Vonage’s Appeal Refused; Verizon Owed $120 Million (Update4) — Bloomberg

I have turned a lot of people onto Vonage, mostly because in my opinion you can’t beat the service, but things have looked bleak for Vonage for a while. In the latest bit of bad news, Vonage had their appeal refused, thus nearly cementing their requirement to pay Verizon $120 million.

Vonage wanted the court to review a decision that upheld most of a March verdict, which found that the company had violated two Verizon patents. The jury from that trial awarded Verizon a 5.5 percent royalty on future income. The amount owed to Verizon had grown to about $88 million when Vonage announced the settlement.

Under the terms of the settlement, the $120 million payment would have been cut to $80 million had the appeals court in Washington agreed to review the decision. Holmdel, New Jersey- based Vonage must pay $117.5 million to Verizon and give $2.5 million to charity.

I don’t think it’s time to abandon ship just yet, but it may take a touch of creativity to get out of this jam. Overall, as a consumer, this is beyond unfortunate. The alternatives from Time Warner, etc., don’t hold a candle to what Vonage offers at half the price. I love being able to get voice mails in email attachments and text messages on my cell phone telling me that someone has left a voice mail, along with a host of other nifty features for $25/month. Oh, and all calls in the U.S. and Canada are local with international rates at a fraction of the big boys.

Regardless, I hope that that creativity of Vonage will come through. Their product is clearly superior to other VoIP offerings; therefore, the market will surely help them through this if the initial damage isn’t too damning.

Men’s Hoops No. 1 In AP Poll — Tar Heel Blue

The University of North Carolina is ranked number one in the preseason Associated Press poll.

The University of North Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the 2007-08 preseason men’s basketball Associated Press poll, which was released by the AP on Friday afternoon.

Carolina also took the top spot in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason poll, released last week. The last time UNC topped both preseason polls was the 1986-87 season.

Here’s hoping that the Tar Heels are number one in the nation at the end of the season.

New documentary takes unflinching look at abortion in US — AFP

A limited-release documentary is showing the debate over abortion from both sides.

One scene depicts a doctor sifting through a surgical tray after performing a late-term abortion, where the grisly residue of an arm, a foot and part of a face can be clearly made out.

“It’s about as shocking as any motion picture can ever get. It’s illegal to film someone being killed,” said Kaye.

They may be the kind of images used by anti-abortion activists, but Kaye also doesn’t shy from showing pictures of a kneeling and bent-over naked woman who died after performing a botched abortion on herself with a wire coat hanger.

I do not have the stomach to watch a movie depicting a doctor sifting through the remains of a dead baby to make sure that all of the pieces have been removed from the woman, but maybe this documentary (if it is in fact one, and not one of the more aptly-name “docugandas,” such as An Inconvenient Truth) will be a good one for others to watch.

I have another reason for posting this link, too.

Even after spending years working on the project, Kaye, however, admits to not knowing where he stands in the debate.

“My position on the subject is that I don’t really know what’s right. I didn’t know much in the beginning… and at the end I was just as confused.”

This type of “confusion” raises a question outside of the point of the article: unless you’re absolutely sure, in your own mind, that a procedure that ends the existence of a life (or, if you prefer, a “would-be” life) is morally, legally, and ethically acceptable, should you really condone it? Is this not an issue that requires one to demand a level a certainty beyond “probably.” Is even being “probably” correct sufficient enough to explain away the horror should one be wrong?

In the absence of scientific “certainty,” there must be a default position that a person takes. I have wondered, on occasion, if my own stance on abortion (pro-life) is actually supported by the evidence. My inability to convince myself that abortion is simply a medical procedure that should be available, though, necessitated my acceptance that the correct default position was rejection.

Quiet ministry makes a difference — Home Town News

My grandfather was featured in a story about Christian ministry and church building in various places, particularly in Romania.

Jack Davis is an unassuming man from Blacksburg, but during the past 43 years, he has traveled the world making a difference. During that time, he has volunteered with the Jessie Powers Evangelistic Association, helping the needy in Haiti where they began a school for the deaf. The work with the deaf was very fruitful until the government began taking their medicines and then exacting a fee before those much-needed drugs could be recovered.

