The Candidates: cheap entertainment

MoonHowler

The Cain Train is derailing again as yet another woman steps forward to proclaim having had a 13 year affair with married-man Herman Cain.  This news can’t go over too well with the base.  However, most are keeping a stiff upper lip. 

Most people can get by with an indiscretion or two if and only if they haven’t bashed others over their marriage behavior.  Cain has been a basher so he will have a harder time overcoming the long string of women who have voiced some form of impropriety. 

Poor Rick Perry misspoke and said the voting age was 21.  Give the guy a break.  He misspoke.  Picking at Perry over misstating the voting age is petty.  His gaffe was small potatoes and very forgiveable.  Perhaps the voting age should be 21. 

Meanwhile, Newt equivocates and says he wasn’t a lobbyist because he didn’t need the money.  He charged $60,000 a speech. Does this offend anyone?  Mr. Sell a Speech.  Make no mistake.  Newt is an insider.  Newt makes more per half hour than a truck driver in South Carolina makes in a year.  Twice as much as a matter of fact.  He makes  $20,000more  in that half hour than a registered nurse or elementary teacher makes in a year.   There is just something wrong with his arrogance.

 

Cuccinelli to be panelist for Dec 3 GOP Debate

MoonHowler

Three Attorney Generals will be questioners in Fox’s December 3rd Republican Debate that will be hosted by Mike Huckabee. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be one of the three panelists. Cuccinelli is one of the darlings of the tea parties.  For those non-extremists who enjoy elevated blood pressure, the evenings events should be high political comedy.  Get those rotten tomatoes ready to throw.  Cover up Lady Virtue’s “chest” and gays gladly not attend.  Health care, bend over and kiss yourself good bye…Ken is here.

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Cuccinelli, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt have been actively involved in the legal challenges to President Barack Obama’s health-care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Cuccinelli said the questions will focus on issues confronted by attorneys general and states in their relationship to the federal government, such as federalism, regulation, exercise of executive power and, of course, health care.

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Russian Newscaster fired, after giving Obama the finger on camera

MoonHowler

 

 Huffingtonpost.com:

Tatyana Limanova, one of Russia’s most popular and respected newscasters, has been fired from her job at REN TV, after a video of her appearing to give President Barack Obama the middle finger on live TV went viral on the internet.

The incident occurred on Nov. 14, during a segment about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assuming the chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. Obama had held the position previously, and Limanova raised her middle finger as she read Obama’s name.

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Much Ado About Stuffing

MoonHowler

When did Fox News turn in to the 700 Club?  Apparently this past Thanksgiving.  The foxies all got bunched up over counting how often President Obama said ‘God’ in his Thanksgiving Day address.  Give me a break!  Thanksgiving is a secular holiday. 

 Jon Stewart has a great deal to say about the Foxies making much ado over stuffing on   Thanksgiving:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Much Ado About Stuffing
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

 

 

Isn’t religion a private matter?  Fox News really made a big deal out of this issue.  They have outdone themselves.  This falls into the land of who cares with me.  I don’t need presidents to tell me to talk about God. If I want to, I do.  If I don’t, I don’t.

Let’s face it, The job of Fox News is to stir up stuff about President Obama.  🙄

A little Holly Acres Push me/Pull me

adultgirl

 

For those of you who don’t know Greg Reynolds, he and his wife frequently appear before the BOCS to attempt to make things right, especially for those who are least able to defend themselves.  He has gone to bat for the elderly, kids and immigrants, just to name a few groups of folks.  He was particularly vocal about getting the transportation to the senior centers back up and running.  He bids us all not to leave our religion at the door of the Supervisors Chambers. 

A correspondence from Greg Reynolds:

The Holly Acres Mobile Home Park story continues to unfold.
 
In the latest development in the Holly Acres Mobile Home Park the homeowners went to get the permits to proceed with the repairs to their damaged homes but the County denied the permits immediately after (and even though) the Board of Zoning Appeals had overturned the Zoning Administrator’s order preventing the repair and replacement of their damaged mobile homes.
 
