Peter Candland: Proud to be an Ideologue?

Elena

I actually feel sorry for Peter Candland and I will tell you why.  Apparently, his M.O. now is to attack Ann Wheeler for  her statement “I am not an ideologue”.  From the blog he is promoting on his official facebook page:

This is a candidate that does not want to be associated with any political ideology, particularly the Democratic platform.

Let me share why I feel sorry for Mr. Candland.  I have had the privilege of working with people from many different perspectives in Prince William County on various issues, from land use, to power lines, to parks, to Silver Lake, to public school issues, et al.  I have built friendships with people that do not share the exact same political belief system as I do.  You know what, I am proud to call them friends.

Ann Wheeler is telling Gainesville citizens that she is interested in solving problems based on best solutions not based on whether you have an R or a D by your name.  Isn’t that what we all want, people interested in coming together to solve problems!

Does Peter Candland believe that Prince William County residents want our local government to emulate the  dysfunction we see happening the National level?  I for one do not.   Is Peter Candland’s message to the Gainesville District one of divisiveness?

Does Mr. Candland understand that in order for a Democracy to be healthy, we must have differing opinions, and vigorous debate?  Mr. Candland being a Republican is no more unacceptable than Ann Wheeler being a Democrat.

Peter Candland clearly prefers to have a very small and myopic circle of friends and associates, ones that only share his point of view on all issues.

As an elected leader, it is critical that one have the ability and interest to reach out to those  with whom you may have differing opinions in order to find the best solutions.

Republican presidential candidates expected to sign SBA Pledge

MoonHowler

Americanindependent.com:

Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty have signed on to the Susan B. Anthony List’s 2012 Pro-life Presidential Leadership Pledge. The presidential candidates have pledged to roll back abortion rights in four key areas, and the duo join three other presidential contenders: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Bachmann went after fellow presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday for not signing the pledge and not committing to “ending the practice of abortion.”

 The candidates pledged to appoint anti-abortion judges, to appoint anti-abortion cabinet members, to defund Planned Parenthood and to sign a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks gestation.

Bachmann went after Mitt Romney for not signing the pledge.

So there is a litmus test now for presidential appointments, cabinet members, and I would assume Supreme Court Justices?  I guess its official now.  What about the 50% (at least) of us who are pro-choice?  

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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

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

MoonHowler

Jon Stewart points out the fallacy in the lies told about Planned Parenthood.  

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Countdown to the Next Countdown – Jon Kyl’s Planned Parenthood Statistics
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

  Stewart claims that Senator Jon  Kyl (R-AZ) only lied to get his way.  Kyl claims that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortion when the actual number is around 3%.   Easy to get 3% mixed up with 90%. 

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Countdown to the Next Countdown – Jon Kyl Lies About Planned Parenthood
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Why do politicians lie?  They want to get their way.  Life is simple.  Now I understand. 

Is lying ever justified in politics?  What if you REALLY believe in something?  Or against something?  Isn’t lying just a little ok?

Michele Bachmann–the gift that keeps on giving

MoonHowler

After the State of the Union Address, the opposition address will be given by Republican Paul Ryan  of Kentucky.   This job is often given to party rising stars.  Ryan is expected to be a party uniter.  After the senator speaks, Michele Bachmann will give her Tea Party Caucus response.  Bachmann is noted for for angry, anti-Obama rhetoric.  Yahoo News gives us some clues of what might be in store for us after the SOTUA:

 A recent analysis by the Pulitzer Prize-winning watchdog site PolitiFact showsthat of the 13 times she’s been fact-checked, “seven of her claims [have been found] to be false and six have been found to be ridiculously false,” says PolitiFact Editor Bill Adair. “I don’t know anyone else that we have checked, more than a couple times, that has never earned anything above a false. She is unusual in that regard.” Among Bachmann’s greatest hits: saying that Obama will hike taxes on small businesses that make $250,000 (“pants on fire”); claiming that “the president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day” (“false”); and declaring that in the 1970s, “the swine flu broke out… under another Democrat, President Jimmy Carter” (“pants on fire”). Beyond all the easily disprovable falsehoods, Bachmann is famous for simply saying outrageous things: that homosexuality is a “dysfunction”; that Obama is turning America into a “nation of slaves”; that conservatives should “slit their wrists” and be “blood brothers” to defeat health-care reform.

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A Mecca for Prejudice and Bigotry?

MoonHowler

Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik has come under fire for referring  to his state, Arizona, as a ‘mecca for prejudice and bigotry.’   Those are harsh words, but is the sheriff just calling it as he sees it?

 

The longer version (7 minutes) where Sheriff Dupnik talks about his thoughts.  He does not call out a specific group or person here either.  He just talks about the history of threats against Gabby Giffords and also about the level  of anger in the rhetoric in this country.

