As we bid adieu to 2010 and welcome 2011, perhaps it is appropriate to review the last decade and our last century, since most of us were born in the 20th century. It’s difficult to believe we are fully into the second decade of the 21st century.
Kenny G will take care of 1900-1999. We will have to fill in some remembrances from 2000-2010. As I listened for an appropriate Auld Lang Syne, I wondered if those who want to go back in time really want to relive the past 110 years and the turbulence.
The preceding century was none too easy either, with the American Civil War piercing the very soul of our nation. No one who lived here free or enslaved escaped the ravages of those times. More men were killed in the Civil War than in all our other wars combined. Yet we prepare to commemorate that war this summer, in 2011–the Sesquicentennial.
We have had an election crisis in 2000. We have suffered an attack on our homeland, 2 wars that still go on, and a financial crash that is only surpassed by the Great Depression in the last decade. Yet we are Americans and we have survived. Let’s look at some of the most significant accomplishments of the past 110 yearsm with emphasis on the past 10.
First question…should you chose to voice an opinion–what inventions or events most affected mankind in the past 110 years? What would the top 3 be?
Prince William Office of Housing and Community Development Director Elijah Johnson recently received the Sen. Charles J. Colgan Advocacy Award from the Independence Empowerment Center.
Colgan, a long-time Virginia senator, presented the award at the IEC open house on Tuesday.
Johnson received the award for his efforts in three areas: Obtaining 70 non-elderly, disabled housing vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for Prince William area residents; reducing the waiting list for Section 8 housing; and applying for monies from the “Money Following the Person Grant Program.”
Camillus, a former Republican Party officer in his home state in the Northeastern United States who was involved in campaigns at both the local, state, and federal levels during the 2010 elections.
Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration. M-H
“Restore the Constitution!” It’s a cry, in various iterations, that one commonly hears from the Tea Party. There have been “Restore the Constitution” rallies calling for “restoring the rule of law,” there are “Restore the Constitution” petitions circulating online, and there are “Restore the Constitution” blog sites. Politically, the Tea Party movement portrays itself as the defenders of the Constitution keeping faith with the original intent of the Founding Fathers.
This is ironic. A deeper examination of positions held by the Tea Party, particularly regarding the scope of the 10th Amendment, the repeal or modification of the 14th, 16th, and 17th Amendments, and the support for various nullification proposals, reflects a hostility to aspects of the Constitution as well as opposition to well-established principles in our Constitutional jurisprudence. In the end, the vision of our Constitution expressed by the Tea Party movement is often fundamentally at odds with that of many of our leading Founders, including Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jay, Marshall, and Madison (prior to his 1791 break with Hamilton).
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is certainly the star of the giant east coast December snow storm. He is twittering all over the place and out there rescuing people in destress. He might even be wearing a superman cape. He has delivered diapers to a family who was out, helped shovel out cars,
Trapped in Newark after Blizzard 2010? Mayor Cory Booker wants to rescue you – and he’s only a tweet away.
Booker has been tweeting up a storm, personally responding to tweets from citizens stranded by snowed-over streets. For days, Newark’s hero mayor has helped dig out buried cars and snowy roads – and even delivered diapers to a stranded Newark family.
“Highland Ave b/w Bal and Berk not touched yet. My sis can’t get out to get diapers,” Timothy Hester frantically tweeted Booker. Hester lives in Virginia and tweeted the mayor on behalf of his snowbound sister Barbara, who lives in Newark.
The valiant mayor tweeted back, “I’m delivering the diapers now. We will get to her street soon.”
1 in 3 adults admit to have been bullied by a boss. According to USA Today:
One in three adults has experienced workplace bullying, according to surveys conducted earlier this year by research firm Zogby International for the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI). Nearly three-fourths of bullying is from the top down, according to a 2007 study.
Some tyrannical managers scream and send out scathing e-mails. But often, an oppressor uses a more subtle — and easily covered — collection of behaviors. These actions could include purposely leaving a worker out of communications so they can’t do their job well, mocking someone during meetings and spreading malicious gossip about their target, says Catherine Mattice, a workplace consultant who specializes in this issue.
The acts may seem trivial, but as they build up over time, the ramifications can be monumental.
Bullied workers often feel anxious and depressed, can’t sleep and are at increased risk for ailments such as hypertension. Some employees feel so overwhelmed, they just can’t see a way out. “Sometimes, unfortunately, suicide is the result,” Mattice says.
Do people just accept bullying more from a boss? Do they fear retaliation to the point of being fired? Why are people more willing to put up with it?
Many folks got an iPad over the holidays. Everyone acts like they LOVE their iPad, but do they really? Is it a big toy? Is it a large iPhone that just doesn’t talk? (you can set it to become a phone) Or is the iPad a netbook? What is an iPad? Do you need one if you have an iPhone?
