The Chinese did their best to limit Obama's opportunities to speak directly to their people. A forum in Shanghai was carefully stage-managed and Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao held a news conference in Beijing that brooked no questions.

Although the Obama administration was said to have acceded to the restrictions, White House aides insisted that the president privately engaged in frank dialogue with Hu -- on economics, China's currency and human rights policies and possible sanctions against Iran.

Obama's deferential tack drew scorn from conservatives -- they and others also complained about his bowing to the Japanese prime minister -- who yearn for a return to the international swagger of George W. Bush.

The Chinese have always been luxuriated in their legacy as an ancient civilization and are sensitive to perceived slights from foreigners. Moreover, the leadership that Bush and President Bill Clinton encountered was more self-assured than Hu.

But the Chinese also sense their star rising in the international galaxy, a shift magnified by the severe economic downturn and the near-collapse of the international financial system last year. Their cheap exports, enhanced by a devalued currency, helped satisfy the cravings of American consumers and their investment in U.S. securities finance Washington's deficit spending. While the United States and the West struggle to return to prosperity, China has rebounded, thanks to huge public works projects.

Although Obama could have been more assertive with his Chinese hosts, he chose to speak softly in public, hoping that discretion will nurture a partner more amenable to Washington's priorities.

Although the automaker lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter, its financial condition has stabilized to such an extent that it plans to return some of the $50 billion lifeline the federal government extended it last winter.

Once the world's dominant automaker, GM over the years lost market share to imports and emphasized sales of light trucks and sport-utility vehicles, a strategy that fell victim to rising gasoline prices and the public's increasing preference for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Like Ford and Chrysler, GM was also saddled with expensive pension and health-care obligations for retirees, negotiated in rosier days for the American auto industry. Those costs amounted to about $2,000 for each vehicle GM sold.

But GM also had its own peculiar problems: a conglomeration of brands, which complicated marketing and production, and a rigid bureaucracy.

Its vulnerability was exacerbated by the last year's global financial downturn, which froze credit and suppressed demand for new vehicles. Predicting that it would run out of cash by mid-2009, GM sought federal aid. After Congress balked, President Bush approved a "bridge loan," conditioned on a revised business plan and the Obama administration then forced the company into bankruptcy and orchestrated a restructuring in exchange for a government stake.

GM emerged from bankruptcy much faster than expected and has shed thousands of jobs, revised union contracts and decided to concentrate on four core brands.

The leaner company has $42.6 billion in cash and securities to invest in new vehicles and can probably break even in a subdued new-car market.

The company still faces major challenges, especially convincing potential buyers that it is building better cars. But its prospects are far brighter than anyone expected only months ago.

Sir:

It is rare when local zoning can effect a statewide agriculture business, but the Clarke County Board of Supervisors zoning text amendment limiting farm wineries' hours of operation and number of customers will have the effect of killing the Virginia golden goose: farm wineries.

Virginia farm wineries is one of the only growing agriculture business in Virginia. In this economic time when businesses of all kinds are struggling to keep the doors open, how could you entertain a proposal that could cause damage to any sort of business, much less farm wineries that provide a cultural, agricultural and environmentally friendly industry to our region.

Virginia wineries provide so much to our state. Once they're gone, they're gone. We should be looking for ways to help give struggling businesses opportunities for success, not reasons for failure.

It is my opinion that this proposed ordinance, as written, presents a serious threat to Virginia farm wineries businesses, violates state law and will also have a direct impact on the entire Virginia wine industry, as it will be the model for other localities should it become the governing ordinance.

In 10 years Veramar has never received a neighbor compliant. None. In 10 years of Veramar operation not a single police issue for guests problems. Not a one.

Where did the board come up with these hours? 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is not even an eight-hour day. Can you do all your business in these hours? Does it make sense to limit the number of customers you can have?

How many of Clarke County agriculture business has zoning that limits the hours of operation and number of customers. None that I am aware of.

I am against the zoning amendment wording that limits hours and the number of customers.

The actions of the Board of Supervisors are noncompliant with the Virginia Code.

Public hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the Berryville-Clarke County Joint Government Center 101 Chalmers Court, second floor, Berryville to consider the farm winery issues.

Jim Bogaty
905 Quarry Road
Veramar Vineyard
Berryville
Nov. 17, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

The Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line -- TrAILCo -- is cutting enormous trees daily across our beautiful Warren County. These lines, which cross Virginia to provide power to the upper urban areas of the country, have resulted in skinny trees with a loss of the large branching cover of green leaves, the loss of large healthy trunks beneath those oxygen producing green leaves -- now orange, red and browning but still living and breathing.

This past week in November TrAILCo erected the much taller H-shaped tower to replace the wooden poles that have stood a few feet from my still-standing large trees. These towers require 300-feet girth with no growth other than grass and weeds beneath them.

I have not signed my trees away to allow Allegheny to cut them from my small tract of land. I am told they too will go the way of the spindly forest adjoining my land.

