Om's Blogger

Iowa Numbers
By 9:30 pm tonight, CNN has projected that Kerry is the # 1 winner (38%) of the Iowa Caucuses and Edwards (32%) will be #2 and Dean # 3 (18%). It also seems that Gephardt will most likely pull out. Wow, this makes for a very interesting campaign as we move to NH. Let's see how my man Clark does.

Iowa Prediction
This guy, Willis 04' is rising in Iowa. Never heard of him? Well, you must not be looking in the right places. Check his site out at Willis 04' . His slogan, "Liberty. Freedom. Beyonce's booty."

Larry Sabato and the News
For those of you who don’t know, Larry Sabato is a professor here at the University of Virginia (and since I go here, I’m biased in the other direction) and it seems that in every other article having anything to do with Virginia politics, this guy is quoted, like in this one, or the hundreds of others you can find using a Lexis search. Now, I know he’s a smart guy (although I’ve heard his class isn’t that good) and probably one of the best sources of information for Virginia politics, but isn’t there someone else that we can quote? I mean, there are OTHER great professors in this state. And it’s not like what he is saying is earth-shattering anyway. Most of them are one-liners, like in this one where he says how much money candidates will spend. I even go to this school and would like to see a diversity here. How many times do you see CNN, or NY Times, or Wash Times, or god-forbid FOX, all use one same guy for political coverage. Virginia media needs to move into the 21st century.

New Taxes for Virginia
The Richmond-Times Dispatch had another completely biased article on how taxes will probably be increased this year no matter what in the GA. They wrote: "the result will be the same: less money in taxpayers' pockets and more in the treasury.” Oh really? I didn’t know that, thanks for making that much clearer to your stupid readers. Sheesh.

They did point our correctly, though, how Governor Warner is calling the increaes taxes, while his Republican friends in the Assembly (who are usually deceiving in one way or another) have changed the name to “user fees” so as to avoid that term that is the kiss of death for any Republican. This brings up the issue on why Warner is such a better governor than Gilmore was. When Gilmore got the word that revenue was slipping and his car-tax should not be implemented, he went ahead anyway and put the state in financial jeopardy. Warner, on the other hand, is going back on his campaign promise not to raise taxes and is now going to do exactly that. Paradox? No. To me, it’s fine to make a pledge and then change it when situations change. We elect politicians to make decisions for us, and since times change, decisions also change. Warner is a great, responsible governor because he realizes the economy we have now is different than the one he was elected to in 2001, and he’s an honest man that is looking out to save Virginia (rather than his own line – like Gilmore did).

One Republican said it best, “Governor [Jim] Gilmore and company tore a page out of the national Republican playbook; that we can lower your taxes and somehow be compassionate. The problem they have in that is that we have to have a balanced budget, and up there in Washington, they don't."

One of Henrico’s delegate, the loathsome Reid (R-Henrico) says that “the legislature doesn’t feel that urgency”, referring to why the Governor wanted to fix the situation now rather than later. To me, Reid doesn’t really have an urgency for anything because cuts now are affecting education, teacher’s salary’s, the state’s health system, road maintenance, and our environment and state parks system. But, who cares about those things when you have money coming from big corporate spenders? Someone needs to run and get Reid and all those other Republicans out of office.

Pats to the Superbowl
I was really hoping for the Colts to come through, but I guess it just wasn’t there destiny. Manning was so good the past few games too, but I guess the snow ultimately got him. Better luck next year boys.

General Assembly
There are plenty of interesting things going on in the GA. I think one good site is kept up by the Virginia Pilot, who usually updates their site about important bills etc. You can also use the legislative tracking service to find information about bills (on that site too). For example:

• HB 142 wants to let ABC stores have retail franchises to sell "sprits, vermouth, and mixers." It basically wants to spin off the ABC so it's a franchise operator rather than a government run entity. (ABC is the arm of the government that sells the above (liquor) in Virginia, which you cannot buy in regular grocery stores).


