Time for another open thread.  There are too many topics floating about out there. 

There is a Jobs Bill, Charlie Rangel fighting for his political life, the death of Senator Ted Stevens, the injury of former NASA chief O’Keefe and his son who are in critical condition following that plane crash that killed Sen. Stevens, the fed is buying back some US debt, and a host of primary elections that pretty much mean nothing to me.   The local politicians seem quiet for a change.

I hope that Wolverine will bring us up to speed on this serial killer type in Leesburg.  That is all very mysterious.

129 Thoughts to “Open Thread Mid-week August 11, 2010”

  1. PWC Taxpayer

    FROM THE MOUTHS OF CHILDREN TO GOD’S EARS:

    The White House struggled Tuesday to explain an outburst by press secretary Robert Gibbs, who called dissatisfied liberals “crazy” and in need of drug testing.

    “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian health care and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon,” Gibbs told the Hill newspaper. “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.” “Those people ought to be drug tested. I mean, it’s crazy.”

    Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Gibbs-retreats-after-calling-liberals-_crazy_-1009021-100389519.html#ixzz0wIkzzUyf

  2. hello

    Interesting Harry Reid comments to voters on how he doesn’t understand how any Hispanic could be a Republican despite him apparently having a key role in killing comprehensive immigration reform in 2007.

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/harry-reid-i-dont-know-how-anyone-hispanic-heritage-could-be-republican

  3. It’s the dog days of August and time for the Prince William County Fair, which opens Friday. Here’s a way to get in free:

    “Bring Food to Get Food” Drive @ PWC Fair benefiting SERVE
    Date: Sunday, August 15th from 12-8PM @ PWC Fair Grounds
    What: Attendees who bring a non-perishable item to the fair get a coupon for a free hot dog. Volunteers are needed to collect food at the entry gates. Great for all ages!
    Bonus: If you volunteer, you get a FREE pass into the fair!!! (good only that day)
    Shifts: 12:00 – 3:00 PM (8-10 volunteers)
    3:00 – 6:00 PM (8-10 volunteers)
    6:00 – 8:00 PM (8-10 volunteers)
    Email Karen Horowitz at [email protected] if you can volunteer and for more information.

    Also, the 6th Annual Yard Crawl is this Saturday, beginning at 7 am. The Yard Crawl is a 43-mile yard sale along Route 11 from Steven’s City to New Market in Shenandoah County.

  4. hello

    Obama Approval Index: -22 (Matches all-time low for this president)
    Strongly Approve 24%
    Strongly Disapprove 46% (Matches highest for this president)
    Total Approval 43%

  5. hello

    Corruptocrats again prove that union support (especially with mid-terms coming up) is worth more to them than just about anything… this time they are literally taking food out of the mouths of those who need it most in these hard economic times to line the pockets of unions. What a disgrace…

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/10/democrats-advocacy-groups-blast-cuts-food-stamps-fund-m-jobs/

  6. Awesome Indian food delivery place we tried last night http://www.curry2go.com.au/

    They are based in Nokesville. Friendly service, wonderful food, good prices. YES!!!

  7. WHOOPS!!!! Wrong link! LOL! Let me get the right one.

  8. Good for Gibbs. Calling it as he sees it. We can’t have that now can we?

  9. Rick Bentley

    I do love a good curry. Minerva’s lunch buffet, mmmm.

    I came here when Ted Kennedy died and said a few words about a life wasted and how politics is no longer an honorable profession (it if ever was). Certainly Ted Stevens is a fine example of that.

  10. Palak Paneer is awesome! And it’s pretty low-cal, too. Lots of spinach. Love it!

  11. Rick Bentley

    I love Palek Paneer too. One of the first Indian dishes I appreciated.

    You can get some decent Palek Paneer in bags at Traders Joe’s.

  12. Rick Bentley

    And it’s easy to make if you use a blender.

