Greetings, e-friends! This is the home of the writers and cyberspace entities known as Priscilla King, Saloli, Gena Greene, Grandma Bonnie, and possibly you. We will be inviting other writers, artists, and reporters to display their work here. The more readers and sponsors help this site grow, the more guest posts we will be able to display. We will pay a minimum of $5 per guest post. If we don't have $5, we will post a link to your blog or web site.
If the comments section isn't working, or the "contact" tab isn't showing, please feel free to e-mail salolianigodagewi@yahoo.com.
Unlike some other web'zines, this one is not being kickstarted with a big grant or loan. We are paying as we grow. So, in order to start buying guest posts, or even keep this site alive, we need reader support. If the Google "Support" button isn't working, click here to help fund the site. (Google suggests US$5, which is what most printed magazines cost.) Alternatively, you may use the e-mail link in this paragraph to buy any book you've seen reviewed here (total cost is usually US$10), buy an advertorial article or picture ($50-100 if I write it, less if you do), buy any handmade item you've seen photographed here (they start at a total cost of US$10), or buy data from the Names Maven database (US$1).
Here's a short list of topics that will appear on this blog:
1. Books. All Blogger blogs are or could be linked to Amazon, so whenever I (Priscilla King) write about a book, old or new, you should be able to follow a link to buy a copy. However, if you use the "Book You Can Buy From Me" option to buy an old (secondhand) book, you will be supporting my plan to provide a 10% royalty to living authors whose books I resell. I hope other online booksellers will start doing this; at the time of writing, so far as I know, I'm the only bookseller who is paying the authors when people buy secondhand books.
2. Nature and the environment. Wildlife, birds, animals, flowers, herbs, weather...content produced by us will be regional, but we will link to, and may eventually publish, nature news and pictures from the rest of the world.
3. Animals. Especially cats, but other domestic or friendly animals will appear here too.
4. Knitting and other crafts. We encourage everyone to buy local handmade products. We will display pictures of handmade products that can be purchased through this site.
5. Gluten-free recipes.
6. News items. This blog is not meant to be a substitute for a good national newspaper. From time to time this blog will feature news stories that your newspaper may have missed, such as local news, election news, or obscure "weird news."
This blog has no political affiliation. The frequency with which we link to left-wing, right-wing, or other political material reflects the amount and quality of political material supplied to us. We're looking for sincerity, practicality, and sustainability, not a party identity.
7. Philosophical musings. From time to time some of us, and some of the e-friends whose writing we hope to publish here, indulge in opinions, humorous essays, and philosophical reflections. We are Protestants...but as hostess/editor I reserve the right to publish or link to opinion pieces by non-Protestants if I think the quality of thought and writing is excellent.
WE WANT COMMENTS. We won't publish short comments that link to commercial web sites. We welcome sponsored links to commercial web sites that are set up through Blogger's legal channels. We won't publish poems or articles until we're able to pay for them, but we're always glad to read and/or link to them.
Please click here to support this blog:
Monday, November 15, 2021
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Virginia Farmers' Chance to Speak Out
Well...if you're within two hours' drive from Richmond, that is. This is a practical decision for the Free Citizen staff, who are on a tight budget. It also means that farmers out in the point of Virginia need not apply. Gate City, for example, is at least six hours from Richmond. Nevertheless, here's their offer:
"Virginia Free Citizen is giving farmers a platform to speak out:
"Virginia Free Citizen is giving farmers a platform to speak out:
We are looking for small farms to visit within 2
hours or less drive of Richmond and plan to do monthly “on the farm” stories.
We are also interested in any farm
owner who would like to send us their own letters/articles and we will interview
them on the phone if a visit is not practical. We are
interested in life on the farm and the issues that face the farm owner in
Virginia in regards to farm and food freedoms and impact of
regulations/ordinances, Obamacare, property rights, etc.
Farm owner interviews will be scheduled on
Saturdays.
We realize a Saturday visit could be intrusive on
a farm, since the work is daily, so we would be sensitive to that and the visit
would be in the time window requested by the farm owner.
Feel free to forward this email to others who may
be interested.
Interested farmers, please contact Jeff Bayard
at editor@virginiafreecitizen.com
Jeff Bayard
804-869-4485
Publisher
We are funded by
individual citizens in Virginia,
Please Donate to keep us
going!
More Thanks to Republican Delegates
This web site is fairly sure Virginia's Republican Delegates have already seen Carol Stopps' pithy report on their good work. This web site would have forwarded her e-mail to them with a heading like "More Thanks" or "Second the Thanks," last week, if this web site had been more active than it was. This web site is now embarrassed by its inactivity. Anyway, here, for posterity, is CS's Cooperative Legislative Action group's commendation:
"We may be getting rolled in Washington. But in Virginia Republicans are holding strong.
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
"We may be getting rolled in Washington. But in Virginia Republicans are holding strong.
We owe a big thank you to all committee members who yesterday killed two
big parts of the progressive statist agenda.
The Obamacare State Exchange...DEAD in
the House
An increase in the minimum wage...DEAD
in the House
"At present, we are getting rolled in Washington. Democrats have
pushed an omnibus bill, a disastrous farm bill, endless debt ceiling increases,
and amnesty for illegals. Instead of an equal and opposing force in the
opposite direction, Republicans have….. pushed an omnibus bill, a disastrous
farm bill, endless debt ceiling increases, and amnesty for illegals." -
Erick Erickson, Morning Briefing 2/5/14
Here are the bills:
HB 292 Obamacare state exchange. Passed by indefinitely in Commerce and
Labor by voice vote
HB 32 Minimum wage increase. Tabled in Commerce and Labor by voice
vote
HB 536 Minimum wage increase. Tabled in Commerce and Labor by voice
vote
These are the Republican members of the Commerce and Labor Committee. We
have no way to know exactly how they voted without recorded votes, but we will
assume the best, and we thank them all
:)
Kilgore (Chairman),
Byron, Ware, Hugo, Rust, Marshall, D.W., Cline, Miller, Loupassi, Bell, Robert B., Comstock, Habeeb, Villanueva, Farrell, O'Quinn
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
The "Virginia Republican Creed"
You just might be a Republican. If the Republican Party seriously practiced this creed, I just might be a Republican...(Thanks to Patricia Evans for sharing.)
"The Virginia Republican Creed says:
That the free enterprise system is the most productive
supplier of human needs and economic justice,
That all individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice,
and opportunities and should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a
free society,
That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be
exercised at all levels of government,
That the Federal Government must preserve individual liberty
by observing Constitutional limitations,
That peace is best preserved through a strong national
defense,
That faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers is
essential to the moral fibre of the nation."
Robert O. Adair Longs for Spring
The February Thaw is here! Hurrah! Robert O. Adair's poem sounds as if the Thaw has not yet reached his part of the country, but he's ready for it to get there...
http://voices.yahoo.com/longing-spring-12523956.html
http://voices.yahoo.com/longing-spring-12523956.html
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Help Wanted: Linux System Administrator
From Jim Babka:
"Help Wanted
"Help Wanted
Downsize DC is seeking a system administrator with expertise in Linux
environments to work on discrete project/tasks as needed (no full-time positions
available, at this time).
Your responsibilities include...
- Installing software, applying patches, managing file systems, monitoring performance and troubleshooting problems with commercial, open source, and locally developed software
- System failure analysis and recovery; ensuring the consistency and integrity of file systems and backups
- Hardware/software configuration and management
You should have...
- Strong experience working in Linux environments
- Demonstrated initiative, customer orientation, and teamwork competencies
- Ability to communicate technical issues with non-technical people
Experience with source code management tools and code promotion
processes is a plus. Experience with managing WordPress, Java, and Scala systems
is not required, but that too would be a plus.
Also, it is extremely important that you let us know the range of
compensation you expect, so priority will be given to those candidates who
supply that information (keep in mind that these are non-profit
organizations).
For immediate consideration, do NOT hit reply to this email. Instead,
send a message to HelpWanted@DownsizeDC.org. 
Jim Babka"
President Obama on Raising the Minimum Wage
Many of you undoubtedly received this mass e-mail from the White House...
"Hello everyone,
Earlier today, I signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contract workers.
It's the right thing to do. But what's more, companies have found that when their employees earn more, they're more motivated, they work harder, and they stick around longer. You should expect the same of your federal government.
The bottom line is this: We are a nation that believes in rewarding honest work with honest wages. And America deserves a raise.
