Justices Hear Case on Denial of Help to Veteran

WASHINGTON ? Justice Stephen G. Breyer wanted to know whether it was possible that Congress intended to deny help to veterans who missed filing deadlines because of the very disabilities for which they sought help.

?You have someone who served his country and was wounded and has post-traumatic stress syndrome or schizophrenia,? Justice Breyer said at a Supreme Court argument Monday. ?Who in Congress would have likely thought such a thing??

But the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last year ruled that Congress had indeed meant to bar the courthouse door to David L. Henderson, who served on the front lines in the Korean War and was discharged after receiving a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. That disability, his lawyers said, caused him to bungle a deadline.

The appeals court said its ruling was required by a 2007 decision of the Supreme Court that said deadlines for filing appeals must be applied strictly.

The appeals court?s ruling in the Henderson case, according to a dissent from three of its judges, created ?a Kafkaesque adjudicatory process in which those veterans who are most deserving of service-connected benefits will frequently be those least likely to obtain them.?

Mr. Henderson, who died while his Supreme Court case was pending, had sought additional government help for his condition in 2001. He was turned down in 2004. A federal law gave him 120 days to appeal that determination to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, but it took him 135 days.

He sought leniency. His psychiatrist testified that ?Mr. Henderson has been incapable of understanding and meeting deadlines? because he was ?incapable of rational thought or deliberate decision-making.?

But the Supreme Court?s 2007 decision, Bowles v. Russell, said that deadlines for filing appeals were ?jurisdictional,? meaning they are not subject to exceptions or excuses.

The Bowles case concerned an inmate who missed a deadline because he had been given erroneous instructions by a federal judge. Justice David H. Souter, in a dissent also signed by three other justices, said that ?it is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way.?

On Monday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had joined that dissent, said the Bowles decision was ?a substantial hurdle to contend with.? Justice Antonin Scalia went further, saying approvingly that ?Bowles was a nice, clear case.?

Mr. Henderson?s lawyer, Lisa S. Blatt, said the two cases were different, in part because of the special status of the court to which her client had tried to appeal.

?Congress established this court to open the door to veterans seeking disability benefits,? Ms. Blatt said, ?and it would just conflict with that purpose to, at the same time, shut the door when the veteran?s disability prevents him from getting to the courthouse.?

Some justices said there was a second distinction. The inmate in the Bowles case had tried to appeal from one court to another, while Mr. Henderson sought to appeal the determination of an agency to a court.

?Why wouldn?t it be a bright, clear line if we said, ?Court to court, Bowles controls; agency to court, Bowles does not apply??? Justice Ginsburg asked.

Eric D. Miller, a lawyer for the federal government, said, ?The same principle applies for appeals from agencies.?

He added that ?just about everybody? agreed that some late filings would be allowed in a perfect world ? but not under the current law. Indeed, he said, the Department of Veterans Affairs has asked Congress to add flexibility to the system.

As in many cases, Justices Breyer and Scalia disagreed about how to determine the meaning of the statute before them.

Justice Scalia said the court should rely solely on the text of the law to determine the correct result in the case, Henderson v. Shinseki, No.09-1036.

?Don?t we pretty much have to go on what they wrote?? he asked.

Justice Breyer, on the other hand, said he would ?try to work out from context, language and objective purpose what a reasonable member of Congress would have intended.?

But the two more or less agreed on what would be an example of a strong hypothetical case for imposing a flexible deadline.

?The dog ate it, maybe,? Justice Scalia said.

?Yes,? Justice Breyer said. ?Right. The dog ate the court.?

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Gates Skeptical of ?Don?t Ask , Don?t Tell? Repeal This Year

MUSCAT, Oman ? Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates cast doubt Monday that the Senate would vote before the end of the year to allow gay men and women to serve openly in the armed forces.

In comments aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, Mr. Gates said that he was unsure that there would be a repeal of the 17-year-old ?don?t ask, don?t tell? policy that requires gay men and women in the military to keep their sexual orientation secret or face discharge.

?I?d have to say I?m not particularly optimistic that they?re going to get this done,? he told sailors aboard the Lincoln, although he added, ?I would hope that they would.? Mr. Gates?s remarks were provided by a pool report from a small group of journalists accompanying him on the ship.

Mr. Gates repeated his concern that if Congress did not act on the legislation, the courts might overturn the policy on their own. His greatest fear, he said, is that ?we will be told to implement it without any time for preparation for training.?

