Bacon's Rebellion

The March 20, 2006, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion has been published. Columns include:

Liberate Mass Transit
As an alternative to funding mega-sized construction projects, Virginia should give entrepreneurs more freedom to devise creative shared-ridership solutions.
by James A. Bacon

What Hath God Wrought?
From the telegraph to BlackBerry, advances in technology define the challenges to Virginia far better than does the squabbling in the General Assembly.
by Doug Koelemay

Promises Made, Promises Broken
Gov. Kaine and his allies are willing to do anything to push tax increases through the General Assembly — even if it means eroding the integrity of the governing process.
by Patrick McSweeney

A Sound Opinion
General Bob McDonnell was right: Tim Kaine did exceed his authority when conferring protected status upon sexual orientation throughout state government.
by Patrick McSweeney

Words Matter
There’s no hope of making progress on Virginia’s most intractable problems when our words only cloud understanding. Our goal in 2006 is to introduce a more robust Vocabulary.
by EM Risse

Culture Wars in the Valley
Perturbed by pornography, abortion, out-of-wedlock births and other signs of moral decay, the Blue Dog has begun attending the Family Forum’s Capstone program.
by Steven Sisson

Porn in Libraries? Whatever.
Under the guise of defending free speech, Virginia’s Senate sided with smut peddlers and sexual predators to block applying common- sense filters to computers in public libraries.
by Steven Sisson

Unanswered Questions
GOP factions are grappling over how much more money to spend on transportation. But they’re not addressing critical questions regarding spending priorities and the role of the private sector.
by Michael Thompson

Bottomless Pit
The Washington Metro is losing money and needs more than $1 billion in repairs. Why should anyone believe the Rail-to-Dulles project will perform any better?
by Philip Rodokanakis

The Truth Shall Set You Free
Ever wonder why life seems so hard? The problem isn’t outsourcing, or even automation. It’s government taking an ever-bigger share of Americans’ paychecks.
by Jim Bowden

Fix VDOT First
Tim Kaine wants to raise taxes by $600 per Virginia family to fund transportation — even though the Virginia Department of Transportation is broken and leaderless.
by Paul C. Harris

Poverty Wages
The presidents of Virginia’s major universities are doing little to ensure that all their employees are paid a living wage.
by Steve Fisher

Nice & Curious Questions:
Finding One’s Way: Signs of Virginia
by Edwin S. Clay III and Patricia Bangs

When I went to post I got asked many times to produce the ‘key letters’ for security. I apologize for screwing up and posting this thing a zillion times. I don’t know how to delete the extras.

I am technically-dangerous and apologize again.

Some of Virginia’s biggest snows come in March. Here is a snow job on Transportation. I got a copy of this ‘Dear Friends’ constituent letter from Sen. Marty Williams (R-NN) from fellow constituents. Marty didn’t send me a copy even though he is my State Senator and I’m an elected Republican Party in his district (1-SD). I edited his letter to help him out anyway and, lo and behold, his letter shows up in the Daily Press as an op ed. The Daily Press doesn’t mention that it’s a constituent letter.

(Sen. Williams) March 10, 2006

Dear Friends: I wanted to let you know more about the transportation situation in the Commonwealth and specifically how it affects the residences of Newport News, Hampton, York County and Poquoson. I would also like to take this opportunity to describe why I feel this is a watershed year for transportation in Hampton Roads. December 2006 is a make or break time in Hampton Roads. Before year-end, the Hampton Roads Planning District must submit an updated long-range regional transportation plan. Unless this package includes actual and realistic ways of financing the third crossing, improving U.S. 460 and constructing a second midtown tunnel, the region will lose the federal funding currently in place for these projects. We will also lose $14.6 million dollars in environmental impact studies that will expire and $63 million in current federal earmarks.

(JAB) · What has prevented the HRPD from submitting a plan to date? If the HRPD can’t figure out priorities and come up with a funding plan, then they should all resign. In your Yes! Campaign analysis from 02 (the Great Transportation Tax Scam), it was clear that tolls would pay for most of the Third Crossing. What have you and the HRPD been doing in the past 4 years, besides raising our taxes and trying to raise them more?
· What are the priorities for Tidewater – number them one to n? What is the minimum funding stream each one needs for the next 20 years to keep from losing the sunk costs?
· $14.6m + $63m = $77.6m is a whole lot less than the $2.5 billion plus you want to stick to the Virginia taxpayers. Better to lose the millions than bleed the billions – if the HRPD is so incompetent to force that.

