Today is Earth Day which was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Have we made progress protecting the earth? That question is certainly debatable. What do our contributors think? Is the earth better off than it was 40 years ago?
100 Thoughts to “Open Thread ……..Passover…..Good Friday…….Earth Day…..Friday, April 22”
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Bachmann joins GOPers distancing themselves from birther issue
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 20, 2011 6:38 p.m. EDT
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/20/arizona.president.bill.veto/index.html
@E
Feel free to discuss the stupidity of the birthers. I think you know that theory discussion is off limits. However, if you want to test it, be my guess. See where it gets you.
@Starryflights
And that’s one of the reasons I don’t like HIS plan either. Cut now, not later.
http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/local/9046-tlc108.html
Wouldn’t it be grand if we lived in a community ranked as one of the smartest
and wealthiest in the country with a boutique public school system that
tops all others? Perfect? Well, maybe not for everyone.
Stocks hit a three year high today.
How sweet it is!
Amanda Hess revisits KK’s Temptations:
http://www.tbd.com/blogs/amanda-hess/2011/04/manassas-sex-shop-fight-cuts-across-class-lines-10502.html
A friend who writes for a military publication noted this head-scratcher in an op-ed Mitt Romney published in the Manchester (NH) Union Leader yesterday on Obama’s handling of the nation’s financial problems: “Yet his (Obama’s) approach has been to engage in one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history.”
Mr. Romney’s “peacetime spending binges” zinger ignores those engagements that have occupied our troops for nearly a decade in Afghanistan and Iraq and the trillion dollars in costs his party chose to ignore.
http://bit.ly/dWjbAg
@Big Dog
Cheer! Yea! Stock highs make me happy.
Wolverine – Sorry for the delay in responding to your question about Qaddafi. Our website has been static since November when we started a project to redesign it. That effort has taken longer than I thought, but we are getting close and once it goes live we will begin publishing original content again. We have someone who has reported on war crimes for us before who is in Libya now. I expect he will cover the points you raised. One of the issues I think is interesting is the proposal that’s been mentioned to grant Qaddafi asylum somewhere in return for him surrendering power, but there is no immunity for war crimes and it’s pretty clear that his forces murdered civilians and launched indiscriminate attacks, so who could make a deal and what legal effect would it have?
When will this site cover the crazy, violent, racist and rude liberals at town hall meetings?
Former Air America host handcuffed and escorted out of Allen West town hall:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/heckler-handcuffed-at-allen-west-townhall-is-former-air-america-host/
This isn’t the first either, the left are coming out in droves to yell, shout and disrupt Republican townhall meetings all over the place. However, it’s crickets here… why is that? Especially when Tea Party disruptions were such a big topic here not to long ago.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/04/26/gop_congressmans_town_hall_turns_into_shoutfest_over_budget.html
Actually I don’t approve of rudeness and being disruptive regardless of who the elected official is. As for your crickets statement…BITE ME.
Again, you are here to goad, not to discuss.
That film certainly does your ‘side’ no favors. I wouldn’t want to be that cop. What was the woman arrested for? Being a loud mouth is not against the law. I sure would not have posted that video to score points for ‘my side.’
God Bless the Marines. May our country live up to their sacrifice.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/23/pendleton-marines-turn-the-tide-in-the-fallujah/
@Dan Cooper
If you are so concerned about it Dan, why don’t you do your own blog instead of coming in just to bitch?
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/04/war-over-secession
An interesting insight.
I dont’ have a ‘side’ Moon….
Don’t have the time George.
the Whitehouse has released the long form birth certificate of President Obama – http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/longformbirthcertificate.pdf
Will this satisfy the birthers – probably not – I wonder if Trump is going to release his financial records now –
Glenn Beck has just closely examined the released long form certificate of live birth.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf
They have discovered Obama may be a former conjoined twin or set of triplets, that the record is a theoretical certificate, that it has the mark of the beast upon it if you add and subtract the right numbers, and that its also a forgery, drawn in Kenya by traditional artists, proving that Obama was born in Newfoundland. That his mother is NOT his mother, and that, furthermore, that the President is really George Bush in a mask. Oh, and of course the hospital and the street address are OBVIOUSLY fake, as who spells that way? Waaaay to many vowels…..
