The legal team that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage is targeting Virginia to launch another challenge aimed at convincing the Supreme Court that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry no matter where they live.
The American Foundation for Equal Rights — with its attention-getting political odd couple of conservative Republican lawyer Theodore Olson and liberal Democrat David Boies — will announce Monday it is joining a lawsuit against what the lawyers called Virginia’s “draconian” laws prohibiting same-sex marriages, the recognition of such marriages performed where they are legal, and civil unions.
It is one of dozens of lawsuits filed across the nation by same-sex marriage activists who say they feel emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decisions in June that overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that forbade recognition of same-sex marriages and separately allowed such unions to resume in California.
House Republicans almost ensure government shutdown
New York Times email:
With the federal government careening toward its first shutdown in 17 years, House Republicans chose a hard line Saturday in their attack on President Obama’s health care law, setting up a late vote to attach a one-year delay of the health care law to legislation that would keep the government operating past midnight Monday.
The House Republican package would also permanently repeal a tax on medical devices that helps pay for the Affordable Care Act.
The House will also vote on a separate bill to ensure military forces continue to be paid in the event of a government shutdown, an admission that the outcome of the fiscal showdown is all but sealed.
The decision to choose confrontation over compromise or surrender all but ensures that much of the government will close on Tuesday, barring a last-minute decision to pass a short-term spending bill while negotiations continue.
About that blogroll
If the blog roll appears shorter, it is because I just updated it, or to be more honest, I just deleted a lot of dead wood. A blog, like any other project, gets off the ground with the best of intentions but often falls victim to time and our other endeavors. When I saw that a blog had not had a new post in 6 months, I generally deleted it. There is one exception–the VEA blog that relates to the General Assembly. There are no posts when the GA is not in session.
I also do not include a link to another blog if I disapprove of how the blog is run. That has come up here as a ‘debate’ of sorts several times. Elena and I really don’t have to justify why we won’t link to several blogs. It is generally because of what we see as bad behavior, either as a blogger or a human being, not the political content. We do link to conservative blogs, even though we might not agree with their content. In a case or two, we cut the blogger some slack if we like them. Yea, I know, it just isn’t fair. However, we buy the ink here.
If our readers know of blogs they would like to see linked, please lets us know. We will check them out. We promise consideration at least. Obviously, a KKK website would be out. So would a website that repeatedly misrepresents facts, name calls, and relies on ad hominem attacks for content.
The last blog on the blog roll is Earl Hamner Jr’s blog. I knew his brother many years ago. Earl is way up in his 90’s now and still as creative as ever. Not bad for a Virginia boy from ‘down near Scottsville.’ I will cut him some slack about the 6 month time limit.
Are blog rolls even helpful? Are we too rigid about behavior? Are local blogs more interesting than national blogs?
Dulles Expo gun show slammed by Marylanders
Days before strict gun laws begin in their state, many Marylanders flocked south.
The Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Va. hosted a gun show Friday evening, selling many weapons and magazines Maryland residents will not be able to purchase starting Oct. 1.
The bill requires people who buy a handgun to submit fingerprints to Maryland State Police. It also bans dozens of assault-style weapons, but those who owned the weapons before the law goes into effect will be allowed to keep them. The bill also bans 20-round magazines.
Marylanders, like Elgin Fontaine, trekked to Chantilly. Fontaine bought an AR-10 assault weapon, one of the 45 of its kind that will be banned in his state beginning Tuesday.
“The ban is going to wipe out a lot of guns, and this particular style of gun I have is going to be banned,” Fontaine said.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley released a written statement through his spokesperson saying, “The vast majority of Marylanders support these commonsense efforts to reduce gun violence. The new law will take effect Tuesday and it will make families safer.”
How might government shutdown might affect you
Nearly 1/3 of federal workers would be furloughed. these folks don’t get paid during this time.
Essential people will not be furloughed nor will the active duty military personnel nor will postal workers.
Poetry of bad teaching practices
At what point does bad teaching practice get extinguished? It sounds to me like non-English speaking students need all the help they can get, rather than the rug pulled out from under them.
Before citizens start slamming schools for not making AYP or having great scores on the SOL, consider what Dylan said.
Don’t blame your local school system. Blame what has been decreed from NCLB. Hopefully, NCLB is in the process of retirement.
Ask yourself if Ken Cuccinelli would have ESOL educaton in his new education plan. The Washington Post has a great editorial about the New Ken trying to eradicate his anti illegal immigration past today. He leaves a trail of bread crumbs straight to some very strong rhetoric on immigration. The New Ken can run but he can’t hide on this issue.
Affordable Health Care, Self Fulfilling Failure in Virginia, Thank You Republicans
So recently a friend of mine, who sells different types of insurance, was sharing the abysmal failure of the Affordable Care Act in Virginia. Well, this just in, our Republican leadership chose NOT to create our own state exchange. What are the ramifications? Well, that is the million dollar question isn’t it.
Here is a comprehensive article in the Washington Post.
It’s a Web site designed to make it easy for people to find health coverage. Each state will have one. The District and 16 states, including Maryland, are running their own exchanges. The rests are either partnering with the federal government or, as in Virginia’s case, relying on the federal government to operate their exchanges. To find the correct site, go to www.healthcare.gov.
When the sky doesn’t fall, what will the Republicans do? I was just talking to a very conservative friend of mine who is perfectly thrilled with the changes thus far. Their adult child has insurance and that is a huge relief for them.
Is the legislation perfect? No, so what, is anything perfect when it is first designed? But now is the time, as John McCain said, to move forward, fix the bumps, and there will be bumps, but it is time to accept this as our new reality and make it the best it can be.
I know, for me, as a very healthy woman in her mid twenties, I never could have imagined that I would be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. But guess what, I was, and from that moment on, without employer healthcare, I was simply uninsurable. Luckily, even when I no longer worked for that employer, he kept me on his insurance, out of the kindness of his heart and no other reason. Even though I raised the rates for everyone, he kept me on.
The Affordable Care Act isn’t perfect, but dammit, it’s better than the what we had before…….NOTHING!
Church protest land use taxing
Washingtonpost.com:
Prince William County staff and the state of Virginia should find ways to allow for real-estate tax exemptions for religious institutions that own vacant land, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors directed Tuesday.
About 30 church leaders and congregation members told county supervisors during an evening board session that the tax assessor’s office was too strict when it comes to taxes on their charitable nonprofits, which are generally tax-exempt.
One of the prime examples is New Life Gainesville church, which is taxed on about half of its property that has only trees and streams on it. While the church building and parking lot remain exempt from taxes, the remainder of its wooded property is taxed about $1,000 per year, leaders have said.
Because it’s in the county’s protected rural area, the church can’t sell or subdivide the land. County officials say they are abiding by state law, which says that land can only be tax-exempt when it is used “exclusively” for religious use.
New Life’s situation, or a similar predicament, is shared by a total of 13 churches in Prince William, according to county officials. Other pastors said Tuesday they had run into the county tax collector when it comes to vacant land that they have bought and plan to build on in the future
This and that…
This week the new fall shows start. Tonight was a particularly busy one. From 10-11 I was recording 2 programs and watching the 3rd one on my ipad. That’s dedication to one’s TV shows. So the point of all of this is that I don’t feel like doing a post tonight. I am still dwelling on the surprise outcome of Broadchurch on BBC America.
The Cuccinelli/McAuliffe debate was tonight. I believe Cuccinelli was abducted and a moderate gentle man was sent in to replace him. Cuccinelli sure wasn’t true to his base. McAuliffe let him get away with too much. So I guess we have a 4th person funning …errr…running–Cuccinelli the moderate.
Senator Cruz made an ass of himself for nearly 24 hours. What a waste of time. Green Eggs and Ham, for the record, is about trying new things before making up your mind. Bad choice to make your point, Dumb-ass Cruz.
The stock market is jittery over the possible shut down of government. Ker ching Ker ching.! Thanks fools in the House for making me lose money. The Dow has dropped for 5 days in a row.
What ever happened to the new voting laws that were going to be passed? Mr. Howler thought he could vote absentee because he was 65. That wasn’t on the application. So who got their voting rights impeded by the General Assembly this past session?
First class stamps will go up 3 cents to $0.49 cents to mail a letter. why not just make it $0.50 and give it a rest for a while?
Does anyone have any new shows that are worth watching?
E. W. Jackson: Listen up, those who “are engaged in some sort of false religion”
At a morning sermon Sunday in Northern Virginia, Republican lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson, a Chesapeake pastor, said people who don’t follow Jesus Christ “are engaged in some sort of false religion.”
Jackson offered that view while describing a list of the “controversial” things he believes, and that must be said, as a Christian.
“Any time you say, ‘There is no other means of salvation but through Jesus Christ, and if you don’t know him and you don’t follow him and you don’t go through him, you are engaged in some sort of false religion,’ that’s controversial. But it’s the truth,” Jackson said, according to a recording of the sermon by a Democratic tracker. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.’”
It is not the first time Jackson has weighed in with controversial comments on questions of faith and social issues. He has also said that gay people’s “minds are perverted. They are frankly very sick people psychologically and mentally and emotionally.”
