Webb: Congress should end ethanol subsidies
U.S. Jim Webb, D-Va., today called for an end to costly ethanol subsidies and tariffs. In a bipartisan letter, Sen. Webb and other senators urged Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent., to eliminate the protections currently manipulating ethanol costs and restricting U.S. trade. The current subsidies and tariffs on domestic ethanol are set to expire on Dec. 31.
“Eliminating or reducing ethanol subsidies and trade barriers are important steps we can take to reduce the budget deficit, improve the environment, and lessen our reliance on imported oil,” said the senators. “Historically our government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: subsidize it, protect it from competition, or require its use. Ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support from the U.S. government at this time.”
Currently, the United States has a 54 cent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports and a 45 cent-per-gallon subsidy on blending ethanol into gasoline. In addition, the Federal Renewable Fuels Standard mandates an annually increasing usage of corn ethanol. These protections are expensive and redundant.
“We cannot afford to pay industry for following the law,” said the senators, noting that subsidies would cost taxpayers at least $31 billion over the next five years.
In a 2009 letter, Sen. Webb recommended the Environmental Protection Agency examine more closely the negative effects ethanol protections have on other sectors of the economy. Ethanol subsidies have led to steep increases in the price of corn and other sources of feed, which have negatively affected beef cattle, dairy and poultry producers and driven up the cost to consumers of commodities like milk and eggs. He also sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk expressing concerns over the ethanol tariff.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
VMI puts up 151 in hoops win
Seven different Keydet players had at least 16 points, VMI notched the second-most points in school history and the Keydets routed the Central Penn College Knights 151-92 Monday night at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va.
The 151-point output was just five points shy of the largest scoring efforts in program history, a pair of 156-point efforts in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively. It was the team’s largest margin of victory and most points scored overall since Nov. 20, 2008, when the Keydets bested Stevenson by 61 markers.
It was also the first time VMI had seven players in double figure scoring since that contest with Stevenson. On this night, Keith Gabriel paced the output with 27 points, while Stan Okoye had 26 and Ron Burks had a career-high 24 markers, including a career-best five three-pointers. Read more
Chris Graham: Repealing 50 years of advances in basic civil rights
“The federal government,” says Bill Howell, the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, “has long ago usurped the power reserved to the states and the people via our Constitution.”
Here we go again. Looks like we’re about to refight the Civil War.
Howell is in Washington today to talk up something called the Repeal Amendment. The language of the proposed amendment calls for the effective repeal of any provision of law or regulation by the states when two-thirds of states approve repeal by legislative resolution.
“The Repeal Amendment restores the balance of power between the states and federal government,” Howell said. “The time is now for the states to restore that power, and that is why I am sponsoring an Article V application for the Repeal Amendment and encourage every state to do the same.”
At first glance, I want to believe this is just more of the same in the line of clumsy politics being played by Republican leaders trying to appeal to their Tea Party base. The press release sent to me giving details of this Repeal Amendment movement included supporting comments from House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Sixth District Congressman Bob Goodlatte, who succinctly summed the thoughts of the group.
“The federal government,” Goodlatte said, “has expanded the finite authority the U.S. Constitution actually grants to it into seemingly infinite authority and has blurred the distinction between the roles of the federal and state governments. The Repeal Amendment will provide a new tool for American citizens to voice their opposition through their state legislatures when the federal government oversteps its boundaries.”
The rhetoric here isn’t much different than what we’ve been hearing from partisan Republicans since the inauguration of Barack Obama, whose most egregious sin, like the most egregious sin of Bill Clinton, is being a Democratic president. With Clinton, the GOP’s tactical mistake was to make it personal; the anti-Obama tactic has been less personal but no less over the top, in labeling everything that comes out of the milquetoast liberal-wannabe bipartisan moderate “socialist.” But with this talk about repeal, I’m afraid I’m hearing something more than the usual we-don’t-like-Democrats talk that we’ve been hearing from Republicans the past 15 or 20 years.
