Blogging Roanoke

New Blog: Roanoke Conservative

2008-02-14T12:29:00.001-08:00

Check out the new Blog in SW Virginia, Roanoke Conservative .

I expect to spend more time posting at this new blog, so check us out !!

OK, Virginia...time to vote on Tues. Feb 12

2008-01-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

VIRGINIA PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

When: Tuesday Feb. 12, polls open from 6 am - 7 PM

Where: Your normal polling place (where you vote each November)

Type: OPEN Primary, Virginia has no registration by party, so ANY registered voter can vote in EITHER the Republican or Democrat primary (but not both). Contrary to an earlier announcement, you will NOT be asked to sign a "loyalty pledge" to vote in the Republican Primary.

The winner of Virginia's Republican Presidential primary will receive all of Virginia's 63 Delegate votes on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in Sept. If more than one ballot is necessary, Virginia delegates can vote as they like.

Ballot: For the Republican Party, there are 6 candidates on the Virginia ballot:

Congressman Ron Paul
703-248-9115
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Senator John McCain
866-775-2008
http://www.johnmccain.com/

Senator Fred Thompson (dropped his race)
615-250-8180
http://www.fred08.com/

Gov Mike Huckabee
501-324-2008
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/

Mayor Rudy Giuliani
212-835-9449
http://www.joinrudy2008.com/

Gov. Mitt Romney
857-288-6400
http://www.mittromney.com/

New newspaper for the Roanoke Area !!

2007-11-27T14:33:00.000-08:00

Nov. 8, 2007

Accept no imitations. No recycled Roanoke Times columnists here. And absolutely NO subscription cost! This is THE newspaper Christians and conservatives have been talking about and waiting for.

THE ROANOKE SUN "Roanoke's News Weekly", hit newsstands every Friday!!

What is it? The Sun is a weekly digest of the area's big news stories with analysis you can trust.
It's a digest of important wire stories The Roanoke Times refuses to print

And, best of all, it's FREE, thanks to the advertisers who support it. Each Friday, look for The Sun at Krogers, Wal-Marts, Food Lions, Famous Anthony's and many other locations from Botetourt to Rocky Mount, from Salem to Smith Mountain Lake.

The first issue was released on Friday, Nov. 9 In that issue, you found:
--What's behind the mysterious Byrd Flu?
-- How did Ralph Smith beat Dick Cranwell?
--An exclusive interview with Fox News' Ollie North!
--Why are Bibles being banned from the 2008 Olympics?

In case you're wondering, the name "The Sun" was chosen to keep the publication's orientation pointing to True North: The Son of God, Jesus Christ, in whom all things hold together. It's also a reminder of the truth of Psalm 84:11: For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Look for it Friday. And spread the word to everyone you know who's frustrated with liberal reporting of the local media and to everyone who has a business that needs quality advertising. THE SUN IS RISING!

God bless!

Chris Slone

Publisher/Editor

chris@roanokesun.com
540-354-7300

PS For advertising info, contact

ads@roanokesun.com

Breck Girl John Edwards protested in Roanoke yesterday

2007-07-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

Presidential lightweight John Edwards made a stop in Roanoke last night, on his "poverty" tour.

Ignoring his hypocricy, many well-dressed and rich Democrats came out to see him.

Although the media kept this secret, he was greeted by some who did not like his hypocricy, per the picture .....

Good Edwards Cartoons

Tim Kaine protested in Roanoke today

2007-02-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

Gov. Tim (Eyebrow) Kaine was protested by a group of Roanoke-area taxpayers today, as he attended Raleigh Court Elementary School on his "easy listening" tour. He was apparently listening to school kids, rather than taxpayers and voters.

The group took issue with Kaine's campaign promise to not raise taxes, a promise he immediately broke during his first year in office.

Also, one member of the group sat in the Tim Kaine Rocking Chair. The group objects to the fact that Kaine has done nothing while the General Assembly hammered out a Transportation Plan.

Kaine now plans radical changes to it which, if not approved, will trigger a veto.

Tax it, Tax it, Tax it

2007-02-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

At first I thought this was funny...then I realized the awful truth of
it. Be sure to read all the way to the end! And I found a NEW tax a few days ago when I bought tires. Virginia has a $1 tire tax, in addition to the 5% sales tax on tires.......

>
>Tax his land,
>Tax his bed,
>Tax the table
>At which he's fed.
>
>Tax his tractor,
>Tax his mule,
>Teach him taxes
>Are the rule.
>
>Tax his cow,
>Tax his goat,
>Tax his pants,
>Tax his coat.
>
>Tax his ties,
>Tax his shirt,
>Tax his work,
>Tax his dirt.
>
>Tax his tobacco,
>Tax his drink,
>Tax him if he
>Tries to think.
>
>Tax his cigars,
>Tax his beers,
>If he cries, then
>Tax his tears.
>
>Tax his car,
>Tax his gas,
>Find other ways
>To tax his ass
>
>Tax all he has
>Then let him know
>That you won't be done
>Till he has no dough.
>
>When he screams and hollers,
>Then tax him some more,
>Tax him till
>He's good and sore.
>
>Then tax his coffin,
>Tax his grave,
>Tax the sod in
>Which he's laid.
>
>Put these words
>Upon his tomb,
>"Taxes drove me
>To my doom..."
>
>When he's gone,
>Do not relax,
>Its time to apply
>The inheritance tax.
>
>Accounts Receivable Tax
>Building Permit Tax
>CDL license Tax
>Cigarette Tax
>Corporate Income Tax
>Dog License Tax
>Federal Income Tax
>Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
>Fishing License Tax
>Food License Tax,
>Fuel permit tax
>Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
>Hunting License Tax
>Inheritance Tax
>Interest expense
>Inventory tax
>IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
>Liquor Tax
>Luxury Taxes
>Marriage License Tax
>Medicare Tax
>Property Tax
>Real Estate Tax
>Service charge taxes
>Social Security Tax
>Road usage taxes
>Sales Tax
>Recreational Vehicle Tax
>School Tax
>State Income Tax
>State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
>Telephone federal excise tax
>Telephone federal universal service fee tax
>Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
>Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
>Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
>Telephone state and local tax
>Telephone usage charge tax
>Utility Taxes
>Vehicle License Registration Tax
>Vehicle Sales Tax
>Watercraft registration Tax
>Well Permit Tax
>Workers Compensation Tax
>
>COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
>And our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
>We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class
>In the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
>What happened?
>And I still have to "press 1" for English?
>
>
>I hope this goes around world 10 times

Great, daily cartoon strip

2007-02-21T06:51:00.000-08:00

I love Mallard Fillmore, a great strip.

You can view it daily, Mon - Fri, at the following link:

JWR/Mallard

First Church of Global Warming

2007-02-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is frightning but true.....Global Warming has gone from science, to politics and now to religion.

The Oregon state climatologist was FIRED because he (as a scientist) disagreed with the religion of man-made Global Warming....

Newt Gingrich Speech on Terrorists

2007-02-15T05:41:00.000-08:00

I like Newt Gingrich and would love to see him as our next President. He is brilliant and a very good speaker..........

This is a transcript of a section of a Gingrich Speech in New Hampshire.

NEWT GINGRICH: The third thing I want to talk about very briefly is the genuine danger of terrorism, in particular terrorists using weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass murder, nuclear and biological weapons.
And I want to suggest to you that right now we should be impaneling people to look seriously at a level of supervision that we would never dream of if it weren't for the scale of threat.

Let me give you two examples. When the British this summer arrested people who were planning to blow up ten airliners in one day, they arrested a couple who were going to use their six month old baby in order to hide the bomb as baby milk.

Now, if I come to you tonight and say that there are people on the planet who hate you, and they are 15-25 year old males who are willing to die as long as they get to kill you, I've simply described the warrior culture which has been true historically for 6 or 7 thousand years.

But, if I come to you and say that there is a couple that hates you so much that they will kill their six month old baby in order to kill you, I am describing a level of ferocity, and a level of savagery beyond anything we have tried to deal with.

And, what is truly frightening about the British experience is they are arresting British citizens, born in Britain, speaking English, who went to British schools, live in British housing, and have good jobs.

This is a serious long term war, and it will inevitably lead us to want to know what is said in every suspect place in the country, that will lead us to learn how to close down every website that is dangerous, and it will lead us to a very severe approach to people who advocate the killing
of Americans and advocate the use of nuclear or biological weapons.

And, my prediction to you is that either before we lose a city, or if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up their capacity to use the internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech, and to go after people who want to kill us to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young people to destroy their lives while destroying us.
This is a serious problem that will lead to a serious debate about the first amendment, but I think that the national security threat of losing an American city to a nuclear weapon, or losing several million Americans to a biological attack is so real that we need to proactively, now, develop the appropriate rules of engagement.
And, I further think that we should propose a Geneva convention for fighting terrorism which makes very clear that those who would fight outside the rules of law, those who would use weapons of mass destruction, and those who would target civilians are in fact subject to a totally different set of rules that allow us to protect civilization by defeating barbarism before it gains so much strength that it is truly horrendous.

This is a sober topic, but I think it is a topic we need a national dialogue about, and we need to get ahead of the curve rather than wait until actually we literary lose a city which could literally happen within the next decade if we are unfortunate.

(APPLAUSE)

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants

2007-02-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Who Pays Almost All Federal Income Tax?

2007-02-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

The Democrat/Socialists keep crying for higher taxes on the rich....problem is, they are ALREADY paying the lion's share......

Who Pays Almost All Federal Income Tax?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Democrats have talked about repealing President Bush’s tax cuts for upper-income Americans. But those who earn the most money – and invest the most in the economy – are already paying almost all federal personal income taxes, a recent report reveals.

Congress’ Joint Economic Committee disclosed that the richer half of the American population pays nearly 97 percent of income taxes. Most of that, 54 percent, is paid by those in the top 5 percent, Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) disclosed.

And the richest of the rich – just the top 1 percent – pay a hefty 34 percent of all personal income taxes collected by the federal government.

Meanwhile, about 14 million lower-income Americans have been removed from the income tax rolls since 2000 due to the earned income tax credit and the per-child tax credit, IBD reports.

Despite Bush’s tax cuts, the overall tax burden has been rising. Americans’ average overall tax burden has risen since 2004 and now stands at 31.6 percent of income, according to the Tax Foundation, due in large part to the alternative minimum tax and increases in property taxes.

"With an already rising tax burden, borne disproportionately by those who are successful, and who invest,” the IBD concludes, "the Democrats’ plans for big tax increases could be more damaging to the U.S. economy than ever before.”

Newsmax.com

Advanced Audiocopy of Jim Webb's Dem response to Bush SOTU address

2007-01-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

Incredible! At least his theme is pretty much what we expected from a liberal, Democrat.....

Bearing Drift Blog

Why Republican Ralph Smith for VA Senate??

2007-01-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

Like many Republicans, I supported Brandon Bell in the last election...and worked hard to elect him. In general, I have been pleased with his votes on social issues... to his credit, he has voted pro-life, etc.

My only holdback here was his key vote that killed a bill to require internet filters on computers in public libraries where kids view the internet.

However, taxes are a different matter.

In the VA Senate, the liberal Republicans are in control. They chose to side with Democrats and Tim Kaine during the last session and push for higher taxes.

Brandon had to decide between doing what liberals like Senator Chichester wanted (vote for higher taxes) or doing what we wanted (we being the people who elected him).

He chose to side with the liberals and Democrats, and supported higher taxes, against our advice, emails, screams and howls.

He was rewarded with a new committee assignment to the Senate Education and Health committee, replacing another Republican.

I have known Ralph Smith for a while as well. As former Mayor of Roanoke, Ralph often was the ONLY vote against higher spending on many issues before City Council. He stood on principle on many occasions, despite being outvoted by the Democrat majority.

Ralph is a solid, Christian conservative who is good on the social/moral issues and the fiscal issues. I don't have to worry about how he might vote on important issues and then have to lobby him to support the Conservative position....he IS the conservative position.

No incumbent "owns" their House or Senate seat....the seat is owned by the people.

For this reason, I am supporting Ralph Smith for Republican Senator for the 22nd district.

GAP, Old Navy join Best Buy in Censoring "Merry Christmas"

2006-12-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess that adds 2 more stores to my NO BUY list. Too bad about Old Navy, we have shopped there quite a lot lately......

Retailers in general get about 25% of their sales and 40% of their annual profits from the Christmas season. Why do they bite the hand that feeds them???

Gap, Old Navy censor 'Christmas,' replace it with 'Holiday"

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising.

Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time!

When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores, but the word Christmas is not used here. Everything is 'holiday.'"

Gap wants you to do your Christmas shopping with them, but they don't want to mention the Reason for the season. Gap doesn't want to offend non-Christians by using Christmas. The fact that their censoring the use of Christmas might offend Christians seems to be of no importance.

Click on the link below to TAKE ACTION. Also, you can email GAP at custserv@gap.com

Story from AFA

Job in state gold mine is STILL not enough.....

2006-11-30T06:41:00.000-08:00

Here they go again...the state employees already lobbying for an even BIGGER RAISE this year.....We need to be CUTTING spending, not raising it.

Pay hike least of our worries

How would you like a job that offered you 12 paid holidays each year, a real retirement plan (not a shaky 401(k)), the ability to carry over a full month of vacation after five years of service, health and life insurance, generous vacation and sick leave, educational benefits, and the ability to work from home via telecommuting?

Does anybody hear the late Fred Astaire crooning, "Heaven, I'm in heaven ..."?

And no, we're not talking about a career in the military; those perks are part of the package Virginia state employees get.

Now, given all that, would you be so bold as to expect a 6 percent pay increase, too? That, however, is what the Virginia Governmental Employees Association is lobbying for state workers to get, even though they are already slated to receive a 3 percent pay increase next year.

Out here in the real world, us working stiffs are ecstatic if we get a 3 percent hike. Five holidays a year, max. Retirement? Maybe, if you save enough. Health and life insurance? Maybe, if your employer can afford it. Telecommuting? Doubtful. Educational benefits? Probably not. Carrying over vacation? Uh-uh.

So when we hear the argument floated that state employees deserve that 6 percent pay hike because they're 17 percent behind their counterparts in the private sector in base pay, well, don't make us laugh. State employees must be at least 20 percent ahead of the rest of us when it comes to bennies and perks.

Don't get us wrong; we know state employees work hard, just like the rest of us do, and we appreciate that. But most of us would kill to get half of the package that state employees are getting, and hold the pay hike.

Another argument being made to sweeten the proposal to hike state employees' pay an additional 3 percent is the good state of Virginia's economy and the burgeoning surplus.

So, what about our chronically under-funded school systems? What about transportation, ignored year after year? We think those (and a host of other things) come before a state pay hike.

We'd remind lawmakers who might consider throwing their support behind this idea as a vote-getter that there may be 116,000 state employees, but there are almost 7.5 million of us "regular" folks. We vote, too.

Opinions expressed in this feature represent the majority opinion of the newspaper's editorial board, consisting of: Roger Watson, president and publisher; David Fritz, executive editor; Cindy Corell, city editor; Jim McCloskey, editorial cartoonist; Dennis Neal, opinion page editor; and Macon Rich, production director.

Source

Interesting perspective on GOP loss

2006-11-09T07:19:00.000-08:00

From a conservative website.........I think this has some useful ideas as we head into next year's state elections....despite our sadness at what just happened.

My 2 cents....when Republicans act like Democrats....people choose the real thing.

And....we cannot make friends of our enemies by making enemies of our friends....Republicans who ran away from conservative principles lost...and Democrats who said they were conservative won.

In the Fight
A Good Election Loss for the GOP

By Matt Friedeman
November 8, 2006

(AgapePress) - In general, this was a good election. The only way to make it great would be for Republicans to have lost another five seats in the Senate and another 20 in the House. The worse the loss, the quicker and more intensely the GOP searches for its wandering soul.

The party of Reagan is sick and has been for some time. It is not pleasant when the electorate finally recognizes it. And the situation will not improve significantly until the Republican Party recognizes its ill health and begins to take corrective measures. The measures are these:

Remember that you once were, and should be again, the party of small government. That some in the GOP think there is such a thing as big government conservatism only shows how ailing it really is. Stick a thermometer in the mouth of the Bush crowd and their friends in the Senate and the House and watch the mercury climb to the letters GOS -- short for "Grand Old Spending."

Bush has signed every spending bill that crossed his desk. His veto pen, apparently, was lost or stolen.

His enormous education bill in 2001 was a loser, the big farm bill in 2002 was atrocious and the enormous Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 could only cause the last remaining fiscal conservative in the White House to blush. Chalk the latter up as the largest entitlement expansion in the last four decades. For shame.
As the deficit ballooned, all the president could talk about was cutting it in half. Faint-hearted, that.

Reagan said, "Government is not the solution, it is the problem." Our current president has said, "I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives." Unfortunately, "help" has meant much more. And more means the government is running our lives more today than they did yesterday.

Do some real soul-searching, stat. No better time to do so. In the House, culturally and economically moderate Republicans took a serious hit. In the Senate it is a major loss that Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was defeated, but it is a plus that Ohio's Sen. Mike DeWine and Rhode Island's Sen. Lincoln Chaffee are walking out with him. The latter, always a particularly onerous liberal inclusion into the party, won't be part of the revival discussions. In other words, there are fewer liberals and moderates today, and a number of good conservatives should ponder what could happen in 2008 if the passionate Contract with America days could be revived. That is, get an economic and culturally conservative plan and execute it.

Find that pen. My hunch is that today Karl Rove and others are beginning to remember where they left that veto pen. Mr. Bush will need it as Democrats try to thrust all manner of deviance, higher taxes, and more spending on the populace. With the Democrats' big election night over, so is Bush's ability to assert his will from the Oval Office. But the Dems aren't going to rule the roost either; hence, gridlock.

Search for and find your morally conservative character. The Judeo-Christian ethic is nothing to be ashamed of in public policy or personal life. When you either act like you are ashamed of it or find yourself, for instance, reluctant to flush out a congressman making passes at pages, well, you should be backpedaling on Election Day. Run on a higher moral plane, and appreciate that the American people holds you to that standard.

Embrace gridlock. Not a bad word, gridlock. It means things stay pretty much the same and, given the domestic possibilities with liberals running the committees, that is not bad. Heretofore President Bush wasn't exactly moving the cultural agenda forward. So, nothing has really changed. Also, remember that presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton will be part of a gridlock Senate, and she has had her feminine pedestal stolen from her by the new most-important-woman-on-the-Hill Nancy Pelosi. Hard to successfully run for president as a New York liberal in the first place, but especially difficult from this diminished position.

Clench your teeth and listen, real good. Which means the biggest challenge for the opposition for the next two years is having to listen to the shrill and not infrequently bitter Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Her San Francisco-style gavel now rules the House. Keep your ears open to Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, Jr., of Michigan; a Banking Committee (Financial Services) chair, Barney Frank of Massachusetts; the Ways and Means Committee led by Charles B. Rangel of New York; and the Energy and Commerce leadership of John D. Dingell of Michigan.

Tall order, this listening mandate, but nothing should more quickly encourage those on the cultural and economic right to invigorate themselves.

The loss of this election should be good for the GOP. If they change. Really, truly, change.

John Kerry: Stuck in Irak

2006-11-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

John Kerry should RESIGN after his awful remarks, bashing our military. He claims that is a joke gone wrong (what was funny about any of that??) but his true feelings come out. The same John Kerry that made these remarks was the one that testified against his fellow soldiers in Vietnam, calling them "murderers and rapists". The concepts of duty, honor and country appear to be foreign to the liberal mindset.

Our troops are smart people who have done an excellent job.

Kerry is a disgrace to America. His "regrets" are too weak a statement. He should apologize fully and then RESIGN his Senate seat.

You can email him here: john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov

Candidate Webb's X rated novels

2006-10-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

I knew Webb was pro-abortion and against the amendment to define marriage as ONE WOMAN, ONE MAN....but sleazy novels?

I do NOT believe a man that writes these things can fairly vote on porno and the abuse of women, as a Senator would have to.....

This is unbelievable!!

Webb Says His Novels 'Inappropriate' for News Radio
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 27, 2006

(Editor's note: Corrects quote in the 10th paragraph.)

(CNSNews.com) - In an interview on Washington Post Radio Friday morning, Jim Webb, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia, said excerpts of his novels are "a little bit inappropriate" to be read on news radio.

"I don't know why you're reading that on WTOP," Webb told host Mark Plotkin. "I think it's a little bit inappropriate."

Plotkin was reading an excerpt from Webb's novel "Something to Die For," in which Webb describes a female stripper performing sexual acts with a banana.

"I don't think that's appropriate for you to read on WTOP," Webb said again as Plotkin finished the excerpt. (Washington Post Radio is WTOP's sister station.)

The campaign of Republican Sen. George Allen on Thursday released excerpts from some of the war novels Webb wrote between 1978 and 2002. The books include some graphic sexual passages, as well as frequent uses of a racial slur for blacks and descriptions of Vietnamese women as "monkey-faced."

Among the excerpts is a scene from the 2002 novel "Lost Soldiers," in which a man embraces his four-year-old son and places the boy's penis in his mouth.

Webb said the release of the excerpts was "a Karl Rove campaign tactic" and a "classic example of the way this campaign has worked. It's smear after smear."

He defended his fiction as "illuminative."

