9500 Liberty Screening, Saturday, June 19th BRUU

Elena

With Corey’s recent diatribe, suggesting taking his FAILED County anti immigration initiative statewide, catching up on past events seems very appropriate!

Arizona has enacted what FAIR attempted to do in our County first. The difference is that even in the very beginning there was push back against many components in the original resolution. What PWC was left with was pretty much what we had BEFORE all the trauma and heartache……..287 G. The crux of the battle fell on the “probable cause” mandate, which, eventually, Corey HAD to vote to repeal in order to save face.

I hope to see many “new faces” Saturday! I really would enjoy meeting people who post here in person. Even if we disagree, putting a “name” to a face helps to personalize how we treat one another.

Manassas, VA
Saturday, June 19 at 6pm
Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Congregation
9350 Main Street
Old Town Manassas VA
Panel discussion following the film with Elena Schlossberg and Lisa Johnson-Firth who both appear in the film.
Tickets will be $10.00 at the door with all proceeds going to the 501c(3) Interactive Democracy Alliance.

Rise of the New Right: Part 2

MoonHowler

Part 2 of Rise of the New Right addresses the common theme of dislike of President Barack Obama. The ‘birthers’ are explored. The video is about 7 minutes.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

One often hears that the ‘new right’ includes people who voted for Barack Obama and have become disenchanged and want to take their vote back. Is that true? I only know of one person who said that and that person is something of a political schizophrenic.

Have people always called a sitting president a communist, a socialist? I find that so horribly disrespectful.
What motivates deep hatred of any president? When does this kind of hate become unhealthy?

The Prez Hits $20 Billion Homerun

MoonHowler

Tuesday night there was much grumbling and grousing about President Obama. His usual critics on the right were critical of everything he said or did. He didn’t show enough emotion, he didn’t talk tough enough, he inhaled wrong, he exhaled wrong. He was also criticized for discussing alternative energy at a time of crisis. He should have called this person and that person.

Those on the left weren’t too pleased either. They felt he didn’t go far enough. He didn’t show emotion, he didn’t hold BP accountable enough, blah blah blah. He didn’t wash enough pelicans.

Then Wednesday something short of a miracle happened. President Obama went into a meeting with the BP folks and members of his administration. He came out with $20 billion dollars allocated in escrow for damages to the environment, the economy and people’s livelihoods and an apology to the American people. Dividends won’t be paid out and BP remains intact.

 

Not too bad for a guy who couldn’t shoot straight on Tuesday.

[Sorry, wrong video posted]

Corey Stewart Pushes for Clone of Arizona Immigration Law

MoonHowler

Corey Stewart apparently wants our help hunting down illegal aliens. He must be jealous that Arizona is getting more attention than he is. His new initiative, The Rule of Law Campaign, is plastered all over his website and his Facebook page. Too bad it contains lies and could possibly get Virginia sued.

From www.coreystewart.com:

The Rule of Law Campaign Submitted by Corey on Wed, 06/16/2010 – 12:02.

Prince William County’s crackdown on illegal immigration worked: Illegal Aliens fled the county, and the violent crime rate plummeted. It is now time to protect all communities in Virginia from the effects of Illegal Immigration. Please join me in our effort to protect every county and city in Commonwealth by following Prince William County’s and Arizona’s lead and enforce the Rule of Law.

Please join the petition below if you would like your state and local elected officials to support The Virginia Rule of Law Act, which would do the following:

•Enhance Police Powers to Capture, Detain, and help Deport Criminal Aliens
◦Direct Virginia law enforcement officials to ascertain, in any lawful contact, the legal presence of an individual, when practicable.
◦Direct Virginia jails to release criminal aliens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after serving their sentence.
◦Allow law enforcement officials to arrest illegals without warrant if they have reasonable suspicion that the arrest would make them removable from the United States.
•Virginia Criminal Penalties for Illegal Aliens
◦Make it a violation of Virginia law to fail to complete alien registration documents.
◦Impose harsh penalties for terrorists and illegals caught with illegal drugs and deadly weapons.
•Outlaw Sanctuary Policies
◦Prohibit cities and counties from preventing law enforcement officials from inquiring about legal presence or preventing them from sharing information with ICE.
•Outlaw Illegal Day Laboring and Public Roadside Solicitation
◦Allow law enforcement officials to break up day laboring operations.
◦Prohibit solicitation along all public roads, crippling illegal day labor sites.
•Crackdown on Human Smuggling
◦Prohibit smuggling and human trafficking, especially for sexual slavery.
FULL DRAFT TEXT AVAILALBE SOON

There’s that darn probable cause that Corey tried to push through Prince William County. Let’s see, how would that work exactly?

