Why I Won't be Voting for Bob McDonnell

In this article from yesterday’s Washington Post, it is purported that though Bob McDonnell, in his 1989 thesis, thought working women and feminists were detrimental to American families, he has changed since then.

Right.

Let the record show he hasn’t changed much.

He hails from Virginia Beach and graduated from CBN University, now known as Regent University. If anything should worry us, it’s someone coming from a staunchly Christian background who gives us no sign of seeing outside that narrow scope.

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The busiest time of the year

If you believe in all this Holiday hullabaloo that is. In light of me trying to go back to posting daily, occasionally life gets in the way, such as a developer trying to put 33 condos in the space of 4 homes in an Old and Historic District, that just so happens to be next to my house. At the end of a street. A street that is stopped because it ends at a bluff overlooking Gillies Creek.

There are already 31 people living on the block where this development is proposed to go and they want to add an additional 33-66 people, complete with the traffic and trash. The density is too much for the area we Neighbors for Appropriate Development believe, and thank goodness the Commission of Architectural Review agrees.

Tuesday the official decision was deferred until the developers could come up with a way to work around the existing buildings and not create quite so much density. Yay! The property has an application to be rezoned to dual family (currently zoned multi-family) by early spring, thus negating the current need for a fight against the developer and her monstrous project.

So now I get to relax a little, help plan more of the Dog Park Kick Off party on the 29th, then settle into the New Year a bit before I cast off to do more fundraising so our dog park can open by spring!

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Vick sentence too light?

For those of you questioning whether or not Michael Vick, who is currently suspended from the Atlanta Falcons indefinitely and the large paycheck that goes w/it, got a tough sentence yesterday for "just killing some dogs," let me remind you of one important fact:

Animal abuse has been linked to the abuse of humans for almost the same.exact.reasons.

I think he didn't get a harsh enough sentence, but then again, anyone found guilty of animal neglect and/or abuse is hardly given a tough enough punishment in my opinion.

If a person is willing to maim, torture or kill any type of animal, who or what is to stop them from doing the same to a human regardless of age, ability or gender?

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Michael Vick sentenced to 23 months

When I drove by the courthouse this morning at 7:40am, there were protestors already lining the streets. Included was a guy who put up 5 or 6 Vick jerseys w/various signs on the back and fronts, one of which said something like, "Make sentencing fair for Michael Vick."

What is fair about him being the financier for an illegitimate kennel where only pits were bred for fighting purposes? And who is going to speak for the 8 dogs he killed mercilessly?

I told Peanut this morning that I could care less if he goes to jail as I think a permanent suspension from the Falcons would do far more damage as that's his $7 million paycheck that he is not entitled to but lucky to have.

Anyone treating animals this way frustrates me because one of these days the state and federal legislative branches will get a clue to the connection between animal and human abuse. If a human can beat, maim, torture and/or kill an animal, then they are capable of doing it to humans as well.

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Oh the weather outside if frightful.....

It's finally dipping into the high 30s and it even snowed for a bit.

And they finally caught the dumbass fugitive Alonzo Logan, who broke out of prison after serving only a fraction of his 45yr term. He was spotted very very close to my house last week as Fulton Bottom is a mere 5min walk from my house, just down the hill. So of course I was freaked out and have been. So much so that I think my housemate and I are going to activate our security system (that and if we're all away and our house catches on fire, the agency will automatically alert the fire department).

He has lost the possibility of parole, dragged his family into his stupid decision to ruin his life time and time again (who will also be visiting the local jail for aiding and abetting a fugitive) not to mention how long he'll spend in solitary.

Anyway, they caught him this morning and took him straight to the hospital as he was unconscious and hypothermia was a cause for concern.

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Here's what I've been doing lately

Planning for a new dog park. This, along with several other projects, are requiring a lot of my time. Plus Peanut was quite a shithead for the first few weeks at school but now seems to be doing okay.

Surprise here: he's very good in English, History and sort of Science, but not so good at Math.

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"Celebration"

The 400th Anniversary of Jamestown is coming up and here in Virginia, they've been on a 2 year campaign to promote what the PR team has dubbed a "celebration" and

showcase [of] Virginia's unique role as the birthplace of modern America and the cradle of American democratic traditions, cultures, ideologies and principles - 400 years strong.

Never mind how we almost completely decimated an entire culture that was doing just fine before we got here. And that was just at the beginning. We took land illegally, bought land that wasn't anybodies for the taking and introduced a slew of diseases and bad habits into a self-sustaining culture; diabetes is now the #1 disease among the Native American population.

