Many of our contributors are watching the county BOCS meeting. Let’s make it easier for them to comment.
All comments are welcome. Consider this a fairly open thread.
Has the Coppermine vehicle parking been addressed yet? I want the 18 wheelers gone from there also.
The stabber who knifed his former girl friend repeatedly, in front of their son, has been captured, according to the Manassas News and Messenger:
MANASSAS, Va.—The U.S. Marshals Service this morning arrested a man wanted for stabbing his ex-girlfriend on New Year’s Day.
Marshals found Davis Marcelis Frye hiding in an apartment in the 8600 block of Devonshire Court in Manassas about 6:30 a.m., said Prince William County police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez.
Frye, 38, is accused of kicking down the door of the 33-year-old victim’s Manassas area home and stabbing her in front of their 10-year-old son about 5:30 p.m.
The victim suffered critical injuries and remains hospitalized, police said. She had a protective order against Frye, issued in February.
Frye has been charged with aggravated malicious wounding, burglary with intent to commit assault, making threatening phone calls and violating a protective order, Hernandez said.
We certainly wish the victim of this vicious attack a speedy recovery. We thank the police, the U.S. marshals, and citizens’ contributing information for the capture of this vicious criminal. Schools were affected and an entire neighborhood was very ill at ease during the time this evil-doer was on the lamb. Most residents kept their doors locked around the clock, even when they were at home. Sudley School was under lock down at least once. It is time for David Frye to be behind bars so he no longer harms or disrupts society.
Miep Gies died yesterday at age 100, after a brief illness. While her name might not seem familiar, Miep was the young Dutch Christian woman who hid the family of Anne Frank for more than 2 years during Nazi occupation in Holland. She was Otto Frank’s secretary. Hiding Jews during this time put anyone at risk, yet Miep not only confronted the Gestapo, but she also sequestered Anne Frank’s diary away until after the war. After the war, she returned to diary to Anne’s father, Otto Frank.
According to Business Week:
Gies was the last survivor of a group of co-workers who hid the Frank family and four other Jews in a secret annex of an Amsterdam office building owned by Anne’s father, Otto. From July 6, 1942, until Aug. 4, 1944, Gies, her husband, Jan, and the other helpers risked arrest and possible death by providing the Jews with food, supplies, news and a link to the outside world.
After the Gestapo raided the annex and sent the Franks and the others in hiding to concentration camps, Gies and a fellow worker, Bep Voskuijl, sifted through the debris and found Anne’s cloth-covered diary. Gies hid it in a desk drawer until after the war, hoping to return it to its young author.
Upon learning that Anne and her sister, Margot, died at Bergen-Belsen, Gies gave the diary to Otto Frank, the only family member who survived the camps. He published it in 1947
Miep Gies dedicated her life to keeping Anne Frank’s story alive. She traveled to different countries and spoke at schools and to civic and church groups. Every August 4, the day the Franks were taken away, Miep shut herself up in the house with the curtains drawn to commemorate the taking of her friends.
Gies received the Raoul Wallenberg Award for bravery in 1990 and the Order of Merit from Germany in 1994. In Israel, the Yad Vashem memorial pays tribute to Gies as a member of the Righteous Among Nations, a list of non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust. She humbly accepted the accolades, insisting that what she did during those two years wasn’t extraordinary.
“I am not a hero,” Gies wrote in her autobiography, “Anne Frank Remembered” (Simon & Schuster, 1988). “I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more — much more — during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the hearts of those of us who bear witness.”
Gies was born Hermine Santrouschitz to Christian parents on Feb. 15, 1909, in Vienna. Austrians were suffering from a food shortage after World War I, and Gies was sent to Leiden, the Netherlands, as part of a relief program to help malnourished children. She lived with a foster family, who gave her the name Miep, believing that Hermine was too formal.
Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl has sold more copies than any non-fiction book other than the Bible. Several films have been made of the story. Oddly enough, I watched the 2001 film starring Sir Ben Kingsly as Otto Frank over the weekend. It was quite different from the earlier version. The viewer actually traveled with the Frank family from being a solidly middle class family into the horrors of the concentration camps. Miep and her co-workers stood out as those who took that extra step to do the right thing, to correct a wrong, even when their very lives were at risk for doing so.
How wonderful that Ms. Gies had such a long life with little illness involved. The people of the world will be forever indebted to her for her contributions and because she reminds us of the evil men can and will do until good and decent people stand up and say NO MORE.
What is it that makes a person silently stand up against wrong-doing? Is it the person, it is the situation? How come some people could turn their heads to what was happening all around them and others were called to take unthinkable riskly steps of bravery that not only could impact their way of life but their very lives?
The extreme bravery of Miep Gies does not die with her. Her bravery and courage jumps out of every page of the the Anne Frank books and off of every frame in the films. Her bravery has impacted several generations of readers and will continue to do so. She will serve as a model when people question how to do the right thing.
Miep Gies Resources
There are many others.
Once again, developers are proposing to solve our transportation problems by building more houses. Once again the target area is the Rural Crescent, where the Avendale development would increase residential densities from 12 to 295 homes if approved by Supervisors.
