Chesapeake Education Association goes woke

Daily Press 3-23-2023. Author Amands Lambert, a member of the Chesapeake Education Association, wrote an opinion that was published recently. Here is my discourse to her comments. I wrote the board chairman with my concerns. 

Amanda Lamber does not speak for all teachers. I hope you will see fit to remind her when attacking the Governor of Virginia and pushing her left-wing ideology on other teachers. We will read what can be only a political tirade you approved in today's paper.  

I can speak for teachers in this case. My wife is a teacher. My daughter is a teacher. Both of my wife's parents are retired teachers. I taught the electrical trade as an adjunct professor at a community college for several years. I hear the daily stories of how we are exploiting our teachers in every county as to compensation. "We don't get into teaching for the money," my wife says. I'll share with you some other issues Amanda didn't acknowledge. 

1. Ask one of us if we support the current administration? The fact is Jeff, Amanda does not seem to understand. All pay raises come from the City or County. Funding does come from the state but at the expense of other equally needed programs. You'll need to remind your treasurer to go to the City or County Boards of Supervisors if she wants a raise next time. If you don't like the pay quit or move, and it is that simple. Many teachers have taken that stance, and honestly, who can blame them? Pay will increase as the demand for teachers increases due to the lack of teachers. We call this supply and demand a worthy capitalist theory on which our country is based. A class that is rarely taught in school today is finance; perhaps we pursue a worthy goal as to every student can balance a checkbook. I am astonished to see Amanda is your treasurer; she must think money grows on trees. Is an audit needed? 

2. Ask one of us if a parent should participate in the learning process? This a tricky question when many parents of poor means can barely read at an 8th-grade level. Amanda can only blame the local school district and teachers who came before her for allowing students to be graduated from high school and can't do 8th-grade math or on a 12th-grade reading level. Parents who lack understanding of essential learning should be unable to make decisions for their children. Parents with at least a college education should be able to make decisions concerning their children's welfare.

     It is as if parents should have to take a test to parent, and if they fail this test of parenting, the school system makes the best decisions for the child. Ask one of us how long it will take for left-wing progressives like Amanda to call this idea racist. People are of little means for many reasons, Jeff. Generally, it has nothing to do with education, although primary education is desired. It comes down to making good decisions in life, and if we don't teach "good decision making" children will suffer. We see this every day now, with guns in the hands of teenagers making bad decisions. We teach to blame everyone else, every inanimate object but we do not teach to blame ourselves, as Amanda blames our Governor as an example. 

3. Ask one of us if pronouns of choice should call a child. There are only two sexes, and your local biology teacher will provide you with that truth if they possess reasonable sound judgment. Are we to continue to allow school districts to move sex predators from one school to another, raping and pillaging until a parent figures it out and sues the left-wing progressive school district like Fairfax County? 

4. Ask one of us if Amanda has made an assumption. Our Governor has never said he is seeking election to another office. Amanda has made a false statement and should clarify that statement; otherwise, your organization comes off as political in nature and deserves to be ignored. 

5. Ask one of us why we judge Amanda in the same nature as she judges Julian Balow. If you want to judge others and pretend we are all perfect by all means, and when I say, "Lord, it is hard to be perfect, but I keep getting better at it every day." Throw those rocks, those of you who live in glass houses thinking you know better. Amanda failed again to acknowledge Ms. Barlow understood some mistakes were made and that the history curriculum was under review. Amanda wants to talk about whitewashing history yet obviously does not remember the removal of historical art in many towns and cities of our country. Yes, Amanda, your progressive liberals thinking will tear down confederate monuments ()historical art), and that is ok, yet that is the very whitewashing of history you so detest. The rock you throw has now entered your glass house.  

6. Ask one of us if teaching CRT and gender identity to students is a good idea? Jeff, some teachers are destroying the minds of children. Are you one of them?  I suspect Amanda may have been indoctrinated, her mind destroyed, by some left-wing progressive college professor hiding behind locked doors and tall walls of a college or university. 

