Happy New Year. As promised, we plan on keeping an open thread within reach at all times. Sometimes the contributors want to talk about things we don’t post. Here’s your chance.
Wishing everyone a safe New Years’ Eve and a prosperous New Year! See you in 2010. Can you all believe we are entering the 2nd decade of the 21st century? Hard to believe.
Hey, what ever happened with that Y2K thing?
@IVAN
IVAN, it’s now Y3K. Are you ready?
I anyone is interested in supporting good candidates in the special elections to be held on January 12th, here are the two Democratic candidates’ web sites:
8th (Virginia Beach) Bill Fleming: http://www.flemingforstatesenate.org
37th Dave Marsden: http://www.marsdenforsenate.com
It doesn’t matter what your usual party affiliation is. Visit these sites and take a look at what these gentleman have to offer.
Anyone who is willing to run for public office these days deserves a heap of respect, just for having a go at it.
1. I anyone is interested in supporting good candidates in the special elections to be held on January 12th, here are the two Democratic candidates’ web sites:
8th (Virginia Beach) Bill Fleming: http://www.flemingforstatesenate.org
37th Dave Marsden: http://www.marsdenforsenate.com
It doesn’t matter what your usual party affiliation is. Visit these sites and take a look at what these gentleman have to offer.
Anyone who is willing to run for public office these days deserves a heap of respect, just for having a go at it.
“ENUMERATORS ARE SCARCE
Census Director Complains That Applicants
Are Slow In Coming Forward
Eligibles May Be Between Eighteen and
Seventy Years of Age – Good Pay, Light Work
and Easy Test – Time is Short Before
Names of Applicants Must Be In
It looks, Durant thinks, as if the country is so prosperous
that people are not as anxious to get the positions
as expected.”
Manassas Democrat
(Jan. 14. 1910)
Why do the health nuts tell us to take the stairs instead of using elevators but the safety nuts tell women not to be in stairwells alone?
In 2010, I am going to start demanding clarification.
@Opinion
Actually, it’s probably Y10K that matters — when computers have to roll over from 4 digits to 5 digits to represent the correct year. We should have plenty of time to prepare ….
Take the stairs with a friend?
What is the weather doing out there? I see ice.
But we don’t always have friends to go with us, do we? So if we don’t have friends, are we doomed to be unhealthy? I think the health nuts need to provide us with stairwell escorts if they expect us to take the stairs. That’s what I think. Humph.
It’s raining ice as far as I can tell.
Or is it raining ICE?
@Posting As Pinko
That’s why the invented escalators… the best of both worlds!
@Opinion
HAHAHAHAHA! Excellent.
And shall I stop yelling at the kids who run up the down?
@Posting As Pinko
Those kids are following the President’s advice on physical fitness.
Given the recent headlines concerning intelligence and Afghanistan, did anyone see 60 Minutes on Sunday night ( http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/12/60-minutes-out-of-the-shadows/ ) ? Absolutely fascinating story of the CIA Team that helped take down the Taliban in 2001. Although not explicitly discussed, it also sheds light on why there were not enough people to seal off Tora Bora and capture Bin Laden.
“One of the ugly secrets of global proverty is that a good
deal of suffering is caused not only by low incomes but also
by bad spending decisions. Research suggest that the
world’s poorest families (typically the men in those families)
spend about 20 percent of their incomes on a combination
of alcohol, cigarettes, prostitution, soft drinks and
extravagant festivals.”
NYT – N. Kristoff op/ed – 12-30-2009
And in Manassas, new Escalades with spinner wheels.
Great for travel to the free clinic and food pantry.
(Odds are heavy that the guy HAD to have that ride.)
I am not seeing as many luxury cars since credit dried up.
The poor often are attracted to very nice cars. There is something about the permanency of a car that is more important to them than to the middle class. It can go with you as an outward symbol of your success. Of course the real poor don’t have nice cars. Flash in the pan poor do.
by flash in the pan poor I mean people who earn decent money for brief periods of time, then go back to living hand to mouth.
Kelly, watching now.
I could do without the Viagra commercial. Is anyone tired of hearing about erectile dysfunction 24/7?
Whoever said this week was going to be good in the stock market…something akin to Santa Claus stocks or dead cat bounce…they lied. Stocks have been real laggard this week. I hope next week is better. Supersticiously speaking, it sets the tone for the year.
