Make sure you check things out at sunset. Sunset tonight is at 7:07 pm.
Congress goes on break after NPR ‘Fiscal Emergency’
Many currently in Congress ran on promises to tackle jobs and the budget. Instead, they have taken on NPR and Planned Parenthood. Many experienced Republicans have been frustrated by the newcomers who don’t seem to understand Washington protocol. Republicans have ended up blocking Republicans.
According to Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank:
The lack of grown-up behavior is driving Americans to despair. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, only 26 percent said that they were optimistic about the future when “thinking about our system of government and how well it works.” That’s less than half the level of optimism felt in 1974, during Watergate.
The Democrats are only showing themselves to be slightly more adult. The party leaders opposed Dennis Kucinich’s bill to just dump Afghanistan at the end of the year and bring everyone home. Many Democrats felt his plan was foolish and irresponsible and most voted against it.
Hidden-camera activist James O’Keefe turns away APP videographer
James O’Keefe is quite the hypocrite. He apparently receives honorarium for speaking to groups now. He spoke before a Tea Party group recently in New Jersey. Asbury Park Press was barred from videotaping conservative activist James O’Keefe at a Tea Party Group meeting.
According to the Asbury Park Press:
KEYPORT— James O’Keefe, the conservative activist known for his hidden-camera videos that
have made headlines, apparently was not thrilled about the idea of being videotaped himself during a speech he gave Thursday evening.O’Keefe, who spoke to about 100 members of the Bayshore Tea Party and their supporters at Ye Cottage Inn, declined to be videotaped by an Asbury Park Press photographer who was there to cover the event.Read More
Judge Maryann Sumi blocks Wisconsin anti-union law
Judge Maryann Sumi temporarily blocked Wisconsin anti-union law today that was signed by Governor Scott Walker. The law curtailed much of the collective bargaining rights public employees had previously been allowed to employ.
According to the LA Times:
Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi granted the temporary order that prevents publication of the measure signed into law by Republican Gov. Scott Walker after weeks of protests and a boycott by Senate Democrats that turned the capital of Madison in a national political battleground on the issue of limiting public employee union power.
The judge was acting on a request by Dist. Atty. Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, who had filed a lawsuit contending a legislative committee had violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law by pushing the measure onto the floor. That maneuver was key in unblocking the legislative stalemate and allowing the bill to be signed by Walker on March 11.
“I’ll definitely take it,” said Eddie Vale, political communications director for the AFL-CIO, the national labor federation that had fought Walker and the bill. “But the big caveat, of course, is that this is temporary. They can appeal the case. And they can also re-notice the meeting and hold another vote.
The important thing to remember is that this ruling is temporary and will be revisited. It is probably just the beginning of many legal battles over this national obsession on public employees and unions. No one appears to be taking victory laps yet.
Wisconsin lifts its leg on the golden door
What a difference a few decades makes. Ronald Reagan, the golden boy of the Republican party would be an outcast in the fair state of Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, as well as some other places here in the United States.
Reagan himself had been president of the Screen Actors Guild which was a union. The Screen Actors Guild has connections to the AFL-CIO. He was a strong supporter of Poland’s Solidarity Movement and had great respect for its leader, Lech Walesa.
Reagan castigated the Polish government for outlawing Solidarity.
Reagan stated:
“By outlawing Solidarity, a free trade organization to which an overwhelming majority of Polish workers and farmers belong, they have made it clear that they never had any intention of restoring one of the most elemental human rights—the right to belong to a free trade union.”
Many have argued that Walesa’s leadership in Poland was the beginning of the end of communism. Just what is it that these elected officials fear?
They fear the power of numbers. Had those in Wisconsin only been a few hundred dissonants, they would have been arrested and jailed. That is hard to do with thousands.
Perhaps those opposing the rights of public employees to form unions and to engage in collective bargaining need to reexamine their motives. Maybe they had better put their American flags away while they are lifting their legs on Miss Liberty’s golden door.
