Great Reads

Searching around the blogosphere, I came across a series of movie reviews.

They are by my former --- nearly said "old" --- French professor, Alan Ford Farrell, now a Brigadier and Professor of Modern Languages at VMI. He is a true Renaissance man --- reputed to have learned ancient Greek so he could read Homer in the original --- who is "fierce" in virtually every endeavor. He is legendary among those who had the pleasure of studying with him. In French 201, we read Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai, or, as he put it, Moby Dick Goes to Thailand. Gave one of the most memorable lectures I ever heard, on teaching. "I teach," said Farrell. "But that is a verb which requires an object. I teach men." A nationally syndicated columnist gave a lecture at the same time on campus. It was Farrell's which was filled to overflowing.

I'll read virtually anything he writes, and enthusiastically commend it to your attention, as well.

Spinning the PWC Chairman's Race

Well, it's utterly fascinating to note the nonsense that less-than-sterling Republicans are spinning in an effort to elevate Democrat John Gray to serious candidate for the GOP nomination for PWC BOCS Chairman.

Witness "Mitch Cumstein's" ever evolving assertions. On a post attributed to him at Sean Connaughton's Cult of Personality ... er, "Too Conservative," "Mitch" says that:

Based on the numbers I’m hearing, this is going to be a very close race. Despite getting into the game very late, Gray has earned a tremendous amount of support. It will all depend on who shows up on Saturday but, of the approximately 950 delegates, my guess is that John has close to 450 (compared to 500 for Stewart). I don’t know the district-by-district makeup at this point. But I’d say it’s anyone’s ball game.

But in a comment on independent Craig Vitter's website, he says this:

My source (who saw these forms last night) indicated that, based on the names, the split is probably closer to 80-20 in favor of Gray. With wieghted voting, Saturday is going to be very interesting.

Hmmmm. Well, which is it, "Mitch"? Can't get your story straight? Or did you just get your talking points mixed up?

I won't pretend to have seen the filings. Didn't even file myself, as the Youngs will be in Canada on Saturday, on a long-planned family vacation. But a source close to the Stewart Campaign has indicated to me that "Mitch's" first numbers are a lot closer to the truth, though inflating Gray's by a factor of about 30%, and that the only way that Gray can win is if his people show up, and Corey's don't.

Clearly, this is a proxy battle. The Connaughtonites out there fear and loathe Corey Stewart. And it appears that they are attempting to turn out the same people who came to a GOP meeting in May 2004, after Chairman Sean was embarrassed by a loss in a straw poll on the Lieutenant Governor's race conducted by the YRs at an ill-attended County GOP Convention. Then, he attempted to hijack by proxy the County GOP Committee --- something he could have done easily if he'd just bothered to encourage his people to attend the Convention --- by turning out people to vote for inferior officers who would jump on his bandwagon. Among them was at least one --- John Gray --- who just a few months earlier had sought the Democrat nomination for Occoquan District Supervisor. Many paid their $30 membership fee with crisp, fresh new $10 and $20 bills, which many believe to have come from the same fresh bank stack from Chairman Sean's campaign. And most who were elected to Membership --- after the voting --- never bothered to show up again.

Hopefully, that fear is well-grounded. After all, if Corey wins and leads the County conservatively (e.g., by requiring County bureaucrats to write a budget within revenue, rather than allowing them to write budgets with ever-increasing taxes) it would give lie to claims that Chairman Sean is/was a conservative. And that disaster would follow from any other course.

What they fear most --- as "Mitch's" post makes clear --- is a Republican nominee who will actually and successfully pursue fiscally Conservative GOP policies, rather than Chairman Sean's developer-friendly, developer-financed tax-and-spend policies. A BOCS Chairman who puts those policies on the defensive --- as Chairman Sean has consistently refused to do --- would give likely give lie to the notion that County taxpayers are unremittingly supportive of a budget that has increased, under Chairman Sean's tutelage, by 114%, while the County's population has increased by only 30%.

What they fear is a choice, not an echo. That would certainly take the bloom off of Chairman Sean's rose.

UPDATE: Jim has a preliminary Credentials Committee Report up over at Virginia VirtuCon. It seems that old "Mitch" has been telling tales at Craig's site.

