Better than June 6 of last year, I guess . . .

This morning, AOL carried a story about the “abuser fee” funding mechanism in the recently-passed transportation bill (lead paragraph on the story, which originally appeared in USA Today: “Virginia is for lovers, or so the state slogan has declared since 1969. Starting today, Virginia also will be the home of the $3,000 traffic ticket.”)

So it’s official: once again the nation’s eyes turn toward the Old Dominion, and don’t quite believe what they see. As was the case a few years ago with the “Droopy Drawers” bill, which  would have made a criminal of “Any person who, while in a public place, intentionally wears and displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person’s intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner,” we’re on our way toward the national spotlight, and not in a good way. Next stop, Jay Leno.

There’s a difference, though: while the “Droopy Drawers” bill kind of flew under the radar until it hit the late-night shows, the abuser fees are an intentional self-inflicted wound. They were designed to plug a huge hole on the revenue side of the transportation package without bringing up the dreaded “T” word. (The Kaine administration deserves credit for insisting on bringing the proposal’s original pie-in-the-sky revenue projections back closer to the reality-based world.)

Well, then, why did so many of us vote for the fees? (The vote on final passage of HB 3202 was 85-15.) Mainly because omnibus legislation is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition: you don’t get to pick and choose among the good, the bad, and the ugly. For a lot of us from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, the separate regional transportation plans that were included in HB 3202 (both of which, incidentally, are funded with Real Money) were so crucial to our corners of the Commonwealth that we held our noses and voted for the bill.

With the growing furor over the abuser fees, a number of leaders have announced that the issue is likely to be “revisited” next year. Unless there’s a major change of mindset between now and then (think November 6), we’ll see a scramble to come up with some new alternative “out-of-the-box” revenue source to fund transportation. My guess: bake sales.

Today seems to be the 50th anniversary of the Frisbee. Or rather, the 50th anniversary of Wham-O, Inc. renaming the “Pluto Platter” the “Frisbee.”

Also, happy Father’s Day to all my fellow Dads.

On this Memorial Day weekend, it’s appropriate that the most famous building in the 48th District should get the attention it deserves.

What the world needs now is more lawyers. Eliza P. Brink, 25, will do her part to address that shortfall when she graduates from the University of California Hastings College of the Law this weekend. Hooray!

NPR’s Marketplace program, which usually deals with commodities like hedge funds, stock portfolios, and the price of steel in China, last week turned its attention to Virginia’s Wild West campaign finance system (basically, anybody can give as much as they want to anybody, as long as they disclose it). Featured were Republican consultant Ray Allen (who speaks admiringly of the Virginia way of doing business), 2005 Attorney General candidate Creigh Deeds (who suggests that one reason for his 360-vote loss in the AG race may have been the gazillion dollars that came flooding into the state for his opponent in the final weeks of the campaign), and Delegate Brian Moran (who patroned a bill this session to close one of the Virginia system’s infinite number of loopholes).

Virginia campaign finance junkies can hear it all  here, and NPR junkies can finally see in print how Kai Ryssdal spells his name.

This may be the biggest week in the history of the Virginia Capitol since . . . well, since it wasn’t burned to the ground in the final days of the Civil War. At the beginning of the week, we celebrated the reopening of the Capitol after a two-year renovation and restoration. Monday night was a black-tie reception, and Tuesday we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the South Portico. The weather was perfect, and the remarks included a few choice words from a Thomas Jefferson re-enactor (how’s that for a niche profession?). You can see an interactive tour of the old-and-improved Capitol here.

And today Queen Elizabeth II will address a joint session of the General Assembly as part of her United States tour commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown landing (I guess there are no hard feelings about the whole independence thing). In preparation for her visit, the Clerk of the House distributed a memo setting out “Royal Protocol Information.” Among the Do’s: “When the Queen enters a room, everyone stands.” Among the Don’t’s: “It is not proper to ask The Queen for an autograph or ask to have one’s picture taken with The Queen or any member of the Royal family.” (There goes that campaign brochure shot . . .)

A Senator of my acquaintance noted that the memo on appropriate behavior went only to the members of the House, not the Senate. It was suggested that that was because the Senate already regards itself as royalty.

If you didn’t have a chance to hear the debate between 34th District Democratic candidates Margi Vanderhye and Rip Sullivan on Lowell and Ben’s BlogTalkRadio show tonight, you can get pointed to it here as soon as it’s up. What you’ll hear is a valuable discussion (skillfully moderated by my blogmate) between two articulate, thoughtful, experienced individuals. Both of them fit the district like a glove and speak to the issues that its citizens are concerned about. It’s a shame only one of them will win the nomination on June 12, but it’s clear that the voters will be the winners either way. Don’t miss it!

Reading their stories makes you appreciate again how they enriched Virginia Tech and our Commonwealth.

Did you ever wonder why one of the TVs in the exercise machine room at the gym is always tuned to the Food Channel? (Yesterday’s recipe: Deep-Dish Breakfast Bread Pudding — “You’ll want to use day-old bread, because it soaks up the custard better.”)