Maybe Huckabee needs his back end kicked!

MoonHowler

Maybe Mike Huckabee needs his back end kicked a time or two. What an outrageous thing to say. To suggest that school prayer would have prevented this carnage is insensitive and obnoxious. Huckabee certainly doesn’t have the corner on God any more than the rest of us.

As parents, siblings and friends struggle to make meaning out of that which makes no sense, someone coming along with a “prayer in schools” political message is just cruel.  He is moving along into Westboro Baptist territory on this one.

Speaking of those agents of Satan, I hear that Westboro plans on putting in an appearance at some of the children’s funerals.  If the crowd turns on them and beats them I simply would not care.  I guess we need to have Veterans motor cycle groups out in full force.  What a shame.

Meanwhile, shame on Mike Huckabee.  I expect better from him.  He is an educated man.  He knows all children aren’t of the same faith.  I am so disappointed in Huckabee.

Anonymous hacks Westboro Baptist website

MoonHowler

Huffington Post:

Members of the hacktivist group Anonymous have targeted the Westboro Baptist Church after the hate-mongering, quasi-religious group announced plans to protest a Sunday night vigil in remembrance of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, 20 of whom were just 6 and 7 years old.

On Saturday, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper tweeted that the group would be protesting the vigil in Newtown, Conn., to “sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.”

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Bob Costas: The Giant Uproar

MoonHowler

Huffingtonpost.com:

ARLINGTON, Texas — NBC broadcaster Bob Costas used his halftime segment on “Sunday Night Football” to advocate for gun control following this weekend’s murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, causing an immediate debate on social media.

In a segment about 90 seconds long, Costas paraphrased and quoted extensively from a piece by Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock.

After praising the column, Costas said: “In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows? But here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”

Belcher shot and killed Perkins, the mother of his 3-month-old daughter, on Saturday morning, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in the parking lot of the team’s practice facility.

It seems that far too many people are now calling for Costas’ ouster.  Apparently some feel that that their 2nd amendment rights are more important than Bob Costas’ 1st amendment rights.   Predictably, Fox News was alive with the glimmer of hope that Costas would be fired as they baited their viewers to react.  Host after host examined and discussed Costa and Jason Whitlock, who was heavily quoted by Costas, from every angle.

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Metro ordered to display incendiary pro-Israel ads

MoonHowler

Washington Post:

A federal judge has ordered Metro to begin displaying controversial advertisements on Monday, even though the transit agency has worried the ads might incite violence.

The decision came Friday in a one-page order granting an injunction to a pro-Israel group that sought to force Metro to display provocative posters in four stations. The posters, purchased by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), will say: “In Any War Between the Civilized Man and the Savage, Support the Civilized Man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”

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Congress trumps Westboro Baptist hate attacks at military funerals

MoonHowler

No pictures intentionally.  This evil group gets no free advertising.

Huffingtonpost.com:

Westboro Baptist Church protesters will soon be severely limited in their ability to disrupt military funerals, after Congress passed a sweeping veterans bill this week that includes restrictions on such demonstrations.

According to “The Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012,” which is now headed to President Barack Obama’s desk, demonstrators will no longer be allowed to picket military funerals two hours before or after a service. The bill also requires protestors to be at least 300 feet away from grieving family members.

This aspect of the legislation was introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who, at the urging of a teenage constituent, proposed new limitations on military funeral demonstrations as a response to a 2011 Supreme Court case that ruled such actions were protected under the First Amendment.

Let’s hope the work of this Congress puts some teeth in the law and that Westboro will not longer be able to manipulate and bastardize the First Amendment to dispense their hate, often at a military family’s most vulnerable time.  Westboro will continue to act inappropriately, for sure, but at least our military families will be insulated by a layer of protection.  There are just some lines people shouldn’t cross and this is one of them, in my opinion.

Its good to see that Congress can finally get something done.

Michael Mann threatens to sue National Review for comparison to Jerry Sandusky

MoonHowler

From politico.com:

Penn State University global warming researcher Michael Mann is lawyering up to counter attacks by conservatives who have referred to him as the “Jerry Sandusky of climate science.”

Mann’s lawyer wrote Friday to National Review Executive Publisher Scott Budd demanding a retraction and apology for a July 15 blog post that compares Penn State’s mishandling of years of child sexual abuse to the university’s investigation of “Climategate.”

The charged reference to Sandusky, the convicted child molester and former assistant coach, originated with a July 13 post on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s blog, OpenMarket.org. The National Review Online post quoted from a now-deleted line by CEI’s Rand Simberg, who wrote: “Mann could be said to be the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science that could have dire economic consequences for the nation and planet.”

