Friday, August 29, 2014

Gloucester, VA Sheriff's Office, Protect and Serve

Virginia Receives National Governor’s Association Grant

McAuliffe speaking at Frying Pan Park in Hernd...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
~ NGA grant will drive increased attainment of STEM-H Workforce credentials~ 

RICHMOND - The National Governor’s Association (NGA) announced last week that Virginia has been selected to receive a $170,000 grant and will also be one of 14 states to participate in an 18 month national policy academy aimed at better aligning education and workforce training to economic development priorities. 

The NGA grant proposal was jointly submitted by the Governor’s Office and the Virginia Community College System.  Grant activities will focus on increasing the Commonwealth’s attainment levels of STEM-H (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Health) credentials, including industry certifications, apprenticeship credentials and degrees, most needed by Virginia’s current and emerging businesses and industries.  This announcement by the NGA comes just a week after Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order establishing his “New Virginia Economy” workforce initiative, a robust plan which calls for 50,000 new STEM-H credentials earned by the end of his administration.

“This grant will help in our efforts to enhance Virginia’s high tech, high skilled sectors, which are vital to the growth and diversification of the New Virginia Economy,” said Governor McAuliffe.  “This collaboration will send a strong signal to the emerging workforce of the immediate need for a credentialed, high-skilled labor force to meet today and tomorrow’s business needs.”

The NGA grant will support development of a statewide public awareness and marketing campaign; enhance data and analytical resources; encourage new and expanded public and private partnerships; and augment a policy agenda aimed at increasing enrollment and completion of STEM-H credentials.

Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones was excited about the opportunity the grant provides.  “This grant will allow Virginia to take a big step forward in terms of workforce development,” Secretary Jones said. “The program will help us to better align educational offerings with workforce needs while paving the way for a unified vision of a Commonwealth made stronger by a vibrant, highly-skilled workforce.”

“Now more than ever, Virginia needs an educational system fit for the 21st Century,” added Secretary of Education Anne Holton. “By bridging the divide between education and business and bolstering the Governor’s workforce initiative, these funds will help us do just that.”

“Virginia’s businesses are hungry for highly-skilled workers,” said Dr. Glenn DuBois, Chancellor, Virginia Community College System.  “And, Virginia’s Community Colleges are proud to be a part of a grant that will ultimately help more Virginians to find their way to the training and credentials they need for good jobs.”

Secretary Jones will lead the Virginia State Leadership Team, including representatives of the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, business and industry, education at all levels, and economic and workforce development. 

Governor McAuliffe Announces Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program Reaches Major Milestone

English: Senator John Warner (R - Virginia) an...
English: Senator John Warner (R - Virginia) and veterans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
V3 Certifies 212 Virginia employers who committed to over 7,000 jobs for Virginia’s Veterans; 5,339 Veterans have already been hired

Regional employer training events to be held in September & October

RICHMOND – Today, at the second annual Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Summit, Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that the Department of Veterans Services’ Virginia Values Veterans Program (V3) has certified 213 Virginia employers at the completion of its second year. These employers have committed to providing over 7,000 jobs for Virginia’s veterans, and 5,339 Virginia veterans have already been hired.V3 is an innovative best practice initiative developed in support of Governor McAuliffe’s goal of positioning Virginia as the most veteran-friendly state in the nation.
           
Speaking about the announcement, Governor McAuliffe said, “This program is unique in that it aims to build vital public-private partnerships by leveraging state and federal agencies and industry leaders to share resources and educate employers on how to tap into the exceptional pool of talented veterans, National Guard and reservists in Virginia’s workforce. I recently unveiled the “Patriot Pledge”, as part of Executive Order 23, which will play a vital role in supporting the Virginia Values Veterans program and advancing my goal of building a New Virginia Economy by asking 10,000 businesses to sign a pledge of commitment to hire more veterans by 2018. I am pleased to announce that Altria, a V3 Certified Company, has generously agreed to grant the V3 Program $100,000 over the next year to double the V3 employer-training efforts. This funding will help us rapidly expand our reach to Virginia’s employers.”


Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs John C. Harvey, Jr. said, “Virginia is committed to helping our returning service members’ transition from active duty to civilian life by providing many tools to make that transition a success for veterans and their families. The V3 program was established to assist veterans with one of the most integral keys to a successful transition, finding employment that will allow them to draw from the wealth of skills learned during their military career and apply those skills effectively in the civilian workforce.”

Paul Galanti, Commissioner of Veterans Services, said, “The V3 program is a win-win for Virginia’s employers and transitioning veterans. It serves as an outstanding resource for businesses to gain valuable strategies for hiring employees who are talented, loyal, show up on time, take direction well, and thrive in a team environment. Hiring veterans will be one of the best decisions these companies make.”
           
Upcoming Employer Training Events

September 23 - Virginia Beach, VA
October 28 - Prince William County, VA

Each training day will cover topics such as understanding the value of hiring veterans; building a business case for hiring veterans; and best practices in recruiting, hiring, and retaining veterans. This training is free and open to any company that wants to make veterans a part of their workforce. To learn more visit www.dvsV3.com.

About the Virginia Values Veterans Program

The Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program is an official Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Veterans Services Program whose mission is to educate and train employers throughout the Commonwealth on the value of Virginia’s Veterans, and to help employers connect with these personnel to maximize the productivity of their workforce.

Individuals or organizations interested in learning more about these and additional V3 events should visit: www.dvsV3.com. The V3 program is largely supported through private donations and sponsorships to augment the training services provided by the Commonwealth. Inquiries regarding the V3 program should be made to Andrew Schwartz, the V3 Program Manager, at 804.786.0597or andrew.schwartz@dvs.virginia.gov


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Gloucester, VA Why Teachers Are Not Getting Raises?



The above school board vehicle was at Hardee's restaurant this morning, August 27th, 2014 at 8:24 AM.  Vehicle number was badly damaged and we could only make out 27 as in vehicle number two hundred and seventy something.  No rare state plate was visible on the vehicle at all.  The two guys inside were waving to us as we took their pictures.


The above pictured vehicle was seen yesterday at 7-Eleven across from Hardee's restaurant in the Courthouse Area.  This vehicle is registered to Dave Miller and the person in charge of this vehicle?  Dave Miller.  This van is seen all the time stopping everywhere.  We have more pictures of this van than any other county vehicle.  It belongs to the school board of course.

  No other county vehicles were seen at restaurants, stores or other quick market stores recently.  This would seem like one of many reasons teachers in Gloucester County Public Schools do not seem to get well deserved raises.  School board admin and support staff like to waste money.  Over the years, the school board has convinced the teachers that it's the Board of Supervisors who are responsible for teachers not getting raises and the school board each year marches a host of teachers and students before the board of supervisors to complain about not having enough money.

  What a scam in our view.  Let's look at some basic facts, the school board has been getting steady increases every year while student enrollment has been falling.  The school board has increased it's administrative staff to an enormous size, wasted millions of untold taxpayer dollars on renovating an old school for their own facilities that is way to large for their needs, but to small for all their wants, wasted even more millions building a new school that simply was not needed, all so certain people could get fatter checks all the while ignoring the basic needs of the teachers and hence, the students.  More typical hypocrisy from the top here in Gloucester County.  Waste at so many levels and we are fed a mantra that it's all for the children.  No it's not.  It's all for the few and screw you.  Buy their hype and BS all you want, it's not about the children no matter how many times they try and sell you that song.

  The waste must stop.  So we will keep digging and posting all that we find.  It's time for the teachers of Gloucester County to hold the school board accountable and stop buying the garbage they want to sell you.


Help the UN? By Sue Long

FYI – In regards to John Bolton’s message below. 
 
