Bacon's Rebellion

Anyone who has spent any time in NVA over the last 40 years is familiar with the Giant grocery store chain. When the chain passed from its private owners a few years ago, problems began. These problems multiplied when the New England chain Stop n’ Shop acquired Giant. Add new competition–Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Wegman’s–and loyalty to Giant, once an article of faith, is dissipating. It’s a cautionary tale for business and for any long-standing organization seeking to change.

Michael Barbaro has an article on Giant’s recent problems in the Washington Post, plus he took questions online today. One interesting note: most of the online negative comments about Giant come from Maryland residents. Most of the new stores competing with Giant are in Virginia.

Del. Adam Ebbin (D, Alexandria) is the first openly gay member to serve in the House of Delegates. There’s a brief profile of Ebbin by Kristen Gelineau in today’s Daily Press. What I found interesting was the contrast in reactions to Ebbin from two colleagues:

“I suppose that one of the concerns was that since he is the only openly gay member of the Legislature, is whether or not that would be the only issue that he would … talk about,” said Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County. “That clearly has not been the case. He is a very versatile delegate.”

Del. Richard Black, R-Loudoun, who has compiled a track record as one of the most socially conservative members of the state legislature and was the sponsor of the gay adoption bill, said he’s not trying to stamp out gay rights but is simply trying to preserve tradition.

As for his personal feelings on Ebbin, after a lengthy pause, the Loudoun Republican offered: “He’s always prompt and, you know, on time to meetings.” A moment later, he added, “I think he works hard.”

I think it’s possible to support some of Black’s positions but still be very disappointed by his cold assessment of a colleague.

John M. R. Bull of the Daily Press had a short interview yesterday with Ellen Qualls, Governor Warner’s press secretary. I happen to think Qualls has been one of Warner’s best appointments. She has been absolutely unflappable and her fierce loyalty to the Governor has served him well.

She says she’ll be working on her resume at some point in the near future. Somebody is going to get a top-notch communications pro.

Sharp-eyed blogger Rick Sincere noticed an all-but-forgotten name under a letter to the editor in the Sunday Richmond Times-Dispatch: Wyatt B. Durrette, Jr., former Republican candidate for Attorney General and Governor in the 80’s. An enjoyable Virginia political history lesson follows.

I just took a stroll around some of our sister and brother Virginia blogs, finding lots of good stuff.

Commonwealth Conservative is impressed with Republican Sean Connaughton, candidate for Lt. Governor … Virginia Progressive has promised to keep an eye on Republican gubernatorial long-shot George Fitch … Sic Semper Tyrannis is all over a charge that Del. James Dillard (R, Fairfax) is laundering funds–for a Democrat! … Northern Crown covers a Prince William County lawsuit over open space … Reporterette is outraged by a comment from Sen. Benjamin Lambert III (D, Richmond):

Whoa! Wait a second! Did Sen. Lambert just say he’d rather have criminals on college campuses than on the streets?!! I don’t think this is what civil rights activists had in mind when they were pushing integration.

And how about the bouquet One Man’s Trash threw to our own Jim Bacon?

If you do a Google search using the keywords “miserable failure” the top hit returned by Google is President George W. Bush’s biography posted on the White House website.

You can’t even find the words “failure” or “miserable” in the text of the biography. Apparently, this trick is possible because Google searches more than just the contents of web pages – it also counts how often a site is linked to, and with what words. Thus, members of an online community can affect the results of Google searches – called “Google bombing” – by linking their sites to a chosen one.

So now even Google searches have a political agenda! When you run your next Google search, keep in mind that the results may be politically biased.

Gotta love Jon Baliles, aka “Snoopy,” over at RiverCity Rapids blog. He sat through the public comment session on a baseball stadium for downtown Richmond and summarized an incredible number of three minute opinions.

I don’t know how local government officials do it. I can’t bear to watch more than a few televised moments of such meetings. It’s raw, pure democracy, but it’s one thing I’m more than happy to have the fourth estate cover for me. Or are blogs a “fifth estate?”

Virginia is apparently going to be build a data center in Richmond, a back-up data center, and a help desk/call center as a follow-on to the creation of VITA, the Virginia Information Technology Agency.