@cargosquid
The Smoking Gun has already addressed many of the issues that came along with the birth certificate: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/barack-obama/birth-obama-certer-movement-098513
Entertaining reading I suppose, I really don’t care about the whole birther issue but I do wonder why it took so long. Also, any bet takers on when he will release his college transcripts? Apparently Wolf Blitzer has already seen them and said they were ‘excellent’. Can I see them?
It’s just odd coming from a guy who constantly preached ‘transparency’ but dragged his feet for how many years on this? And who still has yet to release his college transcripts. Odd, he is a really smart guy, I’m sure he has nothing to hide. Why not be as transparent as you pretend to be?
Does it take one to know one? Endorsement of conspiracy theories is
influenced by personal willingness to conspire
Karen M. Douglas, Robbie M. SuttonArticle first published online: 12
APR 2011
We advance a new account of why people endorse conspiracy theories,
arguing that individuals use the social–cognitive tool of projection
when making social judgements about others. In two studies, we found
that individuals were more likely to endorse conspiracy theories if
they thought they would be willing, personally, to participate in
the alleged conspiracies. Study 1 established an association between
conspiracy beliefs and personal willingness to conspire, which fully
mediated a relationship between Machiavellianism and conspiracy
beliefs. In Study 2, participants primed with their own morality
were less inclined than controls to endorse conspiracy theories – a
finding fully mediated by personal willingness to conspire. These
results suggest that some people think ‘they conspired’ because they
think ‘I would conspire’.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2010.02018.x/abstract
Belief in conspiracy theories is a form of mental illness.
Better answer: “That wouldn’t annoy you nearly as much.”
that to Slow… slow… slow… oops. My bad, didn’t realize this was an echo chamber. 🙂
was going to go with don’t have the time George because I’m not a government worker. But I have family that works for the government. Which means they are probably surfing Al Gores glorious Internet right now and may just stumble across this and might just get mad at me. Don’t want to rock the boat with a big family function coming up this weekend. 🙂
By Harold Meyerson, Wednesday, April 27, 2:03 AM
Republicans have a problem. Their base is killing them.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s announcement Monday that he will not seek the presidency is just the latest sign that politically sentient Republicans fear their party’s voters have moved so deeply into la-la land that winning their support in next year’s primaries could render their nominee unelectable in November. “Friends of Barbour,” reports The Post’s Dan Balz, “said that he had come to the conclusion that Republicans can win only if they are totally focused on serious issues and not distracted by some side issues, such as Obama’s birthplace, that have arisen in the early going.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-are-being-held-hostage-by-their-base/2011/04/26/AFXJwxsE_story.html
Anyone here have an issue with Geitner having the power to raid govie pension funds to make payroll and keep the govt chugging along? 🙂
……..grenade!!
I hear now that Trump is arguing that Hawaii was never actually granted full statehood.
This is a must see if you love either soccer or babies! This one year old is nuts, and apparently good enough to get signed by a professional Dutch soccer team: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3550643/Club-signs-future-star-aged-ONE.html
Interesting. The Massachusetts House has voted 111-42 to sharply curtail the rights of police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees to collective bargain over their health care plans, with the level of employee contributions to the premiums still on the bargaining table. The budget bill still has to go through the state Senate and the Governor, but they say that the House vote margin appears to be veto-proof. The unions are furious at yet another instance of union busting. Only problem is that the measure was pushed by the Democrats with their House Speaker in the lead — that’s right, Massachusetts Democrats, who have discovered that the state’s municipalities have major fiscal problems. It would appear that Andrew Cuomo of New York is no longer out there on a limb by his lonesome. They say the Massachusetts vote was held late at night to avoid what happened in Wisconsin.
Balderdash. Haley Barbour was stuck at 2-3% in the Republican polls and did not seem to have much of a prospect for jacking up his numbers. I suspect he decided, based on the state of play of the numbers, that a run for the Oval House was just a hill too high for him to climb. The “birther” thing was a lame excuse for abandoning a potential bid without traction. Never saw any kind of serious “Barbour for President” wave out there that I can recall.
I haven’t seen ANY Barbour for President desire. That’s why Barbour did the sensible thing.
