Home Remedy for Feline Enteritis

Heather, the present Queen of the Cat Sanctuary, is a big strong tough cat. She bosses tomcats; she brings home squirrels. These days I worry about her strength and adventurousness. She reminds me uncomfortably of her Great-aunt Mogwai, whose stories, first the inspirational one and then the sad and shameful one, appear in "Alley Cat Tales." 

However, when Heather was four months old she had feline enteritis. So did Iris, Irene, Ivy, Heather's brothers Inkblot and Mo, and Ivy's sister Shelly. (Shelly looked exactly like Heather except that the tip of Heather's tail is buff and the tip of Shelly's tail was black.) This painful flea-and-tick-borne bacterial infection causes ulcers all through a cat's digestive system. Adult cats can usually be cured with antibiotics, but kittens are about as likely to die from their reactions to the antibiotics as they are from various infectious diseases. Most kittens who get enteritis will die, usually screaming in pain.

Even mother cats will seem to "abandon" kittens with enteritis. When some kittens born indoors at the Cat Sanctuary had this disease, I had a chance to see that what the mother cat does is not as coldhearted as the word "abandon" suggests. The mother checked on her kittens daily while they were isolated and fasting, and brought them back to the nest with the others when they seemed healthier.

Heather and her siblings and foster siblings were all old enough to eat solid food, but too sick to want any. I had bought antibiotics for other kittens with enteritis and found it to be an expensive, inhumane way of killing them. This time I tried a home remedy.

The remedy is a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal stirred into a cup of water. You can buy activated charcoal at the better sort of pharmacies; it's good first aid for food poisoning in humans, too, although some pharmacies (such as Wal-Mart) don't handle it due to concern about people who use it as an everyday remedy for stomach gas. (Powdered charcoal works by "adsorbing" toxins in the digestive tract; when overused it also "adsorbs" nutrients from food and causes dietary imbalances.)

Although they couldn't handle solid food the kittens were apparently thirsty enough to take two milligrams of this charcoal solution twice a day. Humans who've used charcoal for ulcerative colitis note a soothing effect. For the kittens, whose mouths and throats were also ulcerated, the soothing effect must have been immediate because often, while waiting their turns to be given doses from measuring syringes, they would slurp up a little extra solution from the cup.

Within a week Candice resumed feeding the kittens but I continued giving them charcoal for a total of ten days, until the whole batch of the solution was gone. During this time Shelly died, but the others flourished. (There's a photo and story of Mo in his new home here. Unfortunately, although someone else thought his photo of Iris's face was cute enough to become computer wallpaper, I don't have a photo of Iris.)

I've tried the charcoal treatment on other kittens who had enteritis. Based on samples so small as to be statistically worthless, it seems so far to have raised the survival rate from 5 or 10% to 65 or 70%.

I took this photo of Heather last summer...there's a post at the Blogspot about how she's acting out that she's forgiving me for the grievous insult of having petted Ivy before I petted her, in this picture!

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

Too Many Good Ideas?

Well...I didn't get five Bubbles posted last time I was on here, so here's a sixth one...reading other people's Bubbles has actually given me too many good ideas. I almost forgot that one Bubble has to contain the link that explains why I'm here:

priscillaking.blogspot.com/2013/12/homeless-victims-of-welfare-state.html

Thursday was definitely a snow day (Gate City got about half an inch). Today a little snow stuck on the tops of the mountains, but the sun shone through the little snow flurry we got down along Route 23. According to local weather-predicting lore, that means tomorrow will be a real snow day and who knows when the computer center will be open next.

(This is not the view from the computer center in Big Stone Gap. This is the view from Kresichberg in Europe, contributed to Morguefile.com by FidlerJan. It's the same general type of view though--bare trees, clear ground on the hill where the computer is and in the valley below, and snow on the distant mountain.)

Oh, and while I'm making excuses here, might as well mention that Bubblews is addictive. We get paid for other people's comments on our writing. Do we get paid for our comments on their writing too? Wow! So there we are with a lot of one-line comments scattered all over this site and nothing at our official web site, to which other people are still sending nice contributions, some of them written in a rather peremptory tone...well, actually the Virginia Legislature seems to be a bit, one might say, calmer this year than it was last year. I'd like to spend enough time there to highlight a few more bills, but it'll be more for being quirky and interesting, or ridiculous, rather than for being loathsome...some of last year's bills were loathsome. But Bubblews pays actual money...

