Golfers: What are your favorite holes in the area? See if our Timesland Dream 18 is up to par and nominate your favorite.
Shot by Dan at Squires Student Center at Virginia Tech
“A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That’s how I want you to play.”
Mike Krzyzewski
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Ahhh, another day, another story of a fine “family values” republican:
“Pimps selling child prostitutes and the johns who buy them can rest easy knowing that Republican Eddie Farnsworth is chair of the state House Judiciary Committee [Arizona].
Despite broad support from both Republicans and Democrats, Farnsworth refused to allow a hearing on House Bill 2569, which would have closed a legal loophole for those selling teenagers for sex, increasing the sentencing range upon conviction, from seven to 21 years up to 13 to 27 years for a first offense.
Now, not being a cynic, I pose the following because I have an “inquiring mind” and just can’t ignore the obvious… could this be Eddie Farnsworth’s back story?
“Albert Farnsworth, Eddie’s nephew, currently doing 30 years in [prison] for kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old girl.” http://tinyurl.com/cmre9lu
He has trouble standing up for underage girls but I bet you he will go to the mat against gays!
looks like a commie ‘progressive’ fist to me, it’s even in red….lol
you go to the mat against unborn children sandi, what’s your problem?
Therein lies the problem…
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-miserable-odds-of-a-poor-student-graduating-from-college-in-2-graphs/274250/
“… the truth is that compared to their richer classmates, low-income students have only a faint hope of ever graduating from college if they even get there.“
And who knew this was true?
“…you would be forgiven for thinking that the story of charity in this country is a story of epic generosity on the part of the American rich.
It is not. One of the most surprising, and perhaps confounding, facts of charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income. In 2011, the wealthiest Americans—those with earnings in the top 20 percent—contributed on average 1.3 percent of their income to charity. By comparison, Americans at the base of the income pyramid—those in the bottom 20 percent—donated 3.2 percent of their income.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/why-the-rich-dont-give/309254/
“Last year, not one of the top 50 individual charitable gifts went to a social-service organization or to a charity that principally serves the poor and the dispossessed.“
“… the truth is that compared to their richer classmates, low-income students have only a faint hope of ever graduating from college if they even get there.“
Yep. I grew up in one of those lower-income households…courtesy of the US Navy. I would not have gotten to attend college out of high school if not for winning an ROTC scholarship. Even so, I was not able to continue the scholarship after my first year, and had to drop out. It took a mountain of student loan debt to transfer and return to college…turning a 4-year degree into a 6-year process, which included working 2 jobs for full-time equivalent hours with a full-time course load. And my working resulted in steep cuts to my need-based financial aid, despite the fact that my income from work paid for things like rent, utilities, car insurance, etc since I was supporting myself.
Many of my former classmates simply never got the opportunity. A good number enlisted, and are only now getting their degrees, 15 years later. Others simply never could, despite the desire, because the finances of their parents prohibted them from being able to afford it, even with financial aid, which often leaves large holes that are difficult to cover.
Oh to make the right wing heads explode…
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/a-democratic-age/309258/
“Has Obama Turned a Generation of Voters Into Lifelong Democrats?
The prospects for a new liberal age”
Scarborough said on Morning Joe this morning that he believed that the position and mood of the country was being misread by the Republicans over the gun control issue. I sure hope he is correct. 2014 and 2016 are shaping up to be a real bell-weather IMO.
I think instead of complaining about right wing myopia, I need to be celebrating it and thanking you all, sincerely.
It is incredibly difficult Other John, and the saddest part is that a huge portion of that gargantuan student loan debt owed is by those drop-out who never got or will get the degree that might have changed their prospects so much.
I am sure it was hard, but I am so glad you made it! I hope you are proud of yourself, you should be!
I thought of you immediately pammala…
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/the-politics-of-misperception/273583/
“The Politics of Misperception”
“Ever wonder what our public discourse would be like if everyone agreed on the facts? You can keep wondering.”
I cannot help what you cannot comprehend.