"It's not a sexual act," Webb told Plotkin regarding the "Lost Soldiers" excerpt. "I actually saw this happen in a slum in Bangkok when I was there as a journalist."

"The duty of a writer is to illuminate the surroundings," he added.

Coincidentally, a Cambodian woman in Las Vegas is facing sexual assault charges for performing a similar act on her young son, according to an Oct. 14 report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The article quotes an office manager for the Cambodian Association of America, who described the act as a sign of respect or love.

"It's an exception," Thira Srey told the Review-Journal of the practice. According to the report, the act is usually performed by a mother or caretaker on a child who is one year old or younger. In Webb's novel, the child is four years old.

Webb criticized the Allen campaign for focusing on excerpts from his novels.

"The most important issue facing the country, he hasn't got a statement to make on it," Webb said of the Iraq war. "This country's been breaking into pieces economically ... they've got no position on that.

CNSNEWS.com

Why Democrats have not be talking about their agenda

2006-10-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Wondering why the Dems have not said anything of their socialist agenda? This editorial from the Wall Street Journal tells us why...they want to fool people into voting Democrat/Socialist by being quiet........

The Non-Contract With America--What Democrats Aren't Saying About Their Agenda

From The Wall Street Journal

Editorial

October 28, 2006

[House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has] kept her Members tight-lipped and unspecific ...

This is in notable contrast to 1994, when the Gingrich Republicans ended a 40-year Democratic House majority by laying out a 10-item agenda known as the Contract with America. What Democrats are campaigning on this year is a Non-Contract with America--mostly generalities about "helping the middle class" and "ending the corruption in Washington."

As a campaign strategy, this may well pay off. But if they do win, Democrats will have to fill their campaign vacuum with something, and the best clue to what that would be is what they've already proposed. ...

Tax increases. The Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, and any chance that they'll be made permanent will vanish with a Democratic Congress. The question is whether Democrats will try to raise taxes even sooner. ...

Ms. Pelosi says reversing [the] tax cuts "at the high end" would be "an earlier resort." This would raise the top income and dividend tax rate back to 39.6% from 35%, and the capital-gains rate back to 20% from 15% ... Economist John Rutledge estimates that raising the dividend rate alone would reduce the value of the S&P 500 stocks by between 5% and 8.5%, roughly a $500 to $700 billion decline in the wealth of the 52% of American households that own stock. ...

Democrats have also pledged to restore so-called pay-as-you-go budget rules, which sound like a restraint on budget deficits but in practice restrain only tax cuts. ...

Health-care regulation. ... Michigan's John Dingell, who would run the Energy and Commerce Committee, has co-sponsored the "Patients Before Profits Act" that would gut funding for the new Medicare Advantage plans that are proving so popular with seniors. Instead, he and the other Democrats who run health-care panels want to direct all seniors into a single government-run Medicare drug plan. Another proposal from top Democrats, the Medicare for All Act, would make all Americans, of any age, eligible for Medicare and pay for it with a new 1.7% payroll tax on workers and 7% on employers.

Ms. Pelosi has also pledged to pass, in her first 100 hours as Speaker, legislation to require the government to "negotiate lower drug prices." That's a euphemism for imposing price controls on new medicines, which can take as much as $800 million in research and development to bring to market. ...

[A]nother top priority for Democrats is the Employee Free Choice Act, which has at least 215 co-sponsors in the House and 44 in the Senate. This would allow labor to turn workplaces into union shops without an election or secret ballot. Unions would merely have to gather signatures from a majority of workers at a work site, which means labor organizers could strong-arm employees who opposed such a petition. ...

Democrats have also moved well to the left on trade since the Bill Clinton-Nafta era. ...The entire Democratic leadership opposed free trade with tiny Oman and with Central America, so deals now in the works with Vietnam and other countries would also be long shots. ...

Energy. The Pelosi Democrats favor a "windfall" profits tax on oil companies and a virtual moratorium on drilling for more domestic oil in Alaska and on the outer continental shelf (where the U.S. may have more energy than Saudi Arabia). These policies would make the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil. ... And lobbying would begin for the U.S. to sign the Kyoto Protocol ...

We could go on, in particular in the regulatory arena ... But you get the idea. A Democratic triumph would produce a major shift in the national policy debate ... elections have consequences, and we thought our readers might like to know about them before November 7.

To View Entire Article, Please Visit: http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110009166 [Registration Required]

Marriage Rally in Roanoke at noon today

2006-10-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

COME SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR
THE MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

with special guest
Senator George Allen

Thursday, Oct. 26, 12:00 NOON

Hollins Road Baptist Church
3502 Old Mountain Rd. Roanoke 24019

Spread the word, tell your friends, come and take a stand for traditional values

Sponsored by CCOTV and va4marriage.org

http://www.va4marriage.org/

http://www.ccotv.com/

*Titles and Party Affiliations are listed for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by va4marriage.org or ccotv.com

Virginia man fired for supporting Marriage

2006-10-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

This is an outrage! I guess free speech only counts if you support the homosexual agenda.....

Pro-Marriage Message at Root of Employee's Dismissal

Luis Padilla beside his truck bearing a message encouraging people to vote for a marriage amendment being considered on Election Day (Photo by Nikki Fox, Courtesy of Daily News Record)

By Jim Brown and Jody Brown
October 20, 2006

(AgapePress) - A Virginia man has allegedly been fired from his job for supporting a state ballot initiative defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Luis Padilla was reportedly terminated from his employment at a Cargill Foods plant in Harrisonburg because of a written message on the rear window of his pickup truck that read: "Please, vote for marriage on Nov. 7." That is the day when voters in Virginia will be considering a proposed amendment to the state constitution protecting traditional marriage.

According to the Daily-News Record in Harrisonburg, Padilla -- who worked in Cargill's human resources office -- was dismissed for insubordination when he refused to remove the message, which company officials could be considered harassment. He apparently had removed the sign when first requested, then later posted it again and parked his truck outside the company parking lot. The newspaper report indicates the former Cargill employee was trying to reach an accommodation with the company about the message when he was fired.

The Family Foundation of Virginia sent a letter to Cargill, calling for Padilla's reinstatement. However, the large private company has denied the request, saying "Cargill is not required to allow Mr. Padilla to impose his beliefs on his co-workers." Victoria Cobb, executive director of the Family Foundation, says Cargill is engaging in viewpoint discrimination.

"We are seeing something that is starting to happen across America and even here in Virginia, where political correctness has run amok. That's the simplest way to put it," says Cobb. "The legal letter that we have received back from Cargill's legal department has basically said that they have these 'Valuing Differences' initiatives and they have this 'Everyone Matters' policy; and yet, apparently, Mr. Padilla's views are not respected."

Cobb believes Padilla, a father of two who is a native of Honduras and is in America on a work permit, is the victim of viewpoint discrimination and is being denied his right to free speech.

"If nothing else, even if there is not legal recourse the way we'd like for there to be legal recourse, there is absolutely a sense that this is intolerable behavior from a company," Cobb states. She also feels it is "devastating to our democracy" when there are individuals who believe, like Cargill, that simply posting a sign in a car window constitutes "imposing" one's beliefs on others.

"It is abundantly clear that those who seek to impose same-sex 'marriage' on society are not at all interested in tolerance of other viewpoints," says Cobb in a press release. "And they are willing to go so far as to destroy a man's family and take his livelihood to get their way."

A spokesman for the Family Foundation-affiliated Valley Family Forum echoes those sentiments. "This action exposes the hypocrisy of people who claim to stand for 'tolerance' but who instead doa ll they can to silence all opposing views," says Dean Welty. "In this case, those who accuse Mr. Padilla of 'harassment' have themselves become the 'harassers.'"

According to Cobb, who is also a spokesperson for the group va4marriage.org, Padilla has not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit against Cargill, noting Virginia law gives employers a great deal of latitude when it comes to firing employees. She says she is hopeful legal action will not be necessary and, toward that end, encourages Cargill to reinstate Padilla immediately.

Source: Agape Press

Sound the alarm FOR the Marriage Amendment in Virginia

2006-10-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Now is the time for us to get energized and educate our friends to vote FOR Amendment 1, the Marriage Amendment.

This amendment simply states that marriage in VA is between ONE MAN, ONE WOMAN.

Pro-homosexual groups like the Commonwealth Coalition have been distorting the truth, falsely claiming there are "unintended consequences". Not true. This amendment was very carefully written and is similar to 12 other Marriage amendments that passed in other states.

So far, 20 states have allowed voters to define marriage in a Constitutional Amendment. It has passed in 20 out of 20 elections. No state has yet rejected this.

Rather than being intellectually honest and just saying they oppose the ban on homosexual marriage, opponents have made up this misinformation about "unintended consequences".

Both the Virginia Attorney General and the Virginia Board of Elections have issued statements on this amendment that make it clear there are NO unintended consequences....yet the left-wing, mainstream media continues to amplify the false claims of those supporting the homosexual agenda.

Virginia Voters must not be fooled by the false claims of pro-homosexual groups....

You can help by distributing flyers in your church and neighborhood, putting a bumper sticker on your car, or sign in your yard, donating money and most important, be in PRAYER about this critical issue.

Please vote YES on the amendment to protect marriage...and visit the VA4marriage.org website to see how you can help.

VA4Marriage.org

Virginia State Board of Elections statement

excerpt:
Marriage in the Commonwealth creates specific legal rights, benefits, and
obligations for a man and a woman. There are other legal rights, benefits, and obligations which will continue to be available to unmarried persons, including the naming of an agent to make end-of-life decisions by an Advance Medical Directive (Code of Virginia §54.1-2981), protections afforded under Domestic Violence laws (Code of Virginia § 18.2-57.2), ownership of real property as joint tenants with or without a right of survivorship(Code of Virginia § 55-20.1), or disposition of property by will (Code of Virginia § 64.1-46).

Virginia Attorney General's Opinion

Roanoke Life chain stands up for the unborn

2006-10-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Oct. 1, about 120 people from various churches and denominations in the Roanoke Valley lined Williamson Rd and Orange Ave. at 2 PM for the annual Life Chain.

During the Life Chain, participants line the sidewalks on all four corners in the shape of a cross, expressing a peaceful and prayerful witness against abortion, child abuse and euthanasia.

The life chain is normally held on the first Sunday of each October.

For more information, contact Shirley Joslin at joslin37@juno.com or visit the website

Boycott Citgo - Owned by Venezuela and Chavez

2006-09-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo gasoline company.

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience : "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist.

Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."

Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using our money to achieve his goal!

The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company. Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.

Take Action Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?

Religion of Peace--from the Barrel of a Gun?

2006-08-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

Religion of Peace--from the Barrel of a Gun?

We rejoice with the families of the two FOX journalists who were released in Gaza over the weekend. We pray for all those who are held by jihadist terrorists, as Steven Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig, a New Zealander, were for thirteen days. I must take issue with the headline in today's Washington Times, however. The Capital's conservative paper shows the freed journalist smiling and labels them: "FREE AND UNHARMED." You are not unharmed when you are held at gunpoint for nearly two weeks. You are not unharmed when restrained in very painful positions--something called "torture" when Americans were accused of doing it to prisoners. You are not unharmed when you are forced to change your name on worldwide television. And you are certainly not unharmed when you are forced to convert to Islam at the point of a gun. Is this a "religion of peace," or a "religion of the piece?" We denounce this terrorist action against these journalists. And we call on Islamic groups in this country and around the world to assure us that this is not the way they would advance their religious beliefs. Or is the deafening silence from these quarters an indication that this is the way Islam advances?

FRC Website

2 noteworthy quotes.....

2006-08-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”

- Norman Thomas ACLU Founder

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

DEMOCRATS PLAY POLITICS WITH HUMAN LIFE

2006-07-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

DEMOCRATS PLAY POLITICS WITH HUMAN LIFE

July 18, 2006 08:23 PM EST

The Senate on Tuesday debated three important bills: Castle-DeGette, which expands federal funding for stem-cell research that kills human embryos; Santorum-Specter, which funds new research that uses the latest techniques to obtain embryonic-like stem cells without actually destroying embryos; and Brownback-Santorum, which would ban "fetal farming" or the practice of growing human fetuses for the purpose of using their body parts.

All three of these bills ask the fundamental question: What kind of people are we?

Americans are a people whose founding document promises that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, among these life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In the 1970s, a great exception was made. The Supreme Court declared that abortion was a constitutional right. Because science could not tell us when human life begins (the court argued), women had a right to control their own bodies: "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins," Justice Blackmun wrote for the majority. "When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."

Castle-DeGette, authorizing federal funding for research that requires killing nascent human lives, marks a great culture change: Taxpayer funding means the federal government, instead of expressing agnosticism about when human life begins, as Roe did, will come firmly down on the side of those who think nascent human life is merely a clump of cells. If killing it might yield scientific progress, then human life has no moral rights at all. The once sacred right to take human life, once a decision to be made between a woman and her doctor, has morphed into the right of any scientist in consultation with his lab partner -- at taxpayer expense.

If we have a choice, why not bet on techniques that don't involve killing? For many Democrats (and some Republicans), however, establishing the right to destroy human embryos appears to be more important than bridging divisive issues in the interest of scientific progress. It's amazing how blatantly and publicly some Democrats play politics with human life itself: "This will be one of the major issues of the campaign, and it is going to allow us to win voters we have not won before," announced Sen. Charles E. Schumer.

Meanwhile, the science gallops onward. Virtually every week there are new reports like this one from the University of Pennsylvania: "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have isolated a new source of adult stem cells that appear to have the potential to differentiate into several cell types. ... It could one day provide the tissue needed by an individual for treating a host of disorders, including peripheral nerve disease, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury."

Some people tell you that we have to choose between science and humane values. President Bush (who has promised to veto) saw and said otherwise in his State of the Union Address this year:

"A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life. Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research -- human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling or patenting human embryos."

This week, the president is likely to get his wish. All three bills are expected to pass the Senate. And President Bush has promised to veto federal funding for stem cell research that destroys human life -- his first veto ever. "Human life is a gift from our creator," President Bush said in January, "and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale."

(Readers may reach Maggie Gallagher at MaggieBox2006@yahoo.com" class="charles1">MaggieBox2006@yahoo.com.)

COPYRIGHT 2006 MAGGIE GALLAGHER

Action Alert: MR. PRESIDENT: VETO THIS BILL

2006-07-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Action Alert: MR. PRESIDENT: VETO THIS BILL

WASHINGTON, DC - The following is Congressman Mike Pence's statement today made in advance of a Senate vote that would allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

"We gather today in respectful opposition to the Castle-DeGette bill: A bill that authorizes the use of federal tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos for scientific research.

"Assuming H.R. 810 passes the Senate today, on behalf of millions of pro-life Americans, we say, Mr. President, veto this bill.

"As we begin this debate, I am confident that we will hear the supporters of this bill argue in the name of Ronald Reagan that this research is consistent with his long-held views about the sanctity of life. But it was Ronald Reagan who wrote, 'we cannot diminish the value of one category of human life-the unborn-without diminishing the value of all human life.'

"The supporters will also argue that this is a debate between science and ideology...that destroying human embryos for research is necessary to cure a whole host of maladies from spinal cord injuries to Parkinson's.

"But the facts suggest otherwise. To date, embryonic stem cell research has not produced a single medical treatment, where ethical, adult stem cell research has produced some 67 medical miracles. Physicians on our side will make the case for the ethical alternative of adult stem cell research and Congress today will greatly expand funding in this area.

"But the debate over the legitimacy or potential of embryonic stem cells is actually not the point of this debate.

"We are here simply to decide whether Congress should take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to fund the destruction of human embryos for research.

"This debate is really not about whether embryonic stem cell research should be legal. Sadly, embryonic stem cell research is completely legal in this country and has been going on at universities and research facilities for years.

"The proponents of this legislation don't just want to be able to do embryonic research. They want me to pay for it and like 43 percent of the American people in a survey out today, I have a problem with that.

"You see, I believe that life begins at conception and that a human embryo is human life. I believe it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research. And I believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans, who believe that human life is sacred, and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research.

"This debate, then, is not really about what an embryo is. This debate is about who we are as a nation. Not, will we respect the sanctity of human life but will we respect the deeply held moral beliefs of nearly half of the people of this nation who find the destruction of human embryos for scientific research to be morally wrong?

"Despite what may be uttered in this debate today, I say again: This debate is not about whether we should allow research that involves the destruction of human embryos. This debate is about who pays for it.

"And it is my fervent hope and prayer, as we stand at the crossroads between science and the sanctity of life, that we will choose life.

"This morning on Capitol Hill I am surrounded by dozens of 'snowflake babies,' children born from frozen embryos...the 'throwaway' material we will hear about today. As I speak over the cries and cooing of those little fragile lives, I can't help but think of the ancient text about the choice we face today: 'I have set before you life and earth, blessings and curses, now choose life so that you and your children may live' (Dueteronomy 30:19).

"Let us do as Americans have always done in the face of the frail and vulnerable. Let us choose life, reject federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, that we and these precious children may live."

Please call President George W. Bush at: 202-456-1414 and tell him to veto this bill. Or email him at president@whitehouse.gov

Man Comatose for 20 Years Regains Speech, Movement as Brain Rewires

2006-07-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

Man Comatose for 20 Years Regains Speech, Movement as Brain Rewires

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 4, 2006

Mountain View, AR (LifeNews.com) -- A man who was in a coma for 20 years has awaken from it and regained his speech and movement capabilities as his brain has rewired itself by growing new connections from those that were severed in an automobile accident. Terry Wallis is one of a few people to make such a dramatic recovery after a prolonged coma.

Wallis speaks in a slurred but coherent voice, telling visitors "Glad to be met" and telling them of his brother's plans to light fireworks today at his house nearby.

For his family, each word is a miracle. Wallis began recovering from the coma in June 2003, as national controversy about an incapacitated woman, Terri Schiavo, began to develop.

Wallis' first word was "Mom" and he has been speaking more and improving his speech ever since. He can now count to 25 uninterrupted.

Researchers published a paper this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation about Wallis' story and say that his case provides strong evidence that the brain heals itself by forming new neural connections. The article includes images of Mr. Wallis' brain, the first ones to be taken from a recovering comatose patient.

"We read about these widely publicized cases of miraculous recovery every few years, but none of them, not one, has ever been followed up scientifically until now," said Dr. Nicholas Schiff, a neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan and the senior author of the new study.

"In essence, Terry's brain may have been seeking out new pathways to reestablish functional connections to areas involved in speech and motor control to compensate for those lost due to damage," he explained.

The paper appears to suggest that Wallis did not make a sudden recovery three years ago, but his awakening from the coma was the result of years of nerves regrowing and healing themselves.

Despite the recovery, Wallis has complete amnesia about the 20 years he missed, when he was barely conscious and communicated only through nods and grunts, according to an AP report.

"He still thinks Ronald Reagan is president," his father, Jerry, said in a statement. Jerry indicated Wallis thought he was still 20 years old until recently.

Jerry said Wallis often makes jokes like he did before the accident and frequently indicated he is happy to be alive -- a sign that euthanizing him like Terri Schiavo was killed would have denied Wallis a second chance at life.

"That was something he wasn't able to do early in his recovery," Jerry Wallis said. "He now seems almost exactly like his old self. And he very often tells us how glad he is to be alive."

Schiff said researchers compared brain scans of Wallis to that of 18 healthy people and another minimally conscious person who had been in that state for six years.

In Wallis' brain, "what we first see is how overwhelmingly severe this injury was, Schiff told AP, saying he had many abnormalities compared to healthy people.

A second set of images taken 18 months later showed new neural connections forming and growing and in areas of the brain that regulate movement and speech.

Money $aver tip - Virginia Sales Tax Holiday

2006-06-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

VA will NOT charge sales tax on certain items on Aug 4 - 6, 2006.

For more information, visit the website below.

Tax holiday site

NEA teacher's union set to endorse homosexual marriage

2006-06-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

June 19, 2006

National Education Association Set to Endorse Homosexual Marriage

Teacher's union begins plans to promote homosexual marriage in public schools

The National Education Association is set to endorse homosexual marriage at their convention coming up in Orlando June 29 through July 6.

The new NEA proposal essentially says schools should support and actively promote homosexual marriage and other forms of marriage (two men and one woman, three women, two women and three men, etc.) in their local schools.

The new proposal, expected to pass overwhelmingly, is found under the B-8 Diversity paragraph:

The Association... believes in the importance of observances, programs and curricula that accurately portray and recognize the roles, contributions, cultures, and history of these diverse groups and individuals.

The Association believes that legal rights and responsibilities with regard to medical decisions, taxes, inheritance, adoption, legal immigration, domestic partnerships, and civil unions and/or marriage belong to all these diverse groups and individuals.

Translated, that means the NEA will promote homosexual marriage in every avenue they have available, including textbooks, to all children at all age levels and without the permission or knowledge of parents. Their plans will include every public school in America.

VEA contact information (Virgina Education Assn., an affiliate of NEA)

Princess Moss
VEA President
116 South Third Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 648-5801
PMoss@veanea.org

AFA Website

MySpace and Parents

2006-06-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

If you aren't internet savvy, your children are in danger. Don't think so? Then you'd better read this article from Bobby Eberle.

Children are growing up around this technology, and parents need to make sure they know what their children are doing and what sites they are visiting on the Internet. If parents are not watching their children, they should know that others out there on the Internet are… and that’s the danger.

