Oh Good Grief...

I know Republicans think it is difficult to be elected and then hold on to their seats in northern Virginia but do they have to start crunching granola and hugging trees?

Tree clearing to begin
By AMANDA STEWART
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

~excerpt~
"I can understand the interest in historical accuracy, but I'm not sure they need to go as far as they are," Prince William Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-13th, said Tuesday.

On Monday, Marshall sent letters to Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th District; Rep. Tom Davis R-11th District; Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.; and Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., asking them to intervene.

"I'm hoping something can be done to stop this," Marshall said.

But it may be too late to stop the clearing now, park officials said.

The clearing has been in the park's general management plan for more than 20 years, Sutton said. And the park has completed the environmental studies necessary to proceed, he said.

"There's no reason to stop it now," Sutton said.

The park conducted an environmental assessment project last year and found that the clearing will not significantly impact the environment.

Marshall said he is concerned about the effect the clearing could have on pollution in the area. He said he's also concerned that removing the trees could cause flooding in times of heavy rainfall.

But even if it is too late to save the battlefield's trees, Marshall said he hopes Congress can make changes that will prevent something like this from happening again.

He asked the congressmen to consider new regulations that would require the Park Service to have "independent environmental studies" done before clearing trees on park land and to consult with surrounding counties that might be affected.

General Assembly To Families: We Own Your Children HB2035

After heavy-duty lobbying by Merck, the Virginia General Assembly passed HB2035, a bill that requires little girls be vaccinated with a brand spanking new cervical cancer vaccine called Gardisil before they enter 6th grade or they cannot attend public school.

Parents can opt their daughters out of the vaccine but they must justify this decision to the state.

How many parents will be aware of the following report?

The National Vaccine Information Center yesterday warned state officials to investigate the safety of a breakthrough cancer vaccine as Texas became the first state to make the vaccine mandatory for school-age girls.
Negative side effects of Gardasil, a new Merck vaccine to prevent the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, are being reported in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including Virginia. The reactions range from loss of consciousness to seizures.
"Young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision and some girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures," said Vicky Debold, health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit watchdog organization that was created in the early 1980s to prevent vaccine injuries.

There is also the matter of Merck money clouding the issue. It would be interesting to do some follow up on the money trail in Virginia, especially after what is being reported in Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff met with key aides about the human papillomavirus vaccine the same day its manufacturer donated money to his campaign, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

Chief of staff Deirdre Delisi's calendar shows she met with the governor's budget director and three members of his office for an "HPV Vaccine for Children Briefing" on Oct. 16.

That day, New Jersey-based Merck & Co.'s political action committee donated $5,000 to Perry and $5,000 total to eight state lawmakers.

The calendar and other documents obtained by the AP show Perry's office began meeting with Merck lobbyists about the vaccine as early as mid-August, months before social conservatives, who are now those most outraged by the order, helped re-elect him in November.

Did Merck contact Virginia legislators and government officials prior to passage of this new mandate to usurp parental authority? Is there a money trail?

Unlike measles and mumps, the HPV viruses which cause certain types of cervical cancer are not contracted by sitting in classrooms no matter how crowded.

With all due respect, I cannot think of a single person in the Governor's office or the State Legislature that I would trust to knowledgeably order a medical directive like this concerning anyone, much less children.

Previously on UCV: NO to mandatory HPV vaccinations

General Assembly To Business: We Own You HB2422

HB2422 passed the House and the Senate. It prohibits smoking in privately owned restaurants unless a "Smoking Permitted" or "No Smoking" sign is displayed.

I assume we are supposed to be grateful that this unconstitutional restriction to enterprise and personal freedom still allows smoking at all.

Somehow, I am not grateful, because this encroachment by government, minor as it may seem, is symptomatic of the slow but relentless suppression of free enterprise and individual liberty that affects each and every one of us.

HB2422 will be hailed as another necessary compromise by its proponents. I say there is no compromise possible when we lose our freedom. It is a matter of degree, sometimes lesser, sometimes greater, but extremely dangerous none the less.

I Heart This Guy

Del. Bob Marshall speaking on the decision to remove the cross in the chapel at William & Mary by Pres. Gene R. Nichol:

"We need to have some candor here and we need to have this cross placed back," Marshall said, gesturing toward a poster-sized photo of the cross. "This is not intimidating. Only Dracula would shrink from this."
DailyPress.com Feb. 8, 2007

Battle for the Soul (and Survival) of Virginia's GOP

Wall Street Journal
“Political Diary”
Feb 1, 2007
by Stephen Moore

There's a civil war going on within the Republican Party in Virginia and the outcome will likely determine whether Democrats can capitalize on the infighting and capture this important state for many years to come.

