Problem/Solution

Problem: The US has lost millions of manufacturing jobs overseas, we have millions of unemployed people - most of whom have at least a high school education. Tax incentives to large businesses have not increased domestic hiring of these workers who were formerly employed making things here in the US.

Problem: Increasing tariffs on foreign-made products doesn't do much to bring back jobs here, because it ends up closing markets to our goods as well.

Problem: Asking people to "Buy American" is hard when there's not a lot that actually does get made here anymore (though here's a good resource to find stuff that is).

Problem: Even with tariffs, products made overseas can be made for pennies on the dollar, because they don't much care about worker safety or child labor. So basically, we as consumers, and the stores we shop at, are getting bargain-basement prices while ignoring the fact that the true cost of those prices is the horrible conditions of workers - and the fact that many of the things we buy are made by children.

Problem: Given that bringing lost manufacturing jobs back to the US is an unrealistic goal, how then to re-employ the work-force who once held those jobs?

Solution: Create, or build upon, industries that cannot be exported. Examples:

• Infrastructure. Specifically, rail. Our nation is woefully under-provided with passenger rail. We could connect every point in the country with every other point in the country with a reliable rail network. Building railroads requires putting people to work on-site. Maintaining railroads requires keeping people working on-site.
• Infrastructure again. This time, specifically nation-wide wireless broadband access. Get people in every nook-and-cranny of the country connected. Installing and maintaining a wireless broadband network = jobs.
• Renovation. Making every existing building more energy efficient. Installing new windows, better insulation, solar panels, radiant flooring.
• Renovation again. Making every existing building less toxic. Removing lead paint, asbestos, mercury.
• Renovation again. Making every existing building accessible.

Now, I'm guessing that there are people who say that private industry should step up and do these things, and I would agree...if private industry were stepping up to do it. But it's not. And this is a perfect example of what the government can be really good for. Government can start the ball rolling just like it did during the '30's with the WPA. Spend money on infrastructure, create a robust national rail network. And, yes, high speed rail. Create a robust high speed wireless network.
Give grants or government loans to homeowners for renovations. Grants or government loans, instead of tax breaks or bank loans, since tax breaks and bank loans assume a level of solvency that not every homeowner has.
Give grants to school systems, organizations, and municipal governments for similar renovations.

Put people to work. Here at home.

Earthquake on Election Day!

I was outside my son's school, looking at his class list when the ground started undulating. We all looked around for the delivery truck and it slowly dawned on us that it had been a seismic event.

Wow. Earthquakes in Virginia.

Roads cost money

This is a basic fact. Roads are a subsidy government gives to drivers. To pay for roads - for the materials and for the road crews, governments use either bonds or tax money.

And if you're going to say that you want the government to stop borrowing money, cut taxes, AND BUILD ROADS, then I'm wondering where you think the money's going to come from. The Easter Bunny's been and gone this year.

So, I'm asking Shawn Williams, where are you expecting to get the money to pay for the roads you want built?

The schools made the right decision

I know some people are upset about schools being closed again today. Many roads in the area are passable and when your own commute is okay, it's hard to imagine that others might have a different experience.

But over in Oakgrove (near Sterling), we have a slightly different situation.

One of the school buses here picks up kids on Oakgrove Road, turns right onto Trefoil Road, where it picks up more kids, makes another right onto Rock Hill (where I assume it picks up more kids), and then turns onto 606 to head off to the school.

Oakgrove Road is plowed. There are some snowy patches, but it's plowed.

Trefoil is NOT. It is snowy, bumpy, icy. There is no way that it would afford safe passage for a bus.

And that's just one road in one neighborhood. What about all the dirt roads in the county (like the western end of Waxpool!) that school buses are expected to travel to pick up kids?

The schools made the correct decision to stay closed today.

Back to School Nights!

