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It was a cool fall night in 1966, approximately ten o’clock when the police dispatcher sent me on a “415-family,” one of the most common, and potentially dangerous calls for cops, and for those involved.

I pulled up to the curb two or three houses down the block from the modest dwelling in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood Windows 7 oem key, pocketed my jangling keys so they wouldn’t announce my arrival, and crept up to the house and onto the porch. I paused a moment, listening for clues about what might be going on behind the closed door. It was quiet inside Windows 7 oem key, no porcelain knickknacks or 90-decibel threats bouncing off walls. Just a low, moaning sound.

I knocked. “San Diego Police!” Seconds later, a short Windows XP Key, shoeless man in khaki trousers and bloodied undershirt opened the door. His hand was wrapped in a blood-soaked towel. In the background, a woman in a housedress. More blood, a lot more of it. She stared blankly at me.

It’s okay, I thought. I can see your old man beat you up. I’m here to help you.

Man, did I get that one wrong. It was the woman who went to jail that night. For cutting off her husband’s pinky with a cleaver. They’d been arguing all night. He’d drunk himself to sleep. She’d had enough of his sloth and inattentiveness.

In three and a half decades as a cop I saw a lot of “family beefs,” as we called them in those days. What about this particular one causes me to remember it after all these years? Hint: It was not merely the severed digit. No, it was that the woman was, in today’s parlance, the “primary aggressor.”

To that early point in my career, every single “415-family” I’d responded to — there were many — had a male suspect, female victim. I learned that night that women can be DV offenders, and I’ve not forgotten it.

In fact, a couple of years later I rolled on a DV homicide whose suspect, a white-haired, grandmotherly type, had stabbed her husband to death. On their anniversary. Which, her hubby, having spent the evening in a neighborhood bar, had forgotten. On one occasion I found myself in a knock-down/drag-out with a another woman DV offender, this one a 170-pound light heavyweight with the tenacity of a cobra and the strength of an ox.

So, yes, I know women can be physically violent DV offenders. Ignoring this reality in individual cases is not the answer, especially for those men who have been victimized by their women partners, and who have been disbelieved by the authorities, thrown out of their homes, convicted in court, lost their kids, their jobs, their freedom. It happens, and it’s wrong.

However.

Numerous studies make clear that women are significantly more likely than men to be stalked, sexually assaulted, seriously injured or killed by their intimate partners.

Which is why it is critical that congress reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, including its new provisions that offer help to Native American women, the LGBT community and immigrants, groups that, to date, have been denied the full protection of VAWA.

The Senate has passed the new bill. But the men of the House, perhaps a majority, now threaten to defeat it. I don’t think that will happen, but it is possible they will water it down. And that would be a tragic mistake.

Most police officers understand that family violence is a precursor to all other forms of violence, that children who grow up in a violent home are far more likely, as they move into adolescence and adulthood, to resort to fists, guns, knives, baseball bats or hammers to resolve differences. Cops know that early intervention can save a life. They also know that how they handle the call can have a tremendous impact on the future lives of any children present in the home.

If one of the reasons for House opposition is that the bill is unfair to men (a notion they’d most likely express only in secret), those opponents might want to look at VAWA’s effect on police training.

It wasn’t all that hard for me to ascertain the primary aggressor on that call in San Diego, but discerning legal culpability can be a tricky proposition. The more training officers have the more likely it is they’ll make the right call. Throughout the country VAWA training grants have dramatically improved police and criminal justice effectiveness in combating sexual and domestic violence.

Listen to this kid, and you’ll understand why that’s so important.

In honor of Mother’s Day, here is a heartfelt tribute to my mother.

My mom is one of the most creative people I know. She can take an ordinary box, jar lid or toilet paper roll and turn it into something magical. With a little paint, scissors and pipe cleaners, an egg carton was turned into a bouquet of flowers for my kindergarten teacher. An empty paper towel roll became a rain stick, filled with rice and decorated with glitter. She turned the ordinary into extraordinary.

When I was 4-years-old, mom made me the most amazing doll house. It was a three-story mansion made completely out of diaper boxes and a small kleenex box rigged as an indoor elevator. We decorated the boxes; and accessorized the contents with Little People furniture and dolls. There may have even been “wall paper” inside (likely with real wall paper samples and paint chips). It was amazing — like my own Barbie dreamhouse (before Barbie owned property). Friends would come over and stare at the house in awe. It was special and unique.

On a summer day in August 1979 replica watches, my parents, baby sister, and I packed our belongings into boxes and suitcases and prepared to move from Hayward to San Diego, Ca. We loaded the Mayflower moving fan with furniture replica watches, clothes, home decor, art, bikes and toys. Sadly, what was not in the moving van was my beloved dollhouse. I was crying hysterically. Not because of the prospect of moving. But because I was devastated to leave behind my dreamhouse.