  13. PWC Taxpayer

    Government Technology (8/10, Nichols) reports, “Before 2007, the Sheriff’s Department in Pima County, Ariz., had no border crime unit and no official operation to track and seize illegal immigrants sneaking into the US. But that would change. By mid-2007, the border crime unit came into existence, supporting the US Department of Homeland Security’s regional efforts to secure one of the busiest sectors on the Southwest border.” Since it was created, “the unit has referred 1,450 illegal immigrants to border patrol; seized 30,000 pounds of marijuana, 126 vehicles, 44 weapons and more than $1.1 million in cash; and has made nearly 450 non-immigration arrests.”

    Now what was the Obama DOJ argument against local law enforcement taking on illegal immigration again?

  14. Btw, the Fed may be buying back some of our debt. Its doing it with printed money. We are screwed.

  15. PWC Taxpayer

    Oh, I remember, it was that the feds are doing such a good job of controlling illegal immigration and cross border crime that they really don’t need the help and resent the interference from locals law enforcement – therefore, per Mr. Holder, it must be illegal for local law enforcement to take action against federal crimes.

    Corey, what is the overall cost to the County for the enforcement of specific federal crime categories: to include for example, DEA drug support, Federal speed limits, welfare fraud, bank robbery, ATF support, Gang task forces, immigration? I do not want to hear that it is also against State law- that was the issue in AZ.

  16. TP, you are confusing border enforcement with interior enforcement which is what sb 1070 deals with. Why do you think the President sent 1200 additional troops to the border?

    Report that back to Corey please. Is he too lazy to read the blog for himself? Must he have his underlings do it for him?

    Comment #17 makes very little sense.

  17. Thank you Cargo. Put up a blast tomorrow too please. A friend told me there was cloud cover forecast for tomorrow night. I sure am sorry to hear that.

    Where will you go to watch?

  18. Emma

    @Posting as Pinko Oh, yay, thanks, Pinko! Love Indian food.

  19. RingDangDoo

    @Moon-howler

    TP, you are confusing border enforcement with interior enforcement which is what sb 1070 deals with. Why do you think the President sent 1200 additional troops to the border?

    Too easy! Pure political posturing is the motive! Those troops will have no enforcement powers (monitoring only), therefore it’s just a meaningless gesture from the man-child to SEEM like he’s actually doing something about border security. That placates the libtards (ahem), but those with a clue know better. 😉

  20. The 1200 troops ARE NOT going to enforce the border. http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70702

    “The mission in a nutshell is a two-fold support mission in criminal analysis and enter-identification team on the southwest border,” he said.

    What’s needed is permanent troops on the border to stop what is, essentially, an unarmed (mostly) invasion. According to the Pew Foundation, reported by the Arizona Daily Star, 1 out of 15 children are born to parents including one illegal alien.

    http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/08/1-of-15-children-in-us-has-an-illigal-immigrant-parent/

  21. @Rick Bentley
    Wow! You actually cook the stuff yourself? That’s awesome, Rick.

  22. @Emma
    Isn’t it the best? We have had so few Indian restaurants around here long-term, and I don’t think we have ever had one out this way.

    We used to go to Spices in Manassas, but that closed. Once in awhile we go to Tandori Village on 28. The food is good and I love the ambiance, but it’s pricier than we can usually manage.

  23. Ring, no names. Unacceptable. You can’t come on here as a guest and call everyone who doesn’t think like you a ‘libertard.’

    You actually don’t know what they are going to do on the border.

    My point is, border security is one issue. Dealing with illegal immigration insdie our borders is another issue altogether. Drug violence and the cartels are still another issue. Too bad many folks try to treat it all as one simple issue.

  24. PWC Taxpayer

    @Moon-howler

    Do you really believe that or is that just your party paycheck talking?

