Why is Corey’s hand out again?

MoonHowler

Corey  Stewart has an urgent emailer out once again asking for money.  I chose the word ‘ask’ because the Corey supporters took offense the last time I said ”beg.’   We have 48 hours to reply.   Here’s what he says:

Dear Friend,
 
As we approach the end of August, my campaign faces a critical deadline that we must meet. For the end of this quarter, we have set fundraising goal of receiving 50 contributions before midnight on August 31st. Will you be one of those 50 by donating $10, $20 or $50 to my campaign?

We must keep my opponent’s Liberal agenda at bay and stand strong for conservative fiscal policies of balanced budgets and low taxes. Under my leadership as Chairman, the Board has trimmed spending by more than $140 million, resulting in Prince William County’s AAA bond rating status.

In less than 48 hours our campaign faces a critical fundraising deadline and I am asking you to stand with me by making a contribution today in an effort to move Prince William County forward.

All the best,

Corey Stewart

 

Ahem…let’s get a few things straight.  Stewart implies a cause/effect relationship between his trimming of the budget and the county’s AAA bond rating status.  That AAA bond rating status was there before the budget was trimmed by more than $140 million. 

Secondly, you would think the wolf was at the proverbial door.  Checking www.vpap.org, it shows the following for Corey Stewart:

Total Receipts                                                                    $477,460

Total Disbursements                                                       $332,615

Cash on Hand

Stewart for PWC Board Chair-Corey Stewart          $209,986

Va Rule of Law PAC                                                                  $946

That’s a lot of money to blow.  He hardly is facing political destitution with $209,986.  I would have to know where he had squandered the other money before I wrote a check to his campaign.  His democratic opponent, is also sitting on a lot of cash.  Why should it cost so much to run for office in Prince William County? 

Should a campaign be all about money or should we demand those who want our vote stop the out of state inflow of money and the developer checks being infused into campaigns?  Why do I always feel like the voters of PWC have always just been ‘had?’

Virginia rest stops to get food, drinks and merchandise

MoonHowler

From the Associated Press:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration has awarded a contract to a Pennsylvania-based catering company to sell food, drinks and merchandise at Virginia highway rest areas.

 CRH Catering of Connellsville, Pa., will pay the Virginia Department of Transportation about $2 million a year for vending and advertising rights at the state’s 42 rest areas and welcome centers. Most are along interstate highways.

I thought we were prohibited from installing vendor sales at our interstate rest stops because of federal regulations and that Governor Kaine has applied for relief from the regulations.  How is it we can now have vendor machines at interstate rest stops?  Actually it is a good idea but the bidding  should have been limited   to Virginia companies first.  If no Virginia companies met the specs, then out of state companies could then bid. 

Bringing in CRH Catering is supposed to add an extra  million dollars a year to help offset the cost of keeping rest areas open.   Rest stops should be open.  To do otherwise is dangerous and irresponsible to travelers and it hurts the tourist industry.

 

“Melanin is thicker than water?”

MoonHowler

I guess Rush Limbaugh has just announced that he will vote for whatever white candidate is on the ticket. According to News One:

Right wing talk show host, Rush Limbaugh reiterated what he said during the 2008 Election when he said that Powell supported the candidate Barack Obama “because he’s Black” on his radio show.

After Colin Powell told CBS News “Face The Nation” that he wasn’t sure who he was going to vote for in the 2012 Election, Limbaugh said on his radio show that Powell will vote for President Obama in 2012 because “melanin is thicker than water.”

Colin Powell is one of the most respected military and political leaders of our time.  He has served his nation in time of war as a general and again as Secretary of State under George W. Bush.  He is hardly  ‘wink wink nudge nudge’ material. 

Using Limbaugh logic (is that an oxymoron?), the United States must have a great many more blacks than are showing up on the census in order for Obama to ever have been elected in the first place if “melanin is thicker than water.”   Perhaps Limbaugh is math challenged. 

This kind of thinking is popping up in all sorts of places.  Rush was actually a little kinder than a couple of the local blogs here in Prince William County who have busied themselves with making fun of those individuals and organizations supporting local “minority” candidates for office.   I suppose they forget that PWC is now a majority-minority  county.  As of 2008, about 10% of the counties in the United States were designated at majority-minority which simply means that non-Hispanic whites are less than 49% of the population.  More areas are joining those majority-minority ranks, according to today’s Washington Post. 

