Anytime there's a need, scammers will offer false promises to fill it. This week Attorney General Bill Mims filed legal action against Virginia Employment Services (notice how closely it is to the state's legitimate Virginia Employment Commission) for luring people in through false job ads then charging them a fee for a "guaranteed" job.
Only there were no jobs. And the desperate job seekers can't get a refund.
We're writing about this for Friday.
We're writing our Sunday NRV Current editorial about cable television companies. Radford might dump its current one, and Blacksburg is in the midst of renegotiating a license deal with its current one. We will urge both communities to pursue non-exclusive agreements this time around. That way if the company provides poor services, other providers can enter the marketplace and compete on quality and price. The government-enforced monopolies only benefit the companies.
In an editorial Sunday, we'll take a look at how the nonpartisan, politically active Virginia League of Conservation Voters scored state lawmakers on their votes this year on broadly defined conservation-related bills. Among statewide candidates, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor, rated a more than respectable 91 percent. That can be good or bad or a mix of each, depending on whether you share the conservation league's legislative goals, so it's worth checking out its 2009 Virginia General Assembly Conservation Scorecard.
As Homer Simpson so profoundly noted, there's a special place for beer in many people's hearts. So the beer summit at the White House today might be a bit cheesy, but it makes sense. Three guys -- President Obama, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and James Crowley -- will kick back in the back yard over some cold ones and hash out their differences in the immensely overblown Boston race incident. (Recall, Crowley arrested Gates who then alleged racism and Obama said the police acted stupidly.)
The question, of course, was what beers would they drink? The White House plans to have several options on hand for the visitors. Word is that Gates is a fan of Red Stripe, which is a decent Jamaican beer, and Crowley likes Blue Moon, a Colorado witbier traditionally served with an orange slice. (I'm sorry, any beer that comes with fruit in it has not place at a manly event like this.)
But what about Obama? His press secretary announced he will have a Bud Light.
Say what now?
I've got nothing against Bud Light. It's a fine beer, my second favorite of the mass-produced lights. Even so, you're the president of the United States. American breweries produce many excellent beverages from big ticket ones like Sam Adams (which would have been appropriate because the incident took place in Boston) to uncounted delicious microbrews.
Obama can have any beer he wants. He should pick something with some flavor.
What beer do you think the president should drink tonight?
For the 10th year in a row, a small army of volunteers stepped up last weekend to transform the Wise County Fairgrounds into a free health care clinic for the uninsured and underinsured. Every year, the numbers seeking treatment grow. Organizers said most come from the surrounding coal-mining region, but the failure that draws them here once a year is not an Appalachian phenomenon. It's a national failure of the way America provides health care, a way that must change.
Read more.
The state's official investigation into the Virginia Tech shootings should be updated to make it as complete and accurate as possible. The sudden appearance of gunman Seung-Hui Cho's long-missing campus psychological records, however, does not automatically support calls to reconvene the state panel that investigated the mass murder. Anything less will not satisfy the many surviving victims and families of victims who are asking Gov. Tim Kaine to call back the panel he appointed to dig into the circumstances surrounding Cho's killing spree. The petitioners' anguish makes their request hard to dismiss.
Read more.
Bill Parks
Parks practices law in Covington and serves as secretary to the board of the Shenandoah Autism Center.
Now that Virginians have taken their last laps in the Great Restroom Closing Tour of 2009 and the state song has become "Do a Little Dance," it may be fruitful to reflect on what's really going on with highway funding in the Old Dominion. The time has come for a tutorial on an economic concept apparently unknown to our legislators -- the hidden tax.
Read more.
The contretemps over white Cambridge police officer James Crowley's arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. reminded me of something that happened in my own neighborhood some years back. When one set of neighbors petitioned Salem City Council for a zoning variance for a day care in their home, other neighbors expressed concern that the day care could increase traffic and disrupt a quiet neighborhood. To get the facts, my husband attended the city council meeting where the variance request was discussed and concluded the day care would be no big deal. That allayed our concern.
Read more.
Health care reform, high energy costs and more in today's letters to the editor.
I used to think
That only America's way, way was right
But now the holy dollar rules everybody's lives
Gotta make a million doesn't matter who dies
What's ruling your life today?
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