Morning Notes

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by ARLnow.com June 2, 2011 at 8:02 am 4,977 69 Comments

“Discriminatory” Rolling Thunder Checkpoint? — The American Motorcyclist Association has a beef with Arlington County. The group says that Arlington police conducted a “motorcycle-only checkpoint” on Saturday during Rolling Thunder. Calling the practice “discriminatory,” the association has sent letters expressing “concern” to Gov. Bob McDonnell, Arlington Police Chief Doug Scott and Virginia legislative leaders. [Speed TV]

Mormon Singles Gather in Crystal City — Crystal City’s new 23rd Street Chapel is a place for young, single members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to gather. The chapel claims hundreds of single members, many of whom are specifically on the look-out for a wife or husband. The Washington area reportedly has one of the highest concentration of Mormons outside of Utah. [Washington Post]

Last Call for Crystal Ride Registration — Today is the last day to register for Crystal Ride, a non-competitive bike ride held on a 7.8 mile closed circuit around South Arlington during next weekend’s Air Force Cycling Challenge.

FREDTERP

What happens when Freddie’s Beach Bar patrons and the church members mingle. FREDTERP
- Michael
  
  Gay plural marriages. 🙂
Overgrown Bush

I’ve been at client sites in Fairfax County during rush hour to see Fairfax County police performing a rolling roadblock, looking for infractions. It served to only slow gridlock more, other than to provide a nice revenue stream for the county. I suspect Arlington County likely was looking for revenue since they had to have the police presence anyway.
Overgrown Bush

I love the plate frame, btw.
Arlwhenever

Rolling Thunder Checkpoint — Jim Moran protects the horses but not the hogs.
BoredHouseWife

yeah yeah yeah, and If someone detonated a bomb or shot up a bunch of people there would be an outcry.

remember everybody is a criminal now.
SoCo Resident

1.) What infractions did the motorcycle checkpoint reveal? There were plenty of noise violations? 2.) Given that many police actually participate in Rolling Thunder, there must have been a reason for setting up this particular roadblock. 3.) America Motorcycle Association and Rep. Sennsbrenner would like to outlaw motorcycle checkpoints; how about truck or bus checkpoints then? 4.) Rolling Thunder has become the massive “Sturgis” of the East, completely overpowering the sanctity of Memorial Day, with enough disrespectful noise to wake, not honor, the dead.
- Cranky Crankypants
  
  Looking at motorcycle-specific infractions – loud pipes, improper licensure, fake helmets. Looking at riders – outstanding warrants, DUI. Police activity also chills stupid behavior. I’m pretty sure there would be plenty of outrage if there were rider deaths and no police presence.
Chris Wiz

I don’t see any irony.
- Aaron
  
  I think the “irony” is that all Prius owners are inherently socialist and the owner of this car apparently likes America.
  
  If you don’t hold that basic assumption about identity politics, then you won’t get the humor.
Thes

ArlNow – I think you meant “reportedly” not “repeatedly”, unless the Mormon crowds have been coming and going?
- CW
  
  Or unless they, say, performed a census more than once, in which case the results would be, as one might say, “repeated”.
- ARLnow.com
  
  Yes, thank you.
CW

So are seat belt checkpoints discriminatory because they only target drivers, not motorcyclists? And are DUI checkpoints discriminatory because they assume that people who have been out on New Year’s Eve or the 4th of July are drunk? Probable cause, or whatever watered-down version of it is needed for a checkpoint, can be stretched pretty far, or so it seems from the precedents out there.
- doodly
  
  Thanks for pointing out that the word “discrimination” has come to mean “improper or illegal discrimination”.
  - CW
    
    “Discrimination” doesn’t have an inherently negative definition, only negative connotations. So yes, discrimination in this context only refers to improper or illegal discrimination, as opposed to, discriminating between ripe and unripe melons at the grocery store.
    - doodly
      
      Exactly.
- Overgrown Bush
  
  Actually, you can’t have a seat belt checkpoint in VA. A seat belt infraction can only be issued if the vehicle is stopped for some other reason. (Make sure your lights are on if you put on your wipers…..)
LyonSteve