The weather outside is delightful. Sunsets, balmy breezes, that slight rustle from leaves preparing to change. And that happy refrain, "Hi! I'm Liz Miller! My friend Jeff Barnett is running for Congress!"

It's raining, it's pouring

Phone bank instead of canvass. Alas.

We have a majority, we need to act to keep it

In the last two years, while Congress has gotten an enormous amount done, they have not addressed:

• Immigration reform
• DADT and DOMA
• The racial disparities inherent in our nation's drug laws.

On the other hand, in the health care bill they:

• Attacked reproductive freedom
• Did NOT give us single payer
• Gave away huge concessions to the Republicans who ended up not voting for the bill

So, what we've ended up with is:

• Pissed-off women
• A disappointed LGBT community
• A disappointed hispanic/latin@ community
• A disappointed and disproportionately disenfranchised black community.

Which could lead to:

• Poor turn-out of democrats to the polls.
• Because we're NOT fired up.
• We're NOT ready to go.

Democrats on the Hill, if you want to keep your majority, if you want to keep your jobs, then DO THE JOB WE ELECTED YOU TO DO.

Act upon your promises. Stop pretending the republicans will work with you. They won't.

Pull up your socks. Repeal DADT. Repeal DOMA. The world won't end, and the LGBT community will come out to vote.

Show intestinal fortitude. Allow anyone who lives in the United States for five years without incident to apply for citizenship - even if they weren't here legally to begin with. You will be rewarded with votes.

Bring fairness to our justice system. Equalize the drug laws. Re-enfranchise people who've served their sentences. Because, hello? VOTES.

And you'd better start thinking about this: reproductive freedom's not just about abortion, it's about the right to not be shackled during birth, the right to decide NOT to go on bedrest, the right to choose NOT to have a c-section, the right to choose. While pro-choice women won't be voting for the republicans any time soon, the Stupak amendment has made us not just disappointed but ANGRY. Why would a pro-choice woman vote for a dem? Because the republicans are worse? That's not a good enough reason anymore.

Democrats on the Hill - give us a reason to vote for you. Do your jobs. And crow about it.

Happy and Sad

Happy! Marty Martinez won in Leesburg. All the incumbents were reelected. Congratulations, Marty! I had a great time at the Brandon Park polling place!

Sad. Cesar Del Aguila didn't win in Herndon. I am very disappointed about that, but it looks like some good people won and that there is no longer a majority of teabaggers on that council.

Sad that turnout was low everywhere. Sad that Middleburg had 2 candidates on the ballot for 4 seats (two people got substantial write-in support) and an uncontested mayoral race. Sad that the mayoral race in Purcellville was uncontested (though there were 201 write-in votes and 155 undervotes - which could be write-ins without the "write-in" checkbox checked.)

Democracy takes work. It takes candidates contesting every seat. It takes a free press and it takes shoe leather. And it especially takes voters going out to the polls.

In Leesburg, 13% of voters turned out. A bit over 3,000 people decided how a town with over 24,000 registered voters will be run.

I just can't understand people not voting. I don't get it. The right to vote is something that women were chaining themselves to fences and starving themselves to death in prisons for less than 100 years ago. And people just throw it away. Just let others decide for them.

It makes me furious.

School budget

School Board Chair John Stevens has written several posts about the school budget on his blog. He also included a link to At-large School Board member Tom Reed's survey looking for what people think should be cut.

I think Reed's survey is disingenuous at best. Where are the cuts to technology spending? Where are the cuts to grounds maintenance? I do like the increase to walk-zones.

Now that the Board of Supervisors has given the School Board a chunk of money, remember that it is up to the School Board to decide how to spend it. If you have strong feelings about what should be saved and what should be cut - especially if you spoke at the BOS public hearings - make sure that your voice gets heard by the School Board.

Had lunch with the World's Best Finance Director, Bar None*

She was in town for various reasons and we hadn't seen her since just after the election.

Had a lovely time schmoozing and sitting in the sunshine at Anita's in Ashburn. I highly recommend the #10 on the Burrito menu.

