Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict's private secretary, who has been dubbed "Gorgeous George" by the Italian media, is now a real-life cover boy.
The prelate has landed on the cover of Vanity Fair.
The cover on the Italian edition of the magazine shows the 56-year-old archbishop smiling, his blue eyes beaming, above a headline that reads "Father Georg - It's not a sin to be beautiful."
The magazine calls Ganswein "The George Clooney of St Peter's" and says it dedicated a cover story to honor his recent promotion to the rank of archbishop and as recognition of his growing power in the Roman Catholic Church.
A spokeswoman for the magazine said Ganswein was not interviewed for the article and did not pose for the cover photo, which she said was a close-up of an existing picture.
Ganswein, who has been Benedict's personal secretary since the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Roman Catholic leader in 2005, was elevated to the rank of archbishop earlier this month.
A German like the pope, he was also promoted to the job of Prefect of the Pontifical Household, a position that will significantly increase his power as the pope gets older and frailer.
As prefect, Ganswein - already one of the most recognizable and powerful figures in the papal court - will arrange all the pope's private and public audiences and his daily schedule.
And, because he will be keeping his job as chief private secretary, he will have even more power in deciding who has access to the 85-year-old pope.
Vanity Fair said the article about Ganswein was a "close up profile of a particular monsignor". The magazine goes on sale on Wednesday.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
U.S. Supreme Court sinks Florida city over floating home
When is a floating home not a vessel? The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday told a Florida city its argument did not hold water, and that an abode on water was nothing but a home.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that a gray, two-story home that its owner said was permanently moored to a Riviera Beach, Florida, marina was not a vessel, depriving the city of power under U.S. maritime law to seize and destroy it.
Justice Stephen Breyer said nothing about former Chicago trader and Marine pilot Fane Lozman's home that would have led a "reasonable observer" to conclude it could be used to transport people or things over water, but for the fact that it floated.
"Not every floating structure is a 'vessel'," Breyer wrote for the majority. "To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not 'vessels'."
Riviera Beach, near Palm Beach, had seized Lozman's home after he resisted a court order that he pay $3,040 in dockage fees, and destroyed it after being unable to sell it.
Tuesday's decision reversed a lower-court ruling upholding the fees, and clears the way for Lozman to seek compensation.
Pamela Ryan, the city attorney for Riviera Beach, said in a statement she was disappointed with the ruling but accepts it, and that the city will revise its marina policies.
Lozman, 51, cheered the decision. "I feel like I'm floating on a cloud," he said in a phone interview. "I have been fighting this city for 6-1/2 years and it is humbling to get a reversal."
He said he now lives in North Bay Village, a suburb of Miami, and owns a financial software display company.
The definition of "vessel" is particularly important, given that admiralty law imposes different obligations on owners with respect to such things as staffing and taxation.
It is also a victory for the casino industry, which in court papers argued that more than 60 riverboat casinos should not be subject to U.S. maritime laws designed to protect seamen, on top of state laws to license and regulate the gaming business.
The decision limits special rules and remedies of maritime law to matters that "genuinely involve maritime commerce and transportation," Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor who represented Lozman, said in a phone interview. "That something floats and might be towed from Point A to Point B does not mean those rules and remedies should apply."
COURT SEEKS CONSISTENCY
Lozman bought the 60-by-12 foot home in 2002. Four years later, he towed it to a Riviera Beach marina, where he kept it docked.
Although he was able to move the home in this manner, Lozman said it should not be covered by maritime law because it lacked the usual seafaring features such as a motor and GPS device, and needed land-based sewer lines and an extension cord for power.
The legal battle started after Lozman resisted new rules governing houseboats at his marina and opposed a proposed $2.4 billion luxury redevelopment of the marina.
In his opinion for the court, Breyer said the decision was consistent with the laws of California and Washington that also treat structures like Lozman's as land-based homes.
"Consistency of interpretation of related state and federal laws is a virtue" because it makes the law easier to understand and follow, Breyer said.