Far-Left Silliness

Well, the long knives are out with the race hustlers on the far Left of Virginia's blogosphere (here, here, and here), and even among some relatively sensible people. Of course, the Washington Post has followed the far-Left blogosphere on this one, with predictably contrived outrage. And while Jerry gives an appropriately contemptuous view of the whole contretemps, there are those who regularly give aid and comfort to the enemy doing so yet again. The paid political hack at Raising Kaine has even declared that Senator George Allen said something that "just happens to refer to a monkey and to be a recognized racial slur."

Recognized? By whom? Race hustlers? Tunisians? Once again, Lowell has been dippin' into the Kool-Aid just a wee bit too much if he really believes this. 'Course, who knows what he believes, beyond the paycheck?

Well, I'm convinced. George Allen, who won't even discriminate against people for their perverse sexual behavior --- he has been described by one homosexual publication as having the most fag-friendly [paraphrasing here] office on the Senate side --- is truly a goober and a racist, making judgments about people's skin color. Nevertheless, he's sophisticated enough to use a racial epithet that would only be recognized in obscure corners of the world.

And I also believe in: the Tooth Fairy; that Bill Clinton really didn't have sex with "that woman"; the Easter Bunny; that HillBilly have a real marriage; Santa Claus; that Governor Marky Mark's tax hike was necessary to avert a deficit; that John Gray is a Republican; and that someday I'll collect Social Security.

What I don't understand is how he was supposed to incite a crowd which probably didn't include people from those obscure corners of the world. Or whether the young, mohawk-headed man in question even understood it as a racial epithet.

Perhaps the funniest and most contrived post of all comes from the paid hack at Raising Kaine, who isn't satisfied with George's apology. Of course, nothing short of a complete surrender and withdrawal from the race would satisfy Webb's nutroots contingent.

Don't bother, George. You've made your apology. Unless they're right, and you are a racist and meant it as a racial slur, don't bother to say another word. You'd be wasting your time with people upon whom further efforts would be wasted, and I'm willing to bet that most of the voters in Virginia --- people who are going to or even might vote for you --- recognize that.

UPDATE: Sillier and sillier. Now Ben is claiming that "inside the Beltway" is a racist codeword. One commenter has it right: Ben has officially jumped the shark.

John Gray: Political Chameleon

Once again, from the invaluable Denny Daugherty:

Candidate profile

John S. Gray (D)

Washington Post
June 5, 2003

What do you think is the most urgent problem facing your jurisdiction?

"There are several significant issues: (1) Uncontrolled development: 34,000 more houses to be built, with poor planning for roads, schools and other infrastructure to support those houses. (2) Uncontrolled spending: County spending has increased 60 percent in the past four years alone. Its not possible that spending is 'bare bones.' There is fat in this budget. (3) Uncontrolled real estate growth: Even with the tax rate 'reduced' to $1.16, taxes have increased more than 40 percent in the past four years. We need to get development, spending and taxes under control. They aren't now!"

John Gray sounds a lot like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. Heck, it's hardly a secret that I'm no fan of Chairman Sean and his record, but I suppose that I look fair to Connaughtonites compared to Gray's blunderbuss shot.

The Desperation Starts Early

Well, it seems that Democrat Senate candidate Jim Webb and his minions have seen the handwriting on the wall, and are playing the race card early and often. The Washington Post has jumped on the bandwagon, too. The accusation seems to be that Allen referred to the young man in question not as a political flunkie for the Webb campaign, but using an obscure term that refers to a monkey.

This is too rich. It reminds me of the story out of the University of Pennsylvania a few years ago, where Eden Jacobowitz called noisy people outside of his dorm room "water buffaloes," and was accused of racial insensitivity.

That Webb and his media supporters are already desperate enough to trump up this charge is nothing but good news for the Allen campaign. What's really too bad is that Allen's fair-weather friends are already jumping on the band wagon. Or maybe it's good, because it simply reveals them for the opportunistic weak sisters that they really are.

John Gray: Friend of the Taxpayer?

