Ragging on Gov. McDonnell

As Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell urges Congress and the White House to compromise over raising  the nation’s debt ceiling  to avoid  default on federal debt, he’s taking grief  from the GOP right.  Two candidates in particular who are trying to curry favor with the far right, Claudia Tucker, and Tito Munoz, both take shots at McDonnell for urging compromise.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Ms. Tucker had the following to say:

“I frankly feel that Governor McDonnell’s willingness to bless a retreat that includes tax hikes and an increase in the debt ceiling is just plain wrong. Republicans share in the reckless spending that has gotten (America) to this point and now is the time to roll up our sleeves and get back to our basic principles.”

Tito Munoz voiced his own criticism of the governor: 

Tito Muñoz, a Republican primary candidate for the 36th state Senate district in Prince William and Fairfax counties, followed Tucker with a statement saying “I understand the governor’s job, but I disagree with his sentiment that there should be a compromise or retreat from solid, conservative principles.”

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The Lunar Landing 42 years ago

A day late…but July 20, 1969 was the Lunar Landing, the day man first landed on the surface of the moon in a little space capsule named Apollo 11.  It is hard to imagine how little we knew back then and how rudimentary our tools were.  Much of the landing was done with computers but not the computers you and I know today.  It all seems so long ago and looking back, so very impossible.  I can remember our hearts being in our throats the entire time.  Would they make it back alive?

How terribly sad that our Manned space program is all but ending.  Ironic that the last space shuttle is almost ready to return to earth, never to slip into the wild blue yonder again.   Wallops Island is no Kennedy Space Center.  That is a downgrade I don’t even want to consider. 

Have we become so complacent or so full of our own knowledge that we can just quit?  I think America deserves better.  We are better than this. 

Have we come full circle or have the goal posts moved?

T

The Hill:

The Treasury’s cash balances have reached a dangerously low point. Henceforth, the Treasury Department cannot guarantee that the federal government will have sufficient cash on any one day to meet all of its mandated expenses,”

“The full consequences of a default — or even the serious prospect of default — by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate.

“Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets,”

“The nation can ill afford to allow such a result.”

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