Just as the doors to Central America closed, the wall in Germany came down and the Eastern Bloc nations began opening their doors to evangelists. Davis went with the JPE Association to Russia where they ministered to the poor. Then, in 1990, they began the ministry to Romania, which continues to this day. Davis has been to the Transylvania area of Romania 18 times. He went alone this summer in August for 21 days to check on the churches that they helped to build, both physically and spiritually. In Romania, they encourage and meet the health needs of many people who have been living for decades in deprivation, unlike anything most Americans have seen.

That deprivation began with Communist rule in 1947, and reached its height when Nicholae Ceausescu ruled from 1967 through 1989. All Christians lost their jobs at the very beginning, and many were imprisoned or relocated. The Romanians lived with strict rationing of power, food, and other necessities. By 1989, according to CNSAS (the Council for Studies of the Archives of the Former Securitate), one in three Romanians was an informant for the Securitate. Health care dropped substantially, and medicines were no longer imported. It was a fertile situation for the black market, which controlled everything in the country. The legacy of the period was a bloated heavy industry using archaic production methods, (Romanians had to wait three years for a washing machine, two to three years for a color TV, five–10 years for a car), and technologically obsolete (Romania, in 1989, produced 1960s cars and 1970s TVs and washing machines). In 1989, Romania had only a 68-mile stretch of roadway, and that was in poor shape.

While his countrymen lived in these conditions, Ceausescu and his family enjoyed the best – he built himself a palace in the ‘80s with a luxury neighborhood to match. He required his government employees to move from job to job, so that no one established a power base. During the uprising in 1989, 1,000 people were killed, and not one person came to the rescue of Ceausescu or his family. They were tried by a kangaroo court and publicly shot on Dec. 25.

This was the state of life in Romania (then named The Socialist Republic of Romania) when groups began providing aid. The Jessie Powers Evangelistic Association went into Romania in 1991. In 1992, as Jack began the work from Cluj and walked to the outer villages. He was able to work from the home of Zachei and Maria Ivoras in the town of Gligoresti, which has about 150 people. Although he doesn’t speak the language, his first job was to help them build their church. Zaccheus’ daughter, Georgetta, and her son, Ovedia (Ovie for short) make a 1.5-hour train trip to help Jack. His friend, Ovie, now 13, serves as his translator.

In 2001, Ovie wanted to go for a walk, so he took Jack to a small creek, which they crossed on a swinging bridge. Then they crossed the “big river,” on a ferry. Jack saw a little village, Gabou, across the way, and learned there was no Christian church there. (The Orthodox Church was replaced by a “state” religion, the communist government imprisoned ministers at will, and for decades, the people worshipped in secret and in fear). Gabou was an 8-mile walk from Zaccheus’ house, but Jack met with the Christians there, and helped them build a new church. They tore down a dilapidated house and for two years had a poured cement slab. It took them four years to complete the church.

Jack explained when freedom came; churches were packed with standing room only. Now that more churches have been built, they are not as crowded. There was a great spiritual hunger in the country when the Communists left power, but the church continues to grow.

According to Jack, the situation in Romania is much better now. The land can now be used for farming; there are new industries and more choices. The country joined the EU last year, so that helped, but it did cause merchandise to increase in price. Many of the young people have gone to other countries for work. Davis said the Romanian people are very kind, helpful and loving – the Orthodox not so friendly. The people that Jack met in 1992 are now his friends; they give themselves easy nicknames so he can remember them. In the city of Cluj, Jack met a man who needed medicine for his heart; the Powers ministry was able to get it for him. “We are friends to this day.”

These are just a very few reasons that make him a great man.

Do Not Call listings aren’t forever — AP

The Do Not Call list is almost five years old, and since registrations are only good for five years, those who registered their phone numbers early may be fielding calls from telemarketers again soon enough.

Numbers placed on the registry, begun in June 2003, are valid for five years. For the millions of people who signed onto the list in its early days, their numbers will automatically drop off beginning next June if they do not enroll again.

“It is incredibly quick and easy to do,” Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, said in an interview with The Associated Press this week. “It was so easy for people to sign up in the first instance. It will be just as easy for them to re-up.”

But Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., says people should not be forced to re-register to keep telemarketers at bay. Doyle introduced legislation this week, with bipartisan support, to make registrations permanent.

All you have to do is reregister at www.donotcall.gov. It takes less than a minute, so here’s your fair warning.