Officer sues to be beauty contestant — Off-duty rights are at issue, union says
Officer Deanna Mory was named Ms. California 2006 and 2007; she is preparing to compete in the national pageant in July.

By Mark Arner, Union-Tribune Staff Writer

A Chula Vista police officer is suing the Police Department and the city, alleging her supervisors pressured her to stop competing in beauty pageants.

Officer Deanna Mory, hired in 2005, says police administrators began pressuring her a year ago to stop competing in pageants. The Chula Vista Police Officers’ Association, the police union, has filed two lawsuits on her behalf against the city and the department.

Mory, 23, said the dispute began when she told her boss on Jan. 4, 2006, that she had been named Ms. California by a Florida-based pageant organization, and she wanted to compete in the group’s 2006 Ms. United States pageant.

Her immediate supervisor, Lt. Mike Becker, told her the pageant would not violate a department policy regarding outside activities, she said. Two weeks later, other department administrators ordered her to give up the Ms. California title and to withdraw from the national contest, Mory said.

Union representatives said they tried to negotiate a compromise with Mory’s bosses but failed. They then sued on July 19, three days before the national pageant, alleging police supervisors were enforcing a policy in a way that discriminated against female police officers by denying them their constitutional right to free speech. The department allows officers to participate in outside competitions, such as a “Baker-to-Vegas bike competition,” the union’s lawsuit states.

The union sued again March 13, alleging that in January nine lieutenants and top city and police officials pressured the union into dropping the first lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the officials violated a law banning government employers from restraining or denying the exercise of employees’ constitutional rights.

Officer Deanna Mory says she believes the 16 years she has spent competing in beauty pageants have given her some of the skills she needed to become a police officer.

Amid the litigation, Mory has remained a national pageant contestant. In July she placed second and won a spirit award. In January she was named Ms. California 2007 and is preparing to compete in the Ms. United States pageant in July.

Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556; mark.arner@uniontrib.com

© Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

SIFE won't STFU

Josef Shannon (extreme left) posed with his teammates from San Diego City College after winning the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) regional competition in Los Angeles, Calif., March 21. The team is now poised to compete at the next level, in Dallas, Texas, May 5-9.

SIFE teams are invited to showcase the effect of their outreach projects at annual competitions judged by panels of business leaders. Teams share the impact made in their communities along five educational topics: market economics, success skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and business ethics.

Working in partnership with business and higher education, SIFE mobilizes university students around the world to utilize knowledge learned in the classroom to address real world business and economic issues in their communities.

SIFE students form teams on their university campuses and develop outreach projects that teach market economics, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, personal success skills, and business ethics. Through these projects, SIFE is empowering university students to make a difference today while realizing the full potential they will have to create a better world as the entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.
http://www.sife.org/

How I became a millionaire (Students in free enterprise)

Quintessence -- Dive Deep

This was the first album I ever owned. I bought it from Michael Andrews who was in the same Scout Troop as me. I paid him eleven shillings.

Codex Alimentarius — A Threat to Our Health

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a UN body with the mission to create international food guidelines. The intention of these guidelines is to promote trade among the signatory nations, not to promote health. After the Codex guidelines are implemented in the US, about 75 per cent of the vitamins, minerals, herbs, homeopathics, and other natural remedies currently available on the US market will be banned. Codex will mandate pesticide use, irradiation, and that GMO foods will not be labeled.

The US agreed to implement the Codex guidelines when it signed onto CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement). The US must change its laws to conform to the Codex guidelines in 2009. Unless, we the people protest and try to stop it.

At this point you may be thinking “This will never happen.” Perhaps you remember past attempts to get rid of, or to undermine, DSHEA (the current US law that declares vitamins and minerals are food and therefore cannot be restricted or limited). This, however, is different. Previous attempts to eradicate the natural health industry in the US were initiated domestically, by US politicians (backed, of course, by representatives ofB the pharmaceutical industry). The Codex guidelines, however, are international in scope. Therefore, if the US does not change its laws to conform to Codex guidelines, it risks being sanctioned by the World Trade Organization. This is no joke. Recently the US used the WTO to force the European Union to accept importation of its GMO food.

CODEX Will Destroy Our Nutritional Supplements And Organic Foods
By Rima Laibow MD

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS is a UN-sponsored global food standards body that is deceptively promoted as “consumer protection.” Based on junk science (by wrongly treating nutrients as toxins) it is a serious threat to your health and health freedom. CODEX ALIMENTARIUS serves the financial interests of massive multi-national corporations who are illegally pushing to implement CODEX ALIMENTARIUS in the United States of America.

