Moonhowlings

This Saturday, May 5 will be the annual 138th Kentucky Derby.   No charming horse stories jump out at us this year.  That might happen post race.   The slight favorite this year is a horse named Bodemeister.  Why that almost sounds like Blogmeister!

Every year I go out with friends and play our dollar bets on the each race of the Triple Crown.  It sounds silly but it is a rite of spring for us. 

To view the horses for this race, go to the Washington Post section.  CLICK HERE . 

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The dreadful story of the neglected children in Bristow continues.  Interviews with the father of the first set of neglected kids reveal even more information.  Apparently the mother, Christina Dawn Moore, does have visitation with the twins who were found wandering in diapers at a junk yard  when they were toddlers.  Their father is Daniel Tinchard who now has custody of his children.  He reported that he has made several calls regarding abuse and neglect,

According to News and Messenger:

In the past few years, Tincher estimates he made three or four complaints to Social Services – including one alleging physical abuse – regarding his twin boys. The boys live with their father in Bealeton but go to Moore’s house on selected weekends due to a visitation agreement.

A friend of the family has also made numerous complaints. 

The family friend, who attended Brentsville High School with Moore in the early 2000s, said she made close to 10 calls from 2007 to 2010 to the Prince William and Fauquier Social Services departments regarding the situation. She said she heard nothing from anyone other than a brief phone conversation with a social worker.

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I never understood the difference in bigamy and polygamy until I went to Utah for the first time about 15 years ago.  I was reading the paper and saw that some man had been arrested for having 2 wives.  Then on the front page there was so big arrest made to a polygamist but it was for beating his daughter.  So naturally I had to give up all my pride and ask my hosts.

And yes, my hosts were all Mormons, but maybe not practicing ones.  After they laughed and carried on over my ignorance, they explained it.  Polygamist only have one state marriage as we saw in Big Love.  Barb was the legal wife.  The others, Margene and Nikki, were ecclesiastical wives.  That is not illegal.  It is taboo, however, in the official Mormon Church, otherwise known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   Barb has been excommunicated because she was living in polygamy.  Bill, Nikki and Margene  had never been in the mainstream Mormon Church so they were  not excommunicated. 

So I got an email from a friends asking me what was the difference in living together and polygamy.  I would say there is none legally.  The legal problems of polygamy center around child abuse and statutory rape.  Amongst consenting adults,  what is the problem?   There has also been a problem with many of the polygamist men not supporting their children and costing the state lots of welfare money.  The Juniper Creek class polygamists ran in their own little world and lived by their own laws.  However, if people are living like the Hendricksons or those seen on the reality show Sister Wives, why does it concern us?

Any opinions or comments?

Politico:

Mike Huckabee laced into Oscar winner Natalie Portman for her “out-of-wedlock” pregnancy, saying the expecting star is helping to “glamorize” single motherhood.

Huckabee made the comments on conservative commentator Michael Medved’s radio show this week, after Portman accepted her golden trophy and in her speech thanked her fiance, Benjamin Millepied, for giving her “my most important role of my life.”

Medved led the way on the question, saying the “most wonderful gift” Millepied could have given the diminutive Black Swan star “would be a wedding ring! And it just seems to me that sending that kind of message is problematic.”

 

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A starving North Korea is begging for food from foreign nations.  Flood, a brutal winter, and livestock disease has made the situation worse in a country where malnutrition is already a way of life.  The North Korean government has ordered its embassy personnel to basically beg.  It is currently betting from Japan, a country that North Korea usually threatens.

The United States cut off food aid several years ago over concerns about nuclear transparency.  It has said it has no plans to start up again.   The UN Food Program has said it will only contribute food for another month.

According to the Washington Post:

The request has put the United States and other Western countries in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to ignore the pleas of a starving country or pump food into a corrupt distribution system that often gives food to those who need it least.

We have always been a generous nation, even with our enemies, at least in the 20th century.  North Korea is simply too much of a problem to start giving hand outs.   A country that won’t play by the rules and issues threats all the time is in no position to be asking favors.  On the other hand, there are starving people.  The question we must ask ourselves is, would the starving  people even get the food?  I would give food only if I could distribtute it to those in need.  If our troops went anywhere near there to give food, they would probably fire on them.

What do you think we should do?

Notice North Korea at night.  The people have no electricity:

Christmas is a goner. Just ask Gretchen the Grinch. Jon Stewart brings reality back. He reminds us all that Christmas survived the Rome Empire.  Totally great cartoon. 

Does it matter that cards we receive say Seasons Greetings?  Does it matter that sales clerks we don’t know tell us to have a great holiday instead of Merry Christmas?   Is it something to be paranoid over?  Is there really a war on Christmas? 

