Monthly Archives: December 2011

On Christmas Eve, the following story was almost (but not quite) concealed by the holiday hysteria. The Republican Party of Virginia announced that only two of the Presidential candidates had qualified for the ballot for the Virginia primary on Tuesday, … Continue reading →

My father spent much of his childhood on his grandfather’s ranch outside Enid, Oklahoma. There’s not a lot to do in central Oklahoma, except go hunting for rabbits, pheasant and various other prairie creatures.  So my Dad did that, along … Continue reading →

One of the coming battles in Richmond is the future of the Commonwealth’s sales tax. Nearly fifty years ago, the Virginia retail sales tax was created by Governor Mills Godwin (version 1.0) to subsidize the state’s community college system.   Later … Continue reading →

On Wednesday night this week, my family and nearly a hundred other people gathered at my parents’ house for their annual Christmas Caroling party. The party dates back to 1969, when my father sang baritone in our church choir.  For Christmas, my parents invited … Continue reading →

It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.  (yada, yada, yada) Inconceivably, 2011 is drawing to a close — even as we vainly grasp at one final Spinal Tap (“This one goes to eleven”) reference.  One … Continue reading →