I would hate to see our  elections break down along racial lines, especially our local elections.  Locally, some groups seem to have little compunction against name-calling and finger pointing if the candidates aren’t “their brand.”  Perhaps some of the blogs need to stick to topic  and issues rather than   trying to hang labels on certain candidates.

Cowardly sneak attack on Virginia abortion clinics

MoonHowler

From Huffington Post:

There are 22 facilities that provide first-trimester abortions in Virginia, and all of them may have to close their doors over the next two years if they can’t meet the state government’s rigorous new health clinic regulations.

Virginia lawmakers passed legislation in the spring that required the Department of Health to release a set of “emergency” draft regulations for abortion clinics that were to go into effect by December 31.

The rules, released late on Friday, borrow a number of very specific physical plant requirements from a rulebook intended for the construction of new hospitals. For instance, a clinic must have 5-foot-wide hallways, 8-foot-wide areas outside of procedure rooms, specific numbers of toilets and types of sinks and all the latest requirements for air circulation flow and electrical wiring.

“On the first read, it seems hard to imagine that many facilities will be able to comply,” Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told HuffPost. “We can fairly say that the regulations as drafted are the most severe, onerous and restrictive that have been proposed anywhere. They’re intended to apply to facilities that don’t yet exist.”

If the Board of Health passes the new standards on September 15, abortion clinics have until January to show the state a plan for the extensive and expensive renovations they’ll have to undergo in order to meet the new requirements.

The new regulations are especially onerous and are in place to make abortion unattainable because no provider can meet the standards of the new hospital regulations.  Unfortunately, this entire assault is very disingenuous.  If the anti-abortion crew or the state of Virginia really cared about the health of women (and men too, for that matter) they would impose the same standards on other outpatient medical centers that offer invasive dental, cosmetic, optical and digestive procedures.  These non-abortion outpatient centers currently  don’t face similar state oversight, yet they often involve very invasive medical techniques. 

Perhaps all outpatient surgery/invasive procedure centers need an upgrade.  If that is the case, let’s level the playing field and put the same standards in place for all.  Otherwise, let’s just be honest and say the purpose of the bill to make it impossible to perform first trimester abortions in Virginia.  Let’s admit that  in reality  a minority wanted to impose its will on the majority.  It didn’t have the votes to outlaw abortion so it tricked foolish lawmakers into this insidious sneak attack to make abortion simply unattainable in Virginia. 

This really was a cowardly vote. However, Virginians were warned last election.  I guess they will have to live with it or travel outside of the state if they need services. 

 

Prince William County Entrance Exam 2011 Edition

MoonHowler

Guest contributor: Our very own MoM with an exam to see if you can live in Prince William County.

Some will pass, some will fail.

The following is the opinion of the poster and does not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.

 M-H

 

Prince William County Entrance Exam – 2011 Edition

 

1. Speak English ___Yes ___ No ___ Que?

If No or Que? proceed to question 12

2. Employed ___Yes 1099/W2/Self-Employed ___ No ___ Other

If No or Other proceed to question 12

3. How do you get to your place of employment ___car ___bike ___ mass-transit

If bike or mass-transit proceed to question 12

4. Disposable Income ___Yes ___ No

If no, do you still intend to contribute to Chairman Stewart’s Campaign ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

5. Are you familiar with the Rural Crescent ___Yes ___No

If yes, is the Rural Crescent ___Bad Policy ___Good Policy ___A liberal plot

If Good Policy proceed to question 12

6. Are you or any family members named Elena, Alanna or Babur ___Yes ___No

If Yes proceed to question 12

7. Land Use attorneys are ___Source of Campaign Fund ___Friends ___Evil

If Evil proceed to question 12

8. Do you intend to keep chickens in the Development Area ___Yes ___No

If Yes will you restrict your location to Woodbridge or Neabsco ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

9. Are you a member of the NRA, VCDL, GOP or Chamber of Commerce ___Yes ___No

If No, are you willing to join ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

10. Local gridlock is the fault of ___PWC ___General Assembly ___Congress

If PWC proceed to question 12

11. Can you write a check in the amount of $1000.00 to “Friends of Corey” ___Yes ___No

If Yes proceed to Question 13

12. Thank you for playing the game, we have your information and will have an officer escort you out of the county. We suggest you make an application to live in Arlington or Fairfax.

13. Welcome to Prince William County. We will expect payment within ten days, failure to remit funds in a timely fashion will void your application, incur a $500.00 processing charge and will force us to have you and your belongings escorted to the County Line by the County Executive.

 

 

 

Manufactured Hysteria?

MoonHowler

Conservative commentator and columnist George Will has excoriated the media for spreading “manufacturing synthetic hysteria” over Hurricane Irene. 

