Why is it the government’s role to “protect” my property values?  Can you find that anywhere in either the US or the Virginia  Constitutions? Regulating grass height to protect property values is the role of the community of residents, not the community of legislators.

Can you say “nanny state”?  I knew you could.

Del. Surovell is bemoaning the steps a locality has to take in order to request permission to regulate grass height.

I say don’t allow any locality to regulate it, and the problem is solved.

So ponder this.  Why is he introducing

HB 1023 Income tax, state or corporate; tax credit for hiring certain individuals.

and co-patroning

HB 1041 Income tax, state and corporate; tax credit for hiring veterans.

HB 922 Real property tax; exemption for disabled veterans.

I guess it’s not tax credits he’s against, just credits he doesn’t like.

I’m not necessarily opposed to tax credits for disabled veterans, in limited circumstances.  But you can’t oppose tax credits, and then introduce them, without questions being asked.

The Supreme Court has upheld such decisions.  Police have no duty to protect individual citizens.  (See here for several citations; the Wikipedia citation is down on SOPA protest day.)

So why do they rule that speed traps and drunk-driving checkpoints are legal?  Aren’t those designed to protect individuals?  Some states get it right, and either prohibit them or don’t conduct them because police lack the statutory authority.     I like this page about the legality of the checkpoints, noting the “DUI exception to the Constitution.”

What could possibly be the states’ vested interest, other than – wait for it – protecting individuals?

So what the courts are really telling us is that governments (police forces) don’t have to protect individuals unless they can potentially make money from it.

While tracking the status this morning of a bill that would require committee and subcommittee votes to be recorded* I came across the House Rules Committee’s probable agenda for yesterday.

Glad to see they’re doing such important work.

Later, they’ll tout in their campaign literature and session reports how busy they were, and how much legislation they had to plow through.

So thrilled that Dave Albo found something important to introduce, now that his abusive Virginia driver fees were repealed (and cost the state a BUNCH of money in collecting and then refunding).

Albo – HB94 – School boards, local; meeting procedures  (Requiring local school boards to use Roberts Rules — at least he requested in Committee that it be stricken.  He might be redeemable.  Might.)

Brink – HJ128 - Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week; designating …  (Surely he doesn’t think designating a week is going to do a single thing for any baby?  “Oh, no, I have to wait until tomorrow to shake this baby senseless; this is awareness week!“)

Cox – HB349 – Virginia War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission (Virginia War of 1812???)  (This one is actually a funding bill, requiring the commission to be funded or to die)

Crockett-Stark – HJ98 – First Lady Edith Bolling Wilson Day; designating …

Englin – HJ105 – Virginia Cider Week; designating …

Englin – HJ143 – Spay Day; designating …

Filler-Corn – HJ107 – Hold Out for Hunger Day, designating …..  (Let’s legislate something so we can guilt people into donating …)

Gilbert – HJ49 – Governor’s Executive Reorganization Plan  (Must have been contentious.  Two people in Rules don’t want the Governor’s plan, which eliminates a number of entities.  Or perhaps they just don’t want to approve  anything the Governor does.  Hard to tell without recorded votes.)

Hugo – HJ142 – Asian Lunar New Year Day; designates day designated as new year (Because if we don’t legislate it, the Asian Lunar New Year might happen everywhere else but Virginia.  Who says time can’t stand still?)

Hugo – HJ144 – Small Business Day; designating … (Because the legislature can’t leave them alone to just do their jobs the rest of the year.)

Hugo – HJ145 - Preeclampsia Month; designating …. (Guess that’s how we get around the whole prenatal care thing … one month a year we write on the calendar that women should be watching for symptoms.)

Marshall – HJ93 – Local Government Education week; designating …  (I’m not really sure local governments would be happy if their citizens REALLY understood everything they do!  Sounds like an excuse for them to publish more flyers.)

Orrock – HB79 – Disability Commission; establishing work groups …  (“Shall establish,” not “may establish.”  Strike 1.  Commission was set to sunset in July; this allows it to continue.)

Sickles – HJ120 – Mesothelioma Awareness Day; designating … (Excuse me? Is there anyone with a television who isn’t aware of mesothelioma?  And that lawyers will “help” you get money.)

* Not recording committee and subcommittee votes allows the chamber to send a bill somewhere that legislators don’t have to go on record as supporting or opposing.  This happens frequently.

Recently it struck me that politicians – well, in truth, a lot of “leaders” – tend to issue statements in which they “assume” responsibility.

Seems that seldom do they “accept” responsibility*.  Even less often do they admit culpability.

“Assuming” responsibility lets them be magnanimous.  In effect, it says “I’m not responsible – that poor schmuck over there is – but I’m such a big person I’ll assume the responsibility from him and let him off the hook.”