• HB 1017 (which is long overdue) is to allow voters to submit their absentee ballots online through their local registrar. Thank God Virginia is finally coming into the 21st century - it took them long enough. Now, we don' t have to print the application, mail it the registrar, have them mail it back with errors … blah blah blah


• HB 37 -is important because it wants to allow successive terms for governor. Virginia is currently the only state that does not allow their governor to do this, which I think inhibits his power. He's a lame duck almost in the last 40% of his term in office. If we had a re-electable governor, he would be more responsive to the people and would actually WANT to get re-elected. We wouldn't have any Gilmore like tax cuts because they would know their facing the people in the next election. *But then again, if his cuts are deceptive like Bush's, or the opposition party is weak to point that out, then it might be bad thing*

Universal Health Care Coverage Is Needed
To all those critics (mostly conservatives and libertarians) that do not believe we need to provide some health insurance to all Americans, the Institute of Medicine has published a new report highlighting many advantages of having such a program and the difficulties this country will have if such a program is not implemented soon. Some of those included:

• 18,000 unnecessary deaths could be prevented each year


• Over 43 million people do NOT have insurance, an absurd number for such an industrialized nation

I just got to reading some of this, so I'll try and put some more stuff as I finish it.

Moseley Braun Drops
Looks like the Democratic list for President just got one person shorter with the former senator saying she will drop out and endorse Dean. Someone said in respect to her, "She ran a good race and now she felt like it was time to hand it over to someone who can win. Those are the feelings that were expressed to me this evening." Hmmm, I thought people only ran to win - or of course - that was what she said she could do the entire time. But, it's not time to harp on her. It's good this country had a woman run for President, and it's good that we also had an African-American run (actually we had 2, but he's still in and probably won't win either, sorry Al).

Governor Warner new NGA Chariman
Virginia's own will now become the next chairman for the National Governors Association. This is great news for us, because it will showcase how Democrats in the South can still get elected, and showcase Warner's ability to decrease deficits while still maintaining necessary public services. WTVR says "the one-year position will provide Warner a national platform, talk-show bookings and other attention when he's in the latter stages of his four-year gubernatorial term." Congrats to him.

Gilmore Was Wrong!
Why is Virginia in such an economic slump? Two reasons: the economic downturn and former Governor Gilmore's overrated and irresponsible car-tax cut. It's a similar line that all Republicans make, let's cut spending now and pass the problems onto future generations. This article in the Virginian-Pilot said it best:

Gilmore estimated it would cost the state $620 million a year to end the tax…It was easily affordable, he told voters…[Today] Virginia is emerging from two years of economic stagnation carrying a commitment that is almost two and a half times more costly than Gilmore projected. (My bold). […] the repeal, even though…only 70 percent complete…is the third largest expense in the state budget, behind public education and Medicaid.

Even Republicans say it was awful, like Sen. Potts (R-Winchester) who said, “It was an onerous, terrible tax, and I’m glad we repealed it." Organizations warned Gilmore of the possible problems with such a large tax cut, but like his former buddy President Bush, they did not listen and just like the President's tax cuts that have created half-a-trillion dollar deficits, Gilmore's cuts have done the same thing but just on 1/50 the scale. Gilmore says that, “The car tax repeal was the right thing to do. People thank me for it every day. It was important to the working men and women of this state.”

OH IS THAT SO? I bet they also thank you when their local property taxes have increased, their college tuition has gone up, when the loan programs for these working class people have all but disappeared, when the social services they rely on (road services, emergency, snow removal, etc.) are all but depleted, and also when the state is all but in shambles (but, oh, they got that $500 dollars). Gilmore claims he, "forced the state to become more disciplined and set sharper spending priorities." NO, the only thing he did was leave a large check that future generations would have to pay and made an irresponsible decision that has jeopardized the future of Virginia. It's one thing to do something and claim your wrong, it's another thing to claim that wrong thing was actually the right thing.