(Sen. Williams) Additionally, without congestion relief, the region will fail to meet federal air quality standards. This means that in addition to the standard yearly safety inspection: 1. All vehicles will be required to have a separate inspection for emissions. The charge for the inspection is $28.00. The failure rate is over 50%, and that rate increases with the age of the car. The average repair bill to bring your automobile into compliance is between $450.00 and $850.00. 2. These inspections will also require that you take additional days off from work or Saturday afternoons away from your family. 3. When we fail to meet federal air quality standards, the penalty is forfeiture of all federal highway dollars to the region. 4. We will then be asking our constituents to pay federal gas taxes and shipping that money off to other regions.

(JAB) · Get serious. Your Yes! Campaign used this same scare tactic in 02. It didn’t work then. What makes you think it will work now?
· Nothing in yours/HRPDs plan reduces congestion. The 02 plan ended up with more congested miles in 20 years than we have now. Building roads doesn’t decrease the miles driven.
· Nothing in your plan actually reduces the miles driven or cars on the road – to reduce pollution. · What per cent of the pollution problem comes from vehicles?

(Sen Williams) These grave conditions are irrefutable. We have letters from the Federal Highway Administration detailing its position on this issue very clearly.

(JAB) · Put the letters on the web.

(Sen Williams) There are very real, very negative consequences for the region. Surely neither you nor I want these things to happen. The solutions that I am supporting have the potential to cost less for the average citizen than the cost you may bare [(JAB) bear] if we do nothing. The actual cost is easy to calculate, but sitting in traffic, consuming fuel and time is somewhat harder to identify. But we know it when we see it. Only an increased dedicated funding source will prevent this from happening. That is why I have offered solutions to our dilemma and I am perfectly willing to compromise with others if they offer real solutions – not temporary band-aids.

(JAB)· Raising taxes isn’t a real solution. Raising taxes kills jobs. The plan you support (http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/main/main.php Click on ‘to see a powerpoint summary of each of the proposed tax and transportation plans’) shows on slide 12 – your plan adds 8405 government jobs in year one and KILLS 5805 private sector jobs in year one. Then, magically in this analysis, it gets better in 4 years. Taxes are called killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

(Sen Williams) I have received encouragement from some of my constituents to support the House plan. I should not do that when I know, for a fact that the House plan does not move Hampton Roads 1 step toward avoiding these grave consequences. The House plan issues over $8oo million in new debt to free up money for Transportation. If we endorse borrowing money when times are this good, what in the world will we do when we arrive at an inevitable recession?

(JAB) · You supported the billions in huge bond issues on the ballot for education and the environment. What is different that made that debt good and this debt bad?
· When revenues decrease in the inevitable recession you cut spending. See, the government gets its money from the People. When they suffer during a recession the Government gets less money. There is only one economy to take money from.
· If you think the current level of spending is untenable in the future, then cut back now.

(Sen Williams) The issue of slowing traffic to collect a toll is also a real concern for many of you. Let me assure you that I would never support erecting barriers to traffic in our major thoroughfares. Tolling today is not a traditional toll both. Technology is in place today that identifies by electronic signal and photographs all vehicles using the facilities. And Yes! we have the ability to bill all users including out of state travelers for the toll fee. There will also be a system in place to recognize commuters and bill them at a much lower rate. These concepts are real and being used all over the world right now.

(JAB) · Tolls make sense. Agreed.
· There are other things like private-partnerships, tax exemptions for telecommuting, mass transit, etc. not including in the Senate ‘plan’. · Fix VDOT. Read the House plan to see how to do it. How much was the overrun for the interchange on I-64 you sponsored? How long was the overrun? What was the cost in wasted time, accidents for that interchange to profit the Hampton City ‘Power Plant’ boondoggle?

(Sen Williams) My job as a legislator is to try and offer solutions. So far the best and only true solution to this problem is the plan put forward by the Senate of Virginia. Again I stand ready to compromise with anyone offering a real solution for my constituents. The Senate plan does not raid funds from sources traditionally spent on education, law enforcement and health care and shift them to road building. This reduces the chance that transportation funding will be forced to compete with other core services—a situation where transportation always loses.

