Free Republic

© 2009 George SodiniI have another subject I want to address for today's Gun Rights Examiner column, but a developing story demands at least acknowledgment. We're still learning facts concerning yesterday's shooting at a Pittsburgh-area LA Fitness Gym. No doubt the "gun control" argument will flare up anew. For now, here's something I'm not seeing gaining much traction--yet. A website referred to (but not linked to) in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review account for the gunman, George Sodini. I see as I'm composing this The Pittsburgh Channel.com is confirming the website is real. Here's the link to go inside a disturbing mind....

During the Beacon Hill Judiciary Committee hearing July 14 on the transgender rights bill, a group of representatives of the gym and health club industry testified that such a bill would hurt their businesses by allowing people to use locker room and bathroom facilities based on their gender identity or expression, rather than on their biological sex. They argued that women would feel uncomfortable sharing facilities with anatomical males, particularly if the women had young children with them.

When John Fulton picked up the phone and heard a man's voice in June of 2006, he didn't quite know what to make of it. Mr. Fulton had just advertised his new women-only gym in St. Catharines, Ont., and was offering a special introductory rate to attract members. "I'm thinking, 'It's a guy who wants the women's price,' so I just kind of wrote it off as a guy who misunderstood the price plan," Mr. Fulton said. "And two days later, a woman shows up." The middle-aged woman with the man's voice, among other unseen attributes, turned out to be...

A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones. The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081228/BREAKING01/81228016/-1/LOCALNEWSFRONT Rules:link only

President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors. On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym. Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners. "Because they have a great deal of respect for places of worship, they do not...

His name was invoked at church services nationwide on Sunday, but President-elect Obama didn't attend any of them. He went to the gym instead. Obama doesn't have a church in Chicago since he severed ties in April with his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. And his decision on which church to attend when he moves to Washington will undoubtedly be closely watched. When he left Trinity United Church of Christ in May, Obama said his family would look for a new congregation. Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Sunday that the president-elect hadn't yet picked a church. He knows...

"Later in the morning, Obama left the house alone, clad in workout clothes, a ball cap and sunglasses, and spent an hour at a friend's apartment building where he uses the gym." So he can't afford a membership to his own gym? This is the 'guy' he slips away to routinely. Guess they had to celebrate... Quiet first day for Obama after his historic win CHICAGO – Barack Obama began his first full day as president-elect with the simple pleasure of having breakfast with his daughters, the type of everyday family activity that he often had to sacrifice during the...

BAGHDAD, July 15, 2008 – Chants rang loud and clear from the bleachers as if it were a high school pep rally. But this was not a student gymnasium gearing up before a homecoming game against a crosstown rival. This was men, women and children of all ages chanting, “Iraq is free!” and celebrating the reopening of a neighborhood gym. Iraqi children stand in formation representing their soccer, martial arts and basketball teams during a reopening ceremony at the Karkh Club Gym in Baghdad, July 13, 2008. The gym recently went through a thorough revitalization with the help of...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A gym member is suing over an inflated exercise ball that he said burst under him, dropping him to the floor. Pete Royal said he was leaning back on the exercise ball and about to lift a pair of 75-pound dumbbells when the ball burst. Royal weighs 200 pounds. He said he needed five surgeries and couldn't use either arm for six months after the 2005 incident. The 61-year Jacksonville man's lawsuit says the YMCA failed to maintain safe conditions in the gym. It also claims the manufacturers mislabeled the rubber ball as an "anti-burst" ball. Representatives...

LONDON: When you reach for an ice cold mug of suds after playing a game of football, cricket or a long run, you're not just quenching your thirst, you're actually doing something healthy for your body -- seriously! Researchers in Europe have carried out a study and found that a glass of beer is far better at re-hydrating the body after exercise than water as the sugars, salts and bubbles in a pint help people absorb fluids more quickly. "The carbon dioxide in beer helps quench the thirst more quickly, while beer's carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion," the...

Abercrombie attempting to muscle up $8M for gym. 'Gym god' works out renovation for U.S. House STORY SUMMARY » U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is leading the charge to fix the gym reserved for members of Congress -- which he says "is not a torture chamber; it is just an old beat-up gym." The gym, built in the Rayburn Office Building in Washington, D.C., in 1965, is outdated and has few facilities for women. Female members of Congress are shunted aside to a smaller, even crummier gym, Abercrombie says. The Hawaii Democrat is pushing to put $8 million in the House...

