The Washington Post has endorsed the following candidates for Democratic Primary tomorrow:
These are our endorsements:
Statewide
Governor: R. Creigh Deeds
Lieutenant Governor: Jody Wagner
It is interesting to see the support Mr. Deeds has with some of the state Democratic heavy-weights down towards the end of the next section. The support speaks volumes. Key issues appear in bold. Creigh Deeds is seen by Northern Virginians as being ‘down state.’ The Washington Post explains why it is best not to dismiss him.
Below is the Washington Post’s opinion piece on why Creigh Deeds is the best Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia. It’s long but its an informative read.
Mr. Deeds on June 9
Of three qualified candidates in the Democratic primary, the rural state senator is the best choice.
Friday, May 22, 2009
WHO IS the best candidate for Northern Virginia? Judge by appearances and there are two obvious possibilities in the Democratic primary for governor: Brian Moran, the former Alexandria prosecutor who served a dozen years in the House of Delegates, and Terry R. McAuliffe, the Richmond outsider who has lived in McLean for roughly 17 years. Not in the running would be R. Creigh Deeds, an unassuming state senator from a district closer to West Virginia than to Fairfax City.
However, delve a bit deeper, and the answer might surprise you. In 18 years in the General Assembly, Mr. Deeds has time and again supported measures that might be unpopular with his rural constituency but that are the right thing to do, for Northern Virginia and the state as a whole. He has demonstrated an understanding of the problems that matter most, the commitment to solve them and the capacity to get things done. Mr. Deeds may not be the obvious choice in the June 9 primary, but he’s the right one.
Sixty-five years ago today, over one hundred fifty-thousand allied troops charged the beaches of Normandy, many getting sliced down in the prime of their lives by 6 foot waves, a salvo of enemy fire, and anything else that the Germans could throw at them. The amphibious assault was a miracle in itself. The open beaches were lined with concertina wire, land mines, and barricades of all sorts. Towering cliffs hid the enemy and the barrage of shells that came raining down. There was nowhere to hide. No where to run. Some troops came in by parachute behind enemy lines. Many of those young men were cut down as they drifted to earth.
The landing included 5,000 ships and 11,000 airplanes. The casualty rates were horrendous. According to Memorial History:
When it was over, the Allied Forces had suffered nearly 10,000 casualties; more than 4,000 were dead. Yet somehow, due to planning and preparation, and due to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied Forces, Fortress Europe had been breached
One town in Virginia was hit especially hard with casualties: Bedford. Bedford, Virginia is a small town in southwest Virginia. It is also the site of the world-famous World War II D-Day Memorial.
Why was Bedford, Virginia chosen as the site of a D-Day Memorial? According to the official D-Day Memorial website:
Bedford, Virginia
Like eleven other Virginia communities, Bedford provided a company of soldiers (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division when the National Guard’s 116th Infantry Regiment was activated on 3 February 1941. Some thirty Bedford soldiers were still in that company on D-Day; several more from Bedford were in other D-Day companies, including one who, two years earlier, had been reassigned from the 116th Infantry to the First Infantry Division. Thus he had already landed in both Northern Africa and Sicily before coming ashore on D-Day at Omaha Beach with the Big Red One. Company A of the 116th Infantry assaulted Omaha Beach as part of the First Division’s Task Force O. By day’s end, nineteen of the company’s Bedford soldiers were dead. Two more Bedford soldiers died later in the Normandy campaign, as did yet another two assigned to other 116th Infantry companies. Bedford’s population in 1944 was about 3,200. Proportionally this community suffered the nation’s severest D-Day losses. Recognizing Bedford as emblematic of all communities, large and small, whose citizen-soldiers served on D-Day, Congress warranted the establishment of the National D-Day Memorial here.
The youngest D-Day and World War II veterans are 82 years old. On the 65th anniversary of D-Day, one only assumes that fewer and fewer of these heroes will be amongst us on future anniversaries. WWII veterans are dying at the rate of a thousand per day. The D-Day Memorial has the following events planned:
The 65th anniversary of D-Day will find our youngest D-Day and WWII veterans turning 82 years of age. The years to come will find ever fewer of them among us, and fewer still able to travel and share their stories. Because that day will arrive all too soon, the National D-Day Memorial will present “Overlord Echoes” June 4-7, 2009 to allow veterans and the public to share information and perspectives on D-Day with the larger purpose of preserving the lessons and legacy of that decisive moment in history.
The D-Day Memorial is in very poor financial health. It is not part of the National Park Service. Donations have dried up. Perhaps it is the economy. Perhaps it is that D-Day was 65 years ago. It is not fresh on our minds. The Memorial doesn’t sit out in the middle of the Mall in D.C. It is not able to sustain itself on gifts alone. Attached is the link if you want to help.
This town’s people have sacrificed more than it seems possible to bear. The D-Day Memorial only seems fitting in this town; the home of so many who made the ultimate sacrifice. It would be a dishonor to those who suffered and died, not just on D-Day but throughout all of WWII, for it to have to close because of lack of funds.