 

 

 

According to FoxNews.com:

Observing such was George Will on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday who told his fellow panelists, “Whatever else you want to say about journalism, it shouldn’t subtract from the nation’s understanding and it certainly shouldn’t contribute to the manufacture of synthetic hysteria that is so much a part of modern life”

Will also added:

I have a home on South Carolina’s Atlantic Coast. I know that the Atlantic Ocean generates hurricanes, and they can be dangerous and unpredictable. That said, this too must be said: Florence Nightingale said, “Whatever else you can say about hospitals, they shouldn’t make their patients sicker.” And whatever else you want to say about journalism, it shouldn’t subtract from the nation’s understanding and it certainly shouldn’t contribute to the manufacture of synthetic hysteria that is so much a part of modern life. And I think we may have done so with regard to this tropical storm as it now seems to be.

 

Looking at scenes out of New Jersey, upstate New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, one wonders how George Will likes his crow served up?  If nothing else, the press under-reported the damage that was done to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. 

Was the press responsible in its coverage of Hurricane Irene?  Many of those reporters were out there in harm’s way, hanging on for dear life just to bring us the news.   The hurricane will cost upwards of 10 billion dollars and 40 people lost their lives.   Who wants to help George Will eat some crow?

 

 

That Michele is just a barrel of laughs! NOT!!!

MoonHowler

That Michele Bachmann is just thigh-slapping funny.  No, not really.  Over the weekend, she “joked” with Floridians about God sending a message to Americans in the form of earthquakes and hurricanes.

According to the Washington Post:

I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spend.”

I am not so sure that the earthquake or the hurricane was any laughing matter.  Every street in Vermont has been impacted by water.  Billions of dollars have been lost because of the hurricane just in the form of people having to shut down their businesses, especially in seasonal tourist areas.  There is also the cost of property damage which will be in the billions of dollars.  The earthquake damage which probably will be far less costly, still was disruptive and scary.  Entire transit systems have been closed down.

While most people are giving thanks to their maker that things aren’t as bad as they could have been, Bachmann is making jokes.  Folks weren’t even  out of harms way before she turned two natural,  potentially serious events in to a laughing matter, which they weren’t.   That’s a strike out in my book. 

And the sea shall reclaim what is hers…..

MoonHowler

 

On Hatteras Island:

The Outer Banks was under-reported.  Obviously this area isn’t the touristy area,  but it is certainly dramatic.

At what point do we just decide that man wasn’t supposed to inhabit this narrow archipelago?  At what point does someone, not sure who, decide that this area is just off limits to building? 

The Oregon Inlet was formed from a breach during a hurricane.  Other parts of the long series of barrier islands have been carved out, reshaped, and reshaped again over the years.  The landscape is fragile and ever-changing. 

Something to think about…  when does man admit he has lost to Mother Nature? 

Most recent from the Town of Duck:

 

Colin Powell calls Cheney’s book “cheap shots”

MoonHowler

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell fired back at what he called “cheap shots” made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, in order to sell his new book, due to come out on Tuesday.  Powell contended that Cheney swiped at many in the former Bush Administration and used such allegations to pump up his new book entitled “In My Time.”

Cheney has been stumping all the talk shows championing his new biography and saying it will make some heads explode.   To this, Powell takes exception.  Politico discloses:

Powell said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that many disclosures seemed to be “cheap shots that he’s taking at me and other members of the administration who served to the best of our ability for President Bush.”

Powell took particular umbrage at Cheney’s claim he felt more comfortable expressing his views to the public than President George W. Bush, as the book brings to the surface bitterness over the 2003 decision to invade Iraq.

“The president knows that I told him what I thought about every issue of the day,” Powell said. “Cheney may forget that I’m the one who said to President Bush, ‘If you break it, you own it.’ And you have got to understand that if we have to go to war in Iraq, we have to be prepared for the whole war, not just the first phase. And Mr. Cheney and many of his colleagues did not prepare for what happened after the fall of Baghdad.”

Powell disputed the claim from the book “In My Time” that Cheney had pushed him out in 2004, saying that’s when he had intended to leave.

The retired Army general, who had also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the administration as dysfunctional at the time of his departure.

“It was clear by 2004 that the team was not functioning as a team,” Powell said. “And we had different views, and not just views, not views that could be reconciled. And so I said to the president that I would be leaving at the end of the year, after the election, and he ought to take a look at his whole team to try to resolve all these issues.”