Hmm...will we live to see the day when our legislators post at least the abstracts of proposed changes in the law as Bubbles?

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

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.

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

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.

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:

http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/balancing-the-budget-or-adding-a-national-sales-tax-to-the-income-tax/

App Contest

U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith reports on the "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.

Virginia Tea Party Legislative Update

From Patricia Evans:

"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  

http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/ ]

 

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.

 

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). 

Don't Try This at Home

Oliver Darcy shares the story and video of a woman who "saved" an orphaned puppy by giving it human milk...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/10/what-a-woman-says-she-had-to-do-to-save-an-orphaned-puppy-has-generated-a-lot-of-controversy/

Not recommended! Young animals can usually survive for a short time on milk from a different mammal species, but each creature is designed to thrive on milk from its own kind. Powdered milk "formulas" to replace dogs' and cats' milk are available at some pet stores, at some discount department stores including Wal-Mart, and from the vet; although not as good as milk from a healthy foster mother of the same species, these formulas contain a reasonable approximation of the major nutrients in the balance a puppy or kitten needs.

Disease germs can migrate from infants to their mothers or foster mothers during the nursing process. This woman probably exposed herself (and her baby) to a variety of canine diseases humans don't normally get by trying to feed puppies as if they were baby humans. If I had to try to "save" an animal on human milk I'd at least pump the milk and bottle-feed the animal.

HB 1219: Property Rights Remedies

Patricia Evans shared this e-mail (apparently not an article) from Mark Fitzgibbons, edited slightly for format. Here's the link to HB 1219:

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HB1219

"
From Mark Fitzgibbons:

HB 1219 Property Rights Remedies Bill Hearing was Wednesday in the House Courts of Justice Sub-Committee: Constitutional Law...

The subcommittee no-motioned HB 1219, so they didn't vote for it or against it.  Some confusion about whether the Morris remedies bill competes, but the subcommittee clearly saw there's a problem that needs to be addressed, perhaps through amendments to the Morris bill, HB 1084: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=141&typ=bil&val=hb1084  Bob Marshall will try to amend the Morris bill, which provides remedies for unconstitutional conditions as defined in last year's Koontz case in the US Supreme Court, a good bill, but too cautious to protect most people from most zoning abuses.

HB 1219 scares the daylights out of the anti-property rights bureaucrats who wish to remain above the law. We need to keep pushing this to make lawbreaking bureaucrats know that we're coming after them.

Chairman Albo and Delegate Morris,

 

Thank you for a good hearing yesterday on HB 1219, the property rights remedies bill introduced by Delegate Marshall that has gained national attention at The Drudge Report, Fox News, CNSNews, and other media outlets.  I am of course disappointed with the no motion, but I understand that legislators may need more information.  Certainly, the general public really, really likes HB 1219 once they know what it does.

 

Following this session, I hope that I can sit down with you and others to discuss the following:

 

1.  HB 1084 was discussed at the hearing.  It is a marvelous and much-needed bill following last year's decision in the Koontz case.  Koontz was limited to a specific set of circumstances involving what Justice Alito called "extortive" conditions placed on those seeking zoning permits.

 

2.  HB 1219, which is based in some part on 42 USC 1983 and 1988, does not conflict with HB 1084, and covers other types of abuses of zoning powers.  For example, the abuses inflicted on Martha Boneta and Jay Sherrill, who both testified, would not be remedied by HB 1084, nor would the abuses inflicted on Joseph Ferguson whom I referenced (represented by The Rutherford Institute, copied) be remedied.

 

3.  Since HB 1084 applies to the permit process only, or that is how I read it, other zoning abuses still need to be remedied, including abusive ordinances that do not involve permits, or abusive enforcement of ordinances.  Martha Boneta's being charged with a violation of law for a birthday party is one example of abusive enforcement that HB 1084 would not remedy.

 

4.  42 USC 1983 and 1988 do not hamper effective law enforcement, nor would HB 1219.  Those federal statutes are used against police as well as other officials, and police certainly must act with more urgency and danger than zoning officials.

 

5.  HB 1084 addresses quite well "unconstitutional conditions" as defined by Justice Alito in Koontz, but would not overturn the 1981 VA Supreme Court decision giving local ordinances a presumption of constitutional validity.  I urge that the General Aseembly not make people such as Martha, Jay, or Mr. Ferguson spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars to litigate up through the U.S. Supreme Court before that mistake is corrected.  Local ordinances are not passed by going through the constitutional structure of two legislative chambers and threat of executive veto, and do not merit the presumption.