General Assembly
For those of you in Virginia that watch politics (which should be everyone), the General Assembly (the state's legislature) begins its session tomorrow until March 23, 2004. This session certainly will be one filled with important decisions to make, including revising our tax codes, approving abortion limits, managing our budget deficit, revising our constitution to allow for a duel-term governor, and other important proposals. While it might seem insignificant, if you have an opinion on some issue (which you should because these issues will affect every person: from those in college, to the elderly, to the middle class, to the rich, to the immigrants, to the illegal immigrants): write to your state legislature! Their email address will be easy to find on the above web-site. Sure, you are only one person - but if you do it - and everyone else does it too, we can create change here in Virginia. One person is the start to creating change and God knows this state needs new direction from the conservative Republicans who have aimed this state in the wrong direction. Rise Up.

Virginia Major League Baseball?
It is interesting to note that Virginia might finally get on the map with a major league baseball team (as a side note, Virginia currently has NO major league team - which is ridiculous). This after top decision makers from the Montreal Expos visited Hampton Roads and the Virginia Beach area to discuss the possible relocation of that team. There are other possible relocation sites, including: "Northern Virginia, DC, Las Vegas…and Mexico." MEXICO! We need to keep this American tradition where it belongs - in Virginia. The Hampton Roads area has about 1.5 million, yet they still have no team (while I'm an advocate of moving the team to Richmond, with 1 million, anything that helps Virginia I'm for). Let's get this economy rolling with new construction and new baseball.

US and India Ties
Bush made new overtones to India to "increase cooperation on civilian nuclear and space" projects. As an Indian-American I am happy because India's technology sector and strong democracy have been ignored for too long. Unlike their rival, Pakistan, they don't sell nuclear secrets nor do they support Islamic terrorists. While it's unfortunate that many of America's high-tech jobs are moving to India, the US certainly will find a new competitive advantage and hopefully the new wealth and jobs in India will decrease poverty and increase their low standard of living for the masses. Bush did a good thing.

Hip Hop's New Image
The NY Times had a great article on how rappers are now not only making music for their "homies" in the hood, but rather for the mass public - mainly to make more money. Ja Rule dropped the "Murder" from his label and made it "The Inc", Snoop and Ice-Cube both have cleaned up their image, and Puff Daddy and others give millions to charities, so says the article. This cleanup can also be seen as they continue to market themselves in many other ways too, such as with: drinks, deodorants, magazines, clothing, and whatever else can be marketed. But, we must all remember who actually began the 'marketing a person as a brand' - the Olsen Twins. You might not think about it initially, but they started the movies, the clothes, the makeup, the books, their worth almost a $1 Billion, and they started when they were 2 months.

Philly Eagles Spot Not Too Bad
All those Green Bay fans are finding reasons to justify their loss yesterday. But rather than pointing to Favre, or the horrible 4th and 1 on the goal-line which they couldn't get, or the other plays throughout the game - they have picked that 4th and 26 that the Eagles converted and which eventually led to a field goal. This writer says that the spot the referee made was "less than a yard, two feet, tops" off of what it should have been, if that. Indeed it also looked like that. And then again, how could the Packers let a receiver go that far across the middle and still catch it! They should be complaining about that.

A Republican I like
The Times-Dispatch reported today that Senator Chichester (R-Stafford) is going against cardinal principles in his party and is proposing to raise taxes to help offset Virginia's budget deficits. He wants to raise the sale tax, increases taxes on the rich, increase taxes on utilities, and increase taxes on gas to help finance transportation. This program is "designed to produce more cash than the $1.1 billion generated by [Governor] Warner's" tax plan that he will introduce soon to the General Assembly. I think this a great thing because this Republican believes more in preserving social services, education, and fiscal discipline than simply giving taxes to the rich. I hope his, or Warner's plan, passes.

