BLACK VELVET BRUCE LI

Congress Looks To Preempt Everything

Greg L — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:15:09 +0000

Lots of readers sent emails about this article in Human Events which describes HR. 5515 as a back-door attempt by House Republicans to prevent any state or local efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. I’m not sure about whether their analysis is correct, but this does seem pretty superfluous given the strength of the SAVE Act that’s being considered. If we just get the SAVE Act passed, I don’t see why this legislation would be necessary. (more…)

Losing Money In A Profitable Business

Greg L — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:22:23 +0000

The large number of vacant foreclosed houses in Prince William County is going to cost county taxpayers an additional $2 million for lawn maintenance, if a recent article in the DC Examiner can be taken at face value. What isn’t mentioned here is that there’s a revenue side to this enforcement of the county’s zoning ordinances, where property owners are charged $450 each time a lawn is mowed by the county. Even if our county government for some unknown reason must spend $259 to mow a lawn, and the county has to wait in many cases for a sale of the property in order to collect the revenue, since when does someone consider a business activity that yields a 42% profit margin a county expense? In any other real, the prospect of a 42% profit margin gets folks jumping for joy. (more…)

Keeping 11th District Democrats In The Dark

Greg L — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:39:00 +0000

The Manassas Urinal-Massager wrote an article about the recent debate among Democratic Party candidates for the 11th Congressional District, mentioning the principled stance of political neophyte Lori Alexander and the hapless campaign of Doug Denneny, neither of which have any realistic chance at securing the nomination. What the paper did not report was any information about the two candidates that actually have any realistic chance at securing the nomination. When Leslie Byrne and Gerry Connolly actually demonstrate a meaningful difference of opinion on a policy, and one of those two are going to be the nominee, you’d figure the local media would actually report on that.

What they heard didn’t scare them now, did it? (more…)

The Open Borders Crowd Gets A New Standard Bearer

Greg L — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:24:52 +0000

Jeff Winder and Sue Frankel-Streit protest the U.S. Border Patrol

I’m not quite sure, but isn’t this new standard-bearer of the illegal alien lobby, promoted as the voice of reason and rational public policy on 9500Liberty and promoted in local illegal alien apologist blogs none other than Jeff Winder? If it is, the local illegal alien lobby couldn’t have picked a bigger nutball to point to as the voice of reason in Prince William County. This guy makes Ricardo Juarez of Mexicanos Sin Fronteras seem somewhat rational.

UPDATE: CONFIRMED. This is Jeff Winder.

(more…)

Walter Tejada Incites An Uproar

Greg L — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:14:14 +0000

Walter Tejada’s “Agenda For Progress” in Arlington is meeting some significant pushback from county residents who view his plan to allow rental units in residential neighborhoods as official encouragement for illegal aliens to unlawfuly reside in the county. Given Tejada’s actions over the past year, I can understand why they might get this impression, since he has pretty much declared Arlington a sanctuary jurisdiction. Until now, high housing prices have largely prevented the influx of illegal aliens into most of the neighborhoods in this jurisdiction, but with this potential change in the county’s zoning ordinances, the availability of low-cost housing would skyrocket and almost certainly be absorbed by illegal aliens leaving jurisdictions that are less accomodating towards the willful violation of federal immigration laws. (more…)

Shooting At Global Foods

Greg L — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:16:00 +0000

Police are investigating a shooting that happened shortly before noon today in front of the Global Foods on Sudley Road in Prince William County. Articles in the MJM and Gainesville Times indicate that the perpetrator is an adult Hispanic male who drives a dark-colored SUV. The victim was transported to “an area hospital” and his condition is not yet known. (more…)

WashPo’s Fuzzy Math

Greg L — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:36:45 +0000

Go figure that the Washington Post would misunderstand the budgetary savings that are rapidly accruing to Prince William County taxpayers as a result of the Rule of Law Resolution. In the Post’s latest effort to argue that the rule of law is a bad thing if that means that lawbreakers which belong to a preferred racial or ethnic group will have any reasonable chance of being held to account for their unlawful activity, the Post is arguing that the decrease in ESOL enrollments in Prince William County isn’t actually saving taxpayers any money. Next fiscal year, when the illegal aliens who have left the county don’t show up as students in the school system, does the Post think that we’re still going to be burdened with the cost of educating these unenrolled students? (more…)

Illegal Aliens And The Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown

Greg L — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:39:09 +0000

Michelle Malkin takes a peek at the connection between illegal aliens and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown on her site today, stringing together a pretty substantial body of evidence that confirms what many of us in Prince William County have suspected for so long: that the real estate bubble was largely fueled by identity and credit fraud and other immoral, of not outright unlawful activity involving substantial numbers of illegal aliens. This is what “celebrating diversity” as a prime policy mover will get you, especially when that “celebration” steadfastly ignores the legal status of the persons being attracted to the scheme. (more…)

Yorkshire Evacuated

Greg L — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:06:36 +0000

News 7 is reporting that the Yorkshire area of Prince William County has been evacuated due to the flooding of Bull Run. Lake Drive was particularly hard-hit.