The House of Representatives has voted to repeal the law, and there appear to be the votes for the Senate to do the same, but it is unclear if there is enough time before the end of the year to advance the measure. President Obama, Mr. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have all called for its repeal.

Mr. Gates spoke aboard the same ship that former President George W. Bush used for his May 2003 speech declaring the end of major combat operations in Iraq, with the now infamous ?Mission Accomplished? banner behind him. The United States did not officially end combat operations until the end of August this year, more than seven years later.

Mr. Gates was aboard the ship to meet with sailors and see in part how the United States fights the air war in Afghanistan. Planes that take off from the ship provide close air support and surveillance for forces on the ground.

On North Korea?s recent behavior, including the shelling of a South Korean island and the North?s recent disclosure of a new nuclear facility, Mr. Gates told the sailors that it was part of a succession drama as the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, prepared for his son to take his place.

?These all seem to be designed to show that the son is tough and strong,? Mr. Gates said. ?And the message is to the elites in North Korea, especially the military, that he is strong enough to take leadership.?

Mr. Gates said that it was a ?difficult and potentially dangerous time,? then added: ?The North Koreans have engaged in some very provocative actions. They get everyone upset, then they volunteer to come back to talks, and we basically end up buying the same horse twice.?

Echoing a call throughout the Obama administration for help from China, Mr. Gates said, ?I think we just have to work with the Chinese and with others to see if we can?t bring some greater stability, some greater predictability to the regime in Pyongyang.?

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Google opens Chrome Web Store, first Chrome OS hardware

Google today opened the Chrome Web Store in the US, with plans to expand to more countries and currencies early next year. Developers have already started uploading Flash and HTML5 apps and the store will soon be featured prominently in the Chrome browser. The store is already supported by Chrome 8, which was released earlier last week.

The apps from the store are going to be a large part of the Chrome OS, and of course Google has shared more information on its new mobile operating system. Chrome OS is not done yet, but the search giant believes it is ready for feedback from users. The company has thus launched a pilot program where it gives test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools, and businesses. The program is US-only until Google gets the necessary certifications to expand to other countries. You can sign up for it here.

"The test notebooks exist only to test the softwarethey are black, have no branding, no logos, no stickers, nothing," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "They do have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time. Chrome notebooks are designed to reach the web instantly, are easy to share among friends and family, and simply by logging in, all of your apps, bookmarks and other browser settings are there. Setting up a new machine takes less than a minute. And even at this early stage, we feel there is no consumer or business operating system that is more secure."

As expected, Chrome notebooks will be available from Acer and Samsung in the first half of 2011. The main philosophy behind Chrome OS, which differentiates itself from Android by targeting devices with physical keyboards, is that many people already spend all their time in a browser, and that building an OS that is essentially a browser will make computers faster, simpler, and more secure.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41471-google-opens-chrome-web-store-first-chrome-os-hardware.html

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Chinese murder trial broadcast live on the net [TNW Asia]

A murder trial in the Chinese city of Guangzhou has been broadcast live over the internet.

The trial was broadcast after the Supreme People?s Court issued a notice in September, that asked courts at all levels to promote judicial openness.

Local portal site, Dayoo broadcast the trial in which flower plant boss, Yu Xiuqi, faced the charge that he killed two partners on June 6 this year.

The three hour long trial received 7,000 visitors who were also able to give their feedback via the Internet. Some wondered whether live broadcasts might negatively affect rulings with one comment saying.

?Online broadcasts may psychologically affect judges, lawyers, and defendants and plaintiffs,?

The trial?s chief  judge, Yu Jinxia, quoted in China Daily, said,

?The online broadcast was a new challenge for me, I have to be more careful to avoid any mistakes as lots of people were watching the trial on their computers.?

?Their comments are more like a mirror, which will refresh our minds and help us to make judgments more efficiently?

While the broadcasting of the trial has been widely reported in China, the verdict has not. So we?re not sure if the defendant was found guilty.

Guangdong was not the first province to broadcast trials live online. Early in March, the Higher People?s Court in Central China?s Henan province broadcast a land lease dispute trial at Chinacourt.org to netizens across the country.

More than 81,000 judgment documents from Henan?s courts are available on the Internet and online broadcasts have been implemented in all intermediate courts in Henan.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2010/12/08/chinese-murder-trial-broadcast-live-on-the-net/

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Steam contest gives you a chance to win 100 games

We usually reserve game sales for Fridays, but Steam's latest promotion deserves some special attention. Yesterday, the distribution service launched a holiday contest that will give one lucky customer the opportunity to win 100 games of their choosing. Additionally, 20 people every two days will win five games on their wishlist, and you can also unlock exclusive hats in Team Fortress 2.

