Despite my friend, Nicholas, throwing out the first pitch, the Martinsville Mustangs lost 9-6 to Wilmington. This makes them 14-5 for the season. Win or lose, it’s always fun to be at a Mustangs game.
Marty, the team’s mascot, is always willing to give autographs, so take a Sharpie and head to the field. See ya there!
If the news has not spread already, yesterday, June 28th, the House of Delegates and the Senate voted a final time to pass the budget. The budget was adopted and government will remain functional.
Two oxymorons in two days. My intuition, as well as my cable internet, must’ve been impacted by one of the many storms we’ve entertained of late. While I was reading this post over at Raising Kaine, and it’s subsequent comments, I envisioned the author of the post, Lowell, to be a lot like my dad. Maybe it was because I thought only my dad could combine communism and underage drinking, stir it for a couple of minutes with his sarcasm swizzle stick and try to serve what he thought was a lucid conclusion. The guy HAD to be about my father’s age, seventy-five, I thought. Maybe, like dad, his “cheese was beginning to slip off his cracker” a little… Lowell IS a Democrat, maybe he’s just so old and senile that he still thinks Virginia Democrats are conservative! That had to be it. Someone needed to tell the old coot that Governor Mills Godwin became a Republican AND that he was no longer residing in the Governor’s Mansion.
Lowell is Lowell Feld. I learned this while reading Conaway’s interview with him at Bacon’s Rebellion, just before the sixteen inch descent from my captain’s chair onto the floor. Lowell Feld was born in 1962! He’s only four years older than Badrose! That’s not old enough to have these Draconian opinions regarding underage drinking - or anything else. Obviously he posted about Jacqui Newman to embarrass her and because she’s a woman. A Republican woman. That’s tacky, Lowell. Especially from a self-appointed spokesperson for the “normal people.”
If you’ve read Lowell Feld’s post already, you probably noticed that he refers to our Attorney General as “Taliban Bob.” Regardless of his intent or how long he’s been doing it, it’s tacky, too. When you consider the inhumane, brutal treatment that women have endured at the hands of the Taliban, it’s much more than tacky, it’s offensive.
Over at TooConservative, the debate rages on over whether Bob McDonnell should be called, Taliban Bob, Sodomy Bob or Crimes Against Nature Bob. Here’s an idea, boys…. How ‘bout Attorney General McDonnell? Or just Bob? Let’s leave the name calling in the sand box where it belongs. I don’t care who started it, either.
All of this reminds me why I turned off to politics for ten years in the first place. I hope the tacky, testosterone-powered one-ups-manship doesn’t cause Jacqui to turn off, too. She is a rising, shining star in a dark vortex of mean-spiritedness and we could all benefit from her light, if she’s allowed to continue her ascent. Republicans would be foolish to distance themselves from her for having a social (online anyway) life outside of politics. I hope they see this as an opportunity to strengthen and stretch a rapidly growing bridge to the people of Jacqui’s generation. They have myspace pages, and they vote.
I guess that’s why I’ve decided to get back in. I still have hope.
While Ben and other Democratic bloggers are celebrating their role in James Webb’s primary win, a Pennsylvania blogger is enjoying his role in affecting that other commonwealth’s public policy. The bill, which criminalizes demonstrating near funerals, is hardly controversial but is such a good idea that even Fast Eddie is supporting it.
In this week’s Weekender, Hotline has an interesting post on the conventional wisdom surrounding November’s Allen-Webb race.
In a Texas courtroom 17 years ago, Christopher Ochoa described in blood-curling detail with intimate accuracy how he and a roommate repeatedly raped a 20-year-old woman; except none of it was true.
In October 1998, Nancy DePriest had been working at a North Austin Pizza Hut when she was bound, raped and then shot in the head with a .22-caliber revolver.
Ochoa and his roommate came under
The front page of today’s Washington Post reports “Northern Va. Republicans Try to Regroup“. It’s good to see that the Post is still on top of this story that has had little movement since they reported essentially the same story, five months ago.
In the article, VCU professor Robert D. Holsworth points out that”Fairfax is now a Democratic county. Certainly the Democrats believe that they have an opportunity to be very competitive.” WOW! I wonder if he was tipped off by the decade-old Democratic control of the Board of Supervisors or the fact that a county with a million people only boosts 4 state delegates? I certainly hope this is an excerpt from a much longer complicated quote that the Post didn’t think its readers would fully understand.
The Post also reports that Senators Ken Cuccinelli and Jay O’Brien “might be vulnerable in elections next year.” That bombshell is released after a paragraph discussing Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis’ efforts to allow localities to raise taxes for transportation issues.
The article then closes with Deputy AG Bill Mims saying that Northern Virginia “is a very practical electorate looking for solutions and not ideological debate”.
