Virginia Right!

You have most likely seen some of the previous postings by Virginia Right’s newest blogger, Layla the Fedora wearing Blog Dog.

Every now and again, Layla gets really upset and animated about certain topics.

And Barack Obama eating Dogs was one topic that Layla feels very strongly about.

So she begged me and pleaded with me to let her actually record a video of her expressing her distaste (pardon the pun) of Obama eating Dogs.

So this is her first animated video, and I assure you Layla is completely unleashed!

And Layla insisted we call the new segment:

Just a Doggone Minute!

What would be an effective protest of the corporatism called the Olympics men’s baksetball team would be if small groups go to sports bars and root against the men’s team.  The ensuing controversy would attract the media (we could announce where we are going before we go so the media could go there) and we’d get our message out.  I plan all our activities to be utterly peaceful and respectful of private property.  If asked to leave the bar, we would.

Let’s call it the Boycott of the Men’s Basketball Team.  Or Occupy the Olympics if you prefer – I am all for coalitions.  We love our nation and we won’t hesitate to root for the amateur athletes representing our nation.  BUT this extreme professionalism (not a compliment!) exhibited and the way the US team is selected render it a poor representative of a democratic republic.

So who’s with me?  Who wants to start a FB page?  Contact this blog and let’s plan out what to do.

I am owing a huge apology to Robert Cox and the Talk of the Sound.  It is a lot more than just a blog group:  They are a local media source that dares to take on local officials on issues of all sorts and project a good image for their community.  It’s easy to call some politico in Oregon an idiot but when it is a local official, that’s another thing altogether.

Cox is Managing Editor of the Talk of the Sound.  He double and triple checks all his stories.  Cox is firmly against ICLEI and Agenda 21.  He got the story of Westchester County out of ICLEI and broke it.  Hitherto, Cox is a prime source.  I’ll reblog all his stuff without question.  Talk of the Sound the same thing.  Read his stuff!  He’s got great stuff.  Here’s Cox’s latest story.

The Sun newspaper/YouGov poll has startling results:

Labour party leads poll with UKIP now third

My kipper mole tells me than Angela Watkinson (I know, I’ve never heard of her either) has been having not unfriendly chats of late with the kippers. Will she be smoked out or is it a red herring?

No, Tom White did not send me to Prague!  (Maybe next year?)  But this group is doing an unofficial live blog at the Pirate Parties International Convention this weekend in Prague, Czech Republic.  Here it is:

Have fun.  This could be the beginning of a world-wide movement for liberty!

I have confirmed from this source that Dr. Ron Paul will speak in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 22 at the Philadelphia Phreedom Rally starting at 1PM.

There will be live music, including a new singer I just discovered:  Tatiana Moroz.  She has a powerful voice for liberty!

Also speakers cited on the website will be Michael Scheuer, the former head of the bin Laden unit of the CIA, who has a blog in favor of non-intervention and a board member of Students for Liberty, James Padilioni, Jr. (who is attending graduate school at William & Mary this fall!  Sounds like a great speaker for your next Tea Party event – if he has time!)

I would like to suggest – let’s get a car caravan from Richmond to go up to Philly for the day and hear the Doctor of Liberty and these other great speakers and singers!

Here’s a great ad for Sonja McNally, the UKIP candidate in the March 29 by-election in Bradford West:

“Let’s send a message to Westminster with Sonja!”

I agree.  It’s way past time the PM and the MPs got the message:  Liberty and Sovereignty is non-negotiable.

McNally also supports pubs, too:

“Four pubs close everyday, which is killing local communities and destroying jobs – they need help! UKIP have run a save the pub campaign in Bradford for many years.”

Sonja will be joined by UKIP party leader Nigel Farage MEP on a pub crawl Sunday night to talk to publicans and customers across Bradford West about the future of their industry and local issues.

Townhall is generally not a blog favorable for Ron Paul so I started to read this article (Will the Real Ron Paul Please Stand up?) with trepidition

But I am pleasantly surprised!  Here’s how it starts:

May I have your attention please? Will the real Ron Paul please stand up? I repeat, will the real Ron Paul please stand up?

I keep hearing the same three rumors about Paul: He blames America for 9/11, he’s anti-Israel and he’s pro-Iran. So, who is the real Ron Paul?

Does he blame America for 9/11?

No, he’s very patriotic. Bob Schieffer recently interviewed Paul on CBS Face the Nation: “I wanna ask you some questions … and I wanna start with foreign policy because your statements over the years … suggest that you believe that 9/11 happened because of actions that the United States took. Is that correct?”

