Do As I Say, Not ...
Seems Al Gore needs to start listening to Al Gore: Read more...
From On High, July 19th 2008, 11:32am
Rather Than Hiking Trails ...
It may not rival that which happens on the track in the summertime down in Bristol (yet), but this is an important boost to the economy of Franklin County and surrounding communities and deserves our support. From a press release: Read more...
From On High, July 19th 2008, 11:32am
Searching For That Purveyor Of Doom
I made mention yesterday of the fact that with the global warming craze waning, those who wake up each morning in fear of (____fill in the blank______) are now searching for the next crisis to run in fear from. Well, it turns out the planet has an organized effort to do just that. An organization called The Future of Humanity Institute (no pretension there) is currently in session in what the members thereof are calling the Read more...
From On High, July 19th 2008, 11:32am
Open Mouth, Insert Foot
Had Mr. Wonderful not been out behind the school building snorting cocaine when he was young, he might have learned something about American history. But he did. So he didn't. Read more...
From On High, July 19th 2008, 11:31am
Measuring Education
I like my Pope Center friends, but this article represents a part of the problem in the demise of liberal education. People may indeed want evidence of educational progress (what is learned), but not everything in college is measurable--how does one measure the growth of the soul for example, or the love of the Good? Competition may be a beneficial thing, but competition itself without concern for ends is fruitless. Read more...
Reason & Revelation, July 19th 2008, 11:31am
NOW I'm retired.
While I've been a civilian since May 2, it has not seemed real. Read more...
United Conservatives of Virginia, July 19th 2008, 11:31am
We're not the only state with transportation woes
Tennessee, too, appears to have the same problems that we do. Matt Edens, the author, explores some of those problems. Read more...
United Conservatives of Virginia, July 19th 2008, 11:31am
An Ant Gives Thelma Drake the Smakedown
I frankly don’t have the energy to weed through the nonsense that Thelma Drake spews forward in her enewsletters. But Ant with AMS2FX did! Check it out! (Spotter, you will especially like the intro to the post.)
It’s a long post because there is so much stupidity to wade through. But I [...] Read more...
VB Dems, July 19th 2008, 11:05am
Arsenic in Drinking Water Thanks to Dominion
(Photo credit: Virginian-Pilot)
As David Campbell reported yesterday, water testing done in areas around a Chesapeake golf course sculpted from 1.5 million tons of Dominion’s fly ash have shown elevated levels of arsenic, lead and other contaminants. City officials informed the area residents of that Thursday and were yesterday asking the EPA for a “preliminary [...] Read more...
VB Dems, July 19th 2008, 9:42am
Quote of the Day
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. -Unknown, via justme’s sig Read more...
HansMast.com, July 19th 2008, 9:34am
Mark Warner Campaign Admits It Is Devoid Of Substance
From yesterday’s WashTimes:
Warner spokesman Kevin Hall — “Governor Warner also is eager to offer the contrast with his opponent in leadership style.”
There you have it. We’ve been saying all along that Marky Mark is all style and no substance. Now we have the admission from his own campaign that they are completely devoid of meaning.
We’ve been [...] Read more...
Virginia Virtucon, July 19th 2008, 9:14am
Local businessman seeks seat in the House of Delegates
Harrisonburg-
Gene Hart, a local businessman, is seeking the democratic nomination for the House of Delegates seat currently held by incumbent Matt Lohr(R) of Broadway. Up to this point, all of his campaign contributions have come from local attorneys, namely Bruce Albertson and Bill Helsley. Political insiders have yet to be able to pinpoint [...] Read more...
Republitarian.com, July 19th 2008, 8:58am
California Gay Marriage Update
Its looking like the effort to overturn the California Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage isn’t going very well:
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Californians are likely to uphold the right to gay marriage in the state by voting against a ballot measure that seeks to override a court ruling allowing same-sex unions, poll results showed on [...] Read more...
Below The Beltway, July 19th 2008, 8:24am
Deterrence on the Peninsula
Since the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War, neither side has violated the Demilitarized Zone in strength. There have been minor skirmishes and provocations along this frontier, but there have been no events or series of events that has seriously threatened the status quo. The conventional foreign policy assessment as to why there have been no major violations of the armistice was conventional deterrence. Victor Cha puts it bluntly: “North Korea has not attacked for fifty years because deterrence works.” (pg 54) Cha does not define “deterrence” but the definition one selects for that word is crucial to determining how the policy works on the peninsula. Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 19th 2008, 8:23am
Hey I Started That Meme !
One of Hillary Clinton’s campaign advisers diagnosis the near-corpse that is the McCain For President campaign:
J.H.: You and I have talked in the past about McCain’s staggering weakness as a candidate. Can he win the general election if his performance remains so dismal?
H.W.: No. He is making the Bob Dole campaign of 1996 look well [...] Read more...
Below The Beltway, July 19th 2008, 8:18am
Gone to the debate....
I'm heading out this morning to the Jim Gilmore-Mark Warner debate at the Homestead. Set to begin at 11:00 a.m., it is a short drive west from my front door to the resort through the beautiful Alleghany Mountains. Since internet connections may be spotty, not sure if I'll be able to blog from there but will have updates later today. Read more...