One faction of the GOP, made up of conservative Republicans in the House and state Attorney General Bob McDonnell, is drafting a transportation-financing plan to reduce congestion in gridlocked Northern Virginia while avoiding a major tax increase. In the other corner is Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Chichester and at least two more liberal Senate Republicans, who on Tuesday proposed a $600 million spending plan to be paid for with a 5% gas tax and a series of car fees.

Mr. Chichester, who is a bigger champion of spending than most of the Democrats in Richmond , opposes the House Republican plan because he says it would spend money out of the general fund on transportation. In turn, the Chichester plan "simply won't fly with conservatives," Attorney General McDonnell tells me.

The problem for Richmond Republicans is that just three years ago they got suckered into a $1 billion sales tax increase sponsored by then-governor Mark Warner. Ever since, Republicans have been on the losing end of most statewide races, including a governor's race and last November's senate race (won by the Democrats' new wonder-boy, Jim Webb). Another GOP tax increase would almost certainly lead to a Democratic takeover of the Senate in the next election. Ed Gillespie, the state Republican chairman, agrees that the party faces a quandary. "If we don't solve the transportation problem, we lose the Senate. But if we raise taxes, we lose the Senate." Last year, three Senate Republicans from the Fairfax County vicinity managed to win by very narrow majorities, and the county seems to grow more Democratic with each passing month.

Why liberal Republicans feel compelled to raise taxes yet again is a mystery in the Cavalier State . Democratic Governor Tim Kaine has proposed a $650 million tax increase to pay for roads, and Republicans could go to the polls running against this tax-and-spender. Instead, the Republican plan actually inoculates Gov. Kaine from charges of being a big-spending Democrat. Making matters worse, the state has had rapid economic growth, so the state coffers in Richmond are $1 billion in surplus. House Republicans say they won't countenance another statewide tax hike when the state's budget has grown by nearly 30% in the last ten years above the rate of inflation and population growth.

The only political solution is to allocate more money for roads -- and allow for smart roads through tolls and congestion pricing -- and to pay for these projects by cutting the growth in other state programs that have been growing like weeds in recent ears. That's the program that Mr. McDonnell, who wants to run for governor in two years, and other conservatives are seeking. Mr. Chichester and his liberal cronies who run the Senate won't go for that. The GOP would be a lot better off without them.

Stephen Moore is the founder and former president of the Club for Growth and a contributing editor of National Review. He also serves on the economic board of advisers for Time magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Human Events, and Reader's Digest.

NO to Mandatory HPV Vaccinations

CWA-VA has some facts about the HPV Vaccine and the legislation to be voted on in the House of Delegates this Friday. The idea of a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer is wonderful. The problem here, in my opinion, is the lack of statistical data on long term effects on developing girls and the difficulty parents will have opting their children out of the immunizations.

I don't believe our General Assembly at this time is qualified to make these decisions for parents, especially when this is such a new medical development. Let's see what the professionals are saying after a few more years of research before making this mandatory for girls to attend the 6th grade.

Meanwhile, thanks to an aggressive television ad campaign, the public is becoming aware of the vaccine and parents can look to their family doctors for advice.

Bill Number: HB 2035
Bill Title & Summary: Human papillomavirus vaccine; added as required vaccination.
Requires females to receive three doses of properly spaced human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The first dose shall be administered before the child enters the sixth grade. This bill contains a delayed effective date of September 1, 2008.
Next Action: House Floor

• HPV infection is a serious problem in our sex-saturated society. It is easily transmitted not only because condoms do not completely protect against it, but because it can be transmitted skin to skin as well as in sexual intercourse.
• Annually, two and a half million American women experience an abnormal Pap smear; a majority of those have an HPV infection. HPV is the primary cause of cervical cancer (99 percent). Cervical cancer is diagnosed in 13,000 women a year with almost 5,000 deaths annually.
• HPV is associated with several other cancers as well: oral, vaginal, vulva, penile and anal cancer.
• Recently, a vaccine against the strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This vaccine, Gardasil, manufactured by Merck, is available in a three-shot regimen over a period of six months.
• The vaccine has shown to be effective against HPV types 16 and 18 which are responsible for 70 percent of all cervical cancers and HPV types 6 and 11 which are responsible for 90 percent of genital warts (another manifestation of HPV infection). There is no evidence that it reduces the risk for cervical cancers caused by other HPV types which cause the remaining 30 percent of cervical cancers [Statement from the Medical Institute for Sexual Health on HPV Vaccine].
• There are more than 100 types of HPV; the vaccine is effective against four of them, albeit they are the ones which cause most of the problems. According to its manufacturer the vaccine will not protect against HPV types to which patients have already been exposed, and it will not protect against other diseases that are not caused by HPV.
• Since the vaccine is most effective before a girl becomes sexually active, many are recommending that girls be vaccinated at nine to 12 years of age. There have been no long-term studies on the effects of the vaccine.

o No one knows for sure how long the antibody titer necessary to produce an immune response will last. Some have suggested that a booster shot will be necessary in five years.
o If a girl is vaccinated at age 11, her maximum immunity would be declining by age 16 the age at which many girls become sexually active.
o The vaccine has been approved only for less than a year.
o It does not prevent all cervical cancer. Girls and women will still be required to get a regular Pap smear to detect cervical cancers caused by other HPV types. Having had the vaccine might give women a false sense of security.

