A time when baseball players cared about more than their paychecks.

I think this guy might like guns.

USAF Tracks Santa

As it has in many previous years the US Air Force's NORAD center is using it's considerable resources to track Santa's movements at the NORAD Santa Track site. Just recently, Santa was tracked over Australia and headed to New Zealand. The list has been checked twice, have you been naughty or nice? Make sure you put out the cookies and milk (real not soy, it's a rumor that Santa is lactose intolerant) some carrots for the reindeer is always a nice touch and very appreciated by the flying wonders. In past years the USAF was nice enough to have some F-22 Raptors on stand by should Big Red run into any problems with terrorist as well as the USAF Elite Pararescue team should Santa need any search and rescue assets.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Rep Parker Griffith is seeing Red over Health Care

Looking inward literally

Watch till the end.

PC Police watch and learn!

Kitt meets 5O

Now this is just plain cool. I want one!!!

The event that should have been set up by those invited!

Some of you my know a guy named David Karaffa. Some of you will know David The Nurse at AMC, some will know David The Republican, some will know David The Catholic, and some will know David from his work putting out his newsletter; The Beverly Conservative, but did you know about David The Event Planner? Yes folks it's true, David with his own Money, time, and other resources has put together a Health Care Town Hall Meeting scheduled for September, 6th 2009 from 6 - 8pm at the Riverheads High School in Greenville. David has invited both Senators Webb and Warner to attend. You may be asking yourself, I thought town hall meeting were called by our elected officials to inform the electorate about what is going on the respective districts. Well that would be a logical question and since they've both decided to avoid that people they work for, David has taken the liberty to do it for them including all of the logistics. All they need do is show up and inform us of there thoughts and how they plan to handle things like "Cap & Trade" and whatever version of Health Care reform ultimately makes it through the house.

I for one will be in attendance that evening whether the Senators show or not to hear the opinions for and against health care by my fellow Valley Citizens.

We all owe a big thanks to David for doing what the Senators should have done.

I feel great fear for the Republic as far too many "Statesmen" (term used loosely) continue to consider themselves above the common man and grow further and further away from those they should be continually honored to serve. I feel many of our founding fathers would be utterly disgusted at what these men and ladies have done with the gift they worked so hard to give us. Much like the Kingdom God has waiting for all those who have taken the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, the founding father only asked that we not forget what was necessary to bring this country forward. Far too many of our legislators as well as citizens have forgotten both of these truths all the while trying to get a better deal for themselves.

New Vehicle from Obama Motors

I have special secret footage of the first product from the new Obama / GM Motors.



Oh, wait silly me, sorry about that I got this truly amazing piece of defense technology that is a blending of the Dillon Aero Mini Gun and a some of GMC's best suv's in a great mix of American muscle and firepower. This actual package is being used by some of our "contractors" over in the sandbox.

As far as the Obama Motors vehicle, I'll have to look for that video, but here is some information: it gets 60 mpg WOW, seats 4 comfortably (if your 5' and under 100lbs) NOT SO WOW, is available in any color you want (so long as that color comes from recycled road kill) NOT SO WOW, and weighs only 700 lbs (not including passengers, wheels, gas, and carbon footprint meter / fine dispenser) due to it's cutting edge design and egg crate construction OK WERE ALL SCREWED!

Poll Question Response

In the most recent poll question "Will ousted former RPV Chair Frederick cause problems at the 2009 Convention?", the responses were a dead split between the three choices. One third of respondents believed that Jeff would show and cause a problem, one third believed that he would show and not cause a problem and the remaining one third believed that he would no show at all.

As always thanks for taking part in the blogespheres own little slice of democracy and stay tuned for the Augusta Water Coolers take on the events of RPV 09' which should be up once I get some sleep.

New Poll Question

In the previous poll question about the Somali Pirates, you overwhelmingly stated that the US Navy should handle the problem with what ever force was necessary. I have put up a new poll question: "Will ousted former RPV Chair Frederick cause problems at the 2009 Convention?"

I hope all of you come by the Augusta Water Cooler and place your votes, this poll will be open longer than most, not closing until the 28th at 8pm.

Thanks for taking part in the Blogesheres own little version of democracy.

