Virginia Right!

Baroness Warsi caused a minor row when she suggested that UKIP was trying to attract the same kind of voter as the racist British National Party:

Lady Warsi, on the BBC last night, pointed out that Ukip are fielding 14 per cent more candidates at this election than at the last one, while the BNP are fielding the same percentage fewer. She called this “interesting” and asked if there was a “link or an overlap” between the two. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s political editor, asked if she meant that there has been some sort of deal between the two. Here’s her quote in full:

What’s interesting about Ukip this year is that they are actually fielding something like 14 per cent more candidates this year than they did last time. But interestingly the British National Party are fielding exactly 14 per cent less candidates this time than they did last time. So whether there is some sort of link, an overlap, there.

This produced an unworthy, but thankfully quickly retracted and apologized for, tweet from a UKIP official (he called her a name the rhymed with “rich”).

This blog says that Lady Warsi’s statistical conclusions are not accurate!

• UPDATE and embarrassing climbdown: I’ve spoken to the Conservative Party press office, and it sounds like the worst that Baroness Warsi can be accused of is not knowing the difference between percentages and percentage points. In 2008, the BNP ran in 19.3 per cent of seats; in 2012, they ran in only 5.3, a drop of 14.0 percentage points (but 73 per cent). By contrast, Ukip ran in 14.4 per cent of seats in 2008, and in 28.7 per cent of seats in 2012, an increase of 14.3 percentage points (but 99 per cent). Obviously that doesn’t mean there is a link between the two parties, but the correlation she described is there.

But my observations are this:  UKIP has done the British nation a great service by running the BNP out of politics.  Now British voters have a libertarian, euroskeptic and non-racist alternative to the BNP.  Lady Warsi was trying the guilt by association tactic; that was not classy.  (Nor was it classy to tweet her that name that rhymes with “which” either!)  So, UKIP leaders, keep it classy!  But keep fighting!

But the very first comment at this blog I saw was this one by soysauce:

I actually find it rather endearing that a party spokesman just blurted out the truth, it’s not anything that the majority of us wouldn’t want to say to our politicians anyway, we all swear from time to time. in my opinion it’s exactly what we need, independent minded people telling it how it is, time to take all the focus groups, spin doctors and pr people outside and mow them down, start with a clean slate and build a parliament of decent, honest people with no party affiliations, just the common good at the centre of their hearts.
Right, I’m off to sign up to UKIP.

If I were a British citizen, I’d “sign up to UKIP”, too and be ready to go for every General Election, bag packed, purple ribbon and laptop in place, ready to go to wherever UKIP called me to run for MP.  I hope my efforts small as they are are helpful to the cause.  This is a fight for liberty and it’s throughout the world.  Ron Paul is one important part of it.  The Pirate Parties are also, slowly, hesitatingly but firmly heading toward liberty.  Wait until there’s a liberty party in Red China!  Men are created by God to be free, under His authority!  “…where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty”  [II Corinthians 3:17 (KJV)]

You have heard about the Ron-bots. Those fanatical, adoring Ron Paul fans who are so absorbed in all things Ron Paul that they push obsessive to new levels. They defend their guy no matter what. Ron Paul can do no wrong.

And if you ever watched anyone who was a perfectly normal person, perhaps a friend or family member, evolve into a Ron Paul fan – a Ron-bot, the transformation is nothing short of bewildering.

There is a lot to like about Paul, but the Paul-mania is something that leaves most people scratching their heads.

It’s an interesting phenomenon.

Lately, I have noticed the same behavior being exhibited by the supporters of Mitt Romney. Formerly rational people who used to be able rationally discuss politics on the right have suddenly become rabid, mouth-frothing supporters of the Mittster at a level previously reserved – in politics – for Ron Paul.

Call them Rom-bots.

At the first hint of a critical comment concerning Romney, these Rom-bots jump to his defense. Screaming, arguing and flailing about like zombies on crack.

Formerly rational human beings transformed into Rom-bots overnight.

I have heard a lot of people muse that they can see merit in Ron Paul and his policies, but are put off by the Ron-bots.

It seems that the Rom-bots have the same effect on people.

