I link to most Virginia blogs on my blogroll. I do not censor or remove people for political disagreement. I will link to anyone of either party, even when I totally disagree with them. Usually if someone is not included it is because I either haven't seen their blog, or forgot to add them when I first saw it.He also said:
However, last year I had to begin removing sites that were participating in a coordinated campaign to smear people. I'm not going to link to blogs that present ideas as their own, but that are in fact coordinated talking points on email in order to destroy people's reputations. Those blogs still are not on my blogroll.
I think I saw the dog post when it went up, but I skimmed by it, and did not read it carefully. Those comments are totally unacceptable. While Greg has demaugauged the immigration issue in Prince William County, I was not going to remove him from my blogroll for doing so. That's a political issue, and while I disagree with him on it, I will not remove people for political disagreements.Frankly, it has always surprised me that Ben not only had Greg Letiecq on his blogroll but gave him pride of place as a platinum blog. I think it was because Greg L was undoubtedly influential and controversial. The problem, though, is that Greg opened a genie's bottle of bigotry and once you uncork that bottle, it's impossible to get the genie back in.
Yet the dog post crosses the line from a political statement, to comments that are not a joke, not funny, and are totally unacceptable to make. I'm removing BVBL from the NLS Blogroll until I see a change at BVBL in the way they are conducting themselves.
The hatred and racism has spiraled out of control in Prince Williams County and is endangering the business community, which has been losing money courting bankruptcy since last year's resolution. In addition, the money to enforce the draconian measures threatens to harm the fiscal well being of Manassas.
The antics of Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Corey Stewart, and his ally Greg Letiecq have also brought international embarrassment to Manassas. And their attempt to malign the reputations of Manassas Police Chief Charlie Deane and Republican supervisor Maureen Caddigan has stepped over any line of decency.
Belatedly, Corey Stewart, finally aware of how politically costly his unholy alliance with bigots might be, is desperately trying to back pedal and step away from his support for Greg Letiecq and BVBL as this video shows.
There is more you can do, Chairman Stewart. You can disavow bigotry, stop demagoging a whole group of people and truly step away from Black Velvet Bruce Lee. You can call that blog bigoted and say that while illegal immigration is a legitimate concern for the community, prejudice and hatred have no place in Manassass, Prince Williams County or any place else in America.
9 comments:
I think the big thing this illustrates is that most people will respect anyone who uses positive methods to promote their message no matter where they stand on the political spectrum. It's when the person begins to go to the far extremes and use grossly inappropriate methods of conveying their message that people begin to lose respect for them.
That video looks like a Michael Moore hit piece with a lot of material deliberately taken out of order (or implied rather than actually said).
Amid all the complaints of "hatred," bigotry," etc., what I do not hear from those on the left is any kind of idea as to what immigration laws (if any) we should even have and/or what should be enforced. Care to enlighten us, Karen?
"prejudice and hatred have no place in Manassass, Prince Williams County or any place else in America."
Well sure, but then you take away one of the most reliable political weapons around. Let BVBL and his BFF Stewart keep at it. At least the motivations are honestly displayed, and no one has to pretend that they've got some respectable point to make.
Iso, what proof do you have that anything was taken out?
As for solving the immigration problem, the first thing I would do is hold our congressmen and senators and the White House accountable. This is a federal problem that has to be solved at the national level.
The next thing I would do is enforce all zoning laws to prevent the problems associated with illegal immigration, like overcrowded housing. I'd have anti-gang deterrence units and concentrate on crime prevention. All of the sensible things that Fairfax County does.
And I'd work with ICE to the best of the county's ability to turn over illegal immigrants. That's all you can do effectively.
Of course I don't support illegal immigration. But Greg L. has gone well beyond looking for solutions to a real problem. He really is demonizing an entire ethnic group, many of whom are here legally.
And Bryan and MB, you're both right. People would respect Greg and Corey Stewart if they focused on the real problems and some modest but doable solutions. It's when they reached out to the farthest extremes and encouraged hatred that they lost people who want to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
Karen,
Thanks for proving Greg's point! Note that the members of your own party in the House and Senate want to take even less responsibility for enforcing Federal law.
Your own Democrat fellow travelers have been rather reluctant to enforce zoning laws. Fortunately, you have a good State Senator, Ken Cuccinelli, who helped make zoning law enforcement easier (without much help of many of your party's representatives in Richmond). Frankly, being in favor of enforcing zoning laws is enough to get called "racist" by your ilk.
And what does it mean "work with ICE to the best of the county's ability to turn over illegal immigrants." Getting law enforcewment authorities to work together is something that people like Greg have been pushing hard for, and getting called "racist" for thier troubles. Again, most of the Democrats at State and local level have done all they could to obstruct this effort.
And while we are at it, I must say that if you are so willing to call Greg a "racist," then, by the same standard, you should call Jim Moran a racist for several of his remarks. You should also have called many of Jim Webb's supporters to task for their characterizations and caricatures of Harris Miller. You should also be highly critical of Senate Democrats for making Robert "KKK" "white n----r" Byrd the President pro tempore of the Senate (third in line for the Presidency). You should be a WHOLE LOT more critical of Barack Obama and his supporters (or spiritual advisors, as the case may be). But somehow you have been making excuses for all of them.
Just checking for consistency (and finding none).
First of all, I get the "fellow traveler reference" and we are not communists. Stop being ridiculous. I don't call you a fascist, so don't call me something I'm not. Nor have I ever implied you are racist. Greg, however seems to be, based on the reading of his blog.
Second of all, Democrats in Congress can't pass zoning laws for states or municipalities. In Virginia, with its Dillon ruling, a lot of that falls to the state - I favor home rule, which as a Republican who believes the best government should be small and closest to the people, so should you.
Next, Fairfax seems to have adequate zoning laws and does enforce them.
Greg may have been pushing for greater cooperation between ICE and local authorities, but he has also led unfair campaigns against Chief Charlie Deane. He's intimidated others and he has fostered hate and racism. That's not the same as opposing illegal immigration.
As for the baseless Harris Miller charges. The political parodyist couldn't help it if Harris Miller looks Jewish. I don't know if you've ever actually seen Miller. I have, up close and often. The cartoon images were an accurate likeness of what the man looks like. There was no attempt to exaggerate his features for comic effect.
All that was being made fun of was that he was a lobbyist who supported outsourcing American jobs. Sorry, I don't apologize for that parody. It had nothing to do with his religion or ethnicity. It was about the policies he supported.
Readers should go to antibvbl and help efforts to organize the community against racism and neoliberalism and defeat this horrible blogger.
Our community is being killed by all this.
AIAW, perhaps you should work on your vocabulary a bit. At least learn the definitions of the charges you are tossing about so freely. If you need help, I'll be happy to provide it for you. A recent article of mine should explain it clearly enough for you. CLICK HERE
Alton,
That was indeed lovely to read. Thank you for providing the link. I agree with you about needing to be precise in the use of words. I think we even share a common love of language and writing.
I'll give you that perhaps Greg L. is not a racist. I can't see into his heart or mind either.
But some of his postings have been bigoted and demeaning to Latino culture - not illegal immigrants - but to the entire culture. And some of his rantings do sound like racism.
If they are not and I have misunderstod him, I'd truly be happy to be wrong. But so far I don't think that's the case.
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