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Saturday, March 29, 2008FLS: To the rescue comes Dirty Dick Wadhams!First he destroys the political career of George Allen, now Wadhams uses the Colorado GOP establishment to destroy Colorado's right to work laws -- among other initiatives trying to get on the ballot. The headline? Original to the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, which should show folks how much Virginia conservatives Friday, March 28, 2008Solar furnacesVia Kottke.org. I bring you SOLAR FURNACES! C'mon... you know you want one. Thursday, March 27, 2008Im Not Emeril: Three Strikes, You're A Racist!Great post over at Im Not Emeril, reminding folks that words do in fact mean things: A fine writer and friend of mine once compared written words and phrases to a baseball and its pitcher. My friend wrote, "Baseball players, pitchers, gloves clamped in their armpits, always work the slickness from new baseballs before they throw them. They use their naked hands and do it with some intensity. Words are best done that way, too—rubbed, and understood, measured for fit and feel and balance. You never want to throw a word until it’s ready. Believe me, I’ve done it. They nearly always miss their mark and ricochet into the stands."Great post. Best I've read in a long time. Wow... Hillary WASN'T Lying...That'll put the critics to rest. SkepticalObservor: GWB's War Safer Than A Democrat CinCSuprise surprise... the Clinton era consisted of 14,000 deaths amongst members of the U.S. military, compared to over 7,000 deaths in the Bush 43 era: Now, since the number of dead members of America's armed services aren't and can't really be the basis for the far Left complaints --- clearly, fewer Americans are dying in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq than died on base in the United States, or on the Clinton Administration's "peacekeeping" operations --- what can it be that bothers them so?Good point. UPDATE: Busted by snopes.com: Even though the CRS table does not include loss figures for the last two years of George W. Bush's presidency, the total number of U.S. military losses that have occurred during his administration is already significantly higher than the equivalent figure for Bill Clinton's presidency (8,792 vs. 7,500). When active duty deaths for 2007 and 2008 are factored in (the Pentagon has not yet released figures for these two years, but the U.S. suffered 1,014 war deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007 and at least another 100 so far in 2008), the discrepancy is even greater.That'll teach me not to factcheck! We Should Withdraw From Augusta and Albemarle Counties...Because clearly, if we can't secure I-64 from terrorists we are just wasting lives and money, as James Joyner of OTB explains: My initial reaction was a snark about how we should pull our forces out of Virginia, since we’re obviously unable to ensure security and keep the insurgents at bay.End snark, but the point still carries weight. Wednesday, March 26, 2008CNET: Windows XP vs. Vista vs. LinuxThe definitive story, one with which I by and large agree: Mike Ricciuti of CNET says Windows XP is "doomed" and that "most of us will likely be using Vista sometime in the near future" (see Microsoft: All roads lead to Vista). In contrast, Ina Fried of CNET writes that Windows XP may get another reprieve, the title referring to the fact that major computer manufacturers are slated to stop selling Windows XP in June. Who's right?Lipstick on a pig. 'Nuff said. Tuesday, March 25, 2008Congratulations Sean O'Brien and Bob Gibson!From Rick Sincere comes the news that Sean O'Brien will be heading up the Montpelier-based Center for the Constitution, while Bob Gibson will be moving in as the new Executive Director of the Sorenson Institute. May we see as speedy return of the Sorenson Virginia Bloggers Summits! I'm Not Dead YetEveryone remembers the Monty Python sketch, but this example of a "brain dead" patient getting ready to be terminated hits a little bit closer to home: Dunlap said one thing he does remember is hearing the doctors pronounce him dead.The sad thing is, we have practically no idea how many other times this has happened across the country -- with the opposite result. Monday, March 24, 2008Downloading is Genocide
Filmmaking clearly does not require a logic class... but as anyone who has watched those mind-numbingly annoying MPAA videos knows, clearly it is not required for protecting marketing rights and copyright laws, either. McDonnell. Bolling. Cuccinelli.Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2009 Virginia Republican ticket. ...well, that last part still is yet-to-be-determined. But it's the ticket even Too Conservative wants! Sunday, March 23, 2008CRFV: Craziest Liberal ContestCRFV is holding a weekly poll. This week: Crazy Private Citizens. Head on over, and Vote Noam Chomsky for Craziest Liberal! I will grant Chomsky one good idea, but his political ideas I personally find contradictory, as I have never fully understood the "libertarian socialist" perspective -- either one is libertarian to the point of charity, or one is a socialist attempting to create utopia. Beyond this, I couldn't think of two diametrically opposed ideals, and believe it would require a greater mind than Chomsky (great as it is in certain fields) to reconcile the two. Virginia's Bobby Scott: Too Liberal for DemocratsIs Democrat Rep. Bobby Scott this out of touch with mainstream America? Roanoke Red Zone: Gilmore and Bear SternsThis is a problem that is not going away. From former Senator Brandon Bell: I have heard a lot of people say that Mark Warner will deliver Virginia to the Democrat Presidential nominee. As much as Warner would like to do this, I doubt he will be able to. With Gilmore’s negatives as high as they are, I feel certain that the Independent vote will flock to Warner and likely to the Democrat nominee for President. If Jim Gilmore is our nominee, he, not Mark Warner, will be able to claim the distinction of handing Virginia to Clinton or Obama and maybe even the Presidency itself. So after mismanaging our State finances and fracturing the Republican Party over the car tax, Gilmore is set to turn this red state blue. The Democrats may end up loving Gilmore after all.I have not commented much on the Gilmore/Marshall race (though I am supporting Bob Marshall), but at some point in time the cards need to be laid out on the table. The Camp Gilmore response to the Bear Sterns piece from the AP left more questions than answers... More to come after the Easter holiday. Too Conservative Joins Bloggers 4 Marshall?At least the prolific booster of all things TC Mr. Loudoun Insider has signalled his support. Wonder how long it will take for a Bob Marshall icon to replace (or at least join) the Gilmore icon at TC? All things aside, as the delegate totals continue to come in and the tone of the Camp Gilmore becomes more acerbic, Marshall's prospects at the RPV Convention this may continue put conservatives within striking distance. Get ready. Friday, March 21, 2008Reuters: Money buys happiness -- if you spend on someone elseGo figure... a nice thing to remember this Easter Triduum. Tuesday, March 18, 2008NYT: How Did A-Rod Get So Good?I gotta love when there are certain processes I have taken for granted for years just spelled out as theory by folks smarter than I: This means that, your level of natural talent notwithstanding, excellence is accomplished mainly through the tenets of deliberate practice, which are roughly:The theory is called "deliberate practice" and focuses on form first, results second. Good processes produce good policy. CNN: Mummified dinosaur unearthed in North DakotaI guess the only disappointment is that the article doesn't address whether the mummified dinosaur had feathers or not. Sorry... that's a bit geekish, but there has always been that speculation. Monday, March 17, 2008Leslie Carbone: Planned Parenthood Lives Up to Its Racist HistoryLeslie Carbone has the scoop. It's the callousness of the Planned Parenthood staffer that shocks me... just as long as the checks clear, is that it? Amazingly, the House Republicans snapped shot: Ye Big Announcement!Snapped Shot is back, and with a new look. Definitely worth adding to your RSS aggregator. The AP trembles. Back to Black...or white and blue. So after my wild journey from Blogger to WordPress and back to Blogger, I have returned temporarily to my old site design... which oddly enough was based off of my very first blog design which operated in frames. My oh my, how things have changed. No worries though... I started this design change with the best of intentions. I just have to be more serious about it than the previous attempt, which of course means time. I'll hack it. Many apologies to former and current readers... but commentary shall be forthcoming on all things pithy and political. Sunday, March 16, 2008What is Worse Than Reading Today's News?The realization that it's been the same news we've been reading for, oh... I'd say about the last 18 months. Beyond the minor news stories and such, does anyone really consider what has changed over the last week? Two weeks? If you were to unplug yourself from every news outlet, every TV, every news-driven website for a week or two, would you come back and tell yourself, "Gee -- that's the same crap we've been talking about for a month!" I just hopped on to Google Reader (and an excellent resource it is) with a compilation of all of my RSS feeds and whatnot. Of course, having done the communications game I should have known better, but the thought dawns on me every once in awhile: our news is catastrophically boring. What's worse, Virginia political bloggers seem just fine to allow it to continue. Let's be dead serious -- how many original, thought provoking commentaries have you, the gentle reader, seen over the last week on our blogs? Two weeks? Month? Granted, I'm not part of the solution. But the further we drift from our roots as citizen journalists or private journals, the less unique (and less relevant) we become. No matter. I'm going back into my garden to start plotting out where I'm going to plant a massive number of boxwoods for my garden. That's a post