Amanda makes valid points in her recent left-wing political tirade published in the Daily Press. I acknowledge each as an issue, albeit one might think there could be solutions. Making this political will certainly not get you a seat at the decision-making table. I take exception to making this political and attacking our Governor. The voters voted, and the majority spoke. You can continue to criticize or get on board. Lord knows I had to suffer through 4 years of Ralph (black face - baby killer) Northam. 

Urban Virgina, and the hypocrisy of our Politicians and Media

Looking back at several articles and reports written and published in the Daily Press the week of March 6th - 12th, 2023. I offer the following discourse. 

The hypocrisy of our Politicians and the Daily Press. 

On Wednesday, March 8th, around 5:45 pm, security personnel confronted officers protecting the illegal sale of guns and drugs in a pop-up market. This market was, of course, found in Portsmouth, Va., where many illicit shops have been found before, according to police. While the Daily Press did not show the people involved, we know all forty people in the pop-up store at the time were most likely black. This is not a racist comment Ms. Worrell; this is an educated statical observation and a review of regional statistics. As much as you want to label good, law-abiding citizens as racist, this is not the time for your backward thinking and biased comments. 

We can state the obvious with the observation of several apparent realities associated with the region of the state and other news sources. A WAVY news video showed a picture of patrons and security guards; all were black. This is downtown Portsmouth, and over 50% of the residents are black. Louis Luca is a drug dealer, dealing drugs that can fall into the hands of children and young adults. We suspect, and based on her recent Twitter feed, this granny will not care who she kills. I might suppose you will look the other way when drugs fall into children's hands, but a gun, oh, a gun, well then, we have to take them all away. A fentanyl overdose killed a child; residues, mind you left behind by previous Airbnb renters in Florida recently, and not one word from a liberal leftist like you. 

The local media and police blame the lack of understanding of the law on the sale and distribution of drugs in Virginia. In my opinion, it is a cop-out, and of course, some people, but not all, are always looking for ways to skirt the law, as reported by the police. Do you believe these people also did not think you couldn't sell guns without a license? The most concerning part is that according to Wavy News, multiple previous busts of illegal pop-up stores have sold the same illicit goods. According to the local news, drugs have been sold laced with fentanyl. Are you saying you don't care about people dying from fentanyl? Has the local press or politicians expressed any concern or opinion to help close our borders to drug dealers? So let me get this straight, the police have shut down many of these pop-up stores across Portsmouth, according to police. However, some blacks in this community still have not realized that selling drugs and guns in Virginia is illegal without proper licensing. Are you insane? No, you are hypocrites. Of course, no one took responsibility for the drugs and guns. It is, in fact, reasonable to assume, and I dare you not to justify my reasoning, that there were 40+ people in this illegal pop-up store, defended by security thugs, mind you, and not one of them came forward to tell the police who were the drug dealers and gun dealers. The police say the people who ran this illegal pop-up store did not understand the law. That is a lie, a poor excuse for community policing; these thugs knew what they did was unlawful. 

Let's move to Friday's paper and the alleged Legacy shooter who appeared in court and was released. The shooter was released on a lack of evidence. According to your reporting, witnesses all black, mind you, failed to testify, so a shooter walks free. Grey, reportedly beaten, left and returned with a gun, shooting randomly from a distance. Nothing but excuses made by a lawyer. We all know Legacy is a restaurant and lounge patronized by blacks and owned by blacks. Do you not see the issue yet? Low moral decisions and low ethical values seem to pop up everywhere; there is murder and mayhem in our cities. 

Let's move on to the Sierra Jenkins murder: March 11th, 2023, Sunday opinion Daily Press. According to your reporting and opinion, charges were dismissed against Legrande after witnesses failed to show up. Noting the witnesses do not feel safe to testify. In an email, I warned Ms. Jenkins to be careful in downtown Norfolk at night; now, she is dead. 