It would be very helpful if you can attend the Board of Supervisors meeting this Tuesday, 11/29/2011 at 2 PM, to ask the Board members to help restore Holly Acres.
 
These 70 affordable homes do not seem to be a priority for the Board of County Supervisors but they are very important to the families that need permanent affordable housing. 

Col. Morris Davis again attempts to ask Congressman Connolly for assistance

MoonHowler

Sometimes people have a representative but its in name only.  Perhaps this blog can get the attention of Rep. Connolly.  There is nothing like a little embarrassment to bring everyone front and center. 

Colonel Morris Davis, better known to all of us at Moonhowlings as Moe Davis, once again attempts to get hold of his Congressman for some assistance with his on-going problem–that problem being he was denied his first amendment rights by his government.   You don’t have to agree with Moe, but damn he does have a right to his opinion. 

Here is his correspondence, again, to his congressman, Gerry Connolly, who is pretending Moe does not exist. 

Dear Rep. Connolly,
 
I have tried several times over the past two years to contact you by email and regular mail to request your assistance.  To date, I have not received so much as a form letter reply.  [Although I did get an out-of-office email response once in Dec. 2009 from Mr. Fields.]  Copied below is an article published earlier today on CBSNews.com that explains why I have tried to contact you repeatedly the past two years.  As one of your constituents, I again ask for your assistance.
 
Best regards,

—

Morris D. “Moe” Davis

No free speech at Mr. Jefferson’s library

By
Peter Van Buren

Here’s the First Amendment, in full: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Those beautiful words, almost haiku-like, are the sparse poetry of the American democratic experiment. The Founders purposely wrote the First Amendment to read broadly, and not like a snippet of tax code, in order to emphasize that it should encompass everything from shouted religious rantings to eloquent political criticism. Go ahead, reread it aloud at this moment when the government seems to be carving out an exception to it large enough to drive a tank through.

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What’s the job of a blog?

MoonHowler

Since Moonhowlings began questioning how county money was being spent, it seems that the question has come up about the place of blogs in communicating county affairs.  Have we overstepped our boundaries as citizens of Prince William County?  We say resoundingly, NO! 

Understandably, print newspapers are struggling  and often face the wrath of their readers.  How many times does a story evoke the “I am going to cancel my subscription” because of this or that story or editorial?   Even though most of a newspaper’s day to day funding comes from advertising, it does no good to advertise if there are no readers.

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Update: Wally Covington pulls his notice of intent Monday, Nov. 28 @3:20

MoonHowler

From insidenova.com:

GAINESVILLE, Va. —

Brentsville Supervisor W.S. “Wally” Covington III doesn’t believe his donation to his wife’s charity is a conflict of interest.

However, he has decided against contributing $100,000 from his supervisor office’s district funds to the Rainbow Therapeutic Equestrian Center during Tuesday’s Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting.

“To maintain the comity of the Board and not to further politicize or demean this worthy organization, I will withdraw my notice of intent,” Covington stated in a press release this afternoon.

His wife Connie is the president of the Board of Directors for the Center, which according to its website, provides “therapeutic equestrian activities to individuals with physical and mental challenges in Prince William County and surrounding Northern Virginia areas.”

Good for Wally Covington to pull is notice to donate this money.  He has done the right thing.  Sometimes we are just to close to things to see how they look to the rest of the folks.  To reiterate, we like Wally and we feel Rainbow Riding is a worthwhile organization.   The criticism was never about Rainbow Riding.  It was always about the process of using tax payer money.

 

Wally Covington: giving away taxpayer money like it is his own

adultgirl

To whom it may Concern (i.e.  All Prince William County residents and Tax payers):

It has come to our attention that Supervisor Wally Covington, Brentsville District Supervisor, intends to give away $100,000 from his discretionary magisterial funds to the non-profit organization Rainbow Riding.   This resolution is to be voted on at the BOCS meeting on Tuesday, November 29.