(JAB) · This is just false. The House budget (with no tax increase) has a $2.4b in additional spending for education. The House spending for the environment is the same as the Senate’s. The House budget increases spending on Public Safety $446m. Quit crying “Wolf!” about phony spending cuts. Democrats do that.
· Again, the money for all reasons comes from the same source – the taxpayers. All money competes with all money for the budget – unless legislators are incapable of setting priorities – like every family and business in the Commonwealth do when – especially when you raise our taxes.
· Why did you vote for those budgets that raided the Transportation Trust Fund? You moved the money meant for transportation to other purposes. Take responsibility for your actions.

(Sen Williams) This is a prudent, responsible pay-as-you-go approach. The plan does not rely on debt. This keeps transportation from further driving the Commonwealth’s spending for debt service (one of the fastest growing parts of the budget) and avoids Washington D.C. type deficit spending that the House plan embraces.

(JAB) · This is a tax-as-you-go. You were elected in 95. Republicans won the majority in the GA in 97. What have you been doing other than trying to raise our taxes (02), raising our taxes (04), and planning to raise our taxes (06)? This is Washington tax and spend – Virginia can’t do deficit spending – read our Constitution.
· You and other Republicans raided the Transportation Trust Fund.
· You and other Republicans have failed to offer anything in 9 years.
· Didn’t you just pull back your own bill to have tolls across the James River to pay for most of the Third Crossing?
· Where is the plan for that crossing? Why hasn’t the HRPD made a decision for so many years?

(Sen. Williams) I know this debate will continue over the next few weeks and compromise positions may appear that will more fully embrace your particular position on this issue. I also am not naive enough to think my solution is the only one. If someone can show me a plan that solves this enormous problem without revenue enhancements you can bet I will be more than supportive. So far no plans that even begin to move Hampton Roads forward without new revenue have been disclosed. I am ready to negotiate those compromises. It is my job to work diligently to find solutions for the real problems that confront my constituents. If you have any thoughts on this subject please contact me at (757) 599-8683.

(JAB) · It is wrong to raise our taxes because you failed for 9 years to establish priorities, fund them properly and come up with plans that actually work to reduce congestion and pollution.

Sincerely, Senator Marty Williams

And very sincerely, James Atticus Bowden

Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns and Fundamental Change in governance structure will benefit all citizens. In fact these two Fundamental Changes are the sine qua nons for future prosperity, stability and sustainability.

Fundamental Change in the short term will end some subsidies for those who now profit – or hope to profit in the future – from Business-As-Usual. Those who believe they are threatened by Fundamental Change try to deflect and obstruct rational discussion by every means they can think of.

When all else fails, they filibuster and toss out ancient Red Herrings. They suggest those who favor Fundamental Change have no respect for individual rights, they accuse them of trying to take away private property and / or of advocating central planning that deprives citizens of their rights.

EMR, S/PI, The Shape of the Future, PROPERTY DYNAMICS and Friends of Virginia’s Future advocate a free market as the best way to allocate resources and democracy as best way to guide governance.

One will look in vain for any suggestion to the contrary in The Shape of the Future, in the 73 columns at Bacon’s Rebellion, in Handbook, in the program for PROPERTY DYNAMICS or in the documents created by and for the 150 +/- participants of Friends of Virginia’s Future over the past 15 years.

You will find no evidence that we are against self-interest or private rights. In fact, thwarting the evolution of rational community interests erodes everyone’s private rights and interests. We advocate a balance of private rights and community responsibilities.

We pointed out in out last post (BREAKTHROUGH!) that a society that relies on a market economy to allocate resources and democratic process to guide governance is the sum of its citizens individual actions. We also note that at this point citizens of the Commonwealth are sliding toward total entropy with governance practitioners going along for the ride. Look no farther that the 2006 General Assembly session for proof positive.

It is particularly ironic when the Thomas Jefferson’s name is invoked by Red Herring hurlers in pseudo-academic fashion to discount the need for Fundamental Change. Jefferson is misquoted or quoted out of context to support the contention that private rights trump the interests of society as a whole and that private interests have carte blanc to thwart the common good. That is not the relationship Jefferson advocated for individuals and a well-functioning government. Without functional governance there is chaos and thus no private rights.

Jefferson is also quoted as being as being opposed to any further change in government structure once the Constitution was ratified. The quote that is tossed out to support this claim is from the early republic. Jefferson cautioned against making will-nilly changes before the new system had time to work. After 200 years, the context for governance is fundamentally different.

