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A rebirth for Rupert Murdoch? By having his children baptised in the River Jordan, perhaps the head of News Corp is signalling his own conversion This week's Hello Magazine has a cover so Hello-ishly Hello-esque that one ought to wear sunglasses before picking it up. Royalty, in the shape of Queen Rania of Jordan, rubs shoulders with celebrity (Nicole Kidman), in a composition of flowing white robes and surrounded by decoratively angelic children. But wait, who is the outsize leprechaun in the corner? Surely not Rupert Murdoch, looking like he has wandered into a Broadway revival of Hair! The photographs...

Hello Infidels!

Dear God: If you can't stop Mark Morford, please teach him to use the internet Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 02:20:20 PM by Benjamin Wachs I try not to call Chron columnist Mark Morford out on his stylistic problem as a writer, because who has that kind of time? But as a fellow journalist I feel that research – knowing at least a little about what we’re writing about – is the very least we owe the public. The very, very least. So a few months ago I called him out on the sheer ignorance of his attacks against Christianity....

AP 'We Did It' letters eyed in NY bombing By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Capitol Hill offices received letters Thursday containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim "We Did It." ADVERTISEMENT The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed. The photo was the kind commonly sent as a holiday greeting card, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation. The message on...

A decision by the Copyright Royalty Board to raise royalty fees could put some small online radio stations out of business by Olga Kharif Kurt Hanson runs a Chicago-based online radio station that streams more than 300 channels of classical, jazz, oldies, and other music genres aimed at adults. The station, AccuRadio, lures more than 1 million visitors a month—not bad for a startup that's only been around since 2002. If a Mar. 5 decision by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) takes effect, AccuRadio may not be around much longer. The decision, due to take effect sometime during the next...

Sentencing Postponed For South S.F. Child Molester Family members of a 42-year-old computer technician who pleaded no contest to molesting his niece asked for leniency from a San Mateo County Superior Court judge Monday morning, saying his behavior had been very "out of character." The sentencing of John Olp, a computer administrator at a South San Francisco business, was rescheduled this morning, until next week, in order to allow defense attorney John Runfola time to review a probation report. According to prosecutors, Olp molested his sister's daughter over a five-year-period, beginning when the girl was 9 years old. Olp was...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told department heads this afternoon he is seeking counseling for alcohol abuse, sources familiar with the meeting told The Chronicle. Newsom told members of his administration 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, according to the sources.

February 3, 2007, 6:58 PM When Is The Right Time To Cheat On Your Wife? By Luke Ford | Terri emails: “I would give you s*** about this story – except for the fact that the mayor has admitted to having an affair WHILE HIS WIFE WAS UNDERGOING CANCER TREATMENT. What a scumbag.” What better time is there to cheat on one’s spouse? It’s not like she’s dying for sex while fighting cancer. What’s a highly-sexed guy with lots of options to do? Yes, ideally, he should not cheat. But most people are not such saints. Robert Greene writes on...

February 3, 2007 The Day After the Day After So your Alex Tourk. Everything is fine and honky dorky until your wife, out of the blue, admits to having a fling with not only your boss but one of your best buddies. Even worse, it appears the everyone in the city (except us) knew about it but you didn't. Man, that's one hell of a bad week. Whenever we see these storylines on TV or in the movies, it always ends badly, like in people being shot and killed badly. So where are we with all of this? Well everybody...

Garcia: Sex scandal media frenzy won't end soon (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) S.F. Mayor Gavin Newson is bound to be in the center of a feeding frenzy reminiscent of Bill Clinton's Printer Friendly | PDF | Email | digg Ken Garcia, The Examiner Read more by Ken Garcia Feb 2, 2007 3:00 AM (15 hrs ago) Current rank: # 3 of 12,095 articles SAN FRANCISCO - One of Gavin Newsom’s handlers asked me on Thursday how long I thought the revelation of the mayor’s affair with his top aide’s wife would stay in the news cycle. Oh, maybe two or three...