Rainbow Riding is a worthwhile organization that provides therapy riding for children with physical and mental disabilities. People are often hesitant to say what they are thinking when questioning process.  Especially when children are involved as beneficiaries.  However, we cannot ignore irregularities when those irregularies  involve public money.

Allow us to be crystal clear:  This is not an issue regarding the credibility of Rainbow Riding or the services that they provide to a very specific population.  Instead, this is an issue about how county funds are spent and the degree of transparency involved in the determination of who will receive these funds.

During the past year, this blog has posted several articles regarding the permitting process or lack thereof for a huge riding arena constructed for the Rainbow Riding facility.  It became clear to citizens that Rainbow Riding was exempt from the regular processes that other residents are required to follow.  For example, the county informed us that this huge building, equipped with seats and bleachers, and bathroom facilities, was classified as a “barn.”  In the Rural Crescent, barns are not required to go through the permitting process.  Then, as now, we dispute the idea that a huge complex riding arena the size of this structure is a barn.  A riding arena is not a barn and a barn is not a riding arena.

From the very beginnings of negotiations with Toll Brothers, somehow Rainbow Riding became an integral part of that process.  How did a small 501C (3) organization become entrenched in negotiations regarding county land use?  The 45 acres that Rainbow Riding sits on is public that excludes the public at large.

Fast forward to the present.   Paying only a pittance for the public land this organization occupies; now the taxpayers will be required to put $100,000 more into a private organization.

Does anyone else find it troublesome that Supervisor Covington’s immediate family members are in leadership roles at Rainbow Riding?  Is there a fair process for the allocation of county funds to non-profits?  Or better yet, is there even a process?  How can citizens  be  assured that favoritism does not come in to play when taxpayer funds are being distributed to various organizations?   Should being an elected official entitle one to take care of family and friends’ favorite charities and organizations?  At what point do we question whether this isn’t nepotism?

 Note:  this article was originally published 11/24/11 in the evening. Thanksgiving night.   I moved it up several days as I felt it was an important story to have out there.  We do that with stories we want to keep active. 

 The time stamps stay behind the scenes and can be used for documentation should the need ever arise. 

 

 

The Silver Lake Scene–the Jewel of PWC? Supervisors! Be good stewards

MoonHowler

I couldn’t stand peace and tranquility so I threw my favorite dog in the car and went on a field trip to Silver Lake.  In the first place, if I didn’t know there was a Silver Lake, I could never find it.  There is no signage until you actually get to Antioch Road and it is a cheap, worn out looking sign.  I know that it is on the same turn off as the winery so I look for the LaGrange sign.  If you drive until you see the Silver Lake sign, you can’t make the turn.  The road pops out from nowhere.   We need adequate signage.

Turning off onto the area where Silver Lake is, you immediately get into rough road territory.  Ok, its a lake.  Nearly all the property going down to the lake is posted–both sides of the road.  If I am a county resident, and I am on county property, why can’t I be there?  Something is being built on the left, between the riding arena and Antioch Road.  What is back in there?  Why can no one tell me?  The area is blocked off and there has been heavy equipment back there a year.  What is being hidden back there?  Again, posted signs.

Onward to Rainbow riding.  They had an open door on the left hand side that looked mighty inviting to vandals.  Again, posted signs so I didn’t dare get out and poke around.  More county property I cannot go on.  The huge field across the gravel road  that had been graded and is now grassed over is also posted. 

The road to Silver lake needs to have the pot holes filled or patches of the road need to be regraded.  Some of them are deep enough to break an axle.  This is an ongoing problem back there.   Fix the road. 

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Virginia braces for the fallout from supercommittee budget failure

MoonHowler

Virginia had better brace itself.  The Old Dominion and Maryland  stand to be disproportionally hit by financially by the fallout from the failure of the supercommittee to come up with a plan  to reduce the budget by 1.3 Trillion dollars.  Why are Virginia and Maryland targeted states? 

