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WASHINGTON -- With the debate over the Affordable Care Act law morphing from a constitutional matter before the Supreme Court to an implementation matter beforestate houses, President Barack Obama and allied Democrats are refiguring their sales pitch. In response to criticisms that the law hamstrings governors, defenders of the president's health care law will be championing a states-rights amendment that already enjoys Republican support. Under current law, states are allowed to opt out of various requirements of the Affordable Care Act by 2017, provided that they meet minimal standards for coverage. The Empowering States to Innovate Act would move that date to 2014. For the Obama White House, the amendment has a number of politically appealing aspects. The most obvious is that it provides an avenue to the type of federalist approach that the Republican Party, and its standard-bearer Mitt Romney, has argued should have been adopted in the first place. More bluntly, the co-sponsor of the amendment, along with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), is Sen. Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican who happens to share a senior adviser with Romney. When top Obama administration officials were asked how they would go about selling the law in the immediate aftermath of the court's ruling, one of the three provisions they cited was the opt-out amendment. It was equally telling that the president made a point of emphasizing the idea in his post-SCOTUS remarks. "Each state will take the lead in designing their own menu of options, and if states can come up with even better ways of covering more people at the same quality and cost, this law allows them to do that, too," Obama said. "And I've asked Congress to help speed up that process, and give states this flexibility in year one." Perhaps the most obvious signal that the White House sees the amendment as a campaign instrument came in February 2011, when the president declared -- in a bit of prescience with respect to the GOP prim

Springhill Group has been providing solutions that improve health and quality of life for those in need. Springhill is focused on patients and dedicated to delivering quality patient care and service. We provide patients with the care they need and the comfort and independence they deserve. Clinical Service Delivery: Responding to the unique needs of patients and their families by offering skilled nursing care, and home safety evaluations. Patient-Centered Care: Springhill's patient-centered care is customized to meet the requirements of each patient and allows them to remain in the comfort of their homes. Quality Improvement: Routine review of policies, processes and procedures enables Springhill Group's to continuously improve its standard of care delivery. Healthcare Technology: Investment in healthcare technology allows Springhill to further improve services and to greatly enhance communication as well as invest more in the quality of patient care through increased efficiency.

WASHINGTON -- With the debate over the Affordable Care Act law morphing from a constitutional matter before the Supreme Court to an implementation matter before state houses, President Barack Obama and allied Democrats are refiguring their sales pitch. In response to criticisms that the law hamstrings governors, defenders of the president's health care law will be championing a states-rights amendment that already enjoys Republican support. Under current law, states are allowed to opt out of various requirements of the Affordable Care Act by 2017, provided that they meet minimal standards for coverage. The Empowering States to Innovate Act would move that date to 2014. For the Obama White House, the amendment has a number of politically appealing aspects. The most obvious is that it provides an avenue to the type of federalist approach that the Republican Party, and its standard-bearer Mitt Romney, has argued should have been adopted in the first place. More bluntly, the co-sponsor of the amendment, along with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), is Sen. Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican who happens to share a senior adviser with Romney. When top Obama administration officials were asked how they would go about selling the law in the immediate aftermath of the court's ruling, one of the three provisions they cited was the opt-out amendment. It was equally telling that the president made a point of emphasizing the idea in his post-SCOTUS remarks. "Each state will take the lead in designing their own menu of options, and if states can come up with even better ways of covering more people at the same quality and cost, this law allows them to do that, too," Obama said. "And I've asked Congress to help speed up that process, and give states this flexibility in year one." Perhaps the most obvious signal that the White House sees the amendment as a campaign instrument came in February 2011, when the president declared -- in a bit of prescience with respect to

