Month: January 2012

I was thinking, what would be the the best way to celebrate MLK and the civil rights struggle, and I found this old footage from the Oprah Show.  A nice young Jewish boy decides he wants to LIVE the black experience.  He read a book in high school “Black Like Me” and was ultimately inspired to experience what it means to be “black” in America.  This story is from 1995, I wonder, does anyone believe his experiment would have a different outcome in 2012?

I admire his bravery, both emotionally and physcially, to take this personal challenge of racial honesty.  Josh’s plan was to be “black” for 28 days, he lasted 7 days.   He felt like after 7 days, his personal journey was complete.  He now understood what his black friends had been telling him for so many years, it was a white world.  As a white male he had never been treated the way he was treated as a black man.

The real kicker is when two black men “turn” white, it was a different reaction when they asked directions and tried to get into office buildings.  There was a sense of “white” priveledges that seems to be afforded based soley on skin color.

Is our world different today?

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Race-on-The-Oprah-Show-A-25-Year-Look-Back/5

Peter Candland has now demonstrated his willingness to vote against measured development or whatever term he used while running for the seat that John Stirrup vacated.  I can’t tell you for sure how John would have voted, but I imagine, given his land use record in the two terms he served, he probably would have voted against Oaks III in the Occoquan District.

Supervisor Mike May gave a multitude of credible reasons why this rezoning should not move forward. The Mayor of Occoquan, Ernie Porta, also eloquently wrote about why this rezoning was bad government planning, and yet, although it shocked no one, Corey, Wally, Maureen, John J, and Peter Candland voted in favor of the Developer.

I wonder what the reaction will be of the Supervisors, who continually vote for bad development, when the EPA starts breathing down thenecks of the  BOCS about why this County is not compliant with the Chesapeake Bay clean up efforts.

More importantly though, this is a prime example of how citizens once again,  are completely ignored, for the benefit of the developer and campaign coffers.  The Major and the residents, many of whom fear their businesses will be adversely impacted,  ALL expressed valid quality of  life concerns relating to this rezoning, which include flooding and others on serious traffic impacts.  The “locals”  were ALL ignored and their concerns not addressed by the five Supervisors who voted for the Developer instead of the citizens who would be most impacted.  Shame on the BOCS.

I hope citizens are paying attention because at some point we will have to pony up our tax dollars to pay the non compliance fines levied by the EPA.  Maybe Corey figures by then he will have moved into the Governors mansion! As for Peter Candland, now he knows why he is NO Martha Hendley. I imagine he probably had little understanding of what was being discussed anyway.

Kudos to Mike May, Frank Principi, and Marty Nohe for making a stand against poor development practices. In the end though, the poor town of Occoquan will be the ones to directly “pay” for this debacle.

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And this is what it feels like outside.  BRRRRRRRrrrrrrr.  This new weather is just cruel. 

I always thought Igloos were made of snow blocks that resembled sugar cubes!

What shoe will fall this week in South Carolina?

From Richmondsunlight.com:

Public schools; impact of unlawful aliens; report. Requires public schools to determine whether each student enrolling in public school was born outside the jurisdiction of the United States or is the child of an alien not lawfully present in the United States and qualifies for assignment to an English as a Second Language class or other remedial program. The Board of Education must prepare a report on the impacts of such students in public schools and request reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Education for the fiscal costs to the state and political subdivisions thereof of providing educational instruction, computers, textbooks and other supplies, free or discounted school meals, and extracurricular activities to students who are aliens not lawfully present in the United States. (full text link available from link above.)

As if schools don’t have enough to do, Delegate Mark Cole of Fredericksburg has introduced HB 138 (see above).  How exactly is the school supposed to determine if the student has illegal aliens for parents?   Determining place of birth is fairly simple.  A birth certificate covers that information from most countries.  On the other hand, so what.  One’s location of birth really doesn’t say much about legal presence. 

Just out of curiosity, will child citizens with illegal immigrant parents count towards reimbursement?  Mark Cole is a joke.  This is perhaps one of the most ridiculous bills I have ever seen.  Does he really think the feds are going to cut him a check?  What a waste of time and money. 

Thanks to Marinm for calling this one to my attention.

There is something that isn’t being discussed here. Why are the relatives living in Mexico? I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that perhaps Mitt’s relatives were in Mexico for another reason–polygamy. Utah attempted to gain statehood for several decades. One of the provisions for being admitted to the Union in 1896 was to outlaw polygamy.

I know people now who have relatives living in Mexico. The Mexican government pretty much ignores polygamy. Anyone who has deep Mormon roots probably is descended from polygamists. The Mormons I know accept it as an inside joke but don’t talk about it with outsiders. Most outsiders don’t understand the theological or historical significance.

Perhaps polygamy is the reason that Mitt Romney isn’t touting his Mexican heritage. There isn’t any. They were expatriates living in Chihuahua for a couple of decades until things stabilized. I understand why he doesn’t want to share all this with the world. Then again…maybe I am wrong.

UPDATE:

Apparently I wasn’t wrong.  I had this thread written this morning and ready to post when I got home.  Starry found the story posted on the open thread.  I had not seen it.  I just knew from my friends that many polygamists settled in Mexico.  Some still go there.

From Starry:

https://www.moonhowlings.net/index.php/2012/01/08/open-thread-sunday-january-9/#comment-131306

From Politico.com : 

Conservatives continue to make up the largest segment of political views in the country, outnumbering liberals nearly two-to-one, according to a new poll Thursday.

The Gallup survey found that 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative; 35 percent consider themselves moderate; and 21 percent see themselves as liberal. The figures did not change from 2010

For the third straight year, conservatives outnumbered both moderates and liberals.

Conservatives began outstripping moderates in 2008, and the percentage of moderates has declined steadily over the past two decades, from 43 percent 1992 to 35 percent in 2011.

In fact, both self-identified conservatives and liberals have risen in number since the early 1990s, indicating a growing polarization in American politics.

While self-identified conservatives dominate the Republican Party, making up 71 percent, the Democratic Party is more split — 39 percent of Democrats view themselves as liberal, and 38 percent consider themselves moderates.

Meanwhile, independents are mostly moderate (41 percent), but skew more toward conservatism (35 percent) than liberalism (20 percent).  [Editor:  Bold is mine.]

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New Hampshire primary is over.  Mercifully.  It was short, sweet, and pretty much to the point.  Mitt Romney came out the clear winner by nearly 15 points with Ron Paul in a distant 2nd.  Jon Huntsman finally registered on the radar. 

Can we pretty much count on Romney being the Republican candidate?  What if Ron Paul runs on a third party ticket, which I hear he is planning to do.  What impact will that have on the overall election?

I know some of you are watching.  They can’t even start on time.  Let’s sit back and watch the lies and obfuscation begin. 

Here’s looking at you kids!  MoM, didn’t you make a promise to someone?

2:10–at last!

Any bets on the sound system for today.