John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 10.In 2002, Muhammad and a young accomplice terrorized Northern Virginia and Maryland for weeks, randomly shooting 13 people. Ten died. For those folks who were here at the time, you know the story all too well.Muhammad was sentenced to the death penalty in 2003 for killing Dean H. Meyers near Manassas, Va. I was familiar with that particular shooting because I lived in Manassas for several years.The entire D.C. metro region was on edge during the sniper attacks. People were being shot while pumping gas, walking across shopping center parking lots and so on. Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo positioned themselves in their car and blasted away at whomever was a convenient target. These were not racial crimes. Driving around and shooting folks was purely for sport for these two disturbed monsters. Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.I remember many people began feeling less than at ease as they went about their business. Getting groceries was becoming an anxiety-filled task. Standing at a bus stop was scary. After-school activities were being canceled. The snipers got into everyone's head to some degree. My office building at USA TODAY was just up the road from one of the killings at a nearby Home Depot. I remember a sense of looking around more than usual as I came and went from the parking garage each day.Now Muhammad is going to die either by lethal injection or the electric chair. His choice. If he chooses neither, state law requires he die by injection. His victims didn't have a choice. They each died from a bullet. No chance to say goodbye to family or friends. Gunned down just for kicks.Monsters like Muhammad make it hard to be against the death penalty.
George Gombossy was the consumer "watchdog" journalist for the Hartford Courant for many years. He was booted from the newspaper, like thousands of other editors, reporters and photographers in the last year or two, but he doesn't plan to take his severance. Instead, he's going to sue Connecticut's largest daily newspaper. Good luck, George.
I expect to see a lot more of this from other journalists,especially older ones, who are suspiciously dismissed late in their careers. In fact, there is a new web site call JiltedJournalists.com that is beginning to get some traction with stories like Mr. Gombossy's. http://www.jiltedjournalists.com/News.html
I am not one to sue. I think there are far too many rich lawyers as it is. But there are times when certain injustices must be countered. Unfortunately, we don't live in an age where corporations always do the right thing, particularly when it comes to older workers. I think that's true in many industries, not just the news media.
Unless a miracle happens, I just realized that I will soon celebrate a birthday without a job for the first time in my adult life. I turn 52 on Sunday.
I began a real career at age 21, right after graduating from Lynchburg College. For nearly three decades, working at newspapers helped put food on my table. My only prior work experience was in a smelly summer job as a teenager at the highway department, picking up trash and watching the older guys (the drivers of the trucks) figuring out new ways to do less work. Now I am an older guy trying to figure out a way back into a career.
This is the first in an occasional series on the "best of Northern Virginia."
Best Winery in Loudoun County. This one was tough because western Loudoun has many fine wineries. But I keep going back to Tarara Winery because frankly, it's one of the most scenic places in the county. Even if I am not in the market to buy a bottle or do a tasting, I find the setting very tranquil. Hundreds of acres roll along the Potomac River, close to Point of Rocks, and about 10 miles from Leesburg. There are views of Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland, the site of another good area winery. The facility has a nice deck for guests, a lake to walk around and concerts in pavilion area. The winery also has a "cave" where the wine is made and bottled. This is an estate winery. Along with grapes, Tarara also grows other fruits. Oh, and the wine, while getting pricey of late, is also pretty good. http://www.tarara.com/
Best Day Hike in Northern Virginia. Hands down, it's Old Rag Mountain, a little over an hour's drive from D.C., near Sperryville. This mountain stands apart from the rest of the Blue Ridge chain, but it is part of the Shenandoah National Park. It's a rigorous hike and involves "rock scrambling" near the summit. I have done the hike twice, albeit when I was in far better shape. I have drawn blood on this hike, so yes, it's a bit hazardous. It's about seven miles or more depending where you park. But it is not a casual seven miles, so be prepared. http://www.midatlantichikes.com/id155.html
A poll recently conducted by The Washington Post/ABC News found that 57 percent of Americans are "concerned someone in the household will lose a job, take a pay cut or have hours reduced in the next few months."Makes me wonder about the other 43 percent who seem to be in denial or blissfully embracing ignorance. Maybe they are just living life to the fullest while they can. Still, I find this number higher than I would have expected.In a way, it doesn't surprise me that some Americans seem to be ignoring the recession. Many people who I know are going about their lives like they never turn on the evening news or look at a newspaper. They are still taking vacations, still buying things they don't need and still rationalizing it all. A sizable minority will not alter their lives in the least, despite statistics that show unemployment will continue to rise while salaries remain stagnant or will be reduced.
There aren't too many industries that are immune to losing jobs, so it's truly remarkable to see how unconcerned some people are about their financial futures.
When the economic storm clouds began to gather about a year prior to my being laid off, my wife and I began saving as much as we could. In fact, we began saving a few years prior because we had to play catchup after some financial hardships earlier in our lives. These were going to be the years we built our retirement savings. Our prime-earning years. Then I got laid off. Hopes of retiring are gone, but fortunately, that one year of watching every penny helped us through the first 10 months of my not working.