Do you still not see the pattern of low moral decisions and low ethical values found in some but not all of our black community? Do you see the pattern of snitch mentality associated with this part of our society? Do you still not understand why Scott Adams is right; it is best to stay away from those who are a danger to our society since the Democrats are unwilling to crack down on violence in our community, where Democrats tie police officers' hands behind their back only to be shot and killed by evildoers in our communities? Do you not see that most of the issues our society deals with today come from the black urban community? Do I have to ask why you want to take guns from law-abiding citizens? Do you think another gun law will stop low-moral decision-making animals from breaking the law? Do I have to point out that we do have a cultural problem in some, but not all, black communities in America, and most, if not all, reside in urban communities run by Democrats? The fact is, pointing out these known truths will make no difference. 

"It's not laws that keep us safe; it is the behavior of people that keep us safe." These are the wise words of our governor, whom you choose to castrate occasionally with your liberal ideology nonsense. If the people were to follow a higher moral value, laws would not be needed at all. This is precisely what I have been writing about for years, and you ignore the truth. I don't need your gun laws because I safely conduct myself within my own moral conduct and ethical reasoning of a Mason. Yet you want to take from me what is not rightfully yours? Tommy Norment seems to think the same after voting to suppress my 2nd amendment rights recently. Now retiring, this closet Democrat has made his stripes known with higher taxes and gun restrictions for the lawfully righteous. 

Ms. Worrell, you are all too ready to criticize others, but when you are criticized, you do not respond; when you disagree with others, you ban their ideas from being printed, and you shut down free expression within a public avenue where ideas should be shared for us to move forward. The editor of this paper uses false accusations to make reasons to ban speakers of higher morals and ethical values than her own. As long as you ban ideas you disagree with, we will always hold you in contempt. 

Be it known, I am not a racist, and I dare anyone to say otherwise. I do not judge others based on their skin color; I judge (when I have to) the content of character. Yes, the clothes you wear matter not because of skin color but because clothes are an observation of good and evil. If you wear your pants down around your knees, if you wear gang colors, you may be a good person, but I don't know that, therefore siding with safety, I cross the street. This is not racism, this is threat assessment. I am not one to want to judge truthfully, but when you want to take freedom or life, one has to stand up and be counted; to point out your fallacies and lies. I judge for self-preservation of life and carry lawfully for the same reason. There is not one damn thing wrong with that. "It is better to judge wrong and live than to not judge and die." This motto of my critical thinking process and based on life experiences will keep you alive when danger presents itself.

History and truth rarely coincide.

Mr. Filco wrote an opinion for the Willamsburg Gazette on February 18th, 2023. "History can be taught fairly and objectively." This opinion is right on target, and his analysis is truthful. However, I am offering an opinion as to why history is not taught fairly and objectively. In other words, why did Mr. Filco write his opinion unless he saw an issue with how history is taught to begin with. I am thankful for Mr. Filco's opinion, but we need to look at the cause of why. 

Mr. Filco, I read your opinion today. "History and the truth rarely coincide," You can attribute that quote to me if you wish.

We are the sum of our experiences, and we have to consider human reality based on experiences as to how history is told. All humans have biases, even if some will not admit them. Some but not all historians, college professors, and now high school teachers taught by radical college professors indoctrinate students. The idea of critical thinking, the teaching of "critical thinking," is all but a dinosaur of the past. I blame the Democrats. I have to ask. How the hell did some college professors become so radical? 

Did this whole liberal mess start with a war in the 1960s where cowards were unwilling to fight? Did they not fight because their fathers and grandfathers were killed in the 1940s - 1950s American wars? Is it because hippies of the 1960s, unable to get a real job, became teachers? Is liberalism really just a self-preservation reaction where cowards prefer to be protected by big government or force the poor to fight wars, but not me because I am educated? Does the beginning of American liberalism come down to the fear of dying and expand from there? Huh, well, I don't think you will answer that question, so I have to assume that no answer means my critical-thinking mind is right. 

Having had two children attend college 2017-2021 and my wife (2015) a graduate of the College of W&M, I have had the privilege to listen to lectures and speeches given by those who wear long cloaks, hide behind locked doors and tall walls,  those who sit at the head of the table expressing their blinder views of our history. The truth is, Historians are not what I call the highest IQ, and you know that. To be a historian, you only need a public library and a mind that can think critically. I suggest not letting a historian come at you from a position of power. 

