Bacon's Rebellion

  • Paid In Full, State Needs to Give Us Our Change

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Barbara Hollingsworth

    Imagine a merchant refusing to hand over the change when a customer paid with a $20 bill for a $17.50 item. Virginians would be irate if a restaurant, bar, grocery store, or other private establishment decided to keep the change because the business might “need” the extra money in the future. Yet the Virginia General Assembly is attempting to do the same thing on a much larger scale.

    The latest preliminary figures from the Virginia Department of Revenue put the current general fund budget surplus at more than $5.1 billion for fiscal year 2023, which ended June 30. This is more than double the $1.94 billion surplus the commonwealth posted in 2022. This huge surplus is money left over after every single item in the state budget was fully funded under the amended 2022 Appropriation Act, including education, health and welfare, transportation, public safety, and every department and program funded with state tax dollars.

    This unprecedented revenue surplus was largely due to higher-than-expected payroll withholding of individual income taxes (which are still not indexed to inflation), as well as corporate and sales taxes.

    In other words, Virginia taxpayers were overcharged $5.1 billion over the past two years and $3 billion more than the commonwealth’s own 2023 revenue forecast. And yet some members of the General Assembly, all of whom are up for re-election in November, don’t want to give any of it back. (more…)

  • Oceanfront Unisex Bathrooms? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Of all the cockamamie ideas cooked up at City Hall in Virginia Beach, this may win an award.

    A fat, legal award. But that’ll come later.

    Right now the city is bursting with pride over its new, $650,000 5-stall unisex restroom at 20th Street.

    Because let’s be honest, there’s nothing women like more than using the potty with nothing to separate them from the men doing their smelly business in the next stall but a thin metal wall.

    It’ll be a haven for perverts too, because clueless parents often send their unaccompanied kids into public restrooms. Pedophiles will love the convenience of peeking through cracks at naked children.

    The long washing trough is a lovely touch. So is the attendant stationed on a metal folding chair outside.

    Best of all, it’s only going to cost taxpayers half a million a year to maintain! (more…)

  • Bacon Bits: Plumbing New Depths of Depravity

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    “I shot that bitch dead!” Those are the words of the six-year-old student at Richneck Elementary School in January shortly after he shot his teacher Abigail Zwerner, according to recently unveiled court documents reported by The Virginian-Pilot.  One has to ask: in what kind of world does a six-year-old child think that way? In what kind of world would a six-year-old who thinks that way actually carry out his violent intent? Somehow, we have come to live in a world in which many families fail to teach the most basic norms of civilized behavior. I apologize: I shouldn’t have used the word “civilized.” Even in so-called uncivilized societies, young children don’t behave that way. The United States of America has reached a new stage in human social evolution that is more debased than any other.

    Parents’ rights and social media. Speaking of plumbing new depths of depravity, there is a growing sense that social media has a corrosive effect on America’s children — mainstreaming pornography, violence, and reckless, self-destructive behavior. Social media was a major topic of conversation in a “parents matter” town hall meeting that Governor Glenn Youngkin held in Hanover County yesterday. Said one participant: “It is like closing a door with all the windows open. I feel like anyone can come in at any time, and as much as we try to protect our children, it’s really hard and you feel incredibly vulnerable.” (more…)

  • Ryan Ignored Board of Visitors in Formulating Admissions Policy

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Screen capture from UVa’s “Common Application” form. UVa no longer has a checkbox for race — but it does ask if applicants belong to a Virginia-recognized Indian tribe and if they identify as a “sexual minority.” The applications also invite applicants to share their “personal or historic connection with UVa,” including legacy status and descent from “ancestors who labored at UVa.”

    by James A. Bacon

    When University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom announced the university’s new admissions policy last week, they made a point of saying that they had sought input and guidance from “leaders across the university,” including members of the Office of University Counsel.

    But one key group was not consulted: the Board of Visitors.

    That’s noteworthy because state code says the Board of Visitors sets the university’s admissions policy.

    Describing the powers and authorities of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), state code notes that the SCHEV shall prepare enrollment projections for Virginia’s public colleges and universities. However, “the student admissions policies for such institutions and their specific programs shall remain the sole responsibilities of the individual governing boards.”

    Not university presidents — the governing boards. (more…)

  • Dominion “Bill Relief” Disappears September 1

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Homeowners willing to cut back power usage when Dominion Energy Virginia asks them could earn rebates of up to $28 a year. So reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch, citing yet another final order from the State Corporation Commission.

    The Richmond paper is always bringing us such great news about the folks at the giant utility looking out for us. The headline in the print edition today is even more positive: “New Rebate Program Could Lower Power Bills.”

