Its time for a new open thread.  These are the new cherry blossom stamps, especially made for the centennial birthday of our gift from Japan.  Has anyone seen them yet?  They appear to be mirror image stamps.

What’s in bloom in your yard?

95 Thoughts to “Open Thread…………………………………………………….Saturday, March 31”

  1. IVAN

    Perhaps it’s a church and or perhaps it’s some “tea” drinkers.

    1. Throw in a councilman and you have a winner.@Ivan

  2. Ray Beverage

    I have to agree the tone of the article, and the timing, does have a correlation to local politics and election. My personal view on Arts funding is what is the direct economic benefit, and alas, there is no data on the moment for that.

    But with regards to the City, in FY 2012, Manassas Dance Company received $18,000 and Center for the Arts (the nonprofit side, not the building) received nothing. The NoVA Symphony ($2,500) and the PW Little Theatre, Upstart Crow, and Community Chorale all got $1,500. For the proposed FY 2013, which was setting aside $110,000 for Community Contributions to nonprofits in Human Services & Arts, all were zeroed out in the budget.

    Now, when it comes to GMU contributions by the City: Freedom Center was $231,230 and Hylton Performing Arts Center was $318,890 in FY2012. For proposed FY 2013, Freedom is $235,140 and Hylton is $319,000.

    For Community Partners in PWC, there is a great little booklet PWC Budget produced with the analysis and you can find it at the link below:

    http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/budget/Documents/13–BBR%20Community%20Partners%202011.pdf

    1. Ray, will you please address the GMU contributions again and speak slowly into the mic like the rest of us have never hear of it before. I am not sure what you are saying.

      I think we need to address these things like the readership is totally stupid on such matters because I pretty much am!!! (stupid, that is)

    2. @Ray, you know how we are told to rebalance our portfolios annually? It looks like that is what the county and the city must both do.

      The allocations seem disproportional. Maybe we need a different way of divving up the booty all around. What one organization gets should really have no bearing on what another organization gets.

      Too bad that Manassas election and budget session run concurrently. I would rather have a clean discussion.

      I tend to not speak out about Manassas affairs because I don’t live there. Please City folk, feel free. Just know I probably won’t be as opinionated and neither will Elena since we are Gainesville district residents.

  3. SlowpokeRodriguez

    My score: 60 I don’t know about the pickup truck question. I inherited one from my uncle, which I drove and loved, but I didn’t buy it. Was the spirit of their question more financial (did you buy it?) or whether you willingly drive a pickup?

  4. I got a 90%. Does that mean I am bi polar or just a big redneck?

    Pokie, re pick up. not sure. I talked my husband into buying one. Pick ups are great for all sorts of things.

  5. Censored bybvbl

    50

  6. But what does it mean? I have given Mr. Howler his marching orders to pick up a copy at the store.

    I will even tell my answers. That’s how badly I need to know.

    1. yes Ironia, NJ Also Charlottesville had around 35k when I was growing up.
    2. Yes feet and head Maybe they mean hurting from manual labor rather than dealing with AH’s
    3. yes Elena. (Just kidding)
    4. yes (but I have been known to disassociate also)
    5. yes hasn’t everyone? I think this might be an age thing though
    6. no (but we have fished on the Potomac lots of times several decades ago
    7. yes Rotary. My grandfather and grandmother took me to the Homestead to a Rotary convention. I also have attended “union” meetings
    8. yes I have particapted in 4 women’s marches and a march to get involved in Bosnia. It wasn’t anti-war. It was anti genocide.
    9. Yes. Oprah. I watched her every day when my kids were much younger. I have a great deal of respect for her.
    10. yes. We own a pick up truck.

    Ok, tell me how much of a redneck I am.

