Is it cold enough for everybody yet? It’s just perfectly dreadful, in my opinion and the wind makes it so much worse.
Does anyone have a plan to stay warm? I just keep trying to sit close to dogs.
Last night was definitely a three dog night. My faithful friend kept my feet warm all night. Actually, I think he was using me.
That is securing the peace, and/or restraining evil. Only governments have the resources to respond to major disasters in the immediate aftermath, securing the peace through the provision of emergency aid, and restoring law and order.
My point about private groups and individuals providing for the legitimate needs of their neighbors is that if we, as a society, really did this out of compassion, the need for government to do this through taxation would diminish.
That’s way too tea party for my tastes. I like the idea of government picking up the burden for some of our social work. Having a sunshine club at work vs passing the beg bag at every turn. You get nickled and dimed to death.
Additionally, it ensures that everyone help. That is another measure of a civilized society. When should only a few help out with the basics?
There was talk of sending the national guard to help PWC’s homeless population. that is something only the guard can do. I wouldn’t exactly call it securing the peace.
Yes, nickel and diming for every need is inefficient since you have to educate every person about every need so they can decide if they want to contribute or not. Education is expensive. Better to contribute to a larger organization and let them decide the trade-offs between various needs. Then when that large organization (e.g. government) doesn’t do enough in one area of one’s passion one can supplement with private donations.
We all have an interest in a civilized society since the cost of defending ourselves from hungry homeless and desperate people is more expensive than paying taxes to manage the problem in a humane manner. We can debate the allocation of tax resources and even the amount but there really is no question that government should be helping the unfortunate if for no other reason than it is more efficient than putting them all in jail in order to provide security for all the more fortunate ones.
@Moon-howler
We will just have to disagree.
Yea, I absolutely trust govt more than you do. Funny. We both spent many years in our respective branches of it.
@Steve Thomas
There is much that can be done by faith based and other charitable organizations – one issue that exists is when the economy tanks these groups face their greatest shortage of donations at the same time that the greatest needs rise. They are also no able to meet ‘spot’/unexpected demand – such as the current drop in temperature.
The Red Cross – the US Designated charity – has received large chunks of funding from Congress. Upwards of $100 million in 2008.
@Pat.Herve
Pat, don’t get me wrong, I do think there is a need that isn’t being filled by the churches and other faith-based and private groups. I am involved in a financial stewardship ministry, and part of what we do is teach ways to manage your finances so that you are in a position to be a blessing to others. A shocking statistic is only about 2% of US Christians actually tithe. Imagine if this was reversed, to where only 2% didn’t tithe? Imagine what this would mean in terms of resources available to help the poor and needy? I do. Just the other day, a former student of mine chased me down at Church and told me that he and his wife are 3 car payments away from being totally out of debt, and he’s happy that he can now bless others, as well as tithe regularly. I told him he has just reminded me why I work in this ministry.
That has to be one of those stories that just make you glad you got up! Keep up the good work.
lol, so those in the military distrust government but those who worked in social services don’t. Hmm.
@Steve Thomas
Steve – you have mentioned before about how you participate in the financial ministry – so nice to hear a success story out of your work there. I am sure that there are many other good stories at how you have positively affected others lives that you do not hear.
Bet Old Sheriff won’t publish me:
That is such a lie. Stirrup’s office wasn’t on the “edge” of the district. Population wise, more constituents are closer to the Stirrup office.
Lots of new furniture also. What happened to the old stuff? Maybe I will call that woman and ask.
I would hate Candland too if I had been lied about and ridiculed.
[redacted by admin.]
Looks like Tuck was right. I sure don’t see his comment. I guess the Wizard was minding the store. The Wiz won’t allow anyone to criticize himself or the Super.
The weather people are predicting that we will get another blast of extreme cold next week. Record low temps this week all the way from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Florida. 31 below in Jamestown, New York. 42 above in Miami. Looks like the Great Lakes may have the most ice in all of recorded time. Lake Erie was about 94% frozen over. Niagara Falls is an ice sculpture.
Baby, it’s cold outside.
I grew up around the Great Lakes in times that were generally colder and when it was common for there to be enough surface freezing on the lakes that people would drive cars out to fish. Inevitably there were tragedies associated with that behavior when temperatures vacillated. One of the not-so-tragic (except for the direct participants) examples I remember was about 30 years ago when some folks drove their brand new SUV or truck (forget which) some distance out on Lake Erie to fish and then got stranded when the ice broke. The Coast Guard rescued the people by helicopter, but left the SUV marooned on a very large ice flow. The drama was whether the weather would re-freeze the Lake enough for the guys to salvage their vehicle or whether the pricey car would plummet into the inky depths. TV stations in Detroit, Toledo and Cleveland had daily helicopter shots of the vehicle and a radio station in Toledo had a pool going with an award to the person who most nearly projected the date, hour, minute that the car would go kerplush. (which it ultimately did). I always wondered what it would feel like to have been the vehicle’s owner.
Last year the Lakes froze to a greater extent than in many years. One of the results was a substantial increase in water levels (which had been very low) due to the absence of surface evaporation well into the spring. This year appears to be even more dramatic.
I have been in Virginia for more than 45 years, but I do miss the region around the Lakes, especially the upper lakes.
Lawson and Candland aren’t voting on line items to toss or keep because they don’t like the process.
