SHAME ON VIRGINIA
Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia’s 10th District, 2010

Posted

In the race to represent Virginia’s 10th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Representative Frank Wolf (R) faces off against challengers Jeff Barnett (D) and William Redpath (L). The 10th District encompasses Clarke County, Frederick County, Loudoun County, Warren County, Manassas, Winchester, and parts of Frederick, Fairfax, and Prince William counties. Wolf has represented the district since 1980 and is seeking his sixteenth two-year term.

In 2008, I heartily endorsed the reelection of Representative Wolf when I posted the Off on a Tangent endorsements. Then, when President George W. Bush (R) embarked on a mad binge of socialist bailouts and bank takeovers, I was forced to rescind most of my endorsements—including Wolf’s—for reconsideration because most of my endorsees had voted in the face of vehement, consistent, and vocal public opposition for the ill-advised and ineffective TARP bailout. I ended up endorsing Wolf anyway, reluctantly, with some new caveats. Most importantly, I said that “Wolf must oppose any further moves toward socialist interventionism by our government and must defend the free market economy.”

This caveat has become even more important in the last two years, as President Barack Obama (D) and his strong Democratic majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate have expanded and accelerated the mad and misguided federal spending that started under Bush. In 2009, the first annual federal deficit under Obama was nearly four-times bigger than Bush’s record-setting 2008 deficit, and the Democratic Party—roaring into power on promises of fiscal responsibility—shows no sign of stopping the madness.

Read more . . .

Virginia Statewide Ballot Issues, 2010

Posted

Citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia will be voting on three state constitutional amendments in this year’s general election. These amendments would each add, remove, or change text in the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Question #1: Property Tax Exemptions for the Elderly and Disabled

Currently, the Virginia Constitution (Article X, Section 6, Part B) allows the General Assembly to give localities authority to grant partial or complete property tax exemptions for the elderly and disabled. The exemptions can apply to persons 65 years old or older and to anybody suffering from permanent, total disability, provided the General Assembly has deemed that they bear an “extraordinary tax burden . . . in relation to their income and financial worth.”

The constitutional amendment (PDF link) being presented to the voters as question #1 would modify this provision in two ways. First, it would remove the requirement that the tax exemptions only be granted to people suffering an “extraordinary tax burden.” Second, it would devolve authority from the General Assembly to the localities themselves to set income and financial worth requirements for granting the tax relief.

Read more . . .

Loudoun County Bond Referendum, 2010

Posted

Note: Since the last general election I have moved from Fairfax County, Virginia, to Loudoun County, Virginia.

Virginia county governments are required to put bond issuance to a voter referendum in order to borrow money on behalf of the county. Bond issuance is usually used by governments to raise money for large capital expenditures, and those bonds are repaid to their purchasers at a later date with interest. Bond referendums in Virginia almost always pass by a large margin, in large part because people think they are voting in favor of the agencies that will benefit (after all, who wants to vote ‘against’ schools, parks, or transportation?). Many voters do not realize that bond issuance contributes to government debt and should be used sparingly.

School Bonds

Citizens of Loudoun County will be asked through a bond referendum to authorize the Board of Supervisors to borrow up to $26.8 million to finance, in whole or in part, the building of a new elementary school near Leesburg, Virginia.

Read more . . .

Four Random Photos

Posted

And now for four more random photos! First, a truly high-tech security system at a CVS that apparently requires passing customers to call 911 when a bell is ringing. Second, our two cats secretly liking each other. Third, our youngest cat Vincent cuddling with an octopus toy. Finally, some stacked containers at a WalMart helpfully labeled, “DO NOT STACK.”

35 Miles in 50 Years: Your Governments at Work

Posted

Ashley Halsey III writes in the Washington Post about the Fairfax County Parkway, a 35-mile long thoroughfare that has been talked about for fifty years and took a quarter-century to build. I [vaguely] remember when I was in kindergarten or 1st grade riding my bike with my dad through the construction zone where a segment of the highway was being built. I remember it being called, at different times, the ‘Springfield Bypass’ and the ‘Fairfax Center Parkway’ before the powers-that-be settled on its final name.

I remember that, after the segment I had biked on opened, I noticed two errors on signs. I wrote a letter to the Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT) about it and the errors soon got fixed. Even today, if you’re driving on Fairfax County Parkway heading north, you’ll notice that the signs saying ‘Fox Mill Rd. Next Signal’ and ‘Sunrise Valley Dr. Next Signal’ both have corrective ‘patches’ over the Dr. and Rd. appellations. I’m responsible for that; they originally said ‘Fox Mill Dr.’ and ‘Sunrise Valley Rd.’

Well, today—six years after that kindergartener finished college—the last segment of this 35-mile highway is finally about to open. Way to go, guys. At this rate our transportation infrastructure will catch up with 2010 traffic volume no later than, say, 3827.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.