Virginia Talks

Legend Brewing’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Edmond — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:28:09 +0000

Title: Legend Brewing’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
Location: Legend Brewing Co, Richmond VA
Link out: Click here
Description: Type: Party – Night of Mayhem
Start Time: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 3:00pm
End Time: Thursday, March 18, 2010 at 12:00am
Location: Legend Pub

Join us on Saint Patrick’s Day for a true Irish Celebration. Ben Pruett and our new General Manager Darragh O’Halloran have put together a great menu and Darragh will also be providing the first round of music beginning at 3:00. He will be followed at 5:00 by The Slack Family and a “yet to be disclosed” band. It is rumored that there will be an appearance by elements of The Greater Richmond Pipe and Drum Band And Saint Patrick Himself as well! Be sure to drop by on your St. Pat’s day travels.
Start Time: 15:00
Date: 2010-03-17

Café Rustica/Wine and Beer Westpark Beer Dinner

Edmond — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:21:13 +0000

Title: Café Rustica/Wine and Beer Westpark Beer Dinner Location: Café Rustica, Richmond VA Link out: Click here Description: 6:30 Monday March 15th Café Rustica Beer Dinner! $45 ++ Here’s the menu. Please confirm with me by Sunday evening. Jever Pilsner-ROASTED Rappahannock River Oysters with Mignonette Schneider Weisen Edel-Weisse-Pickled Herring Salad Ayinger Ur-Weisse- Local Bratwurst, doctored Sauerkraut, Grainy Mustard Weltenburger Asam Bock-Sauerbratten with Spaetzel Monschof [...] Related posts:

Oberon Festival

Edmond — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:18:43 +0000

Title: Oberon Festival Location: Mekong Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine, Richmond VA Link out: Click here Description: Type: Party – Night of Mayhem Date: Monday, March 29, 2010 Time: 4:45pm – 11:00pm Location: Mekong Restaurant Street: 6004 WEST BROAD STREET City/Town: Henrico, VA Bell’s famous Summer beer the OBERON will be tap at Mekong on Monday the 29 of March… Derek Zemonski will be here with us.. Count [...] Related posts:

Magic Hat Beer Dinner at State Theatre

Edmond — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:16:29 +0000

Title: Magic Hat Beer Dinner at State Theatre Location: State Theatre, Falls Church VA Link out: Click here Description: The State Theatre teams up with Magic Hat Brewery to host a beer dinner featuring Magic Hat’s “Spring Fever” variety pack of seasonal offerings. The theme of the dinner will be Mardi Gras, with plenty of N’awlins recipes. There [...] Related posts:

Gov. Bob McDonnell signs HB 787 & HB 756 … offshore drilling

SWAC Girl — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:55:00 +0000

Governor McDonnell signs HB787 and HB756, legislation to allow for offshore oil and natural gas exploration, production and development as well as allocate 80% of future offshore royalties and revenues to transportation and the remaining 20% to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Other attendees included (L to R):
1st Row: Secretary of Natural Resources Doug Domenech, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, Governor Bob McDonnell, Delegate Ron Villanueva, Delegate Chris Stolle, Senator John Watkins

2nd Row: Delegate Matthew James, Delegate Onzlee Ware, Delegate Charles Poindexter, Delegate Barbara Comstock

Photo courtesy of Michaele White, Governor’s Photographer

Western Augusta County … Ramsey’s Draft

SWAC Girl — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Bob at The Journey calls Ramsey's Draft Wilderness "the wild western side of Augusta County" ... and that's why many of us live in the less-populated part of the county. His photo of a bold mountain stream from melting snows shows water tables, thankfu... Related posts:

Put on a Happy Face … or Two

Rick Sincere — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Under the circumstances, it seems both odd and wrong to chide Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell for being two-faced, especially given that I like the result.

Today Governor McDonnell reversed his long-held position that only the General Assembly possesses the authority to add "sexual orientation" to the list of categories protected against discrimination in state government employment. After having, as Virginia's Attorney General, advised his predecessor that an executive order extending employment protections to gay and lesbian Virginians with state jobs was not permitted under the law, McDonnell today issued a similar -- if not stronger -- executive order doing precisely that.

