President Obama pays a visit to Newport News to remind Virginians of the looming defense cuts

In case you haven’t heard, a number of self-inflicted budgetary cuts are on the horizon that could put thousands of Virginians into a less-than-savory economic position. President Barack Obama has been doing his best to remind Virginia that the looming sequestration could have an above-average negative effect on the state’s inhabitants.

So in the spirit of demonstrating how hard Virginia will get the budgetary shaft, President Obama visited Newport News Shipbuilding on Tuesday, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News, Virginia[1].

According to the White House, if the sequestration occurs, the US Navy would cancel the maintenance of 11 ships in Norfolk as well as delay other projects in the commonwealth.

Over the next decade, the sequester would chop off $1.1 trillion and $85 billion this year alone.

But ship building and maintenance would only be one aspect of defense spending that takes a big ding in the pocketbook. The following statistic is shocking: “Even though national defense accounts for about 20 percent of federal spending, it accounts for 50 percent of the sequester cuts.”[2] The thinking here was that the extreme right-wing Republicans wouldn’t be so brazen as to risk their precious spending on defense, would they?

The extreme right’s nuttiness was unfortunately underestimated. Indeed, those on the extreme right appear more than ready to witness the sequestration bury a hole in America’s economy and particularly defense.

Frankly, I don’t really care who’s to blame. All I’m concerned about is seeing our “leaders” finally have a serious discussion about a long-term compromise deal that a majority in both major parties can live with. In a past not too long ago there was such a thing as compromise…

For all of the discussions about the Chinese overtaking American economic supremacy or North Korea sending a nuclear weapon towards America, the greatest threat America faces is its own hubris, its own inability to set one’s own particular interests aside for the sake of the entire country.

Sacrifice was once a virtue in our society before America became the “me society.” But if we want to truly prosper, we can only do so through prudence, humility, and understanding. And right now, none of these three attributes is wide scale in our nation’s capital.

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[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57571229/va-shipyard-latest-setting-for-obama-sequester-strategy/

[2] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57571229/va-shipyard-latest-setting-for-obama-sequester-strategy/

Sen. Adam Ebbin and Del. Scott Surovell create web site to oppose tax on alternative fuel cars

We wouldn’t want Gov. Bob McDonnell doing his part to stave off the worst consequences of global climate change, would we? Embedded in the recently and somewhat unprecedented transportation package approved Saturday by the Virginia General Assembly[1], a “fee” (notice that the Republican term for a tax is “fee”) was included that places a $100 annual tax on alternative fuel vehicles, including hybrids[2]. I paraphrase the Godfather: “What have alternative fuel vehicles done to earn such disrespect?”

Two Northern Virginia Democratic legislators to the rescue! Sen. Adam Ebbin[3] (Alexandria) and Del. Scott Surovell[4] (Fairfax) aren’t taking kindly to McDonnell’s attempt to tax alternative fuel vehicles and have launched the web site NoHybridTax.com[5] that includes a petition for individuals who would rather not see a $100 tax imposed for owning a relatively environmentally friendly vehicle.

Both of these planet saving hero’s also opposed the transportation package[6] that was passed on Saturday. The package is supposed to raise $3.5 billion in new revenue for Virginia’s roads over the next five years (i.e., to squander another $3.5 billion of our taxpayer dollars over the next five years).

Groups like the Chesapeake Climate Action Network[7] (CCAN), those stalwarts of true environmental action, have protested the proposed tax on alternative fuel vehicles since the beginning of February (full disclosure, I think CCAN rocks). As with so many prophets, the seriousness and reality of their concerns appeared to have fallen on deaf ears until the moment of final reckoning!

Said Surovell about the proposed tax on alternative fuel vehicles, “Taxing people for doing the right thing is outrageous. We may as well start taxing solar panels and recycling while we’re at it.”[8] Unfortunately, I’m sure a few Republicans in Virginia would think that’s a great idea!

Again, the Republicans who talk about energy independence in the same breath that they give their go ahead to tax fuel efficient vehicles in Virginia are so hypocritical that their hypocrisy almost seems beyond human comprehension.

