Too Conservative

With less than 36 hours until the polls open on March 2, I’m looking forward to seeing two great Republican candidates elected – Kerry Bolognese in the 41st and Samantha Rucker for School Board in Mason District.

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Our FCRC Rally for Kerry Bolognese on Saturday was a huge success – over 125 attendees packed into the FCRC headquarters (which is a feat in and of itself).  Governor Bob McDonnell, along with Attorney General Cuccinelli, Springfield Supervisor Pat Herrity, Braddock Supervisor John Cook, Keith Fimian and Jay O’Brien, spun up our volunteers for a weekend of GOTV, phone banking and precinct walking.

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I am especially heartened by the fact that our absentee ballot program is far more robust than it was during the Hunt special.  We’ve got strong support from RPV, the House caucus and the Governor’s office, and I’m confident that we’ll see a much better result there.  This race is a toss up – which is great, considering it’s a Democratic leaning seat and where Carpetbagger Marsden eeked out a victory last November.  I am hopeful we’ll see an upset for Kerry – if we can pull it off this will be our third Democratic seat pickup in the House in six months.  It would be excellent to send Kerry to join Barbara Comstock and Jim LeMunyon in Richmond.

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Given the alternative, electing Kerry is critical.  Eileen Filler-Corn is being backed by the same Washington establishment (Joe Trippi and Terry McAuliffe) that brought you Howard Dean, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton – and the same policies that are being pushed by President Obama and the Democrats in Congress.  Raising enough money to be on TV throughout the Olympics and pretty much every cable channel I actually watch, she’s clearly doing her best to buy this election.  It’s critical that we turn out the vote to elect Kerry.

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Equally important, it is critical that we elect Samantha Rucker to the Fairfax County School Board on Tuesday.  Given the economic environment we find ourselves in, we need strong fiscally conservative leadership on the FCSB, and that’s exactly the kind of leadership we can expect from Samantha Rucker.

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I strongly urge everyone in the 41st and in Mason District to turn out on Tuesday and help elect Kerry and Samantha!

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Feb 28th by Brian S

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Most of us who live in metro DC area aren’t living with the absolutely dismal unemployment numbers the rest of the country is experiencing.  With our relatively rosy 4.9% rate, our region has been somewhat insulated against the staggering job losses thus far.  Don Peck over at the Atlantic has a great article up this weekend about how persistently high unemployment rates will change the complexion of America for generations to come:

“The Great Recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably just beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. It will leave an indelible imprint on many blue-collar men. It could cripple marriage as an institution in many communities. It may already be plunging many inner cities into a despair not seen for decades. Ultimately, it is likely to warp our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years to come.”

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Feb 28th by Cato the Elder

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So “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke was doing his usual bit in front of Congress this week, once again testifying that he’s going to maintain “exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.” According to him, he can afford to do this because:

“Increases in energy prices resulted in a pickup in consumer price inflation in the second half of last year, but oil prices have flattened out over recent months, and most indicators suggest that inflation likely will be subdued for some time. Slack in labor and product markets has reduced wage and price pressures in most markets, and sharp increases in productivity have further reduced producers’ unit labor costs. The cost of shelter, which receives a heavy weight in consumer price indexes, is rising very slowly, reflecting high vacancy rates. In addition, according to most measures, longer-term inflation expectations have remained relatively stable. The range that most FOMC participants judge to be consistent with the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment.”

(Read the rest of this entry…)

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Feb 28th by Cato the Elder

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More videos of Candace Strother can be found on her YouTube page.

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Feb 25th by Loudoun Insider

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Just got a Politico breaking update:

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According to the AP, the Ethics panel finds Ways and Means Chairman Rangel broke House rules.

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Feb 25th by Brian S

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So news broke today that Chuck Colgan might not run for re-election. We’ve all heard this a lot before, but I’m sure you’d agree with me that it seems there’s more truth in it now.

Only one candidate stands out in the district as one with a proven commonsense conservative record: Jackson Miller.

I hope that if and when Colgan does decide to leave, that the party can coalesce behind a winning candidate.

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Feb 24th by Too Conservative

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Not that anyone actually watches these things, but it’s been interesting to see the kabuki dance in King Henry’s kangaroo court over the past couple of days.

In case you missed it, various Toyota executives were “invited” to testify before the Gub’ment Motors Board of Directors House Energy and Commerce Committee this week about anecdotal reports surrounding unintended acceleration and other quality control issues.  Mark Tapscott at the Washington Examiner correctly points out:

There are 25 Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 12 of whom have received campaign contributions of as much as $10,000 towards their 2010 re-election campaigns from the United Auto Workers union, which is a co-owner of General Motors, Toyota’s main rival for U.S. sales.

