Month: February 2009

If you have not heard as of yet, the BofCS decided today via a “Staff Directive” to remove the “legal presence” requirement for unincorporated business owners to renew their BPOL in Prince William County. Now, instead of requiring unincorporated business owners to verify their immigration status in person they will only have to check a box on a form.

It is worth noting that of the approximate 4,000 unincorporated business who were supposed to physically present themselves at McCoart to prove their legal status, only about 300 had as yet complied with the requirement. Interpretation: the County was looking at a huge revenue loss due to noncompliance. With a filing deadline of March 2, there was no way 3,700 business owners were going to show up in the next nine business days.

Congratulations to John Gray for bringing this matter to the attention of Supervisors.

Talk about a unique opportunity to really become involved in our community. Prince William Conservation Alliance is having a Green Breakfast. No, the food won’t really be green but the conversation will.

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Abraham Lincoln, in my opinion, is one of our bravest Presidents.  Initially a resistant “abolitionist”, his intent only to save the Union, irregardless of slavery, he soon came to realize, it was not only the Union that was at risk, but the very soul of a nation, birthed on the premise of equality for all men.  Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was integral in Lincoln’s understanding that slavery was not only an evil circumstance for the slave, but for the slave owner also.

Lincoln, in a mere 10 sentences, delivered the most profound speech on the deeper meaning of the civil war.  With a little more than 200 words, he seared into the soul of our collective moral compass, the foundation of our Nation, freedom and equality for all.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth

Let’s have a little time off task. What’s on your mind?

• The economy?
• The Liberty Street wedge?
• The Budget presentation on Tuesday 2/17?
• Presidents Day sales?
• MI?
• The horrible crimes besieging our county?

The flowers are for decoration.   There are some serious things going on around these parts.  We will continue with the open theme.  Hopefully every one had a good Valentine’s day and that cupid was good to them.  Feel free to discuss what you want.

Happy Birthday to both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, a day late of course. A 200th birthday is just nothing to sneeze about. Both men made life-altering contributions to mankind. We celebrate Lincoln’s birthday annually, so let’s concentrate on Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin wrote his work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection almost 150 years ago. Basically, the work questioned the way most people, regardless of education level, thought about their existence and the existence of the world around them.

One of the major events that questioned Darwin’s ideas was what is now known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. The Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial took place in 1925. That trial that took place in Dayton, Tennessee could almost be billed as one of the most famous of the 20th century. Two legal giants squared off: Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan.
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Now I’ve heard everything! Letiecq c/o bvbl.net accuses Delegate Marshall of being a supporter of ‘amnesty for illegal aliens’. There’s an old adage about cutting your nose off to spite your face, apparently that’s what has happened here. Marshall introduced a bill that would address the issue of non-citizens being able to vote in elections but it has been labeled ‘amnesty’ by Letiecq and a few other Republicans. So, now, the bill which would have addressed the possibility of non-citizens voting won’t see the light of day for another two years.

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Well, well, well… has Corey finally turned the corner?  In the Washington Post article, entitled Stewart Softens Tone, Shifts Focus From Immigration to Economy, we learn that Stewart wants to

navigating Republican loyalists out of the immigration debate with the same vigor he used to help draw them into it

and

to become a consensus-builder.

What has caused these changes in attitude?  Is he serious?  Will there now be an overture of welcoming and inclusiveness?  What can we expect from the newly defined Chairman?  So many questions.  What does everyone think, is he for real?