Not so nice weather out there. Brrrrrrr! It’s cold and windy. Winter can’t be far off now.
Let’s see, we have the winter solstice and the Mayan end of the world to look forward to.
Is anyone making plans?
What are the hot toys to buy this year? HELP!!!
• Full Beaver Moon – November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon. Nov. 28
@Pat.Herve
Pat, thanks for pointing out Paul Ryan’s voting record. Of all the hypocrisy!
Republicans need to stop eyeing SS and Medicare. Touch it and you might as well hang it all up. The boomers will not like it and you would be lucky to get elected dog catcher.
They would also prove that the Obama voters were right all along.
@Cargosquid
Obama is ready to sign, He has a pen. 98% of getting yor own way.
Its a start.
Keep your mitts off medicare and social security.
Let’s cut some perks out of a general’s retirement and out of Congress’s. there is a place to recoup some money.
Ready to sign now.
@Moon-howler
Yep..he’s ready to sign on the tax increases. But he and the Senate have not proposed any cuts in writing. So, again, “compromise” means doing what the Democrats want.
Of course, since we know that the increased taxation of the rich is only to continue class warfare and set precedent in the public narrative, because the money that the government, AT BEST, will not do a thing to lessen the deficit…. more taxation must be necessary to pay for Obama’s unfunded domestic programs. Especially since there will be more new spending added to the current deficit. We are on track for an additional 1.3 trilllion in debt for this fiscal year.
So why do we need to limit it to the rich? Congress thought that the sequestration was a good idea for getting the “budget” (in quotes because there isn’t one) under control.
Since “entitlements” are off the table, and now people are calling for SS and Medicare,etc should not be considered as part of the budget…what part of our income taxes are going to those entitlement funds? Because, right now, those programs make up 60% of the budget and we borrow 40% of the budget. So, since those funds have their own money sources…limit the funds to THAT money. Use the income tax purely for all budget that does not include SS, etc.
Only fair.
Or we raise taxes on everyone so that they can pay for what they want.
Its time to pay the bill.
And I understand that the idea of taking the 401K and private pensions and replacing them with a “gov’t pension” is on the table, as per TIME magazine.
The American people wanted Democrats and Obama in charge.
Congratulations.
Let’s stop fighting and start enacting the liberal agenda.
In case anyone is interested, according to the debt clock, we are spending about $1 million every 44 seconds.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
That site will keep you awake at night if you care about our finances.
I just figured out a way to save us from the “fiscal cliff.”
Just don’t do it. The entire “cliff” is manufactured. We only go “over” if we enact whatever agreement is involved. Just write a bill that cancels it. And then we continue business as usual.
Did you guys see that the UN finally voted to recognize “Palestine” as a state. Abbas was calling for a return of Israel to the 1967 borders.
I have no problem with that. I think that they should. “twisted”
The JULY 1967 borders.
“twisted” = 😈 darn keyboard.
http://dc.about.com/od/christmasevents/a/ManassasChrist.htm
Santa arrives in Manassas tonight! Parade tomorrow!
Come join the fun!
Ho HO HO!
Things snuck up on me this year for sure. The Christmas Parade is very early.
My daughter and wife are going to be marching in the Richmond parade tomorrow to support organ donation. I, unfortunately, have to forego my yearly aerobic exercise because I promised a friend to help him with a job.
Think of your pride….and how you have saved it. Parade here tomorrow.
What kind of job will you be doing? Bank heist? Making moonshine? Delivering a calf? I hope it is something interesting.
I would guess it would be pretty hard to prove they were safer. Sorry, I will go with Americans.
I remember when TSA was all outsourced to people who spoke no English and who made hand signs are you.
No Thank you.
I remember who implemented the landing of every plane on 9/11. It was the American FAA workers.
Cheaper isn’t better, necessarily.
Nope…gopher for electrician. We’re putting up lights.