The Web site of the Restoration Fellowship Church in Strasburg, where Jackson spoke Sunday, includes a recording of Jackson’s sermon. But a short section that included the “false religion” comment was missing from that part of the recording.
The church’s pastor, Jay Ahlemann, said he agrees with Jackson’s interpretation of scripture. He also said a member of his church staff told him nothing had been deleted from the recording.
People may believe what they want to believe, even snake handlers or those who practice Santeria. However, how smart is it to make that kind of proclamation when you are running for lt. governor?
Virginia women prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli
Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II in a Virginia governor’s race that has left many voters sour on both candidates, according to a new Washington Post-Abt SRBI poll.
McAuliffe leads 47 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, with Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis’s 10 percent suggesting an unrest among voters not satisfied with either major-party contender. In a one-on-one matchup without Sarvis in the mix, the poll shows a narrower, 49-to-44-percent race between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli among likely voters — but still flips Cuccinelli’s 10-point lead from this spring.
The shift in the race has come almost exclusively from female voters, who prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli. The candidates were effectively tied among women in a Washington Post poll in May.
McAuliffe’s strength among women is probably due in part to an intense campaign to portray Cuccinelli as a threat to women and the issues they care about most deeply. A new McAuliffe ad, for instance, features a Norfolk OB-GYN speaking directly to the camera about how she is “offended” by Cuccinelli’s position on abortion.
The challenge for Cuccinelli is stark: Nearly half of all voters view him unfavorably, and they trust his opponent as much as or more than the Republican on every major issue in the race, according to the poll. On trust to handle issues of special concern to women, McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli by 23 points.
Why ARE our health care costs so high?
Are all these facts true?
Just the bidding sounds so reasonable. Why didn’t the RX program for Medicare go through a bid process? Why didn’t we include Canadian pharmaceutical companies? The hip replacement parts make perfect sense.
Who is happy with the way things are pre-ACA? What do you like about your current health care? What do you fear losing?
Virginia schools fall from 93% to 77% accredited
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia education officials say new, more rigorous assessment tests drove down the number of schools meeting state standards.
The Virginia Department of Education says 77 percent of Virginia’s public schools are fully accredited after meeting state benchmarks. That’s down from 93 percent last year.
Officials say 1,413 of the state’s 1,828 schools met objectives on 2012-13 Standards of Learning tests and other assessments in English, mathematics, science and history – and, for high schools, graduation.
The number of schools accredited with warning nearly quadrupled to 395, and six schools have been denied state accreditation because of chronically low achievement.
Over the last two years, the state has implemented new math, English and science tests aimed at better preparing students for college or post-graduation employment.
Is it time for hysterics? Are Virginia schools going to hell in a hand basket? No. New tests have been implemented over the past two years. Make no mistake. It is all political.
RIP, Kenny Diaz #43
A Woodbridge High School football player was fatally stabbed Saturday at a Prince William County park, an incident that has left his friends and teammates struggling for answers and mourning the death of the 18-year-old linebacker.
Police said Sunday that they are investigating the killing of Kenny Joseph Diaz, who was stabbed in the stomach at Marumsco Acre Lake Park, east of Interstate 95 near the Occoquan Bay in Woodbridge. Officers responded at 3:15 p.m., police said, and Diaz was taken to a hospital, where he died.
In a news release, police said the stabbing “does not appear to be random,” indicating that Diaz might have known his attacker or attackers. Prince William County police asked for the public’s help in providing information about the attack, the fourth homicide this year in the large suburban county.
Diaz’s death shook the Woodbridge High School community over the weekend.
Woodbridge High School was on a real high after their victory over Stonewall Jackson High School on Friday night. The joy and celebration turned to horror as word spread of Kenny’s death Saturday afternoon. How does anyone make any sense of this tragic murder?
President Obama: We aren’t a dead-beat nation
“Our message to the United States Senate is real simple: The American people don’t want the government shut down and they don’t want Obamacare.”
Friday’s vote was Step One in the GOP crusade to undermine the health law. Step Two comes next week, when House leaders hope to advance a separate measure that will demand a one-year delay in the law’s implementation in exchange for an agreement to avoid a first-ever default on the nation’s debts sometime next month.
Obama responded with an uncharacteristically angry speech in which he accused Republicans of “trying to mess with me” and “holding the economy hostage.”
“They’re focused on politics. They’re focused on trying to mess with me. They’re not focused on you,” he told a friendly crowd of about 1,000 autoworkers and their families at a truck manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Kansas City, Mo.
Three times, Obama used the phrase “deadbeat nation” to condemn Republican brinkmanship on the debt limit.
