Monthly Archives: April 2010
John Cook on Cox Media
Recently, Braddock Supervisor John Cook appeared on Cox Local Edition to discuss his activity with the community and his service in the County Board of Supervisors. This will appear on CNN’s Headline News for local viewers.
Judge Napolitano Discusses National ID with John Whitehead
Here is an interesting discussion on the implications of national ID’s and a possible biometric component.
This is an issue beyond Republican-Democrat squabbles.
Talk about Embarrassing…
Terry McAuliffe is back! This time he is focused on attacking Bob McDonnell for not bringing jobs to the Commonwealth. In an interview with reporters, McAuliffe said that McDonnell was making it harder for the Old Dominion to attract jobs. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, McAuliffe said:
“McAuliffe says the new governor, who just marked his 100th day in office, isn’t making it any easier to attract new jobs to the state by getting bogged down in controversies over his Confederate heritage proclamation and resisting legal anti-bias protections for gay Virginians.”
Isn’t it ironic considering that Northrop Grumman is relocating to Virginia? Governor McDonnell worked hard for this deal and has fulfilled one of his campaign promises of bringing more jobs to the Commonwealth. This all happened during the first 101 days in office. There will be 110 new jobs created from this move.
McAuliffe is busy playing politics (supposedly, he wants to run for Governor again) and ignores the positive job growth occurring here in Virginia.
In honor of Earth Day
This week has one of the most important holidays devoted to the Earth. You’ve guessed it, Earth Day. It’s the day when I do my part by hiking a part of the Appalachian Trail (or a nearby trail…this year, I plan to visit Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland) and celebrating nature’s beautiful scenery.
Earth Day has taken many twists and turns over the years. Now, thanks to the advent of “An Inconvenient Truth” and a degree of hyper-environmentalism, we are faced with a new slogan “Recycle or die” or Cap and Trade legislation, which would regulate industries that produce clean energy. Earth Day is no longer about promoting conservation within reason. It is now a day, which is meant to make Americans feel obligated about cleaning up trash, rather than allowing others to take initiatives for their own actions. Public schools across America talk about how recycling is a must. I always thought recycling was an initiative that one could decide to partake in, not feel forced. Then again, I wonder if this is the other portion of the curriculum being taught for Earth Day.
Granted with all of this “Save Mother Earth” and “Save the Planet” jargon, I feel as if I can’t celebrate Earth and the people who created the trash in the first place. I conserve water, recycle, clean up after myself, and drive an emissions free vehicle (not a hybrid, but close enough) on my own initiatives. George Carlin says it best time and again as evidenced in this clip.
Happy Earth Day! Celebrate reasonably.
Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia Approves PWHS Plan
During a special meeting of the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia on Monday, there was an overwhelming vote of support for a hospital to be built in Western Prince William County. The board voted in support of Prince William Health System’s plan to build a facility on the grounds of the current Heathcote Health Center. The agency’s recommendations will now be voted on by the state health commission.
In a recent News & Messenger article, one agency member said the Prince William Health System plan made more sense as it was a better location and less costly than Sentara’s proposal.
To learn more about Prince William Health System’s plan for the Haymarket hospital, click here.
Story Time and More Taxes?
Fairfax County will be facing increased taxes in the coming year. Thanks to a 7-3 party line vote on the budget during yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Residents will be paying more in car taxes, as the decal fee is back, and an increased sewer tax. This will bring $11.7 million back to the county, but it will definitely place more economic strain on residents. The funds received from the car tax increase will not go to transportation improvements, rather it will go back into the general fund.
Braddock Supervisor John Cook stated it quite eloquently when he said, “The only way a homeowner pays less in this budget is if [they] don’t own a car and [they] don’t flush [their] toilet.”
Aside from the bad news, there was something strange going on prior to the start of the session though. Chairwoman Sharon Bulova decided to open the session with story time. As you can see in this video (fast forward to the 5:10 mark for the story), story time should make all of us feel good about tax increases, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that Fairfax County is one of the most expensive places in the country to live, tax increases only add to the frustrations of those in the area, especially when they find out that unnecessary programs were not sent to the chopping block before considering such a plan.
Perhaps, Chairwoman Bulova and her fellow Democrats on the Board of Supervisors should read the new story, “Welcome to Fairfax County: The Nightmares Caused by Increased Taxes.” I think the best line from this story is the lost revenue caused by residents fed up and moving to counties with lower taxes.
Penn Jillette's Tribute to the Hummer
So, the Hummer is about to die…big deal! After all, President Obama bailed out GM, and with oil prices soaring once again, there is no one willing to buy the Hummer brand to continue manufacturing a known gas guzzler. C’est la vie!
