In this veritable cornucopia of randomness I update everyone on the table games bill’s progress, Senator Hall, Jim Lewis, and the newest West Virginia blogger.
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The table games bill passed Senate Finance on Thursday with one amendment by Senator Vic Sprouse (R-Kanawha) that increases the tax rate on revenues from 35 to 36 percent. As the State Journal reports, “The revenues from that extra 1 percent will be dedicated to a special fund. For now the fund is undefined, but Sprouse said it is his hope that the fund will grow enough money to help reduce West Virginia’s dependency on revenues from limited video lottery machines, the so-called ‘corner casinos.’”
According to our calculations, an additional $1.5 million will be raised.
The bill has already cleared the House. Since it was heavily edited in the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as Finance, the Senate version is likely to be rejected by the House, sending it to a conference committee.
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On Wednesday a humorous incident occurred on the Senate Floor that left the good-natured Senator Mike Hall (R-Putnam) red faced and on his back. As he stood to make a speech, he tripped on his microphone’s cord and fell back into his chair, tipping it backward and into Senator Frank Deem’s (R-Wood) desk. The force of the fall was so hard, it knocked Deem’s heavy desk completely over and spilled his glass of water all over him.
Senator Deem’s remark was that of all his years in the Senate that was the first time something like that has ever happened. I’m sure Hall is mortified to be in Deem’s record book.
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Speaking of Hall, most Fridays lobbyists and staffers alike are charmed by his clear voice and guitar. The Senator enjoys grabbing his guitar out of the corner of his office when he is able and strumming a hymn or two for the entertainment of all those within earshot. He was once joined by the deep voice of Senator Shirley Love (D-Fayette). The Everly Brothers they’re not, but we’ll keep the West Wing troubadour anyway.
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The so-called Reverend, Jim Lewis, has made it back into the newspapers by breaking the law. Like a child who cannot get his way, Lewis sat on the floor of Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito’s Charleston office and refused to leave when he could not schedule a meeting with her.
When the police asked Lewis to leave, he crossed his arms, held his breath and shook his head. I don’t know what Lewis’ Bible says, but mine clearly states in Romans 13:1-2:
“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”
The powers that be had to drag Lewis out and cite him. Good thing for Lewis that West Virginia doesn’t sentence him to damnation like God does: he now has to either pay a $50 fine or do a day of community service.
The president of the local hippie chapter, the Patriots for Peace, told the court that his trespassing was completely acceptable because President Bush supposedly trespassed in Iraq. If two wrongs make a right, let’s hope Lewis’ twisted mind doesn’t think that Bush is a murderer because he’ll be shooting Capito’s offices up next.
Believe it or not, this is the relatively nice side of Lewis. I’ve faced the nasty, threatening side that promised to dog my every step until he found me. What was my crime? I called him a “liberal.” Now in his latest blog entry Lewis admits he is one.
Ahh, good times!
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West Virginia has a new blogger whose focus is a little different that the others. Phillips Kolsun heads up presidential2008blog.com that — you guessed it — addresses the 2008 presidential election. Check out his site and leave a comment or two.
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Comments
Hi William,
Thank our good Lord that our founders didn’t get to that part in the New Testament. If they had do you think the debate in the Continental Congress would have ended with us paying back taxes plus penalties to the Crown of England?
Charlie
Hi Charlie! I haven’t heard from you in a while.
That’s a good point and it certainly was debated heavily at the time. As I’m sure you know, a faction did say that rebellion against the King of England was against God’s order. That may be why the founders wrote this in Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
The difference between Jim Lewis and our founders is one broke the law in protest that he was not going to get an audience with Capito — a minor matter — but the United-States-to-be fought England because it was “destructive of these ends,” i.e. “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
No matter ones opinion on the point in general, you cannot honestly believe Lewis’ grievance is equal to the founder’s. In 1776, our foundling country stood up to a tyrannical government that ceased to provide for the needs of its citizens. Lewis is hardly as noble.
What do you think of this heat that’s been going on around here?