A must-see video: One Soldier’s Longest Day
Very informative! Author Seltzer gives us a first hand recount not only of D-Day but also liberating a concentration camp.
Marcus Epstein, an aid to former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, has been charged with a hate crime for hitting a woman in the head and calling her a nigger. Yes, that Tom Tancredo – the one who has accused Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a being a racist, and who remains a leader of the nativist movement in this country.
And Bay Buchanan believes this is “old news”! Mind you, Gainesville Supervisor John Stirrup subscribes to the same idealogy as Pat & Bay Buchanan with their anti-immigrant, “post-American” beliefs. Frightening.
Longtime county executive Craig Gerhart has resigned.
His announcement comes a day after indictments in a corruption scheme involving Prince William County’s Office of Information Technology. Gerhart has not indicated the bid-rigging case has anything to do with his decision.
Gerhart’s last day with the county government will be on Friday, July 3. Gerhart will start work for Amtrak on Monday, July 6.
Gerhart will work for Amtrak as a full-time independent contractor as the Organizational Strategist for Amtrak’s Policy and Development.
Stay with insidenova.com for a full story on the county executive’s resignation.
Washington Post, Tuesday, June 3, 2009
In one of the largest embezzlement cases in county history, prosecutors secured indictments Monday on 153 charges against Gupta, 45, of Woodbridge; Roessler, 50, of Woodbridge; Roessler’s brother Vernon, 42, of Dale City; and Richard Billingsley, 41, of Springfield. Charges include racketeering, bid rigging, forgery, obtaining money by false pretenses and money laundering over a five-year period.
Law enforcement sources close to the investigation said yesterday that Gupta and Roessler set up the company and arranged for it to win lucrative bids with the IT office. Two sources, both of whom spoke anonymously because of the ongoing probe, said the scheme involved submitting fake bids in the names of legitimate county contractors so that Praetorian could then compete with and undercut those bids.
Gupta was able to hide his actions because he was in charge of the process, authorities said. Officials said yesterday that there were 26 cases in which the men gave themselves contracts and made up bids from other companies.
Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert, Police Chief Charlie Deane, and County Executive Craig Gerhart discussed the 153 indictments handed down yesterday in a press release. The FBI is also involved because approximately $500,000 in federal grant money was tied to the scheme. This appears to be only the beginning.
This story seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Phony companies, phony presidents of companies, fake company letterhead all are components of this tale of intrigue, graft and corruption.
[UPDATE: Summer Bird, not Mine That Bird, wins the Belmont Stakes. Mine That Bird comes in 3rd.]
The final leg of the Triple Crown will be run tomorrow, Saturday June 6.However, there will be no Triple Crown horse winner.The only triple crown winner there might be is Calvin Borel, the jockey who rode Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby andRachel Alexandra in the Preakness.
Within the past 24 hours horrific violence has been committed in both Kansas and in Arkansas. Yesterday, Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider, was gunned down in his church while his wife sang in the choir. This was not his first brush with violence. In 1993 Dr. Tiller was shot in both arms.
This morning one army recruiter was killed and another seriously wounded. The reason is not yet known. Information is sketchy.
Regardless of how one feels about the military, war, abortion or any other issue that somehow lands in the political arena, there is NO excuse or reason for violence. None whatsoever. Reading some of the blogs and newspaper reader comments sickens me. Some people are justifying the violence. They fail to see how their rhetoric can lead to unspeakable, horrifying actions.
Going into an army recruiting office or a church to harrass, wound or kill makes those who do so no better than the killers of Daniel Pearl. There can be no equivocation.
Life can take strange turns. 97 year old Millvina Dean, last survivor of the Titanic, died Sunday at a nursing home in Southampton, England. Millvina was just 9 weeks old that fateful day when Titanic hit an iceberg while making its maiden voyage crossing the North Atlantic. April 14, 1912 proved to be a life altering day for the Dean family.
Millvina, whose real name was Elizabeth Gladys Dean, was lowered down to a lifeboat in a mail sack. Her brother was separated from her mother and her but was reunited with his mother and infant sister aboard the rescue ship, Carpathia.
The father, Bertram Dean, like many grown men on the Titanic, died that night. He had been running a pub in England, and was taking his family for a new life in America. The Deans were headed to Kansas City, Missouri. The father planned to run a tobacco shop for his cousin who has already immigrated.
With the family breadwinner dead, the family survived a week in New York City before returning home. Millvina never mentioned the Titanic because she simply didn’t remember anything about it. However, in 1985 when the Titanic was discovered on the floor of the ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland, she was found. According to the New York Times:
Ms. Dean said all she knew of what happened during the sinking she had learned from her mother: “She told me that they heard a tremendous crash, and that my father went up on deck, then came back down again and said, ‘Get the children up and take them to the deck as soon as possible, because the ship has struck an iceberg.’ ”
Millvina said she never saw the Titanic film. Too emotional she said. The family does not know if her father jumped or if he went down with the ship. The family had been traveling in steerage. When Millvina had trouble meeting nursing home expenses, Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio helped set up a fund to meet expenses, once they found out of her difficulties.