Here's how it works. Every two days Steam will post a set of objectives, which are generally game-related achievements. For instance, today's objectives require you to become a Desert Fox in R.U.S.E., unlock the Iron Curtain in Poker Night at the Inventory, and set a certain score in Chime. There's also one non game-related objective that requires you to upload an avatar for your Steam profile.

For a shot at winning 100 games, you have to complete any 10 objectives by the end of the promotion on December 20. You also have to log onto Steam on the 20 to be counted in the drawing. To keep things interesting along the way, Steam will give away five games to 20 people every other day for completing only one task -- and again, some of them are as simple as selecting a profile picture.


You can increase your odds at winning five games by finishing more tasks. Every objective completed gains you another entry in the drawing. Meanwhile, Team Fortress 2 players have a chance to unlock as many as three exclusive hats. You will unlock the "Bounty hat" for accomplishing any five tasks, the "Treasure hat" for doing 15, and the "Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect" for fulfilling 28 objectives.

It's also worth mentioning that Steam appears to be discounting any game required to complete an objective. For instance, R.U.S.E. is currently priced at $33.49 (33% off), Poker Night at the Inventory is $2.99 (40% off), and Chime is only $1.25 (75% off). We can only expect that more popular titles will be included as the contest unfolds, so be sure to keep an eye on things even if you're not participating.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41472-steam-contest-gives-you-a-chance-to-win-100-games.html

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Spenders Become Savers in Race for Key House Post

?Uncle Needs a Diet,? declares the package assembled by Representative Jerry Lewis, Republican of California, one of three candidates in the race for one of the most powerful, and now paradoxical, jobs in government: leading the House Appropriations Committee in the new Congress as the Republican leadership tries to transform the panel from a fountain of federal spending into ground zero for budget cutting.

Selecting a chairman ? a party vote is expected Tuesday ? is the first step in perhaps the most audacious aspect of the plan by Representative John A. Boehner, the incoming Republican speaker, to alter the way the House works. Like Mr. Lewis, the other two leading candidates, Representatives Harold Rogers of Kentucky and Jack Kingston of Georgia, are campaigning to convince their party?s leadership that they can cast aside their own histories as earmarkers and pork-allocators and lead a shift in focus from how to spend it to how to save it.

To make the effort more than a slogan will mean upending one of the most entrenched cultures in Washington, a bipartisan tradition of directing money to favored causes with an eye as much to political gain as to policy outcome. Under both parties, the committee has long been a power unto itself, a secretive realm where subcommittee chairmen hold sway over cabinet secretaries and generals and financing can almost magically materialize or disappear for little-scrutinized local projects even as national priorities are set or dismissed.

Leading the committee toward a belt-tightening mandate would also mean taking on an entire industry that has been built up around the federal trough, a complex of lobbyists, consultants and corporations that feeds off the competition for dollars and with some regularity produces scandals ? and provides a substantial chunk of the campaign contributions that fuel the American political system.

?It has been a favor factory for years, and now it is going to become a slaughterhouse,? said Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican and longtime antagonist of the Appropriations Committee who on Monday was endorsed by Mr. Boehner to be one of several antispending conservatives to be seated on the panel. ?It is going to get ugly.?

All the candidates for chairman have more than 15 years on the committee and all have hungrily sought earmarks. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, in the last fiscal year, Mr. Lewis won 62 earmarks worth $97.6 million, followed by Mr. Rogers with 59 costing $93.4 million, and Mr. Kingston 40 worth $66.8 million.

Mr. Lewis was chairman of the committee before Democrats took control of the House in 2006 and would need a special exemption to be chairman again because of party-imposed term limits. In campaigning for the job, he has emphasized his past efforts to push spending cuts. Mr. Rogers has promoted his party fund-raising and his willingness to confront the executive branch on spending. Mr. Kingston has the backing of some outside fiscal watchdogs and promises a new openness on the panel.

The team of Republican leaders planning to take over the House on Jan. 5 is exploring a variety of changes intended to break the committee?s spending mind-set, starting with the new majority?s promise to slice $100 billion from President Obama?s budget request for the current fiscal year.

The three longtime committee members who aspire to head the panel have clearly gotten the message.

Like Mr. Lewis, his two rivals for the chairmanship are also committee members who have promised to devote themselves to paring spending, though all have funneled money to scores of projects through earmarks in past bills. The effort to reshape the committee promises to be a stern test of Republicans? rededication to fiscal sobriety after falling off the wagon during the dozen years, through 2006, that their party controlled the House, when government spending rose at rapid rates.

