Charly's 9th bithday

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Meg Whitman. Who does not want waste by Peter Bruce

Whitman's $119 million donation breaks record

Don't get me wrong there are good and bad out there in the political world,but someone who does not want waste. WOW how could $119 million help Cal dig it's way out of this hole we are in. Just run on who you are not how much money you can spend. This is so wrong...

• Controlled detonation kills US airman in Iraq 09.16.10

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(09-15) 19:46 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Hours after putting $15 million more into her bid for California governor, Republican Meg Whitman on Wednesday defended her donation of a record-breaking $119 million of her own money, saying "my job is to spend money to get this message out."

The former eBay CEO, whose donations to her campaign now top New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's $110 million contribution to his re-election bid last year, made the comment after an appearance before a crowd of nearly 300 employees at the San Francisco headquarters of Yelp, the social-networking and rating website.

In a departure from her tightly scripted campaign events, Whitman took some tough questions from the mostly under-30 audience, who grilled her on her campaign spending, negative ads and stance on Proposition 8, the state's ban on same-sex marriage, which she supported.

Whitman, standing in front of a pair of California flags and a banner pushing her "New California" theme, talked up her plan to create what she has promised will be 2 million new jobs in California in her first term, and to offer solutions to what she called gridlock politics in Sacramento.

Slam against governor

She slammed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for taking a trade mission to Asia during the state's budget crisis.

"We're 90 days past the state budget (being due), and the Legislature has gone home and the governor has gone to China," she said, telling the Yelp workforce: "If you had a massive outage, I don't think Jeremy (Stoppelman, CEO and founder of Yelp) would have decamped to China."

Whitman's appearance in San Francisco came a day after she made the record books by bringing her total donations to her campaign to $119 million.

She has vastly outspent Democrat Jerry Brown, who has dropped about $1 million on the race to date - although he has benefited from advertisements for his campaign that independent expenditure groups paid for.

"My job is to spend money to get out this message," Whitman said Wednesday, "and to make sure every Californian has all the information they need to make an informed decision. It takes a lot of money to be competitive in California."

Yelp employee Susan McKay, 24, asked Whitman to justify her decision to continue running ads in which then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton, speaking during a 1992 debate against Brown, accuses the former two-term governor of raising taxes.

State and independent analysts have said in recent days that the claim was based on an erroneous analysis. Clinton, who endorsed Brown this week, agreed with that assessment.

"Why are you refusing to remove an ad that has been proven to be false and therefore misleading?" McKay asked. "Why would you knowingly and purposely run a campaign that is based on lies?"

Whitman defended the spots as "essentially" true, saying "politics is a tough business. And you have got to tell people why to vote for you."

'Smear tactics'

McKay also asked: "Why have you made smear tactics and an overall negative focus such hallmarks of your campaign? It doesn't seem to me that defaming your opponent will help California in any way."

Whitman said she has run a "series of very positive ads" over the past 20 months "about my vision for California."

She added: "You also have to set the record straight on your opponent. So, I stand by that ad. It was the right thing to do."

Another Yelp employee, who declined to be identified, asked Whitman whether it was "a cynical and disingenuous approach to democracy" for her to spend more than $100 million on TV commercials but avoid debates.

Whitman said she was looking forward to three debates with Brown, the state attorney general, in the coming weeks - in Fresno, Davis and San Rafael. Brown is pressing for another debate, in Los Angeles or elsewhere in Southern California. Whitman has not decided whether to participate in that event.

"I feel that I've been out and about with voters in California for nearly two years," she said.

Defense of civil unions

In her 40-minute appearance before employees of what she called "one of the hottest Internet companies" in the nation, Whitman defended her support of civil unions for gay couples - and took a jab at Brown.

"Regardless of where you are on this issue, the attorney general and the governor of the state of California actually have a legal obligation to give that ruling standing to go through the court process," Whitman said.

Meeting later with reporters, Whitman denied sidestepping a position on Proposition 23, a November ballot measure endorsed by the California Republican Party, that would suspend California's landmark climate change bill until the state's unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.

Whitman said she would make her view on the measure known in the next 10 days.

Stoppelman invited Whitman and Brown to appear before Yelp employees. Brown is considering a visit, spokesman Sterling Clifford said.

Sad

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Guns,how the hell does a parolee for bank robbery get them. Peter Bruce Photo

Please read below and tell me how the hell does some on parole for bank robbery get guns.Man this could have been so bad.

felon Byron Williams loaded up his mother's Toyota Tundra with guns, strapped on his body armor and headed to San Francisco late Saturday night with one thing in mind: to kill workers at the American Civil Liberties Union and an environmental foundation, prosecutors say.

Williams, an anti-government zealot on parole for bank robbery, had hoped to "start a revolution" with the bloodshed at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco, authorities said.

But before he made it to the city, Williams was stopped at early Sunday by California Highway Patrol officers for speeding and driving erratically on westbound Interstate 580 west of Grand Avenue in Oakland.

