Moonhowlings

On another blog, in a time not so long ago, a little supervisor contacted all the dark masters to see what could be done to help him win an election.  This time became known as The Dark Ages of Prince William County.

Yes, Corey Stewart, we are talking about YOU.  Remember when you jumped on the Rule of Law bandwagon and went after everyone Latino?  You didn’t just go after criminal illegal aliens.  You went after everybody.  You actions tore at the very fabric of our community.  You rubber stamped thousands of  homes to be built  while targetting those who came to our community seeking work in the building industry.   You  meanwhile lined  your war chest with developer money.

You used  immigration to your own political gain, inciting a county rather than seeking sensible solutions.  You made promises that could not be kept, knowing that what you said could not be implemented.  You back-stabbed your colleagues on the Board of Supervisors by giving their emails to local bloggers.  You allowed the police chief to be called a traitor by your blogger buddies.  His “sin” was meeting with immigrants and Latino community leaders to explain the new changes and to reassure them that they would not be profiled.  The BOCS had directed him to do this.  Chief Deane deserved better.

Your Rule of Law Resolution that you chest thumped so hard about allowed probable cause to be used to intimidate immigrants.  Even though you declared probable cause would change over ‘your dead body,’ it did change and you tried to obfuscate the situation and claim that you supported the new Rule of Law all along.  This new rule was ushed in by supervisors who had had time to think about what was being done.  In the end, anyone arrested had their status checked, a far cry from random checks that happen when ‘probable cause’ is the law of the land.

Now local Republicans have turned on you.  I expect they see you as a candidate who lacks convictions.  Your code of ethics seems to stop at anything that isn’t self-serving.

Corey, you divided a county for political gain.   It seems now that much of the community has turned on you simply because you have made poor decisions.  You pledged to keep part of our county rural, yet the minute you were in office you approved thousands of acres to be exempt from the rural crescent restrictions.

You really have kept your promises to no one.  Good luck tomorrow.  I doubt if you will get much support from those of us in the ‘hood.  I hope you aren’t counting on the Latino vote.  The people of Prince William County  have long memories.  Virginians don’t take to betrayals real well.

A special congratuations to Colonel Moe Davis for being a recipient of the Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award. The write up on Moe is below the fold.

Moe was invited to the Hefner Mansion to receive his award.  We want a detailed report when he returns!

May 15, 2013 08:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Winners Announced for 2013 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards

Norman Lear to be honored with Lifetime Achievement Award on May 22nd

 

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. Christie Hefner established the Awards in 1979 in conjunction with Playboy magazine’s 25th anniversary to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for all Americans in the fields of journalism, government, book publishing and education. A press reception with the winners, judges and special presenters will be held on May 22, 2013, at the Playboy Mansion, where winners will receive a cash award of $5,000 and a commemorative plaque.

Read more…

Washingtonpost.com:

BAGHDAD — A recent tide of sectarian tensions that erupted into the worst violence seen in Iraq in five years is testing the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose ability to contain the crisis could hinge on a conflict raging beyond his control in Syria.

The prospect of a regional power shift driven by the bloody civil war next door, where a mostly Sunni rebel movement is struggling to topple the Shiite-dominated regime, has emboldened Iraq’s Sunni minority to challenge its own Shiite government and amplified fears within Maliki’s administration that Iraq may soon be swept up in a spillover war.

 

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WTOP.com:

LEESBURG, Va. – A statue of a Confederate soldier that has stood in front of the historic courthouse in Loudoun County since 1908 is now being called inappropriate and a local lawyer says it should be removed.

The statue was erected to honor the war dead at a time when many Civil war veterans were still alive.

The statue shows a Confederate soldier standing guard with his rifle ready.

An inscription, carved into the stone monument, says, “In memory of the Confederate Soldiers of Loudoun County, Va. Erected May 28, 1908.”
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GOP presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio, demanded the IRS Commissioner resign in a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew.