Mayor Bloomberg spins gun issues in VA

Mayor Bloomberg of NY has had quite a history of trying to tell VA what to do in regard to firearms issues. For those of you who didn't know, the mayor sent people to VA several years ago to purchase firearms to show how easy it was. I have a problem with this. And any law abiding citizen on either side of the gun issue should as well, you see the mayors "buyers" either lied or intentionally misled those whom they made purchases from which essentially made them illegal purchases, but I digress. On the 14th, the mayor appeared in NOVA with some of the families of those slain in the horrific tragedy that occurred at VA Tech. I want to be clear that I'm in no way contradicting the seriousness of what occurred that tragic day, I simply want the fact to be clear. The mayor and those family's were there to essentially use the emotions of the that day to persuade people to pressure the legislature to end the "gun show loophole". Ok here are the facts:

1. The shooter at VA Tech didn't not use a gun show or even private sale to obtain his weapons, he went through the legal legitimate process of obtaining the weapons in question through a legal firearms dealer and only after all applicable forms and checks were completed.

2. This non sense about "gun show loopholes" is getting very tired, a private transaction involving the sale of a firearm could occur at a gun show which is logical due to like minded people who may want to buy or sell such items or it could occur in a home as a result of a newspaper sale ad or some other classified ad.

3. Legitimate dealers are not doing "look the other way" deals at gun shows as some like the Mayor would have you believe. When a licenced gun dealer sells a firearm or other BATFE controlled device at a gun show, they are required to follow the same laws and rules that they would if the transaction occurred in their respective business location. I would like to add to this fact that me wife and I personally witnessed a gun dealer doing his duty and following the law at a gun show that occurred at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds in which a buyer attempted to provide false and conflicting information relating to the purchase of a firearm. The dealer stalled the would be buyer while an associate contacted the Sheriff's Office and deputies soon there after arrested the person in question. I personally witnessed this occur.

I get so tired of the left and some members of the right who continually spin, lie, and provide other misinformation about guns and firearms in general. Hey Anti Gun People, question for ya? If your point is so favored by the citizens then why do you continue to avoid truth and use emotion and avoid facts. And for the record I would have not problem with a mental illness database being added to those checked during a firearms purchase so long as it is genuine mental illness.

Although not mentioned in the Bloomberg speech, I want to mention this due to how ofter it comes up by the anti gun crowd. I frequently hear from anti gun and people ignorant of gun laws how easy it is to get a machine gun. First of all most of these people don't even know what a machine gun is, don't believe me look it up and then ask someone who thinks it's easy to get one. Second, in order for someone to own a "machine gun" or other BATFE Class III regulated device you must undergo VERY stringent background checks and be willing to surrender many Constitutional Rights to obtain and maintain the ability to have such devices and furthermore in the specific instance of a "machine gun" it had to have been manufactured previous to 1986. What you can and can't have and how to go about it is a book in and of itself. Want to the truth seek it out on the BATFE website or other credible sources.

I find it interesting that Mayor Bloomberg is spending so much time in VA when the city and state he should be concerned about is ridden with problems such as crime that isn't VA's fault, insanely high taxes from nearly every direction, and increasingly unfavorable environment for businesses and residents.

Augusta Axes Hardworking Grassroots Volunteers

Recently many members of the Augusta County Republican Committee received a letter in the mail. Some of these letters were to send the "call" for upcoming ACRC Executive Committee meeting, however the majority of those receiving letters "56" got committee pink slips for missing 3 consecutive meetings. These letters were all received from the Secretary which is odd in and of itself as the committee maintains a Vice Chair of Communications to handle the majority of all communications, but she herself received one of these pinks along with the other two vice chairs and 3 Magisterial Chairs. The Secretary likely under the direction of the Chair (Bill Shirley) sent these letters stating the she had no choice and it was in the Bylaws. I find this interesting since she herself was serving in an appointed and non-elected position far longer than should have been the case, you see Chairman Shirley likes to appoint people to positions and then avoids an actual up or down by the committee, I know this because I was one of his appointments and had to fight for the up or down by the full committee. I believe that any appointment that is for a position normally voted on by the full committee should be confirmed as soon as possible. There are a few other issues with these letters such as our bylaws that the Secretary so quickly likes to bring up, such as an Officer has 30 day to address a grievance or cause for removal previous to any such removal and the bylaws state the removal may be caused by anyone not paying their dues by April 1st of a given year. I wonder if anyone whom the Secretary doesn't have a record of making a payment this April 1st?

