The missing links have returned! Or been found. Anyone watch that Futurama where Professor Farnsworth keeps finding the missing link, but the chimp professor keeps questioning it? It’s like that.

If the Recovery Act failed to stimulate Americans’ confidence, it’s because it replaced more things than it built. It filled the crater left by the financial crisis. By and large, it succeeded. But its success has been nearly invisible. After all, a filled hole looks like nothing at all. – The Atlantic

• What You Don’t Understand About the Stimulus – Like so much that this Administration and Democratic Congress have done in the past 18 months, the stimulus wasn’t about immediately recognizable change, it was about shifting long-term priorities and filling enormous gaps in our economy. This article does a good job of explaining this regarding the Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• Understanding the Science Behind Riparian Forest Buffers: Effects on Water Quality – Everything you ever wanted to know about riparian buffers, but were afraid to ask.
• The Party of Crazy – The Roanoke Times opines on the modern Republican party. It’s pretty standard stuff, but from a Virginia paper.
• Before You Say The Country Is Moving To The Right… – Chris Bowers demonstrates how America is positively more liberal than we were 30 years ago, and that’s a good thing.
• Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits – In honor of the new school year, science tells us what kind of studying works.
• My Rabbi’s Yom Kippur Sermon Posted on Kid Squared, a blog that is on the mysterymommy blogroll.
  

• Balls Beer for Health Care Reform – A bit of a reminder seems necessary.
• New Fallacies for Our Time – Blatant logical fallacies posing as political argumentation is one of the reasons I started blogging in the first place. I love this post on OpenLeft about modern-day logical fallacies in political discussions.

Earlier this week, Leesburg Councilmember Dave Butler introduced a resolution to provide pedestrian crosswalks on the Leesburg Bypass. This is in response to the significant danger posed by people crossing the Bypass unsafely, today.

To protect residents that need to cross the Bypass, and to further the goal of increasing bicycle & pedestrian use within the Town, on Monday, Town Councilman Dave Butler will propose installing crosswalks at all four Bypass intersections including Battlefield Parkway, Edwards Ferry Road, Fort Evan’s Road, and Sycolin Road.

“Obviously, Leesburg Town staff will need to investigate cost and feasibility, but this is a critical need for Leesburg and we need to move this forward.  Too many of our residents cross the Bypass to earn a living to survive,” said Councilman Butler.  “We owe it to them to come up with a better solution than just a bus.” – Dave Butler

The best solution for the Bypass is a series of interchanges from Fort Evans Rd. north to Battlefield Parkway, and a flyover at Sycolin Road. These are, in fact, the Town’s plans for the road, but there is no funding for these critical, necessary plans.

The fact that we need to consider pedestrian crosswalks on the Leesburg Bypass is due to the total ineffectiveness of our legislative Republican representation in Richmond and Washington DC. Yes, the mess that is the Leesburg Bypass at rush hour is the fault of Joe May and Frank Wolf. For lack of legislative gumption from our representatives, the Town is forced to consider striping a major throughway in the name of safety.  Both Joe May and Frank Wolf have served as chairmen of their respective chambers’ Transportation Committees at various points over the past decade. Joe May is Chair of the Transportation committee in the Assembly, today! And yet, in spite of these positions of power within a legislative majorities, they ignored the emerging need for a solution on the Leesburg Bypass as the problem was building.

During this past decade, the commonwealth faced its biggest battles over transportation funding and planning, but Joe May and Frank Wolf were conspicuously absent from those important debates. In fact, in 2008 – after the 2007 compromise that yielded the NVTA was declared unconstitutional – Joe May said, “We need money raised in Northern Virginia to be spent in Northern Virginia. It is becoming rapidly apparent that we’re at the point where if we don’t address transportation in Northern Virginia it will start to affect the rest of Virginia.”

That was two years ago and yet Delegate May has done nothing to address that imbalance since then.

