Well, it looks like I have to add another link to my blog roll

My husband took a new gig. WHICH I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT BEFORE-HAND.

I think, actually, I approve.

WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN EASIER IF I'D KNOWN BEFORE-HAND.

While we're discussing the door-knocking season

There's one possible candidate who won't be needing me to canvass for him this year.

Stevens, I couldn't be prouder of all the work you've done for Loudoun and Virginia the last few years. Thank you for letting me be part of it.

Where I'll Be

(from epluribus unum's posts on Loudoun Progress and Equality Loudoun)

"Loudoun Out Loud Kickoff:

Leave a comment below if you want to attend.


A bit of background: As recently as 2005, some members of the Loudoun County School Board were discussing a policy that would have prohibited the presentation by our public school drama departments and clubs any work that acknowledges the existence of GLBT people. That ridiculous situation, largely created by former delegate Dick Black and some of his family members, was provoked by a student's original work. See Equality Loudoun archive. Although the policy eventually adopted by the board did not include unlawful viewpoint discrimination, the debate (which included threatening hate mail and some atrocious behavior at School Board meetings) did result in a chilling effect. The message was, as one drama department head put it, "Don't poke the bear." That era of self-censorship has now ended with the announcement that The Laramie Project has been selected as the spring play at Broad Run High School."




As to why we need to do this? Check out the comments at the Loudoun Times Mirror (HT David Weintraub).

EVENT REMINDER!!

INVITE DETAILS
"Cherish Choice - A Woman's Constitutional Right Under Attack in Virginia"
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What you need to know that's happening, and an opportunity for action to defend a woman's right of choice. So please join us for champagne, hors d'oeuvres, a concert violinist, and an informal conversation on a most distressing issue -- Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's current attacks on a women's basic reproductive rights here in Virginia -- and how we can fight back.
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John and Holly Flannery will host and introduce: NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Executive Director Tarina Keene, so Tarina can update us on the status of Choice in the commonwealth, what's at stake in the upcoming General Assembly session and 2011 election, and what you can do to make a difference.
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DATE AND TIME: Saturday, December 11, 4pm-6pm
PLACE: The home of John and Holly Flannery
Ithaca Manor, 38469 Triticum Lane, Lovettsville, VA 20180
SUGGESTED DONATION: $50 to support NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia

Stevens has a blog!

Read about his thoughts on Boehner's visit to Loudoun!

It's a small county

Phone banking for Cesar del Aguila

That's what we'll be doing a bit later this afternoon. Why don't you join us?

Watch the BOS finance committee!

http://loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1698

Impressions so far:

Is Lori Waters serious? SELL land in this market? Still focusing on building stadia for schools while we're having difficulty providing basic services? GET REAL. Where are her priorities?

YES, kids need places to play, but (at the risk of sounding very "get off my lawn-ish") my high school football team had to travel to the BRONX to play, and they were still division champs. They had to sell candy and get sponsorships to buy uniforms and pay for the bus to get them to the field and THEY WERE STILL DIVISION CHAMPS.

When I went there, our "ball fields" were Stuyvesant Park, a two-block-square city park down the street from us, that we shared with the Society of Friends School across the way.

And yet, we consistently ranked (and still do) among the top schools in the country.

And now they're housed in the bottom portion of a skyscraper, with an apartment building above them. Which is how they paid to get a state-of-the-art gymnasium with pool (at the old building where I went, no pool). The residents of the apartment building get to use the gymnasium facilities in the evenings and on the weekends - which pays for upkeep on those facilities.

Granted, Stuyvesant is a competitive admissions High School. Also granted, I got in by the skin of my teeth. HOWEVER, the point I'm trying to make is that you do not need a fireplacing FOOTBALL STADIUM to get a good education. You don't even need one to have a good football team.

You will NEVER EVER get me to agree that buying 70 acres to build a high school is reasonable. Not in this or any other economy.

Loudoun county has plenty of completely empty office buildings. Why can't we use one of them for a high school?

Don't forget that you can watch the BOS streaming live

http://loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1698

My observations on today's meeting:

10:04 AM: Is DELGAUDIO recommending taxing people? Creating a whole NEW tax? Goodness gracious me!

10:10 AM: Kelly Burke Burk never remembers to turn off her cell phone. (ETA, and I never remember to leave off that last e. Sorry, Supervisor Burk!)

10:20 AM: I don't have an opinion one way or another on where the best place to put the station is, I just want them to build it.

10:31 AM: Awww...my spouse is so sweet.

10:40 AM: Susan Buckley is right on the facts, but that sounded awfully like a campaign speech, which is what she was complaining about. Us We LCDC members fell down on the job, we should have answered the LCRC statements and called them out for not being open about their affiliations.

11:10 AM: Delgaudio, people disagree with you, so it's the WATER? Oy vey.

11:13 AM: Discussion on advertising the tax rate for hybrid fuel cars. Delgaudio is voting for a tax hike! Hehehehe.
Seriously, though...the Mini Cooper gets 38 - 45 mpg, the Hybrid Escape gets 21 MPG. In what way is the Hybrid Escape more worthy of a tax break than the Mini Cooper?

11:25 AM: An all-electric 1993 Ford Escort???!!!!??? WANT!

11:28 AM: Meeting adjourned.

Noteworthy: "Anti-tax" Delgaudio voted for one tax hike and suggested creating a whole new tax (to pay for increased cost of building Metro station if it gets moved a bit to the west to allow for more economic development opportunities).

