Hot off the email press from Delegate Jackson Miller. I don’t see anything that howls at me for attention. At any rate, this is the lazy woman’s thread. I cut and pasted straight from Delegate Miller’s own email. I don’t see anything I object to. I hope he sends out email about how he voted on other people’s bills.
This year’s session is usually referred to as the “short session”. That’s because it only lasts 46 days as opposed to sessions in even years, which last sixty. Odd-year sessions are shorter because the General Assembly is only required to make amendments to the existing biennial budget. In long sessions, an entirely new budget must be constructed and approved.
Usually, amending the budget is a task that takes significantly less work than constructing one from scratch. But, the state’s budget shortfall makes amending the existing budget a lot more challenging than usual this year. Still, the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn for this year on February 28.
As I noted last week, there will be many other issues before us during this session than the budget. Among the hundreds of bills that will be discussed are several that I am submitting.
Here are just a few of the bills that I am submitting or co-sponsoring this year:
- HB 2525 Small Wind Energy Projects: This bill promotes the development of wind energy through tax exemptions and encourages the expansion of wind energy to meet our energy needs.
- HB 2576 Electricity Generated from Municipal Solid Waste: Methane from landfills is a known source of greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and wastes energy. This bill establishes the legal framework to establish a public-private partnership to mine the methane from these landfills and put the excess back into the power system.
- HJ 620 Transportation Lock Box: This resolution calls for a constitutional amendment that would require transportation money to be kept in a transportation trust fund preventing it from being spent as part of the general fund.
- HB 2131 Gang Free Zone: Establishes gang free zones on certain public and private lands and calls for a more severe punishment for gang activity on such lands.
- HB 2132 Workforce Housing: This bill provides local school boards greater flexibility in helping teachers pursue the American dream of home ownership within their school district.
- HB 2024: Health Insurance Coverage: Allows health insurance providers to sell cheaper health insurance to employers with 50 or less employees who are not currently receiving health insurance from the employer.
- HB 2140 Learner’s Permits: This bill requires that in order to be eligible for a learner’s permit, a student must have no more than 5 unexcused absences in the six months prior to applying for a learner’s permit.
For information on all fifteen of my bills for the 2009 Legislative Session, please go to the Virginia General Assembly Legislative Homepage: http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm.
Missing in the list is HB2136 submitted by Jackson Miller and known as the anti liberty bill. HB2136 is a bill to give a police officer the ability to arrest a person for a class 1 or class 2 misdomeaner at the officers descreation. It appears that this bill was originally introduced in 2007 but has not died.
Bills may be tracked at
http://www.richmondsunlight.com/photosynthesis/
Richmond Sunlight is a pretty handy little website.
It appears that we are witnessing the “mellowing of Jackson Miller”. Will any of these bills make to the floor for a vote? Did he come up with these on his own, or are “special interest groups” involved here? Will there be funding available for some of these proposals and if not, where will the money come from?
His bills sound very ‘green.’
I am not sure about that bill left out of the list and mentioned by notabigot. Is that bill to circumvent current law enforcement practices here in Pr. Wm? What exactly does it mean?
Is Jackson Miller pulling a Reverse Romney? Abandoning “The Immigration Crackdown” as an election strategy now that it has gone sour on our local economy and public safety? In my book, flip-flopping is allowable if one genuinely has a change of heart. When Romney went from Sanctuary Mansion/State to anti-illegal immigration attack puppy, I didn’t buy it. If Miller does the reverse, I’ll hold my nose and we’ll all be better off for it. But as PWCon points out on a previous thread, past associations can leave a lasting stain … re. Byrd of WV … and Miller’s role in the Greg Letiecq cult is bound to haunt him no matter how fastidiously he avoids the words “send them back with love.”
I sense a primary challenge from a more traditional, untainted Republican.
Keep in mind that in his first year in the GA following his run-off win he introduced eight anti-immigration bills in the H. of Del. I believe that six didn’t make it out of committee and two were voted down on the floor. Now he appears to be just “throwing a bone” to the anti crowd while trying to distance himself from them in everyone elses mind.
Besides the bill that “notabigot” informed us of, the rest look pretty decent actually. I partically like the landfill bill! Trash to energy works! It’s a shame that John Stirrups “energy resolution” withered like an old grape, instead of the creative exciting force it could have been. Maybe instead of our new reputation as anti immigrant, we instead could be seen as the “greenest” county in Northern VA, drawing in new science and technology, promoting clean energy!
Rebecca,
Moon-howler has posted a link to richmondsunlight. There is further clarification of HB2136 and its impact on Virginia citizens and non citizens on the richmondsunlight web site. Do not assume that a law useful to target illegal immigrants will not also be used to target citizens.
Here is the main home page for Richmond Sunlight.
http://richmondsunlight.com/
You can find your bill by topic if you do not know its number or sponsor.
The Green energy bills sound very smart, I hope that the House and Senate have enough sense to pass them. And so what if He is moderating His stance on illegal immigration? I thought that’s what you guys want, Besides, There are a lot more important issues.
