Irony, thy name is anti-tax Republican.
Anti-tax Republicans hold community meeting in new firehouse, complain that firehouse has wasteful features like the community meeting space.
Impressively, this fire house was built to stand for 100 years. I once asked one of the heads of a major hospital about how long their new construction was designed to last for. He said that they [...]
Executive Experience: President of the PTA.
How do we know that Sarah Palin is qualified for the vice presidency (and, thus, the presidency)? Sen. John McCain says her experience on the PTA helps:
(It’s at the 3:37 mark in the clip.)
Palin is looking like McCain’s own Harriet Miers.
The RPV’s changing veepstakes logic.
The RPV on the McCain naming Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate today:
“John McCain hit it out of the park with his selection of Governor Palin,” said Delegate Jeffrey M. Frederick, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. “This is a bold, fresh, and exciting choice that clearly demonstrates that Republicans aren’t reading [...]
Terry McAuliffe considering a run for VA governor.
Former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe says he’s thinking about running for governor of Virginia. When I lament the dangers of urban Democrats becoming both powerful and out of touch, this is precisely the sort of candidate who I fear. Tucker Martin got it right when he said to Tim Craig, “Terry McAuliffe doesn’t know Norton [...]
“Farewell, Mr. Hooper.”
This is the key scene from “Farewell, Mr. Hooper,” the episode of Sesame Street when Mr. Hooper died, in which the grownups explain death to Big Bird. It was shot in one take. It’s the first time I’ve seen this since I was four, and it’s sadder than ever.
Earthquake civilizations.
Here’s a fascinating observation: ancient Eurasian civilizations tended strongly to cluster along the boundaries of tectonic plates. Why? Nobody knows, but people are tossing on hypothesizes. (Via Metafilter)
Experiments with eliminating traffic signs.
The Wilson Quarterly has a very enjoyable article about traffic engineer Hans Monderman, a Dutchman. He’s an advocate for expanding the idea of a woonerf to include much of the road network, eliminating most signage.
“Do you really think that no one would perceive there is a bridge over there?” he might ask, about a sign [...]
C’ville Democratic nomination party.
Obama supporters are holding a nomination party in Charlottesville during the convention. At Wild Wings Cafe, 8:30pm, with TVs tuned to Barack Obama accepting the nomination. If you want to watch this socially, it appears to be the place to be.
Governor Bolling: Good for Virginia Democrats.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks mulling over the possibility of Tim Kaine getting the nod as Barack Obama’s running mate, and I’ve come to the decision that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. On the whole, I think it would be good for the Obama campaign, good for Virginia Democrats, and certainly [...]
Freeing us from technology.
Item the first: The FTC has barred prerecorded sales calls, effective September 1, 2009. (Political calls are not covered by the limitation, since they’re not, strictly speaking, selling anything.) Item the second: States across the country are tossing out electronic voting machines as it dawns on them that these things are grossly insecure and generally [...]
Lazy journalism.
Modern media has adopted the curious practice of reporting claims, rather than facts. (I say “modern” not because I know that it wasn’t always like this, but because I have no idea.) I don’t mean to pick on either this guy or this outlet, but AP writer Anthony McCartney’s story about Jackson Browne’s lawsuit against [...]
Sir Nils Olav the penguin.
Another sign that Norway is awesome—they just knighted a penguin:
The knighthood ceremony began Friday morning with speeches and a fanfare before Nils arrived, under escort with the King’s Guard Color Detachment. Nils then reviewed the troops lined up outside the penguin enclosure at the zoo, waddling down the row of uniformed soldiers, occasionally stopping to [...]
RoofRay solar calculator.
Even with all of the great tools out there, it’s surprisingly difficult to just figure out if it’s worth the money to install solar panels on your home. Between calculations of latitude, historical cloud cover rates, degree days, and PV effectiveness, it’s just plain confusing. Which is why I’m so pleased to see RoofRay, a [...]
Perriello/Goode debate, poll.
Rep. Virgil Goode and Tom Perriello debated last night, at the Senior Statesman of Virginia’s standard biennial House candidate forum. Campaign advisor Lloyd Snook thinks Perriello came out on top, and prominent local writer and noted Quaker Helena Cobban basically agrees, but with significant reservations. Coincidentally, SUSA released a poll in the race today (which [...]
“The weight of war on telephone lines is heavier every day.”
I ran across this WWII-era Bell Telephone ad in a 1942 issue of VQR and thought it was worth sharing. See also these 1953 Bell Telephone ads, two of which are delightfully offensive. My favorite is the one that encourages people to use telephone numbers when calling somebody; I had to puzzle that one through.
Help me get clemency for Aleck Carpitcher.
Four years ago I wrote here about Aleck Carpitcher, a Roanoke man who is spending his tenth year in prison for a crime that all parties involve agree that he didn’t commit. Why’s he still in there? Virginia’s 21-day-rule says you only have twenty one days post-sentencing to enter new evidence of actual innocence. He [...]
AG: “Not…every violation of the law is a crime.”
While running an errand this afternoon, I found myself guffawing in a waiting room when I read this AP article on my iPhone:
No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.
But, [...]
GAO: Most companies pay no taxes.
The GAO has found that two thirds of all U.S. corporations pay no income tax. I’ve started and run three corporations, and none paid income tax. Why? Because they were all S-corps, so the shareholders paid the income taxes. I’d like to know if this study took that into account; CNN’s article doesn’t say.
FBI admits to spying on reporters.
The FBI has admitted to spying on journalists from The New York Times and The Washington Post. They say it was part of a terrorism investigation, but are unable to explain what the case was or what the reporters had to do with it. Spying on reporters is a Very Big Deal, and requires clearly [...]
The New Yorker’s fiction is terrible.
The New Yorker’s fiction is terrible.*
There, I said it.
Every week it’s another story about uninteresting, unhappy people becoming more unhappy still. There is little to no action; virtually nothing happens. Often it’s well-written, in the sense that there are nice turns of phrases, and the characters are explored in a way that gives them depth [...]
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Waldo Jaquith (JAY-kwith) is a website developer and political pundit who lives in the vicinity of Charlottesville, VA, USA. more »
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