In an attempt to protect the tender Southern sensibilities of Virginians, the Old Dominion’s attorney general, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, has covered the bared breast of the goddess of virtue on the Virginia State Seal. The seal is also on Virginia’s flag.
There is a Civil War scandal in Virginia that has nothing to do with Governor Bob McDonnell. The culprit: Arlington National Cemetery.
1,500 African American soldiers who served in the Union’s U.S. Colored Troops and thousands of freed slaves housed on the Arlington Estate grounds were buried in the cemetery’s Section 27, which was neglected and allowed to fall into disrepair. The cemetery was ordered to correct this shameful situation almost two decades ago.
Cosmetic changes compounded the institutional disrespect, reports Salon‘s Mark Benjamin. 500 graves now lack headstones, previously identified burials are now marked “Unknown,” some graves are misidentified, and records claim that one man is buried in two places. Cemetery Superintendent John C. Metzler, Jr. who told Congress that neglect of Section 27 would be rectified, still holds his position today.
A savage beaver is attacking dogs in Virginia. Washington’s WRC-TV reports that a dog owner posted a flyer in Alexandria’s Windmill Hill Park near the Potomac, warning that a beaver bit his pooch during a walk there.
Castor canadensis is a rodent, but don’t let your pooch think it’s a big squirrel with an odd tail. The beaver is four feet long, weighs 60 pounds, and sports claws and a mouthful of wood-chipper chompers.
Beaver couples welcome new litters of cute “kits” this time of year and may be more testy than usual. Local Potomac beavers might be even more ticked off. The National Park Service deprived them of a favorite food by putting plastic sleeves on the trunks of Tidal Basin cherry trees.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell, campaigning to be governor of Virginia, is also a scholar. The Republican lawmaker has Masters and Law degrees from prestigious Regent University in Virginia Beach, that fount of learning founded by Rev. Pat Robertson. The hallowed halls of Regent U. produced all those bright, ethical young people who ran the G.W. Bush Justice Department and the gloriously successful U.S. occupation government of Iraq.
Mr. McDonnell, whose television ads and website courageously omit the fact that he is a Republican, wrote a Master’s thesis at Regent U. (then called CBN, after Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network) entitled “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade.”
Mr. McDonnells’s 93-page document was so compelling that Regent awarded him two degrees, one in law, the other in public policy. The thesis called for criminalizing sale of birth control devices to unmarried people, government policy that favors married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators,” and said working women and feminists are “detrimental” to the family. The thesis advocated injection of Christian doctrine at all levels of government.
Of course, McDonnell was just a kid when he wrote the thesis. He was only 34 years old.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
One of the best Bluegrass bands in the Washington DC area is Rockledge (Darrell Slone-Banjo; Mark Clifton-Dobro; Lynn Healey-Guitar; Bradley Sams/Bill Taylor-Bass). The band will sing and play live in the WAMU-FM studios in the Nation’s Capital on Katy Daley’s Open Mic program this evening (Friday April 3rd, 6PM to 8PM EDT), but you can hear them from anywhere on the planet through BluegrassCountry.org.
There’s more. Thanks to to a cutting-edge breakthrough in wireless radio-telephony, people in Northern Virginia and parts of Maryland can hear this exciting live concert free on those ordinary FM radio receivers found in many homes and motor vehicles! Astounding. Simply set the indicator on the device to 105.5 megahertz.
Both of the Bluegrass fans who actually own HD(tm) radios can hear the digitally-modified broadcast at HD 88.5-2 if they live near the transmitter.
This is a seriously awesome band. Hear Rockledge on the radio tonight and in the flesh each Wednesday at FireFlies in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood.
Image by Mike Licht, who is proud to have played bass for amazing singer and guitarist Lynn Healey.
Washington DC’s annual assault on Austin’s South-by-Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival includes these local shock troops:
Bomani Armah & Project Mayhem
Carol Bui
Laura Burhenn
Deleted Scenes
Benjy Ferree
Gaybomb
Hall Monitors
H.R. Band
Kid Congo Powers
Medications
Middle Distance Runner
Nadastrom
Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down
Pygmy Lush
Edie Sedgwick
These United States
Tittsworth
Turboslut
U.S. Royalty
Wayna
Support DC’s troops in Travis County. Follow the action on GOG Blog, Black Plastic Bag, DC Rock Club, PostRock.
Image by Mike Licht, after Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license. Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Celebrate the Life and Music of John Cephas
Sunday March 29th, 1pm to 3pm
Baird Auditorium, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
10th & Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC (map)
Enter from the Constitution Avenue side
Federal Triangle Metro station
followed by
John Cephas Memorial House Party Jam
Westminster Presbyterian Church 400 I Street SW
Washington, DC 20024 (map)
Waterfront Metro station (or a short walk)
Phil Wiggins is organizing the event in honor of his long time friend and musical partner. If you wish to contribute towards the expenses, contact Wayne Khan (Right on Rhythm) for details.
Update: A memorial service was held on Saturday, March 23rd at the Caroline County Community Center in Bowling Green, Virginia. Interment will be at 10 a.m on Wednesday, March 25, at Quantico National Cemetery, Triangle, Virginia.
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Singer and guitarist John Cephas passed away on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. A talented, warm, and gentle man, he is remembered by many friends, admirers and neighbors:
PostRock, Washington Postweblog
Rich Green of Arlington, Virginia is upset. He drives his car across the Potomac to his job in Washington, DC five days a week and there are potholes in the road.
“Most of the potholes seem to stick around for months, and they can get to be more than six inches deep,” he wrote to the Washington Post. “Who is responsible for this section of road, and why don’t they repair the potholes …?” he asked.
Mr. Green did not ask who is responsible for causing the potholes or suggest who should pay for repairs.
Others fill in these potholes lacunae in Mr. Green’s complaint:
Virginia’s Mary Baldwin College has a new interdisciplinary minor in “Civic Engagement,” reports Inside Higher Education.
Isn’t that a rather unfortunate title for a program at a woman’s college? It sort of sounds like it leads to an “MRS degree.”
For more information on the program look here.
“Mary Baldwin College” and logo may be registered trademarks of Mary Baldwin College; they are used here to prevent brand confusion with Mary Washington, St. Mary’s, Marymont, and Alec Baldwin.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
