Sad News

Reading my WaPo today --- yes, I'm one of those anachronisms who still subscribes to and reads daily papers --- I came across an article on the late Richard Ben Cramer, who died on Monday at age 62.  As the article details, Cramer was, in many ways, a throwback to the caffeine-addicted, chain-smoking --- lung cancer ultimately claimed him --- reporters of yore.

Cramer, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 (at age 29) is best known for his 1992 work “What It Takes: The Way To the White House,” a huge tome on the 1988 presidential race.  Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley calls it "“arguably the finest book on campaign politics of all time."

I had the privilege of dining with Mr. Cramer and his assistant at a Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention some years ago, and while I can't say I knew the man or got to know him well on that brief encounter, he struck me as a very nice guy, a hail-fellow-well-met sort of man whose friendliness and good humor doubtless served him well in his chosen profession.  It was easy to understand how he got to know his subjects so well.

RIP.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is ...

Blow Me ... er, Blue Virginia.

Here's a post which caught my eye.  It complains of the fact that nationwide, Democrat House candidates won the popular vote by less than a percentage point (49.15% to 48.03%), but Republicans won a 33-seat majority.  In Virginia, Republican candidates won the popular vote by 2%, but won eight out of eleven seats.

To be sure, this is a function of gerrymandering.  To be sure, there are exceptions (one-seat states like Alaska, Wyoming, and North Dakota) which skew the results, but it's almost a fair point.  If, of course, we lived in a parliamentary system of government, and not a representative republic.  But of course, the moonbats on far Left never let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

Here's one they cast proverbial Memory Hole: that there were crickets chirping over at Blow Me ... er, Blue Virginia when a Democrat gerrymander for the Virginia State Senate resulted in 20 Democrat Senators, even though statewide, Democrat Senate candidates won less than 43% of the  vote.

You can be taken seriously as people of principle when Virginia Democrats surrender three of those seats.  And reverse the effort to carve up Prince William County like a Thanksgiving turkey (one whole district and parts of four others in a county whose population justifies two full seats, and part of another) to preserve Chuck Colgan's seat.

This Is Too Rich

So now the far-Lefties at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" are calling Mitt Romney an "empty suit."

Bold words from supporters of the least accomplished, least qualified President in American history, and perhaps the worst case of projection in human history.

Is This The Best They Can Do?

Apparently, Eric Cantor's opponent, E. Wayne Powell, is facing bar charges for alleged misconduct in litigation a few years ago.

I'm not sure this is news.  Now, if a Democrat nominee had told the truth, that would be news!

UPDATE: I should say that Powell might be acquitted. That's always a possibility, especially when you consider the fact that a large percentage of bar charges are the stuff of disgruntled clients, usually just misunderstandings or efforts at retaliation for perceived wrongs.  But if you follow the link, you'll find that the evidence against him are court records and transcripts.  Pretty damning stuff.

An Unforced Error

It appears that Lt. Governor Bill Bolling --- whom I support for Governor in 2013 --- has gotten himself in trouble by suggesting that anyone who votes for Barack Obama this year must be mentally ill.

It's apparently quite offensive to some (though not all) of the mentally ill, many of whom are not nearly so stupid as to vote for President Barry.

Covering Up For President Barry

This story on the Obama reelection efforts (which confirms a discussion by a Democratic political operative at last weekends Alumni College at Hampden-Sydney College, which I attended as a panelist on another panel) appears in today's Politico.

Nevertheless, it appears that the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" are in high dudgeon over what it deems "Orwellian" efforts by a Conservative legislator, complete with a "Big Brother is Watching You" poster.

Who is it, again, who's acting like "Big Brother"?

Bring It On

Jim Hoeft has this brilliant post about the far Left's newest form of assault on free speech with which they disagree, spearheaded by Speedway Bomber and convicted perjurer Brett Kimberlin.

It's little surprise to learn that it's funded, at least in part, by George Soros.

I wish I were influential enough to get the attention of these bastards.

Centralia Is Still Burning

As a native of Pennsylvania and the great-grandson of a coal miner, I would probably be remiss if I failed to take note of the fact that Sunday, 27 May 2012, will be the 50th anniversary of the start of the Centralia Coal Mine fire, a tragedy which has, in the intervening fifty years, killed a pretty little town in the mountains southwest of the place in which I grew up.

