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Loudon County Voters!

If you live and vote in Loudon county tomorrow – please consider writing in “John Flannery” for the office of Commonwealth Attorney for Loudon County.

Earlier it looked like no one could challenge incumbent Jim Plowman, but CA Plowman has done a very unethical thing that has brought to light that he may be corrupt and vulnerable. Plowman pressed charges against Mark Tate this Spring in the middle of a hotly contested Republican party primary election, effectively knocking Tate out of the race and handing Jill Vogel the nomination to run for State Senate as a Republican. Now, six months later, the trumped up charges have been dropped. Meaning Tate was innocent all along, should probably have been given the nomination against Vogel and that Plowman is abusing the power of his office to impact politics.

Please take the time to research this and decide for yourself.
http://www.writeinflannery.com/

Also – be aware that many Loudon County Supervisors are very corrupt and getting HUGE campaign contributions from developers (Snow, Staton, Delgaudio) – please consider very carefully if you want them to remain in office.

You can look up contributions via VPAP.org for any candidate.

Loudon County Voter Information (non-partisan):

http://www.loudoun.gov/government/election.htm

http://www.loudoun.va.lwvnet.org/

I hope that helps!

2007 11 05 snolan Local
Virginia Politics Comments (0) Permalink

For Guy Fawkes Day, watch “V for Vendetta” tonight

“Remember, remember the 5th of November. The gunpowder, treason, and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta

2007 11 05 snolan Fun
Holidays
Politics Comments (0) Permalink

New Job, New Challenges

Sorry for being quiet on this forum for several days, a major life-change decision was brewing and I needed to mull it over and remain quiet until I’d notified my boss and was sure of things. I can finally publicly state that I have given informal notice to my employer almost 13 years that I am leaving to pursue a new opportunity.

My last day with the team, boss, and job I have loved very much will be November 21st (just before a very early Thanksgiving day holiday). I will be in Herndon, still local. Same AIM/Yahoo/Jabber screennames. Same personal email.

Frightening news this morning, very close to home

I woke up to Newschannel 8 this morning with a start when I heard the words “Bull Run Mountain” in the same story with some sort of crime. I was too foggy headed at first, but that work me up because I live on Bull Run Mountain, so this story is very local.

Once I was thoroughly awake, I found the story here:
http://news8.net/news/stories/1007/466704.html (warning, News8 has lots of cookies and occasionally pop-under java scripts – grrrr)

Brief summary: A local African-American family found a noose hanging from a tree in their own front yard Wednesday afternoon. The noose was hung from a branch approximately 40 feet up the tree, so it took some substantial effort to put it there.

This is horrifying.

Continue reading ›

2007 10 25 snolan Local
News
Personal
Politics
Virginia Politics Comments (0) Permalink

Eating Locally Produced Food

Waldo has been encouraging us to eat locally for some time, for both health and reduced carbon footprint, and liberalrage has shared an incredibly useful link for making that easier, no matter where you live.

http://www.localharvest.org

We’ve found that many local foods taste better, because rather than being selected for ease of transportation, they can be selected for flavor; and rather than being picked way too soon and allowed to ripen in the truck or on the shelf, they can be picked when ripe.

An unexpected benefit, many local growers have excellent weather sense, as growers do the world over… but enthusiastic local growers also blog about conditions as a way of communicating with their buyers and/or share owners. Those weather blogs are the keenest sense of what is happening locally that I’ve been able to fine. Support your local growers. You’ll meet new people, and you may even be invited to a local pumpkin fest or harvest party.

2007 10 21 snolan Blogging
Environment
Fun
Local
Nature Comments (0) Permalink

Brief Excursion to Schuyler and Charlottesville

Since so many great people were canned in AOL’s irrational corporate action on Tuesday, we’ve been in a bit of shock at work, and remaining management is scrambling to figure out how to do the job with far less man-power (unlike previous layoffs, this one was random and hit many of the prime workers). I took two days off to be with Erci (she was layed off) and collect my wits. Frankly, I am not sure I want to work there anymore, as it is no longer the company I started working for in 1995.

