| Did Schwarzenegger use F-bomb in veto letter?

Did-Schwarzenegger-use-F-bomb-in-veto-letter? SACRAMENTO, California - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger typically attaches a message to bills he signs or vetoes telling lawmakers why he took the action.

But a Democratic assemblyman who heckled the governor during a recent event in San Francisco may have received more than one message: the veto letter itself, and a not-so-subtle rebuke creatively hidden within it.

Like a find-the-word puzzle, a second message is visible if one strings together the first letter of each line down the left-hand margin of the letter. If read in that way, a common four-letter vulgarity followed by the letters y-o-u is visible.

My goodness. What a coincidence, said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen.

Schwarzeneggers veto messages are sent to the lawmakers who authored the bills, and posted on the governors Web site. McLear noted that the left-hand margin of past veto messages has spelled out words such as poet and soap.

The target may have been San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who had sponsored a bill that would have granted the Port of San Francisco expanded financing power to redevelop a former shipyard into a new neighborhood.

Kudos to the governor for his creative use of coincidence, said Ammianos spokesman, Quintin Mecke. You certainly have to have a sense of humor in politics. Unfortunately, this humor came at the cost of the Port of San Francisco.

Whether coincidence or smackdown, the phrase contained in Schwarzeneggers Oct. 12 veto message could be seen as retaliation for Ammianos behavior during a local Democratic Party fundraiser earlier this month in San Francisco.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, had been invited to the event by former San Francisco mayor and Assembly speaker Willie Brown, a Democrat.

His appearance at the Fairmont Hotel caught many of the attendees by surprise and came after a summer of contentious budget negotiations that forced lawmakers to cut billions of dollars from core state services, including education and health care programs.

On a video clip of the governors appearance, Ammiano can be heard shouting you lie and other derogatory phrases as other attendees booed and heckled Schwarzeneggers brief speech.

After the governor left, Ammiano took the stage and gave a rambling diatribe in which he criticized Schwarzenegger for a wide variety of perceived offenses. In part, the freshman lawmaker was upset that Schwarzenegger had vetoed bills in 2005 and 2007 that would have legalized gay marriage.

The governor has said the issue should be decided by voters or the state Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger also opposed Proposition 8, the initiative voters passed in November to ban same-sex marriage.

Mecke, Ammianos spokesman, said the lawmaker wants to move on.

We will call it even and start with a clean slate with the governor from here on out, he said.

- | Did Schwarzenegger use F-bomb in veto letter? |

| Yankees cruising busting 2004 ghosts

Yankees-cruising,-busting-2004-ghosts

ANAHEIM, Calif. – When Derek Jeter recalls the last time the New York Yankees got this close to the World Series, he gets chills down his spine that have nothing to do with the cold hes fighting.

The 2004 AL championship series is a gaping hole in the Yankees reputation that only a record 40th AL pennant could begin to cover. Up 3-0, New York lost four straight to the Boston Red Sox in a collapse that has festered for a half-decade.

New York gets the first of three potential shots at that closeout victory over the struggling Los Angeles Angels in Game 5 of the ALCS on Thursday night, with A.J. Burnett facing Angels ace John Lackey.

Manager Joe Girardi patiently points out that many of New Yorks current contributors werent around for that unprecedented collapse.

