Pope Francis discourages “breeding like rabbits”

MoonHowler

pope

Washingtonpost.com:

Pope Francis gets pretty chatty on the papal plane.

He’s talked to reporters about jobs, homosexuality and women’s role in the church. He’s spoken out about the War in Iraq and terrorism. He’s even addressed his own retirement. And on his flight back from the Philippines this week, he started chatting about the church’s position on birth control, saying some think that to be good Catholics, “we have to be like rabbits.”

Here’s [sic] his exact words from the Vatican Insider:

I believe that three children per family, from what the experts say, is the key number for sustaining the population. The key word here is responsible parenthood and each person works out how to exercise this with the help of their pastor. … Sorry, some people think that in order to be good Catholics we have to breed like rabbits, right? Responsible parenthood: This is why there are marriage support groups in the Church with people who are experts on such issues; and there are pastors and I know that there are many acceptable solutions that have helped with this. And another thing: For poor people, children are a treasure, prudence is needed here too, it is true. Responsible parenthood but also recognizing the generosity of that father or mother who see their child as a treasure.
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Predicting Northern Virginia’s future

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

A pair of loud alarm bells sounded last week for the Washington area’s economy, and political leaders from Richmond to Annapolis should take them seriously.

The warning of immediate concern came Thursday at an annual conference of 750 business and civic leaders in McLean. Economics mavens led by George Mason University professor Steve Fuller presented eye-opening data showing that our region has trailed almost every other major U.S. metropolitan area in job growth for the past three years.

Evidence of sluggishness is all around us, although the public has been slow to take note. Vacant commercial offices in Northern Virginia are at their highest level since 1991. Average wages in the region have dropped for three straight years, an unprecedented decline.
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Prove it, Dick “Plastic Fetus” Black

MoonHowler

Dick Black’s statement regarding Senate Bill 722:

There is a Federal Statute that says that if you give in-state tuition to unlawful immigrants then you must give in-state tuition to Americans from other states.  It just makes sense that Americans should receive as much consideration as people here illegally.  Giving in-state tuition moves illegal immigrants to the front of the line.  For every unlawful person who get in-state tuition, there will be an American who can’t go to college in Virginia and that’s unfair.  Any time you give something free to a person here illegally, you have to take it from an American.

I would like to see a copy of that law.  I find it hard to believe that there is a law stating such bullsh!t.

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Morris Davis: Where is justice for the men still abandoned in Guantánamo Bay

MoonHowler

gitmo

Colonel Morris Davis:

 

Where is justice for the men still abandoned in Guantánamo Bay

 

“I will be back soon,” I said, as we stood up and shook hands. Then I turned and walked a few steps to the gate, and waited for the guard to unlock it so I could leave. Those were the last words I said to Mohamedou Ould Slahi after I met him in the tiny compound he shared with Tariq al-Sawah in the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay. That was seven and a half years ago. I have never been inside the camp again. Slahi has never been out.

I didn’t know, that afternoon in the summer of 2007, that in a few weeks I would send an email to the US deputy secretary of defence, Gordon England, saying I could no longer in good conscience serve as chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo military commissions. I reached that decision after receiving a written order placing Brigadier-General Tom Hartmann over me and the Pentagon general counsel, Jim Haynes, over Hartmann.

Hartmann had chastised me for refusing to use evidence obtained by “enhanced” interrogation techniques, saying: “President Bush said we don’t torture, so who are you to say we do?” Haynes authored the “torture memo” that the secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, signed in April 2003 approving interrogation techniques that were not authorised by military regulations – the memo where Rumsfeld scribbled in the margin: “I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing [for detainees during interrogations] limited to 4 hours?” Rather than face a Hobson’s choice when they directed me to go into court with torture-derived evidence, I chose to quit before they had the chance.

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Hail to the Gipper?

MoonHowler

From Delegate Ramadan:

HJ509  Establishing President Ronald Reagan Week – This bill designates the first week of February of 2016 and in each succeeding year, as Ronald Reagan Week in Virginia. Hail to the Gipper!!!

Give me a break!  Ronald Reagan is not a Virginian.  I am not even sure he knew Virginia was here.  Hail to the Gipper?  I want Bill Clinton Week if we have to have a Ronald Reagan Week.