Joining Breyer's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, dissented, in the term's first dissenting votes from a full court opinion. Sotomayor objected to the "reasonable observer" standard adopted by the majority.
The case is Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-626.
In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that a gray, two-story home that its owner said was permanently moored to a Riviera Beach, Florida, marina was not a vessel, depriving the city of power under U.S. maritime law to seize and destroy it.
Justice Stephen Breyer said nothing about former Chicago trader and Marine pilot Fane Lozman's home that would have led a "reasonable observer" to conclude it could be used to transport people or things over water, but for the fact that it floated.
"Not every floating structure is a 'vessel'," Breyer wrote for the majority. "To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not 'vessels'."
Riviera Beach, near Palm Beach, had seized Lozman's home after he resisted a court order that he pay $3,040 in dockage fees, and destroyed it after being unable to sell it.
Tuesday's decision reversed a lower-court ruling upholding the fees, and clears the way for Lozman to seek compensation.
Pamela Ryan, the city attorney for Riviera Beach, said in a statement she was disappointed with the ruling but accepts it, and that the city will revise its marina policies.
Lozman, 51, cheered the decision. "I feel like I'm floating on a cloud," he said in a phone interview. "I have been fighting this city for 6-1/2 years and it is humbling to get a reversal."
He said he now lives in North Bay Village, a suburb of Miami, and owns a financial software display company.
The definition of "vessel" is particularly important, given that admiralty law imposes different obligations on owners with respect to such things as staffing and taxation.
It is also a victory for the casino industry, which in court papers argued that more than 60 riverboat casinos should not be subject to U.S. maritime laws designed to protect seamen, on top of state laws to license and regulate the gaming business.
The decision limits special rules and remedies of maritime law to matters that "genuinely involve maritime commerce and transportation," Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor who represented Lozman, said in a phone interview. "That something floats and might be towed from Point A to Point B does not mean those rules and remedies should apply."
COURT SEEKS CONSISTENCY
Lozman bought the 60-by-12 foot home in 2002. Four years later, he towed it to a Riviera Beach marina, where he kept it docked.
Although he was able to move the home in this manner, Lozman said it should not be covered by maritime law because it lacked the usual seafaring features such as a motor and GPS device, and needed land-based sewer lines and an extension cord for power.
The legal battle started after Lozman resisted new rules governing houseboats at his marina and opposed a proposed $2.4 billion luxury redevelopment of the marina.
In his opinion for the court, Breyer said the decision was consistent with the laws of California and Washington that also treat structures like Lozman's as land-based homes.
"Consistency of interpretation of related state and federal laws is a virtue" because it makes the law easier to understand and follow, Breyer said.
Joining Breyer's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, dissented, in the term's first dissenting votes from a full court opinion. Sotomayor objected to the "reasonable observer" standard adopted by the majority.
The case is Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-626.
Shipment of 18 human heads found at Chicago's O'Hare airport
Investigators probing a shipment of 18 human heads intercepted at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have determined they came from bodies donated for scientific research and were being transported for disposal, officials said on Tuesday.
U.S. Customs agents discovered the grisly package, which was shipped to Chicago from Italy shortly before Christmas, on Monday. Because the shipment's paperwork was not in order, agents confiscated the heads and sent them to the Cook County Medical Examiner for safekeeping, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.
The heads, which had been used by a medical research facility in Rome, were properly embalmed, wrapped and labeled when they arrived at the airport, said Mary Paleologos, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner. Foul play has been ruled out, she said.
On Tuesday, the cremation company that was supposed to take delivery of the heads and dispose of them presented the missing paperwork to the medical examiner, Paleologos said.
The medical examiner said the remains would not be released to the company until federal authorities verified the paperwork.
In the meantime, the medical examiner is photographing and x-raying the embalmed heads for record-keeping purposes, Paleologos said.
U.S. Customs agents discovered the grisly package, which was shipped to Chicago from Italy shortly before Christmas, on Monday. Because the shipment's paperwork was not in order, agents confiscated the heads and sent them to the Cook County Medical Examiner for safekeeping, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.