Although his call to defund UN’s anti US agenices is good as far as it goes, it falls short of the more commendable  Get US out of the UN.
ALL of the UN is anti US.  We should stop funding any part of it.  It was established for the express purpose of becoming an all powerful one world government controlled by the globalists.  When fully implemented it would be the end of American independence and sovereignty and  our constitution that acknowledges our God-given rights and government’s function to protect those rights.  
 
Bolton’s rationale as to the anti American agencies “ they've inflicted severe damage to the United Nation's reputation and credibility”  is very telling as to his view of the UN.  This is saying that the UN has had and deserves a good reputation and credibility and that should not be impaired and, in fact, restored .
 
This is consistent with his  membership in the exclusive and extremely selective Council on Foreign Relations, an organization committed to the establishment of an all powerful one world government.
 
Since Bolton is fund raising and is flirting with making  a run for the presidency,  it is well to know just where he stands on the issues.
 
For more information
 
December 4, 1945: The Day the Senate Surrendered Our Sovereignty
America’s presidents have been under the sway of the Council on Foreign Relations http://www.thenewamerican.com/component/k2/item/18562-the-power-behind-the-presidency.
 
UN Academic Impact Joins CFR to Infiltrate U.S. Classrooms
  
 
Thank you for your attention.
Sue Long

John Bolton PAC

Dear Sue,

As the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, my eyes have long been open to the dangerous biases and political agendas in play at the U.N. It is at the core of my mission to share these facts with the American people, and why I am writing today.

The United Nations has lost its way, and now we MUST take action.

In the midst of the current Hamas-Israel hostilities, and well before, U.N. institutions and agencies have behaved so outrageously that they've inflicted severe damage to the United Nation's reputation and credibility.

The bottom line is that the United States can no longer excuse or ignore the egregious anti-Israel bias we've seen out of U.N. institutions, period.

Will you sign our Petition to Defund Anti-U.S. Agencies at the United Nations, such as the Human Rights Council? By following this link, you can help me urge Congress to immediately withdraw funding from the flawed and failed Human Rights Council and STOP funding other biased U.N. agencies. 


Then, to help me share this message and grow momentum behind this effort, will you stand with John Bolton PAC with a $100, $50, or $25 emergency contribution?

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has repeatedly accused Israel of war crimes, and accused America by association.

This blatant pro-Hamas propaganda, eagerly accepted and repeated in many circles, is intellectually bankrupt and truly dangerous. Israel MUST act to protect its border and people from Hamas terrorists, associated jihadist groups and their rogue-state backers operating out of the Gaza Strip.

And America MUST stand with Israel.

I URGE you to sign our John Bolton PAC Petition to defund several of the worst Anti-U.S. Agencies at the United Nations today by following this link.

The outrageous rhetoric and actions against Israel and our nation certainly don't stop with the High Commissioner.


On July 23, the Human Right Council (HRC) voted to conduct yet another inquiry into Israel's struggle against Hamas terrorism. This inquiry cost more than $2.3 million, of which the United States will pay 22 percent, and in the end, ONLY the United States voted against the loaded resolution. Incidentally, we can thank Obama for the mistake of joining this misbegotten body, which replaced the shameful Human Right Commission in 2006.

Then there is the U.N. Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA). Three times in late July, UNRWA was forced to admit publicly that it "discovered" stockpiles of Hamas rockets stored in UNRWA's Gaza schools.

Why didn't UNRWA stop Hamas from stockpiling missiles in its schools, or at least immediately report this ploy to the U.N. Security Council? 


Unfortunately, we know Obama will not act to disassociate the United States from this unacceptable international conduct regarding Gaza and Israel. That's why we're urging Congress to investigate IMMEDIATELY and take action.

Will you add your name to the Petition to Defund Anti-U.S. Agencies at the United Nations today to urge Congress to withdraw from the Human Rights Council and STOP funding other biased U.N. agencies?


And will you consider supporting this historic effort with a $100, $50, or $25 emergency contribution, or any amount you'd like, by following this secure link?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this important message today. Our nation's future depends on the success of our movement to restore its greatness.

