I.C.E. Director John Morton and Assistant Director Phyllis Coven get Union Vote of No-Confidence

MoonHowler

I.C.E. Director John Morton and Assistant Director Phyllis Coven got a vote of No-Confidence from the 259 I.C.E union members.  There are approximately 7000 I.C.E agents in the United States. 

Who is John Morton exactly?  According to the Washington Post:

Morton, 43, is a boyish-looking former career federal prosecutor who took over ICE last year in May. Described by colleagues as earnest and apolitical, he said he is seeking a middle ground on the debate, enforcing immigration laws while calling for comprehensive reform in Congress and viewing legal immigration as “a good thing for our country.”

“You develop a thick skin in a job like this,” said Morton, who admits to reading many of the brickbats that come his way but says they don’t consume him. “I’d imagine that for some other senior leaders in government, the day when someone calls for their resignation would be the day they’d remember throughout their career. That’s just part of the territory here.”

Sure enough, Morton and his agency evoke strong opinions from all sides. Crystal Williams, executive director of the pro-immigrant American Immigration Lawyers Association, faults him for overaggressive deportations and moving too slowly on promises to reform the immigrant detention system.

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Prop 8 Declared Unconstitutional (and Jon Stewart at the end)

MoonHowler

“Moral disapproval is an improper basis for denying rights to gay men and lesbians and that the evidence shows consclusively Prop 8 enacts without reason a private moral view that same sex couples are inferior.”

Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge,

 U.S. District Court

Northern District of CA

As with a stroke of a pen….the opposition to gay marriage in California was kaput. 

Judge Walkerwas appointed to the Court by Ronald Reagan.  His confirmation was difficult because he was seen as being too conservative.  This case has had some very strange twists and turns.   The Prop 8 winning attorneys are 2 old enemies who suited up and joined forces:  David Boies and Ted Olson.  Boies was the Gore lawyer and Olson was the Bush lawyer back in 2000.  Politics does make very strange bedfellows indeed! 

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Churchill Ordered UFO Cover-Up: I want to believe….

MoonHowler

Do you trust your government? There are many conspiracy theories out there today. Rather than presidential birth certificates and fake pentagon pictures, perhaps we had better concentrate on this one. Not only is our government involved but also the Brits and other governments around the world. The UFO question has been surfacing and resurfacing for years. Roswell is perhaps our best known incident as well as the reported UFOs circling the Capitol in 1952. Rendlesham Forest UFO incidents are also famous to most people who give any credence to UFOs.

Regardless of what people think about the possibility of alien beings, it should concern us that governments of the world want to protect us by withholding information. Apparently the governments want to protect us from mass panic.

UK National Archives is loaded with good information and a very interesting podcast.

From Huffington Post:

Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an alleged UFO incident in the 1950s be kept secret to prevent “mass panic,” according to claims made public in the UK on Thursday.

According to reports, the grandson of one of Churchill’s personal bodyguards, wrote to the British Ministry of Defense in 1999 hoping to learn more about the incident. His account, along with Churchill’s claimed reaction, were among a new batch of files released from Britain’s National Archives, though the man’s
identity was not released.

The letter describes how the man’s grandfather, who served with the RAF in World War II, was present when Churchill went to discuss a UFO sighting with Dwight Eisenhower. The incident involved an RAF reconnaissance plane, returning from France or Germany, that was said to have been intercepted by an unidentified metallic object near the English coastline.

As the Daily Mail reported, the letter read as follows:

“During the discussion with Mr Churchill, a consultant (who worked in the Cumbria area during the war) dismissed any possibility that the object had been a missile, since a missile could not suddenly match its speed with a slower aircraft and then accelerate again.

He declared that the event was totally beyond any imagined capabilities of the time. Another person at the meeting raised the possibility of an unidentified flying object, at which point Mr
Churchill declared that the incident should be immediately classified for at least 50 years and its status reviewed by a future Prime Minister.”

A Defense Ministry official’s response from September, 1999 was also among the files. It reads: “It was generally the case that before 1967 all UFO files were destroyed after five years as there was insufficient public interest in the subject to merit their permanent retention.”

According to another note found among the new files, however, such claims were taken extremely seriously by Churchill and his staff. By 1957, ministers were commissioning weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts.