• Some have said it gives a message to our youth that we expect them to be promiscuous.
• Parents, not the state, should make medical decisions for their child.
• Because of the newness of the vaccine and the unclear status of long-term effects and efficacy, should our children have to be the state’s guinea pigs? Many worry that there are no statistics on carcinogenicity, or genotoxicity or chromosomal damage. Since this vaccine will be given to mostly pre-pubescent girls, shouldn’t we have the facts on that?

Bloggers Day with Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, aided and ably abetted by Randy Marcus, hosted Virginia political bloggers in Richmond yesterday. The Lt. Gov. gave us a tour of his office (looking out the windows, he is able to keep an eye on the capitol building as well as the Governor's mansion) and charmed us all with his warmth and hospitality.

We were able to observe the House and Senate in action via television monitors and were amused at their reaction to the presence of bloggers on the premises.

Later in the day, Lt. Gov. Bolling discussed his legislative agenda in depth and answered questions. I was pleased to hear him address the problems rural Virginia is having with methamphetamine, an horrific and soul-destroying drug.

Boyd Marcus, who has run many successful Virginia campaigns, gave us his take on the 2007 legislative elections. He noted several factors for success in state elections: demographics being the most important, followed by money and the quality of the candidate and lastly, the ability to spot the wave. That last one was amply illustrated in the Allen/Webb campaign.

Next up was Del. Tim Hugo who early on recognized the potential of blogs. He credits Virginia blogs with changing the majority in the United States Senate and I tend to agree with that assessment. He spoke at length about the proposed Transportation Package compromise and potential obstacles to a resolution this year. He didn't seem totally enamored with the proposal and was willing to be honest about it.

Sen. Mark Obenshain demonstrated his broad knowledge of government and the funding processes and touched on a variety of specific issues from gunshows to education. He has proposed actually collecting revenues owed by out of state entities who do business in Virginia as a means of raising revenue without raising taxes. His remarks were off the cuff and I was quite impressed. I was left with the impression that his positions on issues are carefully researched and well-reasoned.

That evening at dinner Mrs. Bolling graced the dinner table. She is a lovely lady who seemed quite comfortable with our motley crew. We were also joined by one of my personal heroes in the GA, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli.

The entire day was a great experience and I can't thank the Lt. Governor and his staff enough for making it possible.

About 19 people attended from blogs representing the full spectrum of political leanings.
Blogs in attendance:
ShaunKenney.com
Not Larry Sabato Post on Bloggers' Day
Spank That Donkey Post on Bloggers' Day
United Conservatives of Virginia
Leslie Carbone Post on Bloggers' Day
Bearing Drift Post on Bloggers' Day
Mason Conservative Post on Bloggers' Day
Cat House Chat Post on Bloggers' Day full report here
Virginia Virtucon Post on Bloggers' Day
Vivian J. Paige Post on Bloggers' Day here, here, here and here.
The Right Wing Liberal Post on Bloggers' Day
Republitarian Post on Bloggers'Day
SWAC Girl Post on Bloggers' Day
Skeptical Observer
Journal Of The Common Man Post on Bloggers' Day
If I left your blog off the list, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.

General Assembly 07: HJ 567 SOL's and Animal Safety

HJ567

Patron: Kenneth C. Alexander(D) House District 89, Norfolk

Summary as introduced:
Resolution; humane treatment of animals; report. Requests the Department of Education to include standards on animal safety and the humane treatment of animals in future revisions of the Standards of Learning. However, in the event that the Department of Education determines that such a revision of the Standards of Learning is not feasible, the Department shall propose alternative methods of achieving the objective of including instruction on the humane treatment of companion animals to children in the public schools through the character education curriculum.



That's not all. I predict some emotional hearings on this one. From the full text version of the resolution:

WHEREAS, the death of Dorothy Sullivan demands remedial action in tribute to her and those like her who met tragic ends or were injured because of misguided treatment of companion animals; and

WHEREAS, companion animals, properly treated, provide inestimable joy, comfort, solace, and companionship to their human keepers and the world at large; and

WHEREAS, children are our future and must be properly guided by society in their relationships with each other and the creatures around them;

Welcome to the Commonwealth Nanny State.