Speaking on the floor of the Virginia Senate on Saturday, Sen. Ebbin asked, “If we’re truly working toward energy independence, why are we going to penalize investors in clean energy cars? …The Prius driver will pay more in taxes than the average sedan owner.”[9]

Wait, I think I have the answer. Maybe another United Nations conspiracy is being hatched, this time for the Republican Party. That’s it!

Whatever the reasons, whether its stupidity, ideological blindness, financial connections to oil and gas industries, or anything outside and in between, taxing alternative fuel vehicles is truly absurd. It’s almost as if some members of the General Assembly attempt to raise the bar of absurdity a little further each year. If so, mission accomplished.

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[1] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/general-assembly-passes-sweeping-roads-legislation

[2] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/two-dem-legislators-urge-mcdonnell-nix-100-hybrid-fee

[3] http://www.adamebbin.com/

[4] http://scottsurovell.org/

[5] https://services.myngp.com/ngponlineservices/petition.aspx?X=4hC0RDTN%2bv4%3d

[6] http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=131&typ=bil&val=hb2313

[7] http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/

[8] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/two-dem-legislators-urge-mcdonnell-nix-100-hybrid-fee

[9] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/two-dem-legislators-urge-mcdonnell-nix-100-hybrid-fee

Transportation deal reached on Saturday after Senate votes 25-15, but a plan is still needed

Following the transportation deal reached by the Virginia General Assembly, Gov. Bob McDonnell remarked, “This vote is an important moment for Virginia’s economy, Virginian’s quality of life, and our political system.”[1] What McDonnell was really saying is, “Look America, I can get bipartisan legislation passed even in these toxic political times.”

The transportation package will now be headed to the governor for his signature after the Virginia Senate passed the transportation bill on a 25-15 vote on Saturday.  The Virginia House of Delegates passed the transportation bill on a 60-40 vote on Friday.

The transportation package will shake a number of revenue-builders up in Virginia. First, Virginia’s sales tax rate will increase from 5 percent to 5.3 percent. Secondly, the package will increase regional taxes in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads for road projects to be constructed in those areas. Third, the transportation deal will replace Virginia’s 17.5-cents-per-gallon gas tax with a wholesale tax on gas and diesel. These are just three of the revenue-increasing measures contained in the transportation package.

Democratic Senators in particular were quick to point out that the transportation bill isn’t “perfect” but compromise is still warranted.[2] It’s not a stretch to say that no matter where the final transportation deal landed, no one on the political spectrum was going to be entirely pleased.

Yet Sen. Chap Petersen[3] (he’s so hardcore, he wears a bowtie!) made a number of convincing arguments in his opposition to the new transportation bill. Dividing Virginia up in terms of taxation (i.e., residents of Northern Virginia will pay higher taxes on certain things) is indeed a recipe for increased regional tensions among Virginia’s diverse segments. Furthermore, the complexity of the bill alone is enough to make anyone with any degree of legislative knowledge wary of how it will be managed in the long run.

Some Republicans in the General Assembly also made sense in their opposition. Sen. Ralph Smith (Bedford County) stated, “In a time when their dollar is not going as far as it once did, in a time when unemployment is higher than we would like it to be, the General Assembly is saying: ‘Well, you make out the best way you can but we’re going to take a bigger chunk of your wages.’”[4]

Indeed, I didn’t see it talked about much (not at all by the mainstream media), but many of the taxes that will be increased amount to regressive taxes that will hamper the economically disadvantaged more than Virginia’s affluent. Once again, the little guy, so to speak, gets the biggest shaft!

Moreover, Virginia can’t continue taxing its way out of management ineffectiveness. Virginia’s transportation system isn’t degrading due to a lack of funds.[5] It’s debilitated due to ineffectiveness in properly managing existing and new transportation projects.

Virginia needs more than just money. It needs a short term and long term plan for transportation. Otherwise, we might as well go ahead and raise taxes again. We’ll be needing them soon.

