Note to talk show guests and callers:

Do not. Repeat Do not use the "throw the baby out with the bathwater" methaphor in dicussing abortion.

Order and Disorder (part I)

The natural order for men to is be attracted to women.

It is disordered for men to be attracted to men.

How can be made more clear than that? Lust and masturbation are disordered as well.

This is all from the constant teaching of the Church and paragraph 2351 and following.

Popular opinion may classify same sex attraction, lust, and masturbation as all choices that one can make, but all sin starts with a choice.

What the Church teaches (and what I believe) is that same sex attraction is an objective disorder to human nature.

By human nature I do not mean merely occurring in nature because, of course, all types of physical and psychological disorders occur in the natural world.

I do not support discrimination against homosexuals or people afflicted with other disorders. It was this desire not to discriminate that made people of all types, including the very influential American Psychiatric Association in 1973, go silent on the question of it being a disorder.

Today advocacy of homosexuality and it's thematic lifestyle name, gay, is being shouted from the streets, rooftops, and several cable channels. Anyone speaking to it as a disorder is marginalized, called hateful, and silenced. It's a paradox that gay advocacy still has campaigns that present the inverse of the world as it is now -- that one speaking out favorably on homosexuality risks being silenced -- it's called The Day of Silence just in case you forgot what April 26 is for.

Follow-up

Man pushed in front of train during argument : Newsday

...the incident occurred shortly after both men left a bar at 4:30 a.m. and were seen arguing on the Flushing-bound platform of the 52nd Street station in Woodside, police said. The two were quarreling over a 16-year-old girl they had met in a bar, a police source said.

The accused murderer, Molina is 19-years-old. The minimum drinking age is 21.

The girl is 16. Where are the parents in this?

Tales of the Roe Effect

Childless by Choice:
Pitter-patter of little feet isn't for them: Chicago Tribune

When Tina Roggenkamp and her husband, Mark, decided to keep their marriage free of children they took a lot of things into account.

They considered their desire for greater freedom, something that enabled her to get a graduate degree and start a small consulting business. There was also their enjoyment of what she called "smaller things," such as being able to sleep late when they wanted and to dine out whenever the mood struck them.

There were larger issues too, such as environmental concerns and worries about an overcrowded planet.

"We worry about global warming," said the 25-year-old who lives in Charlotte. "We worry about what the world will be like in the future. There's so much uncertainty, and I can't see bringing a life into such a world."

Blogger credit:

Catholic World Report

I wonder if they reflect what the world would be like if everyone shared their view of "environmental concerns" and or if, at the very least, their own parents were childless by choice.

They are just getting a headstart on becoming the "greedy geezers" who will expect other people's children to fund their social security and medicare in 40 years.

On the positive side, think of it as culling the selfish and self-centered from the herd.

The Roe effect describes the demographic changes brought on the larger society
by the practice of artificial birth control and abortion.

The Jaffa gate of Jerusalem changes hands -- or does it?

New patriarch:
No land for Jews
: WorldNetDaily

Christian leader signs secret document
nixing sale of key Jerusalem properties

The man enthroned last week as Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem signed a secret document obliging him to nullify the recent sale to Jewish groups of land comprising much of a key entrance to Jerusalem's Old City, and has allegedly made statements against Jews living in certain parts of Jerusalem, WorldNetDaily has learned.

Greek Orthodox control of this area which is adjacent to the hotels just outside the old city is for all practical purposes Palestinian control, so the transfer of this land to Jewish groups represents an full of political as well as religious considerations.

Believers Flock to 'Crying' Virgin Mary : AP

Carrying rosary beads and cameras, the faithful have been coming in a steady stream to a church on the outskirts of Sacramento for a glimpse of what some are calling a miracle: A statue of the Virgin Mary they say has begun crying a substance that looks like blood.

It was first noticed more than a week ago, when a priest at the Vietnamese Catholic Martyrs Church spotted a stain on the statue's face and wiped it away. Before Mass on Nov. 20, people again noticed a reddish substance near the eyes of the white concrete statue outside the small church, said Ky Truong, 56, a parishioner.

