We have decided to keep an Open Thread up on the blog at all times so that people who have comments to make that don’t fit a Post topic, they will have a place to put it. So when the Open Thread starts rolling off, we will post another one, realizing no one wants to travel to the bottom of the screen each and every time.
Also, look at the top of the page, right below the black banner, in the far left hand corner. Hopefully everyone recognizes this icon as the home symbol. Clicking the home icon will take you back to square one and back to the first post.
Hopefully, contributors will keep us apprised of community events here, especially during the holiday season.
Bill Fleming is running for the State Senate in the Eighth District (Virginia Beach).
Bill is a VETERAN, TECH Savvy and has a strong sense of business and environmental stewardship.
His background is a lot like our favorite US Senator, Jim Webb.
Everything about Bill Fleming says that he is PERFECT for Virginia Beach. He will be a Senator who is looking forward and creating jobs, not some backward, xenophobic, Bush-era, Republican who will spend his time finding ways to make government do more TO us than FOR us.
Whether or not you generally support the Democratic candidate, in this race, Bill Fleming is clearly the best choice for most Virginians.
The Republicans aren’t a whole lot better, but I think Jesus himself would hae to run before I would vote for another Democrat.
I have word from a reliable source that Mr. Bonfadini will not be putting up his display this year. Sigh.
That’s too bad. It has to be literally days of work. I am sure his grandkids will be disappointed. I wonder where he stores all that?
I have a hard time pulling the lever for Republicans. It doesn’t take Jesus but its difficult. I have been that way for almost 20 years now. Pulling it for Democrats often isn’t much easier. I have been known to simply skip a category or 2.
I wish we would have more Independents running. Of course there is not enough money to have that happen. Just look what it costs to run for delegate. Geez.
I’m sad to hear the Bonfadini display will not be up this year. This is a lifetime favorite of mine. I know it’s not the real thing, but it’s a nice clip of the display made last year by Mr. Bonfadini along with Santa and friends. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TpIKobkYfk
Well, for those of you in WestGate/Sudley today and tomorrow from 9am to 4pm Santa will ride on a fire engine through our street with candy. This is another lifetime favorite. You are never too old to enjoy Santa! Here’s the link for safety tips when Santa rolls through.
http://www.sjvfd.org/index.cfm?fs=news.newsView&News_ID=143
On a bah humbug note a friend of mine said that the Gainesville fire department will NOT be having Santa on a fire engine this year. 🙁
Does that mean don’t get run over by the fire truck and don’t get hit in the eye with candy?
(You’re going to shoot your eye out)
Exactly, the same moon. I hope they don’t get any calls to help a kid with his tongue stuck to a metal pole. 😉
you guys have those things over there in WestGate? (metal poles)
I can supply the kid if you can supply the pole.
There’s a couple of metal poles. You got the kid? Just need to get them to the light at Lomond and Damascus.
Our street lights are on wooden poles. The important thing is that we DO have street lights. 🙂
Anyone notice the house passed the financial reform bill? Don’t know much about it other than it’s over 1,000 pages…
Noticed that yesterday. Not sure what it means either. We might never know. Bulls and Bears isn’t saying much either.
“Topographically, Manassas is located on the table land between Bull Run
and Broad Run, four miles from each, on a railway summit, one-half way
between the Potomac and Rappahannock valleys. This high location, the
first South of Washington in full view of the Virginia mountain system,
insures good air, good scenary and good health …. Manassas is fast
becoming a suburb of the National Capital, being only one hour therefrom.
The hillocks that here and there dot the rolling plains afford superd location
for handsome villas ….”
The Manassas Journal (12-20-1907)
Things went faster in those days. Only an hour. It takes a lot longer now to get to DC.
Fraaa-geeeee-lay! Must be Italian!
The saga of Tiger Woods continues. It causes me to ask if we as a society truly have the moral ground on which to effect a condemnation of Woods for his reported marital infidelities and sexual escapades. Do we ourselves not share a part of the blame? Is it not we as a collective who have set the table from which Tiger Woods has partaken? Did we not encounter a man with an addiction, place the temptations directly in front of him, and then perversely gasp in wonder and remonstration when that man fell victim to the addiction?
Marital infidelity. Sexual excess. Are these valid condemnations from a society which has enabled and made wealthy the likes of Hugh Heffner, Robert Guccione, and Larry Flynt? A society which invents the internet and then sees its most lucrative feature become the pornography industry? A society in which wealth is poured into the coffers of an entertainment industry in which infidelity and sexual excess have become a hallmark of fame? A society which appears to have an insatiable appetite for stories of the excesses of the rich and famous? A society in which it is no longer so shocking to hear of a teacher who has engaged in sexual activity with a student or an individual who has profited from the internet to spread child pornography? A society in which at least four recent presidents and many, many other political leaders have committed indiscretions similar to those committed by Tiger Woods? A society of Victoria’s Secret catalogues in the mail, Madonna or Brittany Spears on dvd’s and in the tabloids, and a football championship which was overshadowed by the exposure of a female breast? A society in which the divorce rate is over 50 per cent, sometimes because of infidelity but often being a simple case of “I just don’t want to be married to you anymore.” A society in which abortion has gone past a mechanism to save the life of a woman to being a handy means for a woman and a man to escape the consequences of their own risky and heedless misbehavior? A society in which the religious who try to warn us against immorality are often castigated for being fanatics or budding theocratic dictators. A society which seems to react with glee when one of those among the elements which preach morality actually falls prey himself to the table we ourselves have set — where, instead of weeping and examining the circumstances which caused this fall, we point an accusatory finger and cry “hypocrisy” when we ourselves may be the biggest hypocrites of all?
