Stonewall Student Arrested for Sexual Assault

MoonHowler

From insidenova.com:

An 18-year-old Stonewall Jackson High School student was charged Thursday with sexual assault, police said.

A 14-year-old student at the school told police that Phillip Andrew McNuss, 18, a person she knows, sexually assaulted her in a stairwell inside the school, which is located at 8820 Rixlew Lane, more than one time between April 11 and April 15, Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok said.

Perok said the victim reported the incidents on Wednesday afternoon to school authorities, who then contacted police.

McNuss, of the 10200 block of Jamaica Lane, in the Townes of Ashleigh neighborhood, was charged with sexual battery, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and carnal knowledge, Perok said.

McNuss was held without bond.  Police did not have his court date immediately available.

We don’t usually cover crime.  However, this story affects many of our readers.  Maybe it’s time for some of the curtains to come down.  A 14 year old is  sexually assaulted, (whatever that means) inside the school in a stairwell during school hours?  Where were others?   Teachers, students and administrators?  Were  both students out of class?  What about security cameras?  Don’t they have those in stairwells?   How does something like this happen?

The alleged attacker lives off of Williamson Blvd.  That is a little too close for comfort.  Additionally, this is certainly not the first time that a student has been viciously attacked at SJHS.   If this kind of illegality is going on at Stonewall then security must be upgraded.  Prince William County citizens don’t send their daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and nieces to school to be sexually assaulted any more than they send their sons, nephews, brothers and grandsons to school to be brutally attacked. 

Hopefully the school will have some explanation of how this was allowed to happen on their watch. 

And if  someone is accused of sexual battery and they go to school with my family members, then I guess they should know I will plaster their  face on my blog: 

Reminder: (mainly for Moon)  Everyone is innocent until convicted by a jury of their peers. 

 

Enough Weiner, Let’s try Jobs, Steve Jobs that is….

MoonHowler

 

The Daily Beast:

Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

Steve Jobs officially launched Apple’s new free iCloud service on Monday, which will replace its $99 a year MobileMe document-sharing plan. “We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud,” Jobs said at Apple’s World Wide Development Conference in San Francisco. The iCloud will store music and other documents on large digital servers instead of your own hard drives, and users can connect to the network anywhere they have internet access.

Now this sounds neat!  Free cloud space.  What is it supposed to do?  Inquiring minds want to know.  More importantly, will it jump-start the Apple stocks that have been laggards lately?

Open Thread……………………………………….Tuesday, June 7

MoonHowler

First lightning bugs of the year seen tonight.  Summer must be here. 

Bioluminescence fascinates me. 

 

Where was the encampment last weekend?  The closer we get the more horrifed I become.  I don’t feel we are really over the Civil War in some respects.  My mother always said that Virginia paid war reparations until sometime in the late 20’s.  I have never seen it in print.  Does anyone know anything about this?

Weiner confesses to weiner photo ops

MoonHowler

From the NY Times.news alert:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner Acknowledges Communication With Women Online

In a news conference, Representative Anthony D. Weiner said he had communicated with women online before and after his marriage, and sent them explicit photos. He said he would not resign.

Translation:  That was his gray underwear and he sent the picture.  No more Weiner Whining.

Rep. Weiner is on TV now giving a press release about his dalliances online.  He assumes full responsibility and blames no one.  He says he is not resigning. 

He was stupid. He broke no laws. 

He isn’t my representative.  I don’t care what he does.  I guess Andrew Breitbart is not guilty, this time.  He has been on TV weiner whining that he was falsely accused. 

If I said I thought it was a tempest in a teapot would you think I was making a crude innuendo?

 

D-Day: 67th anniversary of Operation Overlord

MoonHowler

June 6, 2011 marks the 67 anniversary since Allied Forces crossed the English Channel and invaded occupied Europe via the French coast.  250 thousand were involved in the invasion and any vessel that wouldn’t sink was deployed in the  effort  to get allied troops, mainly from the Great Britain, Canada and the United States into France to begin the invasion that would ultimately win the war.

 

The D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia is a non-profit museum dedicated to preserving the history of D-Day.  More men from Bedord lost their lives during that invasion than any other locality in the United States, per capita. 