Hedgepth Must Resign
For those of you in Richmond, there is a city councilwoman, Gwen Hedgepeth who is still not resigning. This after she was charged with federal bribery and mail fraud. I, like others on the council and probably everyone in Richmond, also want her to resign. Email her at: (( hedgepgc@ci.richmond.va.us )) and tell her to get out of our city council. Even if she is innocent of these charges, it is a huge splotch on our city to have someone who is charged with this to remain. If a jury finds her innocent, then she can run again and maintain her dignity - but now she must leave. As Grimm, whose also a councilman, says, "She has lost all credibility." If she won't leave, let's impeach her. She is innocent until proven guilty under our system, but our prosecutor also would not bring charges against her had there not been substantial evidence against her. Read the article and you'll see how problematic her actions were and how this is not even the first time something like this has happened to her.

Clark's New Poll Numbers
The new poll numbers see Clark coming ahead in New Hampshire and being tied with Kerry. One CNN reporter (I forgot their name) said that much of why Dean is ahead is because of his media exposure - meaning the media's 'horse-race coverage' essentially made him the front runner. Now with the thought of another guy, Clark's poll numbers might not mean anything tangible with actual voters, but rather be the result of the media vaulting him up or trying to make him the second guy behind Dean, or the 'anti-Dean'. I guess we'll see what happens when the votes take place in NH.

Carnegie Report
This new report put out paints an ever better picture how the Bush administration lied to the American people about the case for war with Iraq. Now, I want WMD to be found in Iraq because if we don't find them our credibility is totally shot and, even though I hate Bush, his credibility for any future undertakings in the world is also shot. More importantly, though, this shows how our intelligence is still FAULTED! The 9-11 commission report coming out in pieces pretty much said that if the FBI, CIA, and other agencies in the US worked together and listened to people they could have stopped at least 3 of the planes used in the September 11th attacks. Two years later, our intelligence is still messing up - but this Iraq war is so much worse because the administration picked intelligence which suited their policy decision rather than using the actual intelligence that was in front of them. I sure hope whoever the Democratic candidate is pounds on this.

Polls show that Americans don't care that we haven't found WMD in Iraq. I can't even believe that! If it is so, it is because Americans have been watching too much Fox News. No one is arguing that Hussein was a good guy, but when you make a case for war (argument A) and then later claim something else (argument B) - it just doesn't jive. It's like saying we initially fought the Nazi's because we wanted to "protect the environment" or something absurd like that and then later saying "oh yeah, and those millions of Jews that died too - that's another good reason" we can tack on even though that wasn't in our initial analysis. Ok, maybe that's a bad example but you get my point. Let's get Bush out of office

President Bush and Education
It was great how in this NY Times article, Bush kept on saying that his ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ actually did something good for schools. It was also great that he went to a mostly poor, black school where he cut MOST of the funding and certainly a school and an environment that he knows nothing about. He tried to explain that this school turned around because of the law he passed, the law he shortchanged with funding, the law that literally imposes massive burdens on administrators in the schools, that CUTS funding for schools when the fail and essentially lets kids fend for themselves [my sister is a teacher in Virginia and knows this firsthand. She has had lectures by the principals on cuts necessary in the school of essential services to meet the standards of the new law], and I found it even funnier that he thought the law worked in one year. NOW, school districts are instead raising taxes, cutting training (no money and to preserve the limited resources), and cuts in higher education loans are preventing the American Dream. I guess that’s great for a President that wants to prevent a more educated public and rather create a public that is WASP or rich alone. If you somehow are disadvantaged - oops sorry - not our fault. A great deal our unworthy President did.