    Who is actually going to provide the $28 in hard cash? Yep, Bacon’s Rebellion readers get it on the first try. Dominion will raise the rebate money given to the few by raising its cost of electricity to everybody. Even the people getting rebates will pay the surcharge. But your bill just goes up a bit — so little you won’t notice the increase starting on September 1.

    You also won’t notice it because the increase in the energy efficiency program’s rate adjustment clause (a separate charge also known as a RAC or rider), is just one of several such increases, all hitting September 1.

    The higher bill totals will be creeping into your email and snail mail inboxes along with all the campaign brochures about how the 2023 General Assembly provided “bill relief.” That is gone in a puff of smoke. Come September 1 Dominion customers also start paying for, or start paying more for: (more…)

  • The Virginia Board of Health and Nursing Homes – A Strange Appointment

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    I am starting to lose my sense of humor about the whole Virginia nursing home thing.

    The Virginia Board of Health (VBOH) writes state regulations for every health facility and health services provider in Virginia, including nursing homes.

    There is a statutory seat on the VBOH for a nursing home representative. (Of course there is.)

    The incumbent, appointed by Governor Northam, is Melissa Green, RN. I am sure she is a good nurse and a good person.

    But Ms. Green is also one of the three founders and the Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) of Trio Healthcare.

    Trio is rated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as one of the worst nursing home chains in the entire country and the worst in Virginia.

    The senses of humor of all of us are once again threatened by The Virginia Way. (more…)

  • Why Dominion Stays Calm in Wind Industry Storm

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    First published by Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.  There is some overlap with a post from last week by another author,  but with a slightly different focus.  

    With growing  turmoil in the offshore wind industry finally being reported, it would be nice to turn the clock back a year and revisit the State Corporation Commission’s failed 2022 effort to impose a real performance standard on Dominion Energy Virginia’s $10 billion, 176-turbine project.  No such luck, Virginia. (more…)

  • Virginia Beach’s Bad Habit: Reckless Spending on Wasteful Projects

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Feckless leadership, wasteful spending and escalating taxes have plagued Virginia Beach for decades.

    Despite new faces on city council, the game of spending tax dollars on insane projects that “will pay for themselves” continues.

    But let’s back up.

    Here’s one prescient story from The Virginian-Pilot in 2007. The headline: “Virginia Beach Sportsplex Misses Its Goal” soft pedaled what was going on. It was yet another pricey project, dreamed up by developers and approved by their political puppets.

    And it was failing. (more…)

  • The Ugly American

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    When The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal publish articles about a heretofore unrecognized social phenomenon at about the same time, you know something is going on. People are behaving rudely in movie theaters. They are taking selfies, chatting on their cell phones, talking smack to characters on the movie screen, getting into slap fights, and in one case cited by the Post, wearing no clothes. When asked to “shush,” they don’t shush. They lambaste the shushers.

    Some commentators blame COVID, isolation, or “trauma.”

    “It is clear that the past three years have been challenging for many people in our country. We have experienced a series of collective traumas, cascading one to the next,” said Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine quoted by the Post. “The combination of the pandemic, inflation, mass shootings, climate-related disasters, political polarization and so on, has taxed our capacity to cope.” (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    from The Bull Elephant

  • How Did VCU Miss the Red Flags?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner


    by Jon Baliles

    The unravelling saga of a failed development proposal downtown a block from City Hall that was supposed to rise out of the ashes of the failed Navy Hill project is still smoldering. The failed deal has come with a price tag of about $80 million so far (and growing) for VCU Health. They were supposed to be the main tenant of the project and, by all accounts, approved and signed a deal in July 2021 in which VCU accepted heavily one-sided terms that have become so expensive it could still ripple throughout the city, the university, and the state.

    Eric Kolenich has peeled back the latest layer of the onion in an eye-popping article in the Times-Dispatch this week, with emails that revealed grave concerns with the deal that would leave VCU Health holding the bag, and also emails that showed more concern to close the deal than what was in it. The emails show both bad communication and miscommunication among those at top levels of VCU’s administration at both the Monroe Park campus and the medical campus. They were sent in a flurry in the weeks leading up to VCU inking and approving the deal, and ignored warnings that were raised in favor of a closer analysis or alternative parachutes that would offer a way out.

    After the Navy Hill project failed in early 2020, Capital City Partners, the developers who led that attempt, returned to the city with a proposal for a development for the city’s dilapidated old Public Safety Building at 500 N. 10th Street (aka the Clay Street Project because it is at 10th & Clay Streets). The proposal was for a 17-20 story building that would be leased by VCU Health for office use. They would pay $650 million in rent over 25 years that would produce close to $60 million in tax revenue for the city.