MySpace is not inherently evil, but just like a shopping mall can house predators, so too can MySpace. Only, while your kid offers up no personal info at a shopping mall and can see her likely predators and realize they are not a 16 year old girl, they do not have that advantage on MySpace (or any other site on the web). MySpace is not evil or immoral (although they should suffer for all that ad overload), any more than the internet is, but you have to take their hand and help them navigate this world.

Remember, you can't cut off the internet altogether or they'll navigate it on their own alone when they are out of your home. Also, their future employment will probably depend on it's use. So, learn to use the internet. Read forums. Learn to enjoy the internet so you can see what all the fuss is about. Otherwise the temptation to cut it off will be too great.

The internet is like having access, instantly, to everyone on the globe. That can be scary, but it can be wholly rewarding as well.

Conservatives, vote tomorrow in VA for MILLER

2006-06-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Conservatives, vote tomorrow in VA for MILLER

Since Virginia has open primaries, ANY REGISTERED VOTER can vote in ANY primary.

As a conservative, I plan to hold my nose and vote in the Democrat primary tomorrow, Tues. June 13.

Jim Webb and Harris Miller are running for the Democrat nomination for US Senate to oppose George Allen. Miller is the more liberal, Webb is a former Reagan official and military man.

The Democrats, desparate for a win, seem to be pushing Webb in many parts of VA.

I plan to VOTE FOR MILLER and encourage all to do the same, as he is the weakest opponent to George Allen.

The Democrat party in VA has fought against party-only primaries for year, because they want to mess with Republican elections.

Let's show them that open primaries are indeed a double-edged sword.

Democrats Irked Over Zarqawi's Death

2006-06-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

Democrats Irked Over Zarqawi's Death

Grass-roots Democrats weighing in on several popular liberal Web sites Thursday morning said that they were troubled by reports that al Qaida's top operational terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been killed in a U.S. air strike.

Reacting to the news, one visitor to the Daily Kos complained that using military force to kill Zarqawi "violates everything my America stands for."

"It violates the rule of law and invokes the rule of force in what should be a criminal, not a military, matter."

Another Daily Kos'er was irked because he thought the news would benefit President Bush:

"No doubt Karl Rove will have the sock puppet president acting as if he personally dropped the bomb that killed that jackass," he wrote. "But other than a couple of photo ops of Bush looking cocky, it does nothing because two more tin-plated Zarqawi's will pop up."

A third Kos poster suggested that there was little difference between the top al-Qaida terrorist and the leader of the free world, writing: "Now [that] we are rid of one murderous tyrant - how about the removal of another one - believed hiding in a safe-house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?"
Over at the Democratic Underground, reaction to news of Zarqawi's death was also negative:

"Convenient too that this would happen now," complained one DU'er: "Guess we should just all forget about that Haditha mess, the fact that we are approaching 2,500 dead and the fact that our economy is in big trouble."

Another DU poster said that killing the al-Qaida chief really wasn't such a big deal, insisting: "Zarqawi was a fringe group of al-Qaida, and definitely not responsible for the bulk of the insurgency and civil war now occurring in Iraq. Any gains that they hope to receive will be short-lived when reality strikes home."

Newsmax.com

Federal Workers Reap Big Rewards

2006-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 1, 2006 6:24 a.m. EDT

Federal Workers Reap Big Rewards

Compensation for the federal government's 1.9 million civilian workers in the executive branch costs almost $200 billion annually, according to a study by Chris Edwards, director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.

Federal wages and benefits, Edwards reports, have been rising quickly, and by 2004, the average compensation of federal workers was almost twice the average in the private sector.

As a result, Edwards says that "The federal civilian workforce has become an elite island of secure and high-paid workers, separated from the ocean of private-sector American workers who must compete in today’s dynamic economy.”

His study, "Federal Pay outpaces Private-Sector Pay," Cato Institute, May 2006, showed:

The average federal worker earned $100,178 in wages and benefits in 2004, which compared to $51,876 for the average private-sector worker. Looking just at wages, federal workers earned an average $66,558, 56 percent more than the $42,635 earned by the average private worker.

According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, since 1990 average compensation has increased 115 percent in the government and 69 percent in the private sector.

Pay inflation has been fueled by routine adjustments that move workers into higher salary brackets regardless of performance, and by jobs that are redefined upward into higher pay ranges; the federal civilian workforce has become an elite island of secure and high-paid workers, separated from the ocean of private-sector American workers who must compete in today's dynamic economy.

Edwards asks: "Are federal workers underpaid or overpaid? Despite the escalation of federal compensation, some government studies have found that federal workers are underpaid, and that they suffer from a 'pay gap' compared to private-sector workers. By contrast, some academic studies have found that federal workers are overpaid. Comparison studies that find a pay gap sometimes compare federal workers to those in large businesses. But many U.S. workers are employed by small businesses, which to have lower compensation levels. More important, comparison studies typically look just at wages and don’t consider the superior benefits paid the government. Federal workers receive government health benefits, a pension plan with inflation protection, and a retirement savings plan with a very generous match. (By contrast, 40 percent of private-sector workers do not have access to an employer retirement plan at all.)

"Federal workers typically have generous holiday and vacation schedules, flexible work hours, training options, incentive awards, excessive disability benefits, flexible spending accounts, union protections and a usually more relaxed pace of work than private workers. Perhaps the most important benefit of federal work is the extreme job security. The rate of "involuntary separations” (layoffs and firings) in the federal workforce is just one-quarter the rate in the private sector. Just 1 in 5,000 federal non-defense workers is fired for poor performance each year. All these federal advantages in benefits suggest that, in comparable jobs, federal wages should be lower than private-sector wages.”

Congress, Edwards recommended, should restrain federal compensation by freezing federal wages for a period of years and examining fringe benefit programs for possible savings. In the longer term, the coming surge in federal worker retirement as baby boomers enter their sixties offers an opportunity to downsize federal agencies without problematic layoffs or buyouts.

Newsmax.com

How Long Do We Have Left As A Democratic Country?

2006-05-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution,
in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University
of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some
2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a
permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up
until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always
votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public
treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose
fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of
history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations
always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;***

8. From dependence back into bondage ..."

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;
Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000
States won by: Gore: 19 Bush: 29
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore: 13.2 Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was
mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this country. Gore's
territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned
projects and living off government welfare..."
(Can you say New Orleans, New York City, New You-Owe-Me, etc.)
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency
and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some
40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

The critical point is when people living on government entitlements passes
50% and can control future elections. From that point, the party that
promises the most free entitlements wins. Unfortunately less than
50% of the population will be paying the taxes to support the majority.
It won't be long after that the country will be bankrupt.

A rare and funny CONSERVATIVE cartoon strip

2006-05-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

Mallard Fillmore appeared for a short time in the Roanoke Times. When they discovered it was conservative, they censored it so it no longer appears.

You can read it online at Jewish World review.

Check out this great strip at:

Mallard Fillmore

Another favorite of mine, The Leftersons, is published weekly, every Thursday.

Check it out at:

Rightoons.com

2006 VA General Assembly Wrap-Up on Sexual Orientation Issues

2006-05-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

2006 General Assembly Wrap-Up on Sexual Orientation Issues
4/10/2006
By Linda Wall

Virginians can breathe a sigh of relief because all legislation pertaining to “sexual orientation” was defeated. A deliberate plan to force Virginians to accept homosexuality was implemented by “sexual orientation” activists. Former Governor Warner and Governor Kaine participated on the scheme to make homosexuality a protected class with special rights.

It was as if an invisible “wall of Jericho” had been erected almost overnight around Virginia and the future looked bleak. Warner laid the foundation for the wall when he hijacked a section of the budget to use it as a vehicle and tried to legislate through the budget. He placed language in the budget that would give individuals special protection in hiring and firing in state agencies based upon “sexual orientation.” Governor Kaine built the remainder of the wall on the day of his inauguration as he issued his first Executive Order adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes under the Commonwealth’s nondiscrimination policy. Chosen legislators put the gate in place with proposed laws that would open the door to Virginia becoming the next Massachusetts or California concerning “sexual orientation” issues.

God, however, had another plan. His miracles and mercy went before us, and through much prayer, many phone calls, e-mail alerts, petitions and face-to-face lobbying with legislators by a team of concerned citizens, the walls came tumbling down. All attempts to advance the homosexual agenda failed, and Virginia is safe for another year.

The Walls Tumbled Down

· Budget Language Defeat – Family-friendly legislators in the House and the Senate introduced amendments that successfully removed “sexual orientation” from the state budget.

· Pro-Sexual Orientation Legislation Defeated in House – HB 1373 would have allowed counties to add “sexual orientation” as a protective class and HB 1552 would have added “sexual orientation” as a protective class in housing practices. Both bills were defeated in committee.

· Pro-Homosexual Orientation Legislation Defeated in Senate – SB 673 would have allowed all self-insured entities, public and private, to cover same-sex couples with insurance benefits. SB 700 would have required all state, local and public school employees to hire homosexuals and transsexuals. The insurance bill passed the full Senate but was defeated in a House committee and the sexual orientation hiring bill was killed in a Senate committee.

· Executive Order – Attorney General Bob McDonnell released an official opinion stating that the executive order making sexual orientation a protected employment class within state government was unconstitutional because changing public policy is the purview of the General Assembly. He was only able to make that assertion after all of the pro-homosexual legislation was defeated in the General Assembly.

(NOTE: Governor Kaine said he would ignore Attorney General McDonnell’s six-page opinion.)

To understand the dangers of sexual orientation as a protected class, visit Virginia.cwfa.org.

Taking Back the Land by Becoming Pro-active

· Banning Same-Sex Marriages – The Senate and the House of Delegates passed the proposed Marriage Amendment handily. Both chambers also passed the legislation, which will place the Amendment on the ballot in November 2006. This bill now goes before the Governor for approval.

The Marriage Amendment, if enacted by the voters in November, will also ban civil unions in the State of Virginia, and ban recognition of civil unions or same sex marriages created in other states.

· Removing Homosexuals Clubs From Public Schools – Legislation giving schools the authority to prevent homosexual clubs from meeting on school grounds failed in the Senate Health and Education Committee after passing the full House 70 to 29 this year. However, it was a step in the right direction to eliminating the 64 Gay Straight Alliances, “sexual orientation” clubs, presently in Virginia’s schools.

The Next Battle

“Sexual orientation” activists will be back in 2007. They are relentless and committed to the advancement of an agenda that will ultimately destroy marriage and thus the society that supports our state and nation. Meanwhile, homosexual activists will use the marriage amendment to assert they are discriminated against and denied the joys of marriage. We must contend for the faith, “fight the fight” and occupy until Jesus returns. Every believer must choose who they will serve on this issue: the Lord or Satan. More saints must rise to the occasion and stand for righteousness by getting involved in this cultural war. Contact Concerned Women for America of Virginia today and take an active role.

CWFA

Are advertisers stopping free speech?

2006-05-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Heck no! However, many people seem to think they are. It always amazes me when certain publications, who shall remain nameless, ::cough:: New York Times ::cough:: think that they are 'owed' advertising, no matter how low they go, how inane their chatter may be...

When advertisers vote with them pocketbook, all of a sudden they are impeding free speech. This is such bunk!

But we digress. The issue at hand is, do advertisers have an obligation to support content they think is tasteless, fraudulent, or simply politically incorrect? As we enter a whole new world of consumer-generated content and limitless Internet-delivered TV, this issue takes on new and greater urgency. Which is more important, the right of the site to report on the plane crash or the right of the airline not to have its ad run adjacent to the story? Do I not report the plane crash because I know I will lose the ad income? Do I pull my ad, knowing it might financially weaken the site to the point that it cannot afford to report on future plane crashes or wars or scandals or men biting dogs?

Ford Headed Toward Bankruptcy, But Support Of Homosexual Groups Continues

2006-05-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Ford Motor Company continues to give money to help finance homosexual organizations pushing homosexual marriage.

Chairman Bill Ford evidently is willing to take Ford into bankruptcy in order to continue support of homosexual groups and homosexual marriage. Ford's sales dropped 5% in March and 7% in April. Ford's stock has dropped more than 14% since the boycott began to the lowest price in nearly 20 years. Some feel the stock, now at $6.78, will be at $3 in a matter of months and are bailing out now rather than lose more money on Ford stock.

Ford is a "Platinum Sponsor" of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading advocate of homosexual marriage. In order to be a "Platinum Sponsor" of HRC, Ford had to give HRC $150,000. Other homosexual organizations getting financial support from Ford include GLAAD, Michigan Pride, Triangle Foundation, GLSEN, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and PFLAG to name only a few.

In addition, Ford is a corporate sponsor of the 2006 GLAAD Media Awards in which homosexual groups honor companies which have helped them promote their agenda.

While Ford helps groups promoting the homosexual lifestyle, Ford refuses to give to groups on the other side of the issue. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), an organization which helps those who want to come out of the homosexual lifestyle, applied for a grant from Ford. Ford refused to donate to PFOX.

Ford dealer Dan Janssen told the Detroit News that the boycott was being felt. "It's something that's just kind of snowballing," Janssen said, adding that it is starting to hurt business. For more information on the boycott, visit BoycottFord.com.

BoycottFord.com

Gov't Gas Taxes Exceed Oil Company Profits

2006-04-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

Gov't Gas Taxes Exceed Oil Company Profits

While the media continues to blame the big oil companies for gouging U.S. motorists as they collect record breaking profits, the windfall profits raked in by the government in the form of energy tax revenue actually dwarf the oil companies' jackpot. (more at Newsmax.com)
To read more about how the government has become America's number one oil profiteer, go to:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2005/10/gas_taxes_excee.html

Marriage Amendment on Nov. ballot -- PLEASE HELP

2006-04-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Marriage Amendment Goes to the People

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his
wife, and they will become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24

Voters will have the opportunity to amend the constitution of Virginia to define
marriage as the union of one man and one woman when they go to the polls this
November. Even though a majority of Virginians support the concept of marriage
as being the union of one man and one woman, many are confused about what this
amendment will do and why we need to amend our constitution to define
marriage. It is important that we as the church are aware of the issues involved
and are able to articulate a reasoned response when necessary. “Wisdom rests in
the heart of him who has understanding…” – Proverbs 14:33

What the Marriage Amendment Will Do

• Define the God-ordained structure of marriage
as the union of one man and one woman.

• Prevent the state of Virginia from recognizing
same sex marriages performed in other states.

• Make same-sex marriage illegal in Virginia including
counterfeit marriages such as “civil unions or “domestic partnerships.”

• Protect our current marriage laws from court challenge or activist judges.

• Allow the voters of Virginia to define marriage on a statewide ballot.

What the Marriage Amendment Will Not Do

• It will not take any existing rights away from anyone.

• It will not affect benefits offered by private employers.

• It will not affect wills, joint ownership of property, contracts or
agreements between unmarried individuals.

• It will not unfairly discriminate against anyone.

Please visit www.va4marriage.org and click on “More Frequently Asked
Questions” for a more in depth look at these and other issues.

va4marriage.org

Encouraging Illegal Behavior for the Mighty Vote

2006-04-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

As rallies popped up across the country yesterday to protest efforts by Congress to secure the borders, enforce existing immigration laws, and deal with the illegal aliens already in the country, the Democrats revealed in unmistakable clarity their true motives. This debate isn’t about fairness or compassion or any of the other buzz words they like to use. It’s about votes, and in their zeal to tap into the illegal alien voting bloc, they are not only condoning illegal activity, they are encouraging it. (more from Bobby Eberle)

Ponte: Couric Further Left Than Rather

2006-04-06T05:21:00.000-07:00

Katie Couric’s politics "are apparently even further to the Left and more partisan Democratic than Dan Rather’s,” commentator Lowell Ponte writes.

"For this reason, she is unlikely to restore CBS’s credibility or redeem CBS’s well-deserved reputation for left-wing bias.” If Couric’s previous work is any indication, she could bring to CBS not only her liberal bias but also her penchant for making potentially inflammatory comments.

In November 1997, Couric asked a jilted bride on "Today”: "Have you considered castration as an option?”

Critics noted that if any male interviewer had even jokingly proposed sexually mutilating a woman, he would have been fired. Later that year Couric reported that commercials directed at men are simple-minded compared to those aimed at women because women are capable of more complex thought.

more at Newsmax.com

Why I won’t see Brokeback Mountain

2006-03-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

Why I won’t see Brokeback Mountain

by Tim Wilkins

With eight Oscar nominations, more than any other movie this year, Brokeback Mountain continues to gain momentum. And with the momentum comes increasing interest by evangelicals to see it.

I will avoid the movie like a slug avoids an overturned saltshaker and for the life of me, cannot understand why any evangelical would see it-though there appear to be many. But what is more disturbing to me is that many men and women I know with unwanted homosexual attractions are seeing the movie.

A reporter from The Christian Post asked my thoughts about the movie and I obliged. My comments as a former homosexual were made from the reviews I had read–comments which generated numerous emails to me from individuals arguing that I could not make an intelligent comment on a movie I had not seen. (More at Cross Ministry)

Station Drift

2006-03-28T06:10:00.000-08:00

Station Drift
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Governor Tim Kaine's new radio ads and automated phone calls pushing his road plan don't mention a key feature -- nearly $1 billion a year in tax hikes. But that should come as no surprise, given that Kaine's gubernatorial campaign didn't emphasize tax hikes, either. On the contrary: Kaine accused his opponent, Jerry Kilgore, of "making stuff up" when Kilgore warned that Kaine would try to raise taxes.

But then, Kaine also cooed sweet lullabies about governing in a bipartisan manner. Yet after a brief feint in the direction of bipartisanship he shifted swiftly to the realm of smashmouth politics. The radio ads and robo- calls give the impression the Commonwealth faces a choice between a Kaine/State Senate plan that increases funding for roads and other state services, and a plan by House Republicans that fails to invest in roads while cutting other programs.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Under both plans the state budget will grow by more than 20 percent. The key difference lies in whether to pay for road improvements with tax hikes (Kaine/Senate) or with surplus dollars and modest borrowing (House). Given the tax hikes passed in 2004 -- with assistance by House Republicans -- to preserve the state's bond rating and the debt capacity the state currently enjoys, the House plan represents the responsible middle way.

That's where candidate Kaine placed himself in campaign advertisements last year, when he expressed the view that "we can't tax and pave our way out of traffic." Now safely ensconced in office, Kaine has abandoned that view and drifted over to the far end of the dial, where tax hikes reign and the only thing to the left is the soothing sound of static.

Richmond Times Dispatch

Another tax-and-spend Democrat (Mark Warner)

2006-03-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

Kansas City Star ^ | Mar. 26, 2006 | Sam Batkins

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In 2008, when voters begin to decide on presidential candidates, parsing through stump speeches and plain vanilla debates will make it difficult to judge who among the hopefuls will live up to their rhetoric on taxes and government spending.

For concerned taxpayers, history has proven to be the best measure of a candidate’s mettle.

Former Virginia Democratic Gov. Mark Warner is heralded as a fiscal conservative who brought his state out of a financial crisis. Voters took note when Warner proclaimed: “I will not raise taxes. My plan states it. I’ve said it through this campaign.”

His record says otherwise. He and his allies in the state legislature raised court fees, imposed $34 million in additional regulatory burdens, increased cigarette and alcohol taxes, and boosted sales taxes by $395 million.

But Warner also has a propensity to spend as well as tax. Overall, state spending in Virginia has increased 22 percent from Warner’s first biennial budget. Total two-year spending for 2004 to 2006 will approach $63 billion.

If Warner can balance the budget, but then push for record tax increases, as well as boost spending in his state, what would he do with the keys to the U.S. Treasury?

Sam Batkins, National Taxpayers Union

AFA, 20 Other Pro-Family Organizations Call For One-Year Boycott of Ford Motor Company

2006-03-23T05:58:00.000-08:00

Boycott details

This is a good cause...Visit this site to send a letter to Chairman Bill Ford....also visit the site below to look up local dealers. I sent an email to 10 Ford Dealers in SW VA on this issue.....

Find local Ford Dealers

FDA Urged to Pull RU-486 after Two More Reported Deaths

2006-03-21T06:35:00.000-08:00

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative group is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to pull the abortion pill RU-486, after the FDA reported that two more women died after taking the drug.

The cause of death in both cases has not been determined, the FDA said, but four other women's deaths have been linked to a bacterial infection that developed after they took RU-486. (More at CNSNEWS.com)

Never Satisfied: Kaine, Chichester Bang on Their High Chairs and Wail for More

2006-03-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

Never Satisfied: Kaine, Chichester Bang on Their High
Chairs and Wail for More

TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Mar 14, 2006

Barton Hinkle

Kaine again suggested that the conservative
Republicans who rule the House of Delegates are
blocking a compromise. --Times-Dispatch news story.
With budget negotiations having ground to yet another
impasse, Virginians can expect all the parties
involved to try to depict the others as rigid,
uncompromising ideologues. Some of them are -- but not
those whom Kaine fingered last week.

Let's review some history.

In 2001, budget negotiations broke down over the
car-tax cut. Governor Jim Gilmore and the
Republican-led House want- ed to increase the rollback
of the despised tax from 47.5 percent to 70 percent.
The Senate, led principally by Finance Committee
chairman John Chichester, refused. The House made
several attempts at compromise, submitting four
different budget versions for Chichester's approval.