CRAIG WANTS GAY BOND SCENE DANIEL CRAIG is urging movie bosses to revolutionise the JAMES BOND franchise by including a gay scene involving the superspy in the follow-up to CASINO ROYALE. The heart-throb actor has also reportedly told studio chiefs he is prepared to film a full frontal nude scene to please both his male and female admirers. He says, "Why not? I think in this day and age, fans would have accepted it." "I mean, look at (British TV series) DOCTOR WHO - that has had gay scenes in it and no one blinks an eye." 29/11/2006 07:42

TORONTO - After you kill off President George W. Bush in a fictional film, what do you do? How about make a deal. Gabriel Range, the British producer/director/creator of ”Death of a President,” the fictional documentary that sight unseen became one of the most talked-about movies of the Toronto Film Festival, has sold US distribution rights to Newmarket Films, which handled Mel Gibson’s equally provocative movie “The Passion of the Christ.” Newmarket, which reportedly paid $1 million for the film, is expected to give “President” a wide release within the next few months. It will air on Britain’s Channel 4...

Karr was eyeing sex change * * Email * Print * Normal font * Large font August 20, 2006 - 2:30PM Karr (left) and JonBenet Ramsey Karr (left) and JonBenet Ramsey AdvertisementAdvertisement The man who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey had another bizarre secret up his sleeve in the months before his arrest - he was visiting a surgical centre that specialises in sex-change operations. Staff at the Pratunam Clinic, Thailand's top transgender centre, told the New York Daily News yesterday that 41-year-old John Mark Karr was a patient of theirs - but wouldn't say how close he was to...

UPN Bay Area Bay City News Wire SF SUPERVISOR TO INTRODUCE RESOLUTION ON IMMIGRANT ID CARDS 06/20/06 8:30 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) San Francisco Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval will hold a news conference today at 1 p.m. at City Hall to announce a resolution regarding ID cards for immigrants that he will introduce at today's Board of Supervisors meeting. The resolution will call on the California Congressional Delegation to oppose efforts in the U.S. Congress to prevent cities from accepting ID cards issued by other countries, Sandoval said in a statement. Sandoval reported that a recently introduced amendment to an Appropriations...

UPN Bay Area Bay City News Wire CINDY SHEEHAN TAKES ANTI-WAR MESSAGE TO SF SCHOOL 04/07/06 11:40 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) Peace activist Cindy Sheehan spoke to students at an assembly at a San Francisco high school today. "Almost 1,000'' students attended an optional assembly at Lowell High School this morning, according to event organizer Jake Blanc. "The mood was very respectful,'' Blanc said, as Sheehan talked for roughly 45 minutes about the loss of her son Casey Sheehan in the war in Iraq. "She talked about her experiences organizing against the war and for the peace movement since her...

Plan would grant vote to noncitizens By Adriel Hampton | Staff Writer Published on Friday, July 2, 2004URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/070204n_vote E-mail this story | This page is printer-friendly A reform measure that would allow noncitizens with children in the San Francisco Unified School District to cast ballots in Board of Education elections is moving forward and appears to have the needed support to go before voters in November.The initiative, perhaps the first step toward giving full voting rights for immigrants, could utilize a "blind registry" system, where parents and guardians are signed up to vote through district records. If passed, it...

We have to remain strong. Today my mom told me her boss's nefew died in Iraq. I was deeply saddened. And though I have been lucky enough not to have anyone near me pass on because of this war, my brother will probably be shipping out soon. I keep thinking about if he is next. Could I be one of the unfortunate who have to attend a funeral? And though I know many of you have a soldier in Iraq and are dealing with the same thoughts everyday, I have noticed that a lot of people have been posting and...

I need to buy a new laptop. I do not want to have Indian/other tech support when I phone for customer service. Who supports the USA only in tech support? Thanks in advance. Requirements: lightweight laptop, great customer service, USA

<p>Thousands of anti-war demonstrators marched across San Francisco on the first day of spring Saturday, joining millions around the world in the peace movement's biggest showing since the Iraq war began a year ago.</p> <p>Stretching from Dolores Park to Civic Center, the San Francisco protest was upbeat and defiant, as many marchers said they felt reinvigorated by seeing kindred spirits in opposition to the war and claimed that they had predicted a year ago that no weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.</p>

<p>Ghirardelli Square, the famed former chocolate factory at Fisherman's Wharf that has become one of the best-known icons of San Francisco, is being sold for about $38 million, The Chronicle has learned.</p> <p>JMA Properties, a Los Altos real estate investment group, will buy the 111-year-old property, which is now a retail and office center, from longtime owner Capital & Counties USA.</p>