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Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Category: Virginia Page 10 of 34

Washcycle on the Bicycle Commuter Choice Act Benefits

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On March 31, 2009

In Cycling, DC, Policy, Virginia

Washcycle (as usual) has the info you need. This time it’s about the recently issued IRS guidance on the benefits allowed under the Bicycle Commuter Choice Act.  Check it out and send it along to your HR people.  I can’t help but think that it was a poorly drafted bit of legislation, though.  Because really, could this have been intentional?

The bicycle commuter act passed last year excluded bike commuter benefits from an employee’s taxable pay, up to $20 a month. However, if you receive the $20 bicycle commuter benefit, you can not receive any other transportation benefit such as commuter highway vehicle, transit pass, or qualified parking benefits in that same month. This is different than with transit and parking. If you want to, you can take the $230 transit benefit AND $230 in parking. But for cyclists, you can either have $20 for biking or up to $430 for using transit and driving (sigh).

Aww, Blue Commonwealth Quits

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On March 28, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

Blue Commonwealth collapsed under a pile of childishness, self-obsession, and pointlessness today, and it appears to be done for.  If you’re a reader looking for an alternative, I suggest checking out the New Dominion Project.  I’m a fan of the primary authors, and while there are still some rough edges in the site itself, I think that place has a good future.  If you’re a regular BC front-pager?  Please don’t go over to NDP.  Just sit and think about what a ridiculous mess you made, and go do penance by doing something useful, for once.   Like volunteering.  Offline.  For a while.   Through June, at least.

[Update: While I’m recommending places, I might as well toss in a link to the Angry Potato.   Funny and foul, but most of all – smart.  Not a combination I’ve seen anywhere else in VA online Dem politics (well, Blueweeds gets the funny and smart nod, but it gets totally outclassed in the foul dept.)]

Virginia Primary Childishness (Current Edition)

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On March 19, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

Mike over at Blueweeds says what ought to be said:

I have been trying to stay away from the increasingly odd temper tantrums promoted by the MacAuliffe “netroots” supporters over at Blue Commonwealth and  Blue Virginia.  There is a level of self importance which I do not understand, which is bad for the party, and which makes folks like myself, whom I would describe as true neutral grassroots Democrats who have zero interest in being employed by any campaign, want to do anything other than support the candidate jammed at me by the self-described progressive netroots bloggers.

This sort of childishness has happened every cycle since the Miller-Webb primary, and every time, it does a little more damage.  If you’re part of it, stop it.  If you’re in the audience, get up and leave.  And for fuck’s sake, Virginia Democrats, stop rewarding it.

Think That New Car Is Yours? Not Quite.

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On February 19, 2009

In Policy, Politics, Virginia

I’m coming late to this, but Vivian Paige brings our attention to a bill that I couldn’t quite believe, the first time I read it.  As Vivian describes it:

Very simply, the change [to the law] would make it easier for the seller of the vehicle to take possession of [a vehicle which you have contracted to purchase, made a downpayment/trade-in on, and have taken possession of, but for which the dealer has not yet made an application for title on your behalf]. Where’s the problem? Well, what about returning the trade in and the downpayment of the purchaser? Shouldn’t those things occur at the same time? This bill doesn’t take that into consideration.

Another concern of consumer protection activists is that it will open the door for the filing of criminal charges – as opposed to civil charges – against buyers who don’t, for whatever reason, turn over the vehicles immediately.This is despite the fact that Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code says that these are civil cases.

It’s a ridiculously bad change to the law (something that Del. John Cosgrove, sponsor of the bill, seems to be fond of attempting), and is up for hearing today.  Follow the link from Vivian’s place for information on

Related: Mark Brooks follows the money.

West Virginia: Seceded Where Others Failed

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On February 12, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

kanawhamap

Here’s another map from Strange Maps (one of my favorite places on the internet). It shows:

the seceding part of Virginia as Kanawha (as yet still without its eastern panhandle and some of its southeastern territory). It is a Map of the States of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, as Proposed To Be Re-Organised by the Secretary of War. In this proposal, Delaware expands to include all of the Delmarva peninsula, including its Virginian part in the south, but more importantly, Maryland annexes all of Virginia between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the sea. As a consolation prize, Virginia gets Maryland’s western protrusion, making Hagerstown a Virginian city. But then there’s Kanawha seceding, leaving what remains of Virginia proper to look like an unseemly leftover.