Police say he then initiated a chaotic, 12-minute gunbattle with officers, firing a 9mm handgun, a .308-caliber rifle and a shotgun. He reloaded his weapons when he ran out of ammunition and stopped only after officers shot him in areas of his body not covered by his bullet-resistant vest, authorities said.

On Tuesday, Williams, 45, of Groveland (Tuolumne County) appeared in an Oakland courtroom on charges that he tried to murder four CHP officers. Authorities described him as a heavily armed man determined not to return to prison. Bullets from the suspect's rifle could penetrate ballistic body armor and vehicles, police said.

'Start a revolution'

After he was wounded and taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, Williams told investigators "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," Oakland police Sgt. Michael Weisenberg wrote in a court affidavit.

The foundation has funded environmental and social justice projects since 1976 and also provides philanthropic advice, according to its website. The ACLU of Northern California is based in San Francisco.

"Obviously, we're dismayed that this has happened, and we're not really going to speculate about the investigation while it's ongoing," said Tod Hill, a Tides spokesman. "We're taking appropriate safety measures."

ACLU officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Today.

Sheriff's deputies brought Williams into Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland in a wheelchair Tuesday. His right hand was bandaged. He showed no emotion and kept his head down as he read his copy of the criminal complaint. Asked by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers if he wanted to be represented by the public defender, Williams said yes.

Litany of charges

The complaint accuses Williams of trying to kill CHP officers Vincent Herrick, Richard Coward, Ty Franklin and Todd Owen. In addition to the four charges of attempted murder of a peace officer, Williams was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing ammunition. He also faces enhancements for firing a gun and wearing body armor.

The unemployed carpenter has two strikes - one for a 2001 bank robbery in Madera County and the other for a 1995 bank robbery in Washington state. That means he faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of a third strike in connection with the shootout. He is being held without bail.

The FBI joined Oakland police in investigating the incident because a notebook, titled "California," was found in Williams' car and removed by a bomb squad robot, investigators said. Authorities did not reveal its contents.

Cheers to s safer place

Peter Bruce Photo

if you really knew me,bridget the midget powers

Mel Gibson not dead,really by Peter Bruce Photo

Mel Gibson not dead REALLY suicide rumors spread through 'RIP Mel Gibson' Twitter tweet and YouTube.com

"Mel Gibson dead" is such a popular search term right now, with folks Googling "Mel Gibson dead" so often that the phrase shows up both on Google Trends and on Alexa.com -- all because of seemingly confusing information being spread around the web via Twitter.com and other websites.
A Guy on twitter with over 15k followers Tweeted "RIP Mel Gibson" about 8 hours ago, and obviously felt the need to clarify by posting "I said Rip Mel Gibson , well his career that is. Twitter is 'smart'," three hours after his first tweet.

While no valid news organization like CNN.com or other outlet has reported anything about Gibson's fake death or suicide.
It's all an effort to get "RIP Mel Gibson" a trending topic on Twitter, say some.

"Mel Gibson died on July 19, 2010," a YouTube user named Ryukumori2799 claimed incorrectly, going on to say: "Cause of death is suicide. Not enough information to make a clear statement on why he did it. RIP

Peter Bruce photo











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Train crash in India ,61 killed by Peter Bruce Photo

CALCUTTA, India .A speeding express train plowed into a stationary passenger train in eastern India on Monday, killing 61 people in a crash so powerful it sent the roof of one car flying onto an overpass. Officials said they could not rule out sabotage.

Residents crawled over the twisted wreckage trying desperately to free survivors before rescue workers arrived with heavy equipment to cut through the metal.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the site, raised the possibility the crash could have been another case of sabotage, two months after Maoist rebels were blamed for a derailment that killed 145 people.

"We have some doubts in our mind," she said.

The crash happened about 2 a.m. when the Uttarbanga Express slammed into the Vananchal Express as it left the platform at Sainthia station, about 125 miles north of Calcutta.

The accident destroyed two passenger cars and a luggage car, turning them into a tangle of twisted metal. The passenger cars were reserved for those on the cheapest tickets and such carriages are usually packed to capacity.

The force of the crash was so intense the roof of one car flew into the air and landed on an overpass above the tracks. Local residents climbing through the debris searching for survivors were later joined by rescue workers using heavy equipment to cut through the metal.

"I was sleeping when I felt a huge jolt and heard a loud noise and then the train stopped," passenger Lakshman Bhaumik told local television. Bhaumik survived with minor injuries.

Second crash in two months
Rescuers recovered 61 bodies from the crash site and 125 other people were injured, said Surajit Kar Purkayastha, a top police official. The two drivers of the Uttarbanga Express were among the dead, Banerjee said.

Rescue teams arrived about three hours after the accident, a local resident said. Before that locals scrambled to help survivors out of the trains and to pull out bodies.

"For many hours it was just the local residents helping and it was very difficult to help without any equipment," the unidentified man told NDTV television channel.

Police official Humayun Kabir told NDTV, however, rescue workers reached the site within an hour of the crash.