The diocese has no comment.

500 feet from where I live...

Pushed in Front of Subway, Man Is Killed : New York Times

A Queens bakery worker was killed yesterday morning when a man his family described as a friend and former co-worker threw him into the path of an oncoming subway train during a fight, the police said.

The killing occurred just before 5 a.m., several hours after the victim, Edison Guzman, 22, of Richmond Hill, had finished his shift at the bakery, his relatives said.

Yesterday evening, detectives arrested a Brooklyn man in Mr. Guzman's death. Charges against the man, Richie Molina, 19, of Humboldt Street in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, were pending last night.

Patricio Bermeo, an uncle of Mr. Guzman's, said last night that his nephew and the suspect formerly worked together at the bakery and that they still "hung out regularly."

"They were friends," he said.

"Maybe they were fighting, maybe they were playing," Mr. Bermeo said.

The authorities said it was unclear what had provoked the fight, which they said had begun under the elevated tracks of the No. 7 line near the 52nd Street station, on Roosevelt Avenue in the Sunnyside section of Queens.

Mr. Guzman and Mr. Molina then went upstairs onto the outbound platform and continued to fight, the police said. As a train entered the station, the killer shoved Mr. Guzman onto the tracks, according to a statement to detectives from the train's motorman, whose name was not disclosed. The train consisted of 11 cars, each weighing almost 37,000 pounds, according to Charles F. Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit.

It was unclear exactly how close Mr. Guzman was to the train when he was pushed, but it is impossible for a train entering a station at the customary speed to stop suddenly.

"He was all twisted up. It was bad," said Paul Cabrera, 35, a track worker at the scene.

William Schultz, 54, a transit maintenance supervisor who was working in the station, said he had run to the platform after he heard a woman screaming.

Mr. Guzman's father, Raul Guzman, identified a cellphone found at the scene as belonging to his son, according to Mr. Bermeo.

Mr. Bermeo said that the elder Mr. Guzman had been shown video by the police of the assailant fleeing the station and had identified the man as Mr. Molina. The police said detectives had obtained surveillance video from both the station and a nearby store.

At the victim's home on 133rd Street, Mr. Bermeo, 41, said Mr. Guzman's family was from Cuenca, Ecuador, and moved to New York City 18 years ago.

For the last four years, Mr. Guzman worked at Pain d'Avignon, a bakery in Astoria, with his father, Mr. Bermeo said. He worked until midnight on Saturday after switching shifts so he could have Thanksgiving off and spend the day with his family, Mr. Bermeo added.

"He's young; he doesn't give a problem," Mr. Bermeo said. "He goes to school. He wanted to be somebody." Mr. Guzman had a girlfriend and enjoyed bowling and playing pool after work, Mr. Bermeo said

Another uncle, Luis Guzman, 44, said: "My brother called me in my home and said, 'My son is dead.' We can't believe it."

Last night, no one answered the door at the apartment where Mr. Molina lives with his mother and two sisters. The building superintendent, Arnold Cruz, 46, said of Mr. Molina: "If he said a handful of words, it was a lot. He was a quiet kid."

The death halted service on the 7 line from 4:59 a.m. until 9:05 a.m., when outbound train service resumed, said Mark Groce, a transit spokesman.

It was very quiet this morning at 7:30 when I went to buy the New York Times and the New York Post. I chatted with my newspaper seller. She said that from the time she arrived the train had not been running. My family and I went off to our retreat at the St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset and then we learned what happened.

This part of the subway is an elevated train. As the television account put it graphically, the body parts rained down from the tracks 30 feet overhead.

Wondering what it means to be a Conservative

I was watching the film Amistad, and later reading up on the actual events that the conservatives were alarmed by the decision which freed the Africans.

In an excellent performance, John Qunicy Adams was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins.
Adams was one of the founders of the Whig party -- advocates of states rights. Here Adams argued for the African's freedom that even under Spanish law they were illegally seized.