HB 2756 How does one “mine the methane from these landfills”. Do you stick a hose in the ground and syphon off the gas? I need to know more details before I can get behind this proposal.
As for HB2756, we’re one step closer to having a government official follow each of us around taxing us 25 cents for each fart.
Might as well use what we have already.
pwc, I agree. However, I don’t think anyone is grousing, just commenting.
Ivan
You drill wells, Average of 6in in diameter, It’s very easy considering your drilling thru rotting earth instead of rock, Pipes are run from the wells to generators where electricity is created, An average landfill will power 4,000 Homes and generate millions in revenue over the lifetime of the well.
PWC
Thanks for the info. The only concerns I have are (1) who pays to build these generating plants…Taxpayer money or tax incentives to private business?
{2) since most landfills are located near densely populated areas, are the locals going to want these things in their back yards?
IVAN,
Mr. Brunn of PWC Public Works is giving a presentation(PWCBS meeting) on the PWC Green Community Initiative. PWC has being doing this at the landfill. They are currently “harvesting” about 2,000 mega watts from methane gas, and hope to beat 10,000 mega watts over the next few years. He said 2,000mega watts could provide energy for about 2,000 homes.
You can look at the presentation at the link below. Pg. 16 addressed the landfill’s methane gas.
http://www.pwcgov.org/documents/bocs/agendas/2009/0203/6-B.pdf
I also, saw a story on tv last year about a dairy that was completely powered by methane gas. I hope to find the story and post it.
Chris,
Thanks for the info. It looks promising. Let’s hope that the current budget situation doesn’t impact these efforts.
so where does the electricity generated at the landfill go?
Nowadays, you can’t openly say that young black and hispanic males should be locked up. So you use the word ‘gangs’ to get all the soccer moms to support racist policies.
But the gangs for young white males (fraternities) that regularly conspire to provide drugs to underage drinkers as well as harder drugs, contributing to an epidemic of date rape on campus…do you think these white ‘gangs’ are any different? Crime is crime, isn’t it? Why the double standard?
Your racism is showing again Mackie. Am I to believe there are no black fraternities? No Latino fraternities? No Asian fraternities? Do you think they should be treated any differently than white fraternities? What about fraternities that have all races in them? How about them?
How about sororities? Are they gangs also?
You are the only person I have ever heard defend gangs. Fraternities do lots of things I don’t like but they are incorporated and chapters are chartered. In other words, they are officially recognized legal organizations. Some are social, some are honorary. Some are service. Some do good things, some do bad things, especially if liquored up. But fraternities are not gangs. If they do bad things, they should lose their charters and members should be punished.
Remember, I rarely call people racists. I feel you are one.
The World According to Mackie…All that’s evil/wrong in the world is white man and/or law enforcement.
At this point, I’m pretty convinced Mackie only comes here with his racist remarks to discredit this blog. He should just give it up and move on. Does anyone really give any credit to a thing he says?
MH
Electricity goes on the grid where it powers homes and businesses.
IVAN
It depends, Sometimes the taxpayers pays the initial cost and the electricity is sold to a utility, Or (And tax incentives are rare because of the high profit involved) Utility’s build and develop the wells and generators and pay’s the county a percentage of the profits.
In either case, The taxpayers win, Either thru long term dividends and cheaper electricity or thru a lower government dependancy on Personal Property and Real Estate taxes.
Moon-Howler,
No one is defending crime here. My point is that we should all be judged as individuals.
If I’m a ‘member’ of some club or ‘gang’ and I never commit a crime, then what’s the problem? There is no problem, except in the minds of fear-stricken, white suburbanite soccer moms and dads.
If I do commit a crime, whether or not I’m a member of a ‘gang’ should have no more bearing on the case than if I was a member of a fraternity or a sorority.
Unless you believe in guilt by association. Which is inconsistent with the American tradition of judging people as individuals. This official policy of guilt by association is another example of how American notions of justice are suspended when talking about black and hispanic males.
Fraternities and Sororities quite simply do conspire to to break the law. They provide alcohol to underage drinkers, in effect, becoming drug dealers. And oftentimes the drugs they provide are harder than alcohol, sometimes with tragic results. Funny, every time some fraternity-related crime happens, it’s treated as an isolated incident. Why is that? When white people do it, it’s always an isolated incident? Funny, huh?
And if you think these frats don’t have the capacity for mob violence, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
So I guess the question comes down to whether or not you believe people should be judged strictly as individuals in the eyes of the law. I do.
Wow Mackie…someone sure warped your little brain when it was small and malleable, didn’t they. “Gangs” are specifically defined in the law, and the definition ALWAYS includes activities involving felonies. How you can say you are not defending crime when you defend gangs as specified by that particular bill is, quite simply, not merely illogical but delusional. And then saying that the members of these “gangs” are individuals suggests that you live in a vacuum. By their own rules, members of these gangs do NOTHING as an individual…including leave the gang. That’s a sure-fire way for them to get themselves killed. So, if you’re so hot for the rights of the individual, you should be first on the bandwagon to get rid of them.
