Just a quick hit post to provide a link to the Loudoun County Office of Mapping’s Flickr site
http://www.flickr.com/photos/omagi/
There you can find just about any map of the County you could want, including maps of every precinct.
Crossposted at Equality Loudoun.
It’s not online, but Leesburg Today has a piece on a recent Community Levee Association essay contest, and the winning essay is on their site. CLA president Chris Stevenson tells the Leesburg Today “we thought there were pretty good deep insights into marriage, especially for a 12th grader.” The author makes a strong case for the emotional difference between marriage and something that falls short, disputing the idea “that cohabitation is a reasonable substitution for marriage.”
Do you think this has anything to do with the recent hostility toward public sector jobs?
Even as historically male-dominated industries remain in the doldrums and men look elsewhere for work, local governments have been slashing their majority-female workforces. Employment in the sector held steady during the recession, but in the past year tens of thousands of schoolteachers and other civil servants have been laid off.
A few days ago, we celebrated Independence Day, and remembered the document that asserted our Freedom from British tyranny. Today is a less known anniversary, an anniversary of the day that equality was enshrined in our Constitution as a principle on par with liberty. Today is the 143rd anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment. More than any other Amendment to the Constitution (with the exception, of course, of the 13th Amendment) the 14th Amendment has been the Constitutional foundation of America’s progress over the past 100 plus years.
The Library of Congress provides an excellent summary of the 14th Amendment.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment.
The power of the 14th Amendment echoes through the eras, as evidenced by unconstitutional opposition to birthright citizenship for our neighbors with parents from Latin America. It provides the black-letter Constitutional basis for Federal government enforcement of civil rights within the states, much to the chagrin of Texas and, in some cases, Virginia. And it originated that inestimably wonderful phrase, “equal protection of the laws.” Where prior to the 14th Amendment, the equality of citizens under the laws had been assumed, but not truly honored, the 14th Amendment creates and affirmative duty of government to ensure the equality of all under the law.
Ever since its passage conservative interests (first, in the Democratic Party, and later in the Republican Party) have sought to undermine, eviscerate and minimize the 14th Amendment, but it remains a core part of the fundamental law of the land, and the basis of legal equality and progress in the 20th century.
It was the 14th Amendment that made Brown vs. Board possible. It is the 14th Amendment that calls marriage discrimination into real question. It is the 14th Amendment that forms the Constitutional foundation for progressivism in all its modern incarnations.
And so, today, I celebrate the anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment. Ratified, it should be remembered, by Republican states and a Republican Congress. America is better, and stronger, and more just for the 14th Amendment, and I celebrate that today.
[Promoted by Liz, because it’s awfully early in the season for signs on the roadways. Yards, yes. Roads, no.]
The photo below was taken on July 8, 2011 at 11:07 AM at the intersection of Rte 7 and Rte 287. The driver was littering the highway right of way with Dick Black campaign signs. The campaign worker’s car was facing North on Rte 287 in Purcellville. At the time the photo was taken, the young man was littering the South side of the Westbound entrance ramp – behind me. I would have liked to have snapped his picture, but Dick Black supporters are virulent homophobes and I didn’t want deal with additional filth. Please click on the image to view a full size image.
Isn’t littering a crime? I wonder if Dick Black knows?
Dick Black campaign places signs at Rtes 287 and 7 in Purcellville
June was very, very active — as usual. Thanks to the wonderful team of volunteers supporting our campaign.
I spoke to around 500 Islamic parishioners, mostly voters. These people are wonderful citizens who enrich our society. Very sad that there are so many misperceptions of their values and aspirations. Also spoke to many in the Hispanic community, who as with the Islamic community, feel a great deal of distrust of the Republican agenda.
I campaign every day, even on Sunday. In June, knocked on most of the doors in Loudoun Valley Estates, plus many below Braddock and lots in Stone Ridge and South Riding. Lots of friends also helped on weekends. Lots of non-HOA citizens and stores along Route 50 got attention. Also attended events. Sponsored a hole at a PTSA golf tournament with proceeds going to help children, plus many meetings with leaders in Stone Ridge and Brambleton, unions, Loudoun Valley Estates and some national Democratic leaders. More on that later on. Spoke to the Board of Supervisors on our plan to build jobs in Dulles and expand our tax base without raising taxes. Lots more. A very busy month indeed.
Disappointing seeing the Republican party breaking rules and acting in a rude manner in South Riding. Just don’t see how they think such behavior will gain votes or respect.
Visit us on facebook or come to loudoun4roeder.org. Larry Roeder
South Riding Citizens Endorse Full-Time Supervisor Model
“Likewise, the Sheriff and the Commonwealth’s Attorney are elected to enforce the laws of Loudoun County – whether the target is Democrat or Republican. The laws govern everyone equally.”
Remember when I did that resolution for Loudoun Times Mirror? Well Ralph Buona did one too. His is the unfortunate still-frame that YouTube used.
Uh…yeah. Ralph Buona’s creepy eyes? Yet another reason, if you needed one, to vote for Valdis Ronis.
Crossposted from my other blog, because we need content over here!
Today is the 75th Anniversary of the Public Contracts Act of 1936. In the history of America, this is a major event, and one that even today, remains an anathema to conservatives nationwide. That is because the Public Contracts Act of 1936 established the 40-hour work-week in the United States, set minimum ages for workers and even took on a minimum wage.
The Roosevelt-Perkins remedial initiative resulted in the Public Contracts Act of 1936 (Walsh-Healey). The act required most government contractors to adopt an 8-hour day and a 40-hour week, to employ only those over 16 years of age if they were boys or 18 years of age if they were girls, and to pay a “prevailing minimum wage” to be determined by the Secretary of Labor. – U.S. Department of Labor
The Public Contracts act remains the law of the land today.
The significance of June 30th’s bill was the use of the Federal Government’s purchasing power to establish labor standards. It wasn’t about imposing rules on the market by fiat, but rather by using the government’s own purchasing decisions and criteria to lead the market by example. We may recognize this approach in a thousand small things (and big things) done by governments nationwide, today, but it was the Public Contracts Act that began this work as a matter of law.
Today is a keynote anniversary in the history of American progress, and worth noting in some small way.
Leesburg Today, Loudoun Times Mirror and Loudoun Insider are reporting that the Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office is losing Jim Fisher, resident of Fauquier – who is being appointed the the Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney, just in time for the election this fall.
Apparently this has the prosecutor’s office in a tizzy, since Fisher is the lead prosecutor on the the Bennett case. You will probably recall that they are the couple who were brutally attacked while out for a morning walk in Lansdowne. There are two codefendants, Jaime Ayala and Darwin Bowman, and a third named person, Anthony Roberts, who has yet to be charged (and what will happen with that now, I wonder?), and has been the lead on the most publicized cases in the county for the past several years.
Unconfirmed is the rumor that Fisher is not just the lead prosecutor, but the hand on the tiller of day-to-day operations of the office.
So, if he doesn’t run the office and he doesn’t try cases, what DOES Plowman do all day?
This coming November, let’s hire a REAL prosecutor. Vote Jennifer Wexton for Commonwealth’s Attorney.