Incoming Obama administration director of speechwriting Jon Favreau (L) and a friend pose with a cardboard cutout of incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a party. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

Via WaPo:

Question No. 58 in the transition team vetting document for the Obama White House asks that applicants: "Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.)"

Question No. 63 asks that applicants "please provide any other information … that could … be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect."

For a while there this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama’s immensely talented chief speechwriter, 27-year-old Jon Favreau, might have been pondering how to address that question.

That’s when some interesting photos of a recent party he attended — including one where he’s dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of secretary of state-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and another where he’s placed his hand on the cardboard former first lady’s chest while a friend is offering her lips a beer — popped up on Facebook for about two hours. The photos were quickly taken down — along with every other photo Favreau had of himself on the popular social networking site, save for one profile headshot.

Asked about the photos, Favreau, who was recently appointed director of speechwriting for the White House, declined comment. A transition official said that Favreau had "reached out to Senator Clinton to offer an apology."

Favreau is not the first campaign aide whose online presence has proved awkward. Last March, John McCain aide Soren Dayton forwarded an anti-Obama YouTube video to his private Twitter feed linking Obama with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, leading to his suspension from the campaign. And in 2007, two bloggers hired by former North Carolina senator John Edwards stepped down after blog posts they had written before he hired them became a subject of controversy.

Favreau’s case seems unlikely to be so dire; Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines cast the photos as evidence of increased bonhomie between the formerly rival camps.

"Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon’s obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application," he said in an e-mail.

Via El Paso Times: 

EL PASO — Sometimes controversial and always outspoken, former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates said Thursday that casual drug users in the U.S. are at the root of the violence in Juárez and should be shot.

Gates was in El Paso to speak at a ceremony for graduating peace officers.

Gates, who led the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992, also predicted that the violence in Juárez would spill over into El Paso and that law enforcement agencies on the U.S. side should be prepared.

"I don’t think the people in the United States are grasping what a serious problem it is. Mexico has lost more people in a very short period of time than those lost in Iraq or Afghanistan," he said.

"I think, you know, I have such a low opinion of the people in the United States who continue to use drugs. They are really responsible for what’s happening in Mexico — they really are. We go along every day. We don’t take that responsibility that we ought to assume. Somebody asked me one time about casual drug users, I said they ought to take them out and shoot them."

The statement, he said, is an exaggeration, but it emphasizes the point.

Gates, who was in law enforcement for 43 years and was involved solving high- profile crimes such as the Manson murders and the Hillside Strangler case, talked to 34 graduates of the El Paso Police Department Basic Peace Officer Course and two graduates of Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Gates told the new officers that their duty was to serve and protect, to have reverence for the law and to preserve the integrity of their badges.

"Unfortunately, in Mexico, there’s a mix," he said after the ceremony. "You’ve got people in law enforcement who have not maintained that integrity. They’ve tarnished the badge and some of them have paid for it, dearly.

"So it’s a very difficult for a chief to acquire those kind of individuals that you just saw here on the stage in El Paso. Very, very difficult. Without that kind of quality people, any chief — I don’t care where it is, but particularly right now in Mexico — (fighting crime) is almost an impossible task," said Gates. He has been credited with initiating the city’s first SWAT team and was police chief during the Rodney King beating.

The Mexican government, he said, should continue to use the more than 1,600 soldiers deployed around Juárez since the beginning of the year to help stop the execution- and ambush-style slayings. More than 1,400 people have been killed so far this year.

Law enforcement in El Paso, Gates said, should also be prepared in case the violence spills over.

"You’re so close to the border. I think it’s something that every police officer ought to give a lot of thought, because it can spill over here very, very quickly. Very quickly," he said. "Again, El Paso being so close. The problems are going to spill over. They have to."

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said officers in the department are aware of the potential spillover in violence. When officers take the oath, he said, they make the commitment of stepping in harm’s way.

"They would not really be up to speed if they weren’t paying attention to things like (the violence in Juárez). It affects the community, it affects them," Allen said. "With that aspect in mind, they have to be aware of the events that are affecting their city."

A Danish warship has rescued a group of suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden after receiving a distress signal from the ship, which was floundering in heavy seas, the Danish Navy said.

The Naval Operational Command said the Absalon was bound by international law to help the men and that Danish sailors had uncovered a number of weapons onboard the vessel similar to those often used in pirate attacks on merchant ships.

"Due to the weather, it was not possible to take the troubled ship in tow and it was destroyed in the interest of shipping safety," the Navy said in a statement.

The men were later handed over to authorities in Yemen.

A surge in piracy this year in waters off Somalia has pushed up insurance costs, brought pirate gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and prompted foreign navies to rush to the area to protect merchant shipping.

Pirates are holding about a dozen ships and nearly 300 crew.

Among the captured vessels is Ukraine’s MV Faina and a Saudi tanker loaded with $US100 million of oil.

Source

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“The men were later handed over to authorities in Yemen”…  Where they were promptly released.