Reagan’s ” Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost!” will be just a lone echo in the wind if someone doesn’t get rid of these union busters elected to office.
Will March 19 ‘Supermoon’ Trigger Natural Disasters?
An article was published March 10, 2011 about astrologers thinking that the super large moon on March 19 would trigger natural disasters. March 10th was the day before the horrible 9.1 earthquake that set of the chain of events that has crippled the nation of Japan.
According to Yahoo. com:
On March 19, the moon will swing around Earth more closely than it has in the past 18 years, lighting up the night sky from just 221,567 miles (356,577 kilometers) away. On top of that, it will be full. And one astrologer believes it could inflict massive damage on the planet.
Richard Nolle, a noted astrologer who runs the website astropro.com, has famously termed the upcoming full moon at lunar perigee (the closest approach during its orbit) an “extreme supermoon.”
When the moon goes super-extreme, Nolle says, chaos will ensue: Huge storms, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters can be expected to wreak havoc on Earth. (It should be noted that astrology is not a real science, but merely makes connections between astronomical and mystical events.)
But do we really need to start stocking survival shelters in preparation for the supermoon?
Judging from the past week, the answer must be YES. We have had earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear disasters, and volcanic eruptions. Read More
George Harris: Marshall comparisons stretch limits of taste
George Harris
Guest poster
From News and Messenger:
Del. Bob Marshall is at it once again. In a recent diatribe before the Virginia General Assembly, Marshall chose to compare scientists doing stem cell research with World War II Nazi “doctors” who performed “experiments” on hapless Holocaust victims.
Marshall’s conduct in this case is reprehensible and to make things even worse, it has been learned that Mr.
Marshall has never been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington to see what really took place. He invokes the Holocaust and Nazism when it fulfills his need for publicity.
Shame on him for using a Nazi comparison to impugn the good works of honest scientists seeking cure to horrible diseases and conditions.
Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration
M-H
Stephen King Blasts Republicans
Gothic horror writer Stephen King and his author wife Tabitha own property in both Maine and Florida. K8ing blasted Republicans at a recent rally according to Kennebec Journal:
So, you’ve got LePage in Maine, Walker in Wisconsin, you’ve got Scott in Florida. Larry, Curly and Moe. That’s what we’ve got here,” he said, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube.
The multimillionaire also questioned why he isn’t asked to pay more in federal taxes.
NOAA cuts endanger us all
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
“”Showing the recklessness of the GOP’s budget, proposed cuts would gut funding for Hawaii’s tsunami warning system,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), joining Democrats in trying to tie GOP budget cuts to threats posed by the recent Japanese earthquake.But if you go through the GOP budget cutting bill, you won’t find any mention of cuts in tsunami warning funding, or in the National Weather Service, which has also been getting a lot of media attention about budget cuts as well.
The cuts – which right now have no chance to get through the Senate – would be in the budget of NOAA, the parent organization to both the tsunami and weather forecasting organs.
Part 2 Is Japan’s quake part of a Cluster?
Simon Winchester continues his discussion of geological history and assures us that a major earthquake along the west coast is inevitable. In the video, he talks about the San Andreas fault line and the Cascadia subduction zone which runs from California to Vancouver, B.C. The Cascadia fault would be under water which would create tsunamis.
Much area along the west coast is coastal highway with only one way out. The area is flat and if everyone tried to leave at once, the roads would become parking lots.
For every Winchester, there are nay-sayers who say “the big one” will not be like what happened in Japan. Further south, two nuclear plants, San Onofre and Diablo Canyon, both in Southern California, are built along fault lines. Both are built to withstand a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. That would not pass muster in last weeks Japanese quake. Those with California Emergency Management seem to be assured and us that they are ready. That statement seems to ignore the fact that even though something is very improbable, that doesn’t make it impossible.
