All about Margaret Sanger…let the discussion rest here

MoonHowler

I am asking that any discussion of Margaret Sanger stay on this thread.  There are serious issues in our community and none of them have one damn thing to do with Margaret Sanger.

I think it is important to note that all historical figures must be evaluated in their own place and time.  Additionally, the language changes over time.  Let’s start with Thomas Jefferson, one of my favorite historical figures.

I grew up in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I lived in a house off of Rugby Road less than three blocks from Mr. Jefferson’s University.  In Charlottesville, everything is Jefferson.  He is our hometown hero.  He, Jack Joutte and Paul Goodloe McIntire are the three most mentioned town heroes.   Jefferson’s influence is certainly national in scope.  He is the author of the Declaration of Independence, Revolution visionary, one of the most prominent thinkers of his time, inventor, statesman, diplomat, first secretary of state and president  for two terms.

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Another Dumb Ass: YMCA camper bus mistaken for immigrant children

MoonHowler


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Just what we need. Another Arizona politician weighing in on those damn YMCA campers with iphones.

They were sad alright. Those campers were on a field trip.

Can we at least leave kids alone? It takes really cowardly politicians to go after kids.

Let’s let kids get settled in facilities. Let’s encourage our federal legislators to fund money for extra judges, social workers, intake officers etc. so we can facilitate a quick resolution of this issue.

We obviously can’t provide permanent homes for kids without parents. Each kid has his or her own story. Let’s cut the politics and get on with it.

As an aside, Youth for Tomorrow has hired off-duty police to guard their entrance. Good for them. Is this what its come to, folks? A Christian organization feels its necessary to have additional security because of hot heads in the community. I wonder if they have a donation fund for this initiative?

This story is at Bristow Beat.

Pro-Life: It’s not just fertilization to birth

MoonHowler

Sperm-egg
Pro-life isn’t just from fertilization to birth. Life is a continuum that streams from generation to generation.

I find it astonishing that some of our biggest “pro-life” movers and shakers in the community were down at McCoart Building yesterday ready to hop all over the Board of County Supervisors for allowing refugee children to live at Joe Gibb’s private facility, Youth For Tomorrow.

Many “pro-lifers” who feel quite comfortable with legislation that would force a woman to give birth even in extreme cases of rape, incest and fetal anomaly, have no compunction about telling the “illegals” to go back where they came from, even if they are 5, 8 or 11 years old. These same people want to deny these children refuge, even on a temporary basis.

These people simply aren’t pro-life–not by my standards. Perhaps my standards are just a little too high for some of the movers and shakers. From here on out, if I heard you calling out children who are here, alive and kicking, and telling them to go home, I will be calling bullshit on you, regardless of who you are.

Sort of makes you wonder who the real pro-lifers are. Perhaps the very name pro-life has been high-jacked by many who are very short sighted.

Lady Liberty is actually a bouncer in drag

MoonHowler

 

 

I am going to advance a hypothesis.   Local people who feel threatened by the refugee children from Central America are the same people who were anti-immigration to start with, you know, back in the day.  Yes, the people who smugly went around touting “Illegal is illegal” and feeling like they had just made some sort of deep observation or said something profound. What does surprise me is the fact that these same people are now attacking children. How stupid on my part. Why am I surprised!?
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BOCS: What did and did not happen

MoonHowler

Get Microsoft Silverlight

Very briefly, the BOCS went in to closed session following the invocation.  They emerged about a half hour later and Chairman Stewart announced the result of their session which you can hear in the above video.

Posting this video should cut down on the myths, lies and superstitions out there in cyberland.  Additionally, Chairman Stewart confirmed that no children were being housed at the Armory on Dumfries Road, outside Manassas.

The questions the Board seek answers to  seem appropriate.  I sincerely hope the BOCS will keep this reasonable tone and stand down during this humanitarian crisis.  These kids have to be scared, alone, and insecure.  They do not need to hear county  vitriol carried over from 2007 hurled at them.   Yes, its pretty much the same familiar tired old faces spewing hate and explaining to us why they aren’t prejudiced. (Yea, well yes you are!)   Some of them just had to get out their thread-barren old shirts, some with those red circles and make sure we all knew that there was still a sputter of hate left inside.

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Happy Birthday , Woody Guthrie 7-14-1912

MoonHowler

I thought this birthday wish was appropriate in light of our most recent thread.

I am trying to figure out who this land really does belong to. How many people want to repeal the 14th amendment to keep children of foreigners who are born in this country from being declared citizens?

In our discussion the past several days, I am reminded of Emma Lazarus’ New Collossus:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

That really doesn’t describe America any more, does it?

 

Lies, leaks and children in crisis

Angelina_Apr

children_on_border

From The Sheriff of Nottingham BlogSpot:

The Sheriff has learned that Chairman Stewart gave permission to Youth for Tomorrow, a taxpayer-funded non-profit serving at-risk youth in Prince William County, to open their doors to house children for Homeland Security that have been flown to Prince William County from Texas and other areas on the southern border.

This statement is an outright lie.  It is not up to Corey Stewart to give permission or not give permission to Youth for Tomorrow.  YFT is a private organization.  YFT is also not a tax-payer funded organization.  Does it get a grant like many other organizations in the county?  Probably.  So do lots of agencies and clubs that meet the criteria. However, most of the county money received by YFT is for services rendered.

