Are_grits_groceries
Are_grits_groceries's JournalWait! What?! "On average, 24 horses die each week at racetracks across America..."
Mangled horses, maimed jockeys: racing’s dangers
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On average, 24 horses die each week at racetracks across America. Many are inexpensive horses racing with little regulatory protection in pursuit of bigger and bigger prizes. These deaths often go unexamined, the bodies shipped to rendering plants and landfills rather than to pathologists who might have discovered why the horses broke down.
In 2008, after a Kentucky Derby horse, Eight Belles, broke two ankles on national television and was euthanized, Congress extracted promises from the racing industry to make its sport safer. While safety measures like bans on anabolic steroids have been enacted, assessing their impact has been difficult because many tracks do not keep accurate accident figures or will not release them.
But an investigation by The New York Times has found that industry practices continue to put animal and rider at risk. A computer analysis of data from more than 150,000 races, along with injury reports, drug test results and interviews, shows an industry still mired in a culture of drugs and lax regulation and a fatal breakdown rate that remains far worse than in most of the world.
Martin’s injury occurred in a state with the worst safety record for racetracks, a place where most trainers who illegally pump sore horses full of painkillers to mask injury — and then race them — are neither fined nor suspended and owners of those drugged horses usually keep their winnings.
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Much more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us/death-and-disarray-at-americas-racetracks.html?_r=1&exprod=myyahoo
This is just WRONG. The horses are run full of drugs, no necropsies are required, and nobody enforces any rules that are there. Without necropsies, they can't definitively determine wht all the causes are. The jockeys are in danger too.
This is animal cruelty. Racing is stressful anyway, but with these methods, it's pure torture.
straddling the body,basically a foot on both sides of Trayvon's body,& his hands pressed on his back
A woman who says she and her roommate witnessed the final moments of Trayvon Martin's life told Dateline NBC that George Zimmerman had "his hands pressed on his back" and "never turned him over or tried to help him."
Zimmerman's lawyer, when shown part of the interview being aired Sunday night on Dateline, emphasized that his client would be claiming self-defense.
"I think there were efforts made to render aid to Trayvon," Craig Sonner told NBC's TODAY show.
Mary Cutcher told Dateline that she and her roommate both saw Zimmerman "straddling the body, basically a foot on both sides of Trayvon's body, and his hands pressed on his back."
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http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/25/10854229-witness-zimmerman-never-tried-to-help-trayvon-martin
Yeh, he was helping Trayvon alright......
Medical marijuana delivery man reports he was robbed by ninjas in West Covina
WEST COVINA - Police are looking into a bizarre report of a medical marijuana robbery involving two attackers dressed as ninjas, officials said.
Police received the strange report shortly before 10 p.m. Friday from a medical marijuana delivery man who said he had been robbed in the 800 block of South Sunset Avenue, near Cameron Avenue, after making a delivery to a patient West Covina police Lt. Alan Henley said.
The delivery man, who was in his 40s, told police that, "As he was going back to his vehicle, he was approached by two subjects in ninja costumes who chased him with batons," the lieutenant said.
"The victim said he was scared and he dropped a bag with some marijuana and money. The suspects took it," Henley added.
It was not clear how much cash or pot was taken, police added.mThe incident remained under investigation. Police were not aware of any other recent crimes involving suspects dressed as ninjas.
Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_20250647/medical-marijuana-delivery-man-reports-he-was-robbed#ixzz1q9pwHwNV
I see the DoJ has a special unit in the war on drugs.
Best tweet about Cheney's Heart Transplant:
Steve Beste (@stevebeste)
3/24/12 7:08 PM
There is one pissed organ donor in Heaven.
Ha!
PROTOTYPES.ORG- check out this group that helps women deal with problems WHILE keeping their kids
PROTOTYPES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1986 by Dr. Vivian Brown and Maryann Fraser, LCSW, MBA. From the very beginning, our founders envisioned a unique social service organization dedicated to meeting emerging community needs by developing and improving treatment methods and community reach. Their goal was to ensure that women could get services that were customized to meet their needs and that took into consideration their role as mothers.
