Thursday, May 31, 2012

McDonnell’s uranium mining study a subversion of the democratic process in Virginia


As the final National Academy of Sciences meeting to “brief” Virginians on its 24-month study[1] is slated to be held today in Virginia Beach, the McDonnell administration has begun its examination of how Coles Hill uranium can be mined.[2]

But not only is this examination being done “behind closed doors,” the examination itself is setting in motion a number of gears that in and of itself will favor the go-ahead for the mining of uranium before any official decision is formally made.

At the behest of Gov. McDonnell in January, Virginia undertook an additional study regarding the impacts of mining uranium in southern Virginia before the General Assembly took a vote on lifting the uranium mining ban. 

What this study in fact did was stall the democratic process while Gov. McDonnell and his allies, that stand to benefit from mining uranium in Virginia, work the political system in their favor.

With a potential $10 billion worth of uranium deposits on the line, you can bet that those who stand to gain won’t allow the pesky democratic process to impede their windfall profits, or so they hope. As the director of the Virginia Sierra Club, Glen Besa, concluded, “The outcome is already known.”

Fortunately, the fate of uranium mining in Virginia has not been decided just yet. Many Virginian’s know what’s at stake, including their entire way of life, and aren’t about to lie down and let the McDonnell administration subvert the democratic process for their own economic and political gain.[3] 

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Invenergy pushes wind turbine construction date back to 2015 thanks to GOP


The job-creating narrative of the Republican Party took a major blow after Chicago-housed Invenergy announced that it was pushing back its startup date for building 18 wind turbines on top of a Roanoke County mountain due to an uncertain future for wind energy government incentives.[1] The new target date has been delayed to 2015.

One of the main concerns of Invenergy is the future of the soon-to-be expired wind energy Production Tax Credit. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the tax credit of 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power created has been an important subsidy in keeping the prices of producing wind energy down.[2] 

Also at stake are at least 75,000 jobs across the U.S.

The subsidies provided Virginia’s, and America’s, green energy sector has been one of the main reasons for contention among many within the Republican Party. These same politicians have, however, had no problem subsidizing the fossil fuel industry.[3]

In order to turn attention away from their blatant hypocrisy, GOP lawmakers have pivoted towards a “job killing” argument, arguing in effect that “green jobs” kill jobs in other sectors of the economy.[4] 

Notwithstanding the fact that the same argument can be made of fossil fuel jobs, GOP lawmakers have also had no qualms about cashing in on green energy subsidies for their constituencies.[5] Thus, the job killing argument is just as fallacious as the contempt GOP lawmakers demonstrate towards green energy subsides.

Nonetheless, Virginia must now suffer the economic and environmental consequences of putting off another clean energy installation due to a political party that has cut its legislative teeth on obstructionism and obdurate political behavior. This isn’t the first such instance nor will it be the last unless Virginians and Americans vote these kamikazes out of public office.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

New Super PAC, Reclaiming Freedom, backs George Allen for U.S. Senate


The so-called Reclaiming Freedom Super PAC recently came out in favor of U.S. Senate hopeful, George Allen.[1] Formed earlier in 2012, the PAC was put together by Republican “political operatives” seeking to take over the U.S. Senate for the GOP.[2]

According to a release by Reclaiming Freedom[3], Allen’s political record is touted and in particular his abolition of parole and welfare reforms, his support of the Bush tax cuts, and his continued support for a balanced budget amendment (a politically practical pipe dream but an apparent political must for conservative politicians on the national stage).

At the moment, Allen’s latest Super PAC backer has no total expenditure data available to identify who the donors for the PAC are[4] and whether or not it will draw from some of the same donors as other conservative PACs such as Crossroads GPS.

What’s clear from the name of the PAC is that it conceives of its mission as “reclaiming freedom,” a freedom which has apparently been lost under Democratic leadership. If this group and others like it mean the freedom of the wealthy to do as they please (i.e. to make risky investments that throw the U.S. economy onto the edge of financial collapse), then I would like to think they’re absolutely right.