I am sure that there are people out there who will be rah rah-ing and cheering Corey on. Election time is a little less than a year and a half off and he is getting a head start on it this year. Make no mistake. We have seen it all before.

Stewart would have those not living around  here believe that he single handedly ran off all the ‘illegals.’ Not even. Check with your schools and look at those designated as Hispanic. Not about Hispanics? Don’t even pretend that isn’t what it is all about.

Our violent crime rate plummeted? Not even close. Murders actually went up.

The 2009 UVA survey sheds some light on the topic in the Washington Post.   Note the date: 9/27/09

Over-all citizen approval of how things operate in Prince William has improved from 2007.

“I’m very pleased with the results,” Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said. “I suspect some of the improved perception of what we are doing has had to do with people seeing the reality versus the rhetoric. We try to be fair, lawful and responsible. . . . I’m proud our officers are being received in a better light than when this was initially started.”

Guterbock said the police department’s community outreach on the immigration policy might have helped drive the numbers back up. Another possibility, he said, is that people who were highly dissatisfied have left the county.

The illegal immigration policy could have also affected residents’ trust in government,

which dipped to 58.4 percent last year but rebounded to about 63 percent this year.

 

Additionally, the PWC Crime Report disputes Stewart’s falsehoods. There was a decrease in domestic violence incidents from 2007 to 2008. (1358 in 2007 and 1256 in 2008)  That is hardly a plummeting violent crime rate. 

Don’t take my word or Corey’s word for the Crime Statistics. Download the Police Department Report 2008 for yourself.      PWC Police Report 2008    Begin about page 19.  Pages 31-32 give specifics for illegal immigrants.

Rule of Law begins at home.  We cannot break the law to enforce Corey’ Rule of Law.

We will continue to monitor the Chairman’s trumpeting of his new plan.  Stewart isn’t going to be able to use immigration twice in the same lifetime to catapult himself into an elected position he wants.

Cop Punches Girl in Seattle

MoonHowler

This video has gone viral all over the internet.  There are definitely 2 sides to this story. The girls appear out of control.

The minute you put your hands on a police officer it is considered an assault. 

Did the officer over-react?  Different people will have different opinions.  I would have gone in to ‘don’t taze me bro’ mode real fast.

After foreclosure, things might just get worse

MoonHowler

Sometimes people just allow a foreclosure to happen when they have exhausted all resources. Huge loans and reset mortgages have often led to foreclosures nationwide. Prince William County was one of the hardest hit areas in Virginia. Now the Washington Post tells us more bad news:

After the bank foreclosed on Fernando Palacios’s Gainesville home in March, he thought he was done with what he described as the most stressful financial situation of his life.

The bank sold the home for far less than Palacios owed on it, as often happens with foreclosures. What Palacios did not see coming was the letter from his lender demanding that he pay the shortfall: $148,064.02. “I really thought I was through with this house,” said Palacios, who fell behind on payments when the economy soured and his cleaning business stumbled.

Over the past year, lenders have become much more aggressive in trying to recoup money lost in foreclosures and other distressed sales, creating more grief for people who thought their real estate headaches were far behind.

In many localities — including Virginia, Maryland and the District — lenders have the right to pursue borrowers whose homes have sold at a loss to collect the difference between what the property sold for and what the borrower owed on it, also called a deficiency.

Before the housing bust, when the volume of foreclosures was relatively low, lenders seldom bothered to chase after deficiencies because borrowers had few remaining assets to claim and doing so involved hassles and costs. But with foreclosures soaring, lenders are more determined to get their money back, especially if they suspect borrowers are skipping out on loan they could afford, an increasingly common practice in areas where home values have tanked.

