Violence Against Women Act Renewed

MoonHowler

 

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The Violence Against Women Act was renewed today.  The original bill was passed in 1994 but had expired in 2011.

Some details from Foxnews.com:

The bill renews a 1994 law that has set the standard for how to protect  women, and some men, from domestic abuse and prosecute abusers. Thursday’s  286-138 vote came after House lawmakers rejected a more limited approach offered  by Republicans.

It was the third time this year that House Speaker John Boehner has allowed  Democrats and moderates in his own party prevail over the GOP’s much larger  conservative wing. As with a Jan. 1 vote to avoid the fiscal cliff and  legislation to extend Superstorm Sandy aid, a majority of House Republicans  voted against the final anti-violence bill.

The law has been renewed twice before without controversy, but it lapsed in  2011 as it was caught up in the partisan battles that now divide Congress. Last  year, the House refused to go along with a Senate-passed bill that would have  made clear that lesbians, gays, immigrants and Native American women should have  equal access to Violence Against Women Act programs.

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Morris Davis: Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

MoonHowler

Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.

M-H

Guest post:  Morris Davis

Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

Honesty is the best policy” and “cheaters never win” are among the best known sayings of all times, but are they true? Reality shows that society’s reverence for these principles is betrayed by the fact that, all too often, it is the liars and cheaters we reward.

Jonah Lehrer was a bestselling author and a respected journalist until the summer of 2012 when the former Rhodes scholar and neuroscientist was shown to have engaged in a pattern of plagiarism and dishonesty. By early fall, the man who was once heralded as a prodigy had resigned from his post at the New Yorker, was reportedly terminated at Wired magazine, and the sale of his book Imagine was suspended.

Lehrer was paid $20,000 to speak at a Knight Foundation event in Miami earlier this month where he blamed his ethical lapses on his own arrogance, need for attention and ability to make excuses to himself for his conduct. The Knight Foundation, an organization that touts its commitment to “journalistic excellence”, issued an apology the next day, saying it “should not have put itself into a position tantamount to rewarding people who have violated the basic tenets of journalism”.

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Perpetuation of Racial Entitlement?

MoonHowler

selma

Yesterday, the Supreme Court revisited the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  Speaking of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, during the proceedings  Antonin Scalia stated:

“I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. It’s been written about. Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.”

The courtroom spectators  audibly gasped after he spoke.  His words set off a firestorm among political activists, especially those older ones, like Rep. John Lewis who had been involved in the original fight for voting equality in the 1960’s.

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Morning Joe mocks the Cooch

MoonHowler

 

Morning Joe Scarborough mocks Ken Cuccinelli over his radically extreme positions.  He particularly poked fun at Cooch who supposedly questioned getting his youngest child a social security number because “that’s how they track you down.”

Good grief!  That is extremist.  Fundamentalist LDS members out in the desert (remember Juniper Creek on big Love) believe tin foil hat stuff like that.

This is who wants to be our next governor?

 

Fairfax teachers overwhelmed, low morale

MoonHowler

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

So why write about Fairfax teachers, this is Prince William County?  Lots of Prince William residents teach in Fairfax County, in fact, any who could escape in yesteryear.  Fairfax was always looked upon as higher paying and better, more professional working conditions.  They even have better retirement.  It sounds like the gild is off the lily now.
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Corey Stewart proposes ‘entitlement cuts’ rather than reducing defense spending

MoonHowler

Corey Stewart is apparently wants to save all defense spending while taking a chainsaw to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.  His latest email blast in his bid for Lt. Governor is shocking!  His own words:

There is no question our Federal Budget has ballooned to epic proportions, but arbitrarily slashing defense spending is the wrong way to try and reduce the federal deficit.

90,000 civilian Department of Defense employees will be furloughed; this alone will be a $648.8 million hit to the economy of Virginia.

If Washington wants to get serious about reigning in spending, they must go after entitlements. Entitlement programs currently occupy 62% of our federal budget, with 44% of that being comprised of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs are increasing beyond the rate of inflation and, when combined with Obamacare, will eat up 18.5% of our national economic output.

Did he really use the words “go after?”  Does he realize that many senior citizens have only Social Security  to rely on?   Is he declaring a war on senior citizens and the poor?  It sure sounds like it.

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Chris Christie not invited to CPAC

MoonHowler

christie

Chris Christie has fallen out of favor with the archies–the arch conservatives of the Republican Party.  His punishment is not being invited to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference that will meet in Washington in the next couple of weeks, according to someone not authorized to speak to the press.

The snubbing of Christie comes along at a time when lots of losers are being sought–Mitt ‘47%’ Romney, Mr. Herman ‘9-9-9’ Cain, Sarah ‘Wink Wink’ Palin, Paul ‘Not this go-Round’ Ryan,  Rick ‘College is for Elites’ Santorum, and Sen. Ted “Obnoxious and Rude” Cruz,  to name a few.  Other candidates who aren’t losers are also included, to be fair.   According to the Washingtonpost.com:

Christie’s apparent snub comes as most other big-name potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates have been invited and accepted the invitations, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

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Virginia still not for lovers

MoonHowler

 

Virginia finds itself in the 19th Century News.  Virginia, of course, got mocked for having its antequated law about living in sin.  Whatever became of that anti-cohabitation repeal law?  Meet the sponsor who is trying to clean up the outdated laws from Virginia’s Constitution.    Warning–you might not want to listen around kids.

