From Lapland
Where do we look? You can subscribe to a phonecall from spaceweather.com.
Who watched the SOTU Address? Opinions?
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Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona apparently forgot her manners, again, and pointed her finger in the face of the President of the United States on the tarmac during President Obama’s latest trip to Arizona. Governor Brewer later told the press that she felt threatened by the President. A picture speaks a thousand words.
I don’t know what Governor Brewer thought the President was going to do to her. They were in plain view and the secret service security team was right there.
Sadly, this encounter is just another example of the breakdown of protocol and manners in the country. Pointing or wagging one’s finger in the face of the President of the United States, regardless of who he is is simply not acceptable. I feel certain that Brewer is now the darling of those Obama haters who feel she ‘told him off good.’
I think that protocol needs to be taught in every classroom across America. Obviously much has been forgotten or in Brewer’s case, never learned. There are just certain behaviors one upholds when speaking to the President of the United States. We use terms like’ Mr. President’ when addressing him. We even do that if he is our best friend when in public. (or her if that should ever come to pass)
Brewer set a bad example for everyone who sees this picture and is an embarrassment to our country. The eyes of the world are on us. What must they be thinking?
The Roakoke Times has one of the best editorials I have read on the proposed bill to drug test recipients of Virginia’s Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program. Perhaps soon those who get a VRS check will be expected to pass the pee test also.
Some legislators want jobless Virginians to prove they’re ‘clean.’ Maybe they should be tested, too.
The moment some poor worker’s company downsizes him out of a job, he is no longer Mr. Upstanding Citizen. In the eyes of some lawmakers, he’s a suspected drug abuser.
Indeed it’s a quick slippery slide from employed to addict. Or at least that’s what Virginians (employed Virginians anyway) could be led to believe given the flurry of bills some of their representatives are pushing in Richmond to drug test those seeking government aid.
Certain lawmakers are intoxicated with the notion that “if you are going to be supported by the people of the commonwealth, then you’re going to stay clean.” That’s how Sen. Dick Black, a Loudoun Republican, put it to the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, which published an account of bills that tie state aid to drug tests.
Only it’s not all state aid. Just that given to those struggling the most.
The City of Lexington was a colorful sight earlier in January on Lee-Jackson Day. That town is shrouded in the history of both men. The pictures in the link are beautiful, the characters realistic.
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Virginian-Pilot
Teen drivers who use cell phones while operating a vehicle can now be ticketed for that behavior if police stop them for another offense. A bill that cleared the Virginia Senate today would tighten the restriction on cell phone use by provisional license holders, meaning authorities could stop them simply for using their phone while operating a vehicle.
What is to keep the kid from putting the cell phone down if they are getting pulled over? This bill makes no sense.
After seeing studies about distractions while talking on the phone, it might be time for a bill restricting cell phone use while driving, regardless of age. Anyone caught texting while driving should be dragged out of their car and beaten soundly about the head and shoulders.
Virginia needs to stop ignorning the cell phone/texting problem and legislate some serious laws with teeth. Too many accidents are a result of people fiddling with their technology. Eyes off the road, even for a second, can be deadly.
Richmond-
One of several Virginia Republican bills–which aims to require drug tests for welfare recipients–may be one step closer to becoming law.
The bill would require initial screening of people seeking benefits under Virginia’s Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program. Those who screen positive would have blood drawn for more definitive tests. Those who fail would forfeit their benefits for at least a year.
For those alarmed about illegal search and seizures, this bill might cause some heartburn. Additionally, for those who test positive, what about their children who rely on those benefits? Will they also be punished? What drugs would ‘big brother’ be looking for? If an individual is supposed to be taking rx drugs for mental health, would they be denied benefits if they were NOT taking their meds?
Would this bill be Constitutional? Does the Federal government allow such drug testing? Where do funds come from for Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program? Are these federal funds?
I see a lot of problems with this kind of government intervention. This bill might drive the libertarians nuts.
The Denver Post:
Lamborn said through a spokesperson that he didn’t mean disrepect.
“Congressman Lamborn regrets any misunderstanding. He simply meant to refer to a sticky situation or quagmire.”
Yes, Right! What an accident.(NOT!) The Washington Post reports that Rep. Doug Lamborn is once again going to skip the State of the Union Address because he ‘disagrees’ with the policies of President Obama. In fact, he disagreed so much last August, before Obama’s Joint Session of Congress address, that he said he didn’t want to associate with President Obama. Specifically, he compared working with the president to “touching a tar baby.” (emphasis ours)
Supposedly, John Boehner encouraged everyone to attend. He needs to require it. Isn’t he the boss? Where is Eric Cantor? Isn’t he supposed to be helping the Speaker get everyone in line?