Slate.com:

Dear Secretary Lew:

Recent revelations about the Internal Revenue Service’s selective and deliberate targeting of conservative organizations are outrageous and seriously concerning. This years-long abuse of government power is an assault on the free speech rights of all Americans. This direct assault on our Constitution further justifies the American people’s distrust in government and its ability to properly implement our laws.

The American people deserve answers about how such seemingly unconstitutional and potentially criminal behavior could occur, and who else was aware of it throughout the Administration. It is imperative that you, your predecessor, and other past and present high-ranking officials at the Department of Treasury and IRS immediately testify before Congress.

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Make no mistake about it. Kermit Gosnell is a back alley abortionist and was performing illegal abortions. In fact, this blog put out a message about him at the time of his arrest. There is nothing redeeming about this man or his practice.

All the regulation in the world wouldn’t stop this criminal. Sean Carney is simply wrong about increased regulation. His smug look sickened me since I doubt he has ever sat up with a friend who agonized over the possibility of unwanted pregnancy or the possibility of an abortion.

It makes as much sense to act like over-regulation would have stopped Gosnell as it does to suggest that we should ask a thug with a stolen .38 special to show us his concealed weapon permit. Criminals don’t follow the rules.

Desperate women do not need to be put in the position of feeling like they need to go to places that practice bad medicine. Reproductive services should be available, safe, and affordable. That drives the Kermit Gosnells out of business. Restrictions and lack of available services guarantee that another Kermit Gosnell will pop up to prey on more desperate women.

Unfortunately, Karnamaya Mongar paid with her life. That is unacceptable in a country where legal, safe  abortion is the law of the land.

According to the National Park Service, regarding LBJ Grove on the Potomac:

 

Shortly  after Lyndon Baines Johnson died in January 1973, some of his friends began to  consider creating a national memorial to the 36th president of the United States in Washington, DC.  They decided that a grove of trees, a “living  memorial,” would be a fitting representation of a man who valued nature in his  personal life and supported environmental protection in his presidency.   Lady Bird Johnson selected Columbia Island,  lying between the George    Washington Memorial Parkway and the Boundary  Channel, as the site.  The LBJ Grove  Memorial Committee raised more than $2 million in donations from people all  over the United States.  Noted local landscape architect Meade Palmer  worked closely with Mrs. Johnson to plan the grove, which opened on April 6,  1976.  The memorial grove has two  sections.  The commemorative area,  surrounded by a grove of pine trees, focuses on the life, goals, and  accomplishments of Lyndon B. Johnson.   The second section consists of a broad grassy meadow encircled by a  gravel path for strolling and framed by trees.   Intended to provide physical and spiritual rejuvenation, this part of  the grove also reflects the solace Johnson found in nature and the outdoors.  The grassy meadow, especially set aside to  provide a peaceful setting for people to sit, walk, and relax, is in keeping  with Johnson’s legacy of trying to ensure that all Americans could enjoy what he  valued.

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Moe Davis was interviewed this week by Christiane Amanpour to discuss  the prisoners still in Gitmo.  Contrast the professional discussion with Christiane Amanpour and the rude way he was treated by Chris Matthews.  What we can learn from Moe Davis, according to CNN.com:

Hearing Colonel Morris Davis speak, it’s easy to forget that he used to be the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay.

“We used to be the land of the free and the home of the brave; we’ve been the constrained and the cowardly,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.

President Obama promised to close the Guantanamo detention facility when he took office in 2009; four years later, it’s still open.

A majority of the detainees, over 100, have been on hunger strike for more than three months to protest their detention; the military has resorted to force feeding them.

Eighty six of the detainees, Davis said, have never been charged with a crime. Many of those who were convicted of crimes were sent back to their home countries, and many are now free.

“It’s a bizarre, perverted system of justice,” he said, “where being convicted of a war crime is your ticket home, and if you’re never charged, much less convicted, you spend the rest of your life sitting at Guantanamo.”