Let’s do a recap of the recent financial bloodletting in the real estate market for Prince William County. With thousands of homes still in foreclosure and more than 30 THOUSAND approved new homes still unbuilt, it’s fair to say that a lack of housing is NOT an issue for Prince William County.
Adding insult to injury, these unneeded new homes are proposed for the County’s “protected” rural area. Why is the Rural Crescent the most valuable land use tool this County can claim? Because it establishes a rural area with lower population densities, reducing the need to invest precious limited tax dollars for infrastructure.
Every citizen benefits, from west to east, by NOT having to invest tax dollars to build new roads, new schools, new hospitals, etc. in areas far from the County’s population centers. Instead, the County should invest our resources in areas where we get the biggest bang for our buck – the development area.
Today the talk shows have been filled to the brim with talk of Senator Harry Reid’s admitted gaffe from a private conversation regarding President Obama. From Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON – The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama’s race during the 2008 presidential bid and are quoted in a yet-to-be-released book about the campaign.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Obama is the nation’s first African-American president.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments,” Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were first reported on the Web site of The Atlantic.
“I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama’s legislative agenda.”
Soooo, Senator Reid manned up and said he used a poor choice of words. I agree. First of, I would have to know with whom he had his PRIVATE conversation before I got too judgemental. Let’s examine the word ‘Negro, which also appears on the 2000 census and the 2010 census. Is that word outdated, out of vogue, or just plain racist? If it appears on the census and is used in organizations like the United Negro College Fund, should it be changed immediately?
RNC chief Michael Steele was quite outspoken in his disapproval of Reid’s choice of words. In the Washington Post this morning, Steele called on Reid to step down:
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should resign from office after acknowledging that he had described President Obama as “light skinned” and possessing no “Negro dialect” in a conversation with reporters.
“There is this standard where Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own,” said Steele in an interview with “Fox News Sunday. “But if it comes from anyone else, it is racism.”
Steele, who is African American, compared Reid’s comments about Obama to remarks made by then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lot in 2002 in which the Mississippi Republican, at a birthday party for South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, said that “all these problems” might not have occurred if Thurmond had been elected president in 1948.
Last week Steele made the unfortunate remark, ‘honest Injun’ when attesting to his own truthfulness. He seemed unaware that someone might consider that expression offensive. Talk shows were filled with various talking heads who compared what Reid said to Imus’s reference to teenage basketball players as ‘nappy headed ‘ho’s.’
I think we can all agree that there are very few instances where the term ‘Negro’ is appropriate. Much has changed as far as polite terms since I was a child. When I was a kid, ‘Negro’ was the polite term that people used. Our ‘PC’ has changed, often drastically. We have other terms to choose from. Unless we are making historical reference, there are just much better ways of speaking. However, to not understand the difference between the Reid remark and the Imus remark is just plain ignorant.
It will be interesting to see how our contributors feel about this latest round of Democrat vs. Republican. I shied alway from this topic all day. However, it is a live, viable topic that people are talking about. I have decided to risk life and limb and post an Anti thread on the subject.
The late Elvis Presley turned 75. He was born on January 8, 1935 and died very prematurely August 16, 1977 at age 42. Elvis probably has done more for ushering in rock n roll than any other person. He brought gospel music, country and blues into a genre called rockabilly and from there into actual rock n roll. He was controversial and frowned upon by the ‘parent’ generation. When he first appeared on Ed Sullivan, his hips were not allowed to be filmed. Shock and awe.
Elvis was drafted, married a teenager named Pricilla, and returned to not only make recordings but also films and perform at concerts. His home, Gracelands, is now a museum to the King. Even though divorced before his death, Pricilla Presley keeps the memory of Elvis alive. Millions of fans tour Graceland each year.
According to Wikipedia:
Presley is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth-century popular culture. He is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, with sales of approximately 1 billion units worldwide.[2][3][4] Among many honors, he was nominated for 14 competitive Grammys (winning 3 times) and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame.
It is very hard to believe that Elvis would be 75 had he lived and that he has been gone for 32 years. Prescriptions drug abuse and poor health habits caused Presley’s untimely death. How much American talent has ended prematurely because of sustance abuse and alcohol? Janice Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Heath Ledger, Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi, Jim Morrison, Chris Farley, Marilyn Monroe, Jerry Garcia, Judy Garland…the list seems endless. Our supposed war on drugs has not been particularly successful.
Mr. Howler just came out with the news that there is going to be no more Nissan Pavillion. The concert venue out in Gainesville that backs up traffic for miles and miles will soon have a new name. The stock holders voted to rename the pavillion after its new naming rights sponsor, Jiffy Lube.
We have Fed Ex Field, the Verizon Center, the Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium, Wolftrap, the Merriweather Post Pavillion, and ….the Jiffy Lube Pavillion near Manassas. Arrggggghhhh. If only we weren’t already known for the Bobbitt incident, perhaps the Jiffy Lube Pavillion wouldn’t be quite as bad. but what does one say, I am going out to the Jiffy Lube for a concert? Maybe it can just be known as the JLP.
I doubt if many locals will be bragging about this new name. It just sort of adds insult to injury.