As a member of the Board of the Prince William Taxpayers' Alliance, I receive a number of mailings. Denny Daugherty checked his files, and sent this along this morning:

Washington Post
March 14, 2004
Author: Letters To The Editor

At the March 9 board meeting, Supervisor Corey A. Stewart of Occoquan stunningly asked the board to direct the county staff to prepare the 2005 budget with a real estate tax rate of $1.01 per $100 of assessed value instead of the $1.10 as presented. The $1.10 rate is a reduction from the $1.16 rate used in 2004.
While I have absolutely no problem with the premise of the question, the manner in which it was raised is beyond explanation.
During his campaign, Mr. Stewart pledged to the Taxpayers Alliance not to raise taxes beyond a set formula approximating 6 percent for 2005. Real estate tax revenues are projected to raise by 12.6 percent at the $1.10 rate. The Taxpayers Alliance formula would result in a 2005 tax rate of 99 cents. In short, the Taxpayers Alliance would require a drop from $1.16 to 99 cents, or about $56 million.
Bear in mind that the $56 million cut would be shared with the schools, meaning the county would have to cut spending by $24 million and the schools by $32 million. Obviously, the concern is where those huge cuts are to be made. The alliance states it is up to the county and the schools to identify those cuts, not the alliance. I disagree, but I can live with it.
I have nothing against spending cuts, and if we can identify them, fine. Let's cut. But I do not believe we have $56 million in excess spending in the budget.
Mr. Stewart obviously thinks we have at least $49 million because that's what he proposed to be cut. What galls me is that he did so without any input from his constituents or his Budget Committee, of which I was supposed to be a part. The proposed budget has been out exactly two weeks. His Budget Committee met once. He has never held a town meeting to discuss his constituents' questions. So where did the $1.01 rate come from?
Obviously Mr. Stewart's only concern was to honor his Taxpayers Alliance pledge. Don't his constituents have any say in their taxes?
Please don't tell me this is his fight for lower taxes. The $1.01 rate is arbitrary, capricious and without any merit or basis in fact or numbers. The rate was pulled out of the air and is fictitious.
He could have waited until county staff members gave their presentations of their individual department budgets and then asked them, "Where do you think we could possibly reduce spending in your department?" No, he just picked the $1.01 rate without any concern for his constituents.
And by publicly stating that as a supervisor it is not his responsibility to know the budget in detail, nor is it his responsibility to identify his proposed cuts (that's the staff's job), he has precluded his Budget Committee from doing its job.
Two weeks ago, at the county executive's presentation of the budget, Mr. Stewart was trying to illustrate that the 7-cent countywide fire levy is an additional tax.
It is. No question. So is the gypsy moth fee and the storm water management fee, but that wasn't Mr. Stewart's point. He was trying to show that because Fairfax doesn't have the 7-cent fire levy, our taxes are higher than Fairfax's.
What he didn't know was that Fairfax doesn't have a volunteer fire system, so the 7 cents we pay is really very fair, as it represents just "hard costs" of the volunteers. We don't pay them wages or benefits.
The permanent fire staff accounts for 8 cents of the $1.10 rate being proposed. So getting rid of the 7-cent levy would result in at least an 8-cent increase in the tax rate to cover the new staff necessary to replace the volunteers. Wow! That's tax reduction if I ever saw it!
There is a level of on-the-job training necessary to be a supervisor, but Mr. Stewart is quickly that showing his short 31/2-year residency in Prince William County, and his lack of any substantive community involvement in those years, have not remotely prepared him to be a upervisor.
He needs to consider resigning now, before he does more damage than he already has in these 10 weeks to the political career he really wants. Occoquan citizens not only deserve better; we demand it.
John S. Gray
Lake Ridge

But wait! Isn't this the same John Gray who sent out an announcement last week which was quoted by one blogger as claiming that:

The far-right agenda for real estate taxation has in fact and truth been to vote against the reduction in the tax rate for the last three years. If their votes had prevailed, your real estate tax rate would still be $ 1.36, not the current rate of .76 cents. Think about that for a minute!

It appears that the self-proclaimed Connaughtonite candidate for the Board needs to get his talking points straight. 'Course, it is utterly clear that Gray is Connaughtonite in one way: he'll apparently say whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear in order to get elected.

More Lies from AWCheney

Since sleaze is not a preferred method for GOP political operatives, it appears that Prince William's own AWCheney is making a bid for a career in the media.