Read more columns by Chris Graham at TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
The biggest expansion of federal authority, I would argue, came in the 1960s with the response of the federal government to the abuses of the Jim Crow South, which for the century following the Civil War had systematically disenfranchised and delegitimized African-Americans into second-class citizenship. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act coinciding with the Great Society programs of Lyndon Johnson that were aimed at lifting poor blacks and poor Appalachian whites who had also been effectively subjugated as a side-effect of Jim Crow changed not only the fortunes of the Southern people but as well changed forever between the federal government and the states.
Already reeling from FDR’s New Deal, the states, unable or unwilling to protect the basic civil rights of their citizens, were reduced to what amounted to a second-class citizenship in relation to the federal government.
Going on a half-century later now, you can argue the merits of restoring some sense of balance in the relationship of the states and the federal government, but we can’t here easily divorce the merits of the argument from the people making the argument. Republican leaders have been out front in the effort to deny basic civil rights to gays and lesbians, to deny women the right to make decisions about their reproductive futures, to make it harder for women to end marriages with abusive husbands, to punish the children of undocumented immigrants who have spent their entire lives as Americans by denying them educational opportunity.
This Repeal Amendment hooie, of course, is not an end, but rather a means. Nobody expects the Repeal Amendment to gain any traction, and even if it did, the notion that 34 state legislatures would come to agreement on anything of substance in terms of a law or regulation to be repealed is laughable at best.
But that having been said, neither is this an intellectual exercise for those engaged. Let’s be clear and upfront on this – what we’re seeing here is an attempt to roll back 50 years of advances in the grand effort by the mainstream to have America live up to the ideals that Thomas Jefferson laid out in that letter of declaration that he wrote back in 1776.
The AFP on WREL: Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010
Editor Chris Graham talks sports on WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan.”
The segment begins with a look at this weekend’s ACC Championship Game. Virginia Tech is an early four-point favorite over Florida State. Chris breaks down the matchup and talks about the remarkable midseason turnaround engineered by Hokies coach Frank Beamer.
A look at the ACC-Big 10 Challenge wraps us up. UVa. got the ACC off to a 1-0 start with its upset of #13 Minnesota Monday night.
Are these young Cavs for real? Chris addresses that topic and looks ahead to Sunday’s UVa.-Virginia Tech ACC opener.
Charities: A new source of government revenue?
Interest in collecting payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) from charitable nonprofit organizations is likely to grow as cash-strapped municipalities seek additional revenue, according to a new report by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
But cities and towns should collaborate with colleges, universities, medical facilities and other nonprofits that are exempt from paying property taxes, for greater consistency and transparency, according to Payments in Lieu of Taxes: Balancing Municipal and Nonprofit Interests.
The report is the most comprehensive account of PILOT programs currently in use in 117 municipalities across 18 states. Large cities collecting PILOTs include Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh; Boston has one of the longest standing and most revenue-productive PILOT programs in the U.S. The payments made in these programs are voluntary, are typically only a fraction of what the institutions would provide if they paid property taxes, and constitute a very small percentage of overall revenues collected by municipalities.
Private universities, nonprofit hospitals, museums, soup kitchens, and churches are exempt from property taxation in all 50 states. In recent years, many cities have initiated and expanded PILOTs, and increasingly relied on charging user fees that can help pay for basic public services, from police and fire protection to streets and their maintenance. Some cities have even floated the idea of a controversial “tuition tax” in an effort to make up the property tax revenues that are not paid by colleges and universities.
“PILOTs can provide crucial revenue for certain municipalities, and are one way to make nonprofits pay for the public services they consume,” said the report’s authors, Daphne A. Kenyon and Adam H. Langley. “However, PILOTs are often haphazard, secretive, and calculated in an ad hoc manner that results in widely varying payments among similar nonprofits. In addition, a municipality’s attempt to collect PILOTs can prompt a battle with nonprofits and lead to years of contentious, costly, and unproductive litigation.”
