Free Republic

There may be truth to the cliché "sex sells," but when it comes to the sale of sex, everyone pays. This is the central argument by both opponents and supporters of Proposition K, which would make San Francisco the first U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution.Many sex workers say there's a cost to their line of work that goes beyond dollars and cents: Routinely exposing themselves to dangerous, sometimes violent situations, prostitutes are unable to seek the protection of the law without simultaneously exposing themselves to prosecution."What a horrible thing it is that sex workers are sitting ducks," said Carol Leigh,...

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- A rock-for-rock, stone-for-stone, fresco-for-fresco replica of St. Francis of Assisi's tiny Porziuncola church near Assisi, Italy, now graces a building adjoining the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi in San Francisco. A Sept. 27 dedication of the structure will cap a nearly 15-month construction effort that has pulled together the efforts of a team of international artists, stone masons, metalsmiths, muralists, tile experts and others -- including students earning their master's degree of fine arts at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for...

Over at the news section of the San Francisco Archdiocese (Pelosi's home diocese), instead of a personal statement by Archbishop Niederauer, they've chosen to republish the USCCB press release from yesterday: "The Catholic Church is a Pro-Life Church."It's something. update: Rocco reports: "San Francisco church spokesman Maurice Healy told Whispers earlier today that Archbishop George Niederauer would publish his response to Pelosi in a Friday column for the archdiocesan weekly, Catholic San Francisco."

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 18 suicide bombers may have planned to take part in an Islamist terrorist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners which could have killed more than 1,500 people, a London court heard on Thursday. Prosecutors said a gang of Britons planned to simultaneously explode passenger aircraft in mid-air between London's Heathrow airport and the United States and Canada. They were close to putting their scheme into action when they were arrested in August 2006, the court was told. "It is the prosecution case that these men and others were engaged in a deadly plan designed to...

City Calls Marines "Unwelcome Intruders" My friend Melanie Morgan has displayed on her website at www.melaniemorgan.com another outrage from the ungrateful gang at Berkeley. “The Berkeley City Council voted to condemn the Marines on January 29th as part of a campaign by anti-war activists to shut down a U.S. Marine Recruiting Center located in Berkeley.” Move America Forward has condemned this action, it is time to let the city council know exactly how we feel.

Gavin Newsom, the divorced San Francisco mayor who provoked a constitutional crisis in 2004 by granting marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples, has chosen the historic Mission Dolores Basilica for a family Mass on the occasion of his inauguration to a second term. Newsom and his family are scheduled to attend Mass at Mission Dolores tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 8, in what his press office is calling a “low-key” second inauguration. Following the Mass, his father, William Newsom, a retired state appellate judge, will administer the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. Given his record,...

Column by Archbishop George H. Niederauer, to be published Oct. 19th in the Catholic San Francisco: A recent event that greatly concerns me needs some additional explanation -- and with it an apology. On Sunday, October 7, 2007, I celebrated Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Parish here in San Francisco, during my first visit there. The congregation was devout and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence. I noticed no demonstration, no protest, no disruption of the Eucharist. At Communion time, toward the end of the line, two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion. As I recall one of...

Washington -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, talking on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the House vote to authorize the Iraq war, acknowledged Tuesday that the failure to end the war is hurting Democrats in Congress and lawmakers will have to take bolder action. The San Francisco Democrat, in a wide-ranging lunch discussion with reporters, said her party's successes in passing domestic legislation - such as raising the minimum wage and helping make college more affordable - were being overshadowed. "It is in fact true, though, that the war has eclipsed everything," she said. "While I'm very proud of...

SAN FRANCISCO - -- Mayor Gavin Newsom, attending Fleet Week festivities on the Marina Green today, lashed out at conservative critics who mocked San Francisco's consideration of a measure to ban the flight of the Navy's Blue Angels over the city during this week's celebration. He cited that criticism and reports that the city turned down a U.S. Marine request to make a television recruitment commercial in the Financial District as examples of what he called exploitation by conservatives who don't "allow the facts to get in their way. "Shame on the extreme right," Newsom told The Chronicle. "I am...

Archbishop George Niederauer will preside and give the homily at the 10 a.m. Mass at Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco on Sunday, Oct. 7 -- the same day the parish will have a booth at the homosexual Castro Street Fair. The archbishop’s visit comes just a week after the parish held a drag show to benefit AIDS victims, despite requests that the archdiocese cancel the event. “Twelve famed drag queens. One pageant. BLOOD!” read an advertisement for the “unveiling of the 2008 Desperate Diva calendar,” held Sept. 29 at Most Holy Redeemer. The parish is well known as...

