Free Republic

Sell a guinea pig, go to jail. That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish. That includes dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards and nearly every other critter, or, as the commission calls them, companion animals. "People buy small animals all the time as an impulse buy, don't know what they're getting into, and the animals end...

The Battle of San Jacinto As related by DeWitt Colonist Creed Taylor to James T. DeShields and published in "Tall Men With Long Rifles" 1935. The morning of April 21 dawned bright and crisp. It was to be a great day for Texas. From their crude pallets the boys sprang up as if for a joyous holiday. Merry jests went the rounds, and the camp wits spared neither high private nor officers. "If you get bumped off, Bill, won't you will me your coonskin cap?" Tomlinson said to a comrade: "You can take the cap now; I'll wear a Mexican...

Liberal booksellers have banned Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" and refuse to carry it. They are retarded. I thought Liberals were against banning books. This is anti-free speech. The public in San Francisco demand the book, though, as it is #3 on the San Francisco bestseller list by being sold at Costco in San Francisco (among other stores).

More than a dozen suspected members of a ruthless Norteño street gang allegedly responsible for four murders, several attempted murders and assaults in San Jose are behind bars, the result of a 1 1/2-year police investigation. A five-week grand jury proceeding culminated Tuesday with indictments being issued against 13 suspected members of El Hoyo Palmas, described by police as a multi-generation gang that has operated in San Jose for about 30 years.

Sandoval, who represents the city's Excelsior district as the supervisor for District 11, will challenge Judge Thomas Mellon, who has served on the bench since 1994. Mellon, 65, was appointed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican. Sandoval, a supervisor since 2000, was a deputy public defender in San Francisco and previously worked for former Mayor Art Agnos.

Arms-deal submarines lie idle By Henri du Plessis Budget problems are causing a severe shortage of skilled staff that is crippling the operation of South Africa's new R1,5-billion submarines, bought in the scandal ridden arms deal. The staffing shortage at the dock, described as "critical" by a top defence expert, has prompted the DA to call for the cancellation of the delivery of the third and final submarine from Germany, scheduled for May next year, in order to reduce operational costs. At present the navy has had to allow for the staff shortages in its overall operational plan. Respected defence...

Arabic-speaking passengers sue AmericanThe Associated Press DETROIT --Six men of Iraqi descent who were flying home after a stint training Marines sued American Airlines on Thursday, saying employees publicly humiliated them after a passenger expressed concerns about them to security guards. The men, who sued in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleging racial discrimination, say airline employees grounded their Aug. 28 flight from San Diego to Chicago and detained them, believing they were security risks. The men, some of whom are U.S. citizens, were returning to the Detroit area after training Marines at Camp Pendleton in California when another passenger...

WASHINGTON — Airport security officers around the nation have been alerted by federal officials to look out for terrorists practicing to carry explosive components onto aircraft, based on four curious seizures at airports since last September. The unclassified alert was distributed on July 20... The seizures at airports in San Diego, Milwaukee, Houston and Baltimore included "wires, switches, pipes or tubes, cell phone components and dense clay-like substances," including block cheese, the bulletin said. "The unusual nature and increase in number of these improvised items raise concern." Security officers were urged to keep an eye out for "ordinary items that...

South African Navy Commissions Charlotte Maxeke (Source: ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; issued March 14, 2007) EMDEN/HAMBURG/KIEL, Germany --- On March 14, 2007, the South African Navy commissioned the submarine “Charlotte Maxeke” at Emden-based Nordseewerke GmbH (NSWE), a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG (TKMS). This submarine is an ultra-modern submarine of the German 209/1400mod Class. During commissioning ceremony the boat which was christened as S102 on May 4, 2005, got the new name “Charlotte Maxeke.” The boat is the second of a total of three submarines which the South African government ordered from the German Submarine Consortium in 2000. The consortium...

Elie Weisel SAN FRANCISCO - In a bizarre attack, a well-known author and Holocaust scholar was dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator by an apparent Holocaust denier who reportedly had been trailing him for weeks. Police escorted Elie Wiesel to San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 1 after a man accosted Wiesel in the elevator at the Argent Hotel, at 50 Third St., after Wiesel participated in a panel discussion at a peace conference and before Wiesel was scheduled to catch a flight back to New York. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and author of more than 40...