The most important change since 1800 is that the United States has evolved from a society with 95% agrarian oriented citizens and 5% urban oriented citizens to one where over 95% are urban oriented and less than 5% are nonurban. Nonurban households realize the majority of their livelihood from extensive uses of land – forestry, agriculture, etc.

This profound shift requires fundamentally different settlement patterns and requires a Fundamental Change in governance structure to accommodate the needs of urban citizens.

In this context, citizens must have reliable information so they can make better decisions in the marketplace and better decisions in voting booth. Not “better” from some abstract or ideal perspective or “better” for some shadow interest group but “better” in terms of the enlightened self-interest of the citizens making the decisions in the market and at the polls.

We argue that both a free market and democracy require logical structures and informed citizens to function. Level the playing field, remove the subsidies, work to achieve equity and balance. The first step is an easy one – fairly allocate location-variable costs of goods and services.

Obstructionists need to get over the filibustering and Red Herring tossing and get to work helping achieve Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns so that patterns and densities of land use reflect contemporary economic, social and physical reality.

Citizens need to work towards Fundamental Change in governance structure so that there is a democratic structure that reflects the organic reality of contemporary society.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. PROPERTY DYNAMICS is coming soon to a Alpha Neighborhood near you.

Last week we were was puzzling over why the General Assembly would spend so much time on issues that are of limited importance: Like guns in private cars on commercial parking lots and defending citizens from the horrors of cameras that identify those who break the law by running red lights.

They were spending all this time and energy when there was a two-year budget to pass. Even more important, citizens of the Commonwealth are facing Regional Rigor Mortis and a growing Shelter Crisis. These are two issues for which the state government now has primary responsibility and these dysfunctions are growing worse each day.

Why is this happening in “the worlds leading democracy?”

Legislators know that no matter what they do in Richmond, traffic congestion in the New Urban Regionsthat are the economic engines of the Commonwealth will get worse. Regional Rigor Mortis ( https://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues05/06-06/Risse.htm ) will continue to diminish and eventually wipe out the prospect of prosperity, security and sustainability – individually and collectively.

Legislators know that no matter what they do about the bills before them, there will be less and less affordable and accessible housing and the Shelter Crisis ( https://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues05/07-25/Risse.php ) will continue to become worse for the vast majority of the citizens in the Commonwealth.

Not one legislator will yet admit these realities.

Not one of them has yet stated they know why these trends exist, but they know in their hearts – right hearts and left hearts – that this is happening. They know in spite of campaign promises and oaths of office it will continue to happen.

So legislators believe they might as well spend their time on something they can talk about “winning,” or at least “fighting for,” when they get home and especially when they next run for office.

The reason that they can get away with this behavior is that their actions in the legislature mirror the behavior of citizens in a fat, self-satisfied society unwilling to face the need for Fundamental Change.

It is not easy being green, but it is easy being a Commuter Consumer. As long as you have good credit and do not ask too many questions, everyone loves a Commuter Consumer who votes her party ticket.

The vast majority of the Commuter Consumers (especially the RHTCs – aka, Running as Hard as They Cans) get up and go to work almost every week day. They come home, pop dinner in the microwave and settle in to be “entertained” for from four to six hours. Then they go to bed.

Over the Internet, by phone, on weekends, at lunch hour and on the way home from work, Commuter Consumers buy those items they saw in the advertisements that paid for the “entertainment.”

Commuter Consumers are sure they need these things because the ads make it clear that these products and services insure long, fast lives with lots of good sex.

Of course, if Commuter Consumers start to ask questions, things get very murky very fast:

Why is traffic getting worse and worse?

Why can the school’s best teacher not afford a house in the best school district? Those who do all the other things – mowing the grass, hauling goods, making pizza, stocking shelves, cleaning offices, cleaning homes and staffing day care centers have even fewer choices for shelter.

Why is the cost of location-dependent goods and services – schools, fire and safety, water and sewer, fuel and energy, repair services, mail and delivery, safe food and other necessities of life going up faster than incomes?

Why is the quality of public services going down? Why are children not doing better in school as compared to other First World students?

Why do citizens not feel as safe as when they were was growing up?

Why are health care cost rising so much faster and the indicators of individual health so much lower than in other First World nation-states?

