Find out how Cooch took $55,000 from the disgraced "U.S. Navy Veterans Association," in apparent exchange for his promise to get the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs (which had "notified Thompson's group that it no longer qualified for an exemption from state registration requirements") off the group's back. Can we say "pay-to-play?" Find out more.
For more, including a transcript of the exchange between University of Mary Washington sophomore and environmental studies student Abbie Rogers and Gov. Bob McDonnell, click here. Great stuff; go Abbie!
SPRINGFIELD, VA - A bus tour highlighting the potential to create good American jobs by passing comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation in the U.S. Senate stopped by the Re/Build Warehouse in Springfield, Virginia, today to urge Senators Warner and Webb to support action on comprehensive legislation that will create and save millions of American, clean energy jobs, including up to 50,000 jobs in Virginia.
"Nearly 1 out of 10 Americans are still out of work and we need action now to create and preserve millions of jobs across the country," said Lindsay Patterson, President of USW Local 404 of Philadelphia. "We have a solution right at our fingertips - we can create good jobs here in Virginia with clean energy."
Re/Build Warehouse was formed in 2008 to receive and sell reclaimed building material donations in order to provide funds to train unemployed and underemployed unskilled workers for "green collar" jobs and to educate the community in affordable ways to live sustainably.
It's now been over a week since the once-ballyhooed, privatized state computer system crashed, a mess caused by a malfunctioning storage unit in Richmond. The unit has been repaired, but, as anyone who has ever dealt with a hard drive crash knows on a small scale, the work in getting everything back in order still goes on, while state business doesn't get done very well.
Some relief has been promised for today. However, according to the Washington Post, three state agencies - the board of elections and the departments of motor vehicles and taxation - are still experiencing major computer issues that hamper daily operations.
More than 32,000 Virginia residents haven't been able to renew or get new driver's licenses in person. Taxpayers have been unable to file returns, make payments or register online through the Department of Taxation. Tax account information is unavailable for bills and refunds. Residents can apply to register to vote, but the applications won't be processed until the agency's database is completely restored.
Computers for 24 other state agencies are operational, but the computer problems mean that they can't operate efficiently. The Washington Post noted that those agencies include social services, environmental quality, juvenile justice, criminal justice services, professional and occupational regulation, and information technologies.
So, in this year of budget shortfalls and phony "surpluses," state employees will now get overtime pay to work through the backlog of more than a week's down time. You know, I wonder what possessed Virginia to give Northrup Grumman a contract to create a single state computer system - something Northrup had never done before. The history of that $2.4 billion - and counting - contract is a convoluted one, beginning in 2002 when JLARC reported that the state computer systems were out-of-date and expensive. (If JLARC thought the old way was expensive, wait until they figure out the ultimate cost of this system that has caused trouble from day one.)
How about more ads like this one by Glenn Nye, touting the hard work he's doing for his district, instead of ads attacking his own party and its leaders? C'mon, it's not so hard!
Slate has an interesting take on Ken Cuccinelli's time as AG so far (In Ken We Trust: Why do Ken Cuccinelli's legal opinions always match his personal ambitions?). It's really interesting to see the national take on all this since we're somewhat used to it in Virginia.
What Slate starts to get at (but I think ultimately misses) is that Cuccinelli isn't just using the law to push an agenda--he actually believes that his agenda and the law are not distinct things.
While it's not surprising that Cuccinelli is pushing issues and positions in his role as AG that he couldn't get through the General Assembly as a state senator, it is interesting that his base--which tends to advocate for democracy and protests that Democrats are doing any number of things to subvert the process or the Constitution--buys this sort of thing, presumably because they believe in it. Do they think that the General Assembly is just not important anymore, or do they think that Cuccinelli has a mandate to do this sort of thing outside of the legislative process? Or do they just not care about process when their positions come out on top? When I was canvassing in '09, I had quite a few people telling me that they weren't voting for Democrats because they "didn't want no kings here." Apparently they don't care now.
Keep in mind that this is a man who talks to fake elephants:
According to Merriam Webster, "non sequitur" can be defined as "a statement (as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said." Well, Merriam Webster's got nothing on Rick Boucher, who provides a perfect, video definition of "non sequitur" in this ad.
So, let's get this straight: Rick Boucher has Southwest Virginia values, and "that's why he voted against the health care law" and is "a leader in the bipartisan effort to balance the budget." There's just one problem with that reasoning, namely that the health care law and increased federal spending both disproportionately help relatively low-income, net-recipient-of-federal-money areas like Southwest Virginia. Also, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics illustrates, Southwest Virginia has among the highest unemployment rates (11.3% in Radford City, 11.6% in Smyth County, 11.4% in Grayson County, 11.2% in Patrick County, etc.) in the Commonwealth. How would cutting back on federal spending or making it harder for people to get health care coverage improve conditions in this region? It wouldn't; hence, the non sequitur.
