Moonhowlings

Cuccinelli and McDonnell continue their war on women’s reproductive rights

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday to require clinics that perform abortions to meet strict, hospital-style building codes that operators say could put many of them out of business.

The 11 to 2 vote represented the board’s final say on the matter, which has taken unexpected twists and turns since the General Assembly voted in 2011 to regulate abortion clinics like outpatient surgical centers. The regulations went straight to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), who quickly certified them. They now go to two state agencies and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who is expected to sign off on them.

Make no mistake, these TRAP laws do not make abortion safer nor do they protect women.  TRAP laws simply make it more difficult and expensive to provide safe, legal abortion.  Anyone who thinks differently has been misled by political opponents who want to end legal abortion.

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Living proof that Michelle Bachmann is not getting saner.  With a flair for the dramatic, Rep. Bachmann pleads with Congress to repeal Obamacare with the threat that it is going to kill women, children and senior citizens.  Huh?  Even those who don’t like it haven’t said they thought it would kill them.  No explanation was provided as to HOW the ACA was supposed to kill anyone.

Police  will open an investigation into alleged Moran campaign offense.  Patrick Moran, son of Rep. Jim Moran stupidly gave a right wing “investigator” inside how-to tips on how to commit voter fraud.  The incident was captured on video by James O’Keefe’s crew. 

Washingtonpost.com:

Arlington County police have opened an investigation into alleged voter offenses involving Patrick Moran, former director of field operations for his father, Congressman Jim Moran, authorities announced Thursday.

Police said they launched the probe after numerous calls regarding an undercover video video showing Patrick Moran discussing possible voter fraud with an activist posing as a campaign worker. Authorities could not say how long the investigation might take.

Rep. Moran (D-Va.) is running for a 12th term in the House. First elected in 1990, his district includes Arlington County, Alexandria, Falls Church and portions of Fairfax County.

In a statement Thursday, the Moran for Congress campaign said it welcomes the investigation and intends to cooperate with authorities.

Being stupid isn’t illegal.  Absolutely Young Moran should resign.  He distracts from his father’s campaign and simply cannot  not be trusted with the wisdom and ethics that should be involved with any political campaign. 

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Coo Coo Nellie refuses to certify State Health Dept directives on abortion clinics

Washingtonpost.com

 

By Laura Vozzella

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. 

According to Politico:

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.”

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Is the GOP intentionally committing political suicide or does it really not realize what is happening?  GOP, you have to run a real candidate.  Right now the field is narrowed down to a few  someones many people feel are either  morally reprehensible, OR someone no one likes or relates to OR someone so religiously conservative that his positions are repelling most of the people in the United States. 

The attack on women’s reproductive rights is going to bury the GOP.  The Virginia legislature has made the Old Dominion the laughing stock of the nation.  Every night we see another Marshallism ridiculed by Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, or Rachel Maddow.  Ed Schultz has probably gotten in the act also.  While people are mocking the Virginia legislature and acting like the rest of us are all a bunch of bo-hicks, the nation now turns to Rick Satorum.

Santorum has left a paper trail of remarks that belong in another era long enough to bury the GOP and alienate most women.  Remarks about contraception being harmful have turned off all but the most conservative of the pro-life community.  Comments about convenience and aspirin from GOP backers are just feeding the fires of women’s ire.  Not just the feminists are furious.  Plain old normal women who don’t usually have political interests are pretty stirred up. 

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Rick Santorum has a serious problem that has no answer.  He must appeal to the conservative base.  He must strike a chord with the values people.  He needs to appeal to those who are known as the 3 G’s”  God, guns, and gay (anti).  That should not be difficult for Santorum.  His reputation in the U.S. Senate definitely fits the bill as he was very anti-gay rights, pro gun, wanted school vouchers, school prayer and those sorts of things.  He opposed anything having to do with reproductive rights.  He was anti abortion, even the hard cases.  He eschewed contraception and anything that smacked of Title X to include Planned Parenthood. 

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Rick Perry has decided that he was been wrong about abortion.  After watching Mike Huckabee’s video on abortion, he has decided that the government does have a right to force a woman to bear a child that was conceived from rapeand/ or incest.  He was unclear about whether life of the mother should be discarded in favor of the fetus.

 My question is, when is it going to end?   If the new Perry position isn’t extreme enough, perhaps one of the big Ron Paul supporters is.  IN fact, the Ron Paul campaign is doing nothing to distance itself from this YoYo, reported  by outsidethebeltway.com :

Four years ago, the Ron Paul campaign generated controversy by not repudiating the endorsement of the neo-Nazi group Stormfront, but at least back then they didn’t actually promote the fact that they had received the endorsement. This time, though, they seem pretty proud about getting the support of a Nebraska Pastor who has made some pretty vile comments:

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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.

The much discussed Iowa Marriage Vow Pledge also known as the “Family Leader Pledge”  has the signatures of two presidential hopefuls– Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum.   Both candidates are now back-pedaling like crazy because of some controversial language contained in the pledge that appears to sanction slavery. 

According to the Des Moines Register:

The leader of an Iowa conservative organization Monday defended a statement about black children and slavery that it distributed in asking presidential candidates to vow their allegiance to one man/one woman marriage.

