Yearly Archives: 2012

Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 18.

*Obama offers fiscal cliff tax concession
*Obama, Boehner move close to 'fiscal cliff' deal (Ahhhh...the making of sausage, isn't it lovely? Or not.)
*A 'fiscal cliff' deal is near: Here are the details
*President calls for proposals on guns
*Lock up the killing machines (Why was the assault weapons ban ever allowed to expire?!?)
*McAuliffe calls for assault weapons ban (Good job by T-Mac.)
*Gerry Connolly: Politicians With Courage Can Win ("We have been lulled into a passivity and fatalism with the logical fallacies and thuggish tactics of the gun lobby at a terrible cost...It is time for our outrage to return us to action and reshape our gun culture. It is in our hands." Well said by Rep. Connolly!)
*McDonnell outlines budget proposals for lawmakers
*Warner ready to back tougher gun laws, says "enough is enough" (Good to see, although I'm not sure why it wasn't "enough is enough" after the Virginia Tech shootings...or Columbine, Aurora, Tuscon, etc, etc.)
*Editorial: Virginia doesn't need 140 governors ("A proposed constitutional amendment would let legislators circumvent the regulatory process.")
*The math problem on state highways ("Within the next few weeks, Virginia will see whether its governor is willing to negotiate a lasting remedy, or if this is another losing hand.")
*Southside Va. not yielding for gov's I-95 toll idea
*McDonnell to headline Cuccinelli fundraisers ("T-Bob" yet again shows his true colors - Pat Robertson's student all the way, but hiding in a moderate's clothing.)
*Virginia electors formally select Obama, Biden
*Cuccinelli, environmental group find consensus on Va. renewable energy law (That's...different.)
*Toscano: Tough choices about coal tax credits
*Legislative panel calls on AG, power companies to compromise on 'adders'
*Gov. McDonnell to order Virginia schools to review safety plans
*Plan for new U.S. 460 to be cleared despite lingering concerns("When the Army Corps of Engineers said improving the current highway would do less wetlands damage than building a new toll road, VDOT released an assessment that showed otherwise")
*Holiday exodus to be largest in decade
*Arlington bicyclists want paths plowed when it snows

Warning to prospective new US 460 contractors. McDonnell's new US 460 will never be built.

When Bob McDonnell leaves office this road is toast. Nobody wants this road but the Bob!  He's twisted arms, removed anyone in state government in his way and still no one knows why he is so attached to this highway in search of traffic.  

With a Public Private Transportation Act totally broken, the Gov can ink a horribly bad deal that could cost the next Governor millions to get out of.  But losing millions is better than losing billions.   This boondoggle road will never be built.  

And the Virginia General Assembly had best reform the Public Private Transportation Act before the tax payers are road kill  

"I feel morally compelled to introduce concrete legislation in the General Assembly Session in January"

This past Friday we suffered an unspeakable tragedy. Twenty innocent children and six heroic adults were cut down by a hail of bullets in a place that should be a sanctuary: an elementary school. While we all still reel from this horror and still mourn this unbearable loss, we must start to discuss what can be done to prevent future tragedies of this magnitude.

We must work as a nation to improve and strengthen our mental health system. We must ensure that teenagers and adults get the help they need and are not just pushed, ill and unready, into society.

And we must address the tide of gun violence, fed by an unlimited supply of ever more dangerous guns. We can no longer pretend that the wide availability of dangerous weapons has had no impact on the brutal killings committed over the past year. In Newtown, not one child survived the hail of bullets from a semiautomatic assault weapon. I call on our national leaders to finally have a serious conversation about how to stop criminals and the mentally ill from accessing dangerous weapons.

In light of last Friday's events, I feel morally compelled to introduce concrete legislation in the General Assembly Session in January. Over the coming weeks, I will consult with my fellow legislators and announce specific plans that will help stem this horrific tide of gun violence.

When terrorists attacked on 9/11, when hurricanes struck our shores, when bridges collapsed in our cities, America has always pulled together to enact preventive measures to stop future tragedies. We can and we must do the same with mass murders.

Let's ensure that the murders of so many innocent children - and the heroism of the adults who saved so many more - have a lasting legacy. Let's ensure that they were the impetus for us to reassess our laws and find ways, while respecting the millions of law-abiding gun owners in America, to keep these fatal weapons from those who seek to do our families harm.

Today, Governor McDonnell unveiled his proposed amendments to the biennial budget.  He proposed diverting state funds from schools to pay for his transportation plan. In total the Governor proposes to take nearly $50 million a year away from schools, first responders and aid to our most vulnerable citizens.  He also said he will let Virginia fall under a federal exchange health care exchange and not expand Medicaid.

Senator Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), Democratic Leader of the Senate, said of diverting sales tax revenue from the General Fund to transportation, "We need a comprehensive statewide plan to solve transportation. We cannot build and pave roads by taking money out of our classrooms.  It's time we got real."

Senator A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico), Democratic Caucus Chair, said, "The state's budget should be a moral document that reflects the values and priorities of  Virginians. I find unconscionable the Governor's decision not to include any funding for the expansion of Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of Virginia's working poor. Expanding Medicaid will provide essential health care to hard-working Virginians who are struggling to support families as well as create jobs. In the coming General Assembly Session, I hope to work with my colleagues in the legislature and the Governor to grow jobs and increase health care for Virginians by expanding Medicaid."