The fact is history has been weaponized far longer. Example: Hitler used a book written by Luther 1500s-1600s to give a reason for the mass murder of Jews in the 1930-1940s. Hitler used a historical reference to kill millions. Today, civil war history is weaponized by liberals, even W&M college grads like Ms. Coleman, the civil war museum curator who now runs Pasbehaugh Island (Jamestown). 

So I say, while we would like history to be taught fairly and objectively would be a high ethical goal, that will never happen as long as liberals live and breathe. 

New York times opinion writer shows us, he has no clue as to rural America.

 

This discourse is in response to Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Paul wrote an opinion piece found in the Williamsburg Gazette 2-1-2023 opinion page. 

Mr. Krugman,

I read your article today an opinion entitled, "Is there anything that can be done to assuage rage in rural America? Let me help you, oh, Northern VA urbanite, understand why rural Virginia hates you. 


1. The vote: In any popular voting process in Virginia, three counties and a handful of large urban cities dictate who our representatives are in Washington, DC. It is so bad that when Mark Warner writes an Op-ed in his quest to ban guns, the Op-ed is not even posted or submitted to a Virginia paper for its residents to read. No, he chooses the Washington Post. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner never visit rural Virginia except it be during voting season. These two urbanites don't give a rats ass about southwest Virginia. 

2. Guns: Rural America owns guns, and we are responsible gun owners for the most part. It is urbanites who shoot each other and not rural America. Yet Northern Va will vote to take from rural Virginia our rights without our permission. Notice how all gun bills in the 2023 Virginia legislation came from urban centers where moral decisions to kill each other do not meet the expectations of rural America's ethical standard. 

3. Most important: The article starts with the New deal and jumps to today's society handouts. Roosevelt 1932 ( in between???) - 1980s. Having grown up milking cows in the 1970s, we had federal subsidies to produce milk on our family farm. That subsidy, along with tobacco subsidies, is all gone. The Government took our milk and took our cash crop. You most likely don't know this, but the family farm is dead in due part to the Federal Government, the lack of subsidies, and in due part to milk processors' cheap payment for raw milk. A living wage was certainly not on the minds of Democrat urban politicians to keep family farms afloat. Now, that is coming back to bite America in the ass, as milk production is done on large milk-producing farms owned by corporations. The Federal Government killed us - to say, the family farm in the 1980s. 

4, Richard Nixon: Ross Perot warned us all, "there will be a great and giant sucking sound if NAFTA is approved." He was right. Not only did we send jobs to Mexico, but we gave communist China favorable trade status in exchange for cheap and, in some cases, slave labor. Textile jobs left Virginians for good. The small town factories making little girls' dresses like in Appomattox and Amelia Va are long gone. Furniture plants like the one in Appomattox and Thomasville, NC, have been shuttered since the 1990s, and Danville Textiles is gone. Do I really have to spell it out for you, or do you understand the term rust belt? The difference between rural America and urban America is the idea of self-sufficiency. 

5. You write about how these perceptions are largely wrong from a point of authority, it seems, and that does not make you right. Yet my guess is you have never lived a day in your life in my shoes; you think you know better, but alas, you seem to believe your friends Thomas Edsall and Katherine Cramer and have yet to experience rural Virginia yourself. 


1. Ignored by Politicians 
2. Don't get their fair share of resources
3. Disrespected by city folk. 


1. Yes, Federally speaking, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner ignore rural Va. The fact is they never leave northern Va, and why should they? All they need is the votes of three counties, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William, along with Roanoke, Richmond, and Portsmouth, to stay in power. That is where they spend their money. State-wise and as well as federally, an example would be gridlock on our roads from the 1990s- 2020. While suburban DC gets a large swath of money to build roads, Tidewater suffered with a lack of US 64 widening until recently. We suffered and still do with tunnel crossing. Rural roads go unrepaired, and I81 is now a nightmare to drive. While it was once rural is now congested beyond relief, and yet no monies to expand I81. Oh, but I95, well, they get all the money, don't they?

