NRA sends warning to senators

MoonHowler

 

from www.newscorpse.com

NBCnews.com:

The National Rifle Association said Wednesday the group is unequivocally opposed to the newly-struck compromise plan to expand background checks — and threatened that it may seek to penalize lawmakers who vote for what it deems “anti-gun” measures by giving them poor grades in their rating system.

The warning to members of Congress came just hours after a compromise on expanding background checks for  gun purchasers was announced, a deal that the NRA itself participated closely in.

“Expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools,” top NRA lobbyist Chris Cox wrote in a letter sent to senators Wednesday night. “Given the importance of these issues, votes on all anti-gun amendments or proposals will be considered in NRA’s future candidate evaluations.”

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PWC residents reject budget cuts

MoonHowler

pwc map

Washingtonpost.com:

Around 40 Prince William County residents weighed in on the county’s proposed budget Tuesday night at the McCoart administration building, most of them telling the Board of County Supervisors that the county needs more robust programs and not the cuts some supervisors are mulling.

Supervisors have, thus far, been split on both the proposed real-estate tax rate and whether to enhance or cut county programs. But many who showed up Tuesday said that cuts to the blueprint laid out by County Executive Melissa S. Peacor — which provides funding for additional police and firefighters, upgrades school fields, buys voting machines and hires school resource officers to safeguard the county’s middle schools, among other initiatives — would prove harmful.

If one reads the local  conservative blogs  one would think that most of the county wanted to cut the budget and move to a flat tax plan.  Not so.

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Student ‘harassed and intimidated’ over Pledge of Allegiance (supposedly)

MoonHowler

 

pledge2

Washingtonpost.com:

A Damascus High School student says she was “harassed and intimidated by teachers and an assistant principal for refusing to stand” during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Tenth-grader Enidris Siurano-Rodriguez said she was sent to the assistant principal’s office on April 4 for not taking part in the Pledge of Allegiance, according to the ACLU of Maryland, which is representing the family.

Siurano-Rodriguez’s biology teacher asked her to stand during the Pledge, but the student had been sitting “as a way of showing her disagreement with the United States government policies toward Puerto Rico,” where her family is from, said an ACLU media release.

Montgomery County schools spokesman Dana Tofig said school officials have received the letter, which was sent Tuesday, and will look into the matter.

“Our schools do recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the day, but students are not required to stand or participate,” Tofig said.

A 1943 U.S. Supreme Court decision and Maryland state law say public schools cannot force students to salute the flag.

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Jon Stewart: Sodomy! Zygotes! Welfare! (Virginia is for Lovers?)

MoonHowler

 

Jon Stewart has the Cooch’s number.  He also shows clips from the Cycle with Krystal Ball’s commentary.  Meanwhile, Virginia is again the laughing stock of the nation. Stewart says Virginia is for Lovers (of the missionary position).

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NO sex ed for anyone?

MoonHowler

At what point do we start applying dollars and sense to all this abolition of sex ed and facilities like Planned Parenthood?

Too many people obsess over other people’s sex lives. It really is money ahead to do everything possible to cut down on unwanted pregnancy. Unwanted pregnancy is horribly expensive and counter productive to societies.

Decent sex education cuts down on disease, emotional problems, unwanted pregnancies and there is a strong argument it cuts down on child abuse.

Some of these folks need to think about being penny wise and pound foolish. This tactic is unwise. Doing something small in the first place beats all the things that can happen as a result of not investing in sex education and funding clinics and Planned Parenthood. Inaction costs a lot more money on down the line.

Boston College bans handing out free condoms

MoonHowler

boston college

fox43.com:

Boston College is cracking down on condoms. According to the New York  Times  the Jesuit University is threatening a group, the Boston College  students for sexual health,  with expulsion for handing out free condoms.  Something they’ve been doing since 2009. But last month the group received a  letter from the dean of students that stated,

“The distribution of condoms is not congruent with our values and  traditions….”  Boston College is a Jesuit College.