Goings on About Town

• Blue Virginia reports that Dennis Findley dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional seat (Frank Wolf's current seat). Dennis is a terrific guy, and I hope that we will see more of him in another capacity!
• Of the folks who are left in that race, I have met Rich Anthony and Jeff Barnett. I like them both, and think either would be great! Rich brings job-creation experience and Jeff brings the experience of 30 years in the military, as well as private-sector work. I'm enjoying watching this race.
• Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last day for Public Input on the Loudoun County Budget. You can sign up on-line or over the phone. So, head on over to the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg tomorrow and tell my spouse and the rest of the BOS what you think Loudoun's priorities should be!
• Did you know that the school budget is currently 4/5'ths of the entire budget?

From the inbox

Time for our region's Democrats and open minded people to get organized!

Networking Reception

February 24th, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.

For this evening networking reception, DAD is excited to feature:

Terry McAuliffe

Please join DAD for this exciting event!
This is the chance to hear

Terry McAuliffe
talk about the future of the Democratic Agenda in Virginia.

Location:

Home of Cesar del Aguila

Fort Nightly Square

126 Fortnightly Blvd

Herndon, VA 20170

Cost:

$50 - Supporter

$100 - Patron

$250 - Sponsor

$500 - Host

Purchase Tickets

(Special rate for Young Democrats: $25)

Directions: From Toll Road, head north on
Elden Street, drive through five stop lights, the next street: turn left on Center Street, Turn Left
into Fort Nightly Square. There is plenty of parking available on Center
Street, Fortnightly Blvd and Grace Street.

Dulles Area Democrats mission is to be a hub of information, coordinator, organizer, and supporter of the Democratic Party at the local, state and national levels within our region. We are open to bringing together the diversity of thoughts and interests within the progressive spectrum. The goal is to build a community of united Democrats in the Dulles region to have an impact on local and state politics.

We hold monthly breakfast meetings with guest speakers, build an online community to inform and cultivate the Democratic Party, and support other Democratic related activities. Please come out and support this very important community development effort.

Please
RSVP:

Allison Dickert

allisondickert@gmail.com
or
571-213-8578
www.DullesAreaDemocrats.org

Email authorized by Dulles Area Democrats, a non-affiliated Political Action Committee Robert Haley, Chair, www.dullesareademocrats.org

Email Marketing by

Dulles Area Democrats PO Box 10 Herndon VA 20170

Where I come from

I come from a neighborhood in Brooklyn that probably has the highest concentration of gay and lesbian parents of any place in this country.

My best friends had gay parents, my 5th grade teacher was a gay parent...so coming here it was kind of a shock to find out that there are people who think that gay people shouldn't get married, shouldn't have kids, shouldn't teach school.

Now, the folks I grew up with are just plain folks. Living their lives. Going to the grocery store. Wiping their (grand)children's noses, and kissing their scraped knees, and making peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on 7 grain bread (just kidding about that, they make almond butter and jelly sandwiches on 7 grain bread).

In no way are the parents of my friends ever confrontational about their lives, they just live them. They are people...who happen to be gay and lesbian...living lives exactly like those of the straight folks next door.

And it seems, from comments on John Stevens's blog, that just having a conversation about it is disrespectful of the commenters' reading of the Bible.

Well, okay, not one person who didn't want to talk about it showed up. Which is fine. We had a great discussion anyway, and I'll post a link to the video when it gets posted. (To start, here's a podcast of Anna Holmes's sermon from Sunday morning's services.)

But I'm going to say this here, now. My friends' parents, my fifth grade teacher, my cousin...they have a right to live their lives. They should be allowed to get married. They should be allowed to adopt children, together with their spouses. They should never have to worry that if one of them gets sick, the other won't be allowed to visit her spouse in the hospital. They should not have to worry that if one of them dies, the other won't be able to stay in their house. This is not about religion, this is about basic justice. This is about human dignity.

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!

Goings on About Town

LCPS has bought the first hybrid school bus in Virginia, one of 12 in use nationwide. On the one hand, yay! Environmental responsibility! On the other, yow! Expensive! On the third hand (if you have one), we could expect to see a savings over 12 years due to efficiency. I'm leaning towards yay! but need to wait and see if we really do see a fuel cost savings.

The Virginia Senate passed a bill (37 to 3!) that prohibits HOAs from banning the use of clotheslines, though HOAs still have the ability to limit size and placement. I'm really happy about this, and hope that the House follows suit.

Cliff Keirce got sworn in as Dulles Planning Commissioner. Let me hear a WOO-HOO!!!

The LCDC will meet in the Board Room at the Loudoun Government Center on Thursday, February 4th at 7:00 (6:30 gathering for chatter and whatnot).

Town elections are coming up soon. I'm excited about the folks I know about who are running for Herndon and Leesburg. I need to buy a new pair of sneakers though. My old ones are walked through.

Thank you!

Thank you for visiting and for your kind words. I really appreciate them!

Where I'll be tonight: CSB program review task group meeting (talking about how to maximize our Medicaid billing - please join us if you've got insight into this issue!). And then on parent duty while Teh Spouse is at a town hall meeting in South Riding.

If you're going to be at the town hall meeting, please remember that the BOS gives a bucket of money to the School Board, but it's the School Board who decides how to spend that bucket of money. If they don't choose to spend it on teacher raises, that's not something the BOS can control.

Where I'll be tonight

At a fundraiser for Dave Marsden, whom I'll be canvassing for as well for whom I will be canvassing as well.

Come on out and join us!

Teh Spouse will be there too!

I'll be at Joe's Pizza tonight for the Sterling Volunteers Appreciation Dinner

With my son. The husband will, unfortunately, not attend as he will be at a budget input session thingy. Go easy on him, will you? He's doing his best and he's just one of nine.

Edited to add:
Joe's Italian Restaurant
22360 Sterling Blvd., Sterling Park (next to Safeway in the Sterling Plaza Shopping Center)
www.joespizzaria.com