Free Republic

Finally, a major media personality has the guts to express what many in the US have long felt: Left Coast cities such as San Francisco are anti-American to the core. Bill O'Reilly, speaking of the Irrelevant City's hostility toward military recruiters, said on Tuesday's Radio Factor (transcript from the Political Teen): O’REILLY: You know, if I’m the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, “Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you’re not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine....

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Voters in famously liberal San Francisco overwhelmingly approved measures banning handguns and encouraging schools to keep military recruiters off campus, according to election results on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT With 100 percent of precincts reporting results from Tuesday's election, Measure H, which prohibits San Franciscans from owning handguns and bans the sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, passed with 57.9 percent of the vote. The National Rifle Association said the measure's passage would prove a "hollow victory" for gun control activists and that it would file a lawsuit challenging the measure. "Lawful residents of San...

Fairfax, VA - Even with opposition from San Francisco law enforcement and major media outlets, Proposition H -- a measure banning the lawful possession, sale and manufacture of handguns and ammunition within city limits -- passed yesterday. The National Rifle Association (NRA) will file a lawsuit challenging this severe gun ban. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre stated, “We are disappointed, but this fight is just beginning. Lawful residents of San Francisco are being stripped of their freedom because of an illegal measure that defies common sense. We will fight this outrageous assault on the rights of law-abiding San Franciscans...

San Francisco -- Banning guns and booting military recruiters would seem like sure-fire hits with voters in peace-loving San Francisco. But days before a municipal election, two ballot measures dealing with the typically passion-provoking topics face uncertain fates. One would prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition, the other would oppose — in word only — the presence of military recruiters at public high schools and colleges. The rhetoric over the two has been so restrained, in fact, that Mayor Gavin Newsom said he hasn't felt compelled to take a public position on them. "I haven't given either that much...

SAN FRANCISCO - With warring gangs igniting a surge in homicides here in the last year, voters on Tuesday will consider a sweeping proposal to curb the violence: the nation's strictest municipal gun control ordinances, a measure that would ban possession, sale and manufacture of handguns and ammunition within city limits. Polling data taken over the summer suggested that the measure, Proposition H, enjoyed overwhelming support of likely voters. But it has since come under attack from a coalition of critics - including the National Rifle Association and a smattering of community groups - and legal experts say that should...

Movement To Ban Firearms In San Francisco By Carolyn Tyler Nov. 2 - When you go to the polls one week from today, state propositions aren't the only measures some voters face. There are local issues as well. In San Francisco, voters will decide whether to try to ban guns in the city. Pat Barsetti owns a Smith and Wesson. Pat Barsetti, gun owner: "This has always given me a sense of protection." She would be forced to give up her gun if Proposition H passes. Four San Francisco supervisors put the measure on the ballot. It prohibits "residents from...

SAN FRANCISCO -- During a protest against the Bush administration Wednesday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a building and fell on a police officer, lighting his uniform on fire. Officer Gary Constantine said the cocktail fell on his shoulder and lit the side of his uniform on fire. He was able to put the fire out with his hand and was not seriously injured. A witness told NBC11 that he saw the cocktail hit the side of a building and ricocheted down onto the police officer. San Francisco police estimate a few thousand protestors attended the protest. The protest...

San Francisco's Department of Human Services wants to fire a child welfare supervisor accused of downloading and passing around gay S&M porn pix -- hot shots that starred a psychiatrist from the city's foster care program. Higher-ups in the welfare division are also facing possible discipline for moving too slowly to stop the photo pass-around, and for failing to report the supervisor's actions to the proper authorities. The department's director, Trent Rhorer, declined to discuss details of the case, saying it was a personnel matter. He did, however, confirm that an internal investigation was under way "into all aspects of...

Need more proof appeasement doesn't work? As Clear Channel's learning the hard way, placing low-rated Air America programming on several dozen AM stations nationwide, has failed to placate left-wing activists. They've long accused the company of being the "Wal-Mart" of radio, with a right-wing programming bent, to boot. Until the company removes conservative programming from KNEW-AM, the Bay Area's Youth Media Council says it won't ease up. According to indybay.org, FCC broadcast license challenges are being filed against all of their area stations, except KQKE-AM, the Air America outlet. That includes several FM stations playing only music.

Despite new management assertions to the contrary, two KVI/Seattle talk show hosts believe a July court ruling now prevents them from discussing a key November statewide ballot initiative on the airwaves. In a stunning decision, a Thurston County, Washington judge forced organizers of Initiative 912 to report, as in-kind campaign contributions, favorable comments made by KVI hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson. Backers of I-912, which seeks to repeal a statewide gas tax hike, were required to place a dollar value on talk radio's supportive statements....(snip) ....Despite the August sackings of its key participants, one of sports talk's most peculiar...

