Charlottesville Starts the Holiday Season

Although cold weather and "snow flurries" made it seem normal, Charlottesville illuminated its downtown Christmas tree last night, and Santa Claus arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, both about a week earlier than in previous years. (The tree-lighting ceremony usually happens after Thanksgiving.)

General Registrar Sheri Iachetta led the crowd at Central Place -- which included many local children, as well as their parents -- in the singing of Christmas songs (Meredith Willson's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," and Johnny Marks' "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," among others) while NBC29's Annie Scholz and Channel 19's Bo Sykes shared the emcee's microphone.

Charlottesville City Councilor Julian Taliaferro and Albemarle County Supervisor Sally Thomas presented awards to three local students. The Charlottesville Downtown Business Association announced the award winners in advance of the event:

In addition to Santa’s welcome, three local students, one from the City, one from the County, and one from the local private schools will be honored with this season’s Holiday Spirit Award.

This year's Holiday Spirit Awards go to:

Mylaya Simpson - Mylaya Simpson is a sixth grader at Walker Upper Elementary School. She is active in service and leadership activities. Mylaya's attitude is always positive and she has a unique way of having others look to her as an example. She brings those around her up, as well. Mylaya is serious about her academics, goal-oriented and determined to have a bright future for herself and those around her.

Eric Hahn - Eric Hahn is an outgoing 8th grade student at Henley Middle School [who] is highly involved in his school and in the community. He is president of the Student Council Association and his leadership and enthusiasm is contagious! Whether he is volunteering on a Saturday morning for a civic organization or a school fundraiser, he does it with purpose and commitment.

Cephra Stuart - Cephra Stuart is an 11th grade student from Shipman, Virginia. Her boundless good nature and deep sense of compassion embody the spirit of joy and generosity that define the holiday season. Cephra is an outstanding student and a model citizen at St. Anne's Belfield School.

NBC29 has a story about one of the award winners here. WCAV-TV has a story about the Ferguson family, who donated the Christmas tree, here.

I caught a few highlights from the event on video:

For those who want the essence of the "Grand Illumination" of the tree with 20,000 lights, here is the countdown to the tree lighting (just 25 seconds):

45 Years Ago Today

On November 22, 1963, I was only four years old and living with my family in Appleton, Wisconsin (the hometown of Joseph McCarthy). We only lived in Appleton for about 14 months, and -- being so young -- my memories are generally dim.

I do have some vivid recollections of the days following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, however. Not, as those older than me would have, of remembering where I was when I first heard the news. I am sure I saw Walter Cronkite's news bulletin just after noon, however, because he broke into a broadcast of As the World Turns on CBS-TV, and that was a show my mother always watched. So unless I was taking a nap at the time, I was in the room where the television was playing.

Here is a compilation of news bulletins from CBS, the ones that I must have seen or heard live.

My most vivid memory of that weekend is of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. That happened on Sunday. We had just had breakfast and may have been preparing to go to church. Suddenly my mother, who was watching TV, screamed. She (along with millions of others) witnessed the shooting and reacted in a way that roused me from my toys.

For all these two-score-and-five years, I have kept two newspapers with headlines from the days following the assassination. This is the front page of the Sunday (November 24, 1963) edition of the Appleton Post-Crescent, with a full-color photo of JFK lying in state in the East Room of the White House:
And here is the front page of The Milwaukee Journal (then an evening newspaper) from Monday, November 25, with that famous photo of Oswald being shot by Ruby:

I suspect many bloggers will be sharing their memories of November 22, 1963, today. (Here's one from a Milwaukee native just a couple of years older than me.) If other bloggers want to share links to their own memories, feel free to post them in the comments section.



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The Stimulus Package Shell Game

Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation had a terrific article in Friday's Wall Street Journal that explains why "stimulus programs" generated by Congress are ultimately futile exercises.

Such programs do not create wealth; they just move it around. As Riedl puts it:

Government stimulus bills are based on the idea that feeding new money into the economy will increase demand, and thus production. But where does government get this money? Congress doesn't have its own stash. Every dollar it injects into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. No new spending power is created. It's merely redistributed from one group of people to another.

Of course, advocates of stimulus respond that redistributing money from "savers" to "spenders" will lead to additional spending. That assumes that savers store spare cash in their mattresses, thereby removing it from the economy. In reality, nearly all Americans either invest their savings (where it finances business investment) or deposit it in banks (which quickly lend it to others to spend). The money gets spent whether it is initially consumed or saved.