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[1] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/general-assembly-passes-sweeping-roads-legislation

[2] http://bluevirginia.us/diary/8783/breaking-virginia-senate-about-to-pass-transportation-deal

[3] http://fairfaxsenator.com/

[4] http://hamptonroads.com/2013/02/general-assembly-passes-sweeping-roads-legislation

[5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2013/02/21/is-any-increase-in-transportation-spending-a-good-thing/

Eternal Optimist: Sen. Tim Kaine says that compromise on the sequestration may be within reach

The eternally optimistic Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia) is…optimistic that a last-minute deal to avoid the looming sequestration can and will be reached before the budgetary axe is scheduled to fall on March 1.

After his tour in Richmond on Friday of McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Kaine said, “I’m optimistic. It might happen or not, but I am working on a compromise.”[1] Kaine added that compromise would have to begin in the Senate in order to “put enormous pressure on the House” to go along with a compromise to upcoming across-the-board discretionary cuts.[2]

Kaine’s optimism makes him an oddity among his fellow legislators in the U.S. Congress and the American people more generally. From everything that has been read, seen, and heard, both political parties are more than willing and ready to play chicken with America’s economy for what each hopes to be political gain.

Kaine’s willingness to see past the partisan hoopla is probably one of the biggest contributing factors to his victory over George Allen, and it’s encouraging to see that Sen. Kaine was serious about his efforts to work across the political aisles for the greater good of the country as a whole.

According to a letter written by Gov. Bob McDonnell to President Obama last week, Virginia could lose 82,000 ‘direct’ jobs and an additional 82,000 ‘indirect’ jobs if the sequestration is allowed to occur.[3]

Thus, over 100,000 Virginians could lose their jobs if the sequestration occurs, a truly unfathomable number considering the self-inflicted nature of these job losses.

Thus, Tim Kaine’s style of legislative leadership couldn’t come at a better time for the country. For the sake of America’s economy and those who WILL lose their jobs, let’s all hope Sen. Kaine’s optimism is more than wishful thinking.

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[1] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/national-world/government-politics/kaine-says-he-s-optimistic-for-sequester-deal/article_6c7b045f-bc8b-504c-a15e-e91535ee2ff9.html

[2] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/national-world/government-politics/kaine-says-he-s-optimistic-for-sequester-deal/article_6c7b045f-bc8b-504c-a15e-e91535ee2ff9.html

[3] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/national-world/government-politics/kaine-says-he-s-optimistic-for-sequester-deal/article_6c7b045f-bc8b-504c-a15e-e91535ee2ff9.html

Surveillance of the aerial drones: Virginia’s police state will only further erode civil liberties

The aerial drones in Virginia may be gone for now, but the two-year moratorium approved by the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday may just be the political cover necessary for Virginia’s politicians to brush off criticisms and enact this horrendous idea in the future.[1]

The House of Delegates, usually a bastion of conservatism in Virginia, incredibly passed the moratorium bill on Wednesday. The Senate passed the House amended moratorium bill by an even more incredible 40-0 vote. No dissension!?

According to the sponsor of the moratorium bill, Del. Benjamin L. Cline (Augusta), “We hope that the governor will also share our support for a breathing period to get some rules in place.”[2] Notice that Del. Cline talks about putting “rules in place,” not about whether the idea of aerial drones is even a good idea in the first place. Apparently, most members of the Virginia General Assembly have already made up their minds that aerial drones patrolling Virginia’s skies are a good idea.

But aerial drones have drawn opposition from politically diverse groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Tea Party Patriots Federation, just to name two. Each side of the political spectrum represented by these groups are rightfully concerned about the overuse or misuse of aerial drones.

Rutherford Institute President John W. Whitehead had this to say about the use of aerial drones, “No matter where one stands on the issue of drone use domestically, it is clear that we need to take a well-reasoned approach to how drone technology will be implemented and what safeguards are necessary to ensure that Americans’ safety, privacy, and civil liberties are not jeopardized.”[3]

All Virginians and all Americans should be concerned about the domestic use of aerial drones. It is practically a law of government behavior that if a technology can be used to spy on its people, it almost certainly will at one point or another. And I don’t mean just individuals who are breaking the law; I mean peaceful and non-lawbreaking Americans whose only misdeed is attempting to uphold the letter of America’s Constitution.