This will further allow erosion of soil into the Shenandoah River on the adjacent bank. This will eliminate the pileated woodpeckers, the bats, the owls, the eagles and the abundant wildlife that have sought refuge in and under those large trees with their magnificent branches.

It would be a little inconvenient and a little more expensive for TrAILCo to place these large H-shaped towers over the existing V-shaped KV500 towers especially since they will be turning eastward anyway. That 300 feet of tree-less land was cleared 30 years ago.

Must they now take more trees and land rather than go over the existing towers? The same jobs are created. The air would be better. There would be less impact felt by us who need to traverse the ground under the wires several times every day. Energy would still be transmitted to the northeastern states.

Is a small change too much to ask of Allegheny Power Co.?

RAMONA BOWDEN
604 Windy Knoll Drive
Front Royal
Nov. 11, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

It doesn't matter who was elected governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general or as delegates on Nov. 3 because nothing will change for the better for Virginia residents in the next four years.

This election merely decided who will steal more of Virginia residents' money in the next four years in increased taxes, rates and fees as occur in any election.

The General Assembly is still Republican-controlled and is responsible for the $3 billion budget deficit along with outgoing Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine.

What difference will Republican Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell make in the next four years along with the Republican-controlled General Assembly? In my view, nothing positive for Virginia residents.

I predict in less than two years the General Assembly and Gov. McDonnell will enact new tax, rate and fee increases but not to retire the $3 billion deficit but instead to have more taxpayers dollars to squander without increasing the deficit.

But any tax, rate and fee increases will create higher unemployment and reduce the spending power of all Virginians, but since when do the governor and the General Assembly care about that? Neither General Assembly members nor the governor will lose their jobs or any of their salaries over the next four years.

Voters can swap Democrats and Republicans back and forth in any election, but the end result is the same: financial destruction because both parties are corrupt, therefore, of no benefit to "we, the people."

Overspending and overtaxation cause economic recessions by the government -- thus, a 50 percent reduction in all taxation will cause the economy to thrive. It's that simple.

Under current conditions, Virginia's and America's economic future is bleak without major taxation reductions.

AL ASBURY
101 Perry Trailer Park Road
Mt. Jackson
Nov. 9, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

The Nov. 11 article "Pupils Receive Swine Flu Shots" featured pictures of children crying after receiving their immunization. I have to wonder what the purpose was of publishing these photos?

The children have enough anxiety over having to get this immunization in the first place and to then show photos on the front page of other children crying really baffles me.

As the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Christina Spieles
111 Berwick Lane
Stephens City
Nov. 11, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Last month President Obama again called for an end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that prevents gays and lesbians from serving openly in our armed forces. The American public, including now a majority of conservatives, is on board with getting rid of this archaic law.

The time to do so is now. During two wars, we should be recruiting and retaining -- not firing -- all qualified service members, gay and straight.

Fifty years of studies, some even commissioned by the Department of Defense, conclude unequivocally that openly gay troops have no impact on unit cohesion, morale or military readiness.

It's time for the president to partner with Congress to pass the Military Readiness Enhancement Act and get rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" once and for all.

Roddy McDanie
762 Manor Road
Front Royal
Nov. 11, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

As a free-market capitalist I think a regulated marketplace is a good thing. However, I believe that health care is the exception.

Universal coverage without market forces is the way to go in any civilized, compassionate country.

We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Medicare for all is the model we should use.

Nick Crettier
516 Ellen Drive
Front Royal
Nov. 12, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

As everyone knows, the town of Front Royal is working with a company to build a solar energy facility on the site of the former Avtex factory. Recently some preliminary information was "leaked" to the press and a subsequent editorial chastised the town for getting upset that public information was released.

The only problem with the earlier story was that it implied that a new idea was a fait accompli.

As I stated during this past Monday's Town Council meeting, we are going to consider any and all possibilities to effect this development. Some of the ideas will be pretty far-fetched and some will sound pretty reasonable.

Please be assured that all ideas are going to be considered and in the end, we will select the one that brings the greatest benefit to the residents of the town.

Our discussions will, to the maximum extent possible, be held in the open view of the public. We are confident that the press will accurately portray our deliberations and we know that the public is excited and anxious to bring this project to fruition as we are.

Tom Conkey
1401 N. Royal Ave.
Front Royal
Nov. 11, 2009

Although drug makers say they have valid reasons for the increases, critics say they are trying to establish a higher price base before Congress passes health-care legislation that includes curbs on drug spending.

A health economist at Harvard University found a similar pattern after Congress added drug benefits to Medicare several years ago.

Another economist, who analyzed drug prices for AARP, said, "When we have major legislation anticipated, we see a run-up in price increases." He said the average cost of a brand-name prescription drug taken daily would be more than $2,000, $200 higher than last year.

