The Law of Unintended Consequences

Or... Look Before You Leap...

Va. Courts Brace for Avalanche of Bad-Driver Cases


By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 29, 2007; Page C01

They have been trickling into courtrooms across Virginia in recent days. But this week, next week and week after week after that, thousands of traffic cases that carry steep new civil penalties will slam the state's judicial system.
All summer, the political upset has been growing over new and higher fees for the most egregious driving offenses, fees that in some cases run as high as $3,000. But the practical effect is about to hit even harder, and judges and court clerks predict an unprecedented wave of trials, appeals, strategies and anger as they begin to hear cases subject to the new law.

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Veto Watch

President Bush, who did not veto a single bill in five and a half years, has now vetoed two bills (Stem Cell Research and Troop Readiness, Veteran's Health, and Iraq Accountability) and is threatening at least 18 more vetoes of legislation.

A common thread runs through many of these vetoes and threatened vetoes - he supports his corporate friends while ignoring the needs of everyday Americans. Bush has threatened to veto the College Cost Reduction Act that provides the largest increase in college aid since the GI Bill in 1944. A presidential veto also threatens the bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program, a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children, saying it would come at the expense of private insurance. Yeah, like poor kids' families can afford private insurance!

For a list of threatened vetoes - http://www.speaker.gov/legislation?id=0058

Walking the Walk

Campaigning House to House

Because Experience Counts---People Get It

Real people like the Robinsons of Grottoes understand some fundamental truths.

• The best person to hire for a job, is the person who has the experience and understanding to know what the company needs, a solid and proven work ethic, and a vision for the future.
• The best person to hire for a job, is the individual who's history shows she will give her full attention and effort to making the company the best it can be.
• The best person to hire for a job, is the person who puts faith in hard work and performance.
• The best person for the job, is the individual who is willing to earn the job.
• The best person for the job, is the individual who exhibits all of the above, plus a proven long term investment of herself in her community and church.

The Robinsons met Dianne as she was going house to house, listened to her ideas, expressed their ideas and concerns, asked questions, and now display a Fulk for Clerk of Court sign in their yard.

Sincere Thanks to The Robinsons of Grottoes for their support!

SIRIUS Word Games

You've probably seen it on other blogs: SIRIUS satellite radio calls its conservative talk channel SIRIUS PATRIOT and promotes it as "coast-to-coast conservative . . . celebrates the red, white and blue with patriotic conservatives who aren't afraid to tell you what they think." SIRIUS LEFT, the liberal talk channel, is promoted only as "liberal radio with entertaining hosts only on SIRIUS."

I don't subscribe to satellite radio, but I offer these suggestions for change:

• Rename SIRIUS PATRIOT to SIRIUS PARROT since most of those types just repeat the same talking points. Might be insulting to Jimmy Buffett.
  
• Rename SIRIUS LEFT as SIRIUS LIBERTY which is at least descriptive of American liberal stands and is equally complimentary as the term patriot.
  
• Rename both to SIRIUS RED and SIRIUS BLUE.
• Cancel your subscription to SIRIUS and enjoy local radio which gives you music and LOCAL news, weather, and sports. Plus, you support the LOCAL economy.
  

Sunday Morning Slackers

Once again the Sunday morning talk show hosts let the administration apologists for the "surge" off the hook. 

On Meet the Press, host Tim Russert never challenged Senator Lindsay Graham's comment last December claim that Bush's surge would bring stability and political compromise among the groups in Iraq. Graham shifted the blame to the Iraqi government. Luckily, Senator Jim Webb was there to challenge Graham's world view with blinders. 

Fox News Sunday never asked surge champion and architect Frederick Kagan to explain contradictions or to back up the favorable statistics he kept citing.

Brig. General Mark Kimmitt bailed out of his appearance on Face the Nation. Perhaps he didn't want to talk about his role in the Abu Graib mess. He was replaced by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley who basically repeated the Bush lines of wait until September, things are better than reported in the media... blah, blah, blah. Been hearing this BS since "mission accomplished."

Slow Burn

Spent a few days camping and time gazing into the campfire. Free from radio and TV. Free from the political BS. Time. Thinking. Feeling. Wondering.

Put huge hunk of oak on the fire figuring it would last a couple days. It did. And more. More fire gazing and wondering. Sometime the second day the fire had opened a tiny fissure through the heart of the oak. At first it was just the barest hint of smoke escaping. I barely noticed. Later the crack opened a bit more allowing a plume of smoke to escape the hot coals underneath. Then a tiny orange flame found an avenue which finally opened into a faster burn that consumed the oak from the inside out. In the end, the oak fell to the slow burn that quite quickly became a raging fire.

The United States is a bit like that solid oak. Built of solid values and solid people. Meant to last an eternity.

But, our nation and our society are in a slow burn that will, if not doused with our democratic values and the rule of law, consume us from the inside out.

Bush.

Illegal wiretapping.

Executive privilege.

Executive lies.

Secret meetings.

Cheney.

Incompetence.

Xenophobia.

Stolen elections.

Lobbyists.

Outsourcing.

Greed.

Hate.

Politics of division.

Unjustified war.

It is getting smokey. Time is short. We are the masters of our fate. We are the captains of our soul.

Elitist Perk or a Medical Model That Could Work for the Rest of Us?

Here's a quick Quiz....Who in this country gets unlimited doctor visits to the physician of their choice, unlimited hospital stays, FULL prescription coverage, free physical therapy, eye care, dental, lab & x-ray coverage, with NO DEDUCTIBLE and NO CO-PAYS, for themselves and their ENTIRE family, for LIFE, for only $35/month?

Is it our military veterans?....nope

Is it our country's most vulnerable, the young and the elderly?....wrong again

How about civil servants like firemen and police?....no way...

It's the 535 members of the U.S. Congress, and a select few in the upper levels of the executive and judicial branches of government!!

In America, where almost 20% of the children live below the poverty line and thousands of people die each year because of lack of affordable health insurance, is Congress's medical coverage a fair, warranted perk or a feasible model that we should ask Congress to extend to the rest of us?