Cap And Trade foolishness.

Just what's needed to push a recession into a depression.
Joe covers it with numerous links and information to contact your Senators.
I honestly never thought it would get thru the House.
I suppose this is a blatant reason why mid-term elections will return the House and Senate back to Republican control. Businesses will fold, electric bills and fuel costs will also cripple millions of families that are just hanging on.
Way to go, jackasses.

As a side...it became very clear that there are 8 Republicans who need to be gone in the next term, or they'll need to switch Party -- and run as what they really are.

Bono Mack (CA)-Castle (DE)-Kirk (IL)- Lance (NJ)- Lobiondo (NJ)- McHugh (NY)
Reichart (WA)- Chris Smith (NJ)

Update: Blue Collar Philosophy writes more, with a video here

Whole of the Senate condemns Iran crackdown---except one

Senate condemns Iran crackdown---- minus one Ron Paul.
His reasoning??
"Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas libertarian, cast the sole opposing vote because he said it wasn't the House's place to judge "events thousands of miles away about which we know very little.""
We don't know that those folks want to live free, and that they're actually responding to what they view as a fixed election?
As a great blog has opined-- "Real Libertarians do not approve of rigged elections or attacks on peaceful protesters by Brownshirts, Blackshirts, Iran’s religious police, or whatever."

Anyone who wants to can recognize this

The difference in the following form and what's been previously touted as an acceptable substitute. This one is generally used for visas, passports, background and security checks, and military service enrollment.



This one, combined with a buck and a quarter, will get you a mere cup of coffee.



Notice, the main difference here is an actual hospital location (and name), as well as an attending physician. Among the other differences -- there are actual signatures and street addresses.
But of all the things you can see, there is one more thing you can't. Those who weren't born in Hawaii, or weren't actually United States citizens got the latter, and only US Citizens actually born in Hawaii got the former.

I've had to show my long form when I joined the service. I had to show my long form on every secret and top secret clearance I've ever held. Now, the President is so special that he doesn't need to meet the very same criteria that the rest of us are expected to pass??

And at this point, he's spent upwards of $800K in lawyers to assure that we don't see his long form?

Tell me again, how I'm supposed to just drop the subject.

Update: There is now a $10,000 dollar reward for anyone who can provide the original long form or show it unaltered, complete and legal.
UpdateII:
In another step forward in this saga...A yet to be authenticated birth certificate popped up on Ebay. Now Ebay has had their share of wild, ground-breaking, moral compass pegging moments (remember the virginity sale that was flagged some years ago?)-- but around early morning Friday, a funny thing was listed. It was Barack Obama's Kenyan Birth Certificate.
By Saturday morning, it had been pulled. It was listed twice more. It was again pulled.
Curiously, it stated "President Barack Hussein Obama II was born in The Coast Provincial Hospital at Mombasa in Kenya at 7:24 p.m. on August 4, 1961."
So, my first thought in this 2009 technology era was, given the plethora of communication and information avenues available to us...this is merely a first step (if it is indeed real) and we will see the document , or somebody will get snuffed for attempting to show it to the world.

Mr. El-Atari makes a shenanigan

According to this article (which seemed to miss the local papers--were they partial, or sleeping?)
Osama El-Atari (former co-owner of the Steakhouse in Ashburn, a name which means so much more to me since I've heard a number of things that took place under Osama's watchful eye inside that restaurant...none of which I could get a second confirmation on...or you'd have read about them already.)
It is a matter of documentation that there are "some" heavy contributions to our old friends , the Snows and Statons of Loudoun, but the really juicy contributions are as yet unprovable ...and the recipients, unprovable. There was no paperwork.

"An affidavit filed by a Defense Department criminal investigator stated that Flanagan said he gave Mr. El-Atari an official agency police badge in what he hoped might be seen “as a gift for future business opportunities.” Mr. El-Atari is a restaurateur in Northern Virginia."

And what, you may ask, did Osama do with that badge?

"The affidavit also stated that Virginia alcohol control regulators contacted the Defense Department because Mr. El-Atari had included a badge from the agency in an application for liquor licenses at two restaurants."

Stay tuned. This will get better as credible sources chime in.

Update: A group of creditors has filed an involuntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy- They claim he owes them more than $41.6 million.

Update 7/16:
Not to be outdone by one of her distant-by-laws...Diane Atari (was married to Ali H. Atari, an Ashburn restaurateur who is believed to be a distant relative of Loudoun businessman Osama El-Atari. El-Atari is suspected of involvement in a fraud scheme, his creditors and a Loudoun County Circuit Court judge say) made about $1 million from a mortgage scheme. That money came mostly from commissions on the sale of the homes...with paperwork and credit scores often doctored by Atari to get approval.
Story HERE.


