Cantor warns entitlement benefits will have to change

The New York Times’s Bob Herbert has saved me some time this morning by explaining why a lie told lately by Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor is so blatant and pernicious. Here’s Cantor: “The benefits that many people are expecting are not going to be there because of the bankrupt nature of Social Security and Medicaid.” And here’s Herbert:

“As the Economic Policy Institute has explained, Social Security ‘is emphatically not the cause of the federal government’s long-term deficits, since it is prohibited from borrowing and must pay all benefits out of dedicated tax revenues and savings in its trust funds.’ … There has always been feverish opposition on the right to Social Security. What is happening now, in a period of deficit hysteria, is that this crucial retirement program is being dishonestly lumped together with Medicare as an entitlement program that is driving federal deficits.”

Social Security has kept countless millions of retired Americans out of poverty over nearly eight decades. Ending it or cutting it would create untold human misery, as American voters emphatically told Republicans who tried to privatize it in 2005. I’ve never supported waterboarding, but I’d make an exception for politicians who lie about the solvency of Social Security.

Rigell town hall Monday

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-2nd) will be at the Virginia Beach Central Library on Monday to answer questions about matters like the solvency of Social Security.

Pentagon budget cuts split GOP

In yesterday’s Times, Scott Rigell states that “as a very first priority, it is our constitutional duty to stand an army.”

On his “Why I Am Running for Congress” page last year, he stated, “From the rich soil of our Commonwealth have come patriots like Thomas Jefferson … who serve with steady resolve when America’s next steps are uncertain.”

In a letter to Lord North in 1775, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Standing armies [are] inconsistent with [a people’s] freedom and subversive of their quiet.” Lest you think that was mere youthful whimsy on the part of the Declaration of Independence author, he said the following during his presidency twenty-six years later: “Nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing army should be kept up in time of peace for [defense against invasion].”

I await Rigell’s apology.

Conservation groups oppose McDonnell’s transportation plan

The governor has responded to opposition to his $3 billion road plan by saying that “The overwhelming majority of Virginians would simply like to get to work in the morning a little easier and home in the evening a little quicker.”

Pace picks up for Va. health care appeal

The overwhelming majority of Virginians who lack health coverage would simply like to get to work in the morning a little easier and home in the evening a little quicker. It’s convenient that that’s all they want, because the government has three billion extra dollars, which is coincidentally what the roads will cost. The Tea Party Caucus will be enraged, given that a $3 billion road plan epitomizes big-government socialism, but maybe it can be our little secret.

Speaking of the Tea Party, please tell any Tea Partiers in your vicinity to sit down before clicking the following link:

Congress passes socialized medicine and mandates health insurance—in 1798

Forbes Magazine’s Rick Ungar reports that “In July of 1798, Congress passed—and President John Adams signed—the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen. The law authorized the creation of a government operated marine hospital service and mandated that privately employed sailors be required to purchase health care insurance.”

It’s worth reading the whole piece, but in case you don’t, here’s Ungar’s conclusion: “Clearly, the nation’s founders serving in the 5th Congress, and there were many of them, believed that mandated health insurance coverage was permitted within the limits established by our Constitution. The moral to the story is that the political right-wing has to stop pretending they have the blessings of the Founding Fathers as their excuse to oppose whatever this president has to offer. History makes it abundantly clear that they do not.”

Someone had better tell Joy Masoff to write a history textbook that says the opposite, and pronto.

Radtke to speak at Tea Party Caucus

Is it just me, or is there a Tea Party caucus or convention every two weeks?

Don’t let big coal blow up Virginia’s mountains! Oppose HB 2123/SB 1025

In the State of the Union the president said he wants more compromise, so maybe we should let them blow up half of Virginia’s mountains.

Concealed machine gun in Virginia? Not happening… yet.

“For now, at least,” reports the Pilot, “it will remain impossible to get a concealed-weapon permit to carry a machine gun.” Whew.

Truth is I didn’t watch the State of the Union, because I couldn’t stomach any glib quips about centrism while predator drones are exploding towns from the skies in three countries and Bradley Manning is being tortured. But the above is instructive regarding compromise. To wit: the gun “rights” lobby wants all Americans to be able to obtain all guns always and carry them everywhere. Aware that that could be unpalatable to some, they bribe legislators to push for measures that they realize from the outset are absurd.

We’ve all witnessed this phenomenon enough not to be startled if someone touts a bill to, say, legalize the purchase of bazookas by infants. Perhaps the gun lobby really does want bazooka babies and perhaps not, but either way, it’s shrewd enough to see that simply discussing the subject tugs our debate rightward. Sooner or later, the gun-control lobby—which, given its size of late, might be better described as the gun-control foyer—offers a compromise: toddlers can own bazookas. Beltway pundits swoon. The president checks off an agenda item.

Inching closer to health benefits for state workers’ same-sex partners?

I’ll believe that this is really possible when a memo from my benefits manager informs me of the new policy, and not a moment before, but I do appreciate that Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) is sticking up for us. Gay rights advances are thanks in large part to leaders like McEachin who understand the psychology of compromise as stated above. For instance, the fight for marriage rights has led to widespread compromise support for civil unions. Outside of the Bible Belt, anyway.

Why military spending remains untouchable

Andrew Bacevich argues here that any Beltway conversations purporting to seriously consider Pentagon spending cuts are only bad-faith distractions that will lead nowhere. He names four factors—“institutional self-interest, strategic inertia, cultural dissonance, and misremembered history”—that will keep on “insulat[ing] the military budget from serious scrutiny.” Worth a read.

The day part of the internet died: Egypt goes dark

Earlier today in Egypt the internet stopped working. Period.

There’s a lot I’d like to say about the protests in Egypt this week against Mubarak and his 30-year dictatorship, starting with the possibility that Wikileaks can be thanked in part for the Tunisian uprising that sparked Egypt’s protests, but for now I’ll just direct you to Andrew Sullivan’s blog from the last few days.

Forecasts paint grim year for home prices in region

A Californian “real estate research company” predicts home prices in Hampton Roads will fall by a whopping thirteen percent in 2011.

A cyclist’s reaction to Norfolk’s recreation master plan

Yesterday in AltDaily Markus Wegener wrote about Norfolk’s Recreation Master Plan, which anyone who cares about cycling or sustainable infrastructure in Norfolk would do well to read.

Haven Creek walking path construction to begin soon

The Colonial Place-Riverview mailing list is abuzz with news that construction will begin soon on a wooden walking path along Haven Creek from just south of New York Avenue to the existing path at Rhode Island Avenue. According to a project manager at the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Open Space, “The contractor is expected to complete the work by the end of calendar year 2011.”

And to think I’ve been accused of ignoring good news and focusing on bad news.

Bingo with Bunny

More good news: on Sunday from 12:30 to 4:30 you can attend this brunch-and-bingo fundraiser to benefit Old Dominion University Gay Cultural Studies and RAYN (Reaching Area Youth Now).

Pentagon to outline training for gay ban repeal

Even more good news to be found in this positive sign that the Pentagon is responding to last month’s DADT-ending legislation speedily and in good faith.

Beach man wins Charger in Va. Lottery drawing

Today’s paper is really a treasure trove of good news.