#1
We know what time they fly over, so we, you know, try to hide behind an iceberg.
Best to get *under* the iceberg, Ima thinking.
So these mooks are still looking for the Japanese whalers, eh? Rathar than motoring around in your 'flagship' emmitting CO2, why not invest in some maritime patrol aircraft? Betcha Airbus would sell one cheap.
#2
Technically, attacking a whaler on the high seas is defined as piracy : international law on piracy is very clear, you can execute pirates on the spot. Imagine having a Japanese whaling harpoon fired at your stupid busybody asses, Sea Shepherds.
SAN FRANCISCO He's considered a darling of Democratic Party politics, a smooth-talking young millionaire with Kennedy good looks who has basked in the media limelight while being courted as a possible national political figure.
But beneath the surface, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Camelot has been crumbling. After admitting in the last five days to adultery and alcohol abuse, Newsom has suffered a public political meltdown that has rocked City Hall and led one San Francisco supervisor to call for his resignation.
The 39-year-old mayor, who is running for reelection in November, acknowledged last week that he had an affair with the wife of a longtime aide. On Monday, he announced he would seek counseling because he had "come to the conclusion that I will be a better person without alcohol in my life."
But the mayor's problems appear to run deeper than behind-the-scenes indiscretions, raising questions about his ability to lead one of America's largest cities.
Critics and backers alike now acknowledge that Newsom has become disengaged, reluctant to grapple with such critical issues as the city's soaring homicide rate among black residents. In recent months, he has even refused to meet with supervisors longtime supporters included.
In this famously forgiving place, some at City Hall say the mayor should be granted the leeway to deal with his problems while in office. Others express pent-up frustration and question whether he should continue to run for a second term.
Supervisor Jake McGoldrick on Tuesday called for Newsom's resignation.
"If he lived by any code of honorable behavior, he would have a personal epiphany and do the right thing," McGoldrick said. "The only epiphany he's had is 'How do we spin this?' "
Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, a longtime Newsom ally, said it was too early to call for any political heads.
"Most people grapple with things in their lives, but most don't have to do it publicly and the mayor has taken that courageous step," she said. "If anyone should call for his resignation, it should be city residents, and they haven't done that."
Meanwhile, public reaction to the mayor's admissions appears to be mixed. Local newspaper websites have run the gamut with comments supporting Newsom running about equal to those expressing anger and even vitriol.
As she lunched at a Financial District salad bar Tuesday, Adriana Pietras, 25, a paralegal, said Newsom's actions have changed the way she views the mayor. "I don't think he should resign," she said, "But I'm not sure he should run again."
Nearby, another voter said the mayor should leave office today.
"His transgression was a serious integrity issue," said the man, who asked not to be named. "But he won't ever resign. He's a politician. Bill Clinton's precedent gives him hope he can survive this."
Elected to the mayor's office in 2003, Newsom, a former supervisor, quickly won the adulation of San Franciscans with his forceful stance in support of same-sex marriages. Images of thousands of gay and lesbian couples receiving marriage licenses at San Francisco's gilded City Hall were seen around the world.
Although some believed Newsom's stand was too radical for the mainstream and contributed to the Democrats' 2004 national election losses, his cachet continued to grow. Newsom's image, with his slicked-back hair and aquiline nose, appeared on the covers of national news magazines.
He was, said Simon Rosenberg, founder of the New Democrat Network, which cultivates progressive political leadership, "arguably the single most promising Democrat under 40 in the country."
"Whatever 'it' is," Rosenberg said in 2004, "I think Gavin's got it."
Newsom took on celebrity status with an eager staff of aides and an aggressive spokesman with experience on national campaigns. News releases gushed about the mayor's accomplishments.
He crafted a plan to offer healthcare to every resident. He touted San Francisco as among the world's greenest cities and promised to provide free wireless access citywide.
But some community and business leaders have complained that the mayor's inaccessibility may have cost the city dearly: the San Francisco 49ers suddenly announced in the midst of negotiations for a new stadium that the team was looking to move to nearby Santa Clara in part because the team owner couldn't get Newsom on the phone.
