Defeat the Debt’s self-defeating move

I had never heard of the Employment Policies Institute until last night, when they put up and anti-deficit ad during the Super Bowl.  It was a decent ad, using a dystopic version of the Pledge of Allegiance to emphasize the dangers of runaway government spending.

They may have gotten a lot of good publicity with that ad.  We’ll never know, however, because the ad was run again less than 1 minute later during the same set of commercials.

Now, just about everyone who watches the Super Bowl knows that ad space during the big game is expensive (roughly $2.5M this year), yet as far as I can remember, EPI – in the name of thrift – was the only advertiser to run the same exact ad twice.  That would have been a waste of money even if they didn’t run them nearly back-to-back (which, and readers can feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, is a network decision).

Even worse, EPI made no mention of their actual anti-debt campaign (Defeat the Debt) during the ad.

So, while I certainly appreciated the EPI message against government spending, it would have gone a lot farther if they themselves had been frugal, stuck to airing the ad once, and held on to the $2.5M.

Or maybe I’m just bitter because the Jets weren’t on the field.

Cross-posted to RWL

Hitchens vs. Vidal

In the UK newspaper, “Independent” there is an article about the long standing dispute between Christopher Hitchens, and Gore Vidal. Christopher Hitchens was a reliably far left writer who after the 9/11 attacks became anti-jihad.

Here’s the article

Vidal is defended with “[F]ailed to contextualise Vidal’s comments.” and “Hitchens has taken them very literally”.

So the defense is that Vidal did not mean what he said. However, judging by the comments here, the people who agree with Vidal really do believe Vidal meant what he said.

So Vidal gets to have it both ways. He gets to say outlandish things, and people who agree with him can take it literally. But those who recognize how outrageous he is are told he’s just trying to be “provocative.”

Name The Storm

Cast your votes now on what this weekend’s snow storm should be called.

Personally, I’m partial to “Snowpocalypse 2: Electric Boogaloo,” which is currently in second place.

DOJ Seeking Mentally Retarded Lawyers

Huh?

The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division is seeking up to 10 experienced attorneys for the position of Trial Attorney in the Voting Section in Washington, D.C. The Civil Rights Division is primarily responsible for enforcing federal statutes and executive orders that prohibit, among other things, unlawful discrimination in voting, education, employment, housing, police services, public accommodations and facilities, and federally funded and conducted programs. The Voting Section enforces federal statutes designed to safeguard the right to vote. These statutes include the Voting Rights Act, as amended; the National Voter Registration Act; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act; and the Help America Vote Act.

. . .

The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine.

Is this a mea culpa from this administration on behalf of Rahm Emanuel?

Kenny Golden (Republican candidate in the second district): People in the military are prohibited from having sex.

Really?:

Virginia Beach, VA – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, stated on Tuesday his support of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

2nd District Congressional Candidate Kenny Golden, who served with Admiral Mullen and knows him well, vehemently disagrees.

“While Admiral Mullen is a trusted and admired friend, he and I differ completely on this matter. The issue at hand is not civil rights, but discipline and unit cohesion. Any sexual conduct, homosexual or heterosexual, is strictly prohibited. We are not denying anyone their civil rights just because they cannot announce they are homosexual.”

Well, hot damn, did you guys know that sexual conduct by heterosexual members of the military was prohibited? News to me. So all those military folk you see getting married, I guess they never consummate their marriages?

And I do enjoy people that use straw men, in this particular case, comparing otherwise legal sexual activity with fraternization.

Cross-posted at “I’m Surrounded By Idiots” and On The Right.

Even On Their Worst Days, GOP Candidates Never Had Bad Headlines Like This

Democratic Nominee Pulled Knife on Prostitute Girlfriend

India announces IPCC rival

This is one decline that can’t be hidden anymore (Telegraph via WUWT):

(Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh) announced that the Indian government will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor the effects of climate change on the world’s “third ice cap”, and an “Indian IPCC” to use “climate science” to assess the impact of global warming throughout the country.”There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism. I am for climate science. I think people misused [the] IPCC report … [the] IPCC doesn’t do the original research which is one of the weaknesses … they just take published literature and then they derive assessments, so we had goof-ups on Amazon forest, glaciers, snow peaks.

“I respect the IPCC but India is a very large country and cannot depend only on [the] IPCC and so we have launched the Indian Network on Comprehensive Climate Change Assessment (INCCA),” he said.

How dramatic is this?  Keep this in mind: not only does the head of the IPCC (for now) call India home, but India’s governing Congress Party hails from the left.  The alarmists are in serious trouble.