The D-Day Memorial has struggled since the crash of 2008.  Additionally, WWII vets are dying at a rate of over 1000 per day.  Let’s not let this memorial go to the ages along with those who fought and those who died for our country.

Contributions can be made at the D-Day Memorial website.

Palin: Ignorant and proud of it

MoonHowler

LA Times:

“He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”

Sarah Palin and her family visited the Old North Church and apparently wanted to dazzle her fans with her knowledge of American history.  The above is Sarah Palin’s version of Paul Revere’s ride.  I guess they don’t have history books in Alaska because she sure is off the mark.  

 

Sarah Palin now tells us she didn’t mess up.  From USA Today:

Sarah Palin defended her account of Paul Revere and his midnight ride, insisting that his warning essentially represented a message to the British that the revolutionaries weren’t going to back down.

“I didn’t mess up,” the potential GOP presidential candidate said this morning on Fox News Sunday. “I answered candidly and I know my American history.”

It really isn’t that Palin doesn’t know squat about the American Revolution.  If she were president she would have an entire staff of educated people around her to make up for her woeful ignornance.  It is, however, her arrogance and inability and unwillingness  to do something about these weaknesses that makes her an unfit candidate. 

Sideshow Bob embarrasses us again

MoonHowler

The Richmond Federal Reserve is flying the rainbow flag to acknowledge gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender  pride month.  The request was made by PRISM, an advocacy group for the aforementioned groups.   The Fed is a private establishment.  Its first vice president, Sally Green acknowledged:

“We are flying the pride flag as an example of our commitment to the values of acceptance and inclusion.”

Sounds good to me.  Pretty flag, commitment to inclusion.  Gay people make and have money.  What could anyone find wrong?

Enter side-show Bob Marshall, 13th delegate district who claims  that flying the rainbow flag represents

“…a serious deficiency of judgment by your organization, one not limited to social issues.”

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

In a letter to Richmond Fed President Jeffrey M. Lacker, Marshall says the homosexual behavior “celebrated” by the bank “undermines the American economy” and is a class six felony in Virginia.

“The Richmond Fed’s endorsement of costly, anti-social, immoral behavior is rejected by 6,000 years of Western Religious and moral teaching,” writes Marshall, who is among the General Assembly’s most conservative members and has long been outspoken on gay-rights issues. “You want the American people to trust your [judgment] in economic matters when your spokesperson celebrates an attack on public morals?”

 

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Torture: Finding our moral compass

MoonHowler
Guest Post:  Colonel Morris Davis
A singe cell unit taken at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Under Khmer Rouge, prisons and interrogation centers were euphemistically referred to as "Security Centers." (Courtesy Alan Chan via flickr)

By Morris Davis

The imagery depicting the mutilated body of 13-year old Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was rapidly disseminated around the world and is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Abu Ghraib; iconic images documenting torture forever etched into the record of his government’s infamous history.

At nearly the same time, the body of Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who had written about suspected links between some in the Pakistani government and extremists, was pulled from a canal about 100 miles from his home where he was last seen alive. His body bore the marks of torture, too. Suspicion immediately fell on Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, and adds to a growing list of doubts about the ISI and the Pakistani government that includes possible links to the deadly terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, in 2008 and providing safe harbor to al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden until U.S. forces killed him in 2011 in Abbottabad.

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Turtle Wrasslin’ and Almost Losing An Eye

MoonHowler

Guest Contributor:  Cargo Squid

 

So there we were….driving home down Highway 81, from the Lucky Gunner Blogger Machine Gun Shoot, listening to a mystery on tape, when out of the blue,

TURTLE!

What?

Turtle! Back there! Pull over!

I had seen a suicidal turtle making a mad dash for the interstate. About the size of a dinner plate, it was hurtling across the shoulder at top speed, on its way to CERTAIN DOOM.

So, my wife, familiar with my tendency to be insane, pulls over and backs up. (We appear to be a little suicidally crazy too.) I pull on my shoes and jump out of the car. The Turtle is about to cross…the WHITE LINE OF DEATH!

