Round 1 over–Where do we go from here?

MoonHowler

From the New York Times:

 

WASHINGTON — President Obama will call this week for a broad plan to raise revenues and cut deficits, as the battle over fiscal issues moves past this weekend’s budget deal and into a broader and more consequential debate over the nation’s long-term fiscal health.

In a speech to be delivered at a university here on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will call on Congress to join him in writing a multiyear debt-reduction plan that would depart significantly from the one proposed by House Republicans, administration officials said.

The Republican plan includes an overhaul of Medicare and trillions of dollars in tax cuts, while sparing defense spending. Mr. Obama, by contrast, envisions a comprehensive plan that would include tax increases for the richest taxpayers and military spending cuts as well as savings in Medicare and Medicaid, along with changes to Social Security that the administration says will ensure its solvency for decades — much like his fiscal commission recommended in December.

The Radical Republicans will have their targets still, like Planned Parenthood, PBS, NPR and other government subsidized entities and will go after them with a vengeance.  Education will also be targeted.  Mental health and substance abuse programs have already been targeted.  HCR will also have a nuke aimed at it.

Before the 2012 budget is considered, Congress must raise the debt ceiling.  Failure to do so will ruin any chance of recovery and in all probability will limit our ability to borrow at low interest rates.  Congressmen who try to play political reindeer games with the debt ceiling will pay for it at election time.

It is not known if the President will assume the same mediator role as he did for 2011 budget.  Little is known how the Democrats will respond.  What will be that target from either group?

 

 

Fight — Sing — Drink — Pray

MoonHowler

Jim Webb’s Born Fighting made it to TV tonight on the Smithsonian Channel.  Webb traces the history of the Scots Irish in this country.  They are the people who settled past the mountains, past where the landed gentry lived.  The Scots-Irish were the protestants who came from Ireland and really very little has been written about them as an immigration group. 

Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, in the Huffington Post contributed the following that might explain much about our present day politics:

Born Fighting Reveals the Invisible Ink on the Pages of American History

As a Southern Democratic political operative and Scots-Irish hillbilly, I’ve been asked the same question a thousand times in a thousand different ways. In the summer of 2006, the question was condescendingly thrown at me by a sitting U.S. Senator in a luncheon buffet line at a Senate Democratic Caucus retreat. She asked, “How can your people in the South be so ignorant to go against their own economic self-interests and vote Republican?” Huh? I remember thinking that surely, in the name of Jesus, this woman (Senator or not) didn’t call my people “ignorant”.

Since I had been invited to the retreat by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, two guys I personally like, I was all cleaned up and on my very best behavior. But candidly, I still had to lock up every brake in my soul to not respond to her question with a bombardment of backwoods, “By God”, profanity. Somewhat to my own surprise, I overcame the urge and answered, “Has it ever crossed your mind that it might not be ignorance, but instead, a more powerful force called culture?”

Flesh-Colored Crayons: The New Multiculturalism?

MoonHowler

Fox and Friends was trying to stir it up early this morning.  Flesh colored crayons, colored pencils, and markers are now available from Crayola, the crayon company.  Fox and Friends presented this coloring media in terms of multiculturalism.  Is this an attempt at social engineering by corporate America?

When I was a kid, which granted, has been many years ago, the only choice  for me was pink, even in the 64 box set, which was as big as it got.   People either got to be pink or you left the page white.  If you had brown skin you were actually luckier, you got to get a little closer.  People just aren’t pink or white. 

The colors which are white, black, peach, apricot, tan, burnt sienna, mahogany and sepia  come as thick crayons, colored pencils and markers.  You can probably find all the colors now in a regular large box of crayons, but these are conveniently separated into their  box, exclusively for coloring flesh. The 8 crayons are also more expensive than a box of 24.  It’s probably a money-making gimmick rather than an attempt to blindside our children with ideas of diversity. 

I would say its a good thing to be able to represent ourselves, our friendsm  family and others when we color.  We aren’t all the same color, even within families.  Human beings are diverse.  I see this as a good thing.  And Fox and Friends never misses an opportunity to stir the pot with a little pinch of dissension and a heaping tablespoon of ‘out to get us.’ 