- | Yankees cruising busting 2004 ghosts |

| EU OKs tougher penalties for illegal fishing

EU-OKs-tougher-penalties-for-illegal-fishing LUXEMBOURG -The European Union agreed Tuesday on tougher penalties to counter illegal fishing, considered a major cause of the depletion of fish stocks in European waters, particularly of prized cod and bluefin tuna.
The penalties include fishing boats being banned after four infarctions and fines being imposed on member states failing to enforce controls.
Illegal fishing has been blamed for dwindling fish populations over the past two decades, and the EU has been unable to crack down on the practice. Outdated regulations have failed to deter fishermen from landing protected fish illegally at a high profit.
Under the new rules agreed Tuesday, ships will be monitored by satellites and logs surveyed electronically to make sure that they do not overfish and bring in illegal catches.
A major problem with overfishing is that certain fishers intent on beating the system can do so almost unnoticed, said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg. Now, it has become much more difficult.
Fines and penalties used to be so insignificant that fishermen would simply include them in the cost of the operation and still make a profit if they got caught.
With the new control regulation the dissuasive element is significantly strengthened so it is no longer so easy for fishers to carry out illegal activities, Borg said.
Under the new rules, recreational fishermen landing threatened fish such as cod in the North Sea and bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean will not have their catches included in their nations catch quotas, but surveillance will be increased to determine what impact their catches have on overall stocks.
The PEW environmental group estimated last year that the cost of illegal fishing to EU member states by 2020 will be euro10 billion in lost catches, and euro8 billion of lost fishing stock value.
PEWs Uta Bellion said Tuesdays decision emphasizes the pressing need to reverse some of the damage done by overfishing, such as decreased fish stocks and fewer fishing jobs. She insisted it should go hand in hand with measures to further cut the EUs bloated fleet, a prime reason for illegal fishing in the first place. - | EU OKs tougher penalties for illegal fishing |

| Genetic parents of embryo felt ‘powerless’

Genetic-parents-of-embryo-felt-‘powerless’ Their twin daughters were 2-and-a-half years old, and Shannon and Paul Morell were talking about trying to have another child using the six embryos they had had frozen when the twins were conceived through in vitro fertilization.

And then the Morells got a shocking phone call. The fertility clinic had made a mistake and had used their embryos to impregnate another woman.

“We had no idea who this person was,” Shannon Morell told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Wednesday from Troy, Mich. For 14 emotionally wrenching weeks, the only contact they had with the woman who was carrying their baby was through lawyers. “That was the longest 14 weeks probably of my entire life. We didn’t know who they were. Were they good people?”

As it turned out, Carolyn and Sean Savage would be the best of people. The couple had talked with Vieira on TODAY from their Ohio home Monday about their own emotional journey as Carolyn carried another woman’s baby knowing that as soon as he was born, she would hand him over and perhaps never see him again.

‘A terrible feeling’
But while meeting the Savages and bonding with them has helped, the Morells were still left with a sense that one of the most emotional and important moments in a family’s life had been taken out of their hands.

“It’s just the oddest feeling to have somebody else carrying your child because, as a parent, you want to do everything possible to protect your child. We were totally powerless and out of control. Even though we were grateful, it was just a terrible feeling,” Shannon Morell said.

The Savages also have endured their share of emotional distress. They have three other children, and Carolyn, who had had serious medical problems with two of her earlier pregnancies, was told she could not carry another child after this one.

Because of their religious beliefs, Carolyn and Sean Savage felt they could not destroy the embryos that they still had frozen at the fertility clinic. So, as she carried another woman’s child to term, Carolyn and her husband were also arranging to engage a surrogate to carry their last child.

After watching the Savages tell their story to Vieira Monday, the Morells decided to share their experiences with TODAY. Shannon assured Vieira that they will not keep their new son away from the Savages as they raise him.

‘Whatever access they want, they have,” Shannon told Vieira.

Missing the joys of pregnancy
Carolyn Savage is scheduled to deliver the child by Caesarean section within the next two weeks. The Morells will attend the birth. The two women have discussed how they will handle the time so that Carolyn can have her moment with the child she’s carried for nine months.

While enormously grateful to the Savages for not terminating the pregnancy when they discovered the wrong embryos had been implanted, the Morells said they have been racked by emotions during the months that Carolyn has been carrying the child. In addition to the joy of anticipating another member of the family, there’s been anger and a feeling of powerlessness.

For Shannon Morell, there’s also been a certain emptiness.