At the last peaceful environmental rally I attended, D.C. Police were taking pictures of the throngs of rally-goers. Why? Why does law enforcement spend so many of our taxpayer dollars on surveying Americans who simply wish to express their freedom of speech? Is this a crime now too? If police can so blatantly photograph (and implicitly intimidate) peaceful rally-goers, what will they do with aerial drones!?

Aerial drones may decrease crime rates and/or increase the amount of criminals who are caught and the time it takes to catch them. But aerial drones could also be one more piece in the arsenal of our country’s growing police state, an arsenal that can be unleashed on the American people to infringe on our natural and civic rights. That is a potential cost that outshines any potential benefit I can imagine from the use of aerial drones.

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[1] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/21/senate-sends-drone-moratorium-to-mcdonnell/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Cline

[3] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/21/senate-sends-drone-moratorium-to-mcdonnell/

Ken Cuccinelli, cookoo for confrontation, but he might be right on transportation compromise

In the world according to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, any major legislation that smells of bipartisanship must in and of itself be erroneous. After a  transportation deal with support across all political aisles was reached on Wednesday by negotiators in the Virginia House and Senate, Cuccinelli idealogued against its purported components.

Cuccinelli said, “If reports are correct, this new bill contemplates a massive tax increase. In these tough economic times, I do not believe Virginia’s middle class families can afford massive tax increases…”[1] What a “massive tax increase” is in the world of Ken Cuccinelli is open to speculation.

What isn’t open for speculation is Cuccinelli’s every public statement, from this moment until the final vote is cast for Virginia’s next governor, will be a calculated effort to win over the supporters that he’ll need to sit in the Executive Mansion next year.

But if the new taxes coming out of the new transportation bill are true, then Cuccinelli may have a firm ground to stand on, for once. According to one source, the deal would ‘create’ close to $800 million a year once fully transitioned in to address the commonwealth’s new construction and roads maintenance needs. The revenue generated would come from tax increases on wholesale gasoline (don’t have a problem), diesel fuel (don’t have a problem) as well as increases in the state sales tax (have a problem), motor vehicle titling tax, and audaciously, hybrid vehicle registration fees (I can see hybrid vehicle sales in Virginia already dipping).

Raising taxes on things like gasoline that will go towards repairing roads and new transportation projects makes sense: if so many Virginians didn’t drive, many of these transportation projects wouldn’t be necessary in the first place. Thus the gas taxes serve as a disincentive to drive.

But raising Virginia’s sales tax? Raising vehicle registration fees on vehicles which Virginia should be 

promoting (i.e., hybrid vehicles)? How do these two schemes make any sense in terms of addressing Virginia’s transportation dilemmas?

So for once in a long time, Cuccinelli and I may agree on an issue, albeit for fundamentally different reasons. The real test for Cuccinelli will be to see how much brain matter he can put behind viable transportation ideas of his own.

Up till now, Cuccinelli has been little more than a naysayer, a reading of the 10 Commandments, “Thou shalt…”[2] Virginia needs vision, not condemnation. It needs leadership, not division. As such, Cuccinelli would be a terrible pick for governor!

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[1] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/cuccinelli-opposes-transportation-deal-as-massive-tax-increase/article_9ca28bbe-6923-5276-8b45-1d702770617c.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

Case of a compassionate conservative: Gov. McDonnell will not expand Medicaid in VA

Compassionate conservative? Not on your life! No, really, not on your life.

In a letter written to the chairmen of the Virginia General Assembly’s budget committees on Wednesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell[1] stated he would hold Medicaid in Virginia hostage. That is, McDonnell stated that he would not seek to expand Medicaid in Virginia “without a guarantee that federal spending on the program would not increase “the immoral national debt.””[2] How declining to expand Medicaid is not an immoral act seems to have missed McDonnell’s attention and approbation.

McDonnell’s letter came after Gov. Rick Scott of Florida became the seventh Republican governor to agree to an expansion of Medicaid and on the eve of the deadline for legislators in the General Assembly to agree on the terms it will set on expanding Medicaid to up to an additional 400,000 Virginians.

