Waldo’s Virginia Political Blogroll

There are two stories occupying 85% of media coverage today: Immigration and the Duke Lacrosse team rape story. I would like to focus on the Duke rape story.

1. As with all criminal proceedings, the public really doesn’t know the truth. There is a real truth, but we do not know what it is. The woman knows. If a crime was committed, the perps know. Witnesses at the scene only know with certainty what they personally saw. Our opinions on the value of the woman as a virtuous person or on the honesty of the Duke Lacrosse team are irrelevant to determining the actual truth.

2. Women DO lie about rape. A woman’s character is judged by friends, family and strangers based on the men she will have sex with. How many, how often, where they met, what color they are, before-during-after marriage, First date, and kinky details are all factors. With so much on the line, women will definitely lie about sex, to protect their reputations. Women will kill their own children to cover up the inconvenient evidence of their sexual habits. They will certainly lie about it. They will certainly blame an innocent stranger or former lover who caused them real or imagined grief.

3. The Bible requires two witnesses for convicting of a capital offense, three if one is a woman. God knows what He is talking about.

4. Prosecutors should know this and seek corroborating evidence whenever a woman cries “Rape”.

5. I have heard some people recommend that the solution is to prosecute women for making false accusations. I would categorize cases according to the evidence into three bins: Guilty, Innocent, and Not-proven. A woman should accuse her violator in court even if there is insufficient evidence to get a conviction, without fear of the justice department swinging back against her. But if the weight of evidence proves she made it up, not just insufficiently proved her case, then and only then should she be prosecuted for a crime.

6. Knowing that women lie about rape is not evidence that THIS woman lied about THIS rape.

We should all just wait and see. The play is the thing.

Tim Kaine – what a conundrum. He seems half way decent on foreign policy, … to bad he’s a Governor.

Here is what our Governor reported when he came back from Iraq:

He was struck by “how much daily life goes on in a peaceful way throughout much of” Iraq.

He argues that “a forced timetable for withdrawal from Iraq would serve neither the United States nor Iraq well.

“An eventual withdrawal is inevitable,” he writes, “but its timing must be predicated on the training of the Iraqi police and military….”

“Our support for democracy in tough conditions is noble,” he concludes, but as we continue this undertaking we “need to acknowledge the interconnected world, and bring more allies along with us….”

That’s OK stuff for a Democrat. Kinda “Scoop Jackson-ish to Sam Nunn-ish.”

But he’s an utter disaster on domestic policy – you, know, the stuff he was elected to take care of.

He likes tax increase for transportation

He won’t sign gay marriage ban

He vetoed a bill allowed a gun in a vehicle

He vetoed legislation that would clear up all the controverys and allow religious invocations and benedictions and high school commencements.

Maybe Bush should reach across the aisle to appoint Tim Kaine the new Ambassador to Iraq, …

In a few posts I’ve made meant to be a tribute to Virginia’s and America’s brave sons and daughters serving in the military, the ubiquitious multi-headed monster “Anonymous” has chimed in to ridicule the Iraq War and doubt Iraq’s connections to terrorism.

I thought I’d pass this along, by Deroy Murdock, from the National Review (I’ve added some emphasis for reading ease)

The May-June 2006 Foreign Affairs cites a May 25, 1999, text titled “Fedayeen Saddam Instructions” in which Uday Hussein, the tyrant’s older son, orders “special operations, assassinations, and bombings, for the centers and traitor symbols in London, Iran and the self-ruled areas” [Kurdistan].

As authors Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray observe, “Preparations for ‘Blessed July,’ a regime-directed wave of ‘martyrdom’ operations against targets in the West, were well under way at the time of the coalition invasion.”

President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that Coalition forces liberated Iraq on April 9, 2003, less than three months before “Blessed July.”