City government, meanwhile, is deadlocked as the mayor faces off against critics on the Board of Supervisors who characterize Newsom's style as distant and arrogant. In November, supervisors brought a nonbinding ballot measure to voters suggesting that the mayor attend meetings to submit to "question time."
Voters approved it. But Newsom dismissed it as a political gesture. Instead, he promised to hold community town hall meetings.
In response, angry residents showed up at one Newsom appearance dressed in chicken costumes.
Relations had so soured by January that in his inaugural speech as president of the Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin pointedly denounced an arrogant style-over-substance administration, saying, "We will lead by deeds and actions, not by hollow pronouncements and press releases."
Newsom's personal life first became controversial last fall after he briefly dated a woman who wasn't old enough to drink legally.
Through it all, Newsom seemed to tire of the spotlight. Perhaps, he told the local media, he wouldn't run for reelection after all. Perhaps he would just return to private life.
Then it all came crashing down.
Last Thursday, Newsom admitted having an affair with his former appointments secretary, the wife of one of his most trusted aides. The affair reportedly took place while the mayor was splitting from his then-wife, attorney and television analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle.
His plans for rehab followed on Monday creating a stir in the national news media that Newsom has so often courted.
Tuesday's headline in the New York Post: "S.F. 'Sex' Mayor in Booze RX."
McGoldrick, the supervisor, called the headline a fitting comedown for a mayor "who lives by PR."
"When that gets tarnished, there's not much left," he said.
Supervisor Bevan Dufty, a longtime Newsom friend, has called on McGoldrick to be patient, saying that Newsom needs time to heal.
But even Dufty said that the mayor's personal crisis has taken a toll on city government.
"He has been profoundly unhappy in personal life and in aspects of his job, and that has shown," he said. "He has taken umbrage at every turn. He's been disdainful of me and my colleagues. It's hard, especially since I viewed myself as an ally."
Joel Benenson, a Democratic pollster and strategist, said it would be hard for Newsom to win higher office.
"American voters do have the capacity to forgive. They believe in redemption," he said. "But while you can come back from an affair, it's apparent he has crossed the line. He would have to spend too much time explaining alcohol abuse and what he did to his friend's family. It would come to define him."
As for Newsom's future in City Hall, the debate continues.
"I've lived through three mayors I know what it takes to get the job done," said Supervisor Tom Ammiano. "I'm not calling for him to resign, but I don't think he should run again. That would be traumatic" for the city.
But Dufty insisted that Newsom is up to the job.
"There's no question he's enormously talented," he said. "The ultimate question is, 'Is this what he wants to do?' When it comes to a second term, the commentary is, 'The only person running against Gavin Newsom is Gavin Newsom himself.' "
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 13:12 ||
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Newsom told department heads at a meeting this afternoon that the help he is seeking would not require him to step aside even temporarily, as it might if he entered a residential rehabilitation program, sources familiar with the meeting told The Chronicle.
Oh, good. It's drive through rehab. Like the Kennedy's do.
"Too tired to walk," man steals police car Can we get an 'intelligence meter' to compliment our collection? It would come in handy, especially in SW Asia. Until then:
TOKYO, Feb 6 (Reuters Life!) - A Japanese man told police he stole a patrol car that had been left idling outside a post office in Gunma, north of Tokyo, because he was too tired to walk home. Poor dear.
Police officers had left the vehicle in the car park with the engine running, while they investigated a report that a stolen card had been used at the post office, the Mainichi newspaper said on Tuesday. "Leave the gun keys, take the Cannoli!
"I came out shopping by train, but I got tired walking, so I thought I would drive the police car home," the man told police. Well, aren't WE feeling entitled today??
He was apprehended about 15 minutes later in the driveway of a private home, about 4 kms (2.5 miles) from the post office, the Mainichi said.