The higher prices will make it easier for the drug industry to fulfill the agreement it reached with the White House and the Senate Finance Committee to trim $8 billion a year from the nation's drug bill, which will likely top $300 billion this year.

The industry's trade association had claimed that it could not afford to give up more than $80 billion over 10 years. It cited a study by its consulting firm that predicted drug sales might decline this year, but the firm has since revised its projections and forecasts growth of at least 4.5 percent in 2009, $21 billion more than it expected six months earlier.

The hefty price increases and the industry's own prognoses should prompt the Obama administration and senators to rethink the $80 billion deal.

Containing costs is crucial to effective health-care reform. Since the drug industry is hiking the prices consumers must pay, it should sweeten the rebates it promised.

Last hunting season, 253,678 deer were killed in Virginia, with Shenandoah County among the top 10 counties with 4,523. That was up from 4,437 in 2007, a continuation of strong growth in the harvest going back to 1972, when fewer than 50,000 deer were killed in Virginia.

The greatest increase has been in the number of antlerless deer kills after several changes were made to the hunting season and regulations to boost the number of female deer taken. There are now an estimated 850,000 to 1 million deer in the state, "which although frequently cited as [overpopulation] by the press," according to the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, is a low to moderate density and below the carrying capacity of the habitat.

Despite some of the harm caused by deer -- vehicle collisions and crop damage, for example -- the state's white-tailed deer are a beneficial social and economic resource. Spending by both in- and out-of-state hunters is estimated at $511 million for all game, the department says.

Chronic wasting disease, which has been found in deer in West Virginia, remains a concern. The game department asks hunters in Frederick and Shenandoah counties to have their deer tested if they harvest any today, Monday or Jan. 2 (the last day of deer season) in an "active surveillance area" in both counties north of Wolf Gap Road and west of Interstate 81. Sampling stations are Graden's Supermarket at Lebanon Church on Va. 55, Gore Grocery on U.S. 50 west, State Line Store on Va. 127 and T&R Processing off U.S. 50 east. There is a mandatory sampling area in southwestern Frederick County south of Va. 55 and west of Va. 600. The VDGIF Web site has maps.

Have a safe and enjoyable hunting season.

That the charges were brought by military prosecutors indicates that authorities believe the rampage, which also injured nearly 30 others, is a case of military-on-military crime, unrelated to terrorism.

The latter possibility had arisen because Hasan had exchanged e-mails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Islamic cleric in Yemen. Those communications were captured by U.S. intelligence, which passed them along to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. A Defense Department investigator pulled Hasan's personnel files but concluded that the messages, which were rather innocuous, raised no red flags.

But the report was not shared with the Pentagon or with anyone outside the terror task force. Had the investigator contacted Hasan's psychiatric colleagues at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he would have learned of concerns about his troubling conduct and middling work record. Some of his cohorts and superiors questioned his fitness to be a military psychiatrist, but work rules restricted disciplinary options and in the end he was dispatched to Fort Hood.

The military's filing of charges must not foreclose a comprehensive investigation into Hasan's past and possible terrorist links, a task some congressmen have pledged to undertake. President Obama has also ordered a review of the government's handling of the case.

Whether a more thorough probe would have prevented the massacre at Fort Hood is the great unknowable, but, in retrospect, further scrutiny would have been useful.

Sir:

What are our representatives thinking? Aren't they listening? Aren't they seeing the need? Aren't they realizing how broken the health-care system is and who is really running the show?

Why is it just fine to go into debt to support wars "helping" people who don't want our help? Why don't our representatives see the strength in numbers? Get everyone on the system and it lowers the cost for everyone.

With everyone covered and paying a reasonable premium, the system will be self-supporting and the insurance companies will still make a reasonable profit with no addition to the deficit.

They aren't listening because they don't want to give up their lucrative "payoffs" from the racketeers who are really running the country and raking in huge profits while the rest of us struggle to support their lifestyles.

What is right and fair and just should not be decided by people who are paid off or people who are shouting the loudest. We are sinking, America, and no matter how hard Barack Obama tries to lift us above our current idiocy, the idiots are working overtime to keep us down there. Why they want this is totally beyond me.

It is just plain wrong for our representatives, all of them, red or blue, not to give the people a decent health-care system. And no, the Canadians are not unhappy with their health-care system regardless of all the propaganda. Just ask a Canadian, any Canadian ... they think we are totally nuts.

N.K. Mason
482 Milford Lane
Fort Valley
Nov. 9, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

In spite of personal concerns, global warming, terrorist threats, recent elections and increased property taxes, I have a wonder-full Blue-and-Green-Day.

I feel unaccountably blessed, filled with a sense of well-being and peace, and my heart swells with gratitude. I breathe fresh air, drink clear water, eat nutritious food, sleep in a comfortable shelter, wear adequate clothing, have enough money to pay bills and also a bit more to share.

Would that everyone could say the same. And so I am pondering about the challenges, problems and solutions our leading more simplified and satisfying lives in this age of technocracy.

