Author Archives: Liz Miller

“Be the Difference!”

Found in my inbox this morning:

A politics fairy left a flyer under our pillow last night. No way to tell if it’s authentic, but it purports to be the remarks of this person:

Of this organization:

Who may or may not be this person:

Of this organization:

A group whose commitment to Loudoun County goes back all of eight months, according to the State Corporation Commission:

(Bets now being taken on how long they exist after November.)

The flyer says her remarks at a meeting on February 4, 2011, included these immortal words:

Action Teams of incorrigible virtues? Wonder if their team-mates will look like this:

Hard to see it, but the sign on this incorrigible Republican virtue says, “I am a corrupt politician,” and was worn in a display of (what the flyer calls) “fact-based discourse” opposing the passage of a clean-water ordinance for Loudoun County that marched through the board of supervisors’ meeting room in the middle of Tuesday’s business session.

Nothing informs a fact-based discourse like a pig-suit, eh?

The flyer closes with a few words of an unknown philosopher:

And this call to join their army:

A little “difference” from this crowd would be a welcome thing. They can start with some of their own advice and admit to some obvious facts. Here’s a start, with grammar to match their standards:

But that would be taking an easy shot, and after all the material they’ve supplied already, let’s not be hogs…

What Choice means to me

It means the ability to say, “No”. It also means the ability to say, “Yes”.

Choice means that sexual contact with someone who cannot or did not consent is rape.

Choice means having full and factual information. About how reproduction happens, about how to prevent reproduction from happening, and how to have the healthiest baby possible – if you choose to reproduce. Without full and factual information, there is no informed consent.

Choice means that women should be able to choose to get a tubal ligation, or be able to decline to get one.

Choice means that women should be able to get their birth control pills from any pharmacy that also stocks Viagra.

Choice means that any insurance company that covers Viagra should also cover birth control pills.

Choice means that abortion should be safe and legal and available and, yes, covered by insurance (and not on a separate policy).

Choice means that the health of the mother should trump the life of a fetus.

Choice means that clinics that provide out-patient first-trimester abortions should not be held to a higher standard than clinics that provide out-patient vasectomies.

I am pro-choice. Please donate to NARAL Pro-Choice VA, to help stop TRAP. Or join Tarina and many others for Lobby Day next week.

It’s national delurking day!

Leave a comment (you can sign in as guest!) and, please, a hint as to your location (Sterling, Ashburn, California, Canada).

Ask me a question! I’ll answer it in an upcoming post.

Dangerous waters

It’s always dangerous to point out typos, or to discuss proof-reading at all, because it guarantees that in that post or the very next one there will be at least one glaring error.

“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn?”

– Jane Austen  

Advice for Candidates, Part III

If you don’t already have a campaign manager, get one. Now.

Don’t spend any money on anything unless and until you have a campaign manager.

If you don’t know where to find a campaign manager, ask someone who has used a campaign manager where they found theirs.

Make sure you think the manager is someone you can work closely with and someone you won’t mind taking direction from.

Once you’ve found and hired your campaign manager, follow their advice. Put your trust in what they tell you about your race and how to win it.

Advice for Candidates, Part II: (EDITED FOR TYPOS)

Loudoun County will have at least 30 races this year. Do NOT expect to get any help from outside your district.

There will be at least 11 races on the ballot in each precinct: School Board; At-Large School Board; Supervisor; Chair of BOS; Delegate; State Senate; Sheriff; Commonwealth’s Attorney; Treasurer; Commissioner of the Revenue; and Soil and Water.

Some districts, therefore, may be dealing with as many as 16 races, depending on how the HOD and Senate redistricting falls out.

The current Dulles District, for example, contains portions of four different current HOD districts: LeMunyon’s (Little River), Marshall’s, Rust’s (Oakgrove), and Greason’s.

Do not look for volunteers or advice from people outside your district boundaries. In fact, unless you are willing to coordinate with other campaigns, don’t expect much help from people who are not actual staff and/or family members within your district either. They will be spread pretty thinly.

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I want to thank LI for pointing out the errors I made in this post and acknowledge that it’s easy to neglect to follow the points I made in the post below.

So here is an object lesson:

1) I always forget how to spell Del. Greason’s name, so I should always check it.

2) The list of offices on the ballot came directly from a comment I made on facebook, where space was an issue. I should have corrected it when I cut and pasted it here.

Moments like this make me glad I’m not a candidate!

Advice for Candidates, Part I:

Have someone else proof-read your statements, emails, etc, before you send them.

I can’t emphasize enough how important this is. Your written words are representations of you, the candidate. If your writing contains misspellings, grammatical errors, or misused words, people will not be able to read your message as clearly. Voters will tend to think that your thoughts are as muddled as the words you use to express them.

Markers

There are many historical markers that people use to judge what generation a person is in. Were you born before or after WWII? Before or after Kennedy was shot? Before or after we landed on the moon? Before or after the Wall came down?

On Saturday, I was at the NARAL Prochoice VA Retreat and realized that there’s another one:

I was born before “Roe”.

Okay…I didn’t want to do this

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