My friends Roger and June went to Australia for this event, a full solar eclipse. You could not see it from Europe or the United States. Has everyone recovered from the election and the storms? What is our next round of excitement?
122 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………………………………….Wednesday, November 14”
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All contents copyright Moonhowlings.net
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
Storm pics from Sandy.
something to make you feel lucky.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2225112/Superstorm-Sandy-Death-toll-hits-FIFTY-damage-set-50BILLION.html
It is easy to pigeonhole to make it easier to place blame. Hostess failed due to poor debt restructuring after their first bankruptcy filing in 2004, the slowdown of public interest in starchy corn syrup products, lack of marketing efforts to develop anything new and workers/unions willingness to accept lowere wages to keep the company running clearly in the wrong direction.
Business like elections don’t suceed banking on nostalgia. Yeah, let’s blame the bakers and delivery folks.
Oh yeah, never mentioned the corporate salaries of the “leaders” at Hostess -that’s a favor with about equal impact as the unions/workers. Although they were responsible for corporate strategy.
We all need to read more, listen more and learn more.
A friend’s cousin sent her this:
The election day is over,
The talking is done.
My party lost,
your party won.
So let us be friends,
Let arguments pass.
I’ll hug my elephant,
You kiss your ass.
Is this the only local blog not discussing the symphony?
Welcome firestorm. Apparently.
Reporting in from the dark screen. Feel the love.
“moon howlin’/hatin’ club’… Did I read that correctly? Sheryl Bass hates moon howlin’? Boy, somebody needs to step back and take a closer look. Sheryl Bass lost as a write-in candidate by approximately 300 votes. That’s pretty impressive. Most of the local politico’s think she will walk back on to the City Council in two years without breaking a sweat. It’s the ones who tried to “rig the Vote” at the R convention that have to sweat it out. Her write candidacy was spawned by local voters displeasure with R committee members behavior at the convention. Those “pink lovin’ and teacher unionspendin’pals and gals” were the driving force behind moving the local elections from May to November.
Which symphony orchestra are we talking about? The Manassas Symphony Orchestra, they perform four times a year at the Hylton Center.
The Prince William Symphony Orchestra, they’re down the drain, totally insolvent. I tried to check out their web site and it was down. The only mention of it was the notice “This Domain Name May Be For Sale By Owner”.
It seems that the other blogs running this story have either not done any fact checking or have latched on to the story in an effort to save a blog that is circling the drain. I’ll have to keep digging to see what else is out there that has been overlooked.
Welcome Little John. Where is Friar Tuck. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.
Moon, the Friar is out researching the REAL facts in this PWSO/Montgomery soap opera. He has come up with a few facts that contradict Dr. Montgomery.
Apparently it was Craig Gearhart who pulled the Center for the Arts and the PWSO from the PWC budget as a line item and put them under the Park Authority Arts Grant Committee. As a line item, the PWSO received $50,000 automatically without any scrutiny to determine if this is a “deserving” organization. Under the “grants” process, an organization can only apply for up to 20% of their total operating budget and this made the PWSO eligible for only $10,000. No wonder Montgomery was so pissed off.
The Arts Grant Committee was appointed by the Park Authority Board and was comprised of citizens from around the county who had no affiliation with any arts groups. From what the Friar could gather, neither Wolfe or Benz had any input into who got money or how much. This seems like a personnal vendetta on the part of Montgomery. I’ll have to called the good friar and see what else he has dug up.
Hey Moon, didn’t some one come on this blog las tspring and shed some light on the financial situation of the PWSO. Maybe you can contact him or her and get them to come on and shed some light.
@IVAN
Not sure what all that was about. I don’t know Ms. Bass but we gave the ladies who ran that fine campaign lots of credit. I doubt if they or Ms. Bass have any gripe with us.
I am proudly pro-choice and have been so my entire life. If someone wants to hate me for that, I guess there is nothing I can do about it. I think someone is just tryin to stir something up. I certainly don’t understand hating someone because of their thoughts. Geez.
