144 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………………………………….Tuesday, March 1”

  1. Lafayette
    March 5, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    I like your idea for the emty stores in Old Town. I could sell my wares there where I wouldn’t be outside on a “scorture torture” day at Pageland Farm. 🙂

  2. Moon-howler
    March 5, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    @Cindy, can you just imagine wearing all that fru fru in July. Holy cow.

  3. Raymond Beverage
    March 5, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    @Moon-howler

    Moon, Fairfax County is doing a variety of things, although to “follow the money” on their website is a toughy….shoot, to find almost anything sometimes on that website is a toughy!

    I do know not much is going to be stirring with them until next year. The big battle for them was the Battle of Ox Hill/Chantilly on September 1, 1862. With regard to July and Centreville, well, they could reenact the Union running through it on the way back to Washington DC 😉

    I also heard through a bike enthusiast, Fairfax got funding through State Transportation dollars to improve the Sully Civil War Cycle Tour to the tune of $118,000. Think FC has to pony up around $40K matching if I recall the conversation. So there we have a bike path being improved out by Sully Plantation, and just what will be the ROI on that I leave to FC.

  4. Moon-howler
    March 5, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Every once in a while we get real creeps posting here. This person used to post under many names, his primary pseudonym was ‘Elvis.’

    Here is what this gentlemen had to say for himself today, in reference to thread on the large structure at Silver Lake:

    elholito March 5th, 2011 at 14:13 | #16 Reply | Quote | Advanced edit how about a place where all you heathen scum holes can bury your head in the sand?

    who cares what it is, why do you care? if it’s one someone elses property other than your old it’s none of your business.

    god damn you demoncrats have nothing to do but get into other peoples fucking business

    .

    He usually takes time to include racial and ethnic slurs, some of them directed at Elena.

    His name is Josh and yes I do know his last name. If he posts here again, I will post his IP address. We don’t have to put up with this.

    Josh, you are very ill-informed. This Silver Lake property belongs to the people of Prince William County. We are residents of PWC therefore I would say it is our property and very much our business what goes on out there. Do you even know where Silver Lake is?

    It would be ill-advised to post here again unless you want your IP address to light up the sky. We don’t have to put up with your continued abuse.

  5. Moon-howler
    March 5, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    Raymond, we missed you last Sunday. We had 4 cycle enthusiasts there.

  6. Big Dog
    March 5, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    Apparently I haven’t slipped into total paranoia-yet . A recent TV documentary noted
    shopping carts have gotten bigger in the last few years to encourage us to buy
    more while individual product containers have gotten smaller to cover wholesale
    cost increases. The “average” box cost the same but may contain 2 oz less product.
    We ARE being manipulated!

    I prefer the smaller cart some stores have (Giant, Blooms) where I can dodge the
    dreadnought super carts with room for multiple kids and even cup holders – the
    mega SUVs of the aisles (add that to the “wings” – temp. displays in the aisles – and it
    can become a traffic jam). Another peeve is Blooms not taking coupons at
    self check-outs. Grrrrrr.

    Peeved Pete In Podunk

  7. Cindy B
    March 5, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    Chief Deane quoted in this NYTimes opinion piece on “The Anti-Arizonans”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/opinion/05sat1.html?_r=1

  8. Big Dog
    March 5, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    While I shop Walmart sometimes, it leaves me feeling depressed –
    like being stuck in a third world country – and not one of the interesting ones.

    Target is cleaner and brighter with nicer sales people – and enjoyable to
    walk through.

    Am I just an old “Yuppie”?

  9. Red Dawn
    March 5, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    Big Dog, I ventured out to Blooms in the city today and noticed the aisles are tight and telling my daughter shopping with me how the prices keep going up & the packages are shrinking. I refused to pay $20 for a family pack of HAMBURGER LOL! What brought me there was a coupon that came in the mail this week. Spend $40 or more and get $10 off your purchase and another $10 off of the next visit. I shopped the sales today and saved around $50 🙂

  10. Moon-howler
    March 5, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @Big Dog, quick answer: yes. Old Yuppie, and I agree. Walmart brings on a panic attack.

    Cindy, thanks for posting that. Chief Deane has gotten more than his fair share of criticism, made by rank amateurs. His job is to serve all the people.

    Similarly, people think it is their school. Not. It is all the children’s school, regardless of status or how they got there.

    Those facts are hard for some people to accept.

  11. Juturna
    March 5, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    I find my shoes stick to the ground when walking through most Wal-Mart parking lots….. however, I must say we were at the Liberia Wal-Mart last week and we dealt with the most amazing Asst Mgr – Sue. Anytime Wal-Mart is required – I’ll go to Sue’s place (and wear my special Wal-Mart shoes)

  12. Moon-howler
    March 5, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    What’s everyone doing tonight? I am watching an old favorite: The Rose. Bette Midler can really belt them out.

    Anyone here other than me ever seen Janis Joplin in concert?