Republican Spending
There was an awesome Op-Ed in the NY times about how the Bush Administration could have done a lot better job in the economy had they cut their spending rather than giving rich Americans tax cuts. It seems elementary, but Bush didn’t go that far so I’ll explain. You cannot continue to expand your budget, when you are giving more money away. Regardless of their argument that people deserve their money back, or that government needs to be smaller, it still doesn’t work. Something has gotta give. Bush would say that increasing the economy will allow for more money in the coffers with corporate taxes and income taxes. But, we all know corporations are hiding their money in the Caymans, moving jobs abroad, and giving money to CEO’s instead (many of Bush’s friends) - so that won’t make up for the increase in spending. In addition, the income spending won’t make up for it since the tax rates have been lowered permanently and if people are putting money in 401K’s, and stocks (and since dividend taxes are lowered) any extra money is put in retirement after a bad four years in the economy . It comes down to BUSH being irresponsible, fiscally weak, and it is only hurting this country with the rising debt, and budget deficits of over $ 400 B.

Iowa Debate
After watching the debate today, it seems more and more clear that, to me, the only two guys worth looking at are Dean and Clark. All the other guys are just whining and complaining and beating up on Dean and indirectly supporting Bush. Yes, I understand that we need to debate ideas, flesh them out, and it’s fine to argue with your opponent, I like it. But at one point, it looked like Kerry and Lieberman were actually Bush pundits!

I do like Dean though in Iowa the best. I think people like him because he’s direct, he doesn’t mess around, and like he said: even if he says something that is not directly worded correctly, people know what he means. He’s right about that. His opponents are picking apart his words (which maybe is a good thing, but god knows how many times Bush has fouled up, even Clinton ‘What is the definition of is’, or George H.W. Bush, “I won’t raise taxes…over my dead body.” My point is that a President has lots of smart people to word a treaty or agreement right. And, it’s not like Dean went overboard - he may have used a different word.

• Saddam Hussein: Dean was right when he said that the US is not safer. We’re not. Iraq sure is - that’s great. And Hussein was a monstrous asshole - I’m glad he’s gone. But look at our terror alerts, look at those dying in Afghanistan, dying in Iraq, the planes getting cancelled, our ports unmanned, our nuclear plants on high alert - all of that! Hussein was not a direct, immediate threat to the US - that should be obvious. Yet other Democrats keep on supporting themselves and Bush by claiming otherwise.


• Osama Bin Laden: Yes, Dean agrees that he is guilty, but as the President, he says, he must support the rule of law and allow a jury to decide. Maybe that’s a technical answer to a fumbled response - but it was a good one and I bought it. And shouldn‘t our President support the law anyway and not succumb to emotional feeling.

Now, saying all that - I still support Clark. But I also like Dean out of all the guys in Iowa because he’s not being a puny puppy dog in this race, he’s coming out swinging, has rejuvenated our base, and sticks to his guns. I like that. If we can do a combination of both of my two guys that would be the best (however unlikely)

Ann Coulter is Dumb
It was great, on FOX last night, she kept on denying that Bush’s claim of Hussein's attempt to get uranium from Niger in his State of the Union was wrong (even though the White House has acknowledged the claim was wrong). She then kept saying that Ambassador Wilson was a “clown” and never actually found anything, even though every OTHER reputable media outlet and government group (even our own CIA) has confirmed his report (the Britisht too). Then she says that an individual prosecutor should NOT be used to find out who in the White House leaked the name of Wilsons' wife, who is a secret CIA operative (even though the act of leaking is agains the law - but that doesn't bother Coulter). Seems weird that she hates the law now when SHE went completely overboard about every single investigation about Clinton, including that strange rumor that Clinton was a murderer. It comes to down to Coulter being irresponsible, a liar, stupid, a bad lawyer, and a perfect example of the right wing’s agenda to lie to change topics and to lower our intellectual discourse by opening their mouths at all.

Mars Lander
Congrats to those NASA geeks who got it right when their craft landed safely and made contact with them tonight. Maybe we can find out that water did exist on Mars and prove that's how life formed rather than those right-wing conservative morons who still believe the Earth formed in 7 days and that evolution is ‘crack pot science’ (oh wait, that’s Bob Jones University - which has a great accredited science program and in premed)*

*Kidding.

