Month: December 2013

huffingtonpost.com:

One in three Americans doesn’t believe in evolution, according to new survey results from the Pew Research Center.

The results, released Monday in report on views about human evolution, show that 33 percent of Americans think “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”

Among Americans who said they believe in evolution, a quarter said “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today.”

While six-in-ten Americans said they believed that “humans and other living things have evolved over time” and about half of them said processes such as natural selection — not God — that led to evolution, religion continues to play a significant role in how it’s viewed.

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It’s been a long wait.  Just in case anyone has another offer next Sunday night, turn it down.  Next Sunday at 9 pm, Downton Abbey returns to PBS.  I have resisted the urge to contact my friends in England and my cousin in Switzerland to get insider information, since the series airs in the fall in Europe.

To those of you who haven’t watched Downton Abbey, do yourself a huge favor and tune in next week.  The first show is 2 hours.  You can catch up on Amazon video or Netflix if you are of a mind to do so.  Meanwhile, don’t think of calling me next Sunday between 9 and 11.  I won’t answer the phone.

It appears that Daddy Duck is back on the show.

Washingtonpost.Com:

The timing of the controversy had little impact on the television show. It wasn’t filming when A&E issued the suspension, and the new season — which premieres Jan. 15 — was already completed.

Along with the announcement on Robertson’s reinstatement Friday, A&E said it will launch a public-service campaign attached to the controversy. “We will also use this moment to launch a national public service campaign (PSA) promoting unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people,” according to the statement. “A message that supports our core values as a company, and the values found in ‘Duck Dynasty.’ ”

Stop! If you stand for “unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people” then you don’t stand for the values found in Duck Dynasty. A & E has lost it. Do they think we are all stupid?

Why not just be honest and announce that the network is caving because 12 million of its viewers aren’t offended by Daddy Duck saying that an entire group of people are an abomination and that the same 12 million viewers also aren’t offended by the suggestion that black people were happy before civil rights. Of course, A & E caved in the past also. Dawg the Bounty Hunter (the person) was also reinstated.

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MyfoxDC.com:

WOODBRIDGE, Va. –
A big country star opened a huge, new restaurant last week in Woodbridge, Va. But a house rule for the new establishment is roiling some Virginians: no guns are allowed inside.

Toby Keith is not only a hugely successful country star (and actor), he also has personally opened a couple of restaurants, and through other companies, has now expanded those establishments into about a dozen cities.

The latest Toby Keith restaurant opened in Woodbridge. Prominently displayed on the front door is a sign saying: “NO GUNS PERMITTED.”

Virginia happens to be a gun-friendly state, where it’s quite permissible for citizens to strap on a weapon and go into a bar or restaurant, as long as the weapon is clearly visible. State law is silent on the issue of drinking while openly carrying a gun. (State law does prohibit most citizens who are legally carrying a concealed weapon from consuming alcohol, but they, too, are allowed to go into a bar or restaurant.)

The owners have the right to say “no” to firearms, and that’s the rule at Keith’s Woodbridge restaurant.

The no guns policy has caused quite a stir on Facebook where potential patrons are duking it out. What seems odd to me is that in Virginia, the owner of the establishment decides if he or she allows guns or not. In this case, No Guns is the choice of Toby Keith. What’s left to be said?

What Jesus says about the Poor:

Matthew 25:34-36  Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Maybe we should rethink what to hate?

politico.com:

SALT LAKE CITY — A day after a judge’s surprise ruling overturned Utah’s  same-sex marriage ban, at least one county clerk intended to open early Saturday  to issue licenses.

About 40 minutes north of Salt Lake City, about 300 hundred people showed up  at the Weber County Clerk’s Office on Saturday afternoon but were later turned  away without marriage licenses.

Clerk Ricky Hatch apologized and said that county officials had  told him that opening for special circumstances may violate constitutional  guarantees of equal protection. Hatch told The Associated Press he was also told  the county’s standard security requirements were not in place for a Saturday  opening.

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Take a good look at the young men singing and playing Hallelujah.
There are some things you don’t notice at first.

I didn’t know anything about MusiCorp. What a fabulous program. We will have thousands of wounded warriors in our society after 12-13 years of war. How wonderful that the entertainment business is contributing to this program also.  Music does heal.  Thanks to Stephen Colbert for featuring this program on his show.  Thanks to the musicians and medical professionals who support our wounded veterans.

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Ah, the controversy is splendid. This poor jerk is just expressing his faith. Help me out here. Why does anyone’s faith have to be expressed in terms of what they think is sinful? Isn’t there a positive aspect to all this?

