Alex Rodriguezaccused of violating the league's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Every player on the list accepted the suspension, except Rodriguez who filed and appeal and is allowed to play until the results of the appeal are filed. The league suspended Rodriguez of the rest of this year and the next. Every other player got a 50 game suspension. Here is the list:Astros: LHP Sergio Escalona (minors)Mariners: C/1B Jesus Montero (minors)Mets: UTIL Jordany Valdespin and OF Cesar Puello (both minors)Padres: SS Everth Cabrera and RHP Fautino De Los Santos (minors)Phillies: LHP Antonio BastardoRangers: OF Nelson CruzTigers: SS Jhonny PeraltaYankees: 3B Alex Rodriguez, C Francisco Cervelli and OF Fernando Martinez (minors)No Team: LHP Jordan Norberto (free agent)
Nelson CruzRyan Braun was suspended earlier this year. He accepted a 65 game suspension. The players on the list all had connection to the Biogensis Lab in Miami. Now closed, the lab advertised itself a place that provided anti-aging treatments. MLB says Rodriguez suspension was based on his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including Testosterone and human Growth Hormone, over the course of multiple years. MLB gave no evidence of this. Rodriguez has not ever tested positive for any of these drugs. He did admit to using steroids between 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers. Still, Bruan is the only player on the list of suspended players who tested positive. Following the 2011 season, a year Braun won the National League MVP, he tested positive for a synthetic testosterone. 
Ryan BraunIn 2012, Braun won an appeal of the 50 game suspension he received following the positive test. He used his victory to claim he'd been victimized by an unfair system and suggested the Major League Baseball employee who took Braun's sample, may have intentionally drugs to his urine sample. Many sports writers believe Braun's story. Unlike Rodriguez who was vilified for volunteer information about his use of banned drigs, the media fully accepted Braun's explanation. In 2012, Braun hit 41 homeruns and batted .319. He finished second to Buster Posey in the MVP race.
BraunA competition MLB writers decide by vote. But just before the 2013 season, Braun's name was included on a list of players who are alleged to have done business with the Biogensis Lab. Braun tried explaining that the lab's founder, Anthony Bosch, had been a consultant during Braun's appeal. Braun's lawyer denied that had been the case. Another, more complete list was leaked tothe press in February. That list included a dollar amount next to Braun's and other players names on the list. In July, Braun excepted his suspension, which appeared to have been negotiated in advance of its announcement by MLB. Braun had been playing with an injured thumb so he can fortuitously use his suspend time to heal until his suspension ends in time for the beginning of next season. MLB is doing an investigation into the names on the Biogenesis list, but has not publicly released any findings that put banned drugs into the hands of the players the league suspended.Source:http://atthebarbershop1.blogspot.com/2013/08/alex-rodriguez-without-positive-drug.html
Alex Rodriguez, Without A Positive Drug Test, Is Suspended By MLB Images
under MLB's performance enhancing drug policy after he tested positive ...
(600 x 400 - 52.62 KB - jpeg)
MLB Players Banned for Drug Violations | wltx.com
(640 x 360 - 19.88 KB - jpeg)
... is suspended for the remainder of the MLB season. (USA Today Sports
(1800 x 2399 - 1.11 MB - jpeg)
Kraig “At The Barbershop” Debro - Google+
(120 x 91 - 4.32 KB - jpeg)
Lynn in Lancaster PA
(thanks Sultan)
George Zimmerman is going to get his gun back, carry it, George Zimmerman will get his gun back now that he has been cleared of murder and his lawyer said today that Zimmerman needs the weapon "even more" than before.Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara also practically dared the family of Trayvon Martin to file a widely expected civil suit against him, but said that Zimmerman might be filing lawsuits of his own.O'Mara, in an exclusive interview with ABC News, suggested that Zimmerman has no regrets about carrying a gun on Feb. 26, 2012, the night he killed Martin, a teenager.Prosecutors in their closing argument had said that Zimmerman getting out of his car with a loaded gun to follow the teenager led to Martin's shooting. He was acquitted Saturday night of murder in Martin's death in a case that has sparked widespread outrage among supporters of the Martin family.The lawyer said Zimmerman, 29, will be entitled to get his Kel Tec 9 pistol back."Yes, he does," O'Mara said. "The concealed weapons permit is another matter because that's a decision by another state agency and they will make that decision.He said that Zimmerman intends to rearm himself. When asked if he would carry a gun, O'Mara said, 'Yes. [There's] even more reason now, isn't there? There are a lot of people out there who actually hate him, though they shouldn't."The former neighborhood watch captain wears a protective vest when he goes out in public, although he didn't wear it to court, O'Mara said.Zimmerman does not believe that having a gun caused Martin's death, his lawyer said."I think that he feels truly in his heart that if he did not have that weapon that night he might not be here.... [He] would have continued to get beat even though he was screaming for help."Zimmerman is expected to have other court battles, some that he might initiate."I think there are going to be a number of civil suits. I would be very surprised if any of those civil suits are filed against George Zimmerman and we welcome them," O'Mara said.He indicated that Zimmerman may file suits against others, however."There are a number of events that happened during this case and the way certain people handled it that we may need to hold responsible. We'll see," O'Mara said.Zimmerman's lawyer suggested that his client might want to move to another part of the country."If I was him I would go somewhere else," O'Mara said.He said Zimmerman will be unable to find a job."I don't think he can work. I don't think anyone can hire him... George is a pariah," his lawyer said.
