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Published: July 3, 2009
Writer: Perriello out of touch with district
I have just one thing to say to Rep. Tom Perriello: How dare you sir! You have forgotten that, as a congressman, you are elected to voice the will of those you represent. We citizens of the Fifth District no longer have a voice in Congress. You have fallen to the will of your party and not of your people. If you had been paying any attention, you would realize that you represent other voters outside the “People’s Republic of Charlottesville.”
Click to sendIn fact you represent one of the more depressed parts of the state. Lynchburg’s unemployment rate increased to 7.7 percent, Danville is at 14.7 percent and Martinsville is at a staggering 21.9 percent. These areas have been devastated by tobacco regulation and the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs. With you voting for the cap and trade energy bill (i.e. carbon tax), what jobs are left in this region will soon be gone.
If you beg to differ, please come speak with us. We all would like to know what you were thinking.
Just sign me “Taxed without representation.”
DANNY JAMES
Lynchburg
Closed rest stops
Thanks to The News & Advance for the timely editorial on the VDOT proposal to close rest stops on Virginia’s interstates — you just don’t go far enough.
VDOT claims it can save $10 million by closing 19 rest stops. That works out to $526,316 in annual savings per location. Wow. How many attendants and grass cutters will be fired to realize those savings?
My guess is none. But how else is this estimate of savings reached? Do we have as many as 10 attendants, grass cutters, and poop picker-uppers at each stop, earning $50,000 plus each per year? And how much will the new signs and barriers cost, offsetting the savings?
Kid me not! VDOT is resorting to the oldest bureaucratic trick in the book: When forced to trim a budget, cut the item that will cause the most inconvenience to the public. The management of VDOT and its overseers — right up to the governor — should be fired for this scam!
What credibility do they have when they whine about not having enough money to maintain our transportation infrastructure? (I ask this as a graduate civil engineer.)
When I next travel on I-81 and feel the call of nature, I look forward to relieving myself on one of the new barriers.
ROBERT BATCHELDER
Lynchburg
Social separatism
On Saturday, June 20, in Lynchburg, a city engaged in a community-wide Dialogue on Race and Racism, a largely white crowd celebrated the history of James River batteaux that contributed significantly to their ancestors’ prosperity, largely at the expense of slave labor.
At the same time, a largely black crowd gathered at the Legacy Museum of African American History to celebrate Juneteenth, the end of slavery in the United States, and to honor the contributions by many black American men and women who fought for American principles of freedom and justice even when those rights were denied them at home.
CARLA W. HEATH
Lynchburg
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Reader Reactions
Perhaps the state powers that be who want everybody stopping and releiving themselves on the side of the road should consider Privatizing them, allow them to sell decent food and make a buck or two. if you have ever ridden the Florida turnpike and stopped at their rest stops, you would understand. At least consider a RFP,(Request For Proposals) from the private sector and see what happens.
Michael Jackson
Sure Michael was a great performer, not the best by any means.
The publicity surrounding his death has gone too far.
How about the service people in Irag and Afganistan that have died in the past week?
There are many news worthy stories more important than the King of Pop’s death.
Closed Rest Stops
Closing of the rest stops does not incourage tourism in Virginia. How much you want to bet they continue to cut the grass?
POSTER ALERT!
“The Thief of Baghdad” is on at 10:00 am on [TCM] channel.
Sabu lives again.
Turn your eyes and ears away from the hypnotic balderdash being shoveled out by John Hagee, The Falwell Cartel and the rest of the Jesus merchandizers. Sniff the “blue rose” of forgetfulness and, for a short time, use your TV for something productive.
Arthur,
You have to hand it to Southerners; they know how to entertain:
They chartered excursion trains to carry the eager crowds to the best lynchings. Nothing like going to church first and then hop on the train. Christians all, naturally!
Postcards were printed to send to the friends and family who could not participate in this wholesome amusement.
Thank God, the Declaration of Independence claimed that all men are created equal.
okay, everyone who’s name we don’t know in Vermont is buckwheat, or Bucky Bucksnort, have i missed something?
Of course this is coming from the fake one, but anyway, is this some sort of insult here?
Down here i’ve heard mr. dewfloppy, and hooter, but then i’ve heard lots of things i’ve never heard, like when someone says “great day” they don’t mean “its a nice day”.
Should i have called him jethro or cletus?
And you, calling me Sicko?
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
FakeCosmo,
I was there too. I represented the French, the people who gave birth to the American nation. I was dressed like my ancestor, Lafayette. Did you see me? I think I saw you. Are you the piggish looking redneck?
During the reading, something caught my ear. I jumped on my horse and galloped home. I Googled “Declaration of Independence” and here it was:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.“
How can one have an unalienable Right to Life and at the same time die for lack of health insurance (like some 13,000 do in this country every year)?
And how about the unalienable Right to Liberty when this country has the largest incarcerated population in the world?
And how about the unalienable right to the pursuit of Happiness when one is destitute (not to mention sick)?
Now then, those unalienable Rights were endowed by the Creator, the one born agains call their Lord and Savior.
I think I am missing something. Please help me. What is it?
Come on….. SOMEBODY put him out of his misery!
What I’m afraid you don’t get Mr. Stumper (and I have explained it many times here) is that if you were to go out to lunch with those nice people from NYC and order a ham sandwich… if you took a bite and remarked that it was good, but, nothing compares to Virginia Ham… You would NEVER hear, “Well then, why the hell don’t you go back?‘...
That kind of treatment is a fact of life for ANY Yankee in the South. Your “idea” of a non “condescending & arrogant” Yankee is one willing to “pretend” that EVERYTHING is better in the South because it is Southern. One who is willing to tolerate the “Damn Yankees” jokes on a daily basis. In short, a person willing to pretend, in your presence, that it is OK for them to assume status as some kind of “lesser American”. Screw that Stumper.
What you don’t get is, when a person comes from a culture that has no time for smiling in your face and sticking it to you when you are not there to hear it… The South is an INCREDIBLY phony place. You accept Yankees with the same warmth as you accept black people…. Predicated upon their willingness to “know and act their place”. May I say once again, Screw that Stumper!
Came here for nice climate, very cheap taxes and to be closer to the kids. NOT to pretend to admire something that I don’t.
Just got back from the reading of the Declaration of Independance at Poplar Forest.
Nothing in there about lightbulb restrictions, climate change, WIC, or health insurance. Can anyone explain? Were our founding fathers more independantand self reliant than us. Have we turned into a nation of whiners waiting on father Obama to give us our monthly manna?
Racist statement of the day:
“Use your own driveway, buckwheat!“
What a sicko!
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