The article about the motorcycle only checkpoint doesn’t say what actually happened. Can someone fill us in?
DC123

Your “Morning Notes” photos really leave something to be desired. While today’s is pretty fun, you usually include a dark photo of some evening event. Why not include something to start off everyone’s day well?
- danielobvt
  
  I enjoyed it as other than my Prius you don’t see too many Priuses out there with conservative bumper stickers or license plate holders….
  - Overgrown Bush
    
    The other day, I saw a big Chevy with a vanity plate DEMCRAT. I thought it would have been more appropriate on a Prius.
  - doodly
    
    I’ll bet if I did a quick search I could find some nutjob somewhere who insists that Priuses are socialist. But I won’t.
    - doodly
      
      Wait a minute! There’s already a guy on this forum who says all Prius owners are socialists!
      - Overgrown Bush
        
        Really? Point hm out.
      - doodly
        
        Aaron – look above.
        
        But I don’t think he actually believes it himself.
      - Overgrown Bush
        
        Ah. I missed it. Yeah, “all” Prius owners….. He should have used “many”, or “some”.
      - doodly
        
        Sure, “many” or “some” would have been soooooo much better.
TGEoA

Are there Mormon missionaries roaming around Arlington?

I keep seeing different pairs of young men dressed in black slacks, white shirts and skinny black ties roaming the neighborhoods. I kinda get a Christian vibe from seeing them.

Not judging, just curious.
- doodly
  
  Those are Republicans. Extremely rare in Arlington. They sometimes rest here on their way to their mating grounds.
  - Overgrown Bush
    
    Nah. The Republicans in Arlington are dressed like Democrats. You see them with cameras shooting stills and video, waiting for the Arlington County Board to be a bit passive. I hear some are even going to run for Board as a Democrat, then switch sides right after being sworn in.
    - Bluemontsince1961
      
      LOL, good one, Overgrown Bush!
- Dan
  
  Men In Black…..whom or what do you think that they are looking for ???
- CW
  
  There were some Mormons hanging out in front of crate and barrel last weekend. They had Mormon literature and were passing it out.
- Josh S
  
  Yes, those are missionaries. That’s their uniform. They are frequently on bicycles.
- SoCo Resident
  
  Actually, there’s a dormitory above the Clarendon Grill to house “conservative” kids. I remember them getting a zoning change for it when the building was remodeled.
Steve

Funny how you can profile this way but not racially.
- doodly
  
  You can “profile” racially too as long as you’re not a complete dick about it.
  - TGEoA
    
    How much to shine my Stacy Adams?
John Fontain

It’s amazing to me that so many seemingly smart, level-headed people follow Mormonism, a religion started by a fortune-teller, Joseph Smith, Jr., who claimed to have found a set of gold plates written in Egyptian in the side of a hill in western New York in the 1820’s. He translated these gold plates (which he didn’t show to anyone) to English not by looking at the plates and but by putting two rocks into a hat and staring at the rocks. This is how The Book of Mormon was written. And no, I’m not kidding.

Fascinating stuff…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Plates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Smith,_Jr.
- doodly
  
  It’s amazing to me that so many seemingly smart, level-headed people follow…a religion….
  
  😉
  - novanglus
    
    It’s amazing to me that so many seemingly smart, level-headed people, who constantly talk in favor of tolerance and against discrimination, are suddenly hateful and intolerant towards religion.
    - doodly
      
      Me too.
    - John Fontain
      
      Where was someone hateful and intolerant towards religion in this thread?
      - Jordan
        
        I’ll proudly fill that void.
    - R0bespierre
      
      Being amazed and thinking the religious to be stupid is neither hateful nor intolerant, actually. It’s just being amazed and thinking. Opinions, impressions. If you wore a diaper everywhere you went I would probably form an opinion too. And you can’t stop me and it’s not illegal, and there is no hate or discrimination of any time involved. But know…just know…that we are always watching, waiting…laughing at you.
- Josh S
  