Similarly, Frank Wolf’s signature legislative accomplishment of the past five years is the Journey Through Hallowed Ground. A significant portion of this “Journey” is US 15 from Charlottesville to Gettysburg. That means the Leesburg Bypass, here in Mr. Wolf’s district. If ever there were a vehicle for addressing the need for interchanges on the Leesburg Bypass, this was it. And yet, though he had been Chair of the Transportation Committee, and though there was bipartisan support for the bill establishing the Journey, Frank Wolf did nothing for Leesburg when given this golden opportunity.

For the record, by the time the Journey Through Hallowed Ground legislation was finally passed, the need for interchanges on the Bypass was clear. The fact that the longest-serving member of the Virginia delegation to Congress could not secure at least some part of $35 million to make his precious Journey Through Hallowed Ground actually safe for pedestrians in his own District is laughable.

Both Joe May and Frank Wolf have served for decades in their respective chambers. Both of them have seen to their personal, parochial issues during that extensive period. But both of them have failed, miserably, to address the real, pressing traffic problems of their Districts. Both of them deserve to be sent home. We need to change our representation in Congress and Richmond before anything will be done to solve the problems of the Bypass.

[Update] I was remiss in not mentioning that Sen. Herring has put together a Rt 7 Task Force to look at interchanges on that critical artery.

On Sept. 21, state Sen. Mark Herring (D-eastern Loudoun) told the Times-Mirror he will soon announce the formation of a new community task force with the goal of developing prioritized solutions to alleviate congestion on the Route 7 corridor between the Fairfax and Loudoun line in the east to the town of Leesburg in the west. – The Loudoun Times

Adam from Sen. Herring’s office has confirmed that the Leesburg Bypass was part of the area that the Task Force is going to be examining closely. Once again, Joe May is silent, absent and ineffective. Thankfully Sen. Herring is looking out for us and building a consensus among stakeholders in the County.  

Just another foreclosure.

A mixed-use development once touted by county leaders as “the biggest and most integrated center in Loudoun County” is now facing foreclosure.

One Loudoun, planned as a town-center-style development on 358 acres at Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway, will be up for a public auction on Sept. 28 at the county courthouse, according to trustees’ sale notice.

The McLean-based developers of the property, Miller & Smith, declined to comment on the proceedings.

According to a March 21, 2007, deed of trust, Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital lent the developer $125 million to fund the project.  – Loudoun Times-Mirror

The good news is the County got an interchange and construction of Russel Branch Parkway out of it before it collapsed. The bad news is that the County will not get the projected commercial and tax benefits from that area and another political battle will doubtless be fought over the site after the auction.

(With a tip-o-the-hat to Loudoun County Real Estate.)

While walking my dog through my neighborhood last week, I overheard two ten-year old girls having a conversation on a trampoline in a backyard.

“When is your dad coming back.”

“He can’t.”

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t have a pass to get back in America. You need a pass to get back in. My mom and grandma have a pass to leave, but they don’t have a pass to get back in either. I don’t need a pass to get in because I’m an American.”

“I’m an American!”

And both girls proceeded to jump on the trampoline chanting “I’m an American” in time with their jumps.  For thousands of kids in schools across America, they wouldn’t be able to say “I’m an American” because their parents brought them here without documentation. These kids are under constant threat of deportation, even if their families are US citizens. This is simply unjust.

Luckily, there is legislation pending in the Senate that would fix this: The DREAM Act.

The DREAM Act is a bipartisan measure that enables high-achieving young people – immigrants who have been raised here, have worked hard in school, and then pursue higher education or serve in the military – to achieve the American Dream.

Seventy percent of Americans agree that it makes no moral or economic sense to spend taxpayer dollars arresting, jailing, and deporting youth who grew up in this country.  The DREAM Act allows these young people to earn their citizenship and give back to the country they call home. A national poll of 1,008 adults, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for First Focus in June 2010, shows a stunning level of support, which cuts across regional and party lines. They found 70 percent overall support, 60% support from Republicans, and 80% support from Democrats. – America’s Voice

Sen. Reid is likely going to attach the DREAM Act as an amendment to an upcoming defense authorization bill. The Amendment is even germane to the bill.

