March 23, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Hot Air Blog "Bill Maher: Get off my back, America"
'Allahpundit':
"I’m torn. I could happily live another 10 lifetimes without having to deal with phony, politically calculated, outrageously outrageous outrage. Ann Romney, in fact, did an elegant job on CNN last night urging everyone (ahem, Newt) to lighten up over Robert DeNiro’s lame but innocuous joke about America’s white First Ladies.
Just one question: What makes Maher think the outrage in his case is phony?..."
(Read more? Click title)
The outrage against Maher is far from phony. Such hypocrisy. As in the way of rightful things, the saga of Sandra Fluke mirrors back with a daily dose of commentary (mostly from men) that is returning fire in honorable ways.
Such as Jim Klein of New Castle, Colorado as he questions Maher's defenders and Limbaugh's critics: "After reading the opinions of Erica Griffith and Candy Norvell in the March 17 edition regarding the comments of Bill Maher, as well as those of Rush Limbaugh, I felt compelled to respond.
I have several questions for these ladies. First, how does Bill Maher's use of profanity in describing Sarah Palin not fall into the realm of complete bigotry?
Second, how does Rush Limbaugh's opinion that the taxpayer shouldn't foot the bill for a woman's contraception fall into the category of cultist behavior?
Now, it turns out, that Sandra Fluke was paid by the Democratic Party to make her statements to Congress in order to remove focus from the issue of the Obama administration's constitutional violation of a church's right to deny services that go against its beliefs. After all, a woman can get contraception from places like Planned Parenthood, if she so chooses. Why else, then, did Sandra Fluke recant her earliest statements?..."
(Read more, Click here)
Michael McReynolds of Carbondale, Colorado as he does the math for Flukes contraception spending: "Rush Limbaugh never actually called Sandra Fluke a slut. He did criticize groups who believe they have a right to free contraception. He also pointed out that it's unconstitutional for the president to mandate that a religious organization fund activities they find morally wrong.
At the end of the segment, he pointed out that women, like Sandra Fluke, expect someone else to pay for their sex. Then he asked the question: “What does society call a woman who expects to be paid for sex?” Splitting hairs? Sure. But this letter isn't about Rush, it's about Sandra Fluke.
Some suggest that Ms. Fluke is a victim: hardly. By her own admission, Ms. Fluke knew Georgetown was a Catholic university and contraception was not included in the student health plan. Rather than choose a university where contraception is part of the plan, she choose Georgetown to pick a fight (her words on “The View”).
So now she's a reproductive rights activist. What is a reproductive rights activist? Do we live in China where the state limits your right to reproduce? Or is it that one should not have to be personally responsible for their reproductive activity?
Ms. Fluke testified that she spends $1,000 a year on contraception. Isn't anyone curious about how much contraception $1,000 will buy? Assume the co-pay for the doctor visit for birth control pills is $15. Chain pharmacies (Walgreens, Wal-Mart, et. al.) in the Washington, D.C., area offer generic birth control pills for $9 per month, totaling $108 per year. That's $123 per year.
So where does she spend the remaining $877? Let's assume she spends it on condoms. At an average price of 20 cents per condom, $877 will buy 4,385 condoms, or 12 condoms per day. So I'll ask the question that's begged: What does society call a woman who burns through 12 condoms per day?..."
More op-eds hit the air daily on the controversy Fluke started:
Elizabeth Harrington: "Thirty-year-old Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who told a House Steering and Policy Committee hearing convened by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last month that contraception can cost a student $3,000 during law school, told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that she did not know that the Target store 3 miles from the Georgetown Law campus sells a month's supply of birth control pills for just $9...."
William A. Jacobson: "Just as Bill Maher was pleading for an “amnesty” in the political correctness war to silence speech, Media Matters was committing $100,000 to an advertising campaign urging people to call local radio stations to complain about Limbaugh...."