No major scandals this new year so we have to rely on Jon Stewart (for Elena and me) for our weekly smut.
Peter Orszag is Stewart’s object of ridicule du jour. One has to wonder. Orszag hardly seems like a lady’s man to me. ‘Fess up ladies, how many of you all would have dated this dude, much less had his love child?
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Peter Orszag Sex Scandal | ||||
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No pictures. No names. No job descriptions. No Such Agency.
Last week we learned of 7 C.I.A. agents who were killed in Afghanistan in one of the remote camps. The agents were killed by a suicide bomber who apparently was working as a double agent. Today, the news showed the bomber’s wife on TV, bragging about her husband and saying he would never work for the Americans or help them. Yet, our people, trained in espionage, trusted this man and allowed him on base with few questions asked.
Furthermore, we really don’t know who these people were. The C.I.A. has not released their names. We know a few names only because their families have spoken to the press. The C.I.A. is known for being a tight knit community and for being very proprietary about their intelligence. Yet, somewhere in this mix we find out that there were 2 Blackwater (now known as Xe LLC) C.I.A. agents also killed. 2 of the C.I.A. agents were women. This too, is highly unusual.
Unfortunately, our glimpse into this tight-knit society is only because of their deaths. One of the women who was killed will probably never be known. The New York Times, after consulting with the C.I.A. has agreed to not release her name. This is serious stuff. The other woman’s name was released by her father.
A dignified transfer is conducted for every U.S. military member who dies in the theater of operation while in the service of their country. This transfer takes place at Dover Air Force Base.
Today the New York Times told of a new facility at Dover Air Force Base, where our troops killed in service of their country are flown in from Afghanistan and Iraq. Much will change, for the better, for our military families who have to greet the unthinkable–their son, daughter, husband, wife, father’s casket.
Since April 2009, the first month of a Pentagon policy that allowed media coverage of the transfers, the remains of 366 service members from Iraq and Afghanistan have passed through Dover, the main point of entry for the nation’s war dead to return home. They have been met by more than 1,000 family members, whose travel and lodging expenses to Dover are paid for by the military.
Families coming to witness the dignified transfer of their loved ones killed in Afghanistan and Iraq had no space to grieve or talk. They often were in a crowded space with other families. Sometimes the cramped quarters led to unpleasant circumstances. Suzie Schwartz, the wife of Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, witnessed some of the tension and stress that was exchanged between families awaiting the arrival of the deceased and told her husband that something had to be done.
There is too much news to stick to topic threads. Here is the weekly open thread, as promised.
Much as been said since Christmas Day about the use of the full body scan. Some countries immediately began using the scanners. Reagan Airport locally is using full body scanners. However, there are many privacy issues that are preventing TSA from implementing these machines from full use at all airports for all passengers.
The body scanners are quite controversial because of privacy and basically, getting a bird’s eye view of people in private areas. Women seem to feel far more violated than do men.
Should all passengers undergo a full body scan or is enough enough? Will the body scanners stop terrorists or is this just another hoop to jump through? Are we giving up all our rights of privacy to be safe or to give an illusion that we are safe?
The following editorial appeared in the New York Times on yesterday, January 5, 2010.
The Editorial is printed in its entirety.
The quest for overhauling immigration received two very welcome lifts on New Year’s Day.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, at his inauguration, pledged to help the Obama administration pass immigration reform. Mr. Bloomberg is a force to reckon with, as he proved with his national campaign against illegal guns. On the same day, four young people in Miami, current or former students at Miami Dade College, began their own determined march to Washington in an effort to bring pressure from the grass roots.
Three of the four were brought to this country illegally as children. Like thousands of other young people, they bear no blame for their status, and they are frustrated that their hard work and bright promise lead to a brick wall. Their protest for a chance to become Americans is courageous because it exposes them to possible arrest and deportation. “We are risking our future because our present is unbearable,” one of them, Felipe Matos, told The Times.
Apparently President Obama met with 20 of his closest advisors and agency heads and had a real old fashioned trip to the wood shed with them. According to the Huffington Post:
President Barack Obama scolded 20 of his highest-level officials on Tuesday over the botched Christmas Day terror attack on an airliner bound for Detroit, taking them jointly to task for “a screw-up that could have been disastrous” and should have been avoided.
After that 90-minute private reckoning around a table in the super-secure White House Situation Room, a grim-faced Obama informed Americans that the government had enough information to thwart the attack ahead of time but that the intelligence community, though trained to do so, did not “connect those dots.”
Once again,the talking heads buzzed about what he said and what he didn’t say. Oddly enough, some old enemies gave him higher marks.
Is the president doing as much as you expect to combat terror? Is the increased security at airports going to help combat terrorism or is it ‘chasing the news?’ Will increased sky marshalls help fight terrorism? How about the closer inspection of those whose flight originates in certain countries? Will any US officials be fired?
More importantly, how do you feel those who would do us harm see the resolve of the United States, as evidenced by our President?
Full story in the Washington Post
WHAT? Who is Brit Hume to tell anyone that their faith is basically inferior and that Christianity is the only religion with REAL forgiveness and redemption. How self righteous and pompous can one person be?