It could not go on the airplane or the moving van because it was fragile and would likely be destroyed. The day the moving van pulled out of our driveway, Christi, the little girl from down the street, came by to pick up the one remaining item in the house — her new dollhouse (and my treasured toy). I was happy it was going to a friend, but so sad to see it go.

“We’ll make another one in San Diego replica watches,” mom assured me. I was sure we would. But it didn’t lessen the sadness I felt as I said goodbye to the treasured house made out of cardboard. And of course, mom used her magic and creativity to construct many more amazing things with household toss-aways — like a new kid-sized house made out of — you guessed it — moving boxes.

Thank you, Navy SEALs, for killing Osama bin Laden. And thank you, President Obama, for turning them loose to do their job, just as you said you would.

This past week, an Obama campaign Web commercial featuring Bill Clinton, quotes Mitt Romney, in 2007, downplaying the significance of getting bin Laden: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars, just trying to catch one person.”

That ad got the goat of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). “Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of Sept. 11 and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad,” he indignantly declared.

Romney himself said “even Jimmy Carter would have given that order” to get bin Laden. His comparison served only to unintentionally highlight the mission’s considerable risks, as it invoked the memory of the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission on April 24, 1980. (The mission failed Homemade Tattoo Guns, but Carter did give the order.)

Obama responded to the debate by saying, “I hardly think that you’ve seen any excessive celebration taking place here,” and suggested that people should look to prior statements regarding whether it was appropriate to go into Pakistan.

I know exactly to what he was referring and it has its roots in the last presidential campaign, not the current one.

Long before many gave him a serious shot at the presidency, then-Sen. Obama announced his intentions with regard to Pakistan. On Aug. 1, 2007, he said: “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President [Pervez] Musharraf won’t act, we will.”

That drew a rebuke from then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton during a Democratic debate on Aug. 7: “I think it is a very big mistake to telegraph that and to destabilize the Musharraf regime, which is fighting for its life against the Islamic extremists who are in bed with al-Qaeda and Taliban.”

En route to capturing the GOP nomination, McCain, on Feb. 20, 2008, also chastised Obama: “The best idea is to not broadcast what you’re going to do. That’s naive.”

But Obama stood his ground Rotary Tattoo Machine, repeating his willingness to pursue bin Laden in five different conversations I had with him (three while a candidate, two while president). His previous words now look prescient.

On March 24, 2008, he told me: “Sen. Clinton, Sen. McCain, and George Bush all suggested I had said something wrong when I said we should be going after bin Laden and high-value targets, and if we’ve got them in our sights we should ask for Pakistan’s cooperation, we should ask Pakistan to take them out, but if they don’t, we shouldn’t need permission to go after somebody or folks that killed 3,000 Americans.”

And on Oct. 9 Starbrite Tattoo Ink, 2008, he said to me: “Now we need to work with Pakistan to dismantle those training camps and kill bin Laden. But if Pakistan is unwilling or unable to take bin Laden out, and we have him in our sights, we’ve got to do it.”

The irony of the current debate is that Romney and McCain — the GOP’s most recent standard-bearers — are leading the chorus of those seeking to diminish Obama’s authorization of the raid at Abbottabad by implying that “any leader” would have made the same decision.

But if their previous public statements were to be believed, neither would have been a lock to pull the trigger. At the time, Romney called Obama’s August 2007 statements about pursuing high-value targets in Pakistan “ill-timed and ill-considered.”

And a year after he called Obama’s remarks “naive,” McCain demurred in a discussion with me about the possibility of unilateral U.S. action to bring bin Laden to justice.

“Pakistan is a sovereign nation and we have to have the cooperation of Pakistan to have these operations succeed,” McCain said during our June 2008 interview.

“If you alienate Pakistan and it turns into an anti-American government, then you will have much greater difficulties,” he continued. “Do they do what we want them to do? No. Have they been helpful to us? Yes. Has Musharraf been a friend of ours? He has been.

“I wish there were better relations between [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai and Musharraf. I wish a lot of things were different in this world. But… you and I just have an honest disagreement if you think we can just get tough on Pakistan and they will do what we want them to do.”

Obama was the first to voice a willingness to give the order to launch such a mission, and has never wavered. Moreover, given the surgical precision with which the SEALs operated, it is easy to overlook the possible perils that the mission presented. The decision to give the order to launch the attack appears to have been easy only in retrospect. It bears remembering that then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Vice President Biden had serious reservations about the plan.