The senseless violence that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday is difficult to understand.  That such a horrific act could take place in an elementary school, robbing innocent children of their lives, is every parent's worst nightmare realized.

These tragedies, however, have become all too common in our society in recent years.  We in Virginia were instantly reminded on Friday of the agony and sorrow we felt on April 16, 2007, the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

President Obama, in his speech to the nation last night, focused our attention on the difficult questions we now confront as a country: can we honestly say we are doing enough to keep our children safe from harm?  

As we gather together with family and our loved ones during the holidays, and in the days and weeks that follow, we will no doubt reflect on this and other questions.  We will debate policy as it relates to firearms and to mental health, and we will take a hard look at our society and our culture.

There will be disagreements about the path forward, but there can be no doubt: this is a time for action. Surely we can all agree that these tragedies must end and we can't tolerate this anymore.

-Mark

The following press release is from Sen. Donald McEachin - thank you!

The following press release is from Sen. Donald McEachin - thank you!

Even when we're done with the "fiscal cliff,'' it looks like we'll be compelled, early in the new year, to face another totally unnecessary, Congress-made crisis-- over the debt ceiling.

In a news conference on December 13, House Speaker John Boehner declared that the Republicans in Congress would insist on holding onto their ability to compel the U.S. to default on its credit, saying that Congress would never give up its "power of the purse."

But the legitimate congressional powers of the purse are about spending, and this has nothing to do with that. The debt ceiling isn't about spending.  The money has already been spent. This is about paying one's bills.

Paying one's bills is what responsible people-and governments-do.  The power that Boehner wants is the power to make the United States an irresponsible country.

In recent generations, the debt ceiling has been raised eighty-some times.   Never before -- until the summer of last year- has any Congress seriously balked at raising the debt ceiling.

It has been understood that we don't jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States.  It has been the American tradition not to threaten to break promises made to people who bought U.S. credit secure in the knowledge that the debt of the United States has long been the safest place in the world to put money.  

We Americans have benefitted greatly from Uncle Sam's impeccable reputation.  It allows our government to borrow at very low interest rates.

But if the Republicans compel the U.S. to ruin our reputation, investors at home and around the world will demand a higher rate of interest to induce them to buy United States government debt.

"You know me. I am a conservative Republican who received the NRA's highest rating over four terms in Congress...There's no easy ideological way forward...I come to you this morning with a heavy heart and no easy answers. Still, I've spent the past few days grasping for solutions and struggling for answers, while daring to question my own long-held belief on these subjects. I've always taken the libertarian's approach to Hollywood's 1st amendment rights and gun collector's 2nd amendment rights, and I stood by those libertarian beliefs after Columbine, after Aurora, and after Arizona..."

"I knew the ending of this story because we've all seen it too often. I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. Friday changed everything, it must change everything, we all must begin anew and demand that Washington's old way of doing business is no longer acceptable."

"...our Bill of Rights does not guarantee gun manufacturers the absolute right to sell military-styled, high-caliber, semiautomatic, combat assault rifles with high-capacity magazines to whoever the hell they want. It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas..."

"We've already given up too much ground across America. We've already ceded too many schoolyards, too many shopping malls, too many movie theaters, and too many college campuses. We must give no more ground."

"For the sake of my four children, and yours, I choose life and I choose change. It's time to turn over the tables inside the temple, and for the sake of our children, we must do what's right. And for the sake of this great nation that we love, let's pray to god that we do."

- Joe Scarborough

From Progress Virginia, further evidence that Bob McDonnell's approval ratings deserve to be a LOT lower than they currently are (and would be if Virginians were paying close attention to his failed governorship). Of course, what else but #FAIL could we expect from a guy who was mentored by Pat Robertson, and who hangs out with "birther"/racist/lunatic slimeballs like Donald Trump?

Reaction: McDonnell again proposes raiding school funds to pay for roads

Education is a core and vital function of government, not a free bucket of money to borrow from at will 

ProgressVA today released the following statement from Executive Director Anna Scholl in reaction to news that Governor McDonnell has again proposed raiding the general fund to pay for transportation.

"Once again, Governor McDonnell has proposed to pit education and tranportation against each other in a battle for funding. Providing every child the opportunity to learn and obtain a quality education is a core and essential function of government. Without a well-educated workforce and a functional transportation system, Virginia cannot hope to attract top tier businesses, workers, and families. These home-front investments are an investment in Virginia's economic future."

Since the beginning of the recession, Virginia has reduced state support for K-12 education by $2.6 billion. [The Commonwealth Institute, April 2011] McDonnell has in fact touted his own work to cut "billions" from education in Virginia. [YouTube via ProgressVA, October 2011]

The Governor's justification that previous year "surpluses" compensate for fewer education doesn't hold water. As the Governor well knows, "surpluses" are not free money available to be allocated to current pressing issues. In fact, the vast majority of state funds left unspent at the end of the fiscal year are statutorily obligated to pre-existing programs. Without specific action from the Governor and the General Assembly, those funds cannot be allocated to education to remedy the hole in general fund caused by a sales tax diversion to transportation. A breakdown of last year's budget "surplus" allocation is available from the Roanoke Times.