In his letter, McDonnell stated, “Please understand that I cannot and will not support consideration of an expansion of Medicaid in Virginia until major reforms are authorized and completed, and until we receive guarantees that the federal government’s promises to the states can be kept without increasing the immoral national debt.”[3] This statement coming from the same governor who thinks flying expensive drones above Virginia’s skies is a good idea.

If compassion or ‘immorality’ were McDonnell’s primary concerns, then Medicaid expansion would easily be endorsed by Virginia’s governor. Like so many other issues, Gov. McDonnell is using Medicaid as a hostage to fulfill his party’s ideological goals. And as is so often the case, real people will suffer as a consequence.

There are few individuals who would reasonably argue that our country’s debt is not an issue that should be immediately addressed. But to withhold medical care for up to 400,000 Virginians to reduce a debt that is more of a long-term concern than an immediate threat is itself an immoral act to the highest degree.

Virginian CAN afford to expand Medicaid for eligible Virginians. Gov. McDonnell is choosing not to. Would McDonnell also ask for conditions before pulling a drowning victim out of the water? To my mind, the two scenarios are not much different.

McDonnell is choosing to withhold his endorsement for a program that Virginia can expand. As a consequence, thousands of Virginians may figuratively drown in medical debt, lack of medical care, or a host of additional unnecessary circumstances.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_McDonnell

[2] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/mcdonnell-all-but-rules-out-medicaid-expansion/article_49807dee-8d54-5b98-ae8d-48d6d2466e3a.html

[3] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/mcdonnell-all-but-rules-out-medicaid-expansion/article_49807dee-8d54-5b98-ae8d-48d6d2466e3a.html

House of Delegates votes to prohibit flying of drones for 2 years but drones aren’t the answer

While it may appear that the flying of drones for law enforcement and emergency purposes in Virginia is laudable, its main consequence will be to turn Virginia even further down the path of a police state. On Wednesday, the Virginia House of Delegates voted in favor of prohibiting the flying of drones for two years, allowing time to analyze the consequences of the use of drones by law-enforcement and government agencies.[1]

After law enforcement agencies opposed the restrictive use of drones, Del. C. Todd Gilbert “rolled” his bill into House Bill 2012, sponsored by Del. Benjamin L. Cline. House Bill 2012 proposed a moratorium on the use of drones akin to Sen. Donald McEachin’s Senate Bill 1331[2].

While no law-enforcement agencies in Virginia fly drones at present, Russell County Sheriff’s Department bought two drones in the summer of 2012.

It’s not difficult to understand why law-enforcement agencies would want drones in their efforts to abate crime and find missing individuals, but the endless search for greater ‘law-enforcement tools’ can and will only lead down unintended paths with more negative consequences than less.

I’m not a tea party “the government is out to get me” kind of guy, but I do have a big problem with technology used in war zones to track, capture, and kill suspected terrorists being used in our own country.

For one thing, the mere thought of an unmanned aerial aircraft hovering in the skies of Virginia gives me the willies and throws me into the dystopian world of 1984. If we allow drones, what next? Implantable chips into each Virginian? What is the line between wanting to stop crime and preserving individual liberty and privacy? Where do we as a society finally draw the line?

Just as importantly, if we have to fly drones in our skies to halt or reduce crime, then our society has a much deeper problem that drones will not address. Here again, instead of focusing on poverty, lack of education, lack of opportunity, just to name a few, WE HAVE CHOSEN to focus on the symptoms of the deeper problems.

But like anyone who has survived cancer will tell you, without getting to the root-cause of the problem , the symptoms will keep arising, perhaps with even greater violence.

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[1] http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/house-votes-to-ground-drones-for-two-years/article_badb97be-603a-57e0-8629-9702d89f3e42.html

[2] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.richmondsunlight.com%2Flegislator%2Fadmceachin%2F&ei=NmclUavWNsv6qAGspIHQDQ&usg=AFQjCNELxuTVTj14juQzLoSnOBUSXULqMA&sig2=YeIA-BU2HGU8cgOBVOSTow&bvm=bv.42661473,d.aWM

Gov. Bob McDonnell claims uranium mining is off the table, but we know not to trust him

It’s not hot-off-the-press, but it’s news worth mentioning again. On Friday, Gov. Bob McDonnell left Del. Don Merricks (R-Pittsylvania County) with the distinct impression that the moratorium on uranium mining will not touched upon anymore in 2013 and that it might not be touched on again for some time to come (yeah right!).