By late Monday afternoon, rescue operations were nearly complete, said Samir Goswami, a railway spokesman. Cranes and laborers were working to remove the mangled coaches so the tracks could be cleared and train services resumed.

The disaster was the second major train crash in the state of West Bengal in the past two months. On May 28, a passenger train derailed and was hit by an oncoming cargo train in a crash that killed 145 people. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for that crash.

Accidents are common on India's sprawling rail network, one of the world's largest, with most blamed on poor maintenance.

Peter Bruce Photo

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Steinbrenner's final salute to an old friend forwarded by Peter Bruce Photo

Couldn't have been more wrong people

Alex ,he insisted that we call him that; "Mr. Clowson," he said, was too formal for me was the one man in our central Ohio town of 12,000 who had been a professional ballplayer. He had been captain of the baseball team at Ohio State, and had led the Big Ten in hitting in 1932 and 1933. The people who knew him back then thought he would have a shining career in the majors. And in fact, the Cleveland Indians organization signed him to a contract.

But he injured his knee, and in the big leagues being just half a step slow means you're probably not going to make it. So from 1935 to 1941, he played in the low minor leagues, for Class C and Class D teams like the Zanesville, Ohio, Greys, and the Oswego, New York, Netherlands, and the Monessen, Pennsylvania, Indians.

Which was all right with him. Baseball was the love of his life, and he was very good at it, and he was being paid, although not much, to play it. Then World War II arrived, and he was called to military service and his days on the diamond were over. Those of us who knew him in the 1950s and 1960s were friends of his children, with whom we were growing up. Alex and his wife, Betty, raised their young family, and Alex ran a succession of taverns and restaurants, some more successful than others.

His love of baseball never died. He was an assistant coach at Ohio State for 10 years, and after that he seemed to be a volunteer coach for just about every league in town. "Dad's been gone for more than 10 years," his daughter Wendy told me the other day. "And I still run into people who tell me, 'Your dad was my Little League coach.' Or, 'Your father give me my first baseball glove.' "

If you were a kid in a summer league around town, you probably saw Alex Clowson in the stands. He was always so encouraging; his opinion meant more than anyone else's, because he was the man who had been a pro ballplayer. If you weren't especially good -- I can vouch for this -- it meant the world to you to hear Alex's voice shouting "Nice throw," or "Good hustle."

Why am I telling you this here today?

Because in the 1950s, before any of us were old enough to know him, he ran a tavern called the Musical Bar. He was the owner and the bartender.

One of his steady customers was a young Air Force second lieutenant assigned to nearby Lockbourne Air Force Base. His name, George Steinbrenner.

"Daddy told me that Mr. Steinbrenner never ordered an alcoholic beverage," Wendy Clowson said. "He would come in and order a Coke with a cherry in it. And he would sit there and he and my father would talk about baseball for hours on end."

This was many years before Steinbrenner, who left us last week at 80 bought the New York Yankees; George Steinbrenner with his Coca-Cola and Alex Clowson behind the bar were just two guys who loved to talk baseball.

Clowson never struck it rich in business, but Steinbrenner, of course, did, and despite the difference in their worlds they remained friends over the years. "Every time we would see Mr. Steinbrenner, he would say to us children, 'Your father taught me everything I know about baseball,' " Wendy said. It may not have been literally true, but it was a lovely thing to tell the Clowson children, and they always were grateful for how Steinbrenner treated their dad.

When Alex Clowson was dying in 1999, Wendy said, "the thing that he hated the most was that he had macular degeneration, which meant that his eyesight had badly failed. He couldn't read the baseball box scores in the newspapers any more. That made him really sad."

Three weeks before he died in a nursing home, he received a telephone call from Steinbrenner. "They talked for a very long time," Wendy said. "We didn't hear the conversation, but we knew what it was about. Dad and Mr. Steinbrenner talked about baseball. Just like they always did."

Clowson died on a July Thursday in 1999. Before the funeral, Betty Clowson's telephone rang. It was Steinbrenner. He said he planned to do something to honor her husband.

And so it was, on the day Clowson was buried in Ohio, that Steinbrenner issued an order to his staff at Yankee Stadium in New York.

The Yankees weren't playing at home that day. But Steinbrenner ordered that the big American flag in center field be raised, and then lowered to half-staff.

For Alex.

Several weeks later, a package arrived at Betty Clowson's home. Inside it was the flag, along with a photo of it at half-staff overlooking the most famous baseball palace in the world.

"I know that Mr. Steinbrenner was a controversial guy, and that there were a lot of people who didn't like him," Wendy Clowson said. "But I hope you can understand why our family loved him."Those who knew Alex Clowson thought his dreams of baseball glory had drifted away.

But what did we know?

In the end, against all odds and expectations, this impossible thing came true:

He made it all the way to Yankee Stadium.

Hope you enjoyed

Peter Bruce Photo

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George Steinbrenner NY yankees/Peter Bruce Photo/rare photos

Here are some rare photo of George Steinbrenner NY yankees leader
Enjoy Peter Bruce Photo

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