If you agree, let me know you're standing with me -- and take a look at what else we're going to do in 2014.
The order I signed today will help folks across the country. But it's not enough.
Right now, there's a bill in Congress that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for all Americans. It would lift wages for more than 28 million current workers, and would move millions of Americans out of poverty. That means businesses would have customers with more money to spend.
Raising the minimum wage would grow the economy for everyone.
You don't need to believe me: Believe the 600 economists -- including seven Nobel Prize winners -- who wrote both houses of Congress last month to remind them that the bill before them will have little or no negative effect on jobs. "
Can 600 economists be wrong? This web site would like to believe that raising the minimum wage would not damage the economy for everyone. This web site is, however, run by people who've actually been in the U.S. about as long as our President has been alive, and we can't.
http://www.bubblews.com/news/2312666-answer-your-catsampamp039-questions-day
"Hello everyone,
Earlier today, I signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contract workers.
It's the right thing to do. But what's more, companies have found that when their employees earn more, they're more motivated, they work harder, and they stick around longer. You should expect the same of your federal government.
The bottom line is this: We are a nation that believes in rewarding honest work with honest wages. And America deserves a raise.
If you agree, let me know you're standing with me -- and take a look at what else we're going to do in 2014.
The order I signed today will help folks across the country. But it's not enough.
Right now, there's a bill in Congress that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for all Americans. It would lift wages for more than 28 million current workers, and would move millions of Americans out of poverty. That means businesses would have customers with more money to spend.
Raising the minimum wage would grow the economy for everyone.
You don't need to believe me: Believe the 600 economists -- including seven Nobel Prize winners -- who wrote both houses of Congress last month to remind them that the bill before them will have little or no negative effect on jobs. "
Can 600 economists be wrong? This web site would like to believe that raising the minimum wage would not damage the economy for everyone. This web site is, however, run by people who've actually been in the U.S. about as long as our President has been alive, and we can't.
http://www.bubblews.com/news/2312666-answer-your-catsampamp039-questions-day
Tim Kaine on Gun Control
From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine:
"Thank you for contacting me to share your views on proposals to reduce gun violence. I appreciate hearing from you.
No one can deny that gun violence is a serious problem in this country today. We owe it to the victims of the growing number of mass shootings to vigorously debate specific and comprehensive proposals that can keep our communities safer. The right approach focuses on many issues - improvements to the mental health system, better security protocols and common sense rules about gun use, including keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.
When I was on the Richmond City Council in the 1990s, our city was mired in an epidemic of gun violence that included the city having the second-highest homicide rate in the United States. The most successful step we took was implementing Project Exile, a program that involved federal prosecution and tougher penalties for gun crimes that were previously treated more leniently in state courts. Celebrated by diverse groups engaged in the gun violence debate - including the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign - the program helped drive down Richmond's homicide rate by nearly 60 percent within a few years.
In 2007, the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech revealed glaring weaknesses in campus security protocols at colleges and universities, in our mental health system and the gun background check system for gun purchases. In a bipartisan spirit, I worked with then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell to immediately improve our background check system and issued an executive order ensuring that those adjudicated to be mentally ill and dangerous would be entered into a national database and barred from purchasing weapons. We also changed standards for mental health treatment and increased funding for community health programs while dramatically improving campus security and efforts to assist college students suffering from mental stress.
On the sixth anniversary of the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech, I took to the Senate floor to remember the 32 Hokies who lost their lives. The tragedy happened after a dangerous young man illegally purchased weapons due to flaws in the background records check system. I was pleased to cast my vote on April 17, 2013, in support of S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act legislation, which included tougher laws on gun trafficking and straw purchases, and ways to improve safety in schools. I also voted in support of a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks on gun laws, but unfortunately a filibuster of this measure prevented it from passing. I also voted for a ban on large-capacity magazines, and for a proposal to ban combat-style weapons. I am disappointed a minority of the Senate chose to use the filibuster to block common-sense reforms.
As your U.S. Senator, I will continue to work to bring that kind of comprehensive approach that will strengthen the safety of our communities, while protecting our Second Amendment rights. As a gun owner who worked with others to constitutionally guarantee Virginians the right to hunt, I know that you can be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment without tolerating the gun tragedies that are too often a part of our daily lives.
Thank you once again for contacting me.
Sincerely,
"Thank you for contacting me to share your views on proposals to reduce gun violence. I appreciate hearing from you.
No one can deny that gun violence is a serious problem in this country today. We owe it to the victims of the growing number of mass shootings to vigorously debate specific and comprehensive proposals that can keep our communities safer. The right approach focuses on many issues - improvements to the mental health system, better security protocols and common sense rules about gun use, including keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.
When I was on the Richmond City Council in the 1990s, our city was mired in an epidemic of gun violence that included the city having the second-highest homicide rate in the United States. The most successful step we took was implementing Project Exile, a program that involved federal prosecution and tougher penalties for gun crimes that were previously treated more leniently in state courts. Celebrated by diverse groups engaged in the gun violence debate - including the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign - the program helped drive down Richmond's homicide rate by nearly 60 percent within a few years.
In 2007, the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech revealed glaring weaknesses in campus security protocols at colleges and universities, in our mental health system and the gun background check system for gun purchases. In a bipartisan spirit, I worked with then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell to immediately improve our background check system and issued an executive order ensuring that those adjudicated to be mentally ill and dangerous would be entered into a national database and barred from purchasing weapons. We also changed standards for mental health treatment and increased funding for community health programs while dramatically improving campus security and efforts to assist college students suffering from mental stress.
On the sixth anniversary of the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech, I took to the Senate floor to remember the 32 Hokies who lost their lives. The tragedy happened after a dangerous young man illegally purchased weapons due to flaws in the background records check system. I was pleased to cast my vote on April 17, 2013, in support of S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act legislation, which included tougher laws on gun trafficking and straw purchases, and ways to improve safety in schools. I also voted in support of a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks on gun laws, but unfortunately a filibuster of this measure prevented it from passing. I also voted for a ban on large-capacity magazines, and for a proposal to ban combat-style weapons. I am disappointed a minority of the Senate chose to use the filibuster to block common-sense reforms.
As your U.S. Senator, I will continue to work to bring that kind of comprehensive approach that will strengthen the safety of our communities, while protecting our Second Amendment rights. As a gun owner who worked with others to constitutionally guarantee Virginians the right to hunt, I know that you can be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment without tolerating the gun tragedies that are too often a part of our daily lives.
Thank you once again for contacting me.
Sincerely,
Tim
Kaine"
Property Rights Rally in Gloucester
From Patricia Evans:
"Is Environmental Extremism Destroying Individual
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
"Is Environmental Extremism Destroying Individual
Property Rights?
What is the Cause? What is the
Solution?
These and other questions will be answered
when
nationally acclaimed experts take the stage on
Saturday March 8th 2PM
LIGHTHOUSE WORSHIP CENTER
Route 17 in
Gloucester County, 6 miles north of
the Coleman
Bridge, 4299 George Washington Mem Hwy,
Hayes, VA
23072
Admission is free but your donations are
appreciated.
Tom
DeWeese heads the American Policy Center
and is one of the
nation's leading advocates of individual
liberty, free enterprise,
private property rights, personal
privacy, back-to-basics education
and American
sovereignty and independence.
He publishes The
DeWeese Report and appears as an
expert on TV and radio news.
Appearances on Fox
News and
other networks are available on YouTube.
Marc Morano has been called the “King of the
Skeptics”
by Newsweek Magazine and the “Matt Drudge of
Climate
Denial” by Rolling Stone Magazine.
He is the
executive editor and chief correspondent for the
award-winning
ClimateDepot.com, a climate change and
eco-news center, and is a
frequent guest on TV and radio
news programs. Appearances on Fox News
and other
networks are available on YouTube.
Special Guest, Dr. Ileana
Johnson Paugh, is an economist,
a senior columnist for Canada
Free Press, and the
bestselling author of "U.N. Agenda 21:
Environmental
Piracy." A former teacher with 30 years
experience,
Ileana is a weekly contributor on Liberty Express
Radio,
Atlanta’s Butler on Business, and on Silvio Canto
Jr.
Blogtalk Radio in Dallas.
Please join
Bishop E.W. Jackson, candidates for Congress,
Supervisors, School
Administrators and others as we learn from the
experts!