So why are students giving away free condoms?  According to newyorktimes.com:

NEWTON, Mass. — Chelsea Lennox, a junior at Boston College, the Gothic university overlooking this natty Boston suburb, picked up a bouquet of brightly colored condom packages and put them into the envelope that she views as a tiny beacon of sexual health resources at the deeply Catholic institution.

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Bill Maher trashes libertarians

MoonHowler

Fair or not, Bill Maher makes funny fun of libertarians. Casting satire aside, is Maher on to something?

Maher says “the conservatives whose obsessions with Ayn Rand have “ruined” the political philosophy for him.”

According to Huffingtonpost.com:

Once a supporter of Libertarianism and its views on government intervention, Maher explained why he thinks politicians such as Paul Ryan and Rand Paul are “intellectually stuck in their teen years” and have turned a once promising movement into a free market-obsessed, “nanny state”-fearing delusion.

Maher went on to defend his new views on Libertarianism by mocking the party’s tendency to reject government services even when they are arguably very useful:

“To everyone who keeps trying to shame me about abandoning my Libertarian moorings, my message is this: I didn’t go nuts, this movement did. Like when you see a stop light, your reaction should be ‘Great, an easy way to ensure we don’t all crash into each other,’ not, ‘How dare the government tell me when I can and cannot go!”

Maher strongly implies that libertarianism is akin to being in an arrested stage of development

Open Thread……………………………………………Saturday, April 6

MoonHowler

bluebellsBlue Bells
Cockle shells
Evvie ivy over

 

The Bluebell is the official Prince William County Flower.  It carpets woods and fields in spring, creating what seems like miles of beautiful blue wild flowers.

I bought mine.  They come back each year without any special attention and each year they spread.

Try to get to the festival on Sunday.  It’s definitely a Prince William County Day.  See who can spot a supervisor.  Was this event announced at last week’s meeting?  Corey????  Were you a leader?

Cuccinelli attempts to violate the Rule of Law principle

MoonHowler

Scales-of-Justice

Once the Supreme Court decides a case, we are stuck with the laws involved, whether we like the law or not, unless you are Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

Mother Jones:

Last month, three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit deemed a Virginia anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. The provision, part of the state’s “Crimes Against Nature” law, has been moot since the 2003 US Supreme Court decision overruled state laws barring consensual gay sex, but Virginia has kept the prohibition on the books.

Now Virginia attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli is asking the full 4th Circuit to reconsider the case. Cuccinelli wants the court to revive the prohibition on consensual anal and oral sex, for both gay and straight people. (The case at hand involves consensual, heterosexual oral sex, but, as the New York Times explained in 2011, it’s “icky”: The sex was between a 47-year-old man and two teenagers above Virginia’s age of consent.)*

Why?  Why?  Why?  Cuccinelli needs to just give it up.  What adults do in their own homes–in their own bedrooms is really no one’s business, especially the government’s business.   The Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas pretty much decided this one in 2003.  In striking down the Texas law, the “anti-sodomy” laws of many  other states  were invalidated.  Virginia is one of those states.

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While North Korea threatens with nukes…..the news harps on Obama’s comment about AG Harris

MoonHowler

The news is consumed with President Obama’s dim witted remark about Attorney General Harris’s looks.  Who really cares?  He is male.  He thought he was being cute and funny.  I repeat.  He is male.

Meanwhile, North Korea, a country being run by a spoiled rotten ex-child, continues to threaten our country and its neighbors with nuclear weapons.  Surely that threat is more news-worthy that a president being a bumble-tongue.

Heretofore, I have always dismissed North Korea’s threats.  Now I am sitting here thinking is it even possible?   No one is saying it isn’t.  Living 25 miles from D.C. should always have us with perked ears.  The question remains, are we in danger or is it all saber-rattling.

Bluebell Festival, Merrimac Farm, Sunday, April 7th!