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Church State violations here in PWC?

MoonHowler

Richmond Times Dispatch:

RICHMOND, Va. —

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia announced Monday that its executive director, Kent Willis, will be leaving his position when a replacement is found.

In a statement, the ACLU said Willis announced his intent to leave last fall and that the organization began a nationwide search for his successor. Willis was hired as associate director in October 1987 and promoted to executive director in March 1989.

“I could not have had a more rewarding job,” said Willis in the statement, “and I am proud to have been part of the ACLU’s many accomplishments and enormous organizational growth over the last 25 years. But something told me it was time to move on.”

Willis really has been there a long time.  The Times Dispatch has a list of his major accomplishments.  People seem to think that the ACLU picks up every liberal gig it can.  That isn’t always the case.  Several of Willis’ accomplishments caught my eye:

  • Defended the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to avoid government loyalty oaths, the right of ministers to use public parks for baptisms, the right of Wiccans to perform marriage ceremonies, and the right of churches to feed the homeless.
  • Launched a successful challenge to the widespread practice of local governments opening their meetings with sectarian prayers (Currently litigating such a case in Pittsylvania County.).

I sure didn’t know all that happened under bullet #1.  Who would grouse about churches feeding the homeless?  What loyalty oaths must we take?  I can’t think of any.  I also didn’t realize Wiccans can perform marriage ceremonies although it makes perfect sense that they can.

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Oregon Man fired over display of 5 foot Confederate Flag

MoonHowler

Richmond Times Dispatch:

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Ken Webber still proudly flies his Confederate battle flag with the word “Redneck” emblazed across it from the CB antenna on his pickup truck. He hopes that his lawsuit in federal court will get his job back driving a school bus.

“What Mr. Webber is encapsulating is a Jeffersonian agrarianism, where you stand up for your rights,” attorney Thomas Boardman argued Thursday in U.S. District Court. “If we are going to say someone cannot identify as a redneck, what else can we not identify ourselves as?”

Attorneys for bus company First Student Inc. and the Phoenix-Talent School District countered that Webber himself said that the flag, a gift from his father, represented his “redneck” lifestyle, where family comes first, and people enjoy hunting, fishing and driving four-wheel-drive trucks through the mud. They said the flag did not represent any kind of political speech that would be protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The arguments came on a motion filed by the bus company and the school district asking the judge to decide the case based on legal arguments without going to a trial before a jury. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke took the matter under advisement. No trial date has been set.

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Col. Morris Davis again attempts to ask Congressman Connolly for assistance

MoonHowler

Sometimes people have a representative but its in name only.  Perhaps this blog can get the attention of Rep. Connolly.  There is nothing like a little embarrassment to bring everyone front and center. 

Colonel Morris Davis, better known to all of us at Moonhowlings as Moe Davis, once again attempts to get hold of his Congressman for some assistance with his on-going problem–that problem being he was denied his first amendment rights by his government.   You don’t have to agree with Moe, but damn he does have a right to his opinion. 

Here is his correspondence, again, to his congressman, Gerry Connolly, who is pretending Moe does not exist. 

Dear Rep. Connolly,
 
I have tried several times over the past two years to contact you by email and regular mail to request your assistance.  To date, I have not received so much as a form letter reply.  [Although I did get an out-of-office email response once in Dec. 2009 from Mr. Fields.]  Copied below is an article published earlier today on CBSNews.com that explains why I have tried to contact you repeatedly the past two years.  As one of your constituents, I again ask for your assistance.
 
Best regards,

—

Morris D. “Moe” Davis

No free speech at Mr. Jefferson’s library

By
Peter Van Buren

Here’s the First Amendment, in full: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Those beautiful words, almost haiku-like, are the sparse poetry of the American democratic experiment. The Founders purposely wrote the First Amendment to read broadly, and not like a snippet of tax code, in order to emphasize that it should encompass everything from shouted religious rantings to eloquent political criticism. Go ahead, reread it aloud at this moment when the government seems to be carving out an exception to it large enough to drive a tank through.

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Bocephus Blames Fox News

MoonHowler

Yesterday Hank Williams Jr. appeared on The View, sporting a Mickey Mantle baseball shirt. He made an even bigger fool of himself and showed little class. He did explain that he didn’t think of Obama as Hitler, he was making an analogy. He has another analogy about ‘kicking cow turds.”

He now is blaming ESPN and Fox News for his troubles and feels he was set up. He is calling for a boycot  of ESPN and Fox News in his new song that came out at 3 pm 10/10/11,” Keep The Change.”

