Governor Elect Bob McDonnell will be sworn in as Virginia’s 71st governor on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at the State Capitol Building. Click here for alist of events and the Inauguration Website.
What hopes do you have for the Commonwealth of Virginia under this new governor? We alr4eady know there will be a very tight budget. Will our state income tax go up by a point? Does it matter if it does? Would you rather have a larger sales tax or larger income tax? Can Governor-elect McDonnell run the state without increasing taxes? Was his no new tax campaign promise realistic? Does anyone plan on attending the festivities? Will the party faithful from Prince William County be attending?
Virginia Association of Counties’ (VACo), Position Statement on Comprehensive Immigration Reform
VACo maintains a strong commitment to ensuring the security and safety of our communities. Legislative reforms must recognize the contributions of immigrants to a complex economy as well as the costs associated with welcoming immigrants into our communities. The U.S. Congress must enact comprehensive immigration reform that provides a funding stream sufficient to address the fiscal impact on state and local governments for any guest worker program and earned legalization program. The states and local governments require a national immigration system that is fully funded at the federal level, recognizes the realities of the marketplace, eases the fiscal stress on states and localities, and properly secures our borders. It is important that the federal government establish a clear and understandable path to citizenship for those who are eligible.
Introduced in November 2009 by County Board Member J. Walter Tejada, Arlington, VA
VACo approved and adopted in November 2009 as VACo’s Position Statement on Immigration Reform
My first question is this….Does Corey know? This “Position Statement” seems purposefuly vague, vague enough that I don’t think any elected official would be willing to stand up in opposition.
Who could be against “securing the safety of our comminities” ?
So, what I am wondering, is how does this “statement” turn in to actual meaningful legislation?
Also, I am wondering, who actually affirmed our vote from Prince William County, do they have the authority to sign onto such a statement?
During Governor Tim Kaine’s last radio show, he had a caller, ‘Barry from D. C. ‘ The Virginia governor had quite a suprise from this ‘Barry from D. C.’
As it turns out, ‘Barry from D. C. ‘ was none other than the President of the United States, who had called to play a trick on the governor who is also Chairman of the DNC and to wish him well. These 2 along with Senators Warner and Webb had quite a whirl wind trip through Virginia in 2008.
“Barry from D.C.” was on the line Tuesday morning for the last edition of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s “Ask the Governor” radio program.
“Well, Governor Kaine,” said “Barry” when he was patched through, “this is actually the president of the United States calling.”
“No,” Kaine said, cracking up. “Oh, my gosh.”
President Obama said he’d been planning to complain about the traffic in Northern Virginia, but decided to thank Kaine for his service instead.
“I just wanted to say how proud we are of your service as governor of the commonwealth of Virginia and just wish you and your family all the best this Christmas season after a terrific round of service,” Obama said. “We are just very proud of you.”
Governor Tim Kaine leaves office next month.
Obama! You prankster. Imagine being cranked by the President of the United States.
Multiple sources have reported that the Virginia Civil War Events, Inc has withdrawn its request to partner with Prince William County as an events planner for the Sesquicentennial in 2011. ‘Withdrawn’ can be a temporary situation. It can simply mean ‘for now.’
The BOCS had decided to revisit the plans for the proposed Memorandum of Understanding with this group in January.
No explanation was provided via our sources. It could very well be that the harsh reality of the extremely austere budget cuts Virginia is facing signalled that there simply is no money. Or…The organization’s chair could be revising his plans. Stay tuned.
Parents of a student who commited suicide 2 years ago have filed a $43 million dollar lawsuit against Va Tech because the school allegedly did not take the proper steps after learning that Daniel Kim was suicidal. According to insidenova.com:
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A $43 million lawsuit accuses Virginia Tech of negligence in its response to a warning that a student was suicidal.
According to the lawsuit, Daniel Kim committed suicide on Dec. 9, 2007, about a month after the university closed its review.
Kim’s parents, Elizabeth and William Kim of Reston, filed the lawsuit last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit claims the university didn’t contact Kim, his parents, roommates or professors after a friend sent an e-mail to the school’s health center saying the 21-year-old senior was suicidal.
The lawsuit says the school relied on a Blacksburg police officer’s assessment that Kim seemed OK.
We don’t send our children to college to die. Does a college have responsibility for these young adults? I understand that on a large campus, there are several ‘jumpers’ each year. Some kids get away from home and die at parties from alcohol poisoning. Others are despondent and commit suicide. There are traffic accidents. Some are killed by others. Some are accidentally killed. Some disappear.