The report includes a detailed review of case studies from around the country and makes the following recommendations:
- Municipalities must assess whether a PILOT program is appropriate. PILOTs are most appropriate for municipalities that are highly reliant on the property tax and have a significant share of total property owned by nonprofits. For example, a Minnesota study found that while PILOTs could increase revenue by more than ten percent in six municipalities in that state, there was negligible revenue potential from PILOTs for the vast majority of Minnesota cities and towns. Similarly, PILOTs are not appropriate for all types of nonprofits. PILOTs are most suitable for nonprofits that own large amounts of tax-exempt property and provide modest benefits to local residents relative to their tax savings.
- Municipalities should work collaboratively with nonprofits. The best PILOT initiatives arise out of a partnership between the municipality and local nonprofit organizations, because both sectors serve the general public and have an interest in an economically and fiscally healthy community. In some cities, case-by-case negotiation with one or several nonprofits is best, as is the case between Yale University and New Haven. In cities with a large number of nonprofits, such as Boston, creating a systematic PILOT program can promote horizontal equity among tax-exempt nonprofits and raise more revenue than negotiating individual agreements.
- Both state and local governments should consider alternatives to PILOTs. State governments should consider providing grants to local governments that host tax-exempt nonprofits to compensate them for their loss of property tax base, as is done in Connecticut. If states are unwilling to provide such grants, municipalities can consider alternative ways to raise revenue from tax-exempt nonprofits, such as increased user fees.
PILOTs address two problems with the property tax exemption provided to nonprofits. First, the exemption is poorly targeted, since it mainly benefits nonprofits with the most valuable property holdings, rather than those providing the greatest public benefit. Second, a geographic mismatch often exists between the costs and benefits of the property tax exemption, since the cost of the exemption in terms of forgone tax revenue is borne by the municipality in which a nonprofit is located, but the public benefits provided by the nonprofit often extend to the rest of the state or even the whole nation.
Payments in Lieu of Taxes: Balancing Municipal and Nonprofit Interests is the latest Policy Focus Report published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high quality education and research, the Institute strives to improve public dialogue and decisions about land policy.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Supreme Court declines to intervene in college free-press case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that allows restrictions on alcohol-related advertising in college publications in Virginia. However, arguments against the restrictions will continue in the lower courts.
“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court decided not to hear this important First Amendment case,” said ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg. “The government never presented any evidence that the bans on alcohol advertising reduce underage drinking, so college newspapers should have the same right as other newspapers to obtain revenues from alcohol ads.”
The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case allows to stand a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that the restrictions are consistent with other kinds of limitations placed on commercial speech, but it leaves two additional arguments to be made. First, the restrictions as they are applied to the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech newspapers are unconstitutional because a majority of the readership at these two schools are of legal drinking age. Second, the restrictions discriminate against college newspapers, putting them at a disadvantage in the competition with other newspapers for ad revenues.
In 2008, a U.S. District Court in Virginia struck down the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board’s restrictions. The court found no evidence that the advertising ban had any effect on underage drinking and that there were other legitimate ways the state could reduce student drinking – including increased taxation on alcohol and counter-advertising – without infringing on freedom of the press.
But the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that there was a “common sense” link between alcohol advertising bans in college papers and a decrease in demand for alcohol by college students, even if there was no evidence to support such an assumption.
The ACLU of Virginia represents Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, the owner of Virginia Tech’s Collegiate Times, and the University of Virginia’s The Cavalier Daily. The case is Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech v. Swecker. Attorneys for the two newspapers are Rebecca Glenberg and ACLU cooperating attorney Frank Feibelman of Richmond.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
UVa. upsets #13 Minnesota
Young Cavs rally big in second half
A 29-7 second-half run erased a 10-point deficit and propelled Virginia to an 87-79 upset of #13 Minnesota Monday night in the opening game of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge.