Cheney also levels in his book some condescending criticism at Condoleezza Rice, Powell’s successor as secretary of state, and former CIA Director George Tenet, Powell noted.

Colin Powell has a long distinquished military record  that pre-dates his service in the Bush Administration.  He is one of the least partisan of anyone who has served as Secretary of State.  He broke rank with Republicans in 2008 by supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama, a Democrat.   He added he didn’t mind that Cheney revealed that the administration wasn’t always in agreement.  What he found offensive was placing the administration’s disagreements  on par with  tabloid news.  He felt that Cheney had going over the top in his efforts to promote his  own book, often at the expense of those who served in the Bush Administration. 

Who else from the Bush Administration will protest the ” ‘heads will explode”  rhetoric used by Cheney?  Will the former president be embarrassed by Cheney revelations or will the book endear us to George Bush and vilify Cheney?  Did he go too far with his less than flattering depiction of Colin Powell?  Powell seemed to take more offense at what Cheney said about others rather than about himself. 

What the news channels aren’t telling us from the Outer Banks

MoonHowler

Apparently sound side is getting it much worse than ocean front.  The wind drives the water out of the sound and when it comes back, things flood. 

The first picture is the sound with no water,  second is when it came back.    It seems all the reporters are covering the beach, which hasn’t flooded much.  But the problems are on the sound side.

 

 The above picture is from the sound.

All the water came back.

These pictures are from the Duck Area, I believe.

Bernanke upbraids Congress

MoonHowler

Washington Post:

JACKSON, Wyo. — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke chided Congress on Friday for its contentious approach to the national debt, saying the brinksmanship displayed by lawmakers could endanger the U.S. economy.

In a rare scolding of Congress, Bernanke said that debt-ceiling negotiations this summer, which flirted with a national default, “disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well.” Speaking at an annual conference of central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, he warned that, “similar events in the future could, over time, seriously jeopardize the willingness of investors around the world to hold U.S. financial assets or to make direct investments in job-creating U.S. businesses.”

Bernanke   has serious academic credentials and has served under both a Republican president and a Democratic president.  He understand complex economic issues.  Congress does not.  It would behoove them to listen to him.  The American economy can never be held hostage again.  It isn’t a tool to use to posture one’s political position. 

Cantor says no disaster relief without spending cuts

MoonHowler

Is Eric Cantor nuts?  Millions of people are facing down a category 3 hurricane headed towards the major cities on the east coast.  Is this the kind of news they need to hear?

According to businessinsider.com:

A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said that if there is any damage caused by Hurricane Irene requiring federal disaster funding, the money would have to be balanced out by spending cuts elsewhere in government.

 We aren’t going to speculate on damage before it happens, period,” his spokesperson Laena Fallon told TalkingPointsMemo. “But, as you know, Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts.”

If the storm causes damage while passing over highly populated areas as predicted, help from the federal government might not be quick in coming.

Already states from North Carolina to New York have declared states of emergency in preparation for the storm.

Part of governments job is protecting its citizens.  There are times that people do all they can do to take care of themselves and it still doesn’t cut it.  Obviously it can’t send an army to stop a hurricane, so it must help rebuild and repair.  What is Eric Cantor thinking?  Is he playing tough guy or is he just stupid and insensitive? 

Hurricane Agnes 1972–UFB!

MoonHowler

Thanks to Chris Pannell for the use of the black and white  pictures.  I saw some of this with my own two eyes.  Lake Jackson was also horribly impacted.  I had a friend lose her entire house on Old Lake Jackson Drive.  To those of you who came to the area after Agnes, nothing will ever be the same. 

The Flatbranch Project still is a work in progress–Westgate’s own version of never again would its residents have to be picked off of roof tops.  Much of the credit for the project being re-energized goes to Ed Wilbourn.  He is a former resident of the area although I am not sure if his family was there during Agnes. 

First of all, meet Hurricane Agnes:

                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Agnes meets Manassas:

Page over:

Read More

Rove vs Palin spills over onto the Greta Show

MoonHowler

Is there anyone in the GOP that Sarah Palin has not spared with?  She and Rove go at it, she insulted the Bushes, and a host more of the Old Guard.  Rove, unlike some of the folks on Fox, isn’t pulling any punches and calls her thin skinned.  That’s a first. I never thought Karl Rove and I would agree.  But damn, that woman throws the victim card more than anyone I have ever seen. 

Additionally, Palin upstages the other candidates.  She is not making friends in her own party.  Might she run as an Independent?  It’s time to announce or go on back to Wasilla.