June 26, 2008Does Attorney General Bob McDonnell want journalists imprisoned?
It’s such a popular idea that 42 of the nation’s attorneys general publicly have endorsed the bill. Forty-one of them signed a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General (great acronym). The 42nd was the Texas AG who sent a separate letter of support. So who is missing? Virginia’s Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell for one. His office today was unable to explain why he didn’t sign on or even if he supports or opposes the shield law. What gives, Mr. McDonnell? June 2, 2008The No. 1 GOP issue: abortionFormer state senator and now blogger, Brandon Bell, writes on his Roanoke Red Zone a convention scene report that includes this observation: "Never would I have believed that a flier would be put in my chair claiming that Gilmore was a RINO due to his abortion position. I was shocked. Several of us that attended the 1993 convention when Gilmore attacked his chief rival Steve Agee claiming him to be pro choice. Ironic that 15 years later the attack was put back to Gilmore." This confirms Tom Davis's observation to Media General in a story last week as to why he dropped out of the Senate nomination race and why he wouldn't be attending the convention: "A convention restricts you to talk to 5,000 party activists where they ask you, 'OK, now if you're raped by an in-law and the mother's life was in danger, you would allow an abortion? Oh, well, you're not good enough for me.' That's what it comes down to. It's ridiculous." Diversity on the state transportation boardI was looking for contact information for one of the members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and wound up on their Web page. That's supposed to reflect the diversity of Virginia? Two blacks, two women and 13 old white guys? May 30, 2008A futile appealAttorney General Bob McDonnell has decided to appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a decision by a panel that struck down Virginia's partial-birth abortion law. McDonnell's press release said "Following this decision, the Commonwealth had two options in proceeding: petition for a rehearing by the full Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, or appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States." That's no so. The commonwealth had two other options: tweak the language to mirror the U.S. Supreme Court sanctioned law or leave it alone as the federal ban already applies. Of course either of those options takes the spotlight off McDonnell, the gubernatorial candidate. May 29, 2008Oaths of officeFor my Sunday column, I needed to figure out what the oath of office for the Christiansburg town council looks like. Turns out that the charter defers to the state code on the oath. The oath template:
Interestingly, though the reference to gods appears optional, the government can require you to take your oath on a Bible:
May 28, 2008What, us worry? About transportation?The governor has called a special session of the General Assembly beginning June 23 to try again to resolve transportation funding shortfalls. But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports a new Commonwealth Poll shows transportation isn't the biggest worry on Virginians' minds. In fact, it ranks fourth among Democrats and Republicans. Schools, jobs and the environment are the biggest concerns among Democrats; schools, illegal immigration and jobs, ranked in that order, worry Republicans the most. Maybe everyone should be worried that, without enough money for roads, the General Assembly will be sorely tempted in the years ahead to dip into the state's general fund, from whence state school funding comes. May 20, 2008Gilmore's national security experience
But this bit came as quite a surprise: An acknowledged authority on national security? Gilmore? Someone please enlighten me. May 19, 2008A look at the future as now for Virginia's transportation systemAnyone giving serious thought to Virginia's continuing transportation debate should check out the column "Three Little Words" on the Bacon's Rebellion e-zine. Columnist E.M. Risse challenges readers to face a new reality: no cheap energy. And he includes in that alternative energy; there's no place to run and find the cheap energy that has made it possible for people to settle where they must depend on "Large Private Vehicles" to live. Risse, a regional planner, maintains, "[A]ny new infrastructure 'solution' that supports Large, Private Vehicles is not just impossible but proposing such a strategy would amount to fraud." April 14, 2008Slipping a little bacon back into the Virginia budgetGov. Tim Kaine announced his amendments to legislation today. As usual, they included a bunch of budget amendments. Lawmakers did a fairly good job of keeping pet projects out. Apparently the governor couldn't resist sticking a couple back in. $5 million for Civil War sites? $200,000 for the Daniel Boone Visitors Center? That's a few million dollars that could go to transportation or something else useful. Still a long way to go to make up the $1.1 billion, though. Read the full press release below. Continue reading "Slipping a little bacon back into the Virginia budget" » April 11, 2008Which roads don't you want?Those who urge fiscal restraint in government have one thing right, even if they only go part way with it. Government does not need more money. The people, through their elected officials, decide how much to pay. The tough situation arises when a service seems desirable, but the money isn't there. At that point, the commonwealth has a few options. 