There is actually another computer date problem similar to the year 2000 problem that occurs on January 19, 2038. (Or when dealing with dates later than 1/19/2038) I’ll spare you the technical details, but the short version is that a lot of software is going to need to be re-written over the next 10-15 years or dates will roll back to 1901. It shouldn’t be a big deal as long as people have remotely competent programmers update their applications in the next decade. A lot of forward thinking companies fixed this when they were fixing their year 2000 problem and are good until the year 9999 or later. (Our main application at work is good until the year 65,535 and I’m planning to be retired by then!)
Windows systems are immune from this problem as they store dates differently, but some applications running on top of Windows may have the problem.
Back to lurking.
By the way, is my comment in the thread about the St. Louis & Exodus ever going to be approved?
“Electoral dysfunction” in Florida led to Bush II. Wish we could have
fixed that problem in 2000.
Excellent post Kelly and thanks for locating the video of the 60 min. segment. Pakistan is a strange country of contradictions. I would cast that country as one of the top 5 most dangerous for the USA. For starters, it is almost a stone age country with nuclear weapons.
From Frank Principi’s e-news: he’s launching “The 2010 Project” — 20 community improvement events and the demolition of 10 blighted/deviant properties during 2010. To be a successful community project, his “Team Principi” needs residents, neighborhoods and organizations to participate. Let the team know if your group or organization has an event or activity that might qualify as one the 20 projects. The team has identified six events and wants your help in identifying the remaining activities. The identified projects are the: Spring Clean-up, Earth Day Event, Veterans Park Clean-up, Opening of VRE Crosswalk, Marumsco Lake Clean-up, and a Business Beautification Initiative. The list of ten unsightly properties begins with the demolition of the old gas station the corner of Jefferson Davis Highway and Route 123. VDOT assures Principi it will be gone by the first of the year. He wants your help identifying the remaining properties. For more information on how you can be part of “The 2010 Project,” call (703) 792-4646 or email Principi at [email protected].
Sorry about that Formerly. I forgot to go look at the moderation que this morning. It got stuck because of the N word. You did exactly the right thing. You brought it to my attention.
A little off any topic, but has anyone seen the movie “Airplane” (the Zucker comedy), where the guys are watching the “full body scanner” and the guys go through with all their clothes on and get a “fail” buzzer, and the women go through naked and get a “pass” ding? I can’t get that scene out of my head as this Detroit plane incident goes on.
@Moon-howler
Actually, I’ve seen many a person with awesome cars at food pantries. The next week, those cars have been repossessed. You just never know.
2009 Revisited
The old year retreats
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over our shoulders
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt
Draft 1
@Posting As Pinko
Apologies to Carl Sandburg, of course.
Nope, Slow, haven’t seen it.
Tyler, I particularly support Mr. Marsden. I feel his opponent is an ideolog and an extremist. See our thread on Steve Hunt:
http://www.antibvbl.net/index.php/2009/12/24/painted-as-an-ideologue-say-it-isnt-true/
Do you mean the original Airplane? We have that DVD, maybe I should watch it again!@Slowpoke Rodriguez
The stock market stinks this week. I am really disappointed. I was planning on a final hurrah that never came.
M-H, it all is in expectations. I’m thrilled my 401K has made it back to black,
even if by less than a grand, after the gushing red ink of early 2009.
Even became the new “Up”.
I still have a long way to go to dig out of the damage in 2008. Congrats for breaking even.
I am not displeased with the gaines. I am just not back to where I was Oct. 31, 2007, which I considered my high water mark. I dont expect to ever be, actually.
Ok, where’s the party? I have round 2 of kids coming in so I might just go drink rat poisoning if they act like they acted this afternoon. Oh Dear God, the eagle has landed. A half hour early.
Well, I’m ready for 2010. 2009 wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t particularly fantastic, either. I offer a prayer for what’s left of our nation and the liberty of its people. I do have hopes for 2010. I wish a happy and prosperous new year to all Anti-contributors. It’s my honor to occasionally be among your ranks.
@Moon-howler
My mom says it’s the full moon. Our son has been a genuine pistol today. My wife and I are almost giddy that he’s going to bed soon.
M-H,
Please, don’t drink the rat poison, you know the old saying, “this too shall pass” 🙂
I wish everyone a healthy peaceful and uncomplicated 2010, even those who sometimes irritate me, I truly do wish a blessed new year.
Slow,
Hopefully when your little guy goes to bed….soon, you and the wife can relax, have a nice glass of wine, and wonder about what new adventure is around the corner. Life is never boring with children!
