Busted A Flat In Meadowview Waiting For A Train

http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2012/03/stop-truck-stop-in-meadowview.html

My post about the proposed truck stop has brought about the most comments of any post here on the blog, which is great! Thank you!  Since the topic is drawing so much heat, I thought I would address some of the comments made, and offer a rebuttal. I will do this is a point/counterpoint manner to keep from digressing too much.

Point
Loves has grown over the past years.  It averages 15 new stores per year. How can you not say it is sustainable

Counterpoint
Growth and sustainable growth are two different things.  Growth is good! Sustainable growth is even better. Growth lasts for a short period of time, it may even hurt.  Sustainable growth may well last for a long time.

Too think about where the attention of Love's front office will be after the truck stop goes in at Meadowview?  Will it be Meadowview or the next of the 14 new stores it has to open in order to beat last year's growth?  

Point
Much of the opposing opinions have centered around the idea of jobs and job creation.  Those who have mentioned jobs have talked about the need for jobs in Washington County, and jobs for those without jobs.  

Counterpoint
Job creation is very important to the Washington County Board of Supervisors.  The type of jobs created is even more important.  The jobs that a Loves or McDonald's create are not the types that lend to sustainable growth, which has been the goal of leaders in Meadowview.  The aim of any community committed sustainable growth is a job that provides a wage which allows the earner long term security and a means to increase wages over time.  While a job at Loves or McDonalds is a job, one must consider several factors when preaching their gospel.  What kind of wage is this job going to pay those who take on the job?  Is it enough to keep food on their table? Will it provide for the wage earners children if they have any? How much room for growth will that job provide for those that take the job?  Is the growth going to require additional education? If so, how will the person obtain that education? While not every job can answer these questions in the affirmative (even sustainable one cannot in some cases), they still need to be asked.

Point
This whole thing is about the wealthy of Washington County

Counterpoint
If anything this is about the poor of Washington County.  The jobs created by a Loves or McDonalds do two things, neither of which are good, both of which fly in the face of sustainable growth. First, jobs created with low wages attached do more to keep those in poverty....in poverty. Low wages lead to less education, a false sense of financial security ("I've got a good job" or" I can always get more hours."), and  research shows continues poverty.  This does not mention the long term effects on health, nutrition and development cause by the over abundance of bad foods associate with truck stops and fast food.   Secondly, it takes jobs away from those who already have a job.  Say a McDonalds does go in at Meadowview.  Suddenly the Meadowview Cafe has to compete with a dollar menu stuff with food that is simply not good for you.  What happens to those that count on their jobs at the Meadowview Cafe, when hours have to cut for lack of income?  Yes the option of going to work for McDonalds is there, but most of the initial jobs created by McDonalds have been filled.  

Point
Meadowview needs to wake up and needs a truck stop or McDonalds to do so. 

Counterpoint
Consider Glade Spring as an answer to these comments.  While Glade Spring proper is a beautiful spot, it's downtown struggles under the wait of exit 30.  While business is attracted to the exit, it moves away from a struggling downtown.  Tourist that may well stop at Chevron and buy a famous Chevdog, think they are in Glade Spring, when they are in fact not.  There is far more to Glade Spring than Chevron and the truck stop. 

The leaders of Meadowview's revitalization have realized that a strong downtown is the key to growth. (If this falls on deaf ear perhaps research on America's fastest growing cities will show that strong downtown revitalization programs are underway in all but a handful) If the truck stop were to locate where it is proposed, the downtown would suffer.  A truck stop in Meadowview will lead to more competition where competition is not a good thing, plus the travelers that do stop will simply stop for a Coke and a candy bar, hop back in the car and miss all of what Meadowview really has to offer.  All the while thinking to themselves "Eek Meadowview, Virginia. Who'd wanna live there?" 

I offer two quick examples of why a truck stop in Meadowview is not a good idea.  The first (being a historian) is history.  Those of you who are familiar with small hamlets and towns no what they used to look like.  If you do not know the old town from experience then you will from pictures and stories.  What did "old" such and such look like?  Did it have a truck stop, and fast food?  Where did people gather?  Where did they spend the money they had?  Where did that money go after it was spent?  Once you have answered those questions, think about what that community looked like on a typical Saturday or Sunday?  My guess is, it was busy.