Follow the link for more of the historical context.

Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-Va) Office Has a Little Problem With Context

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On February 11, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

From Greg Sargent:

This isn’t going to make the big unions very happy. GOP House leader Eric Cantor’s office has come up with an intriguing response to the AFSCME ad bllitz targeting GOP leaders: Sending over a video that portrays AFSCME union members as 1970s-era goons.

Cantor spokesperson Brad Dayspring emails me the vid, stressing that it’s meant as a joke:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mw49mk_x0[/youtube]

Now, I think that’s a pretty funny parody.  I saw it sometime last year, and might have even passed it along.  But you know who I’m not and what I wasn’t doing?  I’m not the spokesman for a member of the GOP leadership, and I wasn’t sending to the press as a response to a legitimate issue ad.   Cue Republican whining in 3, 2, 1 . . .

Go, Rocky!

By

On February 10, 2009

In Society, Virginia

Okay, this is a little out of character, but I just had to link to this.  For context – over the past month, I’ve been biking by Lost Dog posters with pictures of Rocky.  I stopped and looked at them, just in case.  I was even interested in enough to check out the associated blog.    The last time I did it was about a week ago, and I pretty much came away with the thought that I felt bad for the owner of such an obviously gone dog.

And yet Rocky – with the help of scores and scores of area residents – was found 36 days after he was first lost.  No one will ever accuse me of being an animal person, but hearing news of the reunion was a really bright spot in the day.

The Best Write Up of the State of Virginia’s Democratic Prospects

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On February 10, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

If you care a whit about Virginia Democratic politics, you should read Hank Bostwick’s What we learned about the VDP at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner right now. I’ve not seen – anywhere – a better write up of what Democrats are facing in this year’s gubernatorial primary and general elections.

So Ralph Northam, Jeff Frederick, and Tim Kaine . . .

By

On February 10, 2009

In Politics, Virginia

walk into a bar.

Anyone want to tell us more about the rest of this joke?

Friday Notes: This Edition

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On February 6, 2009

In Cycling, Personal, Policy, Politics, Virginia

One of my favorite pro cyclists – Magnus Backstedt – is retiring.   At 6’4″ and 210lbs, he was proof that you don’t have to be a tiny little stick man to do well in cycling (tho’ it helps).  Good luck, Maggy.  We’ll miss you.

~

End to high times in Dubai?

[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.

I’m sure that no one could have imagined it.

~

Did you know that the US is getting new pennies next week?  I did not.

~

Fred Kaplan takes a good look at Federal archiving policy.  That might sound a bit dull, but it’s terribly important if we want to be able to ever assess the gap between what our politicians tell us and what the government actually does.

“Electronic records,” the study found, “are generally not disposed of in accordance” with federal regulations. In particular, many e-mails are “being destroyed prematurely,” for several reasons. [ . . . ]

Finally—and this is simply stunning—the National Archives’ technology branch is so antiquated that it cannot process some of the most common software programs. Specifically, the study states, the archives “is still unable to accept Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint slides.”

This is a huge lapse. Nearly all internal briefings in the Pentagon these days are presented as PowerPoint slides. Officials told me three years ago that if an officer wanted to make a case for a war plan or a weapons program or just about anything, he or she had better make the case in PowerPoint—or forget about getting it approved.

And now, it turns out, all those presentations may be lost to the ether.

~

Supposedly, Virginia will have smoking ban legislation soon.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

~

Trying to figure out what to do for your kid’s 15th birthday?  Hire the Abstinence Clown!  Can’t be that expensive, since it’s federally subsidized, and truly, the possible entertainment value is almost inconceivable.

~

I’ve been looking for a new motorcycle helmet, and I think I might have found it.

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