HONOLULU (Feb. 7, 2006) -- While the Pro Bowl is often looked at as a chance for players and coaches to relax and spend some time with their friends and families, some Pro Bowl players do more before 9 a.m. than most people do in a whole day.
Tiki Barber was sitting poolside in Hawaii with New York City Police Detective Ken Cardona, retired Detective Richard Stark and Barber's agent Mark Lepselter the night of Feb. 5 relaxing before the week's activities were to begin the next day.
Captain Rob Wolfe approached the two and the three men chatted about football, the military and life. Captain Wolfe is in charge of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry based in Hawaii.
During the course of the conversation, Captain Wolfe invited Barber on a morning run with his battalion. While many Pro Bowl performers do take the time in Hawaii to do charitable activities, others enjoy the time to sleep in and relax after a long, grueling season. But Barber felt strongly about doing something to benefit the U.S. Military and gladly passed up on a few hours of sleep to give his time to Captain Wolfe and his men.
The run was scheduled for the morning of Feb. 7, and while most other people on the island of Oahu were sound asleep, Barber was in the hotel lobby at 5:45 a.m. for his pickup. Captain Wolfe pulled up and the men all jumped in the car and headed out to the base.
The run was the daily physical training (PT) that the men do each morning before sunrise. One-hundred fifteen men stood at the ready as Barber led them on their run -- 20-year-old men in top shape running through the darkness behind a lead block by one of the NFL's top running backs.
"These young guys and families make great sacrifices everyday," Captain Wolfe said. "To have someone like Tiki Barber come here see them is huge. I can talk and lead and try to motivate them until I'm blue in the face. But to have a professional football player and some of NYPD's finest come here to tell them they believe in what they are doing gives them a sense of purpose that I can't provide."
When the run was over, it was Barber who was the one left impressed.
"Athletes and entertainers get a lot accolades in our society. But the fact is that our country is what it is because of the freedom we have. The men and women of the military keep that peace and provide the freedom we enjoy on a daily basis," Barber said.
The men of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry are headed to Japan on Feb. 8. Then they'll be deployed to Iraq in August. Captain Wolfe made a promise to Barber.
"What I can do is promise you that these guys will continue to make you proud and make a difference every day on terror. Our soldiers are committed, proud professionals. I am humbled by them every day and am grateful that you guys were able to share a little bit of it with us."
While most of the players gathered in the training room just before 9 a.m. for the first scheduled team meeting, Barber strolled in and took a seat. On this morning, you can count one Pro Bowl running back in the mix of people who does more before 9 a.m. than most people do in a day.
#4
My favorite NFL player of all time and one of the most underrated, too. It's a shame he retired before winning a Super Bowl.
I'm very curious to see where he ends up after the NFL. He's been pretty nondescript about his plans. I heard rumors that he was considering running for public office on the Republican ticket sometime in the distant future.
He would be an asset for the party. An intelligent, dare I say VERY articulate (compared to Obama) gentleman who embraces sound conservative principles (pro-military, hard-working, self-reliant, understands that while America has problems it is not the problem, etc). He's a class act through and through who talks the talk and walks the walk. As an African-American married to an Asian-American, the Democrats wouldn't know what hit them.
It was just a normal shopping trip when Jaeyana Beuraheng bade farewell to her eight children as she left to cross the border into Malaysia, but it would be 25 years before she would find her way home. Now, at the age of 76, she has been reunited with her family and has finally told how her misfortune began when she boarded the wrong bus. "And she never returned,
No, she never returned,
She may ride 'til her dying day..."
Jaeyana would almost certainly have made it home without mishap had it not been that she speaks only Yawi, a dialect spoken by Muslims in southern Thailand. But unable to write, read, or speak Thai or English she boarded a bus for Bangkok, about 800 miles north, by mistake rather than travelling back to her home in Narathiwat. Bewildered by the noise and traffic of the capital she boarded another bus hoping it would take her home. It did not.
