Hillary goes to the hill

MoonHowler

There were 2 hearings today regarding  Benghazi.  Out-going Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the only witness.Some of the GOP thought they were going to take a big piece out of Hillary Clinton today. Many had probably been wanting to for at least 2 decades. It simply didn’t happen.

To set the scene–In the morning Hillary testified before the Senate Committee. Afternoon was the House committee. Its truly amazing to see the narcissism with some of those people. The grandstanding was as expected.

There were several outstanding jerks.

From Politico:

Sen. Ron Johnson on Wednesday knocked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for dodging his questions with “theatrics” during their tense exchange at today’s Benghazi hearing.Read More

The Inauguration …Post-Mortum

MoonHowler

inauguration

Several big items came out of the Inauguration that probably aren’t worth mentioning.  Other things are.

One of the issues at the top of the news is the Stars Spangled Scam.  Beyonce lip-sinc’ed the National Anthem. I feel cheated.  In a post Milli Vanilli world, why take the risk?  Supposedly the Marine Band didn’t have time to rehearse either.  Why?  4 years isn’t enough time?

Michelle Obama’s bangs were the weekend sensation.  She just looks cute and sassy.  I saw that eye rolling at the discussion between John Boehner and the Prez during lunch at the Capitol.  They were making comments about smoking.  Michelle did *NOT* approve.

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Roe turns 40…pretty beaten up–January 22

MoonHowler

birthday cake

Yahoo.com:

 Most Americans remain opposed to overturning the controversial Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which 40 years ago legalized abortion at least in the first three months of pregnancy, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The poll by the Pew Research Center found that 63 percent of Americans believe that Roe v. Wade should not be completely overturned, compared to 29 percent who believe it should be. These opinions have changed little from surveys conducted in 2003 and 1992, Pew reported.

While many of the social issues have changed over the years,  American opinions really haven’t changed all that much.  Accessibility to abortion has certainly gotten tighter.  4 states are down to having one clinic left and if anti-choice activists have their way, there will be no abortion services in Mississippi, South Dakota, Arkansas, or North Dakota.  Clinic directors and doctors are often stalked.  In no other business would this kind of behavior be legally allowed.

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VA Senate: While the cat’s away the mice become rats–Rat Bastards that is

MoonHowler

rats4

This cat just happened to be Senator Henry Marsh, who attended the Inauguration in D.C.  The rats had been plotting this one for a long time, as you will see.  The mice didn’t take long to metamorphose into rats.

Washingtonpost.com

 

RICHMOND — Senate Republicans pushed a re-drawn state political map past flabbergasted Democrats on Monday, pulling off what would amount to a mid-decade redistricting of Senate lines if the plan gets approval from the House and governor and stands up to anticipated legal challenges.

The bill, approved 20 to 19, would revamp the Senate map to concentrate minority voters in a new Southside district and would change most, if not all, existing district lines. Democrats, still scrambling Monday night to figure out the impact, said they thought that the new map would make at least five districts held by Democrats heavily Republican. The map puts two sitting senators, R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) and Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta), into a single district.Read More

State Republicans refuse to address voting issues

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

The state Senate approved a bill Monday allowing Virginians age 65 and older to vote by absentee ballot without having to provide an excuse.

Currently, Virginians are allowed to vote absentee only if they cannot get to the polls on Election Day for certain reasons, such as military service or jury duty. Last week, a Senate panel killed a bill that would have allowed any registered voter to vote absentee, but it approved a measure to allow seniors to do so.

On Monday, the Senate voted 28-9 for that bill, sponsored by Sen. John Miller (D-Newport News) and Sen. Jeffrey L. McWaters (R-Virginia Beach). All of those opposed were Republicans.

Why can’t anyone vote absentee?   Don’t get me wrong.  I am glad the vintage folks can vote absentee.  Usually it required bending of the truth.  But everyone should be able to without lying.  It would save the state money in the first place.  How many people would opt to vote absentee if given the choice?

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Corey Stewart removes School Resource officers from the chopping block

MoonHowler

Wtop.com

A local leader is changing his mind about the presence of officers in schools in the wake of the school shooting that killed 26 people last month in Newtown, Conn.