Had the mission failed, Obama would have been roundly chastised by the same people who now refuse to accord him any credit for the mission’s success. Again, the president was decisive, and deserves credit for making a decision that was fraught with peril, politically, militarily, and diplomatically.

He’s earned the right to say, “Mission accomplished.”

Originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

MSO music director Scott Speck. (Press-Register file photo)

MOBILE, Alabama — Season subscriptions for the Mobile Symphony Orchestra’s 2012-2013 season are on sale, with subscription packages starting at $42.

“This is an opportunity to lock in the best seats in the Saenger Theatre before single tickets go on sale Aug. 1,” says Diana Brewer, director of marketing and public relations. “With the return of Yo-Yo Ma and a fantastic lineup of classics and pops, this concert season is going to be one of the most exciting seasons in many years.

“The beauty of our season subscription program is that it allows you to plan ahead and pick the performances you absolutely don’t want to miss.”

Season subscriptions come in three different packages: Classics & Pops, which includes all nine MSO concerts; Classics Series Tattoo Ink For Sale, which includes six concerts; and the three-concert Pops Series.

In addition to the cost savings of almost 40 percent off single tickets The Best Tattoo Machine, a season subscription comes with added benefits such as: the subscriber-only lounge, open immediately before each concert and during intermission; the ability to exchange Saturday tickets for Sunday tickets (and vice versa); and priority access to the best seats before the general public, according to Brewer.

The MSO season opens Sept. 8 with the first Classics concert, “Stars of the Joffrey Ballet,” under the direction of MSO music director Scott Speck. Six of the finest dancers from the Joffrey will be stage with the orchestra as they perform Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty” along with pieces by Goldenthal, Richard Rodgers and Arvo Part.

The first Pops concert is Sept. 29 with “Ladies of Motown,” which will have the MSO and special guest Radiance blending the harmonies of the Supremes, the Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer and other female Motown greats who captured hearts in the 1960s and ¤’70s.

Read details of the Oct. 24 concert with Yo-Yo Ma at:

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma smiles as the Saenger Theatre audience roars its approval of his performance on Feb. 25, 2005. (Press-Register, John David Mercer)

The Classics series continues in November with the popular “Beethoven & Blue Jeans” featuring guest soloist Chee-Yun, followed by “Carnival of the Animals” in January featuring MSO violinists Jenny Grégoire and Enen Yu. “American Masters: George Gershwin” in February features piano prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor Best Tattoo Guns, and “Trumpet Spectacular” in March showcases acclaimed trumpeter Jens Lindemann.

The Classics series ends in April with “Russian Revolutionaries” featuring the largest orchestra ever assembled on the Saenger stage combined with the University of South Alabama Choir performing Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky” and Tchaikivsky’s Fifth Symphony.

The Pops series continues in December with the popular “Home for the Holidays” and ends in May with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which will showcase the iconic New Orleans ensemble in concert with the MSO.

Each concert is offered twice: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the historic Saenger Theatre in downtown Mobile.

Season subscriptions can be purchased by calling the MSO box office at 251-432-2010, or in person at 257 Dauphin St. More details about the 2012-2013 season, including a downloadable brochure, can be found online at www.mobilesymphony.org.

Information from Diana Brewer of Mobile Symphony Orchestra was used in this report.



Recently, officials announced California’s unemployment rate has risen to 11 percent. More than two million Californians remain unemployed. Income inequality continues to increase throughout the country and we are watching the middle class shrink before our eyes. For many of us, the American dream is slowly slipping away and we worry our children may end up worse off than ourselves.

We need to make the American dream a reality again by restoring the high-wage jobs that are the foundation of a sustainable economic recovery. Jobs that allow parents to send their kids to college and provide a secure retirement. Jobs that will come from a revitalized American manufacturing economy.

Since 2000, America has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs — a loss directly related to our shrinking middle class. But this is only part of a larger trend. In 1970 Replica Herve Leger gown, manufacturing jobs represented 27 percent of America’s workforce. Today they represent only 10 percent.

Manufacturing is one of the few sources of steady and secure jobs for those who do not graduate from four-year colleges. A fair and just economy means creating opportunity for everyone, not only those with college degrees or, increasingly, advanced degrees. Spurring manufacturing is one of the ways we can reverse the rapidly growing equality gap in our country that has seen the rich get dramatically richer and virtually everyone else fall behind.

The average wage for manufacturing work is 20 percent higher than the national average, and beyond this, each manufacturing job creates up to four downstream jobs. And for every dollar spent in the manufacturing sector creates $1.43 in other sectors. These are the kind of high-wage jobs that are the foundation of a sustainable economic recovery and will revive Main Streets up and down my beautiful district and throughout America.