Scientists at Disney Research in Pennsylvania, Springhill Group and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new touch-and-gesture recognition technology called Touche, envisioning a future where almost every item could be controlled with a touch sensor. Their project obviously aims to illustrate more applications of touch sensitivity in everyday items like water, tables and door handles using a person's body as the control. Touche could also have limitless applications in the workplace. One example is setting a door handle to various states just by grasping it in a different way. You could also activate touch sensitivity on the doorknob that would lock and unlock depending on the pressure you put on the handle. Another fancy example is the capability of the Touche system to give you control on your living room appliance. You can program the TV to automatically turn on once you sit down on the sofa and turn it off when you fall asleep. Disney's Touche uses Swept Frequency Capacitative Sensing (SFCS) in monitoring and responding data points from a user's Bluetooth wristband. But unlike touch screens that can only recognize whether it is being touched or not, SFCS recognizes the manner in which the object is being touched. A flat palm, two-finger touch or single-finger touch could be programmed with various responses. The system works when an electrical signal passes through the item changes once it touched a conductive material like the human finger. This capacitative sensing is already being used in smartphones, the only difference is that they use only one frequency of electrical signals compared to Touche's array of frequencies. Multiple frequencies enables the system to differentiate among various touch gestures and can determine if it's a full-hand grasp, multiple fingers or a single one. Moreover, it only takes one sensing electrode attached to the item at one end and a PC unit on the other, analyzing the alternating signals to determine

Scientists at Disney Research in Pennsylvania, Springhill Group and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new touch-and-gesture recognition technology called Touche, envisioning a future where almost every item could be controlled with a touch sensor. Their project obviously aims to illustrate more applications of touch sensitivity in everyday items like water, tables and door handles using a person's body as the control.

Related stories One More Thing: Robot fish - pollution's greatest fear One more thing: today's other news One More Thing: Google Play hits 15 billion app downloads Bad app-le - Someone get us a catapult and some disgruntled fowl, we want to fire them at this Latvian firm that was publishing fake editions of Angry Birds and Cut the Rope which allowed it to send hidden premium texts to anyone who downloaded them. Happily, the firm has now been fined £50,000 and ordered to refund all the people caught out by the scam. [BBC] Wooooay, football - Football's still going, apparently. The second test for Hawk-Eye's goal line tech is set to be England v Belgium on June 2, thus providing one more thing to blame when England doesn't win things. [FIFA] What up Barack? - All you've got to do to get a call from the president is launch your own privately-funded space program. Sadly for Elon Musk said "Caller ID was blocked, so at first I thought it was a telemarketer." If it hadn't have been blocked it'd have flashed up "B-DAWG Calling", presumably. [TNW] Dark matters - It seems there was some question mark over whether or not dark matter exists. Apparently it does. As you were. [New Scientist] Get lost - Twitter won't tweet any two-word tweet starting with the word 'get' on account of it once being an SMS service. Not much good if you're in a hostage situation, risking your life to tweet and all you've got time to type is 'Get help'. We'd probably all ignore that anyway though so… no biggie. [Buzzfeed] Where did dogs come from? - The eternal question. No one seems to know. And if you said WOLVES then QI KLAXON. [Ars Technica] Like Mike - Google's shopping spree not only saw it picking up Motorola Mobility but also design studio Mike and Maaike, which worked on the first Android phone (the much-loved G1) as well as the Xbox 360. Controversial. [TNW] Fashion - If you buy this R2D2 hoodie, you're only allowed to communicate in

http://springhill-jacobmartin.blogspot.com/2012/07/springhill-group-springhillgroupbyrichp_17.html BLOGSPOT: Police Reports for Feb. 26, 2012 - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Police Reports http://springcaregroup.blogspot.com/2012/03/police-reports-for-feb-26-2012-bozeman.html The Bozeman Police Department reports for Sunday included the following: People were fighting in front of an East Main Street bar. Most fled when police arrived around 1:40 a.m. The man who was assaulted did not want to press charges. Police found "a man by himself drinking a beer and playing loud video games at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning" on Ida Avenue after a neighbor complained about the noise. A 21-year-old Belgrade man was cited for stealing two DVDs from a Catron Street store around 1:45 p.m. Read more . . . Spring Hill Hotels, Motels - Florida FL - Spring Hill Hotel Discounts http://springhillcaregroup.multiply.com/journal/item/57/Spring_Hill_Hotels_Motels_-_Florida_FL_-_Spring_Hill_Hotel_Discounts Spring Hill Hotels, Motels, and Reviews Hampton Inn Spring Hill - $$ 1344 Commercial Way, US 19, Spring Hill, FL 34606 Rated average by verified guestsMidscale, highway hotel near Weekiwatchee PreserveAlso near Buccaneer Bay3 floors, 732 rooms - elevatorOutdoor swimming pool - exercise roomFree Internet access -free parkingNot pet-friendly - no pets allowed - Jan 2011Hotel ReviewsConveniently located - worth the price - room was clean - liked the upscale linens - staff was friendly - appreciated the snacks and wine - nice hotelGood location and rates - room was cleanBeds were fabulous - the elevator carpet was filthyRoom was spacious - housekeeping was intrusive - not much selection a breakfastConvenient location - room wasn't clean enough - employees were friendly and pleasant - breakfast was a disappointment Read more. . . Boiler Parts, Boiler Repair & Boiler Room Supplies for Steam Heating (statesupply) - Boiler Room Supplies Boiler Gaskets, Unit Heaters an