Later the Whigs were split by the question of slavery. But what does it mean to say that the conservatives of 1841 were pro-slavery?

Referring to the Politically incorrect guide, it seems that Thomas Woods calls pro-slavery John C. Calhoun, a conservative. So it might be correct to say that the conservatives prior to 1860 were the pro-slavery.

Play and Pray

Meadowlands sets aside prayer spaces for Muslims : AP (November 23, 2005)

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority says it will provide a special area for anyone who wants a place to pray while at Giants Stadium or the Continental Airlines Arena — a reaction to Muslim groups' outcries after several fans who prayed at a New York Giants game were detained and questioned by the FBI in September.

One the plus side, if people suspiciously congregate in a restricted non-public area next to a nexus of air ducts as these men were, there will be a better justification to detain them.

I wonder how access to people of all faiths (or no faith) will be accomodated in the "special area".

The AP story isn't quite accurate in the lead above, according to the witnesses who I heard and read about the men were not merely praying but behaving like they were examining the area for concealment.

A mixed verdict for Cardinal Egan

High court says newspapers can intervene in abuse settlement : AP

The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that newspapers can ask for documents related to the Bridgeport Diocese’s settlement of priest abuse cases but left it up to a lower court to decide whether to release them.

Attorneys for The Hartford Courant, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Boston Globe argued that the public has a constitutional right under the First Amendment to see the records.

They say the sealing orders expired when the diocese settled the lawsuits in 2001.

Cardinal Egan was bishop of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000. Disclosure of the details of these settlements can't be good news for him.

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Happy Thanksgiving

We had a traditional Thanksgiving at home. A late invitee was a recent immigrant to the United States whose family doesn't have a traditional Thanksgiving and wanted to experience it firsthand.

I have so much to be thankful for, my family thought it was funny that I would thank God for the Internet. I hope that when I meet the Lord on judgment day, the I won't be called a worthless servant for writing this blog.

Holiness starts with the awareness of God. All thanks and praise be with Him, the source of our bounty.

Pregnant Teach Fighting Sin 'Ax' : New York Post

A pregnant and unmarried former pre-kindergarten teacher [Michelle McCusker] yesterday accused the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Queens elementary school [St. Rose of Lima (Rockaway Beach)] where she worked of wrongfully firing her for having sex out of wedlock and choosing to keep her baby.

There's a question of the prudence of the school doing this which I will get to but first: What was she thinking? She agreed in writing to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church which she must have known to have included the teaching favoring marriage and condeming fornication.

The response of the diocesen spokesman sounds a little flat:

The school and its parish church referred press inquiries to the diocese. Diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa said in a statement, "This is a difficult situation for every person involved, but the school had no choice but to follow the principles contained in the teachers personnel handbook."

Now to the question of the prudence of the school to fire her:

"I didn't think they could fire me," said McCusker, who informed the principal she was not planning to marry the father of her baby. "I held the Catholic religion to a higher standard."

Actually, to hold teachers to a higher standard, the school is probably doing the right thing. She was pregnant at the time she was hired and did not disclose that to the school. To me, that shows bad faith on her part -- she knew that she would not be able to complete the school year and in the later stages of her pregnancy be physically impaired from being a pre-kindergarten teacher.

The Post put "Catholic morality" in scare quotes.

But it seems that McCusker presented the school with two bad alternatives: The school should have allowed McCusker to teach the remainder of her contract and then not renew the contract -- simply because firing her for her pregnancy exposed them to this legal liability. They have made themselves too easy a target.

Separated at birth?

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Msgr. Dale Fushek	Tim Russert

The Three Year Rule

The lead on the radio and television news is a leak of the document from the Vatican on the ordination of homosexuals, or more precisely, their admission to seminary.

Vatican speaks against gay seminarians : AP

The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.

A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.

I think the resistance and evasion of this instruction will be intense.
I'm mostly a pessimist on this kind of action by the Vatican: no homosexuals are going to be excluded from the seminary unless the seminary staff desires it to be so.