I remember the book "Everything I Needed to Know I learned in Kindergarten." The author cited the Golden Rule as the one, simple, basic law that encompasses every aspect of human behavior: "Treat others as you wish to be treated." Think about that.

We would not be cheating on, stealing from, or killing one another for any reason at all. There would be no motive for harming another, no need to label our actions as political, religious, or patriotic. We would be careful to be respectful, considerate and tolerant of differences while caring for self and family and minding our own business.

I believe our business is to cherish and mentor the children and to always aspire, to work and create, to discover and invest ways and means to build community in helping others.

Somewhere I've read that "we are spiritual beings having a human experience." For me, the plus on this life journey is trust and faith in the God of history to keep order in the universe, its parade of seasons and day following night, to enable innate resilience of body and mind to heal and always to create something good and right from the awful stuff that happens.

May "this one is for you" -- a four-star moment, hour or day.

ELIZABETH TRUESDALE
468 Virginia St.
Strasburg
Nov. 6, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Your foreign policy/military editorials continue to miss the mark. Specifically, your Nov. 4 "Our Man in Kabul" concludes that "unless Karzai undergoes a swift leadership conversion, the U.S. needs to lower its sights and rethink its Afghan strategy. The Karzai we've come to know isn't worth more American money and blood."

Fact is whether Karzai undergoes a "swift leadership conversion" or not, he will never be worth a single drop of American blood. He's pretty irrelevant to the broader question you are getting at: What's to be done in Afghanistan?

If you want to support the White House in attacking/reshaping U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, wants to "lower our sights ... rethink our strategy," you should examine hard issues:

* In the wake of the Sept. 11 massacre, was President Bush wrong to announce that the United States must "drain the swamp" that produces attacks on America?

* Were the Democrats wrong when they held that the real war on terrorism was in Afghanistan (not in Iraq)?

* Will our efforts in Afghanistan be helped by ignoring commanding Gen. McChrystal's recommendations?

* What impact will "lowering our sights" and abandoning our allies have on the security of that region, on the security of the United States? Do you believe in the "war on terror," believe that violent jihad is possible in the United States?

You state that McChrystal's call for 40,000 "smacks of nation-building." Instead I'd say that "nation-building" smacks of the top priorities you place on ending government corruption, poppy-growing and other bad political and cultural habits, ingrained forever. Indeed, it is your desire to have some anti-Karzai leader play a credible "Our Man in Kabul" that smacks of "nation-building."

Fine. While we are mopping up, let's work to make this Afghan government savory and supportive. Let's build schools and encourage women's integration in politics and the economy. But let's not be shocked by Afghan facts of life that go back to the days of Alexander the Great. Above all, let's not be led around by them but develop a policy based upon the examination of real issues.

Richard W. Hoover
419 Liberty Hall Road
Front Royal
Nov. 5, 2009

While more liberal Democrats balked, they nevertheless supported the bill, which is touted to extend coverage to 36 million people who lack insurance. It requires most individuals to have coverage and most big companies to offer it to workers. Subsidies would aid people with lower incomes and smaller businesses. The bill also includes a government-run insurance plan although only a small slice of the nation would have access to it.

Although the House bill is more comprehensive -- covering 96 percent of the population -- than what Senate committees have endorsed, it is also more expensive ($1.1 trillion over 10 years) and lacks key provisions to rein in ever rising health-care costs.

The House bill is paid for through savings in Medicare, fees and taxes on the richest, but, to assuage labor unions, it retains the income tax exclusion on expensive health-insurance plans. Absent that subsidy, according to health economists, companies would have an incentive to buy cheaper, better-run insurance plans, which over time would drive down health-care costs.

The Senate bills, which include the "Cadillac tax" on insurance polices, also would create a commission to set Medicare payment rates based on economics -- what care works best -- rather than politics. House Democrats rejected that approach as an intrusion on their turf. Both measures "bend the curve" of medical costs and should be included in the final bill.

The Senate, which is only now moving to take up the issue, has many contentious issues to negotiate to forge a majority, but with substantive health-care reform so close to fruition, it has a major incentive to reach the goal.

Continuing with "belief systems":

In order to maintain a belief structure, one must constantly maintain a source of validation. This comes in the form of mainstream views, political affiliation and religious dogma, none of which requires meaningful self-improvement.

Belief structures are problematic since the majority of modern belief structures are not of one's own creating but that of corporate interests. The corporate influences on belief structures are conditioned into us at the youngest of ages and continue relentlessly during all the developing years. Therefore it's difficult to find truly "free thinkers" as the masses are kept in a herd mentality. Anything outside those bounds is taboo or socially unacceptable.

Few ever dismantle their belief structure because to do so is uncomfortable. The mainstay of belief structures is comfort, and that's what corporations offer, though not sustainably and not according to universal law.