Six out of 16 reported sightings were still under investigation, though one was dismissed for lack of evidence while another was thought to be a weather balloon.

That note states:

“The remaining four incidents still under investigation are all radar sightings. In each, unusual behavior of the radar blips in terms of course, speed and heights were reported

Attempts are being made to trace the cause of these sightings to aircraft known to have been near, inexperienced operators or spurious echoes of unexplained origin.”

The UK National Archives

Secure Our Borders Money is on the Way

MoonHowler

Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — The Senate agreed Thursday to add $600 million to the effort to stop the flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S. Mexican border.

The money would be used for such purposes as adding 1,500 new enforcement agents and deploying unmanned aerial drones to improve border surveillance.

The voice vote to pass the emergency spending came in the final hours before the Senate leaves for its monthlong summer break. Its sponsor, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, said it would boost border spending 10 percent above 2010 levels.

President Barack Obama has urged Congress to come up with $600 million to reinforce border security, and, with Arizona’s attempt to crack down on undocumented immigrants bringing national focus to the issue, both Republicans and Democrats have endorsed more robust border security spending.

The main stumbling block has been how to pay for the increased spending. Republicans sought to use unspent funds from the economic stimulus act, an idea rejected by Democrats.

The Democratic plan passed Thursday would boost fees assessed on foreign-based personnel companies that take advantage of U.S. visa programs, such as the H-1B visa program for temporary skilled workers, to bring foreign workers, mainly from India, into the United States.

The House last week passed similar legislation with $701 million in emergency money for border security. It could take up the Senate bill when it interrupts its August recess next Tuesday for a one-day session to approve a Senate-passed jobs bill.

That explains what is going to stop the illegal immigrants. Now…what is going to stop the illegal drugs that are coming across the border? How about the illegal drug cartels who have no intention of becoming immigrants? I hope those ‘illegals’ are somehow part of the plan also.

Just so everyone knows that it will be impossible to completely secure the border. Unless we build a wall where we look like East Germany, there will always be leaks. The human spirit will always find a way….

McDonnell attempts to give up millions by selling ABC stores

MoonHowler

I was going to attempt to do a synopsis of this article in the Washington Post. It cannot be done. This article explains how Virgina will lose big bucks if the liquor stores are sold and they become private. Governor McDonnell doesn’t think the state should be involved in liquor sales. How  hypocritical. They sure don’t mind taking taxes from the sale of liquor. So I don’t even want to hear the moral indignation surrounding liquor sales. The Governor also suggests that revenue will be made up in taxes because more liquor will sell because it will be cheaper.

The logic here is simply …missing. Besides, do we want more liquor sold? How is that concept fitting in with the Guv’s supposed moral objections to the sale of liquor. He needs to run the state and leave the liquor stores alone. Virginia needs to just keep raking in the $245 million dollars it is currently making on profits and taxes. Governor McDonnell needs to do the math and get over this hold over from the evangelical Pat Robertson school regarding booze.

Make sure you check out the interactive graphic. It is very interesting.

From the Washington Post:

Virginia’s inner struggle to get off the scotch tax

RICHMOND — For drinkers, a fifth of Jack Daniel’s costs about the same wherever they buy it — about $25 in Virginia and the District, a couple of bucks less in Maryland. But for the governments that regulate that bottle, the difference is as stark as a sip and a chug.

In the District and most of Maryland, just a dollar or two from a fifth of Jack Daniel’s goes to government. But in Virginia, where whiskey and every other kind of liquor is sold in state-run stores, more than $13 of the retail price goes to the state.

As Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) prepares to call the legislature into a special session to consider privatizing the state’s 76-year monopoly on the sale of hard alcohol, he faces a hard economic fact: The liquor business has been exceptionally profitable for the commonwealth.

Every shot poured and every cocktail downed is another cha-ching for the state, and that translates into hundreds of millions of dollars a year that are used to fund schools, prisons and mental health facilities.

Even after paying all of the expenses involved — buying millions of cases from distilleries, paying more than 2,680 employees, keeping the lights on and the rent paid at 332 stores — Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control board deposited $248 million in liquor profits, as well as excise and sales taxes, into state coffers during fiscal 2009. And unlike nearly every other facet of government, the liquor business has proved to be essentially recession-proof, taking in $13.7 million more in fiscal 2009 than in 2008.