Palacios said he was committed to staying in his house, which he bought in 2005. He sunk $20,000 into improving it and hoped to raise his children there. But his lender refused to modify his loan, he said. To avoid personal liability for the deficiency, Palacios is filing for bankruptcy protection, as many people do who are in similar situations, said Nancy Ryan, his bankruptcy attorney.

It makes sense that if people could afford to pay their mortgage, they just would. Isn’t this practice going to greatly increase the number of bankruptcies in the area? That hurts all the other creditors.

French Retirement Age Pushed Back

MoonHowler

Frenchies can no longer retire at age 60. They must now wait until age 62. What are Americans doing wrong? We are now being told we have to wait until 66 or 67 to receive our social security. Supposedly the early retirement is seen as a right and left issue.

According to the Washington Post:

Today is a day of sadness and anger,” agreed Jean-Luc Melanchon, who heads the Left Party. “The end of retirement at 60 is the end of a world.”

Seeking to soften the blow, Woerth also announced a 1 percent jump in the tax rate for France’s highest incomes and said taxes will also rise on capital gains from investments. This will provide more than $4 billion by the time the new retirement schedules are completed, he predicted.

The plan, which is likely to pass easily in a parliament controlled by Sarkozy’s coalition, called for the legal retirement age to rise by four months each year, beginning in July 2011, until it reaches 62 by 2018. At that point, the ministry calculated, the pension fund should be balanced.

Those who begin working before age 18 or who hold down particularly taxing jobs will still be able to retire earlier than age 62, the plan stipulated. Nonetheless, French labor unions have announced they will fight the changes, scheduling street protests to coincide with a debate in parliament in September

Other countries are also pushing up their age for retirement:

Faced with the same economic pressures, for instance, Germany has announced plans to lift the retirement age from 65 to 67. Britain and Italy, home to Western Europe’s other two leading economies, have settled on 65. In comparison, officials pointed out, France will still have one of the earliest retirement ages in the industrialized world.

If retirement at 60 is socialism…….

Hopefully, Formerly Anonymous will enlighten us. He usually knows all about things that are going on in the EEC.

Full story at the Washington Post

Jon Stewart on Betty White and the Big Soccer Game

MoonHowler

 

 
Betty White is just remarkable. What a quick wit. Now Jon Stewart has a worthy challenge!

Betty stars with greats like Valerie Bertinelli in a new sit com called Hot in Cleveland. It starts on the TV land Channel Wednesday night at 10 pm.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Betty White
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

 

 Jon gives us his analysis of the USA vs England soccer game. It seems his assessment was similar to ours.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
World Cup 2010: Into Africa – US Ties England
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Jumping Founding Father poltergeists! Gather Your Armies!

MoonHowler

 

 This guy, Rick Barber, is running for congress in a primary in Alabama. This apparent drunken rant wouldn’t be a bit better if he were running for dog catcher.

He speaks to the ghosts of Washington, Franklin and Sam Adams and plans to overthrow the IRS.

Holy cow. Who needs South Carolina!

From Huffington Post:

Yes! Talkin’ sedition with the Founding Fathers! It doesn’t get any better than that.

“Is it worth digging into the substance here?” asks Dave Weigel, who makes a spirited attempt to do just that. But for all intents and purposes, what Barber is doing is railing against modernity itself, working himself into a fantasia of bellicosity.

Anyway, in the next scene of the story, we’ll have a terrified George Washington exclaiming: “WTF, dude?! Why didn’t you tell us that they have Hellfire missiles, mounted on robot planes, capable of cutting a man in half from 30,000 feet in the air? You do know that we are armed with muskets, right?”

Whoever came up with the notion that we were going to throw the bums out and bring in a new breed apparently hadn’t given much thought to what the new breed was like. New breed…be very afraid. It looks like we are all going to have to talk Emma into making those tinfoil hats again.

Pentagon Says at Least a Trillion in Mineral Deposits in Afghanistan

MoonHowler

 

 

From the NY Times:

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.

While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

 

We have already know about the Afghanistan lapis lazuli, better known as just lapis.  It has become increasingly more costly since the Afghanistan war, mainly because it is harder to get the mineral.   Afghan miners go far up into the mountains where the vast lapis deposits are and bring out the rough on mules and human packs.  The best lapis in the world comes out of Afghanistan.  I got my stash from a friend’s husband who has a good eye for jewelry. 