Cross-posted to RWL

Frank Wolf Kick-Off Postponed Due To Impending Snow Storm

Due to the impending snow storm, Congressman Frank Wolf’s Campaign Kickoff and Birthday Party Celebration originally set for Friday night, Feb. 5, has been postponed until Friday, Feb. 19.   Same Bat-time.  Same Bat-location.

“Down Under” (And Out)

Remember that flute solo in the hit Men At Work song “Down Under”?  Well, those ten seconds or so may now cost the song writers and their record company millions of dollars in royalties because it has been found to replicate the tune of a 1935 camp fire song.

Justice Thomas On The Citizens United v. FEC Case

Justice Clarence Thomas has expressed his thoughts on the recent 5-4 ruling in the Citizens United v. FEC case that found corporations have a First Amendment right to free speech in the political realm, at least as far as making unlimited independent expenditures in favor or opposition to specific candidates.

First up is this nice tweak:

“I found it fascinating that the people who were editorializing against it were The New York Times Company and The Washington Post Company,” Justice Thomas said. “These are corporations.”

The part of the McCain-Feingold law struck down in Citizens United contained an exemption for news reports, commentaries and editorials. But Justice Thomas said that reflected a legislative choice rather than a constitutional principle.

Touché!

Then he goes back in history to examine the impetus behind banning corporation contributions and it isn’t necessarily the “good government” bill of goods that the public has been sold on.

He added that the history of Congressional regulation of corporate involvement in politics had a dark side, pointing to the Tillman Act, which banned corporate contributions to federal candidates in 1907.

“Go back and read why Tillman introduced that legislation,” Justice Thomas said, referring to Senator Benjamin Tillman. “Tillman was from South Carolina, and as I hear the story he was concerned that the corporations, Republican corporations, were favorable toward blacks and he felt that there was a need to regulate them.”

It is thus a mistake, the justice said, to applaud the regulation of corporate speech as “some sort of beatific action.”

So, there you have it. Those who oppose corporate political speech are on the same side as early 20th Century racists.

Augusta County shuts down Rocket Boys … part 3

Part 3: What is agri-tourism?

See part 1 and part 2.

I received an email in mid-December from Charles Neff, president of Valley AeroSpace Rocketry Club, who questioned Augusta County’s desire to bring in agri-tourism when they appeared to contradict themselves by shutting down the rocket club. He wrote:

I listened to the “Agri-tourism Brings Boost For Augusta County” story on WHSV this morning with great fascination … especially since an activity that would be considered Agri-tourism was shut down in Augusta County by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The December 17, 2009, TV-3 story was about Augusta County supervisors’ desire to bring agri-tourism into the area:

Agritourism may be helping to generate income in Augusta County during a time when farmers are struggling the most.

While farm land may be vanishing in Virginia, in Augusta County, it’s still increasing. Officials believe that agritourism may be bringing in a boost.

Weddings and horseback riding may seem unrelated, but they’re both a part of what’s bonding tourism and agriculture in Augusta County.
…
Augusta County Board of Supervisors member Nancy Sorrells believes this is just the beginning for agritourism.

Sorrells says, “There’s no doubt it’s bringing in money but I just don’t think it’s reached it’s full potential.”

The money agritourism is bringing to the county may be worth just a little bit more. “If I take a dollar and spend it in the community, that’s just a dollar. But this community has to build roads that I use, has to build schools. But, if a visitor comes here and spends a dollar, it’s really worth $5 because they go home,” says Sorrells.

Del. Ben Cline (24th District) supports agritourism in Augusta County and is taking the message all the way to Richmond.

Cline says, “Agriculture is our top industry and in Augusta County, it’s extremely important. So, we want to encourage all aspects of farming, including agritourism.”

While agritourism is getting a lot of attention, Sorrells says if it’s bringing in money, it’s a good thing. Sorrells says, “I think we need to explore all kinds of ways to bring money into our area and the money that would come in that has the least impact on our tax bases is good money. So, if we need to find ways to hype that up, I say go for it.”

The Augusta County Board of Supervisors has delayed any decision about rezoning its exclusive agriculture district until its meeting in January 2010.

From 2002 until 2007, Augusta County farmland increased two percent.

At that meeting in January the Augusta County Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate exclusive agriculture and, yes, open it up for agri-tourism, as reported by the Staunton News Leader:

County leaders hope by eliminating a restrictive agriculture zoning district, it will provide farmers more freedom to pursue alternative business options on their property.

The Board of Supervisors informally voted Wednesday to preliminary approve eliminating the county’s exclusive agriculture district and convert that land to a general agriculture designation.