'SandBox Nanny' comes back to a post by John Scotus/Tree of Mamre today: "That pretty much sums it up. Romney believes in business. He believes in decency (which is not at all, by the way, a moral value, see here), he believes that he is good and would make a good president, and he believes in his family. But that is about it. Yet, apart from the bit about business, we have just described Obama. If this is all Romney’s candidacy comes down to, then it is not really worth the trouble voting for him. Seriously.
I believe that the most important issues facing America today all come down to moral values. Since I believe that, I just have to say that I cannot be bought. And, essentially, by promising that he can heal the economy, but being uninterested in anything else, Romney is wanting to buy my vote. This is the same deal being peddled in Asia. This is the same deal the Japanese bought into. Buy the votes of the people by promising them economic prosperity, and then ignore them after the election. And this deal leads to nothing but the economic and spiritual death of a country.
I would rather die fighting than sell my vote in such a cheap and tawdry deal.
So, no, unless Romney is able to convince me, for example, that he will–at a bare minimum–appoint pro-life judges, I will not vote for him, even if it means Obama is reelected.
I refuse to sell my soul–or my vote–merely for low gas prices or economic prosperity. America means too much to me...."
And ends with the words of Michael McReynolds of Carbondale, Colorado:
"The real problem is gas at $5 per gallon in some parts of the country, real unemployment at 19 percent, a national debt of $16 trillion ($6 trillion in the past three years), and GDP at 2 percent. And we're arguing about free contraception."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"I’m torn. I could happily live another 10 lifetimes without having to deal with phony, politically calculated, outrageously outrageous outrage. Ann Romney, in fact, did an elegant job on CNN last night urging everyone (ahem, Newt) to lighten up over Robert DeNiro’s lame but innocuous joke about America’s white First Ladies.
Just one question: What makes Maher think the outrage in his case is phony?..."
(Read more? Click title)
The outrage against Maher is far from phony. Such hypocrisy. As in the way of rightful things, the saga of Sandra Fluke mirrors back with a daily dose of commentary (mostly from men) that is returning fire in honorable ways.
Such as Jim Klein of New Castle, Colorado as he questions Maher's defenders and Limbaugh's critics: "After reading the opinions of Erica Griffith and Candy Norvell in the March 17 edition regarding the comments of Bill Maher, as well as those of Rush Limbaugh, I felt compelled to respond.
I have several questions for these ladies. First, how does Bill Maher's use of profanity in describing Sarah Palin not fall into the realm of complete bigotry?
Second, how does Rush Limbaugh's opinion that the taxpayer shouldn't foot the bill for a woman's contraception fall into the category of cultist behavior?
Now, it turns out, that Sandra Fluke was paid by the Democratic Party to make her statements to Congress in order to remove focus from the issue of the Obama administration's constitutional violation of a church's right to deny services that go against its beliefs. After all, a woman can get contraception from places like Planned Parenthood, if she so chooses. Why else, then, did Sandra Fluke recant her earliest statements?..."
(Read more, Click here)
Michael McReynolds of Carbondale, Colorado as he does the math for Flukes contraception spending: "Rush Limbaugh never actually called Sandra Fluke a slut. He did criticize groups who believe they have a right to free contraception. He also pointed out that it's unconstitutional for the president to mandate that a religious organization fund activities they find morally wrong.
At the end of the segment, he pointed out that women, like Sandra Fluke, expect someone else to pay for their sex. Then he asked the question: “What does society call a woman who expects to be paid for sex?” Splitting hairs? Sure. But this letter isn't about Rush, it's about Sandra Fluke.
Some suggest that Ms. Fluke is a victim: hardly. By her own admission, Ms. Fluke knew Georgetown was a Catholic university and contraception was not included in the student health plan. Rather than choose a university where contraception is part of the plan, she choose Georgetown to pick a fight (her words on “The View”).
So now she's a reproductive rights activist. What is a reproductive rights activist? Do we live in China where the state limits your right to reproduce? Or is it that one should not have to be personally responsible for their reproductive activity?
