Lowell Feld over at Raising Kaine compares and contrasts the new Democratic Party of Virginia website with the new Republican Party of Virginia website. Although in Feld’s words he “bleeds Democratic blue,” he gives the RPV website much higher marks. While the Dem website looks good graphically, I agree with Feld that it amounts to…

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has issued an executive order closing the loophole that allowed Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho to purchase two handguns. From now on, any Virginian subjected to a court-ordered, involuntary commitment for outpatient mental treatment will be barred from purchasing a gun. The court order must be entered into a state database…

Home ownership is a wonderful thing — if you can afford it. Given the lax lending standards the prevailed during the housing bubble, however, a lot of people wound up with houses they couldn’t afford. It’s not just the known expenses like principle and interest payments that kill you, it’s the unanticipated expenses — the…

The April 30, 2007, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion has been published. You can view it in its entirety here. Don’t miss an issue — sign up for a free subscription here. This week’s features include: Missing the PointA Heritage Foundation paper attacking the Journey Through Hallowed Ground as a tool of Virginia’s landed elite is…

Ever wish you get do the same financial background checks on candidates for local office as you can for statewide candidates? To pick an example, wouldn’t it be cool to know how much money Gerald E. Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County board of supervisors, has raised in the current campaign cycle and where his…

On Tuesday I declared the ethics flap involving Sens. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and Thomas Norment Jr., R-James City, to be “Case closed.” Perhaps I was premature. David Nixon, the Roanoke attorney who charged the two veteran politicians of conflict of interest, now levels similar accusations against two members of the ethics panel that absolved…

There has been an undercurrent through the coverage of the Virginia Tech killings regarding what, exactly, is the appropriate response for those who were not directly affected by the events. The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Henninger called it the “numbing down” of America, where the mass of people have become “hollowed out” by the seemingly…

Via Slate comes a facsimile of the papers which called for the hospitalization of Cho Seung-Hui as he “present[ed] an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, or is so seriously mentally ill as to be substantially unable to care for self and is incapable of volunteering or unwilling to…

I’m agnostic on gun control — I see the merits of both points of view. So, I don’t necessarily embrace the point of view of Pierre LeMieux with the Independent Institute, but I find it worthy of discussion. In an essay published yesterday, he argues: Contrast the horrific Virginia Tech shootings with the January 2002…

Sens. Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and Thomas Norment Jr., R-James City, have been cleared of conflict-of-interest charges by the Senate Ethics Advisory Panel. David Nixon, a Roanoke lawyer and Republican activist had filed a complaint noting that the two prominent lawmakers were employed by Kaufman and Canoles, the leading law firm in Hampton Roads, which…

Writing in Counterpunch, confirmed man of the left Alexander Cockburn offers his jarring, almost anarchist, take on the murders at Virginia Tech last week. It’s a lengthy piece, and one that will, no doubt, raise more than a few hackles. But sifting through it all, and in a way following-up on Jim’s post from earlier,…

Since the morning of April 16, Virginia Tech students, professors and administrators have displayed extraordinary dignity in the face of one of the nation’s great tragedies. My respect for the institution and those who are part of it has increased immeasurably. I can only hope that I, if faced with a comparable horror, would acquit…

Yesterday, a Senate ethics board heard allegations that Senators Thomas K. Norment, R-Williamsburg and Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach have engaged in a conflict of interest when legislating property rights. According to Roanoke lawyer G. David Nixon, the two powerful lawmakers have a conflict because they either represent clients that acquire property through eminent domain…

One of the more obscure laws to emerge from the 2007 General Assembly allows local school boards to work out deals with private schools to transport their students on the same buses. Predictably, this common-sense measure was opposed by the Virginia School Boards Association on the grounds that public money should not “subsidize” private education.…

John Sugg writes in Reason magazine that southern states are leading the way in doling out incentives to lure businesses: Consider three deals finalized in 1995, all of them in North Carolina. This End Up, a furniture manufacturer, accepted $230,000 and other incentives from the state for a new plant near Fayetteville that would employ…