1) Raise taxes to pay for the service. 2) Slash some other service to find the money. 3) Do without the service. Transportation infrastructure seems like one of those desirable things ... Virginians keep electing lawmakers like William Howell and Ralph Smith who hate nearly every tax. There are so many of their ilk that option one has proven unworkable in recent years. Option two, well no government-hating conservative has yet to come up with a feasible list of other programs to slash. The numbers don't pencil out. So that leaves option three. If Virginians don't want to pay for transportation improvements, then government just won't provide as much of it. Which leads to public hearings kicking off on Wednesday in Lynchburg and traveling around the commonwealth for a month. VDOT and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation will ask voters the necessary question: Which improvements scheduled for the next six years should Virginia abandon? Six-year revenue projections are down $1.1 billion from a year ago. That means a 44 percent reduction in funding for primary, secondary and urban highway construction. Maybe Christiansburg doesn't need to widen Peppers Ferry (114). Perhaps Roanoke doesn't really to install Phase II of the Valley View interchange. Since there is no public hearing scheduled for the Roanoke and New River valleys, feel free to let VDOT know here which specific projects to eliminate. You can browse and search the plan six-year plan online. March 24, 2008Bill Bolling won't run for govBob McDonnell's campaign started sending the e-mails immediately after the announcement. (I received three in about 10 minutes.) Bill Bolling won't run for governor next year. Instead, he will run for another term as lieutenant governor. That means Bob McDonnell has no serious opposition for the GOP nomination. What do people think of McDonnell's prospects? This is the guy who co-chaired (with George Allen) Virginia's Fred Thompson run for the Republican presidential nomination. That one didn't go so well. Would he make a good governor? And isn't it strange that the commonwealth allows someone multiple terms as lieutenant governor but not governor?
(Photos from bobmcdonnell.com and billbolling.com) March 20, 2008al-Qaida is coming to Glen LynGov. Tim Kaine's office sent out a press release today about awarding $260,553 in grants to prevent terrorism throughout Virginia. Not receiving cash: Blacksburg, Montgomery County. Receiving grants: Floyd County, Glen Lyn, Pembroke, Wythe County. I don't know if those who didn't receive money even applied, but I do know that A Tech Football game is a much more attractive target to a terrorist than FloydFest or Glen Lyn. Surely we could better allocate scarce resources. It's OK to say, "No, Dublin, you just aren't big enough to be considered a terrorist target. You'll get no special funding." March 18, 2008Can commonwealth's attorneys carry in bars?In Monday's General Assembly report card, we said yes they could, as a result of the passage of SB 776: "The gun show loophole remains wide open. Only Gov. Tim Kaine's vetoes saved the state from allowing concealed weapons in bars and glove boxes. he didn't, however, veto a bill that allows commonwealth's attorneys to carry concealed weapons anywhere, including bars, without any training." Gov. Kaine's spokesman Gordon Hickey called this morning to dispute that assertion. But the law seems clear to me. My argument, and Hickey's, after the jump. Continue reading "Can commonwealth's attorneys carry in bars?" » March 17, 2008Obama doesn't rhyme with AlabamaThe Richmond Times Dispatch has been following an interesting story about the local touch-screen voting machines. When visually impaired voters showed up for the primary, the machines had an unusual (incorrect) pronunciation of Barack Obama's name. The computer tries to pronounce the name based on the spelling, and the synthesized voice pronounces his first name to rhyme with "barracks" (the place where soldiers sleep) and his last name with "Alabama." The most recent news is that if Obama wins the Democratic nomination, the machines can't be corrected for the November election. Spelling the name phonetically isn't an option because the speech system reads the name from the official entry that appears