Elena

bluebells5

Don’t miss out on this fabulous home grown event sponsored by the Prince William Conservation Alliance!

What a wonderful opportunity, at no cost, to enjoy the beauty of Prince William County.

http://www.pwconserve.org/merrimacfarm/bluebellfestival/

Bluebell Festival at Merrimac Farm April 7, 2013, from 10:00am to 4:00pm

Please join us to welcome spring and view the spectacular display of Virginia Bluebells that carpet the floodplain along Cedar Run for nearly a mile. In the words of one visitor, it’s like walking through Oz.

A bake sale and a hand-painted rain barrel raffle will benefit stewardship projects at Merrimac Farm will round out the event. Concessions and food from N.C. Ribs on Wheels will be available for purchase.

Schedule of Events

Tours last about 90 minutes and take an easy one-mile walk through the floodplain. Each tour has a special focus, although leaders also cover other interesting sights you see along the way. Bring binoculars, cameras and the kids!

“Major advocate for LGBTQ rights” Stop! Enough!

MoonHowler

I was just reading the Richmond Times Dispatch and ran into the expression “major advocate for LGBTQ rights.”  Huh?

Stop!  I am getting too old for this.  I don’t do alphabet soup expressions all that well anyway but a 5 letter acronym?   In the first place, what on earth does the Q stand for?  Surely not the obvious.

Thank goodness,  it didn’t stand for “queer” which is what I was expecting.  Instead, it stands for “questioning.”   Well, what the hell does that mean?   I have a hard enough time remembering the order of those letters.  I don’t mind trying to be politically correct until I start floundering and it becomes …well…to put it bluntly…just a major pain in the butt.

Is it possible to come up with a word, a real word, for LGBTQ?   I simply can’t keep remembering the order of the letters and what they stand for.  Its too difficult and too much in isolation.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Any suggestions that aren’t offensive?  Help me out here.

 

 

 

Internal Auditors Revisited: Time to pluck those crow feathers out of some teeth

MoonHowler

crow1

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

By Steve Visser

A top MARTA official tasked with helping overhaul the transit authority’s finances and business model has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of embezzlement.

The victim: the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Institute for Internal Auditors, an association whose members guard their employers against fraud.

“How did he think he would ever be able to get away with it?” said Michael Dixon, the chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney for Prince William County in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. “In this business, it is hard to be surprised sometimes.”

 

Perking up ears….did I hear Prince William County?    Yes, I did.  Who might this sterling character be?  What top MARTA [Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority] official would have the Prince William County  commonwealth’s attorney commenting on embezzlement?

Does anyone remember a character named Robin Howard?  How about the kerfluffle that arose when Melissa Peacor recommended that the internal audit department for the county be let go?  I seem to recall her being excoriated and ridiculed on blogs for suggesting that audits be handled differently.  She was accused of cover up and basically picking on the folks.    The Sheriff  (of Notthingham) said ” Surely there will be a fair hearing for these whistle-blowers and they will not be summarily dismissed because Peacor wants to settle another score.”

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Mike Rice Fired: Too little, too late?

MoonHowler

 

Mike Rice should have been fired the moment his abusive behavior was discovered. Let’s not stop there. The athletic director and the president of the university need to go also. They were aware that Rice treated his players like this. For that matter, it is their business to know how he treated his players.

Mike Rice hurled racial slurs, homophobic slurs, hit players, pushed them and threw basketballs at their legs and groin. He was verbally and emotionally abusive. Who on earth thinks this behavior is acceptable? It is unacceptable behavior for any coach at any level of competition.
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Americans favor stricter control over gun rights

MoonHowler

Gun legislation is historically more difficult to push through regardless of polling results.  Why does this phenomena exist?

Why does Congress go against what the American public seems to want? Is the NRA that powerful?

How long do we ignore that we have a problem with guns getting in the wrong hands in this country?   Are we ready to go with an Australian plan here or would most Americans think that those measures are too strict?