The hot-shooting ‘Hoos made 10 of their 13 three-point attempts on the game, but even with their marksmanship trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and were down 47-37 early in the second half. Read more
Delaney takes top ACC hoops honor
Senior has career night against UNLV
Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney has been named the ACC Player of the Week while Duke’s Kyrie Irving was tabbed the ACC Rookie of the Week following their outstanding performances this past week.
In earning ACC Player of the Week for the third time in his career, Delaney averaged 21.0 points, 4.0 assists on the week and shot .545 from the field as Virginia Tech went 2-1. The Baltimore, Md., senior opened the week scoring 17 points to go along with seven assists in a 72-56 win over Cal State. Read more
Grant awarded for study of decline of bobwhite quail
Emmett Toms of Dominion Power recently presented a grant awarded to the Valley Alliance for Education for Darrell Steege’s project, “Bobwhite Quail Restoration Conservation Project.” Stuarts Draft High School students will be working on this project, which will examine the role that land use has played in the decline of the bobwhite quail locally.
Singing the Y’s praises
For Sherri Mayo, the Waynesboro Y is a caring environment for her 5-year-old son, Cooper, who is enrolled in the pre-K class at the Y.
“There is never a day when I take him to his class that I am concerned about his care. I know he is in a learning environment that is structured, but he also has so much fun!” Mayo said.
Through the pre-K program at the Y, Cooper gets to visit the library weekly, take swimming lessons, go on field trips – and importantly get ready for kindergarten.
“His teachers are amazing,” Mayo said. “They are very knowledgeable and caring. Rebecca, the childcare director, is completely hands on and always there for support of the parents and her staff.”
More information on the Y is available at WaynesboroYMCA.com.
Mayo’s family and friends are already aware of what the Y means to her family.
“I talk about the program and other activities that we are involved in there all of the time,” she said.
“I highly recommend the Waynesboro Y childcare program to anyone looking for a place to take great care of their most precious gifts!” Mayo said.
ACC Football Players of the Week
No love for Hokies after rivalry win over ‘Hoos
Florida State senior guard Rodney Hudson and the Maryland tandem of junior wide receiver Torrey Smith and freshman quarterback Danny O’Brien headline a list of six players honored as the Atlantic Coast Conference Football Players of the Week, announced Monday by the ACC.
Not only did Hudson pick up his third player of the week award of the season, but he also garnered the ninth player of the week honor of his career – a conference record – after registering four knockdown blocks in the 31-7 win against Florida. Hudson was part of a line that did not allow a sack and helped the offense tally 333 total yards. Smith and O’Brien teamed up for four touchdowns as the Terps topped No. 21 NC State, 38-31. The four scoring receptions set the school’s single-game record, and O’Brien garnered his fifth weekly accolade of the season. Read more
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Chris DeWald: Stroke and cerebral arteriosclerosis
Posted on November 30, 2010 · 6 Comments
Let us break this down. A stroke, or “brain attack,” occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery (a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body) or a blood vessel (a tube through which the blood moves through the body) breaks, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. When either of these things happens, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs.
When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost. These abilities include speech, movement and memory. How a stroke patient is affected depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged.
For example, someone who has a small stroke may experience only minor problems such as weakness of an arm or leg. People who have larger strokes may be paralyzed on one side or lose their ability to speak. Some people recover completely from strokes, but more than two-thirds of survivors will have some type of disability. This is according to www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=stroke.
Now, here is a stroke, according to me, based on the above statement. First, “brain attack” is a politically correct term. A stroke is a stroke. You are now damaged in some way or manner and need to adapt and not surrender. More than two-thirds of survivors will have some type of disability. I am part of that two-thirds, and I am very happy I survived. It allows me to write for this paper to get the word out of this serious medical issue.
Learn the many warning signs of a stroke. Act FAST and CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY at any sign of a stroke.
