The northern lights from space

 

Very neat.  I have only seen the northern lights a few times in my life.

Our weather is still holding out.  What wonderful December days!

Who is going to the Christmas Parade?

Hopefully Lafayette will bring back some pictures.

 

101 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………………………………………………….Saturday, December 3”

  1. Elena

    4-H is not rainbow riding. It may have been borne from 4-H, but it is now a seperate entity. It is a small non profit that has garned alot of support from the government and its taxpaying citizens.

    There are many worthwhile non profits in this county and there are a limited amount of resources. That one 501c3 has been given so much attention while so many others have been ignored is what should bother every citizen in this county. We all have our personal favorites that we donate our money to. I have many various charities our family gives to every year.

    Rainbow Riding has been given 45 acres for one dollar a year and a 30 year lease. They are in the county budget, how much more special treatment is one non profit entitled to. Wally Covington’s wife is the president of that board. Does anyone think that if Wally were not a supervisor, ANY of these large county donations would have been possible?

    Once again, where is the process that ALL non profits can apply for such large sums of discretionary money?

  2. Elena

    I wonder, why is therapeutic riding not covered by insurance. In fact, I imagine an alliance could be made with insurance companies and non profits. If there is improvement in quality of life and a need for less intensive home care services, this should even qualify for federal dollars.

    This needs to come out of the local perview and out of Wally Covingtons hands and into a more objective process.

  3. Elena

    We have to pave our own roads in my community, we “own” them, not the county. Within the last 2 years, we had over a mile of road paved, two lane, with many places that needed major repair due to the crumbling of the road. The idea that to pave a small portion of their minue parking lot in order to enable access for wheelchairs would cost 100 grand is ridiculous. That is what it cost to pave more than my entire road.

    Moon and I resent the accusation that people opposed to this 100 thousand dollar tax payer funded donation are anti handicapped children. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  4. Lafayette

    UFB!! Another shooting at Va. Tech. One officer shot has died. Thinking of all of those students, their families and law enforcement in Blacksburg. The campus is on lock down.

  5. Elena

    Laf,
    I can’t believe it, this is crazy. I dont ever want my kids to leave the house. so scary 🙁

  6. Ray Beverage

    Elena :I wonder, why is therapeutic riding not covered by insurance. In fact, I imagine an alliance could be made with insurance companies and non profits. If there is improvement in quality of life and a need for less intensive home care services, this should even qualify for federal dollars.
    This needs to come out of the local perview and out of Wally Covingtons hands and into a more objective process.

    Eleana, theraputic riding (aka hippotherapy) is considered experimental in the USA; not enough research into it in that famous line of “peer reviewed medical literature” to have insurance companies pay for it. I always find that excuse funny since historically, theraputic riding was started by a doctor in Germany where insurance does cover it.

    As for Federal dollars, once upon a time when there was lots of cash around, there were grants to either start a local center, or expand a current center. Those days are gone of course.

    1. Well….that certainly opens up another can of worms, doesn’t it?

      re theraputic riding being experimental.

  7. Censored bybvbl

    Are the participants in Rainbow Riding’s program all PWC residents or are out-of-county kiddos included? And if out of county people are included, do their counties contribute any monies to support this organization?

  8. Ray Beverage

    @Censored bybvbl

    Program is open to the rest of NOVA juridisctions per Rainbow’s website. As to other county government contributing? Nope.

    1. We (PWC) are sounding like bigger chumps by the minute.

  9. Need to Know

    @Ray Beverage

    I lived in Germany for a couple of years (not with the military so I got to know Germans fairly well). They are renowned for coming up with luxury “therapies” that their health system pays for. In Germany, you can go to the “Kur,” which is really nothing but a nice spa if you complain about your “Kreislauf.” Kreislauf translates to blood circulation but has a much broader meaning to Germans. It’s a complaint that gets you lots of free time at the spa. We were talking about Homestead in another thread and imagine what would happen if insurance covered a few weeks at the Homestead spa.

