Yearly Archives: 2013

Dave “I’m-So-Busy” LaRock – Serial Debate No-Show

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Where in the world is Dave LaRock?

Republican Delegate Candidate Dave LaRock is a serial debate no-show in this Fall’s General Election line-up for the House of Delegates in the 33rd District.

Dave’s just so busy doing “something else,” and we’re talking “scheduling conflicts” here, that he can’t show up in person in Loudoun to say why he should be our delegate.

Apparently he believes we, the Loudoun voters, should rely on his caustic witty one-liners in expensive glossy multi-colored oversized postcards that he’s stuffing into our mail boxes.

This man’s Franklin-Covey day-timer must be a blizzard of conflicting activities that would challenge the skills of an Amtrak scheduler.

For the record, before last week, Dave had ducked the Clarke County Debate Forum as well as the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce Debate Forum. Now that’s news! What candidate of either party ever ducks the Chamber’s well-attended high class opportunity to chew on issues that are well-framed and widely covered in the media? Our Dave did. Dave also refuses to answer the Chamber’s written questions on the issues. Thus, we have Dave the politically obscure and obdurate.

Last Wednesday evening, at 7 PM, there was a Debate Forum convened by the Purcellville Gazette at the Carver Center, not that far from Dave’s home.

There was a good size crowd. We all just got so cozy in our folding chairs about 7 PM with free cups of high test java and fresh made cookies and settled back, waiting to hear Dave tell us why he should be our next rep in the Northern Hemisphere’s oldest deliberative body.

While sitting there, I thought of the Monty Python lyrics, “Brave Sir Robin,” and thought we should sing instead of our “Brave Sir Dave” while we were waiting:

Continue reading →

Dave LaRock thinks the rules don’t apply to him. Again.

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Unauthorized use of Catoctin Creek Distillery image in Dave LaRock campaign mailer

Unauthorized use of Catoctin Creek Distillery image in Dave LaRock campaign mailer

Another campaign mailer from Dave LaRock arrived at our house. It contained some photos from local businesses, with the tagline “Dave LaRock: Helping small businesses. Creating jobs.” The implication, of course, is that those pictured endorse his candidacy; that’s not unusual. But it turns out that Mr. LaRock did not seek authorization to use the photos.

Scott Harris, the owner of Catoctin Creek Distillery and pictured below in the green shirt, was forced to politely correct the record in a letter to the Purcellville Gazette:

Catoctin Creek Distillery on Political Endorsements

Recently, a campaign flier was distributed showing my image and speaking with one of the candidates for delegate of our district. I would like to clarify that Catoctin Creek is an independent organization, and does not support political candidates formally.

We have had the pleasure of meeting both candidates in this election, and we were happy to show each of them our facility and explain the nuances of our small business and its particular challenges.

We wish both candidates the best of luck in the election, noting that Catoctin Creek is not endorsing any particular candidate in this election.  It is our wish simply to encourage people to get out and vote, no matter their politics.

Scott Harris
Owner, Catoctin Creek Distillery
Purcellville

Continue reading →

Anarchy?

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Henry David Thoreau said he heartily agreed with that Jeffersonian remark, “that government is best which governs least.”

He said, however, he’d go one better, believing “That government is best which governs not at all.”

Henry was, in truth and fact, a non-violent anarchist.

Some might think our current brand of green tea anarchists from mostly red states draw wisdom from Henry when enthusiastically shutting down the government – invoking the Affordable Care Act (ACA)(or Obamacare) as their pretext for what they’ve wanted to do ever since they’ve dominated the House Republican Caucus in the U.S. Congress and dictated what the Speaker may move to the floor for a vote.

But Henry’s no-government anarchism presumed a precondition, that would be satisfied “when men are prepared for it, [and then] that will be the kind of government which they will have.” Continue reading →

Saving the World

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Nobel prize-winning physicist Jack Steinberger, 92, and John Flannery

How can we expect the United States to save the world when it’s not able to remain open to do its business?

