Motor Vehicle Dealer Internet Access Study
Report to the General Assembly
In 2011 the General Assembly adopted legislation requiring all newly licensed automobile dealers to have an Internet connection and email address. The Motor Vehicle Dealer Board even engaged the Point Management Group to conduct a study, which proceeded to document that all MVDB dealers already have Internet access. But that didn’t stop Point Management from recommending that all new dealers — just in case someone laying thousands, even millions, of dollars on the line to open a new dealership was too friggin’ stupid to think of setting up an email address and Internet connection — should be required to do so as well.
Why stop there? Why not write a regulation requiring every auto dealer to have a phone? Why not spell out in detail how they must stock their offices with desks, chairs, copying machines and free coffee. Grrr. Makes me so mad. Hey, Gov. McDonnell, while you’re consolidating and closing all those useless state boards and commissions, here’s idea. Add the friggin’ Motor Vehicle Dealer Board to the list!!
Status Report: Regulations Establishing Nutritional Guidelines For Competitive Foods Sold in the Public Schools
Report to the General Assembly
The General Assembly is rightfully concerned about increasing obesity rates among Virginia’s youth, and legislators have rightfully honed in on the volume of junk food that school kids consume from vending machines, snack bars and a la carte items in the cafeteria. This draft report contains numerous recommendations on how to regulate these sources of empty calories. Snack items shall contain no more than 200 calories per portion, derive no more than 35% of calories from fat of sugar, or have a sodium content exceeding 200 mg, blah, blah, woof, woof. But, oh, the regulation shall not apply to beverages.
Really? Is that it? Did it occur to the geniuses drafting the regulations that restricting calories per snack might encourage kids to…. buy more than one snack? And what’s this about exempting soft drinks? Did the General Assembly cave in to the soft drink bottling industry?
Let me make this real simple. Ban all vending machines and shut down all snack bars in public schools. When kids got thirsty back in my school days, they drank — can you imagine this? — water from the friggin’ water fountain! When we wanted snacks, we had to wait until we got home and raid the cookie jar. As far as I’m concerned, purveyors of junk food should be allowed to sell whatever they want to whomever they want, but not where they want. They have no more right to peddle their garbage in schools any more than they have to set up a vending machine in my pantry. Board of Education, get a friggin’ spine!
What kind of monument are we talking about anyway? One like this...
First Annual Executive Summary Commemorative Commission to Honor the Contributions of the Women of Virginia
Report to the General Assembly
You could make the case in a state that once practiced slavery and then oppressed blacks through decades of Jim Crow laws that there is justice in erecting a monument to Civil Rights heroes. Unfortunately, the General Assembly followed up that laudatory effort to establish a commemorative commission to honor the contributions of the women of Virginia.
… or one like this?
The rationale seems less than clear. Judging from this report, the commission devoted its proceedings over the past year bloviating in banalities about the contributions of the fairer sex and hosting a series of eight “community conversations” across the state. Public attendance appears to have been sparse. In the Richmond meeting, “the Commission heard from a group of students from St. Catherine’s School and two members of the public.”
Having gleaned valuable public input, the commission then moved on to more important matters, like voting to hire a consultant.
Evaluation of Camera Use to Prevent Crime in Commuter Parking Facilities: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Urban Institute
Before 2003, half of all crimes on METRO property took place in commuter parking lots. Metro Transit Police teamed up with the Urban Institute to see if prominently placed video cameras would discourage car thefts and break-ins. Due to budget limitations, only one-third of the cameras were live, rendering the intervention of limited use for investigative purposes. The findings? “The cameras had no discernible impact on crime.” Oh, well, it was worth a try.
Just remember to take the darn things down.
— JAB