Now what about all this lithium, iron, copper, cobalt, gold, etc?  Supposedly trillions of dollars worth.  How would a primitive country like Afghanistan ever develop to the point where some of these riches could be mined and distributed world wide?  What would keep the Taliban and Al Quada from taking control of the wealth? 

It sounds to me like if anything is done with these riches, the Americans out to put on their ugly American hat and simply be the big, bad watch dog.  Besides, that war has cost us a small fortune.  Pay backs are expensive.  Royalties are expensive.

Hand of Clod?

MoonHowler
Robert Green, the Hand of Clod
Robert Green, the Hand of Clod

 

I sure wouldn’t want to be this guy. The Brit goalie, Robert Green,  will never be able to appear in public again, it seems. He goes into the Goalie Hall of Shame forever. According to New Zealand Herald:

El Diego gave us the Hand of God, Thierry Henry the Hand of Frog, now Robert Green is destined, according to the disparaging headline that featured in two red-top Sunday papers, to be remembered as the Hand of Clod.

The unfortunate Green and his wrists of wet spaghetti let past a shot from American Clint Dempsey that barely had enough steam to make it across the line.

Are Americans this cruel to our sports icons? Our sports icon seem to catch more hell for their indiscretions than they do their playing time mistakes.  I am not even sure why New Zealand is beating up on an England player.  Are we immune to this kind of scorn because we don’t have any national sports teams who routinely play.  All of our American teams are created for special occasions and are not a standing team for seasonal play, for major sports.

Our very own Starry Flights is in South Africa and has take in a few soccer games. I hope he will comment from time to time.

Americans, overall, seem rather underwhelmed by the World Cup. Mr. Howler pronounced on Saturday that the England vs USA World Cup soccer game was like watching paint dry. I then heard the buzz of curtains being sucked into his nostrils for a while, only for him to arise from the recliner to tell me it was the most boring sporting event he had ever watched. What is everyone take on the World Cup games?

Anchors Away Baby

MoonHowler

fence
From Huffington Post:

“Anchor babies” isn’t a very endearing term, but in Arizona those are the words being used to tag children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. While not new, the term is increasingly part of the local vernacular because the primary authors of the nation’s toughest and most controversial immigration law are targeting these tots — the legal weights that anchor many undocumented aliens in the U.S. — for their next move.

Buoyed by recent public opinion polls suggesting they’re on the right track with illegal immigration, Arizona Republicans will likely introduce legislation this fall that would deny birth certificates to children born in Arizona — and thus American citizens according to the U.S. Constitution — to parents who are not legal U.S. citizens. The law largely is the brainchild of state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican whose suburban district, Mesa, is considered the conservative bastion of the Phoenix political scene. He is a leading architect of the Arizona law that sparked outrage throughout the country: Senate Bill 1070, which allows law enforcement officers to ask about someone’s immigration status during a traffic stop, detainment or arrest if reasonable suspicion exists — things like poor English skills, acting nervous or avoiding eye contact during a traffic stop

.

Shoot! Doesn’t everyone act nervous and avoid eye contract during a traffic stop? I know I sure do. If those behaviors are considered probable cause, then we are all in trouble.

“Anchor babies” is a highly offensive term. These kids have no control over their circumstances in life. And we certainly don’t know why their parents had them. To imply that any child comes in to this world solely to anchor one’s parents to the United States is simply wrong. Hopefully the term ‘anchor baby’ will soon become as politically RUDE as the term ‘pickaninny’ which was used fairly freely when I was a child.

Of course, this piece comes from Time Magazine, via Huffington Post: Arizona’s Next Immigration Target: Children of Illegals. 

Illegals? 🙄 Unacceptable. Grammatically incorrect. Time Magazine needs to step it up a bit in the politically correct department. Or if they don’t want to be politically correct, how about using adjectives as adjectives and not as nouns.

One might contrast Arizona and New Mexico. Notice the silence out of Governor Bill Richardson’s state?
There are no easy answers but while we search we need to remember to be polite. We need to remember that those ‘anchor babies’ are just little children. In many ways, they are the most vulnerable members of this debate. They fear for themselves and they fear for their siblings and they fear for their parents. For some reason, too many Americans feel that these children simply don’t have feelings. And that is just dead wrong!

Complete Article