@Little John
@Little John,
I just don’t know the answers to your questions. There has been so much “”who shot John and “he said/she said” on this topic that I have just steered clear.
I know there has been great controversy and some remarks were made here I had to censor because of unkindness. After that, I just didn’t think about it any more. Several of my musician acquaintances have been very vocal over the way they were treated but I sure don’t remember the details.
If it isn’t on an ipod, I probably don’t know much about it. I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.
@Moon
I remember attending several PWSO concerts when Carl Long was the conductor(pre Montgomery). If memory serves me, that organization wasteetering on the brink of bankruptcy 10 years ago.
When Montgomery came on board, I remember a story about a bunch of the orchestra members walking out on Montgomery for some reason. I also know several former board members who don’t have anything good to say about him. I’ll have to check around to see if I can find anything about this. I seemed to remember an article in the N&M about it but that was a long time ago.
@ Moon
Look what I found on Doug Brown’s blog:
http://www.insidenova.com/news/politics/article_16d1ee82-2ce6-11e2-8c34-001a4bcf6878.html
Seems as though Dr. Montgomery is suffering from memory problems, or he is just lying his butt off.
We probably needed to see that election news also.
That article is very interesting if you are a trying to figure out what happened with the symphony. I must confess….I didn’t care enough to listen to either side on it. It sounded like a bunch of highy dramatic artist types throwing drama fits.
I have always found it wise to go in and get the lay of the land and try to fit in rather than going in like gang busters and upsetting the apple cart.
But that’s just me. After reading that article it seems like the director just wasn’t used to the way things are done around here. I knew some of those orchestra people and they were very down to earth people. They took their music seriously but not too seriously…nor themselves.
Sorry about that Moon, I’m still in election mode.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102746.html
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/316792
“… a reminder the push and pull of politics is a normal
part of American democracy – neither the beginning nor
the end of history.”
(Note that Bern Ewert was apparently once Roanoke City Manager.
Some of you may remember he was PWC Ex. in the early 1990’s.)
Oops, Mr. Ewert was PWC EX. in the LATE 1990’s.
Yeah, the Bakers union did not want to take more pay cuts for the workers (they had already taken pay cuts in the past). Funny how there is no criticism for the C-Suite for increasing their salary by over 300% earlier this year – the CEO was already getting a salary of $100,000 per month – but lets blame it on the workers getting paid $10-$16 dollars per hour – it makes for better drama.
Thanks for that info, Pat.
Cargo, why would you blame the union workers for this company closing? Do you fantasize that you are a CEO somewhere? I would identify more with the poor dudes making the hourly wage.
That garbage isn’t coming here is it?
@Maid Marian
probably not.
Steve, I think you had to leave the City’s 6th Annual Neighborhood Conference yesterday before a true celebrity showed up — Ms. Estelle McCadden, 86 years old, and one of Roanoke’s Citizens of the Year. She has been responsible for many, many changes in Roanoke’s neighborhoods, the inspiration of many neighborhood leaders and also started the Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference. She was there, she said, to see what City of Manassas is doing because she heard so much about us. She got up at lunch and invited our neighborhood leaders to come to the VSNC in Virginia Beach in Sept. 2013. I saw the guy sitting next to me putting it on his iPad scheduler.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/189341
Sheryl Bass was also at the Neighborhood Conference, representing the Inter-Service Club Council of Greater Manassas. It’s a new clearinghouse of representatives of service clubs, community organizations and government entitities. A big objective of the group is to alleviate the duplication scheduling of events and conflicts of interest by coordinating projects among the various service clubs and community organizations so that there’s a maximum degree of service to the community. Ah, an idea that’s time has come!!! Next meeting is Tues, Nov. 20 from 12 noon to 1 pm at City Square Cafe in Old Town Manassas. For more info contact Chester Smith at 703-368-9552 or [email protected]. “Our group is in it’s infancy and needs community focusted people like you to succeed.”
@Moon-howler
The company warned them that if the Baker’s union rejected the deal, that the company would close. 5000 union members thought that the company was bluffing. So, they walked out on strike. Now, because of that, 180000 workers have lost their jobs.
