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Car taxes? The fuck dystopian country do you live in?

I know counties in Virginia do it
http://www.pwcgov.org/governme...
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/d...

Apparently the state started doing it recently
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/v...

Maine has done it as long as I remember, and your town gets the money.
http://www.maine.gov/revenue/p...

I felt these were nice places to live...

I get the impression that their ballots read like insurance claim forms (designed to make you fail).

Nah, they aren't that bad really. Here are a few samples from my county for this year's election (PDF):

• 8th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 10th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 11th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot

(Links copied from Upcoming Elections - Fairfax County, Virginia.)

I get the impression that their ballots read like insurance claim forms (designed to make you fail).

Nah, they aren't that bad really. Here are a few samples from my county for this year's election (PDF):

• 8th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 10th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 11th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot

(Links copied from Upcoming Elections - Fairfax County, Virginia.)

I get the impression that their ballots read like insurance claim forms (designed to make you fail).

Nah, they aren't that bad really. Here are a few samples from my county for this year's election (PDF):

• 8th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 10th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 11th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot

(Links copied from Upcoming Elections - Fairfax County, Virginia.)

I get the impression that their ballots read like insurance claim forms (designed to make you fail).

Nah, they aren't that bad really. Here are a few samples from my county for this year's election (PDF):

• 8th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 10th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot
• 11th Congressional District - Touch Screen Sample Ballot

(Links copied from Upcoming Elections - Fairfax County, Virginia.)

I can check out ebooks from my public library: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/dbsremote/resource/ebook.htm. Audiobooks too: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/dbsremote/resource/audiobooks.htm.

I can check out ebooks from my public library: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/dbsremote/resource/ebook.htm. Audiobooks too: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/dbsremote/resource/audiobooks.htm.

Fairfax County, Virginia maintains a list of recyclers.

I did some quick googling, and I saw that some jurisdictions in the US actually define what is and is not safe for a child to do alone. Here is a link to one such set of guidelines.

If you think about it, it's pretty absurd. In that county, no child age 7 or under may be left alone ever. When I was 6, I rode my bike to the store, rode my bike to school each day, etc. And I did not live in a rural area or even the suburbs. I lived in the city.

It gets more absurd from there. According to the guidelines, a child aged 17 can be left alone for up to two consecutive nights, but only "in some cases". That's a pretty big jump from age 17 years, 11 months to 18 years when we consider that person to be a full adult, capable of living on their own, making adult decisions, and being held responsible for their actions as a full adult.

Personally, I think those guidelines are absurd, but that is the type of legal environment we live in nowadays. If I lived in that county, what choice would I have? The cops would come take my kids away.

I used to make the same generalization about fines being a significant source of revenue until I read that it doesn't work like that everywhere.

It may well be the case that many police departments are required to aggressively enforce traffic laws in order to generate revenue for the state or municipality. However, I was very surprised to find out that in Fairfax County, VA, fines and forfeitures only account for 0.5% of revenues (see pie-chart on page 2). This is by far the most populous county in the state of Virginia, and traffic enforcement by county police is very heavy.

Obviously, this is only one example. However, it shows that not all police departments enforce traffic laws for revenue enhancement.

In my county (Fairfax, VA. Were on that map), we have over 600,000 registered voters. Prior to using the current computer voting machines, we used mechanical machines by Diebold (I think). These machines were about the size of a vending machine and weighed at least as much. The county loves the new machines as they are smaller, easier to move and store, and they don't have to pay people massive ammounts of money to move them. Most of the volunteers are in there 60's. They can actually move and setup the electronic ones, where with the mechanical ones they couldn't. It's been decades since they used pencil and paper.

People could be electing their Sherrif, councilmen, or a state refferendum on the same ballot as they also vote for either their state or federal representatives. It's my understanding that some ballots can have over a dozen issues on them. (Anyone who has better first hand knowledge of this feel to correct me if this is an inaccurate summation.)

You've got that right. Last election we had four pages of names and offices, multiple offices per page and referendums. Voting was for President, Sometimes senator as well, National Congressman, county offices, 6 bond referendums and a few state constitutional amendments. The county also has to have different ballots for different areas of the county. Depending on which congressional district you are in affects which race you're voting in.

Ah I found the list of what we will be voting on this year. And this is an Off-year (non-presidential election year) and this is all we have to vote on. http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/upcoming.htm California usually has a lot more items than we do.

March 23, 2006 No Accountability

The cop who shot Sal Culosi won't face charges:

The Fairfax County police officer who shot an unarmed man to death in January will not be charged with a crime, the county's chief prosecutor announced this afternoon.

From the start, Fairfax police declared that the killing of Salvatore J. Culosi Jr., 37, was an accident and that the SWAT officer who fired had done so unintentionally. Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said that when a person fires a gun without malice and unintentionally kills someone, "they do not commit a crime."

I'm calling bullshit, here. In 30+ years as a prosecutor, Mr. Horan has never pursued charges against a police officer. Not once.

Horan said the officer was aware that he should not have had a finger on the trigger and that he should not have had his .45-caliber H&K handgun pointed at anyone. "As he [the officer] says, you keep your finger straight," Horan said. "He felt his finger was straight. . . . But obviously his finger is not straight up. His finger has to be on the trigger."

Tests showed no defect in the gun.

So a cop draws his gun and points it at a suspect (a no-no), has his finger on the trigger (a no-no), the gun goes off and kills a man, and Horan can't find enough to make the case for criminal negligence?

And why don't we get to know the name of Culosi's killer?

Let's apply these standards to a civilian. Let's say I'm showing my new, legally-purchased MP5 to a buddy. Just for kicks, and wholly without malice, I pretend like I'm a cowboy cop, and my friend assumes the role of the hapless optometrist I suspect of gambling. I pretend I'm raiding his home, point the gun at him, and, having put my finger on the trigger and having forgotten there's a bullet inside, the gun goes off, killing my friend.

Anyone think the police would hold off on releasing my name to the press?

Anyone think I'd escape criminal negligence charges?

More here:

March 29, 2006 Sal Culosi Update

A few items culled from the Justice for Sal site maintained by Culosi's family:

1) A couple of weeks ago, the Fairfax Police Department incredulously issued a news release warning that it would be cracking down on illegal NCAA tournament pools. Three months after one of its officers shot and killed Culosi, Fairfax PD titled its press release, "Illegal Gambling Not Worth the Risk." Words fail.

2) Here's a very recent case from Portsmouth, Virginia in which a kid was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after accidentally shooting a friend. The case is significant because Fairfax prosecutor Robert Horan has repeatedly insisted that Virginia law won't let him charge Officer Bullock with a crime. The facts of the Portsmouth case pretty clearly suggest otherwise.

3) The Washington Post weighs in with another editorial, this time with pointed criticism of Horan for declining to bring charges. The Post also reiterates its position against using SWAT teams for routine policing.

In most cases it's the local gov't that grants Comcast the 'franchise' to offer cable TV services in your location.

This is where I have filed my complaints.