 

 

It is important to note that Sheriff Dupnik called no individual or group by name.  Perhaps those who follow the sheriff’s politics know to whom he is referring.  I do not.  Is Arizona a mecca for bigotry?  If yes, what has made it that way?  Is it just about immigration or do other political issues come in to play?  Congresswoman Giffords was a strong supporter of increased border security. 

Moonhowlings featured a post on Sheriff Clarence Dupnik  last spring.  He felt it was stupid to throw illegal immigrants in jail at tax payer expensive when he could just turn them over to the border control.  At the time, it was also determined that the mayor of Tucson also opposed the new Arizona legislation, SB 1070.   He turned thousands of undocumented immigrants over to the border control. 

As we return to the question, is Arizona a mecca of intolerance?  Does the political climate in Arizona make this state more vulnerable to shootings and assassinations?  Does the drug violence have any play in this discussion?

 

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot In Arizona

MoonHowler

by NPR Staff, National Public Radio

January 8, 2011

 

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot outside a grocery store in Tucson while holding a public event, Arizona Public Media reported Saturday.

Giffords, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting her first “Congress on Your Corner” event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.

At least five other people, including members of her staff, were hurt. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson. Her condition was not immediately known.

Giffords was talking to a couple when the man ran up firing indiscriminately, and then ran off, Michaels said. According to other witnesses, the was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody.

Fox News reported that she was shot at point blank range in the head by a gunman who was firing indiscriminately. 

According to Wikipedia:

She is the only member of the U.S. Congress whose spouse, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, is an active duty member of the U.S. military.

Giffords is known as a strong proponent of solar energy as well as for her work to secure the border with Mexico

 

This is the third time she has met at this type of community event in Tucson.  She is 40 years old.     11 others, including local staff members, were also shot.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Rep. Giffords.

Fox News is reporting that there are multiple fatalities and that the congressman has died.  They are trying to get official confirmation.

The above information was incorrect.  Gabrielle Giffords  is out of surgery.  She is alive, in critical condition, but the doctor who just spoke said he was optomistic about her recovery.

 

Parent 1 and Parent 2

MoonHowler

 

Let the foolishness begin.  Now we  don’t have mothers and fathers.  I still haven’t recovered from the girl winning damages about 20 years ago for being called a water buffalo.  Now we have this, and out of the State Department no less!

According to the Washington Post:

The State Department has decided to make U.S. passport application forms “gender neutral” by removing references to mother and father, officials said, in favor of language that describes one’s parentage somewhat less tenderly.

The change is “in recognition of different types of families,” according to a statement issued just before Christmas that drew widespread attention Friday after a Fox News report.

The announcement of the change was buried at the end of a Dec. 22 news release, titled “Consular Report of Birth Abroad Certificate Improvements,” that highlighted unrelated security changes.

I don’t care if gay people adopt children or have children by whatever means that happens.  But, I am not willing to become parent 1 or parent 2 for the sake of a situation that  rarely occurs.  As far as I am concerned, the gay parents can just flip over who gets to be the mom and who gets to be the dad.  

 

 

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Randall Terry Meets With Upcoming Speaker of the House

MoonHowler
With Boehner’s chief of staff, after the election.

If Nancy Pelosi met with a known terrorist with a criminal record, there would be a hue and cry.  Apparently soon-to -be Speaker John Boehner isn’t being held to the same standard.  According to Right Wing Watch:

 

And Terry apparently  issued some big demands for Boehner and the Republicans now that they have taken control of the House – the complete end of abortion in America:

We must demand that Republicans who won the House of Representatives hasten the end of legalized child killing in America. Their victory could be a strong step forward for the babies, but it also might be yet another set back after 50,000,000 dead babies.

We must not delude ourselves! The landslide the Republicans enjoyed in the House of Reps was a repudiation of President Obama’s overall agenda; it was about the economy, about jobs, corporate bailouts, the debt, and about his health care bill.

Yet we already see pro-life fundraising letters and petitions heralding this GOP victory as an automatic victory for the babies’ lives. This is simply not true!

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Angle and O’Donnell Stick around Post Election

MoonHowler

Both Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell lost their bid for election but both will probably remain on the political scene.  Both will put in many appearances on TV.  Why?  Both own huge national donor lists that are capable of bringing in up to $8 million dollars off of the Internet.  That is a lot of money and very little flesh pressing.  No rubber chicken dinners.  No wallowing with Sleazles.  Just clean, crisp political money.

According to Politico.com:

Both women worked with the same online fundraising consultant: Kurt Luidhardt’s The Prosper Group Corporation, an 11-person shop based in the Indianapolis suburbs. Luidhardt declined to go into specifics on the size of Angle and O’Donnell’s fundraising lists, but said each has “high tens of thousands” of online donors.