Here is a couple more:

Lebanese-born Joseph Shahda translated Document BIAP 2003-00654. Dated March 11, 2001, this top-secret letter is addressed “To all the Units” from Air Brigadier General Abdel Magid Hammot Ali, Commander of Ali Bin Abi Taleb Air Force Base, and Air Colonel Mohamad Majed Mohamadi. The subject is “Volunteer for Suicide Mission.” It reads, “We ask to provide…[Command of Ali Military] Division with the names of those who desire to volunteer for Suicide Mission to liberate Palestine and to strike American Interests.”

As former Clinton foreign-policy adviser Laurie Mylroie wrote April 2 on OpinionJournal.com, an order from Saddam Hussein dated January 18, 1993, reads: “Hunt Americans on Arab territory, particularly in Somalia.” On October 3, 1993, Islamic zealots staged the so-called Blackhawk Down attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing 18 U.S. soldiers and wounding 73.

And, a real smoking gun about the build up to 9/11 …

“The Iraqi Perspective Project,” led by retired Army Lt. Colonel Kevin Woods for the U.S. Joint Forces Command, reviewed some of these papers and discovered an October 7, 2000, document titled “Correspondence from Presidential Office to Secretary General of the Fedayeen Saddam Regarding Foreign Arab Volunteers.” The FS, as this document indicates, operated paramilitary training camps that hosted “Arab volunteers from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, ‘the Gulf,’ and Syria” who were “sacrificing for the cause.”

Republitarian gave Shaun Kenney an award a while back for Best Catholic Blog, … to which one commenter inquired how many entries there were in the category.

I’m doing this post in hopes of getting an honorable mention in the next Republitarian award cycle.

Below is the speech the Pres gave at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast - and he even joked about there not being any bacon on the menu because it was a Friday!

But seriously, have you ever noticed the theology in some of Bush’s speechs - for a Methodist, he hits on a lot of Catholic themes, … from works to prayers for the dead. After all, “compassionate conservatism” reeks of Catholcism.

I know a couple of his speech writers - or at least former writers - are Catholics, McConnell and Scully. But Bush approves the final drafts, and says this stuff.

Maybe he’s a closet Catholic wannbe - after all, his Brother Jeb is Catholic.

Anyway, … here’s a couple of high points of his speech

We needed a hopeful moment for this world of ours. It’s a time when more people have a chance to claim freedom that God intended for us all. It’s also a time of great challenge. In some of the most advanced parts of our world, some people no longer believe that the desire for liberty is universal. Some people believe you cannot distinguish between right and wrong. The Catholic Church rejects such a pessimistic view of human nature — (applause) — and offers a vision of human freedom and dignity rooted in the same self-evident truths of America’s founding.

In the last part of the 20th century, we saw the appeal of freedom in the hands of a priest from Poland. When Pope John Paul II ascended to the chair of St. Peter, the Berlin Wall was still standing. His native Poland was occupied by a communist power. And the division of Europe looked like a permanent scar across the continent. Yet Pope John Paul told us, “Be not afraid,” because he knew that an empire built on lies was ultimately destined to fail. By reminding us that our freedom and dignity rests on truths about man and his nature, Pope John Paul II set off one of the greatest revolutions for freedom the world has ever known.

Like his predecessor, Pope Benedict understands that the measure of a free society is how it treats the weakest and most vulnerable among us. In his Christmas homily, the Pope noted that the Savior came to earth as a “defenseless child,” and said that the splendor of that Christmas shines upon every child, born and unborn. (Applause.) Here in the United States, we work to strengthen a culture of life, through many state and federal initiatives that expand the protections of the unborn. These initiatives reflect the consensus of the American people acting through their elected representatives, and we will continue to work for the day when every child is welcome in life and protected in law. (Applause.)

An immigration system that forces people into the shadows of our society, or leaves them prey to criminals is a system that needs to be changed. (Applause.) I’m confident that we can change — change our immigration system in ways that secures our border, respects the rule of law, and, as importantly, upholds the decency of our country. (Applause.) As the Congress continues this debate, its members must remember we are a nation of immigrants. And immigration has helped restore our soul on a regular basis. (Applause.)

Tom DeLay, the guy who engineered the Speakership candidacy of Rep Ed Madigan (who later became Agriculture Secrteary) against Newt Gingrich, is now considered the leader of conservatism in the GOP, and then is forced to retire from his Congressional seat after three of his former aides face criminal charges.