Why are the bottom 95% of the economic food chain losing ground every year in the face of unprecedented per capita consumption and “standards of living”?

Why are our elected and appointed governance practitioners not doing a better job?

Those who turn off the TV, shut down the video game, stop searching e-bay for bargains and get off their cell phones to raise questions about the “big issues” find no easy answers.

If they dig deep, citizens find that the cumulative impact of acquiring those things that the advertisements claim will make them happy individual consumers turn out to make society very sick.

The things that ads implore Commuter Consumers to consume result in fat, stress, traffic fatalities, poor SAT scores, low saving rates, pollution and other indicators of disorder – but it sure was entertaining.

Not wanting to address the need for Fundamental Change, Commuter Consumers focus on something they can get their hands on:

The neighbors dog, cars speeding on the cul de sac, the developer who wants to build houses in the “openspace” behind their new McMansion, who the soccer coach is in bed with, the school board’s policy on Hanukkah, Ramadan or Christmas.

Something that the ads say solves most problems is to buy a bigger house that is far from the things that bother you. This dream house turns out to be even farther from the important contributors to a good life but the ads never mentioned that.

Location is not a problem because the next best thing to a big new house is a new car that can go 140 miles per hour while picking up hotties and / or navigate the Pan American highway from Alaska to Argentina while picking up jungle dwellers to play hypnotic tunes from the back seat.

If you do not qualify for a new mortgage or do not need a new car, the most satisfying activity of all seems to be to attack a well defined subset of those who are threatening ones personal “rights.”

Never mind community responsibilities – much less dooryard-, cluster-, neighborhood- or village responsibilities.

So why should we expect the legislators to not to commit themselves in guns, god, gays and private rights wedge issues or for Congress not to attack “Arab” investments?

After 60 days those hard work, the legislators will go home for a rest before the Special Session. Even if they talk to someone from outside their party they will not be told “get busy or find a new way to spend your time.” Why should they change? The citizens who elect them show no signs of awakening.

A society that relies on a market economy to allocate resources and democratic process to guide governance is the sum of its citizens individual actions. Right now citizens of the Commonwealth are sliding toward total entropy with the governance practitioners going along for the ride.

An Antidote? PROPERTY DYNAMICS is coming soon to a Alpha Neighborhood near you.

EMR

The General Assembly is scheduled to wind up this week. Whether it does or not, as budget negotiations go down to the wire, is beyond my ability to foretell. Sadly, I won’t be around for the grand finale. I’ll be cruising through the tropics with the family.

Odds are, the Disney cruise ship will have wireless Internet access, in which case, I may find myself checking in from time to time. But if things are little slow on the Bacon’s Rebellion blog, it’s because I’m snorkling or drinking Margaritas. Here’s a toast to life beyond politics!

A March 6 poll of 1,900 voters by Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Conn., ranks two Virginia politicians among the Top 10 most popular political leaders in the country. Former Gov. Mark R. Warner ranked 7th, with a rating of 50.7 on a 1-to-100 scale. Sen. George Allen ranked 10th, with a 48.6 rating. Both ranked ahead of President George Bush and Veep Dick Cheney.

Warner should be encouraged that he edged out New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, with a 50.4 rating. That makes him the most popular figure among likely Democratic contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination.

Allen has a lot stiffer competition should he seek the GOP nomination. Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ranked 14 points higher, and Sen. John McCain 12 points higher.

(See more commentary at the Virginia Belle blog.)

The Wall Street Journal has published side-by-side letters from state Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Northumberland, and Peter Ferrara, president of the Virginia Free Enterprise Fund and occasional Bacon’s Rebellion columnist.

Addressing the tax debate in Virginia, both make points to a national audience that they’ve made already to state audiences. I can’t link to the letters oneline, so I’ve typed them into the comments section of this post.

What’s noteworthy here is the level of national attention the tax debate is generating.

Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, has introduced a bill commending his colleague Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Northampton, as a “visionary leader of tremendous integrity … admired for his gift of diplomacy; his adroitness, even in times of adversity, at unifying the numerous voices and forces of the legislative body.”

Describing Chichester as having “great respect … for the diverse political convictions of his fellow General Assembly members,” Stolle goes on: “Committed to excellence in state government, John Chichester exemplifies, in his words and in his deeds, the ideals of honesty, responsibility, and a steadfast belief in the value of democracy and the political system.”