Pride? Heck! I had entire blocks of people yelling MMMEEEEERRRRRRYYY Christmas! back to me. I had both sides of the street competing! I had them yelling Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year and Merry Kwanzaa. I even had them yelling Happy Easter! I was a dancing fool for 3 miles.
And then I died.
Whew.
I wuz tharrrredd…….
wasn’t airport security outsourced before 9/11?@blue
Here you go, chickadees:
re–the audit
http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/oem/PressRoom/Pages/Internal-Audit-Privatized.aspx
Is paying the cheapest as you can get the best policy??
Sure, many operations can deliver cheaper labor – but they do not have job security, fair pay or good benefits – what this does is encourage turn over – sure they staff the position, but they have high turn over rates – is this good? Many of the staff are junior employees, as the rates do not compensate experience. In my business, I keep long time employees happy, as a long term employee has much invested – my training costs alone are reduced, and I can charge more for the experience – and get more done, in a more timely manner.
If you outsource, you can brag that PWC has the lowest number of employees in the region.
Okay, I read THE audit. sounds like the problem regarding oversight rests with the Volunteers and the BOCS not the CXO. I recall Chapter 9 being modified after there was a purchasing problem a few years ago with a Vol Fire Chief and family living in a station. Looks like you still don’t have volunteers and their $ under control.
@lyssa
I remember the volunteers screaming bloody murder over PWC wanting to snoop into their money and the Vol. fire chief who was sort of a squatter. It sounded really backwoods. Like Hatfields/McCoys or something.
When I read it, and I fought horrible boredom every second, it looked me me like the CXO was totally out of the loop. So why are the folks on the blog trying to blame her? Female? Because she’s alive? One of the whispering elves from the complex told me it was because she was smarter than they were. bwaaaahahahahaha. That works. The poor dude is probably fired now or next on the blogo-hit list.
I already feel like I live in PG County of the South. are the 9th wealthiest and have the least number of a whole lot of things like…oh we pay a lot less taxes, have the lowest per pupil rate in the schools, have the lowest number of county employees per population. Yet we have these pools of people sitting around all puffed up over supervisors budget committees (no offense folks).
I am really sick of hearing about trimming the budget. Folks..the CHEAP is getting embarrassing.
Seriously….some of you people bitch, whine and complain about your frigging taxes and your tax dollars and then go ballistic when you think your neighbors moving in are trash. Well…there is a reason they might not be to your liking. Cheapest isn’t always the best. It opens a lot of doors for EVERYone.
I think I will just answre myself. I have seen what cheap brings in. I don’t like it. You always have to call the cops on it. Multiple times.
If you move to PWC, understand that you qualified to pay taxes also. Some of the people I read on the blogs sound like the people who are too frigging cheap to tip. If you don’t want to tip, stay home. You don’t have enough class to eat out.
If you don’t want to pay taxes for services and decent schools, don’t move to PWC or Northern Virginia. Your cheapness is making trash move into MY neighborhood and also your own. I live in an older neighborhood so it will get to me before it will get to you…but its coming. mark my words.
“Problem” doesn’t begin to cover the circumstances regarding Station 4 in Haymarket under the Volunteer Chief. The Chief’s place of residence was simply one symptom of a large set of issues. The books were and still are a mess or missing. Things that were supposedly purchased, never were. Equipment wasn’t updated or replaced as the volunteers claimed it had been. There was no control and I can’t believe the county trusted them with administering the retirement fund. After the Volunteer Department was dissolved by the county, the Town helped bail the Fire Department out by buying new hoses for the trucks, apparently they were years past their service life and all but unusable. I don’t agree with how the county ultimately dealt with the volunteers but at the end of the day, that department had to be burned to the ground (pardon the pun) if it was to ever be effective again.
Cue long line of the former chief’s defenders to start chirping. Bring it on boys, I know the sordid details.
I can always throw them off if they pick on you, MoM.
Seriously though, the county had no authority to seize their financial assets did they?
@Mom
I don’t think Fairfax has a fire levy tax as PWC does.