At least one presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, condemned the suggestion in the vow’s preamble that black children were better off during slave times. Also Monday, the think tank cited as the basis for the slavery statement denied saying anything like that.

The fact that two candidates, Bachmann and Rick Santorum, quickly signed the 14-point “candidate vow,” then later said they hadn’t read the entire four-page pledge document, highlights the pressure on candidates to prove their social conservative credentials to Iowa voters, politics watchers said.

The Iowa Marriage Vow Pledge can be downloaded here.

Both candidates  claim to have not read the verbiage.  Bachmann  further denounced slavery and argued that the statement was not part of the pledge, only background material. 

“I did not see that language. That was not a part of the vow,” Bachmann told reporters during a campaign stop Monday in Indianola.

Traditional marriage is the bedrock of society, Bachmann said. “Children need a mom and a dad in their life, and that’s why I signed it,” she said.

Slavery was a dark time in American history, and “certainly it would be absurd for anyone to think that a child would be better off raised in slavery than not,” Bachmann said. “That’s a terrible thing to say. I’m pleased that this has been taken care of.”

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The Richmond Federal Reserve is flying the rainbow flag to acknowledge gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender  pride month.  The request was made by PRISM, an advocacy group for the aforementioned groups.   The Fed is a private establishment.  Its first vice president, Sally Green acknowledged:

“We are flying the pride flag as an example of our commitment to the values of acceptance and inclusion.”

Sounds good to me.  Pretty flag, commitment to inclusion.  Gay people make and have money.  What could anyone find wrong?

Enter side-show Bob Marshall, 13th delegate district who claims  that flying the rainbow flag represents

“…a serious deficiency of judgment by your organization, one not limited to social issues.”

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

In a letter to Richmond Fed President Jeffrey M. Lacker, Marshall says the homosexual behavior “celebrated” by the bank “undermines the American economy” and is a class six felony in Virginia.

“The Richmond Fed’s endorsement of costly, anti-social, immoral behavior is rejected by 6,000 years of Western Religious and moral teaching,” writes Marshall, who is among the General Assembly’s most conservative members and has long been outspoken on gay-rights issues. “You want the American people to trust your [judgment] in economic matters when your spokesperson celebrates an attack on public morals?”

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From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — President Obama will call this week for a broad plan to raise revenues and cut deficits, as the battle over fiscal issues moves past this weekend’s budget deal and into a broader and more consequential debate over the nation’s long-term fiscal health. 

In a speech to be delivered at a university here on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will call on Congress to join him in writing a multiyear debt-reduction plan that would depart significantly from the one proposed by House Republicans, administration officials said.

The Republican plan includes an overhaul of Medicare and trillions of dollars in tax cuts, while sparing defense spending. Mr. Obama, by contrast, envisions a comprehensive plan that would include tax increases for the richest taxpayers and military spending cuts as well as savings in Medicare and Medicaid, along with changes to Social Security that the administration says will ensure its solvency for decades — much like his fiscal commission recommended in December.

The Radical Republicans will have their targets still, like Planned Parenthood, PBS, NPR and other government subsidized entities and will go after them with a vengeance.  Education will also be targeted.  Mental health and substance abuse programs have already been targeted.  HCR will also have a nuke aimed at it. 

Before the 2012 budget is considered, Congress must raise the debt ceiling.  Failure to do so will ruin any chance of recovery and in all probability will limit our ability to borrow at low interest rates.  Congressmen who try to play political reindeer games with the debt ceiling will pay for it at election time.

It is not known if the President will assume the same mediator role as he did for 2011 budget.  Little is known how the Democrats will respond.  What will be that target from either group?  

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

Rachel Maddow finds herself in the middle of an over-reach by a conservative group.  She has found that she is the subject of a FOIA request at 3 state universities. 

Maddow is quoted in the  Huffington Post:

The latest incarnation of this breed of conservatism weirdly involves this show,” Maddow said. As she described it, a conservative think tank in Michigan called the Mackinac Center submitted a FOIA request seeking any emails from labor professors at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University. The center demanded any email that includes the words “Scott Walker,” “Wisconsin,” “Madison,” and “Maddow.”

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George Harris

Guest poster

From News and Messenger:

Del. Bob Marshall is at it once again. In a recent diatribe before the Virginia General Assembly, Marshall chose to compare scientists doing stem cell research with World War II Nazi “doctors” who performed “experiments” on hapless Holocaust victims.

Marshall’s conduct in this case is reprehensible and to make things even worse, it has been learned that Mr.

Marshall has never been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington to see what really took place. He invokes the Holocaust and Nazism when it fulfills his need for publicity.

Shame on him for using a Nazi comparison to impugn the good works of honest scientists seeking cure to horrible diseases and conditions.

Disclaimer: All guest posts are the opinion of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration

M-H 

Since when was ‘human life begins at conception’ implanted into the Virginia curriculum? Didn’t see that one coming.

More to the point, Bob ‘Sideshow’ Marshall is shown comparing scientists who conduct and study stem cell research to Nazi war criminals during WWII. Bobby, that is just too cultural warrior for the floor of the General Assembly. No, he didn’t say the words but he painted the picture. You might want to ask your local, state and national legislators if they support Sideshow’s proposed ban on stem cell research.

Stem Cell Information from NIH