The heads, which had been used by a medical research facility in Rome, were properly embalmed, wrapped and labeled when they arrived at the airport, said Mary Paleologos, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner. Foul play has been ruled out, she said.
On Tuesday, the cremation company that was supposed to take delivery of the heads and dispose of them presented the missing paperwork to the medical examiner, Paleologos said.
The medical examiner said the remains would not be released to the company until federal authorities verified the paperwork.
In the meantime, the medical examiner is photographing and x-raying the embalmed heads for record-keeping purposes, Paleologos said.
New York to use GPS-fitted bottles to track stolen pain pills
New York police will begin asking city pharmacies to stock decoy bottles fitted with GPS devices among powerful painkillers like Oxycontin and oxycodone in the latest bid to combat gunpoint robberies of drug stores.
Police hope that in the event of a robbery, the 'bait bottles', which will be labeled as painkillers but filled with harmless placebos, will lead them back to large stocks of stolen prescription drugs.
Last year, federal and New York Police Department investigators seized 9,000 painkillers being sold at an open-air drug market in northern Manhattan.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is expected to unveil the new initiative, called 'Operation Safety Cap,' at a conference in California on Tuesday sponsored by former president Bill Clinton's foundation. An advance copy of his prepared remarks was released late Monday.
The initiative follows last week's announcement by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the city's public hospitals will begin restricting emergency room patients to a three-day supply of opioid painkillers to limit abuse - since most addicts get their pills from family and friends who have leftover supplies from legitimate prescriptions, experts say.
Oxycontin is a long-acting form of the opioid oxycodone, a highly-addictive prescription drug.
The NYPD's initiative is a response to a growing black market of stolen prescription painkillers.
In 2011, a 33-year-old military veteran with no prior criminal record fatally shot four people while robbing a Long Island pharmacy of about 10,000 pain pills.
"The gunman in that case ... was desperate to obtain prescription drugs to feed both his and his wife's painkiller habit," said Kelly in a prepared statement to be delivered later Tuesday.
Even the police force itself has been haunted by prescription drug abuse.
"One of our own retired police officers who became addicted to the pills after incurring an injury on the job began robbing drug stores at gunpoint," Kelly said in the statement.
In addition to the 'bait bottle' program, New York police have created a database of the 6,000 pharmacies in the New York City area, many of which police plan to visit to recommend improved security measures.
Police hope that in the event of a robbery, the 'bait bottles', which will be labeled as painkillers but filled with harmless placebos, will lead them back to large stocks of stolen prescription drugs.
Last year, federal and New York Police Department investigators seized 9,000 painkillers being sold at an open-air drug market in northern Manhattan.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is expected to unveil the new initiative, called 'Operation Safety Cap,' at a conference in California on Tuesday sponsored by former president Bill Clinton's foundation. An advance copy of his prepared remarks was released late Monday.
The initiative follows last week's announcement by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the city's public hospitals will begin restricting emergency room patients to a three-day supply of opioid painkillers to limit abuse - since most addicts get their pills from family and friends who have leftover supplies from legitimate prescriptions, experts say.
Oxycontin is a long-acting form of the opioid oxycodone, a highly-addictive prescription drug.
The NYPD's initiative is a response to a growing black market of stolen prescription painkillers.
In 2011, a 33-year-old military veteran with no prior criminal record fatally shot four people while robbing a Long Island pharmacy of about 10,000 pain pills.
"The gunman in that case ... was desperate to obtain prescription drugs to feed both his and his wife's painkiller habit," said Kelly in a prepared statement to be delivered later Tuesday.
Even the police force itself has been haunted by prescription drug abuse.
"One of our own retired police officers who became addicted to the pills after incurring an injury on the job began robbing drug stores at gunpoint," Kelly said in the statement.
In addition to the 'bait bottle' program, New York police have created a database of the 6,000 pharmacies in the New York City area, many of which police plan to visit to recommend improved security measures.
