Following an unreasonably long hiatus, the Equality Loudoun blog is back online, streamlined and better. Works better for me, anyway. If the first act of the new school board is any indication, there will be things to report. Contact us with tips and whatnot at info@equalityloudoun.org.
See if you can follow the logical arc here:
Newly elected supervisor Janet Clarke makes an embarrassing gaffe right out of the gate, getting her board-mates to “fire” the Blue Ridge representative on the Economic Development Commission (only to find that, since his term isn’t actually up until the end of the year, the board action is null and void. Awkward.)
Why the retribution? Because of (in the words of Leesburg Today, not Clarke) “his public criticism of the Purcellville Town Council over its efforts to build the final segment of the town’s Southern Collector Road through a portion of Crooked Run Orchard.”
The truth is that EDC member Steve Mackey has the integrity to stand up for the David in this conflict, against the Goliath that is Clarke’s Purcellville Town Council. He shares what happened when he tried to reach out to then-candidate Clarke here, and Crooked Run Orchard owner Uta Brown explains what the Town is doing to them and other small businesses here. It’s pretty obvious that this is unethical political payback of exactly the sort a code of ethics is meant to address.
Crossposted at Equality Loudoun
Benefit Celebration for GLBT Rights in Uganda
with Rev. Mark Kiyimba
Music by Tom Teasley
Friday January 13th, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Unitarian Universalists of Sterling
22135 Davis Drive, Sterling (map)
It’s illegal to be gay in Uganda, and has been since colonial times. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy the anti-gay fringe in America. Following a 2009 conference arranged by three American extremists, a bill was introduced in the Ugandan Parliament that would institute the death penalty for gay people under some circumstances, prohibit any form of advocacy or human rights work on behalf of gay people, eliminate confidentiality for health care providers and clergy, and even make it a crime to fail to turn in one’s own family members. Along with the bill a vicious pogrom has been unleashed against the gay community, leading to many Ugandans living in constant fear. The developing situation has been extensively covered by Box Turtle Bulletin.
LGBT activists in Uganda point to a virulently anti-gay March 2009 conference put on by three American Evangelical activists for inciting the latest round of violence and intimidation against the local LGBT community. Among the three were Holocaust revisionist Scott Lively, Exodus International board member Don Schmierer, and International Healing Foundation’s Caleb Lee Brundidge, who is a protege of ex-gay advocate Richard Cohen. Lively, who blamed gay men for the rise of Nazism and the Rwandan genocide, proudly declared his talk as being a “nuclear bomb” against LGBT advocacy in Africa.
If there is one single message to convey to our new local government representatives it’s that the cost to refactor our land use to; 1) enable us to live within our means and 2) sustain our quality of life (gross national happiness) will be huge. Furthermore, we’re late to the starting gate and we’re running out of time.
I’d love to see the BoS task the staff to develop an online Gross Local Happiness survey and to provide a database front-end and download site for reviewing the results. I’m sure there are many local statisticians who’d love to review the data. Maybe the BoS can work with the school system to survey all high-school seniors to insure that all classes income-levels are surveyed. The survey must include the address of the respondent, the year the home was built, and one or more tags that describe the home type.
By the way, this piece was inspired by James A. Bacon’s, The Era of Foreclosed Possibilities. Bacon credits the Piedmont Environmental Council for sponsoring his work. No wonder the PEC is so hated. The PEC works in a reality-based world and they are guided by common sense.
This is absolutely dead on, and what we’ve been saying to those people trying to either dismiss or defend Mr. Delgaudio for years now. Rob Tisinai does more than just point it out, though; he walks us through it, in detail both hilarious and sad. Sad, because Mr. Delgaudio is a fraud, which means that someone is being duped. This brief analysis of his financial records demonstrates it. Thanks to Rob for posting the link in comments.
Put it together with Mr. Delgaudio’s open admission to a colleague that he really doesn’t care, personally, about the so-called “homosexual agenda,” and what do you have? Some folks I have to feel a great deal of pity for, among other things.
Delgaudio has the public’s eye right now, and he’s working it. This might be a good time for him to step back from his cries of persecution and tell his donors exactly what it is he does with their money — besides using it to ask them for more money.