The whole sorry affair seems, from beginning to end, to come down to stupidity and arrogance, always a dangerous combination (see President Barack Obama).  What a crying shame.

Clown Gerry Attempts To Extend His Reach

I suppose it isn't bad enough that Eleventh Congressional District Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-WaPo) holds Virginia's Right to Work law in contempt, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of downtown international labor unions in (mis)representing his constituency.

Now, he's trying to stick his nose into Wisconsin, and aid far-Left attempts to recall Governor Scott Walker for daring to challenge union power and special privileges in that state by accusing Governor Walker of perjury.  Along with other union-boss apologists Elijah Cummings and Christopher Murphy, Connolly is complaining that Walker may have "lied" under oath because he failed to disclose a casual conversation with a constituent, and comes up with a politically-contrived "contradiction" between Governor Walker's answer and what Connolly thinks he said.

Fortunately, it appears that Connolly has hitched is wagon to a fading star, as recent internal Democrat polls show a surge for Governor Walker going into the last two weeks of the campaign.

Connolly really needs to replace that union "bug" on his campaign materials with the old RCA Victor logo.  You remember: the one with the dog sitting next to the Victrola, listening to his master's voice?

Would someone please retire this clown?  Hoe's an embarrassment not only to Northern Virginia, but to the Commonwealth as a whole.

Bring It On!

President Barry formally declared war today.

His war is on American/Christian/Western Culture.  And he has declared himself the enemy.

It remains to be seen whether he is damaged more by his prior flip-flopping on the issue, or by his alignment with the radical homosexual agenda.

Yeah. This Will Do Him Some Good

As someone old enough to remember the disaster which was the Administration of Jimmy Carter, this is commentary designed to not aid President Barry's chances for reelection.  Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's National Security Adviser, should perhaps explain the foreign-policy disaster which was Carter's presidency before reviewing President Barry's performance.

A Rare Kudos

A rare kudos goes to a Democrat here --- Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael N. Herring --- for obtaining indictments on ten convicted felons who unlawfully voted in the 2008 election, as reported in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch.

I'll leave further commentary on the matter to my state Delegate, Scott Lingamfelter (R-31):

For several years, Republicans in the General Assembly ... have advanced efforts to address voter fraud. It's hardly deniable given recent history. 

Take the 2008 General Election that put former "Saturday Night Live" comedic clown Al Franken of Minnesota in the US Senate. A study by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and then-incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.  The final recount showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes, less than the number of felons who voted.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in South Bend, Indiana have filed charges against four Democratic officials and deputies in a multiple-felony case alleging the forging of Democratic presidential primary petitions in the 2008 election for then-candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. These officials are accused of faking signatures and names on the primary petitions needed to run for President. Court papers say the plan was conceived by local Democratic Party officials inside the local party headquarters. Here's the link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/02/4-indiana-dems-charged-with-election-fraud-in-2008/

Incidents like this one can be found around the nation so legislatures across America have moved to bring greater integrity to both registration and voting. This is why Republicans in the House of Delegates are taking action. Here are a few examples.

• HB 9 says a voter without identification will be offered a provisional ballot that will be reviewed by the electoral board at its meeting on the day following the election if he presents proper identification.
• HB 57 provides that the general registrar will process the State Board's most recent list of convicted felons within 21 to 14 days before an election, cancel the registration of any registered voter shown to be a felon, and notify the registered voter of the cancellation.
• HB 63 provides that the meeting of the electoral board on the day or days following an election is open only to authorized party and candidate representatives and the persons who cast the provisional ballots with their representatives or legal counsel.

All of these bills make sense. HB 9 gets rid of the current system that lets a voter simply sign a statement saying they are the person they claim to be. Now they need to show identification. HB 57 makes it tougher for felons to slip through the cracks and vote. And HB 63 basically keeps organizations like the corrupt ACORN group from influencing vote counting of provisional ballots. 

While these bill are not perfect ..., they do improve the system. But that did not stop liberal Democrats in the House of Delegates from opposing all of them this year. And in each case, House Democrats argued "where is the evidence of voter fraud in Virginia?" Well we now have that answer, as if we didn't know.

Virginia Democrats and their apologists in the moonbatosphere have consistently asked for evidence of voter fraud in the Commonwealth to evade sensible protections against its perpetration.  Now that they have it, they have two choices: (1) support these reasonable regulations; or (2) explain why they won't/come up with another reason for not doing so.