With a shrinking middle class and a growing number of individuals in the economic extremes of prosperity and poverty[5], the freedom that groups like Reclaiming Freedom have in mind may only exasperate this income gap as prosperous groups and individuals use their political and economic influence to accrue more of both at the expense of the middle and lower classes of the U.S.

As the sociologist William Julius Wilson from Harvard argued, “rising inequality is beginning to produce a two-tiered society in America in which the more affluent citizens live lives fundamentally different from the middle- and lower-income groups.”[6]

Clearly, the “affluent citizens” have found their champion in former Virginia governor George Allen. So if you’re not part of that “1%” and you cast your vote for George Allen, you’re voting against your own political and economic interests.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Richmond prosecutor strikes bad “deal” with women’s rights demonstrators


During a hearing on Friday, Richmond prosecutor Michael Herring and a majority of the 30 women’s rights protesters who were arrested on the steps of the state Capitol in March appear to have reached a tentative deal that would avoid jail time.[1]

Herring said that charges of trespassing will be waived after six months of “good behavior” (i.e. not challenging the government) by the demonstrators, but only if the demonstrators concede that Capitol police had the authority to arrest them.

A few indicated that they would not take the deal, according to Herring, in which case the Richmond prosecutor would not argue for more than community service if convicted.

This “deal”, from beginning to end, stinks. The women’s rights protesters, like any group or groups of protesters, have a right to peacefully demonstrate on public grounds and therefore have the right to expect that police will not arrest them for their activities.

As Del. Delores L. McQuinn (D-Richmond) said shortly after the initial arrests of the demonstrators, “The men and women who marched on Capitol Square have a right to peacefully protest without the threat they will be arrested for exercising that right.”[2]

Across the country, at the local and federal levels, the right to protest has been subtlety restricted or simply ignored, as was the case in the women’s rights demonstration at the state Capitol in Richmond.[3] Thus, a foundational American right is being brushed aside by political elites who simply wish to rid themselves of individuals exercising their freedom to assemble peacefully to exercise their freedom of speech.

The bottom line is that the Capitol police did NOT have the authority to arrest the protesters at the state Capitol because any law which abridged the right to demonstrate on public grounds is unconstitutional.

There are few outlets through which the public can voice its discontent with their government outside of the voting booths, which obviously only usually occurs every two to four years. Therefore, the right to peacefully protest is an essential element of any functioning democracy and any laws which impede this right are invalid.

Gov. McDonnell or any governor in the future cannot use their police power to arbitrarily arrest peaceful protesters. That, my fellow Virginians, is a form of tyranny.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Cuccinelli asks supporters to add to Gov. Scott Walker’s war chest: Cuccinelli Inc.


If you’re looking for an elected Virginian tawdry enough to back the anti-union, anti-fair wage Republican governor from Wisconsin, Scott Walker, look no further than our own Attorney General (AG) Ken Cuccinelli.[1] I know, shocking news.

On Wednesday, Virginia’s AG urged his supporters (yes, he has supporters) to add to Gov. Scott Walker’s war chest to help the embattled governor survive a recall attempt headed by the Democratic Party and unions in Wisconsin, among others.[2]

Cuccinelli’s request comes as one of the few political moves that this tea-party favorite[3] has made outside of the state of Virginia. Until Wednesday, Cuccinelli has largely saved his “political capital” for political races inside the commonwealth.

Clearly, then, not only does Cuccinelli have wider political ambitions, he also thinks that he can project his political influence to other areas in the country. Not one to use moderate language, Cuccinelli said that the race in Wisconsin “will be a clash of political forces of titanic proportions that will affect how (and whether) others in politics will meaningfully take on our biggest challenges.”

This time around, the AG may not be too far off the mark. Whatever the result turns out to be in the gubernatorial race in Wisconsin, it will send shock waves across the country that may or may not hinder unions and a large portion of the middle class from slipping down the economic latter.[4]

For the Cuccinelli’s of America, they may truly think that their views preserve economic and, thus, individual freedom. But what their political views and policies ultimately end up serving are the powerful elites in society who see a lack of red-tape as a green light for even greater concentrations of wealth.

That is, government can limit and/or create individual freedom. However, over the last hundred years, government activism has helped more Americans gain greater individual freedom, not vice versa.

The Cuccinelli’s of the country, then, are elite cogs who serve those in society least in need of service.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Virginia Get Your Business Online



As always, Google has come up with a great way for small business owners to compete with the "big guys".

New GPS ad leaves out crucial fact: U.S. debt largely a legacy of Bush II’s presidency


As a new political ad entitled “Basketball” began airing on Wednesday in Virginia by conservative “issue-advocacy” group Crossroads GPS, the outside group began spinning its negative web of misinformation throughout Virginia about President Obama and his record.

Never one to shy away from fiction in order to achieve his political goals, Karl Rove’s new Crossroads GPS television ad shows a mother who noticeably ages stating that she voted for Obama in 2008 but “Now Obama wants more spending and taxes. That won’t fix things.”

The ad goes on to urge viewers to “tell President Obama to cut the job-killing debt,” a debt which is largely the legacy of the last Bush administration under which Rove served. In fact, during Bush II’s tenure as president, the debt was increased by $6.4 trillion, an increase in the debt that President Obama has not come close to.

But to Karl Rove and his Crossroads GPS, facts are mere play things that can be molded to turn public opinion this way or that, not concrete figures that dig deeper towards the truth.

For the Karl Rove’s of the world, their primary motivation is leaving a trail, a legacy, of “genius” behind for the world to remember hundreds of years into the future. Rove wants immediate political victories now because he wants to further his own image as the genius that the Republican Party cannot live without and the individual who changed the course of American politics. The consequences and collateral damage be damned.

But Americans of all political stripes don’t like to be lied to or manipulated in the way that Crossroads GPS attempts to do in its new ad.

In Virginia, the new “Basketball” ad may have a corrosive effect upon those voting blocs that Rove would like to win over. Some Virginians may not like President Obama’s policies, but they also don’t like outside groups fabricating and blatantly exaggerating facts and events.


[1] http://www.thenation.com/blog/karl-rove-machiavelli-who-failed

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Warner stresses importance of improving broadband access at Uni. of Mary Washington


During his stop at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg on Monday, U.S. Senator Mark Warner (VA) stressed the significance of increasing broadband coverage in rural areas as he discussed the future of Internet access locally and across the country.[1]

The workshop on Monday was aimed at localities looking for federal funds to expand broadband access primarily to rural areas of the commonwealth.

In the wake of the 112th discordant Congress, however, close to $1 trillion[2] has been slashed from federal funds usually granted to local governments for law enforcement, education, infrastructure, and research and development.

Warner commented that Republicans and Democrats should work with one another to “equalize” revenues and spending.

Indeed, one would think that the idea of expanding and improving broadband access for rural localities would be an issue both parties could agree upon, even in this disharmonious political environment. Improving broadband access would not only expand markets for businesses in the U.S., it would also allow rural entrepreneurs to “plug into” a wider U.S. market, not to mention our democratic society.[3]

Unfortunately, the only solutions that conservative legislators have put forward are tax and program cuts that will undoubtedly do more harm than good for our nation’s economy,[4] not least of those negatively affected being rural Americans.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Brian Moran and his for-profit allies, symbols of a corrupt political culture that must go


Brian Moran (D-VA)[1] would like Virginians to know that he has to “make a living,” exhibit A of the Virginia Democratic Party chair’s defense against calls for his resignation.[2]

For his “day job,” Moran is a lobbyist and spokesman for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU),[3] a chivalric defender of for-profit (rip-off) colleges that do little to equip their students for the job market while overburdening their futures with mounds of debt.[4]

The facts against the efficacy of for-profit colleges are clear[5] and Mr. Moran appears to understand some of its failings. Moran stated that “I freely admit that there are some challenges to our sector,” challenges like throwing scores of Americans into a financial strait-jacket? Yes, this is a “challenge,” but not one that Moran himself is likely to face as the loudspeaker for these private sector rip-offs.

Making a living is one thing, but doing so at the expense of others and for an industry that preys upon unsuspecting job seekers is the equivalent of moral slime-mold.

It’s high time that the Democratic Party purge itself of the Moran’s of the party so that passionate public servants with high moral standards can lead the party into a brighter era unobstructed by the ghosts of its lobbying past.

Whether it be lobbying for for-profit colleges, taking campaign contributions from donors whose interests overshadow those of the public or are otherwise ethically questionable, or revolving in and out of the public and private sectors to take advantage of the information gained on the public’s dime, these practices must end in the Democratic Party and in politics in general.


For Moran, it’s time to acknowledge that your “day job” is hardly in the public interest. Rather, Mr. Moran, like his job, are symbols of a political culture that is inimical to democratic governance and representation of the people.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Abortion rights activists gather outside VA Department of Health ahead of June 15 vote


Close to 25 abortion rights activists assembled on Saturday outside of the entrance to the Virginia Department of Health on Governor Street to protest regulations that could be approved on June 15th by the department’s Board of Health, a 15-member panel of consumers and health professionals.

According to Molly Taylor Vick, spokesperson for the abortion rights activists, the vote constitutes another step in an approval process required to produce permanent regulations that require abortion clinics and larger medical facilities to adhere to the same standards, among other things.[1]

So-called abortion clinics offer a host of services that uninsured women particularly rely upon including cancer screenings, yearly exams, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and breast exams and treatment.

This time, the peaceful protesters were not met by a frightening visual of Capitol Police and buses to haul the protesters off to jail with.[2] The peaceful protest went as peaceful protests are supposed to go, peacefully.

Abortion rights is an issue about respecting the bodies and individual rights of women, plain and simple. To those conservatives who trumpet abortion rights as a moral issue of respecting life, then one would think that these same individuals would also oppose the death penalty, but this isn’t always the case.[3]

As with so many other issues, conservatives accuse their opponents of picking winners and losers while themselves undertaking that very activity.

Progressives and liberals agree that human life is well worth respecting, in particular the life of the woman whose life could be radically and negatively changed if an abortion were not allowed. It is a question then of whose life is worth protecting more: an embryo or a fully cognizant woman.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Is GOP Trying to Sabotage the Economy?

Is GOP Trying to Sabotage the Economy?

Blue Virginia:: Brian Moran and his for-profit allies, symbols of a corrupt political culture that must go

Blue Virginia:: Brian Moran and his for-profit allies, symbols of a corrupt political culture that must go

McDonnell wants to have his cake and eat it too: HB 9 and SB 1 signed into law


To satiate his political allies in the Republican Party to the tune of $1.3 million[1], Gov. McDonnell simultaneously signed SB 1 and HB  9, legislation tightening rules governing voter identification, into law while handing out an executive order to send every registered Virginia voter a new voter-ID card in an attempt to cut off criticism for the controversial voter-ID bills.

SB 1 and HB 9 will add to the forms of acceptable ID while assisting to “further prevent voter fraud and ensuring Virginians that they can have faith that votes have not been fraudulently cast,”[2] as if this were a major concern on the minds of Virginia’s voters.

The executive order to issue new voter-ID cards for registered Virginia voters by Gov. McDonnell may allow the voter-ID laws to deter a legal challenge by the U.S. Department of Justice.  

As executive director of the advocacy group ProgressVA[3] mentioned, however, the voting rights of Virginians are “caught between Bob McDonnell’s allegiance to his right-wing allies and his vice-presidential aspirations.”

There doesn’t appear to be much Gov. McDonnell won’t do to straddle the line between his vice-presidential ambitions and kowtowing to the right-wing loony bin of the Virginia GOP.[4]

When Gov. McDonnell took the unprecedented step of airing “positive” TV ads touting the achievements of McDonnell and his administration a little less than a month ago, it symbolized a new era of advance marketing in Virginia politics that is ethically questionable.

McDonnell has followed up on his “positive” ad blitz with an obtuse set of decisions that may do more to decrease his chances at serious consideration for veep than increase them. What’s more, it remains to be seen how the new voter-ID laws are carried out and how much confusion they may cause.

