There is too much news to stick to topic threads. Here is the weekly open thread, as promised.
68 Thoughts to “Weekly Open Thread 1/6/10 in the year 2KX”
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Blogroll
- 9500Liberty
- Bacons' Rebellion Blogspot
- Bearing Drift
- Blue Virginia
- Citizen Tom
- Counts of Monte Cristo. The
- Derecho, The
- Dixie Pig, The
- My Side of the Fence
- My Star Journey
- NARAL Pro-Choice VA Blog
- New Dominion Project
- Nova Common Sense
- NovaTownHall Blog
- One Libertarians's Point of View by Al Alborn
- Pete Candland's Blog
- Potomac Local
- Prince William Muckraker
- PW Conservation Alliance
- PWC Moms
- PWCPolitics.com
- PWCPolitics.com
- Red NoVA
- Shad Plank, The
- She the People
- State of NoVA, the
- The Jeffersoniad
- Townhall
- VEA Daily Reports
- VivianPaige
- WDGolden.com
- You, Me and the Lamp Post
The Holocaust Museum shooter, Von bronn, has died in prison.
I need an update from JustinT or anyone else who wants to tell me that the Demoncrats will be in power for the next 20+ years or so. I need to hear again that the Republicans are lost forever and nobody could ever overcome the awesome power of the Democratic agenda. I haven’t heard that for a while and I’m starting to see things happen that might contradict that notion. I need to hear from those folks again so I don’t let this stuff about Dodd, Dorgan, etc. confuse me from the “path of true enlightenment”.
A challenge for both parties is not imploding from attacks from their
own “true believer” members.
Article in NYT today about Charlie Crist being lambasted by fellow
GOPers as he seeks a US Senate seat. Conservatives “… see
Crist’s career pockmarked with instances of consensus building,
deal-making, compromise and bipatisanship – making him a
pariah of the party — a moderate.”
Did anyone hear that the state department revoked the “underwear bomber’s” visa 12 days after Christmas? We’re soooo awesome!!
@Poor Richard
And in N. Dakota, the Democratic leadership is reaching out to none other than Ed Schultz to run for Dorgan’s seat. L….O…..L!!
Moderates aren’t real popular PR. The catch it from both sides.
That’s the problem. If one compromise, one is labeled something horrible, usually having to do with an animal. So nothing ever happens. Good reason to hate politics.
That’s one reason I don’t feel too sorry for the Republicans as the Democrats tromp on them. They fiddled and diddled around for 8 years and blamed the Democrats for their lack of achievement. It simply makes no sense.
And now we have the Democrats blaming the Republicans for their lack of achievement. You’ll apparently never hear this President say, “The buck stops here.”
And what did the President mean when he said that he won’t “tolerate” the lack of communication that led to the panty bomber? The only consequences so far seem to have to do with making air travel more miserable for law-abiding Americans. Protect the administration first, the American people last, I guess.
What is it that you want him to do? Whose head is it that you want, Emma, and will it make you feel safer? I don’t feel like breaking in new people. Did Napolitano herself allow the Underpants Bomber on the plane? Was it even her policies? We don’t even know where the breakdown was. Perhaps the person who failed to connect the dots got fired for sleeping on the job. That makes more sense to me than to start shooting at the top.
I just don’t have this need for political vengence. Must be a moderate thing.
Napolitano launched into immediate knee-jerk, self-congratulatory cover-up mode. The President directly contradicted her. She is clearly out of touch with security procedures and the “system” she believed “worked” so well. She is incompetent, and she should go. For starters.
As more information was uncovered, different words were said. I didn’t feel that Napolitano was being self-congratulatory at all. I felt she was trying to calm people down.
I do not feel she is incompetent. Perhaps she is not the best speaker but that has nothing to do with her ability to administer the dept of homeland security. Probably much has to do with whether you like her in the first place. You have been critical of her all along. You might say the same thing about how I would feel about Karl Rove. He probably could do very little right in my eyes. I have always been fairly neutral about Napolitano. She’s ok. I might even have a few positive vibes about her. Eric Holder? Not so much.
What I left off is, how would firing her make Americans safer? I am not sure I understand what you feel she is incompetent at. She heads up the largest cabinet post in the government. I would say that most problems there are because the department is way too huge to be manageable. I don’t even think Tom Ridge could handle it now. There are so many layers between Napolitan and the Underpants Bomber it isn’t even funny. Did everyone do their job afterwards?
Janet N. isn’t worthy to scrape the illegal-immigrant poop off Joe Arpaio’s duty boots. Problem is, fire her, Obumbles would just replace her with some other empty-headed boob. Maybe a nice man/woman/hermaphrodite would be good!