Hosted
by: Concerned Citizens of the Middle Peninsula,
The Clarion,
Committee for Constitutional Government,
Peninsula Tea Party, ACT! for
America Peninsulas Chapter,
Fauquier Free Citizen, S.T.A.N.D, Staying
True to America's
Destiny, and Concerned Citizens of the Historic
Triangle.
Contact: Tricia Stall, triciastall@gmail.com 757.897.4842
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
Virginia Tea Party Patriots' Bill Reading Results
From Carol Stopps and the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation:
"
We have now finished reviewing the bills that were amended / substituted
during the first half of the 2014 General Assembly session.
The bills below are the complete list of the VA Tea Party Patriots
Federation legislative priorities for the second half of the 2014 session. For
your convenience I have marked the bills which were not on the list dated
February 9th.
Thank you all very much for your service to the citizens of the
Commonwealth.
Sincerely,
Carol Stopps
Chair: Cooperative Legislative Action (CoLA)
VA Tea Party Patriots Federation
"A statewide coalition of Tea Party and Patriot
groups"
SUPPORT
...HB 17 Electronic communication or
remote computing de...
...HB 99 NEW Tax information; changes unlawful
dissemination... ...HB 121 NEW Tax information; disclosure by Department of
Ta... ...HB 197 Virginia history and United
States Const...
. .HB 198 Student discipline;
expulsion due to fir... .
.HB 199 NEW Local government expenditures or reducti...
..HB 258 Higher educational institutions; restrictions o...
...HB 286 State Inspector General; appointment by General...
...HB 324 NEW Virginia Virtual School; established, report, e...
...HB 333 NEW School calendar; local school boards responsbil...
...HB 357 Concealed handgun permit applicant; access to i...
...HB 364 Civics Education, Commission on; reestablished ...
...HB 449 Student information; release to federal governm...
...HB 492 Notaries; if not accredited to represent person...
...HB 610 NEW School calendar; local school boards responsibl...
...HB 706 General Assembly member; legislative standing t...
...HB 754 Student discipline; modifying long-term suspens...
...HB 790 General Services, Department of; inventory of a...
...HB 1006 NEW Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP); DCR to ut...
...HB 1034 NEW Dams, certain; liability of owners.
...HB 1043 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...HB 1053 State Inspector General, Office of; powers and ...
...HB 1084 Permits and approvals, certain; damages for unc...
...HB 1147 Health insurance; offering plans.
...HB 1173 Stormwater management programs; optional for so...
...HB 1176 Health insurance; notice of increase in premium...
...HB 1200 Elections; qualifications of candidates, reside...
...HB 1256 Detention and removal of U.S. citizen from Stat...
...HJ 40 Virginia Medicaid program and Medicaid-funded n...
...HJ 147 Affordable Care Act, federal; Bureau of Insuran...
...SB 194 Eminent domain; date of valuation, inverse cond...
...SB 239 Student mental health policies; violence preven...
...SB 242 NEW Higher education; students' personal informatio...
...SB 325 NEW Standards of Quality; waivers from third grade ...
...SB 423 Stormwater management program; regulations, sin...
...SB 446 General Assembly; reports accompanying general ...
...SB 503 Notaries; legal advice on immigration, etc.,non...
...SB 542 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...SB 578 Permits and approvals, certain; unconstitutiona...
...SB 582 NEW Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP); DCR to ut...
...SB 603 Oyster grounds; condemnation. OPPOSE if amended to match HB1092. [No judicial review]
..HB 258 Higher educational institutions; restrictions o...
...HB 286 State Inspector General; appointment by General...
...HB 324 NEW Virginia Virtual School; established, report, e...
...HB 333 NEW School calendar; local school boards responsbil...
...HB 357 Concealed handgun permit applicant; access to i...
...HB 364 Civics Education, Commission on; reestablished ...
...HB 449 Student information; release to federal governm...
...HB 492 Notaries; if not accredited to represent person...
...HB 610 NEW School calendar; local school boards responsibl...
...HB 706 General Assembly member; legislative standing t...
...HB 754 Student discipline; modifying long-term suspens...
...HB 790 General Services, Department of; inventory of a...
...HB 1006 NEW Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP); DCR to ut...
...HB 1034 NEW Dams, certain; liability of owners.
...HB 1043 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...HB 1053 State Inspector General, Office of; powers and ...
...HB 1084 Permits and approvals, certain; damages for unc...
...HB 1147 Health insurance; offering plans.
...HB 1173 Stormwater management programs; optional for so...
...HB 1176 Health insurance; notice of increase in premium...
...HB 1200 Elections; qualifications of candidates, reside...
...HB 1256 Detention and removal of U.S. citizen from Stat...
...HJ 40 Virginia Medicaid program and Medicaid-funded n...
...HJ 147 Affordable Care Act, federal; Bureau of Insuran...
...SB 194 Eminent domain; date of valuation, inverse cond...
...SB 239 Student mental health policies; violence preven...
...SB 242 NEW Higher education; students' personal informatio...
...SB 325 NEW Standards of Quality; waivers from third grade ...
...SB 423 Stormwater management program; regulations, sin...
...SB 446 General Assembly; reports accompanying general ...
...SB 503 Notaries; legal advice on immigration, etc.,non...
...SB 542 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...SB 578 Permits and approvals, certain; unconstitutiona...
...SB 582 NEW Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP); DCR to ut...
...SB 603 Oyster grounds; condemnation. OPPOSE if amended to match HB1092. [No judicial review]
OPPOSE
...HB 1025 Biofuels Production Incentive Grant Program; re...
...HB 1059 NEW Electric utility regulation; recovery of certai...
...HB 1092 NEW Oyster grounds; condemnation. [No judicial review]
...HB 1116 Banister River; Scenic River designation.
...HB 1220 NEW Research and development, qualified; increases ...
...HB 1239 Real and personal property taxes; exemption for...
...HB 1249 Prescription Monitoring Program; registration w...
...HB 1253 Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Com...
...HB 1267 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 45 left in committee Virginia Health Benefit Exchange; established / oppose any budget amendments to establish a state exchange or expand Medicaid
...SB 48 Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management ...
...SB 127 Hybrid electric motor vehicles; repeals annual ...
...SB 250 Employment applications; inquiries regarding cr...
...SB 252 NEW Insurance; state health care plan to provide th...
...SB 257 Tye River; designation as component of Virginia...
...SB 294 Prescription Monitoring Program; requirements o...
...SB 297 NEW Medicaid enrollees; work search requirements fo...
...SB 418 Solar equipment; certified pollution control eq...
...SB 464 NEW Human Resource Management, Department of; state...
...SB 498 NEW Electric utility regulation; renewable energy p...
...SB 510 Firearms; possession following a misdemeanor co...
...SB 513 Hampton Roads Transportation Authority; created...
...SB 551 Cranesnest River; designates as component of Vi...
...SB 571 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 604 Immigrant Assistance, Office of; created.
...SB 653 Renewable energy property; grants for placing i.
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
Church of England Tackles Climate Change
From Charlotte Iserbyt, forwarded by Karen Bracken:
"http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/12/church-climate-change-investment-great-demon-flooding?CMP=twt_gu
Don't you feel sorta sorry for "them" with all the global "deep freeze"? Obviously, the term to be used now is "climate change".
Thought you would like this entry from 3D which relates to the Church of England's "agenda" going way back (see bolded text):
1942
IN 1942 TIME MAGAZINE (MARCH 16, 1942) RAN AN EXTENSIVE ARTICLE IN ITS RELIGION section
dealing with a proposal by Protestant groups in the United States for a plan of action toward “a just and durable peace” for the years following the end of World War II. Excerpts from
Time’s “American Malvern” follow:
These are the high spots of organized U.S. Protestantism’s super-protestant new
program for a just and durable peace after World War II:
• Ultimately, “a world government of delegated powers.”
• Complete abandonment of U.S. isolationism.
• Strong immediate limitations on national sovereignty.
• International control of all armies and navies.
• A universal system of money... so planned as to prevent inflation and deflation.
• Worldwide freedom of immigration.
• Progressive elimination of all tariff and quota restrictions on world trade.
• “Autonomy for all subject and colonial peoples” (with much better treatment for Negroes in the U.S.).
• “No punitive reparations, no humiliating decrees of war guilt, no arbitrary dismemberment of nations.”
• A “democratically controlled” international bank “to make development capital available in all parts of the world without the predatory and imperialistic aftermath so characteristic of large-scale private and governmental loans.”