Regardless of the profits, McDonnell fundamentally believes that running the liquor business ought not to be a government function. He also believes that selling the system’s assets and new liquor licenses could bring in a one-time windfall of $300 million to $500 million, which he would use to improve the state’s ailing roads. A private system would also mean better selection and more convenient stores for consumers, he contends.

On Wednesday night, McDonnell held the first of a statewide series of town hall meetings in Roanoke, partly to sell the idea.

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Nuns Find Room to Forgive–Politicians Ignore Their Request

MoonHowler

There are many reasons why I am not a nun.  The main reason is that forgiveness is not my strong suit. 

In the tragic wake of Sunday’s accident on Bristow Road, where 1 sister was killed and 2 more lie in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life, the sisters of the Benedictine Order magnanimously have requested that their tragedy be viewed in terms of alcoholism and drunk driving rather than used as a platform to rail against illegal immigration. 

Politicians and news stations have flagrantly disregarded the sisters’ request.  Sister Denise and the driver of the other car, Carlos Martinelly, have been plastered all over every TV screen and newspaper since the accident occurred early Sunday morning, as the 3 sisters were driving to Mass. 

The Washington Post has attempted to honor the Order’s request in their front page story today.  They have attached faces to this tragedy.  It is impossible to discuss this accident without the illegal immigrant issue creeping in.

Nuns at Virginia monastery find room to forgive while mourning sister’s death

About 8:30 Monday night, the doorbell rang at St. Benedict Monastery in Prince William County, and Sister Andrea Verchuck, the sub-prioress, rose from her desk to see who was there. On the slate front porch stood a man and a woman

They looked contrite,” said Verchuck, 81, who has lived with other nuns in the wooded monastery for 66 years. The visitors’ hands were at their sides, their eyes cast down, as Verchuck greeted them.

“They said, ‘We’d like to talk with someone about the sister who was killed,’ ” she recalled.

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Born in the U.S.A. –Dump the 14th!

MoonHowler

Jon Stewart takes a long look at America’s political issues with illegal immigrants.  He analyzes the dreaded ‘anchor babies’ and wonders how illegal immigrants could plan ahead 18 years as he takes a look at the 14th amendment to see what had been said about it in 1866, where citizens worried about the dreaded’ Hottentot.’  Lindsay Graham discusses the Drop and Leave policy of illegal immigrants.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Born in the U.S.A.
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

 

 Jon brought in Lou Dobbs as a voice of reason. 

Lou Dobbs who has spent much of his life discussing illegal immigration, weighed in on the topic and warned that the GOP was overstepping by proposing that the 14th amendment be repealed.  

Even Lou Dobbs isn’t on board with proposed constitutional amendment ending birthright citizenship, Watch him defend the 14th Amendment:

According to the Huffington Post:

The growing chorus of Senate Republicans urging repeal of the 14th Amendment as a means of denying citizenship to the children of immigrants received a rebuke Tuesday from, of all people, notorious immigration foe Lou Dobbs.

Appearing on Fox News, the former CNN host defended the constitutional amendment which provides birthright citizenship.

“The idea that anchor babies somehow require changing the 14th Amendment, I part ways with the Senators on that because I believe the 14th Amendment, particularly in its due process and equal protection clauses, is so important,” Dobbs said. “It lays the foundation for the entire Bill of Rights being applied to the states.”

That even Dobbs opposes the GOP push to repeal the 14th Amendment is a measure of just how radical the effort is. Some Republicans who signaled their support for the move as recently as Monday, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have already backtracked from their earlier support for broad review of the law.

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wasn’t one of them. “The Constitution is not as clear as it first appears,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) told reporters Tuesday. “I continue to hear good Americans explain to me they think it makes no sense

Those men who drew up the 14 Amendment in 1866 had the following concerns:

The authors of the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all people “born or naturalized in the United States” for a reason. They wished to directly repudiate the Dred Scott decision, which said that citizenship could be granted or denied by political caprice. They purposely chose an objective standard of citizenship — birth — that was not subject to politics. Reconstruction leaders established a firm, sound principle: To be an American citizen, you don’t have to please a majority, you just have to be born here

Political caprice?  When Lou Dobbs thinks ideas are over the top, they probably are. I am still stuck on the idea that others now why a couple has children. I am willing to bet it isn’t so the child can sponsor them 29 years down the road. That reasoning is just far too complex.