This one took her to Chiang Mai, close to the border with Burma and another 400 miles away. There she became lost and unable to explain her predicament. In Chiang Mai she spent five years begging and with her dark skin was taken to be a member of a hill tribe. When police rounded up beggars in the northern capital in 1987 she was arrested on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant. Unable to determine where she came from, officials sent her to a social services hostel where she has been ever since.
Jintana Satjang, a director of the center where Jaeyana made her home, said: We thought she was a mute. Jaeyana was referred to as Mrs Mon because staff thought her mutterings sounded like Mon, a minority language in Burma.
Jaeyana would probably have spent the rest of her life at the hostel had not three students from her home province who spoke her language arrived at the centre for training last month. They struck up a friendship and she was able to tell them how she became separated from her family. The students made inquiries and found her youngest son, Mamu, who is now 35. They sent him her picture by mobile phone. I was shocked and overjoyed when I saw the picture, said Mamu. He said he and his brothers and sisters had searched for years in Thailand and Malaysia until they were told their mother had been run over by a train in Yala. "Oh, mother, where art thou?"
I remembered her face even though I have not seen her for 25 years, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 10:10 ||
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#1
So remember, folks. Make damn sure you're getting on the right bus...
Authorities in Mauritania refused on Tuesday to allow 200 Pakistani immigrants held on a boat off their coast to disembark. In a statement, the Mauritanian foreign ministry said it was not concerned about the disembarking of the would-be immigrants who are currently on board the ship. "Our country never gave the green light to the disembarkation of these people who are currently in international waters," the statement said.
From the YJCMTSUIYT Department:
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced an initiative that would put a whole new twist on traditional unions between men and women: It would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriages annulled.
Gadow said the argument is unfair when you're dealing with same-sex couples who are unable to have children together.
Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, which was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage. In that 5-4 ruling, the court found that state lawmakers were justified in passing the 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts marriage to unions between a man and woman.
Under I-957, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children to get a marriage license, and if they did not have children within three years, their marriages would be subject to annulment.
All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized" and people in them would be ineligible to receive any marriage benefits.
Supporters of I-957 must gather at least 224,800 valid signatures by July 6 to put it on the November ballot.
The measure's backers said the two additional initiatives they plan would prohibit divorce or separation when a married couple has children, and would make having a child together the equivalent of marriage.
The Catholic church has held for a long time that marriage is solely for procreation. They won't even marry a couple in church if there is no chance that they cannot make children. Adoption does not count.
There is some substance to this argument, and also to the importance to a nation of having and raising children. So for that reason, government wants to subsidize couples who are planning to, and are having children. Extrapolated from this are the other benefits given to married couples, such as retirement and death benefits--mostly based on the idea that couples with children have been at a financial disadvantage to raise children, so need extra money in their later years.
However, there are plenty of heterosexuals who want to be married, but don't want or can't have children. And they also want the benefits given to couples who do want and can have children.
Then, there is an overlap with homosexual couples who adopt and raise children. If this is permitted, again it is in the interest of the government to give them financial assistance to help them raise the child. It is for the child, not for the adults.
So, weirdly enough, this proposed law might actually be one way of resolving the legal issues. That is, by limiting "marriage" to just individuals who are either going to have children, or are going to adopt children.
However, instead of annulment, the law might be written so that a couple would have their "marriage" become a "civil union" after three years.
Thereafter, if the wife developed a viable pregnancy, *or* the couple adopted (including homosexuals, all else being equal), *then* their "civil union" would be upgraded to a "marriage".
This would mean several things. First of all, that "marriage" would be children oriented, and all marriage benefits would be based on their being children to benefit. Second, importantly, would be that couples of any kind who did *not* have children would get no "marriage benefits".
This means that if a heterosexual couple decided they didn't want kids, but the wife didn't want to work, anyway, just slack off, that it would be their own fault when in their retirement years they were poor. Same with homosexuals.
If a business offered a perquisite of retirement and death benefits, that is one thing, but it would no longer be mandated, just because you had a "civil union". Because the nation has no reason to subsidize people who neither work nor raise children.
