Richmond City, and The Counties™ have announced voluntary water conservation. Basically this only applies to those of us with houses and things to water – such as grass and crepe myrtles. The guidelines are as follows:
So not exciting news, but important news to follow.
With Virginia Tech coming to town, fire officials have ordered the removal of all upholstered furniture and flammable objects from porches in neighborhoods with high student populations to put a damper fires that have become a post-game tradition.
NBC in Hampton Roads breaks the story. Apparently the sixteen counts of child pornography satisfied local police. I kid, I kid. But seriously, Fawley is no longer a “person of interst” and now the police say they have none.
Last Friday I found the excellent Barack Obama podcast and wrote a little thingy on it mentioning the state required Georgia ID card. I said, to quote myself”
Apparently the Georgian ID costs 35$ and citizens can only get the cards at special centers…of which there are none in the ATL.
Nic brought to my attention that this may not be entirely true. Actually his words were “I see you’ve bought the librul line on these Georgia ID cards.” So after doing a total of three minutes of googling I’ve learned some actual facts.
To vote in Georgia, voters must show a valid ID. [source]
A drivers license will do you fine, but some people don’t drive. If you want an identification card instead of a drivers license it will cost you “$20.00 for 5 years or $35 for a card valid 10 years.” [source]
The state of Georgia provides a free ID solely for voting purposes. Customer Service Centers – think DMV’s – issue these cards. A bus also travels around and issues them. The bus will visit Atlanta proper four times between September 27th and October 5th. [source]
To get the free ID card a citizen must present one of the following:
All of which do cost money, except for the original birth certificate (who has that? I certainly don’t have mine) and – I assume – an immigration ID card. [source]
I find this hard to believe, but I don’t think there is a Customer Service Center in Atlanta. I put in the zip code for the Georgia Dome and the closest center is in Decatur – ten miles away. [source]
So while Senator Obama had some of his facts mixed up, the gist of his argument still holds: the current system of Georgia ID cards does provide several obstacles for people who want to vote. Specifically poor and elderly people who do not drive and live in Atlanta.
The whole system seems a lot more complicated than it needs to be. While I think the Georgia legislature wants to lower voter fraud and not keep people from voting, I think the current system probably does keeps people from voting. And like Van said in the previous article’s comments: “has there been a lot of reports of people voting more than once. as it stands, i thought the problem was getting “them” or anyone to vote once!”
Church Hill People’s News has a great 15 minute interview with CT Woody up. A good quick insight into the sheriff position and what Woody would do differently than the current sheriff, Michelle Mitchell.
The sheriff is an elected position and holds the responsibility for the jail and for transporting prisoners/arrestees to and from the courthouses. Typically not something people would get all excited about, but Richmond has had some trouble with its jail recently. Oh you know, like the locks not working.
So take a minute and become a more informed voter.
[Crossposted from my other blog – Ed.]
Senator Barack Obama has a podcast (subscribe with iTunes)! I think he records a new one each Wednesday so be sure to check that out every now and again. So far in his three episodes he has covered mostly Katrina related issues: general Katrina relief efforts, relief spending accountability, non-oil based energy solutions, poverty in America, and – oddly – the proposed national ID card.
You should download and listen to the most recent episode about American poverty and the national ID cards. He definitely says some things that I agree with, starting with recognizing that poverty (class) is a giant problem in American and that it stems from past racial issues. He has some interesting ideas about using Katrina to focus national discussion on reducing poverty. First he suggests training young poor males (read: mostly poor black men) in environmental clean up.
Then he rants on the national photo ID and specifically the one instituted in Georgia. Apparently the Georgian ID costs 35$ and citizens can only get the cards at special centers…of which there are none in the ATL. If you want to keep poor (read: black) people from voting adding a poll tax cost and transportation hurdles would be the way to roll.
Also Obama plans to introduce legislation to reject the national ID.
I wanted to point out this article on Richmond blog South of the James in light of our discussion yesterday on ridiculous campaign ads. It serves as a good primary for sifting through the truth and lies of the recent Kilgore(R)/Kaine(D) television spots. Both candidates chose to run negative attack ads, but hey who doesn’t these days (oh wait Russ Potts (so far))?
It turns out that both candidates manipulate statistics and basically lie in their tee-vee ads — gasp! So read the article and get slightly more informed!
I saw the most ridiculous political ad over on Waldo’s site today.
Just know that it involves photoshopping Tim Kaine’s head onto a sheep.
Click to see the ad in all of its sheep-ridden glory.
Disclaimer: I don’t want to imply that Jerry Kilgore (R) runs a negative campaign while Tim Kaine (D) doesn’t, because he sure might. I just thought this ad was too absurd not to mention.
While on the subject of campaign ads, check out this completly positive and slightly humorous ad from Russ Potss.
[See the Kilgore ad in action here --Ed.]
