Quote:

---

Sanford, missing since Thursday, allegedly located? Still no actual proof...

Neither the governor’s office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, had been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion Thursday in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but declined to be identified.

Sanford’s last known whereabouts had been near Atlanta because a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said. His office now knows where he is, Adams said.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.

She said she was not concerned.

The governor’s state and personal phones had been turned off and he had not responded to phone or text messages since at least the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said.

Most mobile phones cannot be tracked if they are turned off.

Jenny Sanford said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.

The governor’s office issued a statement Monday afternoon: "Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside. We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements."

One official familiar with the situation said there was no indication that foul play might have been involved because Sanford occasionally makes trips without his security detail.

Knotts, a longtime Sanford critic, said he contacted SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd Saturday after he heard reports the governor could not be reached.

"Chief Lloyd confirmed that my information is legitimate," Knotts said. "He shared my concerns" about succession of power in Sanford’s absence, the Lexington Republican said. Lloyd could not be reached immediately on Monday.

"I was recently made aware that Governor Sanford has frequently been eluding SLED agents and disappearing at odd times," Knotts said. Previously, Sanford has not been out of all contact - including with his own office - for this long before, a source, who insisted on anonymity, said.

Knotts said the state’s chief executive should never be unreachable.

"As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation, Governor Sanford should be available at all times to the Chief of SLED," the senator said.

"If for any reason, including the unknown whereabouts of the Governor, he is unable to perform the duties of his office the Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor assumes the position of governor.

"I want to know immediately ­ who is running the executive branch in the governor’s absence," Knotts said.

The question of succession came just after Sanford became governor in 2003.

He joined the Air Force Reserve and was sent to Alabama for two week’s training with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron based in Charleston. Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer at the time, saying he would be in regular contact with his office.

Sanford said then he would transfer authority in writing to the lieutenant governor only if he were called to active duty.

www.thestate.com/local/story/836552.html

---

Quote:

---

"Now the fucking terrorists are vacationing in bermuda... with our tax dollars? these fucking assholes in washington dc need to GO! everyone of them as well as the money grubbing corporations they steal our money for! You are all out of here...the dems can eat shit! I voted for cynthia mckinney because only a woman can bring change. men are addicted to the right/left status quo. only women with free minds can change the world. get used to it. You won't silence us with your fake elections."
-Jew Rosanne Barr, June 16, 2009
www.roseanneworld.com/blog/index.php
www.nypost.com/seven/08312008/news/worldnews/tricky_charlies_carib_hid
eaway_126882.htm

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by piratenews:
My money's still on the ho house, so to speak. Or crack house.

---

Quote:

---

SC gov resurfaces after mystery trip to Argentina

Gov. Mark Sanford told a newspaper he was in Argentina, not hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told the public to explain his sudden absence. He said he "wanted to do something exotic" to unwind after losing a fight over federal stimulus money.

The State newspaper reported that Sanford arrived Wednesday morning at Atlanta's international airport on a flight from Buenos Aires, where he drove along the coast of what he called a "beautiful" city.

The Republican governor told the South Carolina newspaper he considering hiking, but at the last minute changed his mind.

"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford told the newspaper.

Sanford's spokesman Joel Sawyer declined to immediately comment to The Associated Press, and the governor did not return cell phone messages.

Sanford planned a news conference at 2 p.m. Wednesday at his office in Columbia.

Critics slammed his administration for lying to the public.

"Lies. Lies. Lies. That's all we get from his staff. That's all we get from his people. That's all we get from him," said state Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia. "Why all the big cover-up?"

On Monday, Knotts raised questions about where the governor was after hearing reports from security officials that the governor could not be contacted and his whereabouts were unknown. The governor's wife, Jenny Sanford, told The Associated Press she had not seen him since Thursday but was not concerned because he'd told her he wanted to get away and do some writing.

Later Monday, Sanford's staff said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. A day later, they said he had called and planned to cut his trip short and return to work Wednesday because of all the attention his absence was getting.

Sanford said he has taken adventure trips for years to unwind. He has visited the coast of Turkey, the Greek Isles and South America, sometimes with friends and sometimes by himself. "I would get out of the bubble I am in," he told the newspaper.

Sanford said the legislative session was a difficult one, particularly because he lost a fight over whether he should accept $700 million in stimulus money. Sanford said he wanted lawmakers to spend the money on debt instead of urgent budget needs, but lost a court lawsuit.

"It was a long session and I needed a break," Sanford said.

Sanford said he tried to return through Atlanta to avoid the media attention his absence.

He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he was alone and that he drove along the coastline.

Trying to drive along the coast could frustrate a weekend visitor to Argentina. In Buenos Aires, the Avenida Costanera is the only coastal road, and it's less than two miles long. Reaching coastal resorts to the south requires a drive of nearly four hours on an inland highway with views of endless cattle ranches. To the north is a river delta of islands reached only by boat.

A spokesman for Argentina's immigration agency wouldn't comment Wednesday on whether Sanford entered the country, citing privacy laws.

When The State asked Sanford at the airport why his staff said he was on the Appalachian Trail, Sanford replied, "I don't know."

Sanford later said "in fairness to his staff," he had told them he might go hiking on the Appalachian Trial.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said he was concerned that the governor's staff lied about Sanford's whereabouts, adding that if they didn't know where he was they should have said so.

"For his staff to lie to the people of South Carolina and say he was one place when in fact he wasn't, that concerns me," Bauer said.

Sanford was in Argentina a year ago as part of an economic development trip to South America. In more recent months, he was rumored as a potential presidential contender in 2012. His critics brushed that aside Wednesday.

