Flags of Many Colors

MoonHowler

Very few people on this blog have been as critical of the antics of Guardencio Fernandez as I have.  Today I am happy to announce that has changed.   Earlier in the week  I got an email telling  me that 39 flag poles were being planted over at 9500 Liberty Street.   The possibilities were endless.  Then one of the roving reporters told me flags of many nations had gone up.  Our contributors wrote out descriptions of what had been erected. My curiosity was killing me.  Finally the rains were over and the sun was shining so I drifted on over to the City, stopping to vote first, visited KK’s and then rolled on around to 9500.

I love flags.  They are beautiful.  They provide lots and lots of color and texture without ever being gaudy.  They wave and float in the wind.  They catch the sun and they ride the wind, like a colorful seagull.  They own the skies around them.  Even at night, flags, if properly lit, still cast their color magic, perhaps with a little less gusto but they still let you know they are there.

If Mr. Fernandez planted all those flag poles and adorned them with flags of many nations, just to poke a stick in the eye of the City, it backfired.  The flags are truly beautiful and adorn that part of the historic district with a wonderful  splash of color.  The American flag is the crown jewel of his colonnade of flags. 

I am going to look at the better part of human nature and declare that the war is over.  Everyone wins.  Mr. F gets the final word but in such a wonderful way.  He has beautified the City and sent a reminder that we are really a people from everywhere.  I never thought I would say it but….Good Job, Mr. Fernandez.

Fimian, Pharmacies and Birth Control

MoonHowler

For the past several days I have been seeing and hearing a Gerry Connolly campaign commercial that paints Candidate Keith Fimian as an extremist.  Most campaign ads are background noise to me so it went in one ear and out the other.  Besides, most campaign ads are full of hyperbole and exaggeration.  Then I perked up my ears.  The ad said that Fimian supported the rights of pharmacists to not dispense contraception.  Now THAT IS extremist. 

I have tried researching this allegation, without much luck.  I even went to the  Legatuswebsite.  Fimian is a member of Legatus, which is a Catholic organization, founded by Dominos Pizza Magnet Tom Monaghan for very wealthy Catholic business folks and their spouses.  I didn’t find out much there either.  Maybe it’s me.  However, I haven’t heard anything which disputes this claim.  This makes me nervous. 

There has been somewhat of an uproar the past several years about pharmacists with religious objections being forced to dispense contraception, in particular, the morning after pill.  NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia  has this to say:

In addition to lack of contraceptive equity, Virginia’s so-called “conscience clause” allows pharmacists to decide which prescriptions they will and will not provide. This means that a pharmacist could legally refuse to fill a doctor’s prescription for birth control or stock or distribute emergency contraception. Since when do pharmacists get to step inside the doctor-patient relationship and refuse to fill necessary prescriptions?

 

Conscience Clause?  Where did that come from?  Someone slipped that one by me.  The more I google, the more I unearth and the angrier I get.  This thread needs to be a work in progress.  First of all, anyone who has knowledge of Fimian’s position on allowing pharmacists to cherry pick what prescriptions they will fill, please let us know.  I don’t have a bone to pick with private pharmacies who post, in clear view on their door that they do not sell or dispense contraception.  However, other stores open to the public without disclaimers should really not be involved in type of exclusionary behavior.  I consider it equivalent to the Muslim cab driver who wouldn’t let bottles of liquor in his cab.  Find another job. 

Secondly, what kinds of legislation have been passed that allow ‘conscience clauses and require pharmacist counselling?  How offensive.  If one works for a pharmacy, the job is to fill prescriptions, not chime in with a moral opinion.  If that is an issue, go work for a private religious hospital or pharmacy. 

I would especially welcome and appreciate word from the Fimian campaign that this information is indeed false.  This is the year 2010, in the United States of America.  Griswald was decided 45 years ago. 

 

 

 

 

Virginia Thugs???

MoonHowler

The above video is the cell phone footage taken by Jon Taylor’s son during his arrest in Louisa, Virginia. Something has made me uncomfortable about this video for the past 24 hours.

First off, we have to footage of what precipitated this scuffle. From what I can tell, Taylor, his wife and son went to the Solid Grounds Coffee Shop on Main Street in downtown Louisa. They had accepted an RSVP on the Cantor Website. Ms. Taylor was carrying a sign for Canter’s opponent.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

The car, parked at a meter directly in front of the restaurant, was Taylor’s. His wife sat inside. A poster for Democratic candidate Rick Waugh, calling Cantor a chicken, was taped to the car window facing the coffee shop.

Taylor said Cantor had promoted the event on his website, so he assumed it was a public event.

“We RSVP’d,” he said.

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