Prior to PROTOTYPES opening its doors, women facing these issues could only get necessary services if they turned their children over to the foster care system or left them with family. Our founders recognized that women were usually dealing with more than one issue concurrently, yet there was not a single treatment program that was equipped to deal with them all in one place. Women who had both substance abuse and mental health issues were often told that their issues had to be addressed in separate programs.
In response to these serious gaps in treatment, PROTOTYPES opened its doors in 1986 with a clear mission to change the way communities sought treatment. PROTOTYPES designed and developed innovative models to provide integrated and comprehensive programs that allowed women and their children to stay together while receiving rehabilitative services all in one nurturing environment.
Today, PROTOTYPES has locations throughout Southern California and serves more than 15,000 women, children and men each year. PROTOTYPES remains focused on rebuilding the lives of women, children and communities impacted by substance abuse, mental illness and domestic violence. With a proven model for successful social services, PROTOTYPES has evolved into one of the nation’s leading social service organizations and a prototype for emerging nonprofit agencies.
Much more: http://protypes.org
States are threatening to defund them. That is so short-sighted. They provide ways to help women and their kids which can save the family. They will also try different approaches to see what works.
This is one of the better attempts at dealing with many chronic problems that I have read about. These problems don't usually occur separately so it makes sense to take a holistic approach.
Some in Tea Party cite ‘buyer’s remorse’ with SC Gov. Haley
Talbert Black, state coordinator of the S.C. Campaign for Liberty, worked hard to get his Lexington County state representative, Nikki Haley, elected governor in 2010, blasting out emails and making phone calls to galvanize Tea Party-minded voters.
“She was going to fight the establishment, shrink the size of government and fight the good ol’ boy,” Black said Friday of Haley. “Instead, she got elected and became part of the system.” Black is part of a faction of the state’s Tea Party movement that says Haley, who they helped elect, has broken faith with them. Many now hope she will be a one-term governor.
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Black is not alone. Harry Kibler says he has a case of “buyer’s remorse” when it comes to Haley.
Kibler is founder of five RINO Hunt chapters around the state, a grassroots organization that says it supports the Republican platform. During Haley’s gubernatorial campaign, Kibler supported her, speaking at events on her behalf.
“I admired her commitment to transparency. Standing firm for true, conservative values. Smaller government, reduced taxes, reduced spending,” Kibler said. “But within weeks of being sworn in, literally, she started caving in on her convictions.”
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Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/25/2206692/some-in-tea-party-cite-buyers.html#storylink=
People are lining up from all sides to primary her.
Good Lawd! Sandusky's wife is just as bad and both she and Jerry are scarey!
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Matt Sandusky is not part of the legal case against the former Penn State football coach and his adoptive father, Jerry Sandusky. But in many ways, Matt’s story has become intertwined in the saga.
It’s a complicated story.
Matt lived with the Sanduskys through many of the years that abuse is alleged to have happened under the roof of their modest two-story home.
Within several hundred pages of evidence collected by investigators during a grand jury probe of
Jerry Sandusky are several police reports about the 68-year-old’s youngest adopted son.
Well before Sandusky was accused of being a child molester, Matt’s biological mother was the lone voice of concern when Sandusky took her son into foster care in 1996. Notes to her attorney show she challenged the court, made accusations of stalkinglike behavior against Sandusky and suspected abuse.
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Family and friends have said the relationship between Matt and Jerry Sandusky was controlling and rocky.
Matt’s biological brother, Ron Heichel, remembers being a teenager in the 1990s and trying to reach Matt at the Sandusky home.
Sandusky’s wife, Dottie, answered the phone.
“And she said, ‘He’s not your brother anymore.’ This was before he was even adopted,” he said.
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http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/03/jerry_sandusky_adopted_son_had.html
This story is horrible. Read it all.
His wife needs to be there right beside him in the jail! Matt was his brother!