The mind runs deeper than our conscious lets on. It knows when certain facts threaten our beliefs. Thus it goes on the defensive or into outright denial. What corporations and belief structures cannot guarantee is that they are spiritually honest in the long term.

Topics avoided by the mainstream media -- hence, corporate interests -- require thinking and research, two things belief assists in avoiding. Essentially, your belief structure disallows you to truly think for yourself. It also requires daily validations, as opposed to spiritual knowing.

The "official" explanation regarding 9/11, when truly pondered, is physically impossible. But it's comfortable believing the government's there to protect you. Research shows government has no qualms about killing its own citizens. Your beliefs therefore permit the very things you cannot believe, by your very refusal to examine them. Disregarding facts in exchange for comfortable beliefs is exactly how Nazi Germany arose, and it's how America is currently being undermined from within. To not research this is to not act. To not act is to forfeit your freedom to evil.

If the crimes committed by the Bush administration go unpunished, it is from your own inaction. This allows the crimes to continue, no matter what party may be in power.

Believe it, or not.

Roy Andrew Stokes
687 Woodville Road
Maurertown
Nov. 5, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Earlier this month, I wrote the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to challenge unneeded and expensive regulations requiring professional testing for home septic systems.

Specifically, I questioned new VDH regulations requiring so-called prophylactic testing for home systems handling less than 1,000 gallons a day. While all of us share the goal of safe drinking and ground water, these regulations appear to be an administrative overreach -- especially given that the cost of up to $1,000 doesn't appear to advance that laudable objective.

The regulations presume the need for the expensive professional testing even when regular maintenance fails to show any need for it and even though use of these Alternative Onsite Sewage Systems (AOSS) has been approved by VDH, based on their demonstrated effectiveness.

The approach encompassed in the new rules runs counter to our tradition of relying on citizen action unless the need for government intervention is conclusively proven. That's not the case here.

Virginia homeowners are having enough trouble making ends meet without new and burdensome regulations that do not further the goal of improving public health.

I will continue to stand up for my constituents by pushing VDH to demonstrate the need for these new rules and, preferably, to withdraw them.

Interested persons should contact Allen Knapp, director, Division of Onsite Sewage, Water Supplies, VHD, 109 Governor St., 5th Floor, Richmond 23210. His e-mail is: allen.knapp@vdh.virginia.gov.

DEL. Bob Marshall
13th Legislative District
P.O. Box 421
Manassas

Oct. 21, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

My husband, daughter and I were asked to volunteer at Signal Knob School to peel apples for the Strasburg Chapter of the FFA.

We gathered our apple peeler and paring knives and headed for the agriculture building. By the way, it is an impressive facility.

We were really surprised at what we observed. The students were like worker bees. They were hauling apples, coring, peeling, washing and mashing apples in a flurry of activity.

We found our place at a table and we began peeling. We would no sooner fill our bowl and a student would snatch it up and deliver the apple slices to be washed,

It was so refreshing to see young people on a Friday night having so much fun working. We enjoyed being a part of something so positive. The students we worked with were polite, friendly, energetic and focused about their apple butter project. They appeared to enjoy the cleaning up process, too.

Jaclyn Roller, adviser to the ag department, has made a positive impact on these young people. She is a delightful young woman and she helps to prepare them for their future endeavors.

The students were excited that a team would be at Belle Grove at 4 a.m. the next morning to build fires and start the apple butter boiling. What stamina.

We are proud that Carl has chosen to be a member of FFA, just as his father, Brian, did years ago. Also, we are proud of our ag program at Signal Knob.

And we hope that we will be invited back next year to help peel apples.

MARY ANN WILLIAMS
9760 Middle Road
Strasburg

Nov. 9, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

After reading about global warming belief waning in the U.S. (Oct. 23 issue), I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. To laugh because old Earth is just going to keep on getting hotter and the ice is going to keep on melting whether we believe it or not. To cry because of the abysmal ignorance that both allows and encourages such disbelief and lets us blissfully ignore the disaster that is barreling down on us.

You doubt? Better read Hemingway's "Snows of Kilimanjaro" soon. In six or seven years there won't be any snow left on Mt. Kilimanjaro and the book will be meaningless. The natives who have depended on the runoff from the snow for subsistence for thousands of years will, like millions of others, become refugees.

Better visit Glacier National Park soon. By 2030 the 27 remaining glaciers will be completely gone. One of the park rangers has suggested renaming it "Puddle National Park." Within two to three years the Arctic Ocean will be open to shipping in the summer and arctic species extinctions will accelerate. None of this is happening without global warming.

If we meet the world's present goals (not commitments) to cut carbon emissions, the best models predict a 6 degree F increase in temperature by 2100 and about a two-meter rise in sea level. The island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, which are already in trouble, as well as the Marshall Islands, will disappear. Florida will become a series of small islands. Much of Washington, D.C., and New York will be under water. These are the small problems.