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Dr. Jack Kavorkian, age 83, dead

MoonHowler

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is dead at age 83.  Dr. Kevorkian was a leader in the ‘death with dignity’ movement.  He spent time in prison for his efforts in ‘assisted suicide’ with terminally ill patients.  Dr. Kevorkian also went by such epithets as “Dr. Death.”   Kevorkian attempted running for office and a movie was made chronicling his efforts to legalize euthanasia called ‘You Don’t Know Jack’, starring Al Pacino as the controversial doctor. 

I always thought Dr. Kevorkian should be named a national hero  rather than imprisoned.  He helped people who were too seriously ill, help themselves.  He wanted to help end suffering.  Is that so horrible? 

As more baby boomers come of age where things like this matter, the more ‘death with dignity’ will become a political issue.  Right now, only Washington and Oregon have any laws that allow people to decide when and where they ‘check out.’ 

Between a C*#K and a Hard Place for Rep Weiner

MoonHowler

The Big Wang Theory? Holy cow. This story is taking on a life of its own. It really falls in the category of SO WHAT! How can one determine if generic gray boxers are theirs?

Poor Anthony Weiner. I can’ get serious over this issue. This is just a gift that keeps on giving.

For more Jon Stewart on Rep. Weiner

Has the war on drugs failed?

MoonHowler

From Reuters via the Daily Beast cheat sheet:

The Global Commission on Drug Policy has declared the international war on drugs a failure and urges a new approach. The commission said the practice of criminalizing drugs and incarcerating users has had “devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.” Instead, the panel recommended replacing incarceration of non-violent drug users with health treatment services. It also recommended governments to consider legalizing marijuana and other illicit drugs “to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. The panel consisted of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, businessman Richard Branson, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, and 16 other members.

So, there you have it.  Should we, as a nation, just give up and legalize some drugs, in particular, cannabis?  How much a year do we spend incarcerating drug users?  How much crime goes on because of turf wars over drugs? 

Should drugs be sold by states and taxes collected?  Would we decriminalize or legalize?  Would more people do drugs because they were legal? 

What direction should the United States take?

Would border issues with Mexico reduce if some of the drugs being smuggled in could be bought here?

The report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy seems to pose more questions than it answers. 

“Calling Us Upward In The Face Of Extremism”

Elena

 

Life can be an amazing journey.   We each have a unique life experience based on our individual choices.   I have had the privilege of encountering many interesting people, Mike Stafford, an active Republican in the state of Delaware, is one of those amazing people. 

He has written a very thoughtful Book, “An Upward Calling : Politics for the Common Good”, a comprehensive commentary on the state of the Republican Party.  Please, allow this to be an opportunity to have a thoughtful discussion, avoid personal attacks and pretend like we are on the same team, the American team.   In the end, we are all on this journey together, whether we like it or not!

I have reposted this opinion piece on the book from Dave Burris, however, I believe this book is worth the purchase! 

From http://www.townsquaredelaware.com/calling-us-upward-in-the-face-of-extremism/

June 1, 2011 By Dave Burris

Things have gotten out of hand.

Recently in Slate, Jacob Weisberg wrote a description of today’s Republican Party that hit home with me. He said the GOP:

“…has moved to a mental Shangri-La, where unwanted problems (climate change, the need to pay the costs of running the government) can be wished away, prejudice trumps fact (Obama might just be Kenyan-born or a Muslim), expertise is evidence of error, and reality itself comes to be regarded as some kind of elitist plot.”

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Weinergate: Jon Stewart says anatomically impossible

MoonHowler

Jon Stewart used to hang out at Dewey Beach, Delaware with Anthony Weiner back in the day. He says NO WAY to that picture. In fact, he says there’s just a lot more Anthony than Weiner.

Anything advanced by Breitbart has to be suspect.   Let us not forget the man with a plan.  According  to  globalgrind.com:

Breitbart was the man responsible for taking Shirley Sharrod’s words out of context and labeling the federal worker a racist, costing the USDA official her job after he spliced and diced her words about helping a racist farmer out despite her past experiences with racism. Breitbart ran to Glenn Beck with doctored “evidence.” The rest, as they say, is history

Rep. Weinerhopefully will call in the FBI and get the entire matter resolved.  Guilty or innocent?  Hacked or perv?   Twittered or Weinered?  It sounds to me like Breitbart and company are up to the dirty tricks again. 

Full Story:  New York Times