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January 31, 2007

"I hope you can see this, because I'm doing it as hard as I can."

The cult -- and vastly entertaining -- television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force staged a publicity campaign in several cities across the country for the last few weeks. It involved hanging electronic signs featuring two characters from the show called mooninites. They're from the moon and named Ignignokt and Err, but that's not important here.

What's important is the fallout in Beantown. Boston authorities and Homeland Security caught wind of the signs and overreacted just a touch.

From the AP story:

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

Now the governor is threatening legal action, and one person has already been arrested.

Sheesh. Get a clue and a sense of humor guys. Who confuses a light-brite with a bomb? The cops could have stopped any college student on Harvard Square and found out what they were. Let this be a lesson that pop culture ignorance can be as bad as any other flavor of ignorance.

Note: Image of one of the signs below. It shows something that looks like it came out of a 1980s era video game flipping the bird. Don't say you weren't warned if you are incredibly easily offended.

Continue reading ""I hope you can see this, because I'm doing it as hard as I can."" »

Transportation redux

For Thursday we will take a look at an effort by the state Senate to fund transporation needs without raiding education and social services.

WUVT

For Sunday Current column I'm writing about WUVT (Virginia Tech's student radio station). They blew their aging transmitter and need help getting it back up and running. The column will reflect on the value this sort of broadcast alternative adds to the community.

Comment on letters, columns

Today's letters are here

Local commentary:
An upside to a federal minimum wage boost
Al Nelson
Nelson, of Hardy, is a retired businessman and former telephone company economic analyst.
The Jan. 16 Roanoke Times featured a commentary on the federal minimum wage by Andrew Cassel and recently published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. That commentary, although well written, concludes that boosting the earned-income tax credit is preferable to raising the minimum wage.
Read more.

Uncharitable acts

On Thursday, we'll comment on a mean-spirited attempt in Virginia's House of Delegates to deny state and local funding to charities if any of the money is used, even inadvertently, to help illegal immigrants.

Editorial cartoons

A letter in today's paper (click here, then scroll to the bottom) takes us to task for running an editorial cartoon one day criticizing Hillary for flip-flopping on Iraq after running a cartoon the week before criticizing President Bush for not being responsive to public sentiment on the war.

"I was always taught that 'what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,' meaning that we must be consistent in our beliefs. Apparently, The Times does not hold to this tenet," wrote Pete Hamilton.

I've got two responses to that: First, cartoons are signed work, and like all signed work on our pages represent the individual opinion of the person signing them, not the institutional viewpoint of The Roanoke Times. We probably need to do a better job educating readers about that distinction, but there should be no expectation that cartoons by different authors will express consistent viewpoints.

Second, there is a difference between flip-flopping based on polls - which is what Clinton was accused of in the Jim Morin cartoon - and recognizing that there has been a fundamental shift in national opinion and that the vast majority of the nation no longer supports a failed course of action, which is what the Daryl Cagle cartoon dinged the president for his failure to do.

Traud column

Scuzzball bills and the like
The editorial board in recent weeks has written extensively on some of the important matters before the General Assembly. And we've lent our insight on some of the not-so-important bills, including:

n The telepathetic ... er, telepathic ... bill. Sen. Ken Cuccinelli wanted Virginians, especially "scuzzball reporters," to activate their ESP antennas and know whether someone doesn't want them knocking on the front door.

Read more

Comment on Wednesday's editorials

Tougher penalties for cockfighters
Sen. Roscoe Reynolds' bill aims to deter an unwelcome activity that is prone to drawing other criminal acts into its talons.
One need not possess the sensibilities of a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to wince at the thought of what likely took place before law enforcement raided a cockfighting pit earlier this month in southern Virginia -- birds clawing and pecking each other to incapacitation or death.
Read more.

Give the green light to a photo-red law
Virginia's delegates should set fear aside and pass a reasonable law to stop traffic on 'red.'
Again, Virginia's Senate has voted for public safety by voting to let localities set up photo monitors at traffic light signals.
Read more.

January 30, 2007

Stupid lies about the Clintons

With Hillary throwing her hat in the 2008 ring, folks are dusting off the old lies about the Clintons and passing them around the Internets again.

I've gotten this one twice already today from well-meaning right-wing correspondents:

This is what happens when you have dirt on the Clintons :

1 - James McDougal - Clinton 's convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr's investigation.

2 - Mary Mahoney - A former White House intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown. The murder happened just after she was to go public with her story of sexual harassment in the White House.

It goes on, and on, and on, to list about 47 Clinton "associates" who met untimely ends.