.

4 Supervisors Sign Rural Crescent Pledge in 2007

MoonHowler

4 of our current supervisors signed a pledge to protect the Rural Crescent by

1. voting to support the Rural Crescent current minimum 10 acre residential zoning and

2. opposing the expansion of sewer within the border of the Rural Crescent as outlined in the Prince William    County Comprehensive Plan.

The 4 supervisors are:  Corey Stewart, John Stirrup, Mike May, and Frank Principi

Corey Stewart took the opportunity to enclose a letter with his pledge.  In the letter he sent along with the pledge, Chairman Stewart said:

I have been an active and passionate advocate for protecting the rural crescent since day 1 of my entry into Prince William County politics.

Here are the links:

Corey’s letter is online here.
http://ruralcrescent.org/07pledge2.htm

The main pledge page is here.
http://ruralcrescent.org/pledges2007.htm

Supervisor Stirrup’s office sent out a very detailed letter to constituents this afternoon.  He asked very probing questions at the BOCS meeting tonight.  I suspect his vote will reflect those feelings.

UPDATE:

Corey Stewart Throws John Stirrup Under the Bus

In  5 to 3 vote, the BOCS approved the comprehensive plan amendment to turn 12 homes into several hundred.  Stewart, Covington, Nohe, Caddigan, and Jenkins voted in favor of the change.  In an astounding move of hypocrisy, these 5 supervisors voted to “reaffirm ” their commit to preserving the Rural Crescent.  What a joke.

Full recap of the BOCS Meeting  at Insidenova.com

And the Best Hypocrisy Award:

After the vote on the comp plan amendment and rezoning, the board approved a resolution stating its commitment to keeping the rest of the Rural Crescent rural in character. Board Chairman Corey Stewart said Tuesday’s vote on Avendale does not set a precedent for future high impact development in the Rural Crescent.

 

Zoning Map of Prince William County

Who Told The Gainesville Grizzlies They Were Getting Free Parkland From The Avendale Rezoning?

Elena

So, WHO exactly told the Grizzly leadership, behind closed doors, that they would be getting free land in the Avendale rezoning process? I sent this letter to the Grizzly leadership and have not heard any response. In the mean time, tomorrow night should be a real show, as planned, by whom, no one knows!secret agent

Dear Grizzly leadership,

My name is Elena Schlossberg and for 8 years now, citizens, like myself, have invested their energy in protecting the best land use tool this county possesses, the Rural Crescent. I am aware that this organization may not be aware of the severe negative consequences of approving Avendale. Every year, a developer proposes to dismantle, via a housing project, the Rural Crescent, for the past two years, citizens have been fighting Avendale, one way or another through a very long process.

Why does Avendale matter? Because the developer would turn a maximum of 12 homes into a possible 700. Can you imagine the strain on the infrastructure for citizens? Schools, roads, emergency services, etc!

The PWC school board sent a strong letter to the Board of County Supervisors rejecting Avendale, the overcrowding is simply too much from past unrestrained development. Haven’t we learned our lesson from overdevelopment given the past housing crisis that contributed to an economic meltdown?

The fact that you all have been “promised” football fields behind closed doors, or as it certainly appears to citizens, is incredibly unethical by any open government standard. Government cannot promise ANY “free” land to a private sports team. There is a public process via the Park Authority that must be followed if park land is proffered.

Nothing is for free. In return for you outcry and “show” at Tuesdays Board meeting, you will be complicit in destroying the Rural Crescent. The rural crescent, in place for over a decade, keeps all our taxes lower, reduces the stress on our school system, our roads, our emergency services, our drinking water cleaner and keeps our air just a little less polluted.

This vote Tuesday is so much more than football fields and I strongly believe that the parents in your organization should be aware of that before they attend the hearing. Shouldn’t they know before they get there that citizens, having fought to protect the Rural Crescent on behalf of ALL PWC citizens will be there in opposition of Avendale? Would your parents feel comfortable fighting for this “free” land to play football if they knew the consequences? Is the message the Grizzlies want to send “the end justify the means” ?

