Joplin, Missouri–A story of heartbreak and a story of courage

MoonHowler

Joplin, Missouri was practically wiped off the face of the earth last Sunday.  The tales coming out of this town are heartbreaking.  I have never heard such tales of horror.  Now this town braces for another round of bad weather.  Surely this town won’t get hit a second time.

Of particular interest is the story of the graduate, on the way home from graduation, who was sucked out of his family car and has not been seen since.  What does a tornado do with people?  Are people dumped down, miles from home? 

This spring has been a nightmare, between Tuscaloosa and Joplin, the two areas hardest hit. These locations are not the only areas hit and not the only areas where people have lost their lives, but their names will be synonymous with the Titanic after the dust settles.  Flooding is a horrible problem for those living along the Mississippi River.  Billions of dollars have been lost in crops, homes,, human life.  Weather predictors say 18 hurricanes will be nameable.  That’s a lot of hurricanes.

Until man can control his environment, we will always be at the mercy of Mother Nature.  And yes, she is still a bitch.   We can put men and women in space.  We can predict hurricanes.  We cannot control volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding (to some degree) lightning or tornadoes.  We are at their their mercy and may always be. 

Towns like Joplin simply make me speechless. 

 

Park Authority Website- The Worst of the Worst

MoonHowler

Elena and I have been trying to navigate the Park Authority website, finding summer camps for kids.  I have never been on a more miserable website.  It is virutally unusable.  There is no way to even browse without signing up.  The questions asked don’t match adults.  (I obviously am not in first grade.)

There are codes to which there is no legend.  You cannot tell which location you are signing up for.  You cannot tell what is being offered or where it is.  The Parks and Rec Authority gets enough money to have a website that can be navigated. 

Prince William County is not out in the boondocks.  Prince William County people are Internet savvy.  To present this mess to the public is simply unacceptable.  If this is packaged programming, and this best there is, then hire someone to write our own software.  This is absurd, ridiculous and embarrassing. 

The county would be money ahead if they had 1 mailer and did everything else on the Internet rather than having massive printing bills and tying up employees to answer questions that should be accessible on the Internet.

Prince William County residents should demand better.  The current Internet system is unacceptable.

Tiffany and Co. and the Newster

MoonHowler

The Newster has bristled at questions over his Tiffany account.  I rarely support Newt on much of anything.  I think he is king of the hypocrites.  However, do we have the right to know about his jewelry purchases?

Obviously, most of us don’t have a half-million dollar line of credit with the most recognizable jewelry store in America.  What kind of special accounts do they have?  Newt said it was a regular Tiffany non-interest account.  Hmmmm…do I want one of those?  Yes!!!  Should I have one?  Probably not.  I could do real damage and those who know me know I love my jewelry almost to the point of gaudiness. 

Should the Newster have answered the questions about his purchases?  I say no.  Is it any our our business?  Not really.  There have to be some secrets and privacy.  There is enough out there to go after Newt for.  Leave his diamond studded naval rings out of the mix.  [Just kidding, Newt.] 

 Stephen Colbert probably said it best.  He buys his engagement rings in bulk.  Seriously though, I think we are overly snooping on this one.  He is a grown man, his wife is a grown woman.  As long as they aren’t cheating their other creditors, they can buy as much at Tiffany as they want, in my book.  We need to allow some privacy to all presidential candidates. 

Too Big to Fail–Tonight HBO @ 9

MoonHowler

Trailer: Too Big to Fail

Tonight is the premiere of Too Big to Fail, the story of our near-financial disaster in 2008. The film airs on HBO at 9 pm and is billed as the definitive story of what really happened during this crisis. It should provide interesting discussion as we watch the financial status of not only our nation, but our own personal wealth hover on the brink of disaster.  It does open the vault on the financial crisis we so nearly avoided. 

More about tonight’s film:

Should Lehman Brothers and Bear Sterns have been rescued?  Should everyone in financial trouble have been allowed to fail?  What would the repercussions from that be?

Mother Nature is a Bitch

MoonHowler

Once again, Iceland shows us the fire and ice.  There seems to be an awful lot of geothermal activity lately.  New Zealand, Japan, and Indonesia all seem to been very active the past year or so.  Does all of this mean something?

Perhaps Iceland is just having a soil-renewal event.  Grimsvotn volcano errupted for the first time since 2004.  The plume goes 12 miles into the atmosphere. 