While the American economy is tough, there is hope, as indicated by the slow but steady decline in the unemployment rates in California. There are also positive indicators that the manufacturing sector is slowly coming back to life.

The significant upside to bringing these jobs home can be calculated. By returning manufacturing employment rates to the level of the late 1970s we would create 12 million new jobs, with an additional 30 million jobs just in support of this expanded high-value manufacturing sector.

We’ve all heard the politicians talking about creating jobs and stimulating the economy — but there’s a problem. Most of them do not have experience in the fundamentals of creating high-wage jobs and restoring economic balance. Many of them are beholden to the corporate interests that fund their campaigns, and others have spent their careers in political office – a noble calling — but one that often focuses on quick fixes and sound bites over the economic fundamentals necessary to restore the middle class and create economic fairness in the long term.

That’s what got me interested in serving in Congress. For years, I thought
I could help the most people by being directly involved in the economy — creating new jobs, starting companies Marc Jacobs Dresses sale, building new technologies and starting education institutions like the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley. But right now, we need people in Washington with real-world experience.

I want to bring my over 20 years of experience creating jobs and helping American manufacturers succeed, and my experience as an educator working to promote innovation and technology to Congress. That’s why I’ve proposed a detailed plan designed to restore the manufacturing jobs that sustain the middle class called “Making More in America.” It lays out seven major priorities to get us there:

1. Creating conditions for small businesses to thrive
2. Promoting insourcing and local, niche manufacturing
3. Making our own energy again
4. Retooling our workforce for the 21st century
5. Growing our lead in science and technology
6. Modernizing our infrastructure and equipping the workforce with working infrastructure
7. Middle-class buying power, accelerating the demand for “made in America”

We need more than promises — we need a robust plan to rebuild the middle class, starting with the jobs that sustain the middle class.

Stacey Lawson is a Congressional candidate in California’s newly drawn 2nd district. She is an educator and small business owner living in San Rafael, CA. To learn more visit www.StaceyLawson.com.

2009 BMW X5 xDrive35d – Click above for high-res image gallery

BMW heralds its X5 sport utility vehicle as a “Sport Activity Vehicle.” The tactic is designed to focus attention on the vehicle’s on-road handling and driving dynamics, but it’s also an attempt to eliminate any need for the automaker to apologize for the X5’s limited cargo space and restricted off-road capabilities. Regardless Tattoo Supplies, consumers don’t seem to mind, as they’ve been snatching up the SAV since its introduction in 1999.

BMW delivers the goods with three capable gasoline-fed engines, including a new 555-hp twin-turbocharged X5M Tattoo Supplies, that keeps the ute’s fun-to-drive factor higher than nearly every SUV on the road. So with on-road performance such a high priority, why has BMW decided to fit the 335d’s 3.0-liter turbodiesel into its biggest SUV? More to the point, how does the fuel-efficient oil-burner fit into the mix and does it affect drivability and performance in the process? All that and more after the jump.

Related GalleryReview: 2009 BMW X5 xDrive35d
Photos by Michael Harley / Copyright ©2009 Weblogs, Inc.

The closest we’ll get to the Ferrari 458 – Click above for high-res image gallery

Here’s an unsurprising stat for you: 60 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S. that cost over $100,000 find homes in New York Herve Leger sale, Florida and California. The majority of which are parked in garages in Manhattan, Miami and Los Angeles, respectively. So the revelation that Bentley Cheap Karen Millen Dresses, Ferrari and Lamborghini won’t be attending next month’s LA Auto Show is — at the very least — surprising.

According to a spokesperson speaking with The Detroit Bureau, Bentley has decided to skip the So. Cal. show, adding that the automaker is looking for “a better use of our resources.” Ferrari and its sister marque Maserati are out as well Buy Chanel Dresses, with an unnamed source telling the industry pub Buy Herve Leger v neck, “It’s just the economy. We’re cutting back on a lot of things.”

Given the global economic climate and its affect on high-end automotive sales Cheap Karen Millen Dresses, the choice to scale back isn’t such a shock, but for automakers that rely on the Southern California market, it’s a disturbing sign of the times. As for the rest of the LA exhibitors, the luxury market’s Big Three (Audi Cheap Christian Audigier Clothing, BMW and Mercedes-Benz) will be in attendance, although it looks like the lower hall will only house Aston Martin, Spyker, Fisker and — we’d assume — Rolls-Royce.