This program was adopted last week by 375 appointed representatives of 30-odd denominations called together at Ohio Wesleyan University by the Federal Council of Churches. Every local Protestant church in the country will now be urged to get behind the program. “As Christian citizens,” its sponsors affirmed, “we must seek to translate our beliefs into practical realities and to create a public opinion which will insure that
the United States shall play its full and essential part in the creation of a moral way of international living.”...
The meeting showed its temper early by passing a set of 13 “requisite principles for peace” submitted by Chairman John Foster Dulles and his inter-church Commission to Study the Basis of a Just and Durable Peace. These principles, far from putting all the onus on Germany or Japan, bade the U.S. give thought to the short-sightedness of its own policies after World War I, declared that the U.S. would have to turn over a new leaf if the world is to enjoy lasting peace....
Some of the conference’s economic opinions were almost as sensational as the extreme internationalism of its political program. It held that “a new order of economic life is both imminent and imperative”—a new order that is sure to come either “through voluntary cooperation within the framework of democracy or through explosive political revolution.” Without condemning the profit motive as such, it denounced various defects in the profit system for breeding war, demagogues and dictators, “mass unemployment, widespread dispossession from homes and farms, destitution, lack of opportunity for youth
and of security for old age.” Instead, “the church must demand economic arrangements measured by human welfare... must appeal to the Christian motive of human service as
paramount to personal gain or governmental coercion.”
“Collectivism is coming, whether we like it or not,” the delegates were told by no less a churchman than England’s Dr. William Paton, co-secretary of the World Council of Churches, but the conference did not veer as far to the left as its definitely pinko British counterpart, the now famous Malvern Conference (Time, Jan. 20, 1941). It did, however, back up Labor’s demand for an increasing share in industrial management. It echoed Labor’s
shibboleth that the denial of collective bargaining “reduces labor to a commodity.” It urged taxation designed “to the end that our wealth may be more equitably distributed.” It urged
experimentation with government and cooperative ownership....
The ultimate goal: “a duly constituted world government of delegated powers: an international legislative body, an international court with adequate jurisdiction, international
administrative bodies with necessary powers, and adequate international police forces and provision for enforcing its worldwide economic authority.” (pp. 44, 46–47)
"http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/12/church-climate-change-investment-great-demon-flooding?CMP=twt_gu
Don't you feel sorta sorry for "them" with all the global "deep freeze"? Obviously, the term to be used now is "climate change".
Thought you would like this entry from 3D which relates to the Church of England's "agenda" going way back (see bolded text):
1942
IN 1942 TIME MAGAZINE (MARCH 16, 1942) RAN AN EXTENSIVE ARTICLE IN ITS RELIGION section
dealing with a proposal by Protestant groups in the United States for a plan of action toward “a just and durable peace” for the years following the end of World War II. Excerpts from
Time’s “American Malvern” follow:
These are the high spots of organized U.S. Protestantism’s super-protestant new
program for a just and durable peace after World War II:
• Ultimately, “a world government of delegated powers.”
• Complete abandonment of U.S. isolationism.
• Strong immediate limitations on national sovereignty.
• International control of all armies and navies.
• A universal system of money... so planned as to prevent inflation and deflation.
• Worldwide freedom of immigration.
• Progressive elimination of all tariff and quota restrictions on world trade.
• “Autonomy for all subject and colonial peoples” (with much better treatment for Negroes in the U.S.).
• “No punitive reparations, no humiliating decrees of war guilt, no arbitrary dismemberment of nations.”
• A “democratically controlled” international bank “to make development capital available in all parts of the world without the predatory and imperialistic aftermath so characteristic of large-scale private and governmental loans.”
This program was adopted last week by 375 appointed representatives of 30-odd denominations called together at Ohio Wesleyan University by the Federal Council of Churches. Every local Protestant church in the country will now be urged to get behind the program. “As Christian citizens,” its sponsors affirmed, “we must seek to translate our beliefs into practical realities and to create a public opinion which will insure that
the United States shall play its full and essential part in the creation of a moral way of international living.”...
The meeting showed its temper early by passing a set of 13 “requisite principles for peace” submitted by Chairman John Foster Dulles and his inter-church Commission to Study the Basis of a Just and Durable Peace. These principles, far from putting all the onus on Germany or Japan, bade the U.S. give thought to the short-sightedness of its own policies after World War I, declared that the U.S. would have to turn over a new leaf if the world is to enjoy lasting peace....
Some of the conference’s economic opinions were almost as sensational as the extreme internationalism of its political program. It held that “a new order of economic life is both imminent and imperative”—a new order that is sure to come either “through voluntary cooperation within the framework of democracy or through explosive political revolution.” Without condemning the profit motive as such, it denounced various defects in the profit system for breeding war, demagogues and dictators, “mass unemployment, widespread dispossession from homes and farms, destitution, lack of opportunity for youth
and of security for old age.” Instead, “the church must demand economic arrangements measured by human welfare... must appeal to the Christian motive of human service as
paramount to personal gain or governmental coercion.”
“Collectivism is coming, whether we like it or not,” the delegates were told by no less a churchman than England’s Dr. William Paton, co-secretary of the World Council of Churches, but the conference did not veer as far to the left as its definitely pinko British counterpart, the now famous Malvern Conference (Time, Jan. 20, 1941). It did, however, back up Labor’s demand for an increasing share in industrial management. It echoed Labor’s
shibboleth that the denial of collective bargaining “reduces labor to a commodity.” It urged taxation designed “to the end that our wealth may be more equitably distributed.” It urged
experimentation with government and cooperative ownership....
The ultimate goal: “a duly constituted world government of delegated powers: an international legislative body, an international court with adequate jurisdiction, international
administrative bodies with necessary powers, and adequate international police forces and provision for enforcing its worldwide economic authority.” (pp. 44, 46–47)
Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt
Former Senior Policy Advisor
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
http://www.americandeception.com
To order the updated abridged 2011 version of "the deliberate dumbing down of america", it is available from 3D Research at Amazon.com."
Former Senior Policy Advisor
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com
http://www.americandeception.com
To order the updated abridged 2011 version of "the deliberate dumbing down of america", it is available from 3D Research at Amazon.com."
Marriage in the Constitution?
Fair disclosure: I don't see a "shocker" in Patricia Evans' news story, below. I don't see a victory for the pursuit of happiness, either; equal rights to the pursuit of happiness would give equal rights to choose one's own heir or guardian to those who are (happily or unhappily) unmarried at the time when the choice has to be made...which includes the half of those who have been married who didn't die first. Neither do I see society becoming more concerned about the dear little emotional feelings of the handful of same-sex couples who want to have wedding parties (who rarely miss a chance to throw a party, whatever anyone else thinks, in any case). What I see is a cave-in to terrorist tactics--not the "But Adam and Steve throw great parties" sort of thing that's being reported in the media (although lots of well-meaning young people are jumping on that bandwagon), but "We don't want any AIDS blood thrown in our faces." I also see an attack on me, personally, as a widow who's found only one other man I'm remotely interested in dating, and he's older than I am, but nobody cares about middle-aged women anyway riiight?
I'm not pleased. But I'd advise Christians not to waste time and energy on this one until you're ready to stop twisting your knickers about other people's personal affairs (an unwinnable war) and actually spare a thought for the well-being of older Christians.
Anyway...from Patricia Evans:
"
"This is another example of an Obama-appointed judge twisting the constitution and the rule of law to impose her own views of marriage in defiance of the people of Virginia. There is no right to same-sex 'marriage' in the United States constitution. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that states have the preeminent duty of defining marriage. The people of Virginia did just that in voting overwhelmingly to affirm marriage as the union of one man and woman. That decision should be respected by federal judges and we hope that the U.S. Supreme Court ends up reversing this terrible decision. This case also leaves a particular stench because of the unconscionable decision of Attorney General Mark Herring to not only abandon his sworn duty to defend the laws of the state, but to actually join the case against the very people he is duty-bound to represent." - Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage
Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote a 41-page opinion here: Bostic Et Al v. Rainey Et Al
http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topic/show?id=3355873%3ATopic%3A2779155&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic
A federal judge has struck down Virginia’s law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
This law is not simply a law. It is a constitutional amendment approved by the voters.
This comes after Virginia’s liberal Attorney General refused to do his job and defend the law in court.