Half of Virginia is named for Reagan.  He wasn’t everyone’s fair hair child.  In fact…..So far we have a middle school, an airport, and a part of the Prince William Parkway named for this guy.  I am not really sure what he did for Virginia.

Let’s put things in perspective.  I will continue to rant and rave until this absurd matter is settled.

It’s time for everyone to get all the stardust out of their eyes.  H was just a man, not a deity.  I wish people realized how stupid some look when they say his name with adoring eyes.  Geez.

McAuliffe to Veto Anti-dream Act Legislation

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

 Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said he would veto a bill barring undocumented immigrant students from receiving in-state tuition at state universities, which passed a Senate committee Thursday.

A spokesman for the governor called the legislation, put forward in the House and Senate by two Loudoun County Republicans, “counterproductive and mean-spirited.” The Senate version advanced Thursday morning out of the Senate Education and Health Committee on a party-line vote of 8 to 7.

McAuliffe “is focused on expanding economic opportunity to Virginians from all walks of life, not targeting some for discrimination,” spokesman Brian Coy added.

In his first State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night, McAuliffe called for passage of a state version of the so-called Dream Act that would grant in-state tuition to some students who were brought to the country illegally as children. Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) has already ruled that students who qualify for deferred action under President Obama’s recent executive order can apply for the tuition discount.

“The Senators who voted for this measure should meet some of the young people they are trying to punish,” Herring said in a statement Thursday.

Herring is right.  Black and Ramadan should have to meet some of the kids they are attempting to discriminate against.   I think they would feel like worthless dogs if they ever met some of these kids that have worked so hard to become something.

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Free Range Parents Investigated for Neglect by CPS

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently. Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they are being investigated for neglect for the Dec. 20 trek — in a case they say reflects a clash of ideas about how safe the world is and whether parents are free to make their own choices about raising their children.

Let me start off by saying that if things were this stringent when my kids were coming along, I would be in the jail probably for about ten years.  My kids ran all over the place and once they got a little age on them, there were times I didn’t know right where they were.  They also didn’t have cell phones. What is the free-range movement?  According to WaPo:

The Meitivs say they believe in “free-range” parenting, a movement that has been a counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of “helicopter” parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world. “The world is actually even safer than when I was a child, and I just want to give them the same freedom and independence that I had — basically an old-fashioned childhood,” she said. “I think it’s absolutely critical for their development — to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.”

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Cartoonist Luz: “I am a cop. I am Jewish. I am a Muslim. I am an atheist.”

MoonHowler

“I am a cop. I am Jewish. I am a Muslim. I am an atheist.”

3 million copies of Charlie Hebdo went on sale today which is about 4 times the usual distribution. The cover depicts a crying Prophet Mohammad carrying a sign saying I am Charlie. Above the Prophet are the words: All is Forgiven.

As citizens of the strongest democracy in the world. we have to ask ourselves if it is wise to poke the bear at this point. We HAVE to poke the bear. Charlie Hebdo HAS to poke the bear. We won’t back down.

We all live in pluralistic societies where we are free to speak our own minds, regardless of how obnoxious that free speech is. The sword must be the pen. The sword must not be machine guns and other weapons of destruction.

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Crowd opposing power line path packed in like sardines

MoonHowler

powerline2

If you want to draw a crowd, contact Elena.  Seriously, great job of getting the word out and sounding the alarm, Elena. This sea of people all came to protest what they feel is the destruction of their community.

People came from as far as Richmond to protest the very idea of giant power lines slashing up the Rural Crescent, people’s neighborhoods and businesses, and generally uglifying that end of Prince William County.

The power line issue is coming to a head several years early in hopes of thwarting secret business plans to supply a sub-station for an Amazon data center.  Most of those opposing the power line path don’t oppose Amazon being there.  They oppose having their community ruined in order to supply Amazon its power.

As is evidenced by the picture, this threat is not going to be ignored by the people of Prince William County .  The Battlefield auditorium had standing room only and overflowed onto the stage and into the halls and parking lot.

 

 

Phi Kappa Psi reinstated at UVA–not guilty of wrongdoing

MoonHowler

 

Washingtonpost.com:

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE — A police investigation has cleared a University of Virginia fraternity of any involvement in an alleged gang rape that was detailed in a Rolling Stone magazine story last year, with authorities saying there was “no basis to believe that an incident occurred” at the Phi Kappa Psi house.