It goes hand-in-hand with issuing non-apologies — you know, the ones that say “I’m sorry you were offended.” rather than “I’m sorry I said something offensive.”

___________________

*Note:  this statement is based on my impressions; I certainly did not do any kind of research to tell whether one or the other word was more popular.

10 of 2400 felonies in NC were murders; 8 of them used a gun. 8/2400 = 0.003333. HUGE percentage, eh?

200 permit holders were convicted of gun- “or weapon-” related felonies.  Note the addition of all other classes of weapons.  Remember that US courts have upheld that a cup of soda and ice can be a weapon.

900 permit holders were convicted of drunk driving. Of how many drunk-driving convictions total?  Were any of those permit holders actually carrying while intoxicated (BTW, it’s illegal in NC to carry while you have any alcohol in your system)?

—————

*Note the NYTimes has to travel to another state to do investigative reporting that matches the point of view they wish to present.

Whatever.

On the one hand, Home Depot, whose customer service has become atrocious lately, has stood up for its beliefs.

The hate group “American Family Association” *  has been pressuring Home Depot not to speak out in favor of human rights.  Apparently, it’s okay to favor human rights; you just can’t say so and stay on AFA’s good side.

On the other hand, Lowe’s chose to pull its advertising from the TLC Show “All-American Muslim”.  All-American Muslim follows families in Dearborn, Michigan.  Yet the primary hate group opposing it is the Florida Family Association (*).  Lowe’s comment:  “We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance.”   Apparently they’ll defer to communities far removed from the one portrayed.

I haven’t watched All-American Muslim.  It’s not in a time slot I pay a lot of attention to; I know a number of American Muslim families; and I’m not a big fan of TLC.   I  cannot comprehend, though, a company pulling advertising based on opposition from a hate group.  When verifying the information on the Florida group’s web page, I note they’re pissed that neither Hershey’s and Campbell’s Soup has bent.

Excuse me.  I’m off  to buy Hershey’s cocoa, Hershey’s chocolate, and a few dozen cans of Campbell’s soup.   Then I’ll stop at Home Depot for my DIY needs.

As an advocate of personal responsibility, I’m all for preparation and knowledge.  I’ve been watching the storm track for Irene since it became a hurricane, checking every so often (not every hour) for status.  Thursday I learned we had a 40% chance of tropical storm-force winds by today.  Those in the Outer Banks had greater probability of stronger winds.

So why on the planet of the gods is news not able to lead in to a story with “those most likely to see damaging winds and rain should …” or “most of you don’t need to …”?

Oh, for the record, many of us do need to be prepared for power outages; it seems power companies in this area have a hard enough time dealing with average rainstorms, much less anything that might drop a limb onto one of their lines.

And individuals fall into one of three categories.  Fortunately, some say “I’m prepared for the likely eventuality, and know what I’ll do should stuff hit the fan.”  Others prepare to make laxative french toast, buying up milk, bread, eggs, and toilet paper.  A third faction fails to make any preparation at all, and expects the government to take care of them if they’re wrong.  That’s not personal responsibility at all.

The media enables the second group, adding to traffic congestion, short tempers, and empty store shelves.  Seems the media assumes everyone is too stupid to make any personal-responsibility decisions for themselves, and must be told what to do and when.  Sort of like most politicians.

Edited to add this link to a YouTube video showing the storm not strongly formed at all.

While referring to other primary winners, Democrats, by their district, Chap refers to Dick Black as “R-Anywhere”.   I’m once again disappointed, but find myself wondering when I’ll get out of my castle in the clouds and start expecting this of Northern Virginia politicians.  Of most politicians, actually.  I keep finding people who are generally good people, if mistaken in their points of view, who then show blatant disrespect for others with differing views.

And none of the five internet identities I’ve tried will allow me to post comments on Peterson’s blog any more.  Makes me wonder about the possibility of being blocked.  Is that paranoid?

I keep looking at news photos of DC workers swarming out of office buildings, hands over their mouths in horror.  Is this who we are?  A people terrified by everything?  No wonder so many fear for our nation.

When buildings were evacuated, the quake had already passed.  Thinking people could have reported visible structural damage except, oh, wait, they were OUTSIDE being told they were in danger!  The five o’clock news (reminder:  quake occurred approximately 1:50 eastern time) covered what to do in the event of an earthquake.  Local news sources haven’t reported results of yesterday’s primary elections, reporting instead pictures of terrified sheep in parking lots.

Was there damage?  Yes.  Some is amusing – the PVC lawn chair knocked over.  Some is less amusing; a friend lost her house when the chimney fell into the kitchen and the foundation shifted about 2″.  Some statues were broken; some cars were smashed.  But hell, we see that much damage in a thunderstorm.  We all will be helping those affected, I hope, and telling the rest of them to get over it, put on their big-boy pants, and move on.

PLEASE?