Of course, we need to see what the final form of the rule is.

Monsignor in Phoenix is arrested : AP

The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.

Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.

Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.

Fushek "used a relationship of trust to perform criminal acts, including but not limited to sexual activities, improper sexual discussions and physical contact, upon vulnerable minor and adult victims," prosecutors said in court papers.

Prosecutors said Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa or on property belonging to the church. The alleged victims were seven young men and boys.

Fushek resigned as pastor of St. Timothy's in April after someone claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985. He has denied the allegations and remains on administrative leave.

Thomas O'Brien was bishop from 1981-2003. He resigned after hitting a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident. He was convicted and not given a prison term but probation.

Update:

Arizona Republic article with a very detailed video link. The news reader without a trace of irony calls the former Vicar General, the mouthpiece of the diocese.

The Pope was Jewish says Historian
:Metro News (Manchester UK)

A Manchester historian has claimed that Pope John Paul II was Jewish.

Yaakov Wise says his study into the the maternal ancestry of Karol Josez Wojtyla (John Paul II's real name) has revealed startling conclusions.

Mr Wise, a researcher in orthodox Jewish history and philosophy, said the late Pope's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were all probably Jewish and came from a small town not far from Krakow.

Another call for dialog

Priests speak out against
Vatican's anti-gay policies : New York Blade

Some Catholic priests who are tired of the Vatican's anti-gay rhetoric have joined together to start

Catholics Affirming Homosexual Leadership, an organization founded to support gay clergy and parishioners.

The CAHL Web site explains its purpose: "As members of the Catholic Church, we want to express our support for the countless gay religious men and women, deacons, priests and bishops who have ministered in the Church throughout the ages. We affirm those gay priests and seminarians who continue this tradition of faithful service."

There's not much there yet, but, after all, the Vatican hasn't released the official document yet either.

South Africa: Catholic Bishop Calls for New Aids Theology : AllAfrica.com

A South African Catholic cleric who supports the use of condoms against HIV/AIDS, contrary to the church's stance on the prophylactics, has called for a new "theology" for the pandemic.

Bishop Kevin Dowling [C. SS. R., Rustenburg] told The Chicago Tribune that such a theology would be based on an ethic of "human dignity and justice and human rights instead of just an ethic of sexuality".

Official Roman Catholic teaching bans condoms because they are a form of contraception, arguing that abstinence is the best way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

However, Dowling argued that abstinence in marriage should be reconsidered "in a diocese full of desperately poor women with few options beyond prostitution to feed their children."

If he can no longer teach official Roman Catholic teaching, he ought to resign so the people of his diocese can have a bishop who does.

Pope will pull the strings on the Supreme Court : Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: Concord Monitor (NH)

Will pope decide what is lawful?

though I do not think a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court should be doled out on the basis of religious orientation, I also do not think a religion should automatically excommunicate a member of the U.S. Senate for voting to uphold a law deemed constitutional in several Supreme Court tests.

I did not pick this fight. The Roman Catholic Church made it a necessary consideration by the decision the Vatican handed down during the 2004 election cycle.

In 2004, Marc Balestrieri, a Roman Catholic canon lawyer from Los Angeles, sued John Kerry for heresy in ecclesiastical court. The basis of the suit was Kerry's support of a woman's right to choose to terminate a pregnancy under U.S. law.

In October 2004, Balestrieri received his answer from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The congregation wrote that any Catholic politician who says he personally opposes abortion but supports a woman's right to choose incurs automatic excommunication.

Neither the pope nor any other high Catholic authority has disagreed with or denounced the decision. In fact, the person who headed the congregation at the time is now pope. That would seem to cement this decision by the church to dictate the actions of its adherents within the U.S. government.

The problem arises when there is an accepted, constitutional law that provides for a woman certain lawful access to terminating a pregnancy through a personal decision. The church is saying that not only Catholic women but also all women in the United States cannot have that lawful access.