 

Open Thread………………………………………….Sunday, May 22

MoonHowler

Well, we are all still here, I think.  Anyone missing?  Anyone poofed up in the sky? 

No triple crown winner again this year.  Animal Kingdom was beated by 3/4ths length by a horse named Shackleford a fine looking chestnut stallion.

And then there was Joplin, Missouri.  Wolverine broke the story here.  Mrs. W. has relatives and the Wolverine family got a frightening phone call Sunday night.  An entire city was wiped off the face of the earth.  Over 100 killed and 1500 missing.

Pres. Obama calls for the replacement of No Child Left Behind

MoonHowler

The President has called for NCLB to be replaced.    He says reform just can’t wait. 

Reform  is critical only if NCLB is repealed.  Killed off.  Done away with.  The federal government needs to stay out of education.  Leave education up to local government and states.  No more unfunded mandates.  No more absurd hoops to jump through. 

NCLB has almost ruined national education.  President Obama calls for reform from the bottom up, not the top down.  This is a good direction.  Congress needs to start on this endeavor, yesterday.  Education is a local issue.

Minnesota House of Representatives breaks bad with opening prayer

MoonHowler

The Daily Beast:

The heavy metal evangelist Bradlee Dean, whose opening prayer Friday at the Minnesota House of Representatives has sparked a firestorm, does not much like Islam, a religion he believes is at war with the United States.

Dean has long believed that President Obama is a Muslim, and he often insists that Obama has declared America a Muslim nation. So it wasn’t terribly surprising when he snuck a slur against the president into his prayer. The Minnesota House of Representatives, he acknowledged, is a nondenominational chamber, which he takes to mean that all kinds of Christians are welcome. “[I]t’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans, or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination,” he said. The only head of the denomination—i.e., of the government —“is Jesus, as every president up until 2008 has acknowledged.” 

Rep. Terry Morrow was so angry he shook.  He responded:

“Mr. Speaker, I do trust and I do hope that every member of this chamber understands the gravity and the severity of the offense that had been given to many people within this chamber and out,” he said. “It has been my understanding that part of the justification, part of the explanation for starting our sessions with a prayer was that those prayers would never exclude, never marginalize a Minnesotan on the basis of their faith, on the basis of their beliefs, on the basis of who they are, and those expectations have been crushed today.”

 

Read More

Israel’s Pre-1967 Borders

MoonHowler

Israel, with pre-1967 borders.

 

 

 

 From the Washington Post:

ADL’s Abraham Foxman: Obama didn’t throw Israel under the bus

By Greg Sargent

I just got off the phone with Abraham Foxman, the Holocaust survivor who heads the Anti-Defamation League. He does not agree with the claim by some Republican 2012 presidential candidates and conservative commentators that Obama threw Israel under the bus in his Arab Spring speech yesterday.

The claim by conservatives is based on Obama’s assertion yesterday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal must be based on pre-1967 lines with land swaps, which has been widely distorted by the right to mean Obama wants Israel to retreat to pre-1967 borders. Foxman disagrees with that characterization.

“I don’t see this as the president throwing Israel under the bus,” he told me. “He’s saying with `swaps.’ It’s not 1967 borders in the abstract. It’s not an edict. It’s a recommendation of a structure for negotiations.”

 

Foxman said that the broader characterization of the speech as anti-Israel by some on the right is also off base, citing its insistence on Israel’s right to self-defense, its opposition to the Palestinian statehood at the United Nations, and other matters.

“The speech indicated to me that this administration has come a long way in better understanding and appreciating the difficulties facing both parties, but especially Israel in trying to make peace with the Palestinians,” Foxman said.

Read More

Sat. May 21–End of the World?

MoonHowler

Is this what singer Skeeter Davis was talking about when she sang “The End of the World” when I was a kid?

I feel like I am watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Buffy has to save the world from the forces of whatever.  What is this all about?  Who is Mr. Camping other than someone who graduated from college before I was born, thus making him one terribly old dude.  What does the rapture mean?  What time does it start?  What happens if Sunday comes and we are all still here?  How does the End of the World group explain that?  The New York Times is slipping. 