SWAC Girl, July 19th 2008, 7:09am
What McCain should say, but won’t. A "tipping point" post.
Melanie Scarborough lists and discusses 5 points that Republicans, if we could truly discuss the issues as they ought to be discussed, should be running on. Read more...
QandO, July 19th 2008, 5:31am
Al Qaeda diverting terrorists from Iran to Afghanistan?
Consider this:Senior leaders of al-Qaida may be diverting fighters from the war in Iraq to the Afghan frontier area, the top American commander in Iraq told The Associated Press on Saturday.If true, that one sentence blows away many of myths that have fueled the left’s criticism of the war in Iraq. Read more...
QandO, July 19th 2008, 4:52am
When is Mark Warner Going to Check His Facts?
I just don't get it? Governor Mark Warner's web site still has these facts? up? Read more...
Spank That Donkey, July 19th 2008, 12:41am
The Audacity of Racial Inequality
Jesse Jackson, reputedly a Christian minister and definitely an executive class race hustler, used the N-word talking about Barack Hussein Obama. Today, Whoppi Goldberg, a gifted actress however inelegant and ill-informed, repeated the N-word on national TV and defended it's use by Blacks. Blacks only. No Whites Allowed - but they don't actually print it out on signs like in Jim Crow days. Read more...
Deo Vindice, July 18th 2008, 11:55pm
'See the Pyramids Along the Nile...'
Jo Stafford has died at 90 years of age. Stafford was one of the great singers of the 20th century. Her luscious voice insinuates itself permanently in the ear of anyone who hears it. (Those of you who, like me, grew up listening to Stafford on the radio, know exactly what I mean.) Read more...
Rick Sincere News and Thoughts, July 18th 2008, 11:26pm
Be A Background Singer For Brad
Brad Sucks is looking for a few good background vocalists. But hurry, you only have through Sunday the 11th to let it all out. And while you're there, check out his music and download his album "I Don't Know What I'm Doing". It's all really good stuff. Read more...
J's Notes, July 18th 2008, 11:23pm
Liveblogging Election Results From Republican Party of Virginia Headquarters
LIVEBLOGGING BEGINS: Check it out now at Virginia Virtucon. Read more...
J's Notes, July 18th 2008, 11:23pm
Music For Generations
xkcd perfectly sums up a thought I've had for a while now: Read more...
J's Notes, July 18th 2008, 11:23pm
Silver Lining For Virginia Republicans
A brief statement from Shaun Kenney, Communications Director of the RPV: Read more...
J's Notes, July 18th 2008, 11:23pm
Killing People for Safety
Iain Murray wrote in the National Review Online "Not all those whose flights have been canceled will cancel their trips. Some will find slots on other airlines, but some will choose to go by car (there being no appreciable competition from rail in most markets). Automobile travel is more dangerous than commerical plane travel for long distance trips. With the number of cancellations in the thousands, we can expect very many people to have gone long distances by road who wouldn't have otherwise. There is a chance that some of these people will be involved in a fatal accident. It is plausible, therefore, that grounding the flights will have fatal consequences." Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Thailand's First Counter-insurgency Fight
The most striking characteristic of the Thai counter-insurgency is the time it took to finally get it right. From 1965 to 1983, the Thai government groped for the strategy that would work to effectively counter the insurgency. The early Thai counter-insurgency effort looked somewhat like the early American counter-insurgency effort in Vietnam, heavy on the conventional war with little effort to redress the economic and political grievances that motivated the Maoists. Many Thais recognized that the Maoist complaints about the political system had resonance, but instead of joining the insurgency, many disaffected Thais turned their dissatisfaction to more traditionally Thai outlets like Buddhism, Thai nationalism and love of the monarchy. These outlets were more attractive to most Thais that what the Maoist in the Communist Party of Thailand were offering. The insurgency failed to grow and thrive even though the Thai military adopted many of the heavy-handed tactics of the seen in... Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Lessons from the First Afghan War
Given the United States then-recent retreat from Vietnam, scholars have questioned why the Soviet Union would have invaded a small country on the periphery of its empire thereby risking getting bogged down in an foreign adventure. Michael MccGwire saw the Soviet Union’s invasion as a reasonable response to concerns about its own security on its southern frontier. “The Soviets saw Afghanistan as part of their national security zone, and their intervention was directly comparable to those in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 and not some new departure.” 1 Raymond Garthoff argued that the Politburo believed the security situation in Afghanstan was so dire and such a threat to their interests that they had no choice but to intervene. Garthoff analogized that Afghanistan is to Russia as Mexico is to the United States. “…No one in the American leadership sought to understand the Soviet position by imagining a comparable parallel situation on the southern border of the... Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
The real cause of civil wars
A reader asks: "Do you think it is possible that these characteristics are more inherent to instability and ineffective government and those the real cause of civil war? Most of the countries we looked at were African nations which have been riddled with unstable conditions for many years now. To me the relatively young and uneducated populations in these countries seem more the result of the chaos stemming from civil war rather than a cause of it. Is this different than an observer noting that an ice cream shop sold more sundaes on a hot day, therefore ice cream sales affect warmer weather?" Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
So what is going on in Taiwan