For America,

John Bolton
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations 

Federalist Papers No. 48. These Departments Should Not Be So Far Separated as to Have No Constitutional Control Over Each Other

From the New York Packet. Friday, February 1, 1788.

IT WAS shown in the last paper that the political apothegm there examined does not require that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments should be wholly unconnected with each other. I shall undertake, in the next place, to show that unless these departments be so far connected and blended as to give to each a constitutional control over the others, the degree of separation which the maxim requires, as essential to a free government, can never in practice be duly maintained.
It is agreed on all sides, that the powers properly belonging to one of the departments ought not to be directly and completely administered by either of the other departments. It is equally evident, that none of them ought to possess, directly or indirectly, an overruling influence over the others, in the administration of their respective powers. It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it. After discriminating, therefore, in theory, the several classes of power, as they may in their nature be legislative, executive, or judiciary, the next and most difficult task is to provide some practical security for each, against the invasion of the others. What this security ought to be, is the great problem to be solved.
Will it be sufficient to mark, with precision, the boundaries of these departments, in the constitution of the government, and to trust to these parchment barriers against the encroaching spirit of power? This is the security which appears to have been principally relied on by the compilers of most of the American constitutions. But experience assures us, that the efficacy of the provision has been greatly overrated; and that some more adequate defense is indispensably necessary for the more feeble, against the more powerful, members of the government. The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex.
The founders of our republics have so much merit for the wisdom which they have displayed, that no task can be less pleasing than that of pointing out the errors into which they have fallen. A respect for truth, however, obliges us to remark, that they seem never for a moment to have turned their eyes from the danger to liberty from the overgrown and all-grasping prerogative of an hereditary magistrate, supported and fortified by an hereditary branch of the legislative authority. They seem never to have recollected the danger from legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power in the same hands, must lead to the same tyranny as is threatened by executive usurpations.
In a government where numerous and extensive prerogatives are placed in the hands of an hereditary monarch, the executive department is very justly regarded as the source of danger, and watched with all the jealousy which a zeal for liberty ought to inspire. In a democracy, where a multitude of people exercise in person the legislative functions, and are continually exposed, by their incapacity for regular deliberation and concerted measures, to the ambitious intrigues of their executive magistrates, tyranny may well be apprehended, on some favorable emergency, to start up in the same quarter. But in a representative republic, where the executive magistracy is carefully limited; both in the extent and the duration of its power; and where the legislative power is exercised by an assembly, which is inspired, by a supposed influence over the people, with an intrepid confidence in its own strength; which is sufficiently numerous to feel all the passions which actuate a multitude, yet not so numerous as to be incapable of pursuing the objects of its passions, by means which reason prescribes; it is against the enterprising ambition of this department that the people ought to indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions.
The legislative department derives a superiority in our governments from other circumstances. Its constitutional powers being at once more extensive, and less susceptible of precise limits, it can, with the greater facility, mask, under complicated and indirect measures, the encroachments which it makes on the co-ordinate departments. It is not unfrequently a question of real nicety in legislative bodies, whether the operation of a particular measure will, or will not, extend beyond the legislative sphere. On the other side, the executive power being restrained within a narrower compass, and being more simple in its nature, and the judiciary being described by landmarks still less uncertain, projects of usurpation by either of these departments would immediately betray and defeat themselves. Nor is this all: as the legislative department alone has access to the pockets of the people, and has in some constitutions full discretion, and in all a prevailing influence, over the pecuniary rewards of those who fill the other departments, a dependence is thus created in the latter, which gives still greater facility to encroachments of the former.
I have appealed to our own experience for the truth of what I advance on this subject. Were it necessary to verify this experience by particular proofs, they might be multiplied without end. I might find a witness in every citizen who has shared in, or been attentive to, the course of public administrations. I might collect vouchers in abundance from the records and archives of every State in the Union. But as a more concise, and at the same time equally satisfactory, evidence, I will refer to the example of two States, attested by two unexceptionable authorities.
