Virginia Election Spotlight on Fairfax Citizens' Movement
Sun Nov 06, 2005 at 05:44:46 PM PDT
This is Part V of a series, starting this summer with development pressures on Chesapeake Bay tributary streams in Fairfax County Virginia,
Part I, and chronicling the genesis of a grassroots citizens' movement that is starting to make waves in Fairfax, Parts
II,
III and
IV. The series has been front-paged in recent months at
ePluribus Media. This chapter highlights the injection of our issues into Virginia state election politics.
N. VA Growth Red-Hot Issue in VA Gubernatorial Race
Sun Oct 23, 2005 at 12:13:09 PM PDT
Growth issues in Northern Virginia are shaping up to have a huge impact in the home stretch of the gubernatorial race here. While such issues have been stewing for quite awhile in Loudoun and Prince William Counties, a Washington Post
front page article last week about a new citizens' movement questioning the pace of growth and its consequences in Fairfax County seems to have had a catalyzing effect. The history of this grass-roots movement, spurred in part by environmental concerns over the effects of runaway development in Fairfax on the Chesapeake Bay, is documented in a four-part series posted previously here (
I,
II,
III, and
IV) and also featured on the
front-page of ePluribus Media's community site. We like to think we had some influence in prompting the Post's
front-page article today, probing the huge amounts of money that developers are feeding into all the campaigns, particularly that of Republican contender Jerry Kilgore, and how this issue may affect the outcome of this extremely close race.
Slow Choking of Chesapeake Bay Spawns Vibrant Citizens Network
Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 09:12:55 AM PDT
This is Part IV in an ongoing series about how local land-planning policies in Fairfax County which cater to developers are contributing to the demise of the Chesapeake Bay, and how citizens are fighting back. See Parts
I,
II, and
III. The entire series has been front-paged over the Summer and Fall at
ePluribus Media
The Chesapeake Bay is still dying. And Fairfax County is still allowing developers who covet the land around tributary streams for building to bypass critical environmental protections. But a remarkable grassroots citizens movement, featured on the front page of yesterday's Washington Post, may yet change that.
It's "Open Season" on Chesapeake Bay Tributaries
Thu Aug 18, 2005 at 12:58:55 PM PDT
[This is the third in a series of articles that were front-paged at ePluribus Media as well as appearing here. See Part I and Part II.]
First it was "just one little stream" in Fairfax County Virginia that was stripped of the buffers that shielded it from the contaminated run-off identified by scientists as the main reason for record "dead zones" this year in the Chesapeake Bay. Now there are two more, and the stage is set for yet another.
One of the arguments we ran into in connection with protesting the stripping of environmental protection from a Chespeake Bay tributary on the Wedderburn property in Fairfax County was that this was "just one little stream." Specifically, the cancellation of the construction buffer around the stream involved "just a few hundred feet" at the headwaters of the stream, and a constituted a special case that County staff felt sure would be "a rare occurrence" Surely we were exaggerating in claiming that County policies allowing this stream to be removed from protected status would have any kind of effect on the Chesapeake Bay.
Well, it's not just one little stream....
As the Streams Go, So Goes the Chesapeake Bay
Thu Aug 04, 2005 at 06:16:37 PM PDT
[This is Part II of an earlier entry. Both have been front-paged at ePluribus Media, and I would really like input from the membership here about how to proceed. Comments are most welcome!]
When surveys in mid-July conducted by the Maryland Center for Environmental Science showed that fully one-third of the Chesapeake Bay was consumed by "dead zones," the Baltimore Sun immediately gave this chilling news the serious coverage it deserved.
According to the Sun:
A research cruise from the bottom of the bay in Virginia to its origin at the Susquehanna River in northern Maryland from July 11 to 15 found that about 36 percent of the bay's central stem had less than 5 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen - the level that rockfish and other aquatic life need.
In other words, in a "dead zone" aquatic life is really dead.
Threat To Chesapeake Bay Being Buried
Tue Aug 02, 2005 at 08:34:29 AM PDT
Sometimes press makes all the difference. Sometimes it doesn't. Maybe you can help....