Something for everyone in Italy's record 215 political logos
From right-wing gays of the "Black Rose" movement, to parties seeking to dump the euro, to the "Ordinary Guy Front", there is something for everyone in the dazzling array of groups seeking to contest Italy's elections.
The Interior Ministry, which will oversee the February 24-25 vote, has received a record 215 logos from parties, movements, associations, local and special interest groups of all sizes and colors - anyone who wants to be put on posters or ballot slips.
All manner of logos were displayed for public viewing on Monday in a long corridor in the ministry's ground floor: a red heart, a tramp carrying a sack with his belongings hanging from a stick on his back, a heavily made-up former porn star.
"Some of this is pure exhibitionism but still, it is part of democracy," said a ministry employee perusing the logos. He and his colleagues declined to give their names.
"This just shows the level of dissatisfaction today. The traditional parties don't responded to malaise about pensions, environment, taxes, everything. No one is happy," another ministry employee said.
Apart from many logos from the main parties and their offshoots, there is a dizzying display of symbols pushing every position, cause, protest and desire under the political sun.
An Italian who feels the squeeze of the tax man in the current recession can find a home either in the "Stop Taxes and Banks" movement, the "Halve the Salaries of Politicians" group or even the "Look What a Mess They've Got Us Into" group.
Total disaffection with the system is clearly expressed on the logo of the "Ordinary Guy Front" - a drawing of a man screaming in tortured pain while squeezed in a vice.
The ministry, using a 1957 law, will decide which logos it allows, depending mainly on the number of signatures backing them. In the last national elections in 2008, 153 out of 181 were approved.
Many are civic lists and special-interest groups which will only appear locally. Most will then link up with larger parties or any coalition and give them their votes.
The symbol of "Democracy, Nature and Love" (DNA) movement features former porn star Ilona Staller, who went by the screen name of Cicciolina (little cuddly one) and was elected to parliament for the Radical Party in 1987.
SEX, SPORT AND RELIGION
Staller has retired from both politics and the porn industry but her picture graces the logo of the libertarian movement. Posted nearby is the logo of the "Gays of the Right - Black Rose" movement.
Catholic voters unhappy with the values espoused by mainstream centrist parties can find a home in either the "Party of Catholics", the "Sacred Roman Empire" movement or even two groups with identical names: "The Militia of Christ". The logo of one sports a red heart while the other is a red anchor.
At least two groups are associated with Rome's rival soccer teams - "Forza Roma" and "Forza Lazio".
A voter who feels Italy thirsts for muse-like inspiration to solve its problems might be lured by the "Poets of Action Movement", the "Art, Freedom and Democracy" group or the "Party of the Cultural Revolution"
Its logo is a human brain with the command: "Think about your future!".
Some logos are provocations whose shelf life is dubious.
One is the "Bunga Bunga Movement," which takes its name from the wild parties held by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Perhaps one of the logos encapsulates best the mood of frustration many Italians feel. Its promoters call themselves a national civil list and its message is very clear: "I don't vote".
The Interior Ministry, which will oversee the February 24-25 vote, has received a record 215 logos from parties, movements, associations, local and special interest groups of all sizes and colors - anyone who wants to be put on posters or ballot slips.
All manner of logos were displayed for public viewing on Monday in a long corridor in the ministry's ground floor: a red heart, a tramp carrying a sack with his belongings hanging from a stick on his back, a heavily made-up former porn star.
"Some of this is pure exhibitionism but still, it is part of democracy," said a ministry employee perusing the logos. He and his colleagues declined to give their names.
"This just shows the level of dissatisfaction today. The traditional parties don't responded to malaise about pensions, environment, taxes, everything. No one is happy," another ministry employee said.
Apart from many logos from the main parties and their offshoots, there is a dizzying display of symbols pushing every position, cause, protest and desire under the political sun.