At the time, Republican Delegate Vince Callahan and
Democratic Delegate Earl Dickinson wrote to
Chichester:

"Over the last five days the House conferees put forth
four specific proposals designed to overcome your
objections to our budget. Each time, we made every
effort to reduce the amount of borrowing, provide
equitable salary increases for all employee groups,
restore the cuts in services to our most vulnerable
citizens, and provide car-tax relief at 70 percent . .
. .The final component of our proposal dealt with the
level of budget restoration to maintain service
levels. As you know, your budget went beyond restoring
budget cuts and proposed new spending not contained in
the previously approved budget. The position of the
House conferees was to maintain services, not to start
or expand new programs."

Chichester barely budged beyond a "compromise" car-tax
rollback of 55 percent, and Gilmore wound up having to
amend the budget himself.

IN 2004, WITH a new Governor (Mark Warner) and a new
Speaker (Bill Howell, who by then had replaced Vance
Wilkins), the House and Senate deadlocked again --
this time over tax hikes. The House initially proposed
no new taxes. Governor Mark Warner wanted to raise
taxes by about $1 billion a year. In a spirit of
compromise, House Republicans offered to meet him
halfway by raising taxes $500 million.

Chichester insisted on jacking up taxes a remarkable
$4 billion. At the time, lofty voices in the state's
high councils were warning that tax increases were
urgently needed to protect the state's bond rating --
and to shore up state finances that had been bled by
weak economic growth. A marathon tug-of-war lasting
115 days ended with capitulation by House Republicans
and a tax hike of $1.4 billion.

Now, for the third time (and with the third Governor)
in six years, budget negotiations have hit a wall. Tim
Kaine practically tripped over himself in his haste to
propose a steep tax hike despite repeated campaign
vows not to do so until the state had secured road
funds against raiding for other purposes. He then
threatened with reprisal Republicans who dared to
voice doubts about the wisdom of his plans.
Chichester, once again, is being Chichester.

Kaine and Chichester are banging on their high chairs
demanding still more revenue despite all this:

(1)THERE IS NO threat to the state's bond rating.

(2)The state enjoys a honking big surplus.

(3)The $61.3-billion budget that included Warner's tax
hikes increased spending 19 percent.

(4)The current budget, at least $75.3 billion, will
increase spending by another 22.8 percent.

(5)Transportation has claimed 12 cents of every new
state dollar in the past decade.

(6)Also in the past decade, public-school enrollment
rose 10 percent while inflation-adjusted direct state
aid to education rose 42 percent.

(7)House Republicans, again, have agreed to raise
another $500 million for transportation.

Having got much of his way during the previous two
battles, Chichester evidently feels secure that
continued pig-headedness will succeed again. He might
be right. If so, it will be interesting to see what
pretext he produces to justify more tax hikes two
years hence.

And still some persist in suggesting House Republicans
are the uncompromising ideologues on tax issues. Those
who hold that view would do well to review the history
-- and return to planet Earth.

Richmond Times Dispatch

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

2006-03-20T06:20:00.000-08:00

2006 Legislative Session Ends – Special Session Set For March 27th

THE BOLLING REPORT, by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling

The 2006 session of the Virginia General Assembly ended on schedule on March 11th, but significant work remained undone, including the adoption of a new state budget for the 2006-2008 biennium and agreement on a plan for addressing Virginia’s highway construction needs. A special session to address these outstanding issues has been scheduled for March 27th.

As we look back on the 2006 session, it can best be characterized as “the good, the bad and the ugly.” While many important pieces of legislation were approved by the General Assembly, other significant proposals failed to pass and the budget impasse reflects significant philosophical differences between Republicans in the Senate and House of Delegates.

THE GOOD

During this year’s legislative session the members of the General Assembly gave their approval to several important pieces of legislation. The more significant measures approved by the General Assembly include:

Cable Competition – establishes a new procedure by which cable operators may obtain authorization to operate cable systems in localities. It is believed that this new system will enhance cable competition and reduce rates for consumers.

Small Business Health Insurance – authorizes the establishment of cooperatives for the purchasing of health insurance by small employers. It is believed that the formation of these cooperatives will reduce costs and make it easier for small employers to purchase health insurance for their employees.

Marriage – provides for a referendum in the November 2006 election on approval of a constitutional amendment to define marriage. The proposed amendment states that “only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid or recognized by the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions.”

Dangerous Dogs – provides criminal penalties for the owners of dangerous dogs by setting out a penalty scheme ranging from a Class 2 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony for violations that result in serious injury or death of a human.

Sex Offenders – amends provisions related to the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. Penalties are increased for certain sex crimes, including offenses involving a child under 13 years of age, and the list of offenses that qualify as sexually violent offenses is expanded.

Virginia Energy Plan – Requires the Commonwealth to develop a ten year comprehensive energy plan. The bill supports the surveying, exploration, and production of potential natural gas deposits in areas off the Commonwealth’s Atlantic shore. The bill also sets out a plan for siting nuclear power plants, wind power facilities, natural gas facilities and solar facilities; and requires state agencies to look for additional ways to reduce energy consumption.

Medicaid Long Term Care – requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services to establish a long term care partnership program between the Commonwealth and private insurance companies to reduce Medicaid costs by encouraging the purchase of private long term care insurance policies. Companion legislation provides a 10% tax credit for payment of premiums associated with the purchase of long term care insurance.

In State Tuition For Children of Military Personnel – permits the children of active duty military personnel who are assigned to a permanent duty station in Virginia and reside in Virginia to pay in-state tuition at Virginia’s colleges and universities.

Back To School “Tax Holiday” – provides a sales tax exemption for certain school supplies, clothing and footwear purchased during a three day period each year beginning on the first Friday in August. Exempt items are school supplies with a selling price of $20 or less and articles of clothing or footwear with a selling price of $100 or less.

Communications Tax Reform – simplifies the imposition of telecommunications taxes in Virginia by eliminating a number of existing state and local telecommunications taxes and applying a statewide sales and use tax rate of 5% to retail communication and video services.

THE BAD

Unfortunately, several other pieces of worthy legislation failed to receive the General Assembly’s approval. This defeated legislation included:

Death Tax – would have eliminated the death tax in Virginia. While the Senate and House of Delegates both passed legislation to eliminate the death tax, these bills differed in content. Unfortunately, these differences could not be reconciled before the General Assembly adjourned.

Small Business Health Insurance – would have provided a tax credit to employers with 50 or fewer employees who pay at least one half of the annual health insurance premiums of their employees.

Teen Drivers And Cell Phones – would have prohibited persons under the age of 18 from using any cellular telephone or other wireless communications device while driving.

Eminent Domain – would have tightened the definition of “public use” to eliminate potential abuses of state or local governments in utilizing the power of eminent domain. Would have prohibited the use of eminent domain if the primary purpose was economic development or expansion of the tax base.

In State Tuition For Illegal Immigrants – would have prohibited Virginia’s colleges and universities from allowing illegal immigrants to pay in state tuition.

Licensure Of Abortion Clinics – would have required abortion clinics to be licensed and comply with requirements currently in place for ambulatory surgery centers.

THE UGLY

When this year’s legislative session started, I said that the most important issue currently facing Virginia was building a transportation system for the 21st century. While almost everyone agrees that this will require the dedication of significant additional revenues to the Transportation Trust Fund, the members of the Senate and House of Delegates were unable to agree on a specific approach for accomplishing this important goal.

As discussed in past editions of The Bolling Report, Governor Tim Kaine and an overwhelming majority of the members of the State Senate support increasing a number of state taxes and fees to generate about $1B in additional funding for the Transportation Trust Fund.

However, the members of the House of Delegates have taken a more conservative approach, generating about $500M a year in additional funding for transportation purposes without raising taxes. The House plan would utilize budget surpluses and existing general fund revenue sources to generate additional funding for transportation.

I have made my position on this issue clear. While I strongly support dedicating significant additional revenue for transportation constructions, I do not believe that it is necessary to increase taxes to accomplish this.

Virginia’s economy is currently growing at a very rapid rate. This economic growth will produce budget surpluses and new revenue growth sufficient to support a 19% increase in state spending in the upcoming biennium. Armed with such impressive economic growth, I do not believe it is either necessary or appropriate to increase taxes.

I am convinced that we can adequately fund the core responsibilities of state government and make a significant ongoing investment in transportation without raising taxes if we have the fiscal discipline to direct existing revenue sources to our most pressing needs and the budgetary restraint to resist the temptation to embark on a number of new and costly government programs.

Unfortunately, the members of the Senate and House of Delegates were unable to resolve this issue prior to the scheduled adjournment of the General Assembly on March 11th. The members of the General Assembly will return to Richmond on March 27th for a Special Session to continue this important dialogue.

It has been a pleasure to publish The Bolling Report again this year. I hope the report has helped you better understand the issues being discussed in Richmond by your elected representatives. I will continue to keep you informed of developments in ongoing budget negotiations and other important state issues in the weeks to come.

Oscar's Big Dud

2006-03-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

There were plenty of films that deserved recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — some of them family-friendly fare coming from Hollywood 's biggest studios.

Pro-family film critics say Sunday night's Oscar ceremonies were a sign that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences isn't just out of touch with the American people — it's out of touch with Hollywood itself.

"The Oscar ceremony seemed to bomb -- 10 percent of the (television) audience left," said MovieGuide's Ted Baehr. "It was not only the lowest Oscar ratings, but it was the steepest drop-off. (Host) Jon Stewart seemed to alienate people — and you had this long sequence of clips which became tedious after awhile." (more at Focus on the Family)

DUDE, WHERE'S MY CIVIL WAR?

2006-03-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

DUDE, WHERE'S MY CIVIL WAR?

By RALPH PETERS, New York Post - In Iraq, March 5, 2006

BAGHDAD

I'm trying. I've been trying all week. The other day, I drove another 30 miles or so on the streets and alleys of Baghdad. I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it.

Maybe actually being on the ground in Iraq prevents me from seeing it. Perhaps the view's clearer from Manhattan. It could be that my background as an intelligence officer didn't give me the right skills.

And riding around with the U.S. Army, looking at things first-hand, is certainly a technique to which The New York Times wouldn't stoop in such an hour of crisis.

Let me tell you what I saw anyway. Rolling with the "instant Infantry" gunners of the 1st Platoon of Bravo Battery, 4-320 Field Artillery, I saw children and teenagers in a Shia slum jumping up and down and cheering our troops as they drove by. Cheering our troops.

All day - and it was a long day - we drove through Shia and Sunni neighborhoods. Everywhere, the reception was warm. No violence. None.

And no hostility toward our troops. Iraqis went out of their way to tell us we were welcome.

Instead of a civil war, something very different happened because of the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. The fanatic attempt to stir up Sunni-vs.-Shia strife, and the subsequent spate of violent attacks, caused popular support for the U.S. presence to spike upward.

Think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi intended that?

In place of the civil war that elements in our media declared, I saw full streets, open shops, traffic jams, donkey carts, Muslim holiday flags - and children everywhere, waving as our Humvees passed. Even the clouds of dust we stirred up didn't deter them. And the presence of children in the streets is the best possible indicator of a low threat level.

Southeast Baghdad, at least, was happy to see our troops.

And we didn't just drive past them. First Lt. Clenn Frost, the platoon leader, took every opportunity to dismount and mingle with the people. Women brought their children out of their compound gates to say hello. A local sheik spontaneously invited us into his garden for colas and sesame biscuits.

It wasn't the Age of Aquarius. The people had serious concerns. And security was No. 1. They wanted the Americans to crack down harder on the foreign terrorists and to disarm the local militias. Iraqis don't like and don't support the militias, Shia or Sunni, which are nothing more than armed gangs.

Help's on the way, if slowly. The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree. The Iraqi police aren't all the way there yet, and the population doesn't yet have much confidence in them. But all of this takes time.

And even the police are making progress. We took a team of them with us so they could train beside our troops. We visited a Public Order Battalion - a gendarmerie outfit - that reeked of sloth and carelessness. But the regular Iraqi Police outfit down the road proved surprisingly enthusiastic and professional. It's just an uneven, difficult, frustrating process.

So what did I learn from a day in the dust and muck of Baghdad's less-desirable boroughs? As the long winter twilight faded into haze and the fires of the busy shawarma stands blazed in the fresh night, I felt that Iraq was headed, however awkwardly, in the right direction.

The country may still see a civil war one day. But not just yet, thanks. Violence continues. A roadside bomb was found in the next sector to the west. There will be more deaths, including some of our own troops. But Baghdad's vibrant life has not been killed. And the people of Iraq just might surprise us all.

So why were we told that Iraq was irreversibly in the throes of civil war when it wasn't remotely true? I think the answers are straightforward. First, of course, some parties in the West are anxious to believe the worst about Iraq. They've staked their reputations on Iraq's failure.

But there's no way we can let irresponsible journalists off the hook - or their parent organizations. Many journalists are, indeed, brave and conscientious; yet some in Baghdad - working for "prestigious" publications - aren't out on the city streets the way they pretend to be.

They're safe in their enclaves, protected by hired guns, complaining that it's too dangerous out on the streets. They're only in Baghdad for the byline, and they might as well let their Iraqi employees phone it in to the States. Whenever you see a column filed from Baghdad by a semi-celeb journalist with a "contribution" by a local Iraqi, it means this: The Iraqi went out and got the story, while the journalist stayed in his or her room.

And the Iraqi stringers have cracked the code: The Americans don't pay for good news. So they exaggerate the bad.

And some of them have agendas of their own.

A few days ago, a wild claim that the Baghdad morgue held 1,300 bodies was treated as Gospel truth. Yet Iraqis exaggerate madly and often have partisan interests. Did any Western reporter go to that morgue and count the bodies - a rough count would have done it - before telling the world the news?

I doubt it.

If reporters really care, it's easy to get out on the streets of Baghdad. The 506th Infantry Regiment - and other great military units - will take journalists on their patrols virtually anywhere in the city. Our troops are great to work with. (Of course, there's the danger of becoming infected with patriot- ism . . .)

I'm just afraid that some of our journalists don't want to know the truth anymore.

For me, though, memories of Baghdad will be the cannoneers of the 1st Platoon walking the dusty, reeking alleys of Baghdad. I'll recall 1st Lt. Frost conducting diplomacy with the locals and leading his men through a date-palm grove in a search for insurgent mortar sites.

I'll remember that lieutenant investigating the murder of a Sunni mullah during last week's disturbances, cracking down on black-marketers, checking up on sewer construction, reassuring citizens - and generally doing the job of a lieutenant-colonel in peacetime.

Oh, and I'll remember those "radical Shias" cheering our patrol as we passed by.

Ralph Peters is reporting from Forward Operating Base Loyalty, where he's been riding with the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (attached to 4ID).

Forum: Choosing plans wisely

2006-03-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Forum: Choosing plans wisely

Published March 5, 2006

During my military career, I learned the art of bartering in local market places from Syria to South Korea. It required patience and the ability to see a deal for what it was worth.
So too, the Virginia General Assembly must decide which of the three competing transportation plans to address our transportation issues in the Commonwealth. And there are profound differences between competing plans we will consider in Richmond over the course this coming week.
At stake is whether we will adopt an responsible plan that uses surplus dollars and real reform to address transportation needs, or fall back on the reflexive tax-increase mantra that dominates among some in Virginia's Senate and the Governor's Mansion
When Gov. Tim Kaine was a candidate, he stressed his opposition to tax increases for transportation until the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) was constitutionally protected from raids by other spending. In fact, five days prior to the election, Mr. Kaine said: "I'm not going to be in for tax increases because we did it in 2004 and we're going to have to live within our means." (Nov. 3, 2005: Tim Kaine on WRVA Radio AM 1140 in Richmond.)
But he promptly submitted a $3 billion tax increase, knowing well we were far from completing the process to constitutionally protect the TTF.
Not to be outdone, the Senate submitted a $4 billion tax boost that exceeds the gargantuan $1.5 billion it passed in 2004. "It worked then, why not again?" they reason. Never mind that we have a $1.4 billion surplus right now. Never mind that the surplus in the last 30 days has been revised upward $163 million dollars by the Kaine administration. Never mind that since 2004, Virginia's surplus has grown to more than $3 billion, not including recent tax increases. Never mind that people have to sell homes in Northern Virginia because they are priced out of them by soaring property assessments and taxes.
Bottom line: Governor and the Senate want you to pay more while doing nothing to reform the system that spends our money.
But the House of Delegates has a better idea. We introduced our comprehensive transportation plan that: (1) manages growth in a sensible manner, (2) transforms how transportation services are organized, planned and delivered, and (3) makes a major investment by dedicating and sustaining revenue for targeted solutions that actually reduce congestion and increase mobility -- without raising taxes.
In regard to growth, we are enacting better land-use reforms as well as improving how localities create comprehensive plans in coordination with VDOT. We are expanding local ability to collect cash proffers from developers to help pay for roads. We are adding to our popular "transportation matching fund" that helps localities build roads faster.
In reforming VDOT, the House plan increases private-public partnerships, provides for more cost-effective and time-saving procurement methods, expedites new technologies to improve traffic capacity, makes dangerous drivers pay for the negative effect they have on traffic and creates more legislative oversight in how VDOT spends our money.
More important, the House plan increases transportation funding by more than $2 billion in the next four years without raising taxes amid major surplus growth. This additional $2 billion builds on the $9 billion we already have in this and the next biennium, bringing our total investment to more than $20 billion in four years. And in Northern Virginia, we have directed $215 million of that $2 billion to a revolving bond fund that will support $673 million in targeted transportation improvements in our region -- an idea that incorporates my HB 1436.
The political rhetoric will be intense in the next few weeks. First, you will hear we can't afford to use debt to finance capital construction. That's bunk.
By law we must have a balanced budget in Virginia, and do. That said, we aren't even close to our annually acceptable debt load and we won't be under the House plan. People who play "Chicken Little" with the debt argument have no problem going into debt for university construction and state parks. Using some debt capacity for roads is neither unprecedented nor bad.
Second, the high-tax lobby will say the House plan doesn't go far enough. Unfortunately, they fail to comprehend that a low-tax environment creates the actual surpluses we are able to use -- now -- on this budget's transportation projects. Low taxes increase revenues by promoting business investment and personal spending.
Third, the high-tax lobby will say the House plan robs rural areas. That may be the biggest distortion of all. In fact, under the House plan transportation funding actually increases in rural areas even while we make record investments in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Fourth, the pro-tax chorus will sing their familiar tune that the House plan threatens other funding like education and health care. Wrong again. The House Budget provides almost $12 billion for K-12 education, an increase of $1.6 billion over current levels. It provides $137 million for Virginia's research institutions of higher education and $200 million in new funding for the Chesapeake Bay.
Sad to say, the Senate of Virginia is poised not only to kill House reforms, they are setting the stage to drive us, as they did in 2004, into another overtime session until they again reach into your pockets for more taxes.
Mr. Kaine is also threatening to keep the Legislature in Richmond until we raise your taxes, tax increases he said he would not support when he was seeking your vote.
So beware when assessing the plans. Some are based on broken promises. Some are based on breaking your bank. But the House plan recognizes that at a time of record surpluses, government should not ask you for more money when wise reforms and better spending priorities will achieve our purpose.

L. SCOTT LINGAMFELTER
Mr. Lingamfelter, a retired Army colonel, is a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Prince William and Fauquier Counties. Elected in 2001, he also serves on the House Finance Committee.

Washington Times

Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

How to turn a Red State Blue

2006-02-24T05:45:00.000-08:00

How to Turn a Red State Blue

February 23, 2006; Page A16

If you think Republicans on Capitol Hill have troubles, take a look at Virginia, where GOP lawmakers are busy writing an instruction manual on how to become a minority party.

Republicans in that ostensibly "red" Southern state got their clocks cleaned in November's elections after they refused to take a coherent stand on taxes, and Democrat Tim Kaine squeezed to their right on pocketbook issues. As GOP state senator Ken Cuccinelli explained, "We ran on a message of almost being for tax cuts, almost for smaller government, almost for protecting Second Amendment rights, and almost being pro-life. As a result, the voters almost came out and voted for us."

And they apparently have learned nothing from that rout. When the legislature reconvened last month, the first proposal from the majority Republicans in the state senate was to endorse a $1 billion tax hike for roads and transit projects -- the second huge tax increase in two years. The GOP plan would increase auto fees, the gas and diesel tax, and even taxes on batteries and tires. This is the same party that last won the governorship under Jim Gilmore in 1997 promising to abolish the very car taxes they now want to increase.

Last week the senators floated another tax plan that is so bizarre and complicated it has made them a laughing stock. This scheme would raise the gas tax by 5%, but the sponsors insist that "no one would have to pay the tax if they didn't want to," because motorists could get a rebate at the end of the year if they keep shoeboxes full of tiny scraps of service station receipts. This would add immeasurably to the joys of April 15.

These tax-hike proposals keep coming despite a state revenue office report that Virginia now has a $2 billion biennial budget surplus. As a high-tech state, Virginia has been a huge beneficiary of the expansion spurred by the Bush investment tax cuts. But the entrenched senate Republicans -- many of whom have been fixtures in the capital of Richmond for decades -- want to spend the tax windfall and then some.

A Virginia Institute for Public Policy study notes that, over the past decade, the state budget has swollen at twice the rate of inflation plus population growth in the state. That's an $11 billion bonanza for state agencies, or about $500 more spending annually per Virginian. It's true that roads have been neglected during these high-spending years, causing some of the worst pockets of traffic gridlock in the country. But that's because state pols spent like crazy on social services and schools -- though student achievement tests show virtually no gains.