There will be tens to hundreds of millions of refugees from Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, China and other countries with highly populated coastal plains. Unless their engineers can hold out another two meters of the North Sea, the Netherlands will be history. But these aren't our problems -- yet.

Disbelief in global warming is an option, but it won't prevent it. Ask people in Bangladesh and other countries who are already refugees because of severe flooding from excess runoff from melting Asian glaciers. They believe.

Al VanDeGriek
P.O. Box 67
Basye

Oct. 29, 2009

The unemployment figure was widely expected at some point to top 10 percent, but its arrival was a fresh blow for Americans struggling to make ends meet and especially for those without jobs. Not since the early 1980s has the jobless rate been so high.

The pain is even more severe under a broader measure: The underemployment rate -- including workers who have given up looking for jobs and those working part-time because they can't find full-time jobs -- stands at 17.5 percent, probably the highest since the Great Depression.

Those statistics are cold comfort, however, and belie other measures showing that the recession is over and that the economy grew at a 3.5 annualized rate between July and September. It had shrunk 6.5 percent in the first quarter when companies shed an average of 645,000 jobs a month.

Most economics expect the unemployment rate to begin falling next year as recovery takes root and businesses, always leery of adding workers in sluggish times, begin hiring again.

Recovery can't come soon enough for Americans, who in two years have seen 7 million jobs disappear along with, in many cases, their homes, savings and dreams. Even those with jobs endure sacrifice and worry although that pales by comparison with the losses of the most adversely affected.

The straits would be much more dire without the aggressive action of the federal government: the Obama administration's massive stimulus package, most of which has yet to take effect, and the innovative actions by the Federal Reserve.

While President Obama inherited the Great Recession and has striven to ameliorate its effects, he's been office long enough that the economy, for better or worse, is his. He and other incumbents will be held to account.

The State Water Control Board late last month approved the change, establishing controls for "end users" of poultry litter, mostly farmers, who use it as fertilizer and even as feed for cattle. Previously, only litter used by poultry farmers was regulated, allowing up to 80 percent of the waste in Virginia to evade regulation as growers sold or moved it to neighboring, "off-site" farms, according to Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble.

The new standards set limits on the rate that litter is applied to land, establish buffer zones for streams and sinkholes and require waste to be properly stored. With tough economic times hitting the industry, the state also took into account growers' concerns by reducing the burden of record-keeping.

The amendment arises from a 1999 regulation that placed limits and reporting requirements on the spreading of poultry waste, which along with other forms of runoff is considered a factor in the degradation of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. There's a growing market for poultry litter because of its low cost and its effectiveness as a source of nitrogen and phosphorous.

Poultry farms in the Valley generate about 500,000 tons of waste each year, and growers have recognized the pollution problem and taken steps to contain it. According to the Virginia Poultry Federation, they have built litter storage buildings, instituted nutrient management programs and reduced the phosphorous content of litter by 20 percent through the use of the enzyme phytase in feed. Poultry companies have established a litter hotline and marketing program to move the litter away from areas where farms are concentrated.

That kind of voluntary effort, backed up by appropriate regulation, should do much to help the river.

The GOP plan would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and allow small businesses to band together to buy insurance exempt from most state regulation.

Unlike the House Democrats' plan, the Republicans wouldn't require people to buy insurance or employers to offer it. They also envision no expansion of Medicaid or subsidies to help lower-income people purchase insurance. Neither would they bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

The Republican initiative is certainly cheaper than the Democrats' plans, which over 10 years carry price tags of around $900 billion, although offset by savings and new revenue. But the GOP plan makes virtually no dent in the number of Americans without insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that after 10 years 17 percent of the non-elderly population -- about 52 million people -- would lack coverage.

In addition, while the CBO validated Republican claims of lower insurance premiums, the reductions vary depending on whether people get coverage through small or large businesses or buy it themselves. And the lower rates are averages, which suggests a big difference in what the healthy and less healthy would pay. By weakening requirements that insurance cover certain services, the cheapest policies under the Republican plan won't cover much.

While Americans satisfied with the status quo should welcome the GOP plan, the current system, with its millions uninsured, which shifts medical costs onto the insured, and its emphasis on fees for service, which encourages unnecessary and expensive procedures, is unsustainable and demands the substantive change Democrats advocate.

Though a staunch social conservative as a legislator and, to a lesser degree, as attorney general, McDonnell seldom broached such distractions on the hustings, concentrating instead on jobs, transportation and schools. And he stuck to his message with a practiced unflappability and genial disposition that exuded confidence.

McDonnell's poise was in blatant contrast to Creigh Deeds, his Democratic opponent. The senator from Bath County struggled to connect with voters in Northern Virginia, the mother lode for successful Democratic candidates in the Old Dominion. Despite a strong boost from The Washington Post's editorial page, Deeds was vague about solutions to the region's traffic congestion before finally endorsing higher transportation taxes, a stance that bombed in other parts of the Old Dominion.