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States can designate foreign organizations as terrorist groups and bar Americans from financially backing them, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday. "Leaving the determination of whether a group is a 'foreign terrorist organization' to the executive branch ... is both a reasonable and a constitutional way to make such determinations," Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote for a three-judge panel. "The Constitution does not forbid Congress from requiring individuals, whether they agree with the executive branch determination or not, to refrain from furnishing material assistance to designated terrorist organizations." The ruling by the...

The San Francisco Bay area has a 1 percent chance of a magnitude-7 or greater earthquake every year and a 25 percent chance that one will occur within two decades, according to a new computer forecast. The Virtual California program was developed by John Rundle at the University of California at Davis with the help of scientists at NASA. It uses methods similar to weather forecasting, Rundle said. The model considers 650 segments representing the major fault systems in California, including the San Andreas fault responsible for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The simulation takes into account the gradual movement...

SAN FRANCISCO (October 14, 2005)--An Episcopal LGBT rights advocate and longtime social service worker will be installed as rector at a mostly-queer Mission District Episcopal parish this weekend. The Right Reverend William Swing, California Diocese bishop, will preside over Father John Kirkley's installation as rector of St. John the Evangelist Church on Sunday, October 16 at 4 p.m., in a Eucharist service with formal liturgy to recognize the church's new beginning. Kirkley, 38, gained comparative perspectives on different faith traditions at Indiana University, and came out in the process, asking more sophisticated questions than what his fundamentalist upbringing allowed while...

In one of talk radio's oddest recent moves, the syndicated "Savage Nation" host has made a public call for several new "sidekicks" and even a possible co-host. What in the world would possess Savage to do this, the Radio Equalizer can't imagine. From Savage's Paul Revere Society website:........ (snip) ......As part of its "C-SPAN 25 Years- Viewer Call-ins" series, Air America's Randi Rhodes was teamed up with Salem's Janet Parshall to debate talk radio's influence. Airing Saturday afternoon, it was initially tame. Parshall made a few basic points, while Rhodes had great difficulty getting into the conversation's flow. In terms...

Just announced on FoxNews TV: San Francisco just raised the threat level from Orange to "Enhanced Orange", but there is no specific threat. No other info.

SAN FRANCISCO – Thousands of tax payments and other correspondence sent to the Internal Revenue Service were dumped into San Francisco Bay following an automobile accident. About 30,000 quarterly tax payments sent to an IRS post office box in San Francisco in early September were ejected into the bay from a contract courier vehicle involved in the Sept. 11 accident, the IRS said in a "problem alert" statement issued Friday. An additional 15,000 tax payments were recovered after the accident, which occurred on the San Mateo Bridge as the courier traveled from the San Francisco post office to a check-processing...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A taxi driver has been arrested and jailed for allegedly raping a passenger, and police on Friday were asking any other victims to come forward to help the investigation. Huseyin Akbana, 35, was arrested Thursday while driving his cab and booked on rape and false imprisonment charges. Police said Akbana picked up his victim Monday in downtown San Francisco, drove her to the city's Tenderloin neighborhood, climbed in the back seat and sexually assaulted her. "We're asking the public for information to see if they are any more victims out there," San Francisco police Lt. Molly...

It's your typical "only in San Francisco" story, one that pits cars against bicyclists, politicians against planners -- and right-turn bans against reality. The issue: a $26 million Central Freeway on-ramp, at the foot of the newly built Octavia Boulevard, that you can't turn onto from the city's main drag, Market Street. It took 14 years of debate, three ballot measures and a dozen designs before Caltrans crews set to work demolishing the earthquake-damaged Central Freeway and turning Octavia into a $62 million, tree-lined boulevard. Once work got started, bicyclists -- a potent force in city politics -- took aim...

SAN FRANCISCO - City residents should prepare to survive at least three days without help if disaster - from an earthquake to a terror attack - strikes, according to the city's Office of Emergency Services. A city-sponsored Web site, http://www.72hours.org, includes lists of everything well-stocked San Franciscans should keep in their home and cars to be ready for the next big emergency when power, running water and telephones may be unavailable for days."If Hurricane Katrina didn't prove it to you, I don't know what will," Mayor Gavin Newsom said recently at a news conference unveiling a citywide public awareness campaign...

SAN FRANCISCO - After city officials rejected a plan to bring the USS Iowa to San Francisco earlier this year, supporters of the idea have come up with a new plan that they hope will convince leaders to welcome the historic battleship here. Supporters say a proposal to turn part of the vessel into a museum honoring the contributions of gays, lesbians, ethnic minorities and women to the military should help sway the Board of Supervisors' decision. In July, the board voted 8-3 to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance...