Damn it’s hot out. I hate to see the electric bill next month. However, these guys flourish in hot weather. There are neat sunflowers in several yards on Liberia near Point of Woods. Where are there others? Every year I want to grow them and then I forget to plant them.
Grrrrrrr. I bought little ones one year and set them out on the steps, all neat-like with cute little cans for pots. Within an hour they were headless. I found the gray, bushy tailed culprit walking across the driveway with a nice head of sunflower in his mouth. I don’t know why I even bother. $20 bucks worth of squirrel dessert.
According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, the Virginia Retirement System, VRS, bought 71,900 shares of Star Scientific over a three month period of time.
Last year, the Virginia Retirement System purchased – and sold at a loss — 71,900 shares of Star Scientific stock over a three-month period, VRS head Robert P. Schultze confirmed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch Friday.
Schultze said the $58 billion pension system found no evidence that the governor or any member of his administration influenced its purchase and sale of the Star stock. He said it was the result of decisions made by a VRS investment team using a computer trading program to assess stocks.
VRS made the investment Aug. 28, 2012, a day the stock closed at $3.99 a share. Over the next three months it was sold off in three separate transactions: on October 2, when shares closed at $3.14, and on October 3 when shares closed at $3.23.
One of the icons of summer, the blooming pink mimosa. It’s a personal favorite of mine and one I am doomed to not have in my yard. Every time I get one some idiot comes along and cuts it down or kills it in some bizarre way. One I had suffered death by dog. Need I elaborate?
If anyone has a sapling, please give me a holler. I will try one more time.
Jonnie Williams clearly had advantages that other businessmen did not have. Bob McDonnell has not been particular honest about his dealings. He had access to the Virginia Health Secretary.
Bob McDonnell should be worried. He took a hell of a lot of money from a snake oil salesman–Jonnie Williams. Lung guard and a cure for wrinkles? This guy has a mighty fantastic track record. Basically, he is some folks might also call a crook.
You can’t? Just kidding. I am not sure where the racism really comes in. It’s plenty snobby and I bet not a one of them there is descended from Jefferson or Washington.
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Not Rep. Elijah Cummings, according to Rep. Darrell Issa.
The California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee awkwardly put his foot in his mouth when he compared Cummings, his ranking member, to “a little boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar” during a hearing Thursday on the IRS scandal.
Issa — who recently found himself in trouble with GOP leadership for calling White House press secretary Jay Carney a “paid liar” — made the kids-rhyme reference in anger when Cummings (D-Md.) suggested that he was linking the IRS targeting of conservative groups to the White House.
“I’m always shocked when the ranking member seems to want to say, like a little boy whose hand has been caught in a cookie jar, ‘What hand? What cookie?’ I’ve never said it leads to the White House,” Issa said.
The Prince William County Revenue Stabilization Fund is a separate fund modeled in part on the state Revenue Stabilization Fund that was created back in 1990. The state fund was created as a result of a nearly 2 billion dollar shortfall that occurred because of an economic downfall. Determined to be more prepared in the future, the State of Virginia created the Revenue Stabilization Fund also known as the Virginia Rainy Day fund. It may be researched at this state website.
The state fund holds an amount equal to about 10% of its annual budget in this fund.
Prince William County is known statewide for its economic responsibility. It falls into a unique category of jurisdictions in that it has a AAA bond rating, which is very difficult to achieve. Only 0 .4% of all jurisdictions have earned this distinction.
What is the RSF? The RSF is money intended to stabilize revenue collections. It isn’t for funding Blue Bird Bus Tours or to put in libraries, bike paths or ball fields. It is to cover the unexpected financial contingencies that occur such as housing market fluctuations which greatly impact PWC revenue collection since the great majority of taxes collected are residential based.Read More
Enough is enough. How much more is Bob McDonnell going to put the state through in terms of sheer embarrassment? Let’s retrace our steps on this part of the over-all scandal. This guy is unbelievable. No sense of propriety. No sense about conflict of interest.
Remember the state health commissioner who resigned because of the bullying by Ken Cuccinelli?
Gov. Bob McDonnell has found a way to defray part of his monthly real estate expenses on the millions of dollars in property he owns — by renting his western Henrico County home to his hand-picked state health commissioner.
Dr. Cynthia C. Romero, who took over as commissioner in January, has been renting the McDonnells’ $835,000 home in the Wyndham community, a McDonnell spokesman confirmed.
There were a lot of compliments to staff on how well they handled the budget crisis. They were forthcoming and had done indepth preparation for the audit that was going to be done. The representative from McGladrey group did an excellent job explaining not only what happened but ways to minimize the chances of similar mistakes occuring again. She reiterated that there was no fraud or waste and that tax payers money had not been squandered.