Rather than articulating a positive vision of a Deeds administration, the Democrat seized on McDonnell's old master's thesis, which espoused old-fashioned social conventions mostly disavowed by McDonnell, as proof of his foe's cloaked radical persona. Deeds' harping left him with an image as a negative campaigner.

Deeds was also ambivalent about President Obama, whose ambitious agenda has rankled Virginians but whose young supporters, so crucial to his carrying Virginia in last year's presidential election, Deeds needed. Most of them stayed home Tuesday while the Republican base flocked to the polls.

McDonnell's victory and the defeat of Democratic Gov. John Corzine in New Jersey buoy the GOP faithful, who nevertheless remain deeply divided over the direction of the party. McDonnell's winning strategy belies the mantra of GOP purists.

The skills McDonnell displayed on the campaign trail must now be transferred to the more onerous task of governing and fulfilling those campaign pledges in an inhospitable economy.

Sir:

H.R. 45 -- another czarist approach to socializing government. The bill is really about guns or no guns. If this legislation becomes law, we will all be adversely affected.

Listen to the language. The sponsor uses the term "trafficking in firearms," throughout the bill. Benign? I think not. Just listen to the evening news. "Today, law enforcement officials arrested, Bla for trafficking" in stolen cars, prostitution, illegal drugs, etc. We don't say trafficking in milk or chain saws.

Why do they want to put a criminal taint on the legal sale of firearms. The bill states that the government feels it must control the "trafficking" between dealer and citizens (not criminals) and between citizens and citizens.

The fact is that the real data about gun violence will not support legitimate efforts to modify or abolish our Second Amendment rights. The legislation also has language to pursue unwarranted searches of our homes, a protection found in the Fourth Amendment.

This legislation is giving the attorney general unprecedented latitude to decide what a violation of the act is. Insidious creep.

Strong language in the bill reflects its dangerous intent.

You're going to pay fees on guns that you have already paid taxes on. They want to retro a tax on guns you bought up to two years ago. This county has long taught hunting and shooting sports to our children.

Professor Bellesile is wrong. This act will forbid you from so much as showing a gun to a young person under the age of 18. And the criminal penalties, daunting. You will need a license to by a gun and to sell a gun. The U.S. government will have to approve every transaction.

And when you make application to the feds for your license, you will have to provide a signature releasing your medical records. And after all of this, the attorney general, at his discretion, may inspect how you store that gun. I don't know about you, but mine are stored in "my house"

Read it, folks. Call your representatives. Remind them that you vote.

JOHN R. AUSTIN
308 Dragoon Court
Cross Junction
Oct. 15, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

Craig D'Angelo, a police officer trying to supplement his family's income, saw an ad on TV for owning his own lucrative high-tech business and dialed the 800 number on the screen.

Jim Vitale, the telemarketer on the other end of the phone, told D'Angelo how he could hop on the cusp of a business revolution, owning and operating Internet kiosks. D'Angelo took out a second mortgage on his house, bought two machines, set up the terminals and started his business.

Vitale was making $50,000 in one month -- but not from the business he was luring D'Angelo into. He was profiting off the bogus pitches themselves, selling products to unsuspecting victims.

The two men are featured in a Web video from the Federal Trade Commission, warning consumers about business opportunity scams.

Virginia has a Business Opportunity Sales Act. The statute provides criminal penalties for violations which are enforceable by the local commonwealth's attorneys. The statute also provides for private rights of action for injured parties.

To avoid business opportunity scams:

• Resist the urge to make hurried decisions.

• Get real in-person references, not fake ones that may be in cahoots with the fraudster.

• Obtain disclosure documents and earnings claims.

• See the set-up. Don't just take someone's word for it over the phone.

• Don't just take a business rating's word for it. For instance, the company that D'Angelo was suckered into had no complaints filed against them with the Better Business Bureau.

"The best advice I can give anyone considering a business opportunity over the phone," Vitale says now, is to be quick to say "no" and slow to say "yes."

Every year thousands of people lose millions of their hard-earned dollars to con artists selling fraudulent business opportunities. If you fear you have been scammed, contact the FTC at (877) FTC-HELP or www.ftc.gov.

BILL MIMS
Attorney General
900 E. Main St.
Richmond
Oct. 1, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

In the article "State seeks $300 million to improve rail, remove trucks from Interstate 81" (Oct. 14 issue), no mention is made of Rail Solution's vision to remove trucks from the same Interstate but on a much broader scale.

Rail Solution is an organization of residents and communities in the I-81 corridor whose goal is the removal of not 15 percent, as the article states, but 60 percent of long-haul trucks running between Harrisburg, Pa., and Knoxville, Tenn.

To date 53 governmental organizations in the Virginia-Tennessee I-81 corridor, including Shenandoah and Warren counties, have endorsed the Rail Solution plan of action.