From Politico:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
"Tradition is revered in the Commonwealth, and often rightly so. However, tradition alone cannot justify denying same-sex couples the right to marry any more than it could justify Virginia's ban on interracial marriage," Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote in a 41-page opinion (posted here).
Ruling on a lawsuit brought by a gay couple who lives in Norfolk, Allen said the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage could not be justified even under the most lax constitutional test for state actions: whether it had a "rational" connection to a legitimate state purpose. Her ruling will not immediately make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples in Virginia because she ordered that her decision be stayed pending an expected appeal.
"The Court is compelled to conclude that Virginia's Marriage Laws unconstitutionally deny Virginia's gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental freedom to choose to marry. Government interests in perpetuating traditions, shielding state matters from federal interference, and favoring one model of parenting over others must yield to this country's cherished protections that ensure the exercise of the private choices of the individual citizen regarding love and family," the judge wrote.
Guess who appointed Judge Allen?
Obama.
The case, if it can be appealed must be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The problem is that appellate courts have to rule based on the record from the trial court. The record is the transcript of witnesses’ testimony and other evidence the trial judge heard.
With Virginia’s Attorney General refusing to defend the case, the case might not even be appealed and even if it is, the record may be very limited.
Once again, we see an imperious federal judiciary overruling the voters of a state to advance a social experiment that changes America from the nation that we know into something totally unrecognizable.
And with the striking down of this law, can the liberal state apparatus be far behind? That liberal state apparatus is the one that will force you to support homosexual marriage whether or not it conflicts with your religious beliefs.
From Breitbart,
While the emphasis certainly will stay with the legal repercussions of such a ruling, one wonders how many legislative clerks and assorted editors such a federal opinion goes through where such a gaping error related to the most powerful legal document in the country can slip through. Surely no elected official would be spared from late night talk show monologues had they made the same mistake.
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
I'm not pleased. But I'd advise Christians not to waste time and energy on this one until you're ready to stop twisting your knickers about other people's personal affairs (an unwinnable war) and actually spare a thought for the well-being of older Christians.
Anyway...from Patricia Evans:
"
Liberal Judge Strikes Down VA Marriage Law / Ruling Confuses Declaration of Independence with Constitution
"This is another example of an Obama-appointed judge twisting the constitution and the rule of law to impose her own views of marriage in defiance of the people of Virginia. There is no right to same-sex 'marriage' in the United States constitution. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that states have the preeminent duty of defining marriage. The people of Virginia did just that in voting overwhelmingly to affirm marriage as the union of one man and woman. That decision should be respected by federal judges and we hope that the U.S. Supreme Court ends up reversing this terrible decision. This case also leaves a particular stench because of the unconscionable decision of Attorney General Mark Herring to not only abandon his sworn duty to defend the laws of the state, but to actually join the case against the very people he is duty-bound to represent." - Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage
Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote a 41-page opinion here: Bostic Et Al v. Rainey Et Al
-
"In her ruling, she claimed the Constitution declares that "all men are created equal," which is, instead, the first line of the Declaration of Independence. Apparently she knows the Constitution about as well as the "Constitutional law professor” who appointed her." - Vern Shotwell
Shocker: Liberal judge strikes down VA marriage law
A federal judge has struck down Virginia’s law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
This law is not simply a law. It is a constitutional amendment approved by the voters.
This comes after Virginia’s liberal Attorney General refused to do his job and defend the law in court.
From Politico:
A federal judge ruled Thursday that Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
"Tradition is revered in the Commonwealth, and often rightly so. However, tradition alone cannot justify denying same-sex couples the right to marry any more than it could justify Virginia's ban on interracial marriage," Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote in a 41-page opinion (posted here).
Ruling on a lawsuit brought by a gay couple who lives in Norfolk, Allen said the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage could not be justified even under the most lax constitutional test for state actions: whether it had a "rational" connection to a legitimate state purpose. Her ruling will not immediately make marriage licenses available to same-sex couples in Virginia because she ordered that her decision be stayed pending an expected appeal.
"The Court is compelled to conclude that Virginia's Marriage Laws unconstitutionally deny Virginia's gay and lesbian citizens the fundamental freedom to choose to marry. Government interests in perpetuating traditions, shielding state matters from federal interference, and favoring one model of parenting over others must yield to this country's cherished protections that ensure the exercise of the private choices of the individual citizen regarding love and family," the judge wrote.
Guess who appointed Judge Allen?
Obama.
The case, if it can be appealed must be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The problem is that appellate courts have to rule based on the record from the trial court. The record is the transcript of witnesses’ testimony and other evidence the trial judge heard.
With Virginia’s Attorney General refusing to defend the case, the case might not even be appealed and even if it is, the record may be very limited.
Once again, we see an imperious federal judiciary overruling the voters of a state to advance a social experiment that changes America from the nation that we know into something totally unrecognizable.
And with the striking down of this law, can the liberal state apparatus be far behind? That liberal state apparatus is the one that will force you to support homosexual marriage whether or not it conflicts with your religious beliefs.
From Breitbart,
"Virginia Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Confuses Declaration of Independence with Constitution"
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/14/VA-Same-Sex-Marriage-Ruling-Confuses-Declaration-Of-Independence-With-Constitution#comment-1244312773
The Virginia decision follows
a declaration from Attorney General Eric Holder that the federal government will
begin to expand same-sex marriage rights from the top
down by recognizing marriages between same-sex couples on a federal level
that invalidates the ability of states that ban such
rights.
While the emphasis certainly will stay with the legal repercussions of such a ruling, one wonders how many legislative clerks and assorted editors such a federal opinion goes through where such a gaping error related to the most powerful legal document in the country can slip through. Surely no elected official would be spared from late night talk show monologues had they made the same mistake.
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
Morgan Griffith on Coal-Fired Electricity
Shortly after I'd read an e-mail, or e-wail, from North Carolina about another community losing its drinking water to pollution, this time from a coal-powered electricity plant, this popped up in Congressman Morgan Griffith's E-Newsletter:
"Energy Policy: “All of the Above” or a “Hope and a Prayer?”
Early February, groundhog and weather forecaster Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. Given the weather we’ve seen since then, it seems to me that, this year, he was right.
A recent Politico story entitled “Icy blast heats up coal debate” quotes Ms. Laura Sheehan, senior vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, as having said, “This year’s historically cold winter has served as a crystal ball into our future, revealing the energy cost and electric reliability threats posed by the Obama Administration’s overreliance on a more narrow fuel source portfolio that excludes the use of coal.”
Like many other industries, the coal industry has experienced natural ups and downs throughout the years. But market forces are not the only issue here. Instead, I believe government bureaucrats have decided the coal industry isn’t something that they like, so they’re going to try to regulate it out of business. This cripples coal communities like many of those in the Ninth District.
As we all know, when the work stops below the ground in communities like these, life above ground is impacted as well. Many businesses suffer when they are no longer able to sell supplies to the coal mines, and others when coal miners don’t have money to spend in their communities.
There is also the impact of the reduction and/or closure of plants that produce our electricity. In Russell County, for example, Appalachian Power is converting two of the three generating units of the Clinch River Plant from coal-fired to natural gas-fired, and is shutting down the third unit. Appalachian’s President and Chief Operating Officer Charles Patton said in a news release that this is because “…they are not equipped to meet recently approved and anticipated environmental requirements...” And American Electric Power’s plant in Giles County’s Glen Lyn is scheduled to shut down by the end of this year because of new regulations. "If the town lost all of that revenue," Glen Lyn Town Manager Howard Spencer told the Associated Press in 2011, "we would struggle to even continue to be incorporated."
Further, Politico reports that during the recent cold spell, “Wholesale electricity prices have spiked in regions such as New England, natural gas costs have surged with demand in Boston and Chicago, and power companies in Texas and Eastern states have had to urge residents to cut back. Some utilities have even been shifting, yes, back to coal.”
But the ability to shift back to coal won’t be as easy with all of the regulations that begin in 2015 and beyond. As Politico noted, “…many of the older coal-fired power plants that have helped fill the gap this winter are due to shut down next year because of the Obama Administration’s environmental rules.”
In that same Politico story, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is quoted as asking, “Maybe we won’t have cold periods like we’re seeing next year [and] we’ll be OK. But what kind of a policy is that? A hope and a prayer?”
I will continue fighting for real, reliable all-of-the-above energy policy, not a “hope and a prayer.”
"
"Energy Policy: “All of the Above” or a “Hope and a Prayer?”