I hear Reuters has openings for which she would be well-suited.

Squish Search and Destroy Mission

Well, as one might expect, the anti-Republicans at Sean Connaughton's Cult of Personality ... er, "Too Conservative" (for whom, I wonder? Raging Maoists?) are continuing in their efforts to attack anyone who dared to stand up against Chairman Sean's tax-and-spend ways.

Never mind that Chairman Sean ran in 2003 attacking those whom he alleged were in the pockets of developers, such as Republican Mary Hill, and turned around in 2005 and funded his failed campaign for the GOP nomination for Lieutenant Governor with developers (i.e., pro-tax increases) money. Never mind Chairman Sean's own record of tax increases.

Now, however, the pseudonymous cowards over at TC are attacking Corey Stewart because he dares to hold a fundraiser at Tim's Rivershore Restaurant. In his patented belittling style --- one even gets a whiff of his dime-store psychology --- "NoVA Scout" criticizes Corey for holding a fundraiser at "Tim’s Riverhouse in Dumfries."

Of course, "NoVA Scout" reveals in his misnomer just how ill-informed he is; though I've never eaten there, even I know that it's actually "Tim's Rivershore." But "NoVA Scout" reveals in his misrepresentations just how desparate he is to disparage anyone who stands up against higher taxes, as Corey has consistently done.

You see, "NoVA Scout" misrepresents the facts with broad generalizations. Here's what he says:

Tim’s and the County have been locked in a nasty spat over code violations for some time now. The attitude of Tim’s Riverhouse strikes me as defiance of demands for compliance with County building and health codes. If you go to the Tim’s Riverhouse Website, you get a strong flavor of how fervently the owners have seen this as a political issue. Despite the political pressure, the county marched ahead with its enforcement activities. The County’s legal position was upheld this past May when Tim’s owner, Mr. Bauckman, was convicted and given some stiff fines by the court. Mr. Bauckman is appealing those convictions. I’ve heard that County officials still regard Tim’s as being non-compliant with certain site and sanitation requirements.

Now, if you read that, you might get the impression that eating at Tim's might give you a good case of food poisoning. Witness the reference to "sanitation requirements." There is a later reference to "health, safety and building codes," and the general suggestion that Corey Stewart isn't really interested in law enforcement. It is almost reminiscent of far Left imprecations that "children would die" if the GOP Congress were successful in slowing the increases in socialist welfare programs during the Clinton regime.

Of course, a minimal Internet search will tell you otherwise, which is perhaps why "NoVA Scout" doesn't bother with any links. One could, for example, go to Supervisor Maureen Caddigan's website, and find reprinted a column by James Simpson in the Potomac News that discusses the controversy, and reveals that it is only about the safety of the decks at Tim's.

And while I normally don't believe the Post, a Washington Post article on the controversy reveals the truth of the matter:

County officials said they took the action June 9 because the restaurant's owner, Tim Bauckman, rebuilt and expanded the outdoor seating area without proper permission after Hurricane Isabel heavily damaged it. They say Bauckman then refused to cooperate with county officials and went ahead and rebuilt his restaurant his way.

Of course, what makes Sean Connaughton's Cult of Personality ... er, "Too Conservative," so charming is that it will predictably parrot whatever Chairman Sean says, even when --- as is frequently his wont --- he misrepresents the facts. Here's what Chairman Sean was quoted (emphasis added) as saying at the time, making the same misrepresentation:

"We have a 1960s-era waterman's hangout that has now turned into a 300-seat open-air restaurant," said board Chairman Sean T. Connaughton (R). "I can tell you very sincerely that the county wants to see Tim's operate and get it legal as soon as possible. The owners just have to start working . . . to make sure the building, site plan, sewer and water and safety issues are addressed."

What this contoversey mainly seems to have been about is the fact that it tends to belie Chairman Sean's claims to have streamlined the bureaucracy to make Prince William County a "business-friendly" location. At least for long-established, un-gentrified businesses.

I'm not going to re-hash the entire controversy here. My point (and I do have one) is that one gets an entirely different understanding of what it was about if one makes the mistake of relying upon the post at TC. But understanding the controversy is, of course, not their point. Denigrating Corey Stewart is.