An Italian who feels the squeeze of the tax man in the current recession can find a home either in the "Stop Taxes and Banks" movement, the "Halve the Salaries of Politicians" group or even the "Look What a Mess They've Got Us Into" group.
Total disaffection with the system is clearly expressed on the logo of the "Ordinary Guy Front" - a drawing of a man screaming in tortured pain while squeezed in a vice.
The ministry, using a 1957 law, will decide which logos it allows, depending mainly on the number of signatures backing them. In the last national elections in 2008, 153 out of 181 were approved.
Many are civic lists and special-interest groups which will only appear locally. Most will then link up with larger parties or any coalition and give them their votes.
The symbol of "Democracy, Nature and Love" (DNA) movement features former porn star Ilona Staller, who went by the screen name of Cicciolina (little cuddly one) and was elected to parliament for the Radical Party in 1987.
SEX, SPORT AND RELIGION
Staller has retired from both politics and the porn industry but her picture graces the logo of the libertarian movement. Posted nearby is the logo of the "Gays of the Right - Black Rose" movement.
Catholic voters unhappy with the values espoused by mainstream centrist parties can find a home in either the "Party of Catholics", the "Sacred Roman Empire" movement or even two groups with identical names: "The Militia of Christ". The logo of one sports a red heart while the other is a red anchor.
At least two groups are associated with Rome's rival soccer teams - "Forza Roma" and "Forza Lazio".
A voter who feels Italy thirsts for muse-like inspiration to solve its problems might be lured by the "Poets of Action Movement", the "Art, Freedom and Democracy" group or the "Party of the Cultural Revolution"
Its logo is a human brain with the command: "Think about your future!".
Some logos are provocations whose shelf life is dubious.
One is the "Bunga Bunga Movement," which takes its name from the wild parties held by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Perhaps one of the logos encapsulates best the mood of frustration many Italians feel. Its promoters call themselves a national civil list and its message is very clear: "I don't vote".
Maine men accused in lobster crime face possible $190,000 fine
A Maine lobsterman and his son pleaded not guilty on Monday to illegally possessing more than 400 protected egg-bearing female lobsters and face a possible $190,000 fine, authorities said.
Marine patrol officers discovered the lobsters, marked with a v-shaped notch in their tails or mutilated to remove the notch, during an inspection last year of a boat owned by Ricky Curtis, the state Department of Marine Resources said in a statement.
Maine requires lobstermen to notch the tails of egg-bearing female lobsters before returning them to the ocean as a conservation measure. The lobsters may then reproduce several more times.
"We consider this a very serious crime," Colonel Joseph Fessenden, Marine Patrol chief, said in the statement.
"The illegal taking of any lobsters negatively affects the resource and is a direct theft from those lobstermen who abide by the laws every day that they fish," Fessenden said.
Ricky Curtis, 48, and his son Todd Curtis, 29, entered a not guilty plea through the mail at Knox County District Court in Rockland, Maine, a court clerk said.
They face a fine of more than $190,000 if they are convicted of the crime, the statement from wildlife authorities said.
Their attorney, Philip Cohen, declined to comment on the charges.
Marine patrol officers discovered the lobsters, marked with a v-shaped notch in their tails or mutilated to remove the notch, during an inspection last year of a boat owned by Ricky Curtis, the state Department of Marine Resources said in a statement.
Maine requires lobstermen to notch the tails of egg-bearing female lobsters before returning them to the ocean as a conservation measure. The lobsters may then reproduce several more times.
"We consider this a very serious crime," Colonel Joseph Fessenden, Marine Patrol chief, said in the statement.
"The illegal taking of any lobsters negatively affects the resource and is a direct theft from those lobstermen who abide by the laws every day that they fish," Fessenden said.
Ricky Curtis, 48, and his son Todd Curtis, 29, entered a not guilty plea through the mail at Knox County District Court in Rockland, Maine, a court clerk said.
They face a fine of more than $190,000 if they are convicted of the crime, the statement from wildlife authorities said.
Their attorney, Philip Cohen, declined to comment on the charges.
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