U-Va. President Teresa A. Sullivan approved the full reinstatement of the fraternity chapter Monday after police detectives did not find “any substantive basis to confirm that the allegations raised in the article occurred at Phi Kappa Psi,” university officials said. The announcement came as classes here resumed for the spring semester and three days after Sullivan lifted a months-long freeze on campus Greek life.

The reinstatement also allows Phi Psi to join the ranks of fraternities and sororities now beginning recruitment activities, known as Rush, this week.

“We welcome Phi Kappa Psi, and we look forward to working with all fraternities and sororities in enhancing and promoting a safe environment for all,” Sullivan said in a statement.

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U.S. representatives absent from million person march against terrorism

MoonHowler

million

The news shows today are all warbling about how wrong it was that there were no US representatives in the line up of dignitaries leading the million person march against terrorism.  Yes, it was noticeable.  Kerry was in India.  Holder was at a terrorism meeting in Paris.  Obama didn’t go and biden was in Delaware.  There were no senators or congress folks there.

Yes, it looked bad.  Did we not get the memo?  I can’t really think of a good reason why NO one from the USA went to stand tall with the other dignitaries from Europe and the middle east to sent the strong message that we don’t tolerate terrorism.  The lack of an American delegation sent a really bad visual to the rest of the world.

Was the White House and Congress wrong not to send a delegation?  Did we look weak, uncaring or scared in the eyes of the world?

Federal prosecutors recommend that Petraeus face criminal charges

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Federal prosecutors have recommended that David H. Petraeus face charges for providing classified documents to his biographer, raising the prospect of criminal proceedings against the retired four-star general and former CIA director.

The recommendation follows a federal probe into how the biographer, Paula Broadwell, apparently obtained classified records several years ago while working on a book about Petraeus. Broadwell was also his mistress, and the documents were discovered by investigators during the scandal that forced Petraeus’s resignation as CIA director in 2012.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. must decide whether to pursue charges against Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment, as did Robert B. Barnett, a lawyer for Petraeus.

Both Petraeus and Broadwell have denied in the past that he provided her with classified information. Investigators have previously focused on whether his staff gave her sensitive documents at his instruction.

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BOCS protects first responders and libraries, neglects support staff

MoonHowler

Here we go again.  We are approaching budget time in Prince William County.  First of all, the 5 year plan has gone by the wayside.  There is only one new person on the BOCS so I am trying to figure out why the supervisors  voted in one thing and after a year, did a 180 and discarded their own plans.  Is someone  wimping out?  Sounds like it.  The county has a lot of catching up to do since the recession and it isn’t going to happen unless there is more revenue.  I see and hear Tea Party mentality.

I am trying to figure out where the 1.3% figure is coming from.  The COLA is 1.7%  That’s a long way from a 4% increase in revenue.  What baffles me is what happened to all the big talk about bringing the county back up to speed rather than going on the cheap?  What happened to that leadership I saw?  Has it vaporized?

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Terrorist attack on satirical newspaper in Paris

MoonHowler

terror

Washingtonpost.com:

Masked gunmen opened fire Wednesday in the offices of a satirical newspaper in Paris that has faced previous threats for Muslim-related cartoons, killing at least 12 people before escaping in what France’s president described as a terrorist attack.

French officials immediately raised the country’s terrorism alert to its highest level after the shooting at the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, where staff members and police were among the dead.

Across Paris, security was stepped at media outlets, transportation hubs and other sites as a massive manhunt was underway for the suspected assailants.

The weekly had drawn repeated threats for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed and other sketches and articles on Muslim figures.

French President Francois Hollande called the shooting a “terrorist attack without a doubt,” but authorities had no immediate comment on possible suspects or motives.

Two of the dead are French policemen, one of whom was executed outside on the streets of Paris at point blank range.   The magazine was attacked in 2011 because of its satirical cartoons depicting Muslim leaders.    The editor  of Charlie Hebdo is among the dead and was on ISIS’s version of a most wanted list.

What is to keep the USA from becoming the next stop for these terrorists?  Even if these are caught, how many wait to fill their shoes?

Terrorists target French police
Terrorists target French police