Virginia Libertarian

TPMmuckraker December 18, 2006 08:40 AM

Reid Does His Own “Dead-of-Night” Legislation
“Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who has pledged to stop ‘dead-of-night legislating,’ did a little of his own in the final hours of this year’s congressional session.”Reid slipped two home state projects into the last major bill Congress passed last week: a transfer of federal land in Nevada to state and private control that’s almost two-thirds the size of Rhode Island; and a $4 million grant for a hospice. Neither had been approved by any congressional committee.

I ask you, did anyone really expect the new guys to be any different than the old ones?

Governor offers surplus for roads; makes clear he wants more

“We’ve made it clear we’re not going to compromise on a massive tax increase,” said House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith.”I think the people of Virginia understand that when you’ve had huge surpluses over the last few years, that while that my not be _ quote-unquote–`sustainable,’ it looks like it’s sustainable, particularly when we continue to use it for one-time projects,” he said.

I’m glad the R’s in the house aren’t budging on this one.   When you have budget surpluses in government, something is wrong.  How about if you give that money back to us, governor?

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

Staunton-Augusta Art Center, in association with Staunton Downtown Development Association, spent a year researching a set of guidelines to establish a public art commission for the city and use public funds to partially support the program.The proposal would have used public funds to install and maintain works similar to installations in Charlottesville, Richmond and hundreds of cities across the country. The works likely would be on short-term loan from artists.

During an informal work session poll, only Vice Mayor Dave Metz, who helped craft the proposal, supported it.

While some council members seemed interested in the concept, most cited First Amendment legal concerns about the subject matter of the artworks and reservations about the use of public money.

“I wonder how we can do this in a way that’s acceptable to residents of the city of Staunton, especially when we have so many pressing needs,” Bruce Elder said.

Frustrated supporters said after the meeting that most of council’s concerns had been answered by the proposal itself.

There are, apparently, some people in public office that “get it”. Well, almost, anyway. At least they see that spending even more money, especially on supporting starving artists, is not a valid use of public funds.

NBC 12 - Virginia News - Chesterfield school suspends teacher amid painting hubbub

In disguise, in video clips on YouTube and iFilm, Murmer can be seen brushing paint on a rubber mat, sitting on it and then pressing his buttocks onto the canvas. Other paintings, mostly floral prints, are done with the same blot and stamp method, but using his genitals.

A Chesterfield school official would confirm only that an art teacher at Monacan is on administrative leave because of the way he creates his art.No decision has been made on whether Murmer will lose his job.

Stupid reason to fire a teacher

If you did something 11 years ago that has nothing to do with your life or career now, should you be fired for it?

Both of these articles deal with employers taking action for something the person did outside of their performing their job. Now, there is really no issue with this, as long as their contract says that the employer can take action for things performed outside the job, or it is an “at will” employment agreement. People are trying to turn this into prosecution of someone for controversial actions, and it may be about that on the surface, but it also boils down to the employers freedom to hire or fire who they want to. If I don’t want to hire people who do artwork with their ass, I should be free to do so, just as this man is free to try to keep knowledge away from me if it doesn’t affect his day job. Mr. Murmur just appears to have slipped up and let the two mix, and is now paying the price. To be honest, I really wouldn’t want this guy teaching my kids, but people whose kids go to public school don’t get a say in who teaches their kids.

http://www.qando.net/ - The fat is in the fire

Freedom means some things you wont hear fiery, patriotic orators say - the freedom to make stupid decisions, the freedom to do dumb things, the freedom to make poor choices which will kill you. Even the freedom to fail.That’s life. And we should be free to live it that way, warts, stupid decisions and all without some other entity deciding what is “good for us” and using the power of government to enforce it.

Awesome post by McQ continuing the coverage of the NYC trans-fat ban.  I think the quote above says it all.  We are a free society, which also means we have to be responsible for our own lives.  The two must go together.  I think we are rapidly reaching (if we haven’t already) the point where there are more irresponsible people in this country than responsible people, and those irresponsible people don’t care to be free, they just want someone to take care of them.