Protecting King Tut and other antiquities

MoonHowler

From the Daily Beast:

Many of the world’s great archaeologists and art scholars fear they are about to relive a nightmare.

Eight years ago, they watched in horror as looters raided Iraq’s National Museum in Baghdad and carted off thousand of artifacts representing much of the archaeological heritage of the Arab world.

Now looters and vandals are threatening a museum that holds treasures that are among the most iconic on earth—the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo, home to the golden death mask and gem-encrusted jewelry found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, among tens of thousands of other priceless items that capture 4,000 years of Egyptian history.

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Beck goes bubblehead on Chris Matthews

MoonHowler

 Huffingtonpost.com:

 

Glenn Beck exploded at Chris Matthews for his comments denigrating Michele Bachmann and her views on American history.

Matthews called Bachmann a “balloon head” on Tuesday for saying that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly to end slavery.” He noted that, besides the fact that many of the founders owned slaves, and that slavery only ended nearly a hundred years after the founding of America, slavery was also protected in the Constitution via the three-fifths clause, which stated that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of all other people when it came to determining how many seats in Congress each state was due.

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Republican Pac wants its money back over Scott Brown

MoonHowler

The Washington Times:

 

 

The National Republican Trust spent nearly $100,000 last year to help Scott Brown win the U.S. Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, but now the conservative political group wishes it had that money back to help kick Mr. Brown out of office.

Saying the Republican senator is no different from a Democrat, the head of the group is calling for Mr. Brown to donate to charity or disgorge campaign money equal to how much the trust spent supporting him during the 2010 campaign.

The trust’s executive director, Scott Wheeler, said supporters knew Mr. Brown wasn’t going to be a die-hard conservative when they supported him early and often in his run against Martha Coakley, the Democratic state attorney general and once heavy favorite to succeed Mr. Kennedy

This was very predictable.  I have always liked this guy.  If I like him, probably the National Republican Trust wouldn’t.  From what I can tell, his great sin is voting for START.  Surely this can’t be it.  Why else is he not liked?

Just out of curiosity, How much to these politicians pledge to do what their voters want?  What ever happened to voting what a person thinks is right?  This ownership thing is a bit much…both parties. 

Family Life Education Bill passes out of committee–heads to full Senate vote

MoonHowler

On Thursday, members of the Senate Education and Health committee voted to report SB 967: Family Life Education Standards of Learning by a vote of 11-4. This was a huge victory but the first step of many to getting this common-sense legislation signed into law.

On Monday, the entire Senate will vote on this legislation.

Family life education. Requires each school division to implement the standards of learning for the family life education program promulgated by the Board of Education, or a family life education program consistent with the guidelines developed by the Board, which shall have the goals of reducing the incidence of pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and substance abuse among teenagers. Any curricula or materials used must be evidence-based and supported by peer reviewed medical research.

As I understand it, this legislation would do away with schools being coerced into using bogus materials that present voodoo pseudo science as medical evidence. I once sat through several classes of abstinence education.  It was foolish and the kids all laughed at it.  There were virginity pledges, rings, and other gimmicks that really didn’t address sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and the responsibilities involved in becoming sexually active at an early age.  Those types of ‘classes’ are better for church groups and within the family.  They are not appropriate for public education.  This bill protects our children from pseudo science being presented as fact.

Please write to your state senator and encourage him or her to support SB 967.  Accurate information never hurt anyone.

Senator Colgan’s email:

[email protected]

 

The Mid-Eastern World, It is Exploding….

MoonHowler

The violence and government overthrow in Tunisia and Egypt raise a few question for Americans. 

In particular, Egypt is one of our strongest Muslim allies.   For all practical purposes, they are in the middle of a full blown revolution.  To some, Mubarak is a a dictator.  To others, he is a trusted ally.  Are those Egyptians who are rioting and protesting good patriots, watering the tree of Egyptian liberty or are they thugs and terrorists?  Are they cleaning their own country?  (We often hear that hurled at those here illegally from Latin American countries.)  

As Americans, do we stay out of the Egyptian business?  We did that when there were Iranian revolts a year or so ago and President Obama is still being criticized for not ‘supporting’ the revolting Iranians.  The Islamic  Brotherhood with its Al Quada ties might be behind some of this.  They are on our terrorist list, aren’t they?  How about the Suez Canal?  That waterway is critical to our strategic movement in the area.  Then there is the oil issue. 

What set all this off?  Muarak has been in office for 30 years.  Weren’t people happy with him, even though he is technically a dictator?  Is it their economy?  Have prices sailed through the roof?  Have food prices gone sky high? 

I don’t think I would want to be President Obama or Hillary Clinton this week.  These are the times that try men’s souls and there are no easy answers.