I hope everyone is OK. My house backs up on Bull Run, and the flooding was tremendous. I’d estimate that Bull Run was at least ten feet above normal, which was as high as I’ve ever seen it, by far. (more…)

Not A Classy Move

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:44:20 +0000

Looks like someone out there has to be just a little more careful before sending out candidate endorsements to their mailing list. Just imagine getting emails from the Speaker saying that your spouse shouldn’t be selected to be the next Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia…

Yeah, I’d be upset, too.

(more…)

Roger Woody Blasts Away At His Foot

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:00:10 +0000

This has got to be the dumbest lawsuit regarding a blog ever filed. Christiansburg, VA developer Roger Woody, who owns Showcase Builders has filed a lawsuit against two bloggers who run Think, Christiansburg! and two other individuals with no connection with the blog whatsoever, seeking ten million dollars in damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. Think, Christiansburg! has been complaining for some time about a colossal mountain of dirt that Showcase Builders is amassing in the town, and Woody is apparently fed up with being criticized for the actions of his company. Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t figured out that being the target of factually-based criticism is not a sufficient basis for filing a dafamation lawsuit, and that in doing so, he’s just opened himself up to more public ridicule than he can likely imagine possible.

(more…)

Prince William Real Estate Market Jumps Again

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:56:57 +0000

April’s residential real estate statistics are out for April, and Prince William County area remains the market hotspot in Northern Virginia. While in Northern Virginia as a whole sales are down almost 11% over April of 2007, in Prince William sales continue to climb. That seems to be happening particularly in some of the areas that were previously impacted the most by foreclosures, according to MRIS data: (more…)

Kane Proposes (Surprise) A Tax Hike

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:36:07 +0000

Governor Kaine’s transportation proposal has been leaked, and to nobody’s surprise, Kaine will be proposing tax hikes. To top it off, he’s proposing the same 20% sales tax hike in Northern Virginia that was defeated in a referendum in 2002 that would apply only to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, despite the fact that these two jurisdictions receive back only about half of the transportation dollars they contribute to the state right now. On top of this tax hike, Kaine is proposing a 30% increase in the vehicle titling tax and an increase in the “grantors tax” that applies to real estate transactions. Nice way to help along a recovery in the residential real estate market, isn’t it? (more…)

Herndon Voters Validate 2006 Vote

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:46:14 +0000

Sanford Horn over at TownHall.com had the best recap and analysis of the recent Herndon Town Elections I’ve seen, and with permission, here it is for BVBL readers: (more…)

Are You Ready? Three Scenarios

Greg L — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:33:10 +0000

With the recent spate of bad weather in Virginia, I hope folks have been thinking about ensuring they’re prepared for the vicissitudes of nature. A nature-related scenario in Virginia such as we’ve seen lately tend to cause few casualties and it’s almost guaranteed that an adequate response by public safety resources will quickly arrive to deal with the situation. But what about some potentially more common scenarios where time isn’t such a luxury? Are you ready for them? (more…)

Open Thread

Greg L — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:57:12 +0000

While I’m spending some time with the family this weekend, here’s an open thread for those who aren’t…

Fallen Heroes Honored

Greg L — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:50:53 +0000

From the Gainesville Times:

Prince William County is holding an Armed Forces Day Ceremony at the War Memorial in Freedom Park on Saturday, May 17, at 1 p.m. Freedom Park is located on the grounds of the McCoart Government Complex in between the complex and the Prince William Parkway. The ceremony is in honor of two soldiers who died in service to their country, Pfc. Steven A. Davis and 1st Lt. Benjamin J. Hall. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

If you can make this ceremony, it will certainly mean a lot to the families of these soldiers.

Who Is Mike Turner?

Greg L — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:31:17 +0000

The utter nutball that is Judy Feder isn’t the only candidate running for the Democratic nomination for the 10th District, there’s another guy by the name of Mike Turner. A friend of mine is at a debate between Turner and Feder over in Frederick County right now and shot me a fascinating email from his blackberry saying that Judy Feder was getting her butt absolutely handed to her in the debate. From the looks of his website, Turner has a substantially more compelling resume than Judy “I invented HillaryCare” Feder. He also isn’t a dead ringer for Woody Allen’s nonexistent twin sister, which can’t hurt. At this point Feder leads Turner significantly in fundraising, but Feder hasn’t shown that her ability to raise money outside the district can translate into electoral success. (more…)

Mexicans Without Borders Protesting ICE Raid In Richmond

Greg L — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:22:17 +0000

Mexicans Without Borders is holding an “emergency protest” at the site of the federal courthouse construction project in Richmond where thirty-three illegal aliens were apprehended by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency two days ago. This should be interesting: an anarchist organization affiliated with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico is calling for a halt to the enforcement of federal law.

Yeah, that’ll work. (more…)

National Park Gun-Free Zones To End Soon?

Greg L — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:06:53 +0000

Second Amendment activists have been trying for years to have the Department of the Interior rescind rules that prohibit the possession of a firearm in national parks. How the federal government ever thought that they had the constitutional authority to do this in the first place, outside of their established power to regulate hunting on federal lands, is somewhat of a mystery. So for years, when you’ve gone into a national park where predators of not only the four legged kind, but also of the two legged variety occasionally attack a hiker or camper, your only means of self-defense has been a whistle. After years of pressure, fifty one Senators finally directed the DOI to propose a new rule. (more…)