Of course, if Virginia Democrats take the former course, I look forward to the apologies and mea culpas from them.

I won't hold my breath.

If, however, they choose the latter course, they'll have to come up with another reason why they won't support efforts to root out voter fraud.  Might it be that the real reason for doing so is because Democrats are its most frequent --- though not exclusive --- practitioners, and they expect to benefit from it?

The proof will be in their response.

Now THIS Is Ironic!

Perhaps the reader will remember a little song by Alanis Morissette from the Nineties.  It was probably her biggest hit: "Ironic."

Except those among the listeners possessing competence in the English language noted that there was nothing "ironic" in the song.  A series of "bummers," to be sure, but nothing "ironic."

THIS is ironic.  It seems that DR.! Babur Lateef, the 2011 Democrat candidate for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, is attempting to further marginalize himself by becoming a regular contributor to the boys and girls at Blow Me, ... er, "Blue Virginia."  And it further seems that DR.! Babur has decided to take on that old statist Democrat standby, and attack those Virginia Democrats --- Senator Creigh Deeds and John Edwards (no, not the John Edwards who famously cheated on his dying wife) --- who dared to veer from Democrat orthodoxy on the issue of gun control.

But this wasn't what was ironic.

What bears the description "ironic" best from DR.! Babur's little piece is his pronouncement about Creigh Deeds, the 2009 Democrat nominee for Governor.  It seems that Senator Deeds doesn't quite measure up to what DR.! Babur believes a Democrat should be.  After all,

Senator Deeds has been a disaster for the Democratic Party. His run for governor was the beginning of where we are today. That poor campaign was then followed by his lack of concern for the Party during redistricting. He would not give up some of his strong Democratic precincts to his neighbor Edd Houck who ended up narrowly losing his Senate seat. This selfish action by Deeds gave control of the Senate to the Republicans.  During the 2011 campaign he was not helpful to other candidates. He did not pull his weight in fundraising for the party or the Senate caucus. Reports from insiders say he was extremely difficult to deal with and was prone to frequent temper tantrums. Then to add insult to injury he votes to repeal this gun law. 

Now, that's funny.  Remember, DR.! Babur was the guy who nearly placed third (after the independent), in his race for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.  In a three-man race, after all, BOCS Chairman Corey Stewart (R), won an outright majority of votes (58.10%), with 32,997.

DR.! Babur could only muster less than half that number, with 15,469 votes for 27.24% of the electorate.  Indeed, at one point in the evening, one had to wonder whether metropartisan John Gray (with 8,207 votes for 14.45% of the total vote) would outpoll the Democrat nominee!

So perhaps DR.! Babur knows from whence he speaks when he talks about "a disaster for the Democratic [sic] Party," and a "poor campaign."  And he has the gall to complain that Deeds was insufficiently partisan in redistricting.  You remember redistricting?  The process which resulted in parity (20-20) in the State Senate, even after Republicans won 57% of the votes?

Irony and gall from DR.! Babur, don't you think?

And The Point Is?

Other than to smear a potential Republican presidential nominee (which is, of course, the point), I fail to understand why this is a news story at this time.

I suppose it could be a cautionary tale to illustrate that, if you're the "other woman," you shouldn't be surprised when your husband later decides to trade up.

Or it could just be to demonstrate to the Secretary of State how a self-respecting woman responds when her husband is catting around.

A Hiatus

While my posts have been irregular in recent months, I do not intend to post for some time.

As many of my friends know, I have a pending case before the United States Supreme Court, Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000, No. 10-1121, which I will be arguing on 10 January 2012.  Hence, all of my spare time for the foreseeable future will be directed toward preparation toward fulfilling this professional obligation.

See you later in 2012.

More Far-Left Ignorance

You've really got to love the far Left.  Now (and once again) the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" are making elaborate, factually-inaccurate statements against Virginia's Attorney General, claiming that "Supreme Court Disses Kookinelli and his Health Care Lawsuit."

Now, never mind that the moonbats put a question mark after it; the text clearly criticizes the Attorney General and suggests that, by not taking Virginia's lawsuit against BarryCare yesterday, the Supreme Court was somehow not giving due regard to Virginia's lawsuit and her Attorney General.

The truth is, the Supreme Court was giving it no regard whatsoever in yesterday's order.  That is because the Supreme Court has not yet considered petition for certiorari filed by the Attorney General for consideration.  It won't do that until its conference of Tuesday, 22 November.