Governments don't create new purchasing power out of thin air. If Congress funds new spending with taxes, it is redistributing existing income. If the money is borrowed from American investors, those investors will have that much less to invest or to spend in the private economy. If the money is borrowed from foreigners, the balance of payments must still balance. That means reducing net exports through exchange-rate adjustments, thereby leaving net spending on the economy unchanged.

Yet Congress will soon borrow $300 billion from one group of people and then give it to another group of people and tell us we're all wealthier for it.

I'm sure if the lame-duck Congress passes a "stimulus" law, many Americans will be grateful for the "windfall" of a three-figure check just in time to pay for their post-Christmas credit-card bills.

But they won't be any richer for it, now or ever.

Guillermo Arriaga at the Virginia Film Festival

Mexican novelist, screenwriter, and film director Guillermo Arriaga was a special guest at the 2008 Virginia Film Festival.

Babel, for which Arriaga wrote the screenplay, was shown on the afternoon of October 31. I had not seen it previously, and almost walked out. It is truly an awful film, although it has a few intriguing sequences. Any one of the overlapping plots might have made an interesting movie by itself -- except for the story of the deaf, nymphomaniac, Japanese high-school coed --but this is one example of the whole being less than the sum of its parts.

There were two Arriaga films I was unable to see: He presented his 2000 film, Amores Perros, on Saturday afternoon, and his newest film, The Burning Plain, which stars Charlize Theron, on Saturday evening.

On Sunday afternoon, however, I caught Arriaga's 2005 collaboration with Tommy Lee Jones (who directed and starred), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which was well worth seeing. From production design to character development, every element of this film is on target. The collaboration with Jones brought out the best of Arriaga (who also appears as a cowboy in one scene in the film), who -- as his post-screening conversation with the University of Virginia's Hector Amaya demonstrated -- is a thoughtful, personable, and good-humored interlocutor.

Guillermo Arriaga introduced The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, explaining how he became involved in the project, and then took the stage after the film concluded to discuss how the film was made and to answer questions from the audience. (He revealed, for instance, that Melquiades Estrada is a real person, and now, because of the movie, he is the most famous illegal alien in an unnamed small town in Wisconsin.)

Here is Arriaga's introduction:

And here is the post-screening discussion moderated by Hector Amaya:

(Note that the first, shorter video is also posted to YouTube while the second, longer video is also posted to Google Video.)

Is This Ironic? Or Isn't It?

Isn't sports supposed to make you more healthy?

Well, yes. Playing sports is a healthy activity. Watching sports? Not so much.

So reported the Los Angeles Times yesterday:

Listen up sports fans: Being passionate about sports -- watching it, that is -- can be detrimental to your health. That's the word from a sports medicine research team who conducted a study linking sports fanaticism with poorer health habits.

University of Arkansas, Little Rock, researchers surveyed 515 people and divided the participants into two groups: those who strongly identified with sports and those who did not. They found the avid sports fans tend to eat more fast food, skip breakfast more and ate more fatty foods and fewer vegetables than people who are disinterested in sports.

The sports fans had a higher body mass index than others. And, noted lead author Daniel Sweeney, "The study results also revealed that the more psychologically connected fans are to a team, the more likely they are to consume more alcoholic beverages on the days that they choose to drink than do less excited sports fans."

I'd guess that even darts played at a tavern is more beneficial, health-wise, than watching the NBA playoffs at home.

Gay Conservatives Emerge in Canada

Word comes from the frozen north that gay conservatives are making their presence known in Canada, following the example of Log Cabin Republicans in the United States and TORCHE (gay and lesbian Tories) in the United Kingdom. (It goes without saying that there are also gay libertarian groups, such as Outright Libertarians and Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty.)

As reported on Western Standard:

Just in time for the Conservative party convention in Winnipeg, a new non-partisan organization called Gay Dominion has been launched to represent gay and lesbian conservatives.

Yes, they do exist. In fact, Western Standard readers have already come to know blogger Chris Reid, the Conservative candidate in Toronto who was forced to resign for being too conservative. Reid is also gay.

Gay Dominion states its mission(s) on its own web site:

We have two main missions. First, we want to end the isolation that many gay conservatives feel within their own community. Most of the gay media (newspapers, bloggers, websites, magazines, etc) are avowedly left-wing and do not allow for a diversity of political views. Gay Dominion would like to provide an alternative point of view on many issues that affect the gay community.