Finally think about the options you have when you are hungry.  You have lots of things to chose from.  Candy bars full of sugar and empty calories that taste great. Fruits that are also full of sugar but provide calories that the body and process easily. Maybe you chose a full meal with all that goes with it.  Which of those both fills you up, and gives you energy that will last?  Obviously the meal or the apple is an option that requires more of the eater, but it also provides more benefit.  Meadowview has simply chosen to eat a full meal follow the analogy.  It has chosen a long term solution to a long term problem.  Meadowview did not decline over night, nor will it bounce back over night..even with a Love's, McDonalds.  Those who argue against this approach need to realize that not every problem can be fixed with a quick/ easy solution

He Charged A Doughnut In Roanoke Just To Watch It Die

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/306497


As if we do not have enough issues to deal with in education, we must contend with people in charge like Franklin County Superintendent Charles Lackey.  Lackey is being investigated for improper spending on the Franklin County School Board's credit card over the past few years.  Lackey is reported in the article as having bought a hard hat for a ground breaking ceremony at a school, and charged large food bills in Roanoke restaurants, but sources closer to the county state that the inappropriate spending goes further.  Lackey, a Franklin County School Board investigation proved, once charged less than $2.00 for a cup of coffee and a doughnut at a Roanoke bakery. Lackey downloaded over 1,300 songs on Itunes and then illegally made copies for his central office staff. 

What gets me is the hubris that Lackey showed when asked if he retained a lawyer.  Of cource he has committed a crime. If nothing else copyright infringement on the song that he downloaded and reproduced, but Lackey's crime is deeper.  Education is a hard field with out those around it making it harder.  It is judged by those outside the walls of a school as a no-brainer, easy, glorified babysitting profession that requires little more than a pulse.  Those who have done the good work know differently. Anyone who draws the eire of non-teachers on teachers, like Lackey has ultimately done, deserve to be drummed out of the profession. 

Lackey's actions are minor, yes I said minor,but to the teachers he is supposed to represent he had might as well had sold his grandmother into bondage.  Teachers spend on average $400 a year of their own money on school supplied and Lackey has the gaul to charge doughnut and hard hats to the school.  Had Lackey spent money on doughnuts for teachers at each of the schools in the district, then it would have been money well spent. Sources close to the matter state that Lackey did buy food someone, his staff and it was New York Cheesecake..shipped overnight from New York at an extra charge..to the school.  Lackey simple doesn't deserve to be in education if he is going to think and do like that.  School systems cannot afford champagne on the PBR budgets we are given from funding sources.  Those who think otherwise are a  determent to the profession.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

http://letfreedomswing.org/


Oh what a great concept!!! What two things go together better?!? Peanut Butter and Jelly had better be worried when it comes to the perfect combination.

Book Review: Clarence Darrow; Attorney For The Damned

Clarence Darrow was, and remains one of the leading figures in the personal liberty law field.  He championed liberal causes ad fought for individuals against the machine of industrialization.  This book is very well written and describes Darrow as both a stalwart of the law and one who was not afraid to use whatever tactics needed to win his case. 

As I have read this book, I have thought to myself, "Is there a Clarence Darrow out there today?"  Sadly, I have yet to see one central figure that represents a modern Darrow.  Sure there are plenty of fire breathing lawyers that fight the system on issues like the death penalty, but not to the scale of Darrow.  Yes, there are lawyers defending our First Amendment rights, but not as effectively as Darrow.  Corporations consistently gain more power in this country without someone the likes of Darrow standing up. 

I contend that we need more like Darrow to fight the system that is poise to do in the American middle class.  Evidence shows that corporations and politicians are not setting out with the American people in mind.  This has led to the problems of corporate person hood, health care manipulation, and the Republican war on women.  These and other issues are running roughshod over the common person, and little seems to be done.

What can we the average person do to take on the mantel of Darrow?  I would suggest anything and everything.  Write letters, send emails, protest...Darrow was an avid protester, join causes..Darrow joined anything he could, and most importantly read.  Newspapers and online new sources make it easy for you to get a quick fix on a problem but that is it. Rarely do you see follow-ups or continuing pieces in the media anymore.  Anything you can do to keep abreast of a particular problem, do so.  It will help you be more connected and help the cause.

Way To Go George!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/george-clooney-arrested-dc-_n_1353441.html


If "O Brother Where Art Thou" was ever reason not to like George Clooney, here is your back up.  Clooney, who has been a quiet advocate to African causes, was arrested at a recent rally to support Southern Sudan. This move is a big step for Clooney's advocacy and to me shows a new call to arms for not only the Hollywood crowd, but the general population as well

To me, it serves as a gauntlet that has been laid down for those who offer money as their only form of action.  It is good to give money, do not get me wrong, but taking actions such as being arrested is a bold step.  Clooney has joined the ranks of those like Harry Belafonte, and George Harrison as a celebrity that has gone further in their advocacy then simply paying lip service and writing big check.