Ms. Fluke testified that she spends $1,000 a year on contraception. Isn't anyone curious about how much contraception $1,000 will buy? Assume the co-pay for the doctor visit for birth control pills is $15. Chain pharmacies (Walgreens, Wal-Mart, et. al.) in the Washington, D.C., area offer generic birth control pills for $9 per month, totaling $108 per year. That's $123 per year.
So where does she spend the remaining $877? Let's assume she spends it on condoms. At an average price of 20 cents per condom, $877 will buy 4,385 condoms, or 12 condoms per day. So I'll ask the question that's begged: What does society call a woman who burns through 12 condoms per day?..."
More op-eds hit the air daily on the controversy Fluke started:
Elizabeth Harrington: "Thirty-year-old Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who told a House Steering and Policy Committee hearing convened by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last month that contraception can cost a student $3,000 during law school, told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that she did not know that the Target store 3 miles from the Georgetown Law campus sells a month's supply of birth control pills for just $9...."
William A. Jacobson: "Just as Bill Maher was pleading for an “amnesty” in the political correctness war to silence speech, Media Matters was committing $100,000 to an advertising campaign urging people to call local radio stations to complain about Limbaugh...."
'SandBox Nanny' comes back to a post by John Scotus/Tree of Mamre today: "That pretty much sums it up. Romney believes in business. He believes in decency (which is not at all, by the way, a moral value, see here), he believes that he is good and would make a good president, and he believes in his family. But that is about it. Yet, apart from the bit about business, we have just described Obama. If this is all Romney’s candidacy comes down to, then it is not really worth the trouble voting for him. Seriously.
I believe that the most important issues facing America today all come down to moral values. Since I believe that, I just have to say that I cannot be bought. And, essentially, by promising that he can heal the economy, but being uninterested in anything else, Romney is wanting to buy my vote. This is the same deal being peddled in Asia. This is the same deal the Japanese bought into. Buy the votes of the people by promising them economic prosperity, and then ignore them after the election. And this deal leads to nothing but the economic and spiritual death of a country.
I would rather die fighting than sell my vote in such a cheap and tawdry deal.
So, no, unless Romney is able to convince me, for example, that he will–at a bare minimum–appoint pro-life judges, I will not vote for him, even if it means Obama is reelected.
I refuse to sell my soul–or my vote–merely for low gas prices or economic prosperity. America means too much to me...."
And ends with the words of Michael McReynolds of Carbondale, Colorado:
"The real problem is gas at $5 per gallon in some parts of the country, real unemployment at 19 percent, a national debt of $16 trillion ($6 trillion in the past three years), and GDP at 2 percent. And we're arguing about free contraception."
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent/Your Letters "Americans are duping themselves"
Stan Rachesky:
"...The federal government has become the nation's largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, property owner, insurer, health care provider, pension guarantor and who knows what else. We are slowly surrendering our liberty for false promises.
People are being duped with financial burdens in the form of entitlements, high government salaries, health care and educational benefits. People, through their own ignorance, take to the streets in the Occupy Movement, protest against their own self determination and vote to enchain everybody, including themselves. They will eventually become ruled by despots, such as our self-anointed president who thinks he is wiser and more learned and way beyond the capabilities of the citizens he supposedly rules.
People who are hungry and on food stamps, out of a job and collecting unemployment checks, or who just lost their home are the stuff of which despots are made.
It's easier to accept what we are told than to read and think for ourselves.
Readers are leaders. The rest are lemmings. It's their choice, but their attitude will affect their kids' and grandkids' lives.
America has become a society where people are supposedly wise enough to select their leaders but too stupid to choose the right light bulb.
The greatest obstacle to Obama's master plan is individualism. Be ready. Be educated. Be an individual...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"...The federal government has become the nation's largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, property owner, insurer, health care provider, pension guarantor and who knows what else. We are slowly surrendering our liberty for false promises.
People are being duped with financial burdens in the form of entitlements, high government salaries, health care and educational benefits. People, through their own ignorance, take to the streets in the Occupy Movement, protest against their own self determination and vote to enchain everybody, including themselves. They will eventually become ruled by despots, such as our self-anointed president who thinks he is wiser and more learned and way beyond the capabilities of the citizens he supposedly rules.