for a later time, and boy is it much more interesting than what's going on in the news nowadays! Thursday, March 13, 2008RWL: Why Jim Gilmore owes his accomplishments to Bob MarshallWorth reading... Lest anyone forget, Gilmore and the GOP needed that record. Outside of Virginia, 1999 was not a Republican year. In fact, the elections of ‘99 were so bad that the good news in the Old Dominion was noticed from as far away as the editorial offices of the New York Post.D.J. continues to make the worthwhile point that neither Gilmore nor Warner actually hold legislative experience. Considering the 1998 session, one can't help but recall the pivotal role Marshall played back then... leadership and experience we could certainly use to stiffen the spines of lackluster Republicans in Washington. Tuesday, March 11, 2008ABC News: McCain lashes Democrats for criticizing NAFTARepublican presidential nominee Senator John McCain gives some straight talk smack to the Dems pandering to Big Labor: 'I do not believe in isolationism and protectionism,' McCain said. 'We've got to stop this protectionist NAFTA-bashing.'Ouch. McCain's camp seems to be doing more and more to create a Churchill-esque mystique around their candidate, and to a strong degree of success. The great thing about this race is that the Democrats -- whomever emerges with the nomination -- will have to practically re-invent themselves around McCain's character. That's no small task. While Hillary Clinton may be more of a "centrist" than Barack Obama, the more heavily she attacks her erstwhile Democratic rival, the more she hurts her brand amongst the moderates President Bill Clinton worked so hard to court. Obama faces less of a problem, but the question of experience becomes even more acute when Hillary's nagging questions of doubt are replaced with war-hero John McCain's record and reputation. Judgment may work against Hillary, but you don't call out a Vietnam POW on judgment. In the meantime, McCain quietly builds strength while Obama and Hillary duke it out. A beautiful thing. Monday, March 10, 2008What To Do... With This...There are so many jokes to make about this I don't know where to start. What a scandal. Perhaps you'd like to start listing the jokes in the comments section? Sunday, March 09, 2008WordPress? SUCKS.Typically I don't use such strong language to define a CMS... but alas, WordPress has pissed me off for perceivably the last time. ...well, mostly because it (a) won't import my old Blogger files... and I'd hate to lose all that archived information, and (b) certain plugins that I know worked on previous builds of WP simply don't work on the current build. Hence, I'd rather work with a blogging platform where I know what I have works, rather than rely on an open-source community that doesn't seem to understand how to make sure it's old stuff works with the new CMS builds. Hence, either it's Blogger or Drupal for me. Because WordPress is too plug-and-play (yes, I'm comparing it to the Evil Empire) for me. Sunday, March 02, 2008Buckley's Last ArticleDwelling on the John Birch Society and Buckley's role in torpedoing the nascent anti-Communist organization. Obama-Warner '08?Via the New York Observer, this isn't as crazy as it sounds. It makes total sense. Odd thing is, after Hillary presumably dropped the oppo book on Warner to get him out of the Presidential contest, wouldn't it be the complete definition of irony for Warner to get the one-up on Clinton by snapping up the VP nod. On the flip side, does Obama need a southern Democrat? Probably so, but he has plenty of choices that the Republican VP nod doesn't have. Obama can literally take his pick of candidates without losing any of his luster, while McCain has to contend with shoring up the conservative base... and possibly bringing the question of which spirit truly governs the Republican ticket. Whether Mark Warner takes the VP nod is anyone's guess. A betting man would wager no, but given the current state of the Democratic nomination, would it surprise a soul? Saturday, March 01, 2008RWL: East vs. WestI've seen maps like this before when talking about demographics... that Virginia is not suffering from a NOVA vs. ROVA split, but rather an Eastern vs. Western Virginia split. D.J. McGuire has a post that all others posts in March 2008 should aspire towards, an independent analysis of why the Virginia GOP needs to bring itself home to economic conservative values, despite critics who suggest Virginia Republicans have veered too far to the right: The fact is, economic conservatism - to use the popular term - has been in very short supply here in Virginia. It is the party’s appeal in the eastern part of the state. The more westerners ignore this, the less they will understand us. Fair point, and as the values of the Golden Crescent (from Richmond, I-95 North and I-64 East) continue to dominate and shift the old coalition within the Republican Party of Virginia, it will be Eastern Virginia values that come to dominate the next 20 years.
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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