Evil, pure evil!
A 1 Million Dollar Reward For Zimmerman?
The New Black Panthers already have announced a $10,000 reward. That's bad enough, but they claim they will get one million to put up as an incentive.
Unfortunately, they will take the glare from the injustice done to Trayvon And shift it to them and the following uproar. I want Zimmerman to be punished too, but this is only going to bring out the very worst of people from both sides. Even many who support Trayvon will have nothing to do with this.
This will not end well.
Arch-Diocese Of New York Agrees To Meet To Discuss The St. James Church Cat Situation
First and foremost, since our last update to you, we can report that the valiant caretakers are getting some food to the cats, but of course this is not how a colony should be cared for, as you all know. We are not putting the cats’ health in jeopardy, and we would not use them as bargaining chips. That said, our primary goal is to keep them where they are and restore daily care as quickly as possible.
Secondly, before all of your calls and e-mails were received, the Archdiocese of NYC had insisted that the lockout of the cat caretakers at St. James Church was just a one-parish issue that they would not get involved in. Now, more than 1,000 calls and e-mails later, they have reconsidered. The Archdiocese of NYC has agreed to meet with the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals on Tuesday, March 27, to discuss the situation. Obviously, this is much more than a one-parish issue.
Thank you for your articulate and ardent letters and calls urging the church to allow the cats to remain where they are and underscoring the benefits of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). While the benefits of not removing a group of neutered, vaccinated cats living peacefully and being well cared for is obvious to many of us, many people still don’t understand that removal just doesn’t work.
This small colony of cats has received international attention, and what is decided here will set a precedent for others wishing to evict TNR’ed feral cat colonies from other places. The church has an opportunity to make a wonderful statement on behalf of humane care for feral cats if they make the correct and progressive choice to not remove the cats. We all know that removal is both ineffective and inhumane.
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Keep up the pressure:
Call Joseph Zwilling, Communications Director for the Archdiocese of New York, at (212) 371-1011 x2997.
E-mail the Archdiocese of New York at communications@archny.org. Father Gonsalves, the Vatican, and the NYC Feral Cat Initiative will be copied on your e-mail.
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The rest of the story and info about the cats to use:
http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/wordpress/2012/03/archdiocese-of-new-york-agrees-to-meet-to-discuss-the-st-james-church-cat-situation/
Okay. They have now shown no compassion for kids and animals. Are the elderly and/or disabled next? They seem to have it in for the powerless unless they are unborn.
Rethinking His Religion: A Southern Catholic's Awakening (Great read)
This man attended Catholic services every Sunday in a jacket and tie, feeling that church deserved such respect. I kept a certain distance from him. I’d arrived at college determined to be honest about my sexual orientation and steer clear of people who might make that uncomfortable or worse. I figured him for one of them.
About two years ago, out of nowhere, he found me. His life, he wanted me to know, had taken interesting turns. He’d gone into medicine, just as he’d always planned. He’d married and had kids. But he’d also strayed from his onetime script. As a doctor, he has spent a part of his time providing abortions.
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I’m struck more than anything else by how much searching and asking and reflecting he’s done, this man I’d so quickly discounted, who pledged a fraternity when he was still on my radar and then, when he wasn’t, quit in protest over how it had blackballed a Korean pledge candidate and a gay one.
Because we never really talked after freshman year, I didn’t know that, nor did I know that after graduation he ventured to a desperately poor part of Africa to teach for a year. College, he recently told me, had not only given him a glimpse of how large the world was but also shamed him about how little of it he knew.
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He grew up in the South, in a setting so homogenous and a family so untroubled that, he said, he had no cause to question his parents’ religious convictions, which became his. He said that college gave him cause, starting with me. Sometime during freshman year, he figured out that I was gay, and yet I didn’t conform to his prior belief that homosexuals were “deserving of pity for their mental illness.” I seemed to him sane and sound.
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(great story at the end)
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/bruni-a-catholic-classmate-rethinks-his-religion.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
There is hope.
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