Limited session hits the end of the roadThe article goes on to provide the usual whining from Governor Kaine and his supporters about impending doom and the end of the world as we know it. And about those sunsabitchas in the House.
The Republican-run General Assembly cut short the session on transportation two days early. Finger pointing has begun.
By Michael Sluss, The Roanoke Times
RICHMOND -- Virginia lawmakers abandoned a last-ditch effort to craft a statewide transportation funding package Thursday, with the Senate and House of Delegates hopelessly divided over how to generate money for long-term road and transit needs.
The failure to find common ground leaves little new money in the budget for transportation. And it left legislators and Gov. Tim Kaine pointing fingers as a long and unproductive fight over the issue sputtered to a close. ( link )
Bolton's post left in limboBetter a Democrat than this ...
By David R. Sands, The Washington Times
The deadlocked Senate Foreign Relations Committee will not take up the confirmation vote for combative U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton before Congress adjourns this weekend for the fall elections, committee officials confirmed yesterday.
Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar, Indiana Republican, told the Associated Press yesterday that Sen. Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island Republican, remains a holdout on the nomination. The liberal Mr. Chafee, who faces a tough re-election fight in November, has said he would not vote on Mr. Bolton until the administration addressed his concerns about general policy in the Middle East. ( link )
I have decided that I want to post five (Arabic numeral 5, Roman numeral V) vaguely Appalachian-themed sites for your consideration. Enjoy them. Or don't.The General Assembly’s Special Session, which was dedicated to transportation, has adjourned without an agreement.
The AP reported:
[T]he Senate Finance Committee rejected the bulk of a $2.4 billion House transportation plan that relied heavily on debt and existing revenues that otherwise would go to schools, health care and other services.
The House previously had rejected the Senate’s proposals, including a gasoline tax increase. With nothing left on the table after the demise of the House plan, the assembly adjourned.
Governor Kaine offered a statement, which included:
The House leadership chose instead to offer bills that were politically expedient–relying on double-counting money, running up the state’s credit card and diverting existing revenue designated for education, public safety and health care[.]
Kaine is correct, why run up the “state’s credit card” (more debt) when other solutions are readily available? The Senate, fortunately, rejected the House Republican plan which, by borrowing, would not have produced a reliable revenue source to fix the transportation problems.
Not long ago my fiance walked into my living room and threw a magazine at me. I picked it up and saw that it was her newest issue of the University of Tennessee - Knoxville's alumni magazine, Tennessee Alumnus. Well, I looked through it, and hot dog if most of the articles aren't on the venerable subject of this very blog. They're all worth a look-see, and lucky for us, they're all online - if you only have time for two, check out the last two, by the way. Consider:Not long ago my fiance walked into my living room and threw a magazine at me. I picked it up and saw that it was her newest issue of the University of Tennessee - Knoxville's alumni magazine, Tennessee Alumnus. Well, I looked through it, and hot dog if most of the articles aren't on the venerable subject of this very blog. They're all worth a look-see, and lucky for us, they're all online - if you only have time for two, check out the last two, by the way. Consider:I know it has been a while since a house update, but here is a quick one.
I started off getting prices for re-doing the floors because I had heard all the horror stories of people doing it themselves and getting big waves, grooves, etc. After getting a few prices, though, I decided to try it on my own anyway and started gearing up do some floor sanding. Then, fortunately, I found another guy who was willing to do them for a reasonable price.
After he created about a ton of sawdust, did a little filling, and threw on a few coats of shine, the results were fantastic.
Here is before:
Here is after:
(click to enlarge)
Obviously doing it myself would have been cheaper, which would have been nice, but I think not having waves in the living room will outweigh the cost savings.
Next up: New cabinets!
I'm beginning to think that Kilo enjoys me more when I am riled up cause he is the instigator that keeps sending me to sites about Jim Webb that really get me wound up. Today he had me visit this new site because he wanted a womans opinion. OK, many of my words are not suitable for printing so instead I am going to let you decide how you feel about. Look here, and when you finish with this start up page please visit the Writing page and make your own opinions there. I know that when I was taking writing classes they pounded into my head that you should write what you know. I have not read any of Webbs novels but this site shows that there is a pattern to his writing style about his women characters. This raises questions in my mind but you decide. Now check out the Webb Against Women part of this site and you will have a better picture of the women who are coming forward about the improper treatment that was handed out because of Webb and his defaming of the female character. There is a great video under the Watch tab. When you think you have had enough then I ask that please continue on to this new video. I don't know about you but as a woman I would have a hard time believing that some one who wrote: “Many women appear to be having problems with their sexuality…What kind of woman would seek out the Academy routine?†(pg. 282, “Women Can’t Fight,†Washingtonian Magazine, November 1979) or "No benefit to anyone can come from women serving in combat... Their presence at institutions dedicated to the preparation of men for combat is poisoning that preparation"Washingtonian Magazine, November 1979 or spoke the much later quote "I have never met a woman... whom I would trust" to lead men in the military? (The Hotline,3/29/06) -can actually have a change of heart when something appears to be as ingrained as this sexist behavior and pattern of writing implies but you decide for yourself. Me, I think I am gonna go take out my frustrations on the first thing I see. Oh Kilo, wanna fight?
The rain came down in buckets Thursday -- a real old-fashioned Southwestern Virginia gully-washer.
I didn't see the approaching clouds. Had my head glued to a video monitor editing a documentary but a building-rocking rumble of thunder sent me to the window of the studio to see sheets of water falling from the skies.
This was the first hard rain since regrading my driveway with the new DR PowerGrader. How, I wondered, would the surface hold up under the pounding rainfall?
I drove home with a mixture of hope and dread. The rain had just ended as I turned off Sandy Flats Road and headed up Greenbrier to check out the driveway.
Everything was fine. No ruts, no dislodged gravel, no erosion. No need to hook up the grader and do any repair work when the water dries.
Sumbitch. The thing really works.
Here is the latest Jim Webb for Senate ad:
Anousheh Ansari, an entrepreneurial wunderkind of the NewSpaceAge, has returned to Earth. Landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan safetly with cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut Jeff Williams from the orbiting International Space Station, the crew made a textbook landing. Anousheh Ansari, an entrepreneurial wunderkind of the NewSpaceAge, has returned to Earth. Landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan safetly with cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut Jeff Williams from the orbiting International Space Station, the crew made a textbook landing.