When the supercommittee failed to  come up with a compromise debt-reduction  plan, at the end of the given time  time period, the budget will go into a default of sorts.  Half of the automatic cuts will  be felt by defense and both Maryland and Virginia are where most of the nation’s defense contractors are.  The Washington Post reports:

In the malleable world of federal budgeting, members of Congress cast the breakdown as likely having little to no effect on federal spending over the coming year. The deadline for cuts, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle noted, is in 2013, and the two sides could agree before then to a new mix of cuts.

But in state capitals, where legislatures are bound by requirements to balance budgets, the committee’s failure cocked a trigger on $1.2 trillion in cuts that must, by law, be built into spending plans that governors will begin releasing within weeks.

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Alabama: The “Show Me Your Papers” State

MoonHowler

From the Newsleader.com:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Authorities said Wednesday they dropped a charge against a German Mercedes-Benz executive who was arrested under Alabama’s new crackdown on illegal immigration after a police officer caught him driving without identification required by the law.

While Tuscaloosa police arrested the man last week for not having proper citizenship documents while driving a rental car in the city, city attorney Tim Nunnally said in an email the charge was dismissed after the man later provided the documents in municipal court.

Police identified the man as Detlev Hager, 46. The company said he was in Alabama on business at the time but declined further comment.

The arrest drew widespread attention because the German automaker is one of the state’s leading employers, and its decision to build its first U.S. assembly plant in Alabama in 1993 provided the spark that helped lead to the state’s large automotive industry, which includes foreign manufacturers Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.

Republicans who support the immigration law say it will help create jobs for legal Alabama residents by driving away illegal immigrants, but some business leaders and critics of the law contend similar arrests could hurt economic development in the state by making it a less-attractive location for foreign companies.

 

This certainly sounds like dumb and dumber.  In the heart of Dixie, a state with a horrible track record on race relations should be doing everything in its power to attract new business and to improve its image.  The area is ripe for attracting new business because it is a right to work state, as a fairly low tax base, and already has an automotive industry base.  So what clod decided to arrest one of the Mercedes Benz executives?  Did they think they had discovered some well- preserved old Nazi on the run from I.C.E.?  

 

 

Bob Marshall attempts to add coaches and ADs to list of mandated reporters

MoonHowler

The Dailypress:

In the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State the cost legendary football coachJoe Paterno his job, a Virginia legislator has filed two bills that add to the list of mandated reporters in the case of child abuse or neglect.

In HB3 and HB4 Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas, proposes adding coaches and athletic directors working at colleges or universities or for private sports organizations to be required to report any suspected abuse or neglect to their local Department of Social Services.

If passed these coaches and athletic directors would be added to a long list of professionals who are considered mandated reporters by the state, including doctors, nurses, K-12 teachers and coaches, probation officers and day care workers.

The emphasis here is on  college and university level coaches and athletic directors because these individuals generally don’t deal with minors in their day to day work.  Adding these positions to the long list of mandated reporters would remove the guess work out of who is and is not responsible for reporting suspected child sex abuse. 

Perhaps it seems like over-kill but it is better to be safe than sorry.  In many ways its seems that those at Penn State were ill prepared to deal with child sex abuse.  If this bill passes into law, there will simply be no question as to the right and legal behavior required.  For once, we  give Del. Marshall a rare thumbs up. 

 

Not a Lyin’ A$$ B!tch

MoonHowler

The introduction to Lyin’ Ass Bitch was played as Michele Bachmann walked in to the Jimmy Fallon Show to promote her new book. I don’t think she recognized the music. I didn’t. However, someone must have given her a heads up because she was furious.

I don’t blame her.  The band was disrespectful.  Even if it passed her by, it was still disrespectful and undeserved.  This might be a case where someone needs to be furloughed for a week. 

Bachmann was even more furious that a day went by before she got an apology from NBC and Jimmy Fallon, who said he was unaware that was going to happen.   Again, I don’t blame her.  I am waiting to hear about the consequences for those who made an  extremely  poor choice.  Strange that those who actually misbehaved have not issued an apology. 

And lastly, what a stupid song.