2. As a country boy, I can tell you firsthand that, yes, city folks are leaving their urban centers and, in many cases, retiring to communities like Williamsburg, Va. Once a small community of 30k 15 years ago, now boasts, mind you, 80k. Florida is in the same boat. These urbanites leave high taxes and crime in New York City and bring their brand of politics to rural America. We resent that loudly. These buffoons move to rural America, and the first thing they want is a Walmart. Taxes rise because of the urbanite's intent not to be self-sufficient. These "come here" begin to destroy our way of life, and we resent that. We are a proud people who want local jobs; we don't have to be rich to be happy. Yet the federal Government took our jobs starting in the 1970s and sent them overseas or south of the border. We don't want your damn handouts, Paul; we want to live our lives pulling our cart ourselves, and we take pride in that. We are not a bunch of self-serving; shoot each other hypocrites looking for a handout. Generally speaking, we are church-going god-fearing people, who live a life serving Jesus, and we follow his lessons for living a good life. There is a big difference between following Jesus and worshiping Jesus one day a week. Urbanites tend to worship money, greed, and envy the other six days. That is my life experience with Urbanites. That is something Urbanites don't get and never will. The Urbanite has lost its way, destroyed its cities, and moved to rural America and did the same. No thanks, you have done enough already. 

Richneck School shooting: The police and school division are not explaining or the right questions asked.

Concerning the local opinions in the Williamsburg  / Newport News area concerning the Richneck School Shooting. This is a school shooting where a 6-year-old shot a teacher. The real issue is the right questions need to be asked. Perhaps this is an ongoing investigation? Makes sense to me, but here is what we need to ask as parents, teachers, and citizens. 

Guns Saves Lives

 A last-word writer asked about a "Guns saves lives" bumper sticker. The writer ponders as to someone talking to the Zwerner family. I would be glad to speak to the family if it helps heal and understand the actual issues of a teacher put in harm's way by liberals. I could talk about the federal government statistics that clearly show guns used in self-defense correctly save lives and thousands every year. I don't think that is what they want to hear. I could talk to Abigail, and being the head of a household with two teachers, one who teaches here in James City County and another who teaches in Fairfax County, could relate to the issues that are simply not being discussed. According to scuttlebutt, that is, teachers talking to teachers, the student told people he had a gun; they searched his backpack but did not search the person. The weapon is rumored to have been in the student's hoodie. If this gun, which has not been identified, was a micro-pistol like a Ruger max 9 as an example, then yes, this gun can hide easily as it is intended to be carried hidden. Gun enthusiasts know a strip search would have been required to effectively find this type of weapon on a person. Here is where our legislators and liberal student rights have failed us. This is where people like representative Mike Mullin fail us. That, though, is another discourse worth writing. 

Abigail will know if the student was searched; let's ask the family for input; that is my first question when I meet with them. In James City County, you must be certified to restrain a student. If a teacher has an unruly student, the teacher cannot restrain or even touch the student for fear of lawsuits. The truth is there are a lot of students today that are out of control in our schools, who lack the ability to listen to instructions or behave themselves, and that goes back to the parents, in my opinion. Now we have representative Boysko wanting to add further gun control where legislation already exists. The question is, why has the parent not been reported as charged by the police? We need to understand if, in Virginia, "loco parentis" allows a teacher to even search the body of a 6-year-old? There are personal rights, and then there are rights afforded teachers to act as the parent in the parent's absence, but this is a cloudy doctrine at best. At the end of the day, this horrible event was preventable.

New Years opinion of peace as seen through the media's lense.

Peace is a word thrown around the sandboxes while heads are buried.

 

 

 

Once again, the Daily Press editors miss an opportunity to explore all possible solutions. Let's break down the editorial and provide discourse. Sunday, Jan. 1st, 2023. "Our Views"

 

Here is what Kris and Brian wrote or, shall I say, agreed to print. 

 

"But at a time when division and discord are ubiquitous."