The first example is that of Virginia, a State which, as we have seen, has expressly declared in its constitution, that the three great departments ought not to be intermixed. The authority in support of it is Mr. Jefferson, who, besides his other advantages for remarking the operation of the government, was himself the chief magistrate of it. In order to convey fully the ideas with which his experience had impressed him on this subject, it will be necessary to quote a passage of some length from his very interesting Notes on the State of Virginia, p. 195. "All the powers of government, legislative, executive, and judiciary, result to the legislative body. The concentrating these in the same hands, is precisely the definition of despotic government. It will be no alleviation, that these powers will be exercised by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as oppressive as one. Let those who doubt it, turn their eyes on the republic of Venice. As little will it avail us, that they are chosen by ourselves. An ELECTIVE DESPOTISM was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others. For this reason, that convention which passed the ordinance of government, laid its foundation on this basis, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments should be separate and distinct, so that no person should exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time. BUT NO BARRIER WAS PROVIDED BETWEEN THESE SEVERAL POWERS. The judiciary and the executive members were left dependent on the legislative for their subsistence in office, and some of them for their continuance in it. If, therefore, the legislature assumes executive and judiciary powers, no opposition is likely to be made; nor, if made, can be effectual; because in that case they may put their proceedings into the form of acts of Assembly, which will render them obligatory on the other branches. They have accordingly, IN MANY instances, DECIDED RIGHTS which should have been left to JUDICIARY CONTROVERSY, and THE DIRECTION OF THE EXECUTIVE, DURING THE WHOLE TIME OF THEIR SESSION, IS BECOMING HABITUAL AND FAMILIAR."
The other State which I shall take for an example is Pennsylvania; and the other authority, the Council of Censors, which assembled in the years 1783 and 1784. A part of the duty of this body, as marked out by the constitution, was "to inquire whether the constitution had been preserved inviolate in every part; and whether the legislative and executive branches of government had performed their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised, other or greater powers than they are entitled to by the constitution." In the execution of this trust, the council were necessarily led to a comparison of both the legislative and executive proceedings, with the constitutional powers of these departments; and from the facts enumerated, and to the truth of most of which both sides in the council subscribed, it appears that the constitution had been flagrantly violated by the legislature in a variety of important instances.
A great number of laws had been passed, violating, without any apparent necessity, the rule requiring that all bills of a public nature shall be previously printed for the consideration of the people; although this is one of the precautions chiefly relied on by the constitution against improper acts of legislature.
The constitutional trial by jury had been violated, and powers assumed which had not been delegated by the constitution.
Executive powers had been usurped.
The salaries of the judges, which the constitution expressly requires to be fixed, had been occasionally varied; and cases belonging to the judiciary department frequently drawn within legislative cognizance and determination.
Those who wish to see the several particulars falling under each of these heads, may consult the journals of the council, which are in print. Some of them, it will be found, may be imputable to peculiar circumstances connected with the war; but the greater part of them may be considered as the spontaneous shoots of an ill-constituted government.
It appears, also, that the executive department had not been innocent of frequent breaches of the constitution. There are three observations, however, which ought to be made on this head: FIRST, a great proportion of the instances were either immediately produced by the necessities of the war, or recommended by Congress or the commander-in-chief; SECOND, in most of the other instances, they conformed either to the declared or the known sentiments of the legislative department; THIRD, the executive department of Pennsylvania is distinguished from that of the other States by the number of members composing it. In this respect, it has as much affinity to a legislative assembly as to an executive council. And being at once exempt from the restraint of an individual responsibility for the acts of the body, and deriving confidence from mutual example and joint influence, unauthorized measures would, of course, be more freely hazarded, than where the executive department is administered by a single hand, or by a few hands.
The conclusion which I am warranted in drawing from these observations is, that a mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments, is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands.

PUBLIUS

Learn More About American History:  Visit Jamestown, Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg Living Museums in Virginia.