Joe over at NOVATownHall continues to lay out the evidence of a massive zoning enforcement problem in the Sterling area of Loudoun County while advancing an interesting theory that explains some of the observed behavior. Based on what we’ve seen in this area, I’d suspect the behavior and this possible situation that would explain it is hardly limited to Sterling. (more…)
(Click on them well spent Defense dollars)
Happy Fourth everyone!
Frequent commenter Anke Cheney has set up a blog to foster discussion of immigration issues, and is off to a pretty strong start. For a good mix of both humor and serious discussion, head on over to AWCheney’s Forum On Immigration.
Joe B. at Novatownhall continues his firsthand reporting of ongoing zoning, health and other assorted neighborhood nightmares in Sterling. See his latest here.
This is citizen activism at its best, and shows how effective the blogosphere can be for covering festering issues that the MSM all too often ignores. A multi-agency task force is needed immediately to descend into this area and clean it up. Permanently.
And Jim Bowden explains why. You know, i've been reading these Lyndon Johnson biographies and there is a great quote in one by Sam Rayburn where he says, "it only takes a jackass to knock a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one." It struck me as something that Virginia Republicans should think about. We need carpenters, and Bob Marshall isn't just a conservative saying "no no no," he's actually putting out a plan that can work. The continuing inability of the Assembly Republicans to rally around a unifying message is the nexus of all our problems as a party up and down. The absolute most important measure that must be taken is this:
"HJR 6007: Lock up the Transportation Trust Fund so transportation dollars are
not diverted for other means. Over the last18 years, more than $1.2 billion
have been diverted to non-transportation uses. This must stop.
This has to be the beginning of any discussion on transportation. Mind you, the very reason many conservatives like me have gotten on board in the past for regional taxes was because we just did not believe that the money we sent down to Richmond would ever come back to us. For there to be any trust rebuilt between the Republicans and Virginia, it has to start with locking up the Transportation Trust fund from the greedy hands of governors like Tim Kaine and senators like Dick Saslaw. Read the rest of Delegate Marshall's recommendations below:
HB 6049: Allow naming rights for corporations and individuals willing to pay for
building roads and other transportation projects, as is done for stadiums and
school buildings.
Implement the 2002 Wilder Commission efficiency recommendations that were
projected to currently save $1.1 billion annually without reducing services.
HB 6031: Require all tractor-trailers (including those from out of state) to pay
a per-mile road maintenance and damage charge now being passed on to other
Virginia drivers.
HB 6032: Set up a permanent state oversight commission, similar to the federal
cost-cutting BRAC Commission, to evaluate whether state holdings should be sold,
to identify duplicate programs, and to cut unnecessary overhead while
maintaining the same level of services.
HJR 6011: Stop burning food! Request a waiver from the federal ethanol mandate.
Ethanol results in less mpg and increases food prices by diverting food to fuel.
HJR 6008: Assess methane resources now being wasted in Virginia that could be
converted to fuel for cars/trucks.
Sadly, these and similar measures have been sent by Speaker Bill Howell to his
Rules Committee, where he is simply sitting on them. The result will be
Democrat or Republican tax increases. Let your elected officials hear from you.
Last night I said that I couldn't find a way for Forrest Griffin to defeat Quinton "Rampage" Jackson for the coveted UFC Light Heavyweight Title (the deepest and best division in the UFC). Well, Griffin did it and did it in the only way he could. Take an ass-kicking for five rounds and wear down Rampage, which he did. It was a tremendous fight, maybe the best of the year. There is some controversy, some felt that it was a draw and Rampage should have retained. I think Forrest did enough to win.
The youngest and oldest at the cookout.
Adults, kids, young people enjoyed food, fun, fellowship, and fireworks.
Guitar Hero was going inside....
Over 40 young people were in the back yard, ranging in age from 9 to 26, playing Capture the Flag.
Fascinating stuff.Virginia Weighs Future of Historic Fort After Army Leaves
By The Associated Press
Hampton, Va. (AP) — Fort Monroe, a Union oasis where fugitive slaves flocked during the Civil War, will return to Virginia’s control in 2011 when the Army pulls out, and historians are trying to protect the future of the so-called Freedom Fortress.
Many slave descendants trace the arrival of slavery in the United States in 1619 to Old
Point Comfort, the hatchet-shaped peninsula where Fort Monroe sits, and where slavery would be ushered into its final stages nearly 250 years later.
“When you look at how immigrants went to Ellis Island, our people couldn’t do this,” said Gerri L. Hollins, who counts a fugitive slave among her ancestors. “This is our Ellis Island.”