We made lemonaide out of lemons and headed for Schuyler, VA to visit Bob and Liz, tour their new house, and the one under construction. Very nice digs they will have when it is finished. They took us into lovely downtown Charlottesville where we walked around, and had an excellent dinner at Zocalo. They have a “lemonaide” made with Maker’s Mark, blackberries, chilli, and lemonaide that is a fiesta on the tongue. Yum!

The leaves are beginning to turn and the drive up and back along U.S. Highway 29 was beautiful. I got my tires replaced on the Prius (how can tires go bad in only 23,000 miles?!?) and I had some dance lessons while Erci continued some out-processing/training/career counseling she gets as part of the layoff package

2007 10 19 snolan Cars
Dance
Local
Personal
Travel Comments (0) Permalink

Anniversary

Erci and I are headed to Evo Bistro in McLean to celebrate our anniversary and her new freedom from a job. In fact – today is the 14th anniversary of our wedding, the 12th anniversary of her hiring on at AOL, and now the day she was laid off from AOL.

Update: On our way into Evo, we ran into Jacques – who we know from dancing. He is one of the owners of Evo and the wine selector. It was exactly what Erci needed, and we have excellent Tapas and very good wines by the ounce (which means you can try several).

2007 10 16 snolan Personal Comments (4) Permalink

My letter to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors today

Please Vote NO today

I am a Prince William County resident, tax-payer, and voter. I am extremely concerned about today’s vote at the BOCS meeting.

I am concerned about my taxes.
I am concerned about unfunded obligations.
I am concerned about racial profiling.
I am concerned that we are cutting off our county’s opportunities for reasonable sustainable growth.

Frankly, I see this whole “illegal immigration” issue as giant publicity stunt by certain members of the board for their political campaigns. I am watching how you vote and will vote and contribute accordingly.

Please have compassion for fellow human beings, who due to unfortunate accident of location of birth have not been given the same chances to survive as you and me. Yes they have broken the laws to come to our great country to struggle to survive, and frankly, if we were in their shoes we would too. Some laws need to be revised.
Think about it – slavery was once legal, as was wife-beating. Those laws were revised. Please be rational today, and consider the impact your vote will have on human lives and on taxpayers in the county.

Sincerely,
Scott Nolan
I gave my address in the letter, which went to every supervisor, and every candidate for supervisor.

2007 10 16 snolan Local
Politics
Virginia Politics Comments (4) Permalink

Worst Layoff Ever

Well – this evening sucks. I am hearing from people who are getting the “mandatory meeting at 9:30 tomorrow” emails and our assumption is that they are getting cut tomorrow. The scary thing is that many people in that list are absolutely critical and very much needed to get the job done. A second group of people have mandatory meetings at 11:00 we don’t know if that is more cuts, or post-cut reorg meetings…

Erci is in the second group. One valued and essential co-worker from my own team is in the first group and several other that my team rely on every week are also in the first group.

Worst layoff ever, and I’ve been through many of them since starting at AOL in 1995.

2007 10 15 snolan Local
Personal Comments (3) Permalink

Why is the 2007 Virginia Election critical?

Hat tip to Howling Latina for pointing out this article in the Washington Post:

Post Editorial about this election

This election is perhaps the most important election to Northern Virginians in 15 years. Far more important than congressional and even presidential elections because this year, the control of the state legislature is at stake, and if Democrats win a simple majority in the Senate this year, then three Northern Virginia Senators will become the new leadership (based on seniority). They can effectively take control of the state legislature back from Richmond and spend a little of our tax money here, where we need it to fix traffic problems.

The Republican controlled legislature has proven that they can do nothing when given power. Rather than utilize their control of both houses to get things done, they’ve decided to waste time angering the electorate with fear and hatred for illegal immigrants – knowing full well there is very little a state can do with federal laws on the issue taking precedence.

GOTV: This year, more than any other year in recent memory, your vote will make a huge difference in your daily life. A vote for any of several Democratic challengers this November 6th will cause change in Richmond, giving the baton of control to Northern Virginian legislators – who regardless of party affiliation, know full well how much time we waste in our commutes each day.

Today is the last day to register, drop everything and go register today. Vote on November 6th, 2007.

2007 10 09 snolan Virginia Politics Comments (0) Permalink