    Immigration enforcement to include local law enforcement arrest/detention and employer enforcement is all about crime, drug crime/violence, abuse and sex crime, financial crime. It does not matter where it occurs – its all wrapped up together. Control the border and all of it goes down. Control it in the interior and it all goes down – at a significantly higher rate than the illegal immigration population is to the general population. Not opinion – fact. Take the millions found in drugs at the border every day – that is much rarer in the interior. You would not suggest that the drug busts and cartel /gang violence in the interior is not realted to the lack of control at the border or the illegal immigration issue would you? Why does PWC have a gang unit (oh, to get to the italian ans Irsih gangs I bet) . What percent of domestics are related to illegals – most. Why do we have to do undercover work as a percent of PWC’s population – those are real local costs caused by – for the most part illegals.

  25. Until you learn to seperate the components of immigration you simply aren’t going to have any credibility, regardless of how much you attempt to insult me, TP.

    What domestics? Are you saying most domestic housekeepers are related to illegal immigrants? HUH? who cares?

    Your diatribe makes no sense. Again. If you want to pretend it is all one issue, go right ahead. Whisper it in Corey’s ear even.

  26. Rick Bentley

    “Wow! You actually cook the stuff yourself? That’s awesome, Rick.”

    I cooked up Indian food for a while, till my wife started compaining about yellow tumeric stains everywhere. The one thing I did that tasted restaurant quality was the Palek Paneer.

    I enjoyed Spices too. And Tandoori Villiage is a favorite – esp. the butter chicken and the Gulob Jamin (sic) with ice cream. If you haven’t tried Minerva’s lunch buffet, I definitely recommend it. There’s a Minerva in Centreville, one in Reston, one in Fairfax.

  27. Rick Bentley

    Harry Reid. Harry freaking Reid. I lost all respect for this joker years ago.

    What an abject clown. This man is Majority leader of the Senate?

    Once again he opens mouth and firmly plants foot in it. I’m glad there’ll be some open discussion about the issue of the race-based worldview of the Democratic party.

  28. PWC Taxpayer

    PWC’s economy just missed a bullet — sort of. Last year, DoD announced it would reduce its number of service support contractors by about 33,000 by 2015. The Pentagon planned to replace those contractors during the next five years with 39,000 new full-time government employees. The problem now is that DoD is not seeing any savings from the insourcing conversions. I have to admit Gates is at least honest vice increasing the number of Feds for ideological reasons.

    The department had planned to insource contracted services in areas such as logistical support of aviation systems, safety engineering, cost accounting, anti-terrorism training and religious support. Many of these folks live in PWC. Now, Gates is freezing the number of employees inside the Office of Secretary of Defense, military agencies and combatant commands at their fiscal 2010 levels for the next three years. Gates said. The 3,000 contractors supporting the Virginia-based Joint Forces Command also will find themselves out of work.

  29. So Rick, don’t leave us hanging. What did he say?

  30. At least the govt. helps military people who have trouble selling their houses. I believe they only have to personally eat 10% of their investment. The feds cover them for the rest.

    Does anyone know if this applies to any other federal worker types?

  31. Big Dog

    FYI — The Pew Hispanic Center has recently issued a study showing that
    in 2008 one in 12 births in the US were offspring of illegal immigrants.
    About 11 million undocumented people live in the US – accounting
    for 4% of the population, but 8% of births.

    (WSJ 8-12-2010)

  32. Rick Bentley

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/harry-reid-i-dont-know-how-anyone-hispanic-heritage-could-be-republican

    “I don’t know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay. Do I need to say more?”

  33. marinm

    MH, yes. There was a big scandal not too long back about employees of the Postal system gaming the system to buy mansions on the govt dime.

    http://siu.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/05/post-office-mansion/

    PWC, I last heard that 10% of the contractor force supporting the industrial military complex will be eliminated. We’ve seen the issue here with our command where contractors smelled the wind and jumped into government seats and with govt pay+benefits exceeding industry (costs) the govt has pulled back hard on opening positions or are filling them at a GS level below what the slots were going in.