You have to figure Janet’s got her eye on those right-wing extremists. That helps the real enemy blow planes out of the sky, while she’s looking inward on US citizens.
Oh, and I’m a moderate….did I mention that?
Slowpoke, moderate no. Let’s not describe you in your snarky stage.
You are speaking emotionally rather than from logic.
Slow, I think your right but it would be more fitting if he replaced her with a campaign donor… at least that has been his M.O. for other positions. Heck a campaign donor couldn’t be any less of a moron than Janet.
I’m a moderate as well…
Lockheed Martin to cut 1200 jobs in the area! Don’t know how many will be at the Manassas location, but they are consolidating operations between two divisions, and one i know to be based partially in Manassas at the former IBM location there.
This could potentially have a very bad affect on the local housing market.
This is NOT good news, not for Manassas, nor anwhere else in the DC area where these jobs will be cut, all in the name of cost cujtting efficiencies.
My company is doing real well in spite of the economy, and I thought Lockheed Martin was too. I’ll know more maybe tomorrow – i need to contact my former IBM manager who still works at Lockheed Martin, and I’m good buddies with – and he’ll be able to get me the straight scoop. The local news article about this is unclear where the jobs being cut are located in the DC area.
Firing her won’t necessarily make America safer, but it will show that Obama means what he says, that he values security over saving face for hiring incompetent political appointees. Otherwise, saying “I will not tolerate…etc” is completely meaningless. What will you do then, Mr. President? I can imagine him saying, “Well, I’ll give another speech.”
Napolitano errors:
1) Singling out returning war veterans as potential terrorists
2)Suggesting that the 9/11 terrorists entered the U.S. via Canada
3)Equating the Mexican and Canadian borders in terms of violence
4)Giving cover to Joe Biden’s idiotic swine flu gaffe by mischaracterizing his intent.
5)”The system worked.” WTF?
Moon, I’d be interested in seeing what you believe are her positive attributes.
Surely the President could find another competent tax cheat to take the DHS position.@hello
I’m more interested in seeing Timothy Geitner go, if you ask me. This latest bailout of GM right before the New Year, and of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae right before Christmas, as well as giving sweetheart loans to Goldman Sacs executives right before Christmas, has got to stop.
There’s probably a whole pile of upper management in these companies that were toasting Timothy Geitner (and Obama) when the New Year came in. It’s nice that Obama’s still throwing more good money after bad, down the GM sinkhole. What needs to be is for GM to go through a REAL bankrupcy restructuring, get the unions back in line with their American Honda counterparts, and stop this continual dumping of bailout money at GM.
Everyone should be clammoring for Geitner’s resignation at this point.
Just my opinion, but I’m fed up with the bailout stuff. And, the gov’t is pressureing FreddieMAc and Fannie Mae to loosen up their lending standards as part of this latest bailout. Sounds good , right? Let’s help stimulate the housing market.
No, this is just a repeat of the past stupid thinking. Those loosened loan standards will lead to a new wave of subprime lending and foreclosures down the line. What they are doing is trying to improve the housing market for the short term – and forget about the medium to long term affects. If this continues, 5 or 10 years from now we could be right back where we were last year. Geitner and Obama should be ashamed for pressuing the mortgage companies to loosen up their lending standards. It is a rob peter to pay paul approach – that will make things look good now, but could lead to yet another housing collapse down the road!
Our citizens wonder aloud why their voices are blatantly ignored by elected officials, as soulless corporate entities, political action committees and the very rich, out bid the People for the right to have their voices heard and grievances addressed. The first resolution that we must keep in this New Year, is to act decisively to remedy the corruption of our political process, both here in Virginia and nationally.
James Madison may be credited with writing the First Amendment, but he would not have characterized campaign finance reform as limiting the free speech of our citizens.
As we now have it in Virginia, corporations, political action committees (PACs) and citizens who do not even reside in a particular district; can give money to a candidate.
If we want the voices of the citizens of each district to again be heard by elected officials, we must take the following steps:
1. Restrict contributions to come only from citizens whose PRIMARY residence is within the district. This simple, yet dramatic revision, would amplify the voices of the citizens who reside in the respective districts, and restore the representative relationship between our elected officials and the citizens who reside in their areas of representation.
2. Eliminate PAC contributions.
3. Eliminate corporate contributions. Corporations are profit-making entities whose by-laws mandate that they expend money only with the expectation of a return on that investment. Corporations, in spite of their public relations propaganda exist only to make money and are not, “corporate citizens.” Only People are citizens.