    I know that many parents feel that this therapeutic riding helps their kids who have some disabilities. I sympathize with that. However, I don’t think taxpayers should be subsidizing something of such dubious medical benefit. Pretty much anyone would feel a bit better from a day off relaxing and riding horses. This whole affair seems too much to me as just another scam for the well-heeled and influential in Prince William County to bilk taxpayers for something that benefits very few members of the community.

    1. I totally agree with paragraph 2. I don’t know anything about the Germans and bilking the system.

  10. Lafayette

    Ray Beverage :@Censored bybvbl
    Program is open to the rest of NOVA juridisctions per Rainbow’s website. As to other county government contributing? Nope.

    Well, there you have it. So, why is ONLY PWC playing Santa Claus for this non-profit?!!
    Grrr…

  11. Mom

    “So, why is ONLY PWC playing Santa Claus for this non-profit?!!”

    Because as the BOCS opens up the Rural Crescent for more high-rise development, the friends of our BOCS who are benefitting from that development also have to be assured they will always have a ring to ride their horsies in.

  12. Mom

    Sorry, just late Thursday snarkiness.

    1. Why should Thursday be any different. :mrgreen: 😈

      You might also want to ask why bicycles aren’t allowed in the Battlefield. All those trails are reserved for horses.

  13. Mom

    Because bicyclists would be harder to hit if you let them ride in the Battlefield.

  14. Lafayette

    “Why should Thursday be any different.”
    You took the words right off my keyboard. Aww, Mom’s just horse-in’ around.

  15. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    I thought Republicans opposed expanding government financing of and involvement in health care. Why do Wally and others want taxpayers to pay for this? Are Wally and his friends closet supporters of Obamacare?

  16. Apparently they don’t. @ NTK

    Apparently it is all rhetoric.

  17. Cato the Elder

    Corzine needs to watch this before testifying next time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4CzocBkrWpA

  18. Ray Beverage

    @NTK was in and out of Germany quite a few times (Thank you, US Army as they were great vacations! Work hard, then follow the German belief to play hard afterwards). Ich hab’ herz in Heidelberg verloren.

  19. Ray Beverage

    Lafayette :

    Ray Beverage :@Censored bybvbl Program is open to the rest of NOVA juridisctions per Rainbow’s website. As to other county government contributing? Nope.

    Well, there you have it. So, why is ONLY PWC playing Santa Claus for this non-profit?!!Grrr…

    Forgot one thing, and Mom reminded me of it back at #14. Years ago, and probable still now, if you wanted just straight riding lessons (non-theraputic) there was a fee for that. And I also recall there was a small fee for participants of theraputic side of Rainbow based on a sliding scale used by Virgina in Human Services (adjusted each fiscal year of course). In reading their webpage though, addresses only donations.

  20. Mom

    And the dirty secret underpinning the much ballyhooed AAA Bond Rating is finally out. I wonder how the BOCS will spin this.

    “Moody’s moved Virginia and all municipalities with a AAA rating — the highest possible rating — to a “negative” outlook in August, after the debate over raising the national debt ceiling pushed the U.S. government to the brink of a sovereign default.

    While several Virginia counties escaped the negative outlook, which serves to caution investors about a potential future downgrade, Moody’s maintained the warning for the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Herndon, Loudoun, Prince William and Vienna, as well as the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax.”

  21. punchak

    #6 – Therapeutic riding/insurance

    Wonder why hearing aids aren’t covered by insurance? If loss of hearing isn’t a
    medical condition, I’d like to know what it is? The cost is very high.

  22. Need to Know

    The more I learn about this, the fishier it looks. Rainbow Riding is backed by many of the same cast of characters that are involved in the developer scams the Board is always foisting on us. I’m sure the kids get some benefit out of this, but only a small percentage of the community benefits and everyone’s tax dollars are being used. The facility overall is a public park paid for by tax dollars but for the use of an exclusive few. And, as I wrote above, why are anti-Obamacare people like Covington and his friends getting so strongly behind using taxpayer dollars and justifying it on the basis of healthcare benefits?

