Gun bills may be shot down in special Va. subcommittee

You gotta read this piece just for its awful puns.

“Several gun bills that were expected to squeak through the General Assembly may be on their way to a firing squad instead.”

“Marsh’s actions set off a series of retaliatory shots Monday.”

Oh yeah? Decided I’d fire off a few myself:

Sounds like Sen. Henry Marsh of Richmond’s gunning for more balance in a generally firearm-friendly General Assembly.

Clearly the subcommittee is locked and loaded with Senators who oppose the gun measures that have hit the floor this year.

With a few bills already approved (including a measure to allow individuals to carry concealed handguns in restaurants that serve alcohol so long as they don’t drink, and one that would permit people to keep concealed handguns in their vehicles if stored in a locked container), Marsh’s heat-packing posse will certainly have enough ammo to aim for the kill on an impending repeal of the one-gun-a-month limit.

Sorry, don’t kill me. I had to.

U.S. Postal Service could end Saturday delivery

One commenter had this on-point insight:

“The post office needs a fundamental change in pricing structure. Junk mail that is sent out in huge quantities and nobody wants is given a discount, while our own letters pay constantly-increasing first class postage. Pricing should be reversed so that the heavy users of the system pay more (or at least pay the same) because they’re the ones putting the bulk of the load on the system.”

I second that. I also think that eliminating mail delivery on Saturday is totally warranted and it seems needed at this point to secure the endurance of the Postal Service. And I think these measures are far more feasible and practical than privatization. If that’s the kind of service you want, we’ve already got FedEx and UPS to help you out with that.

Also, send letters! Writing and receiving hand-written letters is a rare pleasure that really shouldn’t be lost.

Second challenger files against Wright in Norfolk

Looks like we got a race on our hands. So far, in Ward 5, it’s East Beach businessman Matt Hales and Granby High School Assistant Principal Tommy Smigiel taking on the incumbent, printer and light rail champion Randy Wright. As the Pilot reports, “So far, 18 candidates have announced they will run for six council seats, the most since 1970.”

I’m concerned, though, that Hales is quoted saying, “We don’t have business people on the council.” Are lawyers, doctors, funeral home directors and printers somehow not businesspeople? As one commenter put it, “Sounds like all of our Council people are business people to me. I think we need some ordinary folks on council who don’t have any ties to businesses.”

Hear, hear. That said, if any of you fine citizens are considering a role in public office, you have until 7 pm today to file your candidacy.

2nd judge rejects deal for woman in Beach molestation case

You know, it’s really sad for me to admit that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve lost more and more faith that people are actually good at heart. This story, which was in the news over the weekend and has been going on for a few years now, involves the molestation of three teenage girls under the care of Melina and Stephen McPherson. Stephen is a former dean of Regent University. The two were house parents at Hope Haven House. The couple then adopted these girls (sisters, in fact) and continued to molest them at home.

Stephen has already pleaded guilty to and is serving 16 years for “charges of forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration involving the girls.” And according to court documents, “The couple admitted to using Bible verses to manipulate the victims into engaging in sex acts.”

This is so sickening to me I could cry. There is no plea agreement that should be accepted for this monster’s admission of guilt–much less one for only 60 days of jail time. I personally think that the both of them should serve a generation of jail time. Anything less is, as the judge who rejected her first plea bargain put it, “a travesty of justice.”

Local preschools scooping up stars

A shred of good news amongst a pile of others reporting murders of children and sexual assaults of elderly women. All is not lost in the world.