Sometimes events happen and the earth screeches to a halt on its axis, then abruptly starts rotating in the opposite direction. Today was such a day. Hold on to your seats. Mistress Moon and Elena agree with Corey Stewart.
Corey defended the practice of saving money. Is it possible to over-save? Is it possible to save too much money for a rainy day? For an emergency? For when times aren’t as good? Corey says no. It is fiscally responsible to save more than you need. I only heard one person disagree with him. That was Pete Candland. Pete not only disagreed with him but he rolled his eyes, shook his head and made facial gestures. To me, the behavior was disrespectful to his colleagues. Additionally, what Pete proposed or questioned showed his lack of understanding of how large municipalities are run. He appears to miss the complexities of a budget this size.
Corey was right. In fact, he sounded downright reasonable and responsible. He was back to being that old eagle scout.
In order to keep the AAA bond rating, we must have $10 million in the contingency fund. That is 1% of the annual budget. Prince William County, because of the unknown variables involved with sequestration and with the state requiring more from localities for VRS, is erring on the side of caution with what might appear to some to be more savings than are needed. We have about $20 million or 2% of total budget in the Revenue Stabilization Fund, twice as much as required to have the AAA bond rating. Great that we can handle emergencies. That is the fiscally responsible thing to do. If we do have contingencies, then we won’t dip below the designated level.
For Pete to criticize the county for saving too much money sounds out of touch and and frankly, fiscally irresponsible. Saving more than is needed is what my mother used to call a fine fault.
MIAMI — Three jurors in George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial initially favored convicting him of that offense or manslaughter, but the six-woman jury ultimately voted to acquit him after more closely examining the law, a juror in the case said Monday.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year, but the jury also was allowed to consider manslaughter.
The woman, known as Juror B37, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that when the jury began deliberations Friday, they took an initial vote. Three jurors— including B37 — were in favor of acquittal, two supported manslaughter and one backed second-degree murder. She said the jury started going through all the evidence, listening to tapes multiple times.
What’s a BAT, you might ask. Bad-Ass Teacher. There is a new Bad Ass Teacher association that formed off of a facebook page. According to the Washington Post the organization was:
… created to give voice to every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality through education. BAT members refuse to accept assessments, tests and evaluations created and imposed by corporate driven entities that have contempt for authentic teaching and learning.
Their goals:
BATs aim to reduce or eliminate the use of high stakes testing, increase teacher autonomy in the classroom and work to include teacher and family voices in legislative decision-making processes that affect students.
Group guidelines:
We are a rich and diverse group of education professionals and concerned citizens/families who strive to engage in discourse that improves our profession. We encourage dialogue about many hot-button issues but page administrators reserve the right to delete comments, threads, and (if necessary) individuals from the group that do not engage in respectful civil discourse….
Actions:
BAT will engage in organized group actions such as phone calls, emails, or letter writing. These actions will be announced as timely as possible so it will allow all members an opportunity to be a part of the action.
Lofty goals. Good for them. They are tired of being pushed around and blamed for all the things that are beyond their control. So far the group is some 20,000 strong and has only been around for about a month. This is what happens when politicians continue to bully and school administrators continue to cave. Was it a year ago that the new teacher evaluation form went in to effect in Virginia? A huge portion of that form involves test scores. So if that teacher doesn’t teach to the test enough, then that teacher gets zapped. I am waiting for the day when students are actually held accountable.
Go Bad Asses! Your day will come. I have been saying for 10 years that if the absurdities in education keeps up, there will be no teachers worth having. They are programmed for failure and the vocal public thinks teachers should work for beans. The far right anti unionist seem to think that the teachers are their employees. That just isn’t how it works.
The citizens elect a school board. The school board hires administrators. The employees work for the school board and answer to the administrators, many of whom are simply weak sisters who have been bullied into submission. those who haven’t been totally bullied don’t last.
So there is a new kid in town. This change won’t happen over night but it will gain traction.
So is this a fair charge against Cuccinelli? Should he have spoken up for the Violence Against Women Act?
The Cooch also has other problems. His track record on reproductive rights is abysmal. He has his own watch group who tags along behind him called Cooch Watch. You can follow them on coochwatch.org.
He also has received more than $18,000 from Johnnie Williams. Supposedly his aids shielded him from much of what was going on with Governor McDonnell. That is sort of a non-excuse. wesh i had thut of
One of the icons of summer, the blooming pink mimosa. It’s a personal favorite of mine and one I am doomed to not have in my yard. Every time I get one some idiot comes along and cuts it down or kills it in some bizarre way. One I had suffered death by dog. Need I elaborate?