There’s a thousand reasons to read Digby. Here’s one more.

I know the Democratic Party sucks. (It always has to one degree or another, by the way. Check out Roosevelt’s policies on race. It’s not like he didn’t know they were bad — it was his deal with the devil to keep the old confederacy in the coalition.) Sadly, that’s true of every political party ever created. However, it is the only institutional governance vehicle we have for liberalism of any kind and it is the only viable tool our system provides to fight back the increasingly manipulative, nihilistic and fascistic conservatives. – Digby

This is what I think of when I hear my fellow Democrats get disheartened and complain about our Party. We are the Party. Not the President, not Congress members, us. The Party is what we make of it. The fight is never done, and the party is not perfect – no human institution is – but it’s what we have, and it’s what we make of it. Just as America isn’t perfect, but we’re working towards an ever-more perfect union. Our Democratic party isn’t perfect. It’s flawed and it’s scared, and it needs our help to stay true to its bearings. But isn’t that kinda the point of being involved in the first place?

Seriously, Sterling, VOTE. HIM. OUT.

Among the more interesting items appearing across our desks lately was this press release from former Delegate Richard H. “Dick” Black of Loudoun, who is contemplating a run for the Virginia Senate in 2011:

STERLING, VA (June 15, 2010) — Virginia Delegate Richard H. Black, who served four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1998 to 2006, today expressed thanks to the participants of a poll conducted by the Loudoun Independent. The clear majority of those who participated in the poll stated that Black is needed back in Richmond.

Wow. As a staunch supporter of Senator Mark Herring (D-33), whom Black would seemingly be challenging, this news is very surprising to me. One would think that the rousing beating Mr. Black took at the hands of Dave Poisson in the 2005 election would have served notice that his brand of right-wing loonyism (i.e., “baby pesticides” and plastic fetuses) didn’t fly in Loudoun County.

Until you consider the source of the poll, and do a little digging.The Loudoun Independent is owned by William Dean, who also runs engineering firm M.C. Dean, Inc., headquartered in Sterling, VA. Ironically, Bill Dean personally donated $2,000 to Mr. Black’s campaigns when he (Black) served as Delegate for the 32nd District.

Even more ironically, M.C. Dean Building intelligence Inc. is also on record as having donated $19,500 to Mr. Black while he was a delegate, dating back to 2000.

The Loudoun Independent, if they want to be considered as a legitimate news operation in Loudoun, should have either revealed this to their readers or stayed on the sidelines. One can also wonder if campaign finance laws are possibly being violated here: can a known Black supporter running a poll on their newspaper’s website for that candidate to gauge interest in his campaign be construed as making an in-kind donation to that candidate? While true that Black hasn’t yet declared, why would he issue a press release stating the results if he wasn’t going to run?

The poll, though, was simply a sidebar poll, and as of 1 PM on June 17th only had 324 responses. No other polls have been taken by any other media outlet in Loudoun to date.

So until an impartial source comes out with a more scientific poll showing similar results, we can take the Loudoun Independent/Dick Black’s poll for what it is: nothing substantial. And Black’s hyping of this poll as a mandate from the citizens of Loudoun is just a gross overexaggeration.

But the next time the Loudoun Independent hypes Dick Black, or vice versa, you’ll know the motivations.

Postscript: this was released by the Loudoun Times-Mirror after I published this diary. Hat-tip to Erika Garman.

Prop 8 Trial Tracker is asking for folks to do live and taped reenactments of the Trial Testimony, including closing arguments.

The Supreme Court did not allow the trial to be televised. The words spoken by both sides during the trial, and during closing arguments, are some of the most powerful statements in favor of gay marriage anywhere.

Everyone everywhere should hear what was said.

So grab a transcript. Grab your friends. Grab a camera. Read it aloud. Record it. Upload it.

Do it.

This morning’s Loudoun Times-Mirror has a story about the Board of Supervisors approving the 2010 Countywide Transportation Plan by a narrow 5-4 vote.

In the story, it mentions an interesting observation made by transportation consultant Lucinda Gibson:

The county’s traffic constraints are its intersections, not its roads, Gibson said.

Anyone who’s been stuck on Route 7 in Ashburn in the morning or afternoon knows what I’m getting at here. The elimination of the light at Loudoun County Parkway has only changed the choke point on Route 7 from there to the entrance for Strayer University near the Route 28 ramps.

Ms. Gibson suggests building roundabouts to replace intersections instead of widening roads, but unfortunately the Board failed to accept this suggestion or any of her other suggestions. They seem to be fixated on adding lanes to reduce congestion, which I believe only heightens the congestion at the choke points.