Fairfax has storm water control @2 cents per $100. Their tax rate appears to be $1.079
52.2% of the budget goes to their school system. Their per pupil spending is $13,407 per year which is about $3000 more than Prince Billy Bob’s. I just looked all that up yesterday since we are the ugly step child of Fairfax County.
Their list of top ten businesses is also impressive..as is Loudoun Countys.
Ours includes Minniville Day Care centers. I am serious.
Ratta Tat Tat. Way to go Corey, attracting those high end businesses with HCEs (Thanks Pat) #1 was Prince William County Schools. I can tall you, only a few HCEs there. Rank and file employee, not so much.
Prince William County Public Schools, U.S. Department of Defense, County of Prince William, Walmart, Potomac Hospital Corporation, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (associated with Quantico), Wegmans Store, Target Corporation, Northern Virginia Community College, Minnieland Private Day School.
That’s it folks, in order.
Naturally you are going to get the school systems and county governments in most of the top ten but compare your neighboring counties.
Nothing says it like Walmart and Target being in your top ten list.
Meanwhile Corey is up there blowing and bragging (sorry Corey) about attracting high end busiensses , restaurants, all the while talking about PF Changs, and other Chicos. I guess its a start.
When I think of economic growth though, I think of a nice business park with some trees, lawns, like Park View up off of route 50. I don’t think of those freaking warehouse places out off of Balls Ford Road. Perhaps I am a snob. Where are those? There is empty office space all over. Where are the occupants? Not here.
I think we want to attacts a whole bunch of HCE’s who work in offices. I don’t think we want ….well…never mind. I am on the verge of being unkind.
Actually, looking at that list, I should have said we have improved. It could be a lot worse.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/317291
George Orwell, call your office.
It just means you have higher expectations. Unfortunately you’re correct – high expectations won’t be met around PWC in the near future. Cheap and mediocre are the new descriptors for PWC…..come live here. Worse come rent here. I wonder what the owner occupied rate in PWC has dropped to. That’s a key statistic to track.
How does one find out about the owner occupied rate? Is that published somewhere?
We have gone from being a rural sort of buccolic place to just appearing to have lots of urban thuggery.
I also believe the burning of that Haymarket Church might have been a hate crime. Not enough information but it sounds suspicious.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51153.html
MH, you can find Virginia home ownership rates on this chart.
(PWC – 74.8%)
I hate to admit that I am either too drunk or too dumb to find it. Does that mean that approximately 25% of the homes are rental?
Help a vintage woman out here….
Yes, they do have authority. This is where it gets interesting with nonprofits – most of the 501(c)(3) out there operate as “Public Charities” under IRS Code Section 171 where the majority of funding is received from public sources.
The sliperry-slope for a nonprofit is when it starts performing “Essential Government Functions” – in this case Public Safety – where a majority of the funding to operate, purchase equipment & apparatus (to include co-signing on bonds/loans), have facilities is funded by government. This now brings in Section 170 of the Code which has all the rules of what the government can do and can’t do. But once the deal is struck the volunteers are interrelated with the government, the government gets a large majority say in the operations.
If the Volunteer Company remained “pure” in the sense it accepts the local government grant, and provides the service but still has/pursues other funding streams, it does not necessarily fall into Section 170. You see this more with FRS outfits in rural areas than in urban areas. Most of the FRS outfits in NoVA are a mix of volunteer and career, where the career serve during the day and the volunteers on nights and weekends. The model is such that the old “straight volunteer” becomes the “supplementary workforce” for an Essential Government Function.
This is where as the comments to date about looking at Community Partners and funding only those who are doing mandated government services cheaper and as same/or more efficiently than government is also going to be interesting. Once that Memo of Agreement/Memo of Understanding is created, it can extend to under Section 170 of the Code to include having a member of the government as a voting member on the Nonprofit Board. We shall see how that all unfolds in the coming months.
@Ray Beverage
I am not sure what you just said to me, Ray, in relationship to the current audit situation.
I guess they can’t seize what they can’t find.
It makes me really glad it isn’t my problem though.