Category Archives: Virginia

Broadband Is Job Stimulant For Virginia

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 – 9:03 am

Guest post by Timothy J. Early
The National Telecommunications & Information Administration has awarded $21.5 million in broadband stimulus projects in southern Virginia. Although these projects are directed specifically at connecting Virginia Tech campuses and bringing broadband to public schools in Blacksburg, Bedford and six counties in the Appalachian region of Virginia, one report [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Hampton Roads, Local | Comments (3)

Sine Die

Monday, March 15, 2010 – 8:10 am

At a little before 6pm Sunday, both houses of the legislature completed this session and adjourned sine die. The extra day of session was to deal with the budget, which covers the next two years of operations for the Commonwealth.
With a $4.2 billion shortfall, some hard choices had to be made.  The budget is available [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Politics | Comments (1)

Musings on the democratic process

Thursday, March 11, 2010 – 9:00 am

Once the democratic process is corrupted, the scourge cannot be contained.
You see, change isn’t always bad, and standing still can mean you’re actually falling behind. To improve the outcome, the folks who continue to do what’s always been done should be outvoted — or replaced.
The two quotes above come from facing pages in last Saturday’s [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Politics | Leave a Comment

ICYMI: VA Gaywatch

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 – 9:05 am

Jon Stewart poked fun last night at Virginia’s Governor, Bob McDonnell and Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli.

UPDATE: The Governor has issued Executive Directive #1 (pdf) on discrimination. From the accompanying email:
While the separation of powers doctrine precludes the Governor from changing the Virginia Human Rights Act via Executive Order, he wants to be clear [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Politics | Comments (5)

Shad Planking set for April 21

Monday, March 8, 2010 – 10:12 am

The 62nd Annual Shad Planking will be held on Wednesday, April 21, beginning at 2pm at the Wakefield Sportsman’s Club. The formal event starts at 4pm and the speaker will be former Senator and former Governor George Allen.
Tickets are $20 if purchased before April 1 and $25 thereafter.

By vjp | Also posted in Fun stuff, Local, Politics | Comments (1)

DPVA JJ Speaker announced: Klobuchar

Friday, March 5, 2010 – 6:08 pm

The senior U. S. Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, has been secured as the speaker for the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner. This year’s event features a weekend of activities, but the dinner, to be held on Saturday, March 20 at the Richmond Convention Center, is always the marquee event.
Tickets for the dinner are $150 and [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Politics | Leave a Comment

As if on cue: it ain’t about us

Friday, March 5, 2010 – 8:35 am

Just yesterday, I wrote:
Lost in all of this is the reason they were elected in the first place: to represent us, not themselves, to the best of their ability.
With rare exceptions, it’s not about us.
Exhibit A:
Changes to ethics rules in the General Assembly, which seemed almost a sure thing in the wake of the scandal [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Norfolk, Politics | Comments (16)

My legislative agenda: reviewed

Thursday, March 4, 2010 – 8:50 am

In December 2007, I put out my legislative agenda for the 2008 General Assembly session. It consisted of the following:

Nonpartisan redistricting
Payday lending reform
Real estate tax relief
Restoring felons right to vote
Verifiable voting

Throughout the 2008 session, I followed all the bills related to these topics. At the end, while there were some minor victories, mainly in the [...]

By vjp | Also posted in Local, Politics | Comments (3)