Meghan McCain: you can’t kick me out

MoonHowler

Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain is a moderate and she knows pretty much what it means to be a pariah in the Republican Party. She, like many people, feels that she is being pushed out of her party because she isn’t conservative enough.

However, Meghan hits the nail on the head when she says that in order to elect Republicans, there are going to have to be moderates. The uber-Republicans just don’t have the numbers.

So how does it work?  50% of the voters aren’t hard core conservatives.  You need over 50% of the votes to win.  If you throw out the moderates, where will they go?  Who will they vote for?   How will the math work?  Is Meghan right?

Why do the “Union Thugs” hate Nikki Haley?

MoonHowler

We had a discussion on this blog the other day about beating Pinata  Nikki Haley with stick.  Some union in South Carolina did it.  that did seem rather harsh until I heard Nikki Haley speak about it.

It sounds to me like the good governor is sort of asking for it.  “Union Thugs?”  “Beating up on the unions?”  When you talk like that, it does nothing to bring people together towards a common goal, which SHOULD be improving our economy, especially in South Carolina which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

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Moon-howler takes Bill to the woodshed

MoonHowler

Everyone here knows I love love love Bill Cinton but he is in the serious dog house with me.  I pretended all day long that he wasn’t in hot water….but I couldn’t deny the pictures.

It seems that Bill Clinton was in Monnaco over Clinton Foundation business.  According to the huffintonpost.com:

Former President Bill Clinton struck a pose with a duo of porn stars and another buxom blonde this week while attending an extravagant gala at a Monte Carlo casino.

Brooklyn Lee, recipient of Adult Video News’ “Best New Starlet” award — seen on the right — tweeted the following picture.

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Let’s talk about George Zimmerman

MoonHowler

We haven’t brought up George Zimmerman since his arrest.  Why?  Let’s let the legal system do its thing.  Is he guilty?  I have no idea.  That is something for a judge and a jury to decide.  They are the ones who will have the evidence. 

There are several issues, however.  The main issue is that nothing was being done.  I think most people want equal justice for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation, national origin.  We had a couple with a dead son and no answers.  Not only was their son dead but law enforcement had held the body for 3 days without contacting the parents.  The parents wanted answers.

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Geezer Alan Simpson curses California seniors

MoonHowler

Huffingtonpost.com:

Former Sen. Alan Simpson is not happy with the California Alliance for Retired Americans.

In an April letter full of bad language, the pugnacious Wyoming Republican criticized the seniors group for a flyer that protested a deficit reduction plan from the task force he co-chaired with Clinton administration honcho Erskine Bowles.

“Your little flyer entitled ‘Bowles! Simpson! Stop using the deficit as a phony excuse to gut our Social Security!’ is one of the phoniest excuses for a ‘flyer’ I have ever seen,” Simpson wrote on his official Senate stationery.

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Secret Service: But everyone’s doing it, Ma!

MoonHowler

Politico.com:

Four Secret Service employees who lost their jobs in the fallout from a prostitution scandal in Colombia plan to challenge their dismissals, arguing they’ve become scapegoats for an agency under fire.

The employees plan to fight their dismissals by arguing that their behavior was not unusual for the Secret Service, The Washington Post reported Tuesday night. Their challenge emerges just ahead of a Senate committee hearing Wednesday where the agency’s director, Mark Sullivan, is set to speak publicly for the first time since the scandal erupted more than a month ago.

The Secret Service has said that its employees had a clear understanding that it was not appropriate for them to bring women back to their hotel rooms while on assignment and off duty, but current and former employees told the Post that such behavior was tolerated “under an unwritten code that allows what happens on the road to stay there.”

So where is the personal responsibility?  “We’ve always been allowed to do it!”  and  “But Ma, everyone else is doing it!”  somehow just isn’t going to cut it this time.  I would hope that this excuse wouldn’t save anyone’s job. 

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Gallup Poll: 9 out of 10 say birth control is ok

MoonHowler

Politico.com:

Most Americans — including Catholics — believe birth control is morally acceptable, according to a new survey Tuesday.