But snopes.com, a well-respected nonpartisan Web site devoted to debunking urban myths, calls the e-mail complete bunk:

Continue reading "Stupid lies about the Clintons" »

Tougher penalties for cockfighting

Coming Wednesday: A bill introduced by Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry, is born of justifiable concern for cockfighting.

Rightly, the bill aims to deter this blood sport - and the gambling, drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession that tends to accompany it - by stiffening penalties, something long overdue in a state with one of the weakest cockfighting laws in the country.

Cockfighting is little more than animal cruelty disguised as entertainment. State legislators must give law enforcement the tough penalties needed to deter such savagery.

Green light for photo-red?

On Wednesday, we'll be commenting on the so-called photo-red bill that just passed the Virginia Senate. It would allow localities to put cameras at traffic intersections to record vehicles that run red lights. We think this is a common-sense safety measure.

SLAPPed down

For later in the week, we'll be urging passage of an anti-SLAPP bill in the General Assembly. SLAPP stands for "Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation." They are lawsuits filed companies against individuals to chill public discourse about things the companies want to do. The idea is that the company has attorneys on staff and the resources in instigate a meritless suit against someone opposing a project. Average citizens cannot afford to get bogged down in such costly legal fights.

Dead horse

Cold, heartless bastard thought for the day:

I just don't understand the fascination with the dead horse. NPR has been intensely covering Barbaro's status the last few days with regular updates. Now The New York Times has an editorial (registration might be required). Where does it stop? The horse didn't even win the triple crown. With no offspring (racing rules prohibit artificial insemination) the only thing people should care about today is can we buy Barbaro dog food or glue.

Secondhand smoke

I expect more from The Washington Post. The newspaper published a commentary by someone critical of the science assessing the dangers of secondhand smoke, and described him with the following paragraph:

"Gio Batta Gori, an epidemiologist and toxicologists, is a fellow of the Health Policy Center in Bethesda. He is a former deputy director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Cause and Prevention, and he received the U.S. Public Health Service Superior Service Award in 1976 for his efforts to define less hazardous cigarettes. Gori's article "The Surgeon General's Doctored Opinion" will appear in the spring issue of the Cato Institute's Regulation Magazine."

Sounds impressive, doesn't it?

But look Gori up on Sourcewatch, and you get a totally different take on the man:

Continue reading "Secondhand smoke" »

Comment on Tuesday's editorials

Embolden democracy
For a president who wishes to spread democracy, George W. Bush has a warped understanding of the right to dissent.
"I am the decision-maker," says President Bush. Those who dare to question his decisions -- as egregiously flawed as they often are -- are accused of giving aid and comfort to our enemies. The president wants every U.S. senator -- Republicans included -- to understand the stakes should they pass a resolution warning him that his surge strategy for Iraq is wrong.
Read more.

Turning wine into vinegar
Lawmakers find a wine distribution scheme that won't work for anyone.
Leave it to the General Assembly to come up with a needlessly complex, ineffective approach to a problem with a simple solution.
Read more.

January 29, 2007

The messy thing called democracy

For Tuesday: President Bush and his old vice president and his new defense secretary (who is sounding much like the old one) claim that if Congress moves forward with resolutions to oppose his surge in Iraq, they will embolden the enemy.
Odd. Doesn't Bush wish to spread democracy in the region. Isn't this what democracy looks like?

Comment on Monday's editorials

When money talks, lawmakers listen
Cash-strapped borrowers aren't the only ones receiving money from payday lenders. The industry gave state lawmakers $400,000 last year.
The consumer lending and finance industry last year alone contributed $400,000 to state lawmakers -- the bulk went to lawmakers serving on the committees that control the fate of payday lenders.
Read more.

Seeing green in brownfields
Roanoke should continue efforts to reassure developers that laws protect investors from liability.
A city like Roanoke with limited growth options must do all it can to encourage investment in cleaning up and developing vacant industrial tracts known as brownfields.
Read more.

A little vino would be keeno

A "compromise bill" has emerged to deal with the wine distribution issue. It manages to embody the worst of all solutions, creating government bureaucracy and an uneven playing field all just to preserve business for distributors.

January 28, 2007

Comment on Trejbal's column

Radford Students just want to have fun

I always thought high school was about building on the fundamentals. The three Rs and all that.

Sure, there were some life-skills thrown on top, but when you graduated, you were supposed to know how to string together a few coherent paragraphs to form an argument, solve a basic math problem and speak intelligently about history and literature. In other words, a high school graduate should have the basic skills to succeed.

Read more.

Comment on Radmacher's column

Gerrymandering turns democracy on its head
Human nature being what it is, there's probably little reason to hope that House Republicans will do the right thing on redistricting. When Democrats were in power, after all, they rejected Republican suggestions to set up a bipartisan redistricting method. Instead, they did what parties in power do in most states across the nation: They redrew legislative and congressional districts to maximize their partisan advantage. Why should Republicans rise above such selfish behavior?
Read more.