The resolution commends Chichester on his 2005 Excellence in State leadership Award by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the State Leadership Foundation.

Read the resolution and pick out your favorite phrases! Here’s mine: “Unifying the numerous voices and forces of the legislative body.”

Update: Turns out there’s more to the story. Jeff Schapiro wrote a piece in today’s Times-Dispatch noting that House Republicans “are now refusing to vote on a tribute to the guy who whupped ’em in the 2004 tax fight.” I don’t know who submitted the resolution in the House, but I’ll bet he (or she) is snickering at the sniping intramural feuding they’re feeding in the Republican Party.

One can hardly blame the House GOP for not wanting to affirm the sycophantic praise in the resolution, including an allusion to Chichester’s role in cramming the 2004 tax increase down their throats. On the other hand, publicly dissing Chichester will only feed the “petty, intransigent House GOP” storyline that seems to be developing. There ought to be a creative solution to the dilemma.

I’m all for slapping tolls on every major bridge in Hampton Roads to pay the bulk of the cost of the Third Crossing.

I hope they don’t screw up the actual crossing plans with something stupid. They should do a rail and truck bridge to 460 on the Southside and new tubes for cars across the Hampton-Norfolk crossing.

I don’t understand why a 22 person commission had to be appointed instead of VDOT collecting the tolls.

Pay attention to see if this commission hires staff and rents offices. Look to see who, and how many, they hire and how much they pay. Might be a good news story for a newspaper.

Road to Ruin reporter Bob Burke has been digging into Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s apparent abandonment of the land use legislation he championed during the fall gubernatorial campaign. He confirms the account provided by Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, and columnist Patrick McSweeney.

Bob did get a response from Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall. Hall’s response: Kaine still backs the measure but regards it as “part of a more comprehensive transportation package. … We are probably more in a posture of [trying to] fight the battles we have a reasonable chance of winning.”

In other words, Kaine is putting all his muscle behind the $1 billion-a-year tax increase — a tax increase he never mentioned during the campaign.

Still unresolved: Whether the Governor caved into pressure from the home builder/real estate interests.

Read Bob’s story here.

Gov. Tim Kaine may be furious that the House GOP nixed his nomination of Daniel LeBlanc to Secretary of Commonwealth, but he has himself to thank: Having broken two major campaign promises relating to transportation, he doesn’t have much credibility when he says that he will protect Virginia’s Right to Work law. (I’ve discussed Kaine’s broken promises over on the Road to Ruin blog.)

In a quote buried deep in a Virginian-Pilot pilot story today, House Majority Leader Del. Morgan Griffith calls Kaine’s credibility into question:

Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said he did not trust Kaine’s pledge to uphold the right-to-work law. He said Kaine already has broken a campaign pledge not to seek tax increases until he won passage of a constitutional amendment that would protect transportation money from being diverted to other services.

“If he doesn’t keep one promise, how can you expect him to keep a promise to protect the right-to-work law?” Griffith said.

Breaking promises has consequences. Even if the press doesn’t call you on it, the political opposition will. Kaine has some major repair work to do.

The House of Delegates made a major tactical error yesterday in rejecting Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s nomination of Daniel G. LeBlanc, former president of the Virginia AFL-CIO, as Secretary of the Commonwealth. As critical negotiations over transportation funding unfolds, Kaine and Taxes Axis will use the vote to tar House Republicans as intransigent and obstructionist, putting them on the public relations defensive.

We can see the Kaine/Taxes Axis strategy unfolding. The lead of Pamela Stallsmith’s front-page story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch quotes Kaine as decrying the House’s “McCarthy-style politics.” The article continues in that vein for 12 paragraphs. It’s not until the 13th paragraph that the GOP actions are briefly explained: “The vote was partly viewed as payback for perceived partisan threats by Kaine’s Chief of Staff, William H. Leighty, and the governor’s proposed plan to use campaign-like tactics to break the House’s resistance to higher taxes.”

The article proceeds with another 10 paragraphs of denunciations of the House action, and wraps up the story with a mere three paragraphs of quotes from GOP legislators.

Now, if the issue is really important — like whether or not to raise taxes by $1 billion a year — you have no choice but to hang tough. But when the issue is over who oversees the Governor’s patronage machine, LeBlanc’s opposition to the Right to Work law is irrelevant. You might feel good having voted him down, but you’ve given the Dems and the press corps a club to beat you with!