I almost commented about this over there. But casting pearls before those cowardly swine increasingly appears to be an utter waste of time. After all, in trashing Corey, the author demonstrates his de facto support for Corey's opponent, John Gray.

Of course, John Gray has experience in running for office. He was a candidate for Occoquan District Supervisor in 2003. Oh, yeah. It was for the Democrat nomination.

Webb Hagiography at Huffington Post

The paid hacks at Raising Kaine have a link and an extended quotation from a glowing endorsement of James Webb at Huffington Post.

Wow. One political dilletante/turncoat endorses another. Color me surprised.

Another Function of Cowardice? Or Just Jealousy?

Well, the children over at Too Conservative have decided to initiate a flame war. Nothing surprising here; they belittle me, in their standard attack upon anyone who makes reasonable surmises about the fact that all save Vince (to whom this comment does not apply) cower in anonymity/pseudonymity, and therefore, hide from public view the ability to judge their prejudices accordingly.

It's absolutely incredible to me that some claim to be Republicans and/or Conservatives, and that they should be listened to, even though none has the courage to attach their names and reputations to their sage advice, and frequently attack those who actually lead and either have or continue to put it on the line for their beliefs.

It's a considerable step down from those who publicly pledged their "lives, ... fortunes, ... and sacred Honor" to found this nation, and the many who actually gave them.

Or maybe it's just the fact that at least one person considers them less influential than yours truly.

FLASH! Tax Growth Outpaces Income Growth In PWC

Here's a little news flash for those who are still in denial over the outrageous growth of taxes in PWC: "Real estate property tax growth in ... Prince William [C]ount[y] far outpaced personal income growth from 2000 to 2004." "[I]n Prince William, personal income grew by 13 percent to $35,198, while real estate taxes went up nearly 35 percent."

OK, so it's not news to those who don't subscribe to ... uh ... let us say, a little cult of personality. But perhaps those remaining in denial will, at long last, admit the truth.

But don't count on it.

Webb Campaign Drops Slogan

Well, it seems that the blogosphere is all abuzz over the fact that Democrat Senate candidate James Webb is dropping his "Born Fighting" slogan. I've frequently wondered whether it was merely a ham-handed attempt to boost his book sales.

However, on the principle that no challenger's campaign can be without a good slogan, or even a lame one, I hereby open the floor to a contest to pick the best, most appropriate slogan for the Webb campaign. Here are a few entries:

1. "Born Equivocating"

2. "Born Elsewhere"

3. "Born Quibbling"

Submit your best entries in comments.

I Guess Thieves Have Their Priorities In Order...

From Neal Boortz, the following story demonstrating that no good deed goes unpunished:

NO GOOD DEED .....

I saw a pretty nasty accident last week. It happened about a quarter-mile south of my Peachtree Rd. condo. An old SUV full of some rather hefty women (at least I think they were women) left the road, ran across a lawn, plowed through a fence and then took a nose dive about 20 feet straight down to the entrance of a basement parking garage. From the looks of things everyone went right through the front window. One woman wasn't moving when I got there, but the EMTs determined she was alive and transported her to Grady Hospital. Two days later I'm told she was still in ICU.

Anyway ... why am I telling you this story? After all, stupid people not wearing seat belts get thrown through windshields virtually every day.

Well .. it seems that someone who worked at a nearby apartment building was one of the first on the scene. He called 911 on his cell phone. One of the victims who was not horribly hurt asked to borrow his phone to make a call.

When she got through making the call she put the phone in her pocket and refused to return it. Days later calls were still being made on the phone.

When the owner of the phone would call his own number and ask that the phone be returned they would just hang up. The theft of his phone was reported to the police. We'll see if anything happens.

There's some real scum running around out there. Good people die in accidents all the time, but the cretin who stole this cell phone somehow survived. Pity.

One can only hope that the thief is enjoying exquisite pain.

Jumping the Shark at TC

With this post by a pseudonymous Connaughton sycophant, followed by a predictable "amen" chorus of anonymous/pseudonymous posters, and the very public effort of some to discredit the prudent course of the PWC GOP, can there be any doubt left that whomever it is who is left at Sean Connaughton's Cult of Personality has jumped the shark?