Only 18 months ago this same senate gang rammed through a $1.5 billion sales tax increase, even after 55% of the voters had defeated the same tax scheme when it was a ballot initiative a year before. The original senate Republican tax plan was so supersized that even then-Democratic Governor Mark Warner, who openly promoted higher taxes only after he'd won election in 2001, denounced the GOP plan as too heavy a burden. In short, this is a state GOP suffering from a severe identity crisis.

Meanwhile, property taxes are rising and clueless Republicans haven't lifted a finger to cap assessments. Thanks to a housing boom in Northern Virginia, state property tax bills for median priced homes have risen by $2,000, or 85% in six years. The sticker shock has enraged homeowners and taxpayers are fighting back locally. Yet Republicans are proposing to raise taxes again anyway.

And that's how to turn a red state blue.

Copyright 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Democracy quotes

2006-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."

"Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."

- Authors unknown. (Sometimes attributed to Alexander Tytler and Benjamin Disraeli, respectively, but unverified by the Library of Congress.)

The Marriage Amendment, No Rush: The Process Has Seen Ample Debate

2006-02-14T06:34:00.000-08:00

No Rush: The Process Has Seen Ample Debate

VICTORIA COBB

GUEST COLUMNIST Feb 5, 2006

The national movement to amend state constitutions to protect the traditional definition of marriage has come to Virginia, giving citizens of the Commonwealth an opportunity to vote on the matter this November. In the past 18 months, voters in 15 states have passed amendments by overwhelming numbers, bringing to 19 the total number of states defining marriage in their constitutions.

The need for this amendment stems from the actions of judges in other states that have overturned long-standing state laws preventing same-sex marriage. The most publicized case came from Massachusetts, where in an act of remarkable judicial activism that state's highest court ordered the legislature to redefine marriage. More recently, in our neighboring state Maryland, a judge invalidated a 33-year-old ban on same-sex marriage. Judges in Nebraska and California have also rejected the will of the people and state legislatures when it comes to defining marriage. The only true protection against an activist state judge in Virginia overturning current laws defining marriage is a constitutional amendment.

The arguments for protecting the traditional definition of marriage are many, but perhaps the most important is the well-being of children. More than 10,000 social-science studies prove that children are better off in every way in a stable, traditional home with a married mother and father. No compassionate society intentionally creates homes without both a mom and a dad, and that is exactly what same-sex marriage would do.

Frightening Virginians
In opposition to the amendment, those who wish to redefine marriage are relying on the same, tired arguments used across the nation. Opponents attempt to frighten Virginians into believing that the proposed amendment would somehow remove protections from domestic violence or void contracts between any two persons. These reckless arguments, however, have been consistently dismissed in the courts -- two Ohio appellate courts, the Louisiana Supreme Court, and a Michigan circuit court, to name a few. By ignoring these decisions, same-sex marriage advocates are showing their disdain for the facts and instead are resorting to irresponsible scare tactics.

But Virginians need not look outside the state to dismiss the misinformation of amendment opponents, for they are reviving the same arguments used two years ago when the General Assembly passed the Marriage Affirmation Act. At that time homosexual political activist groups promised immediate lawsuits and even solicited for plaintiffs claiming contracts voided or visitation rights denied. We are still awaiting even the first lawsuit. We are waiting, because once again the argument is not legally valid.

Opponents of the amendment are now using the ridiculous argument that Virginia is somehow "rushing" the amendment through with little debate. It is important to remember that the amendment process in Virginia takes nearly two years. This amendment was first introduced more than a year ago. It was vigorously debated in Senate and House committees last year and then again on the floors of both legislative chambers. There has been the necessary intervening election of the entire House of Delegates and again this year the bill was considered by both the House and Senate and passed with overwhelming, bipartisan support. The citizens of Virginia now have nine months to consider both sides of the debate before casting their ballot in November. Compare this to places such as Ohio and Texas that put amendments on the ballot and passed them in just a few months. To say that Virginia is somehow working in haste simply does not match up with reality.

Editorial Opposition
While same-sex advocates have lost the citizen vote in every state, they have had one group clearly on their side -- the so-called mainstream media. The disconnect between editorialists in particular and the general public in every state that has passed a similar amendment has been extraordinary. In fact, of 107 newspapers' editorial pages in the 15 states that have passed amendments in the past 18 months, a grand total of 13 supported the amendments, and four of those were in one state. That means more than 90 editorial pages opposed state constitutional amendments defining marriage in states where the citizens supported the amendments by an average of 70 percent!

Everywhere citizens have been given the opportunity to protect traditional marriage, they have done so decisively. It is very likely that Virginians will do the same.

Victoria Cobb is the executive director of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

Great words from Ronald Reagan

2006-02-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

- Ronald Reagan

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan

"Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong." - Ronald Reagan

"I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress." - Ronald Reagan

"The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination." - Ronald Reagan

"Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

- Ronald Reagan

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." - Ronald Reagan

"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." - Ronald Reagan

"I've laid down the law, though, to everyone from now on about anything that happens: no matter what time it is, wake me, even if it's in the middle of a Cabinet meeting." - Ronald Reagan

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."

- Ronald Reagan

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." - Ronald Reagan

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book."

- Ronald Reagan

"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.

- Ronald Reagan

Remembering a Man and His Ideas

2006-02-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

Remembering a Man and His Ideas

PAUL HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH GUEST COLUMNIST Feb 6, 2006

Arlington. August 19, 1976, Charlottesville, Virginia. On the television that night was a special event featuring a collage of circus-like antics and serious news commentary. Adults blew horns, waved signs in the air, and wore large hats and buttons and patriotic red-white-and-blue clothing. They were being interviewed by staid reporters who made the antics sound so momentous. That's what made the 1976 Republican National Convention so fascinating to a 12-year- old boy.

There was suspense and intrigue. Rumor swirled about whether President Ford would be nominated and, if so, whom he might pick as his vice-presidential running-mate. The reporters kept focusing on this man named Ronald Reagan. Occasionally the television cameras would pan up to the balcony where he was seated, as the convention crowd kept calling for him until, at last, President Ford invited him to the podium to address the audience. It was all so spontaneous.

I recall vividly how this tall man seemingly plucked out of the crowd strode gracefully to the podium. He had no written remarks in his hand but his confidence was unmistakable. I wondered how he was going to pull this off. And that's when I heard Ronald Reagan speak for the first time. Within a few mesmerizing minutes, I would learn why our 40th President is called "The Great Communicator." His speech was gracious, eloquent, and hopeful. He spoke with the personal conviction that bolstered the meaning of every phrase. That night, Reagan left an indelible impression.

YEARS LATER I became even more captivated by Ronald Reagan's message as he campaigned for the presidency. Perhaps, in the view of some, a low-income housing tenement in Charlottesville is an odd place for the conservative message of Ronald Reagan to resonate.

But Ronald Reagan soon became a familiar voice to me. He spoke with tremen- dous conviction about faith in God, a strong work ethic, and the right of each person to achieve according to his or her God-given talents, free from burdensome regulation and taxation. He seemed to understand me in my station of life, and he spoke to my deep yearning for a better day.

Yet I didn't know of a single adult in my family or in my community who supported this man. By the time he was sworn into office as our nation's 40th President, I was quite intrigued by Ronald Wilson Reagan -- the public man and his ideas.

A teenager is as good as anyone in detecting conviction, and Ronald Reagan quickly demonstrated conviction as the new President. He signed a major tax cut his first year in office. He also set about restoring America's spirit and hopes for the future as well as our military superiority. And he wasted no time in setting out to defeat the "Evil Empire." President Reagan had convinced me in the rightness of all of these fronts. Even more, he gave America -- and me personally the confidence that our best days were ahead.

IN THE FALL of 1982 I enrolled as a political science major at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). I took with me to Hampton the ideals on which I had been raised -- the same ideals that President Reagan articulated -- hard work, trust in God, and service to country. And yet despite my affinity for Ronald Reagan, I still did not consider myself a Republican.

But Hampton University is the kind of place where students are taught how to think, not what to think. For me -- an impressionable 18-year-old -- common-sense honesty supported Reagan's position on cutting taxes and building a stronger military. And that's where I found myself -- agreeing with the honesty and effectiveness of Ronald Reagan's ideas as I found them, without any preconceptions or lingering bitterness from a bygone era.

And somewhere between the night of the 1976 Republican National Convention and adulthood, I had resolved that I was not just a Republican, but a Reagan Republican.

Indeed, Ronald Reagan -- who would have turned 95 today -- will forever stand out as the pre-eminent leader of my lifetime, whether as the man who lost the 1976 nomination battle but won the war of ideas . . . or the fiery candidate who gave America purpose again in 1980 . . . or the President who restored the American economy and won the Cold War without firing a shot . . . or the cultural icon who left us forever reminded and hopeful that great leaders do emerge when we need them.

Paul Harris, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates and a former deputy associate U.S. Attorney General, is senior counsel and director of enterprise compliance at Raytheon and chairman of Americans for Prosperity -- Virginia.

RU-486 abortion pill linked to fatal infections

2006-02-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

Mifepristone (RU-486): Fatal Infections Linked to Abortion Drug's Suppression of Immune System

Issue No.: 26
by: Mr. Christopher M. Gacek

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Smoke appeared four months ago when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) heightened RU-486's "Black Box Warning" to physicians based on the drug's dangerous tendency to produce severe infections or sepsis. Now a fire is clearly visible: last Friday the FDA notified medical professionals that all four U.S. sepsis fatalities linked to RU-486 abortions tested positive for an anaerobic bacterial strain, Clostridium sordellii. Furthermore, a Canadian woman died similarly in 2001.

C. sordellii belongs to the same group of pathogenic bacteria that secrete tetanus toxin and botulinal toxin (i.e., botulism); this particular bacterial strain produces Lethal Toxin. Mifepristone short circuits the body's ability to repel C. sordellii. Septic shock can result and is often fatal.

In women of childbearing age, rapidly and intensely developing lethal infections caused by C. sordellii were rare and exclusively associated with postpartum infections prior to FDA's approval of mifepristone. Since septic shock syndrome due to C. sordellii has not been reported in surgical abortions, the occurrence of these five deaths within four years argues strongly that these deaths are not random events. One scientist has plausibly described this syndrome as "mifepristone-induced septic shock," whereby young, healthy women die shortly after taking the drug.

How many more women have to die before FDA extinguishes this murderous fire and pulls RU-486 from the market?

Family Research Council

Conservative Activists Launch Boycott of Citgo

2006-01-31T06:31:00.000-08:00

(CNSNews.com) - A conservative advocacy group is urging Americans to boycott Citgo gas stations, since Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government, and the Venezuelan president has vowed to topple the U.S. government. President Hugo Chavez recently told a TV audience, "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century." The guest on that particular program was anti-Bush, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. The American Family Association is urging Americans to send an email to Chavez and Citgo, letting them know that "you will not be shopping at a Citgo station." The AFA said sales at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him undermine U.S. interests. "Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?" AFA Founder and Chairman Donald Wildmon asked in a message to supporters. Citgo's website notes that it is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of Venezuela.

AFA website, TAKE ACTION

The mark of Kaine

2006-01-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mark of Kaine
By Cal Thomas
Published January 25, 2006

Democrats think they have found their deliverer. He is the new governor of Virginia, Timothy Kaine. So confident are they that Mr. Kaine can lead them to the electoral promised land, they have tapped him to deliver their party's response to President Bush's State of the Union speech. Given the threats posed by foreign and domestic terrorists, Democrats risk exposing Mr. Kaine as an inexperienced lightweight who is not in the president's league of knowledge and experience.
Democrats see Mr. Kaine as a more mature version of another Southern governor, Bill Clinton, the first Democrat to win two presidential terms since the glory days of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mr. Kaine has at least two advantages over Mr. Clinton: he doesn't have Mr. Clinton's personal baggage, and his wife isn't Hillary. Mr. Kaine seems like a strong family man who speaks the language and religious faith of Middle America.
Mr. Kaine displayed his Democratic Party bona fides in the first days of his term as governor. He announced his intention to again boost the taxes of Virginians, who had already suffered through one huge tax increase under Mr. Kaine's predecessor, Mark Warner. Virginia has a surplus of $1 billion dollars, but Democrats think they never have enough of our money and so, like unsatisfied vampires, they are constantly looking for new sources of blood.
Mr. Kaine's spending plan includes massive outlays to overhaul Northern Virginia's jammed roads and inadequate rail systems. The Washington, D.C., area, of which Northern Virginia is a significant part, has some of the worst traffic in the nation.
Mr. Kaine aims to raise $4 billion in new taxes and fees by 2010 and deliver a transportation system that would undo Washington's notorious gridlock. But a policy built on roads is problematic, because history has shown in Northern Virginia and other congested regions of the country that traffic usually keeps up with "improved" road systems. It isn't long after old roads are widened and new ones built that cars fill the new space and traffic again backs up. The time it will take to "improve" Northern Virginia's road system -- an estimated 10 years -- will cause more lane closings, detours and worse gridlock than now exists.
If Mr. Kaine were as smart as his supporters say he is, he would steal from what Republicans used to do when they resembled Republicans. He would cut spending.
Any policy that relies solely, or even mostly, on ever-increasing taxes and fees to boost revenue is a policy that eventually will hurt business, reduce investment capital and harm the economy.
Where would spending reductions come from? Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) exposed some of the pork in Virginia's budget during the state's 2003 legislative session. It totaled $8.1 billion and included $2.4 million for the promotion of Virginia wine, $2 million for the Great Dismal Swamp Interpretive Center, and $117,500 to digitalize President Woodrow Wilson's historical papers.
Each year, approximately $300,000 is appropriated to the Virginia Association of Counties (VAC), allowing a select few of Virginia's local government officials and employees to dine on gourmet food, play golf, and enjoy the spas at one of Virginia's luxury resorts. Who do they think they are, members of Congress? Whatever happened to the Holiday Inn? Why should legislators get digs better than most Virginia citizens can afford? VAC's 2003 annual conference was held at the Homestead Resort in southwest Virginia, one of the ritziest hotels in the country.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, remains one of the better role models for cutting unnecessary state spending. Faced with budget problems, Mr. Sanford formed a commission in 2003 that identified wasteful spending. Adopting the commission's recommendations produced $225 million in immediate savings, with further annual savings of $300 million. Last year, he proposed a budget without a tax increase.
If Democrats think they're going to fool Virginians and the country by pretending Gov. Kaine is something other than a traditional tax and spend Democrat, they will be disappointed. That virtually his first act as governor was to announce plans for another round of tax hikes with nothing said about spending reductions marks him as an old Democrat, not a new one.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist.

Kaine pushes tax hike to pay for roads in Northern VA

2006-01-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

Kaine Pushes Tax Increase to Improve Roads in Va.

Proposed Boost, 2nd in 2 Years, Would Raise $4 Billion by 2010

By Michael D. Shear and Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 21, 2006; A01

RICHMOND, Jan. 20 -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and a bipartisan group of state senators offered competing proposals Friday to raise taxes and fees, with each plan generating close to $4 billion by 2010, to relieve the state's congested transportation network.

Accepting the political dangers of proposing Virginia's second major tax increase in two years, Kaine is seeking higher taxes on auto insurance and the purchase of a car as well as stiffer fees for car registration and driving offenses.

With nearly $1 billion more to spend each year, the new governor said, he can double the state's support for mass transit, increase highway construction by 90 percent and revive stalled road projects.

The money would help build a connected network of carpool or express toll lanes on all of Northern Virginia's major highways, buy rail cars for Virginia Railway Express and Metro, widen Interstates 95 and 66, and fix traffic bottlenecks.

"We don't need any more studies. We don't need an extended session," Kaine told reporters Friday afternoon. "If we do this, if we have the courage to do this, we can fix the problems that have bedeviled us for a decade."

The senators also proposed to increase the sales tax on cars. They want a new sales tax on gasoline at the wholesale level that probably would be passed on to consumers. Drivers pay 17.5 cents per gallon in state gas taxes.

"We must have a dedicated and sustainable revenue source for transportation," said Senate Finance Chairman John H. Chichester (R-Northumberland). "We cannot cure transportation by draining the lifeblood from public and higher education, health care and public safety."

Chichester said Virginia's transportation system has moved from "life support to code red." Without investments, commuters will remain stuck in traffic, businesses will fail to move their goods and the quality of life in Virginia will decline, the senators said.

On Monday, Kaine proposed that local governments receive new authority to limit growth to help them ease traffic congestion. That proposal drew immediate protests from home builders, real estate agents and developers, who visited legislators Tuesday.

Kaine sought to rebut that criticism Friday, saying: "This will not cause the death of the housing industry. . . . People are not going to live in tents."

Kaine's proposals to fund transportation projects prompted new protests, this time from Republicans in the House and lobbyists for the auto dealers.

"It's very hard to justify a tax increase to the general public when we just went through one two years ago," said House Appropriations Chairman Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax). "And then we've had massive surpluses in the years since. It's going to be a hard sell."

Don Hall, the chief lobbyist for the auto dealers association, said the proposals to increase the sales tax on cars would devastate the auto industry in Virginia.

"We are the golden goose," Hall said, referring to the $600 million that is collected from sales tax on cars. "They are about to kill it. They will put us in a tailspin."

Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax) said the Senate's proposal to increase taxes on gas "has a millisecond of life on the House side."

And Del. William R. Janis (R-Goochland) said Kaine misled voters last year. "Eight weeks ago, he was maintaining that he wasn't interested in raising taxes on cars or gasoline or anything else, for that matter."

Republican leaders in the House said they will present their transportation proposal -- without tax increases -- next week. One senior Republican has proposed taking more than $1 billion a year from the state's operating fund to pay for transportation projects, an idea that Kaine specifically rejected Friday afternoon.

The Kaine and Senate plans represent the second major effort to increase taxes in two years. In 2004, the House and Senate argued for more than two months over tax increases to pay for schools, colleges, health care and public safety.

That ended with a compromise brokered by then-Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) and 17 Republican delegates, who agreed to more modest tax increases than the Senate had proposed. Part of the compromise involved dropping Senate plans to raise taxes for transportation.

Kaine's plan would increase the sales tax on the purchase of a car from 3 percent to 5 percent, raising the tax on a $20,000 auto from $600 to $1,000. Taxes on auto insurance premiums would double, adding as much as $18 per year. Auto registration would go up, and fines for bad driving would escalate sharply.

Driving with a suspended license or reckless driving would be assessed an extra $750, and a DUI conviction would be penalized with an additional $2,200 on top of fines and court costs.

In the Senate plan, sales taxes on cars and wholesale gasoline would be imposed gradually, increasing to 5 percent. Senators said that by 2010, the average driver could pay $65 more each year for gas.

The costs of registering an automobile and renting a car would also increase under the Senate plan.

It would require a new review of procedures at the Virginia Department of Transportation and give local governments more tools to direct growth.

"This is nothing short of a remake of our transportation system," said Sen. Charles R. Hawkins (R-Pittsylvania).

Stewart Schwartz, the president of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said lawmakers "must come up with stronger land use and transportation planning reforms before writing more checks."

Some lawmakers and local officials in Northern Virginia complained that the higher taxes would fall harder on their region.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) welcomed new funds for transportation but said the state should provide more by borrowing more.

"We have substantial underutilized debt capacity that ought to be used," he said.

Hugh D. Keogh, president of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, praised the Senate proposal, saying the tax on gas may concern some in the business community, who "need to be prepared to give a little bit to get a big picture deal."

Many in the Senate have agreed in recent days that they would not be prepared for another brawl in the legislature unless a transportation plan was sizable enough to make a difference for commuters, meaning at least $1 billion in new funding yearly.

Kaine said he is willing to compromise but wants a solution by the time the legislature adjourns in March:

"Every legislator understands this problem. They've lived it. They've talked about it. They've heard about it from their constituents. They are here now for 60 days with every tool at their disposal to solve it. . . . It's now time to be about solutions."

Republican response to Kaine's state of the State address

2006-01-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Delegate Kirk Cox Offer Republican Perspective on the State of the Commonwealth

RICHMOND , VA –– Tonight Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Fairfax) and Delegate M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox (R-Colonial Heights) offered the Republican perspective on the State of the Commonwealth following Governor Tim Kaine’s address to a Joint Assembly of the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia. The remarks are as follows:

Senator Devolites-Davis:

Good evening. I am State Senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis from Fairfax . Along with my good friend, Delegate Kirk Cox from Colonial Heights , we will be sharing with you some of the issues Republicans in the General Assembly will be focusing on this Session.

Kirk . . . .

Delegate Cox :

Thank you, Jeannemarie.

At the start of this new year, this new Session and this new Administration, I believe – to borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, “It is morning again in Virginia . ”

Our economy is booming. More Virginians are working than ever before. Our schools serve our children better than ever before. As a public school teacher, I can see the results and our kids are scoring better than ever on state and national tests.

But that’s not all: Crime rates are low. Government programs and services are being streamlined using new technology. And Virginia is rightfully called the “Internet Capital of the World.”

There is no question in my mind, and that of many others, that the spark igniting this latest rebirth – this Virginia Renaissance – was lit when George Allen was Governor.

We have continued to build on that legacy on a bi-partisan basis.

We have led with principles… tested new ideas with good common sense… and advanced a broad-based reform agenda to make Virginia a better place to live, work, learn and raise a family.