Incidentally, I know a thing or two about Supreme Court practice.  Today, the Court set my most recent case for argument on 10 January 2012.

So, a word to the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia":  you don't have to be a Supreme Court practitioner, or even an attorney, to comment upon the workings of the Supreme Court.

However, you just might want to consider learning enough so that you can avoid sounding like a blithering idiot when you do comment upon it.

The sad thing is that the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" rely upon a WaPo story in support of their conclusion.  I expect that kind of ignorance from the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia."  Heretofore, I did not expect it in even the worst advocacy journalism in the WaPo.

The Far-Left Myth

I know; I know: you read the title, and thought, "Uh, could you be a little more specific?  After all, there are so many of them."

Well, gentle reader, I will address those I read today.  One was in Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia," which refers to "The risk is that we will see an 8-3 Republican majority locked into our purple, almost-evenly-divided state for the next decade (just 2 years after Democrats held a 6-5 edge)."

This is, of course, a lie of Goebbelsian proportions.  Virginia is not a "purple, almost-evenly-divided state"; it is a Republican state, and only the last vestiges of old Democrat power and machinations have managed to preserved the Democrat Party as a viable force in most parts of the Commonwealth.

Then, there was Robert McCartney's take in the Metro section of today's Washington Post, entitled "No matter who gains control of Virginia Senate, neither party won a mandate."

A simple review of the election returns demonstrates that, if McCartney truly believes this, then it must be time to institute mandatory drug testing for WaPo columnists.

Just a few of the numbers indicates that McCartney may be imbibing hallucinogenic substances.  The GOP gained seven --- count 'em, seven! --- seats in the House of Delegates, bringing their numbers to an historic high of sixty-six (66), if the results hold.

Nevertheless, you might say, the GOP gained only two Senate seats, bringing them to parity in the Virginia Senate, with ties broken by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (for the next two years, the most powerful elected official in the Commonwealth).

But those numbers don't tell the story, as Virginia's Senate Democrats managed to lose two seats notwithstanding their control of the Senate redistricting process, and an historically shameless gerrymander which, among other things, divided jurisdictions and sometimes even precincts to advantage Democrat incumbents.

In Prince William County, for instance, population increases indicate that the County would be entitled to two full Senate seats, plus a small part of another one.  Nevertheless, only one full seat was situated in the County --- unsurprisingly, the Methuselah of the Senate, Democrat Chuck Colgan, who had to tout his relationship with Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and his "bipartisanship" to survive ---  while the rest of the County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park were carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey, as smaller parts of four other districts with majorities in other counties.  Thus, a county in which preliminary results indicate that 32,495 total votes were cast for GOP candidates, and 25,167 votes were cast for Democrat and other candidates finds itself represented by three Democrats (Chuck Colgan, George Barker, and Toddy Puller), with small portions of the County represented by two Republicans (Dick Black and Richard Stuart).  And among the five, only one (Democrat Chuck Colgan) actually resides in the County.

Democrat George Barker was the primary author of this plan, and that he got any votes from Prince William County residents is a testament to partisan Democrats' commitment to the pursuit and maintenance of power over local interests.

But the total numbers statewide demonstrate that it was, nevertheless, a masterful gerrymander by Senate Democrats.  Overall, the GOP won 771,698 votes in Senate races statewide, while Democrats and others won 580,773.  These numbers are staggering in comparison to the actual member-district results.  Republican nominees secured the votes of just over 57% of Virginians for the State Senate, while Democrats and others secured the votes of not even 43%.  Were the Senate to more closely reflect this electoral reality, Republicans would hold a 23-17 seat margin.  But alas, Republicans only hold twenty of those seats, if current results are confirmed.

A masterful gerrymander, indeed.

And the GOP did even better in the House of Delegates.  There, Republican candidates (I include Libertarian and Lacey B. Putney, who caucuses with the GOP) secured 775,403 votes statewide, while Democrats (I include Green candidates) and write-ins garnered only 487,514 votes.  In short, Republicans garnered a whopping 61.4% of the statewide vote for the House of Delegates, while Democrat and other candidates secured less than 40% of the vote.

So a "purple, almost-evenly-divided state"?!?!  "No mandate"?!?!?!  It would seem necessary to ascertain from the authors of those comments the color of the sky on their planet, because whatever it is, it ain't "Blue."