“You walk in there, and I just sort of felt like an outsider,” Shannon told Vieira of attending doctor visits with the woman carrying her child. “Carolyn and Sean were there — very welcoming. But it’s a lot different when you’re going through it yourself. I’m grateful she invited me. It was very, very neat to see.”

Although Shannon Morell has attended a number of prenatal exams with Carolyn, she’s not had the experience of bonding with her unborn child.

“All the emotions a woman has during pregnancy to bond with her child I haven’t had,” Shannon told Vieira. “It’s been a very empty feeling. All the emotions from nine months are packed into that one day when I actually get to hold my baby. I never felt the baby kick — none of that. So it’ll be amazing.”

Within the next two weeks, Carolyn Savage will give birth to the baby boy by Caesarean section. Carolyn will have time to say hello and goodbye to the infant boy. The Morells will take the infant home to introduce to their twin girls, Ellie and Megan.

The two families have talked about exchanging e-mails to keep the Savages appraised of the baby’s progress. But neither family really knows how it will work out.

“We’ll at least keep in contact, but we have no expectation of them,” Shannon Morell said. “The nice thing is that we’ve been able to work together on this. Unfortunately, it’s been a terrible thing that’s happened to the families. We’re doing the best that we can for the health of this baby.”

- | Genetic parents of embryo felt ‘powerless’ |

| At 84 man gets high school diploma

At-84,-man-gets-high-school-diploma GREELEY, Colo. - Theres at least one guy with a new high school diploma whos not worrying about getting into college or finding a job.

After all, Takeshi Murata is 84.

Murata was 18 and a student at University High School in Greeley, Colo., in 1944 when he was drafted to fight in World War II, according to the Greeley Daily Tribune newspaper.

Though he was the son of Japanese immigrants, he grew up speaking English. In the Army, he was trained in an intelligence unit and given some studies in Japanese. After the war, he was sent to serve in U.S. military headquarters in Tokyo.

I really didnt know Japanese that well, Murata told the Tribune. But Id learned a little in the intelligence schools, so they sent me.

He met his wife, Chikako, there, he said. They married in Japan and in 1947 returned to northeast Colorado.

Told me I wasnt qualified
Murata approached his old school, thinking his military intelligence classes should suffice for any coursework he missed when he left school at 18.

The school officials told me I wasnt qualified to graduate, he told the Tribune.

Murata dropped the diploma quest and followed in his fathers footsteps, becoming a farmer. He raised five children — each of whom earned college degrees.

But Murata still had no diploma of his own until a teacher at the school, Jeanne Lipman, heard his story last year. She found Muratas report cards, got an original diploma from one of his old classmates and turned them over to University of Northern Colorado President Kay Norton. The high school is now called University High; the university ran it when Murata attended.

Norton presented the diploma to Murata on Wednesday night, and his family celebrated with cake and a party. Murata, smiling, joked about the lengthy process.

Im 84 years old now, he said. What am I going to do with a diploma? Look for a job?

- | At 84 man gets high school diploma |

| Hand-me-down recipes can satisfy the soul

Hand-me-down-recipes-can-satisfy-the-soul Dee Dees Hermit CookiesShared by Ted Spencer of Michigan - | Hand-me-down recipes can satisfy the soul |

| Crash course on driving ends in bedroom

Crash-course-on-driving-ends-in-bedroom LANHAM, Maryland - Police say a driving lesson on Good Luck Road ended with a minivan crashing through an apartment wall.

It happened in Lanham, where apartment resident Robert Scribers leg was hurt by flying debris. He said the minivan landed on top of a bed where hed been lying minutes before.

Police said a man was teaching his friend to drive when the accident occurred just after 10 a.m. Monday.

Authorities said the driver was in the country illegally and didnt have a license. The mans friend didnt have a license either, they said.

Both are charged with reckless endangerment, and the driver has also been charged with driving without a license.

- | Crash course on driving ends in bedroom |