Posted by mjcholko on 11/16/09

The Washinton Post reported Sunday on a proposal for the Feds to impose new safety regualtions on subway systems throughout the country.  This is in response to a recent rise in the number of accidents on systems throughout the country. 

From the Post:

The Obama administration will propose that the federal government take over safety regulation of the nation's subway and light-rail systems, responding to what it says is haphazard and ineffective oversight by state agencies.

Under the proposal, the U.S. Department of Transportation would do for transit what it does for airlines and Amtrak: set and enforce federal regulations to ensure that millions of passengers get to their destinations safely. Administration officials said the plan will be presented in coming weeks to Congress, which must approve a change in the law.

The proposal would affect every subway and light-rail system in the country, including large systems in Washington, New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Read the full article here

So the Federal government is going to do a better job than the states?  Uh.........

More importantly though, where would the Feds get the right to regulate intrastate transportation systems?  It looks to me like another Federal Government power grab. 

Posted by mjcholko on 11/06/09

I have been calling Congressmen and Congresswomen for an hour now, and have reached all but one of the Blue Dogs, and my representative, Gerry Connolly.  I asked them all to vote no on HR-3962.  I suggest that you do the same.  Here is what I learned:

Kosmas will vote no.

Langevin will vote yes.

Halvorson will vote yes.

Mollohan likely to vote yes if language is included that bans federal funding of abortion.

I was unable to reach Nye's office.

All others are undecided.

Further, for those of you who don't know, I just finished a campaign for the VA House of Delegates in the 39th District.  I didn't win, but I just now found a new benefit to running for office - the staffer at Congressman Connolly's office recognized my name and said that he would "let the Congressman know that I called."  Now, that doesn't necessarily mean much of anything, but it is a reasonable assumption that my comments are likely to be remembered by that staffer, and maybe they will really be passed along to the Congressman.  It's a better response than the usual "I'll pass your comments along.."  So, its no big deal, but it certainly can't hurt to have my representatives and their staff members aware of who I am.  After all, the Congressman may want to stop me from running against him in the future. 

Posted by mjcholko on 03/17/09

Everyone,

As many of you know, I am now an officer of the Libertarian Party of Northern Virginia.  However, I identified as a Republican for the first 10 years of my life, and voted straight R tickets through the 2008 Virginia primary.  In that primary I proudly voted for Ron Paul.  Shortly thereafter though, I left the Republican party.  I did this because I realized that in 10 years of voting Republican, I had only once voted for someone who actually shared my values.  That one time was my vote for Dr. Paul.  I recalled that Ron Paul ran as a Libertarian for president in 1988 and that he was (and still is) a member of the Libertarian Party, so I decided to check them out.  I went to www.lp.org, and took a look at the platform and I loved what I saw.  I found that the LP was working for the EXACT same things as Ron Paul.  From this initial introduction I came to realize that while some Republicans may share my beliefs, ALL Libertarians do.  I further realized that the Republicans that think like me are usually silenced by party bosses, or are at least quieted by them, but that ALL Libertarians are encouraged to speak the message of liberty as loudly as possible.  As I'm sure you can see, it was an easy switch for me to make.  I joined the LP about a year ago, and I have not looked back since.

I say all of this now because I am aware of a problem taking place with the VA Republican leadership (if you're not aware of the VA Republican leadership fight you can find out more here).  From what I know of Mr. Frederick I believe that he is not too hard on us liberty lovers, but I know that he is not one of us.  So, rather than spending your time and efforts to keep a mediocre Republican leader in his job, I'd like to invite you to support the Libertarian Party, where EVERY leader (and every office holder, and every candidate, and every donor), is a true lover of liberty.  In fact, every Libertarian that I know is a Ron Paul supporter.  I don't think you can say this about hardly any Republican leaders. 

So, please take this opportunity to think about what is most important to you.  Do you want to continue to support mediocre candidates who may pay lip service to your concerns today, but take a different stance tomorrow, or would you rather support candidates who agree with you on almost every issue, almost every time?  If you're leaning towards the second option, I strongly urge you to check out the Libertarian Party.  You can find us at www.lp.org (national), www.lpva.com (Virginia), or www.lpnova.org (Northern Virginia). 

Thank you for your consideration.  I hope that you will at least take the time to visit our websites and become more familiar with the Party of Principle - the Libertarian Party.

In Liberty,

Matthew Cholko

LPNOVA Governing Board, At-Large

mattcholko@hotmail.com
 

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Posted 04/07/09 tom tinker Fairfax, VA

Thanks for your time and efforts in support of American liberties! It is refreshing to know that there are other very intelligent and informed Americans who share in my concern for our liberty and sovereignty. Jeff Frederick is a country club Republican who I see as a big part of the movement, at least in Virginia, to "liberalize" the GOP. Let's get a real liberty-lover in that spot, someone who does not deny that the GOP is no longer the party of small government and individual liberty, and will try to return to the foundations of small-government philosophy.