1. When violence is commonplace

2. When neighbors and family are at each other's throats

3. What greater hope can there be other than to see more people choose peaceful means of conflict resolution?"

 

Discourse:

 

The Population Reference Bureau, known as PBR, a leading think tank on violence in our communities, found some not-so-astonishing facts, and yet the media does not report them. (April 2005) Why do black youth in the United States commit violent acts almost twice as often as white or Latino youth? Researchers at Harvard University have found that the reasons have little to do with individual poverty or inherent racial differences, according to a study published in the February 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Instead, four factors— (1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2)  the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, (3) whether he or she is a first- or second-generation immigrant, (4) and the proportion of other people in the neighborhood who are immigrants—account for most of the differences in violent crime rates for youth, according to Robert J. Sampson, the study's lead author.

"The data suggest that it's more than just a family's financial resources," says Sampson, a professor of sociology at Harvard University. "The study shows that the disparity is largely social in nature and therefore amenable to intervention in the community rather than individual settings."

Our biggest issue is, of course, Democrats. If we, as a morally straight, ethical society, intervene in a black community, we stand a good chance of being labeled racist by the media and black politicians. Whence we do not worry ourselves with the black community for fear of losing our jobs, being labeled, being doxed, or our employers being called to complain, thereby losing our means to provide for our own families. The politicians the black community votes into office give away money for a vote whose followers know no better. Keep them poor and keep them uneducated; that is the Democrat way. Let them kill each other, let there be violence; as long as I have the power, nothing will change. One only must look at Portsmouth or Richmond to see this, yet blinders are the fashion. Blacks are not first, or second-generation immigrants, so (3 and 4) do not apply; therefore, we only have to look to two issues to resolve the violence in black neighborhoods.

(1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this is not set in stone. A high school graduate can make a great professional in some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor. The marital status of a young person's parents. Fix this Daily Press, and we fix the black community.

 

4. Hampton Roads Residents cannot make a difference when we say, "We can't mediate a peaceful settlement as to the war in Ukraine." 

 

Discourse: Yes, we can make a difference depending on who we vote for to represent us in Washington, DC. Stop voting for free giveaways and start voting for morally straight, ethically sound candidates. Just write my name in the box, that is all you must do!

 

5. "Our region lost far too many promising young lives in senseless shootings and should have to live with the threat of mass shootings haunting every trip to the grocery store, every visit to a theater, and every day at school."

 

The Daily Press goes on to offer solutions. 

 

1. "Virginia needs to restrict access to firearms so those with ill intent cannot purchase them." 

2. "dramatically bolster behavior health services."

 

 The desired result: If successful, it (meaning behavior health help) should help more Virginians find happiness and peace in their own lives. So, what the Daily press is saying is the government is going to help you find happiness and peace!

 

Discourse: Yes, we have lost far too many promising young lives, and I refer you back to my first discourse.

 

(1) the marital status of a young person's parents, (2) the prevalence of professionals and managers in his or her neighborhood, meaning educated beyond high school in most cases, although this is not set in stone. A high school graduate can make a great professional in some trade, even a great manager of people or proprietor of a business. Therefore, I submit we are down to one major factor and then one not considered. The marital status of a young person's parents and a movement back to God and God's law, you know, the ten commandments. Fix this Daily Press, and we fix the black community.

 

Steps to take:

1. Too many distractions, so turn off your cell phone, turn off your TV, 

2. Find moments for quiet and reflection. 

 

The editors blame:

1. Past few years. 

2. People struggling with a world that continues to change and dramatically. 

 

We can find some stability.

We can find some comfort.

Maybe we will find joy.

 

if 

 

We are contemplative.

We are quiet.

We are empathetic. 

We are peaceful.

 

if

 

Discourse: Reflection is a mighty power to right a life, as Socrates says, "the unexamined life is a life not worth living. We can find stability, comfort, and joy in our churches. Our public school teachers are not able to furnish these attributes to a good life, but our Sunday school teachers can.