 

6.  There was not time to address this issue in a short hearing, but Virginia's Code is set up to allow localities to discriminate.  Below is from the outline of my speech at the Republican Advance describing how the Code delegates authority to allow localities to use subjective standards violating due process and evidentiary guarantees, which as lawyers you'll recognize is a problem.  The Code even allows courts to disregard evidence after citizens have gone through an expensive administrative appeals process.  The "local" Code had its last major modification in 1962, five years before Loving v. Virginia overturning Virginia's ban on interracial marriage.

 

Last year's "Pitchfork Protests" bringing national attention to the abuses of local land use powers against farmers in Virginia was just the beginning.  Both Martha and I have had our properties vandalized since taking on our county government and exposing their abuses.  If Koontz dealt with "extortive" conditions, we are dealing with base thuggery.

 

We will continue to take our case to the public in Virginia and nationally, and I hope that the General Assembly will act to protect citizens.  Local government "control" needs better controls.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark Fitzgibbons

703 392 7676

 

Please read: From my outline on Virginia law delegating authority to localities:

 

5. The law

Virginia Constitution Article VII – Local Government

Section 3. Powers.   The General Assembly may provide by general law or special act that any county, city, town, or other unit of government may exercise any of its powers or perform any of its functions . . .

The Dillon Rule – local governments derive their power from the Commonwealth – the General Assembly

Virginia Code § 15.2-2200. Declaration of legislative intent.

. . . to encourage localities to improve the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare of their citizens . . . and the needs of agriculture, industry, and business be recognized in future growth . . . that agricultural and forestal land be preserved . . .

§ 15.2-2283. Purpose of zoning ordinances.

Zoning ordinances shall be for the general purpose of promoting the health, safety or general welfare of the public . . . (vii) to encourage economic development activities that provide desirable employment and enlarge the tax base; (viii) to provide for the preservation of agricultural and forestal lands . . .

VERY SUBJECTIVE STANDARD

§ 15.2-2255. Administration and enforcement of regulations.

. . . the governing body shall be responsible for administering and enforcing the provisions of the subdivision regulations through its local planning commission or otherwise.

ZERO STANDARDS OF DUE PROCESS, EVIDENCE IN ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT

§ 15.2-2308. Boards of zoning appeals to be created; membership, organization, etc.

. . . The board may make, alter and rescind rules and forms for its procedures, consistent with ordinances of the locality and general laws of the Commonwealth . . .

ZERO STANDARDS OF REVIEW

‘KANGAROO COURT’

§ 15.2-2309. Powers and duties of boards of zoning appeals.

. . . The decision on such appeal shall be based on the board's judgment of whether the administrative officer was correct. The board shall consider the purpose and intent of any applicable ordinances, laws and regulations in making its decision . . .

DO WE SEE A PATTERN?

§ 15.2-2312. Procedure on appeal.

. . . The concurring vote of a majority of the membership of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of an administrative officer or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under the ordinance or to effect any variance from the ordinance . . .

THE DECISION OF THE LOCAL ZONING BUREAUCRAT IS GIVEN THE PRESUMPTION OF LEGALITY.   WHY???

§ 15.2-2314. Certiorari to review decision of board.

. . . the court that testimony is necessary for the proper disposition of the matter, it may take evidence or appoint a commissioner to take evidence . . .

BUT

findings and conclusions of the board of zoning appeals on questions of fact shall be presumed to be correct.

EVEN BY THE TIME A CITIZEN MAY GET TO A COURT, IF HE OR SHE HAS THE MONEY TO FIGHT, THE COURT DOES NOT NEED TO TAKE EVIDENCE, AND THE BZA FINDINGS ARE PRESUMED CORRECT

--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."  - Thomas Jefferson   "

Virginia Special Election Tomorrow

Fellow Virginians, I've been so far behind on e-mail that this one didn't reach me before being forwarded around a few out-of-state contacts...

From Karen Bracken:

"My friend Melody Scalley, is running in a special election for Delegate in the VA House of Delegates.  This was a special election called just last week when a democrat Representative named Lynwood Lewis won a special election in the VA Senate that was vacated by Dem Terry McAuliffe's running mate.