I have in the past not favored airing our laundry in this manner, but I can no longer ignore a Chair who directly or indirectly uses technicalities, trumped up allegations, and or a musical chairs / use em when their convenient view of our bylaws. Chairman Shirley severly opposes any discussion that goes against his views and uses anything from non existent parliamentary procedure to calling for help from that part time Sheriff's Deputy who provides security at the Augusta County Government Center. Chairman Shirley also finds it acceptable to allow the frequently abusive BOS member David Beyler who has attempted to throw people out of meetings (he has the right to attend all meeting, but has ZERO authority to do anything else).

In one fell swoop this action has removed 56 hard working dedicated grass roots members whose hrs of effort will not be easily replaced in such a challenging election year.

I have to wonder if the Chair honestly wants to fix anything or is simply trying to exert some childish version of "I got cha"?

I am deeply disheartened by this.

God Bless The US Navy

FOX News is now reporting that Cpt. Richatd Phillips of the Maersk Alabama has been successfully rescued from the dirt bag Godless pirates. It appears that Cpt. Philips once again tried to escape by jumping overboard and when he did, the valiant men and women of the US Navy seized the opportunity and rescued the brave captain. The silver lining of this beyond the obvious is that the Navy killed at least 3 of the dirt bags and wounded one who is know en route to NY for prosecution for piracy against a US flagged ship.

I don't know what President Obama's actions were in this act of Terrorism, but he would not comment and I for one find it indefensible that anything short of his order for the Navy to take our fellow American back by force immediately is beyond compare. I also take exception to the news media using terms like "the FBI is headed to the region to assist with negotiations". This gives other dirt bags cause to believe that we will entertain the concept of negotiation. The only negotiation that should occur in such circumstances is whether the dirt bag/s in question gets killed, wounded, jailed, or some combination there of, but money not just NO but HELL NO, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE THE BULLET MR. DIRT BAG PIRATE?

Once again the US taking the lead, and the UN sits around wasting good parking spaces in downtown NY City.

Our thoughts and prayers have been and will continue to be with the families that have had to deal with this challenging time and the only injured being the dirt bags.

Poll Question Answer

It is no surprise to me that 100% of the respondents to this previous poll question "Will the stimulus plan work or just put us deeper in debt?" answered that it would put us deeper in debt. Sorry for the long delay in postings and poll questions, a new question will be up within minutes and to the anonomous fan who wants more posts Thank you very much.

Candidate Obama vs. President Obama: Change We Can Believe In?

If you've not seen this vid, you need to and thanks to David over at The Beverley Manor Conservative Newsletter (soon to be online).

Cuccinelli reaches out to grass roots.

If you had asked me about a month ago who I was supporting for the VA Attorney General race, I would have said Ken Cuccinelli, but then the "Trigger Man" vote came up in the VA Senate and Sen. Cuccinelli was the lone Republican vote against changing this. The Senators vote gave me great concern on this very important issue and I couldn't for the life of me guess why he would take this type of stand when he normally comes across as such a conservative on issues. If your not familiar with the "Trigger Man" law, the basics are fairly straightforward, the law in it's current form states that only the person who pulled the trigger in a crime involving death by firearm can be sentenced to death regardless of how many co-conspirator that "trigger man" had in the crime. I thought maybe it was a Christian view and some Christians will not support war or capital punishment because they believe that the Bible teaches them that death is not a punishment for man to dole out. I also considered that there were components of the Bill that I was quite frankly ignorant of and didn't have all the facts.

I contacted the Cuccinelli For Attorney General campaign and inquired as to why the Senator voted the way he did and further stated as a previous supporter of his I was deeply concerned. The Senators campaign is the first and only campaign that I've ever given a financial contribution to, I've given my time to many but his was that first that reached into my "back pocket" for.