In fact, the DREAM Act is included in the Department of Defense’s FY2010-12 Strategic Plan to help the military “shape and maintain a mission-ready All Volunteer Force”

That’s because a specific provision of the DREAM Act would allow those who meet all eligibility requirements, serve in the U.S. armed forces for at least two years and maintain “good moral character” to obtain regular lawful permanent resident status after six years. Many Military experts have come out in support of the DREAM Act because it would significantly increase the pool of qualified recruits in the Latino population, which comprises the majority of undocumented immigrants and which research indicates are more likely to enlist and serve in the military than any other group. – The Wonk Room (with a tip-o-the-hat to DailyKos)

Now is the time to tell our senators to support the DREAM Act amendment. Not just for the good of our military recruitment, but for the justice it will bring for thousands of kids and young people.

Contact Sen. Webb

Contact Sen. Warner.

I’m voting tea party because the links told me to.

• Was the Glenn Beck rally turnout really that impressive? – Short answer, no. Longer answer, in an age of simple and efficient mass, long-distance communications a rally of this kind cannot be “impressive” if it only scored 43% of the people Dr. King did in 1963, and less than 5% of those who showed up for President Obama’s inauguration.
• I’m Voting Tea Party – Because Obama won’t teach that the world is flat.
• More would-be interns paying thousands to land a coveted spot – This is literally the wealthy buying access for their kids.

(I shamelessly stole this from a friend on Facebook, it’s brilliant. -P13)

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong (reposting Mitchell Sturges)

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

The Washington Post’s Virginia Politics blog has started reading the tea leaves for the 2013 statewide races. And Loudoun’s own Sen. Herring is mentioned in the article.

Other Democrats being talked about for statewide office are Sen, Mark Herring of Loudoun County for attorney general, former Del. Brian Moran, who ran for governor last year, and former Del. Steve Shannon, who ran for attorney general and recently opened a PAC. But expect Moran and Shannon may end up back in the General Assembly before they make another run at statewide office. – The Washington Post

This article follows along a long string of speculation that the Senator is looking to run statewide in 2013, and one of the main pieces of evidence cited is his hosting of an event at an otherwise uneventful JJ dinner this year.

Each year, candidates seeking higher office in Virginia host hospitality suites after the Democrats’ annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

But so far, only state Sen. Mark Herring of Loudoun County is hosting one after the black-tie fundraiser Saturday night in Richmond.

We hear Herring is considering a run for attorney general in 2013, but in an interview this week he said that 2013 is a “long way off” and that he’s focused solely on his re-election to the Senate next year and being the best senator he can be. – The Washington Post

In the interests of full disclosure, I’m a strong supporter of Sen. Herring and believe he would be an excellent candidate for higher office, and more importantly, an excellent Attorney General or Governor.  I spoke with someone who works with the Senator, and he reminded me of the following:

“I think it’s important that you know Senator Herring’s position regarding the speculation and that is that he is 100% focused on his reelection in 2011. 2013 is a long way off, and he is very flattered to mentioned as someone people think would be qualified to seek statewide office.”

Senator Herring is public service at its best. Oh, and he makes a fantastic grilled ear of corn.  

More unionbusting in New York, and David Waldman leads the way on filibuster reform.

• Tell Xerox: No More Unionbusting! – Motts in upstate New York, and now Xerox in Staten Island.
• Filibuster Reform – Remember when David Waldman came to the LCDC and talked to us about Filibuster Reform? Well, he’s leading the charge with a petition you should sign.
  

• Meet My Senators for Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is setting up meetings with critical Senators to advocate for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Both Senators Webb and Warner are key to this effort. You can sign up to help.
• Turn Off Fox – This is a campaign to get citizens to ask businesses with TVs in them (think barber shops) to turn off Fox News. I love it, because Fox News funds terrorism, thus watching Fox supplies money to terrorists.
• Can The Catfood Commission – The Social Security reform commission chaired by Sen. Simpson is a stalking horse for cutting benefits even though Social Security is solvent. Sign the petition to tell President Obama not to cut this critical element of our safety net.