The Bristol Herald Courier editorial page is urging that the back-up center be built in Wise County to take advantage of UVA-Wise. SCHEV, of course, told the General Assembly that UVA-Wise didn’t generate any economic development, so a new university in Southside wouldn’t, either.

The Courier said Wise should get the center over Danville because there’s no Southside university. No other candidate locations were identified.

I believe that any new state-wide service facilities should be located in either Southside or Southwest. If we can tie up all state procurement officials and all vendors in a quest to help under-represented small, minority, and woman-owned businesses, we should commit all new state facility spending in a quest to help our economically disadvantaged regions.

Back in 1996, budget cuts eliminated the job of State Archaeologist. Now, according to the Virginian-Pilot, the job is about to come back via HB 2078. With all this surplus floating around and the Jamestown 2007 celebration coming up, who wants the state to be shorthanded in archaeology?

The last State Archaeologist, Catherine Slusser, is still around, according to the article, serving the Department of Historical Resources. She describes the untenable ongoing situation with archaeology budget cuts: “Few Virginia employees have attended national conferences.”

Fellow bloggers, help me out. The rash of “social” legislation during the current General Assembly session has created a strong impression on me. Is Virginia getting more culturally conservative?

Virginia is part of the Bible Belt, of course, and I know the history of the blue laws and gambling restrictions and all that. But within the past 30 years or so, the political center of gravity seemed to shift decisively towards a more libertarian, live-and-let-live philosophy. Virginia never embraced a liberal, nanny-state agenda (except in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, which are the southern-most cultural extension of the Northeastern U.S.) During the Allen and Gilmore administrations, cultural conservatism expressed itself in more broad-based concerns such as the war on crime and reforming welfare. Now, it seems, the focus has shifted to highly symbolic culture-war issues — prayer in schools, sex on campus, sartorial regulations, etc.

One possible explanation: The electorate is getting more conservative, and the changing preoccupations of legislators reflect that shift. Another possible explanation: Having won the big legislative battles of the 1990s (Virginia is now tough on criminals and shows tough-love to welfare moms), culturally conservative legislators are retreating to the more hard-core issues because that’s all they have.

I don’t know the answer. I’m just inviting your observations.

Voting 9-6, a Senate committee today defeated Delegate Dick Black’s ‘fetal pain’ bill after medical experts testified that administering pain-killers to a fetus could endanged the life of the mother.

Many of the good-governiks who write for Bacon’s Rebellion have pointed out the deleterious effects of gerrymandering on Virginia. Some would say the problems are on display in Capitol Square right now.

There’s an anti-gerrymandering movement gaining a small head of steam in California. The Golden State often leads the way for the nation on “reform,” for good or ill. Mickey Kaus of Slate reminds us that the California initiative bears watching and we should follow the motives of those who support or oppose the current redistricting process.

Mickey cites two Stuart Taylor articles on the subject that should be required reading for any who would debate the issue, here and here.

Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate and, if I’m not mistaken, a Charlottesville area resident, has a good analysis of the church-state issues raised by a recent Staunton School Board decision. The board has allowed a program of religious instruction for elementary students to continue. Here’s the rub:

Several Staunton parents—many of them new to an area often described as “Virginia’s Bible Belt”—have come to feel that their children should not have to choose between being evangelized or ostracized on public school time. Their bonus yuppie spin on all this: Taking time away from regular classroom instruction disadvantages all of the children on the state standardized testing regime, as well as on meeting the requirements set out by No Child Left Behind.

Lithwick is one of my favorite writers, whether I agree with her or not. Her Slate coverage of the Supreme Court is both learned and entertaining.

The Senate Finance Committee today gutted the House of Delegates proposed billion dollar transportation package in a move one observer described as a ‘bitch slapping.’

The Senate Courts Committee this afternoon killed Delegate Dick Black’s bill that would have required adoption authorities to ascertain whether prospective adoptive adults had ever engaged in homosexual behavior. There was no vote. The bill died for lack of a motion. Or lack of emotion. Or lack of interest. Or of boredom. There just seemed to be very little support for this….zzzzzz.