I neither condemn Tiger Woods nor excuse his actions. I vote simply to leave him alone. Let him have the peace needed to realign and rebuild his own life without being the object of finger pointing from a society which, in my opinion, has tainted itself and set the table for his indiscretions. Perhaps we are the ones in need of rehabilitation. For, if we look deeply into the eyes of Tiger Woods, we may see reflected therein naught but ourselves.
Yea, it really isn’t any of our business. It is between him, his wife, and his sponsors.
100 years ago in Manassas
– “A mountain of candy-170 feet high, 100 feet long and 40 feet wide – tempting
treasures of sacharine sweets beyond all dreams of matinee girl avarice, more
than 100 tons of delicious confections, enough when packed for shipment to
fill twenty freight cars, represents the output of the Hopkins Candy factory
in Manassas for the Christmas Trade throughout the country.
“Made In Manassas” (Manassas Democrat 9-16-1909)
The building, of course, now serves as the area Center For The Arts.
@Wolverine
Well said Wolverine.
Infidelity has a long history – King David and Henry VIII are two of the more
famous examples of men who went “over the line”. More recently,
Bill Clinton showed again how very smart, powerful men can take risk totally
out of proportion to any “gain” they might achieve. Tiger Woods is just another
fool in a very long line.
Hopefully his wife and children can find some peace and healing in Sweden.
“treasures of sacharine sweets beyond all dreams of matinee girl avarice”
Fun with Victorian poetry. Thanks for that, Poor Richard.
Nothing at the Bonfadini household. No decorations. Emma is correct.
” It All Depends On You Shoppers! Enough With the Thrift!”
(WSJ headline – 12-13-2009)
Credit cards at the ready – Now CHARGE!!
(Onward, onward, into the valley of debt?)
@Poor Richard
The true meaning of Christmas, alas. Christians, pull out your wallets, but otherwise keep your holiday to yourselves.
Emma, well said.
I don’t feel the least bit persecuted over Christmas. I don’t understand why I keep hearing on TV that there is a war on Christmas. Where is this coming from?
I still love everything about the celebration of Christmas, even though my mother’s family came from German Jewish stock. My kids always got Christmas presents and we always had a tree. I see no reason not to celebrate Christmas, regardless of one’s original religious tradition. If I was Canadian, living here in the States, I would still celebrate the Fourth of July along with my neighbors, so I see no reason to exclude myself or my family from enjoying the Christmas season.
I think those who protest “nativity scenes” and other Christmas decorations on public lands are total assholes. Religiously observant Jewish families are not typically the ones who make a fuss, but the secular people who really have no religious belief. I think those types are really just jealous of the joy that others are enjoying because of the holiday. They are rotten spirits who are more like Ebenezer Scrooge than normal, happy, Americans. Those sorts are beneath contempt.
No matter what your religious tradition, Christmas is a marvelous holiday for the whole family to enjoy. I encourage Christians to invite their neighbors, including those who are of other faiths, to join in the festivities. Christmas is a blessing for everyone to share.
No thread on the CIR ASAP bill yet?
Without commenting on the merits of the bill, I will continue to take all bets from people who think this bill has a chance of passing in the 111th Congress. I’d say more if a dedicate thread gets created.
Buried on E6 (Science and Health section) in today’s WaPo is a letter
headlined “Part D, for despair” – which offers another illustration
of the “death panel” version we already have in place.
A witches’ mix of typical government bs for the sake of bs, private
companies trolling for big profits, and legislative insensitivity
to the average American citizen have created a nightmare of
a “program” for senior citizens and those who try to help them.
This is one reason I’m not keen on national healthcare reform.
The Feds already make me sick.
(RIP – died of severe formitis and inflamed confusion)
Not yet, Formerly. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
PR, you didn’t tell me if you were really in Sedona or not. I am gullable.
I am all for health care reform, or I used to be. By the time the 2 political parties finish distorting and lying I probably wont even care. The insurance companies will win in the long run and we will lose. It isn’t even worth the effort to find out what’s really in the thing. How is that for dispair? Did I leave out Faux News? They have added to the dispair mix.
I has been suggested that a focus on good memories is an aid
in fighting depression. Stop and remember the times you were
really happy – hiking around Sedona several years ago is one
on those times. The winter night sky in the desert had the same
impact as the Grand Canyon – amazement and joy.
Honestly, it might help if everyone in Congress would have to fill
out their own income taxes and struggle through the maze of
multiple medicare chices. A little clarity might emerge.
Back to Sedona now.
Ah ok. I was remembering a few wonderful times out there myself when you mentioned it. I was thinking, that darn Poor Richard is out there now. Why am I not there! See what that green eyed monster can do!!!
But you are right! 2 great places. Oak Creek Canyon isn’t too shabby either. Next time you are out there stop by and see the McCains.
And then there is that wonderful Indian jewelry……
For your convenience…a print and TV news source has been added to the pages at the top, right under the black banner. About 10 local and national print newspapers have been added. 3 TV stations have been put there.
Think of it as having your newspaper delivered.