I have tried to impress upon friends the need for them to not make the mistakes I did and to start saving sooner and at an even higher rate. But most folks seem reluctant to take action until things become a crisis. Guess that's just human nature.
Tens of thousands of jobs are still being lost every month. Some experts claim that Wall Street is already returning to the bad habits that caused the recession. Yet, 43 percent of Americans have no concerns about things getting worse for them or anyone within their household. Amazing.
Like in Bruce Springsteen's lyrics and my own current job search, I feel I am "dancing in the dark" with this blog. So it's time for a little break.At least one Calvacca Blog follower was having problems commenting here because of technical issues. If anyone else is having difficulty, please let me know. You can e-mail me or message me on Facebook. In the meantime, this gun is still for hire. Spread the word!
Sunday mornings are humbling times. It's when I and many other Virginians file our weekly claims for unemployment benefits. Apparently, even though my regular 26 weeks of payments have been exhausted, I have to continue filing in order to qualify for an extension, which is probably still weeks away. In the meantime, there is no money coming in and a lot of savings going out.Unemployment takes a little bit of the joy out of everything. The opening day of the football season isn't quite the same this year. There are bigger worries than who wins the Giants-Redskins game to deal with. I am spilling my own blood, in a way, and am not all that enthusiastic about watching others on the gridiron doing the same. But I will watch the game, and it will serve as somewhat of a distraction, hopefully.Sometimes the worries are on the surface, while other times they are just a dull hum in the background of my thoughts. It's like walking through life waiting on the lab results from a biopsy on a tumor. You don't know whether the tumor is benign and something you can live with, or whether it's something that may eventually kill you.Being unemployed, per se, isn't the worst of it. Being ignored by employers is what really bothers and mystifies me. It defies logic, regardless of the state of the economy. It robs unemployed folks of hope. If I was at least getting interviews now and then, I could believe that eventually I would be employed again. Without those interviews, or even phone calls or e-mail responses, it is quite a leap of faith to think that things will turn for the better.The confidence I once had that I would eventually find another job has faded considerably. I applied to the perfect job recently. Perfect in terms of matching up with my experience and skills to the work. It was a job in which I had every single qualification they required. And it was a long list of diverse requirements. Yet, I met or exceeded all of them. I really wanted to interview for this job, despite it probably paying half of what I previously earned. I made it clear in my cover letter that salary was not an issue for me.
The job was local, so I figured I would at least get an interview. But like with the hundreds of other jobs that I've applied for, I haven't heard back from the employer. I also have a way of determining whether this particular employer even looked at my resume. They didn't. I know I write competent cover letters, so why didn't this employer bother to review my resume? What did they detect that prevented from considering my qualifications?It's a few hours until kickoff and the sun has returned to Northern Virginia today. I try to appreciate these simple things and live more in the moment, but I also know there is a dark cloud on horizon that is getting more difficult to ignore.
Republican Bob McDonnell will edge out Democrat Creigh Deeds in the November gubernatorial election in Virginia. This race is being watched nationally and will act as a gauge on how the country feels things are going under the democrats in Washington. With unemployment rates continuing to rise, I expect the party not in power to win the race for the top spot in Richmond. When you run for mayor, you need to promise to keep the streets clear of snow and the garbage picked up on time. When you run for governor, you need to promise to generate jobs. Unless the unemployment rate reverses, expect the McDonnell to win, not because he has the best ideas, but because his party is like the backup quarterback on a team with a losing record. Fans get restless and want to see what the other guy can do.
Speaking of football, I see the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl this season. The defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers had no running game the other night against the Tennessee Titans. That's a cause for concern for the black and gold nation. New England, a favorite of many people to win the AFC, simply turns my stomach, so I can't pick them. The San Diego Chargers are talented, but there is always the Norv Turner factor to consider. For local fans in Northern Virginia, sorry, but I see the Washington Redskins finishing last in the NFC East. I think the Indianapolis Colts will struggle a bit under a first-year coach and the Dallas Cowboys will have a new coach by the end of the season to go along with their new stadium with the fancy video screen that some bonehead hung too low over the playing field. So now,the NFL decided, we're going to get "do overs" whenever a punter hits the screen. I think Michael Vick will do something stupid and be banned from the league or booted by the Eagles. Remember, the Eagles didn't put up with the nonsense of Terrell Owens for very long.
HBO's trendy vampire series, True Blood, will end with a dud in this Sunday night's season finale. The show has not risen to the level of writer/director Allan Ball's other work, which includes another HBO series, Six Feet Under, and the movie, American Beauty -- one of my favorite films. Most fans want to see Maryann get whacked. I personally can't take another season of Tara and Eggs so I am hoping they both fall into a vampire pit. I am also rooting for Eric to grow his hair back and return to his old menacing self so that us guys can feel their is at least something masculine about this show. True Blood is coming back for a third season, so expect a cliffhanger at the end. I don't think they will mess with Sam possibly dying, because they already did that earlier this season. And everyone knows the main characters, Sookie and Bill, aren't going to bite the dust. I predict the cliffhanger will involve the nature of Sookie's powers and whether or not someone else is turned into a vampire.And finally, I am predicting that this winter will be brutally cold in the east. Of course, I am only basing that prediction on the last two days. Seems far too early around these parts to have temperatures only reaching into the upper 60s. The air conditioning hasn't gone on in days and people around Northern Virginia are forgoing the shorts and returning to long pants and jeans. Fortunately, it appears temperatures will be back in the 80s by tomorrow.