Lamborn’s comparison is totally unacceptable and he should resign. No one today is so stupid they do not realize that a comparison of that sort is racially offensive. No one. Americans should refuse to accept any such statement from Lamborn and he should be censured.
Meanwhile, other lawmakers will practice bipartisan seating. Kudos to those legislators who are willing to reach across the aisle. No Labels has prepared a list of Who’s sitting with Whom. We may disagree about policy without the rancor and the hate we are seeing out of some lawmakers. Lamborn must be pandering to his base. Obviously his base must be comprised of people *I* want nothing to do with . That is just very obvious “code.”
The fringe right is mainstreaming racist language
Don’t mess with non-Democrats in Arkansas. The following story is hitting the internet all over the place. A fairly non-political friend first sent it to me. I didn’t use it because I felt her source was slanted. Then I started seeing it everywhere. So here it goes:
(Reuters) – A cat belonging to an Arkansas Democratic campaign manager was found dead on Sunday night with the word “Liberal” spray-painted across its side, the campaign manager said.
The cat was a pet of Jake Burris, who manages Democrat Ken Aden’s bid for Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. Aden is running against incumbent Republican Representative Steve Womack.
Burris was returning to his Russellville, Arkansas home with his four children when he found the cat on his doorstep, the Aden campaign said in a press release on Monday.
The mixed-breed Siamese cat had one side of its head bashed in to “the point the cat’s eyeball was barely hanging from its socket,” the release said.
Aden told Reuters that the event was “horrible, to say the least.”
“Thankfully, there are not that many people who want to do something like this,” Aden said. “The majority of people in this district are hard-working folks, but you get the occasional crazy individual out there.”
Someone knew what they were doing. How incredibly cruel. Most people regardless of how much they disagreed with your politics wouldn’t do anything this low and hideous. Hopefully, the cat murderer will brag and will be apprehended. What punishment would even be appropriate for this sick individual(s)?
Warning: Dead Cat Picture below the fold.
If all goes as planned and this bill passes, Virginia child rapists will get mandatory life in prison. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The Senate Courts of Justice committee Monday passed a bill that would eliminate judicial discretion in the sentencing of adults convicted of the rape of children and sentence anyone convicted of the crime to a mandatory life sentence in prison.
Current law allows a judge to impose a sentence ranging from five years to life for the crime committed against a child under the age of 13.
Senate Bill 436, sponsored by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg passed the GOP-controlled committee on an 8-7 vote. Due to the need to assess its potential financial impact, it was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
I am trying to figure out why I should hate this bill. An 8-7 split tells me that it’s controversial. I am trying to find the controversy. I cannot do it. It sounds like a smart plan to me. Child rapists are the lowest of all the low life. We certainly don’t want them back out on the streets–EVER.
We may get to see the aurora Tuesday night, with clear skies and a little luck. The northern lights are rare this far south and are generally seen only in the higher lattitudes. Tomorrow night might just be the exception. Last night the sun hurled another coronal mass ejection at the earth, just as it had done last week. CME’s are energetic blasts of radiation and heavily charged plasma. They can disrupt the earth’s magnetic field as well as radio and satellite communication. They also cause spectacular light shows in the form of the Aurora Borealis. According to the Washington Post:
The solar storm is the biggest since 2005, he added.
The storm will peak Tuesday when a speeding cloud of plasma and charged particles blasts past Earth, distorting the planet’s magnetic field with impacts possibly ranging as far south in latitude as Texas and Arizona.
“We expect moderate to potentially strong geomagnetic storming that can cause pipeline corrosion effects and power grid fluctuations,” Biesecker said.
NASA scientists predict that the storm will peak about 9 a.m. Tuesday, although it could peak up to seven hours earlier or later, said Michael Hesse of NASA’s Space Weather Laboratory, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. The storm is expected to continue through Wednesday.
“It’s not going to be a catastrophe, but there could be noticeable geomagnetic current induced on the electrical grid,” he said.
Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade. It went quietly unnoticed by many. For those of us who grew up in a pre-Roe era, it didn’t go quite as quietly. Vintage women all knew someone or several someones with a horrible abortion story that happened before January 22, 1973.
There was Robin, the girl I went to high school with who got an illegal abortion from some butcher over in Elkton, of all places. She ended up in the hospital with serious complications and the story made the local paper. It didn’t give Robin’s name but somehow it leaked out. It wasn’t hard to figure out who was missing and in the hospital either. Arrests were made.