A Damn Shame

Rather than leaving his fate to others and submitting to the firing squad --- probably a circular one --- Joe Paterno has decided to retire at the end of this season.  Of course, at 84 years old, he's entitled to do as he wants to, but I think it's a shame.

I am not one of those who believes Paterno to be culpable.  As I understand it, the deviant child molester who provoked this whole imbroglio was long gone from Paterno's staff when he was apparently witnessed by another member of Penn State's staff to be molesting a boy on Penn State property, where he was contractually entitled to be.  No one had ever before suspected that he was a child molester.  The witness despicably did nothing to intervene, but instead reported it to Paterno, who reported that hearsay evidence up the chain to Athletic Department and University officials, who then failed to act, or even covered it up.

What else was Paterno supposed to have done?  He had no authority over his former staff member.  He had not witnessed the crime.  He is a state employee, and did precisely what was required of him under the law.  And given his badge of authority as such, to do more might have exposed him, the University, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to considerable liabilities.

The real problem appears to be that Paterno has become a victim of his own legend.

And legend he is.  The now-winningest coach in the history of college football, Paterno has always done it the right way, running an entirely clean program when other large universities have frequently failed to do so.  A noted disciplinarian, his players knew that they could not get away with the types of misbehavior engaged in by so many star college athletes.  Young men wanted to play for him.  Young men's parents wanted their sons to learn from him, knowing that --- again, unlike in so many other large-university programs --- their sons were highly likely to obtain their degrees under their tutelage.  In a day when the concept of in loco parentis has largely gone the way of the dinosaur, it was alive and well in State College, Pennsylvania, and exercised by Joe Paterno.

In his 46 years as Head Coach, he has won two National Championships, and probably deserved two others.  More importantly, he has taught men, and raised the Pennsylvania State University from mediocrity to national renown.

The problem for Paterno is that more is now expected, because more always has been delivered.

Attaching a scandal to Paterno is therefore a unique event in college sports, because no one has ever been able to do so.

And, as noted above, no one should be able to do so now.  He has no culpability --- moral, legal, or ethical --- in these circumstances.  Joe Paterno has never been and is not now a law unto himself, no matter that the legend suggests that he might be, that he could be.  It is a measure of the man that, to my knowledge, he never has tried to become so.  It is that humility which is one of the things that makes him the great man that he is.

I confess: I am a fan.  I grew up about 90 miles from State College, and my grandparents were long-time season ticket holders (40-yard line; home side; about halfway up).  After attending the 1972 Indianapolis 500 with my parents, and a Cincinnati Reds game a year later with my father, the only big-time sporting events I attended in my formative years were with my grandparents at Beaver Stadium.

And so now, we are going to witness one of the rarest events in Division I college football: Penn State is in need of a head football coach.

And I pity the man facing the task of filling Joe Paterno's black shoes.

9/11 --- Ten Years Later

I'm not going to add to the reflections on the terrorist attacks on the United States ten years ago.  It wasn't until nearly a month later that I learned that the attack on the Pentagon had struck very close to home, claiming Shelley Marshall, the wife of a college classmate.  It sufficient to republish a column that ran two days later in the late, unlamented Potomac News (for which I was then a weekly columnist):