Where does the college have a responsibility and where is it a learning institution that cannot assume responsibility for everyone’s personal problems? I don’t know the answer but Tech sure does seem to be under the gun. If one believes the media, it sounds like the gang who couldn’t shoot straight. It just sounds like the ball is being dropped way too often.
The Virginia Tech Massacre in April, 2007 was the worst campus shooting in American history. More information continues to be unveiled still, even after more than 2 years. The state official report now has been revised to show that some members of the response team warned their own families some 90 minutes before students in Amber Johnson dorm were warned.
West Amber Johnson Residence Hall was the site of the first shootings, where Emily Hilscher lost her life. Emily’s family was not notified of the shootings for over 3 hours, even though their daughter was critically wounded and had been taken to 2 hospitals. Ryan “Stack’ Clark, the popular Tech band member with the double academic major was also killed at this time, at West Amber Johnson. The coroner in Mr. Clark’s hometown in Columbia County, Ga., delivered the news of his death to his mother. The victims are pictured at this New York Times Victims Site.
Tuesday, December 1 marked the end of smoking in restaurants in Virginia. Governor Tim Kaine has been seen taking his victory laps. The past president of the Medical Society of VA has stated that 1700 people a year die from second hand smoke.
Is this simply a huge political move? If the past president was so concerned about what kills people in bars and restaurants (technically there are no bars in Virginia) he should start with the booze. Surely that drinking and drinking and driving kill more Virginians in a year than 1700. I never believed the second hand people anyway.
No one can justify smoking. However, is that the principle issue here? It would seem to me that the restaurant owner should be the one who determines if a smoking is allowed or not. Those customers who do not want to be around it would simply go to restaurants that are smoke free. Capitalism at its best.
For right now, expect to see the huddled masses outside the doors of establishments, taking a few puffs. Drinking and smoking go hand in hand. The only way around this one is for a smoking section to have its own separate ventilation system and to be pretty much closed off to the food area. Wise owners will make the retrofit if they haven’t already.
The anti smoking crew is much like the anti gun crew. Strident and ever so right, if only in their own minds.
Virginia has no official state song. It has a Virginia Official Song Emeritus. Ok. So what’s the problem? No one would be caught singing the Virginia Official Song Emeritus, Carry Me Back to Old Virginny, written by an African American man named James Allen Bland who was born in 1854 in New York.
Some history:
James “Jimmy” Allen Bland was born on October 22, 1854 in Flushing, Long Island, New York. When he was 12 and living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he saw an old black man playing a banjo and singing spirituals. He fell in love with the banjo and tried to make one using bailing wire for strings. This didn’t work very well and, besides, a big kid took it and broke it into pieces. Jimmy’s father bought him a real banjo for $8.00 and Jimmy taught himself to play… very well.
Later, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Jimmy finished high school and enrolled in Howard University. He was so talented and had become so proficient with the banjo that he was entertaining professionally at private parties and in hotels and restaurants from the time he was 14.
At Howard University, he met a young lady named Mannie Friend. On a trip with Mannie to her birthplace in Tidewater, Virginia, Alan Bland composed “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny”. Sitting on the banks of the James River, Mannie wrote the words down on paper while Jimmy played and sang to her.
The execution of Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad is on schedule.
Today should be the last day on earth for John Allen Muhammad if all goes as planned. He is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 at 9 pm. John Muhammad masterminded a killing spree that lasted in the D.C area from October 3 to October 23, 2002 when he and his young accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were caught sleeping at a rest stop in Maryland.
Things might have all gone differently had then Attorney General John Ashcroft not decided to hand Mohammd over to Virginia rather than Maryland where most of the killings took place. Maryland had its death penalty on hold. Virginia was known for taking care of the death penalty quickly.
Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert had a good track record when it came to trying death penalty cases. And once again he did not let us down.
If there was ever a poster child for the death penalty, it is John Allen Muhammad.
UPDATE: 11/9/09 The US Supreme Court has denied Mohammad a stay of execution. Unless Governor Kaine grants him one, the execution is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 9 pm.
5:45 PM IN MANASSAS – GET OUT THE VOTE CAMPAIGN EVENT.Sen. Deeds will join supporters and voters for a campaign event in Manassas. Sen. Creigh Deeds will speak to supporters about the importance of getting out the vote on November 3.