Mims’ statement would make sense if GOP loses were limited to races where conservative ideologues lost to moderate “pragmatic” Democrats, but that simply has not been the case. Delegate Tom Bolvin campaigned as a centrist in 2003 when he lost re-election to the ideologically liberal Mark Sickles. In 2004, Fairfax voted for a liberal Massachusetts Senator while the rest of the Commonwealth re-elected President Bush by an 8-point margin. In 2005, when voters in the HOD 37th were given a choice between two qualified centrist candidates, they went with the Democrat.
The problem is not that Fairfax voters dislike ideology, the problem is that many of them dislike Republicans. In 2003, Cuccinelli and Devolites both showed this can be overcome with strong organizations, smart strategy, and attractive personalities. To win in 2007, they will have to do it again.
In the article, VCU professor Robert D. Holsworth points out that”Fairfax is now a Democratic county. Certainly the Democrats believe that they have an opportunity to be very competitive.” WOW! I wonder if he was tipped off by the decade-old Democratic control of the Board of Supervisors or the fact that a county with a million people only boosts 4 state delegates? I certainly hope this is an excerpt from a much longer complicated quote that the Post didn’t think its readers would fully understand.
The Post also reports that Senators Ken Cuccinelli and Jay O’Brien “might be vulnerable in elections next year.” That bombshell is released after a paragraph discussing Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis’ efforts to allow localities to raise taxes for transportation issues.
The article then closes with Deputy AG Bill Mims saying that Northern Virginia “is a very practical electorate looking for solutions and not ideological debate”.
Mims’ statement would make sense if GOP loses were limited to races where conservative ideologues lost to moderate “pragmatic” Democrats, but that simply has not been the case. Delegate Tom Bolvin campaigned as a centrist in 2003 when he lost re-election to the ideologically liberal Mark Sickles. In 2004, Fairfax voted for a liberal Massachusetts Senator while the rest of the Commonwealth re-elected President Bush by an 8-point margin. In 2005, when voters in the HOD 37th were given a choice between two qualified centrist candidates, they went with the Democrat.
The problem is not that Fairfax voters dislike ideology, the problem is that many of them dislike Republicans. In 2003, Cuccinelli and Devolites both showed this can be overcome with strong organizations, smart strategy, and attractive personalities. To win in 2007, they will have to do it again.
I don’t always agree with him, but he is awfully hard not to like. Between bringing us the Nats, managing the District in a decent fashion, and not doing crack, Mayor Williams is one of my favorite Democrats.
I don’t always agree with him, but he is awfully hard not to like. Between bringing us the Nats, managing the District in a decent fashion, and not doing crack, Mayor Williams is one of my favorite Democrats.
From an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this morning, I learned that at least two areas in Virginia: Hampton Roads and NOVA aren’t prepared for a major disaster such as a Category 3 hurricane. The article stated that roughly 90% of Norfolk could be under water. That scenario deserves a blog of it’s own ( Yourenotemeril? ) but I’ve decided to focus on Nova - Arlington County, specifically. I also deserve credit for not making the obvious analogy between wealthy neighbors being flooded out of their mansions and seeking refuge in the “economically discouraged - not depressed” trailer parks of Henry County.
Send them all here. Especially the ones from Arlington County. Why single them out? Because I’ve been expecting them. Before I moved here in July 2004, I read a press release from March of 2004:
Granted, March 2004 was at least two Directors of Economic Development ago, but wouldn’t this be another “tool” in the economic development “toolbox” about which our new Director, Mark Heath has spoken? Do former directors take all of their tools with them or leave some behind for subsequent directors to use?
With Will at the beach, I felt secure in the comfort of having a “jingle-free” week. Not so.
I feel a jingle coming on:
Oh Arlington County, Arlington County -
Don’t wait for disaster to come see our bounty!
We have big buildings, we have open spaces -
We have tanning beds - just look at our faces!
Our people need jobs and you need employees -
Give them a shot and they’re sure to puh-lease.
They’ve plummeted into an unemployment hole -
But the sturdiest have survived and they’re ready to roll!
The Big Aristotle didn’t have his “A game” but a win is a win, and its great to see Mark Cuban and Dirk lose at home after being up 2-0!
Vince is hosting a live chat with State Senator Ken Cuccinelli tonight at 9:00 over at tooconservative. Cuccinelli represents a moderate Fairfax district (shares precincts with Dave Marsden, David Bulova, Steve Shannon, Tim Hugo, and Chuck Caputo) but is one of the Senate’s most conservative members so he should have some interesting insights on 2007. He also carries heavy bill loads on a wide variety of issues so he should also be able to answer many questions about this session’s policy battles too.
