Carl Rice, RIP

Received news of the death of an old friend --- an attorney and district judge --- today.

Only 48 years old.

RIP.

... And Again

One thing about the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia": they're predictable.

Just few months ago, they offered a rather ... creative rendering of the fundraising of Babur Lateef, Democrat candidate for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, a fantasy which I discussed here.

Now that the second quarter's numbers are in, "lowkell" is trying to bang the drum to persuade the mindless who read and believe Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" that Lateef is "racking up some impressive fundraising numbers compared to incumbent Corey Stewart (R) this past quarter."  Fair 'nuff: if you compare second quarter numbers, Lateef raised 11% more than Stewart, or about $9,000 more ($80,084 compared to $71,781).

But then "lowkell" gets carried away, and claims that these numbers "indicate[] that Lateef is not beholden to anyone but the people of Prince William County."

This appears to have been too much even for the rather limited universe of those permitted to comment on Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia," and one commenter has already had the wit to point out the reality of the numbers:

Since you said "Lateef is not beholden to anyone but the people of Prince William County", that most of his money isn't actually from Prince William County. Of the $150,000 he raised in Q1, VPAP shows that only $40K came from within the county, which means 73% of his donations for local office came from outside that locality.

Amazingly, this only got worse in Q2. Of the $73K in itemized donations Lateef reported, almost $63K of it came from outside Prince William County, or an astounding 87%. Even assuming the $7500 he raised in unitemized contributions all were local, that's still more than three-quarters of his money coming from outside of the locality his term in office would affect....

Finally, speaking of interesting numbers, while Lateef did outraise Stewart this quarter, Stewart still maintains a nearly $100K cash-on-hand advantage, $140K to $234K.

In that commenter's opinion, "I just don't think that over 70% of your contributions coming from outside Prince William is, in any way, an indication that a candidate is only beholden to the voters of that County."

Now, poor little "lowkell" doesn't like it when reality intrudes on his hyper-partisan fantasies, and immediately attacks the commenter.

Once again, one has to borrow a phrase from the moonbatosphere and wonder whether the fact that most of Lateef's donations come from out of the County will prove to be "a disservice to Prince William County's more than 400,000 residents."

At It Again

Well, one of the children at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia," is at it again, attacking perhaps the nation's best Attorney General, Virginia's Ken Cuccinelli.  And, of course, since Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" doesn't allow comments from anyone but certified moonbats, I am responding here.

"Kindler" is apparently in a snit because, as he tells it, "an attorney general would normally be expected to use his position to protect the citizens of his state from genuine threats to their rights and well being."

Uh, that's wrong, "Kindler."  And it doesn't take a Westlaw subscription to find that out.' A simple Google search ("'Attorney General' Virginia duties") reveals that:

The office is charged with providing advice to state agencies and the Governor; serving as consumer counsel for the people of the Commonwealth; defending criminal convictions on appeal to ensure that justice is served; and defending the laws of the Commonwealth when they are challenged on constitutional grounds.

A complete list of the duties is here, and nowhere among those duties is the job "to protect the citizens of his state from genuine threats to their rights and well being."  That's just another moobat fantasy of an activist Attorney General who would do the will of the far Left in pursuing an expansionist nanny state.

According to "Kindler," he "cannot think of a single occasion on which our attorney general has done so."  Of course, perhaps "Kindler" hasn't heard of the Attorney General's lawsuit against BarryCare (AKA "ObamaCare"), the Federal government's takeover of health care, which he is pursuing pursuant to a duly-enacted statute of the Virginia legislature protecting Virginia's citizens against this Federal encroachment.

"Kindler" therefore accuses Attorney General Cuccinelli of "attacking any institution that seeks to protect Virginia citizens in any way that does not conform with Cuccinelli's rigid (and at times delusional) right-wing ideology."  Actually, it sounds a lot more like "Kindler" is attaching anyone who seeks to protect Virginia citizens in a way that does not conform to "Kindler's" rigid (and invariably delusional) left-wing ideology.

"Kindler" then offers a virtual laundry list of "offenses" by Attorney General Cuccinelli, virtually all of them based in a pathetic ignorance of history, as follows:

10. Separation of church and state: He advises ministers to ignore Jefferson's (and the First Amendment's) "wall of separation" between church and state.

This is particularly entertaining.  Jefferson had nothing to do with the First Amendment.  It was proposed and shepherded through the first Congress by James Madison, while Jefferson was Ambassador to France.  While Jefferson's Statute on Religious Freedom was a precursor to it (and which, incidentally, acknowledged "Almighty God" as "creator"), the "wall of separation" language appears nowhere in the First Amendment, and is actually a subsequent commentary upon it by Jefferson, eleven years after its passage.

And, of course, "Kindler" apparently only has a problem with Conservative ministers who "ignore" the First Amendment, even as "Kindler" misapprehends it.

9. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority: Cuccinelli threatens one of the most basic rights of a capitalist society -- the right to enter freely into contracts -- just to prevent the Authority from using contract preferences for union labor.

This one is likewise entertaining, since "Kindler" evidences utter misunderstanding of how "project labor agreements" compel contractors to use the "union labor" whether their employees choose union representation or reject it.  Of course, in the brave new world of moonbattery proposed by the far Left, employees have a free choice for union representation, but only if they choose to have it.

8. FCC net neutrality regulations: Cuccinelli sues another Federal agency for doing its job and trying to protect Web users-- and remind me what the hell this has to do with Virginia?

Apparently, "Kindler" would like to ignore that reasonable minds may differ over the efficacy of proposals for "net neutrality."  And "what the hell [sic] this has to do with Virginia"?  Well, "Kindler," a few million of us use the Internet, in case you hadn't notice.

7. U-VA campus weapons ban: the AG limits the ability of our universities to control public safety, so as to curry favor with the NRA. 

"Kindler" apparently does not understand that, as an instrumentality of the Commonwealth, our public universities are subject to the same constitutional limitations as any other instrumentality of the Commonwealth, and therefore, the same obligations when they adopt regulations which infringe upon fundamental constitutional rights...  even the ones (like the Second Amendment's protection of the right to "keep and bear arms") that "Kindler" doesn't like.

 4. Health care : Cuccinelli sues the Federal government to prevent it from expanding access to affordable health care. 

"Expanding assess to affordable health care"?!!??!  "Kindler" must have been writing this when on too many recreational drugs, as evidenced by his faulty numbering.

5. Right and access to abortion: He rules that the State Board of Health can choose to regulate abortion clinics under the stringent rules required for hospitals, even in the absence of legislation authorizing such regulations.

Another far-Lefty fantasy, since there is no "right" to abortion stated in the Constitution.  Then there's the hypocrisy of a far-Lefty complaining about regulation only as it applies to his friends, which some might consider a core "police power" of the Commonwealth to regulate the health and safety of her citizens.  And, by the way, never mind that Virginia's legislature subsequently validated the Attorney General's efforts with legislation.

4. Police action on immigration: He finds that police may question anyone's immigration status once they've been stopped for any reason, even without a state law authorizing such actions.

Perhaps there is no such state law, but Federal law certainly makes illegal immigration an offense, whether it be civil or criminal.  And certainly, state officials are frequently part of efforts to enforce Federal laws.

3. EPA authority to address climate change: He sues the EPA for doing what it is required to do according to the Clean Air Act, science and a very clear Supreme Court ruling, threatening the right of everyone to be protected from the severe impacts of climate change. 

This is, of course, reference to a petition which was utterly permissible under Federal regulatory standards (Texas filed one, too), and the link is to a WaPo article which pointed out that the "EPA's ruling rested entirely on the findings of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" which "declared climate change to be an accepted scientific fact but in recent months has been questioned for mistakes ranging from typographical errors to problems with sourcing."  Apparently, "Kindler" doesn't know the difference between "science" and "political science."

2. University gay rights: Cuccinelli rules that state colleges and universities cannot protect the rights of gays on campus.

 What "rights"?  There is no "right" to sexual deviancy protected by any law passed by the Commonwealth or the Federal government.  And state universities are, as noted above, instrumentalities of the state.

1. Climate science research : And in his most repressive and destructive act of all, Cuccinelli engages in a relentless, bitter assault against Jefferson's university for allowing honest climate change research to be conducted -- threatening not only our First Amendment rights, but the protection we all gain from allowing truth to be discovered and openly stated, regardless of which industries' financial interests may be harmed in the process. 

Of course, the point is whether it was "honest climate change research" (remember when it was "global warming" research; I'm old enough to remember when we heard breathless warnings about the "coming Ice Age")?  The point is whether anthropogenic "climate changes" is genuine, or it's just another far-Lefty fantasy designed to create an excuse for bigger government.  And "repressive"?  "Jefferson's university" is a publicly-funded institution.  Public officials are certainly within their authority --- some might even say it's their responsibility --- to insure that public funds are not used fraudulently.

"Kindler" is, of course, doing what Virginia's moonbatosphere does best: demonizing.  But elections have consequences, and Attorney General Cuccinelli won his by a virtual landslide.

What was that again about "protect[ing] the citizens of his state from genuine threats to their rights and well being."  Virginians elected Attorney General Cuccinelli to do precisely what he is doing.  And that is what "Kindler" really objects to.  A "bully"?  Is that really the best they can do?

Pathetic.

A New Look

I am such a Conservative that I have had virtually the same design since starting this blog more than half a decade ago.  Today, I have surrendered (in some small measure) to modernity.

Feel free to offer your comments on the new design.  It may yet change again.