Secondly, we want the conservative community to understand that there are many gays amongst them, and that they need to welcome gays into their midst. We also want to work within the Conservative Party of Canada to ensure that gays are not left behind.

This non-partisan mission suggests that Gay Dominion hopes to play a role more similar to the Independent Gay Forum than any of the political activist groups I mentioned in the first paragraph, but it may have affinities in both directions.

There is something charmingly retro about the name "Gay Dominion," since Canada has not generally called itself a dominion since the 1950s, and in fact changed the name of its national holiday in 1982 from "Dominion Day" to "Canada Day."

More Video from the 2008 Virginia Film Festival

The past couple of weeks have been unusually busy for me, so it has taken some time to edit the video recordings I made of several of the introductions and post-screening discussions that took place at the Virginia Film Festival during the last two days of October and the first two days of November.

I previously posted video clips of the arrival of celebrities at the opening of the festival (and thanks to the Movie Monday Blog Carnival for linking to that post at Observations from Missy's Window) and the panel discussion on Lake City (which opens this weekend) with co-stars Sissy Spacek and Troy Garity and co-directors Perry Moore and Hunter Hill.

After the big opening of Lake City on Thursday evening, filmgoers dispersed -- some to the gala party, some to additional screenings.

My choice was to attend a screening of George Pal's 1952 film version of The War of the Worlds. (Earlier in the evening, a small audience at the University of Virginia Observatory were able to listen to the radio play of the same name, the one directed by Orson Welles that terrorized the nation precisely on October 30, 1938.)

The film was introduced by Justin Humphreys, who is writing a biography of producer George Pal.

On Friday morning, I saw John Sturges' 1955 film, Bad Day at Black Rock, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, and a cast of some of Hollywood's best character actors (Oscar-winners Ernest Borgnine and Walter Brennan, to name two). The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring the director's son, Michael Sturges, and led by Sean McCord. There were about 200 high school students in the audience, who were seeing the film as part of their studies. (My video from that event is still being processed, and I will add it here later.) Following Bad Day at Black Rock, I was able to see -- for the first time on a big screen -- the Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins 1961 film version of Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim's West Side Story. In the discussion that followed, it was noted that librettist Arthur Laurents is directing a new stage production of West Side Story, which will, in fact, have a pre-Broadway tryout at Washington's National Theatre in December, just as the original production did back in 1957. (Not a bad project for a nonagenarian.) Having seen West Side Story on stage many times, including one particularly memorable West End revival, and on television once or twice, the wide-screen (Super Panavision 70), full Technicolor version was quite an experience. Some things don't hold up well -- the fake slang terms, for instance, are even less believable on screen than they are on stage -- but the overall production still looks like something that deserved the many awards it received. The discussion was led by Rich Collins of the University of Virginia and Ted McKosky of Radford University.

Part I: Part II:

That night there was an unusual panel discussion featuring director Rodrigo Garcia via Skype (he was in Los Angeles) and producer Julie Lynn, with co-star David Morse, discussing the new film, Passengers. (I am still processing this video, as well. Look for it later.) The last screening I attended on October 31 was Galaxy Quest, the 1999 parody of sci-fi television starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, and Justin Long (among others: look for a pre-Office Rainn Wilson in a small supporting role as a space alien). Galaxy Quest was introduced by producer Mark Johnson, who went on to produce The Chronicles of Narnia series and who is a member of the Virginia Film Festival's board of advisors.

I will be adding more videos as they become available. For those particularly interested in the whole list, check out my YouTube channel, where my videos appear before they are posted here. (Film images courtesy of the Virginia Film Institute.)

Looking for Volunteer Opportunities Abroad?

With the return of Camelot to the White House, we will no doubt see renewed emphasis on voluntary service opportunities for young people in the Peace Corps and other organizations. (This is not limited to youth, of course -- remember how Lillian Carter joined the Peace Corps in post-retirement age.)

CBS News is reporting an opening for Americans looking to volunteer overseas, in this case the United Kingdom:

Britain is facing a sperm donor shortage after reversing confidentiality laws and limiting the number of women who can use sperm from one donor, fertility experts warned Wednesday.

Britain in 2005 changed the law protecting anonymous sperm donors and allowed children to learn the identity of donor fathers - one reason, fertility experts say, there are fewer donors now.