The move would open up more agriculture land to be able to have additional operations, which range from small business to agritourism uses. Unlike those on general agriculture-zoned land, residents in the exclusive agriculture district cannot apply for special-use permits to allow non-farming business.

Two comments were left on the WHSV TV-3 website about agri-tourism. The first:

The Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals disagrees with Ms. Sorrells and Mr. Cline. The BZA effectively shut down the activities of a safe, educational, and family oriented model rocket club in Sep 09. They sided with a small group of residents who were terrified that a cardboard rocket from a 10 yr old might land on their property once or twice per year. The County has lost a free educational resource and agritourism income as a result.

The second comment:

This is very interesting! Someone needs to inform the Augusta County Board of Zoning Appeals about this! Our club, which had held monthly rocket launches in a Swoope (Augusta County) farm pasture for 14 months, was notified that a Special Use Permit was required which the Zoning Board subsequently denied. Although not huge, our events brought people to the County. They stayed at local hotels, they ate at local restaurants, and they shopped at local stores. If you think rocket launches shouldn’t be considered Agri-tourism since it’s unrelated to agriculture (other than the farm field), you should know that Hot Air Balloon Rides, Hang Gliding, Cross-Country Skiing, Music Festivals, Biking, etc. are all considered Agri-tourism. None of them have any closer relationship to agriculture than our activity. I believe the County is contradicting itself…

In Colorado agri-tourism is recognized as a growing industry and includes all the above-mentioned activities plus fishing, hunting, wildlife photography, horseback riding, farm and cannery tours, cooking classes, wine tastings, cattle drives, harvest festivals, corn mazes, roadside vegetable stands, and much more.

Does Augusta County want agri-tourism?

Next — Part 4: Francis Chester … the only lawyer willing to represent VAST in Augusta County?

Cross-posted at SWAC Girl

Redistricting will not stop the Jay O’Brien / George Barker rematch

In 2011, Jay O’Brien will will run for his old 39th district Senate seat against the Democrat incumbent George Barker. Jay has started his campaign although he’s being careful not to distract from the 2010 campaigns. VV has confirmed this with Jay himself.

Both candidates live in the same voting precinct, so it does not matter what happens with redistricting, the fight is on!

Peacor Named New PWC County Exec.

It is no secret that I have long expressed my grave reservations about the Prince William BOCS naming anyone from within the county structure as the new county executive.  Yesterday, the board members announced that Melissa Peacor, PWC Deputy County Executive since 1999, has been named to the post.

Despite my blanket opposition to naming anyone from PWC to this post, I do have great confidence in the vast majority of our board members and if that is their decision, then I support it.  After all, they were the ones who sat in on the interviews and reviewed all the relevant materials from the applicants.  They were privy to information that the rest of us were not and I believe that whatever the basis was for their decision that it was done with the county’s best interests in mind.

I have spoken with a few board members about this selection and they have indicated to me that a situation like what developed with former County Exec. Craig Gerhart will not be tolerated.  She has assured them that, unlike Gerhart, she understands that the Board are her bosses.  I sincerely hope that is the case and that at the first sign of any problems that corrective action is taken.  Hopefully, it will never reach that point and Ms. Peacor will surprise those of us who doubted anyone from within the structure could shake up the ol’ boy network that has been holding PWC back.

So, congratulations to Ms. Peacor on her appointment.   I hope that she proves me wrong moving forward.

Stafford County Repeals BPOL

In the early hours of a Summer day in 2007 the Democrat controlled Board of Supervisors in Stafford County voted to impose a BPOL tax on the business owners of the county.  Even though many more members of the public showed up at the public hearing back then to speak out against BPOL then those who spoke for it the Democrats voted for the new tax.

That vote was a wake up call for Republicans in the county to take back the Board of Supervisors.  In November of 2009 the voters spoke and elected a new board made up of five Republicans and 2 Democrats.  Tonight the new Republican majority on the Board repaid the voters, residents and business owners of Stafford County by voting to repeal the oppressive tax on gross receipts.

The final vote was 5-2 with all five Republicans voting in favor of the repeal and the 2 Democrats sticking to their guns and voted to retain the tax.

Michael ”Spike” Williams for state Senate!

I am thrilled to announce that my very good friend, Spike Williams, will be running next year against Mark Herring in Virginia’s 33rd Senate District. Spike is a true conservative and a true patriot. He is great guy who has worked tirelessly for republican candidates while serving as the republican Chairman of the Hunter Mill District in Fairfax county, working closely with his friend and party Chair, Anthony Bedell. Spike will work equally hard for us in Richmond, supporting our troops, our state, and our country. He will protect our property rights and our pocketbooks! More here and here.