One such  example  of these services would be if a child needed residential placement because Prince William County Schools could not provide the appropriate educational setting for this child.  PWCS would pay the residential /educational fee to YFT, the same as it would pay to any other 24 hour facility.  The court system, in conjunction with social services, might also place a child in the YFT setting.  Either the state or the county would pay for those services.  That to me, is not “tax-payer funded.

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Manassas sexting case goes national

MoonHowler

Chris Hayes is a fairly reasonable guy.  I tend to listen to him and often agree with him.  Tonight he introduced us to the “perp,” Trey Simms and his aunt, Stacy Bigley.  More of the story unfolds.

Now, I just have to ask.  What is it about Manassas?  Why does some wild and crazy penis story always seem to have its epicenter in Manassas?  Is it in the water?   I expected this story to go national, and it has.

There are still more questions than answers.  None of this is makes sense, starting with the charges.  Stay tuned.  I am sure there is more to come.  Charges have not been dropped but plans to use the dreaded artificial erection method of extracting information have been dropped.

Will we ever learn what really happened?  Probably not.  I am going to bet on MY theory though.  Apparently that is what Stacy Bigley thinks happened also.  Sorry folks, I have just known too many teenage girls in my life to think otherwise.

Just a little Sexting in Manassas: Not just for Weiners any more (Anthony)

MoonHowler


(video from Vanity Fair)

Washingtonpost.com:

(Byline: Tom Jackman)

A Manassas City teenager accused of “sexting” a video to his girlfriend is now facing a search warrant in which Manassas City police and Prince William County prosecutors want to take a photo of his erect penis, possibly forcing the teen to become erect by taking him to a hospital and giving him an injection, the teen’s lawyers said. A Prince William County judge allowed the 17-year-old to leave the area without the warrant being served or the pictures being taken — yet.

The teen is facing two felony charges, for possession of child pornography and manufacturing child pornography, which could lead not only to incarceration until he’s 21, but inclusion on the state sex offender data base for, possibly, the rest of his life. David Culver of NBC Washington first reported the story and interviewed the teen’s guardian, his aunt, who was shocked at the lengths Prince William authorities were willing to go to make a sexting case in juvenile court.

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Supervisor Candland, did you forget something?

MoonHowler

little-league-baseball-1

Once again, it’s increasingly difficult to get out of my driveway.  All day long I have charter buses, school buses, trucks and regular automobiles full of people going up and down my street.  The daily rescue squad also screams down the street–at least once a day.  Why am I so blessed?  I live near a county water park.  I also live near soccer fields and baseball fields.  The athletic fields are what really bring the traffic in, car after car after car.

When I first read about Old Pace West athletic fields staying on the county books, even though the facility was being sold to private industry, I breathed a sigh of relief.  At least they weren’t being moved to MY neighborhood, with all the little baseball players and their family cars.  That’s really what NIMBY is.  Selfishness.  I was really glad that locally owned QBE, the company that bought Old Pace West, worked out a deal with the county.

Actually, this deal works really well for all concerned.  The PWC School Board sold its old school that it no longer has use for.  The school had athletic fields which the county gets to continue to use in exchange for QBE’s land tax on those fields.  Great business partnership on display here.  QBE doesn’t need athletic fields.   QBE pays taxes each month.  The county then reimburses  QBE for the taxes on the athletic fields.   What a great partnership.  More businesses should take advantage of public/private partnerships that benefit the public like this one does.

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The US economy gets it right! Happy 4th!

MoonHowler

The Richmond Times Dispatch has an interesting article on the US economy and why it has prospered and out-paced the economies of Japan, China, and many  European nations.   We just haven’t heard tales of woe like one hears about Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal and our pension funds haven’t been slashed nor have our civil servants been reduced to a near state of bankruptcy.

Sure, our joblessness rate needs to improve more.  Yes, people are out of work.  Yes we still have a rust belt and we have cities in decline.  Our infrastructure needs all its underpinnings overhauled, but some things we are getting right.

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Wheaton College: What next?

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

With much of Washington already gone for the holiday, the Supreme Court issued a short legal ruling Thursday with the potential to deepen the political backlash among Democrats that was sparked by the court’s earlier Hobby Lobby decision.

The majority of the justices ruled that Wheaton College, a small evangelical school in Illinois, does not for now have to comply with the Obama administration’s requirement that it fill out a form to register religious objections to providing some types of contraceptive coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

The opinion said that until full arguments are heard by the court, Wheaton need only file a letter with the federal government stating the college’s religious objections.

Legal experts say the temporary decision is likely to embolSden religious groups and lead to a wave of lawsuits and objections to the required form.
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Where do the potheads live?

MoonHowler

cannabismap0701

Washingtonpost.com:

Worldwide, weed news couldn’t be hotter. It’s now legal in Colorado and Washington — and Uruguay just became the first country to legalize it. The nation now has bold, new weed plans that include, among others, giving medical marijuana to prisoners in its jails.

The catch: Despite Uruguay’s weed affinity, only 8.3 percent of its inhabitants actually smoke it, according to the United Nations 2014 World Drug Report.

The country that, surprisingly, has the highest percentage of stoners? Iceland. That’s right, 55,000 of its residents light up — nearly one-fourth of the population — even though marijuana remains an expensive commodity, according to some. Today, its president wants the trade legalized. “If we allow the sale of alcohol,” he said, “there is no reason to ban the soft drugs any longer.”

 

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