LONDON (AP) — At UC Irvine, coach John Speraw had the “David Smith Rule” for his star middle blocker.
“That means, ‘When David wants it, David takes it,'” Speraw said. “Because in the middle of a play, you can’t call him off.”
The reason? Smith is nearly deaf and primarily uses lip reading to understand his teammates. In volleyball, such face-to-face communication is not always possible.
Hence the David Smith rule.
It was easy for Speraw to institute the rule because when Smith gets the ball, he knows just what to do with it.
“He’s mitigated any issues he has by being a great all-around volleyball player,” Speraw said.
Smith, 27, is a first-time Olympian with the U.S. men’s volleyball team, which opens play at the London Games on Sunday with a match against Serbia. Speraw is an assistant coach with the team and one of Smith’s biggest supporters.
( US volleyball’s Smith competes with hearing loss )
LONDON (AP) — First the drug tester told American beach volleyball player Jake Gibb that he was suspended.
Then he said to call a doctor.
A quick Internet search told Gibb the abnormal levels of hormones in his blood were most often found in pregnant women, steroid users and men with testicular cancer. A biopsy soon confirmed what he had already concluded. The doping ban was subsequently lifted, but Gibb was expected to miss the Olympics anyway while recovering.
“The Olympics were out,” he said in a video posted to his website in the days leading up to the London Games. “It was a tough dream to let go of. The toughest part was telling people and letting them know. Because once it came out of my mouth, it felt real.”
But surgery got the cancer — all of it, meaning Gibb didn’t need chemotherapy. He got back on tour with partner Sean Rosenthal and earned enough points to qualify for the London Games in the very last event of the year.
Now, Gibb is a two-time Olympian.
And a two-time cancer survivor.
“The pinnacle of our sport is the Olympic games. For me to go and put USA on my chest, it means the world to me. It’s something so special,” said Gibb, who has a scar on his left shoulder from a 2004 skin cancer. “It almost wasn’t a reality to me. I was scared. I didn’t know anything about it, didn’t know how to react.”
( Read more )
Rising food prices are making it harder for some Americans to make ends meet.
To help, CBN’s Operation Blessing is teaming up with conservative TV and radio host Glenn Beck on a special project to provide food to those in need.
( Beck, Operation Blessing ‘Restoring Love’ with Food )
Eleven semi-trailers delivered food from the Operation Blessings warehouse in Dallas, Texas, to Cowboys Stadium for the Restoring Love Conference.
The highlight of the conference is a national food drive, sponsored by a partnership between Operation Blessing and Beck’s Mercury One.
Jody Gettys, head of U.S. Disaster Relief for Operation Blessing, spoke about the ministries’ involvement in the Restoring Love conference.
“We are so excited to be a part of Restoring Love,” she said. “It’s helping needy families, showing the love of Christ.”
( Billy’s Thoughts – I know some of you may find this hard to believe but I have mixed feelings and questions on this. First off I back anyone who wants to help those in need so that part is good. I also believe followers of Christ should work with whoever they can work with. However when we give food to somebody it is a chance to tell them the good news and Glenn Beck is a Mormon and Mormons don’t follow the Jesus Christ of the Bible so I think we need to be careful when we work with them. We must always stay true to the word of God and just because someone does a good work doesn’t mean they are a follower of Jesus.)
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is funding an international organization that apparently violates the church’s beliefs.
At present, the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference is struggling with the Obama administration over the Health and Human Services mandate that insurance exchanges provide free contraceptives, the “morning-after” pill, and sterilization.
John-Henry Westen of LifeSiteNews says the church opposes contraception and abortion — but he says official records indicate that the largest donation given by CRS was to an organization called CARE that promotes “family-planning” initiatives in underdeveloped countries.
“The grant was $5.3 million to CARE [which] is an organization that is actually a major advocate of contraception,” says Westen. “They say right on their website that one of their policies is to bring contraception, as they say, ‘to people’s doorsteps.'”
( Catholic group questioned )
Chicago’s mayor is standing firm on his “no Chick-fil-A” policy as Americans prepare for a Wednesday chickenfest.
The controversy began when Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy voiced his stand favoring traditional, biblical marriage. While Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has backed off his initial statement blocking Chick-fil-A from opening in his city, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has had no such change of heart.