ALBANY, N.Y. -- You could forgive a guy for grunting while lifting 500 pounds -- unless you're the owners of a place called Planet Fitness. It turns out that grunting isn't allowed in their universe. Corrections officer Albert Argibay learned that the hard way this week. He was hoisting 500 pounds on a machine at the Wappingers Falls, N.Y., gym when the manager said he grunted -- in violation of the Planet Fitness rules. Argibay said whether or not he grunted is "open to interpretation." What's crystal clear is that police were called to escort him out after the manager...

Every day starts with 200 situps in the workout room of the clubhouse. Then Donald Taggart lifts weights and does his cardio. Residents liken him to La Lanne, the aging fitness icon whose photo hangs in the room. Taggart, 78 and still buff, likes to get physical. It got really physical Tuesday. ... snip ... Nodar (the liberal, my comment) was arrested on a charge of battery on a person over the age of 65 - but not accused of getting the better of one.

LINCOLN PARK, Mich. (AP) — A chain of fitness centers has put up partitions in response to complaints by Muslim women about a lack of privacy while they work out. Fitness USA agreed to the changes at its Lincoln Park gym after meeting with a concerned Muslim member of the gym and Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Some Muslim members of the gym said they need to work out in single-sex rooms to meet Islam's standards of modesty. They said they joined Fitness USA because it accommodated this need. But the...

Gym Instructor Mocks Bush In Front Of First Daughters Tue Apr 25 2006 10:32:05 ET A spinning instructor at Washington, DC's Sports Club/LA mocked President Bush without realizing (believe it or not) that a first daughter was in his class! ROLL CALL reports: The instructor, Glenn Makl, is said to be horrified to learn after class that the president's daughter Jenna was there to hear his making fun of President Bush and handing out of a video clip compilation of some of the president's more memorable gaffes and malapropisms. Jenna Bush was working out at the club with her boyfriend,...

Mr. Schwarzenegger may find himself politically embattled these days in his home state, but here he is still a major draw. Along Saddoun Street, one of the capital's main arteries, Mr. Talib has hung a black-and-white billboard showing a young Mr. Schwarzenegger in a formidable bicep-flexing pose. "The first inspiration I had for bodybuilding was Arnold," Mr. Talib, a squat man built like a bulldozer, said in his back-room office as metal weights clanked outside. "Now I aspire to improve the sport in Iraq." Mr. Talib is in regular e-mail contact with Governor Schwarzenegger's office in Sacramento, apprising officials there...

Gym owners try to coax men into fitness classes > By TAYLOR ANTRIM New York Times > Published on: 06/09/05 NEW YORK — When Martin Vahtra persuaded his wife to join New York Sports Clubs with him, he had hoped they would motivate each other to go regularly. He hadn't anticipated joining her for step aerobics. "There were a lot of females in the class," said Vahtra, 43, an architect in Manhattan. "And there were these glass windows looking out on the rest of the gym. The guys on the weight machines were looking at me doing these silly moves...

9/22/04 - FRIENDSWOOD, TX) — A woman's shocking discovery -- a Peeping Tom nearly crashes in on her while she's changing at the gym. It happened at a 24 Hour Fitness in Friendswood. Police still have a lot more questions than answers about what happened, as do the members who belong to the gym, especially the women. Many of them are left to wonder, how long has this been going on? "I feel violated, to tell you the truth," said gym member Amanda Helton. She is reacting to what happened to a woman inside the locker room of a 24...

Jamie Francis has made two trips to Iraq, most recently in April when he and senior correspondent Susan Taylor Martin spent four weeks there looking at the war's effect on the country. On a warm evening in Baghdad's old Jewish quarter last month, I was taking photos in a crumbling building when I was literally pushed toward a Westerner with ivory skin and a red beard. He was lifting weights inside the Arnold Classic Gym. He wore black steel-toed boots as he grunted out exercises beneath dozens of portraits of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Iraqis called him Mr. Nick. I was...