Obstructionism. They aren’t getting their own way so they are withholding votes?
Come on supervisors. Let’s be grown ups.
http://www.redstate.com/2015/02/20/the-unbelievable-reauthorization-of-no-child-left-behind/
Don’t like the NCLB Act?
Here’s your chance to make your voice heard.
And its this sort of thing that created the Tea Party.
The GOP is all talk when it comes to reining in the Federal government.
But the tea party is a non entity. So….where does that leave you?
@Moon-howler
Non-entity?
Tell that to Cantor.
Ted Cruz and Mike Lee would beg to differ.
We are a minority, working to change things for the better.
Its better to be on the side of freedom and American principles in the minority than “winning” by other means.
If you really wanted to effect change you would form a party and become real– an entity rather than a concept.
The current tea party mentality brings a lot more blow back that it actually advances change. The GOP is really going to get tired of all that crap and seriously start pitching people out of the party who don’t play by the rules. They are tired of being shut out of the White HOuse.
Perhaps non-entity wasn’t quite the word I was looking for. There is no real tea party with a head. No structure or organization. I will start taking it seriously when there is a place I can go talk to a real party chair.
The GOP starts throwing people out of the party and they’ll never see the White House again. They might as well rename themselves W H I G.
Well…they sure do it here over all sorts of things. I mean the locals. The ones here just censured a council member. They forget that some of them did the same thing two years ago.
Well, I don’t know your “neighborhood” all that well; but, after reading some of the threads here and occasionally other blogs where some people seem to have assumed the identities of ancient Saxons and Normans, PWC local politics does sometimes remind me of a wrestling free-for-all where the ring is filled with angry combatants and the refs have all fled. One has to have a scorecard to keep up. You all make Loudoun look like dullsville in our partisan politics. This Peacor woman, for instance, seems like she lives in a shooting gallery, when I often have to scratch my head just to remember the name of our county manager. I know more about this Candland feller than I do about some members of our own BOS. Carry on.
Mrs. Peacor does live in a shooting gallery. She is a smart lady who has served this county for 30 years. Over that period of time, you will have lovers and haters. I would hate to get up every morning to go to work and wonder which person was lying about me on that day. Lying or misquoting or just plain old MSU. (making S*** up)
Most of the noise generates from another blog where there is one golden boy and now, one golden girl and everyone else from chairman to county employ is simply a POS. It’s sad and county government shouldn’t be run this way. Our supervisors all have strengths and weaknesses. None are bad people. Some just have very destructive advisors who do not have the best interests of the county at heart. That is just wrong.
One more thing I left out… It isn’t really partisan along party lines. That isn’t where the problem is. We have 2 Democratic supervisors. They tend to get along with the older board pretty well. well, some of them ARE the older board. Mr. Jenkins (D) is one of our senior statesmen. He takes good care of those in Dale City and he is a much loved supervisor there. He also knows budget better than almost everyone else. He can ask a few questions and make money predictions down to the cent.
We can generally count on Mrs. Caddigan to look out for teachers and children and libraries.
Mr. Nohe is known for being a peacemaker. That makes him live in a shooting gallery also. He has very cruel and mean things said about him by a very few people, mostly on blogs. People who hide behind masks are always louder than everyone else. Most of us love Marty, across party lines and issue lines. He is a good person and will help anyone who asks for help. This is his home. He is a good father and a good husband also.
The upstarts tend to be the newer board members. I trust Corey has settled down and is showing some leadership. I have seen that recently. He knows what has to be done to keep the county on course.
Third parties affect change? Really? How much change has the Libertarian party affected?
The Tea Party is following the progressive playbook. Infiltrate and change.
How, exactly, can they throw us out when we are starting to take the precinct committee seats in GOP states? How can they throw us out when we get to vote for whom we wish or not vote at all.
If the GOP disdains our votes, the Democrats win. Of course, I believe that the mainstream GOP WANTS to be in the minority…..
Bill Nye on how the Jews in Europe can defeat the anti-semitism.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2015/02/22/bill-nye-europes-jews-if-only-they-were-more-neighborly
When was the Bill Maher show? I think this is something I would rather evaluate for myself rather than have it evaluated for me. It’s an obviously right leaning article. I am generally suspicious when I see certain buzz words that something might have been taken out of context.
@Moon-howler
There is a clip of the relevant portion of the show at the link.
Awwww,,,cant I watch it on hbo?
@Cargosquid
I’ve always wondered how/why an engineer gets so much air time. Apparently he is an expert on climate science as well as European antisemitism? I don’t get it, never cared for the guy but I’ve never been able to say anything.
I’ve been caring for me nephew while his father is deployed and he LOVES Bill Nye. Have you ever seen any of his displays or shows at conventions? Absolute tripe and fallacious content but, for my nephew I’ve had to grin and bear it so-to-speak. I never want to impose my views on him, even if it’s about a jackass like Bill Nye (not a science guy… an engineer).
I’ve seen his children’s show, years ago. Those were good.
Since then….. Let’s just say that I’m very glad that my 14 year old gets her science from other sources.
Prince William County Schools closed for Thursday, Feb. 26 CODE RED.
The snow should end by noon.
Prince William County Schools closed for Thursday, Feb. 26 CODE RED.
The snow should end by noon.
Manassas City just went from 2 hour delay to closed. So did Fairfax. Closed.