Thursday Links – 07-23-2009

Honesty … Is Such A Lonely Word (archived: 2015)

Maybe this is fantasy; maybe realtors need to embellish the property up to make the seller happy.  Maybe it’s too much to ask that realtors act as if they have nothing to gain or lose.  Maybe agents simply can’t help themselves from telling me to trust them, rather than showing me why I should.

Americans and Hard Times

Hard times? Those were hard times. And that’s how Americans back then got through them. They relied on family and neighbors and themselves, making incredible personal sacrifices as a matter of course. It takes a village? My ass. It took rugged individuals who helped those who helped themselves. Their hard core sense of self reliance, responsibility, duty to family and those in need was fierce. Wanna know what was missing?

A sense of entitlement and moral relativism. Even those showing up at Grandma’s door, later on during the actual Depression, in Vista, California, would refuse even a sparse meal of scraps unless they could do something, anything to earn their way. The worst of it though was when, “We literally didn’t have anything to share — then being thanked for our kind hospitality.”

It’s a shame that Gov. Kaine’s travel is politicized. Couldn’t both parties have demanded transparency and honesty?

The records show that from March 5 to the end of June, Kaine spent all or part of 30 days outside Virginia on DNC business, including trips to New York, Chicago, Boston and California. Kaine’s state police security detail has spent a little more than $7,515 on expenses while protecting the governor as he traveled for the party, according to the records. Kaine said in June that the DNC would reimburse the state for those costs.

Thanks for the brilliant and succinct cartoon/commentary, Hugh (archived: 2013).

(archived: 2011)

Train service coming to Charlottesville. (h/t cvillenews)

At MPO Mtg, Stephen Williams reports new daily AMTRAK passenger train service to DC will have its grand opening September 29, 2009.