Here is the post at her site:  Katiekieffer.com.  RAH for Katie!  Thank you for your contribution to the clause of liberty.

A GREAT report from Hal Shurtleff in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:  Reading is NO LONGER an ICLEI member!

Hal sent me an email he got in response to several he sent out to the selectmen in several cities and one from Reading replied:

No. Reading is no longer a member

It’s great to add Reading MA to the Wall of Honor!  I am sure an UNKNOWN ACTIVIST was behind this.  Maybe she/he will turn up!  I would like to honor her/him in this blog!

I was privileged to attend the Ron Paul Meetup party last evening at the River City Diner North.  There were 35-40 excited RP supporters, ranging from livelong libertarians to GOP stalwarts to even a blogger for a leading political blog in the Old Dominion!

We heard some great advice from the state chairman of the RP campaign and the whole idea of the folks for RP in VA was contagious.

I hope we’ll have more such meetings.  Remember:  Try to get petition signatures for RP for the VA ballot!  Here‘s where to go!

You need go no further than this blog to get the 2012 Hanover Board of County Supervisors Legislative Agenda!

Here it is!

Questions to ask your new supervisor:

What was meant by not reducing the eminent domain power?  Is that an opposition to the Eminent Domain Amendment pending in the VA General Assembly?

What environmental regulations do you support?  Is this implied endorsement of global warming?

What taxing power do you want without voter approval?

Any other comments?

How can I help Ron Paul right here in Virginia or wherever you are (assuming you are not in Iowa and/or NH):

• Buy a Iowa precinct where you can have the supervoters in that precinct be sent the Ron Paul Superbrochure!
• Pledge to give money to the RP campaign on December 16, 2011 (Boston Tea Party anniversary)!
• Make calls into Iowa for the campaign!
• If you are an independent or Democrat voter, see this site for how to become a Blue Republican!  (Any voter can vote in the Virginia Republican Primary if they express an intent to vote for the winner in the general election)
• If you are maxed out in giving to the RP campaign, go to the RevolutionSuperPAC site and give as much as you want!
• If you have time, go to Iowa or NH and campaign for Paul!  Go to the Youth for Paul site for details!
• Here is a site in regard to flyers for RP based on Pearl Harbor Day; see if you like this!
• Buy your Amazon materials through the Daily Paul!
• You can get for the price of postage some RP stickers but you need to put the bumper sticker on your car:  Go here!

I am sure there are many other things to do but this is a good list – thanks to the Daily Paul!  Pick one to do if you can!

Everybody cheered former Speaker Newt Gingrich when he said, “Timothy McVeigh succeeded,” as justification for the Patriot Act in Tuesday’s debate on national security and foreign policy.  Although Ron Paul’s answer was great – we can fight crime if we have a police state but it is not worth it.  Alas, few will remember Paul’s response.  What Paul should have done was cite several provisions of the Patriot Act and show people how odious this law is.

I know something about the USA Patriot Act.  I co-authored what some say (even George Soros’ Open Society!  Here’s the article!  [Look at note 61 of Section II] I might get kicked off this blog for this!) is a leading law journal article on the effect of the USA Patriot Act on money laundering and currency transactions laws.  Ron Paul is right but should have had specific examples.

Section 215 is cited in the Sanders article:

Section 215 of the Patriot Act has engendered much controversy.  However, the statute is fairly simple.  in sum, the act authorizes the issuance of an administrative order for “any tangible things [including books, records, papers, documents, and other items] for an investigation to protect against international terrorism to clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.”  There also is a secrecy requirement as to the subject of the investigation or anyone else not “necessary to produce the tangible things.  The court “shall” issue the order as modified if the application is legal under this act.  (footnotes omitted)

But the real harm of the PA (I hate calling it the “Patriot” Act as any true patriot should oppose it) is the regulation on money and currency transactions.  Virtually any bank has to “know your customer” now and thus spy on its depositors (no disclaimer of that sort in any bank) and thus your money and financial transactions are not private.  It was a Congressman named Paul that, along with others, stopped the first attempt by Treasury to enact “Know Your Customer” regs in 1999.

In the face of overwhelming opposition from the American people, the FDIC withdrew its proposed “Know Your Customer” (KYC) rule, which would have forced banks to “monitor” customers’ accounts, develop customer “profiles” and report any “unusual” transactionsto federal investigators.  *  *  *  Congressman Ron Paul has introduced The Know Your Customer Sunset Act (HR 516) and The Bank Secrecy Sunset Act (HR 518) that together will repeal existing Know Your Customer reporting requirements and prevent new KYC rules from being implemented.