The issue of abortion involves choices, hard choices. I choose to stand by the woman who is suffering and allow her to make the decision about the fetus she carries. I am sorry you find judgment so easy to make, I guess you are without sin so you feel you can hurl those stones. I am not pro-abortion, I am pro-choice. I wish we could create a world where every woman felt she could make the choice to have her fetus grow and come into this world. I wish people like you cared as much for the children as you do the fetus.
“I cannot help what you cannot comprehend.”
posted by Sandi
This is a shorter and more polite way to put something that’s one of my all-time favorite insults. A Maryland lawmaker directed it at me once in the early 1990s:
“I can explain it TO you, but I can’t understand it FOR you.”
!!
Sandi:
Dear Leader’s poll numbers are down over 8 points in past couple months, according to Pew so don’t get too overcome with the vapors just yet.
http://www.people-press.org/2013/03/21/obama-job-approval-slips-as-economic-pessimism-rises/
And when the full boot of Obamacare comes stomping down over the next few years, there may be very few Dems left after the people take up their torches and pitchforks because their premiums went up over 200%:
http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/obamacare-healthcare-reform-costs/2013/03/20/id/495564
Sandi…it definitely was difficult, and I’ll be paying off student loans until I’m 40…but I have a degree and a career I love, so it was worth it!
But, I know several people who earned degrees in fields that have good job prospects, but who cannot find work where they live. They are having to consider moving to California, New York, Alaska, and Europe in order to develop a career, because they can’t make ends meet working retail and paying student loans.
I read that article Sandi about charitable giving and was disappointed to say the least as I know the US ranks amongst the most charitable nations in the world. What struck me was the fact that upper income households which were located more heterogeneous neighborhoods tended to donate more to programs directly impacting the poor. Those who were secluded in upper income enclaves tended to donate to schools (endowments), the arts etc. My charitable giving is nowhere near these folks but this article has made me look at my donations and things will change there.
#12 Paddy, you got it wrong. I’ve already met several folks who have benefited from the Healthcare Act. You can piss and moan all you want about having to pay a few more bucks but the reality is we will end up with a much healthier populace because of it and that will improve everyone’s lot.
Dan, curious if your experience with your son’s scooter has altered your opinion of video surveillance? I recall your not being in favor of it previously.
Ah Spring!
http://tinyurl.com/cqldk74
Google what cheapskate Biden gives to charity.
The most wealthy members of Congress are mostly…. democrats.
Do the math.
No Paddy, I do not think the young voters who will be allowed to stay on their parents policy until they are 26 if needed, nor the ones with medical conditions that cannot be called “pre-existing” when they do go for their own coverage will ever “turn on” the “Obamacare” that gave them that coverage. I think the GOTP has and looks to continue to underestimate the intelligence, compassion and decency of the younger generation!
Link for Biden’s “charitable giving” below. The guyy gives like 0.1% of his income to charity.
Sandi, careful with those rocks.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=5791846&page=1
Note: ABC news is not considered a conservative mouthpiece.
My wife and I are happy with many aspects of the ACA that directly benefit her and her future health, such as the pre-existing conditions aspect and removal of lifetime caps, both of which greatly concerned us given the health conditions she has. We also enjoyed a nive %15 percent decrease in our insurance renewal for this year, directly related to our provider becoming ACA compliant with the plan we’re on.
crap, my typing sucks…that should say “nice 15 percent”
And now for another hand sign:
Do you support thumbs up over guns????
http://tinyurl.com/cktrkqy
**
Thumbs & Ammo
Blogsite calls for thumbs over guns in movie posters.
SNIP
**
I can see it now. A criminal breaks into your home and you give him the well
known (in this country) “Well done”, “Good”, “Go ahead” hand sign.
Yeah, right.
Michelle Bachmann is back and she can’t help herself.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/bachmanns-claim-that-70-percent-of-food-stamps-go-to-bureaucrats/2013/03/18/3f85d042-8ff5-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_blog.html
Neither can Oliver North it seems.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/20/foxs-oliver-north-pushes-long-debunked-wmd-cons/193152
And the Republicans think Americans want to turn the country back over to them.