Astoundingly, Melody's Republican challenger, Robert Bloxom, endorsed Democrat Lynnwood over the much more conservative Republican running in that race!  And that VA Senate race was crucial because it was a 20-20 split R vs D.  If a Republican had won, it would have made it 21R-19D which could better blunt McAuliffe's liberal agenda.  Further infuriating is that Bloxom is on the radio calling for democrats to come caucus for him which evidently is allowed.

Bottom line, Melody needs all the grassroots support she can get.  Only a few hundred will brave the expected snow Saturday to vote so a few volunteers can make a tremendous impact!  "

From Melody Himel Scalley's Facebook page: 

"We have been asked by a number of people where and how you have to vote. We are posting below the actual 'Call' for the meeting for this nomination. The abbreviated version is: Everyone must vote at Nandua High School, no matter where you live in the district. You must be a registered voter in the 100th district to vote and have a valid photo ID. Registration opens Sat., Feb. 8 at 1:30 PM and... you must be in line by 2:30 or you will not be allowed to vote. This is a REPUBLICAN nomination and the Republican party will expect those who participate to ascribe to Republican principles, support Republican candidates; and also, not have participated in a Democrat nomination process in the last five years. "

Do we have any readers in the 100th District? I don't know. Do any readers know anybody in the 100th District? I don't know. Counties of Accomack and Northampton, and parts of Norfolk and Virginia Beach? 

Too Much Is Too Much of Anything

[Gross-out alert: This news item is about a form of child abuse you didn't want to know existed.]

Reading this Blaze report...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/07/how-drinking-soda-as-a-punishment-killed-a-5-year-old-girl/

...reminded me of a news item we discussed in 1976 or 1977, I forget, but I remember it was in grade six. Some other horrible person ordered a child to drink water as a punishment. Water only--not soda pop--from an unspecified "bucket" that a younger child was able to carry. At that time things like ice cream and peanut butter were sold in one-quart and one-gallon plastic "buckets" that could be reused around the house for years (we only have one left, but I still use it to pick berries). Anyway, reportedly, the child ingested most of six "buckets" of water and died on the way to the hospital.

Do these gruesome stories indicate that drinking too much soda pop will kill a person faster than drinking too much water will? Sounds reasonable, because soda pop contains a good deal of sodium, and any imbalance between sodium and potassium in the blood (either way) can cause distress; a severe imbalance between those two chemicals (either way) can cause death. Then again, as I recall the story from my childhood may have involved a bigger child.

Either way, note the forty-year time gap. Nobody drinks enough of either water or soda pop to cause death. A sensation of fullness sets in. When people die of what the story from my childhood described as "internal drowning," force can reasonably be suspected.

E-Death to Spammers!

(Revised because I agree with Carolroach: it wasn't clearly written)

Well, the first Bubblews spambot has already found me. Ugh. Has a nice human-sounding name and tries to jam a free link to its alleged web site into comments on other people's writing. I hate those things.

Are you a legitimate small business that is just trying to get some publicity? If so, here's what to do: Start your own Bubblews account and post little stories (they only need to be 400 characters long) about everything you're doing and trying to do. Be a faithful e-friend to other people. Don't try to link everything to your business site, but let readers find your Bubblews profile page, and link to your business site there. Some of those people will become your e-friend and read your small business stories. Some of us sincerely want to help small businesses grow. For instance, although I only just discovered Juniper at BubbleWS, we've been e-friends for several years so when I found her here I immediately checked out her web site and even found something that truly deserved a Google + from me.

Here's what not to do: Paste a chunk of inane flattery, a chunk of nonsense wordage, or just a bare-naked link to your web site into the comment space on other people's web pages. This will automatically cause people who use these pages to hate you and your business, because even if you post a legitimate link to a site where you're trying to market a good product that deserves publicity, the spamlike effect of your "comments" will cause us to suspect that you're a hacker or source of virus...a lot of things that look like ordinary boring advertisements contain viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, etc. So, if you are trying to market something legitimate, please resist the urge to throw links to it into other people's web pages.

Noccalula Falls: The E-Tour

If you've never visited Noccalula Falls, take the electronic tour with Juniper Russo here...

http://www.noccalulafalls.info/index.html

The web site is under construction; it seems to have Google Ad Choices working, but not Google +. Apart from that, it has several pages of fun facts about the Falls and their history.