Use FAST to remember the warning signs:
NOTE THE TIME WHEN ANY SYMPTOMS FIRST APPEAR. If given within three hours of the first symptom, there is an FDA-approved clot-buster medication that may reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke.
Learn as many stroke symptoms as possible so you can recognize stroke as FAST as possible.
Stroke symptoms include:
Call 9-1-1 immediately if you have any of these symptoms
Note the time you experienced your first symptom.
This information is important to your healthcare provider and can affect treatment decisions.
Please react quickly to any suspected stroke. Do not be like me and tell everyone you will be fine. To know me is to love me, but I’d rather not have the stroke. People are hard headed sometimes; they do not want to bother anyone.
Strokes can be devastating, so adhere to keeping yourself and your friends alive.
What is cerebral arteriosclerosis?
Cerebral arteriosclerosis is the result of thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries in the brain. Symptoms of cerebral arteriosclerosis include headache, facial pain, and impaired vision.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis can cause serious health problems. If the walls of an artery are too thick, or a blood clot becomes caught in the narrow passage, blood flow to the brain can become blocked and cause an ischemic stroke. When the thickening and hardening is uneven, arterial walls can develop bulges (called aneurysms). If a bulge ruptures, bleeding in the brain can cause a hemorrhagic stroke. Both types of stroke can be fatal.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis is also related to a condition known as vascular dementia, in which small, symptom-free strokes cause cumulative damage and death to neurons in the brain. Personality changes in the elderly, such as apathy, weeping, transient befuddlement, or irritability, might indicate that cerebral arteriosclerosis is present in the brain. Computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain can help reveal the presence of cerebral arteriosclerosis before ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, or vascular dementia develop. This is according to: www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_arteriosclerosis/cerebral_arteriosclerosis.htm.
Now, this has been the most fearsome with the stroke resulting from cerebral arteriosclerosis part I can deal with. I am the walking poster child for this with the exception that I am classified with the severe stage. I am not a candidate for any surgeries unless it becomes a life-threatening event. When you say I am hard-headed, I actually am. The MRI I received a few months back states that I am “void” of a blood flow. This means that I am not a zombie, but the flow is so small it can not be seen. Standing for periods of time is no longer viable. I no longer have the needed flow to keep myself in a marathon shape. I do retain my intellect but it becomes clouded when I exceed the needs of the available blood flow to my brain.
So how does this affect me? I want for everyone to know who is a caregiver or even with this disease to realize it is serious and draining to any individual. I remember a show named “All in the Family.” Archie used to tell Edith, “Don’t get sloppy on me now in your age.” I never knew completely what that meant. I do now know that everyone needs to recognize what can happen. I have the following symptoms that are the same as stated from the National Institute of Health, but more detailed. In order to fill those details, here we go.
Let’s start at the top. I mean the top of the body. It mentions headaches, oh yeah, people. This is from the lack of oxygen due to the blood flow making its way into the “Thomas Muffins Nooks and Crannies” of your brain. I will make it easy by being descriptive.
This is a signal to you to “sit” or “lay down.” Allow the blood flow to get back into where it is needed. Stop working and do not take the work with you in a seated or prone position. You only cheat yourself.
Admit to yourself that you need this. Do not try and work through it. Are you stubborn and want to try it anyway? Wake up on the floor like me many times. If you have had a stroke before, getting off the floor is horrible.
I have no idea why they tell you in the elderly watch the following symptoms. If you have it, I say it is the same no matter what age. They have listed dementia but do not really go into dementia. Me, I am starting to forget relatives’ names and items relating to that. Did I eat this morning? Have I taken my medications? This is real, folks. So listen to your survivor and inform your medical physician. I am also more exhausted than normal because I try to just “do.” People like me need to “do.” There are many of us hard wired from birth and you can see that in your prior usage of sick leave.
I hope I kicked this around enough for those who need to know. I shall return again in print.
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with brain attack, cerebral arteriosclerosis, chris dewald, stroke