?They have promised things that they have neither delivered in the past nor, in my opinion, are going to be able to deliver on in the future,? said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat and a veteran of the Appropriations Committee himself.

To succeed and satisfy the conservative Tea Party-style voters that propelled them to power, Republicans will have to quickly make significant cuts in government programs and somehow find a way to enact those cuts into law in cooperation with a Democratically controlled Senate and a Democratic president.

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OnLive coming to iPad, Android, has potential beyond gaming

OnLive has announced the availability of a new application called "OnLive Viewer" for Apple's iPad. The free software allows users to spectate games being played on the service, but it won't actually let iPad users play games -- at least not yet anyway.

The company said its new app is just a taste of what's to come. Most games aren't optimized for touch controls yet, but full game capabilities will be supported in the future. For now, OnLive has kicked things off by focusing on spectating and social features.

OnLive Viewer isn't limited to Apple's platform mind you, a version is also being developed for Android devices such as the recently launched Samsung Galaxy Tab. That project is currently in beta, but we haven't seen an official release projection.


What's possibly more exciting, however, is OnLive Viewer's potential beyond gaming. Just as OnLive allows you to stream high-end video games on low-end hardware, it could be used to access intensive desktop software from mobile devices.

During a conference today, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman showed how the OnLive Viewer could be used to access powerful enterprise software such as Autodesk Maya. The viewer was also shown running Flash web pages as well as Windows 7 Touch.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41473-onlive-coming-to-ipad-android-has-potential-beyond-gaming.html

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Steam contest gives you a chance to win 100 games

We usually reserve game sales for Fridays, but Steam's latest promotion deserves some special attention. Yesterday, the distribution service launched a holiday contest that will give one lucky customer the opportunity to win 100 games of their choosing. Additionally, 20 people every two days will win five games on their wishlist, and you can also unlock exclusive hats in Team Fortress 2.

Here's how it works. Every two days Steam will post a set of objectives, which are generally game-related achievements. For instance, today's objectives require you to become a Desert Fox in R.U.S.E., unlock the Iron Curtain in Poker Night at the Inventory, and set a certain score in Chime. There's also one non game-related objective that requires you to upload an avatar for your Steam profile.

For a shot at winning 100 games, you have to complete any 10 objectives by the end of the promotion on December 20. You also have to log onto Steam on the 20 to be counted in the drawing. To keep things interesting along the way, Steam will give away five games to 20 people every other day for completing only one task -- and again, some of them are as simple as selecting a profile picture.


You can increase your odds at winning five games by finishing more tasks. Every objective completed gains you another entry in the drawing. Meanwhile, Team Fortress 2 players have a chance to unlock as many as three exclusive hats. You will unlock the "Bounty hat" for accomplishing any five tasks, the "Treasure hat" for doing 15, and the "Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect" for fulfilling 28 objectives.

It's also worth mentioning that Steam appears to be discounting any game required to complete an objective. For instance, R.U.S.E. is currently priced at $33.49 (33% off), Poker Night at the Inventory is $2.99 (40% off), and Chime is only $1.25 (75% off). We can only expect that more popular titles will be included as the contest unfolds, so be sure to keep an eye on things even if you're not participating.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41472-steam-contest-gives-you-a-chance-to-win-100-games.html

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News Analysis: A Bridge to Republicans Alienates Liberal Base

For the first time since his party?s drubbing in last month?s election, and arguably for the first time on a major domestic policy since he took office, Mr. Obama forged a deal with the Republican opposition, swallowing hard to give up a central campaign promise while maneuvering to win enough other priorities to declare partial victory.

In that deal come the first clues to how he plans to govern for the next two years with a divided Congress, an anemic economy and his own re-election looming on the horizon. He made clear he was willing to alienate his liberal base in the interest of compromise, more interested in crafting measures that can pass to the benefit of the middle class than waging battle to the end over principle. And in the process, he is gambling he can convince the American people that he is the bridge-builder they thought he was.

?I know there?s some people in my own party and in the other party who would rather prolong this battle, even if we can?t reach a compromise,? Mr. Obama said in announcing the bipartisan agreement on tax cuts and unemployment benefits. ?But I?m not willing to let working families across this country become collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington.?

This was not a compromise he could relish. Ending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of households was a major theme of his campaign in 2008. But if he had to agree to a two-year extension, he exacted a price from Republicans in the form of extended unemployment benefits, a temporary payroll tax cut to help the working class and the continuation of tax breaks for parents and students.