I sometimes find Glenn Greenwald to be a bit much. I know that makes me a blasphemer in the progressive blogosphere, but here I stand and I can do no more. That being said, his post about the furor over the Park51 Islamic Center in Manhattan made me think about the current “debate” over the undebateable (Private Property + Freedom of Religion = Essential Core of American Values) differently.

If you chose to narrowly define the topic of the controversy as nothing more than the Manhattan address of Park 51, then obviously it pales in importance to the unemployment crisis, our ongoing wars, and countless other political issues.

But that’s an artificially narrow and misguided way of understanding what this dispute is about.  The intense animosity toward Muslims driving this campaign extends far beyond Ground Zero, and manifests in all sorts of significant and dangerous ways. – Glenn Greenwald

All too often, pro-Christian protests are not so much pro-Christian as against other faiths, or even against other threads of Christianity, let alone faiths that do not accept the divinity of Christ.

Which brings us to the relevance of the Park51 protests to Loudoun County: the revisiting of Courthouse displays that will take place before the Board of Supervisors in September. If you believe that the crazy that is going on in Lower Manhattan couldn’t happen here, rest assured that the irrational vitriol so prevalent there will be appearing shortly before our elected officials in the form of a re-energized false controversy over Christmas displays.  It is important to remember that we all agree that freedom of speech is a correct basis for determining what should and should not be permitted on public, courthouse grounds. It’s also important to remember that this is a manufactured controversy meant to allow the empowered majority (white, Christian males) to play the part of the victim even while persecuting real minorities. Thus, back to Greenwald:

To belittle this issue as though it’s the equivalent of the media’s August fixation on shark attacks or Chandra Levy — or, worse, to want to ignore it because it’s harmful to the Democrats’ chances in November — is profoundly irresponsible.  The Park51 conflict is driven by, and reflective of, a pervasive animosity toward a religious minority — one that has serious implications for how we conduct ourselves both domestically and internationally.

…

If Park51 ends up moving or if opponents otherwise succeed in defeating it, it will seriously bolster and validate  the ugly premises at the heart of this campaign:  that Muslims generally are responsible for 9/11, Terrorism justifies and even compels our restricting the equals rights and access of Americans Muslims, and more broadly, the animosity and suspicions towards Muslims generally are justified, or at least deserving of respect.  As Aziz Poonawalla put it:  “if the project does fail, then I think that the message that will be sent is that bigotry and fear of Muslims is not just permitted, it is effective.” – Glenn Greenwald

And that is why it is critical to watch the activities around the September hearings on Courthouse displays so closely. The forces of intolerance in our local society (not just our nation, but here in Loudoun) want to know how far they can push the envelope. They want to legitimize bombastic bigotry as an acceptable form of civic discourse. It is important for the voices of reason and compassion among neighbors to be heard in the face of what is sure to be a litany of false hyperbole from conservative-organized speaker after speaker.

I make a bold prediction that I pray is wrong: The September hearings about Courthouse displays will feature anti-Islamic language and anecdotes. That is, after all, the theme in the air on the right. When the Board of Supervisors held a hearing about the Chesapeake Bay Act, more than one speaker cited such regulation as a outgrowth of fascist progressive policies originating in 1930s Europe, a talking point which was then making the rounds on Glenn Beck and right-wing talk radio. So do not be surprised when anti-Muslim intolerance makes its appearance in discussions of Christmas displays. That’s the current talking point (well, that and hatred of babies).

Stands against intolerance, bigotry and, yes, crazy, must be taken locally, not just nationally. It is at the local level that these divisive impulses calcify and metastasize to become feeders into a negative national discourse. It is here, at the root, that they must be cut out. And it is up to us, the citizens of Loudoun, to do the weeding.