People who are hungry and on food stamps, out of a job and collecting unemployment checks, or who just lost their home are the stuff of which despots are made.
It's easier to accept what we are told than to read and think for ourselves.
Readers are leaders. The rest are lemmings. It's their choice, but their attitude will affect their kids' and grandkids' lives.
America has become a society where people are supposedly wise enough to select their leaders but too stupid to choose the right light bulb.
The greatest obstacle to Obama's master plan is individualism. Be ready. Be educated. Be an individual...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Glenwood Springs Post Independent/Derek Franz "The catch of a lifetime"
Derek Franz:
"What have I done? Look how much I have left to do — how will I amount to anything?” is the feeling. With all the mounting material pressures, I sometimes get confused about the priority of my wants: What do I want most in life, from one second to the next?
I want to feel the cold river pull through my fingers like a stream of thought on a hot day, a reminder of how physical and mental realities coexist and mirror each other, perhaps even manifest each other; a reminder that my life is magical if I make it so.
The dog seems to be thinking the same thing. Her brown, floppy ears perk out, complementing her wide doggie smile with a pink tongue. I grab the leash and we're off to the edge of the Roaring Fork, though I don't know it yet. Sometimes a person has to wander to find wonder, and wonder to find purpose.
There is an art to wandering. It requires a weird combination of initiative, aimless contentment and recognizing what you want when you see it. I'm also finding that sometimes the element of initiative is not straightforward at all, which is fitting, since this is wandering we're talking about...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"What have I done? Look how much I have left to do — how will I amount to anything?” is the feeling. With all the mounting material pressures, I sometimes get confused about the priority of my wants: What do I want most in life, from one second to the next?
I want to feel the cold river pull through my fingers like a stream of thought on a hot day, a reminder of how physical and mental realities coexist and mirror each other, perhaps even manifest each other; a reminder that my life is magical if I make it so.
The dog seems to be thinking the same thing. Her brown, floppy ears perk out, complementing her wide doggie smile with a pink tongue. I grab the leash and we're off to the edge of the Roaring Fork, though I don't know it yet. Sometimes a person has to wander to find wonder, and wonder to find purpose.
There is an art to wandering. It requires a weird combination of initiative, aimless contentment and recognizing what you want when you see it. I'm also finding that sometimes the element of initiative is not straightforward at all, which is fitting, since this is wandering we're talking about...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Summit County Citizens Voice "Biodiversity: Monarch butterflies in steep decline"
Bob Berwyn:
" A decades-long downward trend in Monarch butterfly numbers is expected to continue this year, with reports from the World Wildlife Fund and other sources indicating there may be almost one-third fewer butterflies making the northward flight from Mexico this spring and summer.
This year’s steep decline may, in part, be due to last summer’s severe drought in Texas, which resulted in less food for the showy insects as they traveled south. But year-to-year fluctuations don’t hide the overall long-term trend of population decline.
“The latest information shows that Monarchs will be down from 25 to 30 percent this year, and that has been part of a disturbing trend the last few years,” said Craig Wilson, a senior research associate in the Center for Mathematics and Science Education and a long-time butterfly enthusiast.
This year, according to the Texas Monarch Watch, Monarchs covered about 7.14 acres of forest in their Mexican breeding grounds compared to 9.9 acres last year, and it shows a continued long-term downward trend in Monarch population since official surveys began in 1994...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
" A decades-long downward trend in Monarch butterfly numbers is expected to continue this year, with reports from the World Wildlife Fund and other sources indicating there may be almost one-third fewer butterflies making the northward flight from Mexico this spring and summer.
This year’s steep decline may, in part, be due to last summer’s severe drought in Texas, which resulted in less food for the showy insects as they traveled south. But year-to-year fluctuations don’t hide the overall long-term trend of population decline.
