You know, Fox’s supremely awful attempt to copy the Daily Show has had some people saying that conservatives just aren’t funny. I beg to differ. As Virgil Goode showed us this afternoon, they can be downright hilarious.
Category: Virginia Page 31 of 34
One of the many things I love about living in DC is the abundance of easy recreation within minutes. This morning, a 15 minute drive took me to Wakefield Regional Park. Five minutes outside of the parking lot, I was in the middle of the woods all by myself, on a mountain bike trail system expertly maintained by the good folks at MORE. Some days, there is no better escape than putting myself in a position where the sole thoughts in my head involve getting through the space in front of me . . .
In going to get a link for this post, I came across the announcement of volunteer trail work dates in March. If you ever ride Wakefield, please try to make one or two of these days. Keeping a place like Wakefield in rideable shape takes an enormous amount of work, and I’d bet that less than 1% of riders pitch in to keep it going. Trail maintenance is a 100% volunteer powered effort – please add your bit to it, if you use it. Thanks.
Proving that you need not have ever read the Constitution to get elected in Virginia:
It boggles me, how the state the produced George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison has degenerated into Virgil Goode, George Allen, and Eric Cantor.
Via RK.
I just noticed, a bit late, that the parent company of the Arlington Sun Gazette has agreed to be sold. I don’t know if the new owners intend to take an active hand in things, but if they’re looking for suggestions, they should start by replacing the current editorial board. As I’ve noted before, they’re an embarrassment to Arlington.
This magazine cover caught my eye, today. It’s a story on the 400 year anniversary of Jamestown that is curiously titled “The First Americans.” Is U.S. News & World Report telling us that there was no one living in North America before 1607?
It’s a very strange choice of title, indeed.
I’m a bit conflicted about using the tax code to promote certain behaviours, but I’m nonetheless passing along this information about a pending proposal for a Virginia tax credit for individuals who commute to work by bike. Lifted almost wholesale from a WABA email:
Act Now: Support HB 1826 for Bicycle Commuting Tax Credits
The Washigton Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and the Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF) urge all
Virginia cyclists to support HB 1826 which is now before the Virginia General Assembly. HB 1826 would
promote bicycle commuting by encouraging employers to provide bicycle commuting accommodations at the
workplace and by offering a modest income tax credit of $15/month for employees who commute by bicycle on
10 or more days per month.
HB 1826 proposes two different types of income tax credit for expenditures related to bicycle commuting:
- an employer tax credit up to $5,000 for expenditures to provide employee bicycle parking racks and/or showers at the worksite and
- an employee tax credit of $15 per month for commuting by bicycle at least ten days in any given month.Â
WABA and VBF strongly support both proposed tax credits, but we have suggested expanding the employer credit to include rented as well as purchased facilities, to include all types of suitable bicycle parking facilities (not just
racks), and to include employee clothes changing and storage facilities as well as employee showers.
The bill has been referred to the House of Delegates Finance Committee and will reportedly be heard by
Finance Subcommittee #3 on Wednesday, Jan. 24 and by the full Finance Committee as early as Monday, Jan.
29. A favorable fiscal impact statement has already been issued by the Virginia Department of Taxation.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
- Ask your Virginia delegate to co-patron HB 1826 before the bill is heard by the full House Finance Committee. You can identify and contact your delegate here.
- Ask your delegate to vote for HB 1826 at every opportunity. If your delegate (or a nearby delegate) is on the House Finance Committee and/or on Finance Subcommittee #3 ask them NOW to vote for HB 1826 when it comes before Subcommittee #1 (on Jan. 24) and the full House Finance Committee (possibly on Jan. 29).
LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION:
HB 1826 bill history
HB 1826 text as introduced
Last year I waited entirely too long to actually take a look at all the regional and sport calendars or put some thought into what I really wanted to accomplish.
So over the past couple of weeks, I’ve put together calender to help me and a few friends figure out what we wanted to do this year. As I look at it, though, I realize that it might be useful to other people in the region. So I’m throwing it up here.
This listing is not at all comprehensive – it’s just a list of DC area cycling or amateur athletic events that I either want to participate in or go just go watch. If you’re in the DC area, I hope that you’ll give it a read and see if something catches your interest, either as a competitor or spectator. A fair number of the events listed book up pretty quickly, and lots of them seem to open for registration on January 22.
Just FYI, it’s a list that makes me seem far more ambitious or in shape than I really am. I won’t be a competitive threat to anyone in any of these events. Except, perhaps, for the Lanterne Rouge. I just aim to finish and have fun.
The calendar is broken down into events for which the date has been set, and events for which the date has yet to be announced. Also, if you’re reading this any day but January 22, 2007, please note that this information could be out of date.
I’m still getting used to not cringing when I hear the voice on the radio start a story with “The House voted to . . .” or “Senate leaders are . . .” Been down so long, I’m still not used to up.
But things most certainly are looking up. In just a couple of short weeks, the House has already acted to:
- increase the minimum wage
- broaden stem cell research
- allow government bargaining on Medicare drug prices
- cut student loan costs
- adopt recommendations from the Sept. 11 Commission and
- roll back energy company tax breaks
And it doesn’t stop there. In the Senate, I’ve gone from having two Iraq war cheerleaders to two Senators who publicly oppose Bush’s Iraq plans. Now, I expect much more than this from my representatives, but this is a damn good start . . .
While debating a proposed resolution apologizing for Virginia’s role in slavery, we encounter another of the Virginia GOP’s best and brightest:
“I personally think that our black citizens should get over it,†[Del. Frank] Hargrove said of slavery, which existed in Virginia from 1619 until the Civil War. “By golly, we’re living in 2007.â€
But wait, it gets better!
“Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?†Hargrove wondered. “Nobody living today had anything to do with it.”
Must be seeking the GOP nomination for the Senate, or something . . .
Updated to add: Really, to hear so many objections from a conservative population that otherwise fetishizes empty gestures (One nation under God, In God We Trust) should be surprising. But, of course, it isn’t. Because if there’s anything more predictable about many of today’s “conservatives†than pointless public proclamations of faith, it’s their steadfast devotion to racism.
Nice. From a recent letter to select constituents:
The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.
[ . . . ]
I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.
More here.
(I’ll shortly be on my way to spend some time in a very Muslim country – Pakistan. When the discussion (inevitably) turns to politics, I’m sure that someone will say that the US is acting as it does because it fears and hates Muslims. Thanks, Virgil Goode, for putting the facts on their side. Asshole.)