That’s exactly the message that will be sent, and that’s what makes this conflict so significant.  Obviously, not all opponents of Park51 are as overtly hateful as those in that video — and not all opponents are themselves bigots — but the position they’ve adopted is inherently bigoted, as it seeks to impose guilt and blame on a large demographic group for the aberrational acts of a small number of individual members.   And one thing is certain:  if this campaign succeeds, it will proliferate and the sentiments driving it will become even more potent.  Hatemongers always become emboldened when they triumph. – Glenn Greenwald

Remember this, come September’s hearings: If you stay silent in the face of crazy, you let crazy win. Take a stand for reason and faith. Don’t let this “debate” be dominated by false ideas and abhorrent policies. Stand up, take the microphone, and show what Loudoun’s real values are.

[Update] – If you think this courthouse displays hearing isn’t a political setup by the Right, consider that AG Cuccinelli is making a national issue of it!

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) writes in a new opinion that local governments do not have to ban holiday displays that include religious symbols, including Jesus Christ.

Cuccinelli’s opinion was a response to a request from Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William), who asked whether Loudoun County, under the U.S. and Virginia constitutions and state law law, must prohibit holiday displays on public property. – The Washington Post

And I love how a Delegate from Prince William County and an AG from Fairfax is sticking their nose in Loudoun’s business. I guess that makes PWC’s anti-migrant policies fair game for Loudoun to criticize.

Progress is a continuum, not a light switch.

I still want a public option.

I still want us to leave Iraq, and Afghanistan.

I still want cramdown, and the formalization of the short sale process.

I still want gays to be able to serve openly in the military, and get married.

I still want the wealthy to pay their fair share.  

For that matter, I still want riparian buffers.

The fact that I still want these things does not mean that I do not revel in that which has already been accomplished. I’d rather have a lead after the first two months of the baseball season than be behind, but I understand that there’s a lot more baseball to play, even with that lead. So, too, with politics and government. Just because we have gotten so much done doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot more to do. It just means that we’re better off for having done what we have so far.

But neither does it mean that we are done with the issues on which we have already legislated. Throughout US history, Congresses and Presidents have returned to issues after their first attempts showed more was needed:

• At the beginning of our Republic, passage of the Constitution was not sufficient without the further addition of the Bill of Rights.
• After the Civil War, passage of the 13th Amendment was proven to be insufficient to guarantee the rights of all our citizens, and we passed the 14th Amendment to rectify those deficiencies.
• In the first 100 days of the New Deal, dozens of great pieces of legislation were passed. In the following eight years, modifying legislation was passed dozens more times to adjust and improve on the original ideas.
• During the fight for Civil Rights in the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act was shown to be insufficient, and the Voting Rights Act followed shortly thereafter.

So, too, with the major issues that face us today. From health care reform to financial reform to re-examining our military challenges in the face of a new world, our first steps in reform will not be our last. We must, and we will, return to these questions to address the unforeseen needs and limitations of what has already been done.This is why I get frustrated with the idea that we should give up in disgust because everything isn’t fixed already. This is why I get frustrated when people I talk to ask why they should help when all their work so far has been for naught.

Who said this was going to be easy? Who ever said that electing the first black President and giving him a Democratic Congress would actually be anything other than the first step in fixing the raging cluster of problems left by the previous administration?

‘Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware. – The Crisis, Thomas Paine

What will this “panic” show of us? What things and people will be brought to light? We have seen what has been brought to light on the other side, hate, bigotry, ignorance, fear and irrationality. What about on our side? Will we provide inspiration, discipline and persistence in the face of these challenges? I believe we can. I believe we will.

Progress is a process, a journey, a constant struggle against the forces of regression, fear, and division. It requires commitment and continuity. It involves steps backwards as well as leaps forward. It is hard. It is always hard.

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?

President Obama said we are the change, remember? That doesn’t end with an election, the election is only where it starts. – Paradox13

Revisiting issues many would prefer dispensed with will not be easy, but we will do it. Attacking the next challenge will not be easy, but we will do it. But to do it we must remember that it’s “we” who do these things. Not “them.” Not our elected officials alone, our President alone, but our leaders in concert with us, and more often than not our leaders following us.

And that, that is how we continue to move America forward. Yes, we can.