 

Both women own their own lists, not Luidhardt.  If I must see either, I want to see O’Donnell.  Her politics are dreadful but she, herself, is charming.  Maybe she will give Bill Maher another chance.

 

Fimian, Pharmacies and Birth Control

MoonHowler

For the past several days I have been seeing and hearing a Gerry Connolly campaign commercial that paints Candidate Keith Fimian as an extremist.  Most campaign ads are background noise to me so it went in one ear and out the other.  Besides, most campaign ads are full of hyperbole and exaggeration.  Then I perked up my ears.  The ad said that Fimian supported the rights of pharmacists to not dispense contraception.  Now THAT IS extremist. 

I have tried researching this allegation, without much luck.  I even went to the  Legatuswebsite.  Fimian is a member of Legatus, which is a Catholic organization, founded by Dominos Pizza Magnet Tom Monaghan for very wealthy Catholic business folks and their spouses.  I didn’t find out much there either.  Maybe it’s me.  However, I haven’t heard anything which disputes this claim.  This makes me nervous. 

There has been somewhat of an uproar the past several years about pharmacists with religious objections being forced to dispense contraception, in particular, the morning after pill.  NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia  has this to say:

In addition to lack of contraceptive equity, Virginia’s so-called “conscience clause” allows pharmacists to decide which prescriptions they will and will not provide. This means that a pharmacist could legally refuse to fill a doctor’s prescription for birth control or stock or distribute emergency contraception. Since when do pharmacists get to step inside the doctor-patient relationship and refuse to fill necessary prescriptions?

 

Conscience Clause?  Where did that come from?  Someone slipped that one by me.  The more I google, the more I unearth and the angrier I get.  This thread needs to be a work in progress.  First of all, anyone who has knowledge of Fimian’s position on allowing pharmacists to cherry pick what prescriptions they will fill, please let us know.  I don’t have a bone to pick with private pharmacies who post, in clear view on their door that they do not sell or dispense contraception.  However, other stores open to the public without disclaimers should really not be involved in type of exclusionary behavior.  I consider it equivalent to the Muslim cab driver who wouldn’t let bottles of liquor in his cab.  Find another job. 

Secondly, what kinds of legislation have been passed that allow ‘conscience clauses and require pharmacist counselling?  How offensive.  If one works for a pharmacy, the job is to fill prescriptions, not chime in with a moral opinion.  If that is an issue, go work for a private religious hospital or pharmacy. 

I would especially welcome and appreciate word from the Fimian campaign that this information is indeed false.  This is the year 2010, in the United States of America.  Griswald was decided 45 years ago. 

 

 

 

 

Christine O’Donnell and the Constitution

MoonHowler

Christine O’Donnell really needs to do better than this.  Part of going to Washington must include basic understanding of what’s makes our government work.  She really isn’t prepared on the most basic of levels.  Ms. ODonnell is correct.  Senators don’t have to memorize the Constitution, but they should have some basic knowledge of key ideas.

 

 

Christine O’Donnell really needs study harder.  According to the Wall Street Journal:

Ms. O’Donnell attacked her Democratic opponent, Chris Coons, for insisting that public schools teach evolution but not “intelligent design,” which posits that life forms are too complex to have evolved through natural processes and must have been created by a conscious being such as God. Mr. Coons, the New Castle County executive, said that public schools could not teach intelligent design or similar theories, like creationism and creation science, because they were “religious doctrine” rather than science.

“That is a blatant violation of our Constitution,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “The Supreme Court has always said it is up to the local communities to decide their standards.”

That’s generally true–except when it comes to teaching religion-based nonscientific theories of human origin. In 1968, the high court struck down an Arkansas law prohibiting instruction in evolution. In 1987, the court invalidated a Louisiana statute requiring that “creation science,” an antecedent to intelligent design, be taught alongside evolution.

Ms. O’Donnell likened Mr. Coons’s position on evolution to those of “our so-called leaders in Washington” who have rejected the “indispensible principles of our founding.”

She lacks facts on such a basic level, it makes her unqualified for office.  I felt sorry for her watching the video.  We are aware that the words in the Constitution do not say ‘separation of church and state.’  However the courts have continued to reaffirm this interpretation.  Jefferson’s writings also support separation. 

Old Town Merchants pt 2

MoonHowler

Let’s see if this second post on the subject brings out the wrath of the christian right [lower case intentional]  like the first one did.  If that happens, we can always rename the thread “Greg Letiecq fights pornography with pornography.”  But I digress…..

News & Messenger  reporter Keith Walker has up-to-date coverage of the latest plan for the City of Manassas during Fall Festival, which is one of the city’s biggest events.  About 50 people are expected to gather in protest at City Hall sometime during the Fall Festival. 

