers look bad.? Though there?s a good-faith argument to be made that court approval was required because the settlement encompassed a class action affecting the rights of hundreds of players, Doty likely took the simplest path from point A to point B, finding a way to end the case without embarrassing the NFLPA or chiding their counsel for trying to have it both ways.

If the NFLPA pushes the issue, the next opinion from Judge Doty or the appeals court (which has a reputation for being business friendly) could be more blunt regarding the failure of the NFLPA to assert the claim before signing off on the settlement agreement, the decision of the NFLPA to agree to cap penalties imposed on two teams who treated the uncapped year as, well, uncapped, and the arguably disingenuous idea that the NFLPA didn?t suspect collusion until after the Cowboys and Redskins were whacked for $48 million in cap space.

So, yes, the smartest move could be to wad the decision up into a ball and kick it.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/01/woodson-cleared-to-play-no-word-yet-on-nelson/related/

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South Africa: Mandela convalesces, legacy secure

A giant portrait of former president Nelson Mandela adorns a cooling tower of a now defunct power station in Soweto, South Africa, Monday, Dec 31, 2012. Mandela is recovering at his Johannesburg home since being hopitalized for a lung infection and undergoing gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

A giant portrait of former president Nelson Mandela adorns a cooling tower of a now defunct power station in Soweto, South Africa, Monday, Dec 31, 2012. Mandela is recovering at his Johannesburg home since being hopitalized for a lung infection and undergoing gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

FILE - In this June 17, 2010 file photo, former South African President, Nelson Mandela leaves the chapel after attending the funeral of his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mandela was released Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, Pool, File)

People walk their dogs outside the home of former president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, Thursday, Dec. 27 2012. President Jacob Zuma made critical remarks about pet care that touch on sensitive race relations in South Africa, which was dominated by whites until apartheid was dismantled almost two decades ago, The Star newspaper reported Thursday. The newspaper cited Zuma as saying in a speech Wednesday that the idea of having a pet is part of "white culture" and that people should focus on family welfare. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

A pebble with a message to former President Nelson Mandela lays outside his Johannesburg home Thursday, Dec. 27 2012. Mandela was released Wednesday from the hospital after being treated for a lung infection and having gallstones removed, a government spokesman said. (AP Photo/Denis farrell)

A giant portrait of former president Nelson Mandela adorns a cooling tower of a now defunct power station in Soweto, South Africa, Monday, Dec 31, 2012. Mandela is recovering at his Johannesburg home since being hopitalized for a lung infection and undergoing gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's agonizing past swept over Alex McLaren, who stepped into sunlight with tears in his eyes after a tour of the Apartheid Museum, an unsparing study of white minority rule and the costly fight against it.

Yet South Africa-born McLaren, an American citizen, also found inspiration in the museum's exhibition about Nelson Mandela, former prisoner, South Africa's first black head of state and one of the great, unifying figures of the 20th century.

Mandela, now 94 years old and ailing, was a special figure in the anti-apartheid struggle because of "his perseverance, his ability to forgive and to reconcile, and the fact that he appeared when he did, him and others. But mainly him," said McLaren, a retired engineer.

"There will be a lot of wailing, gnashing of teeth, when he goes," he said, anticipating the grief of South Africa and the world.

The delicate health of Mandela, now convalescing behind the high walls of his Johannesburg home, came under scrutiny and speculation during a 19-day stay in a hospital in December. He was treated for a lung infection and had gallstones removed. Regardless of when the end comes, his burnished legacy was written years ago, even if the country he led from the long night of apartheid still struggles with poverty and other social ills.

Mandela's place as South Africa's premier hero is so secure that the central bank released new banknotes in 2012 showing his face, a robust, smiling image of the icon who walked out of a prison's gates on Feb. 11, 1990 after 27 years in captivity. He is a Nobel laureate, the recipient of many other international awards, the subject of books, films and songs and, when he was active, a magnet for celebrities.

In part, what elevated Mandela was his charisma, his ability to charm through humor and grace, and an extraordinary capacity to find strength in adversity.

"People tend to measure themselves by external accomplishments, but jail allows a person to focus on internal ones; such as honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, generosity and an absence of variety," Mandela says in one of the many quotations on display at the Apartheid Museum. "You learn to look into yourself."

Just four years after being released from prison, Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. His successes include the introduction of one of the world's most progressive constitutions and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a panel that heard testimony about apartheid-era violations of human rights as a kind of national therapy session.

McLaren, the visitor to the Apartheid Museum, grew up in South Africa and recalled witnessing injustices of apartheid: blacks being arrested or stopped in the street, a black woman being pushed off a bus and a view among many whites that blacks were "somehow inferior."

Now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, 66-year-old McLaren said: "South Africa is such a mixed place now. Some of it is falling apart, some of it is really good, some of it is really bad. But you know, it's much better than it was, much better than it was."

An imperfect country, but one that Mandela, whose clan name, Madiba, means "reconciler," guided elegantly through a painful transition.

In "Mandela: The Authorized Portrait," a collection of accounts about Mandela, lawyer and human rights advocate George Bizos described how Mandela joked about his age (he was 86 at the time) and said he would join "the nearest branch of the ANC in heaven."

Bizos related in the book how he once told Mandela about Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher who was sentenced to death and said he hoped to meet Homer, Sophocles and other giants for eternal discussions in the afterlife.

According to Bizos, Mandela replied:

"But assume that there is no such thing. Have you ever had a night's sleep when you were not disturbed at all ? no dreams, no fears ? you just slept throughout the night? Didn't you feel very much happier? Can you imagine if there is this eternal sleep it's also all right? So what's there to be afraid of?"

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-31-South%20Africa-Mandela/id-064623c98fe443dca0d3b3390d7837f6

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