While 89 percent of all respondents to a Gallup poll said they found contraception morally acceptable, 82 percent of Catholic respondents agreed; 8 percent of Americans and 15 percent of American Catholics said birth control is morally wrong.

Republicans and Democrats were pretty unified on the issue: 87 percent of GOP respondents approved of contraception, versus 90 percent of Democrats.

Controversy has swirled around the Obama administration’s proposed birth control mandate, which would require employers to cover contraception in their employees’ health insurance plans. The Catholic church, which opposes birth control, has sued the government over the requirement.

The poll shows that even as Catholic leaders oppose the Obama administration’s position on contraception, most Catholics don’t oppose contraception itself.

So are we do assume that all these “oppositions” aren’t from real people but from an institution, such as The Church, just telling us that Catholics and others are appalled?   It seems to me that once again, things are as they have always been. 

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PWC Schools: How Far They Fall in a Decade

MoonHowler

 

In 2001, Time Magazine named Stonewall Jackson High School ” School of the Year.”  Everyone on this end of town crowed and preened themselves over the recognition.  How far they fall in a decade.  Today, Stonewall Jackson HS barely ranked in the Washington Post High School Challenge.  SJHS came in at a 92 rank of all area high schools in Virginia, Maryland and D.C.  Osbourn Park ranked the highest of any of the  Prince William County high schools.  It came in at 45. 

Osbourn and Manassas Park High Schools sure didn’t set the world on fire either.  However, neither of these schools has the maneuverability that county schools have.  As PW residents we should be asking why our top ranking high school comes in 45th behind other area schools.  That doesn’t sound very world class to me.  Loudoun County, Arlington, and Fairfax counties all had schools ranking much higher than Prince William County.

We have to start asking ourselves why this is.  I say it is because Prince William County always wants to go on the CHEAP.  It always wants to appear to have the lowest taxes.   Are other jurisdictions putting more money into the school system so they can attract high quality teachers and keep class sizes low?  PWC has the least competitive pay for teachers and also spends the least money per pupil than any other school system in Northern Virginia. 

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Grant Lattin, Occoquan School Board Representative, resigns

MoonHowler

Mr. Grant Lattin, Occoquan School Board Representative has resigned just 4 months after being reelected to the Prince William county School Board.   What a loss.  Mr. Lattin was a voice of reason and moderation on the board.  According to the Washington Post:

Lattin, a father of nine, said in a telephone interview that having a full-time work load in the District overseeing U.S. Navy lawyers and then rushing home to deal with School Board activities came “at the expense of my family.”

After almost nine years on the board, Lattin said, it was “time to adjust my priorities and spend some more time with my family.”

“We’ve kept the cost of public education at a manageable rate while at the same time providing a high-quality education,” Lattin said of his tenure. At the same time, he said, the school system’s budget situation is troublesome, and more funds are needed.

I expect that at some point, school board members grow weary of dealing with jerks.  Mr. Lattin  deserves a much needed rest from it all.  PWC doesn’t have enough money to operate a Nothern Virginia school system.  Having the lowest per-pupil spending is nothing to brag about. 

Prince William County has a problem.  Every time it pulls itself out of the cow pasture, the BOCS does does something to make sure it lands right back in the middle of the cow pie.  PWC prides itself on  operating on the cheap.  You can’t run a school system on the cheap.   All the slogans in the world aren’t going to make PWC Schools provide a  World Class education with over 30 students in a classroom and the most underpaid teachers in Northern Virginia. 

Unfortunately, this Board of Supervisors, like many who have gone before it, wants to get reelected on saving the tax payers a few bucks.  Rather than adding the couple of cents to the tax rate needed for schools, it cheaps and struts around like a barnyard rooster who is missing a few tail plumes, bragging and blowing about keeping taxes low.  Honest dialogue is needed.  There is an old expression about chicken salad….the BOCS needs to learn it real fast. 

Meanwhile, thank you for your 9 years of service, Mr. Lattin.  You deserve a break.  Enjoy your family.