Yes, Ron, but Michelle runs in heels like suz at the track doing intervals. Pretty impressive ambulation!
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/20/michele_bachmann_runs_away_from_reporter/
Well I can see their point Dave Hicks, gun advocates and the movies sure make us all seem to be victims at any moment when the statistics do not back that up at all. Maybe feeding paranoia and fear is not a good thing, even if you are armed like Vincent Vega ‘just in case’.
http://tinyurl.com/cstqlf4
**
Iraq Anniversary: 10 Lessons from America’s ‘Dumb War’
By Sebastian Fischer in Washington
A decade on, polls suggest that a majority of Americans view the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a mistake. Right or wrong, the war has immensely influenced how America sees itself, is seen and conducts itself on the global stage.
The United States fought in Iraq for nine years. With the exception of the war in Afghanistan, it was America’s longest combat engagement ever: longer than the American Civil War, the two World Wars, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Any country that enters into a war emerges from it changed. It is inevitable that there is a before and an after. There are the dead, the wounded, the survivors.
But that’s not all. There are wars that are just and necessary, like America’s fight against Nazi Germany. And there are wars that are senseless and wrong, like the war against Iraq. Society, politicians and the military have drawn lessons from both wars. They recognize and welcome these lessons to varying degrees, whether they are right or wrong. War transforms a nation.
Bruce Riedel, formerly a senior CIA official and presidential adviser, views the transition as such: “The Iraq War elected Barack Obama and transformed American foreign policy. There is a national consensus (that) it was a dumb war, (that) the costs were enormous and that it was one of the country’s biggest mistakes.” The shadow of this war, he continues, “weighs heavily” on the stances that America is now assuming toward Iran, Syria and Libya. The war’s legacy “will haunt America for years.”
SNIP
**
Plus 1, here.
And now for another sign:
Do you support gunloving southern white men being able to shoot and kill unarmed Latino kids for turning around in their driveway?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57566488-71/man-allegedly-follows-gps-directions-to-wrong-house-shot-dead/
I can see it now.
After a person living in an undue level of fear instilled by the gun culture and yet emboldened to lethal violence by that same gun culture doesn’t fully ascertain legal justification before blasting away, a rescue squad uses a military style gun with a high capacity magazine to try to save the life of a shooting victim on the way to the hospital, and then the ER doctors do the same, but with a higher caliber gun.
Yeah, right.
#24 And, Ron, after her lies were revealed. Bachmann ran away from a reporter who tired to get a comment or clarification. And I mean she literally ran away.
#20 Bob H with SOLID proof that all Dems are cheapskates. Man, how do you come up with al that great stuff, Bob H?
Sorry, didin’t see that Steve C had already posted about Bachmann fleeing on this thread.
Come on, Warren, the guy FELT threatened. What more does he need? He should have blasted everybody in the car.
Bob H, do you really want to play cheap/greedy old bastards? I do not think you will win. The “rock” is a direct hit and it has been true for generations or poverty would be non-existent.
BobH: Link for Biden’s “charitable giving” below.
From the article: Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife gave an average of $369 a year to charity during the past decade, his tax records show. (emphasis mine) The article goes on to list who donated what, all according to their tax forms.
Monetary donations to charity only show up on your taxes if you report those donations as a tax write-off. Many people–myself included–choose not to report donations on our 1040s.
It is also possible to donate your time to a charity instead of your money. From the article: Biden spokesman David Wade said in an e-mail that the Bidens “also contribute to their favorite causes with their time as well as their checkbooks.” Wade said Jill Biden has volunteered to help military families and the family “pitched in driving supplies to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.” I’m sure Jill Biden could’ve submitted gas receipts and the like for tax purposes…but that seems pretty chintzy considering the circumstances, don’t you think?
You WANT the information to be negative. I’m sorry you’re so used to news outlets deciding your opinion for you rather than presenting the information objectively so you can draw your own conclusions.
Thanks for the reminders…I had forgotten I was planning to swing by the store after work to see if I could find any 9mm or 22LR ammo, both of which have been darn hard to find since December.