Early February, groundhog and weather forecaster Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. Given the weather we’ve seen since then, it seems to me that, this year, he was right.
A recent Politico story entitled “Icy blast heats up coal debate” quotes Ms. Laura Sheehan, senior vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, as having said, “This year’s historically cold winter has served as a crystal ball into our future, revealing the energy cost and electric reliability threats posed by the Obama Administration’s overreliance on a more narrow fuel source portfolio that excludes the use of coal.”
Like many other industries, the coal industry has experienced natural ups and downs throughout the years. But market forces are not the only issue here. Instead, I believe government bureaucrats have decided the coal industry isn’t something that they like, so they’re going to try to regulate it out of business. This cripples coal communities like many of those in the Ninth District.
As we all know, when the work stops below the ground in communities like these, life above ground is impacted as well. Many businesses suffer when they are no longer able to sell supplies to the coal mines, and others when coal miners don’t have money to spend in their communities.
There is also the impact of the reduction and/or closure of plants that produce our electricity. In Russell County, for example, Appalachian Power is converting two of the three generating units of the Clinch River Plant from coal-fired to natural gas-fired, and is shutting down the third unit. Appalachian’s President and Chief Operating Officer Charles Patton said in a news release that this is because “…they are not equipped to meet recently approved and anticipated environmental requirements...” And American Electric Power’s plant in Giles County’s Glen Lyn is scheduled to shut down by the end of this year because of new regulations. "If the town lost all of that revenue," Glen Lyn Town Manager Howard Spencer told the Associated Press in 2011, "we would struggle to even continue to be incorporated."
Further, Politico reports that during the recent cold spell, “Wholesale electricity prices have spiked in regions such as New England, natural gas costs have surged with demand in Boston and Chicago, and power companies in Texas and Eastern states have had to urge residents to cut back. Some utilities have even been shifting, yes, back to coal.”
But the ability to shift back to coal won’t be as easy with all of the regulations that begin in 2015 and beyond. As Politico noted, “…many of the older coal-fired power plants that have helped fill the gap this winter are due to shut down next year because of the Obama Administration’s environmental rules.”
In that same Politico story, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is quoted as asking, “Maybe we won’t have cold periods like we’re seeing next year [and] we’ll be OK. But what kind of a policy is that? A hope and a prayer?”
I will continue fighting for real, reliable all-of-the-above energy policy, not a “hope and a prayer.”
"
Oh, the decisions...who'd be a Congressman? The position of this web site is that "all of the above" is the most reasonable route to a sensible "energy policy"...but this web site would particularly like to see more use of homemade energy, such as bicycle- and exercise-machine-powered generators.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Phenology from England
Sometimes I think about moving the whole category of "links to other people's excellent web pages" to Google +...but then again some excellent web pages don't have the + button. So, here's Moonvoice's photo gallery of a visit to England. Lots of sunrises, sunsets, and landscapes, plus a few British trendsetters in cool knitted hats.
http://moonvoice.dreamwidth.org/1595584.html
More recently, Paul Rance has been posting Bubbles about floods in other parts of England, now expanding to London...not good news...
http://www.bubblews.com/account/60785-paulrance
http://moonvoice.dreamwidth.org/1595584.html
More recently, Paul Rance has been posting Bubbles about floods in other parts of England, now expanding to London...not good news...
http://www.bubblews.com/account/60785-paulrance
Monday, February 10, 2014
Lloyd Marcus on Black History Month
Where's the + button at that ReverbNation blog? Lloyd Marcus, who is also a musician and can be heard, as well as read, at this site, shares some thoughts about Black History Month:
http://www.reverbnation.com/c/fr5/artist_700364?eid=A700364_19956410_53315195&fsc=0de8c729817
http://www.reverbnation.com/c/fr5/artist_700364?eid=A700364_19956410_53315195&fsc=0de8c729817
SB 51: Agritourism
From Patricia Evans. That link to the Virginia Free Citizen should open a fairly long and informative article; if not, e-mail salolianigodagewi @ yahoo for a copy of Kate Miller's report. I've also added the link to Virginia Senate Bill #51:
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+SB51S1
" After House Bill 1430, The Boneta Bill was defeated last year, Senate Bill 51 was introduced because an agricultural working group developed a compromise. ( More on that below ) SB 51 which seeks to restrict local agritourism regulation passed the Senate this past week with a 32-7 vote. The measure has been referred to the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. House Bill 268, a bill similar to SB 51 seeks to achieve the same effect. HB 268 passed the House two weeks ago with a 73-23 vote and has been referred to the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.
Sen. William Stanley, R-Moneta, says SB 51 would empower farmers.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+SB51S1
" After House Bill 1430, The Boneta Bill was defeated last year, Senate Bill 51 was introduced because an agricultural working group developed a compromise. ( More on that below ) SB 51 which seeks to restrict local agritourism regulation passed the Senate this past week with a 32-7 vote. The measure has been referred to the House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. House Bill 268, a bill similar to SB 51 seeks to achieve the same effect. HB 268 passed the House two weeks ago with a 73-23 vote and has been referred to the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee.
This compromise legislation came
from:
The agricultural working group convened last summer by Commissioner Matt
Lohr of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to
address potential farm rights legislation. This meeting reinforced that county
officials aspiring for more “local control” need controls on them – because some
of them would not agree to reasonable measures to check their abuses of
power.
The
worst offenders in the state? Those opposing legislation to help protect
farmers’ rights included Larry Land of the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), Joe Lerch of the
Virginia Municipal
League, Billy Vaughn of the Staunton Planning Commission, Fauquier County
BOS chairman Holder Trumbo...
AND Pittsylvania Agriculture Director Fred
Wydner,
Sen. William Stanley, R-Moneta, says SB 51 would empower farmers.
“We
want to make sure that we’re encouraging agritourism,” Stanley said, “that we’re
encouraging the product of the small farmer to be brought to market on the
farmer’s terms, rather than being the captive of a vendor.”
Read more / Bill Seeks to Restrict Local Agritourism Regulation
February 7, 2014 Virginia Free Citizen http://virginiafreecitizen.com/2014/02/07/bill-seeks-restrict-local-agritourism-regulation/
By Kate Miller
Capital News Service
Capital News Service
RICHMOND — An agritourism bill that would
restrict local regulation of customary agricultural and farm activities has
passed the Senate....
-- "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
Publius Huldah on Balanced Budget Amendments
Here's the gist of Publius Huldah's argument:
"We hear, “balanced budget amendment”, and think, “I have to balance my budget; they should have to balance theirs.” So we don’t read the amendment, we just assume they will have to balance theirs the same way we balance ours – by cutting spending.
"We hear, “balanced budget amendment”, and think, “I have to balance my budget; they should have to balance theirs.” So we don’t read the amendment, we just assume they will have to balance theirs the same way we balance ours – by cutting spending.
But that is not what the BBA does. In effect,
it redefines “balancing the budget” to mean spending no more than your income
plus the additional debt you incur to finance your spending. To
illustrate: If your income is $100,000 a year; but you spend $175,000 a year,
you “balance” your budget by borrowing the additional $75,000. See?
Under the BBA, Congress may continue to spend
whatever it likes and incur as much new debt as it pleases - as long as 26
States agree. And since the States have become major consumers of federal
funding, who doubts that they can’t continue to be bought? Federal grants make up almost 35% of the States’
annual budgets! The States are addicted to federal funds – who
thinks they won’t agree to get more money?
The BBA enshrines Debt as a permanent feature
of our Country; gives it constitutional approval; does nothing to reduce
spending or “balance the budget”; authorizes a new national tax; and wipes out
the “enumerated powers” limitation on the federal government."
Read the facts that support the opinions here:
App Contest
U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith reports on the "House App Contest":
"House App Contest
"House App Contest
This year marks the first Congressional
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academic Competition, being
referred to as the “House App Contest.” Much like the annual Congressional Art
Competition, the App Contest is an opportunity for high school students to
display their talents and creativity.
The App Contest is a nationwide competition
that allows high school students from across the country to compete by creating
and exhibiting a software application (or “app”) for mobile, tablet, or computer
devices on a platform of their choice. A student or a group of up to four
students eligible to attend high schools in the Ninth District of Virginia can
enter.
Our region is home to many talented and
hardworking students, and I look forward to seeing the innovative apps submitted
by young people interested in exploring or showcasing their STEM skills.