Happy New Year, Elena, Alanna, Moon-Howler and everyone!
I want to thank all of you for your hospitality that you extended to me during the past year on this blog. I look forward to enjoying more interesting topics next year.
Happy new year to all!
Happy New Year all. May 2010 be as exciting and challenging as 2009 only in a more positive way. Peace be with you.
Happy New Year to you too Cindy!@cindy b
Happy New Year to all. I think I might go for the boxed merlot. Class act. I gave up, put on earphones and treated myself to a River Runs Through It. Scratch the merlot idea. Dental work. bummer.
Slow, that was very kind. I am glad you are here also. Opinion, your input in invaluable. Happy New Year Cindy. Keep up the good work for mankind.
No blue moon visibility. bummer.
Michael Barone has an interesting opinion piece in the Washington Examiner called Farewell to the decade of Fear. I had never thought of it as such but it is worth reading.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Farewell-to-the-Decade-of-Fear-8674434-80345097.html
End of a decade. Wow. Poor Dick Clark. What a trooper. I never thought he would get old. He was always the adult who was sort of a kid. He keeps on hanging in there. It was his goal to get well enough to go back to hosting NYE. He is 80.
Ho ho ho I got the first comment on of 2010!!!!
No, check me out on the other thread….. 00:03!
@Elena
No alcohol….wife’s working on #2.
@Elena
oh, and she’s “first trimester” sleepy, so she didn’t make it to midnight.
Happy New Year!! Looking forward to another year of blogging fun with Anti
Happy New Year everyone. Thanks to the hosts as well as the contributors for informing and engaging our community. We are all the better for it.
I would like to take the occasion of the New Year to throw a large kudo to Moon-howler. I only started to post recently here, but I have to admit that I took a look at this blog and others in PWC over a year ago. What I found then was a fight between the BVBL and the anti-BVBL that, quite frankly, reminded me of the old Hatfields and McCoys in Kentucky and West Virginia. Such name-calling and verbally knifing on both sides I had seldom seen anywhere except in the comment posts after some internet newspaper articles. Greg L was crucified on one side and Elena, Alanna, and Katherine on the other, every day and in every way. And the talk of censoring and banning and what all — woof, the Vietnam War seemed more peaceful to me!!
I came back later and what did I find? Both sides had calmed down. Opinions and viewpoints had not changed much, and there were still occasional cross-blog jabs and punches; but the anger had simmered down and the commentary seemed to be more reasoned and calmer. Mind you, being a staunch conservative independent, there are a number of people on this blog with whom I have basic political differences. But it now seems to me that Moon-howler has somehow changed this thing to where you can disagree and then agree to disagree without having to pull out guns or pistols. Moreover, our blogmeister has broadened the topics so much that, if you are not inclined on a particular day to dispute someone else’s opinion, you can always find another subject to which you can contribute your thoughts. In effect, this blog has been turned into a broad and welcomed smorgasbord of interesting topics. If, on any given day , you cannot find something of interest to address, you had better crawl out of that cardboard box in which you are living.
So, to Moon-howler let me say that you have done a cracker jack job at turning this into a most attractive blog of varied opinions; and I am looking forward to visiting during the coming year. If it was in my power, I would give you a sort of Blog Peace Prize. To those posters with whom I might disagree, continue to argue your points and argue them well. I am a staunch conservative, and you don’t have a prayer of changing that. I don’t hesitate to say what is on my mind. But I like to hear the opinions of the other side when they are spoken without rancour and with respect. Funny thing. The only time I have ever had a post not accepted was on a conservative blog when I told the blogmeister that I thought he was being much too conservative on an issue. Now, aint that the cat’s pajamas!!!
Anyway, the best of New Years to all of you –Moon-howler, Elena, Slowpoke, Emma, Opinion, Witness Too, and all the others, including Formerly Anonymous, whoever you are.
To Slowpoke: GRRRRR! Snarl. You got me!
Congratulations on the new little mouse!
To Wolverine: Thank you for your kind words. We all have some common ground where we can agree. I think we actually find it on occassion. Thank you for your contributions to this blog. They are invaluable. Plus, we love our American Indians. 😉 (you and I, that is)
To all: Let’s put the Decade of Fear behind us and see what kind of trouble we can get in to during the ‘teens.
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with neighbors,
and let each New Year find you a better person.”
B. Franklin
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two is crazy but wonderful 🙂@Slowpoke Rodriguez