  7. Ray Beverage

    Moon-howler :Ray, will you please address the GMU contributions again and speak slowly into the mic like the rest of us have never hear of it before. I am not sure what you are saying.
    I think we need to address these things like the readership is totally stupid on such matters because I pretty much am!!! (stupid, that is)

    Actually, most people don’t understand those contributions toward the Freedom Center and Hylton Center. I do know people like to scream about the dollar amounts. Ok, in American Standard English:

    Both facilities are partnerships between GMU & PWC and CoM (Manassas Park has their own Center). Freedom Center, being an Aquatic & Fitness Center, was in part an answer to the questions of why PWC Park Authority was not having this kind of facility in the west. And it answered it as this Center is used a lot by individuals and the various swim teams, etc. Gave you the CoM dollar amounts, and for PWC in FY2012 it was $797,201 which is zeroed out for FY2013.

    Hylton Center is GMU, PWC, CoM and Commonwealth of Virginia partnership and of course all the various donors. It exists to bring the arts and expand the cultural awareness for all. I gave the CoM dollar amounts, and PWC in FY2012 contributed $1.9million, and in proposed FY2013 it will be $2.1million.

    So, since this partnership was really related to development funding, CoM contributes to both each year, plus has a seat on the Management Board for each facility as does PWC. As I wrote, PWC is zeroed out for Freedom Center in FY2013 because, as I understand it, the share of development bond is paid up.

  8. Emma

    @IVAN
    or perhaps it’s a councilman who at least has an ounce of integrity. Sorry, but you come across like someone who has an interest to protect–is it audition time already?

    Just like PWC folks, I think it’s legitimate to question why discretionary funds are being used for things such as high-end entertainment for City workers.

    1. Emma, I would say the timing is suspicious. I am somewhat aware of all the warring factions in the city and I have a kid living over there. If we are funding the arts, I would say that the ballet is as entitled to ask as the next guy.

      The part I resent on Mr. Wolfe’s behalf, and let me go on record as saying I wouldn’t know him if he came up on the porch in the next hour, is that one thing is being used to protest something else. I don’t believe it is an honest fight.

      Of course, it isn’t a very healthy climate for a moderate Republican. That’s really too bad. I hate to see that wing of the party get killed off. If I had to place myself anywhere on a political spectrum, it would probably be with Governor Weld or Christie Todd Whitman. I might have even liked Mitt Romney before he decided to get a make over.

    2. I can vouch for Ivan. No leotard for him. No interest to protect either. Just calling it as he sees it.

  9. Emma

    @Moon-howler “Why would you wait this long to start asking?”

    I waited 19 minutes to respond to Ray’s link. That’s a long time?

  10. Steve Randolph

    http://wtop.com/?nid=120&sid=2795282

    Apparently the budget process end game in Richmond has
    become more than a little “testy”.

    Democratic Leader Saslaw sounds like Tony Soprano.

  11. Today’s allergy levels for MANASSAS, VA:
    Sunday – 10.8/High

    Today’s predominant pollen:
    Maple, Elm and Cedar/Juniper.

  12. marinm

    Happy Easter!!

    Or for the heathens, happy chocolate bunny day!!

    Btw the twins are now chrono age 9 months. 🙂

    1. Happy 9 months years old twins!

      Some Heathens like the full moon and Venus making their presence known in the middle of Passover and Easter. Or did ya mean Pagans?

      Happy Easter regardless.

  13. clueless

    A nice article in the JM today about the War Museum getting their fundraising act together. I think the County votes in its new budget this month so the timing tells me the taxpayer will be paying the $200,000 per year although it is not in the current budget. Read the article, i wonder what they spent money on so far? I thought the land was donated.

  14. Ray Beverage

    Manassas Education Association makes its endorsements for the May 1st election:

    http://manassas.patch.com/articles/mea-endorses-council-school-board-candidates#photo-8819290

  15. SlowpokeRodriguez

    So after declaring that there is no proof that in-person voter fraud is a problem, the O’Keefe folks went to Holder’s election district and filmed the local election officials giving their fake, white, “Eric Holder” the AG’s own ballot. Holder and left are SO COOL!!!