4. Cap the amount of contributions to the federal limit for an individual contribution.
Write to your Delegate and Senator and tell them that campaign finance reform will dramatically reduce corruption and will enhance the ability of the individual citizen to be heard. If they do not support reform, then work for a candidate in the next election who pledges to enact campaign finance reforms as enumerated above.
Ah yes, transparency in government, but someone forgot to tell them that those chamber doors don’t have any windows! Not even members of congress know what is going on in those ‘non-transparent’ healthcare negotiations. That is, negotiations within their own party. So for all those that thought Obama was going to bring a new era of government openness, think again! Now prove me wrong.
The closed-door healthcare sessions only amplify the fact that our elected representatives forget that they work for US, that this is a government OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people. If this were a good bill, it would be deliberated on C-SPAN just as the President promised during his campaign. It’s not a good bill, and the “C-SPAN” promise turned out to be just another big, fat lie.
And for those who say that it is only because of Republican “obstructionism” that this bill is now being worked out in secret, I would ask, “What about your Democratic ‘supermajority’?” It’s the Democratic Party’s failure to fully support its own agenda that is the problem. They never needed any Republican votes. Why aren’t THEY all in lockstep?
Gainesville Resident,
Hear, hear!
GR –
If GM was allowed to fall into bankruptcy (late 2008), the repercussions in the financial market may have tipped the scale into a financial collapse. Listening to those who know more than me, they say that we were hours away from collapse – I can only listen to them, as I do not know.
I laugh at the likes of Bob Corker, who presses for GM to file bankruptcy, and then complains when dealerships of his constituents are closed – isn’t this what happens in a bankruptcy, that the company can reneg on contracts, suppliers and lenders? Where are our Congressmen looking to break the contracts of AIG, Wachovia, Wamu, Merryl, etc employees? The financial companies took much more liberties, and still got paid huge salaries and bonuses, even though there companies were insolvent, and absorbing huge amounts of TARP funds. Amazing that these C-Level ppl think it is OK to pay bonuses even though they have run the company into the ground, where is their Moral Compass?
The unions are an easy target, but if you are going to call for breaking the contract of the worker on the assembly line, you should also call for the breaking of the individual mgmt contracts.
I believe it was GMAC (a separate company) that received more bailout money through TARP before the holidays, not GM.
But GM did go into bankruptcy in 2009 and it didn’t cause any problems in the wider market. The objection I have is that GM didn’t go into normal bankruptcy. It went into Special Political Bankruptcy were the UAW claims got bumped ahead of secured creditors. The major banks holding GM bonds, which should have been first in line at bankruptcy, were pressured out of objections thanks to their dependence on TARP money.
Eventually, GM will disappear for the simple reason that the ‘new’ GM is even more fundamentally flawed than the ‘old’ GM. The new GM will be a ward of the state for the remainder of its life. The only question is how many billions of dollars will be spent pretending that GM has a future before it is shut down.
As for GMAC, the reason advanced for the latest GMAC bailout was that GMAC is needed as the primary lender for people buying GM cars. Apparently it is impossible for GM car buyers to borrow money from regular banks like people who buy cars from Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and just about every other car company. So, in my opinion, it is entirely fair to include the costs of the GMAC bailout as part of the cost of ‘saving’ GM.
GR, it didn’t go through a normal bankruptcy. I have heard the same thing, Pat.
Emma, I can’t get past #1. Totally political statement. For starters, it wasn’t her report. In the second place, the statement was taken out of context. There is a high correlation of instability with those returning from combat. There is in most wars. Everyone knows that. Most people don’t try to turn it into political gain.
Yes, and I said that it was GMAC in my post above!!! Anyway, it’s still helping GM. Sorry, the fast bankruptcy of GM is what screwed things up. They should have gone through a NORMAL bankruptcy and then come out – not this 15 day thing or whatever that didn’t do anything. They are still a mess. And it’s not much of a distintion that the bailout is for GMAC this time. I’m sorry have to agree with the following local economic’s professors view of this latest bailout:
http://www.wtop.com/?sid=595567&nid=92 – 3 minute interview, highly worth listening to.
That’s what I said, the problem is it did NOT go through a normal bankruptcy. That 15 day thing (roughly) was a joke, and since then GM’s had all kinds of issues – and they’ve fired the CEO appointed during that bankruptcy, etc. They still have big big issues, and I don’t see them turning around really.