Cynthia McKinney, noted anti-Semetic Congresswoman is defeated in Democratic primary in 2002, subsequently gets re-elected, gets into a scuffle this week with a Capitol police officer, charges CPD with racism, then today apologizes on the House floor to applause of her colelagues.

Jerry Falwell this week teams up with former 2000 GOP presidential primary arch-rival Sen John McCain and says McCain is the best hope of all social conservatives to be Hillary Clinton.

Who needs blog blabbery commentary … this stuff is just darn entertaining on its own.

This from a recent edition of the Charolottesville Daily Progress and Bob Gibson, …

(Bolling) said, counseling people on all sides to “be respectful” of those who express differing views (on the budget).

“When campaigns are over, most folks don’t care that much about party labels,” said Bolling, a Hanover County Republican who jokingly thanked Democratic Charlottesville for giving him 27 votes last year.

… “What they really want are leaders who will work together to make sure they have good schools and safe streets, quality health care, a transportation system that works and responsible efforts to preserve and protect our important natural resources,” Bolling said.

… Transportation requires “a significant, ongoing financial investment,” Bolling said. “The bad news is there is still some disagreement on how much money we need and where we are going to get it.”

Has Bill Bolling been sipping from Russ Potts tonic water? What happened to the guy we heard campaigning for 8-and-half-years to get into the LG office and shake things up and straighten out that squishy moderate Senate?

Shhheeeeesh! What a politician – and I mean that in the bad sense of the word! er, uh, I guess I mean “worst” sense of the word, since there really is no good connotation.

Friday a friend took me on a wildflower walk. One of the colleges in town has cross-country trails through wooded hills and along the river. What a delight!

March did finally go out like a lamb, and the heat (almost 80F by noon) had brought the floor of the woods into subtle bloom. The spring ephemerals lean heavily to white, which makes them stand out against a carpet of fallen leaves.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) was in all stages of flowering. We'll have to go back in a week or so to see the leathery leaves spread out. What a tidy, self-satisfied little plant. Gardeners mostly grow the double form, which didn't appeal to me until
friends reported that the leaves are also larger than the wild form.

I'd never seen the tiny spring beauty (Claytonia) in bloom. There was more of it than anything else flowering, both C. virginica (narrow, grassy leaves, white flowers) and C. caroliniana (wider, rounded leaves and pink flowers). There were also examples of it that looked for all the world like the product of a cross, with leaves halfway between the two species in form and size and white flowers marked pink.

Once I began to notice the mottled, almost paint-splashed leaves of the toad trillium (T. sessile), I could see great sweeps of them. The upright buds hadn't yet begun to color, but these trilliums are just as well appreciated now; what happens next is that the buds turn maroon and barely open. Nothing so heart-stopping as the classic white Trillium grandiflorum, which still thrive in enormous sheets in a few spots in the county. I won't say just where.

Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata) was another revelation. The leaves have the same form as black hibiscus or pot leaves: long, narrow, toothy, five-fingered. A refreshing change from all the ground-level blooms, toothwort flower stalks can be almost a foot tall, with flowers arranged around the top. Few gardeners grow woodland ephemerals, but these seem like a particularly overlooked possibility.

My friend is the hiker and native plant explorer, so she was the first to identify almost everything we saw. My one contribution was spotting Hepatica acutiloba among a group of spring beauty. As with the other plants, once we saw it, we began to see it everywhere. A few minutes down the path there was a huge pool of hepatica visible fifty feet away under a grove of spicebush. Books and pictures show them as pink or white; all the ones here are pure white.

The spicebush (Lindera benzoin) made a hazy yellow canopy all through the woods. Their elegant arched shape seems to invite other plants to show off underneath, and nothing accepts the invitation with such vim as Virginia bluebells (Mertensis virginiana). Most were still just getting their purply-blue-green leaf spears up, but some were in bud, and one or two had just opened. I'm determined to return for the full display.