Bottom line: Though this law is done for the wrong reason, they might have stumbled on a future possibility.
#4
Anonymoose, I have been Catholic all my life, minor seminary and Catholic university educated, and have NEVER heard that marriage is solely for procreation. We were asked if we knew of any impediment to having children (NO) and if we were willing to accept children if my wife got pregnant (YES). "No chance" to have children is extreme. For example, if a man had become sterile due to mumps as a child, there is a small chance he could still have viable sperm, and so is married. Do not confuse possibility with probability.
I'm done. Thank you.
#5
I lied. I wasn't done. Laws to require couples to have children is just stupid. Sometimes you just want to tell people to get the hell out of my knickers.
Now I'm done.
#7
Pholutle Ebbailing5038: I was very specific, with "no chance" and it being a church wedding. For example a paraplegic man who cannot copulate.
Googling that turns up several instances of church marriage denial.
Now, the Catholic Church knows better than to try and second guess medical determinations, so they rely on the basics, mostly permanent impotence, or if the husband did not have a penis and/or testicles. Other medical conditions might be definite, but they won't nit pick.
The idea of a time limit for producing children in a marriage, or else having it downgraded to a civil union is an interesting one, and not unlike time limits for other forms of welfare.
That would actually give the government a working definition of marriage and its benefits being exclusively for couples seeking to make and raise children.
If after three years of trying without success, which does happen to many heterosexual couples, they could still continue to try, but they would no longer qualify for marriage benefits, until such time as there was an actual pregnancy or adoption.
By re-defining marriage as an institution for the raising of children, with everything else being a civil union, many of the legal problems are avoided. And taxes are lowered, by the way.
Approximately 40 rental agreements on behalf of a secret delegation of experts from India for exclusive properties in north Tel Aviv and Herzliya Pituah have been signed at record prices over the past month.
Scientists, engineers and senior defense personnel have been seeking properties throughout Gush Dan under a cloud of secrecy. The arrival of members of the delegation and their families for three years was agreed upon in the framework of a pact between the Indian government and a leading Israeli defense firm.
The real estate market in Tel Aviv and its surrounding areas has yet to calm down from the wave of demand by French, English and American foreign residents, and is now dealing with a new market of clientele with exacting demand, as well as an ensured, steep budget.
To assist in their search for appropriate accommodations, the employees were accompanied by representatives of the Indian embassy in Israel, who have approached realtors and lawyers to help locate suitable homes.
The Indian representatives were careful to scatter their requests among various offices to avoid attracting attention to, and regulating, the demand, and requested that realtors preserve confidentiality. Each of the employees received a monthly rental budget of $1,700-$5,000 from the Indian government, which exceeds local market prices by tenfold, despite highly saturated market conditions in these areas.
These high budgets have yielded results. A four-room, furnished apartment in Azorei Hen, for instance, was rented for $2,000 (compared to the normal market price of $1,500). And a private, 200-sq. m. in Herzliya Pituah, which has been rented for $2,000 a month went for $3,500.
One lawyer who accompanied the property owners said that some of his clients were eager to take advantage of the unusual business opportunity. They quickly furnished the properties or even vacated their own homes within days, and began searching for alternative dwellings. "Whoever had a place to go took the money and left."
Posted by: john ||
02/07/2007 17:21 ||
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Zoiks - India putting troops on the ground deep in the enemy's rear area? I mean, India establishing cooperative arrangements with a friendly fellow-democracy with unique industrial/technological capabilities.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SAN FRANCISCO He's considered a darling of Democratic Party politics, a smooth-talking young millionaire with Kennedy good looks who has basked in the media limelight while being courted as a possible national political figure.
"Too tired to walk," man steals police car
Authorities in Mauritania refused on Tuesday to allow 200 Pakistani immigrants held on a boat off their coast to disembark. In a statement, the Mauritanian foreign ministry said it was not concerned about the disembarking of the would-be immigrants who are currently on board the ship. "Our country never gave the green light to the disembarkation of these people who are currently in international waters," the statement said. 