This morning at about 10:30, the wife and I were watching the Saturday Business Block on Fox News and the phone rings, caller ID showed a 703 area code which likely meant NOVA. We both looked at the phone and commented "I wonder which PAC wants money now?". I answered the phone and caller asked for Jason, I enthusiastically stated "speaking" and waited for the sales pitch. The caller said Hi Jason, it's Ken Cuccinelli and I understand that your concerned about my vote on "Trigger Man" and further stated that he had my email in front of him. Spend any amount of time in political activism and you get used to impersonal bordering on insulting "form letters" sent from some low level staffer who doesn't know you or care about your issue stating that "fill in name and or title" is deeply concerned and then misquote your concern. If you've had this experience yourself then you know exactly what I'm talking about, so I 'm sure you can understand my pleasant surprise when the Senator personally contacted me on this issue.

He mentioned some issues that I had brought to his attention at a public appearance some time ago and remembered what I do for a living. I don't know if he takes notes or just has that good a of a memory, but in either event that impressed me. We then started to discuss the "Trigger Man" vote and why he voted the way that he did. The Senator told me that there has been a lot of "misinformation and bad information" put out about his choice and freely discussed that with me. I asked him why he was the only Republican who opposed changing this law? He told me that was not true and further stated that Delegate Chris Saxman of Augusta also shared his view. I then asked him if he had religious issues with capital punishment? The Senator told me that he does believe, that in the appropriate circumstances he does support capital punishment and his voting record supports that view. I then asked him the golden question, which is why he voted the way he did? The Senator told me that to answer that question he would have to correct some additional misinformation. The Senator told me once again that he is not opposed to capital punishment under the appropriate circumstances and stated that they are 3 specific exceptions to "Trigger Man" that allow for persons other that the one who "pulled the trigger" to be given capital punishment sentences. The Senator told me that the three are as follows: Terrorism, Gangs / Criminal Enterprise, and Murder for hire. The Senator told me he feels that these exceptions to the law provide an adequate method to deal with these cases. The Senator then told me that to open it any further could in his opinion provide a situation where sentences may not be equatable to the crime committed and held great concern about that. The Senator once again stated to me that he was not opposed to the death penalty when appropriate, but felt with the exceptions listed, there was still a safe guard in place that he agreed with.

I believe that the Senator truly listened to my concerns and wanted to know how I felt on this issue. I don't know that I completely agree with him on this matter, however any politician especially one seeking state office who will take his of her time to personally contact a voter gets big points in my book. I don't believe that a perfect candidate exists for any elected office and got over the fairytale that one did quite some time ago. At this point I look at the candidates that are running and pick the one whose platform and voting record (if they have one) most closely mirrors my views on the issues.

Your city or county Mass Meeting may have already occurred or will occur soon and then you'll be eligible to be a Delegate to the 2009 Convention for the Republican Party of Virginia where we will choose our Republican candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General. Big Decisions will have to be made and then we work to turn VA red once more.

We must take our country back, one issue at a time if need be!

Some laughter in an otherwise crappy time.

Ah the beauty of Texas.

Poll question response

In the most recent poll question "Will you take part in inauguration day activities?" 75% of those who responded stated no they would not take part in the activities of that day. The remaining respondents stated that they were undecided and 0% of those who responded stated that they would take part in the inauguration activities of the day.

New poll question is up and read you to vote your opinion.

Thanks for taking part in the blogespheres own democracy.

The 2 Chairs chat about the "Porkulus Plan" on FOX

The audio is a little off, but for the most part you can understand what is being said.

Bush Got It Half Right Today!

Today as one of Presidents George W Bush's last acts, he commuted the prison sentences of former US Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean for the shooting of a illegal alien who in addition to his border crimes was also a drug runner and all around "SCUMBAG". What I meant by half right is that if President Bush wanted to do this right, he should have given them full pardons or better yet stopped the over zealous Assistant US Attorney that put them there. I'm not so mad about this that I can't see that there is true and clear evidence that they screwed up, but lets be realistic, they probably should have been suspended without pay or even outright termination of position, but 10 yrs in prison? Law Enforcement officers at the Federal, State, and Local levels, all have a few things in common such as they are rarely if ever paid what there worth, they often work longer hrs than scheduled, they are outgunned and some cases out equipped, and frequently work in environmental circumstances that most people would avoid at all costs, the latter especially true in the case of the Border Agents. In addition to the previously mentioned items, the stress and danger levels that these brave people face every day is beyond what most could ever understand. I guess the part that really irritates me about this whole mess is that Law Enforcement officers and EMS employees in general have to make spilt second judgement calls in horrific circumstances. Then to be second guessed by some federal prosecutor who took months at his pace to evaluate the information and whose closest experience to the kind of stress Border Patrol Agents deal with everyday was the paper cut he received while looking through US Code books on how to best screw the two agents.
The treatment of these two Agents was so bad that it created a bi-partisan effort to get them out of prison and was a campaign issue for CA Congressman Duncan Hunter who stated that if he won the Presidency, his first official act would be to give both Agents full pardons.