Frostbitten

Maybe I should classify this one as "funny" for Northerners, who think the kind of temperatures we've been having here are normal, but to some extent extreme weather is a question of what you're prepared for. We don't get weather like this every ten years, so we're not prepared for single-digit temperatures, and we really are cold...

Well, the last time I was here, the temperature was in the single digits when I left the computer center. Not a problem, I had my great thick Greensleeves shawl to keep me warm, and the computer center stayed open till 8:30, so my cousin who gets off work at 8 should've met me within half a mile from here, right? Only he didn't; when the weather's really bad he tends to work late. I walked and walked and walked, called my cousin, got no answer (which I took to mean he was working late in Nickelsville), walked some more, finally got a lift with someone else, but not before I was well and truly chilled. 

Next morning the temperature was still in the single digits when I woke up. Not a problem, wait for the sun to thaw things out. Oh, wow, it's 11 a.m., time to hit that road or stay home...wait a minute, it's still only 8 degrees Fahrenheit? (I think that's like -15 Celsius?) Time to stay home. On Friday I took a Big Freeze Day, which is like a snow day only, in this case, more worthwhile.

Saturday was relatively mild with temperatures even above the freezing point, which allowed about an inch of very wet snow to accumulate. I celebrated by spending most of the day sleeping. I hadn't slept during the night because when the outside temperature is below zero it's hard to get the warm room warm enough, and there's not a bed in the room with the wood stove.

Another thing that happens when the outside temperature is below zero is that the thermostat on a dear little Comfort Zone heater, which actually runs on "low" without starting on "high" wattage and jamming your circuits, hurray, becomes confused. On Thursday the heater had overheated and cut itself off twice during the night, so I'd left the heater dialled down to about 25% power during the day, then come in to find the indoor temperature hovering right around the freezing point...hadn't got much sleep that night either. I optimistically thought the thermostat just didn't understand the concept of running just enough to keep the temperature around 40 degrees (refrigerator temperature) so that things moved into the warm room during the Big Freeze, such as canned goods, don't freeze. I didn't want to think about the possibility that the heater might be reaching the end of its "life" expectancy prematurely because it had worked so hard for so long.

Well, around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, the heater announced that that was the case. (It said RRRRR--crunch.) 

I figured I had two options: 

(1) Stand over the wood stove until morning. That way I wouldn't get any sleep, things in the warm room would freeze, and I'd still have to buy another heater. Gate City no longer has taxi service. We have a lot of nice retired people who will drive for people in some kinds of emergencies, but not the kind that involve ice and snow.

(2) Start walking to Kingsport. That way I wouldn't get any sleep, things in the warm room might freeze, but then again I know some people who drive from Gate City to Kingsport in the wee hours of the morning; if any of them was currently working the right shift they could drop me off in time that I might be able to buy a heater at Wal-Mart and get home before anything froze. Temperatures outside were back in the low single digits. I did not feel like walking to Kingsport. I told myself that digging up my dreaded boots would be the worst part, that once I'd put the boots on and started walking I'd keep warm. 

Actually, in terms of effects I'm still feeling on Monday evening, walking in the dreaded boots was the worst part. Dreaded boots were bought to please a client who thought shoes didn't protect my feet; they were very cheap, just thick rubber, so they shouldn't have been too hard to wear...in normal weather. Only of course they'd been out in the tool shed in this freezing weather, so they were frozen. Dreaded boots did not thaw out in use. They were stiff as boards, would not bend at the ankles, and left bruises wherever they made contact, which was all over. 

Of course I didn't make very good time in those boots. At 7 a.m. I'd walked only seven of the ten miles to Wal-Mart. No shift workers from Gate City were working on Sunday morning. At that point I thought, "Hey, Mother should be getting off work; she can drive out and meet me here," so as I called to leave her a message I finally saw someone who works at Wal-Mart, who offered me a lift.

I had very nice things to say about Wal-Mart during those three miles. Where I planned to buy the Honeywell heater that was guaranteed to run on "low" without cycling through "high," where half the yarn in the shawl that was keeping me from freezing at this point had come from...it's also where the dreaded boots had come from, but I didn't mention dreaded boots, which are not a pleasant subject. By that time I couldn't wait to peel them off and see whether I was bleeding yet.