Unlike with other issues, Mr. Obama and the Republicans had a powerful incentive to split the difference, an implacable end-of-the-year deadline that would have resulted in a tax increase for nearly every American. Moreover, he arguably just punted the issue into the 2012 campaign.

The White House was careful not to extrapolate too much from one deal. Still, after Mr. Obama got passage of sweeping economic stimulus, health care and financial regulation measures with virtually no Republican support, this represents something of a break, and centrists and Republicans saw hope for a more collaborative two years.

?This is the first in a series of painful deals that the president will have to cut if he is to move us forward for the next two years,? said Matt Bennett, vice president of Third Way, an advocacy group of moderate Democrats, and a veteran of Bill Clinton?s White House. ?It is proof that he is governing as an adult, looking for opportunities to negotiate.?

Frank J. Donatelli, chairman of Gopac, a Republican group, and White House political director under Ronald Reagan, said the opposition would welcome the move. ?It?s the first time he has ever defied his base, which is a small step in the right direction,? Mr. Donatelli said. ?It will make him a better president to govern from the center.?

But to his base, this is just the latest and most outrageous betrayal in what it sees as a two-year cycle of caving to conservative pressure and Republican obstructionism. The litany from the left is now familiar: Mr. Obama was too modest in his stimulus package, too afraid to fight for a government-sponsored option in his health plan, too deferential to Wall Street in his financial reforms, too weak to stand up to the generals on Afghanistan.

?Obama may have just ensured that he?ll face a significant challenge to his renomination in 2012 from inside the Democratic Party,? said Norman Solomon, a leader of Progressive Democrats of America. ?By giving away the store on such a momentous tax issue, he has now done huge damage to a large portion of the progressive base that helped to make him president.?

Mr. Solomon added, ?If he thinks that won?t have major effects on his re-election chances, he?s been swallowed up by a delusional bubble.?

For the moment, no credible primary challenger to Mr. Obama has emerged. But the anger on Monday extended beyond party activists. Democratic Congressional leaders acutely remember being cut out of the action when Mr. Clinton ?triangulated? with Republicans in the 1990s, and Mr. Obama?s tax deal may provoke an open revolt.

Tony Fratto, a White House official under George W. Bush, said Mr. Obama failed to lay the groundwork with his own party. ?Although the outcome here was inevitable, it will have real consequences for the president?s relationship with Congressional Democrats and his base,? Mr. Fratto said.

Mr. Obama seemed to recognize that during his remarks on Monday evening and addressed disappointed supporters.

?Sympathetic as I am to those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do,? he said. ?The American people didn?t send us here to wage symbolic battles or win symbolic victories.?

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7a72571090dbbca074a87cb4f52c5a90

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Steam contest gives you a chance to win 100 games

We usually reserve game sales for Fridays, but Steam's latest promotion deserves some special attention. Yesterday, the distribution service launched a holiday contest that will give one lucky customer the opportunity to win 100 games of their choosing. Additionally, 20 people every two days will win five games on their wishlist, and you can also unlock exclusive hats in Team Fortress 2.

Here's how it works. Every two days Steam will post a set of objectives, which are generally game-related achievements. For instance, today's objectives require you to become a Desert Fox in R.U.S.E., unlock the Iron Curtain in Poker Night at the Inventory, and set a certain score in Chime. There's also one non game-related objective that requires you to upload an avatar for your Steam profile.

For a shot at winning 100 games, you have to complete any 10 objectives by the end of the promotion on December 20. You also have to log onto Steam on the 20 to be counted in the drawing. To keep things interesting along the way, Steam will give away five games to 20 people every other day for completing only one task -- and again, some of them are as simple as selecting a profile picture.


You can increase your odds at winning five games by finishing more tasks. Every objective completed gains you another entry in the drawing. Meanwhile, Team Fortress 2 players have a chance to unlock as many as three exclusive hats. You will unlock the "Bounty hat" for accomplishing any five tasks, the "Treasure hat" for doing 15, and the "Hat of Undeniable Wealth and Respect" for fulfilling 28 objectives.

It's also worth mentioning that Steam appears to be discounting any game required to complete an objective. For instance, R.U.S.E. is currently priced at $33.49 (33% off), Poker Night at the Inventory is $2.99 (40% off), and Chime is only $1.25 (75% off). We can only expect that more popular titles will be included as the contest unfolds, so be sure to keep an eye on things even if you're not participating.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41472-steam-contest-gives-you-a-chance-to-win-100-games.html

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