Phony Claims of Partisan Affiliation

I love political debate. What I despise is people who misrepresent themselves for purposes of lending credibility to their arguments.

So, for instance, there's the "I'm a Republican, but..." crowd, which tries to legitimize its attacks on Republicans or Republican positions by claiming affiliation with the GOP. I am always particularly skeptical of those callers to, for instance, C-SPAN, who make such claims before attacking the GOP. Our own local rag ... er, journal, is guilty of the same kind of misrepresentation, discussed in a letter yesterday by the Secretary of the Prince William County Republican Committee, Grant Bell. Grant rightly took the newspaper to task for its frequent claim that "Nobody likes taxes, but...." practices. This journal, which for a time moved towards being more reflective of its Conservative readership, virtually always preferences its endorsement of the latest tax increase proposal to come along with the claim that it doesn't always support higher taxes. The problem? No one can seem to remember the last time the Potomac News advocated against a proposed tax increase.

Take today's article in the Potomac News regarding yesterday's rally against the Marshall/Newman amendment, which will add the protection of Virginia's Constitution to the continuing assault by the perversion lobby against marriage and the family, provides a fine example of the practice, one which is easily refuted.

Here's the little vignette that caught my eye:

Kreamer's husband, Terry Kreamer, said passage of the amendment would be a step back for Northern Virginia, especially if it were to affect a business's ability to provide domestic partner benefits.

A registered Republican, Terry said that some gays and lesbians might take their business to Washington, D.C., or Maryland.

Now, maybe a more sophisticated reporter would have picked up the fact that Terry was lying through his teeth. Of course, there is no such thing as a "registered Republican" in Virginia. Our General Assembly, in its estimable wisdom, precludes registration by political party, so there are neither "registered Republicans" or "registered Democrats" in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

To be sure, there are ways to measure whether one is a Republican or Democrat. Donations, for instance. The Virginia Public Access Projected (www.vpap.org) list no reported donations by anyone named "Terry Kreamer" to any candidate or cause in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Opensecrets lists a single "Terry Kreamer" of Alexandria as having given money to Don Young, of Alaska.

Then there's whether the individual has ever darkened the door of a Republican event. To my knowledge, no individual named "Terry Kreamer" has ever done so in Prince William County. To be sure, I don't know every individual who has, but if such an individual were a prominent and/or respected Republican, I might know him.

However, an Internet search reveals a single listing (apparently of him and his wife, also identified in the article). They appear in the Bull Run Unitarian Universalist newsletter, and they appear to be active members. Of course, some consider this denomination to be less Christian (indeed, my impression is that it doesn't even pretend to be "Christian") as it is religion for the far Left.

Of course, it's by now a truism that opponents of the Marshall/Newman amendment are misrepresenting the amendment in their craven and disingenuous efforts to defeat it. But it is purely pathetic that they also misrepresent themselves to do so, as well.

UPDATE: An anonymous post in the comments indicates that this individual voted in Virginia's 2000 Presidential primary. This may call into question some of my conclusions, though one primary vote does not, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, a "committed Republican" make. It certainly does not make one a "registered Republican." One would presume that committed Virginia Republicans know that there (sadly) is no such thing in Virginia.

F.T. Rea's Peurile Behavior

Well, it seems that F.T. has now decided that even agreement from a Conservative is something he can't tolerate.

It seems that F.T. has a post discussing the injustice of Art Monk's exclusion from the Hall of Fame.

I agree with his discussion. This is an incredible injustice. So, in the spirit of agreeing where I can, I posted something to the effect of "Finally! A post with which I cannot disagree."

And given F.T.'s childish challenge to the rather simple bio posted here, I said something to the effect of "And no, Monk was NOT one of the Redskins that I represented."

Rather than merely taking it in the charitable tone in which it was intended, F.T. simply deleted it. Cast it down the memory hole. There isn't even a "Post deleted by blog administrator."

To use Waldo's phrase, what a maroon.

Idiocy from the Webb Campaign

Or perhaps I should say, more idiocy.