"The only countries that seem to have enough sperm are those that pay - like the U.S. and Spain - or the countries that retain anonymity," said Allan Pacey, a member of the British Fertility Society that warned of the shortage in the British Medical Journal.

"In the countries that have removed anonymity ... there seems to be a problem," he said.

In 1991, Britain logged 503 sperm donors, according to figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. In 2000, there were 325, and in 2006 - the year after the law was changed - the number dropped to 307.

Experts say 500 donors a year are needed to cope with the number of couples needing donor insemination in Britain.

Check with a nearby British consulate to explore how best you can help fix this dire situation.

The Ever-Expanding Reach of the Nanny State

The folks at ReasonTV have hit another home run with this video about smoking bans -- including an ordinance in Belmont, California, that prohibits people from smoking in their own homes.

The arrogance of nanny-statists knows no bounds. Will somebody please tell the 130-plus-million people who voted last Tuesday that local elections, not presidential elections, are far more important in terms of affecting our daily lives?

2012 GOP Presidential Poll

As the nation enters the Obama-Pelosi-Reid years, a small group of political activists has its eyes on the next presidential election cycle. Since the campaign for 2012 begins today, I am interested in your views on will win the Republican presidential nomination four years from now.

This little poll is obviously not scientific (those types of polls won't be published for at least several days), but it will give a snapshot of the views of readers of this blog (and others who may find it on other web sites) about what to expect in 2012.

Comments welcome, of course.






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Election Day 2008 Photoblog and Write-In Report

Perhaps the most surprising result from Charlottesville's precinct reports this year is that there were no write-in votes for Waldo Jaquith. Is the ur-blogger losing his touch with the hometown electorate?

This lacuna may be no accident. The overall write-in totals were small, indicating that voters took this election very seriously with regard to all three races on the ballot. There were 71 write-ins for President, including 26 for Ron Paul, 12 for Hillary Clinton, and one for certified write-in candidate Brian Moore. Others receiving write-in votes for President included Joe Schriner (3 votes), Michael Bloomberg, Henry Clay, Frank D. Roosevelt, Marcy Kaptur, Colin Powell, Mitt Romney, Bill Richardson, Leslie Dishannon, Kerry Dooley, John L'Etoile, R. D. Patrick Mahoney, Scott Elmer Moeller, John Paul, Joe Schneider, Optimus Prime, and McCain But Never Palin.

The candidates who had ballot status received these votes in Charlottesville (all unofficial totals): Barack Obama (15,537); John McCain (4,057); Chuck Baldwin (26); Bob Barr (86); Cynthia McKinney (17); and Ralph Nader (61).

In the U.S. Senate race, which was won by former Governor Mark Warner, someone cast a write-in vote for "MARKWARNER" (one word, all caps). Warner edged out his chief rival, former Governor Jim Gilmore, by 16,313 to 2,907. Glenda Gail Parker received 105 votes, and Libertarian Bill Redpath got 143.

Other write-ins in the Senate race in Charlottesville were John Galt (who is John Galt?), Congressman Ron Paul, Delegate Bob Marshall, Krishna Kishore, Barack Obama, Larry Joseph Sabato, David Bartok, Ryan Coughlin, Sahara Ghafari, Duncan Baker II, Al Lopez Jr., Diane Garrett Moeller, Matt Toner, Sean Shanks (3 votes), Prolife, Mary Smith, Greg Moritz, Michael Francis Moore, Geri Wilkins, and the initials "JP" and "W." There were 31 write-in votes in this race.

The race for Fifth District member of the U.S. House of Representatives currently stands at a dead heat, but Tom Periello beat incumbent Virgil Goode handily in Charlottesville: 15,754 votes for the Democrat to 3,715 votes for the Republican. (Again, all these totals remain unofficial until after the Electoral Board completes its canvass and the State Board of Elections certifies the vote.)

There were 39 write-in votes for this race in Charlottesville, with John Galt making a return appearance, as well as musicians Jerry Garcia, Andre Young AKA Dr. Dre, and Soulja Boy. Two-time congressional candidate Al Weed received two votes. Others receiving write-in votes were UVA President John Casteen, former UVA basketball coach Pete Gillen, and 2007 Libertarian state senate candidate Arin Sime.

Odd votes in this race included Amethyst Initiative, which refers either to a drag queen performing at Club 216 or the group of college presidents seeking a national debate about the drinking age, and the author of Das Kapital, Karl Marx, as well as perennial write-in candidate Mickey Mouse.