“The latest information shows that Monarchs will be down from 25 to 30 percent this year, and that has been part of a disturbing trend the last few years,” said Craig Wilson, a senior research associate in the Center for Mathematics and Science Education and a long-time butterfly enthusiast.
This year, according to the Texas Monarch Watch, Monarchs covered about 7.14 acres of forest in their Mexican breeding grounds compared to 9.9 acres last year, and it shows a continued long-term downward trend in Monarch population since official surveys began in 1994...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
SandBoxBlogs: Comment Spotlight: " 'hammerandnails' on "Feds may investigate collaboration between school resource officers and ICE in Colorado" "
Due to his content within his comment, albeit truthful content or not, 'SandBox Nanny' has mixed emotions in giving the highly coveted by regional avatars 'Comment Spotlight' nod to nails today.
There were two deciding factors.
The first is that 'hammerandnails' is ranked in the top three for traffic draws on SandBox. He is listened to and that comes from his often succinct comments. In this comment he nails the general feeling of so many conservatives, liberals and independents in our area that 'SandBox Nanny' feels she must listen to and acknowledge his words.
The second is that the post right before this one has the words of Texas Governor Rick Perry that are closely linked to one of the points 'hammerandnails' is speaking to.
Yes, God Bless an Independent and Free Republic.
Here's to the little guy.
'hammerandnails':
"As sad of a fact as it is, we get 100% more done out here.
As far as the liberal thing, God forbid.
Roughly 4 yrs. ago, when we all decided to burn our republican cards and go rogue, it was thanks to that sly old fox that we all can toss a retirement party for and thank her for being the singlemost catalyzing change ever in the history of 81601.
When 22 and I (sic) stood out in front of that Aspen Glen mcmansion and made up our minds on behalf of a friend, we knew it would be the politics that had to be sliced down first. Actually went up to the cabin, stood around the fire and made a ceremony out of tossing each red card in. Sometimes, waves of nostalgia still wash over each of us.
But then again, that feeling is easily gone when a body can sit back and read something like todays PI. That with record unemployment in the county, triple amounts of homeless and ten times that amount of county folks hungry and hurting, drug cartels, gangs, an unbelievable amount of waste spending in every thing from justice to admin, and either soft corruption or sheer stupidity of blind eyes looking the other way; our county GOP is only focused on the right to bear arms and personhood.
And that's even with some of our conservative own standing naked with no clothes in the thick of some of those problems.
God bless an Independent and Free Republic. "
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
There were two deciding factors.
The first is that 'hammerandnails' is ranked in the top three for traffic draws on SandBox. He is listened to and that comes from his often succinct comments. In this comment he nails the general feeling of so many conservatives, liberals and independents in our area that 'SandBox Nanny' feels she must listen to and acknowledge his words.
The second is that the post right before this one has the words of Texas Governor Rick Perry that are closely linked to one of the points 'hammerandnails' is speaking to.
Yes, God Bless an Independent and Free Republic.
Here's to the little guy.
'hammerandnails':
"As sad of a fact as it is, we get 100% more done out here.
As far as the liberal thing, God forbid.
Roughly 4 yrs. ago, when we all decided to burn our republican cards and go rogue, it was thanks to that sly old fox that we all can toss a retirement party for and thank her for being the singlemost catalyzing change ever in the history of 81601.
When 22 and I (sic) stood out in front of that Aspen Glen mcmansion and made up our minds on behalf of a friend, we knew it would be the politics that had to be sliced down first. Actually went up to the cabin, stood around the fire and made a ceremony out of tossing each red card in. Sometimes, waves of nostalgia still wash over each of us.
But then again, that feeling is easily gone when a body can sit back and read something like todays PI. That with record unemployment in the county, triple amounts of homeless and ten times that amount of county folks hungry and hurting, drug cartels, gangs, an unbelievable amount of waste spending in every thing from justice to admin, and either soft corruption or sheer stupidity of blind eyes looking the other way; our county GOP is only focused on the right to bear arms and personhood.
And that's even with some of our conservative own standing naked with no clothes in the thick of some of those problems.
God bless an Independent and Free Republic. "
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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