It was at Fort Monroe in May 1861 that the stage would be set for the demise of slavery, almost two years before Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. A Union commander declared that three fugitive slaves there were contraband, war spoils, effectively freeing them.
The gesture sent a flood of slaves to Fort Monroe in what some historians say is one of the most powerful events of the Civil War.“Slaves did not stand around in the fields singing spirituals waiting for the Union Army to save them,” said Ervin L. Jordan Jr., a University of Virginia research archivist and Civil War historian. “Slaves knew what freedom was, and they knew how to get it.” (link)
Thanks, B.K.Bubba Believes In Religion
(and other true facts)
B. K. DayBubba doesn’t write checks, or use ATMs. Bubba’s ol’ lady keeps up with the money.
Bubba prefers folding, front pocket whip-out.
Bubba doesn’t send emails. He owns a cell phone, but he only uses it during deer season. He doesn’t own a Blackberry.Bubba likes blackberry cobbler.
Bubba doesn’t wear Crocs, or cook with olive oil. Or balsamic vinegar. Bubba doesn’t peel his tomatoes.
Bubba doesn’t think men ought to marry men, or women women. He’s got a cousin who’s a little bit light in the loafers, but everybody knows that’s ‘cause his mama let him put on lipstick and play dress-up when he was little.
Bubba might call his mother-in-law by her first name, and he might not. It depends on whether or not she’s still alive. When he’s just thinking about her, the b-word rises in his
mind.
Bubba thought a lot of Jesse Helms. He wouldn’t vote for Hillary if she was the last man on earth—and not just because of the fat ankles. Bubba never had trouble with fat ankles. His mama and his sister and his wife have them. Too bad about ol’ Jesse.
Bubba doesn’t shop. His ol’ lady buys his clothes for him—she knows what to get—he likes logos and decals. Anything else he needs, his sister orders it from Cabella’s on her credit card and Bubba gives her the money from his whip-out.
Bubba knows some good minorities. He works with a few of them. The ones he knows are alright. He don’t trust the rest of them—and he don’t like it when they marry Americans. Bubba thinks folks ought to marry their own kind.
Bubba will lie to a pollster. It’s none of their damn business. He don’t like McCain, or Obama, neither, but he’ll probably vote. He just ain’t decided how yet. Not for certain. McCain’s ol’ lady’s just got too much money. He wishes Dale, Jr. would run.
Bubba don’t like banks or insurance companies. He thinks they’re all sonsofbitches. He don’t like preachers, neither. He thinks most of them are sonofibtches, too—except the ones he knows.
Bubba believes in religion. He thinks everybody ought to believe in something, but he don’t get too tangled up in the details. Bubba thinks religions are all about the same when it comes right down to it—except for the Jews and the Catholics and the Muslims, the Lutherans, the Episcowhatyoucallems, and them high and mighty Presbyterians. And a ‘nother thang—he don’t trust them churches that run off good preachers every four years. Or them you have to go to on Saturdays. Or them that call the head man anything besides ‘preacher.’
Bubba thinks we ought to bomb the hell out of whoever is making gas go to four dollars a gallon.Bubba doesn’t have a garden. Bubba’s got a garden-spot. He puts out beans, and taters and such.
Bubba doesn’t play golf. He sights in his blackpowder on the weekends. He’ll go to Myrtle Beach for a day or two, just to shut his ol’ lady up, but he prefers Buggs Island.
Bubba has never paid someone to change his oil. Bubba doesn’t have a job that pays mileage reimbursement.
Bubba drinks—a little—on the weekends—mostly beer. If he’s got a bottle of Old Crow—and he does—it’s in the tool box in the back of his truck. He’d drink water out of a mudhole before he would a glass of wine.
Bubba used to smoke—and he still does when his ol’ lady ain’t around—too much chin music now—but not in the house—out in his shop where he keeps his stuff.
Bubba ain’t had a physical in years—if he had insurance, they wouldn’t cover it, the sonsofbitches. Besides that, Bubba don’t like rubber gloves.
Bubba don’t worry about physicals. Bubba knows none of us get out of this alive—we all got to go sometime.
Bubba doesn’t know what ‘empowered’ means. Bubba doesn’t know what “empowered” feels like, and hasn’t thought about it. Bubba doesn’t know his time has come.
Bubba doesn’t know what a “swing” voter is. He doesn’t know that’s what he is.
Bubba doesn’t know he’s going to elect the next President.
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