Sarah Palin also hunts American icons.  Now Palin is after JFK.  Why is she targetting all the American icons?  Let’s see:  Reagan, Daddy and Mrs. Bush, W. Bush, and now none other than JFK.  What has he done? 

Back in the summer we ran a post celebrating the 50th anniversary of JFK’s speech to the ministers of Houston on the importance of the wall of separation between church and state.   That speech was considered to be one of Kennedy’s most important.  To this day, he is the only Roman Catholic to be elected President of the United States. 

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has addressed Palin’s erroneous thinking in an opinion piece in the Washington Post   Saturday:

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. 

I cannot push the image of Krystal Ball out of my mind.  I am not even sure I would vote for her.  I know nothing of her politics.  They don’t matter.  My melt down is over the way people who consider themselves conservatives have trashed and denigrated this young woman and, yes, her husband at the time.   Ms. Ball is someone’s wife, mother, daughter and sister. 

Krystal Ball owes no one any explanations.  She was with her own husband in the privacy of someone’s home.  Someone betrayed her and violated the sanctity of her marriage.  Couples should not have to explain their love life to others. 

What is it that makes some conservatives feel they can degrade her, make crude comments about her?  Where is their sense of outrage over someone violating the privacy of this couple?  Is it because Ms. Ball dared to go into politics?  Is it her youth?  Is it that she obviously has a lust for life?

I need conservative principles explained to me. No one here on this blog has been disrespectful.  But traveling around the blogosphere, observing that which has gone viral,  I see attack after attack from people who are obviously conservative.

Where does the sanctity of marriage kick in?  Help me understand.  Those pictures were not posted by Ms. Ball anywhere in public.  What is the difference in posting those pictures and being your common, every day Peeping Tom?  Don’t conservative values include guarding the privacy of married couples?  How about being respectful of people’s wives?   Don’t most conservatives believe in family values and wouldn’t those values guard the privacy of this couple?  How many people who made sexist comments voted for the Virginia Defense of Marriage Act?

Governor McDonnell’s ABC privatization plan is meeting with some obstacles within the Republican party.  Many folks are digging their heels in and saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Del. R. Lee Ware Jr. is a political conservative standing on principle in the debate over whether to get Virginia out of the liquor business.

But he’s standing on a different principle than Gov. Bob McDonnell, who says the state has no business selling distilled spirits through the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“The control of the sale of alcoholic beverages is a legitimate function of state government in serving the public good,” said David A. Bovenizer IV, spokesman for Ware, R-Powhatan. “Consequently, the free-market assertion regarding privatization of ABC is at best secondary to the common good.”

Bovenizer said Ware also regards the governor’s projections of state revenue from a private liquor industry as “unpersuasive” and the sale of the liquor monopoly unnecessary to raise money for road improvements, given the findings of a recent state audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation.

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Once again Manassas gets media attention.  This time it isn’t Mr. Fernandez:

K K Temptations, an adult boutique, will be opening next month in Old Town Manassas.

Perhaps the first thing people need to do is clarify in their own minds what really constitues ‘porn.’ I have a sneaking suspicious we wouldn’t all agree, especially if some people thought others were watching.

I am curious if a boutique that featured magic, the occult, and earth centered religions would be greeted the same way? Would the Old Guard try to run it off also? 13 Magickal Moons is in historic Occoquan and has been for many years.

I am continually amazed at people who want free enterprize and less government until it is something a little off the beaten, non-vanilla path. Then there is great howling for the government to fix things. I guess that is better than burning people at the stake, however.

Just when we thought it was safe to go back to the City of Manassas, we find out that the sin of sex is lurking about on Battle Street. Oh my goodness! Some Godless sinner wants to set up a shop selling ‘marital aids.’

I suppose the major question should be whether the proposed shop will fit in with the decor of Old Town Manassas or will it have a giant condom the size of Gumby outside, luring customers in. Will Mr. Buzzy be out sitting on the bench outside the shop, showing all the ladies his talents?

Perhaps the shop keeper will behave as anyone wanting to do business and keep the ‘adult’ business inside and the kiddies out. Or, if ‘marital aids’ aka sex toys are just a sideline, perhaps there will be an adult section of the store. Anyone wanting to fit in needs to meet zoning standards and town codes. The decor should match everyone else.

Manassas is no stranger to stores of this nature. There is a Fashion Fantasy clothing shop over on rt. 28 that sells considerably more than fishnet stockings. No one seemed to mind that shop and it has been there for years. All sorts of dirty little secrets can be bought at Fashion Fantasy on 28. If any of the town leaders are upset because the new shop will be in Old Town, then that is pretty hypocritical. I guess it is ok to have an erotic shop over near the trailer park but not too close to the more upscale part of town. Some things never change.

