A post on the Cabiness website reads:

Councilman DeSteph was incorrect in his presumption to speak for all of the people of Virginia Beach, and Virginia, and quickly backed down from pushing the city council to support a resolution when confronted with the fact that he had overstepped his authority and misused the City’s letterhead.

Why then is this letter (and letterhead) still on DeSteph’s campaign website as the number one item under current initiatives? Is this yet another example of DeSteph’s mismanagement and poor decision making as a member of the Virginia Beach City Council?

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As I’ve said before, Bill DeSteph does not speak for me, and was way out of line by thinking he could speak for the citizens of Virginia Beach, and all of Virginia.

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In an earlier post, I wrote:

It’s about time that we got to the actual legal argument for marriage equality. Beyond the rhetoric of the breaking of traditions and the right to love, which may win hearts and minds on both sides of this issue, I’ve always felt that the focus was somewhat misplaced. While it may not be as sexy, to me targeting discriminatory marriage laws required the consistent emphasis on the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Anytime I have been in conversations or written about the issue in favor of gay marriage, I have invoked this amendment.

Lanae Erickson, of Third Way’s Culture Program, wrote on Politico:

First, advocates must reframe the conversation. Over the past decade, we have often phrased our arguments in terms of rights and benefits — appeals that are sometimes persuasive when it comes to legal arrangements like domestic partnerships and civil unions. But rights and benefits aren’t the way most couples see their relationships, especially marriage. Marriage is about lifetime commitment, responsibilities and obligations. If we can persuade people in the middle that gay couples want to get married for those reasons — not simply to gain a list of legal rights and benefits — we’ll connect with them in a far deeper way.

Maybe I missed the point in my post? Maybe I jumped the shark in pushing for a shift in focus. It could very well be that we have a much more difficult battle winning the hearts and minds of people than we have with arguing the unconstitutionality of laws against gay marriage.

Any thoughts?

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The rally will take place next Wednesday, August 25th, at Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. The event starts at 4:00 PM. Click here for a map and directions.

Glenn Nye faces Republican Scott Rigell and independent Kenny Golden in this year’s midterm election.

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Those obnoxious Facebook users who collect friends like stamps and post a status update every other minute are more likely to stick it through college than less active users, a recent study suggests.

A study led by Abilene Christian University followed the Facebook profiles of 375 first-semester freshman students for nine months to examine how Facebook activity can be used as a predictor for a student’s likelihood to stay in school. The research found that students who returned to school after freshman year had significantly more Facebook friends and wall posts than those who didn’t return.

Read Entire Article at Wired.

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“Brace yourselves, folks. Not only have the state’s Republicans hypocritically refused to acknowledge the importance of federal stimulus money to saving vital state services, but Bob McDonnell has promised once more to enlarge on the lie that the state budget has a surplus, promising reporters, “I’ll see you Thursday,” the day I fully expect him to tout the “enlargement” of the so-called surplus to about $400 million. Well, let’s look at that “surplus” the way a teacher of math might.”

Read Entire Post over at Blue Virginia

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Fiscal relief funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) continue to be a key element in helping Virginia balance its budget, according to a new report by The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

“Recovery Act funds helped Virginia avoid deeper cuts in key services like health care, education, and public safety,” said Michael Cassidy, President and CEO of The Commonwealth Institute.  In a new report released today, The Commonwealth Institute documents how enhanced Medicaid matching funds, additional federal funds for education and public safety and flexible federal fiscal stabilization funds filled over 15 percent of the shortfalls facing the current state budget and 25 percent of the shortfalls in the previous one. The report also shows the breakout of fiscal relief funding by budget area.

“Virginia will receive a total of about $2.5 billion in fiscal relief funds from the Recovery Act,” explained Cassidy. “The General Assembly used $1.6 billion of this funding to fill Virginia’s FY2008-2010 budget gap, leaving $870 million to help meet Virginia’s FY2010-2012 budget needs.  This funding helped close 16 percent of the budget shortfall and helped avoid further cuts to key areas like health care, education, and public safety.”
This report comes as Governor McDonnell is set to address the General Assembly’s budget committees August 19 on the current status of Virginia’s budget.  “As we continue to grapple with the impacts of the recession, it’s important to recognize that significant amounts of federal assistance from the Recovery Act have helped soften some of the fiscal blow from cratering state revenues and recession-related increases in the demand on state services, but the state has a long way to go before its budgets are back in healthy shape,” says Cassidy.

The complete report is available online at www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org.

More information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act can be found at www.recovery.gov.

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<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=6c913d5807″ mce_href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=6c913d5807″ >2nd Congressional District Debate</a>

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Now, the Affordable Care Act; that’s different. I’m not talking about actual health insurance reform passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. I’m talking about Obamacare, as a word…as a negative euphemism that conservative candidates have dropping from their lips with a tone that should be reserved for the vilest of things; which, for most people, might be something like the never ending kicking of cute puppies. For these conservatives, it’s the availability of health care to people who otherwise couldn’t afford it. It’s the end of the ruination of lives for the lack of health insurance.

It’s not health insurance reform, or how the law will help people, that conservatives are rallying against. It’s the evil, socialist, Marxist, communist, (ambiguous) Obamacare. They have effectively summed up their disgust for the Obama Administration and the historic accomplishment of health insurance reform with rhetoric of a single concocted word. Obamacare. The message is clear: Obamacare is evil, and must be repealed. It’s so simple, even those like Sharron Angle (unbelievably Harry Reid’s opponent in November), can effectively repeat it over, and over, and over.

Just watch how Sharron Angle answers a question about not appearing on the Rachel Maddow Show:

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Did you see how her face lit up, as if just saying the word “Obamacare” was some sort of power play? I wonder how many times she says it during a day. I wonder if she is lulled to sleep at night by a recording of softly whispered, “Obamacare, Obamacare, Obamacare.”

Conservatives like Sharron Angle need to either rise up to the actual debate and call things by their proper name, or they need to go back to the kiddie pool. Let’s stop using made up words. If you want to repeal access to insurance, and thus health care, for those with pre-existing conditions, then debate that point. If you hate the idea of college students remaining on their parents’ insurance longer, then tell us why. If you abhor that the uninsured and self-employed can purchase insurance via a competitive national exchange, then offer up some possible options. Stop oversimplifying and pandering to those you’re continually prodding with a hot poker just to keep them angry. F#ck Obamacare, let’s have a real debate.

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