 

 

Is the tail wagging the dog?

MoonHowler

When the tea party first rose its head a couple of summers ago, we were told they were all about ‘getting our fiscal house in order.’  Many proposed draconian, drastic cuts, others trooped around in three cornered hats and did the fife and drums thing.  What was not said was that they were also the social conservatives, the radical Republicans.

We can see now that the social conservatives finally got their nose under the tent and House Speaker John Boehner has been put on notice–do what we say or lose your job.  Boehner is a smart enough politician to know that there are just some issues you don’t  tack on as a rider to a budget.  Obviously he had no choice.

Perhaps we will all survive.  But we look absurd to everyone else in the world.  We have debt problems but we protect the very wealthy.  Some knuckle heads continue to think, even after 25 years of it not paying  off, that protecting the very wealthy will produce jobs. Where are those jobs?

We are involved in three wars, and we almost  shut the government down over abortion?  And not even the right to abortion–it was imaginary abortion.   The radicals wanted to kill off Planned Parenthood.  Now Planned Parenthood is universally known as the place where people who don’t want to get pregnant go.  Patients can get relatively inexpensive birth control and required health services.  Planned Parenthood also takes medicaid patients, unlike so many other medical facilities.  What idiots want to shut down places to get contraception in order to fight abortion?  Now where is the logic?

Most Americans don’t see abortion or Planned Parenthood as big threats to our country.  What they do see as threatening are rising food costs, foreclosures, joblessness, job insecurity, overcrowded classrooms, expensive health care costs and crime.  They don’t give a fig about abortion or the fact that some penny of their tax money might find its way into co-mingling money used for abortion.

The culture warriors need to be driven out.  We need to get on with running the country.  We need to tell these clowns that they are making us the laughing stock.  We need to make sure the tail isn’t wagging the dog.

Planned Parenthood Shuts Down the United States Government ????????

Elena

On many different occassions I have shared the fact, that while attending Marymount University, a Catholic school, I did my internship at Planned Parenthood.  So, for all this talk about abortion abortion abortion, let me share some facts in order to paint a more accurate picture of ALL the critical services that Planned Parenthood provides.

The clinic I worked in did not provide abortion services.  On a sliding fee scale, based on income, women and men, of all ages, came to the clinic.  Although most were women, men also used the services for STD screening and HIV testing.  The women who worked at this clinic were amazing.  No one “pushed abortion” what they “pushed” was EDUCATION.  Their goal was to empower women and men, to be safe, whether it meant HIV, STD, or pregnancy prevention.   The level of service was as  professional as any doctor’s office I have seen.  Their goal was comprehensive care in a non judgemental environment.   

Did you know that the Human Papiloma Virus, an STD, if left untreated can cause cervical cancer?   How do you SAVE womens lives, a simple test, one that the clinice I worked in performed ALL the time.

In countries where women cannot get routine Pap tests, cervical cancer is much more common. In fact, cervical cancer is the major cause of cancer deaths in women in any developing countries. These cases are usually diagnosed at a late (invasive) stage, rather than as pre-cancers or early cancers.

Not all American women take advantage of the benefits of Pap test screening. Between 60% and 80% of American women who are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer have not had a Pap test in the past 5 years. In fact, many of these women have never had a Pap test. In particular, elderly, African-American, and/or low-income women and women who are recent immigrants are less likely to have regular Pap tests.

My experience there was amazing. The people who worked there truly cared about the health of the people that walked through their door. Their goal was to PREVENT unwanted pregancies and STD’s. Their counseling for HIV testing was compassionate and professional. Not one person was given their results over the phone, whether negative or positive, you had to come in and speak with a counselor.  Other services included dispensing birth control pills and offering condoms for free!

Cutting funds to Planned Parenthood is detrimental for the health can well being of women and men in this country. On one hand we all recognize that insurance premiums area often out of reach for many people, Planned Parenthood provides a critical service at an affordable rate, they are able to fill a need. Abortion is not what we are talking about when you simply use a broad brush to deny funding to Planned Parenthood, the care this organiation has provided to women and men for decades has been critical.