THE probability of a nuclear weapon one day going off in an American city cannot be calculated, but it is larger than it was five years ago. Potential sources of bombs or the fissile materials to make them have proliferated in North Korea and Iran. Russia’s arsenal remains incompletely secured 15 years after the end of the Soviet Union. And Pakistan’s nuclear technology, already put on the market once by Abdul Qadeer Khan, could go to terrorists if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, cannot control radicals in that country. In the same period, terrorism has surged into a mass global...

PALMDALE - The refurbished passenger terminal at LA/Palmdale Regional Airport and a United Express jetliner will be on display from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, at an open house intended to introduce Antelope Valley residents to United's new flights to San Francisco. Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford will preside at the dedication of the terminal building. He will be joined by other elected officials, members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners and Los Angeles World Airports and United Airlines officials. "We are very pleased with the progress being made to prepare LA/Palmdale Regional Airport for jet...

Do cities get the bishop they deserve? The following isn't exactly a profile in courage. Archbishop Niederauer of San Francisco was interviewed on KCBS the other day. Here some excerpts (H/T SemperFi) via California Catholic Daily Ed Cavagnaro: ...Is there room for disagreement with Church doctrine by Catholics in your view? For example, can someone believe in a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion and still be accepted by you and have access to all the sacraments? Archbishop Niederauer: I think what’s important is that we make a distinction there. I think that many of us may...

Last week, I reported on "Bare Chest Bingo" by the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" (a group of men dressed in bizarre "nun" outfits) in the parish hall of Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco. Well, seems like a lot of people complained upon reading reports such as mine - the "Sisters" have lost their lease. I'm guessing "Then nuns draw tickets from a bucket and the lucky winners get prizes ranging from wines to porn DVDs to sex toys to toasters and more." didn't go over well. From the statement of the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" On October...

A reader from San Francisco writes: The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence now use Most Holy Redeemer Parish Hall (beneath the church) for their monthly Revival Bingo. Here's the listing for the next event. (scroll down to graphic) Here's an article describing the fun, including prizes of porn dvd's and sex toys. Here's the Sisters' own description with graphics. And here's some info on "Peaches Christ", guest host for the "Bare Chest Bingo" event on November 2nd. (Read her/his bio, s/he is a direct descendant of Christ) All to take place in the same building where the Body of Christ is...

CNN is reporting that a UAL ATL-SFO flight is being diverted to Dallas after finding an unclaimed (unattached?) backpack prior to takeoff from Atlanta, as well as a Blackberry that does not belong to anyone on board. The flight is presently over southern Oklahoma, and is being diverted to Dallas. Could be nothing, but given the day today, better to err on the side of caution...

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...

Three years after the extension opened, ridership is nowhere near what BART officials had hoped. The route is losing money, and BART is embroiled in a funding fight with another Peninsula transit agency. Prior to construction, BART projected there would be 17,800 average daily boardings to and from the airport by the year 2010. During the first year of operation that began in 2003, there were 5,864 daily boardings, the second year 6,675, and the third year 7,116. Likewise, ridership to and from the three other stations on the airport extension route -- in South San Francisco, San Bruno and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Part of a San Francisco International Airport terminal was evacuated for several hours Sunday after a suspicious item was found in a piece of luggage, officials said. A baggage screener in the American Airlines section of Terminal 3 "noticed a suspicious item" in a passenger's carryon bag around 2 p.m., said airport spokesman Mike McCarron. Authorities would not say what exactly was found in the bag, but San Francisco police Lt. Bill Darr said "there were items, articles inside the carryon luggage that did resemble components of a possible device." Two men and a woman, all...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Fifteen airport cargo handlers have pleaded guilty to charges of stealing items being mailed to military personnel stationed in Okinawa, Japan, authorities said Tuesday. Nearly 600 incidents of theft were reported since November 2003 with an estimated $200,000 in losses. U.S. Postal Inspectors and military criminal investigators noted suspicious behavior among cargo handlers employed by Aeroground at San Francisco International Airport. Workers concealed merchandise under their clothing and took it to their vehicles in an adjoining parking lot, according to court documents. Stolen items included laptop computers, DVD players, jewelry, Victoria's Secret merchandise and digital cameras....