Comment on Sunday's editorials

Conditions are ripe for immigration reform
They may be uneasy allies, but with Democrats at the helm, Bush might have better luck with passage of his immigration overhauls.
President Bush, trotting out his latest domestic initiatives during last week's State of the Union address, renewed the push for an immigration overhaul.
Read more.

Death to a decal
The automobile tax decal is quickly fading into antiquity. Scrape them off, permanently.
There is certain nostalgia in the annual practice of scraping off a tired old car tax decal, peeling back the protective covering on a shiny new one and affixing it inside the windshield.
Read more.

New River Forum editorial
Now you see them, now you don't
Radford University plays hide and seek with public records
Browsing the agendas and other paperwork for Radford University's governing board of visitors can be soporific. Take a look at last month's agenda: committee reports, a special recognition, board bylaws and the president's report. Yawn.
Read more.

January 27, 2007

Comment on Saturday's editorials

A not-so-candid legislative camera
Online video could add 10 pounds of truth to the General Assembly.

A Democratic operative is trolling the halls of the General Assembly with a video camera. He records committee meetings where Republicans kill bills without a recorded vote, posts the footage to the popular video-sharing Web site YouTube and provides links on the blog assemblyaccess.com.

Democrats call it open government. Republicans call it the first salvo in a gotcha war. Both are right, but the peace should come through independent broadcasts, not partisan escalation.

Read more.


Opening a new chapter

Youngsters are pouring into area libraries after school, laughing with friends and hogging computer time.

What an opportunity.

Read more.

January 26, 2007

Predatory lenders

For Monday: Lending and consumer credit organizations have given state lawmakers $400,000 in the past year. No wonder lawmakers won't approve a bill that would protect consumers from predatory lenders.

Assembly video

Democrats in the General Assembly have started uploading video of committee meetings to YouTube and linking it all up on a blog. That's great for open government, but the real question is why doesn't the General Assembly just do this by default for all meetings? It's not like the technology is that difficult or expensive.

Comment on Friday's editorials

Don't go around this track
Horse-racing interests want Virginia lawmakers to legalize instant gaming. Expanding gambling is not an honorable way to fill state coffers.
The temptation is sweet. Hundreds of millions of dollars -- to be used only for good, of course. Hundreds of millions every year that would pour freely into state coffers without risking an anti-tax backlash back home. A steady, new revenue stream for transportation -- just about politically pain-free!
Read more.

A sound way to support higher ed
A program that would go a long way to helping Virginia students afford college merits approval.
A proposal to help community college graduates afford to transfer to four-year schools would take a step toward solving two of Virginia's higher education problems.
Read more.

January 25, 2007

"Get over it."

Frank Hargrove's infamy has reached all the way across the nation. Even a (Portland) Oregonian columnist is weighing in.

Car tax decal

For Sunday: There is certain nostalgia in the annual practice of scraping off a tired old car tax decal, peeling back the protective covering on a shiny new one and affixing it inside the windshield.

But few will shed tears if that practice were to quietly and unceremoniously, disappear.

The number of Virginia localities that have done away with decals has ballooned from five in late 2005 to nearly 40 today. Roanoke County and the town of Blacksburg are two of the latest localities to jump aboard that bandwagon - or to consider jumping aboard.

Immigration reform

Coming Sunday: President George Bush, trotting out his latest domestic initiatives during last week's State of the Union address, renewed the push for an immigration overhaul.

Here is where Bush may have his best chance for success across the partisan divide. He deserves credit for once again bringing the issue to the forefront.

Conditions now appear ripe for real reform. Renewed interest from Bush, with the shift to Democratic control of Congress, make for a more favorable climate.

Tuition aid

For Friday we will write in support of a proposal to allow community college graduates with good grades and limited income to pay community college tuition rates when transfering to four-year schools.

Radford U's public records

Turns out there was a bit of a snafu over at Radford University. The public documents that list faculty salaries stopped showing up at the library and it looked like people would have to go through roundabout channels to get information. The school has backtracked -- it was all just a misunderstanding, really -- but there are some valuable lessons in all this. The school was actually doing the right thing, just in the wrong way.

We'll write something like that only longer and more coherent for Sunday's Current editorial.

The run-around

On Thursday, we'll be writing about the horse racing industry's push in Virginia to legalize a new form of gambling called historical racing. Lawmakers should resist the tempting promise of easy money. Virginia can't take in a single dollar that some Virginian doesn't lose.

Was Cheney text-messaging during SOTU?

This video makes you wonder.

