Jackson Bend Might Have Won

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For those of you watching the second leg of the triple crown you might not have noticed that a horse called Jackson Bend might have won the race except for the poor placemnent by the jockey of putting him on the rail behind the leaders for most of the race.



These photos show how Jackson Bend was pinned in by the far turn and forced to break stride and circle out around the leaders. Jackson Bend has the jockey with the purple cap. By the top of the final turn he was not in the picture. Thhen suddenly, afte circlinghorses, he is challenging the leaders down the stretch.



Jackson Bend continues to close as they near the finish line coming from outside and has now slipped between horses.



He closes on the second horse and leader in the final paces.



As they cross the finish line Jackson Bend #6 is still closing on the leader and is a head behind the second horse, nearly completing a remarkable recovery from the terrible placement going into the final turn.



In the end we will have no Triple Crown champion in 2010 making this the longest spell between Triple Crown champions in history. Next year will be 32 years with no Triple Crrown champion.

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Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Can Bat Clean Up For Me Any Day

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Now this is not what we normally expect of a nominee for Supreme Court justice, to be pictured playing softball, so this photo created a little controversy. Like the idiots they are, some media said this photo of Supreme Court nominee Kagan meant she was gay.



I, as a male and coach of several championship women's softball teams in New Jersey and Nebraska, say they are nuts. The only thing this photo tells is that she enjoys being part of American's favorite past time for all the would be major league baseball stars who got old before they were stars.





If baseball is America's favorite past time, then softball is where all good baseball players go if they don't make the big leagues. Kagan playing softball does not make her gay, it just shows she enjoys the most popular participation sport in America.



Just like Jennie Finch, probably the greatest American women's softball pitcher in history who led the USA to world dominance. Of course that was after she led my old school, the University of Arizona, to national fame. Out of uniform she looks pretty good.



Softball is as American as apple pie. Check out all the celebrities from Carrie Underwood to Queen Latifah who play to help raise money for worthy causes. If anything, the photo of Kagan shows she is probably a darn good softball player, the kind I recruited for my teams.





That makes her a bit more in touch with us humans and even more needed on the Supreme Court. It is also just another sign that the media is so out of touch it no longer serves a viable purpose in America.





By the way, the following body flying through the air is little Shawn Johnson of Olympic gymnastics fame and a fellow native of Iowa. She also enjoys a good game of softball.



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Now that we have a health care bailout - how about an American Health Care Reform?

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Obama and the Democrats have now delivered on their promise of massive health care bailout to protect the health care industry. If you have noted, the stock in pharmaceutical companies, health care providers, hospitals and insurance companies have all increased while the bureaucratic jobs in health care have increased.



Of course the only change we the people have noticed is that our taxes are going to increase to pay for the health industry bailout, the cost of our health care treatment is up to pay for the millions of dollars the health care companies are pouring into the campaigns of Congress and the president, drug prices are up, insurance premiums are up, hospital and emergency costs are up, and we are being told to be patient, we will see the benefits in a couple of years.



So we understand the health industry bailout has happened and we are supposed to all feel better about it. Well we are patient, but we are sick and tired of being patients. Now maybe the president and congress will turn attention to health care reform for the people who pay for health care, the American people.



Health care reform should never have been about protecting the industry. That is called political payback for all the bribes the industry made to congress and the president through campaign contributions. Now it is time for true and meaningful health care reform.



Wake up Washington! We want cost containment! We want incentives to get well! We want incentives for doctors to get us well! We want access to treatments to cure us, not make diseases more tolerable! We want to be rewarded for being healthy, not being sick! We want you to stop making us sick! We want you to stop letting other people make us sick!

Here is how we expect you to do it.



Stop campaign contributions from companies and non-profits who benefit from us being sick. That means no pharmaceutical, hospital, doctor, malpractice lawyer, health service provider and any related campaign bribes to our elected officials.



Stop senseless examinations using MRIs, CAT scans and other high tech, high profit means of destroying our immune system with electromagnetic and radiation waves.



Stop malpractice lawyers from stealing often over 50% of the settlements from class action and malpractice suits supposedly on behalf of the patients. Give them reasonable expenses and a cap at 15% of the settlement so the victims can truly benefit. At the same time limits damages to actual costs, not some hypothetical fee inspired sum with no basis in reality.

If people have health insurance and stay healthy give them a rebate for being healthy, stop penalizing them because other people are sick.

If companies provide food or products that destroy our immune system, thus making us susceptible to a host of diseases, then make the companies liable for the destruction of health. Food or products that are proven to kill should be destroyed themselves.



Make pharmaceutical companies liable for the damages to the immune system for any vaccines, over the counter or prescription drugs, and other products sold for the purpose of healing us.

Allow alternative health care providers a fast track approval process for techniques using natural means and products that heal and require health insurance compensation for the techniques.

Prohibit television advertising for any drugs administered by a third party, meaning a supposedly independent doctor, hospital or clinic.

Declare illegal any endorsements by practicing doctors of a drug or treatment in which they financially benefit.

Establish massive fines as a disincentive for companies that claim health benefits when a product may actually harm the health of the recipient.



Stop allowing drug companies to directly fund the Food and Drug Administration drug approval process which creates a conflict of interest. This is no different than allowing Wall Street to fund the credit rating agencies for approving their credit and we know how that worked out.

Reward doctors for healing patients rather than simply treating the patients.

Make sure that the politicians you support in the fall elections believe in the real American Health Care Reform actions which I outlined. If not, make sure they are no longer in a position to help destroy you through actions like the Obama Health Care Bailout bill. Throw them out of office before it is too late.