Apparently the plan to coerce merchants into closing their doors between noon and 1 pm didn’t pan out.  I know of 1 merchant who ran off the visitor who came to garner support for her cause.  Picture a restaurant owner telling everyone to stop eating and to get up and leave right at noon.  Sort of makes one chuckle, if some idealistic person didn’t take it seriously.  What shopkeeper closes down during the busiest time of the biggest sale day of the year?

The leader of this pack was quoted in the News and Messenger:

MANASSAS, Va. —

Jennifer Basinger said she’s expecting about 50 people to show up at Manassas City Hall on Saturday to rally against an adult store set to open Oct. 20 on Battle Street in Old Town.

She said KK’s Temptations won’t fit in with the historic nature of the area.

“The shop I feel — and many do — is just not consistent with what Old Town is about,” Basinger said.

However, she doesn’t have anything against Kim and Kristina Skokan, the mother-and-daughter team who plan to open the store.

“It’s not a personal vendetta against the owner. It’s not an ugly, self-righteous march at all,” the 39-year-old Basinger said. “It’s really just wanting to keep Old Town the way it is.”
Basinger said the group will restrict itself to the area around City Hall between noon and 2 p.m. to avoid disrupting the Fall Jubilee that is also taking place Saturday.

“It’s peaceful. It’s non-confrontational. It’s not meant to take any thunder away from the fall festival,” she said. “It’s not going to be a bunch of people marching into Old Town.”

Reality check!  I saw an email or 2 and I don’t think you say some of that stuff to someone you don’t have a vendetta against.  Perhaps I just have different values.   Ms. Basinger needs to be more honest and forthright about that one. 

Another reality check involves the image you want to create for your city.  Do you want to stage a protest of any sort on your biggest tourism day of the year?  Why not just bring Mr. Fernandez back with a few native Americans to parade around.  I am sure he would be glad to accommodate.  Anything to embarrass the City.  How is this different?  At least if Mr. F paraded around with Native Americans you could tell the guests coming in from other areas that it was just the Tea Party, getting ready to dump a few barrels of tea overboard. 

Furthermore, what is it that these people want the City of Manassas to do?  The City  has caved in to every demand.  Many people I know are so disgusted with the City for acquiescing to this group of christian conservatives  [lower case intentional] that they are simply not going to spend money in the City.  In trying to please everyone, you please no one. 

Most of the City Councilpersons are nice people who take their elected position seriously.  They try to represent their constituents, rather than advance their own agendas.  What I don’t think they realize is that many people find KK Temptations a welcome addition to the City.  It breaks up the ho hum and the restaurants.  An even bigger number don’t care one way or the other. 

Kim Skokan and her daughter have postponed their grand opening out of deference to the City merchants who will be their new neighbors.  They didn’t want to draw attention away from a big sales day. They have dotted every i and crossed every t.  Perhaps they, too, have been just a little too accommodating to those who are all about control and bullying.  (and elections)

 

Banned Books Week (BBW) Sept. 25-Oct. 2

MoonHowler

From the American Library Association:

Censorship can be subtle, almost imperceptible, as well as blatant and overt, but, nonetheless, harmful. As John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty:

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

— On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

 

Banned Books Week began back in 1982.  It is always designated as the last week in September.  It is the only national celebration of  the freedom to read what we want.  More than a thousand challenges from every state have come in since 1982. 

 The following list is the top 100 banned or challenged classics:

 

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The Real Impact of the AG Abortion Clinic Opinion

MoonHowler

Rachel Maddow does an excellent job of showing how rights can be taken away by making whatever it is that people are trying to do  inaccessible.  Inaccessibility  substitutes for making an act illegal.  Its a rather cowardly, un-democratic means of getting one’s own political way.  Maddow  also interviews the executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Maddow explains how hospital regulations would financially  burden abortion providers rather than making abortion safer (Double wide hallways, swinging doors, 15 mile proximity to emergency room, etc.) Cuccinelli’s explanation is vague and full of weasel words, so that the average Virginian really doesn’t know what is being said.

Cuccinelli  attempted draconian, technically illegal abortion legislation while he served in the Virginia Senate.  He was unable to ever pass his legislation.  Now he attempts to circumvent legislation by simply declaring his opinion to be law.  His attempts to codify his own opinion won’t fly for long. 

Cuccinelli will not last. Most people don’t like having other people in their bedrooms. It remains to be seen if McDonnell will execute Cuccinelli’s opinion into state policy. Meanwhile, Cuccinelli has driven Virginia so far to the cultural right that he endangers other Republicans who might not be extremists.

Finally, Maddow addresses something the rest of us have been aware of for a long time. There is a tendency to bully those who are pro-choice. Many pro-choice people feel too  intimidated to admit they are pro-choice, much less hold their legislators accountable for their votes. Every woman in Virginia must decide that the women of Virginia are capable of making their own morally appropriate choices. They need to decide today that they will not allow others to define them. Pro-choice is not being pro-abortion and do not let anyone tell you it is.