  13. Cato the Elder
    March 5, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Who’s Janice Joplin?

    1. Moon-howler
      March 5, 2011 at 9:55 pm

      @Cato, you are kidding?

  14. Elena
    March 5, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    ahh yes, my old buddy Elvis @moonhowler

  15. Juturna
    March 5, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    She died before I was born….. 🙂

  16. Red Dawn
    March 5, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    My dad was a huge fan and I remember playing his 33’s

  17. Lafayette
    March 5, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    @Red Dawn
    Don’t you have one of those damn youtubes to post as usual. 😉
    I’m sure Moon and others could use a good laugh.

  18. Wolverine
    March 5, 2011 at 10:59 pm

    There are “special Wal-Mart shoes”?!!!!

  19. Red Dawn
    March 5, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    Lafayette, Of course I do but even I have a moral code…LOL!!! the private one I sent you was just that…private..LOL! As much as I would love too…. 😉

  20. Lafayette
    March 6, 2011 at 12:10 am

    @Red Dawn
    I hear ya. I just got back from showing my mom and she laughed so hard.

  21. Wolverine
    March 6, 2011 at 1:17 am

    Elvis lives — but maybe he should think about hitting the blog road to elsewhere. And here I thought I had the only Mrs. Peel in town!!

  22. Moon-howler
    March 6, 2011 at 2:59 am

    @Wolverine, yes he should leave unless he wants me to embarrass him. This business when on long before Moonhowlings was born, back on anti. It was equally vulgar and often threatening. I agree. Hit the road.

  23. Big Dog
    March 6, 2011 at 9:49 am

    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/06/weekinreview/20110306-happiness.html

    This seems to indicate we, as a group, are fairly “happy” in N.Va. as compared to
    the rest of the country.

  24. George S. Harris
    March 6, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    @Moon-howler
    Moon–why did you give this creep any space? You give him space, you give him something he is looking for…

  25. George S. Harris
    March 6, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    We have all see the ubiquitous WWJD bracelets. Well here is a twist on that theme. It seems the first cuts budgetteers make deal with those things that help the poor and sickest of our public. Ultimately, as this article points, these cuts are like spitting in the ocean to dilute it. Bring home one servicemember from Iraq/Afghanistan, save $1 MILLION a year. The math is pretty simple.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/can-an-orange-bracelet-tu_b_830993.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=1131887,b=facebook

  26. George S. Harris
    March 6, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    Not too long ago, I wrote some about how little people think about what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is a story of tragedy that is all too real today. Suicides and suicide/homicides continue to climb despite our best efforts to “fix” the problem.

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2055169,00.html

  27. Juturna
    March 6, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    @Wolverine – absolutely. Won’t bring them past the garage.

  28. Lafayette
    March 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    Flat Branch is rising fast!! Then parallel to Flat Branch we have “new red river” raging, where UOSA laid the new larger sewer line. If the county really thinks they will ever build the road there, they better have plans to have the road be a bridge. Cars will get washed away with heavy rains like this one.

  29. Big Dog
    March 6, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    http://pwconserve.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the-22-million-dead-end-parking-lot/

    And a year later-
    – VRE ridership is up and growing gas prices may well push it far higher.
    – The Gainesville/Haymarket line/station is at least 6-8 years away.
    – Next up the line from hyper-crowded Broad Run is Manassas which is also
    jammed.
    – If this rain continues, don’t even try using the old “low road” to the
    Broad Run parking lot in the morning.
    – And PWC, the plan for 2012 is?

  30. Big Dog
    March 6, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    Note the VRE won’t build another parking garage – Manassas was the last one.
    Hence forth it is up to each jurisdiction, so PWC will pay for the one at Broad Run
    or Haymarket/Gainesville.

  31. Wolverine
    March 6, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    George — Thanks for that Time link. My genealogical research is leaving me less time to hunt for things like that, and I appreciate your stellar efforts.

    I see in the sidebar that even some of the Army recruiters are committing suicide under excessive work pressure. George, we are in deep trouble, my man. No doubt about it. In Vietnam I saw guys angry as Hell at being there, I saw guys totally devastated by “Dear John” letters, I saw guys go nuts to the point of having to be restrained by MP’s or Shore Patrol and locked up for their own safety and the safety of others, I heard about but never actually saw a fragging; but I absolutely cannot recall talk of suicides. You were a medical man on one of the largest bases in I Corps where the surrounding action was often hot, heavy, and deadly. Did you encounter suicides on the base or hear about them back home through the grapevine? I spent eight months in a hospital full of many young guys who had only a part of their bodies left, but I cannot recall talk of suicides. And, if anyone thinks that the war in Iraq is a factor because of disagreement with it, that is nothing compared to Vietnam.