Sincerely,
Elena Schlossberg

Advocates for the Rural Crescent

Junk bonds: Savvy investment or fool’s gold?

MoonHowler

What is a junk bond?

According to Msnbc:

CHICAGO — A sideways stock market has investors searching for other places to make a decent return on their money. And junk bonds, for better or worse, are starting to look like gems to many.

The appeal is easy to understand.

Junk bonds, known more politely as high-yield bonds, are bonds with very low credit ratings that corporations pay more interest on so they can attract investors. As of last week, they were yielding 8.34 percent, down from 9 percent earlier in July.

That number is mighty enticing at a time when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up just 1 percent for 2010 and down 22 percent from a decade ago. And a murky economic outlook hampers prospects of a strong rebound any time soon.

Virtually nowhere else can you get 8 percent back on your money these days. The going rate for a 10-year U.S. Treasury note last week was 3.05 percent, low by historical standards. It’s not much better for investment-grade, or more highly rated, corporate bonds: 3.8 percent, as measured by the Barclay’s Capital U.S. Credit Bond Index.

Return-starved investors have noticed. High-yield mutual funds have seen nearly $3 billion in inflows over the past three weeks, according to Lipper FMI, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

But investor beware: They’re called junk for a reason. Bonds below investment grade, or those with S&P ratings below BBB and Moody’s ratings below Baa, are much likelier to default.

Has anyone ever owned junk bonds? I have and they did quite well. They were part of a mutual fund I had in a retirement program. They made all sorts of money. I rolled that acount over a while back and I don’t know how that bond fund is doing now. My great risk-taking was when times were good and not a great deal of money was involved.

Are these junk bonds worth the risk? It seems like all of us have taken a huge risk just having a 401k. I honestly have thought about just jumping off the merry-go-round.

Who knows where some good rates of return are outside the stock market? I have a retirement account that guarantees me 4.5%. I used to laugh at it. Now I am not so sure.

Stewart To Media: ‘Nothing Obama Does Will Ever Make You F**king Happy’ (VIDEO)

MoonHowler
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Leader’s Digest
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

I will answer that question. No. For some people there is absolutely nothing the President can do that will make them happy. What a shame.

Jon Stewart calls it as he sees it in this video. And as we all know, Jon Stewart has not given him a pass.

Tea Party Migrates to Colonial Williamsburg

MoonHowler

 

The Tea Party activists have been drawn to Colonial Williamsburg and its portrayal of the Founding Fathers this past year. The executives who oversee the events here have noticed the influx of those who are trying to discover the founding fathers and connect with them. According to the Washington Post:

“If people . . . can recognize that subjects such as war and taxation, religion and race, were really at the heart of the situation in the 18th century, and there is some connection between what was going on then and what’s going on now, that’s all to the good,” said Colin Campbell, president and chairman of Colonial Williamsburg. “What happened in the 18th century here required engagement, and what’s required to preserve democracy in the 21st century is engagement. That is really our message.”

The foundation that runs the programs at Colonial Williamsburg is nonprofit and nonpartisan, so neither Campbell nor other employees would venture an opinion on the significance of the tea party. But they welcome the business. Like most museums and historical sites, Williamsburg suffered during the recession; even before that, attendance had been dropping for more than a decade. In the late 1990s, annual ticket sales topped 1 million. Last year, that number had dropped to 660,000.

There is a great deal more interaction with the actors who portray Virginia’s prominent ancestors. People don’t always get the responses they want:

Please flip the page….
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Gov. Brewer Keeps Moving the Goal Posts

MoonHowler

Governor Brewer admits that this administration is doing more towards securing the border than the previous administration. Yet she turns on her heel and states that the federal government is not doing its job.  The governor got twice as many border guards as she asked for.

John Kings asks the same question I have been asking: How does SB 1070 help with border control? Gov. Brewer cannot ask the question. Yet, the good governor keeps using the need for border control as justification for needing to enforce SB 1070. It still seems like Brewer’s tenacity centers on getting re-elected.

The logic seems to be missing. Apparently Judge Bolton has been getting threats!

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