BLOGSPOT: Police Reports for Feb. 26, 2012 - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Police Reports http://springcaregroup.blogspot.com/2012/03/police-reports-for-feb-26-2012-bozeman.html The Bozeman Police Department reports for Sunday included the following: People were fighting in front of an East Main Street bar. Most fled when police arrived around 1:40 a.m. The man who was assaulted did not want to press charges. Police found "a man by himself drinking a beer and playing loud video games at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning" on Ida Avenue after a neighbor complained about the noise. A 21-year-old Belgrade man was cited for stealing two DVDs from a Catron Street store around 1:45 p.m. Read more . . . Spring Hill Hotels, Motels - Florida FL - Spring Hill Hotel Discounts http://springhillcaregroup.multiply.com/journal/item/57/Spring_Hill_Hotels_Motels_-_Florida_FL_-_Spring_Hill_Hotel_Discounts Spring Hill Hotels, Motels, and Reviews Hampton Inn Spring Hill - $$ 1344 Commercial Way, US 19, Spring Hill, FL 34606 Rated average by verified guestsMidscale, highway hotel near Weekiwatchee PreserveAlso near Buccaneer Bay3 floors, 732 rooms - elevatorOutdoor swimming pool - exercise roomFree Internet access - free parkingNot pet-friendly - no pets allowed - Jan 2011Hotel ReviewsConveniently located - worth the price - room was clean - liked the upscale linens - staff was friendly - appreciated the snacks and wine - nice hotelGood location and rates - room was cleanBeds were fabulous - the elevator carpet was filthyRoom was spacious - housekeeping was intrusive - not much selection a breakfastConvenient location - room wasn't clean enough - employees were friendly and pleasant - breakfast was a disappointment

This piece originally appeared at TomDispatch. It's a policy fierce enough to cause great suffering among Iranians-and possibly in the long run among Americans, too. It might, in the end, even deeply harm the global economy and yet, history tells us, it will fail on its own. Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however, lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences. The United States is already effectively embroiled in an economic war against Iran. The Obama administration has subjected the Islamic Republic to the most crippling economic sanctions applied to any country since Iraq was reduced to fourth-world status in the 1990s. And worse is on the horizon. A financial blockade is being imposed that seeks to prevent Tehran from selling petroleum, its most valuable commodity, as a way of dissuading the regime from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. Historical memory has never been an American strong point and so few today remember that a global embargo on Iranian petroleum is hardly a new tactic in Western geopolitics; nor do many recall that the last time it was applied with such stringency, in the 1950s, it led to the overthrow of the government with disastrous long-term blowback on the United States. The tactic is just as dangerous today. Iran's supreme theocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly condemned the atom bomb and nuclear weapons of all sorts as tools of the devil, weaponry that cannot be used without killing massive numbers of civilian noncombatants. In the most emphatic terms, he has, in fact, pronounced them forbidden according to Islamic law. Based on the latest U.S. intelligence, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has affirmed that Iran has not made a decision to pursue a nuclear warhead. In contrast, hawks in Israel and the United States insist

