Politics

Meeting Rescheduled

The meeting of The Gainesville Group scheduled for Tuesday January 10 has been reschedule to Thursday Jan 12. This move is one time only and was necessitated by a schedule conflict. Location and time remain the same, Taste of Asian restaurant 7921 Heritage Village Plaza, Gainesville, VA 20155 at 7 pm.

All are welcome.

Carl

Adopt a highway clean up 30 October 10 am – CANCELLED

Check the events calendar for details.

How to help SERVE

Click the link to see how you can help SERVE aid needy families in the Manassas area. What SERVE Needs!

Governor Proclaims April Confederate History Month

Now there can be no question that the Civil War was a significant part if Virginia’s history. There is also no question that it is also a major factor in our tourism industry. That said, our governor Bob McDonnell failed to make any mention of slavery as a factor, let alone a major cause for the Civil War. As the Washington Post pointed out today, roughly 25% of Virginia’s population during the war were slaves!

To fail to address this in his proclamation is both insulting to blacks and dishonest to history. It should not surprise anyone that he would make such a statement. His efforts to appeal to the base of the Republican party is in keeping with most of his other actions as and a perfect match for his money wasting, teabag Attorney General Cuccinelli.

From the governors mansion right down to our own county and district the far right attitudes of our legislators are clear. Whether it be McDonnell’s proclamation, Cuccinelli’s law suit against healthcare reform, Corey Stewart calling Tea Party members who insult and threaten congressmen and women “patriot’s” and the Coffee Party crowd, believing in civil debate “fruitcakes” and “nuts”, or John Stirrup introducing a motion at the BoCS meeting 23 March to THANK CUCCINELLI for his lawsuit, their positions are clear.

There are two questions we must ask ourselves. Are we content to let these actions go unchallenged, and if not, what are we going to do about it? My answer to the first one is NO I am not content to let these men push their far right agenda unopposed and I intend to do everything I can to see that they are reined in now and defeated in the next election.

This year we need to get our Democratic butts in gear and stop sitting on the sidelines like we did in November. You see what happens when we do! Everyone of us who believes this has to stop and that we need positive leaders, working for a better county, state and nation need to get behind our candidates. Right now you can show your feelings about McDonnell, Cuccinelli, Stewart, and Stirrup by working to reelect Gerry Connolly.

Gerry stood up for us on healthcare reform and now we need to stand up for him.  Make a donation http://gerryconnolly.com/ or volunteer. There is also a new organization just getting off the ground that is dedicated to electing Democrats in Prince William County. It’s called Greener Prince William PAC http://www.actblue.com/page/greenerprincewilliampac.

Look for more information on it shortly.

Ky Convictions Question Reliability of Touch Screen Vote Machines!

In Clay county Kentucky senior election officials have been convicted of buying and selling votes in the 2002 2004 and 2006 federal elections. Their actions included changing votes in the ES&S vote machines AFTER a voter had cast their ballot. The Lexington Herald-Leader has the entire story.
Lexington Herald-Leader article

Yes We Can – No You Can’t Video

Well worth the 2 minutes it takes to watch it.

Corey Stewart and the Coffee Party

Our BOCS Chair doesn’t have much good to say about citizens working for civil discourse in politics and yet the “Tea Party” are “patriots”. Check this post out.

SERVE Food Drive

I want to thank everyone who helped with the food drive this year, especially Pete Henriques, Gloria Moscatello, Joy Kim, Carol Noggle, and Suzanne Hoag for collecting so much food from their neighbors. Though we got a slightly later start than in 2009, we collected 1620 ponds of food for families in need.
The donations were greatly appreciated. I’d like suggestions or ideas on how we can help in the late Spring, maybe a link to Memorial Day. Mary Jo (not our Mary Jo) who manages the food bank told me it costs $2500.00 a month for utilities. Maybe we can do a fundraiser for them? Let me know your thoughts on this.

County Comprehensive Plan Updates Coming January 19.

Very soon the BoCS will be acting on recommendations for changing the comprehensive plan, specifically the land use and transportation chapters. This has been ongoing since 2007. It might be good to attend the expected supervisors meeting and hear just what they plan for us int he the next two decades.
Here’s a discussion from Prince William Conserve on two chapters of the county’s comprehensive plan.

A New Year Begins – Looking Back, Looking Ahead

In the year ahead we will be taking on the issues that most affect the residents of Prince William County. We plan to explore each issue in detail, discuss it with our neighbors through a variety of forums and then begin advocating for the kinds of legislation or programs that will address the issues.

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