A scant six years ago, as chief prosecutor at Guantanamo under President Bush, Colonel Davis sounded like a true believer.

On Friday the Gitmo hunger strike will be 100 days old.

What I find fascinating is that the lead up to the Iraq war, with the complete fabricated threat of “yellow cake” and “centrifuge” tanks or whatever they supposedly were, but were actually NOT, was never even a blip on the radar screen to republicans.

Cohen wrote a great op-ed, tongue and cheek, on the Benghazi Syndrome.  Anyone remember all the investigations into  Clinton?  Is this the path we are headed down?  Benghazi was a horrible tragedy, their has been enough investigations, we know there was a screw up and it isn’t about stupid talking points, it was about lack of security.

Benghazi Syndrome is a grave malady of the noggin, the symptoms of which are a compulsion to grossly exaggerate matters and to compare almost anything to Watergate (see Watergate Syndrome, DSM-IV). Patient Zero in this regard is Sen. Lindsey Graham, a usually affable Republican from South Carolina who has suggested that the Benghazi episode warrants an investigation by a special congressional committee, just like Iran-contra and — drum roll, please — Watergate.

As a nation we invaded Iraq under false pretenses , sacrificed thousands of American lives, spent untold BILIONS, and for what?  To spread democracy.  How is that working out, really great in Egypt, where the religious Muslim Brotherhood is now in control.  Fabulous, just fabulous.  To this day, I remain shocked that the Republicans showed NO interest in finding out how such a colossal mistake was made, how we ended up invading a country that had NOTHING to do with 9-11.

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Finally common sense may prevail for Manassas City Republicans, I wish they could export some of that to Congress!

Since when was investing in your “home” a waste of money?  We invest in new appliances when they break, new cars when they begin to cost more money then what they are worth, new roofs when they leak, etc etc!

Since when is allowing your community to fall apart a conservative value?  Good for the Manassas City Republicans for advocating investment.  Keeping your community first class requires money, requires forethought, and requires a plan of action.

The Manassas City Council passed 4-2 one of the city’s biggest real-estate tax increases in years on Monday, generating dollars to begin a series of capital construction projects city leaders say are needed.

The $100.3 million fiscal ‘14 operating budget, which the council approved, will pay for sidewalk widening in the town’s historic Old Town business district, a new elementary school and drainage improvements, among other projects.

TEA Party politics has no place in running government.  Is there some waste in government, well yes, no one denies that reality.  But TEA party politics has a false foundation that a society can survive with little to no government intervention.   Get rid of the EPA, get rid of the federal income tax, get rid of investment in science and medicine, stop funding the ARTS, allow bridges and roads to crumble, allow healthcare to be a privilege as opposed to a right, etc etc.  What is left to ensure that a community can thrive?

Here are the questions I have.  What makes a cohesive society?  What are the values of  a “community” and how are those values outwardly expressed?

How do we ensure that individual progress can also support community success ,which, in the end, benefits everyone!

Twas in the merry month of May…and green buds all were swelling…

Many hold May 1 as a time to celebrate the rites of spring.  May Day became a more modern custom from ancient pagan practices as well as traditions  from rural society.  Today, at least in suburbia and urban areas, not much is made of May Day.

Just for a day, it can be a magical time when cattle jump over bonfires and the young  and the not so young make merry far into the night.

Merry Beltane!

New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is caught in an election-year struggle between Democratic lawmakers pressing for a crackdown on nonprofit political groups and conservative organizations accusing the tax agency of conducting a politically charged witch hunt.

In recent weeks, the I.R.S. has sent dozens of detailed questionnaires to Tea Party organizations applying for nonprofit tax status, demanding to know their political leanings and activities. The agency plans this year to press existing nonprofits like American Crossroads, on the Republican side, and Priorities USA, on the Democratic side, to justify their tax-protected status as “social welfare” organizations, a status that many tax professionals believe is being badly abused.