My only problem with the arrest is that so little is being said in the media.  If you Google GEORGE CLOONEY ARRESTED, several news site have stories, but for the most part is it recycled information. I would like to see what people are saying about the long term effects of Clooney's actions.  Is there to be more attention paid to what is going on in the world's newest country?  Will people put down their Kony videos and notice the people of this struggling new Democracy? Only time will tell but I hope that we can focus on the extreme crisis in Sudan. One can only hope too that more people begin taking their civic actions seriously.  By no means, do not get yourself arrested unless you are ready for the long term consequences, but do start considering other actions that are just a powerful

A Word Of Welcome

As I try to do often, I would like to welcome those that are new to the site. We've come up on 200 hits since adding the ClustrMap which is fun! It's nice to see where all people are reading the blog.  Because of the map I can welcome our regular readers out in West Hollywood, California, and Charleston, South Carolina.  We have new visitors from Okalhoma and Texsas which is great. 
Feel free to make comments if you would like, or drop me a line on facebook. 

Scraping The Bottom Of The Barrel And Laughing At Myself

Usually people put top ten blog posts, but in true fashion I am going to scrape the bottom of the barrel and laught at myself

10) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/12/corporate-bullying-copyright.html
9) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-founders.html
8)http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/05/web-review-changing-educational.html
7) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-review-new-deal-or-raw-deal.html
6) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/05/book-review-blue-dixie.html
5) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/09/contradiction.html
4) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/09/because-i-am-glutten-for-punishment.html
3) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/12/various-artsome-politicalall-original.html
2) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/10/student-debt-repayment.html
1) http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2011/10/massey-energy-on-trial.html

Come Back When You've Got Something Really Good

http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/2012/03/conservative-ignorance-down-south.html

What kind of southerner would I be if I did not defend this attack by northern aggressors?  Am I going to half-heartedly yell "Stop!" then step aside as the mob runs past?  My answer to both questions is: Yes

First the stepping aside.  The author's claims of Southern ignorance are not new.  Southern Conservatives (especially of the Alabama variety) have a long history of making a bad name for themselves.  Do I need to remind you of George Wallace, and Bull Conner?  One need only look back as far as 2011 to see the backwardness of Southern Conservative views in action.  Alabama and South Carolina state houses both debated serious overhauls of the immigration laws that would end up hurting more than helping the agricultural businesses.  The Tennessee Tea Party has chimed in with some pretty stupid remarks of late, and lest we forget Florida's pee in a cup for welfare bills.  There are a smattering of ill advised remarks throughout history mad by Southern politicians (of both stripes) to mark up any claims the region can make to intellectual supremacy. 

A few claims made by researchers that Southern Conservatives are ignorant (especially on a topic such as evolution) is not a big deal.  If fact, I have read this study before.  It comes out every few years when some researcher needs a Doctoral Thesis and runs out of orginial ideas.  I say come back when you've got something really good.

That being said, my defense will now commence.  I will offer up the knee jerk reaction of "We're not all like that." but in true fashion of the blog, I will attempt to do so in a manner that is intellectual.  I offer the follow rebuttals.  First, southerners have a long history of progressive and even outright liberal view points.  Even while George Wallace stood in the doorways, southern liberals would marching along side blacks in Selma.  The South had to shed her racist bonds on her own, with her own hands.  Evidence of this is the progress made.  If we had not made progress, then how can you attest for black mayors in towns that only a generation before were hanging people simply for the color of their skin.  How but through self-progress can you explain the fact that southern cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, and Dallas are some of the fasting growing cities for all races?

Look too if you will, at the regions where alternative energies are growing the fastest.  A prime example is Rocky Mount, Virginia's Center For Energy Efficient Design or CEED.  It is the first public building in the United States to be completely build using German Passive House designs.  The CEED building makes money for the Franklin County Public School System, and is a model for schools across the country.  Studies are showing that more solar panels are being bought and installed in the south than any other area of the country.  Bio-fuel and electric stations are popping up in major southern cities faster than northern ones.  All of this is offered as a way to say "We're not all like that."

Finally, and this is so stereo-typical it is not funny, we do not need anyone else to tell us we have our own backwardness.  We know it, and what place does any other region have telling us about ignorance.  There are just as many ignorant people in the north, and west.  Plenty of city dwellers offer up ignorant opinions on races, religion and science.  Just watch Jersey Shore if you need further proof.  Google: JERSEY SHORE WITH JAY LENO, watch the video where they play the quiz show and tell me those people are not as ignorant as any Alabamian. 

