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Dreaming of Elected “Rocker Chicks” in Arlington?

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Over at the Sun Gazette, editor Scott McCaffrey is dreaming about elected “rocker chicks” from Arlington.

I certainly have a lot of respect for Arlington School Board Vice Chairman Sally Baird, but “rocker chick” is not a phrase I would ordinarily apply to her. Until now.

In a dream that bubbled up in the subconscious Saturday night, I was chatting at some event with Ms. Baird when she invited me to a performance of her band, which was playing in D.C.

So far as I know, she has no band. Arlington’s Commissioner of Revenue, Ingrid Morroy, has one, but no other local official to my knowledge does. Let me know if I am wrong on that.

Alas, the dream ended when I mentioned that I had another commitment and couldn’t make it across the river to see the show.

As to Mr. McCaffrey sharing the content of his dreams with the rest of Arlington – although, I’ll just say that I greatly prefer hearing about his “rocker chick” dreams than about his thoughts on politics (e.g., his endorsement of George Allen over Jim Webb was classic). Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, Sally Baird isn’t in a band, but my friend Ingrid Morroy certainly is. For those who haven’t heard her play, Ingrid’s band is called The Constituents (“They play popular music often combined with Caribbean soca, kaseko, reggae, Latin salsa, and merengue rhythms”) and I’ve had the pleasure of listening to them on several occasions.

The photograph at the top of this article is of Ingrid’s band playing at the Clarendon Day Festival in Arlington on October 21, 2006. The stickers on Ingrid’s knees are “Jim Webb for U.S. Senate,” which Ingrid played a large role in making happen – not the least of which, with her voice (microphone, bullhorn, you name it). As to Sally Baird, she’s a fine school board member (first elected in 2006 along with Jim Webb to the U.S. Senate). I hope Sally will let me know if she’s planning on starting up a band – or just joining Ingrid’s! 🙂

Washington Post on Prince William County “Hounding Immigrants”

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By: Lowell
Published On: 7/8/2007 9:03:56 AM

Today’s Washington Post has an important editorial on “hounding immigrants” in Prince William County.  According to the Post, Prince William is “a booming jurisdiction where Hispanics, who registered scarcely 10 percent of the population in 2000, now approach 20 percent.”  Now, “[p]rodded by angry constituents, the county Board of Supervisors looks set to adopt a resolution whose evident purpose is to harass illegal immigrants in hopes that they move elsewhere.”

The editorial then describes how John T. Stirrup, Jr. (R-Gainesville), who is sponsoring that resolution, blames illegal immigrants for pretty much everything, from “economic hardship” to “lawlessness” (despite the fact that “prosecutors say most are law-abiding”).  What next, immigrants cause the common cold and eat puppy dogs for breakfast?  What a joke.

Worse than a joke is the concept of “denying thousands of illegal immigrant children the right to attend school.”  What good does that do?  Yeah, driving kids onto the streets, where they will be more likely to get into trouble, makes a TON of sense.  That’s good ol’ fashioned Republican governing philosphy if I’ve ever heard it: be a hard ass to others even if it hurts YOUR ass as well.  Oh yeah, and encourage the economic forces (e.g., “free trade” agreements and cheap labor for big corporations) drawing illegal immigrants into this country in the first place, then “[slap] them around…once they are settled here.”

As the Post concludes, that’s “shameful, hypocritical and ugly.”  It’s also quintessentially Republican: short-sighted, lacking in compassion or empathy, violating the very religious principles they claim to believe in (e.g., “The alien who resides among you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”), xenophobic, and just downright stupid.  Heckuva job, Prince William Republicans!