This upbeat assessment of the state of our Commonwealth is one shared by many, including our former Governor Mark Warner, who declared last week that the “State of the Commonwealth” was “strong.” We agree.

In truth, however, Republicans know that our tremendous progress has its origins not in government, but in the spirit and aspirations – the hard work and special character – of the people of Virginia .

This is the key to understanding Virginia ’s storied history and promising future.

Yes, Virginia is strong. But we reject the arguments of those who say government must tax people more to make Virginia stronger. For when you try to squeeze money out of people who made possible all this progress, you impede that very progress.

Tonight, we have just heard from our newly inaugurated Governor, Tim Kaine. We wish him well.

Like him, we recognize that each new day brings new challenges and opportunities. Nowhere is that more true than in transportation.

Not surprisingly, we did not agree with everything he said. But quite frankly, we were encouraged by ideas he outlined and began to discuss in greater detail.

We welcome, for example, the fact that he rejected calling for higher taxes.

With vehicles becoming more fuel efficient, we agree that it isn’t really prudent to increasingly rely on a revenue source – such as the gas tax – that’s likely to decline even as transportation needs increase.

Also, we were encouraged by the Governor’s focus on finding innovative solutions to transportation problems as opposed to reflexively demanding more from Virginia taxpayers .

Like just about everyone, we recognize there’s a need for long-term transportation reforms in Virginia . But as our new Governor’s recent town hall meetings on transportation clearly demonstrated, there is no single solution – much less consensus – on this very complex challenge.

As we delve into transportation issues this session, Republicans are convinced that a real solution will not be provided by just throwing more money at the problem and sending a blank check to VDOT. Instead, we intend to pursue multi-faceted reforms.

We all know that the transportation system of the 21 st century is vital if we are to improve our communities, make lives better for commuting families, and attract the new investment and new jobs that will keep our economy growing stronger.

We are ready to work with the Governor and the Senate – across party lines – to achieve these goals through genuine, forward-looking reforms.

Of course, transportation will not be the only issue we focus on this Session.

Republicans will continue to champion education reforms and investments – just as we have done for more than a decade now with the Standards of Learning, the higher education restructuring initiative, the Public-Private Education and Infrastructure Act, and other reforms that have set the pace for the nation.

Education is the key to individual opportunity for every child, and it is the key to the future strength of this great Commonwealth.

Restoring integrity to Medicaid is another high priority for House Republicans. We also will make it easier for small businesses and their employees to access needed healthcare at more affordable prices.

And Republicans will have other priorities this Session:

Like continuing the program we in the House initiated to restore our wonderful Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Like cracking down on illicit drugs such as methamphetamines and keeping sexual predators behind bars.

As well as protecting private property rights and fostering continued strong economic development in Virginia .

And, finally, we Republicans understand that government does not have all the answers.

With record budget surpluses, we look forward to working with Republicans, Independents and Democrats – as well as the Governor’s Office – to enact real tax relief.

For example, we will eliminate the “Death Tax” so that family farms and businesses do not have to be sold off to pay the taxes.

We also will help families cover the cost of school supplies by creating a Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday .

And we will carefully examine the $245 million in new spending initiatives included in the budget introduced by the former Governor.

Instead of creating new and costly government programs, we need to honor Virginia ’s tradition of fiscal conserva tism by letting people keep more of their hard-earned dollars.

We all know that Virginians have been asked to shoulder a greater burden when economic hard times set in.

But now that the Commonwealth is enjoying a budget surplus far in excess of what was projected, it is time to pay a responsible dividend to the people who footed the bill.

Jeannemarie . . . . .

Senator Devolites-Davis:

Thank you, Kirk.

Last Saturday, we witnessed the inauguration of Virginia ’s 70 th Governor, Tim Kaine. For only the third time in Virginia ’s history, the swearing in took place in historic Williamsburg .

During his inaugural address, Governor Kaine compared the challenges that our early leaders faced with the challenges that we face today.

Our founding fathers worked tirelessly to create a Republic with constitutional guidelines that have survived the test of time.

When they established these guidelines could they ever have imagined the vast changes in our society?

Could they have ever imagined the vast global economy that we find ourselves in today, where Virginia ’s businesses compete with those around the world?

Could they have ever imagined the development of the automobile and the traffic gridlock that we find ourselves in, today?

Could they have ever imagined a system of public schools and universities available to every child in Virginia ?

Could they have ever imagined the advent of the internet and the advancement of communications and information sharing that it has provided?

We face challenges that our founding fathers could have never imagined.

I would like to address just a few of these challenges that my fellow Republican Senators and I have identified as our priorities.

We need to address the growing cost of health care, which continues to consume more and more of our general fund budget and more and more of our business community’s resources, while driving health care providers away.

We must dedicate ourselves to creating a strategic plan to funding transportation infrastructure throughout the Commonwealth. We must address the traffic gridlock in Northern Virginia (the third worst in the nation), the growing traffic gridlock in the Hampton Roads area, the lack of transportation infrastructure in the rural areas and the very dangerous commingling of automobiles and truck traffic along the I-81 corridor.

In the new budget there is no desire to start expensive new programs which will drive up the cost of future budgets.

There is a strong desire to put an end to the death tax and many want a back-to-school sales tax holiday.

There is a universal consensus to improve our monitoring of violent sex offenders.

On a more long range basis, we will be working on developing a state energy policy and looking for ways to ensure a quality and affordable college education for the ever growing number of young people who want to fulfill their dream of attending college.

We appreciate Governor Kaine offering to work in partnership with us to move Virginia forward in the coming years.

On behalf of Kirk and all my fellow Republican legislators, we thank you for sharing these few minutes with us and look forward to working on your behalf in the 2006 General Assembly session.

VA Republican Party

Warner 2, Ostriches 0

2006-01-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

Warner 2, Ostriches 0

House Republicans could have stopped Mark Warner’s tax hike in 2004. By looking the other way, they have encouraged him to replay the same old trick.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." – anonymous
Gov. Mark “tax-hike” Warner (D) has decided to end his administration with a bang. One of his last acts in office was to submit the 2007-2008 biennium budget.

And what a budget it is! It calls for $72 billion in spending over the next two years—the largest budget in a series of escalating budgets. That’s more than an 18 percent increase from the last biennium—don’t you wish working family budgets grew by 9 percent or more each year?

Even with the $2 billion surplus, that still leaves a considerable deficit to cover the proposed new spending. The numbers are hard to follow, since there is no clear demarcation between the state budget vs. current spending or the budget surplus and its effect on future spending.

The 2004-2006 budget was pegged at $60.8 billion. That means that Warner is proposing $12 billion in increased spending. Parenthetically, it was only 10 years ago (1996), when $12 billion covered the state’s entire General Fund expenditures for just one year.

Warner has not proposed any tax increases, so the manner in which the budget deficit will be covered remains a mystery. But one thing is clear, there won’t be enough money to cover Warner’s proposed new expenditures.

In the 2004 session of the General Assembly, the House Rules Committee passed a resolution asking Gov. Warner to resubmit his budget. The resolution was based on what its sponsor, Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, called an unconstitutional submission of the budget.

Warner’s budget violated the one-object rule that requires legislation to have only one purpose. By mixing spending with revenues (e.g., Warner’s budget called for a tax increase that had not yet been approved by the General Assembly), Warner was in violation of state law.

At the same time, Warner violated another statute he had signed into law a mere year earlier, the Taxpayer’s Budget Bill of Rights. This act sought to make the budget transparent and accountable, so that ordinary citizens could follow the budgeting process.

In 2004, however, Warner decided that it was more convenient to simply disregard the bill he had signed into law, then to comply with it. Apparently, Warner’s administration discovered that Byzantine budgets had a purpose—if knowledge is power, the powerful surely do not want to share that knowledge.

So much for Warner being a reform-minded governor, one who was elected on the promise to run the state like a business. But then again, this was the same Mark Warner who promised not to raise our taxes.

A German politician once said: “Great liars are also great magicians.” Gov. Warner surely fits this description as he continues to enjoy a high approval rating, even though he has repeatedly deceived the voters.

But Warner does not operate in a vacuum. It takes a lot of willing accomplices for a governor to get away with such deceptions and illegalities—how else can one describe Warner’s broken promises or repeated violations of state statutes?

The fault of course rests with the leaderless Republican majority in the General Assembly. The full House failed to take action on the House Rule Committee’s 2004 resolution asking the Governor to resubmit his budget. Nor did House leaders say anything about Warner’s budget failing to meet the requirements outlined in the Taxpayer’s Budget Bill of Rights act.

Is it any wonder then that Warner has chosen to pull the same trick again? Since he was not challenged two years ago, he submitted another budget which projects spending that greatly exceeds current revenues.

And although Warner has not submitted a tax increase proposal, one does not need a crystal ball to see that one is inevitable if the General Assembly approves the proposed spending levels. As a matter of fact, a number of tax-and-spend voices in the General Assembly have been echoing the need for raising taxes.

With Gov.-elect Tim Kaine (D) just about ready to take control of the state, Warner and Kaine have probably figured that it would be better if Kaine submits the inevitable tax increase proposals. This way, Kaine would have some leeway, and if he proposes a tax increase that would only cover a smaller budget—he would appear as more reasonable, willing to gain bipartisan support.

In other words, we are in for a replay of the 2004 triangulation strategy. That time, it was Sen. John “tax-them-until-they’re dead and then hit them with the death tax” Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, who proposed a $4 billion tax hike; this made Warner’s $1.5 hike seem more palatable.

Republican leaders in the House of Delegates had the opportunity in 2004 to stop Warner’s budget dead in its tracks. Instead they chose to bury their head in the sand and look the other way. Don't be surprised if we see a replay in 2006.

_______________________________________________________
Phillip Rodokanakis is the President of the Virginia Club for Growth.

Virginia Club for Growth

Congressman Echoes Outrage Over Christian-Mocking TV Show

2006-01-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

Note: please take a moment to send an email to NBC Affiliate in Roanoke, WSLS, Kathy Mohn, station manager, asking her NOT to show this anti-Christian show in Roanoke. Affiliates have the right to refuse network shows.....

kmohn@wsls.com

And, also an email to NBC:

nbcshows@nbc.com

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
January 04, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - A North Carolina congressman Wednesday called on NBC executives to dump a television show that "mocks religion and portrays Christians in a negative light" following public outcry from his constituents.

Rep. Walter B. Jones said the show "The Book of Daniel," which is set to premiere at 9pm Eastern time Friday, should not be aired or should be aired "at a time as far removed from the family hour as possible."

"These constituent concerns undoubtedly stem from press reports indicating that the show contains offensive content - including profanity, crude language, ethnic stereotypes, sexual scenes and innuendo, and a tacit approval of premarital sex," Jones wrote in a letter to NBC Universal Chairman & CEO, Bob Wright.

"But what makes the show especially objectionable are indications that the show portrays religious leaders as people who ignore Biblical teachings by giving some manner of approval to such vices as an addiction to prescription painkillers, adultery, selling drugs, alcohol abuse, embezzlement and sexual promiscuity," wrote Jones.

The Republican congressman also took issue with the show's portrayal of Jesus Christ "as a kind of blasé moral authority who reacts to a teenage daughter selling drugs by stating, 'She'll be fine, she's a good girl,' and to a high school boy engaging in premarital sex by remarking differently, 'He's a kid, let him be a kid.'"

The network wouldn't dare give the same treatment to Islam as it is to Christianity, Jones said

"My constituents, understandably, view this portrayal as an example of bigotry toward those espousing traditional Christian beliefs. I suspect that a similar portrayal of, say, Muslim imams as confused in their faith or adhering only casually to religious teachings would have very little chance of being aired on NBC," Jones wrote.

"Press reports emphasize that the show is destined to 'push a whole lot of buttons.' Since it is unlikely that NBC would be so quick to delight in 'pushing the buttons' of adherents of Islam, one can be forgiven for observing that it seems NBC believes the only acceptable bigotry is bigotry against traditional Christian beliefs," Jones added.

"On behalf of those citizens who believe this show is an assault on their faith and their values, I am requesting that you please reconsider the decision to air 'The Book of Daniel,' or at the very least, assure that the show only airs at a time as far removed from the family hour as possible," Jones concluded.

As Cybercast News Service reported earlier, the American Family Association is also urging its supporters to protest the series.

White House Score Card

2006-01-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

Clinton Democrats:

61 indictments or misdemeanor charges
33 convictions
14 imprisonments
7 independent counsel investigations
72 congressional witnesses pleading the Fifth Amendment
19 foreign witnesses who declined interviews by investigative bodies
17 witnesses fleeing the country to avoid testifying

Bush Republicans:

1 indictment, not even on the primary issue

0 convictions

Republicans may as well concede the race... we can't possibly catch up!

FRC Releases New Year's Resolutions for the Left

2006-01-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 30, 2005 CONTACT: Amber Hildebrand, (202) 393-2100

FRC Releases New Year's Resolutions for the Left

December 30, 2005

Washington, D.C. - In anticipation of the New Year and the time honored tradition of creating New Year's resolutions, Family Research Council released recommended resolutions for 2006 for some of their busy friends on the Left. FRC can not be held responsible if the listed intentions are not kept.

In no particular order:

"I, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), vow to no longer make false claims that I represent all women."

"I, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, vow to stop making nasty comments about Republicans, who 'I hate and everything they stand for.'*"

"I, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), vow to not jump in front of a camera unless I have something of actual substance to say."

"I, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), vow to stop being a mere puppet of groups like People for the American Way (PFAW) and NARAL."

"I, PFAW President Ralph Neas, vow to stop making Ted Kennedy a mere puppet."

"I, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron, vow to stop distorting Judge Samuel Alito's record -as I have been for the last several months."

"I, discredited South Korean researcher Hwang Woo Suk, vow to stop making up talking points for cloning supporters in Congress."

For our part FRC will continue to fight for faith, family and freedom in 2006, Happy New Year!

*Actual quote, 01/30/05

AFA considering boycott of Ford Motor Company

2005-12-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

AFA considering boycott of Ford Motor Company

For Immediate Release: 12/15/2005

(Tupelo, MS) -

The American Family Association says that Ford Motor Company reneged on some agreements reached in discussions with the automobile giant, and the organization is considering its next move.

“We had an agreement with Ford, worked out in good faith. Unfortunately, some Ford Motor Company officials made the decision to violate the good faith agreement. We are now considering our response to the violation and expect to reach a decision very soon,” said Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of AFA.

AFA had called for a boycott of Ford last spring because of Ford’s support for the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage but suspended the boycott for six months at the request of a group of Ford dealers. Wildmon said AFA and Ford officials hammered out an agreement in the interim that was accepted by both parties.

“All we wanted was for Ford to refrain from choosing sides in the cultural war, and supporting groups which promote same-sex marriage is not remaining neutral,” Wildmon stated.

He stated that because Ford broke the agreement, the option of a boycott is now very much alive.

No additional comments regarding Ford will be made at this time.

American Family Association is a pro-family advocacy organization with over two million online supporters.

Great Truths that people have learned

2005-12-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing up is mandatory; growing old is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:
At age 4 success is . . not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . having friends.
At age 16 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 35 success is . having money.
At age 50 success is . . . having money.
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . having friends.
At age 80 success is . not peeing in your pants.
Pass this on to someone who could use a laugh.
Always remember to forget the troubles that pass your way; BUT NEVER forget the blessings that come each day.
Have a wonderful day with many *smiles*

Take the time to live!!!
Life is too short

What Good Is This?

2005-12-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

Stories like this just make conservatives look so lame...

"I believe in Christ, and I don't like the use of 'xmas' or the use of 'happy holidays,'" said Steven Van Noy, 39, as he left the store loaded down with packages. "The bottom line is that they had what I needed at Wal-Mart, so I went to Wal-Mart to buy it."

Controversy over the secularization of Christmas is nothing new, but this year religious groups are publicly taking on retailers who have decided to tone down the religious aspects of the holiday in their store decorations and promotional material.

Should we let these folks know when REAL issues hit the news so they can lobby and protest for something that matters? Do you really think Jesus could CARE LESS if Walmart says Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas? Ugh.

For goodness sakes, He said to remember his death/resurrection. Anybody out there see Easter protests? Geesh! Let’s stick to protesting abortion and hate crimes legislation and feeding the poor and widows. If Walmart wants to please all it’s customers, what’s the problem? And hey, when did Santa get in the Bible anyway? (see picture of protester above)

Oh, and by the way, as an answer to the guy quoted above, Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστος <pronounced Christos>, “Christ.” In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, “Christian.” People unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ĕks'məs).

Photo taken from original story

President Bush Wants To Spy On Terrorists? What is this world coming to???

2005-12-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

Blogcritics.org has a great piece on the NY Times' scoop that shows President Bush doesn't have a problem with spying on terrorists to protect us.

Blogcritics.org:

Personally, I think that this particular leak of classified information to the NY Times ought to be investigated and the leaker(s) charged with whatever crime is involved with the unauthorized release of such information.

You'll find other nuggets of wisdom written in a very entertaining style. Check out Blogcritics.org.

This is why Christians oppose hate crimes legislation

2005-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

We see the writing on the wall:

Is hate a disease? Some psychiatrists think so. This was the subject of a recent Washington Post article, entitled “Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness.” The title suggests the ominous implications.

There's no doubt that people who hate homosexuals are wrong and and guilty of sin. However, it's not HATE to:

disagree with someone
lobby for the family
lobby against extra rights for homosexuals

Of course, I see the problems of hate on my side of it too though. I know people who claim Christ that really do hate homosexuals. But, I also know that some homosexuals actually hate christians too. I'd ask you to not lump all christians together, and I promise to not lump all homosexuals together too.

We have to return to civility on this issue. The vast majority is in the middle. Why must we continually fight?

Korean Researcher Is Said to Admit Stem Cell Fakery

2005-12-16T05:55:00.000-08:00

Science NEVER lies, huh?

Most and possibly all of the human embryonic stem cell cultures reportedly made by a South Korean research team this year were fake, a member of the team told Korean news outlets yesterday.

Roh Sung Il, an executive at MizMedi Hospital in Seoul, said stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo Suk told him that nine of 11 reported cell lines were faked. Roh reportedly said he had doubts about the remaining two lines.

Roh also said that Hwang told him that his stem cells had died and that he had presented ones from Roh's laboratory as his own in their research paper in the journal Science. According to the news reports, the two agreed they would ask the journal to retract the paper, which was published May 19.

Ford Caves To Gay Pressure

2005-12-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

Reverses Familly-Friendly Decision

When Ford decided to slow-down their advertising in gay publications, family-friendly groups were thrilled, but apparently, according to this New York Times story their reversal was short-lived.

Less than two weeks after the Ford Motor Company said it would all but eliminate its advertising in publications that cater to gays, the company reversed itself Wednesday.

The decision followed a wave of criticism from gay rights groups, who had accused Ford of bowing to the threat of a boycott from the American Family Association.

Distress Caused by Abortion Can Linger for Years, Study Says

2005-12-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com International Editor
December 14, 2005(CNSNews.com) -
A new study in Europe has found that women can experience feelings of anxiety, guilt and shame years after having an abortion, a finding in line with arguments long advanced by prolifers.

Comparing women who had a miscarriage with those who had an abortion, researchers at the University of Oslo learned that while members of the former group were found to be more distressed in the short-term, the longer-term mental effects were more marked among those who had an abortion.

The results were published in the December edition of BMC Medicine, a London-based medical journal.

Ten days after the loss of the child, 47.5 percent of women in the study who had miscarried suffered from some degree of mental distress, compared with 30 percent of those in the abortion group.

After six months, the proportion of those who had a miscarriage and were still suffering from distress had dropped to 22.5 percent, and after five years to just 2.6 percent.

By contrast, of those who had an abortion 25.7 percent were still affected after six months, and 20 percent - one in five - still experienced distress after five years.

"Women who had an abortion experienced high levels of anxiety, feelings of guilt, shame and relief and had to make efforts to avoid thoughts about the event," the researchers said.

Their work highlighted the importance of providing women with information about the psychological effects of losing a baby, whether as a result of a miscarriage of abortion.

"The difference in the courses of responses may partly result from the different characteristics of the two pregnancy termination events," the journal concluded.

Abortion Concern is an organization in New Zealand which, while not promoting a prolife or pro-abortion view, believes women are too often not given the type of information they need to make an informed decision when considering whether or not to have an abortion.

It says the real "right to choose" should include the right to choose not to have an abortion, and also encourages women who have had abortions to tell their stories.

Abortion Concern says many women suffer ill-effects after abortions. It lists some of the symptoms of post-abortion distress as anxiety, guilt, regret, sadness, depression, inability to concentrate, lowered self-esteem, substance abuse, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, compulsions to touch or avoid babies, and suicidal impulses.

Conservatives Urged to Avoid Progressive Insurance

2005-12-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

Conservatives Urged to Avoid Progressive Insurance(CNSNews.com) -

A conservative advocacy group is urging its supporters to cancel their policies with Progressive Insurance, after Peter Lewis, the company's chairman, reportedly gave $8.5 million to the American Civil Liberties Union. The multi-million dollar donation will help the ACLU advance its liberal agenda, including its "war on Christmas," the American Family Association warned. In an email message, AFA Founder and Chairman Don Wildmon urged his supporters to "sign a letter to Chairman Lewis, letting him know" that his donation to the ACLU is prompting conservatives to cancel their insurance policies. The AFA recently announced that it was ending its boycott of Target stores, after the retailer promised to use the word "Christmas" in its advertising and in-store promotions.