Bill Maher: Political satire or just plain old offensive? Warning: F- bomb

MoonHowler
Warning!!!   Maher drops the F bomb.  This video is not child friendly.  Please use earphones or turn sound down.
 
I think Maher is often  offensive and I rarely use him on Moonhowlings because he takes things over the top.  He particularly offends me on religion.  I have a house rule that involves not making fun of other people’s religion, even if you think it is ridiculous.  You can challenge practices but you can’t make fun.  It’s often been a difficult rule for me to keep.  That would include snake handers, peyote smokers  and polygamists , as long as they are consenting adults.
 
Maher crosses over, however, when he talks about science.  You can believe what you want but I have a real problem with anyone graduating from a university who hasn’t had a science course that involves the scientific process.  So who knows?  How are topics like the Grand Canyon and major geology handled at colleges like Liberty?  How are origins of the universe handled?  Can we just say God did it and that covers the science?  Has anyone taken a course at Liberty, Oral Roberts, Regent?   How do dinosaurs fit in to the big picture?
 
 
Help me understand. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

William Peter Blatty needs a good smack down

MoonHowler
The Exorcist Stairs in Georgetown

Washington Post:
The author who turned Georgetown University into a horror scene in “The Exorcist” plans to sue the school in church court, charging that his alma mater has strayed so far from church doctrine that it should no longer call itself Catholic.

William Peter Blatty, who graduated from Georgetown in 1950, says the “last straw” was the university’s speaking invitation to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Sebelius, who addressed graduating public policy students on Friday (May 18), has been criticized by conservative Catholics for approving a mandate that requires many religious institutions to cover employees’ birth control costs. The Archdiocese of Washington called the Sebelius invitation “shocking.”

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Taps turns 150 years old

MoonHowler

 

 
Washington Post:

Marking the 150th anniversary of the composition of taps, about 200 buglers and trumpeters gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to play the “lights out” bugle call. In a touching moment, they fanned out so that the haunting notes came from all quarters of the vast cemetery.

There is nothing so haunting as those 24 notes–Taps.
Taps now turns 150.
It will speak for itself.

TAPS

Addressing the Sheriff of Nottingham: Trouble in Sherwood Forest

MoonHowler

I thought the Sheriff had fixed his tin cans so that we could leave feed back.  I visited Sherwood Forest to chime in on the topic of the day and low and behold, my comment was no longer there.

Now I appreciate good wit and satire whether I totally agree or not.  I am not sure if I totally agree with the Sheriff but he presents his case in a cogent, humorous way.  He entertains me.  So….where is this going?

I think I shall just put on my monk costume, shave out a bald spot on top of my head, grab myself a few skins of meade and join in the games.  Just call me, Frairess Moon-Tuck for my part.  There is no reason our readers can’t read there and write here.  How creative, a remote blog?  Nahh….a virtual blog?   At any rate, the owl will assist with message delivery.   How to pull this off without getting shot with arrows by Robin Hood and his merry men? 

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Open Thread………………………………………………….Saturday, May 19

MoonHowler

Great National Parks theme will be here for the next few Open threads.  This one should make the Twilight fans happy–2nd Beach, near La Push Washington.  La Push is home to the  Quileute tribe and  is part of  Olympic National Park.   Think Team Jacob/Werewolves.

Olympic National Park is totally neat and covers the northwest corner of the United States.  It truly is mountains to the sea in a very short distance.  The pinnacle of the park is Hurricane Ridge.  The drive up there from Port Angeles is not for sissies. There are definitely some white knuckle heights and turns.   From there you can see across the Strait of Juan de Fuca over onto Vancouver Island.

ONP includes ocean, temperate rain forests and several native tribes.  Both the Ho andn Quinault Rainforests are there.  The each get from 10 to 15 feet of rain per year.

Olympic National Park  is a great vacation spot, especially if you take in the old lodges like Crescent Lake Lodge and Quinault Lodge which I highly recommend.  Be sure and have some razor clams while you are there.