There is thus no financial privacy.  All this is a legacy of the income tax.  The thesis of the income tax is to enforce the tax, the government has the right to know everything about our finances.  Another reason why it should be abolished.  But, the other GOP candidates can say what they want (including the canard that non-citizens have few if any rights under the Constitution repeated against last evening.) they were not right about the PA.

By the way, this is how I found about about Ron Paul!  I was researching (probably for this article) and discovered the good doctor!  I also found out he was against the war against Serbia, too!  Dr. Paul quickly cured my apathy!

A few changes over last week. Too Conservative and Black Velvet Bruce Li had pretty good weeks according to the ranking services.

22 out of 34 Right Leaning Blogs improved over the previous week (65%)!

9 out of 17 Left Leaning Blogs (53%) improved in relation to the same blog’s score last week.

Overall, 31 out of the 51 Blogs we track improved – 61%.

The Overall Standings:

Left Leaning Blogs:

Right Leaning Blogs:

After a couple of weeks of fighting the fact that several of the ranking sites have either been down or made changes to their site that I had to rewrite my data harvesting routines, everything is finally back on track. Last week, Compete made several changes and I was able to fix it, so the standings for last week verses this week are correct.

With the elections out of the way, I should have more time to concentrate on producing these standings on a weekly basis.

The lefty blog Not Larry Sabato moved up a spot to the # 4 blog in the state, which is not surprising during an election cycle featuring Virginia Politics. Not Larry is known for great in depth analysis of state based politics.

Black Velvet Bruce Li shot up 144% as Virginia Election coverage is a top priority in reader’s minds.

Here are the rankings!

The Overall Standings:

Right Leaning Blogs:

Left Leaning Blogs:

553am -Sandy the blogger is out to support his supervisor candidate – Sean Davis – if you are in the Henry district – vote today for DAVIS!

Excitement occurs in the Sanders home every election day.  Gotta run.

Remember – vote for Mary Jones in James City County and Kenneth C. Boyd in Albemarle County!  That’s a vote against ICLEI!

UPDATE:  552 PM

In Orange County and other places with hot races, local or otherwise, the turnout seems higher.  Will Berger pull it out in the CA’s race?

I will finish the polls at my polling place (yes I voted!) and then an errand or two including Sean Davis’ victory party.  Will Sean win?

Be back about 745 or so…

UPDATE:  819 Pm

VA SENATE:

The unopposed races are 11 Rep and 3 Dem so far.

Now let’s turn to other races:

Dist 1 – Chohany v. John Miller – slight lead 53/46 for the Dem – too close to call

Dist 2 – Dem Locke seems to have a safe lead over GOP Harmon – now 11 to 4 GOP

Dist 6 – Dem Northan has a 1000 vote lead over Rep Loyola – Can’t call it

Dist 10 – In a surprise but still early Dem challenger Bernard has a 2/1 lead over incumbent Watkins but only about 20% of the vote is in

Dist 13 – In early returns, Republican Black has a lead of few hundred votes over Dem Mitchell

Dist 17 – Reeves v. Houck – Houck is a 200 vote leader with 21 of 69 precincts in’

Dist 19 – Rep Smith has a 2500 vote with about 33% – looking good but not for sure yet

Dist 20 – GOP Stanley has a 500 vote lead over Dem Reynolds.

Dist 21 – Looks like John Edwards is probably re-elected – so that is 11 GOP to 5 DEM

Dist 22 – A safe lead is developing for Tom Garrett (Yea Tom!) over Bert Dodson – about 4000 votes with 50 of 85 precincts in – 12 GOP to 5 Dem

Dist 23 – Incumbent Republican Newman is crushing his Dem opponent – 13 GOP to 5 DEM

Dist 25 – Looks like early returns with about one third of vote is in but Deeds is in good shape – 13 GOP to 6 DEM

Dist 27 – GOP Sen. Vogel is cruising to victory – 14 GOP to 6 DEM

Dist 29 – This is an interesting race – a favorite of mine from Prince William County, Senator Colgan is opposed by GOP Gordy and it’s too close to call with 21% in; Colgan has a 400 vote lead

Dist 30 – Dem Ebbin is going to win this one – 14 GOP to 6 DEM

Dist 31 – Dem Favola is also going to go to Richmond!  14 GOP and 7 DEM

Dist 32 – Dem Howell is coming to town as well – 14 GOP and 8 DEM

Dist 33 – Two close to call with early returns between GOP Phillips and Dem Herring

Dist 34 – Dem Petersen has a nice lead on his GOP opponent but not quite ready to call it yet

Dist 35 – Alas Senator Saslaw will win re-election – 14 GOP and 9 DEM

Dist 36 – Former GOP party chair Frederick has a slight lead on incumbent Dem “Toddy” Puller.  Only 19 % in

Dist 37 – Too close to call between Flanary (R) and Marsden (D)

Dist 38 – Puckett (D) has a close lead on Light (R)

Dist 39 – It’s still early but Dem Barker has a 2-1 lead over GOP Baker

Dist 40 – GOP Carrico is cruising to victory – GOP 15 – DEM 9.

