Virginia Libertarian

Romney: We don’t like activist judges, except for when we do like them

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, faced with a Legislature that refuses to put equality under the law for the minority up for a vote by the majority, is asking the state’s supreme court to force a same-sex marriage ban onto the 2008 ballot.This is the exact same governor who accused the exact same court of being “activist” and legislating from the bench when it ruled that the Massachusetts constitution requires equality under the law for same-sex couples. Is his problem now with an “activist” legislature?

Hypocrisy, what can you say?  I think almost all of the legislators out there are guilty of this to some degree or another.  Unfortunately it seems to go with the territory, as it appears that to get re-elected you have to be a hypocrite.  Yet another reason for term limits.

Peolsi’s Principles

Revising Sarbanes-Oxley “will take bipartisan cooperation,” says Robert Grady, a former aide to President George H.W. Bush who now oversees U.S. venture investments for the Washington-based Carlyle Group, a private-equity company.Grady, who’s also chairman of the venture-capital association, says the timing is good because both the law’s authors, Maryland Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes and Ohio Republican Representative Michael Oxley, are retiring at the end of the year.

“There is a certain reluctance among members of Congress to offend them while they are there,” says Grady, 49.

Imagine that. These birds would rather destroy American business than “offend” the clodhoppers that saddled business with this crippling disease in the first place.

If there wasn’t any better reason to impose term limits, this one would do all by itself.

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.

William Bashaw, a Goshen-area farmer who served on the agricultural task force, said a retreat from strong land-protection ordinances could spell “the beginning of the end” of Augusta County’s agricultural vitality.”There are quite a few people who are willing to cash in on their land at the county’s expense,” he said. “Poor land development is an added expense for the average taxpayer.”

Ok, here are my problems with that last statement.  The land belongs to the owner.  They should be able to do whatever they want with it. How is poor development and added expense to the county?  Is the county doing something to maintain someone’s private land?  If so why?  Why is it anyone else’s business what this person does with their own land?

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.

They came, they saw - now, local officials hope, they’ll spend.

Doesn’t that just describe our government in general?  It’s not just on the federal level that your representatives are expected to bring home the bacon, we do it at the state, local, and any level of government that exists.  Unfortunately that is the nature of government, by its very nature, it wants to expand its power.  What the people don’t realize is that as the power of the government expands, their personal power and freedoms contract.  This is a zero-sum game.  When government gains power, the people lose it, and when the people gain power, government loses it.

The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.

Friday, McGratty convicted Anderson on a misdemeanor charge of failure to maintain the premises. Three additional misdemeanor charges were continued until Dec. 15. McGratty warned that if progress isn’t made on the property by the next court date, he’ll sentence Anderson to 28 days behind bars “and we’ll start all over again, only the next time we’ll start with six months in jail.”

These kinds of charges are complete and utter bullshit.  I don’t care what the man is doing with the home, he could blow it up if he wanted, as long as he doesn’t hurt anyone while doing it, but forcing someone to “maintain the premises” is akin to slavery.  You’re telling someone both what they have to do with their own property and what they have to do with their time.  If the county wanted the house to be repaired to a certain condition, then the county should have bought the house (not that I’m for government owning any property, but you can’t have them demand something be in a certain condition and not have them willing to take on the onus) and fixed it.