Frankly, they probably did the right thing. If that is what breaks a company and they are paying a cxo over a million a year, there are some real weak underpinnings. It was not a publically traded company. There were a bunch of different unions involved.
Actually the comany told them if they didn’t go back to work and end the strike they would be forced to close, from the comany’s explanation. Too few workers returned to work.
I guess the CEO is more important. I have mixed feelings about all this.
I think it is 18,500 according to the company website.
http://hostessbrands.info/
I didnt realize all the subsidiaries.
There might be two sides to the story. The above is from Hostess.
The other side of the story from the union that was on strike.
It indicated that Hostess was on real shakey financial turf.
http://www.bctgm.org/category/hostess-strike/
@Lyssa
The company warned them if they walked out, the company would close. The union thought that they were bluffing.
Oops.
Cargo, do you not see some moral failing in blaming the union workers?
How do YOU know the union thought they were bluffing? Do you know a union member there?
Okay, I assumed the union thought that they were bluffing since I don’t think that a union would PURPOSELY close a company by striking.
@Cargosquid
They were on strike and told to come back to work or the company could close. (as I understand it)
I think the company was probably very poorly run from what I had read–living on the edge. It was probably only a matter of time.
Fox announced it would probably reopen in Mexico. yea, right. Would we then import jojos?
Who was sounding the death knell for apple? The shares were up Friday and today they are up nearly $26 a share. Sounds like a premature burial to me.
Here’s a front page post idea for you Moon: http://www.nwpr.org/post/firestorm-erupts-over-virginias-education-goals
Squarely in your wheelhouse.
Thanks. The people protesting this new way of doing things clearly don’t understand it.
If you see the number 89 on the algebra sols, it means that 89 percent passed. 11 percent didnt.
The kids will all have to get the same number of questions correct on the test to pass. The school will have longer to get that subgroup of kids up to where they should be. Why? Because they aren’t there now. It is really a fairer system to all concerned and doesn’t set lower standards.
@Steve Randolph
Bern Ewert was an excellent County Executive in Prince William County. His “problem” was that he was not a politician, and did not kow-tow to the developers. That cost him his job when the pro-developer “Gang of Five” ousted him and hired Craig Gerhart.
@Need to Know
You’re nuts on this one. Completely. You just hate Peacor so much you can’t separate the work from the personality.
@Cargosquid
Yes, its all the workers fault. I see the light, man. Unions are bad. Greedy CEO’s without vision, good financial structure and no marketing plan are good. Working class people are bad and wrong to want a decent wage. They should work harder and become CEO’s so they can learn how to file bankruptcy while pulling down several million a year and get away with it by blaming the greedy baker and truck driver.
@Wendy
I’m nuts? I didn’t even mention Peacor. I spoke favorably about Bern Ewert, whom I considered a better County Executive than Craig Gerhart, who replaced him. I had a high regard for Bern and regretted the Board at the time ousted him. This is a Republican speaking highly of a Democrat. Bern went on to run unsuccessfully for City Council as a Democrat in Charlottesville. Their loss.
You don’t have to mention her. It very clear from other posts 🙂
I just recall Ewert as pushy, unpleasant, uninterested and divisive. He was like an inept Finance drudge – his view the only view and never altered despite the facts around him proving him incorrect. Well, since you hate Peacor and don’t like Gerhart I guess you’d have to like either Mullen or Ewert….. I would have gone with Mullen myself over Ewert.
@Lyssa
Well, there may have been other problems, but if one’s company is failing, for whatever reason, and you are told that your actions may be the final straw, AND YOU DO IT ANYWAY, it is your fault. Even the Teamsters didn’t strike, knowing that the company couldn’t handle it. So, instead of an 8% cut, the bakers took a 100% cut.
Here’s some news that will be sure to warm a credit agency’s cockles:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/treasury-secretary-geithner-lift-debt-limit-infinity
To use the Great One’s phrase, “To the moon, Alice! To the moon!”