 

If we reexamine what we teach in schools and make time for financials before the 11^th grade, make time for ethics, philosophy, and conflict resolution outside of just once a month or eight times in a school year, we may change some lives. Yet, people make decisions that are not productive or counterintuitive to the health, both physical and mental, of young people. So, what do the Democrats legislate, they make drugs lawful, the very drugs that destroy the child who has no father or living skill set to begin with. I firmly believe politicians do this for power, and the media is all too happy to promote an ideology that kills thousands. The truth is you do not know what to do except it be more power over others. The media be damned if, for once, the media and Democrats thought for a moment, I might be right. That is to be your undoing, Brian and Kris, you think you are always right, and you damn those who do not think like you. Our governor is that example.

 

We can learn to be contemplative, quiet, empathic, and peaceful in our churches and masonic lodges. Yet until the black community wants to stand up and change, there will be no to little change, and whites are not in the mood for being called racist when they try to help our brothers in due part to cancel culture and hate. I read an article recently that blamed the lack of exercise on racism. This was a Time magazine article/opinion. A blame game to excite the masses of poor blacks to rail against whites. I am reminded of "principles before personalities" It means we practice honesty, humility, compassion, tolerance, and patience with everyone, whether we like them or not. Putting principles before personalities teaches us to treat everyone equally. In our Masonic teachings, we practice this ideal every time we gather. We are all equals in the lodge. I think some of you would do well to learn what that means. That means, though, that if a fellow brother trips up and does something wrong, it is my obligation to point that out. It is not your obligation to call me a racist for doing so but to accept my council. If my council does not resolve the issue, then others within the lodge may get involved, just as we see in the bible. Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 5: Paul instructs people to hold others inside the church accountable, but not those who are outside the church (nonbelievers). A fitting good bit of advice given the mass hysteria we find in social media today whereby one can lose their job or worse when we try to help others by preaching what we believe as truth to nonbelievers like yourselves.  

Carbon tax and trade is not good for Virginia.

Discourse to the  Daily Press Newspaper Carbon tax and trade opinion. The Daily Press attacks our governor in the usual manner and as most liberal media pundits do. However, the media does not consider the harm of the RGGI plan implemented in Virginia by Democrats who want nothing but control of its citizens in the name of the environment. 

Having worked in the wastewater business for over 25 years, I can say this about the nitrogen cap and trade. The nitrogen cap and trade program has had financial and environmental results that are mixed at best. The EPA explains how Bay jurisdictions may accommodate new or increased nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment loadings. The Bay jurisdictions include Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. New or increased nitrogen loadings may be accommodated either through a specific TMDL allocation or by offsetting those loadings with quantifiable and accountable reductions. This program has been in place for decades now, and we still get C averages at best as to the health of the bay. This means there has been little impact on the bay's health, but it has lined the pockets of the rich who trade in crypto-like currencies and credits. This program in Virginia is similar to the carbon cap and trade program. We can look at its results to understand if this program hurts or helps our economy and environment. The Nitrogen program harms all Virginians who live on a septic system. Low-income and rural Virginia, where wastewater solutions are needed due to age,  often find themselves having no recourse to continue to live in their homes legally. Example: Small communities that need wastewater infrastructure above 1000 gallons per day must buy nitrogen credits to build a treatment plant to direct discharge to a river or stream. These credits are hard to find because larger urban treatment plants hoard their credits for further expansion at their facilities. And if a small rural community can find the credits, they are costly and, in some cases, not affordable. Communities can turn to soil-based dispersal, but this, too, is very expensive when the county has to purchase suitable land for effluent dispersal. What happens is the county board of supervisors looks the other way while small communities in need of help continue to affect the streams and rivers of the commonwealth adversely. Small communities like Columbia, Virginia, are an example of a do-nothing approach and look the other way with heads in the sand. At the same time, aging septic systems pollute the James River. Another area that should be considered for a Virginia Department of Health exploratory environment study is the Chickahomney Haven / Cypress Point area of James City County. These are just two communities that need to address aging septic systems where the total gallons per day community wise is above a 1000-gallons per day, and any viable long-term solution, professionally speaking, is a community system and not an individual septic system. The carbon cap and trade will offer Virginians the same issues facing California: rolling blackouts, poor infrastructure, and higher costs that will adversely affect Virginia's poor and rural communities.