We have never had a Roman Catholic majority on the Supreme Court. Justice Roberts was the fourth Catholic on the court. If Judge Alito is confirmed, it will be a Catholic majority. That means five Catholics could overrule any decision before the court. The final arbiters of a woman's right to choose will be five Catholics, each of whom will be automatically excommunicated if he, as they are all men, chooses to uphold a woman's right to choose.

Chris Baker-Salmon, Antrim

Just one problem, Chris, with this theory: Kerry was not excommunicated. In fact, he was not even denied Holy Communion. I don't think any Catholic politician by name has been actually been denied Holy Communion, much less excommunicated, for supporting the killing by choice of the unborn.

As for Marc Balestrieri, his last press release was in January 2005.

No action has been taken on his complaint.

Update: Msgr. John Woolsey

High-life rev sez: Everyone does it! : New York Daily News

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned - but heck, so has everyone else.

That's the moral twist on a legal argument raised by a Catholic monsignor who's hoping to win a criminal dispensation from charges he stole $820,000 from his upper East Side parish.

Lawyers for Msgr. John Woolsey, the former pastor of St. John the Martyr Church, have told a Manhattan judge that priests like him have been hiding money from the Archdiocese of New York for years.

Parishes routinely shortchange Edward Cardinal Egan on the archdiocese's share from the Sunday collection - hiding funds in accounts beyond the eyes of church auditors, the lawyers said.

Woolsey's story, laid out in court papers seeking dismissal of a grand larceny indictment, is backed up by a longtime church bookkeeper and by an old pal, William Donohue, the outspoken president of the Catholic League.

"This has been going on for years. It's a way of life," Donohue told the Daily News. "He's one of the greatest priests I ever met in my life. To impute that this man would grab money out of poor boxes is outrageous and malicious. His integrity is being ripped off."

This is the second greatest scandal in the American Church today: money and greed.

Keep moving, there's nothing to see here...

Catholic bishops' president defends American priests after a negative 'avalanche' over abuse : AP

The president of America's Roman Catholic bishops defended American priests Monday, saying a "handful" of miscreants who sexually abused minors have forced the rest of the clergy "to endure an avalanche of negative public attention."

You've got to get down to the 7th paragraph to find out that this "handful" has bankrupt his own diocese.

It's one billion dollars and the number is only going to grow. Please, don't minimize the problem.

Ken Schram: An Honorary Extreme Catholic

Beware The Wrath Of 'My Gang' : KOMO-TV

After a Wenatchee police officer proclaimed that wearing rosary beads around one's neck could be a sign of gang activity, school administrators decided to just up and ban rosaries.

Now, many of us former "Mackerel Snappers" have a special affinity for our rosaries and don't take too kindly to being told to pack them up and put them away.

Officials at Lake Chelan School District banned the wearing of rosaries (AP story)

He's a real stupid is as stupid does moment:

"I could tell these kids weren’t gang members, but I had to draw the line the same," he said. "I can’t say yours are OK, but his are gang-related."

This might be a clue that this sort of ban is unworkable.

Gay (Episcopalian) bishop attacks Catholic stand : BBC

The first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, has called for the Roman Catholic church's attitude to homosexuals to be confronted.

The Bishop of New Hampshire said the Vatican's ban on ordaining gay men was "vile", in a speech in London.

He received a standing ovation after his speech, in which he spoke of how he had faced prejudice in his role.

Some Anglican conservatives had called for the St-Martin-in-the-Fields church venue to be changed to a secular one.

Bishop Robinson said: "We are seeing so many Roman Catholics joining the church.

"Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church."

He continued: "I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries.

"It is an act of violence that needs to be confronted."

What the Catholic Church has been doing for centuries, namely excluding men who cannot make a commitment to live chaste lives, is violence that needs to be confronted, then the Catholic Church has been threatened.

Robison is in his denomination a leader of 16,000 Christians according to his web site. Did he just call them to jihad against the Catholic Church?