From the NY Times:

Mr. Camping, whose ministry is fundamentalist Christian but not affiliated with mainstream churches, described Saturday as the beginning of five months of hell on earth: the Rapture. Beginning by time zone until the world is encompassed, the relative few saved by God will ascend to heaven, while seven billion will be left to suffer and die.

Read More

The Stupidity of An “Outer Beltway”

Elena

Anyone sit in 66 traffic in the morning?  Yep, I”ll bet there are alot of yes’s resonating in unison right now.  So, why, why would the state invest millions in a north south beltway from Western Prince William to Loudon County as opposed to addressing our REAL traffic congestion, East/West?  Click on this secret link for the answer!

What would happen if the western end of Prince William County were home to a new “outer beltway” ? Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out does it. If you guessed an inordinate amount of develpment, you are correct. 

All that will happen with an outer beltway is the destruction of any semblence of the rural legacy of Prince William County. The question we should be asking ourselves is this, “what is the long term vision for our county?”

Are we doomed to be just another urban shell of the unique place that once existed, or will we withstand the selfish urges of the big developers, you know, the ones who feed the coffers of almost all our politicians. 

Here is a great ad by John Gray (I), candidate for County Chairman, on this very important issue that could effect every single citizen in this county.

from InsideNova :

MANASSAS, Va. —

Some environmental groups are opposing an effort by the administration of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to resurrect plans for a highway that would connect Northern Virginia’s outer suburbs in Loudoun and Prince William counties.

For years, some planners have advocated what’s been called an “Outer Beltway” or a western bypass. It would be a mostly north-south highway that would serve the region’s fast-growing outer suburbs.

On Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board will consider a proposal from state Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton to declare such a highway a “corridor of statewide significance.” The designation might make it easier to obtain funding.

Environmental groups say a highway would open up rural land to development and disturb tranquil areas around Manassas National Battlefield.

The Newtster: Urinated inside the family circle? No Way!

MoonHowler

Ewwwwwwww!  Jon Stewart is right.  What is the impolite way of saying that?

Newtster has fully shot himself in the foot.  No Sister Souljah momentfor the Newtster.

Will Newt be forgiven or did he drink the proverbial hemlock of politics.  It seems he is making himself hard to be like d by everyone.   Actually, Newt was able to wrestle the limelight away from Arnold.  That’s quite an accomplishment.  Any time political stupidity steals tawdry sex’s thunder, it must be real stupid political stupidity.

Guilty even when not guilty: Sean Lanigan

MoonHowler

 

 Last year Sean Lanigan was accused of molesting one of his students. After 47 minutes of deliberation, a jury of his peers acquitted him. Not guilty. They felt there was no evidence.

His accuser has been using her patrol position to bully other students. Lanigan corrected her and warned her that she could lose her position. That was it. The patrol decided that Lanigan had to pay. And pay he did. The story of the downfall of this Fairfax PE teacher can be found in the Washington Post. Sean Lanegan was set up. There were missteps made by Fairfax County Schools and by the Fairfax County police.

Once acquitted, Sean Lanigan’s life still hasn’t gone back to normal. He has over $100,000 worth of legal fees and he isn’t in his old school. He works 5 days out of 10 but is paid for 10. Fairfax County still appears to want him removed. By all accounts an excellent teacher, this man has been victimized by a vengeful student. It can happen to anyone.

Read More

After the Sesquicentennial?

MoonHowler

Jennifer Buske has written an article about the area plans for the Sesquicentennial for the Washington Post entitled “As Civil War anniversary nears, Manassas sees a historic opportunity.”   In the Friday the 13th  article she writes what begins as an ode to deceased event planner Creston Owen and takes us though the history of the arriving at the Sesquicentennial.  Included in the article is a comparison between the Manassas Battlefield and Gettysburg.

Any attempts to compare the two battlefields ended about the time of the battles themselves.  Manassas is not Gettysburg and never will be, based pretty much on location, location, location, both then and now.  Gettysburg pretty much is a dedicated battlefield.  Manassas is a suburb of D.C.  And here is the gist of the problem.

According to the Washington Post:

Playing off the excitement of the sesquicentennial, Corey A. Stewart, the Board of County Supervisors chairman, said he wants to begin branding Prince William as a military history corridor where people can stop at the battlefield, the National Museum of the Marine Corps and the future American Wartime Museum. That attraction is scheduled to open in 2014 and cover every era of war from World War I to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read More