If you are a Virginia resident sign it. Next we need to vote these clowns out of office. The candidate who runs against Rep. Albo is getting a check from me. (He's not my rep but I can send money).

http://www.petitiononline.com/va3202/petition.html

 

Signed. Thanks Chris!

 

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-89...dp-widget-news


Translation: We the citizens are too stupid to understand the laws.

They are paying attention.

 

Wish I could sign that a hundred times.

 

If you really want to change this law, there is a lot you can do beyond signing an on-line petition. At a minimum, find out how your own elected officials voted on this, and hold them accountable. Write a short letter to your state Senators and Delegates. Make it polite, and use some of the existing good arguments against the fines. Send it by snail mail and e-mail. You could reqest a meeting with them, so they can explain their vote to you and a small group of people you will bring along. Be sure to keep things civil, as it's easy to discount thugs, but harder to ignore voters.

Maybe we should invite Dave Albo to a MSCW meeting (guaranteeing his safety, of course) to explain his sponsorship of these penalties and why he is representing our best interests.

You can also send individual letters to other senators and delegates, particularly those on the Transportation committees. Write letters to the editors of the local papers to make people aware of the issues and build popular support for a change. Such letters can make a broad range of arguments including those based on fairness, constitutional, and legal issues, as well as appeal to reader's emotions about the economic devastation this will create for many young drivers and their parents.

Information such as the names of your representatives, how to contact them, and how they voted, can be found starting here: http://legis.state.va.us

Or, everyone could just keep quiet and stock up on Vaseline.

 

I REALLY like that idea. What can we do to go about and make this a reality? How can we get the ball rolling on this? I'm actually even more in favor of a "Town Hall" meeting or something of the like where large #s of citizens (ie voters) can voice their opinions and concerns, and hold these so-called "representatives" (who aren't representing us in JACK) accountable for what they're doing (or in many cases the lack thereof).

~Ramy

 

I wasn't completely joking about that, and could try to get him, under certain conditions--which I'm still formulating...

1. There should be a few others of his constituents among the requestors.
2. We have to agree not to stage an auto da fé, stoning, or any other type of public execution or bad behaviour. Everyone must agree to remain civil and no rudeness would be allowed. No letting the air out of his tires afterwards, either. I don't know the best way to ensure this yet, but it is absolutely necessary. There might need to be some preregistration of attendees, and designated "bouncers."
3. It would be helpful if we did some homework on the issues beforehand, to know what he will say and what we will ask (as if preparing for a debate).

What do you think? When should this take place?

 

I'm all for the idea... but I'd imagine in such a situation they would be very particular about the location (for security purposes). And timing depends on who's attending (if it's just him vs if this is a larger event, say a panel of representatives in a town hall-ish type of meeting - which I would prefer). B/c the # of representatives and thus the number of constituents would dictate what kind of realistic lead time we would need to organize something in a very logical and professional fashion.