Then there were the 3-4 young professional women I knew who got abortions, testing the nearly legal procedure in Washington, D.C. The procedure was expensive and multi-stepped. It involved lawyers, psychiatrists and doctors. As I recall the entire cost was around $1000 in the early 70′s. Those were big bucks in those days.
Newt apparently gave South Carolina Republicans the red meat they sought. He took on members of the press and blasted them. He did it twice. First he roared at Juan Williams, ironically of Fox News, and then he went Rumpelstiltskin on John King of CNN. His audiences loved it.
Let’s take a look at what happened with Williams. Days before, while in New Hampshire, Newt announced that if he were asked to addressed the NAACP, he would carry on the following conversation from cbsnews.com:
Gingrich, during an appearance in Plymouth, New Hampshire, spoke about remarks he would theoretically make if invited to speak to the NAACP.
“I’m prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps,” Gingrich said.
The former House speaker has made a habit of calling President Obama the “food stamp president” — a nickname he used on Thursday as well — and has often painted the contrast between himself and Mr. Obama as a choice between paychecks and food stamps.
“The fact is, if I become your nominee we will make the key test very simple: Food stamps versus paychecks,” Gingrich said. “Obama is the best food stamp president in American history. More people are on food stamps today because of Obama’s policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history.”
Juan Williams who was a debate moderator posed the following question to Gingrich last Monday:
Newt used the opportunity to go on the attack. He gets it. Newt lived in Georgia. He is speaking code. The Fox Five didn’t get it. He said he was going to address the NAACP. When he targets that group as his audience, it becomes racial, regardless of denials and regardless of trying to convince us all it is about economics.
Newt can use all the mock rage he wants. He doesn’t fool me and he doesn’t fool Juan Williams. Juan Williams is correct. He didn’t answer the question. The Food Stamp president indeed!
Gingrich directed his mock rage at the media again targeting John King who asked the question if he would like to say anything to say about the second Mrs. Gingrich’s interview with ABC news. He said no but he would. Apparently once again the audience loved his attack on the media.
It leaves me with the distinct impression that many (NOT ALL) Republicans in South Carolina care more about telling off the media and beating President Obama than they do any principles. Am I wrong?
Update: 10:20 : Coach Joe Paterno has died. RIP Coach.
The above video is the last interview with Joe Paterno and was with Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post.
It has been reported that former head football coach Joe Paterno is gravely ill and family is considering removing him from a respirator. Paterno suffers from complications of lung cancer. He was abruptly removed from his position as head coach November 9, 2011.
Paterno fell at home December 19 and suffered from a shattered pelvis. His health has been in continued decline since then.
Students, faculty and friends have begun to gather at the campus bronze statue to keep vigil. Shown here, friends removing snow from the area of the larger than life likeness of their beloved Coach Paterno. Coach Paterno is the winningest coach in the history of college football. He went to Penn State in 1949.
Are we psychic or what? I just picked up the post, only to learn that today has been declared Squirrel Appreciation Day. According to the Washington Post:
Saturday is Squirrel Appreciation Day. You may find the middle of winter an odd time of year for such a day, but think about it: Unlike some other mammals I could name (I’m thinking of you, lazy bears),
squirrels don’t hibernate. They’re out there 24/7, living la vida squirrela: climbing trees, foraging for nuts, chittering, trying to get into your attic, getting flattened by steel-belted radials.In fact, come Jan. 21 — Squirrel Appreciation Day — they are probably running low on food. They could use a paw up. That’s exactly what Richard “Thor” Thorington — the Smithsonian’s squirrel expert — is going to give them.
“We’re going to celebrate tomorrow,” he told me.
How? “By putting out extra sunflower seeds.”
Thor is also scattering cobs of dried corn, a squirrel favorite, outside his Bethesda home. Peanuts would be another treat. (Squirrels have also been known to eat baby sparrows, but those are hard to find at the
This sequined squirrel is ready for the Squirrel Appreciation Day party, if there were such a thing. (Katherine Frey – The Washington Post) store this time of year. Or any time of year.)The scientist said squirrel behavior can change during the chilly months of winter. Many squirrels will move out of their leaf nests — those balls you see high in the branches — and try to find a hollowed-out tree.
“You can stuff a lot of leaves in a hollow tree and have a nice warm place,” Thor said. “I’ve always wondered how waterproof leaf nests were. ”
So there you have it. Squirrels love sunflower seeds and peanuts. The ones in my yard turn their noses up at corn cobs and just leave them on the ground. If I don’t set out good enough food, they go next door to where pickin’s are better.