This controversy (which is far right Christians being at war with themselves because the rest of us don’t give a crap and wouldn’t be caught dead watching this show.) Is being fought on so many levels. Most people are laughing. I know I am.

Has anyone else noticed how this Phil dude looks like bin Laden? Dead ringer in my eyes.

Long awaited Winter Solstice is here.  Winter has begun, officially.  Since ancient times, man has prepared for the winter with dread.  People froze, starved, and had to share their quarters with wild beasts.  There was darkness.

Tomorrow  will have the least hours of daylight in the year  The good news is, after tomorrow, the days will gradually get longer with more and more daylight with each passing day.

Ancient man knew a great deal about earth’s movements, all things considered.  Stonehenge and other monoliths continue to amaze modern man because of its accuracy thousands of years before the telescope was even a glimmer in DaVinci’s eye.

Meanwhile, today will be unseasonably warm.  Go figure.  Will you celebrate the Winter Solstice?

The far right Palin types, including Palin herself are rushing to defending Duck Dynasty star, Phil  Robertson, for his inapropriate remarks .

Once again, Palin, Bobby Jindal (who I thought had some common sense), Ted Cruz and even Newt Gingrich , simply don’t get it.  This issue isn’t about free speech.  A & E is the publisher.  Publishers have ever right to decide what they will and will not publish or broadcast.  In fact, they have a responsibility to do so.

Had Robertson expressed himself in a  less graphic, coarse, and vitriolic way, I expect no one would have raised an eyebrow.  Of course he is free to believe what he wants.  However, when he is on A & E, he has a responsibility to not express himself in a way that offends the audience of that network.

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The Prince William County School Board voted 5-3 to approve an aquatic center for the  12th high school  that is to open in September of 2016.  The pool has been very controversial and has brought much angst and gnashing of teeth from more than a few citizens.  Local bloggers have taken the pool at the school debate and flown with it, using the issue to mete out a ration  of daily bashing of school board members and school employees who support the pool.

Frankly, I am glad to see this vote.  Prince William County is a wealthy county and it is time for it to shine.  It has come from being a one pony show, especially in the eyes of its neighbors to the west and north, to being  a force to be reckoned with, despite citizens and elected officials attempts to paint the county as  rather provincial and bo-hick.

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As if things with Russia haven’t been bad enough, most of my life, now we have this turkey Air Force general acting out.  To make matters worse he was in charge of nuclear weapons.  That must have given the Russians pause for thought.

According to the Washington Post:

An Air Force general in charge of nuclear weapons repeatedly drank too much and behaved like a boor last summer during an official trip to Moscow, where he insulted his Russian hosts and hung out with two suspicious women he met at a hotel bar, according to an investigative report released Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, the commander of the Air Force’s arsenal of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, “acted in a manner that exceeded the limits of accepted standards of good conduct” during a four-day visit to Moscow in July, according to an investigation conducted by the Air Force Inspector General.

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Anyone dancing a victory dance over the 10th District opening up needs to take off the dance shoes momentarily and think about what they are cheering.  While there was a lot I disagreed with Frank Wolf over, I still felt he was a good and decent human being who was not so tied to ideology that he was blind.  Congressman Wolf was a Virginia gentleman.

There is a pack yipping and howling to take his place.  Perhaps the most scary is State Senator Dick Black.  Black likes to pass out plastic fetuses to his colleagues and he has never met an office he won’t run for.  Perhaps his  scariest trait is his opinion of spousal rape.  According to weeklystandard.com:

Republican state senator Dick Black of Virginia is considering running for the House seat currently represented by retiring Republican Frank Wolf. Black announced on Facebook he was forming an exploratory committee.

When Black was a state delegate, he made a speech saying he “did not know how on earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape…”

Todd Akin impersonator!  Take your “legitimate rape” and go back to Missouri where you belong.  That kind of thinking is not part of Virginia’s standards!  Is Dick Black for real?  Do people really think this way?   What does he think Lorena Bobbitt committed that unmentionable deed over?

Women and non-cavemen in Virginia need to send a strong message to Dick Black that he really isn’t fit for public office and he certainly isn’t fit to be our U. S. Congressman.  He should not attempt to step into Congressman Frank Wolf’s shoes.

Washingtonpost.com:

Federal prosecutors told Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell last week that he and his wife would be charged in connection with a gift scandal, but senior Justice Department officials delayed the decision after the McDonnells’ attorneys made a face-to-face appeal in Washington, according to people familiar with the case.

Dana J. Boente, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, told the McDonnells’ legal teams that he planned to ask a grand jury to return an indictment no later than this past Monday, people familiar with the conversations said.

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