I am personally disgusted at the level of ignorance to what Planned Parenthood provides, that I am feeling very hopeless at this point. This is not about the budget, this is about an ideology that is attempting to trump the well being of ALL Americans.

editors note:  This IS NOT a budget issue.  The title X money Planned Parenthood recieves is reimbursement for comprehenisve family planning services.  The government will still have 300,000 million dollars in Title X money, it just cannot be used for Planned Parenthood services.

What Is Title X?

Title X (ten) of the Public Service Act is a federal grant program signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based reproductive health research center, the law had broad bipartisan support and was the result of increasing concerns that low-income women were not able to get access to family planning services and had higher rates of unwanted pregnancies than more affluent women.

Title X grants, which are administered through state health departments or regional agencies, support family planning programs in 4,500 clinics serving 5 million individuals across the country. The funds, which totaled $317 million last year, are used to provide a range of reproductive health and family planning services primarily to low-income individuals. The program is run by the Department of Health and Human Services and provides funding for contraceptive counseling and supplies, STD testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, vasectomies, hypertension and blood pressure measurement, prenatal care and sex education.

Government to shut down over ideology…Pia voted off Idol

MoonHowler

Right now, we are headed to a government shut down.  Typically, the lines in the sand are being drawn over ideology, not over real budget items.  According to TV, this hang ups seem to be over policy riders involving the changes in environmental protection regulations, funding for PBS and NPR  and  funding for Planned Parenthood.   Does America really care about these two thorns in the sides of the decision makers?  Who will blink?

More to come….

Probably more Americans are concerned over American Idol.  Pia was voted off.  She was a favorite of the judges. 

Gretch on Faux and Friends blames the judges.  She said first she disliked them before she liked them.  Her problem with them is that they don’t really give the contestants any criticism that would tell the American viewers how to vote. 

Excuse me?  Does Faux and Friends even want Americans told how to vote for Idol contestants?  They have the political system covered.  Now they are going to start of Idol and Friends and tell them how to run things?

Stay tuned.  It will be amazing to see which event Americans are most concerned about. 

 

Government Shutdown Looming

MoonHowler

A government shutdown is looming on our horizon –a “tomorrow horizon”–because there is no 2011 budget.  Congress cannot agree.  There has to be compromise. 

What will be the impact of a government shut down?  The last one was in 1995.  How many readers think it doesn’t matter if the government is shut down?

We know that national parks and museums will be closed.  But will government employees get paychecks?  How about the military?  How about social security checks?  Will Congress still get their paychecks?  Will all the support staff go home? 

The blame game won’t work.   Will there be an emergency extention or will things grind to a halt tomorrow?

D-I-V-O-R-C-E – – – Glenn Beck and Fox News

MoonHowler

From the Daily Beast   (Howard Kurtz):

Despite his monster ratings, Fox News is bidding farewell to Glenn Beck as tensions between the incendiary host and the top-rated cable news channel have led to a near-total divorce.

I say near-total because the two sides announced a deal today in which Beck’s production company will produce occasional content for Fox. But insiders say this will amount to a handful of specials and that many senior Fox executives are relieved to be rid of Beck, whose ratings have dropped 40 percent.

Beck, too, has tired of the friction with Fox and is said by people close to him to be happy to end the partnership.

Whatever the genesis, for Beck to give up his daily 5 p.m. program, which at its peak drew more than 2.5 million viewers, is a case study in how even the most successful broadcast personalities can become too hot to handle.

In the end, the man who drew a huge crowd to the Lincoln Memorial, but also became a lightning rod after calling President Obama a racist, lasted less than three years as a daily Fox host. More than 300 advertisers fled the Beck show, but he still delivered a huge lead-in audience for Bret Baier and others who followed him on the Fox lineup.

This news was predictable.  Glenn Beck has been under fire for some time now for his incendiary remarks.  Since the last election,  his shows have gotten boring.  His outlandishness has become a drone.  Did he quit trying or was mission accomplished?  Now he sounds like he is just trying to advance Mormon ideas.  I stopped listening several weeks ago. Read More

The Bluebell Festival, A Must See Unique Experience in PWC!

