Congressman Nye joins the shameless “Support the Troops” chorus of Cantor and all who proffer use of the HOV lanes as honor for service rather than offering substantive support by calling for an end to the waste of American blood and treasure in foreign misadventures. Cower behind the troops, again.

Beyond the fact that this is part and parcel of establishing a separate military class and walking away from the concept of the citizen-soldier, it is idiotic; it is unenforceable; it rewards personnel whose only sacrifice has been a paper cut when opening their paychecks. It gives short shrift to civilian members of DoD. But nice stab at reaching out to the same people Palin abuses. It is a modern day Napoleonic ribbon.

“Traffic congestion is a serious problem in Hampton Roads, and our HOV lanes are often under-utilized,” Nye said. “This legislation will help ease traffic for everyone in the region, and make sure our military and emergency response personnel get where they need to go.” – Glenn Nye

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Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms is building what the Pilot calls a “massive war chest” which he is considering throwing into City Council races this year. It’ll be interesting to see what he thinks his money can buy. The man definitely likes to be surrounded by only those who support his agenda, which might prove lucrative for Barbara Henley. The Princess Anne district councilwoman faces a tough Republican opponent. Left dangling could be At-Large Councilman Bill DeSteph, the darling of the VB Tea Party.

With a few exceptions which otherwise can be fixed, Sessoms’ agenda is a good one. I do wish he’d get rid of the ignoramus that is Bob Mathias though. The boob makes no attempt to educate himself. Instead he comes down hard with a position and lets nothing, to include facts over fiction, dissuade him.

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“It sucks,” said Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) (House Democrats Rip Senate Colleagues: Their Lethargy Is Going To Cost Us Seats In 2010), “and I mean it literally. It sucks the energy out of the room and it sucks the urgency out of what we do… The lack of urgency from the Senate on these jobs bill is soul-crushing.”

This reality lends more to my current attitude that elections are a crap shoot. “What’s in it for me?”, is always the prevailing motivator for all too many electeds to demands the public is making to see some legislative inertia. And “while a fair chunk of the Senate was immune from direct, electoral blowback, every member of the House would have to deal with the taint”.

“They say the senate has a luxury of time, six-year cycles for elections,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus. “But these last 18 months have, in memory, have not only been the most frustrating but the inertia created in the Senate is what is jeopardizing Democrats and progressives’ opportunities in the midterms. It is not our lack of action. It has been their lack of action.”

Ironic, but if an anti-incumbent wave tosses a great number of Democrats to the curb this November, it won’t discriminate between those Dems that at least tried to accomplish things like Perriello and those that didn’t.

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Despite Republican obstruction, a lot of President Obama’s agenda has already been enacted in just the first 18 months:

• Economic stimulus
• Expanded SCHIP children health care
• Health reform
• Expanded embryonic stem cell research
• Financial reform
• Expanded student loan program
• Expanded enforcement of pay discrimination
• Expanded hate crime enforcement
• FDA regulation of tobacco
• EPA regulation of carbon dioxide
• Extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits
• Two Supreme Court Justices (soon)
• Repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” (soon)

Unfinished business:

• Extension of middle class tax cuts and expiration of tax cuts for income more than $200,000
• Comprehensive climate change legislation
• Immigration reform
• Employee Free Choice Act
• Employment Non-Discrimination Act

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Most of our tax dollars are subsidizing archaic and destructive sources of energy:

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Senate Democrats have abandoned their efforts to achieve comprehensive climate change legislation this year in the face of unanimous Republican opposition.

Three years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court mandated that the EPA regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

Nearly everybody, including most corporations (except oil and coal companies) and even most Republicans (except the die-hard global warming deniers) would prefer cap-and-trade as a market-based solution. Just two years ago, the McCain/Palin campaign promised that they “will establish a cap-and-trade system that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions…A cap-and-trade system harnesses human ingenuity in the pursuit of alternatives to carbon-based fuels.”

Now Senate Republicans routinely filibuster just about everything. Perhaps their corporate sponsors will persuade them to see the light eventually (but it looks like we may have to wait until after November).

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Updated flood maps will affect 7,000 Hampton properties.