Little birds are telling me that some of the fine folks of Manassas have some fairly draconian plans to discourage customers. So much for the concept of free market. Probably those who are in the biggest tail spin over the new shop are the ones who do a lot of catalog orders. [wink wink]

UPDATE FROM NEWS & MESSENGER 9/3/10

Coming soon to a place on Battle Street

(from SPLC: illustrations by Paul Rogers)

There is no end to conspiracy theories.  Conspiracy theories are a big part of Americana.  However, most are urban legends and few have been proven, if any.  From the Lincoln assassination conspiracy theory to the Roswell Cover-up to the moonlanding being a hoax by NBC, some Americans are convinced that their government is up to something sneaky and un-American.

Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the top 10 current conspiracy theories.

 

01 Chemtrails
02 Martial Law

03 FEMA Concentration Camps

04 Foreign Troops on U.S. Soil

05 ‘Door-to-Door’ Gun Confiscations

06 9/11 as Government Plot

07 Population Control

08 HAARP

09 The Federal Reserve Conspiracy

10 The North American Union

My favorite one isn’t on the list. I like the one that exposes the government hiding UFO information from us since Roswell. I believe that one. These others are strange. I have heard of about half of them. The rest are tin foil hat theories, with accompanying Xfile music.

The explanations are given. It is far too long to provide exerpts. Plus I wouldn’t want to leave out anything.

Do you believe any of this? How far fetched is some of it? Sell us on a theory.

Sorry, sound effects weren’t working.

UVA is lowering the hammer on students who may have an evil twin.  When students return August 21 for the fall session, they will be required to disclose any arrests or convictions.  Failure to report an arrest or conviction will result in an honor code violation.  Honor code violations are good for a trip home–permanently. 

This crackdown is a result of the death of lacrosse star Yeardley Love who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, George Huguely who was a fellow lacrosse player.  UVA hopes to flag those with violent tendency.  The dean’s office will be interviewing those who report an arrest or conviction or any crime committed other than a routine traffic violation. 

According to the Washington Post:

University President Teresa A. Sullivan discussed the new rule at a news conference marking the end of her first week on the job. University leaders hope screening students for criminal encounters will flag those who might commit violent acts.

Students return to Charlottesville the weekend of Aug. 21. When they log onto the campus computer system for the first time, each will be prompted to report any arrest, other than minor traffic infractions, since enrolling.

UVA is getting serious about domestic violence and it’s about time all colleges follow suit.  Domestic violence was a problem 40 years ago at UVA.  Hopefully students will police themselves and take any and all expressions of violence seriously and report cases to the campus police.  Young people are all too willing to dismiss acts of violence and blame them on drinking, stress, and ‘personal problems.’  These young adults need to understand that these types of behavior are harbingers of worse to come.  The message must be sent that domestic violence, even that which can be classified as verbal assault, is dangerous and will not be tolerated in a civilized society.

Is violence that prevalent on campus?  What else can be done to ensure students report it so we don’t have another Yeardly Love on our hands?  How much does substance abuse contribute to the violence problem?  How does the Love killing really differ from the beheading at Tech or from the Tech Massacre?

There are many reasons why I am not a nun.  The main reason is that forgiveness is not my strong suit. 

In the tragic wake of Sunday’s accident on Bristow Road, where 1 sister was killed and 2 more lie in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life, the sisters of the Benedictine Order magnanimously have requested that their tragedy be viewed in terms of alcoholism and drunk driving rather than used as a platform to rail against illegal immigration. 

Politicians and news stations have flagrantly disregarded the sisters’ request.  Sister Denise and the driver of the other car, Carlos Martinelly, have been plastered all over every TV screen and newspaper since the accident occurred early Sunday morning, as the 3 sisters were driving to Mass. 

The Washington Post has attempted to honor the Order’s request in their front page story today.  They have attached faces to this tragedy.  It is impossible to discuss this accident without the illegal immigrant issue creeping in.

Nuns at Virginia monastery find room to forgive while mourning sister’s death

About 8:30 Monday night, the doorbell rang at St. Benedict Monastery in Prince William County, and Sister Andrea Verchuck, the sub-prioress, rose from her desk to see who was there. On the slate front porch stood a man and a woman

They looked contrite,” said Verchuck, 81, who has lived with other nuns in the wooded monastery for 66 years. The visitors’ hands were at their sides, their eyes cast down, as Verchuck greeted them.

“They said, ‘We’d like to talk with someone about the sister who was killed,’ ” she recalled.

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