Could it be that Emanuel believes his city’s values are more accurately represented by anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan? Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas poses that question in his most recent column, pointing out that Farrakhan “goes a lot further than Dan Cathy” in opposing same-gender “marriage.” As recently as two months ago, the controversial Farrakhan blasted President Obama for endorsing same-sex marriage, noting he is “the first president that sanctioned what the scriptures forbid” — adding that ” … sin is sin according to the standard of God” and “the Bible forbids it.”
( Read more )
Five years ago, 4-year-old Emily Morin had no hair. After being diagnosed with leukemia two and a half years earlier, she had undergone chemotherapy and, at times, had a feeding tube.
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She also was put into a coma for a time and missed a year of school.
Though she described the time as “fun” because she had a lot of extra time to play, it was a tough for Emily and her family, including her mother, Leticia Morin-Dunning, and her sister, Brittany, who has cerebral palsy.
Once Emily’s cancer was in remission, her grandfather gave her a challenge to help brighten her spirits.
Let’s see who can grow their hair the longest, Dennis Dunning told his granddaughter.
( More )
Reaction has been strong following yesterday’s announcement that the Democratic Party plans to adopt support for “gay marriage” at its nominating convention in early September.
During a weekend meeting in Minneapolis, the party’s platform drafting committee voted to include language backing homosexual marriage — that according to an official within the Democratic Party. Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, will formally approve the platform at the same gathering where President Barack Obama will be nominated to run for re-election. In early May, the president publicly endorsed same-sex marriage — one day after North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage.
Huckabee: This could ‘sink the ship’ for Democrats
Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the Democratic Party’s new platform supporting same-gender marriage is the best thing that has ever happened to the Republican Party. Huckabee says he sees the biggest political impact in the South and Midwest.
“If there is any vestige of a Democratic Party in some of these areas, this may sink the ship,” he says.
The former Arkansas governor acknowledges that many people recognize that individuals have different points of views and choose to live in lifestyles that they do not necessarily agree with or approve of.
“But what they’re not going to do is to sit back and assume that once a major political party and a president of the United States have now openly declared war on biblical marriage and the traditional concept of one man, one woman for life, they no longer are going to support that,” he states.
The Fox News contributor also says it is a very tragic day when people are so interested in getting votes and contributions from a certain community that they are willing to “forgo their own principles and just throw them overboard.”
( Billy’s Thoughts – I believe we live in a nation that is not following the will of God on issues like abortion and same sex marriage. The answer will never come from politics it has to happen in a person’s soul from above. Still there are many souls who believe same sex marriage is wrong so perhaps this is the thing that will move on people not to give Obama four more years in the White House. We can only hope, pray, and work for that to happen. Read more of the above story right here. )
LONDON — Tradition will trump tradition at the Olympics.
There apparently was some consideration, albeit brief, that the United States would break with its long-held tradition and dip the flag at the opening ceremony, which was due to start at 9 p.m. London time (1 p.m. Pacific).
Not this time.
The tradition has been in place since the Games were held in Berlin in 1936. Most of the other countries taking part do follow the tradition of dipping their flag momentarily during the parade of nations in deference to the host country.
There was a bit of confusion about the issue when the U.S. flag bearer, fencer Mariel Zagunis, a two-time gold medalist, was asked about it at her news conference on Thursday. U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief communications officer, Patrick Sandusky, clarified the matter on his Twitter account a couple of hours before the ceremony.
( Billy’s Thoughts – The US should dip it’s flag to no human leader. America won the right not to do that a number of years ago. Read more of the above story right here. )
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — For the first time in history, members of the U.S. military marched in uniform at a gay pride event after the Pentagon temporarily lifted its ban on service members wearing uniforms in parades.
The Department of Defense made an exception for service members who wanted to march in uniform in San Diego’s Gay Pride Parade July 21 because organizers had requested it and because the event was receiving national attention, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said in a video message he intended to remove as many barriers as possible to making the military a model of equal opportunity. The move came just weeks after the Pentagon for the first time observed June as gay pride month.
In a letter to Panetta July 24, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R.-Okla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned the waiver for the gay pride event.
“If the Navy can punish a chaplain for participating in a pro-life event or a Marine participating in a political rally, it stands to reason that DOD should maintain the same standard and preclude service members in uniform from marching in a gay pride parade,” Inhoff wrote.
Rep. Randy Forbes, R.-Va., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also condemned the waiver, saying, “I am calling on the Defense Department to halt these dangerous exceptions to policy for political purposes. This decision was an outrageous and blatantly political determination issued solely to advance this administration’s social agenda.”
( Rep. criticizes Pentagon )
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