Comedian Penn Jillette had a great take on this in his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, when he said that while there would be some sadness with the loss of a business, the Hummer vehicles have added up to nothing but gas guzzlers. Jillette also pointed out that government rules are also taking away from our freedoms too.
But if any part of the Hummer going belly-up are those government rules we’re putting in on miles per gallon, or us taking over of GM, then I’m not just sad, I’m also angry. Lack of freedom can be measured directly by lack of stupid. Freedom means freedom to be stupid. We never need freedom to do the smart thing. You don’t need any freedom to go with majority opinion. There was no freedom required to drive a Prius before the recall. We don’t need freedom to recycle, reuse and reduce. We don’t need freedom to listen to classic rock, classic classical, classic anything or Terry Gross. We exercise our freedom to its fullest when we are at our stupidest.
There’s a lot of bad stupid around. Really bad stupid. But we can’t stop the real horror by stopping just-plain-stupid stupid. We’re not going to stop overseas wars by stopping people from driving big stupid cars. As long as we think that “nation building” is part of our destiny, no amount of independence from foreign oil is going to stop us from getting into meddling, expensive, immoral foreign wars. As long as we let terrorism fill us with terror, we’re not going to get our nonstupid freedoms back. Our government declaring that we need alternative energy sources, and betting our money on who might get a smart idea, is not going to give smart people smart ideas. It’s really easy to see stupid all around us, but I don’t think we want to be too quick to stop it. We need to protect other people’s stupid to save freedom for all of us.
I have to admit that Jillette’s response to the Hummer and the fact that our freedoms are constantly being destroyed by the government are spot on.
Keith Fimian Releases First TV Ad of 2010 Campaign
Keith Fimian, candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 11th District, released his first TV ad today. The ad, “Mess,” which focused on the budget deficits and Congress’s inaction to address the economy. Fimian released the following statement regarding the release of the new ad:
“I am excited to announce that my campaign is again the first one on the air in this race. First radio and now TV taking on Gerry Connolly and Nancy Pelosi for the ‘mess’ they have created. Their policies are destroying our economy, from the government healthcare takeover to their failed stimulus to their trillions in debt,” Fimian said.
“I am the only candidate in this race who has created even one job—and I have created hundreds of them. I have the know-how to get our economy moving again. These are skills career politicians simply do not possess. We need more than the same tired rhetoric from career politicians to clean up the mess Connolly and Pelosi have created in Washington,” Fimian said.
“My campaign is the leader in the fight against liberal Gerry Connolly,” Fimian added. “I out-raised my primary opponent in his first quarter in the race and I am the first one on the airwaves. I am the only candidate with the message and resources to defeat Gerry Connolly.”
Scrap the Code
Guest Post by Congressman Bob Goodlatte
Last week, as we marked Tax Day, individuals, families and businesses across this nation struggled to comply with our onerous tax code. Americans spent countless hours and large sums of money to ensure that they were following the letter of the law when it comes to filing their income taxes. Every year this exercise reminds taxpayers that the current code is broken beyond repair and it is obvious that tax reform is absolutely necessary.
In fact, during a recent television interview Douglas Shulman, the IRS Commissioner, admitted “that he does not file his own taxes in part because he believes the tax code is complex”. He is not alone. It has been reported that nearly 63% of filers used paid preparers. This is up from 38% in 1980. If it is this hard for those who enforce the tax code to comply with the code then imagine what it is like for the average American family or small business to comply with it.
I understand the frustrations of taxpayers and so I have introduced bipartisan legislation which will force Congress to finally address fundamental tax reform. The Tax Code Termination Act will abolish the tax code by December 2012, and call on Congress to approve a new federal tax system by July of the same year.
While almost every Member of Congress recognizes that our tax code is no longer working in a fair manner for Americans, nothing has been done to create a more equitable tax code. Congress won’t act on fundamental tax reform unless it is forced to do so. My legislation will force Congress to finally debate and address fundamental tax reform.
With enactment of my legislation, today’s oppressive tax code would survive for only three more years, at which time it would expire and be replaced with a new tax code that will be determined by Congress, the President, and the American people. This allows us, as a nation, to collectively decide what the new tax system should look like. There are many competing alternatives including the flat tax, the fair tax and others but having a date-certain to end the current tax code will force the issue and the debate to the top of the national agenda.
Whichever tax system is adopted, the key ingredients should be: a low rate for all Americans; tax relief for working people; protection of the rights of taxpayers and reduction in tax collection abuses; promotion of savings and investment; and encouragement of economic growth and job creation. But passage of my legislation, the Tax Code Termination Act, is the first step in replacing our current tax code with a system that includes these critical principles.
To contact me about this or any other matter, please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
