Free Republic

Hate's last stand It's racism and homophobia, neck and neck, down to the wire. Can they hang on? By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Let's not get carried away. Let's not go so far as to suggest we're about to enter into some sort of fluffy utopian tofu puppy happyland where nipples fly free and consciousness expands and the fetid rivers of racism and homophobia that course through the American heartland like acidic sewage somehow magically vanish, somehow become dramatically curtailed, should the twin forces of progress known as President Obama and a vanquished California Proposition...

JENSEN BEACH — A Golden Gate man involved a hit-and-run crash gave law enforcement several false names before being arrested Thursday, according to a report released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. According to the report, Oscar Neftali Lopez-Ramirez, 18, of the 2600 block of S.E. Delmar Street, was driving north on U.S. 1 when he ran a red light at the Britt Road intersection and hit Christopher Arndt Jr., 21, who was skating across the street in the crosswalk. Passengers in the vehicle told Lopez-Ramirez to stop, according to the report, but Lopez-Ramirez refused. He drove three miles before...

<p>German lawmakers embarrass their envoy in S.F. Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross Sunday, August 24, 2008 They came. They shopped. And they embarrassed the hell out of us.</p> <p>That was the reaction of the German consul general in San Francisco, Rolf Schütte, to a group of lawmakers from his homeland who recently traipsed through the city, leaving a lot of bad feelings in their wake after using a racial slur and choosing sightseeing and shopping over meetings with their U.S. counterparts.</p>

Who says San Francisco doesn't honor veterans? Last weekend, the city, which voted in 2005 to ban military recruiters from public high schools and colleges, unveiled a memorial to fighting men and women in uniform. The uniforms they donned, however, were not those familiar to American soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines. The city honored American Communists and their fellow travelers who fought in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. The $400,000 monument, donated from private funds but hosted on public land, extends 40-feet long and eight feet high. Media accounts of the tribute uniformly noted that members of...

CA APPEALS COURT RULES UNANIMOUSLY IN FAVOR OF SAF LAWSUIT For Immediate Release: 1/9/2008 In a unanimous decision today, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the City of San Francisco’s handgun ban is illegal under state law, upholding a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and several other groups. “This is a great day for gun owners and civil rights in California,” said SAF Founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “This is the second time we successfully fought a gun ban in San Francisco, and what this demonstrates is that the city’s leadership is as horribly out of touch with...

You’ll be shocked, shocked to find out who’s behind this: Veterans for Peace, Global Exchange and Code Pink. But don’t you dare question their patriotism. Questioning their sanity is fair game, though. Evidence of west coast anti-military crazy goes back a few years. The annual aerial show by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels — a San Francisco tradition dating back to 1981 that pumps millions into the local economy — is running into opposition from three local peace advocacy groups that are calling for a permanent halt to the popular Fleet Week flyover. CodePink, Global Exchange and Veterans for Peace,...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor's office, City Hall sources said. Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom's deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday's meeting. Rippey-Tourk, 34, was the mayor's appointments secretary from the start of his administration...

SAN FRANCISCO The construction is everywhere in San Francisco, as one high-rise after another has been approved by the city, and about to be built. Chronicle Writer Marshall Kilduff has covered the city since growth was a dirty word. "20 years ago, 30 years ago when you had these high-rise fights, you had a much more homogenous town. Little neighborhoods, people who remembered things, landmarks were always under the gun," Kilduff recalled. CBS 5 asked if the skyscrapers would have been approved 20 years ago. "Never," Kilduff said. "We had 5, 6 ballot fights. Not (each of them) won. But...

Traffic snarled as 10 CodePink members are arrested during vigil for slain GIs -- all bikes and pedestrians barred for hours Police took 10 war protesters into custody Monday at the Golden Gate Bridge after a three-hour standoff that backed up New Year's Day traffic and frayed tempers of tourists and bicyclists hoping for a jaunt across the span. The confrontation began at noon when about a dozen members of the women's peace organization CodePink prepared to walk across the bridge as a vigil to remember the 3,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Officers from the California Highway Patrol, the...

BALCO founder Victor Conte bragged to an associate that Barry Bonds had intimate knowledge of the designer steroids he received from the Bay Area company, and that the Giants slugger took an active interest in what the substances contained, ESPN The Magazine has learned. The disclosure comes to light amid reports that Patrick Arnold, the Illinois chemist who is scheduled to report to federal prison next week for his part in the steroid conspiracy, has made the same admission to a media outlet. The admission appears to contradict Bonds' sworn testimony before a grand jury in 2004. In a report...