Geraldo Rivera At it Again
As usual, FOX NEWS goes overboard, especially with Geraldo Rivera’s show. He says that bin Laden may have been sighted, and says “that SOB” may even be surrounded. Rivera also said he tried to contact all the people he knew to try and ascertain what was going on. Rivera with contacts! Please! That’s the same guy that revealed our troops positions in Iraq, and if it was any other honest “liberal” journalist (like FOX would say), you knew Sean Hannity and Bill O’ “Liely” (stolen from Al Franken) would be all over it, but because it was one of them - they both said nothing. In any case, Rivera is a bad journalist, gets things wrong, and is just downright horrible. FOX was just bleeding on this story all night.

Dallas Loses
Unfortunately, all the Dallas Cowboys fans today saw their team lose to the Carolina Panthers in the wild card game tonight. What a loss too! The Cowboys looked nothing like they did in they numerous previous wins, and the #1 ranked NFL defense seemed to be lacking what it had before. But, not all is lost. Bill Parcels has done AMAZING things to turn this team around, and I can’t wait until next year when he is able to recruit even better players. The old dynasty is back.

UVA’s Bowl Win
I know this is kind of late, but on Dec. 27, my Cavaliers dominated in the Continental Tire Bowl and beat Pitt 23-16. UVA is currently the only winner of that bowl (Yes, it has only existed for two years, but it’s nice to say). Last year, UVA beat West Virginia as well. Now we’ll have more money to …

Richmond’s Murder Rate High But…

Sadly, Richmond’s murder rate of 2003 stands at 63 - which puts Richmond “as the 14th most dangerous city in America.” The index of murder rates in the US is based on six FBI areas: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and car thefts. This is how the murders seem to have broken down: (sorry for the lack of technicality, I couldn't get my table tags to work right).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cause // Approx % of Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dis-agreements: Richmond Police Chief Andre Parker says that, here, ‘people could not get along.’ I guess this means people who were at bars, got drunk, and decided to be tough guys; or Bob was mad that Jane ran off on him to his best friend, etc. etc.
( 30%)
-------------
Drug Deals: Gone bad ( 31%)
-------------
Robberies : Gone bad (18% )
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Misc: Domestic arguments (separate for some reason) and other areas ( 18%)
--------------
Just another stat, only 13 murders were against whites or other races. Thus, 50 murders were against African Americans (or a whopping 83%)! One activist said: "African-Americans are killing one another, and that is just sad."

Much larger cities have higher rates obviously. LA: 654; NYC: 587; New Orleans: 258. But the problem is that per 100,000 (in which the rate is measured), Richmond’s number is higher than cities like Atlanta, Cincinnati, Houston, LA, and NYC. In comparison to other VA cities Richmond has more killings than these “cities combined - Alexandria, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, and VA Beach.”.

Actions Taken by City

• Parker wanted to install hidden cameras in the city, but it did not pass.
  
• The city was going to add “armed reserve police officers to the ranks” but that was criticized and shot down.
  
• Richmond did get help from Virginia State Police (who patrolled) and now police officers of Virginia Commonwealth University (a downtown university) might also begin to patrol parts of the city too.
  

I’ll try and add a new post about what more needs to be done. I love this city, but we have to cut down on this crime because while the economy as a whole (the city and surrounding counties) are adding jobs, bad news travels fast and Richmond had the notorious honor in the past of having such a high homicide rate. That alone seems to be the biggest issue facing the city.

Chick-Fil-A Changes Ad
It seems that Chick-fil-A’s funny commercial which tells people to ‘eat more chicken instead of beef’ will be put on hold in some states so that it doesn’t seem that they are taking “advantage of any food health crisis.” But, the stores will still use the “ ‘cow superhoers’ calender.” Beefy.

New Posts
To my huge fan base (about 2-3 people) that do read this blog, I won't be updating much until I get back to school in Jan 04'. Right now, I don't have a computer at home to do much of anything. But - have a great New Year, Go Clark 04', Bush sucks, and that's probably it for now.