Below The Beltway

Sports Illustrated is out with it’s 2007 College Football Bowl Projections.
The most intriguing, Rutgers vs. Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

The incomparable Billie Holiday

Apparently, our entire universe is nothing more that a giant cosmic doughnut:
 WASHINGTON — Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That’s got them scratching their heads about what’s just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is [...]

Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether Michael Vick actually did anything that deserves jail time, I think the National Football League was entirely justified in it’s decision to ban him:
(CNN) — The National Football League has indefinitely suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick without pay, officials with the league said Friday.
Earlier, Vick [...]

Drudge and other sources are reporting rumors that Fidel Castro has died.
The Cuban Government is, of course, denying these rumors.
Since I have other activities planned for Saturday, his immediate death would be inconvenient.
Unless, of course, I could locate a ready supply of champagne and cigars.

In this case, it’s responsibility for the abusive driver fees, which have clearly become the biggest political football in Virginia in some years.
As Brian Kirwin at Bearing Drift reminds us, though, the vote in the General Assembly approving the final transportation package was 85-15:
While the Democrats pretend how against abuser fees they are now, [...]

I’ve been away from the blog today, and noticed I got home this evening that there appeared to be something causing it to switch to the Wordpress default theme.
Not sure what that is, but I think it might have something to do with the Comedy Central video embed that I posted this morning. I deleted [...]

While Virginia’s abusive driver fees have been getting a lot of attention, there’s another new tax is sneaking under the radar. Starting in October, recipients of child support in Virginia will have to pay $ 25 per year to help reduce the federal deficit:
In October, Virginia’s Child Support Enforcement department will start collecting an annual [...]

It’s been more than thirty years since the Viking landers visited Mars, but a scientist in Germany said today that there is evidence of microbal life in the soil samples they collected:
LONDON, England (Reuters) — The soil on Mars may contain microbial life, according to a new interpretation of data first collected more than 30 [...]

Today, Republican leaders in Richmond announced their plans to reform the abusive driver fees law when the legislature convenes in January:
RICHMOND, Aug 23 — The top Republicans in the General Assembly tried to salvage Virginia’s abusive-driver fees Thursday by pledging to overhaul them when the legislature convenes in January, but the nation’s leading motorist [...]