Do you all look at www.bing.com? It has great maps and about once or twice a week it posts fabulous pictures that can be used as background or wallpaper. When I see ones I like, I do the old right click thing and save.
Today’s Bing pic is a favorite. I recognized it immediately: Glacier National Park. What a fabulous place to spend a few days! The main feature of the park, other than its mountain goats and special tour cars is Going to the Sun Road, which is an engineering feat in itself.
What neat vacation spots can you think of that aren’t your ordinary trip to Ocean City and the Outer Banks? Leave your secret hideaways here and tell us why we should go. Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out bing.com.
For the first time in U.S. history, most of the nation’s babies are members of minority groups, according to new census figures that signal the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority.
The latest estimates, which gauge changes since the last census, are a reflection of an immigration wave that began four decades ago. The transformation of the country’s racial and ethnic makeup has gathered steam as the white population grows collectively older, especially compared with Hispanics.
The census has forecast that non-Hispanic whites will be outnumbered in the United States by 2042, and social scientists consider that current status among infants a harbinger of the change.
“This is a watershed moment,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in family issues. “It shows us how multicultural we’ve become.”
About once a year, I dig out my Ken Burns Lewis and Clark video to watch. I always cry and I am not sure why. I believe it just amazes me. It amazes me that my homies were able to traverse this continent and make it back with only one death–from appendicitis. The Corp of Discovery happened 250 years ago. Amazing. 250 years ago we really knew nothing about the interior of what is now the United States.
I call them my homies because Meriwether Lewis is an Albemarle County guy. My cousins are closely related to him and his family. He worked for TJ, another homie. How could I not cry? How could the Corp of Discovery accomplish all this? Why didn’t the Native Indians overpower these 38 men, take their weapons and possessions and rule the roost? Watch the video. The Corp of Discovery might be one of the top 5 most important events in American history. It is totally amazing that this small band of men and eventually one woman, Sacajawea, could cross this vast continent and return with samples, notes, animals, and even dinosaur bones.
Discretionary funds have been the topic of conversation ever since Wally wanted to give 100 grand to Rainbow Riding. Peter Candland found himself in the spotlight again, but this time, Moonhowlings can tell him “good job!”
On Tuesday, Candland presented the Board of County Supervisors with a rough draft of a resolution that would move their donations to private entities or nonprofits into the annual budget process. Candland’s resolution is tentatively scheduled for more discussion at the board’s June 5 meeting.
Donations to schools would be excluded from this procedural change, said Candland. The Gainesville supervisor would also like to discuss what to do with annual funding carried over by some supervisors for future projects.
“We should be like other localities and handle this in the normal budget process,” Candland said.
Today 33 Virginia men and women voted to appoint Tracy Thorne-Begland to the General District court. He needed 51 votes. Thorne-Begland is openly gay. Then there were those who voted NAY or who didn’t vote because Thorne-Begland is gay. This is not MY Virginia.
The Wall of Shame
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who is running for U.S. Senate, said he will seek to remove the name of “homosexual activist” Tracy Thorne-Begland from the list of 41 nominees for judgeships that the General Assembly will consider appointing Monday afternoon.
Thorne-Begland, Richmond prosecutor for the past 12 years, came out as a gay Naval officer on national TV 20 years ago to challenge the military’s now-abandoned “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. A former board member of the gay rights group Equality Virginia, he has since spoken out in favor of same-sex marriage. He and his partner, a Richmond lawyer, are raising twins.
A Lexington Catholic High School student claims she was barred from prom because she planned to bring a date of the same sex.
Hope Decker, 18, told LEX 18 administrators sat her down Friday and told her she could not attend with her girlfriend, Tiffany Wright, who is also a student at the school.
Arizona is rapidly becoming the model for bad behavior, from its governor’s bad grammar to its rude Ron Paul supporters. have we left out oppressive abortion and immigration laws?
Openly gay judicial nominee Tracy Thorne-Begland who currently serves as a well-respected deputy prosecutor, has been targeted by legislators and conservative groups simply because he is gay. Tracy Thorne-Begland is currently a deputy prosecutor in Richmond.
Thorne-Begland, the deputy commonwealth attorney for Richmond, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the city’s 13th General District Court.
On Friday, the Family Foundation of Virginia issued a statement opposing his appointment, arguing that his public work on behalf of gay rights makes him unsuitable for the impartial role of judge.
President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage is energizing Christian conservative support for Mitt Romney in a way that the likely GOP nominee has so far not been able to do on his own, according to religious leaders and activists.
Pastors in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and other swing states are readying Sunday sermons inveighing against same-sex unions, while activist groups have begun laying plans for social media campaigns, leaflet drives and other get-out-the-vote efforts centered on the same-sex marriage issue. Romney could benefit from a strong turnout among evangelicals and other social conservatives, many of whom remain skeptical of his commitment to their causes.
Good grief. Now I have heard it all. The Girl Scouts are now a target of the Religious Right and in particular, the Catholic bishops inquiry.
Apparently the GSA who are non-sectarian, aren’t Christian enough for some folks and the Catholic bishops. For starters, girls are allowed to insert Allah or Buddha in as a substitute for God, in the Girl Scout promise which says: “On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country.” If that is who they worship, why not? Some troop took in a transgendered child. That caused an uproar. Good for the troop. Why exclude people?
NEW YORK — Long a lightning rod for conservative criticism, the Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.
Much has been made for the past day or two over a hazing incident at Mitt Romney’s prep school, Cranbrook School. Accounts of the incident were taken from several witnesses, independently, and all described a case of Romney targeting an effeminate classmate with bleached blond hair that fell over one eye. According to the witnesses, Romney jumped the boy, sheers in hand, and gave him a haircut. The kid was terrified and screamed for help. One the surface, it doesn’t sound all that bad….but was it?
Back on the handsome campus, studded with Tudor brick buildings and manicured fields, he spotted something he thought did not belong at a school where the boys wore ties and carried briefcases. John Lauber, a soft-spoken new student one year behind Romney, was perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. Now he was walking around the all-boys school with bleached-blond hair that draped over one eye, and Romney wasn’t having it.
Ann Coulter got bleeped on Morning Joe Wednesday morning. The problem is, the bleeper wasn’t working right and the TV audience lost 13 seconds of what was coming out of her vile mouth. Coulter was on a rant about consistency and went on one of her hate crusades, apparently calling John McCain a douche-bag. Now Morning Joe tries to be a civil show. Mark Halperin got suspended last June for calling President Obama a dick. The suspension lasted a week or two.
After the sound returned, Coulter paused, realized that something had happened, and then could be heard asking others on the show, “What did I say? Oh, douche bag.”
“Just blur it all out,” host Joe Scarborough responded, apparently talking to the control room.
“Okay, well they got the general drift of that,” Coulter said. “Consistency is not a great thing, and especially someone like John McCain who consistently annoyed conservatives, bragged about annoying conservatives, and would claim he was courageous by attacking conservatives and getting good press in the New York Times.”
The conversation on the show moved on quickly after that with the hosts and guests showing little reaction at that point.
Coulter was unrepentant and later tweeted, “I didn’t call McCain a douchebag. I said consistency is overrated because, for example, McCain was consistently a dickweed.”