CODEX is harmful to nutritional supplements because it says “YES” to:
• Supplement doses so low that they have no therapeutic effect on you
• Making Vitamin C (and all other vitamins and minerals) above a tiny dose per day an illegal substance
• Prohibiting all but a tiny number of supplements sold in uselessly tiny doses

CODEX is harmful to natural health because it says “YES” to:
• Destroying the Wellness Industry in order to wipe out competition to the Pharmaceutical Industry (the more people turn to natural health, the fewer drugs they buy because the fewer drugs they need)
• Ruining health food stores and wellness companies by wiping out and criminalizing natural health products

CODEX is harmful to organic meat and dairy because it says “YES” to:
• Mandating that all food animals be treated with synthetic growth hormones and antibiotics despite their documented dangers to you and your family
• Mandating that all dairy cows be treated with Monsanto’s rBGH (genetically engineered bovine growth hormone) despite its documented dangers for you and your family

CODEX is harmful to organic agriculture and clean food because it says “YES” to:
• Unlabeled use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in your food, despite their documented dangers to you and your family
• Degrading organic standards to the point at which they become meaningless
• Raising permissible levels for pesticides, veterinary drugs and other toxins in farming to extremely dangerous levels (so manufacturers of these poisons can make more money)
• Mandating that all food must be irradiated unless eaten locally and raw

CODEX is harmful to you and the Earth because it says “NO” to :
• Your freedom of choice in health products and natural medicine treatments
• Clean, unadulterated food and a meaningful certified organic farming system
• Our planet’s environmental health (CODEX would toxify our world even more)

To learn more about CODEX ALIMENTARIUS and what you can do or to read the full Citizen Petition written by the Natural Solutions Foundation. Visit Laibow's Web site at www.HealthFreedomUSA.org.

'Pete and Dud: Come Again' Tours Britain

Fresh from an acclaimed West End run, the play ‘Pete & Dud: Come Again’ by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde has confirmed a three-month first-class tour of the UK from mid April onwards, starting at Guildford before going round the country. All the dates and the press release are below. As well as the official show site www.petedud.com there is now a Myspace page www.myspace.com/petedud, which has some clips from the London show.

First seen at the Assembly Rooms as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005, where it was nominated for a Fringe First award, the show has been described as `dazzling’ (Mail On Sunday), `irresistibly funny’ and `a joy’ (Daily Telegraph).

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore remain one of the greatest British comedy partnerships of all time. This brilliantly funny play tracks the rise and fall of their work together, from their breakthrough early work with Beyond The Fringe partners Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller, through to the hilarious pint-drinking pundits Pete and Dud and the outrageously funny Derek and Clive.

Against the backdrop of an `80s chat show, this brilliant comedy reveals what brought the definitive double act together and what eventually drove them apart. A potent combination of powerful drama and plentiful laughs makes the show enjoyable both for ardent fans of their work and those who haven’t yet had the pleasure.

The two superb comic talents Awde and Bartlett have a background in journalism and are currently developing a radio serial: Little Fish. Awde has written, edited or illustrated over 40 books and his previous writing for the stage includes Andrew Lloyd Webber the Musical (Canal Café Theatre). Bartlett still works as a freelance journalist and has written for The Bearded Ladies (BBC Radio 4). Director Owen Lewis’ credits include How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (The Bush and The Arts Theatre, London) and The Typographer’s Dream (Pleasance, Edinburgh). He won the RSC Buzz Goodbody Director Award in 2000.

The cast includes Alexander Kirk, Simon Lowe and Gareth Tunley. Kirk first appeared in Pete and Dud: Come Again at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005 and reprised the role for the show’s London production in 2006 and a tour of New Zealand. His recent television credits include: Time Trumpet (BBC) and Peep Show (Channel 4), his last London stage role was in Gone (New Ambassadors) and he is one half of sketch stroupe Kirk and Messingham. Lowe appeared in She Stoops to Conquer (New Kent Opera) but has worked most extensively in television and film. His film credits include The Hindenburg (Channel4/Canal+), Large (Film Four) and the short film Man’s Best Friend (104 Films) which he also directed. Tunley has worked extensively on stage and screen and writes for television and radio. He is perhaps best known for his comedy performances with Phil Brown in The Legendary Polowski, for which he won the BBCi Comedy Award in 2002. His work on television includes: Peep Show (Channel 4) and Get Staffed (BBC Choice).

Following its acclaimed West End season at The Venue, Leicester Square in spring 2006, this production headlined the Best Of British festival in New Zealand in June 2006.