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Cory Stewart originally pushed to cut the number of police officers in county schools due to budget problems. He estimated the cuts could save around $500,000 in the new fiscal budget.

However, Stewart is now pushing to increase the number of school resource officers throughout the county.
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Clinton warns Dems not to stir gun passions too hard…and a few other tid bits

MoonHowler

bill Clinton

Politico.com:

Former President Bill Clinton warned a group of top Democratic donors at a  private Saturday meeting not to underestimate the passions that gun control  stirs among many Americans.

“Do not patronize the passionate supporters of your opponents by looking down  your nose at them,” Clinton said.

“A lot of these people live in a world very different from the world lived in by  the people proposing these things,” Clinton said. “I know because I come from  this world.”

Clinton said that Republicans have been struggling in presidential politics  since 1992 — noting that 2004 was the only time a Republican has won the popular  vote in more than 20 years. But, he said, the party has been successful in  energizing its supporters for midterm elections.

“You have the power to really democratize America,” Clinton said. “You can do  it on immigration reform, you can do it on these economic issues. You can do it  on implementing the health care bill.”

But, Clinton warned, the issue of guns has a special emotional resonance in  many rural states — and simply dismissing pro-gun arguments is  counterproductive.

 

Clinton ought to know about all these things.  He was born and raised in Arkansas.  It doesn’t get more southern and rural than Arkansas.  Clinton also should know what its like to be vilified and hated.  I remember well how hated he was by the right wing of the Republican Party–hated so much he was accused of murdering his friend Vince Foster who had committed suicide.

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Tom Selleck and the NRA: Do I have to hate Blue Bloods?

MoonHowler

tom_selleck_2

Tom Selleck is a spokesperson for NRA.

From wiki:

Political views and the NRA

To promote his film The Love Letter, Selleck was invited to be on The Rosie O’Donnell Show on May 19, 1999. However, he found himself defending an ad in which he appeared supporting the National Rifle Association (NRA) and his position on gun ownership. Selleck said, “It’s your show, and you can talk about it after I leave.” O’Donnell was highly criticized; it was criticism which led her to make an apology to Selleck by saying, “For him feeling embarrassed and humiliated by me, I strongly do apologize to him personally, but I do not apologize for my feelings about the issue of gun control.”[24]

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Elizabeth Colbert-Busch: Stephen’s sister runs for congress

MoonHowler

eliabeth colbert

Washingtonpost.com:

Stephen Colbert may have “run for president,” but his sister is actually going to run for Congress.

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch’s soon-to-be-official campaign has informed South Carolina Democratic Party executive director Amanda Loveday that it will file Tuesday for the special election for appointed Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) old House seat, Loveday has told the Washington Post.

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Ultra-sounds: Let’s point out the worthless dogs

MoonHowler

ultra soundSenator Ralph Northam introduced a bill in the Virginia Senate to give legislators the opportunity to redeem themselves and to remove Virginia from the embarrassment list.  His efforts failed.  It was last year during the legislative session that Virginia became the laughing stock of the nation, especially late at night because of their governor, Governor Ultra-Sound.

In all, the members of the Senate Health and Education Committee, had 3 reproductive rights bills to consider.  Only 1 made it out of committee.  2 were staked  by an 8-7 Republican vote.

According to the Huffingtonpost.com:

A Republican-controlled committee in the Virginia State Senate voted 8-7 on Thursday to block Democrats’ efforts to repeal a new mandatory ultrasound law and a set of regulations that could shut down many abortion clinics in the state. The committee also voted down a new anti-abortion bill that would have prevented Medicaid from paying for low-income women’s abortions in cases where there is a severe fetal anomaly.

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Cho: A study in what’s wrong

MoonHowler

Most of my information comes from wikipedia under VA Tech Massacre.

So many things were wrong in the Cho case that I am surprised something like the VA Tech Massacre doesn’t happen monthly.

In the first place,  Cho was disturbed when he lived in Fairfax County and went to Westfield  High School.    He was diagnosed with selective mutism and major depressive disorder.  He was treated for these illnesses and he received special ed services for at least 2 years of high school.

Tech was never told about this.  Apparently it violates a student’s privacy to pass this information along to a receiving school.  This law needs to change.  A receiving school should have every right to know this about a student.  He graduated in 2003.

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