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LTE in Loudoun Times

The Governor has removed two members of the Air Pollution Control Board after those members voiced unfavorable views of the Buckingham Compressor station planned for the town of Union Hill. VA League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club have been quite vocal about it, Jennifer Boysko has tweeted about it, and so has Al Gore referencing an article in the Washington Post.

You, dear reader might have heard that those members had expired terms, which is true, but there are currently 235 other appointees with expired terms who didn’t seem set to exercise their authority to stop a massive pollution source. This is a clear abuse of power on the part of the Governor. Northam might think we’re all stupid, but we aren’t.

Most of our legislators up here are Democrats lately, and I’m a Democrat as well. So far it seems that only Jennifer Boysko and Mark Keam have said anything publicly about the Governors subterfuge. I would love to know what Delegates John Bell, David Reid, and Wendy Gooditis think about this whole matter of the Governor so clearly putting his thumb on the scale to ram through Dominions compressor station. Mark Keam put it quite elegantly: “To me, the decision by Governor Northam to fire appointees of the State Air Pollution Control Board who disagree with him right before they were about to vote on a major environmental racial justice issue is absolutely wrong, and there simply is no way to explain it away.”

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Taking Breaks during the Anthropocene

Darlings,

I don’t know about you, but I needed a break from national news and the unsettling feeling that we might not be able to stop our country’s slide into the horrors of whatever Trumpistas have planned for after the election.

To that end, I did several things this week that helped protect my mental ability to continue the struggle and I’d like to share them with you because they’re so goddammed positive I’m radiating joy through my clenched teeth and tear stained face right now:

  • I started every day this week with a sob on the way to work (sorry, other commuters on Route 28. I forget that you can also see me ugly cry at 9:30 in the morning because windshield glass is transparent) or in front of the TV. I disconcerted my husband a little with letting him know that I was having this reaction to eleven perfectly lovely people being murdered in their place of worship, but then reminded him that normal human beings cry at stuff that is horrific, tragic and completely preventable. What I’m saying is, I’m not a fucking snowflake for being sad and letting that emotion out. I’m a healthy person and you are too, if you have similar emotions about shootings, bombings and other violence perpetrated on people.

In response to this, I reached out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time. This included a friend who lives in Pittsburgh and works at a nonprofit refugee resettlement organization. Not only was it a relief to realize that she was ok and her beloved city was as safe as it was going to be, (“We’re safe. Don’t worry. There’s Israeli massad-looking guards and FBI everywhere.”), but that there are so many things to do to assist. Specifically, look at the suggestions on the webpage of the fine organization she works for here: www.jfcspgh.org/communitysupport.  Or, you can support HIAS, the group specifically called out by a coward radicalized online and by our sad, my-father-didn’t-really-love-me, dumpster-fire-in-chief here: https://www.hias.org/. Also, maybe just go be a human by reaching out to your local synagogue and seeing what they need. I bet they’d appreciate it and you’d get the feels.

  • On Thursday, we went to the movies like we did before the world started falling apart around us. The movie? Bohemian Rhapsody. I don’t care how inaccurate it was. I needed it. Freddie Mercury is the rock god by which all other rock gods will be judged. I’m sure there are many people who will analyze it better than I will, but my takeaways were that things that make us different can sometimes make us extraordinary; love is what binds us all together and makes us better; communication is hard for all families, but it’s totally worth having difficult conversations and calling people out on their bullshit when it hurts you; LGBTQ people create so much space for the rest of us to be whatever it is we’re going to be (not to put the burden of being magic rainbow unicorns on every LGBTQ person or indicating that your existence should be a benefit to me, just ham-fistedly trying to express gratitude); and the ‘70’s were the pinnacle of human artistic expression as far as I can tell. Also, maybe that is linked to terrible excesses. I don’t know. It’s the opinion of a partial and ignorant historian.
  • I spent the better part of Saturday morning reading our local newspapers. Not the Washington Post—Loudoun Now and the Loudoun Times Mirror. There were no less than a dozen articles in each paper about how the community is working on issues and support each other in difficult times. If all you do is read or listen to the national news, you’d think the country is only voter suppression and violence. The closer you get to the local, the more you are reminded most of us are decent people just trying to make it through. Additionally, work at the local level is sometimes the most potent. The point I’m trying to make is support your local press. It will be there when you need it if you do.
  • I ate my vegetables. I’m serious; all of this resisting takes a lot of vitamins and minerals. Eating junk food last week was seriously draining. Eating vegetables this week made everything better.
  • I donated to campaigns, walked a packet, solicited for other people’s campaigns and did what I could for the races this year. It matters. It all matters. Ask the Dems in Shelley Simond’s district if they wished they had walked one more packet, spent one more hour on the phones, written another stack of postcards and I bet the answer you will get is, “Yes. A thousand times, yes”. Democracy hinges on every vote. You may feel more in control of the direction this ridiculousness if you participate in whatever way you are able.