So then I got into Wal-Mart and...they didn't have space heaters! They had moved them out to make room for a "seasonal" display of grills, garden gear, and cooling fans! In January! During a record cold wave! I suppose the thinking was "People want to look forward to summertime when they're shivering in a record cold wave," but hear this, Wal-Mart management: when people's hands and feet are beginning to freeze, they do not get into your little summertime fantasy with you, or at least not until they get their hands on the heater they came in to buy. They get into their own fantasies about you being forced to stomp around in frozen rubber boots until you leave a trail of blood on the ice.

The Wal-Mart in Kingsport is right next door to the Lowe's. I limped over to Lowe's. They had the same idiotic summertime fantasy thing going on, too. 

Desperation set in. I knew someone nearby who has central heating and also had a working space heater, strictly a luxury to warm up the bathroom. I went to that person's house and commandeered the heater. Oh, of course the person was home, knew I was coming, had left the door unlocked, and didn't even yell at me about stumbling through the front hall in dreaded boots. But if I'd had to break in and steal the heater I would have rationalized doing that.

That was Sunday. Although another friend took the heater and me home in a heated car, well before Sunday School started, I didn't feel warm. I did know enough not to do the stupid things Southerners typically do upon finding ourselves frostbitten for the first time...shoving our frostbitten extremities right into a fire or a pot of boiling water, e.g. I parked the heater next to the cot in the warm room, changed socks, wrapped up in a warm quilt, and lay down in front of the heater. Since the air in the warm room miraculously wasn't freezing yet, it took me only three or four hours to get warm enough to fall asleep. After that I spent the rest of the day, and the next night, sleeping in front of the heater...I did wake up enough to feed the cats.

It was not easy to motivate myself to come out to work this morning. Temperatures were above freezing, in that nice normal refrigerator range. Trench coat weather, as distinct from Greensleeves shawl weather. I just didn't feel right. The extremities had thawed out, but the stiffness and tension inside are only gradually starting to thaw out today.

So I got to the computer center late and probably won't accomplish what I meant to accomplish here anyway...but at least I've done my daily bit for charity...

priscillaking.blogspot.com/2013/12/homeless-victims-of-welfare-state.html

How Important are Spelling and Grammar on Bubblews?

English spelling and grammar are difficult even for people who grow up speaking English, so it's easy to understand why some Bubblers from countries where English is a third, fourth, or fifth language don't produce the most professional-looking Bubbles. 

Americans aren't used to publishers who tolerate spelling and grammar errors, so it's easy to understand why an e-friend sounded so grumpy about the error-ridden Bubbles she's seen.

But since I'm a bit of a contrarian, I have to say that I've found a way to like the Bubbles that read like first-year English as a Foreign Language exercises. That may well be what they are.

Well...I think I lost an e-friend here at Bubblews because of this. This person was writing from the U.S. but obviously hadn't been here long. I read the last five of her posts. One was about her life: very short, obviously English as a Foreign Language. The next was a recipe written in standard U.S. recipe format with a comment in English as a Foreign Language as a first paragraph. Then there was another English as a Foreign Language story about her life. Then there was a celebrity funeral piece that sounded downright professional--in fact, without checking, I was 95% sure I'd read it in a local newspaper that legally buys these things from Reuters. Then another recipe with a comment by the Bubbler as a first paragraph, only I was pretty sure I'd seen the recipe before, too.

Squick. Squirble. I promised to read her Bubbles before doing anything else here if she'd write every word herself. I've not seen any more of her work since.

She seemed like a nice, sincere young lady who needed the money and who might have believed that if you just write the first paragraph yourself, then "quote" the rest of your Bubble, you're writing rather than plagiarizing. Unfortunately that's not the way U.S. copyright law works.

Now when I read something that looks as if it were written by one of my husband's E.F.L. students, I think, "At least this is his or her very own writing."

Besides, my husband and I liked our students. So a certain kind of awkward English brings back pleasant memories.

To all the Bubblers for whom English is a foreign language, I say, keep at it. Showing your work to a tutor or copy editor will help you make it more professional, and perhaps obtain those high-paid advertising copy writing jobs some day...oh, well, it's probably more like my French: when they really try and I really try, I can carry on some sort of conversation in French, but I don't really expect my form of French ever to be pleasant for natives of Paris to listen to. The good news is that natives of Paris are just a tiny bit snobbish about these things and once in a while a Haitian, Ivorian, or even French Canadian seems pleased that I know what just one French word means, so my learning French was not a waste of time. And neither is your learning English.