She's looking well and happy. Looking to move up in the world. I love when that happens.

You remember how McDonnell said we shouldn't pay attention to his thesis? (Updated)

How it was written a looooonggggg time ago and he's grown and changed?

Yeah. Not so much.

From his thesis (link to full text) all emphases mine:

"...Perhaps the most discernible empirical evidence of a changed view of family is the:

'Massive shift of nurturing and care-giving tasks away from the family and into the hands of institutions. America is changing from a society in which the family was the basic provider of care and nurture, to a society in which institutions are basic and the family is marginal.'..." (page 3)

"...The modern American experience can be seen as an ideological battle between the forces of democratic capitalism and socialism, with the latter's attempt to 'substitute the power of the state for the rights, responsibilities, and authority of the family.'..." (page 4)

"...The vast majority of American children have been educated in the public school system, in which textbooks and courses of instruction are increasingly oriented to humanist values and a secular philosophy." (page 6)

"The undermining of respect for parental authority in favor of state direction or individual autonomy, and the contemporaneous purging of religious influence in the public schools has impaired the development of healthy family members..." (page 7)

"The foregoing discussion should lead one to reasonably conclude that the American landscape of the traditional family and its moral code is being marred by social permissiveness and government programs." (page9)

"...A central premise of this thesis is that the preservation and strengthening of the traditional family unit by government will, in the long run, substantially eliminate the need for a comprehensive and expensive federal bureaucracy to resolve domestic problems." (pp 9-10)

"...Families are to be the primary caretakers of and providers for each of its members, and extended families must become self-reliant economic units, although they are to seek help from relatives as a first recourse in times of need, with the church as a secondary source..." (page 15)

"...government is enjoined from replacing family functions with agencies of the welfare state, such that dependency and apathy are generated...'the view that unfettered discretion in the use of government power as a force for the social good and as an instantaneous problem solver when private sector solutions are slow in coming, is a delusion and an impediment to true progress.'" (page 16)

And from his conclusions on page 66:

"...5.Continue welfare reform to promote work and eliminate all anti-family provisions, with an ultimate goal of transferring social welfare responsibility to the private sector in local communities.

6.If public benefits are to be paid, utilize the voucher system which maximizes freedom of choice for families and others in the area of housing, education, and medical care."

So for the people here who voted for Bob McDonnell, if you bought into the "I've grown and changed" horse puckey, I hope you regret your gullibility and that you will learn from it.

If you didn't buy into it and if you agreed with his thesis, then I'm surprised you're here, reading this blog and I hope that you didn't participate in the "it was a long time ago and he's grown and changed" meme. Because that level of dishonesty is just disgusting.

For those people here, who, like me tried our best to keep him from becoming Governor, I hope we can learn from this too. I spent waaaayyyy too much time talking about his bigotry and misogyny and not nearly enough time focussing on his plan to gut social services. I will do better in the future.

$200 MILLION in health care cuts

Oh. My. God

The health cuts would reduce mental-health treatment beds by 232, take 5 percent in funds from community service boards that offer substance abuse and mental health treatment programs, and freeze enrollment for a program that provides insurance to low-income children...

...They include reducing Medicaid eligibility for those in long-term care, such as nursing homes, which could affect 2,000 Virginians.

Robert Vaughn, staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, said McDonnell has suggested reducing eligibility for Medicaid programs -- state- and federal-funded programs for low-income and disabled people managed by the state. Virginia already has some of the toughest eligibility requirements in the nation.

In other words, aside from the huge cuts to schools funding, which is being screamed about elsewhere, McDonnell is trying to balance the budget on the backs of the states most vulnerable, elderly, impoverished, and ill.

These also reflect funds that, in many cases, the federal government MATCHES. So for every dollar cut from the state, we lose two, and sometimes three times that amount.