Elena

Seriously, if you have not seen the carpet of bluebells at Merrimac Farm, you are missing Prince William County’s own “wizard of oz” field off poppy’s!   Forget all the craziness in politics, forget the 9-5 daily grind,  this is truly a moment to just leave all your stress behind and enjoy the gifts of mother nature!

From the Prince William Conservation Alliance website :

Bring your family and friends to Merrimac Farm on Sunday, April 10, beginning at 10:00 am, to welcome spring and view the spectacular display of Virginia Bluebells that carpet the floodplain along Cedar Run for nearly a mile. In the words of one visitor, it’s like walking through Oz.

We’ll have naturalist-led tours to the Bluebells and Cedar Run, where you can stay as long as you’d like. The event also includes a nature art show, children’s activities, concessions and (out)door prizes. Bring your kids, cameras and binoculars for a fun day! Click here for more information and directions.

Sponsored by the Prince William Conservation Alliance, Virginia Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries and Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Raking in the bucks for non-abstinence

MoonHowler

From Politico:

If you‘re wondering where Bristol Palin got the $172,000 in cash to buy her home in Maricopa, Ariz., — Loan from her parents? “Dancing With the Stars” payoff? A gift from her baby daddy, Levi Johnston? — it looks like part of it might have come from her work as an abstinence advocate.

 The blog Palingates, soon followed by the AP, reported that according to tax forms, the teen mom earned $262,000 in 2009 for her work with The Candie’s Foundation.

 Bristol was just 18 and a new mother when she became an ambassador for the foundation in 2009.

Is it just me or does abstinence mean …not having sex?  So if you don’t have sex, how do you end up with a trashy boyfriend and a baby?  I know these young kids and all and the generation gap, but there are just a few things I simply don’t understand. 

Why is Bristol the poster chRead More

Tim Kaine to run for Senate

MoonHowler

The long wait is over. Every since Senator Jim Webb announced he would not be running for re-election, Virginia and the rest of the nation have speculated on who would run to replace him on the Democratic ticket.  Today former  Virginia Governor  Tim Kaine announced his candidacy.

According to myfoxDC.com:

Kaine, who won election as governor in 2005, was among the first elected officials to back Obama’s primary bid. Obama named him the DNC post and has nudged Kaine toward a run. Last week, he said Kaine was “not just a leader for Virginia; he’s a leader for America.”

…Republican George Allen, who lost the Senate seat to Webb in 2006 and was governor from 1994 to 1998, announced his candidacy earlier this year.

There are others considering the lofty run for Senate, including tea party person Jaime Radtke.  Corey Stewart and Bob Marshall also are considering the run.   All have been trying to get name recognition.  Stewart has been trumpeting an anti immigration stance and Marshall continues his anti-reproductive rights campaign. 

Tim Kaine is the son-in-law of former Governor Linwood Holton (R) who was governor from 1970-1974.  He was the first Republican governor in Virginia since Reconstruction. 

Let the wars begin!  Run Corey Run [evil grin]  😈

 

Maine Must Return $$$$

MoonHowler

Several weeks ago, Maine Governor Paul LePage (R) stirred things up by ordering the removal of a mural in the Maine Labor Department depicting a few scenes from the labor history in the state.  Scenes from Rosie the Riveter tat Bath Ironworks to the a shipyard strike.  According to Huffington Post:

The governor has said that he wants the mural out of the Department of Labor because it doesn’t fairly depict the perspective of employers: “Were the bosses in the mural? Were the employers in the mural? History is about two sides … I think it’s inappropriate for [the mural] to be in the Department of Labor when everyone comes in, employers and employees, and they’re confronted by one side of the question.”

The mural was erected in 2008, after the Maine Arts Commission chose Taylor’s piece through a jury selection.

There was a hue and cry over the quiet removal of the mural and now the empire strikes back.  The U.S. Labor Department has told Maine to put the mural back or pay the price, in today’s Huffpost:

The federal government is stepping into the labor mural controversy in Maine, demanding that the state either put the artwork back up at the Department of Labor or repay the cost of the mural.

In a letter first obtained by the Associated Press, Gay Gilbert, a senior U.S. Labor Department official, writes that the federal government appropriated the funds to Maine for the mural.

Read More