Magic number is 20 for the GOP and 21 for the Dems (due to Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling)

Now let’s look at other races – Incumbent Diana Wheeler turned back my friend Gil Berger by about 2-1 vote.  I had the unenviable task of telling him that.  No fun! 

Buchanan CA race:  Another friend running is ahead of his opponent:  Dem Gerald Arrington has a 400 vote lead over Tamara Neo with one precinct left.

Louisa CA race:  Still another friend has won CA in Louisa – 90% of the vote!  Congrats Rusty McGuire!

Albemarle Co:  Kenneth Boyd has a slight lead in his race with Cynthia Neff in a race with ICLEI implications!

James City County:  In another ICLEI-influnced race:  Mary Jones may have turned back her opponent – 400 vote lead with one precinct left to go.

So it is: 15 GOP and 9 DEM – now let’s go back to Senate races!

Dist 1 – DEM Miller looks like a winner over GOP Chohany – let’s say leans DEM

Dist 6 – Think we can call it for Northan – 15 GOP and 10 DEM

Dist 10 – Watkins GOP has a narrow lead over Bernard DEM

Dist 13 – Too early but Black has a narrow lead

Dist 17 – WAY WAY TOO CLOSE TO CALL between Houck and Reeves – Houck by FOUR votes with 9 precincts left

Dist 19 – GOP Smith appears to be the winner over DEM Ind Bell – 16 GOP and 10 DEM

Dist 29 – Sen. Colgan has about a 1000 vote lead with 20 precincts in

Dist 33 – Herring (D) has a small lead over GOP Phillips

Dist 34 – Petersen looks like a winner here – 16 GOP and 11 DEM

Dist 36 – Linda “Toddy” Puller is now ahead of Jeff Frederick

Dist 37 – It’s early but Dem Flanary is ahead of GOP Marsden

Dist 38 – Dem Puckett is beginning to pull a bit away from GOP Light but enough to call it

Dist 39 – DEM Barker is slightly ahead of GOP Baker

That brings us to 16 GOP and 11 DEM with 9 left to go.  If all trends go as expected – it will be 17 GOP and 22 DEM and one too close to call.  9 40 PM

Hanover BOCS races:

Via is winner in Ashland

Stanley is unopposed

Kelly-Wiecek wins in Chickahominy

Wade easily wins in Cold Harbor

Davis turned back Jackson in Henry

in a mild upset, Canova Petersen won over Debbie Winans (formerly Coats)

In a HUGE upset, incumbent Supervisor John Gordon was defeated by Wayne Hazzard.

Lots of new faces on Hanover BOCS!

Looks like the unions won in Ohio; but no word yet on the health care bill.

Back to senate races:  9 53pm

Dist 1 – DEM Miller is winner – 16 GOP to 12 DEM

Dist 10 – GOP Watkins is winner – 17 GOP to 12 DEM (only three left to get control!)

Dist 13 – GOP Black ahead of DEM Mitchell

Dist 17 – Edd Houck has a slight lead with three precincts to go.

Dist 29 – Looks like Sen Colgan should win – 17 GOP to 13 DEM

Dist 33 – DEM Herring is ahead in still early returns

Dist 36 – No change in Puller lead

Dist 37 – Still early but DEM Marsden ahead

Dist 38 – only 12 precincts left and DEM Puckett has 2000 vote lead.  He’s almost there, I am afraid

Dist 39 – DEM Barker is 1300 votes ahead of GOP Baker but still votes left.

Now – 17 GOP to 13 DEM with ten races left

Still not very good for GOP control.  We need a flip on Frederick (36) and Reeves (17) and hold Dist 13 or get some others to flip.  Not likely for 38 to flip.