After his meeting with Gov. McDonnell, Del. Merricks stated that “The only thing that could happen is if the governor were to amend another bill or issue an executive order, which he assured us he wasn’t going to do.”[1] Please note that Gov. McDonnell’s ‘assurances’ are only as viable as the political winds which shift his policy positions from one pole to the next and from one day to the next.

According to Merricks, Gov. McDonnell assured several legislators from Southside Virginia that “he wasn’t planning to do anything right now”[2] on Watkins’ request that McDonnell use his executive authority to begin the creation of uranium mining regulations.

As for the nuclear energy consortium agency being proposed, Merricks also stated that “I hope people will rest assured it has nothing to do with mining.” Really, because the “nuclear energy consortium agency” certainly seems to hint at being involved with all things uranium. But perhaps the concerned people of Virginia are simply acting out of “emotion and fear”[3] again, as Sen. John Watkins suggested after he pulled his uranium mining bill from the senate.

But for Virginians who have been keeping track of the uranium mining issue, the struggle to keep the ban has only just begun. With so much uranium ore in the ground and so much profit to be had, the big bad wolf known as Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) will be back on the hunt again as soon as it can. For all anyone knows, VUI is working at this very moment to undermine the ban on uranium mining in Virginia (wouldn’t that be shocking!).

Just as this time around, Virginians wont lay down in the face of such an enormous potential threat. VUI may have billions of reasons to mine for uranium ore. But for the Virginians who stand to directly lose from uranium mining in Virginia, the reasons for opposition go beyond any quantitative figure.

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[1] http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=36647

[2] http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=36647

[3] http://www.vancnews.com/brunswick_times_gazettenews/article_6a076c78-7555-11e2-80cd-001a4bcf887a.html

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli’s book signing indicative of potential governorship: security galore!

The man of the people (of Virginia) Ken Cuccinelli, the commonwealth’s attorney general, needed robust security for his book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Tysons Corner according to Blue Virginia’s Lowell Feld.[1]

Now imagine if Ken Cuccinelli became the next governor of Virginia. How much security would he surround himself with then?! Let me wager a guess and say enough security to fend off a lot of angry Virginians.

From all indications, Ken Cuccinelli gets a kick out of pissing Virginians off who don’t stand on the same ideological razor’s edge as he does. He seems to think it’s a game of realpolitik, ideological zealotry, and just a dash of fun spread into the mix.

Cuccinelli’s in-your-face political style is hardly what Virginia needs in their attorney general, let alone their governor. Compromise, compromise, what is compromise?!

Furthermore, Cuccinelli’s hour-long book signing at Barnes and Noble on Saturday is representative of what a Cuccinelli governorship would look like: short on ideas, high on himself, surrounded by security, and readily accessible only to those individuals who stand on his political side of the fence.

Somehow, a sizable number of Virginians see Cuccinelli as ‘their guy’, the individual who can finally infuse government with…anti-government policies.

But the issue is not government itself. The issue that America truly needs to address is bad governance. And bad governance starts with prohibiting government from filling the spaces that the private sector will not, cannot, or should not fill itself (i.e., Veterans benefits; Medicare; Medicaid, etc.).

Our current political imbroglio’s are not between anti-business and pro-business enthusiasts. Our current political dilemmas are between those who see the necessity of a public-private symbiotic relationship and those who find mutual exclusivity between the two spheres of life in America.

For the Cuccinelli’s of the world, government is a beast that must be tamed. The irony is, of course, that Cuccinelli is the one who has volunteered to seat himself on the saddle of government, a position he is unlikely to use to put that horse to sleep.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.[2]

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[1] http://bluevirginia.us/diary/8733/video-ken-cuccinelli-surrounded-by-security-at-book-signing-in-tysons-corner

[2] http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely.html

Sen. Adam Ebbin’s cohabitation law comes one step closer to overturning a historic oddity

Amid the bleak results of this year’s session of the Virginia General Assembly, there have been a few bright spots. On Friday, one of those bright spots shown through.