You know, I never ever thought I would be in the position of defending Fox News.  I guess this is just one of those times.  Williams might as well be saying the Devil Made Me Do It.

I am also getting over the gross out of Williams wearing the shirt of St. Mickey Mantle.  Some things are sacred!  The Mick wouldn’t like this.

Hank Williams Jr.: Out-Foxed and Outta ESPN

MoonHowler

Longer version:

Gretchen disavows his remarks about the president.

Hank Williams Junior mouth flashed on Fox and Friends. He compared President Obama to Hitler. In addition, he said that Obama and Biden were the enemy. His bosses at ESPN didn’t like it and they fired him from singing “Are You Ready for Some Football,” his Monday night theme song.

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Pitchforks and Torches rise up again

MoonHowler

Rewind back to last summer.  The local uproar was over the new kids in town, KK’s Temptations  adult boutique, that was to open in October.  Some of the City folks had a fit because the shop was in Old Town Manassas.  People envisioned hordes of perverts lining up to see the bustiers and nighties.  It didn’t matter that the City also has Fashion Fantasy over on route 28 and at least one adult movie store over near the library, within blocks of Kindercare and Parkside Middle School on Mathis Avenue.  This new store was going to be in Old Town near the Candy Factory.  Each and every person I talked to who was opposed to the opening of KK’s used the location as the main, if not only reason for objection. 

Fast forward back to the present.  In the past couple of weeks, I have heard some mumblings and grumblings over KKs from two friends who I can clearly say are on different ends of this argument.   KK”s had planned to do some events for  Susan G. Komen for the cure to raise money.  Their  first plan had been a wet tee shirt contest.  Elena and I spoke briefly but negatively about this plan and basically backed off.  Because of issues with the City, KK’s plans changed to a bikini contest at Backyard Grill at the corner of Sudley Road and Williamson Blvd.  We didn’t like that idea either because of the objectification of women but kept our mouths shut.  It was Kim’s business.  In other words, do no harm.  We didn’t.Read More

Westboro Grosses Out the KKK

MoonHowler

Its pretty bad when an organization makes even the KKK look decent.  It appears that the KKK even came out to protest Westboro Baptist Church’s intrusion into the Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Westboro has even grossed out the KKK. That’s when you know you are just VILE. 

The KKK was cordoned off from the other protesters who were there to support the troops on this Memorial Day.

Full story at CNN.com

ACLU blindsides PWC Schools

MoonHowler

School officials in Prince William County were blindsided on Monday with a letter from the ACLU threatening a lawsuit over Internet filters on gay and lesbian sites.  According to the Gainesville Times:

The letter, signed by Rebecca Glenberg and Joshua Block of the ACLU of Virginia, states that the school system is blocking gay support group sites in violation of students’ First Amendment rights.

The issue is filtering software that blocks access to, among other sites, the Gay Student Alliance Network, Day of Silence and It Gets Better.

“The Prince William County Public Schools do not have a legitimate pedagogical basis for censoring students’ access to these websites, which provide support and resources for LGBT students and gay-straight alliances,” states the letter.

PWC Spokesman Ken Blackstone had the following to say on the subject, in the same article:

“The ACLU is making some claims and we’re reviewing them to see if they’re accurate and to see how we can respond to that,” he said. “They bring up important points.”

Blackstone said the school system is required by federal law to use Internet filtering software to keep students and staffers from looking at inappropriate content at school.

The school software, Blue Coat Filtering, filters 32 different categories.  It doesn’t distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate.  Generally, if students or staff believe something is being filtered that is acceptable for use, there is a process by which the site can be reviewed and unlocked.  Mr. Blackstone said that no such request, to his knowledge, has been submitted for  review  of the sites for student appropriateness. 

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What More Do They Want? Don’t like unions, try China

MoonHowler

The Public Employees Unions have conceded the pension and health care contributions to Governor Walker. What remains on the table is collective bargaining. To give this up would be total loss of power.

Link to Wisconsin Education Association. (WEAC)

Nurses, firefighters, EMTs, doctors, are all in here with the teachers, security personnel, bus drivers etc.
Listen to their point of view. It has changed my mind.  I had to step out of my own regional ethnocentrism for a minute since I am not of a union mind set.  If I were, I would definitely want collective bargaining.  Otherwise, I would not have a union.  Collective bargaining is what really defines a union.  Otherwise, you are just another group of employees with a wish list. Collective bargaining gives that wish list some teeth and some nads.