I write all this not as a knee jerk response.  In all honestly my first response was "Duh, it's Alabama we're talking about here." Ignorance is common all over the country.  Look in your own back yard and you will see it.  It might not have studies done, it might not be made public, but it's there.

Stuck In The Middle

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/29/tucson_orders_closure_of_mexican_american

My first response to hearing this on the radio was "That's terrible!" For several reasons it is, not the least of which is the fact that this program was put in place by a federal mandate to meet enthic deversity requirement, now they want to tear it down. Welcome to education in the 21 century.  We are going to see this tearing down of effective programs in the name of money for some time now, and we might as well get used to it.  A second troubling point is the fact that is striping away the opportunity for these students to learn their culture and heritage.  These kids are forced to learn about slavery, just like my student should learn at least some about Chicano history.  Should we stop teaching the Civil War?  If you follow the notion that the Civil War was ONLY about the ending of slavery than it might lead to problems.  Finally I think this is just pure rascism.  Let the people have their history.  People are doing everything in their power to tear down this particular group of people.

As I thought about this more, I started to play through a train of thought I have had for some time.  This has been hashed out in conversation with my fiance and friends of our in Charlotte, but it is not fullying developed in my mind.  While I am starting to agree more with it, it is still not something I feel 100% about either. 

I have started to become less impressed with the notion of naming things and reconizing distinctions.  What I have thought about is getting rid of these names for every group of people, kind of person or race of people.  Why not just call a person by what they are? A person.  I have talked to people who belong to various groups who have different characteristics about the challenges of someone who is on the outside looking in.  My worse fear is to call someone by the incorrect nomiclature for their grouping.  I want to be sensitive to their personality, but it is getting so hard to understand all the differences. What can be done to eliminate this?  I suggest getting rid of these titles.  I will be happy to be refered to by Chris, Christopher, C.T, CTB.  You can call me anything within my name.  Yes, I'm white, Southern, Appalachian, lower to middle middle class, and educated, but I am also hetrosexual, blond haired, left handed, and I have an affinanity for football.  I do not insist on being called any of these when I first meet someone. 

Would we not do more to level the playing field be simply doing this?  Instead of having to worry about what to call someone, like many politically correct people insist on doing (and they do have the right to do so), we could just call someone by their name. 

Understandably, members of a minority group can say. "this is easy for you to say.  You're apart of a majority group." It is easy to look at me and know pretty quickly, for the most part, what I am about. I understand that I am writing this from a position of power, but I am trying to equal it out.  I love the ideas of individuality, but there is one group that ALL individuals are a part of: THE HUMAN RACE.  Why not start acting like it and stop with the reconizing of every little detailed group.

That being said, let the kids have their class.  My goodness!  This is what our country was founded on.  Out of many, One...I think I have read that somewhere.  We have lost focus on the one part just a bit, but thre are ways to refocus our attention.  In my opinion, getting rid of educational programs is not one of them.  Plus, if a education program is working (like this one seems to be) why changing it?

Tricky Ground

I almost decided not to write a post about the recent shootings in Afghanistan by a U.S soldier but I decided to simply because I have such conflicting opinions.  Here is my thought process.

My first thought was that it was horrible. Anytime such an event happens our system has broken down, at least on a micro level.  Our troops are the best and brightest solders in the planet; massacring civilians is not normal and un-called for.  My thoughts go out to the victims and the soldier himself.  I feel very strongly that violence such as this is not the answer.  There are rules of engagement that should be followed, and by not following them the soldier has hurt our military and humanitarian efforts there. 

Here is my conflict.  After thinking about it and hearing all of the planned retaliatory attacks I began to realize the simple futility of us fighting for a country like Afghanistan.  Over the past few weeks, Afghan "police" have killed several U.S advisors inside U.S. military bases, one of which was a National Guard Major from here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  In turn the United States has not ramped up military missions or planned massive attacks as retribution, yet we now face such action from Al Qaeda.  Thus the futility.

My better angels want to stop short of coming right out and say we should just pull out now but I cannot.  As I read more about the event, the more I cannot help but think the United States needs out of Afghanistan tomorrow..  Perhaps this is what the enemy wants, but if the country of Afghanistan falls into utter pandemonium then so be it.  We have tried to bring democracy to Afghanistan, and succeeded, but the dam is cracking.

Either we pull out or start playing by their rules completely.  There is only so much you can do with a beast that bites the hand that feeds it.  The beast can go hungry or get wacked with a newspaper.  We either need to let Afghanistan fail into chaos or start rolling up newspapers.  As peaceful as I try to be, I cannot help but feel this way.