The House Courts of Justice Committee unanimously passed Sen. Adam Ebbin’s[1] bill, SB969[2],which repeals the commonwealth’s 136-year-old archaic law that prohibits unmarried Virginia couples from living together.

Last month, Ebbin’s[3] cohabitation bill passed the full Senate on a 40-0 vote. Now, the full House must vote to pass Ebbin’s bill.

According to Ebbin, census data shows that close to 140,000 Virginians are living together, unmarried. Ebbin also noted that Virginia is 1 of 4 states in the country that still makes cohabitation a crime. Go figure!

Regardless of how frequently the law has been enforced, a repeal of Virginia’s cohabitation law would be a symbolic step in the direction of progress, a sign that Virginia is finally ready to shed those elements of its past that no longer make sense in the present.  

Progress, however, isn’t a word readily associated with the Virginia House of Delegates, so SB969’s movement through the House is by no means guaranteed. Perhaps, for example, unmarried couples living together is a sign of ‘godlessness’ or moral degeneration that should not be condoned[4].

SB969 will be a litmus test for just how in-tune Virginia’s House Republicans are with the opinions of most Virginians. That is, if SB969 fails to pass the full House of Delegates, it will be another demonstration of just how out-of-touch House Republicans are with the rest of Virginia (even if we already know they are extremely out-of-touch!).

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[1] http://www.nbc12.com/story/21220119/va-house-panel-backs-repeal-of-cohabitation-law

[2] http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2013/sb969/

[3] http://www.richmondsunlight.com/legislator/apebbin/

[4] http://www.newsplex.com/news/politics/headlines/Va-Governor-Supports-Ending-Cohabitation-Ban-188853831.html

Cuccinelli’s book signing in Fredericksburg highlights his ability to read & write (& deny science)

So, you didn’t think Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli could write, did you? Well, he’s once again proved you wrong! And just so he could demonstrate his ability to write (and read), Cuccinelli attended a book signing for his new book, “The Last Line of Defense: The New Fight for the American Constitution,” at the Fredericksburg Barnes and Nobles book store[1]. Take that doubters!

Unfortunately, one epithet that Cuccinelli still dons with pride (well, one of many) is his disbelief in science; climate science to be more exact. 

According to Cuccinelli, carbon’s effects on earth’s increasing temperatures are ‘neutral’[2]. Here’s a direct quote from Cuccinelli’s “The Last Line of Defense”: “The EPA was attempting to transform the entire American economy and our standard of living because it said carbon dioxide was a pollutant dangerous to public health. Let’s not confuse carbon dioxide with carbon monoxide, the odorless, poisonous gas that’s also emitted during the combustion of some materials. No, carbon dioxide, or CO2—this “dangerous” threat to America and to the world—is the gas we all exhale from our bodies every second of every day. It’s also the gas that we readily and willingly consume when we have carbonated drinks.” Brilliant!

He’s right, you know. Down with the EPA and public health! Why, after all, should Americans fund an agency that brings…oh yeah, the EPA does contribute immensely to America’s economy![3]

For Cuccinelli, the issue may not even be whether he truly believes the archaic and inane ideas that fall from his mouth. He has found his political niche, staked his public flag, and will ride out this wave of demagoguery and populism until the people of Virginia actually have a chance to vote for his opponent.

But all of my jokes should not mask how threatening Cuccinelli’s ideas are to our continuously warming planet. Were Cuccinelli to put his ideas into play as governor of Virginia, who knows how far back Virginia and the rest of the world would be brushed back against the fight for less extreme climate change.

A win for Cuccinelli is a loss for human and environmental health for generations to come. The truth is all too often something which we don’t want to face.

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[1] http://fredericksburg.patch.com/articles/cuccinelli-in-fredericksburg-for-book-signing

[2] http://www.bluevirginia.us/diary/8709/cuccinellis-bookpolluter-freedom-crusade-will-go-to-supreme-court

[3] http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/prospective2.html