All this, and the Washington Post finally did a bit more on El-Atari today as well...
HERE.

Bob McDonnell is running for you!!

"We are running a positive, issues-driven campaign here in Virginia. We are the campaign of “Yes.” We are saying yes to new jobs, yes to offshore drilling, yes to a worker’s right to a secret ballot, yes to greater choice in our public schools, yes to spending restraint and yes to greater transparency in our state government. Voters are responding.

What we saw last November was the culmination of a great disappointment in Bush in his last four years. Personally, I hope that he was merely trying to reach across the aisle and let Congress Democrats see that he was trying to meet them halfway. Unfortunately, you can't do that. What you get is a runaway deficit, and those same democrats will gladly hand you the blame for their mistakes as well.

The Unions want massive control in their public votes. They'll intimidate anyone who is identified in voting against them. So, they're seeking to actively remove the blinds that keep them from seeing who they need to deal with.
In a right-to-work state like Virginia, this goes against the very grain of the people who live and work here.

Look, I have worked in a union shop as a non-bargaining unit. Because I refused to join. I don't need the union "mafia" paying me a visit to "convince" me that I need to join, or else. Things WILL get messy at that point. I'm not given to backing down. I stand my ground, and readily meet force with equal force if it's needed.

I also realize that the unions were a great thing once in this country. We didn't have OSHA, we didn't have work standards that dictated what was safe, what was fair, and so forth. Unions brought about fair play in those days. Some of the unions representing coal miners still do.Coal mining is just a dangerous job, and the unions are probably very needed in that vocation.

But as for unions in general...well, they just became a business in the late 70's , and some of them exist merely to turn a profit. Most of them don't even represent their members well. But they want those dues. And they spend those dues to lobby congress members to give them free reign to intimidate and threaten all of the rest of us....into creating even more wealth for them.

McDonnell will stand up to them. He knows that freedom to pursue your chosen vocation without union intimidation or extortion is a basic citizen's right in Virginia. And he'll fight to keep it that way.

He knows that it is in our nations best interest to seek domestic energy that frees us of the foreign governments control on our infrastructure.He understands that it's more than money we spend elsewhere. It's who we're inadvertently financing, and some of the players do not have out best interest at the root of that business.
In opening the offshore drilling thousands of jobs will be created. From the men who harvest the raw resources, to the refining of those resources, and the distribution of those resources.
Let's get out of the rut that Tim Kaine has mired us in, cut spending, cut taxes, and rebuild the surplus Kaine received when he took office.

Vote Bob McDonnell, and we'll open a new chapter of accountability, true transparency (see Pennsylvania's official State website where the actual checks used to purchase materials are posted),stop the massive spending that's killing the State we live in today--and turn the State of Virginia back into the bastion of Freedom that our Forefathers made it..

Update: Great piece by Pat Mullins on the "legacy" Bob has to overcome.

Update: Checkout Deeds current campaigning strategy here. Evidently, he doesn't think this will matter in November. Remember, Bob's For Jobs just picked up new meaning. He would never vote for legislation that supported Cap and Trade...the number one job killer.

A blizzard for McDonnell

Today, there is a sea of signs at most of the larger precincts in the County.
Sure, there were Moran and Deeds signs. But there were far MORE McDonnell signs at Purcellville and numerous other Blue Ridge and Catoctin precincts.
Lovettsville had ONLY McDonnell signs. Lucketts had three Deeds signs, but their sign superiority was short-lived, and they were almost immediately outnumbered.

Reports will continue to come in and I'll do my best to update this post.

What struck me is....with the primary so important to the Dems (their decision today may mean a win or a loss, entirely based on who they choose) Loudoun (and probably many other counties) are exhibiting little or no grassroots volunteers to man the polls or even muster enough gumption to put a sign or two up on the way to work.

I attribute this to the fact that when I went to Purcellville last November, I didn't see a single person I knew there manning the Dem's tent. It was all handled (like most of the county)by Obamanauts.... I mean, the Loudoun Dem's didn't have to raise a finger last November.

While the Republicans were engaging in a "drill" and rolling out an impressive machine (with a six point reward over our sister counties for the effort)on what became a "dry run", the Dems didn't bother building a local mechanism.It was done for them.(anybody else smell the irony of that sentence?)

So, I'd venture that there is still time to put one together, but there's probably not enough interest out there to do so.Obama's not running this year...and his assets went with him.

As for the Republicans....We've got even more members, volunteers and precinct coverage that was activated by the last election.Seems they came out in droves to help us after the defeat in November...because they were tired of sitting home complaining.
As I said...reports as they come in.