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Andrew Jackson announces his candidacy for Virginia Beach City Council (at large) on Sunday, July 18, 2010 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Grand Affairs, 2036 Pleasure House Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.

Andrew writes on his website: “This is no ordinary time, and this is no ordinary election. This is a movement to bring city government back to the people. It is a movement to bring the voices of the people to the City Council Chamber. It is what my campaign theme… ‘Our Voices as One, THE PEOPLE’S CANDIDATE’ is all about.”

Go Andrew!

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Never mind Glenn Nye’s campaign. Elections around here are a crap shoot anyway. Time and energy is limited so why not get behind a candidate with courage and conviction who needs and appreciates our support.

Here’s two articles of interest supporting Rep. Tom Perriello:

Tom Perriello And Marco Rubio Have Massive Fundraising Quarters (Huffington Post)
Nye, Perriello take different approaches to re-election (RTD)

Here’s also his report on “How the Clean Energy Economy is taking off in the 5th District: A News Round-Up“.

WE MUST RETURN TOM TO WASHINGTON!!! He’s exactly the legislator we need. He represents everything we hold dear. http://www.perrielloforcongress.com/

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The Obama administration is proposing a new rule to tighten restrictions on pollution from coal-burning power plants in the eastern half of the country.  The EPA predicted the rule would prevent about 14,000–36,000 premature deaths a year.

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What was the greatest threat to the United States?
A) The Civil War.
B) The Great Depression.
C) The Nazis and World War II.
D) The Soviet Union, the Cold War, and the possibility of nuclear annihilation.
E) Al Qaida and the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
F) The election of President Obama.

(Answer below)

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According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, proposed energy and climate change legislation would reduce the federal budget deficit by $19 billion over the first 10 years and would not increase the deficit over the next 40 years.

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Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli finds it “mind-boggling” that the federal government should have a central role in international borders and immigration, and finds another way to get his name in the newspaper.

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In case anyone hasn’t noticed, I haven’t posted here in awhile.

First of all, happy 14th birthday Sasha! I can’t believe it was 10 years ago she and I were volunteering 3 days a week with the Loudoun County Democratic Committee working to get Al Gore and Chuck Robb elected/re-elected. Even as a 4-year-old she was so helpful and cheerful – has always been such a good buddy!

Blame my lack of posting on work and kids. Workwise, we had an extremely successful Hands Across the Sand in Hampton Roads. On 5 beaches we had a total of 1700 people join hands in protest to drilling, including over 1,000 lined up along the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Last week Sasha, Leo, Celia (Leo’s girlfriend) and I were in D.C. for a few days. We helped plant over 10,000 American flags to form the letters “Freedom From Oil” on the lawn under the Washington Monument. Yesterday I presented an update on offshore drilling to the Virginia Commission on Energy and the Environment. To complicate my life even more, two weeks ago my laptop crashed. But yesterday Sierra Club got me a new one!

Celia is staying with us this summer so now there are 4 teenagers (18, 17, 16, and 14) in my itty-bitty mucky house. None of them drive yet but all of them eat and stay up till 2am running every electrical appliance possible. Leo finally got a job washing dishes at the Lucky Oyster. Sophie’s social life is only getting started. I’ve got to get her soccer video put together ASAP. I’m trying to fit in working as many Amphitheater events as possible to help widdle down her Rush soccer fees this fall. Both girls have summer reading lists that they’ve yet to get from their schools. Sasha has an art project that she has to present to the class on the third day of Governor’s School. She hasn’t even started. She is however getting in some art exhibits. We hit some galleries in DC last week and we’re heading to NYC next week for some more gallery hopping.

I guess this is a roundabout way to make a plea to anyone interested in joining David Campbell and myself on VB Dems. Things will really start to heat up soon both with the 2nd congressional race and the local VB City Council and School Board races. Shoot me an email if you’d like to join us… eileen@vbdems.org. Thanks.

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The Virginia Retirement System is the pension fund for state and local government and public school employees.

The General Assembly has already shortchanged VRS 10 of the previous 18 years.

Now Governor McDonnell is deferring $620 million in state payments to VRS over the next 2 years, replacing them with IOUs to repay it with interest over the next 10 years (after he is long gone from office).

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