This piece originally appeared atTomDispatch. It's a policy fierce enough to cause great suffering among Iranians-and possibly in the long run among Americans, too. It might, in the end, even deeply harm the global economy and yet, history tells us, it will fail on its own. Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however, lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences. The United States is already effectively embroiled in an economic war against Iran. The Obama administration has subjected the Islamic Republic to the most crippling economic sanctions applied to any country since Iraq was reduced to fourth-world status in the 1990s. And worse is on the horizon. A financial blockade is being imposed that seeks to prevent Tehran from selling petroleum, its most valuable commodity, as a way of dissuading the regime from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. Historical memory has never been an American strong point and so few today remember that a global embargo on Iranian petroleum is hardly a new tactic in Western geopolitics; nor do many recall that the last time it was applied with such stringency, in the 1950s, it led to the overthrow of the government with disastrous long-term blowback on the United States. The tactic is just as dangerous today. Iran's supreme theocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly condemned the atom bomb and nuclear weapons of all sorts as tools of the devil, weaponry that cannot be used without killing massive numbers of civilian noncombatants. In the most emphatic terms, he has, in fact, pronounced them forbidden according to Islamic law. Based on the latest U.S. intelligence, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hasaffirmed that Iran has not made a decision to pursue a nuclear warhead. In contrast, hawks in Israel and the United States insist t

This piece originally appeared at TomDispatch. It's a policy fierce enough to cause great suffering among Iranians-and possibly in the long run among Americans, too. It might, in the end, even deeply harm the global economy and yet, history tells us, it will fail on its own. Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however, lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences. The United States is already effectively embroiled in an economic war against Iran. The Obama administration has subjected the Islamic Republic to the most crippling economic sanctions applied to any country since Iraq was reduced to fourth-world status in the 1990s. And worse is on the horizon. A financial blockade is being imposed that seeks to prevent Tehran from selling petroleum, its most valuable commodity, as a way of dissuading the regime from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. Historical memory has never been an American strong point and so few today remember that a global embargo on Iranian petroleum is hardly a new tactic in Western geopolitics; nor do many recall that the last time it was applied with such stringency, in the 1950s, it led to the overthrow of the government with disastrous long-term blowback on the United States. The tactic is just as dangerous today. Iran's supreme theocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly condemned the atom bomb and nuclear weapons of all sorts as tools of the devil, weaponry that cannot be used without killing massive numbers of civilian noncombatants. In the most emphatic terms, he has, in fact, pronounced them forbidden according to Islamic law. Based on the latest U.S. intelligence, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has affirmed that Iran has not made a decision to pursue a nuclear warhead. In contrast, hawks in Israel and the United States insist

By Juan Cole, TomDispatch This piece originally appeared atTomDispatch. It's a policy fierce enough to cause great suffering among Iranians-and possibly in the long run among Americans, too. It might, in the end, even deeply harm the global economy and yet, history tells us, it will fail on its own. Economic war led by Washington (and encouraged by Israel) will not take down the Iranian government or bring it to the bargaining table on its knees ready to surrender its nuclear program. It might, however, lead to actual armed conflict with incalculable consequences. The United States is already effectively embroiled in an economic war against Iran. The Obama administration has subjected the Islamic Republic to the most crippling economic sanctions applied to any country since Iraq was reduced to fourth-world status in the 1990s. And worse is on the horizon. A financial blockade is being imposed that seeks to prevent Tehran from selling petroleum, its most valuable commodity, as a way of dissuading the regime from pursuing its nuclear enrichment program. Historical memory has never been an American strong point and so few today remember that a global embargo on Iranian petroleum is hardly a new tactic in Western geopolitics; nor do many recall that the last time it was applied with such stringency, in the 1950s, it led to the overthrow of the government with disastrous long-term blowback on the United States. The tactic is just as dangerous today. Iran's supreme theocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly condemned the atom bomb and nuclear weapons of all sorts as tools of the devil, weaponry that cannot be used without killing massive numbers of civilian noncombatants. In the most emphatic terms, he has, in fact, pronounced them forbidden according to Islamic law. Based on the latest U.S. intelligence, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hasaffirmed that Iran has not made a decision to pursue a nuclear warhead. In contrast, hawks in Israel and