But why? They’ve shown no interest in that information thus far. I think that he just may have compiled a list of the stupidest people in America. And anyone defending him here in Loudoun, whether for their own personal gain or for any other reason, is helping this sociopathic little man to prey on them.
[Promoted by Liz]
In just two days, Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) failed “to have a positive approach with the community” (the Clarke test). He must resign. He must resign from his day job or from his Supervisor position. The two are incompatible. As Clarke puts it “I don’t think that people who hold themselves contrary to that position should be allowed to serve“. We agree. Now show us that you mean it.
Politico’s Dylan Byers reports that Supervisor Delgaudio, President, Public Advocate of the U.S. used the Weekly Standard’s marketing arm to issue a fundraising email warning that:
“radical homosexuals” were “infiltrating the United States Congress.”
“Their ultimate dream is to create a new America based on sexual promiscuity in which the values you and I cherish are long forgotten,”
The publisher of the Weekly Standard, Terry Eastland explained that the Standard’s “vetting process broke down“. The Human Rights Campaign asked editor William Kristol to condemn the email and Delgaudio is using the HRC exposure to raise more money. The Public Advocate web site reads:
“Giant Homosexual Assault On Public Advocate Launches — David Vs. Goliath!”
And round and round we go, only this time Delgaudio plays the role of both the corrupt politician and his own deflector/defender.
Continue reading
[Promoted by Liz]
Janet Clarke, Vice Chairman (R-Blue Ridge)
Loudoun’s 2011 BoS held its first meeting on Tuesday Jan 3, 2012 and Janet Clarke (R – Blue Ridge), the Vice Chairman graciously handed the public a litmus test to be applied over the course of the board’s tenure. The Leesburg Today reports that Supervisor Clarke blocked the reappointment of Stephen Mackey, owner of Notaviva Vineyards to the Economic Development Council. Her rationale was:
“We want to have a positive approach with the community, with the towns, with the businesses,” she said. “I don’t think that people who hold themselves contrary to that position should be allowed to serve.”
Geary Higgins, Ken Reid, Eugene Delgaudio and Shawn Williams voted with Clarke. Scott York, Ralph Buona, Matt Letourneau and Suzanne Volpe abstained. Clarke was upset by Mackey’s “heated exchange” with the Purcellville Town Council. Mackey blogged about the issue.
Stephen Mackey interviews Sam Brown after land was siezed
July 11, 2011
Mayor Lazaro, Purcellville Town Council Members:
I am writing to inform you of our alliance with Sam and Uta Brown, owners of Crooked Run Orchard in their efforts to preserve their farm.
For some time now, we have followed with mounting disappointment and ire the news reports of their ongoing battle with the Town of Purcellville. Perhaps, like many others in the community, we held high hopes the issue would somehow “sort itself out” and that the Browns would prevail in their campaign. And perhaps, like many others in the community, we also held high hopes that their rights as citizens, rural business owners, and landowners would be preserved.
We reacted with shock as we learned of the Town’s aggressive tactics in removing the injunction preventing the seizure of the Brown’s property, and your subsequent acquisition of their land. In our opinion, you have violated a sacred American right, and we find it unconscionable that the Town of Purcellville has engaged in such actions.
Picking blackberries at Crooked Run Orchard
Given the negative actions of the town – bisecting a thriving farm with a road – most would see Mackey’s response as a positive approach. But we are dealing with elite Loudoun Republicans who have consistently aligned themselves with so-called “property rights” activists, activists who, aside from Joe Lafiandra, ignored, and perhaps even celebrated the Purcellville land grab.
Let’s add some perspective. Judeo-Christian scripture confirms, over and over, that opposition to injustice and hypocrisy is positive. But let’s turn the other cheek and give Ms Clarke her litmus test. Like Ms Clarke, we’ll ignore Mackey’s credentials; Board of the Virginia Wine Council, President of the Loudoun Wineries Association, Co-Founder, CEO and President of Notaviva Vinyards and focus on the one item she deems important. For the next four years, we expect a “positive approach with the community” from all members of our local government and their appointees. If there is a deviation, the guilty party should not be “allowed to serve“. If you witness such a deviation, post a comment and be sure to let Janet Clarke know.