@Wendy
Did you even read the editorial that Steve linked that mentioned Bern? It’s a commemoration of a recently deceased town councilman in Roanoke who is being praised for, among other things, hiring Bern Ewert. Roanoke hired him and benefited from his leadership, vision and knowledge of local government and planning. Prince William County hired him and then rode him out of town on a rail because he tried to do the same thing here instead of rubber stamping everything the developers wanted. It was under his leadership that the Rural Crescent was created in Prince William County.
Learn a little local history and something about who the personalities have been around here over the years.
@Need to Know
Disagreeing means I’m lacking in knowledge?! Now I understand your like for Ewert. I guess since you hate Peacor (you’ve made that abundantly clear) and dislike Gerhart that only leaves Mullen and Ewert. Unless you want to go back to Noe and Baucum.
I’m happy he was successful after leaving PWC, maybe he learned something while here.
Learn a little local history………as Moon says bwahahahabwahahaha…
@Cargosquid
Yeah “some other small problems”. The continued reluctance to consider poor debt restructuring, incompetent or non- existent marketing strategies and outrageous CEO salary decisions is annoying. Solely blaming the big bad union while those “other problems” are not factored in demonstrates the unwillingness to look at issues from several angles. I’m not disagreeing that the workers were part of the failure but they were by no means the major cause.
For the next natural disaster up your way:
http://portableuniversalpower.com/juicebox-product.htm
That’s serious dedication to ones technology.
The closing of the News&Messenger has created a challenge for
local governments. Current state law requires legal notices be
printed in the local “newspaper of record”, but as of 1-1-2013
we won’t have one. Several bills have become before the GA in
recent years allowing “electronic posting” on the net but they
have been beaten back by the Virginia Press Association and their
supporters. Hopefully, an exception can be quickly carved out for PWC
and the two cities.
Something else I hadn’t thought of. How are the notices involved adoption, name change, and probate going to be published?
Warren Buffet has really left us in a lurch.
I was also obsessing about how we were going to know who had died. The WaPo doesn’t cut it. Its too expensive to advertize deaths.
Will be have to rely on Fredericksburg? Richmond?
Gainesville doesn’t publish but what??? once a week???
@Need to Know
Oh, I’m pretty familiar with the history – personalities, current and former employees for about three decades. You hate Peacor, not a fan of Gerhart so unless you want to appear disgruntled with all of them you’d have to like Mullen or Ewert; I’d have gone with Mullen myself. Of course Noe is a bit too far back.
Ewert was unpleasant, unappreciative and negative. He also thought he was above the law. Funny you like him of all!
You just brought back some terrifying memories!! Thus my reaction. Your hatred of Peacor is abundantly clear and has been for sometime.
Print legal notices in the Observer newspapers. The Manassas edition is distributed to 20,000 homes and businesses twice a month. The Bull Run edition goes to 49,000 and the Old Bridge to 27,000.
Also, if city leaders really want people to read legal notices and act on the information, they need to be in simple language so people can comprehend the information you are trying to convey. Don’t just meet a minimum legal requirement. Actually engage your community. The same easy explanation of an issue at a council meeting, should also be in the legal notice. A photo or map or other visual would help orient readers and help them understand the significance, also.
Many of the notices that you have to legally print really don’t need to engage anyone but the person intended to seen it.
I agree if it is about proposed changes in local law.
twice a month isn’t enough.
The review of the survey is ridiculous. She needs to speed it up a little and remember she’s there for a presentation. I sense some are loosing patience. 🙄
Corey was rude however, The woman should have been given a time limit as she was booked, before she prepared.
God she is awful though.
I would have thought someone would have “schooled” her on the time constraints, etc.. This is getting to be too much to continue to listen too. Is it time for StudioB yet? 🙂
Thank God, that is OVER!!
Recognized every picture shown by the man from Sudley. Those popsicle signs need to go.
we should have all bombarded corey with emails to cut her mic.
Moving to the new thread now.
I’ve moved onto StudioB. lol