Growing up in South Jersey, I learned how to drive using roundabouts and jug-handles (for left hand turns). Unorthodox maybe, but quite effective if you think about it. Roundabouts eliminate traffic signals, and promote a free flow of vehicles through once-clogged intersections. Yes, one has to slow down considerably upon entering a roundabout, and has to be cognizant of other traffic entering and exiting, but the key is: traffic is moving. You’re not sitting at a red light, idling, watching no vehicles pass perpendicular to you. You’re always moving.

Evidence of this can be seen at the Route 50 intersection with Route 15; this intersection used to be a mis-mash, with cars backed up in all directions waiting for the signal to change. Now, no backups as traffic flows freely through the roundabout. To a lesser extent, MDOT recently opened a roundabout on Route 15 in Point of Rocks, MD, and again, you’re always moving (of course, absent a traffic incident).

Crossposted on Equality Loudoun.

Allowing gay men and lesbians to marry would “be a victory for the worthy ideas of tolerance and inclusion…[and] a victory for, and another key expansion of, the American idea,” and it would also “likely be accompanied by a wide-ranging and potentially valuable national discussion of marriage’s benefits, status and future.”

Also, marriage equality “would probably reduce the proportion of homosexuals who marry persons of the opposite sex and, thus, would likely reduce instances of marital unhappiness and divorce.”

So testified a key expert witness in the Proposition 8 trial.

You are probably assuming that this was a witness for the plaintiffs suing to overturn Prop 8. If so, you are wrong. This is the testimony under cross examination of David Blankenhorn, witness for the proponents of Prop 8.

The closing arguments are today, and are being live-blogged at prop8trialtracker.com

Bye, Marshall-Newman. It’s been fun.

Hello, test.  Hello, test

Go link or go home!

Mentioning your religion helps you, but, paradoxically, it helps you most if you have no religion. We know that’s going to piss a lot of people off, and we’re more or less tongue-in-cheek with this advice, but it’s what the numbers say. – Exactly What To Say In A First Message

• Some educators question if whiteboards, other high-tech tools raise achievement – About those electronic whiteboards…
• Treasury: Bailout repayments exceed outstanding debt – So, basically, the US Taxpayer made about an 11% return on the TARP program. And yet the same people who decry the TARP are the ones railing about the deficit. I guess intellectual consistency is truly the hobgoblin of little minds.
• Online Dating: Exactly What To Say In A First Message – Fascinating statistical study of what words work, and what words don’t in initial messages on online dating sites. Did you know that’s is good to be an atheist if you want to meet someone online?
• Student attacks Hells Angels with puppy – “A German student created a traffic jam in Bavaria after making a rude gesture at a group of Hells Angels motorcycle gang members, hurling a puppy at them and then escaping on a stolen bulldozer.”

It’s not often that I agree with Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), but I will give credit where credit is due.

From an e-mail I received today from Supervisor Waters’ office:

I would like to make you aware of a recent speed study that was conducted for a portion of Gloucester Parkway and ask for your help in opposing an increase in the speed limit.  The portion of Gloucester Parkway between Loudoun County Parkway and Marblehead Drive is currently in the process of being turned over to VDOT.  As a part of the VDOT street acceptance policy, a speed study must be conducted to set the speed limit on any road going into the VDOT system.

A recent speed study conducted by the owners of this road portion has led VDOT to conclude the speed limit should be raised from 35mph to 40mph in that area.  I oppose this recommendation.  We have several senior communities located along Gloucester and Marblehead.  My office has heard consistent concerns from those communities regarding traffic speeds and pedestrian safety.  Raising the speed limit would only increase these concerns.

Supervisor Waters is correct in her assertion here. The entrance to Ashby Ponds retirement community is practically mid-way between Loudoun County Parkway and Marblehead Drive. Drivers routinely exceed the 35 m.p.h. speed limit on Gloucester, and (if I could put this gently) some seniors’ reaction times behind the wheel simply aren’t what they used to be. Raising the speed limit is just inviting a tragedy.

Plus, Farmwell Station Middle School is a bit further down Gloucester Parkway, and if you think that most drivers cruisng along at 40 m.p.h. (or better) are going to slow down enough to drop below the 25 m.p.h. school zone speed limit, you’re fooling yourself.

There’s absolutely no need to raise the speed limit at all in that area. Occasionally, when I’m driving that stretch, I see Loudoun County’s finest “running radar”, so you know excessive speed is definitely a problem there.

If you are in agreement that the speed limit should not be raised on this stretch, please contact your Supervisor and let him or her know. You may just save a life.

This explains a lot – such as people who simultaneously demand lower taxes and more and wider roads, those who proclaim that “now is not the time” to take steps to protect our perennial streams (which is sort of like saying “now is not the time to begin treatment for your cancer”), and those who insist that their religious freedom has been stolen from them when they are prevented from interfering with the religious expression of others.

I suppose it’s comforting, in a way, that this is nothing new.