Additional names on the write-in list were Rear Admiral James J. Casey USN (ret), Antoinette Garza, John Devor, Brian Bristow, Tim Lewis, John Norton Moore, Oliver Kuttner, Brice McKeever, Geoffrey MacDonald, Erich Forrest Moeller, Elizabeth Boyd, Fred Schneider, and Eddie Smith.

Someone named William Wilder was written in for all three offices (president, senator, and congressman). Another voter took the time to write in "none of the above" in all three races. (The handwriting matched each time.) Several blank write-in votes were recorded, as well as variations like "none" and "none of them."

Although not all the figures have been analyzed, it appears that Charlottesville voters chose at a ratio of better than 3 to 1 to use the eSlate electronic voting device instead of the paper ballot fed through the eScan digital scanner. Even when lines for the eSlate were much longer and voting a paper ballot would have speeded the process for them, voters chose to cast their ballot on the DRE. I plan to write about this live Election Day experiment, which has been fascinating from the moment we decided to purchase the Hart Intercivic eScan equipment to supplement our eSlates, which we have used in Charlottesville in every election since May 2002.

I took quite a few photographs around Charlottesville during the course of the day. There were musicians at several precincts, who entertained voters as they stood in line waiting to reach the voting booth. Here are some scenes from Election Day 2008:

Recreation Precinct eSlate voting machines await voters minutes before the polls opened at 6:00 a.m.

Indicators of the choice of voting methods available to Charlottesville electors

The first wave of voters arrives at Jefferson Park Precinct at 6:00 a.m.

Our hardworking election officials at Jefferson Park Precinct

Voters line up in Recreation Precinct

Reporter Jennifer Black prepares to go on the air for WCAV-TV

Local headquarters of future President Barack Obama

A sentiment expressed not just on the First Amendment Chalkboard, but by write-in voters, too

Jazz trumpeter John D'earth and his band entertained voters at Recreation Precinct

A voter arrives at Recreation Precinct

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris looks happy in anticipation of a big victory

The Charlottesville Tomorrow crew outside Walker Precinct

Feed the pig, feed the pig

Outside Venable Precinct, another band of merry musicians serenades waiting voters

NBC29 reporter Claire O'Brien interviews a political activist outside Venable Precinct

Hmm ... I guess not ...

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Virginia Film Festival 2008 - Day One

As noted here yesterday, the Virginia Film Festival opened its four-day run on Thursday evening with the regional premiere of Lake City, a new film starring Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek (who calls the Charlottesville area her home) and Troy Garity, the son of Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda (who accompanied Garity to the festival).

The three actors arrived just before the screening and fielded questions from print and broadcast journalists. Fonda -- whose appearance was only announced at the last minute -- was a bigger draw than her son, but she graciously pushed him to center stage, saying "you're the one in the movie." For his part, Garity attributed his enthusiasm for Lake City to the fact that Sissy Spacek would be in it.

Spacek arrived a few minutes later and answered questions about working with Garity and about the film industry in Virginia. She was full of praise for the quality of film technicians and support staff in the Commonwealth, but she also made a pitch for more tax incentives to bring film productions here. She noted that Virginia competes with other states that do provide such incentives, and that it would be a shame if, for instance, New Mexico played Virginia as a stand-in. (Later in the evening, Rita McClenny, head of the Virginia Film Office, told me that North Carolina was a rival for the chance to host the production of Lake City.)

Once inside the auditorium in Culbreth Hall -- which was filled to near-capacity by movie lovers, industry insiders, aspiring filmmakers, members of the press, and several people who were part of the cast and crew of Lake City -- the festival's artistic director, Richard Herskowitz, offered a few words of introduction, including some reminiscences of festivals past. (Herskowitz is leaving the University of Virginia for new positions in Texas and Oregon.) One of his piquant memories was of a question posed to Vanessa Redgrave about her knowledge of economics. (Full disclosure: I asked that question during the 2005 Virginia Film Festival.)

Herskowitz also introduced members of the production team of Lake City, including producers Mark Johnson and Weiman Seid and co-directors Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, as well as Spacek and Garity, who each said a few words of welcome. The two co-stars, the directors, and production designer David Crank discussed the film on a panel after the screening.

Here is video of the stars arriving in Charlottesville. (That's the UVA marching band you hear playing in the background.)