On June 30, 2005, a "Guest Column" I co-authored with a friend who happens to be a Ph.D. stream ecologist was published in the Washington Post, Fairfax Extra, concerning a potentially grave threat to the Chesapeake Bay:
The blemished underbelly of a key environmental policy has been exposed in Fairfax County. Streams feeding into Chesapeake Bay are protected by sound scientific and legal regimens to shield them from contamination -- except when it conflicts with development interests. An extensive, science-based process defines which streams should be protected. A comprehensive legal framework ensures that development avoids these streams. But Fairfax County officials recently confirmed that this protection can be removed irreversibly and without public input at the behest of developers using only "eyeball" evidence. As a stream ecologist and an environmental lawyer, respectively, we are greatly concerned about this lack of parity and its potential consequences for the bay
What came after, however, is even more interesing...
The Feast of the Pope
Mon Apr 04, 2005 at 03:38:02 PM PDT
Today my Washington Post featured a huge color picture of the dead Pope laid on a table in full regalia, with several cardinals seated behind the body in somber poses. Take a look: http://files.bighosting.net/wj22526.pdf.
This particular picture bothered me for several reasons. Join me after the jump.
Calling RickyMonet: Your Wedding Pic is in TIME
Wed Mar 02, 2005 at 10:34:37 AM PDT
I'm hoping RickyMonet sees this, but here's some background for everyone else.
Remember the attack ad on the AARP put out by USANext, showing a red "X" through a picture of an American soldier and a green "check-mark" over the picture of two very happy gay men in tuxedos kissing? Well the wedding picture was purloined from an Oregon newspaper's website, spurring a nascent lawsuit by the outraged couple.
Now, the current issue of TIME Magazine has a little squib on the ad and the dkos and TPM role in getting it pulled, but makes no mention of the "hot" photo.
The story after the jump--
Thai Tsunami Warning Arrived, But Was Ignored
Tue Jan 04, 2005 at 06:37:06 PM PDT
Last week I posted a diary about the technological and communications barriers that resulted in
no warning to Thailand citizens and other people at risk in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Among other problems I noted there was the fact that the official Thai contact for the American-based tsunami center for the Pacific Ocean (ITSU) included NO phone number, NO fax number, NO email address, and NO website contact, but instead listed only a SNAIL MAIL contact address.
Today, we learn that despite these communications barriers, Thailand knew, and its officials deliberately sacked the warning, due to fears that THEY would be sacked if an issued warning proved false.
Tsunami Warning Systems: The Technology and Communications Barriers
Thu Dec 30, 2004 at 02:26:31 PM PDT
I have been posting a lot of comments over the past few days questioning WHY, with over two hours notice that a 9.0 earthquake had hit in an underwater area the size of California, the Asian countries most likely to bear the brunt of the ensuing tsunami were not warned. While the reports are confusing, it turns out that the main explanation being given, that the Indian Ocean does not have its own technology-based system for detecting local earthquakes, is not why so many people died. They were warned, but ineffectively, and then they failed to take action.
BLUE Christmas: Make Sure You Have the Right Facts!
Wed Dec 22, 2004 at 11:03:42 AM PDT
I got an email today, exhorting me to make sure that my hard-won dollars that I shell out for sentimental gifts for family and friends don't end up in the Republican Party's coffers. The email had a list of companies with statistics purportedly showing how much they gave in political contribution and to which party. Problem is, some of the information is wrong.
Charitable Giving Actually Funds the Terror Watch List
Wed Dec 08, 2004 at 09:46:32 AM PDT
Any government employee knows about the Combined Federal Campaign, a program to funnel charitible giving by federal employees to worthy charities who register with the program. Employees simply fill out a form and designate one or more charities they want to support, and the deduction comes right out of the paycheck. Simple. Simply harassment also, as the emails, and broadcast voicemails, and signs, and "keyworker" visits pile up at the end of the year. But this year, there is a new outrage: charities who register with the CFC must "certify" that they don't employ terrorists. OK, I get that. But the Bush Administration says this means they have to
vet their employee roster against the terrorist "watch lists".
Gonzales and the Torture Memos
Wed Nov 10, 2004 at 11:11:30 AM PDT
Gee, this title sort of has the ring of a Winnie the Pooh story, but that is definitely NOT what we are in for with Bush's new appointment to the post of Attorney General.
Just a reminder to all that a February 7, 2002 Justice Department memo, addressed to (and presumably requested by) White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez, says torturing a suspect in captivity "may be justified" if the US government employee involved "would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al-Qaeda terrorist network."
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/torture/bybee20702mem.html
In a January 25, 2002 memo, Gonzales wrote:
"In my judgment, this new paradigm [the war on terror] renders obsolete Geneva's [i.e., the Geneva Convention's] strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
http://www.adamhodges.com/WORLD/docs/gonzales_memo.pdf