That's mean, Governor McDonnell. Mean in both the cruel sense and the stingy sense. Others have called the Governor out on his not even having the courage to publicly discuss his budget, so I won't talk about it more here.

Normally, I'm a "okay! Let's roll up our sleeves and get 'er done!" sort of person, but this is looking a bit like the Hydra. Everytime we think we can keep providing services despite cuts, we see more cuts. And more. And more. Well, we've got a CSB meeting tomorrow evening. Maybe we'll come up with something.

Speaking of, the deadline to apply for Community Services Board vacancies is February 26. Come serve with me on the CSB!

Ashburn/Broadlands readers:

If you're going to the Giant/Chipotle shopping center, use the entrance by Chipotle or the one by the gas station. The one by Home Depot is a mess. Only one lane is plowed, and it's causing gridlock.

For the love of little chickens

PLEASE CLEAN OFF THE TOP OF YOUR CAR. SHEESH.

Loudoun County Public Schools CLOSED until Tuesday, 2/16.

As per Hatrick's announcement on the LCPS homepage.

I think they should use President's Day as a make-up day, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Be careful out there

Rte 28 in Loudoun County is clear and very driveable.

606, Waxpool, Loudoun County Parkway, and other secondary roads are icy, slushy, and unevenly plowed.

Remember to clear the snow off the top of your car, I saw a phenomenal number of people driving around with 2 to 3 feet of snow on their car roofs.

Long follow distances.

Safety first!

Great LCDC Meeting Last Night!

• LCDC has a facebook page!


• We had a brief visit from Bill and Tracee from ENDependence. They're really happy with us for being aware of accessibility issues.


• Jeff Barnett and Dennis Findley both spoke (Rich Anthony was at our December meeting). I love that we have such a great set of candidates to run against Frank Wolf this year. My intention is stay neutral in this primary, because they all have strengths I think we can use in Congress. The thing I like best about all of them? They follow the five rules of campaign speaking:


1. Tell everyone who you are.
2. Tell them what you're running for.
3. Tell them why you're running.
4. Ask them to help you.
5. Tell them who you are.

I will be posting campaign updates from all candidates as they send them to me.

• We had a visit from a guest speaker who forgot that this was not a group concerned about an unduly speedy gov't takeover of healthcare, we're a group who wanted Single Payer Healthcare - yesterday. Steve, thank you for joining us! I hope we weren't too rough on you! Please tell everyone back on the Hill that we want Medicare for Everybody NOW.


• I asked everybody to call or canvass for Eileen Filler-Corn.


• Several new members joined us, and several lapsed members returned!


• We got updates from the chairs of the various committees


• We got times and places for district and full committee meetings (I'll post them here, too!


• We were reminded of various volunteering, and civic involvement opportunities


• Stevens asked the membership to join us next Sunday at the UUs of Sterling for the Standing on the Side of Love forum. More on this later.
  
• And I got several people signed up to join the Membership Committee! YAY!

Elections Have Consequences

The VA House of Delegates passed a bill requiring mandatory ultrasounds for women who are seeking abortions. Want to know how your delegate voted?

Loudoun's delegation voted unanimously in favor. I'll list them: Greason, LeMunyon, Marshall, May, and Rust.

H/T NARAL Pro-choice Virginia.

Attention NOVA Residents!!!

Blast the Governer about freezing the Local Composite Index.

I am assured that , if they recalculated it this year as per usual, we would get $36,000,000 more than we will get under last year's, frozen number.

Calls are best. His phone number is 804-786-2211. His name is "Bob."

From the Vault

A post from October 5, 2009. Title: "What I Did This Weekend"

Brought the coffee and donuts to the balloon filling station for our float (awww) in the (awww) (awww) Herndon Homecoming Parade*. Woot!

The Parrot:



What's that spell?



Then I did a hundred or so doors on Sunday.


Bonus video: Stevens' speech at the event with the Governor




*The picture in my header is from this event.