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This weekend the Senate will finally be voting on the Bush tax cuts. This should not be a controversial vote for our leaders in the Senate. In fact, this is the first issue of the lame duck session where the public is overwhelming in agreement. A CBS poll this week found that only 26 percent of…
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In the very near future Virginia will receive its official population numbers from the 2010 census. Our numbers are among the first to be issued because our off-year elections require us to redraw our legislative district lines in time for the 2011 fall elections. Follow the progress of the census results being made available at…
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Senior led ACC is pass efficiency Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who has led the #12 Hokies to 10 straight wins and a berth in the ACC Championship Game following an 0-2 start, was voted the ACC Player of the Year for 2010. Taylor, a senior, was the choice of 27 of the 57 members…
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What do Prince, Sir Paul McCartney, and Christie Brinkley have in common? Besides their enduring star power, they are all sexy vegetarians who just happen to be over 50. Their sizzling example is what inspired PETA to expand its popular series of Sexiest Vegetarian contests to include the over-50 set. After receiving hundreds of entries…
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“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…
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The so-called New START, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, is poised for an historic ratification vote in the Senate this year. Three more major international treaties are also lined up on President Obama’s ratification to-do list: the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and CEDAW,…
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When I come to the second of three amendments to the Virginia constitution on next Tuesday’s ballot, I hope I don’t punch a hole in the machine when I vote “No.” This proposal aims to help disabled veterans by exempting them from property tax. How could anyone oppose so worthy, so charitable a goal for…
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“A political battle is merely a skirmish fought with muskets. A philosophical battle is a nuclear war.” These words were written by Ayn Rand way back in 1964. This sentiment was, at one time, shared by the Tea Party groups that inhabit central Virginia. They understood that the time for fixing those metaphorical rusty bayonets…
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If you’re like me, this election doesn’t feel anything like 2008. The excitement and hope of that historic election have been replaced by worry and disappointment. The 2008 campaigns at least occasionally addressed our country’s serious problems. This year it’s all noise, attacks, and accusations. Little actual policy makes it through. Meanwhile, billionaires, big oil,…
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We’re nearing the final week of the 2010 midterm elections, and one of the marquee races on the national stage next Tuesday night is right here in our backyard. Democrat Tom Perriello is trailing in the polls to Republican challenger Robert Hurt, a state senator from Southside who has run in many ways the perfect…
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