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An incident at a Loudoun County library has caused  an ADA violations charge to be filed by  the mother of an adult with Downs Syndrome and autism.  It seems that the daughter had an emotional outburst over being told she could not check out any more books.  The Washington Post reports:

…when her 25-year-old daughter, Shannon, who has Down syndrome and autism, had an emotional outburst at a Leesburg public library, she was not surprised. But she was surprised, she said, at the library staff’s reaction.

While Aase was trying to calm down her daughter, she said, an employee of Rust Library demanded that Aase remove her daughter from the building. Then, Aase said, the employee threatened to do so herself. After that, she threatened to call police.

What could have been a passing tantrum has now become a fight over the rights of the disabled, a fight that Aase, well versed in such matters, has vowed to continue. She has filed two complaints under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) — one with Loudoun County and one with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Loudoun officials, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters, said they could not discuss the March 15 incident described in Aase’s complaint.

Loudoun County cannot discuss this case because of confidentiality so that means we only are privy to one side of this dispute–the side of the mother who is filing the charges.  The Washington Post did report that Loudoun County reviewed the complaint and  ”concluded that there had been no ADA violation and that “personnel acted within the parameters of Loudoun County Public Library policies.”

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It seems that Boston Marathon bombing suspect has been laid to rest right here in the Old Dominion, near the birthplace of our famous favorite son, Secretariat.  (I refuse to recognize him by name.)

At first I  was ready to blast the Governor, before I read the article.  Come to find out, he had nothing to do with it.  It seems that some good Christian  woman, Martha Mullen,  felt mercy.  According to the Washington Post:

“My first thought was, Jesus says love your enemies and not hate them after they’re dead,” Mullen, a Richmond mental health counselor and seminary school graduate, said Friday.

“My second thought was, okay, we can bury Adam Lanza, you know. Or the guy who shot up [Virginia] Tech,” added Mullen, 48. “And this guy for some reason is different. And the only difference that I can tell is that people think that he’s a terrorist or he’s a foreigner or he’s Muslim.”

Her third thought: Maybe she could help. With a flurry of e-mails and calls to faith leaders in Richmond and police officials in Massachusetts, she wound up facilitating Tsarnaev’s burial at a small Islamic cemetery in Doswell.

Having reached out to Jewish, Hindu and Muslim leaders, as well as her own Methodist pastor, Mullen hoped that Tsarnaev’s burial in a plot she located in central Virginia would demonstrate “the peaceful side of faith in action.”

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From politico.com:

Republican strategist Alex Castellanos called the connection between Benghazi  and Clinton’s political future easy — and completely justified.

“Remember when Hillary described the Clinton presidency as ‘two-for-one’? Now  it’s two-for-one again: If Republicans hold her boss accountable for his failure  in Benghazi, Hillary’s political future is tarnished,” Castellanos said.

He added, “Hillary Clinton had the misfortune to be Secretary of State for a  weak and vision-less president on whose watch the world has unraveled. Then Mrs.  Clinton made three mistakes of her own: one, she didn’t protect the people under  her care in Benghazi. Two she said ‘what difference does it make?’ And three  she’s allowed a cover-up in her own State Department. Her political future is  being decided now, as Congress investigates the Benghazi scandal. Three strikes  and she’s out. It is increasingly looking like the only president named Clinton  may be Bill.”

Seriously.  Who is Alex Castellanos?  What turnip truck did he just fall off of?  How old is he?  Doesn’t he understand about women, minorities, and everything Clinton?  Have at it, Alex.

Does this pup think that what he says will matter when it comes to voting for a Clinton or for Hillary?  It turns out the pup is a little long in the tooth.  He is in his 50′s.  What has he missed about the American people and the Clintons?  He was a top media adviser to George W. Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign and Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.  Maybe that explains it.

Keep talking, Alex, keep talking.