And I agree Pat.Herve – where’s the outrage about AIG, Merryl, Wachovia, etc. I don’t like the bailouts of them either – especially AIG. AIG’s a bunch of crooks, and we’ve been giving them money and special deals hand over foot – meanwhile they keep giving their upper level employees huge bonuses – have these fancy “retreats” for their top executives, etc. All of that occurred AFTER the gov’t bailout of them, and they defended that stuff as being necessary to retain their top talent. Their “top talent” ran the company into the ground, and yet they are being rewarded for that? Preposterous! If I did that kind of job at my company, I’d be out on the street – no one would be forking over a nice bonus to me and inviting me to some “company retreat” at some resort place! Apparently these top executives at these failed banks, you can completely screw up and still get a $1 million bonus at the end of the year! It’s so preposterous.
The second guessing on the economy is purely speculative since we don’t know what would have really happened had the govt under Bush and then uner Obama not stepped in.
For every nay-sayer, there is a yea-sayer. I simply don’t know. I would say some good moves have been made as well as some bad ones. I still take my hat off to President Bush for going against his personal grain and many in the part to get that first TARP in place.
I heard lots of people talking about letting the market work itself out. The people I know who study this sort of thing were absolutely wild eyed. I followed their thinking–sometimes you have to tweak the markets.
GR, had GM gone through normal bankruptcy, how would have have affected all the secondary businesses based on GM? Also how would the financial end have been affected. I think their mortgage and loan business end is probably what pushed them over the edge, rather than the car business.
The car end of things is what was supposed to have the domino effect on the rest of civilization.
Exactly, that “special bankruptcy” and putting the union ahead of other debtors – was a joke. Shows you how much power the union has! We all know the union’s were a big constituency of Obama’s anyway.
I also heard the stuff about why GMAC is necessary – same as what you said above. Why is that? Why is it that GM car buyers can’t get loans through banks but Honda, Toyota, Nissan – heck even Ford – can?? Makes no sense to me. Does the bank say – “oh, that’s a GM car you want to buy – we don’t do loans on GM cars”??? If so, that’s shameful and another sign of the banks doing things bad for the economy. What’s the difference about a GM car? Does the bank think GM will go away, so loans on GM cars are more prone to default of something? Makes no sense to me. The whole GMAC business is strange, if you ask me!
I think GM’s creditors would have fared better during a normal bankruptcy. The union’s interests were pushed above the creditors. Even with this “special bankruptcy” thousands of dealers are being closed, etc. I don’t think that would have been much different under a normal bankruptcy, but the resultant reorg’ed company would have been better.
The gov’t should pressure the banks, and say, you can’t discriminate in not making loans to GM cars. If a customer comes in with the same credit rating as a customer wanting to buy a non-GM car – you have to treat them equal. This business about banks not making loans on GM cars is beyond ridiculous. Once again, the banks are the source of the problem. Why doesn’t the gov’t lean on the banks? No, instead let’s bailout GMAC.
What does the bail out consist of? I just haven’t paid attention.
Here’s the dilemma with the union people: If you go along working for years counting on X and making your retirement plans accordingly, and someone pulls the rug out from under you, you become a burden to society. On the other hand, some of these folks have it made. Cut it off for the new people but don’t pull the rug out from under people close to retirement or in retirement.
Many of the neighborhoods of affordable “starter homes” that first made PWC
popular with young families are starting to get a little long in the tooth. Some
are now over fifty years old. What does this imply about the extra need to
care for not only aging individual houses, but entire areas?
Manassas Park – west of #28 (1958)
Loch Lomond (1958)
Westgate (1961)
Marumsco (1961)
Dale City (1965)
Georgetown South (1965)
(The dates are an average – construction might have been over several years)
@Poor Richard
It’s a very valid point. Look at the entire swath of homes all around Lomond/Liberia and then following around to Manassas Dr and Amherst Dr and streets adjacent to all those areas. LOTS of houses. I’ve seen some extensively worked on with outside additions to modernize them. But there’s many many more that haven’t been worked on in that way. It is a good percentage of housing stock in some areas of the city and PWC.
GR,
It just isn’t what we can easily see but infrastructure like aging water
and sewer pipes and overloaded electrical lines (the average home used
20-25% less electricity 50 years ago). Building codes weren’t as strict.
How long before we start seeing systemic failures?
Of course, many things are apparent. Five decades ago it
was one family = one vehicle and streets and parking were planned
for that norm, which is sadly inadequate today.
Were these communities more impacted than others by
overcrowding and then the foreclosure wave?
They could provide data for an interesting academic social, political,
economic and engineering study.