Here is video of Richard Herskowitz's opening remarks:

More photos and videos will be posted through the weekend.

Update: Here is the panel discussion that followed the screening of Lake City.

Part I:



Part II:



Part III:

Update: More video clips from Day One and Day Two can be seen here.

Redpath Launches Radio Ads

The Libertarian Party's candidate for the U.S. Senate in Virginia, William Redpath, has launched a series of radio ads around the state, urging voters to cast their ballots for him on November 4.

There are three ads in the series: one addresses badly needed reforms in the tax code, another calls for liberalizing foreign trade policy, and a third urges an overhaul of entitlements programs.

The Redpath for Senate radio ads can be heard on line here. (They are available in QuickTime format.)

These radio spots are currently scheduled to air in the Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Norfolk,Richmond, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach media markets, although there is a possibility that they might be expanded to other parts of the state.




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Virginia Film Festival Opens Tonight

Oscar-winning actresses Sissy Spacek and Jane Fonda will be among the guests tonight as the 21st annual Virginia Film Festival opens in Charlottesville. The festival continues through Sunday evening.

Special events include a rebroadcast of the Orson Welles radio production of The War of the Worlds, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. It was 70 years ago tonight that Welles' Mercury Theatre of the Air scared the wits out of America by presenting the story of a Martian invasion as a series of (what sounded like) on-the-spot radio news reports.

The Adrenaline Film Project returns this year, with several teams of filmmakers charged with writing, filming, and editing a short subject within 72 hours. There will also be panel discussions about making movies in Virginia and in Charlottesville, a "family film day" on Saturday, and a screening of a new short film about interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, The Response, with Dahlia Lithwick of Slate, actor Peter Riegert, and two of the attorneys who have represented prisoners held at Gitmo.

WINA-AM radio will be broadcasting The War of the Worlds, in its entirety, at 4:00 p.m., during Coy Barefoot's "Charlottesville--Right Now" program and again at 7:00 p.m., the same time that the film festival's re-creation will take place in the University of Virginia observatory. George Pal's 1953 film version of the H.G. Wells story will be screened in Culbreth Hall on the UVA grounds at 10:00 p.m.

Spacek and Fonda will attend a screening of a new movie, Lake City, which was filmed in Virginia. In addition to Spacek, Lake City features actors Dave Matthews (a former bartender at Miller's on Charlottesville's downtown mall) and Troy Garity (son of Jane, and grandson of Henry, Fonda), who will be escorting his mother. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring directors Perry Moore and Hunter Hill and producer Mark Johnson, a member of the Virginia Film Festival's advisory board.

The theme of this year's Virginia Film Festival is "Aliens," and the 80 films and 100 guest speakers will explore the idea of aliens as immigrants and emigrants, displaced individuals, and of aliens as visitors from (or to) outer space.

Watch this blog for day-by-day reports on the festival's activities. Part One is here.


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Local Election Officials Discuss Preparations for November 4

On Wednesday afternoon, I joined Lee Catlin, the spokesperson for the Albemarle County government, and Will Harvey, secretary of the county's Electoral Board, at a news conference where we discussed the preparations we are making to make Election Day an efficient and pleasant experience for area voters.

Two local television stations covered the event. WCAV-TV noted on its web site:

"We knew this very early in the year, when the February primary had so much interest, we realized that we would be dealing with record number of voters this year," said Rick Sincere of the Charlottesville Electoral Board.

That's including thousands of newly registered voters, nearly 6,000 in Albemarle County, and 9,000 in Charlottesville. Officials saying that it was apparent early on, that this could be a historical year.

"We had 61% turnout in 2004 and that was pretty much record turnout for a presidential election, we're expecting perhaps 85% turnout," said Sincere.

Another indicator, the large amount of absentee ballots being submitted this election.

"For mail in absentee ballots, we have sent out 3,723, 2,145 of them have come back already," said William Harvey of the Albemarle County Electoral Board.

And as officials continue their preparations for Tuesday, they have some suggestions for voters.

Best time to vote:
9am - 11:30am, 1:30pm - 3:30pm

No political paraphernalia

Know Polling Place

Bring Proper I.D.

Officials saying they will make sure that everyone that's eligible, will have their vote counted.

"We will be conducting a transparent, fair, and clean election. people can be assured that they're votes will be counted," said Sincere.