How is that word processor you can buy to go with it? How about the wireless keyboards and stands? What is a good one to get? What makes an iPad better than a netbook?
That Jon Stewart. He’s an activist. Oh well, that’s apples and oranges.
1. Jon Stewart addressed the 9/11 first responders bill with interviewees on Thursday night.
2. Shep and Chris Wallace responded to Jon Stewart of Friday. There was no 3 days of 9/11 first responders special by Shep. That was simply a lie.
3. Shep flipped Fox, to his credit.
The Tres Amigos, Fox and Friends, were really on Jon Stewart’s pork chops though. The Gretch had the nerve to say people already thought Jon Stewart was real news. Hmmmm…and what about HER show? Real news or satire?
Who cares. He’s an activist. {{{snicker}}}
The New York Times had nothing but praise for the efforts of Jon Stewart:
Did the bill pledging federal funds for the health care of 9/11 responders become law in the waning hours of the 111th Congress only because a comedian took it up as a personal cause?
And does that make that comedian, Jon Stewart — despite all his protestations that what he does has nothing to do with journalism — the modern-day equivalent of Edward R. Murrow?
We paid our dues last year. Anti-Snowmageddon here. Our layer of protection worked. The nor’easter went right around us.
It’s official. No post Christmas snow storm. Georgia, North Carolina, the Eastern Shore, all points north…but no snow storm for Manassas or the nation’s capital. So we dodged the snow bullet!
Are we living right or were we cheated? Who is happy and who is sad? In many respects we are still snowbound since transportation throughout the North East has been disrupted by the storm. When Newark closes, thus goes the rest of the county. Planes are grounded and trains have been halted.
How is the non-snow storm affecting you? Watch those ferocious winds today.
An Iraqi man killed his 19-year-old daughter after he discovered al-Qaida had recruited her as a suicide bomber in an area north of Baghdad, a police spokesman said on Friday.
Al-Qaida has been recruiting women for suicide attacks because they can pass police checkpoints easier than men by concealing explosives under an abaya, a loose, black cloak that conservative Muslim women wear. Suicide bombers have been al-Qaida’s most lethal weapon in Iraq, killing hundreds of civilians and members of Iraq’s security forces.
The killing of the young woman was discovered when security forces, searching for her on suspicion she had ties to al-Qaida, raided her father’s home Thursday outside the former Sunni-insurgent stronghold of Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, said Maj. Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province.
The father, Najim al-Anbaky, was detained in the raid. During questioning he told police he had killed his daughter, Shahlaa, a month earlier because he found out she intended to blow herself up in a suicide attack for al-Qaida, al-Karkhi told The Associated Press.
Al-Anbaky showed police what he said was the woman’s grave, al-Karkhi said. The father remains in custody and is under investgiation, but no charges have been made yet.
A police official at the interior ministry in Baghdad confirmed the killing. He spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
A female suicide bomber was behind one of the deadliest attack this year in Iraq, after she blew herself up among Shiite pilgrims Baghdad in February, killing 54 people.
So….is this murder? Is this like killing Hitler rather than waiting to send him to trial? Is the father wrong and should he be prosecuted? Could he have saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives? While we often hear rhetoric demanding that Muslims denounce terrorists, we need to think about several of the parents who have come forward and warned about their children being agents of terrorists. (underpants bomber for example).
I find it odd that they continue to allow any displays at all. On the other hand, is a Christmas tree a religious symbol? I have always thought of Christmas trees as a symbol of the season. Its origins were pagan and at least in America, Christmas is a national holiday. The tree is its symbol. Christians do more and have their own special relics and artifacts of the season. And that’s a good thing. But for right now, I like the tree being neutral, like wreaths and candy canes. Anyone who objects to Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes is just a grinch and trying to make an issue.
It doesn’t look like we will be getting any of the white stuff. I can’t remember the last time we got significant snow on Christmas Day. How is everyone celebrating Christmas and the holidays? Lots of friends and family or is this a quiet time?
MSNBC had run a rather extensive poll regarding the 10 most influential people of the 21st century. These people could have been in politics, TV, music, technology, the arts, media….any field that has influenced America, or the world. Their results are being revealed today. The hosts: Mike, Mika, Willie and Joe, all had their lists. Only one matched ‘the people.’
Regardless of what the people in that poll thing, what do you all think? Who are your top 5? How about your reasons. Influence is an interesting word. It doesn’t have to be positive. I will post the results of the polls later today, after others have a chance to contribute.
Who are the top 5 most influential people of the 21st century? (downsizing for brevity)
UPDATE: Let’s go with 10 people so you don’t have to cheat like Moe and I did.