"Unless he runs for president of Argentina, I think he has no chance of becoming president. The rest of the country wouldn't have taken him seriously anyway," said Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman who rapped Sanford for "apparently taking off to run away from home like some hormone-infused adolescent."

Thad Beyle, a political scientist and expert on governors at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said Sanford's missteps require restoring credibility at the staff level. "My guess is they've got to do a lot. It shows they didn't know what he was up to and what was going on" Beyle said.

Sanford, a trim, 49-year-old former real estate investor and Air Force reservist, is typically drained at the end of a legislative session, former aides said.

"It's not unusual to take off and kind of be by himself," said state Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican and Sanford's former chief of staff. "It's part of what makes him him."

The governor has long been known as a loner — bucking GOP leadership during three U.S. House terms and casting the only dissenting vote on Medicaid coverage for some breast and cervical cancer treatment. He clashes often with the Republicans who control both chambers of his state Legislature, once famously carrying two piglets to the door of the House in opposition to what he said was pork-barrel spending.

But past vacations never left Sanford completely out of touch, said Chris Drummond, Sanford's former spokesman. At worst, Sanford would call in daily or would respond to voice mails.

Who was in charge became the political and practical question.

Essentially, Sanford's staffers said they'd decide who to call if an emergency popped up and the governor couldn't be reached. The state's constitution says a temporary absence would give the lieutenant governor full authority in the state. But the temporary absence has never been defined.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor_where

---

Quote:

---

Is this related to the FEMA 9.11 videographer seeking asylum in Argentina?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
He came out of the woods to make an important announcement. He has cheated on his wife, and will be resigning from the Board of the Republican Governor's Association, or as it's more commonly known, the Penthouse Forum. Sanford, Ensign...great job guys, a few more nails in the Party coffin! John Edwards is laughing his ass off, and Spitzer must be wondering why he actually resigned.

Next week Cal Coolidge, Warren (hot pants) Harding, and DD Eisenhower are going public with their dirty affairs.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by MikeWilliamson:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
He came out of the woods to make an important announcement. He has cheated on his wife, and will be resigning from the Board of the Republican Governor's Association, or as it's more commonly known, the Penthouse Forum. Sanford, Ensign...great job guys, a few more nails in the Party coffin! John Edwards is laughing his ass off, and Spitzer must be wondering why he actually resigned.

Next week Cal Coolidge, Warren (hot pants) Harding, and DD Eisenhower are going public with their dirty affairs.

---

I think he's trying to court the Democrats. clinton's affairs seemed to help his popularity. Nor has Jesse Jackson suffered from his, nor Teddy the Boozer with his "offshore drilling," so to speak, nor a passel of others.

Recent novels by Michael Z. Williamson
CONTACT WITH CHAOS, Apr 09 from Baen Books
BETTER TO BEG FORGIVENESS..., Nov 07 from Baen Books
http://www.MichaelZWilliamson.com

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

Either that, or they're trying to court the new Republicans. After all, isn't David Vitter still in office? Larry Craig? I think Mark Foley actually resigned - or at any rate, he left, saying he was "expecting a page". Funny thing, though - I don't remember him having a beeper!



Mike

---

Quote:

---

Gov. Sanford Admits Affair and Explains Disappearance

Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina said Wednesday that he had been having an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina for the last year, ending the mystery surrounding his disappearance over Father’s Day weekend and considerably dampening his prospects for a national political career.

But his confession and apology, in a rambling, nationally televised news conference, left other mysteries unsolved, like whether he had lied to his staff members as late as Monday about his whereabouts, whether the affair had definitively ended, whether he would resign from the governorship and whether he would even have acknowledged the affair had he not been met at the airport in Atlanta by a reporter upon his return.

Mr. Sanford, 49, admitted that he had been in Buenos Aires since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail, as his staff members had said.

The governor’s wife, Jenny, 46, who did not attend the news conference, issued a statement later in the day saying that while she loves her husband, she asked him to leave the family two weeks ago in a trial separation, though she still believes the marriage can be repaired.

Because of the separation, she said, she did not know where he was in the last week.

Coming a week after the admission of an extramarital affair by Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican who had also begun exploring a presidential run in 2012, the governor’s acknowledgment was yet another blow to Republican hopes for a strong field of challengers to President Obama.

The governor was not known as a moralist but has frowned on infidelity and as a congressman voted to impeach President Bill Clinton after the Monica Lewinsky affair. “He lied under a different oath, and that’s the oath to his wife,” Mr. Sanford said at the time on CNN. “So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”

At the news conference, Mr. Sanford said his friendship with the unnamed woman began eight years ago and became a romance about a year ago. He said he had seen her three times since then. The relationship was “discovered” five months ago, he said, and he had been trying to reconcile with his wife.

Mr. Sanford strongly implied that he had ended the affair. “The one thing that you really find is that you absolutely want resolution,” he said. “And so oddly enough, I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina.”

On Wednesday afternoon, The State, the leading newspaper in Columbia, published on its Web site several e-mail messages it said it obtained in December between Mr. Sanford and a Buenos Aires woman the newspaper identified only as Maria.

emails: www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html

www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/us/25sanford.html

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by whozit:
This is too funny, Joss couldn't write this

---

Quote:

---

name: BELEN
meaning: Bethlehem [Israel]
Belen appears in the following countries: Hebrew

Bethlehem is the name of the town in Judah [Jew] where King David and [rabbi] Jesus were born.

www.babynology.com/meaning-belen-f60.html

---