For further information, images or tickets to review contact Kate Gambrell: kategambrell@hotmail.co.uk or 07919 037 022. For more information on the show check www.petedud.com

TOUR DATES: 'PETE AND DUD: COME AGAIN' 2007

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford: Thursday 12 – Saturday 21 April 2007 Box Office: 01483 440000 Web site: www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

Palace Theatre, Southend: Monday 23 – Saturday 28 April 2007 Box Office: 01702 351135 Web site: www.palacetheatresouthend.co.uk

The Lighthouse, Poole: Monday 30 April – Wednesday 2 May 2007 Box Office: 08700 668701 Web site: www.lighthousepoole.co.uk

Devonshire Park, Eastbourne: Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 May 2007 Box Office: 01323 412000 Web site: www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk

New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth: Tuesday 8 & Wednesday 9 May 2007 Box Office: 023 9264 9000 Web site: www.newtheatreroyal.com

Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield: Friday 11 & Saturday 12 May 2007 Box Office: 01484 430528 Web site: www.lbt-uk.org

Loughborough Town Hall: Tuesday 15 & Wednesday 16 May 2007 Box Office: 01509 231914 Web site: www.loughboroughtownhall.co.uk

Arts Depot, London: Thursday 17 – Saturday 19 May 2007 Box Office: 020 8369 5454 Web site: www.artsdepot.co.uk

Buxton Opera House: Monday 21 & Tuesday 22 May 2007 Box Office: 0845 127 2190 Web site: www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk

New Wolsey, Ipswich: Thursday 24 – Saturday 26 May 2007 Box Office: 01473 295 900 Web site: www.wolseytheatre.co.uk

Oxford Playhouse: Monday 28 – Wednesday 30 May 2007 Box Office: 01865 305305 Web site: www.oxfordplayhouse.com

Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield: Thursday 31 May – Saturday 2 June 2007 Box Office: 0114 249 6000 Web site: www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

Civic Theatre, Chelmsford: Monday 4 – Wednesday 6 June 2007 Box Office: 01245 606505 Web site: www.civictheatres.co.uk

Theatre Royal, Winchester: Thursday 7 – Saturday 9 June 2007 Box Office: 01962 840440 Web site: www.theatre-royal-winchester.co.uk

Riverfront Theatre, Newport: Monday 11 – Wednesday 13 June 2007 Box Office: 01633 656 757 Web site: www.newport.gov.uk/riverfront

Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon: Thursday 14 – Saturday 16 June 2007 Box Office: 01874 611622 Web site: www.brycheiniog.co.uk

Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry: Monday 18 – Saturday 23 June 2007 Box Office: 024 7652 4524 Web site: www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

Connaught Theatre, Worthing: Tuesday 26 – Saturday 30 June 2007 Box Office: 01903 206206 Web site: www.worthingtheatres.co.uk

The Brewhouse, Taunton: Monday 2 & Tuesday 3 July 2007 Box Office: 01823 283244 Web site: www.thebrewhouse.net

Hall for Cornwall, Truro: Thursday 5 – Saturday 7 July 2007 Box Office: 01872 262466 Web site: www.hallforcornwall.co.uk

The Surreal Life of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Ron Jeremy of international terrorism, has confessed to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the beheading of Daniel Pearl, giving the green light to the makers of Ishtar, the sacking of Carthage, the Boston Tea Party, the Jack-the-Ripper murders, the burning of the library at Alexandria and a string of other crimes during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday March 14, 2007 by the Pentagon.

So that's all right then. Now we don't need to catch Osama bin Laden. Everybody can come home? (AP Photo)

Editors get calls like this quite often

We used to get calls like this at the Peninsula Beacon.

For more podcasts, go to sfgate.com/podcasts.

One More Thing to Worry About

Compared to 10 years ago, something is wrong with George Bush.
“Slowly developing cognitive deficits as demonstrated so clearly by the President can represent only one diagnosis, and that is presenile dementia.”
— Dr. Joseph M. Price, The Atlantic, October 2004.

Imperfections

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots. Each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full measure of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?”

“That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.”

“For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.

Good Friends are Like Stars — You Don’t Always See Them, But You Know They are Always There

The first day of school, our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, “Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can I give you a hug?”

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” And she gave me a giant squeeze.

“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” I asked.

She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…“

“No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” she told me.

After class, we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.”

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are 19 years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn 20 years old. If I am 87 years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn 88.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”

She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.”

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

More than 2,000 college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of Rose: Remember, growing older is mandatory. Growing up is optional. We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

[Submitted by Bruce Wilde]