David Guill Announces Candidacy

The full text of his speech can be found in the News & Record article.

In my opinion, his speech knocks Edmunds' speech out of the water. It's longer, hits all the major points (icluding unemployment), and goes into detail. The one place that I disagree with him is his opposition to the uranium study, but we'll be hard pressed to find a politician in favor of that.

Edmunds' Speech

The full text of Edmunds' speech is available over at the Halifax Central Blog.

I found the speech poorly written and severely lacking any real content, as if he were saying what he thought was expected of him from his presumed base.

Edmunds v. Guill. It should be an interesting election!

James Edmunds Announces His Run for Hogan's Seat

The News & Record has the story and a scary family picture.

Thoughts?

Hogan Bids Us Farewell

And not a term too soon!

Any speculation on why this power hungry politician is stepping out of his seat?

Before you get started, the official 'watch over my business' line is just that, a line.

Another question: What will his confidante, Sheila Bradley, do with herself after the term? Has she made a name for herself in Richmond?

Candidates are also falling all over themselves to declare themselves. It will certainly be an interesting campaign.

CAD Lab Ribbon Cutting Photo: Same Crap, Different Day

(c) 2009 The Gazette-Virginian

Today's Gazette-Virginian (link will become useless on 3/2/2009) has a photo and article of the recent ribbon cutting ceremony at the HCHS STEM Center. This photo is extremely interesting for the simple fact that it shows eight people, but only three of them are important to the project. The rest are superfluous grand standers there only for the photo op.

See if you can choose the three important ones.

Paul D. Stapleton: Hypocrite

In today's News & Record about stimulus money being available for education spending, His Highness, The Duke of Halifaxian Education, Paul D. Stapleton said this:

“We are hoping for flexibility in its use which will allow us to use it to keep our teachers in the classroom.”

Stapleton actually asked for flexibility. Mr. my-precious-academies-cannot-be-threatened actually asked for flexibility from another agency who may be handing him millions of dollars. How hypocritical is that?

Most citizens of Halifax County are ready to cut and run on the academies and dual enrollment, but those things aren't even on the budget cutting block and no member of the board will even bring it up.

Does Stapleton work at the discretion of our Board or is it the other way around? I understand that he is contracted through the next few years, but does the Board have to accept every edict he bestows on them as gospel? Can they not say no to this man?

UPDATE:

Joe Gasperini has gone on record to state that middle school sports is safe and not being considered as a cut to balance the budget.

While I didn't support wiping out middle school sports, I just don't see how they plan to balance the budget without making some wholesale cuts which will probably require increasing the student to teacher ratio. Bye bye experienced teachers! It was nice knowing you. My prediction is that the arts will suffer the worst fate. Band/chorus/art will be history, and if not history, they'll be stripped down to useless levels.

Armstrong vs. Hogan on the House Floor

Delegate Ward Armstrong (D-Henry) takes Clarke Hogan to task for implying that he was a liar and for using questionable figures in a discussion about the budget. Clarke Hogan, as is his manor, uses his condescending attitude to attempt to rebut Armstrong's budget accusations.

Fuzzy math, anyone?

Armstrong is my hero of the day!

Special thanks to an anonymous reader for forwarding this video to me.