Probably because NASCAR still insists a rule was broken

An angry uncle imagines what he would do to the cold-blooded killer of his two young nephews. A woman whose husband and two burberry ties children have been gunned down spends the night listening to her surviving 1-year-old daughter cry “Papa! Papa! Papa!” The emotions ran the gamut Tuesday for the family of Rabbi Jonathan Sandler and his sons Gabriel and Arieh, three of the four victims killed a day earlier by a helmeted gunman at Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in Toulouse. French authorities have deployed hundreds more police to the region for a manhunt for the suspected serial killer whom investigators say also was behind the shooting deaths of three soldiers in the area over the last 10 days. The fourth victim of the school shooting was the 8-year-old daughter of its principal, Myriam Monsenego. She was grabbed by the hair by the gunman and shot in the temple, according to Nicole Yardeni, who heads the regional chapter of the leading Jewish organization, CRIF. A 17-year-old boy was recovering at a Toulouse hospital after lung surgery for his wounds, she said. “I have hatred,” said Marc Alloul, a restaurateur in an eastern Paris suburb and great-uncle of the two slain boys. “It’s too bad I don’t have him in my hands because I would deal with him another way. Some others think differently. They leave it in the hands of God.” Indeed, his niece, Eva Sandler, turned to her faith and sought refuge in the Torah at a wake at the school for her slain husband and 3- and 5-year-old boys, several witnesses said. “It was beyond what you could imagine. She spoke — it was incredible — with dignity,” said Yardeni. “You don’t burberry handbags outlet understand how they find the strength.” “She lost...,” Yardeni added, her voice trailing off and her eyes welling up. “She still has her little girl,” the child who survived. That 1-year-old girl, suddenly without her two older brothers, was dressed in a bright pink jacket as hearses moved slowly out of the school grounds to carry the bodies off for flights via Paris to Israel for burial. It was a marked contrast from the black-clad, crying adults in mourning. Overnight, Alloul said, “I slept with the family, and what gets me the most is that the little girl ... cried all night, saying ‘Papa, Papa, Papa!’ — all night.” “It tears your heart,” he said. “In the end you just run out of tears for crying so much.” Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. NASCAR has a ruling overturned in the Sprint Cup Series about as often as it snows on Christmas Eve in Hawaii. The last one completely overturned came in 2005 when there was insufficient evidence against Michael Waltrip, who'd allegedly made an inappropriate gesture during a television broadcast. This one wasn't completely overturned, but it was enough so that most of us standing in the hot sun for more than five hours waiting on a decision were shocked. It was a major victory for Hendrick. The six-week suspensions for Knaus and car chief Ron Malec were lifted by Chief Appellate Officer John Middlebrook, who had the lone and final say. So was the 25-point penalty against Johnson, moving him up seven spots in the standings to 11th. It was a bigger victory for the sport, even though NASCAR officials probably are licking their wounds. Still, NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said the governing body accepts the ruling and believes in the inspection system. As I've been saying from the beginning, NASCAR needs to give teams room to maneuver within the rules. Knaus did that, finding a way to give his car an aerodynamic advantage while still fitting the templates. This also showed that having both parties burberry sneakers women sit down and argue the case face-to-face, something that didn't happen in the initial appeal, is the fairest way to proceed. Hendrick and his crew got to ask series director John Darby questions and Darby got to ask them questions, the way it's supposed to be when two sides are arguing a case. "Today was open and easygoing," Hendrick said outside the R&D Center. "I sat in the same place as John Darby. We all presented our information, probably some of the things I didn't know and probably some of the things he didn't know. "I think we'll all learn and go forward." What they learned is that just because somebody cheated in the past -- and Knaus clearly has by his list of nine previous violations -- doesn't mean there should be a rush to judgment to say he cheated again. In October, Knaus embarrassed NASCAR when he leaned into a car window before the Talladega race and told his driver to damage the back end if he won. Knaus was embarrassed, too, having been caught on camera. But the governing body was embarrassed more, because it gave the appearance that something might be illegal with the same car that won at Talladega in the spring. NASCAR reacted by taking Johnson's car back to the R&D Center the remaining four races of the Chase for further inspection. Nothing was found. So when Knaus and the 48 car arrived in Daytona, NASCAR was waiting. It confiscated the C-posts before the car went through initial inspection, and later handed down the penalties that were overturned Tuesday. The problem, according to Hendrick, was the car never went through inspection. The problem was at least three other cars, including one Hendrick sponsored, had issues with the C-posts after going through inspection and were allowed to be fixed with no penalties. The problem was more than Ray ban sunglasses 20 other cars also had aerodynamic issues that were allowed to be sanded and made legal without penalties. When Hendrick presented this, along with photos and a signed affidavit from a NASCAR inspector from an earlier race that the same C-posts were legal, Middlebrook had little choice but to overturn. "The difference today [and the first appeal] was Mr. Middlebrook took an awful lot of time to look at everything that NASCAR had and everything we presented from photos of the car at every race, on the line, the dates, the records from the tech center and our records," Hendrick said. "And they all matched up real nice. "There's ways to eliminate all these things, and NASCAR is working hard to get there because nobody enjoys this. Today, by taking time and going piece by piece, date by date, you can see there was no intent on our part. We were clearly [within] the rulebook. We were clearly, our car was approved." There's still a target on Knaus' back. He knows that. Hendrick accepts that. There should be when you have a record like he does. "It's definitely looked at more than any car out there," Hendrick said of the 48. "If you go by the rulebook, it says everybody's car will be looked at the same. The rulebook doesn't say just because you win you're going to get burberry kids sale scrutinized more than anybody else." Good point. The 48 wins a lot. Johnson and Knaus have five titles and 55 wins since 2002. They have been so dominant that some claim they've ruined the sport, although it's hard to understand how success can do that when it doesn't in other sports. "I have good relationships with everybody in the garage," Hendrick said. "NASCAR has come light-years. All we ask for is we get treated the same way. "Today proved they have a system that if there is a mistake made or if they didn't look at something or the evidence wasn't there at the time of the infraction, there is a way to remedy the deal." Remember, this sport was born on bootleggers and crew chiefs trying to beat the system. While outright cheating can't be condoned, there needs to be room for brilliant people like Knaus to be innovative. He clearly under the eyes of Middlebrook found a way to tweak the C-posts enough to give Johnson an edge without crossing the line. That Middlebrook didn't lift the $100,000 fine, considering everything else, is the biggest surprise. If Knaus isn't guilty, then why must he pay anything? Probably because NASCAR still insists a rule was broken and Middlebrook didn't want to make the governing body look totally incompetent. But if NASCAR had a burberry scarves outlet process more like Tuesday's in place for the first appeal, perhaps the past 30 days wouldn't have been like "hell." Perhaps Knaus and Hendrick could've spent the countless hours needed to prepare a defense on preparing their race team instead. "It is what it is," Knaus said. "I'm not worried about my reputation. I'm worried about winning races for Hendrick Motorsports." And he will win more. Some will call him a cheater. NASCAR surely will keep an even closer eye on him. But at least for one day, the innovativeness that helped make the sport what it is today lives. "You asked [last] Tuesday why I was doing this," Hendrick said of fighting the penalties. "Because I believe so hard and so much in the facts. I can say they went through the facts from one end to the other. You may also interested in: Oakley sunglasses www.egalass.com