ABC News: At San Francisco's Wharf, a Fight for Medical Marijuana Ensues July 25, 2006 — San Francisco has more cannibus clubs — the dispensaries of marijuana for the medical treatment of the nasty side effects of chemotherapy, glaucoma or AIDS — than any other city in the nation. Yet, that doesn't mean cannabis clubs make welcome neighbors, even in bluest of the blue San Francisco, a city that prides itself on being tolerant of almost every lifestyle. (snip) But the reality of the program is apparently harsher than the notion. However accepting San Francisco may consider itself to be,...

3 suspect devices

SAN FRANCISCO - An owner of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music player filed a federal lawsuit against the computer maker, claiming the device causes hearing loss in people who use it. The portable music players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, which seeks class action status. The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, seeks compensation for plaintiffs' hearing loss and upgrades that will make the iPods safer. Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they...

Arrangement part of security since Vail arson Giant picture windows set among rough-hewn timbers. Sweeping views of the Gore Range and Mount of the Holy Cross. And ski-in, ski-out access - to China Bowl. Wooldridge lives year round at...Two Elk Lodge restaurant, where he is the general manager. The building is at the top of Vail Mountain, 11,220 feet above sea level... He moved into the new lodge in 1999 when it reopened following the arsons that destroyed it a year earlier. Having a full-time resident at Two Elk was part of increased security measures after the October 1998 arsons...

FBI document says group's missions plagued by errors Even as the Earth Liberation Front - a shadowy group of eco-terrorists that took credit for the Vail fires of 1998 - has eluded authorities for years, newly released evidence suggests some of the group's efforts have been plagued by almost slapstick gaffes. In one case, members driving on a mission to burn down a federal research facility in western Washington stopped along the way to shoplift some needed supplies from a big box hardware store. The plan was interrupted when one of the members was arrested for stealing sponges and a...

SAN FRANCISCO - A police officer who produced videos parodying life on the force was suspended Thursday after the mayor and police chief blasted the vignettes as racist, sexist and homophobic. Officer Andrew Cohen, 39, said he was suspended for posting inappropriate and unauthorized pictures about the department on the Internet. "I don't know what's going on," Cohen told The Associated Press. "I've never been in trouble before." Cohen is one of about 20 officers expected to be disciplined for video clips that Police Chief Heather Fong called "egregious, shameful and despicable." The skits featured uniformed and plainclothes officers making...

Nicole Talifano and Dolly Renick are plotting an assassination. The conspirators have acquired a dossier on their target, weapons, disguises and even have a getaway car they’ve dubbed “Stealth.” “I can’t disclose too much,” Talifano said conspiratorially. “We have a variety of guns to use depending on the time of day and where we are.” When they find their targets, Talifano and Renick won’t riddle the two guys with bullets, but instead spray them with water. They are among roughly 200 people playing a new guerilla game called “Street Wars” that will sprawl across San Francisco over the next three...

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom has declared universal access to wireless Internet to be a "fundamental right of all citizens" and stated that access to the Internet "is a civil rights issue as much as anything else."  This is the same San Francisco government pushing a complete ban of all handguns within city limits.  They are putting it to a referendum and proposition H will be on San Francisco city ballots next month.  If it passes, any possession of a handgun within city limits will be banned.  Everyone but government personnel and security guards will have to surrender their handguns within 90 days. ...

When The New York Times, “Nightline,” and CNN nominate a young blonde for sainthood ahead of the Pope, it’s time for a reality check. Especially when that blonde, Marla Ruzicka’s sole purpose is to legitimize our enemies, cause problems for U.S. troops already in harms way, and morally equivocate dead terrorists with victims of 9/11. Jane Fonda lite—but unfortunately without having been spat upon by right-thinking veterans. The recent death of Ruzicka, an American “activist” in Iraq, elicited an orgy of gush—everywhere from Time Magazine to The Guardian of London to Al-Jazeera. A 28-year-old San Franciscan, Ruzicka was in Iraq...

This is my newest article in The Skyline View, the newspaper at my community college just outside San Francisco. It is a ProLife article. I have been working up to getting this published and I am happy how it turned out. I left out most Christian refernces in an attempt to reach a broader audience. Please let me know what you think!! Also thanks to-- SeenTheLight --for her help on my last few articles. Please thank her for helping me out. I am getting a lot better at writing because of her help! Because of her and a few others...