  16. Forecast for MANASSAS, VA (on a scale of 1-12):

    Today’s allergy levels:
    Tuesday – 10.8/High

    Today’s predominant pollen:
    Maple, Elm and Cedar/Juniper.

  17. @clueless

    I thought the land was donated also.

  18. @clueless

    Kipp did an excellent job with this article and made it understandable for the first time. Heretofore anything dealing with this endeavor has been a blurr and very much obfuscated by the haze and non-facts of politics.

    The project moved closer to reality after the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved a land deal in the fall of 2010. As part of the agreement, the landowner –- the Hylton Family Trust –- donated a site for the museum and, at the same time, received a rezoning for medium-density housing on 10 acres of land next to the Princedale Fire Station along Dale Boulevard.

    The parcel near the fire station is vacant and no plans to develop the land have been received, according to county spokeswoman Nikki Brown.

    County officials estimated that they have given $500,000 in taxpayer money and in-kind work to the project since its inception.

    Last week, Cors sent a letter to board Chairman Corey A. Stewart asking the county for $200,000 in each of the next five years. He promised in the letter that the museum “would not receive or accept any County funds until we have raised an equal amount in private funds.” The letter also stated that the money would be used only for capital costs, not operating expenses.

    NO NO NO to $200,000 annually. Send them packing the same way Rainbow Riding needs to go. $200,000 must be the magic number in the beg box this year. why should my tax dollars go to a war museum that hasn’t opened and is 5 miles down the road from Quantico? Why should my tax dollars pay for a bunch of old tanks to sit around. Why should my tax dollars go for a project that serves fewer than 100 kids from the county? Its pretty much all the same.

    We are paying for non-essentials when the county employees haven’t had a step increase in 3 years. War Museum and Rainbow Riding need to stop begging and get back to fund raising.

    Donated land my tail! That was a little ‘deal’ if I have ever heard of one. We will give money if you will change the rules so that we can continue to rape, pillage and plunder the county.

    Meanwhile, the county can’t even afford trash cans for Silver Lake, or so it says.

  19. Morris Davis

    To all of you who scoffed at the notion President Obama could create common ground and unite the left and the right to work in harmony, who’s laughing now? The President’s secret trial proceedings at Gitmo (the motto of his military commissions is “fairness – TRANSPARENCY – justice”) created common ground that has brought NPR and the New York Times into partnership with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in opposition to the “openness and transparency” President’s Gitmo secrecy policy.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/10/2740456/first-amendment-lawyer-heads-to.html

  20. The fifth religious Broadway play is Godspell.

    Godspell, Sister Act. Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ Super Star, Leap of Faith

  21. Emma

    “Sister Act” is grossly offensive. Hardly a “religious” play.

  22. Morris Davis

    It was clear from her vociferous lobbying efforts what the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas thought about Obamacare. Good to know, too, what the son of Justice Scalia thinks. Father Paul Scalia (St. John the Beloved Parish in McLean) urged Catholics to follow the example of Saint Thomas More (better to die for the Church than to obey the king) in their resistance to Obamacare. Wonder how Thomas and Scalia voted at last Friday’s conference?

    http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/catholics-urged-to-imitate-st.-thomas-more-in-contraception-battle

  23. Have you seen it on Broadway, Emma? I saw the movie with Whoopie Goldberg. I thought it was hilarious. It didn’t offend me. But then again, I am humorless.

  24. @Morris Davis,

    Good find. As an Episcopalian, should I be offended by his words?

    The Supreme Court really doesn’t have that same dignity it used to have, does it? They can say and do whatever they want. they are the new untouchables.

  25. SlowpokeRodriguez

    @Morris Davis
    Well, if Thomas and Scalia have even the vaguest notion of what the Constitution allows the Federal Government to do, then they should have voted against Obamacare. But we don’t know how they voted….do we? And with Justice Kagan not showing the honor worthy of a Supreme Court Judge by recusing herself, the panel is already skewed in Obama’s direction. I’m not so sure I’m terribly impressed by the left crying over a decision that hasn’t been announced yet.

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