Terror’s Day of Infamy --- Thursday, 13 September 2011

    When the telephone rang at about 9:15 a.m., I was busy putting the finishing touches on this week’s column (something about Virginia’s state-wide races; stay tuned).  It was my wife’s number identified on the caller ID.  Having dropped me off so she could take the land yacht for an emissions inspection, I thought she was just called to let me know that she had arrived safely at work.
    “Turn on the radio.  The World Trade Center has been attacked again.”  She was in tears.  Later, she told me she’d always wanted to see it.  My last two times in New York, I’d stayed at a hotel across the street.  I’d had other choices for decent hotels near the Federal Courthouse, but the Millennium Hilton offered a magnificent view of the World Trade Center, the Financial District, Staten Island, and the Statue of Liberty.  When in New York....
    “Could’ve been an accident,” I responded.  I told her that I remembered reading a story as a child about a B-25 hitting the Empire State Building.  ‘Course, that was a prop plane.  In fog.
    “Two planes have hit.  One on each tower.”
    OK.  So it wasn’t an accident.  My assumption was, at the time, that it couldn’t have been anything much larger than a Cessna.  In passing, I knew that one plane alone might have been a hijacked airliner.  But two?  No way.
    Since there are public policy operations going on in our offices, a few people have cable feeds, with C-SPAN and CNN available.  I went to the office of our VP for Legal Information, a fancy name for the Foundation’s PR guy.  The pictures were, of course, incredible.  By this time, footage of the second airliner hitting the South Tower were running.  Some already there were in tears.  More struggled to keep control.  I was on deadline so, as difficult as it was, I returned to my labors.
    It wasn’t the end, either.
    Just before sitting down, I looked west from my office window, and heard a boom and felt a thud.  Not entirely unusual, but it was already hardly a usual day.  At that point, I half expected to be backlit by a flash of brilliant light, but resisted the urge to “duck and cover,” particularly since I was six stories up.  Fat lot of good that would have done if it were anything reasonably powerful.
    “What the hell was that?!?!” I hollered.  Nobody else seemed to hear or feel it.  Occasionally, things get dropped, like large boxes of union financial records.  Was I just being paranoid?  Could one “just be paranoid” on a day like today?
    Returned to the television.  “Anything new?” I asked.  “There’s now a fire reported at the Pentagon.” “Open the shades.  I just heard a bang and felt a thud.”  Sure enough, in an otherwise cloudless sky on an otherwise magnificent morning, a plume of smoke arose.  To the north-northeast.  Looked to be about ten miles away.  My God.
    A number started running through my head: 2,403.  It wasn’t until later that I remembered its significance — the number of American dead at Pearl Harbor.  By nightfall, I found myself hoping against hope that we got off that “lucky.”  And answering phone calls from nervous relatives, in-laws, and friends knowing of my frequent travels.  And making a few myself.
    ****
    The operation has to be admired for its elegance, execution, and effectiveness.
    Four virtually simultaneous hijackings.  At least four trained pilots to take over the controls, since any pilot I’ve ever known would take a bullet before willingly and purposefully driving his aircraft into a building, no matter how many passengers were executed before his eyes.  Three hitting marquee targets; a fourth on the ground with only the deaths of those on the plane through probably nothing more than God’s grace.  And absolute security precluding any kind of forewarning.  Damn them.
    One piece of precious good news: they didn’t have or use nukes.  With the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, and little rogue states with nascent nuclear capability, this is a real threat.  And wouldn’t it have been ironic to destroy with his subsequent handiwork (he was the military leader of the project to design and build the first atomic bomb) General Leslie R. Groves’ earlier and fame-building handiwork, the Pentagon?  Maybe such historical ironies are lost on the types of barbarians who perpetrated Tuesday’s attack.  But one has to believe, or devoutly hope, that the fact that they didn’t use one means they don’t have one.
    But what’s next?  After now 26 hours (as this is written) of non-stop coverage — MTV and VH-1 were running a CBS News feed; ESPN had ABC News; Speedvision ran Fox News Channel — what do Americans do?
    President George W. Bush might have hit about the right tone, though one yearns for the eloquence of FDR on such an occasion.  We find the dead.  We mourn and bury them.  We find those responsible.  We denounce their crimes against civilization, America, Americans, and the Islamic faith they corrupt in pursuit of their own power.
    And put more bluntly than a President can, we blow they and all who harbor them to the Hell they so richly deserve.

Union Front Group Endorses Lateef

According to the boys and girls at Blow Me ... er, "Blue Virginia" have a post touting the fact that a group called "Virginia New Majority" has endorsed Democrat Babur Lateef for Chairman of the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors.

Well, actually, the Lateef campaign made the post.

Lateef's campaign describes "Virginia New Majority" as "a non-partisan non-profit 501(c)(4) organization that has worked around the state to advance the issues you and I care so deeply about."

Non-partisan?  Sure.  That must be why it endorsed only Democrats.

Actually, "Virginia New Majority" is a union front group whose "board chairman, Juan Marcos Vilar, is the political director of the Service Employees International Union. Records show VNM has received political donations from the SEIU."

Now, you won't read this on VNM's website.  The "More Info" link helpfully adds you to its mailing list.  And other links merely direct you to its blog, which touts the desire to "bring together immigrants, African-Americans, women, youth, and working-class Virginians to build a progressive [read: "reactionary liberal"] movement in Virginia through grassroots voter organizing."


I found the more interesting and revealing information on Fairfax Underground.
Another far-Left front group.  Color me surprised.