Among the dozen recipients of UAW money are: Representatives Elijah Cummings of Maryland ($1,000), John F. Tierney of Massachusetts ($1,000), William Clay, Jr. of Missouri ($1,000), Gerry Connolly of Virginia ($3,000), Michael Quigley of Illinois ($10,000), Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island ($1,000), Danny Davis of Illinois ($1,000), Chris Van Hollen of Maryland ($1,000), Paul Hodes of New Hampshire ($2,500), Chris Murphy of Connecticut ($5,000), Peter Welch of Vermont ($1,000), and Judy Chu of California ($500).

Not one of those Democrats recused themselves from the hearing, by the way. But wait, it gets better.  Karl over at HotAir notes that the phantom acceleration theory’s main proponent is a fellow by the name of Sean Kane.  To wit:

Two weeks ago, his firm released a 51-page report that alleged at least 2,262 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported sudden acceleration that resulted in 815 crashes, 341 injuries and 19 deaths since 1999. About half of the complaints involved vehicles not included in any current Toyota recalls, according to the report.

Toyota said it is unable to confirm Mr. Kane’s numbers and has hired its own study firm.

Mr. Kane said his latest report wasn’t produced as a direct result of funding from a particular lawsuit against Toyota. Yet lawyers often pay him a consulting fee to review individual crashes, listen to depositions, advise lawyers on questions and strategies, and produce analyses of crash trends using National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. He does not receive a bonus or a percentage of any settlement in such cases, he said.

In the report released last week, Mr. Kane thanked a group of lawyers who have pending cases against Toyota for sponsoring some of his research into unintended acceleration in Toyotas. Three of those lawyers—Terrence McCartney of New York; Donald Slavik of Milwaukee, Wis.; and R. Graham Esdale Jr. of Montgomery, Ala.—said Mr. Kane has helped on cases, including litigation against Toyota.

Got all that?  Ambulance chasers: check.  Career expert witnesses: check.  UAW goons: check.  Democrat Legislators bought and paid for with illegally diverted TARP money: check.  Give these guys some credit, they really know how to stack the deck.  (snark on) Still, I’m confident that Toyota will get a fair hearing and objective examination of the evidence because there are several things working in its favor, namely: 1.) Toyota doesn’t hire UAW workers 2.) Toyota’s US manufacturing base is concentrated in red states and 3.) Gub’ment Motors is a slush fund for the Democratic re-election campaigns. (snark off)

Pay no attention to the fact that the Chevy Cobalt has over ten times the number of consumer complaints than the Corolla does.  For some reason  I don’t think they’re going to be subject to the same level of scrutiny.

H/T Karl, Mark Tapscott

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Feb 24th by Cato the Elder

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A new site from RPV…they keep being incredibly aggressive online, love it.

http://www.retirerick.com

Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/retirerick

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Feb 24th by Too Conservative

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The following is the text of a floor speech that Delegate Bob Marshall gave on the floor of the House today.  In the interests of fairness, I’m going to post it in its entirety here.

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Mr. Speaker, on Thursday February 18th, a press conference was held in the General Assembly, the purpose of which was to demand Planned Parenthood not receive any funds out of the state budget.  Media attending included ABC News, Channel 8, CBN, The Washington Post, Richmond Times, The Virginia Pilot, The Associated Press and other fine news sources.

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Next day press reports noted comments made at the press conference. Conspicuously absent from all the reports was the claim that any speakers at this press conference made statements calling handicapped children punishment from God for abortion.

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Three days later on February 21, Capital News Service claimed that I did in fact make such a statement, yet, no other news service picked up this “alleged statement.”

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Why? Because that statement was never said, period.  All of Virginia’s professional journalists missed what a Capital News Service claims to have found?  I encourage anyone to go to my web site, www.delegatebob.com to find the entire video of my comments and easily see for themselves, I never made such a comment.  But it has been repeated endless times in print and electronic media without producing the smoking gun tape.

(more after the jump)

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Feb 24th by Brian S

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Check out this comment thread at School Board Chairman John Stevens’ blog.  Some teachers make some specific ideas for efficiencies and cost savings at LCPS.  I’ve seen other similar comments here and there and have even received a few email complaints from teachers.  But most of them are too scared to go public, or even comment anonymously with their concerns for fear of retaliation.

I am a harsh critic of LCPS, but I understand that quality teachers are the number one asset.  Unfortunately I don’t believe that the Hatrick administration acts that way.  I feel that they are used as budgetary pawns to cover up the excesses built into this system.  The teachers are the ones that really know where the skeletons are buried.  It is well past time for them to band together and speak up and be heard.  It’s time to clean up LCPS and truly reform it for the good of the students and the teachers.  The prevailing public opinion of LCPS is that it is bloated and full of waste.  Teachers will not see significant increases in salary until that public perception is changed, and they are the best group to effect that change.  Band together, teachers, and demand reform!  These trying times demand bold action.

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Feb 24th by Loudoun Insider

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