Movie Review: Game Change

Last night I watched the premier of Game Change on HBO that was a very interesting insight on Sarah Palin and the McCain-Palin ticket. To say the least I was shocked.  In all the lead up to the movie, those involved have stated that it was less about Palin, and more about how we pick our leaders, but this was what I was not what I was shocked about.  My point of shock was the lack of competency Palin was portrayed to have shown. 

Those who would defend Palin would cite that she had just recently given birth, had a pregnant teen-age daughter, and a son shipping off to Iraq as distractions from the campaign.  Those individually would cripple lesser people, but the hubris shown by Palin only compounded them.  Most people understand politics to be a rough and tumble areana that is not for the faint of heart.  Those who enter the fray under even the best of circumstances are worn down.  Palin was even warned about how hard it would be but she waved them off.  Simply by denying how hard it would be was but the first of Palin's problems.

Another problem shown by the film, and if true is purely horrifying, was how little basic knowledge about the world Palin brought.  Several times in the film, Palin is shown being briefed the most common of knowledge.  Playing catch-up is not un-common.  My beloved Harry Truman knew virtually nothing of the atomic bombs only months before dropping them, Nixon did not really know his secret plans in Vietnam until he opened them in the Oval Office.  These examples are far different, and less severe (albeit more serious) than Palin needing to be taught that Germany was part of the Axis Powers during World War Two. 

Palin is shown to also be a bit manic which was a surprise.  I watched Palin some during the campaign and have to admit I did not see many of the flubs and follies. This is a testament of how well she hid them.  In the movie, several times Palin is shown going from very down and depressed, to extremely passionate.  The scene where she is first approached to be the candidate, Palin comes across as a mild mannered, humble person being asked to help the party out.  Later she is shown to basically take the campaign over and run it her way or no way.  This can be written on as finding a voice or even growing as a candidate, but it also shows the cycle from depressed to manic that is common in the manically depressed. 

I would be remiss to not mention what those involved in the film have said to be the main point.  Picking leaders, and making sausage are two things you do not want to witness. That being said, Game Change should not be a shock to anyone who studies politics.  The vetting, nomination or even simple selection of possible candidates is a messy process.  Game Changes does show what happens when this process fails so in a sense it is a film about how we pick our candidates. 

Layered beneath the facts and figures of Game Change is some very good acting by Julianne Moore, who is so spot on in her Palin that if you closed your eyes you thought you were listening to her.  The film itself is very good. You could tell that very expenses were spared, which is common for anything Tom Hanks is a part of. Rather than use stock footage and newspaper articles, the filmmakers took the time to print newspapers with the actors in character, and cut filmed footage in to real newscasts.  This allows the view to see Ed Harris and Moore as their characters rather than the real John McCain or Sarah Palin

Overall I would give Game Change a good rating.  It is scary to think that Sarah Palin was that ignorant, but it is not hard to believe. In playing the "what if" game, I have to say that if McCain ticket had won, our country would have been fine...so long a McCain remained healthy.  I must say, after watching Game Change, I would have been worried if Palin had taken over.

Virginia Keeps Good Teachers For The Time Being

http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2012/02/kiss-good-teaching-in-virginia-goodbye.html
http://fairtopartlymoderate.blogspot.com/2012/02/here-we-go-teachers-or-too-little-to.html


I am learning that as I maintain this blog, I will end up eating crow quite frequently.  With some ketchup anything tastes ok, however I will gladly consume my crow on what I have written about continuing teacher contracts in Virginia. I had written off long term contracts in Virginia with the dinosaur, but it appears (for the time being) that there might be hope.  While the bill is in the cooler for this legislative session, we are not out of the woods yet.

The news out of Richmond is encouraging, but it does not mean total victory.  Governor McDonnell has made it clear that ending long term contracts for teachers is something he wants to see done.  It is evident that public opinion is behind McDonnell, but it appears now the legislators themselves are for the measure.  Take  Sen. Mark Obenshain's (R-Harrisonburg) comments that Virginia's "teachers are lemons." Such perception, coupled with public opinion will lead to an up hill battle for teachers trying to defeat the bill totally.  As an aside, I wonder how Senator Obenshain would feel if we a teachers made the same type of comments about state Senators?

Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) Demonstrating The Lemon Dance

Doom and gloom aside, the fact that bill was shelved for this session is positive.  It would appear that the protests made by teachers last month, and a concerted effort on the part of the VEA have swayed the opinion of enough delegates, perhaps even caused a second look by the Governor.  Teacher are after all a power voting block, and have a fairly large bully pulpit should we so chose.  I have said this before but Governor McDonnell and the Virginia legislator should consider every step they take in regards to education.