  And then he “lost” them.
- Westover
  
  Truth or not, the Mormon Church produces believers with strong work ethics, with good morals and a sense of community that pushes them to help their neighbors of any faith, or no faith at all. They have created a far better emergency preparedness/response program than what FEMA has produced. This Catholic has no problem with the Mormons.
  - bb
    
    There’s also a ton of Mormons in the DOD and the Intel community. Easy to clear people who don’t drink or use drugs.
  - John Fontain
    
    I have no problem with Mormons either. I was just commenting on how something that started as an obvious sham is now taken so seriously by people. No different really than the founding of Scientology.
    - skeptic
      
      Or that loony religion where they say some guy was killed, but then God magically brought him back to life and he went straight up to heaven and now he’s like everywhere and stuff. Oh, and you eat bread and wine and it turns into his blood and flesh when it’s going down your throat. Ridiculous stuff.
      - John Fontain
        
        Yea, the only difference is how long ago the tales were created. It seems the longer ago they were created, the more people are willing to believe them as fact.
        
        Gotta go, I just found some gold tablets in my backyard and they say that Xenu is opening a cupcake shop in Clarendon soon. Anyone who buys these cupcakes will live an eternal life. I must go spread the word.
  - doodly
    
    You can do all that without being a Mormon.
    - Westover
      
      Yet the bulk of most sub-groups do not. Joseph Smith might or might not have been scaming folks, but it did get him killed, while the believers contribute more to American society than the average.
      - doodly
        
        Nobody else believes in a strong work ethic, good morals and a sense of community?
      - John Fontain
        
        Mormon’s contribute more to American society than non-Mormons, on average? I’d love to see the evidence supporting that claim.
        
        Joseph Smith might not have been scaming folks? Really??
      - Westover
        
        Just saying your average Mormon is probably doing a bit more to contribute than the average American is.
        
        Joseph Smith might have been a delusional scizo, or a con man, or someone that God liked, have no clue really, but seeing as he was locked up and killed by a mob, so regardless, things did not turn out to well for him, yet for some reason his teaching lived on.
      - Westover
        
        To follow up on the more than average, not drinking, smoking etc. coupled to a strong devotion to family and community, while not exclusive to the religious, or to the Mormons, still put the bulk of the members as highly productive members of society. Plus there beliefs in the world coming to an end provides the rest of us with a decent Emergency Preparedness System.
- Vinh An Nguyen
  
  LDS beliefs aren’t any more far-out than any of the fairy tales other religions believe.
  - doodly
    
    Like Obama faked his birth certificate, for instance.
Aaron

I love the Prius-es? frame and the Express bag that’s clearly in the trunk
Steve

Can Arlnow get a submit your own picture section so I can post pics of whacky liberal bumperstickers or of anything newsworthy or otherwise idiotic, like “3nd St N” in Arlington Or the intersection of 10th and 11th Streets in Arlington?
- ARLnow.com
  
  You’re welcome to contribute to our Flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/arlnow/pool/
- MC 703
  
  Can we also include wacky conservative bumper stickers like “Our Ancestors Left Europe to Get Away From This Crap” or “Osama and Obama Hate America Equally”?
  - Overgrown Bush
    
    Sure. Here’s one. Oh, wait…..
  - R0bespierre
    
    Can I get this bumper sticker?
Me ke

The tow truck drivers have a scam and are protected by the cops and the district attorney. Why??? Because the owner is a former Arlington cop. He has towed illegally and complaints to the police and the attorneys office were always ignored. The guy is an arrogant s.o.b. On top of that. You should have called the cops and said either ticket him or I go public with the photo
- Captain Krunchy
  
  Me ke- Huh? The owner of Advanced is not a former Arlington police officer. The owner of Frank’s, a now defunct tow company, was… and was ultimately arrested and convicted by the same police department and “attorneys office” you attempted to slander with your factless accusation. Next.
nota gain

The Marriott’s, Mormons, when first in business, checked on employees honesty by looking through a hole in the ceiling down to the cash register area. This was done after they suspected their employees from sort changing management. They did catch the bad guys, women I think.
Recently Marriott moved many jobs to TN to reduce costs and booted long time people out of jobs; Marriott cares for its employees. Good business practices and remember, Mitt’s not it.

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