Moonhowlings reflections……

MoonHowler

On February 26, Moonhowlings will be 1 year old.  During the past 11 months we have had both highs and lows.  The past couple days have been lows for us.  Why so?

Our main objective for having this blog is to find common ground.  The past couple of days we have felt like that was no longer possible and that there was no common ground.  Hopefully,  we can move forward and push partisanship aside in favor of discussion of ideas.  Not agreeing is fine, but in all conversation, people can find some area to agree upon. 

There has recently been some meanness expressed here.  We don’t want that.  It isn’t helpful and it isn’t productive.  Personal, unkind   remarks will just be taken down, quietly, in the future.  We won’t all agree.  We have some very different world views and people who would define themselves as conservative, liberal, centrist, libertarian and liberal.  Please think about what we are asking.  If you just want to shove your opinion down everyone else’s throat, this isn’t the blog for you.  If you want to sell your ideas, then that’s a whole different story.  Please while you are selling, take the time to listen to the other guy and look for common ground.  Our very country depends on our ability to do so. 

Moon-Howler and Elena

 

 

Low Hanging Fruit

MoonHowler

The other day, I got an email from Delegate Jackson Miller, trumpeting all the work he is doing to stop illegal immigration.  I expected to read that he had taken up personal vigil down on the border considering all the fanfare.  Such was not the case.  In part, his email stated:

 

During the 2011 Virginia General Assembly Session, we will be debating many issues that are important to the Commonwealth, but one issue of particular significance to me is illegal immigration.  As a former police officer with almost two decades of experience, I have seen firsthand the effect that illegal immigration can have on a community.  As your Delegate, I am working hard to find solutions to the many issues and challenges that illegal immigration has presented in our communities and in our Commonwealth.  

 Recently, I appeared on Fox News Channel’s morning program, Fox & Friends, to defend a bill on which I am a co-patron.  This bill, HB1465,   (click for full text)  stipulates that illegal aliens will not be eligible for admission to Virginia’s colleges and universities.  Higher education is a privilege, not a right, and placement in Virginia’s colleges and universities has become increasingly difficult for legal residents of our state to obtain.  This bill will require that all prospective students submit appropriate documentation showing proof of citizenship or a student visa for eligibility for enrollment. 

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Jewish Funds for Justice Ad

MoonHowler

 

 

The text of the Jewish Funds for Justice Wall Street Journal ad:

 

p. 1

Glenn Beck: George Soros, who as a child in Hungary survived the Holocaust by living with a non-Jewish family “used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. And George Soros was part of it. He would help confiscate the stuff. It was frightening. Here’s a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps.” November 11, 2010

 Roger Ailes: There are some “left-wing rabbis who basically don’t think that anyone can use the word ‘Holocaust’ on the air.” November 16, 2010 “[NPR] are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left-wing of Nazism.” November 17, 2010

 Rabbis to Rupert Murdoch: ‘Sanction Glenn Beck’ An open letter on the occasion of UN Holocaust Remembrance Day January 27, 2011

 Dear Mr. Murdoch,

 We are rabbis of diverse political views. As part of our work, we are devoted to preserving the memory of the Shoah, and to passing its lessons on to our future generations and to all humankind. All of us have vigorously defended the Holocaust’s legacy. We have worked to encourage the responsible invocation of its symbols as a powerful lesson for the future.

 We were therefore deeply offended by Roger Ailes’ recent statement attributing the outrage over Glenn Beck’s use of Holocaust and Nazi images to “left-wing rabbis who basically don’t think that anybody can ever use the word ‘Holocaust’ on the air.”

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Rabbis call on Fox to rein in Beck

MoonHowler

Today, January 27, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  The 27th of January was designated as such in 2005 and marks the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in 1945.  The U.S. Holocaust Museum will honor survivors in the Museum’s Hall of Remembrance. 

The Washington Post reports:

A coalition of rabbis wants Fox News chief Roger Ailes and conservative host Glenn Beck to cut out all their talk about Nazis and the Holocaust, and it’s making its views known in an unusual place.

The rabbis have called on Fox News’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, to sanction his two famous employees via a full-page ad in Thursday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal – one of many other media properties controlled by Murdoch’s News Corp.

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WTF, Sarah Palin

MoonHowler

From ABC News:

Sarah Palin waited a day to come out swinging about the State of the Union Address.  In an interview with Greta Van Susteren  Wednesday night, Palin told her “it was a tough speech to sit through and try to stomach.”

Palin then did a play on words with Winning the Future, the President’s slogan. 

She mocked the president’s slogan of “Winning the Future.”

She noted the initials are “WTF” and then observed there were “a lot of WTF moments through that speech.” For the uninitiated, “WTF” is what the kids often use in short-hand to signify, “What the…”

How trendy.  How childish.  What parts did she not like?  She sure didn’t take long to fall off the civility bandwagon.  WTF, who cares.