When you have to pay your bills past due and owing, do you get to negotiate and say, well I’ll pay if you, Mr Landlord, change your policies and, oh, reduce my rent?  Not very likely!  You live in the real world rather than the tea-induced fantasy factory that’s stymied the Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, and put our nation at risk.

In this dystopian context, we have to ask what our government is doing that’s really important, is it doing anything to “save the world,” whether it’s anticipating what we do when we’ve exhausted our fossil fuels as an energy source or how we protect against the annihilating force of a targeted nuclear weapon.

I had the opportunity to listen and talk with Nobel prize-winning physicist, Jack Steinberger, 92, about “saving the world,” although his characterization was more modest, like his manner. Continue reading →

Manhattan Declaration in action, the shutdown

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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops lobbied Congress to hold the continuing resolution and debt ceiling bill hostage to anti-birth control ideology. In a September 26 letter, they wrote:

We are writing once again, as Chairmen of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, on an increasingly grave concern to our Church and many others: Preserving religious freedom and the right of conscience for all who take part in our health care system.
We have already urged you to enact the Health Care Conscience Rights Act (H.R. 940/S. 1204). As Congress considers a Continuing Resolution and debt ceiling bill in the days to come, we reaffirm the vital importance of incorporating the policy of this bill into such “must-pass” legislation.
Loudoun’s Chuck Colson inspired Manhattan Declaration lays out the programme for the tea party/”Christian” right led sedition.
…we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.
…
Chuck Colson Founder, the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview (Lansdowne, VA)
Congressman Frank Wolf co-sponsored H.R. 940.
Thanks Frank!

Morality call – say no to the Values Voter Summit

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The SPLC is asking elected officials to stop courting the anti-GLBT hate groups that sponsor the so-called Values Voter conference.

It’s a simple ask.

“If you are elected to represent *all* people, you can’t treat some people as sub-human.”

Morality call, no human is sub-human. If a “values voter” considers a fertilized egg to be fully human,  how can he or she treat a living breathing person as a sub-human?

Here is the SPLC email. Continue reading →

The Fall Show

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Vermont Maple Leaf

The orange gold of an autumn maple leaf by itself is something to behold, to watch anew with surprise and delight.

When a tree is fully clothed with these leaves seen in sunny stark contrast with spectral shifts of red and yellow leaves as well as lingering greens from other deciduous trees, this natural palette is so brilliant we can’t help ourselves, we seek it out, travel along tree-lined roads, sit on our back porches, looking and watching, to celebrate this recurring spectacle of nature. Continue reading →

Frank Wolf’s “Science Trap”

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You’ve got to have pity for Frank Wolf. He must appeal to the anti-science Christianist TEA-Party right and his overwhelmingly smart, diverse, real-world, evidence-oriented constituency. He’s between a rock (or shall we say LaRock) and a proverbial hard place. For example, Liza Gold* just took him to task for his anti-violent-video game ideology. Here are a few excerpts from her Fairfax Times op-ed.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Dist. 10) has repeatedly stated his belief that violent video games are a major cause of gun violence and mass shootings. As per his website: “Common sense tells us that the level of violence on TV, in the movies and in many video games is a problem. While media violence is not the only factor of mass violence, it is one of the easiest factors to change and it needs to be addressed.” This position would not be objectionable, except for the fact that Rep. Wolf seems uninterested in any other subject relating to sensible firearm regulation reform. Continue reading →

Gay – In the Image of God

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Pope Francis

In Genesis, it plainly says that “God created man in his own image.”

In the popular single, “same love,” the Seattle-based rap artist Macklemore warns of “man-made rewiring of a predisposition, [of] playing God …”  See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TBgcctcco .

Macklemore speaks of gay slurs, born of “the same hate that’s caused wars from religion.”

“When I was at church,” Macklemore intones, “they taught me something else, if you preach hate at the services those words aren’t anointed, that holy water that you soak in has been poisoned.”

Rightly Macklemore concludes, “No law is gonna change us ..and I can’t change even if I tried.” Continue reading →