On top of all that, you actually managed to piss off Moon-howler so badly that she felt compelled to use the “R” word, which she really never does. Shame on you! By the way, I agree with her 100%.
AWCheney,
It’s unfortunate that you should degrade yourself to the point of flinging personal insults. I hope you feel better now.
Moving on to the more adult topic of individual rights, we all have the right to freedom of association. If some of the members of a club we’re a part of commit a crime, it should not affect those of us who had no part in the crime.
After all, we all have family. But if your sibling commits murder, and you were not involved, should you now face punishment just because you share the last name? Of course not. And the same applies to this politically and racially charged word called ‘gangs’.
But white fear-stricken suburbanites have always been reliable at suspending the constitutional rights of minorities whenever it suits their purposes. Exhibit A: the resolution. All you need to do is provide them with a phrase or a word that protects them from the charge of racism. Something like ‘probable cause’, ‘bad neighborhood’, ‘gang’, etc.
You DO realize, Mackie, that you dig your hole deeper and deeper every time you take fingers to keyboard, right?
IVAN-
You ping Miller for introducing anti-immigration bills, but what about all the anti-immigration bills that Paul Nichols put in last year? He rivals Miller in terms of his ferver legislative activity on this subject even though he is from the opposite side of the aisle. Who is he “throwing a bone to” by his introduction of this kind of legislation?
“His bills sound very ‘green.’”
If you knew Jackson, you would know that he is a “crunchycon”, or a conservative who also advocates for sound environmental policy. Good for the environment, yet also good for the economy.
AWCheney,
What is this supposed to mean?
Food for thought,
Miller is my Delegate. He was my City councilman. I’m not concerned about another representative from anoth district. If Miller wants my vote, he will have to listen to me. I’ll leave Nichols to his own constituants.
A primary challenge for Miller!! Who?
Crunchycon–how cute! Thanks for that information. I had never heard that before.
Mackie, you failed to address the fact that not all fraternities are for white people. Are those the good fraternities that don’t do all those gang related things?
Did you miss the part about fraternities and sororities being chartered by an incorporated organization? You might want to look at what happens when one of those local fraternities breaks the rules of the institution where they operate. They are thrown off campus if not disbanned. They can also be fined. Look at the University of Maryland and UVA. Both have several examples of what I am talking about.
Fraternities and sororities answer to someone and something that goes beyond the street. You have made so many anti-white remarks here that I don’t anyone takes you seriously.
Moon-howler,
You make my point. So clearly fraternities engage in criminal behavior. So why don’t you see district attorneys on the news talking about the latest anti-fraternity laws?
Why don’t police officers maintain a fraternity-database where you get extra time in jail if your name is in the database and you’re convicted of a crime?
There’s only the crime we do as individuals. That’s what should count. If over privileged frat boys can e treated as individuals in the eyes of the law, why not black and hispanic males?
You have yet to present any reason why anyone should suffer guilt by association.
He’s such a child, isn’t he Moon-howler…and continues to make my point (AWCheney, 4. February 2009, 10:57). The fact that he doesn’t have a clue as to what that point might be only serves to confirm it further.
AWCheney,
I don’t know why you feel compelled to insult me when I’m only presenting my point of view. I don’t make personal insults and I don’t make threats. I welcome debate and disagreement. I can see that my opinions are unpopular but I hope that that would lead to substantive debate. As long as I don’t feel that someone with an official agenda is cyber-stalking me, I’m eager to engage in wide ranging debate.
Sorry Mackie…but it would only be an insult if it were untrue. YOU’VE been insulting about 90% (probably 100%…very few people take kindly to racism of any kind, myself included) with your racist comments for quite some time. I’m glad to see that others have noticed as well. I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen you even make an attempt to debate, either on this blog or on any other, under your multitude of pseudonyms. I’ve long thought that you were an undisciplined child who, some time ago, took some compliments a few people here offered you straight into your hormones and that those folks would, sooner or later, also be subjected to your self-indulgent rants. You have not disappointed.
AWCheney,
You call my comments racist without ever really addressing the fact that I’m pointing out differences in equity in our society. I’m pointing out double standards. Those double standards will not just go away by us pretending they don’t exist just as openly segregationist laws will not go away until confronted. When I confront a concept, I usually don’t do it with an eye towards making friends because I don’t want to be encumbered by that.
Mackie, I hate to keep repeating myself but how about those fraternities that are not white? No answer for that one.
I think it would make much more sense to make anti college student laws. That would get all of them. Little bastards, out drinking and doing drugs. They probably exist to do that and to kill each other also. Get freaking serious.
This is getting too absurd. Unless you want to talk about non white or mixed fraternities, the subject is over here.
Those in denial always point to the few racial exceptions as if that proves that systematic racism doesn’t exist. In the 1960’s most whites also thought there wasn’t a racial problem in the country. Because for them…there wasn’t.
The point you’re completely ignoring is that people should be judged in the eyes of the law based upon their actions as individuals. Not upon any associations they might have. ‘Anti-gang’ laws punish people who haven’t committed any crime. Why is that ok? Isn’t that unconstitutional?
I’m still waiting…
Putz!