    What the Hell has happened here? Is it us? Is it our inattention? Is it the demands we place on these guys and then the tendency to give them a pat on the back but cut them loose to fend for themselves? I don’t see that we are producing soldiers who are less than those who came before in terms of field effectiveness. These kids do heroic things on the battlefield. But what is it that happens now which didn’t happen before? Can it just be time in the field without a personal end in sight, and how does that differ from the WWII vets who signed up for the duration of the war without knowing when the war would end — and guys who fought in Europe and then got orders to head for the Pacific after V-E Day.? In my opinion, we urgently need something very big and very non-partisan to address this.

    I wish some of these young vets would get on the blogs and talk to us and tell us what it is for them. There are some of us who will understand the language they speak.

  32. Wolverine
    March 6, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    Moon — Going back to what “Elvis” actually said, I don’t live in PWC but I am a land preservation nut. That riding ring at Silver Lake looks to be a very done deal; and, given its purpose, it’s kind of hard to argue against something so valuable to our handicapped kids. But I am indeed surprised that, given all the people on this blog who appear to have a good understanding of how your county government actually works, it seems so unusually hard to uncover the specific process by which that new construction was approved. What worries me is that you have may have some sort of “private” (for lack of a better word) approval mechanism somewhere and that, Rainbow Riding aside, everything natural at Silver Lake could disappear in a twinkling of an eye and you wouldn’t even realize it was happening. That is just a bit like what happened to us in Sterling Park with our natural area, although not quite so hidden from view. Has anybody made any progress in bringing this thing into the daylight? Do you have no member of the BCOS who is willing to give the real scoop to his or her constituents on this? This is one of the strangest land preservation squabbles I ever witnessed, and I am a member of PEC.

  33. Emma
    March 6, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Big Love!

    1. Moon-howler
      March 6, 2011 at 9:13 pm

      @Emma

      I have to catch it at 10. Too many conflicts. Army wives and Les Miserables is hogging the dvr. I am also doing a Downton Abbey fest from netflix. I am in heaven. A rainy afternoon nap followed by Downton Abbey.

  34. Moon-howler
    March 6, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    @Wolverine, perhaps it has to do with the draft. Perhaps people who were drafted just didnt[‘ have the same expectations for themselves. If they got home, that was expectation enough. Maybe those who sign up have a different expectation for themselves that cannot be met in that desert environment.

    Additionally, perhaps it is that we civilians don’t share any of the war agony. It is like we have forgotten. Perhaps being hated even is better than being forgotten and ignored.

  35. Moon-howler
    March 6, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    @Wolverine, it appears that you are on to the root of the problem. Getting an answer takes weeks and even then, answers are not really answers. There are lots of weasel words. What is the word used for when family and friends get special priviledges or considerations that the rest of us would not get? Not nepotism or cronyism…those words are too strong.

  36. Raymond Beverage
    March 6, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    @Wolverine

    I have pondered both the article and what you wrote…and so many things are playing in this and continues to reflect a broken system.

    My first thought was what makes now so different than WWII, Korea or VietNam is the kids are so connected today. Worldwide cellphones, laptops, etc. with constant contact possible to “Fort Home”. No waiting in long lines for a telephone, no waiting on mail call. A great line from a VietNam time grunt poet: “no mail today, a twinge of sorrow; what the hell, there’s always tomorrow”. I wonder if too much contact contributes.

    The military has for almost two decades created one failure of a program after another when it comes to Suicide Prevention & Treatment. Give it to the Chaplains; take from the Chaplains; Give it Mental Health; Take from Mental Health; form a combined team…and then each squabbles. That Suicide Prevention Team formed up and based out of Fort Meade back in the late 90s was such a joke – produce little pocket cards all the leadership was supposed to carry, and yet, never really got down to root causes. Just let’s have another training session.

    Report after Report, Statistics after Statistics reflect the highest number of people serving in the Military come from rural areas. Some of those rural areas, like Montana and Idaho, even are further classified as “frontier areas”. Kids join either active duty or National Guard or Reserves, serve a tour or tours in the sandboxes, and then come back to Small Town America. Many are passed off to the Veterans Administration for further PTSD treatment, and yet they are miles from the nearest VA Medical Center. Yeah, I think you called it right, Wolverine in saying we just cut them loose. Look what a mess the V.A. has made of establishing support to the Troop and his/her Caregiver. Even their lauding of their 800-numbers to call is a joke, because once you call, the support systems just not are in place. And the battle to get treatment, if you are a Priority 7 or 8 at the bottom of the barrel, is a mound and half of paperwork and effort.

    Recruiters – several young soldiers mentored once upon a time are in that tough job. Push to meet quota with qualified applicants is harder now then once before. Overweight and out of shape, even if obtaining a Category I on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test knocks out the best qualified. And those who were once my charges go nuts trying to match up skills needed – and with “Soldier 21” bring all the fancy equipment – there is a high need for intellectual ability even for an 11Bravo Infantry.

    I guess old war horses can see it, just no answers since the greater system is broken I suppose. Much to ponder on a rainy night.

  37. Lafayette
    March 6, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    I have to watch it again. It was just too darn crazy tonight.

    @Emma

    @Moon-howler

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