I'm not saying that these men or anyone else regardless of position is above the law, however the standard must be fair and in this case I don't believe that it was.

Poll question response

The response to the most recent poll question was so poor, I'm not even going to state the results. I guess none of you liked the question, so I will try to come up with a better one.

Internet Web Tax Police

I get my TV from Dish Network (no local channels), the only newspaper I read is Human events, and I listen to Sirus Satellite radio, so needless to say I don't get a lot of local news and for the most part, I'm fine with that as when I do read the local papers, I'm usually unimpressed. Yankee Philip recently told me about something he read in the News Leader paper about Internet tax for VA. He provided me the page with the story on it and yes folks there it was in black and white. The story states that all purchasers are required by law to pay tax on non-food purchases in VA and to report and pay at tax time for those purchases where tax was not collected at the time of the transaction which largely means Internet sales. Needless to say most people don't report these purchases to their accountants or report them on their annual tax returns.

If this is a new concept to you or you've wondered how this is determined, here it is in a nutshell. I'll use examples because I think it's easier to explain it that way. Ex. 1: you buy a cordless DeWalt drill at Home Depot one online and another via their web site, do you pay tax on these purchases? YES on both, because Home Depot has "brick & mortar" locations within VA. Ex 2: You purchase the same DeWalt drill from Amazon.com, do you pay taxes? Currently the answer is NO, (Amazon won't collect taxes, but technically your supposed to remit the sales tax on your state tax return) because Amazon.com does not have a "brick & mortar" location within VA (or any other state as far as I know excepting their corporate HQ). State Senator Emmett Hanger says he'll push in this years General Assembly session to level the playing field between online and traditional retail. This should come as no surprise to those of you who have followed Sen Hangers career and know that he is pro tax and has been for quite some time in fact it's the reason he had to fight for and nearly lost the Republican nomination for State Senate in his last race. Well Senator, here are a few questions that I would like answered on this issue:
1.) What part of the already bloated and over spent state infrastructure would be responsible for collecting this money? 2.) How would you force other states to handle this and get the money from them? 3.) What do you do about the 5 states that have no sales tax; Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon, are you going to somehow force them to create a tax bureau to do VA's bidding? 4.) How do you handle a purchase made on an Internet capable smart phone where the service provider is based in the VA, the physical purchase is made by a VA resident while on vacation in California from a company based in Michigan, and shipped to an address in Florida?

This is just plain STUPID, once again were punishing the guy who built a better mouse trap and getting further and further away from capitalism and closer and closer to socialism. I don't see any effective way to bring this forward short of a brand new government bureaucracy or throwing money into and already failing one. The way I see it, either way this will cost Virginians more than it makes in the short term and probably the long as well since government will run it and there track record of running pretty much anything isn't real positive.

Valley Family Forum Challenge Answers

OK, by now you've had enough time to either take the challenge or ignore it and think that I've lost my mind (entirely possible, but not yet). For those of you who took the challenge, you'll soon see how much you actually know about these issues and for those who didn't take the challenge you'll have you eyes opened. Enough jib jab, here are the answers:

1.) C- 50%
2.) D- 50%
3.) A- 10%
4.) B- Massachusetts
5.) C- 37%
6.) D- 90%
7.) D- 33%
8.) D- 5
9.) D- 70%
10.) D- 50,000,000
11.) B- 22%
12.) B- Abortion clinic health and safety standards, D- fetal pain relief for babies who are about to be aborted, and E- Right to Life Act
13.) D- 14,000,000,000
14.) B- 25%
15.) D- 30,000,000
16.) D- 25%
17.) D- 98%
18.) A- Valley Family Forum & C- The Family foundation
19.) B- Roy Moore (If you got this one wrong, then here is some free advise, watch something on tv other than American Idol)
20.) C- Gay and Straight Alliance

Ok, now you have the answers, so how did you do? I would consider myself to be reasonably aware of these issues and some are why I'm politically active, however I wasn't aware of the severity of some of these issues and was frightened at the scope of these problems. In the coming weeks I will have additional postings on these issues and how you can help to put an end to some of these atrocities that are tearing our country apart.