on the screen. Spell it Barock Obahmah and it would look like that on the screen for everyone else. Nor do you want to record someone reading the names because subconscious inflections can creep into the tone. I checked with Randy Wertz, the voter registrar in Montgomery County, and we use the same machines here with just a more recent version of the software. He said he has not received any complaints from the primary, but has not verified the pronunciation and cannot because the machines are now locked up until the November election. Hugh Gallagher, the independent expert who verifies the machines for Montgomery County, said that nothing about the pronunciation jumped out at him before the primary. Maybe a couple of dozen voters in the county use the feature, according to Wertz. If Obama loses Virginia by a narrow margin, look for a lawsuit arguing (probably rightly) that some voters were disenfranchised by this problem. Add this to the list of reasons to switch to optical scan ballots as soon as possible. March 13, 2008Church trumps the classroom in high school athleticsHigh School Basketball teams from Southwest Virginia are in Richmond competing for the state championship. Hidden Valley boys are winning their semi-final game at halftime. If Blacksburg wins tonight (7:30 tip) the the two teams could meet yet again, this time for the Group AA championship. (Go Indians, er, Bruins!) Meanwhile, the Hidden Valley girls cruised to victory today, and Floyd County Girls will play a semi-final game tomorrow. Follow all of the action on the Roanoke.com press box blog. The championships games will all take place on Saturday. And here's the rub. Why not on Sunday? Had the Virginia High School League scheduled the championships for Sunday, all of the earlier games could have moved up a day, leaving one less day kids had to miss class. No insult intended, but some student-athletes could use all of the time in the classroom they can get. It's foolish to hold the championships Saturday when a simple scheduling tweak could maximize education without hindering championship games that will be a highlight of the winner's high school years. Even if officials don't think they owe it to taxpayers, they owe it to young people who are students first and athletes second. But this is Virginia, and the VHSL has Rule 27-12-1 (pdf), The Sunday Rule. It declares, "No member school may schedule or play an athletic contest or engage in practice on Sunday." Mike McCall, director of information and communications for the VHSL, danced around the issue when asked to explain the rule, but finally fessed up that this is about the lord's day. "They, have church; they have other things on Sundays," he said. "I think it's a sound decision not to play on Sunday because they have church and family time." The obvious constitutional violation aside, the rule might make sense. Kids should get a day off from sports each week. During the regular season, teams can schedule games around that. In the compressed time frame of a championship, though, when it forces them to miss school, the rule stinks. Go to church in Richmond if you must before or after the game, or just skip it for a week. The heavenly hosts would understand. March 10, 2008'Lepers and tramps'Some great writing from the Fredricksburg Free-lance Star, and some excellent advice for Speaker of the House Bill Howell, in this editorial: "Mr. Howell should throw his support to the Senate's funding ideas--especially the highway-user-paid gas tax--bringing as many GOP delegates as possible with him. This would cost him the speakership, he would have to caucus with lepers and tramps, and Grover Norquist would have kittens." (Hat tip to Norm Leahy over at Bacon's Rebellion.) January 9, 2008State of the commonwealthIt's time for Gov. Tim Kaine's state of the commonwealth address. Share your thoughts live or after. November 6, 2007Election Day Open ThreadDiscuss today's election. What do you thinks going to happen? How was the turnout at your precinct? June 20, 2007Gay rights in Virginia?Some states recognize bigotry is a bad thing. They allow same-sex couples to marry or at least enter into civil unions. They grant health benefits to same-sex partners. They protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing, the workplace and public accomodation. And they generally treat them like human beings. Then there's Virginia. Gay partners of UVa students, faculty and staff can use the gym! They'd better because they aren't getting health benefits. How long until someone complains about sharing the locker rooms? April 5, 2007Attorney General Bob McDonnell is now liveThe RoundTable welcomes Attorney General Bob McDonnell. He is now live and ready to answer your questions. We received a few advance questions posted below: Continue reading "Attorney General Bob McDonnell is now live" » Blog live with the attorney generalAttorney General Bob McDonnell will be here at The