(Note: Lewis also donated over 10 million to various liberal 527 groups like Moveon.org for the defeat of President Bush in the 2004 elections.....)

Saving $$ in Roanoke

2005-12-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Friends, I will occasionally put a little blub here about how I save money in Roanoke.

Today's tip.......Western Sizzling Steakhouses in Roanoke have an annual "Customer appreciation" day for 1 day, every December. For lunch and dinner, most steaks (except for the most expensive filet mignon) are 1/2 prices ALL DAY.

This year, the day is THIS Wed., Dec. 14

Good time to get a meal at a good discount! Come early for lunch and dinner, as they are crowded!

National Retailers who are banning Christmas

2005-12-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

According to the American Family Association, these companies have banned "Christmas" from their retail ads, in-store promotions or television commercials.

Please take time to let them know you are offended by their anti-Christian and anti-Christmas bias. Their contact information is below.

http://www.afa.net/christmasban.asp

Conservatives Make New Push on College Campuses

2005-12-01T05:59:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle

November 30, 2005 at 7:13 am

It has long been known that left-wing thinking dominates the environment of America’s college campuses. In poll after poll, professors have identified themselves in overwhelming numbers as “liberal.” Now, one group is stepping up to counter the liberal indoctrination with a dose of conservatism.
As covered in the Agape Press’s story Delivering the Conservative Message to Combat Campus Liberal Bias, a new group known as the Network of College Conservatives “vows to expose and combat liberal bias on university campuses.”

Read More Here: http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=153

A Republican policy agenda

2005-11-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

Patrick M. McSweeney: A Republican policy agenda

November 27, 2005

My last column calling for a clear and forceful Republican agenda prompted some readers to ask about content. I'm happy to oblige.

Before I spell out my suggestion, I think it is important to consider what the purpose of an agenda really is. I believe it should be the membrane that binds party members together. A political party without an agenda is an empty vessel in pursuit of raw power. Without an agenda, a party lacks coherence and grass-roots energy.

As a party grows larger, its ability to agree on a political agenda becomes increasingly difficult. Most parties begin as a relatively small group of like-minded people intensely committed to a political objective. As political parties seek to expand their power, they typically embrace people who aren't as committed to the original objective and may even disagree with party members on policy matters.

Deaths After Abortion Pill to Be Studied by Officials

2005-11-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

November 23, 2005

Deaths After Abortion Pill to Be Studied by Officials

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 - Federal drug regulators have discovered that all four women in this country who died after taking an abortion pill suffered from a rare and highly lethal bacterial infection, a finding that is leading to new scrutiny of the drug's safety.

Since all four deaths occurred in California, an unusual clustering, the Food and Drug Administration quietly tested to see if abortion pills distributed in California were somehow contaminated. They were not.

Stumped, officials from the F.D.A. and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have decided to convene a scientific meeting early next year to discuss this medical mystery, according to two drug agency officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Among other issues, the experts hope to explore whether the abortion pill, called Mifeprex or RU-486, somehow makes patients vulnerable to an infection with Clostridium sordellii, the lethal bacteria. If so, they will explore how such an infection "could be more easily diagnosed and even prevented," one official said.

Monty Patterson, whose daughter Holly died on Sept. 17, 2003, less than a month after her 18th birthday, said he believed that Mifeprex inhibits the immune system, making women more vulnerable to bacteria.

Mr. Patterson's campaign against Mifeprex helped persuade the family of at least one other woman who died to have tissue samples tested for the presence of the rare bacteria, he said.

"I believe this drug should be taken off the market," Mr. Patterson said.

(Continued)

Excerpted from:

NYTimes Article

U.N. Wants Control of Internet

2005-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bobby Eberle November 16, 2005 at 7:02 am

As someone who has worked on the Internet since the very first web browsers starting appearing from a research group at the University of Illinois and who has built a web-based political enterprise, I am keenly aware of the power, speed, and freedom of the medium. The Internet has truly transformed the way news is disseminated, broken through the left-leaning mainstream media, and allowed ordinary citizens across the world to have a voice. Now the United Nations, the group that has put Syria on its human rights commission, wants to control it.

Currently, the Internet is under the supervision of a non-profit organization formed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, there is a push by nations such as China, Cuba, and Iran for the U.S. to turn control of the Internet over to the U.N. In this digital age, if the U.N. were to gain control of the Internet, it would truly be one of the biggest and most dangerous blunders of all time.

First, there is the issue of freedom. The Internet represents the ability for any individual to speak out about topics or news important to him or her. The Internet also provides a wealth of news and information from countless sources, allowing people the power to make informed decisions to a degree unmatched in the world’s history. Nations such as China, Cuba, and Iran are notorious for stifling human rights and personal freedoms. Do we really the Internet controlled by the U.N. who kowtows to nations such as those — nations who would likely arrest (or worse) a person for speaking ill of the government. We cannot afford to put nations who have no concept of free speech in charge of the ultimate free speech medium.

Second, there is the issue of competency. As long as there is a buzz for U.N. control over the Internet, I should only have to utter three words to make my point: Oil For Food. In what is truly a scandal of epic proportions, one that shows not only incompetence but also mass corruption, the U.N. proves once again that it is not up to the task. Now, they want the Internet? I’d laugh if it weren’t so scary.

As Nat Moffat points out in his Wall Street Journal, “One of the goals of the summit is to advance the ‘internationalization’ of what is known as ‘Internet governance.’”

So, despite what Kofi Annan might say, the issue is about control. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. only “controls” a small portion of the Internet anyway, particularly in the area of the domain name system or DNS. Most control is under the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This company, run out of California, has a board of directors comprised of many international members.

The Internet is a strange medium… Al Gore invented it, and now the U.N. wants to control it. This could mean we’d be putting the Internet into a “lock box” with Iran, Syria, and China holding the keys? That premise is simply unacceptable, and the best option is to keep the Internet free… under the watchful eye of America.

http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=135

Grasping for a trend

2005-11-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

Grasping for a trend

By Donald Lambro
November 14, 2005

If last week's governors elections and the exuberant Democratic claims after sounded familiar, that's because it was, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "deja vu all over again."

Four years ago, Democrats also won the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey in the only two statewide contests in that 2001 off-year election. The next day Democrats and political news analysts said the results proved Republicans were in trouble and would suffer serious losses in 2002's elections.

But it didn't turn out that way. The Republicans, with some nonstop campaigning by President Bush, made sizable gains in the House and Senate and maintained their majority in the governorships. And they made more gains in 2004 and kept their advantage over Democrats in the state capitals.

Nevertheless, Democratic leaders and political pundits renewed the 2001 claims last week after the GOP's losses in Virginia and New Jersey. Not only did they point to a Democratic takeover on Capitol Hill next year, but said the results were all due to backlash against President Bush and his party.

"It's going to be a real shot in the arm for Democratic efforts to take back the House and Senate in 2006," said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. As to what caused last Tuesday's results, well, Mr. Schumer huffed and puffed, it was "a clear repudiation of George W. Bush and the Republican agenda."

But it doesn't take a lot of deep insight to discover there's a lot of exaggeration going on here.

Let's dismiss any trends out of New Jersey. Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine won because of a nearly 2-1 Democratic advantage, an ultraliberal agenda and a lot of get-out-the-vote money Mr. Corzine gave to black church leaders and union bosses. It is hard to see how Mr. Bush or his party affected this race at all.

Second, as Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman said after the results were in: "This was a status-quo Election Day. There were 28 Republican governors before the election and there were 28 Republican governors after the election."

Virginia, however, tells a little different story, but the way liberal Democratic leaders portray it.
Consider the kind of centrist to right-of-center campaign Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine ran. He focused on bread-and-butter economic-growth issues, transportation gridlock and roads. He campaigned as a Second Amendment Democrat who supported gun rights, and talked openly and frequently about his religious faith and values -- issues that are not in the national Democratic Party's mantra.

Mr. Kaine, in other words, used the campaign playbook of Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, who followed a similar game plan in his election four years ago. Little wonder then, that, with Mr. Warner finishing his term with an 82 percent approval rating and Virginia's economy one of the most robust in the country, voters wanted the closest thing to a second Warner term, and chose Mr. Kaine over former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, whose campaign was weak, vague and inept.

Missing from most of the national postelection analysis, however, is the fact that outside of the governor's office, Republicans won the No. 2 and No. 3 statewide contests for lieutenant governor and attorney general and lost only one seat in the state legislature, which they control.

Excerpted from Washington Times:

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20051113-114110-9359r.htm

DEMOCRATS' POLITICAL BALONEY; REPUBLICANS' CRUCIAL LESSONS

2005-11-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

It ain’t necessarily so. Democrats, especially those in the media, are claiming a great Democrat Party victory in Tuesday’s election in Virginia. The Democrats, especially those in the media, are boasting the election shows President Bush and Republicans in Congress are in trouble. According to the Democrats, the election proves Governor Mark Warner and Governor-elect Tim Kaine are super-hero political leaders. The truth? All of this is phony baloney.

Yes, the Democrats managed to hold on to the governor’s office. They lost, however, two of the top three races. Moreover, the Republicans remain firmly in control of the House of Delegates. Their majority is reduced by only one or two from their actual 60-40 advantage, going into the election. Winning only one of the top three races in Virginia and reducing the Republican majority in the House by only one or two votes does not create a great Democrat Party victory.

The Democrats are engaging in wishful thinking, when they claim the Virginia election shows President Bush and Republicans in Congress are in trouble. Bush, Republican members of Congress, and national issues were not on the ballot. The campaigns of the candidates and state issues decided the results of the election. More than anything else, by far, the campaigns run by the candidates decided the election outcomes.

Liberal Tim Kaine followed the blueprint that liberal Mark Warner created four years ago. Kaine distanced himself from his left-wing background and beliefs, and he talked like a conservative. He labeled himself "pro-life" far more often than his Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore. Kaine promoted the fact he had been a Christian missionary. He ran away from his left-wing positions on hot-button issues. Many voters probably thought Kaine was at least as conservative as Kilgore. Once Kaine takes office these voters will learn how much they have been deceived.

Jerry Kilgore ran a botched campaign. As Republican candidate Mark Earley did four years ago, Kilgore soft-pedaled his conservative philosophy, and suffered the same negative result on Election Day. Four years ago, the Republican Party of Virginia launched an attack on Mark Warner that could not be proven true when it was challenged. That crippled Earley’s campaign. Kilgore launched, early in his campaign, nasty attack ads that Kaine and his media allies seemed to successfully refute. Throughout the campaign, Kilgore’s campaign blasted Kaine with venomous ads, which turned off many voters. Kaine has a far-left record that Kilgore could have exploited successfully with good ads. However, Kilgore’s campaign ignored the most effective issues and ran bad ads.

Bob McDonnell’s campaign was botched, too. He did not effectively tout his conservative record and positions. His opponent, Creigh Deeds, has a left-wing record that made him very vulnerable. However, McDonnell’s campaign all but ignored it. His campaign let Deeds claim to be a "conservative" without a significant McDonnell response. McDonnell’s campaign focused on some plea bargains Deeds made, when Deeds was a Commonwealth Attorney. Deeds was able to counter these ads and minimize the small damage they could have caused. Although McDonnell’s campaign had ample political ammunition available to go big game hunting, it chose to use BBs.

Deeds ran a clever, misleading ad that transformed his support for a massive tax increase to an "investment" in many wonderful things. It, also, turned McDonnell’s tax increase opposition into opposition to all of these great goodies. Deeds ran a fraudulent, despicable ad, late in the campaign, that strongly insinuated McDonnell is unethical and a law breaker. McDonnell failed to make any meaningful response to either of these dishonest Deeds’ ads. This let Deeds’ slick deceptions hang in the air like the odor of a skunk.

Unlike Kilgore and McDonnell, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, Bill Bolling, drew sharp contrasts between his conservative record and his opponent’s left-wing record. It should be no surprise that, of the three Republicans running for a statewide office, Bolling fared the best. Bolling would have won by a larger margin, if he had not been handicapped by the poor performances of the Republican candidates above and below him. Bolling’s victory would have been more decisive, too, if some of his ads had been less harsh.

There are crucial lessons future Republican candidates must learn. First, do not turn off voters with nasty attacks. Second, run as forthright, bold conservatives. Third, do not let left-wing opponents persuade voters that they are conservative. Expose their liberal records. Fourth, do not let Democratic candidates make dishonest attacks with no Republican response. Fifth, employ political consultants and campaign managers who have not botched previous important campaigns.

by Lewis R. Sheckler
November 10, 2005

http://www.nrvtoday.com/content/view/1987/62/

Yesterday's elections in Virginia and New Jersey signify almost nothing

2005-11-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

JERRY KILGORE lacked the three things needed for a Republican to be elected governor in Virginia. In order of importance, they are: a dynamic campaign, an issue, and a president who's not a burden. So he lost to Democratic Tim Kaine yesterday in an election that Democrats will claim is more meaningful that it really is. Democrats captured the governor's office in New Jersey, too, but that barely rises to the level of talking point.

Kilgore, the ex-state attorney general, is a nice man with deeply conservative views. He is a protégé of Republican Senator George Allen. But his campaign, except for two ads denouncing Kaine for opposing the death penalty, was "nasty and dull." That's how Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia professor and expert on Virginia politics, described both the Kilgore and Kaine campaigns. Sabato was quite right.

Abortion wasn't a big issue, but Kilgore insisted he was pro-life. From time to time, Kaine said he was too. But Kaine said he would fight to protect a woman's right to have an abortion even if the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationally. Kilgore wouldn't say what he'd do if Roe were overturned, irritating many conservatives.

To win the Virginia governorship, a Republican usually needs an issue that rallies conservatives. In 1993, Allen was elected by promising to end the frequently abused system of parole. Four years later, Jim Gilmore won by vowing to eliminate the regressive car tax. Kilgore tried to make the death penalty an overriding issue, but it didn't click. Nor did his attacks on illegal immigration.

It was an election without a paramount issue. This helped Kaine, who spent most of his time denying that he is a liberal. He was, though, as Richmond mayor. He was less liberal as lieutenant governor to outgoing Democratic Gov. Mark Warner. In his campaign, Kaine had no issues worth mentioning. He simply declared himself a clone of Warner, who is enormously popular, despite the fact that he promised never to raise taxes--and then raised them.

All of which leads to the Bush factor. There was one. For the past seven elections in Virginia, voters have elected a governor from the party that doesn't hold the White House. Even if the president is popular, as Ronald Reagan was in 1981, he can't help his party's candidate much. But he can hurt the candidate if he's even slightly unpopular, as Bush is today in Virginia. Bush was a mild drag on the Republican ticket, especially in populous northern Virginia, where Kilgore did poorly.

Was Bush a huge factor in the race? Not at all. The election wasn't a referendum on his presidency. But Bush's current troubles meant that Republicans weren't in a good mood. One Republican official said the floor dropped out of the party's conservative base when Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Had the election been held six months ago, Bush wouldn't have hurt Kilgore. And Kaine probably would have won anyway. Nonetheless, national Democrats are bound to insist that Bush was decisively rejected in Virginia. Not true. He was only gently rebuked.

Sabato said the important element of the race was the Warner versus Allen subtext. Warner stumped widely for Kaine. Allen campaigned extensively for Kilgore. Since both are likely candidates for president in 2008, this was a triumph of Warner over Allen, according to Sabato. If so, it was a triumph of microscopic proportions.

One aspect of the Kaine campaign should encourage voters. In 2001, Warner spent millions from his personal fortune pretending to be someone he wasn't. He's from urban Alexandria, but traveled with a bluegrass band, sponsored a NASCAR race car, and tried to bond with hunters and rural voters. Kaine ran a conventional Democratic campaign, emphasizing minorities, cities and inner suburbs. His margin of victory was roughly the same as Warner's. So the lesson was: you might have to fake your ideology, but you don't need to fake who you are.

THE NEW JERSEY RACE had only two interesting elements. One was the TV ad that Republican Doug Forrester ran quoting the ex-wife of Democrat John Corzine--he dumped her after 30 or so years of marriage--as saying she wouldn't vote for him. Corzine, spending freely from his personal wealth of $300 million, now contemplates the presidency.

That's the second item of interest in the race. Corzine is already a senator, though hardly an influential one. Why else would he want to be governor of New Jersey except to use it as a launching pad for a presidential bid? I can't think of a single other reason.

New Jersey is a blue state, Virginia a red state. But both had Democratic governors coming into yesterday's election. Both will continue to. Thus, there was no change, no earthquake, no reordering of the political universe. Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise.

Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.

Weekly Standard Article

Richmond Times-Dispatch For Kilgore

2005-11-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

The most influential paper in the state, endorsement for Kilgore

For Kilgore

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Oct 30, 2005

In the race for governor, the Times-Dispatch today endorses Jerry Kilgore. Contrary to the too-usual sentiment on the part of voters contemplating an election, this is not a lesser-of-two-evils decision but a positive endorsement of Kilgore.
Why? Two principal reasons.

Issues

Because Kilgore's views are in the mainstream of Virginia's voters, he holds the advantage on key issues.

For instance:
He is right on transportation. He favors funding additional road and transit needs out of the general fund budget. As he said in a T-D interview: "I'm calling it general-fund dollars that are going to be used to fund transportation, somewhat, in our future. So I'm willing to find the funds any way we can." He would encourage beginning the process with billions in surplus general-fund revenues. Perhaps significantly, Kilgore's plans for transportation proved decisive in his endorsement by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce.

He is right on taxes. Not a no-tax man but a low-tax man, Kilgore favors giving localities the power, through referendum, to tax themselves -- a position long embraced by this newspaper, and by incumbent Governor Mark Warner. Kilgore once more: "I think the most basic relationship between the people and their government is taxation. What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of the people? I'm glad to put it out to the people. I'm not afraid of the voters." (If that line of reasoning sounds familiar, compare this from gubernatorial candidate Warner, October 3, 2001, in the VCU debate moderated by Doug Wilder -- responding to a question on local transportation referendums: "Not all political wisdom resides with the politicians in Richmond. We ought to sometimes be willing to trust the people.")

He is right on the death penalty -- standing unequivocally for it and understanding its deterrent effect.

He is right on illegal immigration. Again, as he told the T-D: "I don't support spending taxpayer dollars on those illegally in this country. [I don't believe in] encouraging illegal behavior." Similarly, he opposes in-state tuitions for illegals attending Virginia's colleges.

Finally, Kilgore is right on these issues: (1) As a law-and-order guy, former prosecutor, and former Virginia public safety secretary (under Governor George Allen), he is tough on crime. (2) He supports genuine merit pay for teachers. (3) He wants to raise from $2,500 to $4,000 tuition assistance grants -- to make Virginia's private colleges more affordable to Virginia students. And (4) he is categorical in his opposition to civil unions.

Sincerity & Conviction
Kilgore shares the values of Virginia's citizenry. He is a Republican conservative appealing to an electorate that regularly describes itself as conservative. Virginia has two Republican U.S. senators and has gone Democratic for president only once since 1952. Virginia's voters have elected a number of Democratic governors since their first Republican governor, Linwood Holton, took office in 1970. But to win, those Democrats often have had to sell themselves -- as Mark Warner did -- as moderately conservative.

The fundamental problem a liberal politician has in Virginia is this: He frequently cannot say what he sincerely believes; rhetorically he must obfuscate and hide. Mark Warner faced that problem, and campaigned saying, e.g., "I will not raise taxes. I will not raise taxes. I will not raise taxes." Then he went on to push through the largest tax increase ($1.5 billion) in Virginia's history. Even now, one doesn't know what -- and what not -- to believe from Warner's rhetorical offerings.

Kilgore can be categorical, unequivocal, and direct in expressing his views -- he needn't seek to confuse and deceive -- because those views are in sync with the majority of Virginia's voters. On issues generally -- and on the death penalty and tax referendums specifically -- Kilgore's principal opponent faces the same problem of conviction and sincerity that Warner faced. Whoever may present himself as the logical, nuanced heir to the Warner mantle, it is Kilgore who today echoes Warner's 2001 campaign themes on tax referendums (pro) and the death penalty (pro).

Kilgore projects a commendable sincerity, a trust -- with no disconnect between what he believes and what he says.
. . .
This newspaper is for Jerry Kilgore. He is right on the crucial issues. He is straightforwardly in tune with the views and values of most Virginia voters. He would go to the Executive Mansion with the courage to fight for his convictions -- and Virginia hardly needs a governor who would not.

Come November 8, we urge you to give him your vote, too.

Still Great News in the Battleground Poll

2005-11-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

by Bruce Walker

03 November 2005

Conservatives are winning, and winning convincingly, the ideological battle for the hearts and minds of Americans.

I have written articles soon after the various Battleground Polls have come out over the last three years. People trained, like the dull, illiterate drones in Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, are accustomed to acquiring information only from images, with tools like bright colors replacing, as much as possible, the precise data of words and of numbers. These dullards are also conditioned to believe that if information is important, it will be presented in a pie graph or line chart.

This, of course, is nonsense. Give me an ideological agenda and I will give you a statistical image to prove that point -- which is something that I have been pointing out in a series of articles over the last several years as soon as the Battleground Poll is released. Nothing has changed.

Read the Battleground Poll website itself (to say nothing of the even more skewed lurid descriptions by the mainstream media describing the horrible problems that conservatives face in the election a year from now.) Perhaps it helps the reader for me to quote from my past articles. My text, drawn from the guts of the data, shows the true picture of America and the trend of that electorate.