On the Q & A section of the official Jamestown 2007 website, it tells us why Jamestown is so important, among other things. Whomever answered the question said

Traditions established at Jamestown - including representative government, the rule of law, free enterprise and cultural diversity - form the basis of American culture today.

Including representative government? Look at paintings from Colonial Williamsburg; every man is white and middle to upper class.

The rule of law? They freaked out over the spirituality indigenous peoples freely showed, made laws forbidding Colonials to have anything to do with them and eventually (but not always) slaughtered entire tribes. Those laws also included converting Indians to the Christian way hence the term 'colonials.'

Free enterprise? Huh? I thought only acceptable jobs could be practiced and again, only if you were a white man. Not everyone could do the same thing and if I recall correctly, they struggled for at least the first 5 years to make a village much less allow free enterprise. The people were supposedly fleeing persecution on all sorts of issues but exacted the same punishment once here.

Cultural diversity? Did I miss something in history class because I don't recall this ever being the norm or our past wouldn't be what it is what with mass killings, slavery, Jim Crow laws and all that.Yeah, that's definitely something to celebrate alright.

P.S. A conservative Christian group (scroll to An Alternative Jamestown Celebration) feels the "commemoration" is too mired in political correctness and is holding an alternative celebration "of the 400th anniversary of Jamestown because the official proceedings are mired in political correctness and ignore the hand of God in bringing Christianity into the New World." Seriously. Who'd have thought it would be politically correct to acknowledge our assholish behavior and basic assumption the "pagan Indians" needed to be saved 400 years ago, eh?

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Oh lookey hea Ms. Scahlett,

the irreverent Delegate Marshall is lookin' to set Virginia on the path to illegalize abortion once again.

Abortion illegal upon overturning of Roe v. Wade. Provides that if and when the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) is overturned, allowing the states to by their laws once again regulate abortion, the law in the Commonwealth of Virginia rendering abortion a crime, as it was in effect on June 30, 1970, and prior to the decision in Roe v. Wade, shall be reinstated. The Attorney General shall publish legal notice statewide that, in his opinion, the decision is overturned and that Virginia's law is as it was prior to the decision in Roe v. Wade. The Attorney General shall publish statewide notice of the change in law, along with the reinstated law governing the criminal offense of abortion.

Notice it says "if and when" Roe v. Wade is overturned.

But he hasn't gotten one of his asinine anti-choice bills passed yet. Let's hope this year will be like all the rest.

(Okay, okay, so I did a little searching and I kinda have to agree with this one. I guess this falls under the category of "political irony" since, in this bill, he's asking that a woman be free from duress while trying to make the decision yet, hmmm, didn't he just propose to make it illegal all the way around once Roe v. Wade is overturned? Which would then make this bill null and void since he took away the very sin a boyfriend/husband could push the woman into doing. *sigh* You gotta love the inconsistencies.)

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Local Politics

Virginia's General Assembly session is set to kick off Wednesday and oh what fun they will be having this year it seems. There are the usual stream of anti-choice bills which constantly get defeated and the usual stream of pro-choice bills that also constantly get defeated, i.e. insurance paying for birth control which would help prevent unwanted pregnancies therefore reducing the "demand" for abortions.

But I digress.

What has caught my eye this year is a bill The Family Foundation is proposing but don't yet have a sponsor for. It's a bill that would take Virginia's no-fault divorce and change it into one that requires mutual consent. Isn't that just super family focused?

What that means is both parties will be required to agree to the divorce instead of just one, which is what a no fault divorce is and what currently now stands in Virginia.

So, The Family Foundation, who notoriously spout they have only the interest of the children in mind, want a woman/man to stay with their spouse regardless of how much love and affection isn't present within the relationship. And how does this help to create and maintain healthy children exactly?

Oh yeah, because kids from single parent families tend to be hellions, single-handedly causing the crime rate to go up, suffering from not having the other parent around (especially the dad's as there hasn't been a whole lot of squawking about absent mothers) and all generalalities we can place on single parents.

Meanwhile, mom is getting beat by dad constantly or mom is so controlling, even dad is afraid to leave the house. If either party is the controlling/abusive type, does The Family Foundation honestly think they're going to "mutually consent" to a divorce?

Ah, no.

This then leaves the unhappy party stuck, literally and metaphorically. What The Family Foundation needs to do is read the thousands of articles/books/journals that have published the findings of research done on the effects divorce vs. "staying together for the kids" has on children and how really none of them is optimal, but breaking free from a beater is hella better than staying with one.

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