Comment on Thursday's editorials

The state of the uninsured
The president's new interest in expanding access to health insurance would be more heartening if it was not so little, so late.
President Bush made it clear Tuesday night that he knows a Democratic Congress will be setting the agenda in Washington for the last two years of his term. His lackluster State of the Union address mainly recycled old ideas on domestic issues that Democrats care about.
Read more.

Justice on the cheap
There's not much justice in a system tilted in favor of the prosecution.
If you're accused of a crime in Virginia and you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided at the government's expense. Just don't expect much because you'll get what the government is willing to pay for.
Read more.

January 24, 2007

Material teens

This stuff really bugs me:

We ran an AP story today on A6 "Study: Today's teens live in material world." Here are a few grafs:

"CHICAGO -- You could say it's just teens being teens. But new polls show that the obsession with material things is growing -- and that being rich is more important to today's young people than in was in the past.

UCLA's annual survey of college freshman, released last week, found that nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in 2006 thought it was essential or very important to be "very well-off financially." That compares with 62.5 percent who said the same in 1980 and 42 percent in 1966.

Another recent poll from the Pew Research Center found that about 80 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds see getting rich as a top goal for their generation."

Few kids care to help the needy or become leaders in their community.
Wake up, people, we're raising a bunch of kids who value wealth and fame above all else. We're not exactly preparing them for real life, are we?

The state of the uninsured

Thursday, we'll comment on President Bush's State of the Union address. A newly subdued Bush made it clear he knows a Democratic Congress will be setting the agenda in Washington for the last two years of his term. He tried to de-emphasize the war in Iraq and concentrate on domestic issues that Democrats care about. But on the main issue the American people worry about -- health care and the uninsured -- he offered a plan that won't fly in Congress. That's a disappointment.

Radford high school classes

For my Sunday column, I'll be having some fun with a recent survey of Radford High School students. They told administrators what sorts of classes they would like to take. I've got some other ideas for them.

Comment on Wednesday's editorials

Look at the math on payday loans
Not swayed by tragic stories from borrowers and former lenders that payday loans are a bane? Then take a look a the cold, hard figures.
A state Senate committee advanced a payday lending bill this week that does little to protect borrowers from being sucked into a riptide of red ink.
Read more.

When 'diversity' means something else
One Virginia delegate would shackle intellectual freedom on college campuses.
There's a guerilla insurgency in the culture wars. Conservatives have donned their opponents' uniforms in an attempt to force their political views onto college campuses. Now they hope the General Assembly will aid their subterfuge.
Read more.

January 23, 2007

State of the Union

Here's where we'll be live-blogging the festivities tonight. Please jump into the conversation.

Pain and apology

On Wednesday, I tell readers why my initial opposition to the proposed resolution that Virginia apologize for its slavery history has changed. Words alone won't right wrongs, but there are far too many old wounds left to heal.

Intellectual diversity

The Roanoke Times' Greg Esposito today had a story about House Bill 1643, which coopts the language of diversity for the nefarious ends of intimidating the free exchanges of ideas on college campuses. We'll be writing about it for tomorrow.

Live-blogging the State of the Union

Several members of the editorial board will be commenting here live during the State of the Union and Sen. James Webb's response tonight.

Join us, and get in on the conversation.

Tax refund

If you're a taxpayer, don't miss out on your refund of the phone tax this year. We briefly mentioned this in an editorial back in May. The details are online at the IRS Web site. Basically, depending on the size of your household, you'll get a standard $30 to $60 back. The money is coming thanks to some court decisions that found the government had illegally taxed long-distance calls.

Payday loans

For Wednesday: We will urge the state Senate to reconsider its backing of a bill that allows the payday loan industry to continue operating in Virginia. The bill that was approved imposes some limits, but not enough to protect borrowers.

Apologies

In my column on Wednesday, I'll write about some legitimate reasons to oppose a resolution in Virginia's General Assembly apologizing for slavery -- none of which mirror Del. Frank Hargrove's advice to just "get over it." And I'll explain why I think an apology is appropriate anyway.

Comment on Tuesday's editorials

Take politics out of redistricting
House Republicans should read the writing on the political wall: If they want to retain power, they need to forgo bitter partisanship.
One of the known side effects of holding power is clouded vision. Virginia's House Republicans are a good case study for this affliction.
Read more.

Telepathy and trespassing
Only mind-readers could comply with a proposed trespassing law.
State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli apparently thinks Virginians have ESP. How else could he explain Senate Bill 1120?
Read more.

January 22, 2007

redistricting

For Tuesday: Yes, yes, the Democrats weren't very cooperative with the Republicans when they ruled the state House. Isn't it time that House Republicans stop picking at that old wound and begin governing for the people rather than the party? A new method