There isn’t much in politics that is straight-forward and there aren’t many prescriptions that completely satisfy a problem, but as long as McDonnell becomes vice-presidential nominee, who cares right?


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Blue Virginia:: How to ruin a country: George Allen's energy and environmental playbook

Blue Virginia:: How to ruin a country: George Allen's energy and environmental playbook

Virginia’s largest utility proposes solar-power buy-back incentive for small business and residents


In its continuing public relations attempt at an about-face, Dominion Virginia Power submitted a PROPOSAL on Thursday seeking the State Corporation Commission’s approval to purchase solar-generated power from small business and residential ratepayers at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour for a demonstration period of 5 years.[1]

The project would have a ceiling of 3,000 kilowatts, or 3 megawatts. 4 kilowatts is the average residential solar installation in Dominion’s Virginia area of service.

Reportedly, the proposed rate was made to pay a premium to offset the installation costs for ratepayers who generate electricity with solar power.

The proposal comes less than a week after the utility announced that it canceled a proposed 4 megawatt solar-energy project in Halifax County which would have utilized advanced technology batteries to store solar energy. However, the company manufacturing the batteries experienced “extensive delays,” causing Dominion to entirely scrap the project.[2]

While the proposal announcement is welcome to advocates of clean energy and clean energy jobs in Virginia, Dominion has cried wolf too many times in the field of clean energy[3] for me to lay aside my skepticism about where these efforts will ultimately end up. Dominion rarely makes proposals that do not ultimately benefit its bottom line in one way or another. So either this latest proposal is genuine in its efforts to promote solar energy in Virginia, or it’s another public relations move by Dominion to “green” its image, or a little bit of both.

I truly hope Dominion is sincere about increasing Virginia’s percentage of clean energy, but for now it’s still just a proposal.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Frank Leone’s Conflict of Interest: A Case Against His Reelection to the DNC June 2


Next to Frank Leone’s substantial conflict of interest[1] between his “day job” and his alleged Democratic Party values during the evenings and weekends, Brian Moran looks like St. Francis of Assisi.[2] Given Frank Leone’s reelection bid for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on June 2, this point is all the more significant. Do Virginians want to elect an individual to the Democratic National Committee who protects some of the most vile environmental and human health offenders, a man whose law firm boasts of defending “DDT and related pesticides” on its official website?
“Our partners' experience in the environmental area dates back to the early 1970s, when several of them were involved in the world-wide defense of DDT and related pesticides as well as some of the earliest litigation under the then-new federal air and water statutes. As the number and diversity of state and federal environmental regulatory programs have grown in the intervening years, so has our practice. “[3]

No longer can or should the Democratic Party tolerate the type of pseudo Democrat that Frank Leone represents, the type whose greatest affinity is for Big Business and, by association, the Republican Party.  If you value money, that’s fine, so do I. If you value the rule of law, that’s great, I do as well. But Mr. Leone’s job has consistently been to bend and pervert the law for client’s whose dubious business practices should have been legally punished, not allowed to continue business as usual.

According to Mr. Leone’s biographical page on his law firms website:
“Mr. Leone served as counsel for Norfolk Southern in Avondale Mills v. Norfolk Southern, Civ No. 1:05-2817-MBS (D.S.C. 2005), the largest single mass tort case in South Carolina history. Plaintiff Avondale alleged property damage to its textile plants arising from a January 2005 train derailment and chlorine release. Mr. Leone led the defense of scientific issues in the case and participated in the month long trial, which preceded a confidential settlement.”[4]

While federal prosecutors urged that Norfolk Southern (NS) be fined[5], the settlement of the case is shrouded in a legally protected black box. Today, Norfolk Southern’s official website boasts “The future needs us.”[6] I wonder if those 9 unfortunate individuals killed in NS’s 2005 train crash would agree?

Virginian’s shouldn’t help reelect a man on June 2 whose values as an attorney conflict with those as a member of the Democratic Party. There are other Virginians running for the DNC much more worthy of your vote.[7]