Psychologically, it seems an odd projection to call the insistence upon chastity to be vile. Since 81 percent of the child and young adult sexual abuse was homosexual and the incidents of sexual misconduct by clergy with adults were also overwhelmingly homsexual, it might be a good beginning of the end.(see this summary of the John Jay study)

Paris Burning. It's not over yet

A very good article by Robert Spencer in FrontPage

That decision is a small example of what the Paris riots demonstrate on a large scale: the abject failure of the multiculturalist philosophy that disparate groups can coexist within a nation without any idea that they must share at least some basic values.

The French are paying the price today for blithely assuming that France could absorb a population holding values vastly different from that of the host population without negative consequences for either.

What do they want?

I know there's no dialog started with the rioters, although I'm not sure it's correct to call them that because there's visible signs of planning and coordination in the attacks that your typical riot lacks.

But what do the rioters want?

French out of France? (or at least Paris)

Parental Advisory on this one -- for foul language

Overheard in New York

I'll let you know when I have a contribution.

Back online

It's been a while, but finally a²blog is able to get back online. However, there's not much time for me to keep on updating here. But I'll make time soon. It's been busy. Life's always busy.

Next entry will be a true entry. Hopefully a meaningful one. Cheers to all!

Katelyn Sills was expelled for whistleblowing : Lifesite

A teacher, Marie Bain, at Loretto (Catholic) High School in Sacramento was seen by Katelyn at an abortion clinic. Katelyn in a vigil and Marie was an escort.

Katelyn brought this to the attention of the school and didn't have a problem with this disclosure and then she went to the bishop who directed that the school fire the teacher.

In retaliation, the school expelled Katelyn.

Blogger credit:
Domenico Bettinelli

Time for a Constitutional Amendment and other stuff

"no fundamental right of parents to be the exclusive provider of information regarding sexual matters to their children." : Ninth Circuit
Lifesite

This is why we need to keep electing Republicans and keep the pressure on them once in office to appoint originalists.

In the meantime, pass a constitional amendment supporting the rights of parents to make educational choices and support vouchers for K-12 education. End the public school monopoly.

Bust up the Ninth Circuit. Put one Circuit in Los Angeles and another in Seattle.

Is Paris Burning?

Six nights of riots in Paris ghetto split Chirac cabinet : U.K. Telegraph

The French government was reeling yesterday after six nights of rioting which have exposed a split in the cabinet over how to deal with poverty and immigration in the dilapidated Paris suburbs.

As authorities cleaned up the debris of another bout of violence, including the wrecks of 250 cars burned out on Tuesday night, both the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, put off foreign trips to deal with the rioting.

A very busy news week in the United States has pushed this story which would otherwise merit a headline here.

Look who's coming to my neighboorhood

Charles and Camilla to go straight to Ground Zero: Times of London

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall headed straight to Ground Zero in Manhattan after they stepped onto US soil on their first foreign visit together.

The chartered plane carrying Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and their 16-strong entourage, touched down in fine weather at New York's JFK airport, after leaving RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire at 9am.

Camilla, who has been trying to project a more glamorous image, was wearing a red Italian wool crepe jacket and dress, with velvet chiffon trim by designer Roy Allen.

At Ground Zero, their first ever official duty on foreign soil, they were met by New York Governor George Pataki, British Consul General Sir Phillip Thomas and Kenneth Ringler, Executive Director of the Port Authority which owns the World Trade Centre site.

They paid an emotional visit to the Family Room, a small room set aside for the relatives of those killed and open to them 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The walls are plastered in personal mementos, photographs, birthday cards and tributes from military services around the world. A model of the twin towers is enshrined under a white arch topped with a dove. There are seats inside for the bereaved to sit and grieve and several windows overlooking the site.

"For so many this is their graveyard," a Port Authority spokesperson said.

I walk the long path from Broadway to the Hudson River each day at north end of the site of the World Trade Center and we encounter tourists all the time. Today the tourists were not only in my building but walking through my floor which is very unusual because we deal with data subject to SEC privacy rules.

I suspect they were part of the entourage.