Taiwan just held an election in which the more or less pro Independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and their standard bearer Chen Shui Bien who had been elected president in 2000 was defeated by the Kuomintang (KMT) or “Chinese Nationalist Party.” The Chinese Communists hate Chen because of his pro-independence beliefs. The Communists were happy to see the Ma Ying Jeou and CMT take Chen’s place. The CMT were defeated by the Communists back during the Chinese Civil War but they never lost their affinity for relations with China. China has always seen the CMT as more conciliatory and more likely to bring Taiwan “back” to China. Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Test driving a new slogan for Barack Hussein Obama rallies
Hey, hey, hey Barack Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
What is up with Syria? or Never attribute to malice or conspiracy that which can be explained by stupidity or incompetence
Stratfor doesn't know: The events in Syria of September 2007 make no sense and have never made any sense. The events we have seen since February make no sense either. That is noteworthy, and we bring it to your attention. We are not saying that the events are meaningless. We are saying that we do not know their meaning. But we can't help but regard them as ominous. Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Predicting civil war with the Collier Construct
“The construct by Paul Collier states that: Civil war has nothing much to do with the legacy of colonialism, or income inequality, or the political repression of minorities. Three thing turn out to increase the risk of conflict: a relatively high proportion of young uneducated men; an imbalance between ethnic groups, with one tending to outnumber the rest; and, a supply of natural resources like diamonds or oil which simultaneously encourages and helps to finance rebellion.” Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Argument against Sri Lanka as a counter-insurgency
It may be splitting hairs, but it seems that what is going on in Sri Lanka does not really qualify as a civil war. Consider the Correlates of War (COW) definition for Civil Wars: “To be recognized as a civil war, a conflict had to (1) occur within a generally recognized state (2) produce at least 1000 deaths per year (3) involve the national government as an active participant and (4) experience effective resistance from both the rebels and the government.” (Walter, pg 48) Combine that definition of civil war with Colliers’ construct of civil war: “a relatively high proportion of young uneducated men; an imbalance between ethnic groups, with one tending to outnumber the rest; and, a supply of natural resources like diamonds or oil which simultaneously encourages and helps to finance rebellion.” (Collier, Bottom) Then, consider that statistics for Sri Lanka in Table 1. Sri Lanka stands out from the rest of the countries in the table in literacy, average age and in the... Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Review of Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory
Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory, (Berkeley, CA: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum, University of California 2000) edited by David Blundell is an excellent introduction to the study of the origin and spread of the indigenous people of Taiwan into the Pacific. Any scholar interested in studying a competing theory to the popular idea that Polynesian people moved directly from mainland China to the Philippine Islands and beyond would find Dr Blundell’s book to be the natural place to start. The book itself is made up of contributions by scholars from various fields in the study of indigenous Taiwan peoples. There are chapters from anthropologists, professors of linguistics, archaeologists, ethnologists, musicologists and historians, among others. While there is a great deal of information and some provocative theories contained within this book, some readers may find themselves distracted by passages of inelegant prose written by authors for whom English is... Read more...
Targeted Outrage, July 18th 2008, 11:20pm
Developing (as NLS would say): Intimidation of Latino Voters in Prince William
ChangeServant, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
Switching the constitution on and off
The notion that “torture is basically subject to perception” as CIA counter-terrorism lawyer Jonathan Friedman said and added, “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong,” represents the very moral and legal backsliding of an administration that believes it has the power to switch the constitution on and off at will. Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition have become the symbols violations of domestic and internation protections of civil liberties and common decency by a... Read more...
Sisyphus, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
Mark Udall is crushing Bob Schaffer
Mark Udall is crushing Bob Schaffer in Colorado . . . Read more...
The Richmond Democrat, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
McCain compromises the security of Obama's Iraq trip
More proof John McCain is unfit to be president--today he gave away the timing of Barack Obama's trip to Iraq, potentially compromising Obama's safety during his trip:"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain said at a Republican fund-raiser.[1]McCain's horrified advisers immediately began backpeddling and trying to cover up the gaffe. They immediately recognized the import of McCain's remarks. Read more...
The Richmond Democrat, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
Meet Bob Barr, Libertarian for President
I think Bob Barr is going to add a very interesting element to this year's election. The mainstream media has, for the most part, ignored Bob Barr, but I think that's a mistake. I think Bob Barr could have a real impact. Bob Barr could even qualify for one or more of the presidential debates, which would definitely add something different to the mix. Bob Barr has been critical of both John McCain and Barack Obama. Read more...
The Richmond Democrat, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
2009 GOP Ticket
Since it appears our 2008 Senate candidate is pretty well set, I thought I would take a look at where the GOP is looking for its 2009 stable. In light of this weekend's Advance, we may be able to guess who may be making some moves. Read more...
Elephant Ears, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm
22nd Primary Finances
Unlike the race in the 24th; the 22nd is seen by most as a longshot of an upset. Brandon Bell is favored, and the financial reports explain that. Read more...
Elephant Ears, July 18th 2008, 11:18pm