HBO has been airing a documentary about a GM truck plant closing in Ohio. It centers on the people who are counting down the final days until they are unemployed. It's not so much about why the plant is closing as it is the sense of personal loss."The Last Truck" is about assembly line workers, male and female, but it could be about any occupation in any town, blue or white collar. In under an hour, the film accurately captures what it is like to lose a job that you felt connected to in some way other than just by a paycheck. It gets into many of the human aspects of working along side people for years, and what it is like when those good and bad times cease. Of course, it also touches on the financial hardships that are inevitable with any layoff. Businesses in town that relied on workers from the plant pumping dollars into the local economy were also impacted by GM's decision to close the plant.The down-to-earth folks in this film will make you tear up, particularly if you've ever experienced a profound job loss. You will realize that we in the middle class all have a lot in common regardless of where we live or whether we work behind a computer or with our hands and backs. Anger at top management for abuses that got GM into financial trouble was evident. Fear of the future came through loud and clear. Frustration with the direction this country is going as our dependency on foreign manufacturing continues was another theme. Some mentioned the billions spent on war and aid to foreign nations while we do less and less for our own people.
These folks talked a lot about pride in a job well done and friendships, too. And while their jobs have been difficult, losing them has been far worse. Some will undoubtedly land on their feet, and may even get better jobs, but most folks probably won't. A 10-minute followup segment that provided updates on these plant workers' eight months after the plant closing indicated that not one person featured in the film had found a new job. Several of the people in the documentary were over 45 years old and with limited options.I felt for these people. But I also knew they'd have each other, at least for a while. They were all leaving their jobs together as soon as the last truck was completed. Many lived on the same streets in town. None of these GM workers would be alone if they didn't want to be. There was no sense of failing or being cast out as individuals. They went to work together every morning and they left the plant together on the final day, consoling each other in the parking lot and the nearby pubs. There were no secret layoffs where two or three people disappeared in middle of the day.Many of the sentiments expressed by the plant workers showed classic Midwestern values and sensibilities. They spoke in ways that Harvard professors and Washington politicians can't relate to anymore. And that's part of the problem with the way this country is going. The middle class is disappearing. The elites continue to thrive. CEOs still get bonuses, not for being smart or honest, but for being ruthless and shortsighted. We're rewarding and empowering all the wrong people.
It's beginning to feel as though we need some form of a revolution to right the ship and to restore some basic and time-tested values.
Like many HBO documentaries, "The Last Truck" is very well done and told mostly through the words of real people, not ego-driven TV journalists who like to hog camera time. I wish there was a way to get more people to watch shows like this. Not only does it raise the cultural bar a bit, it might just help turn things around with how this country is run. Corporate America and do-nothing politicians had their shot in the driver's seat and drove us into a brick wall. It's time for a new approach. Maybe it's time to go back to the future. I end with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
I saw a mother slap her young daughter in the face today while standing in the parking lot outside of a pet supply store. The daughter's crime: Playfully yelling out to her sister, standing about 30 feet away, to make sure their dog uses the grass to "go to the bathroom."
I won't describe my actions that followed. Suffice to say, I didn't walk away.
The girl, probably about 10, teared up and held her face in a state of disbelief. She had a look in her eyes that didn't quite grasp why the person she presumably loves the most would slap her like that for no apparent or justifiable reason. It was right out in the open, which makes me wonder what goes on behind closed doors. The parent screamed at the girl, "I am the mother, not you!"
When sacred trusts are betrayed by parents, children usually will forgive...for a while. When it becomes a pattern, forgiving isn't so easy. Violence against children, verbal or physical, often causes those children to grow up with trust and anger issues that may not be resolved in adulthood.
When any of us are hurt by the ones we care the most about, it always stings a lot more than if the assault came from a stranger. When the hurt is inflicted upon an innocent child for no other reason than the adult being frustrated with their own life, it becomes criminal in my mind.
You don't see people hit their kids in public very often these days. If they do, it's usually a mild whack to the butt for stepping out into the street. What I saw today wasn't that. It was the act of a woman who was obviously angry about other things and decided to take it out on the cheek of her daughter. I am seeing a lot of anger and frustration everywhere lately.
It will take several more hours or days to get that image out of my mind.I have come to realize in recent weeks that there is a profound mood swing going on in society. I don't know if it's caused by the bad economy, our growing sense of entitlement or something more cosmic. But it appears to me people are losing it, for lack of a better description. Losing their patience on the road. Losing their ability to empathize. Losing a sense of common courtesy. You see it in all forms. Today, unfortunately, I saw it in the welt on a young girl's face.
John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 10.