The Tea Party takes credit for the Sequester

MoonHowler

tea crusaders

While many Republicans are trying to deny any part of the sequestration, many in the tea party see it as a great victory and celebrate whittling down government.  According to Washingtonpost.com:

Deep reductions in domestic and defense spending are set to begin Friday in a process known as sequestration, which will make progress toward the tea party’s goal of shrinking the government. What unfolds over the following months will be a high-stakes test of whether significant cuts in spending will help or hurt the economy — and the Republican Party’s brand.

The cuts, worth $1.2 trillion over 10 years, are slated to become reality after a period when the tea party — a movement, represented by a group of Republicans elected in 2010, whose goal is to radically cut the government — has struggled to have a lasting impact on Washington. The tea party saw President Obama win reelection and enact more than $600 billion in tax increases on the wealthy, while GOP leaders agreed to allow more federal borrowing without anything in return.

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Mark Herring to run for Attorney General

MoonHowler

Finally,  an attorney general without his own personal agenda.

Mark Herring would replace someone with an all out assault on progressive thinking.   Electing Mark Herring would be a chance to undo the embarrassment of having Ken Cuccinelli as Attorney General.  I don’t think there would be a need to have a Herring Watch.  That just doesn’t have the same ring as Cooch Watch.

Report indicates sequester will have heavy impact on DC area

MoonHowler

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I keep reading that sequestration is greatly exaggerated and that the cuts coming from sequestration are really nothing to worry about.  Who is doing all this prediction?  Why Republicans of course.  The White House is being accused of fear-mongering  and creating hype and a sky is falling environment.  Why would Republicans say that?  Probably because they know what caused this impasse.  It all goes back to the brinkmanship of the debt ceiling crisis in July 2011.  The sequester was a compromise reached so budge the house Republicans who would not vote to raise the debt ceiling.  The alternative was to  default on our debts.

The defense cuts are just one side of the sequester.  There are also looming cuts that will impact our daily lives.

A state by state report warns of the following if sequestration happens this Friday.  According to the Washington Post:

In the Washington region, hub of the federal government, the upcoming automatic spending cuts the Obama administration detailed Sunday would strike a tough blow, with nearly 150,000 civilian Defense Department employees facing furloughs and an estimated average loss of $7,500 in pay.Read More

I hate the Oscars!

MoonHowler

I hate the Oscars.  I usually haven’t seen most of the movies.  The winners are often based on  whatever is politically correct at the time, rather than talent and artist content.  The actual event takes forever and I always fall asleep.  So….

In protest I am watching The American Eagles on Showtime.  No, it isn’t about birds.  It’s a documentary about the Eagles Band.  What a great band they were/are.  I actually went to Winslow, Arizona about 7 years ago just to see that famous corner in Winslow, Arizona.   A little mini park had been built and there was a wall mural.  There was a major problem though.  The building on the other side had burned and the real wall was hanging on by a wish and a prayer.

Winslow

What appear to be windows on the wall is a mural.  You can see the dude standing on the corner near the street lamp.  There is a hideous chain link fence around the park now because of safety issues.

If you get Show Time or showtimeanytime.com, you should definitely catch the Documentary The American Eagles.  The music is good and a pretty good history of one of the most popular rock groups in America.  The Eagles are entering their 5th decade.  Amazing.

SOME GOP delegates promote easy access to birth control

MoonHowler

trojanhorse

The key word here is SOME.  Not one delegate from Prince William County was a signatory on the letter written to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.  Granted, the GOP delegates who sent the letter appear to be the more modern of the Republicans in the Delegate Assembly but I still smell a rat…actually, I smell a Trojan Horse.

From the Virginia Pilot:

Several Republicans in the House of Delegates  have urged federal health officials to allow birth control to be sold  without a prescription to adults.

More than two dozen legislators wrote U.S. Health and Human Services  Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seeking a policy change they called “a  reform that makes sense and is something the Obama administration could  quickly move on with bipartisan support.”

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Scare-quester? Gimme a break!

MoonHowler

Most people in Washington believe that the Sequestration will happen.  Conservative sources like Fox News are busying the bandwidths by calling President Obama a liar and stating that the Sequester will not be all that bad.  Conservatives like Rand Paul are backing them up by saying the President is fueling the fire and that it won’t affect public safety or travel, despite Secretary of Transportation La Hood saying otherwise.

Meanwhile, Governors like Governor McDonnell of Virginia and Governor O’Malley of Maryland have both implored the President to do all in his power to keep the sequester from happening.  They fear the impact on their states, especially because of hits to the defense contact industry.  The governors fear job losses, unemployment and billions taken out of the economy.  Both states avoided major unemployment  during the financial crash because of  location and business from the federal government.  In particular, in Virginia, both the Hampton Roads area and Northern Virginia remained solidly employed.  Prince William County was hard-hit by foreclosure but that had nothing to do with the federal government.

This Friday, March 1, unless Congress overturns the Budget Control Act of 2011, that authorizes the Sequester, things will start to roll downhill.  Federal employees can expect furloughs, no raises.

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