Kerry denounces chicken-sh*t remark

MoonHowler

chickenshit2

Politico.com:

Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday decried a reported comment from a senior Obama administration official that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was “a chickensh—,” saying the remark was “disgraceful.”

Appearing at The Atlantic’s Ideas Forum in Washington, the top U.S. diplomat condemned the attack from an unnamed administration official and said it didn’t reflect President Barack Obama or his values.

“We condemn anybody who uses language such as was used in this article,” Kerry said, in response to the report in The Atlantic. “That does not reflect the president, it does not reflect me. It is disgraceful, unacceptable, damaging. And I think neither President Obama, nor I — I’ve never heard that word around me in the White House, or anywhere.”

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Washington State school shooting: Is there an accurate profile?

MoonHowler

For years after the Columbine shooting Americans were led to believe that the kids you had to watch out for were the loners, those who were bullied, and the goth-type kids. As these horrible shootings continue to crop up across the nation, it is becoming more and more apparent that the “prototype” student killer really doesn’t fit the profile that was originally suggested.
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Open Thread………………………………………Friday, October 31

MoonHowler

pumpkins manyeyes3

BOOOOOOOOO!  Happy Halloween!

What are you going to be?  Do you have enough candy for all those kiddies who might be coming to the door?

I get trick or treaters of all ages.  Some of mine have been clearly high school kids.  I don’t mind as long as they have good manners.  Most of my visitors do have good manners.  All of them say thank you.

I don’t get huge numbers of kids.  Too much work to work my street, would be my guess.  Most self-respecting kids know that the smartest Halloween kids work the townhouse communities.   You can get a pillowcase full of candy running through a townhouse community.

Most of my visitors, except the teenagers, have parents with them who are carrying flashlights.  I think that is important.  Kids shouldn’t be out on their own.  Even though I live in an older, established community, parents just can’t be too careful.  It’s reassuring to look out from the porch and see that a group of kids have a parent or two watching what’s going on.  I feel safer and I know those parents feel their kids are safer.

Chris Christie: Joisey Tough -guy

MoonHowler


 

foxnews.com:

The second anniversary of Superstorm Sandy arrived Wednesday in a region where recovery in New Jersey and New York is happening unevenly, with many houses, boardwalks and businesses rebuilt but many people still unable to return to their homes.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke to a crowd in Belmar, N.J., a town damaged by the storm, defending his administration’s handling of the rebuilding. Christie was repeatedly interrupted by a heckler, which prompted him to tell the man “Sit down and shut up.”

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Antares blows up on second launch attempt

MoonHowler

It only took a matter of seconds. The fireball from the explosion could be seen from space. The facility was severely damaged and cars were torched. The Antares space launch that was to take supplies to the space station is gone.

Washingtonpost.com:
An unmanned rocket that was to resupply the International Space Station blew up Tuesday evening a few seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island, Va.

The Orbital Sciences rocket rose a short distance from the launchpad and then exploded in a ball of orange flames. Orbital Sciences is a private company based in Dulles, Va.

NASA confirmed that all personnel were accounted for and that there were no injuries in the explosion. However, it appeared that the explosion caused damage on the ground. Emergency personnel from nearby Virginia jurisdictions, including Chincoteague, were sent to the scene.

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Gillespie airs “pro-Redskin” political ad during Cowboys-Redskins game

MoonHowler

Hail to the Redskins! Hail Vic-tor-y! Congratulations to the Washington Redskins over their sudden death in overtime win last night. Moving on…

Pretty slick move, Ed Gillespie, pretty slick! That ad was effective and well-timed. All’s fair in love and politics.

The fact that this issue has gotten to be a national issue is fairly ridiculous, in my opinion. Should this bill ever pass, when will the PC issue creep over into all names, icons and monikers? Will local schools have to change their names? Will they have to chose new mascots to something namby pamby and lacking fight? I can see Stonewall Jackson high school and fire department having to rename themselves now if some sort of bill on PC steroids gets passed.

Congress has enough to do without getting into what a private franchise calls itself.  Congress can’t do its own job right. Now it wants to tell someone else how to deal?

Mark Warner is correct to keep his mouth shut. He doesn’t need to voice an opinion. I hope he is abstains  from voting  on this issue. Warner is a businessman at heart. I think the consumers/fans  and advertisers will ultimately decide the Redskins name issue. That is really where the decision should rest.

Redskins: Where the source of pride is real

MoonHowler

I used to travel a lot more than I do now. I used to love to go to the west and whenever I did, I visited Indian reservations when possible. I looked at the schools and checked out the mascots. Up and down the west coast, from Washington State to New Mexico (I know New Mexico isn’t ON the coast line), I saw school after school with that dreaded name for a mascot–Redskins.

I thought it was sort of neat. That settled the local issue here in D. C. for me. Obviously the term “Redskin” as a mascot certainly didn’t offend Native American kids. As shown in the video, the Redskin mascot is a great source of pride.

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Passing around the sex offender

MoonHowler

jesse

As closure comes to the Graham family, friends, and the UVA community, my anger grows more and more.  How could this have happened?

I understand that there are twisted individuals.  I watch Criminal Minds.  I also realize that there are serial killers, rapists, and all sorts of sick ****s  out there.   What I don’t understand is why Jesse Matthew was passed from school to school.