    VCU would have to pay rent starting in 2024, whether or not the building was completed, as well as pay for repairs and maintenance. If the project faced cost overruns, VCU would also be on the hook for those.  And strangely, since it was office space, it would not generate any revenue for VCU Health like other facilities they had recently built (e.g. the Children’s Hospital). (more…)

  • You’ve Been to Paris but You’ve Never Been to the Luray Caverns?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Today we’re taking a break from politics, woke culture and indictments. It’s Explore Beautiful Virginia time. A midsummer palate cleanser!

    But first a question:

    Why does every tourist destination sell fudge? More precisely, is there some sort of law that mandates every vacation spot feature a “fudgery”? Is there something about salt air or mountain breezes that creates a sudden craving for a calorie-dense chunk of flavored sugar?

    I don’t have the answer, but yes, there is the requisite fudgery just outside the entrance to Luray Caverns. No, we didn’t go in during a family trip to Luray last weekend. The getaway to Virginia’s amazing natural wonder was sweet enough.

    Let me just say this: if you’re a Virginian who’s been to Paris but you haven’t been to Luray, shame on you. (more…)

  • Restoring Sales Tax Holiday is Not Tax Relief

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Virginia’s Democratic legislators are convinced that citizens are happy to pay taxes for state services and will rebel at the polls if taxes are cut when there are “unmet vital needs.”  That is why they have so far resisted any and all proposals from Governor Glenn Youngkin and Republican legislators to split the state’s fat cash surplus between tax relief and more spending.

    So, why are those same Democrats not applauding the 2023 General Assembly’s failure to extend the state’s previous pre-school sales tax holiday? Shouldn’t the voters be happy to pay more for school supplies and clothes since the schools need the money? Instead they are joining the scramble to reinstate that tax break, open to all taxpayers, rich and poor.

    The good news is the Assembly’s incompetence (or was it an accident?) in letting the sales tax holiday lapse is providing another prod to keep Democrats at the table for tax policy discussions. Frankly, from a tax policy purist point of view, these tax holidays are not good policy, but they are wildly popular.

    That is because the sales and use tax is one people can see at the checkout counter. If you are saving $6-$7 on a Target run or Amazon bill, you notice. The other tax cuts under discussion – a higher standard deduction, a tweak to the income level that triggers the top income tax rate – only come up at tax-filing time, and if you use a computer program or outside accountant to file, you may never notice.

    The bad news is that now the General Assembly can come together and fix this oversight (if it was an oversight) and claim a victory for taxpayers. They will claim a bipartisan victory over something that leaves those taxpayers exactly where they were a year ago, no better off at all. From the beginning, the claim that nobody had put the sales tax holiday on the Assembly’s radar during the session has lacked credibility. If so, retailers need new lobbyists. (more…)

  • Lost Kids of Southwest Virginia

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead.  Harper, 2022

     A review by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Barbara Kingsolver is an award-winning author who lives on a farm in Washington County, Virginia. Her latest novel, Demon Copperhead, is what she calls her “great Appalachian novel.” It was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year.

    Kingsolver grew up in Appalachia, in eastern Kentucky. After graduating from college in Indiana, she spent several years backpacking around Europe. Upon returning to the United States, she wanted to see the West, and ended up in Tucson. She says that she did not go to Arizona with the idea of settling there, but life happens. During her two decades there, she published several well-received novels. She began to feel the pull of Appalachia and, thus, several years ago, she and her family moved to a farm in Washington County. (more…)

  • Another Skirmish in the Book Wars

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Botetourt County resident demonstrates her opposition to proposed restricted access to library by juveniles. Photo credit: Cardinal News

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    After hearing from residents in two meetings demanding that LGBTQ+ material be removed from the county library, the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors has come up with a suggestion that, indeed, would put parents in charge, but would create great inconvenience for everybody involved.

    As reported by Cardinal News, the Board of Supervisors has recommended that the local library board adopt a policy requiring that all persons under 18 be accompanied by a parent or guardian while visiting a library branch. There would be an exception for 16- and 17-year olds who had written permission from their parents on file with the library.

    The result would be a great inconvenience for parents of kids younger than 16 who are not worried about the materials in the library. Likely, those kids would end up reading less.

    A better solution would be for those parents who do not want their children exposed to LGBTQ+ material to take on some responsibility themselves. Prohibit their children from going to the library or, as an alternative, accompany them to the library.

    Fortunately, the Board of Supervisors has little authority over the library. As the county attorney noted, public libraries are overseen by the Library of Virginia. It seems that the Board of Supervisors may have been doing a little posturing.

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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