Delicious Daisies

In the midst of a record cold snap, I'm glad I took time to enjoy these e-daisies:

Found growing further south by Donald Pennington:

http://www.bubblews.com/news/1749789-back-out-of-the-woods-aint-dead-yet

Christians love atheists...we pray for them...and I think most people who actually read what I write, not merely because it's been labelled "Christian," will like what he writes. (And Bubblews pays per view, and he's another decent person who needs the money.) So, if you've not discovered Donald Pennington already, you might want to check out his Bubbles:

http://www.bubblews.com/account/16200-donaldpennington

Beautiful Elementary Math

In a new series, Peter Flom presents math in ways even adults can read for fun...and they're certainly recommended to elementary math students too!

http://voices.yahoo.com/elementary-math-beautiful-math-products-fibonacci-12507528.html?cat=4

Snow Days

(Reclaimed from Bubblews. Image credit: Dominiks Photos at Morguefile: http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/d/DominiksPhotos/01/l/1420915710f2ikl.jpg.)

The past two days, when I should've been here, were snow days. I didn't see any snow on the ground. Today is not a snow day. I am looking at snow on the ground (less than an inch, only in the shade). In Virginia it is not always possible to tell by looking whether it's a snow day.

This is because snow days are not always declared as such because the snow is actually in the place that is closed for a snow day. Snow may have fallen on the other side of the mountain, or at a higher elevation. Any snow on the ground may be fifty miles away from where you live and seventy-five miles away from where you work, but if some co-worker or customer feels a need to get home before the weather gets worse or might be called upon to help victims of a snow-related disaster, you may still get a snow day. 

This happens to people in Gate City almost every year, sometimes more than once. Big Stone Gap, thirty miles away, is higher up the mountain and gets more snow than we do. Sometimes the community college and/or the paratransit bus service in Big Stone Gap close due to snow there. Other times even Big Stone Gap doesn't get snow, but some other place even further into the mountains does, so people in Big Stone Gap want to go home from work early, so everything in Big Stone Gap closes. When things in Big Stone Gap are closed, things in Gate City are likely to be closed too. If the weather forecaster makes the storm sound scary enough, things in Kingsport may also close...when the only actual snowfall is in some little place like Clintwood where most people I know have never been.

On Tuesday, when I mentioned coming to Big Stone Gap to work online, someone said, "The weather forecast calls for three inches of snow followed by a big freeze. Nobody with any sense would go out today unless they HAFF to." 

I said, "Well, I posted on the Internet that I'll be back on Tuesday, so I HAFF to." I then started walking, confirmed that this computer center was open on its regular schedule around 12:15 p.m., and sat down at the computer about 12:50 p.m. I later heard that snow started falling in Wise around 12:30 p.m. All I know firsthand is that the computer center closed at 1 p.m. 

I had some extra time. I went into Kingsport, had an interesting adventure, composed a long rant that is stored on a floppy disk that has to be taken to a different computer center before it can be published from this one. I got home around 6 p.m. The ground was dry in Kingsport, it was dry in Gate City, it was dry up at the Cat Sanctuary, and it was dry all day yesterday.

The big freeze did arrive yesterday evening. The afternoon hadn't been terribly cold, so I hadn't lighted a fire in the wood stove. During the night I woke up cold several times. In the morning I went into the kitchen and poured out some bottled water to boil. Luckily the water was stored in a recycled soda bottle instead of those flimsy little things that pass as water jugs and bottles these days, so it hadn't frozen...but when I measured the water, not as much water seemed to come out of the measure as I'd poured in. I looked. Looked again. Within one minute water had frozen to the sides of the measure in my hand. I've read about this kind of thing happening in colder parts of the world, but this is the first time I've ever seen it happen...

Anyway, since bill-reading season in Virginia coincides with snow season, I think, as I've often thought before, that there ought to be a law about these things. People should have the right to take snow days when there is snow where they live or work, or carry on with their business when there is no snow where they live or work, depending on where they live and work. Nobody should have to drive in and out of Clintwood through ice and snow. Nobody in Gate City should lose two days' work because Clintwood gets more ice and snow than the rest of Virginia does, either.

I would like to share a picture of what my snow days looked like...but I'm low on phone minutes, and in any case there's no need. My snow day looked a lot like what you might see in Florida!