We can already see where things are heading. In an accompanying Times-Dispatch article, Del. Brian J. Moran, D-Alexandria, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, accused Republicans of being “uncompromising with respect to the budget.” We can expect this meme to be picked up and repeated endlessly in the debate to come. The fact that the Governor and Senate have been equally uncompromising doesn’t matter. What matters is that the press can be counted upon to pick up and amplify the accusation — and the House’s rejection of the LeBlanc nomination will be cited as evidence of the charge.

Update: Michael Shear with the Washington Post gives a more balanced account here. So does Warren Fiske at the Virginian-Pilot here. And the political team at the Daily Press here. All articles emphasize how angry Gov. Kaine is — justifiably, because his reaction is legitimate news — but Stallsmith comes across as carrying water for the Governor.

A fascinating column by Alexandria teacher Patrick Welsh appears in today’s USA Today. Maybe the problem with the educational system in the United States today isn’t the schools or the teachers, he suggests, maybe it’s the students!

Drawing upon his experience as a teacher at T.C. Williams High School, Welsh observes that the best students in English class are foreign students. Native-born students, many of them from affluent families, enjoy a huge advantage when studying their native language but they get lower grades on average. The difference: The foreign students study harder.

What many of the American kids I taught did not have was the motivation, self-discipline or work ethic of the foreign-born kids.

A study released in December by University of Pennsylvania researchers Angela Duckworth and Martin Seligman suggests that the reason so many U.S. students are falling short of their intellectual potential” is not “inadequate teachers, boring textbooks and large class sizes” and the rest of the usual litany cited by the so-called reformers — but “their failure to exercise self-discipline.”

Compounding the problem is a widespread parental sense of entitlement. Teachers who hand out low grades are accused of destroying the children’s future.

Nowadays, it’s the kids who have the power. When they don’t do the work and get lower grades, they scream and yell. Parents side with the kids who pressure teachers to lower standards,” says Joel Kaplan, [a] chemistry teacher at T.C. Williams.

The root problem of our educational system may be the prevailing American culture of entitlement and the decline of the work ethic among American students and their parents. Politicians don’t get elected by blaming the shortcomings of the educational system on voters, but the fact is, this is a problem that no amount of money can solve. If we want to address the shortcomings of education in Virginia, we must start with ourselves.

Today’s Daily Press features an article on the York County School Board meeting last night. About 80 folks showed up with 12 speakers and over 500 names on petitions to get York County to stop culturally cleansing their public schools of Christmas.

I was there.

Most schools in York County had normal observances and education about Christmas last December. Some didn’t. Religious and secular symbols, names, songs etc were banned.

York County School Board and subordinate York County School Division do not have a written policy on Christmas. This is on purpose. When the room mothers started complaining in October because they were being told what they couldn’t do in December, they were answered with white noise ambiquity. No one could find a person or policy responsible.

The point for parents last night was simple and clear. School Board – write a policy. We elect you and hold you accountable.

Some on the School Board denied there was a problem. Some said they would look into it. All deferred to the School Superintendent who offered to meet with the parents. That is exactly what the citizens do NOT want.

The Superintendent, Steven Staples – a candidate for supe at Va Beach, will meet with the parents, declare it an isolated incident and all is corrected. But, it won’t be.

Here is what the policy should say – as was presented by a parent last night:

The York County School Board’s “Policy on Christmas in York County School Division” may look like the following. Even if it is wordsmithed differently, it should contain these elements.

December 25th is a legal holiday for the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Virginia called ‘Christmas.”
Christmas is part of the 400 years of Virginia history since the first permanent English settlement in 1607. Christmas is part of our common customs and traditions.

Educating our students about Christmas shall be part of the instruction in every academic year.

Education about Christmas shall include the following:

Secular and religious traditional and historical Christmas symbols and colors

Secular and religious traditional and historical Christmas songs and music.

Historical stories on the role of Christmas in the U.S., Virginia and York County.

The traditional stories of what and why the Christian majority of America and Virginia celebrate at Christmas.

Education about Christmas shall not require the teaching of other cultures, religions, or holidays.

If anyone is interested I can post the court rulings (the closest thing to law since the legislatures at every level ceded their power to the courts) that support each point above.

As one mother said, “We are just the tip of the iceberg.” This isn’t over. If the School Board doesn’t write a policy, the good People of York County may elect a new School Board.