Since the housing crash three years ago, Maryland and DC have moved to protect the homeowner. This move only seems fair in light of some of of the shoddy practices employed by some mortgage companies and banks. While foreclosure laws changed to protect the homeowner in Maryland and DC, things have moved the opposite direction in Virginia.
Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law making it easier for lenders to defend themselves when accused of giving homeowners too little warning of impending foreclosures.
The process moves so quickly in Virginia – one of the fastest states in the nation – that homeowners can receive less than two weeks’ notice that their house is about to be sold on the courthouse steps.
That confronts homeowners with an almost impossible deadline. To get a court to stop the sale in that narrow window, they must gather evidence, file a lawsuit and potentially post a bond with the court that could total thousands of dollars. Instead of trying to find a lawyer and prepare a suit, many borrowers run out the clock trying to deal with their lender.
At a time when lenders have been cutting corners and using phony documents to seize huge numbers of houses, the hurdles can be insurmountable, according to lawyers, consumer advocates and borrowers who have tried to save their homes.
“There’s no question that people are losing their homes when they should not be,” said James W. “Jay” Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which is part of a legal-aid network.
In many states, homeowners facing foreclosure automatically get a day in court, a chance to tell a judge why they should keep their homes. The judicial process provides at least a modest check on error and abuse.
But in Virginia and 28 other states, as well as the District, according to the RealtyTrac foreclosure information service, borrowers have no such luck. They face “nonjudicial” foreclosure processes, meaning lenders can foreclose without going through the courts.
It looks like our Virginia legislators have some work to do once they hit Richmond in January. They need to be protecting the homeowner against what often has been really bad business practice. It is now time for our delegates to get over worrying about who might be looking at their butt or who might be in the market for some crotchless panties in Old Town Manassas and get on with the business of protecting Virginians. All needed to ignore the whinings and pinings of Corey Stewart and just tell him to STFU, and that they are too busy to worry about his nonsense. Then they need to get busy and protect Virginia homeowners from unscupulous lenders.
Virginians are getting screwed. Time for legislators to protect the citizens rather than giving the banks and mortgage companies, many who aren’t even based in Virginia, the execution’s axe to finish off the homeowners.
Corey exploits the dead for political purposes. For shame. I don’t hear Corey Stewart talking about drunk drivers killing a grandmother and her grandchild or an habitual drug offender veering across a median strip to cause an inferno that killed 2 people and seriously injured a third. I suppose those deaths just don’t have the same ring as an ‘illegal immigrant.’
I thought that the Attorney General said that this was BAD legislation. Why is Corey still pushing it? If the Cooch says its bad, then it must stink. Which delegate or state senator is going to go charging in come January and insist on passing bad legislation?
.’UPDATE: A long time resident of Prince William County sent me a suggested scenario just for those who want to take a trip back in time to days of old…just for a moment. Come gather round to see how Corey became Corey, the Red-nosed Exploitative Reindeer.
Corey the Red-Nosed Exploitative Reindeer
I’m sure when Greg Letiecq knocked on the door with the camera Corey said, “Oh no, do I have to make this video today? It’s Christmas!” And Greg said, “Corey, if you don’t do my evil bidding, I will reveal all of your secrets from 2007 and your political career will be over, bwhaahahahahaaa!”
Corey then said, “But no one in Virginia supports this law, not even the Republicans, at least not the respectable ones. And your script, it’s really going to make me look like an ass. Trying to convince the whole state to pass a law that I couldn’t stop my own board from repealing? You know they’re going to rip me to shreds when they find out how much it cost.”
Greg: “We’ll deny it, and find a polarizing way to distract them.”
Corey: “What if they find out the real crime statistics?”
Greg: “We’ll accuse anyone who looks up the real statistics of being an illegal alien apologist, a traitor, and a socialist. Then I’ll get my three lady friends to write them some angry emails. They’ll back down.”
Corey: “Alright, come in, we’ll shoot it in my office. But I’m not doing it over and over again. Last time was so exhausting.”
Greg: “Fine, fine, we’ll do it in one take.”
Corey: “Can we cut this part where I try to exploit a tragic accident and the Christmas holiday? I think that’s really in poor taste.”
Greg: “Nope. That’s the best part. Trust me, if you get people riled up enough, you can turn them against those losers George Allen and Ken Cuccinelli. They’re not tough like you are. They’re soft and weak. You are the only Republican who is man enough to walk in Sharon Angel and Jan Brewer’s non-immigrant looking shoes!”
Corey: “Thanks Greg, that’s kind of you.”
Greg: “Now sit here in front of this painting. I’ll frame it so the guy’s head is chopped off so it subtly reminds people of headless bodies.”
Corey: “Good idea.”
Disclaimer: The above is satire. I have no idea who really made the video. MH
Insidenova.com