RoundTable for a live blog session on Thursday from 11 to noon. McDonnell has appeared already on several blogs, participating in at least one blog event a month since taking office. But this is his first live blog with the MSM and our first live blog with an elected official.We hope that you'll be able to join us. His staff has suggested that we open a thread now to take questions so that some will be waiting for him when he longs on at 11 a.m. To jumpstart the conversation or increase the odds the McDonnell will have time for your question, feel free now to begin submitting. Ask him anything. February 28, 2007Attorney general to blog live hereMark your calendars, and please join us from noon to 1 p.m. on April 5 as The RoundTable hosts its first live blog with a state official. 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. January 10, 2007State of the commonwealthLive blog opportunity for Gov. Tim Kaine's state of the commonwealth speech. I'll post random thoughts as I watch. Please add your own. November 8, 2006Post-Election Day Open ThreadWell, what do you think? Will Webb pull out this squeaker of a win after the recount? What will Republicans say in two years when it becomes clear that the world didn't end when these four words were put together: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? The era of one-party rule is over. For now. November 7, 2006Election Day open threadTalk quietly amongst yourselves... Seriously, feel free to talk about anything you want to election related - How crowded was your polling place? Any last-minute predictions? Etc. Politicking outside the pollsVirginia is the fourth state I've lived and voted in. Never before have I encountered someone obviously working for a candidate (his jacket, in this case, plastered with Allen stickers), practically right outside the door to the polling place handing out "sample ballots" to voters on their way in. I was too stunned to even accept one to see what it looked like. In West Virginia, there's no campaigning - no signs, no buttons, no stickers - within 300 feet of a polling place. Seems like a good idea to me, not that I imagine many people have their minds changed at the last minute. But it does open the door for shenanigans like this. November 3, 2006I'm glad someone else made this argumentI was going to construct this argument for a blog entry, but I'm glad someone beat me to it and saved me the trouble. The argument boils down to this: "According to the Allen camp's logic, God would be a pedophile, too." That's Frank Schaeffer, writing in the Dallas Morning News. He's talking about the Allen campaign's disgraceful attack on Webb, which consisted of culling all the dirty parts out of 30 years of Webb novels and non-fiction books. Schaeffer explains: According to the Allen camp's logic, God would be a pedophile, too. After all, we Christians believe God inspired the Bible. And God-the-author chose to include the "sleazy" story about Lot offering to send out his young virgin daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom. The Bible has masturbation scenes, rape, pedophilia and God's favorite man – King David – warming himself with a young virgin in his old age. He's the same man God tells us committed murder after he indulged his peeping Tom fantasies. Lucky for God-the-author that He's not running against George Allen. Amen. (Andrew Kantor found this item first, I should note) October 31, 2006Allen campaign steps in macaca againIt's almost like George Allen and his supporters don't know what video cameras are. They record things, guys, so everyone can see what actually happened. So, when the cameras are running, it's a bad time to make fun of a minority or beat up a guy who was simply trying to ask a question: See the video here. October 30, 2006Literary criticismI think George Allen's stunt -- culling all the explicit passages out of Jim Webb's books like some hormonal teenager trying to find the good parts, then compiling them and releasing them to the media, absent any context -- is a sign of sheer desperation. I haven't read any of Webb's novels or nonfiction books. But I've heard good things about them. They are certainly not pornographic, as Allen's campaign would have you believe based on a few choice excerpts. In fact, one of the books criticized by Allen, "Fields of Fire," is on two Marine Corps reading lists: the Professional Reading Program and the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Official Reading List. |
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No officer of this Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, shall, in administering an oath in pursuance of law, require or request any person taking the oath to kiss the Holy Bible, or any book or books thereof, but persons being sworn for any purpose may be required to place their hand on the Holy Bible. 
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and senator-wannabe issued a 