Attacking Senator George Allen for refusing to vote for a minimum wage increase, the Webb campaign manages to invoke the standard Democrat tactic of class warfare, while at the same time demonstrating its utter ignorance on matters economic:

I am sure the 153,000 hardworking Virginians who haven’t received a raise since 1997 would have appreciated it. But obviously, Allen’s too busy playing political games,” said Webb spokesperson Kristian Denny Todd.

Kristian, here's a little economic reality for you: Anybody who is still being paid minimum wage after nine years on the job, or who is still working at the same minimum wage job after nine years, doesn't deserve a raise.

Of course, with childish antics like this (Webb's own site is still trying to make hay of the fact that Senator Allen's middle name is "Felix"), perhaps Todd's interest in a minimum wage increase is understandable. If he's paying them what they're worth, one can't imagine that Webb is paying them much more than minimum wage.

Takes on Mel Gibson

I haven't commented on this, and I'm not sure I'm doing so now. However, there is an interesting story in today's LA Times on the reactions of his friends. Having had the bitter experience of dealing with alcoholics, I certainly question the notion that "it's the disease speaking."

Mona Charen has an interesting take --- and probably gets a lot closer to the truth, save for her comments about Steven Spielberg's Munich, with which I take some exception --- here, as well.

UPDATE: Having picked up David Horowitz's Anti-Chomsky Reader a few weeks ago, and having just delved into it, it occurs to me that many of the same people who are savaging Mel Gibson for his anti-Semitic rant--- contrary to the man that Jewish friends like Dean Devlin describe --- positively lionize Noam Chomsky, who is a an anti-Semite of biblical proportions and a Holocaust denier, too.

My Stalker is Back!

Well, I came across another website which seems to be dedicated to attacking me. I won't dignify it by linking to it here (why increase his or her site traffic, even to the pathetic extent that I have any?), but suffice it to say that it links to the stalker's site that appeared in April. It claims that I am a bigot because I judge people by their actions, specifically, their perverse sexual behavior.

You know, kind of like recognizing those poor, sad, anonymous/pseudonymous trolls for the cowards that they are.

I must confess that I am a bit disappointed, though. Damn it! The boys over at NoVA Townhall were first on his or her hit list!

To take a page from the far Left playbook that suggests that supporters of traditional marriage (which seems to be the main reason for this individual's fury), what is it about those of us who stand up for reason and values that you find so threatening?

Save Him From His "Supporters"

I came across a fascinating comment over at Ben Tribbett's site, made in the context of Ben's call for nominations for his patented "Weenie of the Week" and the (in my opinion) misnomered "Warner of the Week." Notwithstanding the fact that its author is a coward, i.e., anonymous, it really deserves a response at length, a response which doesn't lend itself well to a mere comment. Here's what this bozo said:

Weenie: Anti-Connaughtonites who spent all their time tearing the man down, but when they saw the chance to grab power became the sweetest singers of his praise. "He is a bad Republican, but Bush should definately appoint him." Give me a break!

Warner: Prince William Democrats. While the GOP has been publicly fighting and tearing itself apart over the Chairmanship, the Dems have been quietly laying in wait ready to pounce on a weakened and divided opponent.

Posted by: | August 04, 2006 at 03:59 PM

This is really funny. Well thought-out criticisms of the policies pursued by a politician --- one can only presume that the author refers to criticisms of Connaughton's tax-and-spend policies, as well as his craven efforts to seize control of the Prince William GOP --- are "tearing the man down." And recognition that, as an admiralty lawyer --- an extremely specialized area of practice --- and as a veteran, he is well-qualified for the post to which he now has been confirmed, makes us "the sweetest singers of his praise." That's not the hypocrisy intimated by the author of the post, but rather, fair assessments of the man's qualifications.

As a wise movie cop once said, "A man's got to know his limitations." Those who have suffered under the tax-and-spend policies of Connaughton are well-positioned to criticize those policies. They are not personal criticisms (Connaughton has so isolated himself from Conservatives that few of us know him personally); they are policy criticisms.

As for the assertion that Prince William Democrats have been "quietly laying in wait ready to pounce on a weakened and divided opponent," well, perhaps. Far more likely that the long, slow, lingering death of the Prince William Democrat party is reflected in the fact that the only vigorous intellectual debate over policy is occurring not between the two parties, but within the GOP.