I don’t buy the privacy excuse.  If someone has misbehaved badly enough to be expelled from a school, then that school has a moral obligation and duty to attach a reason for expulsion  to all future transcripts.  If they don’t, they are cowards.  If there are laws preventing an attachment describing the reason for removal, then those said laws need to be fixed, repealed or whatever it takes.

Jesse Matthew was sent packing from both Liberty University and Christopher Newport for sexual assault or misconduct at best.    I have no idea why he wasn’t prosecuted for rape.  Were the girls involved pressured into dropping charges?  Were the cops being lazy?  Were both these incidents brushed under the proverbial rug?  Did both schools want to protect their reputations as crime safe academic communities?

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Pepe le Pew invades MY habitat

MoonHowler

pepe

A freaking skunk must live under my front porch.  I can always smell it.  When it snowed all last winter, something would dig out no matter how much we blocked the entrance.  We could see the track leading to under the porch.

My neighbor told me he saw a skunk go under there.  I thought he was daft.  Now my nose confirms that my neighbor must have been right.

We used to have pest control here in Prince William County.  I have had them pull sick raccoons out of my shed, and investigate invading pests of other kinds.  Now I am told they will not come and remove the skunk.

Private pest control wants a fortune to even come out.  I am not even sure my unwanted guest is there during the day.  I suspect he sleeps during the day and prowls at night.

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Open Thread……………………………………………..Sunday, October 12

MoonHowler

halloween housesfall-leaves-th

Fall here.  Most of us have a yard-full of leaves that have fallen much earlier than usual.  29 and 66 are lined with leaf watchers, many headed to the skyline drive to observe Mother Nature at her very best.

Its time to plant bulbs.  Iris, daffodils and tulips all get planted in the fall.  In spring we are always surprised and treated to the joy of our efforts.

Where are you leaf-watching?  What are you planting?

 

Spare us the character assassinations

MoonHowler

We are at the height of the election season.  Nearly everywhere I go I see character assassinations rather than an honest discussion of policy differences.  TV is full of ads telling lies on one opponent or the other.  Perhaps “lies” is too strong of a word–gross distortions of the other persons position might be better.

Looking around the blogs, I see more of the same.  Some of the blogs are known for this type of behavior.  One local blogger likes to distract with bright shiny objects that don’t matter a lick.  If the perceived opponents can be vilified, he is having at it, regardless of the truth or relevance.  Why would voters care how someone wore a hat, or  what body type they were ?  Those issues fall into the  irrelevance category.

It is important to remember, in the words of Thomas Jefferson:

Come on locals, let’s clean it up.  Candidates, if you are profiting from local folks trashing your opponent.  Tell them to stop.

It’s really just that simple and you know who you are.

Major cheating at UNC: NO Class

MoonHowler

no class unc

According to businessweek.com:

The University of North Carolina on Wednesday admitted its academic-fraud-for-athletes scandal was worse than the public has previously been told. That’s saying something. After all, the practice at Chapel Hill of steering football and basketball players into fake classes had already made North Carolina the epicenter of a national debate about the corrupting effects of the $16 billion college athletics industry.

Several considerations regarding this widespread

1.  The deceit was widespread and aimed at keeping athletes eligible. For years, UNC officials have resisted the obvious indications that academics were compromised to promote sports. That resistance has finally collapsed. The latest in a series of university-sponsored investigations revealed that over 18 years—from 1993 through 2011—some 3,100 students took “paper classes” with no faculty oversight and no actual class attendance. Almost half the students enrolled in the phony courses were athletes. Many of the basketball and football players “were directed to the classes by academic counselors” assigned to advise athletes, UNC said in a written statement. “These counselors saw the paper classes and the artificially high grades they yielded as key to helping some student-athletes remain eligible.”

In other words, to keep members of UNC’s top-rated basketball team on the court, professional “counselors” encouraged flat-out academic fraud.
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Terrorism strikes Canada

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

OTTAWA — A sudden spasm of violence jolted the government center of Canada’s capital on Wednesday morning, as a gunman killed an honor guard soldier at a war memorial and then opened fire inside the nearby Parliament building, triggering a lockdown and hours of confusion in Ottawa.

The assault shocked a country that rarely experiences gun violence but has witnessed two attacks on members of its armed forces in recent days. Earlier this week, a soldier was killed in a hit-and-run that authorities have called an act of terrorism. In each case, the soldiers were targeted by individuals who had been barred from traveling abroad by Canadian authorities.

“We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday night in an address to the nation.

 

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Blackwater Guards found Guilty

MoonHowler

Newyorktimes:

WASHINGTON — Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards were convicted and immediately jailed Wednesday for their roles in a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad’s Nisour Square that marked a bloody nadir in America’s war in Iraq.

A jury in Federal District Court found that the deaths of 17 Iraqis in the shooting, which began when a convoy of the guards suddenly began firing in a crowded intersection, was not a battlefield tragedy, but the result of a criminal act.

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Party with the Palins

MoonHowler

Let’s party with the Palins, redneck style. Has there been a more common candidate in recent memory?

Andrew Jackson apparently led a fairly rough and tumble life. Perhaps the Palins are the incarnation of Old Hickory.

We came too close to having Sarah Palin in the White House. Where is Billy Carter when we need him?