I saw it coming as clear as day. Down at the bottom of my parent’s street was Grey Beard striding somewhere. I couldn't turn around so I just kept going and waved! LOL Cheerio! I like the guy mostly, but he can sure use you for his purposes. He waved and hollered and I kept going. “See you, dude!” I wanted to get home and I had just procured my cokes and Helen’s lunch. I didn’t want any mad dashes to dollar stores and liquor stores.
I talked to Mrs. Florene for a moment last night.
For about 2 weeks, rumors have been swirling about NFL safety, Kerry Rhodes. Is he gay? Is he straight? Does it matter?According to multiple media outlets (and his spurned "lover"), Kerry Rhodes is attempting to prove himself to NFL teams as a free agent and to the rest of the world that happens to be interested in his sexual preference. Can I go ahead and remove myself from the latter?
In a society where being openly gay is becoming more widely accepted, I think Kerry would do himself a great service as a potential trail blazer (if he is gay) if he came out to the NFL fans everywhere. But there is no law that states that a player or person has to share their personal preference with ANYBODY. Who cares what he does at home? If he was a player on my team, the only thing I care about is him stopping opposing QB's from accumulating 400 yards against my Cowboys. Be you. Do you. Remember what happened to Tiger Woods when he stopped being who he really was?? But here is where things get sticky.
Kerry has voiced his side and vehemently denied these accusations. But his alleged "lover" has spoken his piece as well. I honestly and wholeheartedly believe that an openly gay player in the NFL would not receive any backlash at all. But once you deny it, people begin to investigate in an effort to validate your story. So if it turns out that he is in fact, gay, this will not turn out well for him.
Stay tuned. 'Cuz I won't.*Red is a link
Much of a soldier's life is waiting around for ordersDuring the rest of the day, soldiers engaged in as many as five two-hour drill sessions on weaponry or maneuvers. Most soldiers found these drills extremely boring and tedious; they wanted to fight, not practice, though they realized the drills could mean the difference between life and death when fighting did occur.Soldiers also cleaned and readied the camp, built roads, dug latrines, gathered wood for cooking and heating, and sometimes foraged for food to supplement their meals. Letters from home kept them going.[They engaged in] recreation to help them while away the rest of the hours. Those who were able wrote long letters home or read books, magazines, and newspapers when they could get them. Others played cards or engaged in various sports, such as baseball, boxing, and cockfighting.Of all the hardships soldiers faced in camp, homesickness was probably the most rampant and difficult to cure. 
SourceIt is the same for a Christian soldier. Exactly the same. We are all called to persevere in the battle, but the battle isn't always at the same pitch every day. While waiting for orders, we go to work, have leisure, engage in drills and practice (corporate worship, study, and prayer). We live for letters from home, which of course is the bible.We're moms, dads, youths, and regular people, living a Christian life ... living in camp, joshing with other soldiers, cleaning our armor and longing for home, until called upon to launch into action. And do you know what that action is?Standing.Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:13)Praying. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)Resisting.Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)We are not loudly pronouncing binding and loosing in Jesus's name in public places. We do not exorcise demons from every bush. We do not prayer walk a location to assess the enemy's capability. We do not map out the demonic strongholds in a place and gather to scream prophecies at them.We pray, stand, and resist. We do this because our High Commander has won the battle. The battle is His.Yes, earth is our camp and sometimes camp life is boring. Sometimes there is a long time between skirmishes and sometimes soldiers enter skirmishes that last a long time. It is an enduring and tiring war, outlasting our lifetimes, unless the Lord comes and raptures us. As President Abraham Lincoln said at the conclusion of the United States Civil War- Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.Read that with understanding that when Lincoln says 'nation' we understand that nation to be the kingdom of God. Understand the soldiers who died and are buried here precede us in the long battle. And indeed, the world as Lincoln says, does not like what we do but they cannot ignore it and cannot forget it. We have a great task, and it is our measure of devotion to our Commander that these soldiers who went on before us have not died in vain and that one day, the kingdom of Jesus shall not perish from the earth but shall endure forever. 