McDonnell's order comes on the heels of a widely-criticized letter sent by the new attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, which told state colleges and universities that they could not include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies -- neither formal nor informal policies.

I'm divided on this issue because, as far as Virginia statutes go, Attorney General McDonnell was right on the law and wrong on policy. Now Governor McDonnell is wrong on the law and right on policy. I believe, as Attorney General McDonnell did, that the General Assembly had to act in order to expand Virginia's employment non-discrimination protections.

It's a mixed bag, to say the least.

A few weeks ago, I testified before the state Senate's Committee on General Laws and Technology in favor of SB66, a bill introduced by Senator Donald McEachin that would have added sexual orientation to the protected categories. I noted then that "there is no rational justification" for excluding sexual orientation from a broad anti-discrimination policy. Indeed, the committee members who voted "nay" offered no argument to explain their votes.

That bill later passed the state Senate -- a historic first for this type of legislation -- but it was killed in a House subcommittee, again with no Delegates offering an argument against it.

Just before that House vote, I spoke at a news conference at the State Capitol, along with Senator McEachin, Delegate Adam Ebbin (D-49), and other supporters of the bill. You can see the complete event below. (My remarks come in the second segment.)

In Part I, Jon Blair of Equality Virginia introduces the first speaker, former Secretary of Administration Viola Baskerville and offers some remarks of his own. This segment also includes remarks by Glen Pond of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association and Patricia W. Cummins of the American Association of University Professors.

My remarks (representing the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia) open the second segment (Part II), which also includes comments by Andres Tobar of the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations; Irving Taylor of AARP Virginia; Ben Greenberg of the Virginia Organizing Project; Falls Church city council member Lawrence Webb; and Delegate Adam Ebbin. Note that I make clear that, if SB66 applied to the private sector as well as the public sector, I would oppose it -- as would the RLC-Virginia.

In Part III, State Senator Donald McEachin (D-9), chief patron of Senate Bill 66, speaks to a gathering of journalists and activists to explain why the bill is needed. McEachin answers questions from the Associated Press, Virginian-Pilot, and other news organizations. The news conference ends with a few announcements by Jon Blair of Equality Virginia.

In his answer to a question, McEachin took a cheap shot at Governor McDonnell, suggesting that he had created an atmosphere conducive to protests by the virulently anti-gay (and clearly insane) members of the Westboro Baptist Church (the people behind godhatesfags.com). This was uncalled for, since the Phelps clan also held protests in Virginia during the administrations of Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, often demonstrating at the funerals of soldiers who lost their lives in service to our country.

Getting back to today's announcement by Governor McDonnell, it's noteworthy that he asserts in his executive directive that the rights of lesbian and gay people are protected by the U.S. Constitution. He says:

The Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits discrimination without a rational basis against any class of persons.

(Andrew Sullivan may have been the first to point this out, but others may have mentioned it, as well.)

Bearing Drift -- which first reported the story about the new McDonnell administration policy -- has posted excerpts of a news release from Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, who as Virginia's new "job creation czar" has a particular concern for issues like this. Bolling said:

“While various federal and state statutes set forth certain classifications in which employment related discrimination is prohibited as a matter of law, our policy and practice will be much broader than this. All state employees should take comfort in knowing that we will not tolerate employment related discrimination in any form or for any reason, including sexual orientation.”

What is troubling is the terse response by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who -- if you read between the lines -- seems to have no intention of enforcing the governor's executive directive. Here is the complete comment by Cuccinelli:

I applaud Governor McDonnell for the tone he is setting for the Commonwealth of Virginia. I will remain in contact with the Governor and continue to work with him on issues important to Virginians. I expect Virginia’s state employees to follow all state and federal anti-discrimination laws and will enforce Virginia’s laws to the fullest extent.

Since neither state nor federal law recognizes "sexual orientation" as a category subject to employment non-discrimination protection, then Cuccinelli can "enforce Virginia's laws to the fullest extent" without including gay and lesbian employees in that protective umbrella. His words sound expansive but, in fact, they offer nothing more than his -- and the previous Bob McDonnell's -- insistence that only the General Assembly can add sexual orientation as an anti-discrimination category.