This whole Taylor Behl thing blows my mind. Before she went missing a 38 year old amateur photographer took some pictures (fully clothed as the WaPo notes) of the girl on Belle Isle. He is now a “person of interest.” Now the police have found her car on Mulberry St. with stolen Ohio plates on it. Another former VCU student reported the plates stolen from his car months before Taylor went missing. So weird. Now the police are hot on some sort of trail, who knows if it is of the wild goose variety or not.
The Taylor Behl Sites of Interest:
Today marks the third anniversary of the Virginia Blog Carnival. Of course the event takes place every week but still — third anniversary none-the-less.
The blog carnival highlights various posts in the Virginia blogosphere that may not have gotten as much attention as they deserved. Hopefully by reading through the entries in the carnival you can find new blogs you will want to read on a regular basis. Typically you self-submit your entries.
This week, two haduken regulars had posts featured as “captain’s picks” — posts that weren’t submitted but still rocked:
But my thanks go to you the haduken readership for making the slogan post worth reading. Keep up the good work.
From space.com:
The LiftPort Group, the space elevator companies, announced September 9 that it has received a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to use airspace to conduct preliminary tests of its high altitude robotic “lifters.”
The lifters are early prototypes of the technology that the company is developing for use in its commercial space elevator to ferry cargo back and forth into space.
The tests, which are planned for early fall, will simulate a working space elevator by launching a model elevator “ribbon” attached to moored balloon initially up to a mile high. The robotic lifters will then be tested in their ability to climb up and down the free-hanging ribbon, marking the first-ever test of this technology in the development of the space elevator concept.
According to Michael Laine, president of the LiftPort Group in Bremerton, Washington, the FAA go-ahead is a “critical step” in the ultimate developing of the group’s LiftPort Space Elevator concept.
See Wolf, I told you space elevators are a real thing. Also a very cool thing.
So I downloaded and watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. For those of you who don’t religiously follow the ins and outs of the Final Fantasy series - no, lifestyle, FF7AC is the movie sequel to the video game Final Fantasy VII, which itself was almost but not really the sequel to Final Fantasies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, and almost but not really the precursor to Final Fantasies 8, 9, 10, and 11 (all of these are here). Maybe more, not quite sure.
Long review with way too much Final Fantasy trivia follows.
Who even likes EZ 2 ♥ anyway? Maybe haduken could come up with the next city slogan!
Put your thoughts in the comments.
More day-to-day drama from the Virginia Performing Arts Center! Yeah!
Yesterday the RTD released the VAPAF’s exciting new plan to scale back the arts center. Here are the five points of the new plan:
- It will maintain its “pay-as-you-go” policy, meaning any portion of the project would begin only when money has been raised to complete it.
- Work will begin with the Carpenter Center and the rest of the block that fronts East Grace Street between Sixth and Seventh streets.
- Work along the Grace Street portion would begin once firm bids have been submitted and sufficient funds have been raised. A request for the release of a building permit would not be made until that time. Construction is expected to take about 30 months, meaning it would be completed in March 2008 if work started this month.
- The site would be landscaped temporarily if there is a delay in starting construction on Broad Street.
- The foundation will review itself “with an eye towards maximum efficiency and effectiveness” as it focuses in on fund raising and community support.
Oh wait, that sounds like exactly the same as before!? No no no, they will landscape the giant dirt hole on Broad St.! Yessssssss. More comentary here, here, and here. The ability of the people in charge over at the VAPAF to continue moving this project forward under such negative public opinion impresses me. I guess their project plan should impress me instead of their relentless zombie-like shuffle towards failure, but whatevs.
In the second bit of recent news, Brad Armstrong — VAPAF President — takes a pay cut of 100k$ “in hopes of eliminating a ‘distraction’ for the planned downtown arts center.” Uhh yeah distracting and also bad when last month his annual salary accounted for 30% of the foundation’s entire bankroll. But again whatevs.
For those of you keeping track, that salary is down 100k$ from 275k$.
When asked for a comment Wilder, chewing thoughtfully on the end of his cigar, waved his hand dismissively at the RTD reporter and turned to look out across Downtown from high atop city hall:
“I learned from news accounts that the [foundation] has taken certain actions,” he said. “Upon receiving from them the factual accounting of just what that has been, I will respond as the need requires.”
Wilder is so badass.
In an attempt to garner as many comments as RMSzero did with the whole Kanye West deal I thought I would write about America’s next top most decisive issue: Abortions!
Just kidding America. I really wanted to point everyone’s attention to Supreme Court Head Hancho Nominee John Robert’s excellent (predictable?) handling of the ol’ Roe v. Wade. To quote:
It’s settled as a precedent of the court, entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis.
So everyone who stood up, cried, and mourned about how John Robert’s would overthrow Rv.W can safely go home to their hobbit holes.
Also a great quote from Arlen Specter:
Specter, a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights, asked if the Roe v. Wade decision was a “super-duper precedent” in light of efforts to overturn it.
Good to know I’m not the only one who uses the term “super-duper” in everyday business situations.