  23. Ray Beverage

    @punchak

    Good point. My Mother lost her hearing at age 7, and has had hearing aids since 1954. Always self-pay. Shoot, it wasn’t until July of this year the Veterans Administration started providing them for Veterans – and if there is a major source of hearing loss, it is within Military Service. Even though provided, still a real paperdrill to provide proof hearing loss related to service. For those 50+ though, don’t worry – AARP will be happy to sell ya a supplemental policy to cover them!!!

  24. @punchak

    You are right, Punchak. I understand that hearing aids are also very expensive. Glasses aren’t covered by many insurance type deals. Neither are teeth.

  25. @Need to Know

    All of the area is posted. You can’t set a little toe on any of it without tresspassing.

    You can’t go look at the horses or probably watch the kids ride either.

    I have never seen kids riding to be perfectly honest. I am sure they do, just not when I am out and about.

  26. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    Moon – just to clarify because I’ve never been to the property and know little about Rainbow Riding; does the land that the public can’t set a little toe on without trespassing belong to the Park Authority or in some other way belong to the public? I’m trying to make sure that I’m clear that PWC taxpayers own land with a recreational facility on it that they are not allowed to use. Is this correct? What would be the process if I did want to use it?

    Even as a Republican, I must ask, is this one of the sorts of things that is nurturing the OWS movement? Publicly-owned land and facilities set aside for the exclusive use of the influential and well-heeled? That is what this recent episode and the leadership/board of Rainbow Riding lead me to believe.

    1. Yes, the 45 acres, as I understand it, has been leased to Rainbow by the county for 30 years. I don’t believe the rent is more than a dollar a year but I am not positive about that.

      I don’t know the process.

      @NTK

      I had not thought of it in terms of OWS but I suppose that is what they are protesting. There is a lot of land that is off limits. I am not sure why this organization was involved with a county/toll brothers negotiation. Perhaps Elena knows.

  27. punchak

    #28 and 29

    Verrrry expensive. I got a pair several years back and they were – hold on –
    $3000 EACH!!!

    1. Holy cow. I expect there are a lot of people going around not hearing then, $6k is a lot of money for some folks.

  28. Cargosquid

    I just read this statement by the smartest President evah!

    “However many jobs might be generated by a Keystone pipeline,” he said, “they’re going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance.”

    OMG. If he gets re-elected….we are doomed.

    1. yea, you would do a lot better under that hyprocritcal unethical whore-mongering Newt Gingrich. Just who do you think is going to do a better job?

  29. Cargosquid

    Anybody, including Joe Biden.

  30. Morris Davis

    It’s not often I accuse Rush Limbaugh of being square on the mark, but he was in response to a caller pushing a write-in campaign for Herman Cain.  Take it away, Rush:  

    “I mean to advise people to write in “Herman Cain” when he’s gonna end up as a commentator on Fox News?  I didn’t mean to let anything out of the bag.  I don’t know that.  I just know the career trajectory here on failed candidates.  I just know where they end up.”

    Maybe they should dump “fair and balanced” and go with “where the losers roost.”

    1. @Moe

      Too funny, where the losers roost. snicker.

      I am looking at Michael Reagan on Fox now, speaking of losers. Where is Sarah Palin? You never see her on there now. She is looking pretty rough. I read that she pissed off Roger A.

  31. punchak

    Michael Reagan!!! I’ve seen him a few times. Where do you think he would be without
    his tie to the Rep. saint, his Dad, Ronnie?

    I saw Palin on Fox a few days ago. She wore something fuzzy red that looked like a robe you’d put on on a cold Alaskan morning. Even Sean H. made a comment abt her attire. She’ll be gone pretty soon. Where is her “Dude”?
    BTW = what happened to Joe the Plumber who ran for office somewhere?

  32. I sorta like First Dude. 😉

  33. Morris Davis

    Speaking of Reagan, for 192 years after George Washington became our first president, no one who was divorced got elected. Reagan was the one and only divorcee … so far. Newt could multiply our 200+ year total x3 in 2012. That would make 2 divorcees elected President, both in the last quarter-century, and exclusively Republican. Family values, y’all!

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