SECRET SERVICE HIDES BEHIND CHILDREN AT STATE DEPARTMENT

This is too good. Via C.S. Monitor:

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland opened the daily news briefing with a salute to the handful of underage observers who joined journalists for the mid-day run-down of global events.

But any hopes that the briefing would steer clear of the salacious dissipated as questions focused on charges that Secret Service agents and other U.S. government employees caroused with strippers and prostitutes on overseas assignments.

"What a topic to be talking about on Bring Your Kids To Work day," Nuland said. "Parents, you can explain all of this later."

Meanwhile, The Hill interviewed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who said that she's been briefed about some new rules coming down the pike that will forbid Secret Service agents from going to "any place of bad acts."

That rules out Congress, I suppose. Bad acts are bad. Kids, don't do them, don't go near them, and plug up your ears while we talk about what daddy was doing in that hotel room.

As I predicted, the cover-up is swinging now, baby. It's a party!

FRESH SECRET SERVICE SEX SCANDAL

From Seatlle's KIROtv.com, the Secret Service apparently whored it up a year ago in San Salvador:

This source witnessed the majority of the men drink heavily ("wasted," "heavily intoxicated") at the strip club. He says most of the Secret Service "advance-team" members also paid extra for access to the VIP section of the club where they were provided a number of sexual favors in return for their cash.

...

"No surprise to me." The owner told Halsne his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting FBI and DEA agents.

 The source is referred to as a subcontractor, and he's backed up by the owner. Apparently, two of the agents took two women back to the hotel, and boasted that they did that all the time.

See also:
Secret Service Whoring It Up in Colombia

SECRET SERVICE UPDATE - Updated

Regulate Stuff?

Naw, not really. Our bureaucrats are too busy getting "massages" in Vegas.

Catholic Priest Stands Up Against Archbishop in WA Antigay Petition Drive

Via Think Progress:

But at least one Catholic leader — Father Michael Ryan of St. James Cathedral — is resisting the effort and refusing to “circulate petitions inside his parish for the campaign to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law”:

Dear Friends,
Archbishop Sartain has written a letter in which he has expressed his support for Referendum 74 and for the collecting of signatures in parishes. Media reports regarding this are somewhat misleading. While the Archbishop has given his support to the effort, he has wisely left it up to each pastor to decide whether to allow the collection of signatures in his own parish.
After discussing the matter with the members of the Cathedral’s pastoral ministry team, I have decided that we will not participate in the collecting of signatures in our parish. Doing so would, I believe, prove hurtful and seriously divisive in our community.
Father Ryan

This statement took guts, and he received a standing ovation in his church upon his appearance. Read the details. It looks like people are not just falling in line with bigotry any more.

P.S. Isn't this the Church getting directly involved with politics? How is it not, when it's a directive from the archbishop? Enlighten me.

Cross-posted at Flaneur: "Does The Soul Not Feel Better, When The True Church, Does Something Risky and Truth-Filled"

See also: ARCHBISHOP DOLAN'S ABUSING PRIEST PAY-OFFS

Rugby Player Who Woke Up Gay Video Interview

A must-see video interview with Chris Birch, the former rugby enthusiast-player who fell on his head, had a stroke and woke up gay, gay, gay.

Actually, let him tell the story. The realization dawned on him gradually.

This does not mean that if someone is hit in the head, he or she will instantly become gay, but stroke can change personality, sometimes dramatically.

Sexuality is not that pliable a factor. I also don't notice that he seemed to have any choice in the matter. He just was suddenly interested in guys, no decision required. So, no straight-bashing on a lonely night, guys!

He seems to be doing just fine. It does make one ponder, tho'.

SECRET SERVICE UPDATE - Updated

Now it turns out there were 20 working women, they all had to show IDs at the desk (and those were taken down somehow, copied, scanned...).

11 Agents and 20 ladies of the evening? A report says that the rest went to MARINES.

So, more to come.

Update to: Secret Service Whoring It Up in Colombia

Update TWO: April 19, 2012. It seems the "stiffer" only offered the woman $30, and she called the police. Yes, it also seems that the other guys were confirmed as from the Pentagon. (Or some other witchy D.C. symbol.) CNN says they number FIVE. Now, wait. 20 women, 16 guys... still not adding up.

Deeeeeeelightful.

Meanwhile, other Secret Service agents are in Turkey, shopping for a rug big enough to sweep this all under.

Secret Service WHORING IT UP in Colombia

These agents were hard at work, and it appears, off-work. The juicy details are just coming out:

Washington Post:

Kessler said he was told that a dozen agents had been removed from the trip. He added that soliciting prostitution is considered inappropriate by the Secret Service, even though it is legal in Colombia when conducted in designated “tolerance zones.” However, Kessler added, several of the agents involved are married.

CNN:

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the matter and told CNN that the government personnel brought prostitutes back to their rooms Wednesday night and "one of the women did not leave the room in the morning."

A hotel manager tried to get in the room, and eventually the woman emerged and said "they owed her money," according to King. Similarly, U.S. government sources said there was a dispute between at least one Secret Service member and a woman brought back to his hotel over a request to be paid.

So, a dozen are dragged home, and another five are on lock-down in the hotel, still! Apparently they'd be drinking a huge amount, then went scrounging for hookers, and after they all or most got them, one of them had a dispute over the fees for now not-so-secret service.

Update: Secret Service Update

Cory Booker Saves Neighbor From Burning Building

Local hero of the week, Newark's mayor.

Only Kryptonite can stop him.

From the Daily News:

A detective in the mayor’s security detail grabbed Booker by the belt in an effort to keep him from heading into the second-floor blaze in Newark’s South Ward.

But Booker won the forceful debate by turning to Det. Alex Rodriguez and declaring, “If I don’t go in, this lady is going to die.”

Seals Frolic in New York Harbor

The NYDN has the photos.

Small, puppy-like heads begin popping up out of the water.
It takes a moment to realize that they’re seals.

And, yes, they are cute. The cruises end in April, but the company has whale and dolphin jaunts that run through August.

I can't imagine how the harbor is clean enough for the creatures, but apparently it's so. Who am I to argue with such cuteness?

It won't be long before we're overrun with seals, and people start complaining about them.

Related: White Kiwi Chick (Not a New Movie)
NY Airport Geese to Be Cooked and Given Away