Still think gun control works?

Valley Family Forum Challenge

I just tonight attended the Capstone program at my church and wanted to pass some things on. I wouldn't consider myself to be an expert on family or marriage issues, after all I'm no Dr. Dobson, but I would consider myself aware of Christian Conservative issues. I was given the opportunity to take a test or quiz of sorts and thought some of my readers may also want to test their knowledge on these issues. Below are the twenty questions and the possible responses for each one. Good luck, and no Googling the answers.

1.) In 1960, America's divorce rate was under 10%. It is now the highest in the Western world. What percent of all American marriages now end in divorce?
A. 15%
B. 33%
C. 50 %
D. 75 %

2.) What percent of marriages are proceeded by cohabitation?
A. 15%
B. 25%
C. 40%
D. 50%

3.) What percentage of cohabitation couples are still together after 5 years?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 30%
D. 40%

4.) The Supreme Judicial Court of what state ordered the state legislature to pass a law to legalize same-sex marriages?
A. California
B. Massachusetts
C. Vermont
D. Oregon

5.) In 1915 fewer than 2% of live births were to single mothers. The rate rose to 4% in 1960, and by 1996 had risen to?
A. 25%
B. 30%
C. 45%
D. 51%

6.) In 15 of the largest U.S. cities, what what percent of babies born to teen mothers are born to unmarried parents?
A. 60%
B. 70%
C. 80%
D. 90%

7.) What percent of U.S. Children are raised in single-parent homes?
A. 10%
B. 20%
C. 33%
D. 66%

8.) The poverty rate of children raised in fatherless homes is how many times that of children who are raised in two-parent homes?
A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5

9.) What percent of America's teen murderers and long-term prisoners come from fatherless homes?
A. 40%
B. 50%
C. 60%
D. 70

10.) How many babies have been aborted in the US since the Supreme Court's decision on Roe v Wade in 1973?
A. 4,000
B. 850,000
C. 6,000,000
D. 50,000,000

11.) What percent of all pregnancies end in abortion?
A. 15%
B. 22%
C. 35%
D. 45%

12.) The Virginia General Assembly has not yet approved which three bills?
A. ban on partial birth abortions
B. abortion clinic health and safety standards
C. parental consent for abortions involving minor age girls
D. fetal pain relief for babies who are about to be aborted
E. Right to life act

13.) Pornography sales generate about how much every year (in billions of dollars)?
A. 1
B. 5
C. 9
D. 14

14.) Pornography contributes to what percentage of failed marriages?
A. 10%
B. 25%
C. 50%
D. 75%

15.) Sexually-oriented web sites comprise 60% of all web sites and attract how many Americans every day?
A. 1,000,000
B. 10,000,000
C. 20,000,000
D. 30,000,000

16.) Of those web sites, what percent involve children?
A. 10%
B. 15%
C. 20%
D. 25%

17.) According to one study, of the 12,000 cases of sexual assaults against minor age girls nationwide, what percentage had pornography associated with them?
A. 50%
B. 60%
C. 80%
D. 98%

18.) What two groups supported putting filters on library computers to help protect children from pornography?
A. Valley Family Forum
B. ACLU
C. The Family Foundation
D. American Library Association

19.) What former State Supreme Court Justice was fired for displaying the Ten Commandments in their court?
A. Judge Judy
B. Roy Moore
C. Jesse Jackson
D. Clarence Thomas

20.) GSA stands for?
A. Golfing Student Association
B. Golden Seniors Affiliation
C. Gay and Straight Alliance
D. Geographic Surveyors Administration

So how do you think you did? I will post the answers in a few days so you will know. I must admit I was not as knowledgeable about these topics as I thought I was.