Since I'm sure the Obama bashers out there, on both left and right, will not give him credit for the great work he and his Secretary of State have been doing since they took office to restart stalled, Arab-Israeli peace talks, I just wanted to say, "thank you!" Also, for any of my fellow pro-Israeli, Jewish Americans, I sincerely hope that you will rethink the notion that Barack Obama is in any way, shape, or form anti-Israel. To the contrary, as you can see here, Obama is working closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu to promote a just and lasting peace in the region. And, if you believe this analysis, the threat from Iran may be just what is needed to focus everyone's minds - Arabs and Israelis - and "serve as a common bond keeping a frail peace process intact." On that score, we should also give President Obama credit, by the way, as he has skillfully ratcheted up international economic and diplomatic pressure against the despotic, oppressive, woman stoning, nuclear-weapons-seeking Iranian regime. For my part, I am strongly rooting for President Obama to succeed on all fronts, before it's too late. At the least, I give him tremendous credit for trying, which is more than can be said for the Bush administration for much of its time in office.
UPDATE: Check out the Stratfor video analysis after the "flip."
UPDATE #2: Video of Obama with Secretary of State Clinton and special envoy George Mitchell is after the "flip."
Human-caused climate change threatens to flood Jamestown, the first permanent European settlement in what became the American colonies and the United States, says a report Wednesday by environmental groups.
Jamestown Island, the site of the original 1607 settlement, is low enough to be inundated by rising seas and tidal waters -- even if the waters do not rise as much by 2100 as scientists predict, according to the report by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. [...]
"Climate change poses the greatest risk our National Parks have ever faced," says Theo Spencer, senior advocate of NRDC's Climate Center. He says Jamestown, along with two other parks, attracts six million visitors each year who spend more than $200 million and support 4,000 Virginia jobs.
The report (PDF) says the other two parks also face grave risks: Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge could lose its beach and Shenandoah National Park could see it brilliant fall colors muted by air pollution and encroaching pine trees.
Previous reports have made similar warning about threats to Virginia's coastal communities & wildlife habitats. And that's on normal days, never mind when a hurricane threatens to bring a storm surge.
If you're not a fan of Ken Kookinelli, you've gotta love this headline by "Above the Law" - "Virginia State Judge Screws the Cooch." Not bad, not bad at all, definitely one of the best headlines I've seen in a long time, what do you think?
By the way, I find it fascinating that even though this writer admits, "I don't care at all about the environment" (and finds anthropogenic global warming to be "such a boring story"), he is nonetheless forced to conclude to conclude that "The Cooch is tripping." With regard to Cooch's "latest...crusde," "Above the Law" adds, "It appears that The Cooch is on a mission from God, and this latest obstacle will do nothing to deter him." Finally, "Above the Law" concludes, "I'm only speaking for myself here, but The Cooch is crazy y'all."
Yes, we've known that for years now, but thanks for reminding us! :)
He'd take the lead on combating the fraud of the new "professional" credit cards. There'd be a hard look at lending practices that allow the payday and refund lending industry to exceed the maximum interest limits. The Attorney General's website would show him instead of Bob McDonnell as Attorney General.
The last Consumer Alert of the Month wouldn't be December 2009. The link to the "Nigerian Bank Account Scams" would not take the user to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) webpage where another link must be selected; it would link to the SEC page for the Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud. The link to FAQs on Consumer Fraud would not navigate to a general page that includes one on "Why Virginia is suing the federal government over the new health care law" (a political statement on a state website). The Virginia Consumer Guide would be updated with a cover letter from the current rather than the former Attorney General. It would contain links to relevant online resources. It would include warnings about debt relief schemes, their effects on income tax, and the outcomes of bankruptcy. There would be a mortgage foreclosure step by step for after it happens rather than "Prevention Tips." No one who thinks about foreclosure in time to prevent it comes looking for foreclosure prevention help.
By the way, those new "professional" credit cards also known as small-business or corporate credit cards, aren't covered under the Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (Card Act). There is a The Wall Street Journal article this morning that provides plenty of information about this scheme that allows the predatory practices that the Card Act was designed to stop: hair-trigger interest rate increases, shortened payment cycles and inactivity fees. Suddenly anyone qualifies as a small business. But the Attorney General is oblivious to this scheme that will defraud thousands of Virginians. And he doesn't have a clue about advising the legislature concerning leaks in the payday lending law. It has to do with numbers and math, so maybe he ought to contact the ABC Store vultures for some crafting of the formula for annual percentage rates; or not.
[Connolly] has also taken the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission's commuter bus, slugged and road with a constituent from Bristow into the district on what a Census Bureau report said last year is the longest average commute in the country.
Uh guys, it's "r-o-d-e," as in past tense of the verb "r-i-d-e." Well, at least the author of this article wasn't sending out false tweets. Ugh.
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Good stuff, courtesy of the 
I'm following 
He'd take the lead on combating the fraud of the new "professional" credit cards. There'd be a hard look at lending practices that allow the payday and refund lending industry to exceed the maximum interest limits. The Attorney General's website would show him instead of 
The once great newspaper known as the 