Additional information and resources can be found at www.morgangriffith.house.gov or by contacting one
of my offices."
Hmm. Would I rather see one of The Nephews win this (from their school, not in Virginia) or see a Gate City kid win it? I don't know. I know it'd be convenient to be able to download something that automatically links some obscure phrases I use often to places like hsperson.org or lis.virginia.gov. Not a global setting for a whole computer, but something personalized, specific to the web sites where I write, and easy to turn on and off when I'm writing at those sites or not. I mentioned this at BubbleWS last month, and seriously, kids, if any of you knows how to do it...
Morgan Griffith Is Not Making This Up
From U.S. Representative H. Morgan Griffith:
"
"
| You Just Can't Make This Stuff
Up |
Monday, February 10, 2014
–
Election year politics can sometimes bring
about strange results. Without seeking Congressional approval, President Obama
has yet again delayed part of Obamacare’s employer mandate, one of the law’s
major provisions. By manipulating its implementation, the Administration is now
unilaterally exempting employers with less than 100 employees from the employer
mandate until 2016. President Obama is essentially admitting that Obamacare,
his signature health care law, is a house of cards in a slow state of
collapse.
This act by the Administration to delay a
provision of Obamacare without Congressional approval is another example of
presidential overreach. To borrow from a June 2012 Politico story
entitled "Obama’s Policy Strategy: Ignore Laws" -
"'The President is using executive power to do
things Congress has refused to do, and that does fit a disturbing pattern of
expansion of executive power under President Obama,' said Jonathan Turley, a
constitutional law scholar at George Washington University Law School, known for
his support of progressive causes as well as his ire at Obama for not
prosecuting Bush officials in connection with alleged torture of terror
suspects.
"'In many ways, President Obama has fulfilled
the dream of an imperial presidency that Richard Nixon strived for. On
everything from [DOMA] to the gaming laws, this is a President who is now
functioning as a super legislator. He is effectively negating parts of the
criminal code because he disagrees with them. That does go beyond the
pale.'"
And folks, you just can’t make this stuff
up!"
HJ 40: Medicaid Transportation We Could Do Without...
Virginia House Joint Resolution #40 calls for a detailed audit of Virginia's Medicaid transportation providers. This is so long overdue.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HJ40H1
I'd like the Commission to investigate, particularly, the impact these "public-private partnerships," which have no clear chain of command and are fully accountable to nobody, have on local economies and on the transportation needs of people who don't use Medicaid. My experience has been that paratransit providers that try to replace local taxicab companies are harmful to the local economy and do not, whatever they claim, provide adequate service to people who would be using locally owned taxi service it we had it.
Specifically, I've been reminding everyone who's driven me to or from Big Stone Gap this winter (and so far only two people have done that more than once) that Mountain Empire Older Citizens actively discriminates against working persons who want to pay the full fare instead of begging for subsidized fare. M.E.O.C. has a bus that runs past my home and past the computer center; it takes a long time, it's crowded with obnoxious welfare-cheat types, and it leaves far too early, but I have tried to work with them just to spare friends from having to drive thirty miles. M.E.O.C. has refused to work with me. They "haff to" pack these bloated dog-ticks-upon-the-body-politic onto the bus and don't want to squeeze in one full-fare-paying customer. Especially one who doesn't participate in the gossip and trash-talk with obnoxious welfare cheats.
M.E.O.C. has disappointed so many people I know in so many ways, not limited to their ludicrous attempt to substitute for a legitimate bus or cab service...I know Marilyn Maxwell talks a good line, and may even honestly be trying to do everything she says she's doing, but I'd be delighted to testify about discrimination, about failure to send home health aides to the homes of qualified disabled senior citizens whom their employees didn't like while at the same time failing to place qualified home health aides who would have taken those jobs, about the alleged paratransit transportation provider whose "service" could easily have injured me as a healthy twenty-year-old so we know wheelchair dwellers weren't safe on his bus. The Commission should audit the everlovin' daylights out of M.E.O.C.
Here I stand to testify: I'm here this morning--afternoon, actually, it was almost 3 p.m. when I got here but I left the house at 9 a.m.--by a combination of walking more than three miles and sharing four different people's cars. "Anybody can ride the bus" for a dollar, the full fare for responsible adults. I have a dollar, but M.E.O.C. has refused to let me ride the bus because they want to run only one bus which is crowded to an unhealthy degree with welfare cheats. I passed five M.E.O.C. buses on the way here. Many of those buses spent most of the day parked behind the bank in Gate City. I see waste. I see discrimination. I see a need to restore the public transportation business in Scott and Wise Counties back to private people.
http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HJ40H1
I'd like the Commission to investigate, particularly, the impact these "public-private partnerships," which have no clear chain of command and are fully accountable to nobody, have on local economies and on the transportation needs of people who don't use Medicaid. My experience has been that paratransit providers that try to replace local taxicab companies are harmful to the local economy and do not, whatever they claim, provide adequate service to people who would be using locally owned taxi service it we had it.
Specifically, I've been reminding everyone who's driven me to or from Big Stone Gap this winter (and so far only two people have done that more than once) that Mountain Empire Older Citizens actively discriminates against working persons who want to pay the full fare instead of begging for subsidized fare. M.E.O.C. has a bus that runs past my home and past the computer center; it takes a long time, it's crowded with obnoxious welfare-cheat types, and it leaves far too early, but I have tried to work with them just to spare friends from having to drive thirty miles. M.E.O.C. has refused to work with me. They "haff to" pack these bloated dog-ticks-upon-the-body-politic onto the bus and don't want to squeeze in one full-fare-paying customer. Especially one who doesn't participate in the gossip and trash-talk with obnoxious welfare cheats.
M.E.O.C. has disappointed so many people I know in so many ways, not limited to their ludicrous attempt to substitute for a legitimate bus or cab service...I know Marilyn Maxwell talks a good line, and may even honestly be trying to do everything she says she's doing, but I'd be delighted to testify about discrimination, about failure to send home health aides to the homes of qualified disabled senior citizens whom their employees didn't like while at the same time failing to place qualified home health aides who would have taken those jobs, about the alleged paratransit transportation provider whose "service" could easily have injured me as a healthy twenty-year-old so we know wheelchair dwellers weren't safe on his bus. The Commission should audit the everlovin' daylights out of M.E.O.C.
Here I stand to testify: I'm here this morning--afternoon, actually, it was almost 3 p.m. when I got here but I left the house at 9 a.m.--by a combination of walking more than three miles and sharing four different people's cars. "Anybody can ride the bus" for a dollar, the full fare for responsible adults. I have a dollar, but M.E.O.C. has refused to let me ride the bus because they want to run only one bus which is crowded to an unhealthy degree with welfare cheats. I passed five M.E.O.C. buses on the way here. Many of those buses spent most of the day parked behind the bank in Gate City. I see waste. I see discrimination. I see a need to restore the public transportation business in Scott and Wise Counties back to private people.
Virginia Tea Party Legislative Update
From Patricia Evans:
"Tea Party Federation CoLA - SUPPORT / OPPOSE update - Feb 9, 2014
...HB 975 Hybrid electric motor vehicles; repeals annual ...
...HB 1025 Biofuels Production Incentive Grant Program; re...
...HB 1116 Banister River; Scenic River designation. ( Patron Les Adams )
...HB 1239 Real and personal property taxes; exemption for...
...HB 1249 Prescription Monitoring Program; registration w...
...HB 1253 Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Com...
...HB 1267 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 45 Virginia Health Benefit Exchange; established a...
...SB 48 Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management ...
...SB 127 Hybrid electric motor vehicles; repeals annual ...
...SB 250 Employment applications; inquiries regarding cr...
...SB 257 Tye River; designation as component of Virginia...
...SB 294 Prescription Monitoring Program; requirements o...
...SB 418 Solar equipment; certified pollution control eq...
...SB 431 Voluntary Remediation Program; removes cap on r...
...SB 510 Firearms; possession following conviction of ce...
...SB 513 Hampton Roads Transportation Authority; created...
...SB 551 Cranesnest River; designates as component of Vi...
...SB 571 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 604 Immigrant Assistance, Office of; created.
...SB 653 Renewable energy property; tax credits for plac...
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
"Tea Party Federation CoLA - SUPPORT / OPPOSE update - Feb 9, 2014
Dear
Delegates and Senators
cc All Federation members,
Many thanks to all elected officials who
support our legislative efforts. When voting according to your principles, we
know that you often put yourselves in the direct line of fire from the
establishment. Please know how much we appreciate and support
you.