Chron items: Urination and Defecation OK in S.F. and the CHP Camaro story by CW Editor July 2, 2002 Urinating and defecating on the streets of San Francisco Boy, talk about a city being caught up in liberal paralysis. CW has staunchly maintained that it is impossible for liberals to govern effectively. Governing requires decision-making, and the libs just can't do that for fear of hurting the feelings of some minority group If you have been looking for proof, what more does it take than the current indecision on a law banning urinating and defecating in public in S.F. The...

Claim: San Fran killer called himself 'terrorist' 14 injured, 1 dead, in hit-and-run rampage by man recently returned from Afghanistan Posted: August 30, 2006 2:22 p.m. Eastern By Art Moore© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com   Omeed Aziz Popal in wedding photo believed to be two weeks old (San Francisco Chronicle) A woman claims she heard the man who drove into 14 people, killing one, in a violent hit-and-run rampage in San Francisco yesterday refer to himself as a terrorist. KTVU-TV San Francisco reporter Rob Roth told WND the witness at the scene of Omeed Aziz Popal's arrest heard the 29-year-old man say, to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2006 – San Diego will honor its military heritage with a Freedom Walk planned to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. “The walk begins and ends at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center,” said Beth Steinke, president of Operation Homefront-San Diego, the nonprofit group organizing the walk. “It’s a leisurely two-mile stroll through the park.” The walk, presented by DefenseWeb, a software company, will begin with opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. in Balboa Park, she said. A color guard and a chaplain are scheduled to participate in the opening ceremonies. “We’re hoping...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's activation of the California National Guard to bolster airline security began seamlessly at some airports on Friday, appeared haphazard at others and was rejected at Oakland International - one of three airports the governor said was most important to protect. With 640 activated troops, the Guard's first airport deployment since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was to begin costing about $128,000 a day in anti-terror funding. The scattershot nature of the deployment was evident throughout the state, with troops helping ease long lines at security checkpoints in Southern California but being relegated to distant fields in San...

A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Monday threw out the city's voter-approved ban on handguns, ruling that state law trumps local jurisdictions in gun control matters. Proposition H, approved last November with 58 percent of the vote, banned the possession, manufacture, distribution, sale and transfer of firearms and ammunition within San Francisco. (Exceptions were made for specific professional purposes, such as police or security work.) The National Rifle Association sued the city, arguing that state law preempts local gun control ordinances. The judge agreed. Both the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation called the decision a victory...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (May 19, 2006) -- Marine Band San Diego sent a delegate of five Marines to the locally harbored USS Midway on Saturday where they provided patriotic music for the Girl Scout Operation Thin Mint 2006 Sendoff Celebration. Girl Scouts by the hundreds, troop leaders and parents gathered on the large carrier’s deck and surrounded the center stage waving miniature American flags while the brass quintet played patriotic music. The girls met on the ship as a formal way to send massive quantities of cookies sold throughout the year to the troops deployed overseas. Bill...

EMC Corp. said Friday it plans to eliminate 1,000 positions but added that it will see a net gain in total employment by year's end as the company moves to emphasize data services and software amid pressure to cut costs in the data storage hardware business. EMC, whose shares fell about 2 percent Friday, announced the cuts affecting about 4 percent of its work force as it raised its fourth-quarter revenue estimate. The company also said a total $269 million in charges from the job moves and other expenses will reduce its quarterly and full-year 2005 earnings, to be announced...

ABOARD USS SAN JANCINTO (NNS) -- USS San Jacinto (CG 56) Sailors improved the navigational safety of the Northern Persian Gulf when they mounted two seven-inch, solar-powered strobe lights on a sunken oil tanker and its marker buoy Nov. 20. The tanker, believed to have sunk during the early 1990s in the first Gulf War, created a significant navigation hazard for small boats and coalition vessels conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the North Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi Al Basra oil terminal (ABOT). Chief Damage Controlman Frank Ferrantelli, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., and Hull Repair Technician 1st...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Voters approved ballot measures to ban handguns in San Francisco and urge the city's public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters. The gun ban prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, and makes it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses. Only two other major U.S. cities _ Washington and Chicago _ have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.

SAN DIEGO - A terminal at San Diego International Airport was evacuated Tuesday after luggage screeners mistook a child's toy and a cookie for bomb-making components, officials said. A screening machine at the Commuter Terminal detected what appeared to be bomb-making material in a carryon bag around 7:45 a.m., said Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin. A bomb squad was called to the terminal, which serves regional flights, and investigators determined the bag did not contain any "IED," or improvised explosive devices, Peppin said. "Essentially what they did find was a child's toy and some organic material in a bag...