As I noted before his election as governor, Bob McDonnell has matured on issues regarding gay and lesbian Virginians since his notorious reply to a reporter that he could "not recall" whether he had ever engaged in oral sex (or any violation of Section 18.2-361 of the Code of Virginia -- still on the books despite Lawrence v. Texas).

Although I agree that Virginia statutes do not currently allow an expansive sort of non-discrimination policy for Virginia state employees, I believe this is a quirk in the law that should be scrutinized and reversed. For me, the legal standard should not be "unless it is permitted, it is prohibited." Notwithstanding the General Assembly's pride of place in the making of policy, the standard should be: "Anything not prohibited is permitted."

In his new executive order, Governor McDonnell acknowledges that latter, and better, standard. Let's hope his legal judgment -- as Governor, not as Attorney General -- holds up in both the court of public opinion and the courts of law.

Fantagraphics Manga Line Launches With Moto Hagio Book

Johanna — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:57:42 +0000

Fantagraphics has announced that they will launch a manga imprint in September of this year.

Their first book will be A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, a collection of works by Moto Hagio, the shojo pioneer. Her work is historic but little of it has been translated in English so far.

The books will read right to left (unflipped), in the “authentic” fashion, but they will be hardcovers. Translator and editor Matt Thorn lists the stories that will be included in the Hagio book and praises the line as “drop-dead gorgeous and boast[ing] the finest production values”. That makes me wonder how much the books will cost, but no price information has yet been released, although Amazon information suggests somewhere from $19.99 – $24.99. They’ve been working on this project for at least four years, so I’m expecting great things.

The second release, scheduled for December, will be Wandering Son, the first volume in an ongoing series (10 volumes so far) by Shimura Takako exploring transgender issues. As described by the publisher, “these 5th graders struggle with only not puberty, but also severe identity issues; Shichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.” Sounds like fascinating material.

Christopher Butcher has more information and analysis.

Mini Eco Film Fest on the 24th

Waldo Jaquith — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:39:09 +0000

Wild Virginia is hosting an environmental film festival at Vinegar Hill in a couple of weeks, showing a whole mess of short films on that theme. Related posts:

When does a company’s “goodwill” create a conflict of interest?

Timothy Watson — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:01:12 +0000

Someone sent me a copy of a flier for the Caroline County Optimist Club’s Winter Sports Festival. For those unaware, the Director of the Optimist Club is County Administrator Percy Ashcraft and the club’s President is Percy Ashcraft’s wife. Its Recording Secretary is Karen Jenkins, who is the county’s “public information officer” as well.

Now, if you look at the sponsors of this event, you might recognize some of the names:

Amerigas
Jarrell Properties, Inc.
Utility Services, Inc.
Diversified Ambulance Billing
Clark’s Cut II
World View Solutions
E.M. Gray & Son, Inc.
Dominion Resources, Inc.
Massey Enterprises
Purvis Ford
Rosner Toyota
Virginia Sports Complex
Computer-Telephone Technologies
Linda Perry Taxes

Jarrell Properties, Inc., whose commercial rezoning application was approved by the Board of Supervisors on January 26th of this year.

Diversified Ambulance Billing? Those are the folks responsible for billing county citizens for the EMS fee program. It also turns out that they’ve fleeced county residents out of $39,000 over the last two years.

In addition, while I can’t find any connection between “Massey Enterprises” and the county, their offices are one suite over from where Diversified Ambulance Billing is located in Virginia Beach.

Clark’s Cut II is the controversial sand/gravel extraction site off of Route 17 whose approval by the Board of Supervisors has prompted legal action against the company as well as the Board (full disclosure: I supported that special exemption permit application and still do).

World View Solutions? They’re a geographic information system (GIS) provider…who just happens to be doing the county’s GIS project.

Virginia Sports Complex, who in 2009 was granted a special exemption permit to serve alcohol at their facility.

So, when does the “goodwill” from these companies become a conflict of interest (or create the appearance of a conflict of interest), especially when the group receiving the money is ran by the County Administrator and his wife?

And as a side note, is the County Administrator’s Office so pressed for work they are selling tickets to an event for a third-party, non-governmental organization? I smell some room for budget cuts there, maybe we can rededicate that money to something important, like education.

Cross-posted at Virginia Virtucon.