We can only wait and see if the earthquake cluster theory has validity. There is also some concern on the part of geologists that the super-volcano Yellowstone is due for a dust up. Any eruption of Yellowstone would be disastrous for not just that region but the entire country and Canada because of fallout from the eruption.
Again, now is not the time to cut back on any safety precautions that can help us be ready to survive major attacks from Mother Nature, whether it is hurricane, tornado, and other storm rediction, or earthquake, volcano and tsunami warnings. Our very lives might depend on it. Looking back just 6 years should remind us of the ferocity of Katrina and how there are just some things you can never be totally ready for.
Palin said to be becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska ‘edition’
Some conservative commentators are becoming increasingly put off by Sarah Palin. One such person, Matt Labash, writer for the Weekly Standard said that because of Palin’s continued cries of victimhood and grievance, “She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition.”
Palin has not done much to endear herself to the old GOP guard. According to Politico:
Sarah Palin has played the sexism card, accusing critics of chauvinism against a strong woman.
She has played the class card, dismissing the Bush family as “blue bloods” and complaining that she is the target of snobbery by people who dislike her simply because she is “not so hoity-toity.”Most famously, she has played the victim card — never more vividly than when she invoked the loaded phrase “blood libel” against liberals and media commentators in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting.
For years, conservatives have laughed about liberals playing the victim card. Now the conservative commentators and intellilgensia have turned the tables. The backlash gets increasingly stronger each day.
This year, the conservative intelligentsia doesn’t just tend to dislike Palin — many fear that her rise would represent the triumph of an intellectually empty brand of populism and the death of ideas as an engine of the right.
Japan Faces Prospect of Nuclear Catastrophe as Employees Leave Plant
From the New York Times alert:
Japan Faces Prospect of Nuclear Catastrophe as Employees Leave Plant
Japan faced the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear accident
Tuesday morning, as an explosion at the most crippled of
three reactors at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Station
damaged its crucial steel containment structure, emergency
workers were withdrawn from the plant, and much larger
emissions of radioactive materials appeared imminent,
according to official statements and industry executives
informed about the developments.Prime Minsiter [sic] Naoto Kan of Japan was preparing to make a
televised address to the nation at 11 a.m. Tokyo time
What is this going to do to Japan? People within 19 miles are being told to leave. So far the explosions have been hydrogren. This is not the same as a nuclear explosion. The third explosion might be more serious.
What will this do to neighboring countries? What will this do to nuclear power in our country? The anti-nuclear people are already protesting.
Most nuclear power plants are on the east coast, where there is greater population. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Are populations in danger? Should we continue to build nuclear power plants? How involved is the government in our existing plants? Are there tax credits for nuclear power and are there grants available for private industry to build? Perhaps we need to discuss.
Before and after satellite photos. (must see)
Open Thread……………………………………..Monday, March 14
Time to start off a new week. Let’s hope this week has less tragedy than last week.
Will Japan get their nuclear power plants under control? Will fighting in Libya stop? Will the Government keep running? Will we have a break from man-made and natural disasters?
And then there is that secret Leprechaun and pot o’ gold coming up on Thursday. Any good recipes or events? Where is the best place to drink green beer?
Your choice of conversation.
P. J. Crowley forced to resign
State department spokesman P.J. Crowley was forced to resign after his controversial comments about suspected WikiLeaker Bradley Manning, according to multiple reports.
The abrupt resignation came after he criticized the Defense Department‘s treatment of Manning, who is being held in a military prison accused of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Speaking at an MIT seminar last week, Crowley said Manning was being “mistreated”.
“What is being done to Bradley Manning is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid on the part of the Department of Defense,” he said.
An 11-page letter from Manning’s lawyer released last week detailed treatment of the Army private that included him being stripped naked, held in solitary confinement and allegedly harassed by prison guards.
Crowley did say that Manning was in the right place.
“There is sometimes a need for secrets,” he said.
Crowley, who operated a popular Twitter feed, last tweeted about the emergency in Japan on Friday.