I’m now going to go shower, put on a fancy dress, and go to the Freedom Fund Dinner Banquet with Chris.  It is hosted by the Loudoun County chapter of the NAACP, where some of the best people in the county will also be in fancy dresses and nice suits to raise money for the protection of everyone’s civil liberties and scholarships. Not a bad Saturday night and cap to a week that has needed positivity.

I adore you,

Amanda

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Everyone off the bleachers, and onto the field plase

Tip:
If you’re being nominated for a nonpartisan position as a neutral arbiter on the Supreme Court, attacking “the left,” “Democrats,” “the Clintons” and “the media” in your opening statement while noting there will be reprisal for years to come is, well, disqualifying.

— Danica Roem

So, the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh has clearly been a real punch in the gut for anyone that leans liberal, or just feels that allegations of sexual assault should be taken seriously. Kavanaugh seemed like a problem well before the sexual assault allegations came out… personally, I was at the Supreme Court building the evening of October 3rd protesting.

I’m seeing a fair amount of hand-wringing about the Kavanaugh confirmation from all kinds of people… a lot of folks that don’t seem terribly active in various causes, political or otherwise. If you’re someone who has been watching the train wreck happen for the last couple of years and otherwise going about your own business, this post is for you.  It’s not about shaming anyone, or polishing anyone’s halo.  The simple fact is that we need a greater portion of the population involved in preserving democracy, the environment, social safety nets, and consumer protections. 

It’s easy to get into a completely useless pattern of feeling like everything’s shitty, and everybody sucks. While I do get that everyone needs to vent once in a while, I’m hoping I can channel some of the rage that’s come out of the Kavanaugh confirmation into useful volunteer work.  Volunteer work isn’t entirely selfless… you tend to meet the nicest people, and at the end of the day you don’t feel like you’re just shouting at your TV and all it’s changing is the channel if you’ve got one of those fancy smart ones. 

We can debate all day whether or not getting more Democrats elected is the right course of action…I tend to think that it is and I’m happy to have that debate, but that’s not what this post is about. If working with the Democratic Party isn’t your thing for whatever reason, there are a lot of groups besides the Democrats pushing for the values you care about… groups that are doing thoroughly amazing work lately. I can’t think of a single one that has as many volunteers as they need, and that’s where you come in. 

You have a busy life, I get it. You have kids… I get it. You have an expensive MTG habit… I… I dunno. Here’s the thing… if every couple with kids and busy lives found one weekday evening a week, or even one Saturday a month for one parent to to put into volunteer work (presumably while the other watches the kids), we could change the world. Many hands really does make light work. Some of the most politically involved folks I know are raising kids and still find ways to make it work. 

If you’re in Loudoun County, I’m Chair of the Issues Committee at the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, and could always use more volunteers there. Amanda and I work with the Loudoun NAACP, and they always need volunteers too. Want to work on LGBT causes? I’ll get you to someone at NoVA Pride. Want to work on environmental issues? We work with 350 Loudoun, Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Virginia League of Conservation Voters. We’re trying to stop the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines…both environmental disasters in the making that would double the greenhouse gas emissions of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but the ACP also has the distinction of being #20 on the administrations priority infrastructure list. Outraged at immigrant children being locked up in prisons? Lets hook you up w/ CASA in Action. Think gerrymandering is a perversion of democracy that never should have been allowed? You’re right, and One Virginia 2021 is all over the gerrymandering problem…. they need volunteers too. The Poor Peoples Campaign could use your time….great organization. 

Hate all the politicians? Great…lets replace ‘em with better ones. There are some really progressive people that are running for elected office in Virginia lately… people that will listen to you, take your best ideas and work their asses off to turn them into actual policy. There’s a lot of campaign work that can be done from home too. Put a movie on for the kids, pour yourself a glass of wine, and call a sheet of people and tell ’em about some candidates. 

My point is that there are so many places to put your volunteer time into meaningful causes that you care about and ways to do so that it’s mind boggling. There’s always something for everyone to do. All of these little things at the local level bubble up….they do matter. 

Amanda and I know where and who to send you to with a lot of these groups because we work with them. If you could use a hand getting started, or maybe just a pointer here or there, I’m more than happy to help. If you’re pissed off about the Supreme Court confirmation, lets work together. The people I know are about solutions to problems. Let’s solve some problems.

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