Re: Steve c @ #25
I kept hoping the reporter was going to hip check Bachmann into the wall.
Ollie North — where have I heard that name?
Oh, that’s right . . . he was the guy secretly selling arms to Iran after the radical Muslims seized our diplomats as hostages, right?
The FAA on Friday announced it will close 149 regional airport control towers because of forced spending cuts
A four-week, phased closure of the 149 control towers will begin on April 7, the FAA said due to the sequestration.
The FAA included a pdf which lists, by state, the closures.
FYI, Lynchburg Regional / Preston Glenn Field is on the list.
John Warner sealed my support, when he refused to support North during his Senate race.
Dan,
I saw this event scheduled on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Saturday, May 18, and thought you and some of your bike riding friends might enjoy such an event.
http://www.esvachamber.org/events/le_tour.asp
ollie north- a lot like john kerry, loves him some north koreans and commies
Oliver North loves North Koreans and commies, pammala? That’s astounding news.
I think pammala got Ollie confused with someone else.
Dave Hicks, this was a comment on Facebook from Randy Cohen, the man who used to do the NY Times Ethicist column.
“In an otherwise solid piece on President Obama’s lamentable drone program, the NY Times employs the euphemism “targeted killing” rather than the conventional and accurate “assassination.” This is reminiscent of the paper’s use of President …Bush’s “enhanced interrogation” to describe what for decades had rightly been called “torture.” Such mushy nomenclature does not reflect malevolence at the paper but is a misguided attempt to be what it would call “impartial” and I’d call “parroting government propaganda” or the more neutral “targeted groveling.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/us/influential-ex-aide-to-obama-voices-concern-on-drone-strikes.html?pagewanted=all
I think she’s channeling Joe McCarthy. She sees a commuunist on every corner.
#45….The ` corner` may not be the best place for a commiunist to be.
pammala confused? Surely you jest!!
Why do I always see the typos after I’ve entered the comment. I added one u, too many.
Re: Debbie at 11:17 am
Plus 1 on the ” ‘parroting government propaganda’ or the more neutral ‘targeted groveling.’ ” BTW, the “parroting” also extends to private business’ press releases as well as the government’s — IMHO.
Where have the investigative reporters and independent editorial writers gone?
IMHO, “targeted groveling” is driven by the bottom line of the business model — which precludes offending those you buy advertizing space.
well with this admin, van jones, et al, there IS one in every corner stupid
Debbie at 12:33 pm
Plus 1 — nah, make that plus a whole bunch here.
I knew you would agree, Dave Hicks.
He was very good as “the Ethicist”. I’m with Kristen on preferring drone strikes to foot soldiers though.
“after the people take up their torches and pitchforks”
What year is it?
“well with this admin, van jones, et al, there IS one in every corner stupid”
pammala, Mad Dog and blog posting don’t go together. We keep telling you that.
Re: Debbie at 1:48 pm
I don’t have a problem with the tool. As (I believe it was) Kristen said, I see no significant ethical difference in drones and long range artillery, bombings, etc.
If you read my earlier comments, you’d see I was ranting against the star-chamber-ish nature of the “kill list” and to the invasion of other countries’ sovereignty when we are not in an recognized armed conflict with that country.
I also totally disagree with Dan’s it’s OK as long as the Government doesn’t violate the sovereignty of a super-power, which might in turn retaliate — i.e., Dan’s it is OK as long as we beat up on the little guy. And my position is not solely from a ethic prospective, either. Remember, it wasn’t a super-power who felt that they had a grievance who brought us 9/11.
Got it, Dave Hicks.
Ah, pammie…….
“it’s even in red….lol” Yep the GOP’s party color. lol
It made me laugh.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Communist-Daughter-lyrics-Neutral-Milk-Hotel/6CCFD3F01A97AA2348256E5B0024B48B
I wish we had the ability to self delete our comments.
Re: Debbie at 2:23 pm
Yup. I’ll second that.
And maybe to edit them (w/ a note that they had been edited, such as a couple of forums, which I frequent).