And many of those older homes are better built than some of the newer ones. Craftsmanship was still in style back then.
The most serious concern with some of those houses is that some of Loch Lomond was built in a flood plane. Apparently some wink wink nudge nudge went on under the table back in the day. The chickens came home to roost during Agnes when all you could see was roof tops.
Funny you mention that. I usually hear from illegal immigrants: “We build your houses!”, which is basically the best argument for immediate deportation there is!
I think we can take blame back to the builders. They are the ones who allow shoddy workmanship and less than quality materials to be used.
Your humor was not lost on me, however. 🙄
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer Give Them Hell Alabama!
PW and City of Manassas schools on a two hour delay this morning.
Last night on my way back from the City of Manassas I couldn’t help but notice VDOT had already treated Lomond Dr. about 8:30. Meanwhile, Liberia Ave was untreated.
Good points – you are right about aging infrastructure in those older neighborhoods such as sewer and water lines, etc.
I’ve always said that the older neighborhoods most likely WERE impacted more than others by overcrowding and then the foreclosure wave. Point of Woods (built between 1974 – 1985) while not “old old” still I think was impacted more than newer similar townhouse neighborhoods. I do think there’s a pattern there. As you say, it would make for a very interesting “academic social, political, economic and engineering study” to directly quote what you wrote.
Agree 100%. Sadly, my Point of Woods townhouse is FAR FAR better constructed than my new SFH in Gainesville. I can’t believe the shoddy workmanship on my new house. I’ve had endless go-arounds with the builder and have had them in many times in the past year to correct glaring defects.
Doorways that slant 10 degrees? You would never seen that in my old house or probabyl any other Point of Woods townhouses. I’ve got one doorway that makes me dizzy looking at it. That’s just the tip of the iceberg (and it’s a large iceberg) of issues in my house – some I’ve gotten the builder to correct, some I’m still embroiled in a large fight with them on. But amazingly shoddy workmanship. Initially my staircase – the poles that go from the railing down to the floor – were all so misaligned, it looked like a drunk person installed them. Some were canted by 30 degree angles off center! You could see it from a mile away! One door could not even close – it was so off center – it would not even make it to where the edge of the door near the doorknob got inside the doorframe! The granite countertop had a huge missing chunk in one corner where they put the cooktop in. They obviously broke the granite, and then tried to cover it up (this is black granite) with a HUGE glob of white caulking and thought that somehow was an acceptable fix. On the outside, there was a piece of vinyl siding on the side of the house that didnt’ fit right – so they DUCT TAPED it with grey duct tape (the vinyl siding is “antique white”) and again thought that was fine!
I could go on and on but that’s a small sample. When I bought my townhouse new in 1983, there were a few minor issues, all fixed the day after walkthrough, and I never had to call the builder back again.
It’s 14 months now and there’s been 6 visits by the builder, fixing things, and STILL I’ve got a huge punch list of unresolved issues, or things they allegedly “fixed” – but their fixes weren’t so much fixes as “patches” and now once again all that stuff needs fixing. They just fix the symptoms, not the problem.
Out my way I was pleased to see that Glenkirk Rd., Linton Hall Road, and Rt. 29 through the Battlefield all were well treated and just “wet” when I traveled through them at 6 AM this morning on the way to work. Fairfax County Roads in my route to Reston were also well treated. My neighborhood’s roads were the only snow covered roads – they had been untouched. My neighborhood’s roads still are the reponsibilty of the HOA – it is too new yet to have been accepted into the road system. That’s still a year or two away, from what I’ve heard, when most of the houses have been built in it (or maybe when they’ve all been built) – it’s about 1 1/2 – 2 years away from being completed, by my estimate.
The snow is blowing now and is very pretty. Too bad the kids will be in school and won’t enjoy it. Fawvorite son told me last night that the roads had already been treated. He wasn’t specific though and I didn’t ask.
Observations:
– PWC has a more difficult time than the two cities in deciding when to alter
school hours due to weather. It may be mostly clear in Woodbridge, but
still a mess on Bull Run mountain. The folks making the call seem to
always make somebody mad no matter they decide.
– The infamous 9500 Liberty St. site in Manassas is finally free of signs and
other propaganda. Know Mr. Fernandez enjoyed the attention, but
his actions and the resulting publicity hurt and angered many
people in the community who might well have been receptive to
a more reasoned and rational approach. Plus, hopefully someone gave
him a local map for Christmas. Since he lives in PWC and his biggest beef
seems to be with the PWC BOS, hopefully he will find a venue in that
jurisdiction for any future protest.
Will it stay sign free?