Now, if we can only get Cuccinelli to run….. 🙂
http://www.olszewskienterprises.com/ATasteofPrinceWilliamCountyVirginiaWineHistory.htm
Didn’t realize that Manassas and Haymarket were centers of viticulture 100 years ago.
Do they still make wine with Norton grapes our area?
The Republican potential presidential contenders are afraid of Obama. They know that running on a platform of Obama’s birthplace and aboloshing Medicare is a path to getting beaten very badly in next year’s election.
@Big Dog
Got to go out to Middleburg to Chrysalis Vineyards for it, Big Dog. Or out to LaGrange. Those I think are the two closest, although I think Rappahannock Cellars is also doing Norton grapes. Expensive though…runs around $15 to $35 depending on blend.
Any talk of abolishing medicare or social security is akin to drinking hemlock, politically.
This is a case of age and experience overcoming youth and trechery every time it is brought up…
The fool who fail to heed the warning is attempting to stare down the age demographics who brought you Woodstock.
Since no one is talking about ABOLISHING anything, then, I guess we’re safe.
Now, since no one wants to be an adult in DC and try to actually fix things, let’s just keep spending.
Since Medicare and SS have their own income streams, lets raise the taxes ON THOSE to make them solvent. Double the fee. No one wanted to fix it in years past and now the bill is due. SS and Medicare are just taxes. They both get paid out of the general fund. And raise the age on SS to 70.
Okla. House passes ‘birther’ bill requiring presidential candidates to prove US citizenship
Last Updated: April 27, 2011 – 10:30 pm
OKLAHOMA CITY — Legislation that would require presidential candidates to provide proof of citizenship to appear on an Oklahoma ballot was approved by the state House Wednesday — the same day President Barack Obama made public his detailed birth certificate.
Without debate, House members voted 77-13 in favor the measure, sending it to the Senate, which already has approved a version of the bill but must consider it again because of changes made in a House committee. Some House Democrats voted against the measure, but others voted with the Republican majority.
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/81d2830673834677bc3b26f2d7c56deb/OK-XGR–Birth-Certificate-Okla/
This is the best they can do. They can’t win on the issues.
“They can’t win on the issues.”
Apparently they did. In this case, citizenship WAS the issue. Obama proved his citizenship.
As for the other issues…what would you consider the issues to be, Starry?
Let’s take a break from politics…..here’s a jokeI don’t think I’ll be able to play “sternum” with Katie again without thinking of this.
Pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers.
Barbara Moore stood and walked to the podium. She said, “I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Dave, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him.”
You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagine the pain that poor Dave must have experienced.
“Dave was unable to hold me or the children,” she went on, “and every move caused him terrible pain. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Dave’s scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place.”
Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Dave.
“Now,” she announced in a quivering voice, “thank the Lord, Dave is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.” All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.
A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium. He said, “I’m Dave Moore.”
The entire congregation held its breath.
“I just want to tell my wife the word is “sternum.’
Oops.. just realized that the part of the email about playing Sternum with Katie is still there…
Sternum is a game that she invented? where she walks up, pokes me in the chest and says, “Sternum!”
I tend to mess with her, poke her at random times in the arm or shoulder, and say the same thing….being a very literal child, she objects…..
Thought that I’d explain it. Next time I’ll be more precise on by cutting and pasting and, yet again, edit BEFORE I hit submit….
Ok..ok…here’s another joke….tell me if you’ve heard it…..heh heh…here we go…..
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed Tuesday that the United States would never follow a strategy to weaken the US dollar.
“Our policy has been and will always be, as long as I will be in office, that a strong dollar is in the interest of the country,” Geithner said at a New York conference organized by the Council of Foreign Relations.
“We will never embrace a strategy to weaken the dollar.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
What a riot!
No, really, there should be a riot….
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/04/why-do-women-see-the-world-in-shades-of-gray/237880/
This may help to explain a number of things – like differences between BVBL and Moonhowlings.
You think?
I truly hope it is more than internal or external genitalia.
Arbor Day celebration in front of the Old Courthouse in Manassas
tomorrow morning at 10. The public is invited.
Just took my daughter to her first rock concert. LYNYRD SKYNYRD! And it ROCKED! Of course she got a t-shirt.
So, so far, Ted Nugent (She likes Cat Scratch Fever and I went to that concert) and Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirts…….yeah…the programming is progressing nicely…. 👿