This is the foundation from which silly, ad hoc questions about transitory opinion regarding particular issues, political figures or political parties ought to derive. The reason for this disconnection between profound political facts and ephemeral polling data is that conservative politicians, parties and pundits panic too easily.

Go to the Battleground Poll and skip down through all the flashy and alarming graphs and charts. Skip also the approval of the parties to handle problems, the highly volatile intention now -- a year before the general election! -- as well. Ignore the popularity of a second term president nearing the second half of his second term: no president, Reagan, FDR or Eisenhower has done well, personally, at this point in his presidency.

The results also show progress, not a malaise. The problem is that this good news, better with each Battleground Poll, is ignored. It is not used, as it should be used, to win battles and permanently shift the balance of ideological power in America. All of the muscle to win the battles exists; it simply needs to be rallied to clear and unapologetic causes. Does this sound overly rosy?

Consider that in June 2002, in the salient question D3 of the poll, fifty-nine percent of the American people called themselves “conservative” or “very conservative,” while thirty-five percent of Americans called themselves “liberal” or “very liberal.” Excluding those who called themselves “moderate” or expressed “no opinion,” conservative voters constituted about sixty-one percent of the voters.

In September 2003, the percentage of Americans who called themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” was fifty-nine percent, while the number of Americans who called themselves “liberal” or “very liberal” remained at precisely thirty-five percent – a gap between conservatives and liberals of twenty-four percentage points. Excluding the few Americans who called themselves “moderate” or had no opinion, conservatives had the same whopping sixty-one percent majority.

One year later, in September 2004, the percentage of Americans who called themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” had risen slightly to sixty percent, while the number of Americans who considered themselves “liberal” or “very liberal” had dropped to thirty-four percent -- leaving exactly the same gap between conservative and liberal of twenty-four percentage points.

Given all the doomsday pundits -- both of the Right and of the Left -- one might expect that the brand new Battleground Poll would show big changes. There were changes, but not in the way that pundits would expect. The number of Americans who call themselves “conservative” or “very conservative” increased by two percentage points to sixty-one percent, as high as it has ever been in any Battleground Poll. Now sixty-one percent of Americans consider themselves “conservative” or “very conservative,” while, again, precisely thirty-five percent of Americans consider themselves “liberal” or “very liberal” -- the gap between conservatives and liberals has actually widened by two full percentage points.

That, however, is only part of the good news for conservatives. The good news -- the great news, really -- is what has happened to the intensity of American political opinion and the direction of that intensity. The number of people who call themselves “moderate” or express “no opinion” or “do not know” has dropped from the six percent or seven percent in past polls to only four percent today. Where have these people been going?

In 2002, the number of Americans who considered themselves “strongly conservative” was fifteen percent; in 2004 the number of Americans who considered themselves “strongly conservative” had risen to seventeen percent; the latest Battleground Poll shows that the number of Americans who considered themselves “strongly conservative” has risen to twenty-one percent, almost three times as many Americans as there are who consider themselves “strongly liberal.”

Conservatives are winning, and winning convincingly, the ideological battle for the hearts and minds of Americans. The number of conservatives and strong conservatives is growing, and the number of liberals is shrinking. What America needs right now is a political battle in which the lines are clear. If we have that, conservatives will win. The Battleground Poll numbers show an unmistakable, steady and compelling shift to a big conservative majority. It is time we used that majority to change America. Bruce Walker's articles can be found at the Conservative Truth.

VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SANCTIONS KAINE CAMPAIGN

2005-11-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Friday November 4, 2005 RGA Press Release

VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SANCTIONS KAINE CAMPAIGN

Refers to Commonwealth's Attorney for Potential Prosecution

WASHINGTON, DC - This morning the Virginia State Board of Elections, in an emergency meeting called to examine Tim Kaine's deceptive campaign mailer, issued the strongest possible penalty against the Kaine campaign for violation of Virginia Law, as well as referred the matter to the Commonwealth's Attorney to further investigate whether the illegal mailer was intentional, and therefore subject to criminal penalties.

The Board of Elections, in response to a complaint filed by the Republican Governors Association ("RGA") against the Kaine campaign, unanimously ruled that the disclaimer on the Kaine campaign's deceptive mailer did not meet the requirement of Virginia law to be "conspicuous." The Board of Elections then unanimously voted to issue the maximum allowable fine ($100) against the Kaine campaign. Next, the Board discussed whether the Kaine violation was intentional or "knowing" under VA law, and because of the seriousness of the violation unanimously referred it to the Commonwealth's Attorney to further investigate and potentially prosecute.

Charles Spies, the RGA's General Counsel who testified at the emergency meeting, commended the Board "for taking the strongest possible action to sanction the Kaine campaign's dishonest and deceptive campaign tactics."

RGA Executive Director Mike Pieper stated: "Virginia voters need to evaluate whether they can trust Tim Kaine and his consistently dishonest campaign. It must be especially disheartening for Kaine's supporters to see his campaign referred to the Commonwealth's Attorney on the eve of Election Day for potential prosecution."

The Media In Virginia’s Statewide Races

2005-11-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

From nrvtoday.com

The Media In Virginia’s Statewide Races

By Lewis Sheckler
Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The media play a very important role in all political campaigns. The campaigns this year are certainly no exception. There are many news stories, editorials, editorial cartoons, and a big variety of political ads. This column is about the media in Virginia’s races for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Attack ads are playing a major role in the statewide campaigns. They are being used by the candidates for all three statewide offices.

Jerry Kilgore and Tim Kaine, candidates for governor, are hammering each other with harsh attack ads. There are apparently some misleading inaccuracies in some Kilgore ads, and Kaine’s ads include a questionable personal attack and some misleading information.
These are two examples of inaccuracies in Kilgore ads. One of his ads accuses Kaine of volunteering to represent a murderer on trial. Kaine’s law partner denies this, but admits Kaine did give him advice regarding the case. Another Kilgore ad says Kaine wants to raise the gasoline tax, but there is evidently no proof of this.

These are two examples of misleading information in Kaine ads. In a harsh personal attack, Kaine accuses Kilgore of giving legal protection to a company, because it is a big contributor to Kilgore’s campaign. The “proof” for this accusation would certainly not hold up in a court of law. Responding to Kilgore ads that criticize Kaine’s opposition to the death penalty, Kaine looks into the camera and declares that, regarding the death penalty, he would “obey the law.” This implies, of course, that he would ensure that murderers sentenced to death will be executed. However, a governor can obey the law and commute the death sentences of every criminal on death rows, eliminating the death penalty for all of them.

In the Lieutenant Governor race, Republican Bill Bolling is running ads that criticize Democrat Leslie Byrne’s liberal record. Byrne’s very soft positions regarding illegal immigrants provide one area of disagreement. Bolling’s ads are apparently accurate. Byrne is running a vicious, misleading personal attack, which insinuates Bolling was involved with the failure of The Reciprocal Group, a Richmond-based insurance company for which Bolling once worked. The truth is that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Virginia’s Commissioner of Insurance have stated Bolling was not involved in issues that led to the failure of the company. Byrne claims, falsely, also, that Bolling “is not a friend of Virginians on health care issues.” There is ample evidence this is false, too.

In the Attorney General race, Republican Bob McDonnell is running ads that focus on Deeds’ left-wing positions on issues, and on some plea bargains Deeds made as a Commonwealth Attorney. Deeds is criticizing McDonnell for opposing a Deeds’ laundry list of “investments” by the state government. Deeds and other tax-and-spend liberals have learned to label their taxing and spending as “investments,” because “investments” sounds much better to voters than “taxing and spending.” Deeds is also running an ad, only in liberal Northern Virginia, that tells viewers McDonnell graduated from "Pat Robertson's law school, the Christian Broadcasting Network University [and] he's taken $36,000 from Robertson." Deeds is makung a disgusting appeal to antiChristian intolerance.

The media are not only presenting paid political ads to voters. They are, also, sticking their own oars into the campaigns. We are seeing biased news stories, the bias usually favoring the Democrats. Furthermore, left-wing newspapers almost always endorse the Democratic candidates, except when a Democrat is bound to lose. By endorsing Republicans who are a cinch to win, these newspapers will not harm Democrats, and they can then claim they do not always endorse Democrats. The statewide races are close enough this year that left-wing newspapers are endorsing all three Democratic statewide candidates.

We are seeing many editorials supporting the Democrats and attacking the Republicans. The editorial cartoons of liberal newspapers demonstrate this pro-Democrat bias, too. In this part of the state, the Roanoke Times is a classic example of a newspaper infected with an aggressive, pro-Democrat bias.

Kaine is running an ad, attacking Kilgore, that consists of quotes from the Roanoke Times and several other newspapers. Almost all of these newspapers are leftwing. (The one exception is endorsing Kilgore.) Newspaper staffs know candidates can use effectively what the newspapers print.

The web site of Roanoke’s WSLS-TV (Channel 10) has a web page entitled “Voice of the Voter.” It contains articles about the campaign between Jerry Kilgore and Tim Kaine. An examination of these articles reveals there is an extremely heavy preponderance of articles that favor Kaine’s campaign.

Never underestimate the influence of media liberals in political campaigns. Constantly pursuing their left-wing agenda, they know getting liberals elected to public office moves America to the left. Therefore, they strive constantly to achieve that shorter objective, to reach their ultimate goal.

Lewis R. Sheckler, ED.D. is a U.S. Army veteran (Counterintelligence Corps) and a retired Radford University professor, who has served in a number of leadership positions in education. He and his wife (married 53 years) have lived in Radford 40 years. They have three adult sons.

The conservative case for Kilgore

2005-11-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

Op Ed from Washington Times

The conservative case for Kilgore

TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Ken Cuccinelli
November 3, 2005

Next week's gubernatorial election results will determine the principal direction of our state government in the near future. We will either continue to grow the government with increased taxes and spending, along with more state control over the lives of individuals, or we will change course by reining in taxes and spending, and protecting personal rights and freedoms.

All concerned Virginians, but most particularly conservatives, should vote for Jerry Kilgore for governor on Tuesday. There are conservative Republicans, Democrats and independents in Virginia. The conservative philosophy transcends party lines because it focuses on issues, not parties. Conservatives believe in the sanctity of human life, smaller government and lower taxes, protection of the rights to property and to bear arms and, wherever practical, conservatives rely on the free market rather than big government to address our many challenges. As measured on these issues, Republican Jerry Kilgore far outclasses Democrat Tim Kaine.

As our Founding Fathers noted in the Declaration of Independence, the first right is the unalienable right to life. Without it, all of the other rights are meaningless. As attorney general, Jerry fought for the ban on the grisly partial-birth abortion procedure that Gov. Mark Warner vetoed. Jerry supported parental notification and parental consent, as well as "Conner's Law," making the murder of a pregnant woman a double murder. And while Jerry has committed to supporting common-sense pro-life legislation, like requiring abortion clinics to be subject to health and safety standards, Mr. Kaine has committed to vetoing such pro-life legislation. The choice for pro-lifers must be Jerry Kilgore.

After Mr. Warner broke (in spectacular fashion) his major campaign promise, namely, not to raise our taxes, the issue of taxes has become the premier issue in Virginia politics. Mr. Kilgore has vowed to veto further tax increases while Mr. Kaine says "we still need more." Mr. Kilgore opposed the 2004 tax increases while Mr. Kaine supported them. Three days after the vote for higher taxes, Mr. Warner revealed for the first time that Virginia had a surplus of more than $1 billion — the same amount that Virginia taxes had just been raised.

Jerry has also laid out a plan to rein in runaway property taxes. The choice for those who oppose tax increases must be a vote for Jerry Kilgore. In the area of preserving constitutional rights, Jerry has always been an advocate of the Second Amendment, thereby garnering an "A" grade from the NRA versus Mr. Kaine's "F." During the last 10 years, Mr. Kaine has regularly supported anti-second amendment efforts. Now he has added the beleaguered Fifth Amendment (property rights) to his hit list.

As a desperate last-ditch effort to win the governor's race, Mr. Kaine has proposed restricting property owners' current ability to use their own land in order to curry favor with environmentalists and others. Frankly, our property rights have been taking such a beating in recent years, that Mr. Kaine's promises to continue that assault should motivate every conservative to vote for Jerry Kilgore. While Mr. Kaine intends to rely on tax increases to address our pressing transportation needs, Jerry is an advocate of relying on the private sector to help address our traffic problems.

Critically for us in Northern Virginia, Jerry is the only candidate with the courage to propose widening I-66 inside the Beltway in both directions.

In recent days we have seen the tremendous benefits that private-sector competition can bring to addressing traffic in our area, specifically, we now have three different private proposals to address traffic in the Dulles corridor, with at least one of those proposals including building additional lanes on Route 28 and I-66 all the way to Washington. Jerry's reliance on the private sector instead of government is another reason for conservatives to support him.

Recently, we have been confronted with the prospect of our tax dollars being spent to build day-labor centers that even their advocates concede will be serving the illegal immigrant population. As a strong law enforcement attorney general and candidate for governor, Jerry understands the word "illegal," and he has opposed spending taxpayer funds for the benefit of illegal aliens. Mr. Kaine dismissively calls Jerry's position "mean spirited," a traditional liberal attack. Jerry knows that such spending is unfair to those who come to America legally and it will only encourage more illegal immigrants to come to Virginia. Jerry also opposed allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition, while Mr. Kaine supports this subsidization of illegal immigration. For Virginians who believe that we should welcome our legal immigrants and do everything we can to discourage illegal immigration, Jerry Kilgore is your candidate.

When one looks at the candidates one issue at a time, it's clear that the choice for conservatives must be Jerry Kilgore, and that if Tim Kaine does prevail, he will be one of the most liberal governors in Virginia history.

Volunteer in Coming Election

2005-11-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, you... Yeah, lazy, I'm talking to you! Why aren't you volunteering to help out in the coming election? No excuses! The Roanoke Republican Party needs your help. If you'll shoot me an email robyn *at* duzins.com (the @ sign should be in place of *at*) I'll put you in touch with someone who needs your help. I'm not entirely comfortable with putting someone else's contant info on here w/o their permission.

And, while you're at it, if you know of anyone who wishes to contribute to this blog, just send me an email to let me know. If you can write reasonably well (or if you don't mind my editing for grammer... I'm a stickler for that) I'd love to have your help.

In Response To "Google Will Return to Scanning Copyrighted Library Books" from the Wall Street Journal

2005-11-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

This is written by a collegue who is actively fighting porn in libraries via www.plan2succeed.org

Visit Dan's site to get involved.

BY DAN KLEINMAN
Plan2Succeed

Response to “Google Will Return to Scanning Copyrighted Library Books” WSJ Online, November 1, 2005

Google need not worry that Michael Gorman, president of the American Library Association, feels that digitizing texts will be “a potential disaster on several levels,” or that he thinks Google’s claims are “ridiculous.” Mr. Gorman takes such extreme positions that some of his own ALA members do not support him.

Consider what he said recently in the Washington Post (Bonus Points: Challenges to Books on the Rise, Tuesday, October 11, 2005). When asked, “Clearly there are books that children are not mature enough to read. Is there a standard for school libraries,” he first dodged the question. When pressed further, he revealed his interest in ensuring children maintain access to inappropriate material: “Children should be encouraged to inquire and to seek knowledge, not deterred.”

It seems the ALA’s views, as represented by Michael Gorman, are “ridiculous” and “a potential disaster on many levels.” Sadly, it has gone past potential and into actual harm to children – crimes against children in libraries following the ALA’s anything goes policy are too common. Example 1 and Example 2. Google, you have nothing to fear from Michael Gorman and the ALA.

---------------
For info on the ALA’s double standards regarding censorship and on the ALA's possible violations of various codes or policies, see http://www.safelibraries.org/ala-oif-doublestandard.htm

-----
info@plan2succeed.org
http://www.plan2succeed.org/

The Washington Times endorses Jerry Kilgore

2005-11-01T08:12:00.000-08:00

As one of the few newspapers in VA that is not a BRANCH OFFICE of the democRAT party, the Washington Times makes excellent points on why Jerry Kilgore should be our next Governor.

The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Jerry Kilgore for governor
Published October 27, 2005
Eleven days from now, Virginia voters will choose between two starkly different candidates for governor: The Republican nominee, former state attorney general and state secretary for public safety, Jerry Kilgore, is an energetic conservative and a proven leader who has worked tirelessly to make Virginia a safer place by bringing lawbreakers to justice. He has also proven his willingness to challenge those in his own party (particularly the Republicans-in-name-only who dominate the state Senate) who seem obsessed with the idea that Virginians need tax increases. The Democrat, Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine, isn't steadfast. Listening to him, as he attempts to reconcile and explain the various positions he has taken on issues such as abortion, taxes, illegal aliens, capital punishment and homosexual "marriage," can be something of an ordeal. At times the former Richmond mayor sounds like he would be more comfortable running for statewide office in Massachusetts or New York. For his part, Mr. Kilgore would bring a solid record of accomplishment to the governorship. When Gov. George Allen appointed Mr. Kilgore, then 32, to be state secretary of public safety in 1994, critics questioned whether he was old enough for the job. Mr. Kilgore proved the skeptics wrong by overseeing the highly successful implementation of Mr. Allen's plan to abolish parole in Virginia. After voters elected him attorney general four years ago in a 20-point landslide, Mr. Kilgore proved to be an activist in the best sense. He pushed the General Assembly to enact legislation making it easier to prosecute violent street gangs like the MS-13 and worked closely with the federal government to coordinate efforts to prosecute illegal aliens and remove them from the country. Mr. Kilgore also worked with the General Assembly to enact, over Mr. Warner's objections, legislation banning lower in-state tuition and driver's licenses for illegals. He opposed efforts by state colleges and universities to institute racial preferences. Mr. Kilgore also has been extraordinarily active in prosecuting serial sexual predators. Jerry Kilgore has made clear his opposition to the tax increases rammed through the General Assembly by Mr. Warner and Senate Republicans like Finance Committee Chairman John Chichester. He has been resolute in his support for capital punishment and his opposition to abortion on demand and homosexual "marriage." Mr. Kaine, by contrast, has a disconcerting tendency to talk out of both sides of his mouth. On the homosexual "marriage" question, for example, he has said he supports amending Virginia's constitution to ban the practice. But he has opposed a federal constitutional amendment banning it -- effectively leaving the door wide open for the federal courts to impose it at a time of their choosing. On abortion, Mr. Kaine depicts himself as pro-life, yet he has excoriated General Assembly Republicans for refusing to pass partial-birth abortion legislation with an exemption for the "health" of the mother -- a loophole permitting, in essence, abortion on demand. He claims to be against illegal immigration, but opposes Mr. Kilgore's efforts to do anything about it until an unresponsive federal government can be roused from its lethargy. He's against the death penalty, but issues murky promises that he will "enforce the law" when it comes to executions. By every measure, we know where Mr. Kilgore stands. He is the superior candidate. The Washington Times is pleased to endorse Jerry Kilgore for governor of Virginia.

2005-11-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

Absentee Voting in Virginia

The window of opportunity for this is closing rapidly, so please review the pertinent information below:

--To request an absentee ballot, your application must be postmarked by 5pm Thursday, November 3rd. To download an application, please visit this page on our website.

--Your completed absentee ballot must arrive at your local voter registrar office by November 8th.

--You may vote absentee in person at your local voter registrar office through Saturday, November 5th.

--Once you have requested an absentee form or voted absentee in person, please take a moment to think about who else might need to vote absentee as well. Do you have a spouse or family member who will be out of town on the 8th? What about a child away at college?

Speaker of the House Has a Blog

2005-10-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just had to share a piece I wrote this morning for my favorite RSS and blog software company, RSSApplied.com.

Dennis Hastert Gets a Blog

Republican Natl Committee Chairman, Ken Mehleman Comes to Roanoke

2005-10-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

Please welcome to the Roanoke Valley

Republican National Committee Chairman
Ken Mehleman

This SATURDAY October 29, 9:45am
GOP Headquarters in Brammer Village
3003 Peters Creek Road South

Come show your support for Jerry, Bill, and Bob and go door to door with the Chairman!! Only 10 days left so come and be a part of our winning team!! We need YOU!!!

Email robyn *at* duzins.com and I'll send you the contact info of the person in charge.

So who should you call a journalist? | CNET News.com

2005-10-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

Interesting that govt is still trying to decide how to categorize bloggers in relation to the McCain/Feingold Law and in relation to covering illegalities.

Seems obvious to me though. How is blogging any different than street preaching? You're shouting your message to a crowd of people, and though some will listen, most will not. The crowd determines your effectiveness and if they don't agree they'll leave.

Sounds just like blogging to me.

So who should you call a journalist? | CNET News.com

Liberal Slant

2005-10-24T03:03:00.000-07:00

Don't be confused by the impartial talk, it looks like 80% of the media is still liberal. Take this editorial that laments the poor choice, then clearly makes one in favor of Kaine.

Meh...

But all that should not obscure this basic conclusion: Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the Democratic candidate, would make a much better governor than former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore, the Republican. Washington Post

I'm not naive enough to think editorials are supposed to be impartial, I do understand that, it's just that most of the editorials I have seen, other than Letters to the Editors, are pro Kaine.

Virginia Governor Candidates - Compare

2005-10-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Jerry Kilgore - Governor
(pdf)

Kilgore/Kaine Comparison
(pdf)