Related GalleryFrankfurt 2009: Ferrari 458 Italia
[Source: The Detroit Bureau]

A busted car theft ring has turned up a vintage Cadillac once owned by one of the Magnificent Seven. The five-finger-discount drivers out of Colorado Buy Christian Audigier Clothing, headed by Jeffrey Earle Piper Discount Herve Leger v neck, would steal expensive rental cars Replica Karen Millen Dresses, change their VIN numbers and “sell” them. The new “owner” Buy Emilio Pucci Dresses, who was in on the whole thing Discount Chanel Dresses, would then report “his” car stolen and collect on the insurance policy. One of the cars found among the loot: a $133,000 1959 Cadillac – looks like a Series 62 convertible – that once belonged to Steve McQueen. It’s other claim to fame: a guest spot on the TV show MacGuyver. The mystery we’re still trying to solve is which one of its owners put the Yeti pelt over the driver’s seat? Hat tip to Derek Buy Chanel Dresses!

[Source: Denver Post]

BMW 1 Series M Coupe and E30 M3 – Click to watch the video after the jump
Cheap Herve Leger gown
The beauty of the BMW 1 Series M Coupe isn’t that the bean-counters let their best performance engineers have at the smallest car in the range. The real beauty is that the car goes back to the very roots of the M division, before the M3 went all V8 on us and took a hefty weight penalty in the process.

To illustrate the point Buy Chloe Dresses, BMW took the new coupe out to the track Discount Chloe Dresses, and brought along its spiritual predecessor Bandage dresses sale, the original E30 M3. Fortunately for us Buy White Herve leger, they filmed the encounter – all 11 and a half minutes of it. And while half of it is stock promotional footage Chanel Dresses sale, there’s a good few minutes of on-track action spliced in for good measure. Check it out in the video after the jump.

Related Gallery2012 BMW 1 Series M Coupe

Sen. Larry Craig

Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in June for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, Roll Call reported Monday. According to the police Sinn Replica Watches, Craig had “tapped his right foot … as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.” After pleading guilty to a charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct, the senator paid $575 in fines and fees and was sentenced to a year of probation. But since then Replica Emporio Armani Watches for Cheap, he has said he regrets his guilty plea and that his actions were “misconstrued”—he merely has a “wide stance” when using the toilet.

This incident raises all sorts of questions about cruising signals, congressional privilege, and the logistics of bathroom sex. Here’s a roundup of our favorites.

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Is tapping your foot really code for public sex?

Yes. The signal has been around for decades in the United States and Europe. Generally, one person initiates contact by tapping his foot in a way that’s visible beneath the stall divider. If the second person responds with a similar tap, the initiator moves his foot closer to the other person’s stall. If the other person makes a similar move, the first will inch closer yet again. The pair usually goes through the whole process a few times, just to confirm that the signals aren’t an accident.

Next, one of the men will slide his hand under the divider. This usually means he’s inviting the other person to present himself, as if to say, “Show me what you got.” The partner can respond by kneeling on the floor and presenting his penis or rear end underneath the divider. Or he can swipe his own hand under the divider, as if to say, “You go first.” Some married men make a point of displaying their wedding band (like Sen. Craig allegedly did) to make themselves more alluring.

Just how sexy can you get when there’s a divider in the way?

It depends on the bathroom. If the participants were in the last stall in a long row, they might have enough privacy to get it on right there beneath the divider. Alternatively Wholesale Replica Movado Watches, one person can enter the other’s stall by surreptitiously ducking out and back. Positions vary depending on the space, but one classic setup has one man sit on the toilet while the other straddles his legs and receives oral sex. (In the 1970s, some men frequenting the popular bathrooms at Bloomingdale’s in New York would hide their legs by standing in a pair of shopping bags.)

As a U.S. senator, doesn’t Craig have special protection from the law?  

Yes, but that doesn’t mean he could have used it. In Article I Fake Emporio Armani Watches, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the so-called “arrest” clause says that senators “shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses Where to buy Replica Burberry Watches, and in going to and returning from the same.” At the time of Craig’s arrest, he was on a layover during a trip from Boise to Washington Replica Zenith Watches, D.C., a Craig spokesman told Slate. Since he had votes to make that evening, he could have argued for the special privilege. That said, courts have ruled that the speech or debate clause doesn’t protect members of Congress from arrest in criminal and civil cases.

Members of Congress have invoked the privilege before, but not always with good results. Former Iowa Sen. Roger Jepsen was widely mocked in 1983 for invoking the speech or debate clause to wriggle out of a traffic ticket. Back in the early 1960s, New York Rep. Adam Clayton Powell used the law to avoid facing a defamation lawsuit back home. Both of these cases drew a lot of attention to the lawmakers. So, if Craig wanted to let the incident pass unnoticed, he was smart not to invoke the clause.

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