Back – 1052 pm

Some good news:  Looking more like Dick Black should win in Dist 13 – let’s call it for GOP – 18 GOP and 13 DEM

Some not so good news:  Looking like Edd Houck will be reelected – let’s call it for DEMs – 18 GOP and 14 DEMs

Dist 33 – DEM Herring still has a narrow lead with plenty of votes left

Dist 36 – Looking bad for Jeff Frederick – I’m calling it for the DEMs – 18 GOP and 15 DEMs

Dist 37 – DEM Marsden has a growing lead on GOP Flanary

Dist 38 – DEM Puckett will go back to Richmond – 18 GOP and 16 DEMs

Dist 39 – DEM Barker still ahead of REP Baker with about 50% in.

( I forgot about Dists 16 and 20 – Sen Marsh is a winner in 16 and GOP Stanley in 20 – 19 GOP and 17 DEMs

Still remotely possible to get a tie and control but not likely.

UPDATE:  Bill Janis was defeated in his bid for Henrico CA by Democrat Shannon.  This was a shocking upset.

Arrington wins in Buchanan County!

Boyd turns back Neff in Albemarle (Rivanna Dist) – so even though the Dem won in the Scottsville race, ICLEI cannot be brought back unless one of the other two yes votes to dump ICLEI switches.

Mary Jones wins in James City County – so the ban on ICLEI is safe here, too.

Loudoun County BOCS is not clear on ICLEI but the GOP is about to sweep the BOCS with only Broad Run too close to call and the REP is ahead.  We’ll see if this new board will dump ICLEI.

Please feel free to comment on this election.  It is a disappointment that we did not flip the Senate but maybe we can do more this term.

Signing off until tomorrow!  Sandy the live blogger!

HUGE UPDATE!  Looks like maybe some bad numbers may have come in in the Reeves Houck race (Dist 17) and if the small lead (Reeves has 50.01 percent and Houck has 49.82%  – never say every conservative/libertarian vote counts!) holds up (86 votes!) the GOP will have 20 seats!

Other undecided races:

Dist 33 – Herring DEM is the apparent winner

Dist 36 – Puller DEM won

Dist 37 – Marsden DEM narrowly defeated the GOP Flanary

Dist 38 – DEM Puckett won

Dist 39 – DEM Barker won

So it is 20/20 or 21/19 DEMs!  The Times-Dispatch reports that if the Reeves win holds up – the GOP will CONTROL the Senate!

Here’s the RTD’s take on the House of Delegates:

Republicans also made strides in the House of Delegates, fattening their already healthy majority and knocking off its top Democrat — outspoken House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong, D-Henry.

Republicans now hold 66 seats in the House to the Democrats’ 32. One seat is held by a GOP-leaning independent and one House seat was too close to call.

Also, my old delegate, Bob Marshall (Dist 13) cruised to victory in his race.

On the Henrico BOCS, the same five had won election since 1995, the longest serving group of BOCS in Virginia (this has to be close to a national record but I do not know how to find that kind of record) but Varina Supervisor Donati was defeated by Dem Tyrone Nelson.

Nearly ten percent of the vote in Dist 9 (Sen. McEachin) voted a write in ballot.  That is a huge accomplishment considering; candidate recruitment should begin in earnest (and no I am not moving to run for Senate!) and that might be a winnable race.

Finally, we have a foreign election to report:  Whatcom County Washington:  pro-ICLEI former County executive Pete Kremen has a narrow 51/49 vote over ICLEI-skeptic Tony Larson.  In another County Council race, the incumbent has a similar lead over a more progressive challenger.  If Larson and the incumbent win, ICLEI may be OUT in Whatcom County!

This encouraging report from the Roanoke Tea Party on ICLEI in Roanoke County:

Roanoke Board of Supervisors member Ed Elswick has requested to put the question of severing ties with ICLEI on the agenda for the November 15 board work session. While no public comment is allowed in this session, this puts us one step closer to getting the question of ICLEI removal up for a vote. More on this meeting Thursday night.

It is tough in Roanoke to be against ICLEI with the Roanoke Times making fun of you!  But liberty/sovereignty activists continue unabated and I am honored to cover them on this blog.  Keep it up!

C

The weekly Virginia Political Blog rankings have been compiled. There was a bit of a shuffle in the top 10 as Virginia Right! moved to #1 and Too Conservative moved from 9th to 8th place showing an 80% increase.

On the Conservative end of the Blogosphere, 19 out of 34 blogs improved (56%) and on the Left, 5 of 17 improved (29%).

Overall, 24 out of the 51 blogs we track im proved over last week (47%).

The Overall Standings:

Right Leaning Blogs:

Left Leaning Blogs:

I am not sure what Tom White will say but tomorrow night at 820 pm the Saints (my team) and the Colts (Tom’s team) will play.  I am sorry the Colts are not at full strength and frankly worried about the game.  The Saints SHOULD win but who knows!  May the best team win!