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What Happened at Fatima? Today in History

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Today in 1917 was the first of six appearances of the Holy Mother Mary to three children in Fatima, Portugal. It is the most famous and well documented of all the appearances of the Holy Mother.





It was during these apparitions that she shared prophecy, taught prayer and at the last visit gave them a miracle all 55,000 people attending witnessed. Later her prophecies would shake the world.





This article shows you the actual newspaper accounts and pictures taken at the site during the miracle of the sun.





Newspaper Report of Fatima Miracle on October 13, 1917





The following newspaper account appeared in the newspaper O Século. In the prologue to this article, the author distances himself from the apparitions, which he presents as a consequence of “the great tribulations that society was going through. The times of great tribulations have always favored the rebirth of religious ideas and the war adds to their expansion creating a fertile environment.”



Are we in the midst of a similar, or worse, great tribulation?



...In the astonished eyes of these people, whose attitude takes us back to Biblical times, and who, white faced with shock, with their heads uncovered, face the blue sky: the sun has trembled, the sun has made sudden movements that were outside all cosmic laws—the sun has “danced”, according to the typical expression of the country people.



Covered with dust on the running board of the bus from Torres Novas, an old man recites the Creed, from beginning to end. I ask who it is and they tell me it is João Maria Amado de Melo Ramalho da Cunha Vasconcelo. I see him later talking to those around him, who still have their hats on, begging them, strongly, to take them off in the presence of such an extraordinary demonstration of the existence of God. Identical scenes are repeated in other places and a woman shouts, bathed in tears and almost suffocated:

--What a shame! There are still men who don’t take off their hats in the presence of such a miracle!



And next they ask each other if they have seen or not seen. Most confess that they have seen the dancing of the sun; others, however, declare they have seen the smiling face of the Virgin herself. They swear that the sun spun about itself like a ring of fireworks, that it came down almost to the point of burning the Earth with its rays.

Some say that they saw it change color.



It is about three in the afternoon.



The sky is covered with clouds and the sun follows its path with its normal brightness and no one dares to look at it directly. And what about the little shepherds? Lucia, "she who speaks with the Virgin," tells everyone, with theatrical gestures, being held by a man who carries her from group to group, the war will end and that our soldiers will come back.



This news, however, does not increase the joy of those who are listening. The heavenly sign was everything. There is an intense curiosity to see the two little girls with their garlands of flowers. There are some who try to kiss the hands of the “little saints”, one of whom, Jacinta, looks more like she is going to faint than to dance. That which they were all looking for—the sign from Heaven—has been enough to satisfy them and make them convinced of their faith.



The people start to leave quickly. Without problems, without any disorder, without the need of any police. The pilgrims who leave more quickly are those who arrived earlier. They walk barefoot with their shoes on their heads or hanging on sticks. They are leaving with their soul satisfied to spread the good news to the villages they left. And what about the priests? Some came to this place, smiling, spending more time with the curious spectators than with the pilgrims who were anxious to see a miracle. Maybe one or another couldn’t hide the satisfaction which is so hard to hide on the faces of those who triumph.

Now it is up to those who are qualified to give their opinion on the strange dancing of the sun that today, in Fátima, caused hosannas to explode from the hearts of the faithful and caused astonishment —according to reliable sources—even in free thinkers and other people without religious beliefs who came to this now famous place.



Avelino de Almeida

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Leftist Liberals Better Stop Slamming Arizona Immigration Laws

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While the liberal elitists of the nation, including President Obama, have been quick to jump on the new Arizona Immigration Law making all kinds of crazy claims about how bad it is and calling for it's suspension and court challenges, perhaps they should not be so quick to judge.

First of all, Arizona only acted because they have waited years for the inept Congress to address the issue and in spite of the promise of the President, there has been no effort by Obama or the Democrats controlling Congress to bring it up for debate. We are going on 18 months since the agents of change took office and still nothing.



So Arizona, the place where most illegal immigrants come to America, is left holding the bag while Congress twiddles it's collective thumbs. Any action that might force Congress and the President to take action is a good thing.

Perhaps more important, in spite of the screams of the liberals, a new poll today shows 64% of Americans support the Arizona law getting tough on illegal immigrants. If nothing else at least Arizona has shown us courage where it is missing in Congress.



There are supposed to be over 12 million illegal immigrants, and some claim there are over 20 million. That means millions of jobs are being lost to them. It also means millions in tax revenue is lost. Yet in many states including Maryland the illegal immigrants get state and federal benefits including health insurance coverage, education, housing and food.

While some have social security cards most have US driver's licenses, drive cars and trucks registered in the US, and some even pay federal taxes. Even in those cases there are many who substantially under-report their income to limit the amount of taxes paid.



California, home to many left liberals, is taking action at the state and city level to punish Arizona for passing the law. Do they forget that Arizona is the source of over 23% of all the electricity consumed in California and over 5 million acre feet of water to Southern California per year. Arizona could initiate action to drop the water supply to 550,000 acre feet per year leaving Southern California high and dry.

Liberals beware, the groups you attack like Arizona could make your life very miserable if they applied your tactics to the electricity and water you depend on from them. Right now Arizona is showing a lot more moxie and class than the liberals by demonstrating they will do what the Congress can't by passing immigration reform, and by not making hollow threats like California did over the far more important water and electric rights that benefit the liberals.



Finally, state law enforcement costs to fight the illegal immigration and crime from the illegal drug trade from Mexico which impacts on all America is huge because Obama and the Congress do not have the guts to act on these national and federal priorities. Failure to act by the federal government is costing Arizona lives, giving Arizona one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world, and creating an unfair burden on one of the most patriotic and beautiful states in the nation.

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