6:30 am -Potomac District: Each Precinct had one or two Moran and Deeds signs. No signs for the Carpet Bagging Clinton Bag Man ( CBCBM )

6:30 am - At the five voting stations in Leesburg, where I put McDonnell signs this morning, the Democrat candidate signs were sparse — mostly Deeds, some Moran, less than half a dozen

8:54 AM- Each of the 4 South Riding precincts have 8-9 Bob signs and a handful or so of all Dems combined w/ no one handing out lit.

8:55 AM - Southern Catoctin precincts between 5:30 and 6:30 or so and saw at most 2 Moran signs at two of the precincts. No Democrats were physically present. I put out anywhere from 3 - 5 McDonnell signs so as of that time anyway we outnumbered them everywhere!

At 6:30 PM, I struck out to collect signs at the precincts I had set up this morning. My last precincts were out here Lovettsville way.

Luckett's had 106 voters at 6:45. Interestingly, the three Deeds signs had been removed, and two McCaulker signs had been inserted among my McDonnell signs.


West Lovettsville had 116 voters at 6:53, and East Lovettsville had a whopping 143 voters at close of polls. Now, since East Lovettsville is my home precinct, I know that there are 2193 voters. That comes out to around 5 1/2% turnout.

Ric has more coverage from Hillside and Lowe's Island precincts. There was news coverage of the Hillside location, because that's where the effort was spearheaded.

Good times in Richmond.

Ran into an awful lot of friends and caught up with many in the Blogging world that I hadn't met personally. The Convention was a great place to have them all in one place for one massive visit.
Vince Harris was out front, as usual. Vince is the brains behind www.tooconservative.com and has actually matured into a fine young gentleman...as I slowly age. But that's the circle of life.
Aside from the obvious Bloggers Row coverage, contributor Salem Republican was there, as was Kelley in Va., Carl Kilo from Sparkitup.com,and a few others that I chatted with.

I visited my home contingent, the Culpeper and Madison contingents, and ran into Rep. Ed Scott while I was there. I visited with Lt. Gov. Hagar for a moment, I ran into Bob McDonnell, and Bill Bolling while I was down on Blogger's row..



This was a whirlwind of activity, and while it provided me with the chance to see so many republican activists and bloggers in one place, a primary would have yielded better results, and coupled with a Statewide blogger's convention somewhere in the State......both could have been accomplished.

The chickens have begun to return to the roost

Indeed, as foretold by Rev Wright, chickens WILL return to the roost.
Today, Countrywide's co-founder, Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp, was charged with civil fraud.
They also charged two other company executives with civil fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's civil lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading.

Countrywide was right there in the middle of the sub-prime meltdown. They donated money to numerous democrats, and did exactly as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did for Barney Frank. They offered Chris Dodd, D-Conn.,and Kent Conrad, D- N. Dakota(and head of the Budget Committee) mortgages through a VIP program offered by Countrywide to folks that Countrywide considered "friends of Angelo."

"Dodd has insisted that the controversy over the two loans he received did not compromise his ability to lead Congress' efforts to address the effects of the subprime mortgage meltdown. He said he thought the VIP program referred to upgraded customer service and not reduced rates."

Sure, Mr. Dodd.
Have you seen your local papers, lately. The ones in Connecticut.Bet you have.
They were filling up with LTE's regarding your suitability to be in Congress. Only after some heavy-handed political leverage to the owners of those papers were the letters squelched, and people's First Amendment Rights had been trampled did those letters stop appearing.

You can attempt to bury your Murtha-like actions, but in the end, people will overrule your entitlement and remove you in your next election cycle. Get used to it.
The mainstream efforts of MSN, NBC and CBS won't be able to cover up the debacle that some high-placed democrats foisted on the people of this nation in an effort to continue their tenure in office.

People don't like self-absorbed "do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do" blowhards who ask them to do one thing, and then turn around and do the opposite. That's why I'm confident of a mid-term turnaround in Congress for the Republican persuasion.

Ed Freeman and Bruce Crandall

This story has been edited to reflect a remembrance of two Medal of Honor Recipients- Bruce Crandall, and his wingman Ed Freeman.

You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle
in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is
outnumbered 8-1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards
away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters
to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're
not getting out. Your family is half way around the world-12,000 miles
away-and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and
out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of helicopter,
and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because
no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman and Bruce Crandall are coming for you. They aren't Medi-Vac, so it's not their job, but they're flying helicopters down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

They're coming anyway.

And they drop thie helicopters in, and they sit there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then they fly you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses.


And, they kept coming back...13 more times... and took about 30 of you and
your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.