Here is the video of Mark Tenia's report on Channel 19:

Over on Channel 29, Jenn McDaniel reported:

Charlottesville and Albemarle are both seeing record registration numbers. They've increased the number of election officials to make sure they can deal with the crowds.

In Charlottesville, voters should know they may see different types of ballots but they will all be counted the same way. If, for some reason, you're told you can't vote, push a little bit and don't just accept that as an answer.

"The electoral board takes the attitude that we want every vote to count and if there's a way we can find that they are properly registered than that's what we'll do," said Albemarle County Electoral Board's Will Harvey.

If you show up wearing a button, shirt or hat saying vote for a certain candidate, you'll be asked to take it off. It's not allowed within 40 feet of a polling place. If you don't, you can still vote but a report will be filed with the commonwealth's attorney.

The best times to vote are between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Also, remember to take a driver's license, social security card, government ID or some other kind of acceptable identification.

Here is the video of McDaniel's story:

For some reason, the only tidbit the Daily Progress gleaned from our news conference was in regard to the State Board of Elections' clarification of the rules for the restricted 40-foot zone around polling places, the zone in which electioneering is not allowed:

Voters at polling places who refuse to remove buttons, T-shirts or other apparel with political messages will face possible misdemeanor charges, local election officials said Wednesday.

Election Day workers in Charlottesville and Albemarle County have been told to ask voters wearing political clothing or a button to either cover it up or remove it.

The move is part of a newly clarified state guideline that bans all such exhibitions of campaign material at Virginia’s polling places.

Two Charlottesville-based groups along with the Virginia ACLU said Wednesday that they will sue over the policy, asserting that it is a violation of free speech.

If the voter does not agree to cover or remove the political apparel, the poll workers must file an incident report with the commonwealth attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

Even if a voter refuses to remove his campaign button or T-shirt, he will still have the opportunity to vote.

“No one will be refused the right to vote for violating this policy,” said Rick Sincere, chairman of Charlottesville’s Electoral Board.

The law banning campaign material at polling places has been on the books for “generations,” Sincere said. In the past, he added, voters have generally been happy to comply.

Fellow blogger Tim Hulsey was on hand with my video camera to record the whole news conference; unfortunately, the tape ran out earlier than expected, so all that he captured was Will Harvey's opening remarks and a portion of my opening remarks. The Q&A is lost in the ether.

Here is Will Harvey of the Albemarle County Electoral Board, introduced by Lee Catlin:

And here I am, trying not to repeat the same sensible things that Will had to say:

There is also a nice photo of Will and me together on WINA-AM's web site.

Somebody Needs an Economics Lesson

The graduated income tax, which has been imposed on American citizens since the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified in 1913, has advantages and disadvantages. Economists and policymakers can argue about it in a rational and civil manner.

As for myself, I believe the tax code is too complex and it is used as much for social engineering as it is for revenue raising. The only legitimate use for a tax is to raise money to provide government services. It should not be used to nudge personal behavior in one direction or another, or to pick winners and losers among businesses, or to reward a favored group over against a disfavored group.

Let me add that those who favor the graduated income tax can make intelligent arguments on its behalf, even if I disagree with their conclusions.

But sometimes one of those supporters of the income tax says something so stupid that they deserve to be called out on it.

One example of this can be found in today's Arizona Daily Star, a newspaper published in Tucson.

In a guest article submitted by Sheila Tobias, identified as "an author and educator in Tucson," the argument for making richer people pay a larger proportion of their income in taxes is buttressed by this:

Since when does the hoarding of wealth by individuals, rather than jobs creation, do more to "grow the economy?"

Hoarding?

Tobias must have got her economic education from editorial cartoons of the 1930s, showing wealthy people stuffing their money into mattresses or burying it in the backyard.

Doesn't she know that wealth cannot be hoarded -- unless it's hidden in that cartoonish manner -- it can only be invested.

Either the money is put into bank accounts, where it is made available for loans (mortgages, car loans, small business loans), or it is put into investment accounts (buying stock, building businesses, and, yes, creating jobs). It does not sit idle.

Even Jesus Christ understood this. In the parable of the talents, He said:

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!’

The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!

Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

To Sheila Tobias, rich people are like that "wicked, lazy servant" when in fact the opposite is true -- those who are productive and take risks earn more money than those who are greedy and risk-averse.

I certainly hope that, as "an educator," Ms. Tobias is not teaching her students anything about economics. If she is, they will turn out as ignorant as she is.

H/T: Neal Boortz