    As a contractor it just means I have more work and more bosses.

    I feel bad for Norfolk.. The tin foil hat in me says the administration did it because of the healthcare loss to Cooch.

  34. Rick, I don’t think that is so bad, in light of all the remarks made by people about Democrats. Tit for tat.

    I thought you hated both parties?

  35. You all are talking code now.

  36. marinm

    PWC, I was able to find more articles about the contractor v. government issue and it looks to be that you’re right. I find it amusing in a I can’t believe they wasted so much money on a plan that had EPIC FAIL written all over it. Thanks for the heads up!

  37. Rick Bentley

    I strongly dislike both parties, yes.

    Reid’s remarks are indicative of a mindset that divides America into racial subgroups. If you think about it, it’s fairly reprehensible. Just because he’s a near-senile doddering fool shouldn’t give him a pass. The man’s in a position of power, and this is how he sees the world – no Latinos, and one would assume no black people, should ever vote for the GOP. He can’t fathom it.

  38. Big Dog

    The N&M website has an article that states Montano, the drunken
    undocumented alien who killed one nun and injured two others
    in a car crash, was being represented by Catholic Legal Services
    in his deportation case. A sad irony that only adds to the tragedy
    of the horrible event.

  39. Strange reaction. @ Rick. I sort of had a neutral reaction to his statement. I don’t see Latino as a race. I would characterize it more as an ethnicity if I had to classify.

    I also don’t see him as an old has-been. I also don’t see that he is that far off the mark when one looks at the reality of the situation. He was also addressing a Latino audience. Seems like a fair thing to say.

  40. marinm

    Funny story. I was doing a (departmental) clearance for a financial entity downtown and they were doing my paperwork and electronic fingerprints, etc. The lady pulled me aside after looking over my paperwork and in a shaky voice asked me if I could re-do my “Race” as the US Government didn’t see “Hispanic” as a valid race.

    I asked her what my options were and she said; Black, White or Indian.

    I asked her which pays best? LOL…

    I ended up picking white to make sure my clearance would go through. 🙂

  41. Rick Bentley

    It’s a fair thing to say? To stereotype people’s beliefs based on race?

    So if Sarah palin stands up and says “I don’t know how or why anybody white would vote Democrat” it’s reasonable?

  42. Remember, the sky is falling! the falling! Tonight and tomorrow night.

    Unfortunately, every time I get a chance to watch it, its overcast. Even when I was at sea.

  43. @Marinm

    That is almost funny. What would you have written if there were no choices given?

    I don’t know why bi-racial isn’t on government forms. Perhaps it is now. It should be.

    Rick, I don’t know how Latino can be a race. I know Latinos who have coloring much like my own and I know other Latinos who are very black. I know exactly what Reed meant. He was trying to establish that the Republican party really offered nothing for Latinos. I don’t know that I agree or disagree with that statement. He gave an opinion. Just Is.

    For all I know, that is what Sarah Palin thinks….re white people. That would be her opinion. shrug.

  44. PWC Taxpayer

    Reid is certainly senile but is smart enough to pay the race card every chance he gets – which is a pretty slick trick for a white bread, western Mormon.

    I think Palin is right but then I cannot imagine any American one voting for a progressive , socialist Democrat. All the blue dogs are dead or in serious hiding. The party is in real trouble or the country is – one or the other. Just my opinion 🙂

  45. @Rick Bentley
    We will have to try Minerva’s. Where is that in Centerville? How are the prices?

    Hubby LOVES butter chicken. He likes the palak paneer, but not as much as I do. I could eat that three times a day every day. Have to avoid desserts,though.

  46. @Moon-howler
    There is only one race–the HUMAN race.

  47. marinm

    MH,

    Having grown up playing Dungeon’s & Dragon’s I would’ve probably answered, RACE: Human.

  48. marinm

    Pinko, JINX!

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