The goal is achievable by means of roll-on/roll-off technology that is capable of accommodating any tractor-trailer combination. Here the driver guides his vehicle onto waiting flatbed rail cars easily modified for the purpose. Once secured, the driver goes to a car at the rear of the train for relaxation and required rest, thereby removing the threat of accidents due to fatigue. At the conclusion of the journey rig and driver exit the train together.

The simple, practical and elegant beauty of this system is that, among other advantages, it is cost and time competitive with vehicles on the road and demands far less loading and unloading space than massive port and inland terminals now in use or contemplated for the future.

It also allows for shorter trains to be run at much higher speeds, especially as track improvements are made and grade crossings eliminated. And the cost of putting such a system in place is less expensive than VDOT's active plan of widening I-81 with all the delays, congestion and pollution such widening will cause.

Rail Solution is seeking federal funding for a $2 million study that will demonstrate the value of what is known as the "Steel Interstate." Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia's 9th Congressional District has indicated his strong desire to push for such funding provided the request for it comes through the Virginia Secretary of Transportation. To date no such request has been made.

It's anyone's guess as to why this has not been forthcoming.

Walter D. Clark
Treasurer
Rail Solution
P.O. Box 2
Maurertown
Oct. 18, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

There's good news and bad, Gene Rigelon Good news: Worldwide depopulation is in high gear. Bad news: Americans are just as expendable as Third Worlders.

While America's puppet, the U.N., gave awards to Indian officials who "encouraged" depopulation by bulldozing shanty towns and forcing the poor to undergo sterilization if they wished to have another place to live (1984), more finesse is used here.

Here women are enticed into believing that a two-bit career in the Wacky Widget Corp. has much deeper meaning than raising the next generation of human beings. Poor men, without the responsibilities marriage imposes, just seem to wallow in perpetual adolescence. Their morals, corrupted in government schools (sex ed), mean marriage offers no special incentives anyway. Most who do marry typically break up. Result: more abortions, fewer children and messed-up kids from broken homes.

Apparently, social engineering didn't produce enough depopulation because the government resorted to fluoridating water systems. What isn't widely revealed is that fluoride is a poison derived from aluminum refining, not a cavity fighter. Isn't it rather bizarre the way officials today can predict the number of future Alzheimer's cases, for a disease that was almost unheard of 40 years ago?

Chemtrails are regularly spewed into the skies above Front Royal by the U.S. Air Force. Chemtrails contain barium salts, aluminum salts, fungi and the fibrous filaments that cause Morgellons disease. This program -- a combo weather control, population control, enemy control scheme costing trillions -- has been polluting America's air since 1999. It caused respiratory death statistics to shoot from No. 8 (1999) to almost No. 3 (2004). Impressive. It has links to cancer, asthma and heart disease too.

Finally, we get to Frankenstein: Monsanto and its genetically modified foods, which kill animals (fast). But don't worry. Monsanto's friends at the FDA assure us these Frankenfoods are fine for humans and require no warning label on the thousands of GMO products (lest people avoid them?).

So eat, drink, breathe and be merry, for tomorrow we die, Gene, guaranteed so if we turn our "health" care over to the very people who want us dead.

Sandra O'Gorman
203 Lee St.
Front Royal
Oct. 19, 2009

Editor
Northern Virginia Daily

Sir:

My thanks to Richard Kapf of Winchester for his wonderful letter on Jody Bradley (Oct. 10 issue).

You said in your letter what a lot of us have been thinking since the tragedy happened. You did an excellent job on your write-up.

BETTY F. STULTZ
3549 St. Luke Road
Woodstock
Oct. 15, 2009

The first round in August, which Karzai won, was so tainted by corruption and irregularities that he was pressured by the international community into agreeing to a runoff. But that fell through when the challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew, convinced that the new election would also be unfair.

The Obama administration, which had touted the election as a sign of progress in a war-torn land deemed crucial to American security in the campaign against Islamic terrorism, is now stuck with Karzai, a slim reed at best but now perhaps fatally tarnished.

Obama, who has been wrestling with a new military strategy in Afghanistan, admonished Karzai to "move boldly and forcefully forward" with reforms to curb rampant corruption and the drug trade that fuel the Taliban insurgency.

Whether Karzai is so inclined is doubtful, however. Since being installed as president after the rout of the Taliban in 2001, he's turned a blind eye to corruption -- his brother and one of his running mates have been implicated in the opium trade and he reinstated a warlord accused of war crimes -- and has achieved little progress in improving the livelihood and security of his people.

While Obama augmented U.S. forces by 21,000 to "secure the election," his Afghanistan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is seeking an additional 40,000 troops to wage a counter-insurgency campaign, which smacks of "nation-building." But such an enterprise is doomed without a reliable partner government in Kabul.

Unless Karzai undergoes a swift leadership conversion, the U.S. needs to lower its sights and rethink its Afghan strategy. The Karzai we've come to know isn't worth more American money and blood.