Crossover support/oppose legislation
update:
See
below for the lists of the top support / oppose bills that CoLA is following
very closely. The notes will help you understand our position in some important
categories. It is impossible to address each individual bill separately and give
you a compact document. I hope you find this helpful.
NOTES:
[There are position changes and additions to
these lists. We are still reviewing substitutes and amended bills. There will be
another update soon]
Healthcare: The Federation is 100%
opposed to the implementation of any aspect of the ACA in Virginia. Every part
of Obamacare is despised by the majority of Americans including Virginians; it
is fiscally unsound; and a failure by every measure. We will watch very closely
and keep a record of those who support the current attempt to implement a state
exchange disguised as a free market solution called 'Marketplace Virginia'.
[modeled after the failing Arkansas plan] We will know who supports this
fiscally unsustainable attempt to expand Medicaid that will NOT improve
healthcare outcomes in spite of all the rhetoric. We support a free market,
doctor / patient-centered solution to healthcare.
[watch the floor debates live on the GA
website
Energy: The Federation strongly opposes
the many tax credits / incentives that are still moving through the GA.
Especially those that promote uneconomical renewable energy projects and establish
trading credits for the cap and trade system. Green house gases are roughly 4%
carbon. Of that 4%, only about 4% can be attributed to man's endeavor. It is
beyond arrogant to promote the idea, and expect us to believe, that Earth's
temperature can be influenced by reducing a small portion of this 4% of the 4%
carbon content of our atmosphere. The EPA has done a wonderful job of cleaning
up our water and air and it is our position that the pendulum has swung too far.
Environmental regulation is now destroying our economy and usurping property
rights. It is time to start reducing regulation and let the 'free market' work
its magic! [The government has already paid for the R & D]
Protection of privacy: Most legislation that would have protected
the dissemination of personal information from government or commercial use, and
required a warrant to search devices and track individuals has been killed in
committee. There are still a few bills alive. We trust that our elected
representatives want to protect their own privacy and personal information and
will act accordingly; thus protecting our rights at the same time. We support
all efforts to empower citizens in the fight against any government over reach
which diminishes Virginians' constitutional rights.
Education: We support state-led, market-based education reform
and oppose nationalization of the United States’ public education system. We
believe that the best educational system is locally-controlled,
student-centered, and involves parents and teachers as partners. We support
legislation that will:
- Stop the unlawful usurpation by the Federal government of the state’s role in the definition of public school curriculum
- Prevent the centralized collection and use of individual student and parent data by the Federal government that could be used for purposes other than educational
- Protect both individual and family educational rights and privacy
- Promote free market-based educational reform that makes our schools and students better critical thinkers and more globally competitive.
Tax credits; grants; incentives; taxpayer guarantees, new taxes and
fees: The Tea Party Federation opposes any new programs, program
extensions, tax credits, new taxes, fees and any taxpayer guarantees for private
sector projects. Let the free market work. We call for a complete outside audit
of Virginia government.
Too often billions are magically found through a partial audit of some
branch of government.[and then immediately spent]. Taxpayers want to see
the elimination of waste fraud and abuse before any new taxes are levied, and
also know - who are the beneficiaries of billions of dollars per year in tax
incentives/credits? Virginia taxpayers also want a comprehensive plan to reduce
Virginia's dependence on federal government subsidies which account for 38% of
the VA budget.
Transportation: We oppose any legislation that further expands
government size or power. Including, but not limited to, more layers of costly
bureaucracy in Virginia's transportation system. The Commonwealth already has
well established 'transportation districts' and 'authorities' legally
constituted and perfectly capable of determining and implementing transportation
plans for each planning district.
SUPPORT :
...HB 17 Cellular
telephone, etc.; warrant requirement i...
...HB 197 Virginia history and United States Const...
...HB 198 Student discipline; expulsion due to fir...
...HB 258 Higher educational institutions; restrictions o...
...HB 286 State Inspector General; appointment by General...
...HB 357 Concealed handgun permit applicant; access to i...
...HB 364 Civics Education, Commission on; reestablished.
...HB 449 Student information; release to federal governm...
...HB 492 Notaries; if not accredited to represent person...
...HB 706 General Assembly member; legislative standing t...
...HB 754 Student discipline; modifying long-term suspens...
...HB 790 General Services, Department of; inventory of a...
...HB 1043 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...HB 1053 State Inspector General, Office of; powers and ...
...HB 1084 Permits and approvals, certain; damages for unc...
...HB 1147 Health insurance; offering plans.
...HB 1173 Stormwater management programs; optional for so...
...HB 1176 Health insurance; notice of increase in premium...
...HB 1200 Elections; qualifications of candidates, reside...
...HB 1256 Detention and removal of citizen from State; SP...
...HJ 40 Medicaid-funded transportation; Joint Legislati...
...HJ 147 Affordable Care Act, federal; Bureau of Insuran...
...SB 194 Eminent domain; date of valuation, inverse cond...
...SB 239 Student mental health policies; violence preven...
...SB 423 Stormwater management program; regulations, sin...
...SB 446 General Assembly; reports accompanying general ...
...SB 503 Notaries; legal advice on immigration, etc.,non...
...SB 542 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...SB 578 Permits and approvals, certain; unconstitutiona...
...SB 603 Oyster grounds; condemnation.
...HB 197 Virginia history and United States Const...
...HB 198 Student discipline; expulsion due to fir...
...HB 258 Higher educational institutions; restrictions o...
...HB 286 State Inspector General; appointment by General...
...HB 357 Concealed handgun permit applicant; access to i...
...HB 364 Civics Education, Commission on; reestablished.
...HB 449 Student information; release to federal governm...
...HB 492 Notaries; if not accredited to represent person...
...HB 706 General Assembly member; legislative standing t...
...HB 754 Student discipline; modifying long-term suspens...
...HB 790 General Services, Department of; inventory of a...
...HB 1043 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...HB 1053 State Inspector General, Office of; powers and ...
...HB 1084 Permits and approvals, certain; damages for unc...
...HB 1147 Health insurance; offering plans.
...HB 1173 Stormwater management programs; optional for so...
...HB 1176 Health insurance; notice of increase in premium...
...HB 1200 Elections; qualifications of candidates, reside...
...HB 1256 Detention and removal of citizen from State; SP...
...HJ 40 Medicaid-funded transportation; Joint Legislati...
...HJ 147 Affordable Care Act, federal; Bureau of Insuran...
...SB 194 Eminent domain; date of valuation, inverse cond...
...SB 239 Student mental health policies; violence preven...
...SB 423 Stormwater management program; regulations, sin...
...SB 446 General Assembly; reports accompanying general ...
...SB 503 Notaries; legal advice on immigration, etc.,non...
...SB 542 Health benefit exchanges; regulation of navigat...
...SB 578 Permits and approvals, certain; unconstitutiona...
...SB 603 Oyster grounds; condemnation.
OPPOSE:
...HB 597 Richmond Metropolitan
Authority; renamed, compo......HB 975 Hybrid electric motor vehicles; repeals annual ...
...HB 1025 Biofuels Production Incentive Grant Program; re...
...HB 1116 Banister River; Scenic River designation. ( Patron Les Adams )
...HB 1239 Real and personal property taxes; exemption for...
...HB 1249 Prescription Monitoring Program; registration w...
...HB 1253 Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Com...
...HB 1267 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 45 Virginia Health Benefit Exchange; established a...
...SB 48 Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management ...
...SB 127 Hybrid electric motor vehicles; repeals annual ...
...SB 250 Employment applications; inquiries regarding cr...
...SB 257 Tye River; designation as component of Virginia...
...SB 294 Prescription Monitoring Program; requirements o...
...SB 418 Solar equipment; certified pollution control eq...
...SB 431 Voluntary Remediation Program; removes cap on r...
...SB 510 Firearms; possession following conviction of ce...
...SB 513 Hampton Roads Transportation Authority; created...
...SB 551 Cranesnest River; designates as component of Vi...
...SB 571 Va.Beach arena; if Va. Beach issues bonds for a...
...SB 604 Immigrant Assistance, Office of; created.
...SB 653 Renewable energy property; tax credits for plac...
--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." - Thomas Jefferson "
Personally I don't have a problem with repealing the $64 annual tax on hybrid vehicles (this is, after all, over and above the tax on gas, of which they still use a lot).
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