When: 5:45 PM
Where: City Tavern (upstairs)
9405 Main Street
Manassas, VA
Senators Mark Warner, Jim Webb, and Governor Tim Kaine will join Creigh Deeds, along with Jody Wagner and Steve Shannon. Supporters are asked to be there by 5:30-5:45.
More Tech tragedy. VA Tech student Morgan Harrington disappeared from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville Saturday night and has not been seen since. News sources earlier today reported that she had called her friends that she had gotten locked outside the John Paul Jones Arena. Her purse, cell phone and id were found in the parking lot. Her car was there also. Her time of disappearance was about 8:45 pm.
Harrington’s father, Dan Harrington of Roanoke reported her missing when she failed to meet him for a math tutoring session. He appealed to anyone who might know of his daughter’s whereabouts to please contact police.
Tech has had more than its share of tragic events in recent years. All of us hope that Morgan comes home safe and sound. Her father seems to feel she would not have just disappeared without calling home.
Where were the campus police? Are there no security guards at events like this? Why are all doors locked? Did her friends try to find her or let her back in?
Too many bad things are happening to young people.
There is little else to add. The Virginia news starts about 5 minutes into the video. The first 5 minutes explain why most of us don’t want to wear a tinfoil hat, or put more bluntly, why some folks aren’t real comfortable voting for Bob McDonnell.
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Cav Man got a rather abrupt jolt from his horse Sabre in Saturday’s game. After William and Mary beats you opening game, I suppose anything is possible. The score was 26-14. Today, when Cav Man bit the dust, the score ended up being a 30-14 loss with Texas Christian the winner.
A 93 page master’s thesis written in 1989 on file at Regent University has gubernatorial candidate hopeful back-pedalling like crazy and asking Virginians to look at his record. Well, that isn’t so good either. We see …well…a mirror image in some cases.
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What is the blogosphere all a’twitter over? McDonnell’s master’s thesis, in which, according to the Washington Post, he has some rather conservative ideas that just won’t fly in the 21st century:
[H]e described working women and feminists as “detrimental” to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.” He described as “illogical” a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.
The paper also lays out a 15 point action plan that the Republican Party needed to adopt in order to protect the family. During his 14 years in the General Assembly, McDonnell attempted to pass legislation on at least 10 of his suggested goals that he has laid out in his research paper: abortion restrictions, school vouchers, “convenant marriage,” tax laws that favored married couples to name a few. As late as 2001 he voted against a law that would end wage discrimination between men and women.
Candidate McDonnell attempted to distance himself from this extremist drivel:
McDonnell added: “Like everybody, my views on many issues have changed as I have gotten older.” He said that his views on family policy were best represented by his 1995 welfare reform legislation and that he “worked to include child day care in the bill so women would have greater freedom to work.” What he wrote in the thesis on women in the workplace, he said, “was simply an academic exercise and clearly does not reflect my views.”
McDonnell also said that government should not discriminate based on sexual orientation or ban contraceptives and that “I am not advocating vouchers as there are legal questions regarding their constitutionality in Virginia
That fact that anyone in America would think most of these ideas are the business of government or acceptable in modern society is preposterous. The title of the thesis speaks to the problem: “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of The Decade.” I don’t want the Republican Party’s Vision for my family!
Subscribing to these ideas that promote discrimination and UN-equal rights for women, gays, single people and who knows who else, at any time in his adult life, makes McDonnell unacceptable as a candidate for governor. Leopards don’t change their spots and a make over won’t cut it.
The healing that the Virginia Tech community keeps having to jump start has been disturbed once again. 2 students were found shot in the Jefferson National Forest. The bodies of Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, and David Lee Metzler, 19, both of the Lynchburg area, were found in the parking area of Caldwell Fields by a passerby. The campgrounds are about 15 miles north of the VT campus.
Both were good students, athletic, and highly thought of. Both students lived off campus. Ms. Childs father is with the Virginia State Police.
How much more tragedy is Tech going to have to endure? The state university was the site of a horrible massacre in April, 2007. Last January, one student beheaded another at a coffee shop on campus. Now both of these young people were found dead at a campsite popular with VT students. When is enough enough?
Governor Elect Bob McDonnell will be sworn in as Virginia’s 71st governor on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at the State Capitol Building. Click here for a list of events and the Inauguration Website.
The Virginia Tech Massacre in April, 2007 was the worst campus shooting in American history. More information continues to be unveiled still, even after more than 2 years. The state official report now has been revised to show that some members of the response team warned their own families some 90 minutes before students in Amber Johnson dorm were warned.
