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.

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!

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.

Big Freshman Class for 09'

There will be a rather large freshman class in both the House and Senate scheduled to be sworn in January of 2009. 44 People will be leaving or have already left Congress and Senate due to death, retirement, resignment, and in some cases criminal investigations. Some of these known absences have already been filled by special elections, but those filling them will still be considered "freshmen" in 111th Congress which convenes in January. These numbers affect Republican held positions more than Democratic positions and include such political power players as former Speaker of the House Rep. Dennis Hastert and former Presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter one resignation, the other as a result of retirement. Both sides will aggressively go after each and everyone of these positions. The Democrats currently hold majorities in both the House and Senate, but neither is by large numbers and they would like nothing better than to put some depth in the bench so to speak. The Democrats are clearly taking this election season seriously and have opened an unprecedented 6 regional offices here in the 6th Congressional District to support their candidate Mr. Sam Rasoul in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte who has run un-challenged for many years. The following list shows the 44 in seats mentioned:

House of Representatives:
Alabama: Rep. Bud Cramer (D). Retiring
Alabama: Rep. Terry Everett (R). Retiring
Arizona: Rep. Rick Renzi (R). Retiring and under federal indictment.
Arizona: Rep. John Shadegg (R). NOT Retiring: Convinced by colleagues to reverse earlier decision to not seek re-election
California: Rep. John Doolittle (R). Retiring
California: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R). Retiring
California: Rep. Tom Lantos (D). Died. Rep. Jackie Speier (D) sworn in after winning special election
California: Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D). Died. Laura Richardson (D) seated after August 2007 special election
Colorado: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R). Retiring
Colorado: Rep. Mark Udall (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate
Florida: Rep. Dave Weldon (R). Retiring
Georgia: Rep. Charlie Norwood (R). Died. Paul Broun (R) seated in July 2007 special election
Illinois: Rep. Dennis Hastert (R). Resigned. Bill Foster (D) sworn in after winning March special election
Illinois: Rep. Ray Lahood (R). Retiring
Illinois: Rep. Jerry Weller (R). Retiring
Indiana: Julia Carson (D). Died. Carson's grandson, Andre Carson (D), seated in special election
Louisiana: Rep. Richard Baker (R). Resigning. Don Cazayoux (D), wins May special election
Louisiana: Rep. Bobby Jindal (R). Elected Governor. Steve Scalise (R) wins May special election
Louisiana: Rep. Jim McCrery (R). Retiring
Maine: Rep. Tom Allen (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate
Maryland: Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R). Defeated in Republican primary
UPDATED JUNE 19:
Maryland: Rep. Al Wynn (D). Defeated in February Democratic primary by Donna Edwards. Wynn retired before end of term, allowing Edwards to compete in June special election, which she won. Edwards sworn in
Massachusetts: Rep. Martin Meehan (D). Resigned. Niki Tsongas (D) seated in October 2007 special election
Minnesota: Rep. Jim Ramstad (R). Retiring
Mississippi: Rep. Chip Pickering (R). Retiring
Mississippi: Rep. Roger Wicker (R). Appointed to Senate.Travis Childers (D) seated after May 2008 special election
Missouri: Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R). Vacating seat to run for governor
New Jersey: Rep. Mike Ferguson (R). Retiring
New Jersey: Rep. Jim Saxton (R). Retiring
New Mexico: Rep. Steve Pearce (R). Vacating seat to run for Senate
New Mexico: Rep. Tom Udall (D). Vacating seat to run for Senate
New Mexico: Rep. Heather Wilson (R). Vacating seat to run for Senate
New York: Rep. Vito Fossella (R). Retiring
New York: Rep. Mike McNulty (D). Retiring
New York: Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R). Retiring
New York: Rep. Jim Walsh (R). Retiring
Ohio: Rep. Paul Gillmor (R). Died. Robert Latta (R) seated in December 2007 special election
Ohio: Rep. David Hobson (R). Retiring
Ohio: Rep. Deborah Pryce (R). Retiring
Ohio: Rep. Ralph Regula (R). Retiring
Oregon: Rep. Darlene Hooley (D). Retiring.
Pennsylvania: Rep. John Peterson (R). Retiring
Virginia: Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R). Died. Robert Wittman (R) seated after December 2007 special election
Virginia: Rep. Tom Davis (R). Retiring
Wyoming: Rep. Barbara Cubin (R). Retiring
In the Senate ...
Those who have left, leaving, or have died, by state:
Colorado: Sen. Wayne Allard (R). Retiring
Idaho: Sen. Larry Craig (R). Retiring
Mississippi: Sen. Trent Lott (R) Retired. Rep. Roger Wicker (R) seated by gubernatorial appointment
Nebraska: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R). Retiring
New Mexico: Sen. Pete Domenici (R). Retiring
Virginia: Sen. John Warner (R). Retiring
Wyoming: Sen. Craig Thomas (R). Died. John Barrasso (R) seated by gubernatorial appointment

This list shows that there many important political races going on all throughout America as well as the races many of us follow and are involved in right in VA.

If you believe in the conservative movement, if you believe in Ronald Reagan's vision, if your concerned with our energy crisis, and if your very nervous about Americas future in the hands or people like Sen. Obama, Majority Leader Reid, and Speaker Pelosi than you must stand and be heard.

Seek out your local Republican Committee and tell them that you want to help support candidates the take Americas future serious and have solutions not platitudes.