Quickies

Check out Delegate Adam Ebbin’s blog for a tour of the capital that he filmed while the renovations were going on. The renovated building opens today.

I didn’t get picked to be among the 108 folks to greet Queen Elizabeth II. Oh well. I figured once they made it public, my odds dropped dramatically.

The complaint to the Virginia State Bar by the judges in Virginia Beach about Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant is here. Bryant’s response is here.

The Virginian Pilot weighed in this morning on the Republican primary race in the 28th Senate district. Money quote:

All of which goes to show that, if politics makes strange bedfellows, party primaries can totally rearrange who’s sleeping with whom.

Three delegates – Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, Steve Shannon, D-Fairfax County, and Chuck Caputo, D-Fairfax County – are now calling for radio stations to drop Neal Boortz for his comments about the Virginia Tech students.

Two DUIs in as many days gets UMW president William Frawley fired.

The Daily Press weighs in today on restoration of voting rights for felons.

Rights should be restored automatically when a sentence has been served, not treated as a privilege dispensed at the discretion of a governor, based on personal preferences. Making citizens plead for their rights is at odds with the fundamentals of democracy. So is the requirement, imposed on those who committed certain crimes, that they make a case for themselves by getting references. No one should have to get references in order to vote any more than they should have to own property, pay a poll tax, be white or male.

Every year, Senator Yvonne Miller (D-Norfolk) introduces legislation to do just this. Since the legislature is unwilling to do it, I urge Governor Kaine to follow the lead of Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and issue an Executive Order to accomplish this. (Perhaps this is another thing that the Governor and the AG can work together on.)

Check out this article in Leesburg Today about the Loudoun County Democratic Committee’s JJ dinner. Great endorsements and congrats to the winners of the Outstanding Democrat awards.

Last but certainly not least – Leslie Byrne will be headlining a fundraiser for Don McEachin next week. If you can’t make it, send him some money, anyway 🙂