Once upon a time, when Reagan was ending a most successful Presidency, there was a political activist who had the itch for running for office.  This activist did not realize how sexy local government is and wanted to run for House of Delegates or state Senate.  Elwood Earl “Sandy” Sanders, Jr., was an attorney in private practice, single and very politically active.  This activist had managed (because nobody else wanted it) to become the Occoquan magisterial district chair of the GOP and watched the committee membership increase in two years from 18 to 35 members.  Sandy’s representative on the Prince William BOCS was the legendary Kathleen Seefeldt, who won many elections and was the power in PWC politics.  In the 1988 Democratic Presidential caucuses in Fairfax County, Supervisor Seefeldt actually received a vote for President!

In the early spring of 1989, I decided to run for the House of Delegates.  I had not expected to have a primary opponent.  Del. David Brickley (D) was the long time incumbent in the 51st district.  He was not a liberal, in fact Brickley was somewhat conservative in some areas.  He actually supported some sort of moment of silence law in the schools.  I had not met Del. Brickley prior to running against him.

I decided to run against Del. Brickley.  I first needed a campaign treasurer.  Greg Cebula was my treasurer for the sole reason that he was the most popular Republican in the Occoquan District by virtue of a nice showing against Kathleen Seefeldt in 1987 and I helped him tremendously.  I wanted all my stuff to say:  Authorized by Sandy Sanders for Delegate, Greg Cebula, Treasurer.  It was like having Greg as my running mate.  Some said this was my first mistake as Cebula had a mortal political enemy:  Michele McQuigg, who rose to have a wonderful political career as Occoquan Supervisor after Seefeldt went to be the first elected Chairman of the BOCS, was a member fo the House of Delegates and is now Clerk of the Court.  I have immense respect for McQuigg and maybe the critics were right.  We basically read her out of the party because she endorsed Seefeldt.

My platform was simple:  (Please be seated as you read this or injury may result)

CUT THE CAR TAX – I proposed a deduction in the personal property tax up to the average cost of a vehicle for each commuter in a family.

ABOLISH PAROLE – I proposed a substantial abolition of parole.

And you lost, Sandy?  Yes, I lost.  Now that you are being revived with smelling salts, it’s true:  Yes, I lost.  I know now – George Allen won in 1993 with the Parole Abolition and Jim Gilmore crushed his opponent in 1997 with Cut the Car Tax!   That should cure me of politics for ever.  But it didn’t.  I wonder if I was the Preston Tucker of politics.  Had a better car but couldn’t manufacture it!  Maybe blogging is safer…

In the spring of 1989, a law suit was wrapping up that I was involved in as counsel.  Five citizens from the Dumfries area were fighting a land development near the huge Montclair subdivision and decided to appeal the decision of the Board of Supervisors.  They approached me and I agreed to take the case.  I loved to tangle with the Establishment even then and I litigated a hearing to fight the BOCS decision.  We lost on the grounds that the five did not have standing to sue as they did not have an actual injury to their land or rights.  It was going up to the state supreme court when the developer sued the five, now called in the local press The Dumfries Five.

One night in March 1989, I was the guest of honor at a dinner and dancing event designed to raise money for the legal defense for the Dumfries Five, e.g, me!  (First and only time my legal fee was paid for by a public event!)  I was indeed there.  I had a date – one of the first dates I got as a result of my increased notoriety caused by the lawsuit and the campaign.  I had gotten my petitions in (with the help of an older couple in the committee who thought the world of me, a resident of a senior citizens’ community who collected signatures in her building, my parents and Greg Cebula) but discovered I had an opponent!  (I actually knew before the dinner but A political unknown who was two years younger than me – a paralegal named Larry Newsom.  He got first spot on the ballot as a result of him getting his petitions in earlier than I did.  I barely made it but they were in!  Newsom was married but no kids.

I got a call several days after the deadline, after we were both approved for the ballot, from a reporter for the local Woodbridge newspaper (The Potomac News) who asked me about Newsom’s complaint:  I was an unworthy candidate because I barely got my petitions in but he had had them in several weeks prior.  He was the best candidate.

I was stunned.  It was a silly complaint.  I had never heard of such a thing.  The only thing I could think to say was:  I invoke the Eleventh Commandment of my hero, Ronald Wilson Reagan – Thou shall not speak evil of a fellow Republican.  Nevertheless it was an interesting interview because I got to mention things I stood for:  No not the car tax or abolishing parole but three other aspects of my platform:  Divorce law reform (I called our long separation periods for divorce a “wheel that crushes women” unfair to women and the poor), better child support enforcement, and changing the first offender drug statute to stop giving offenders a free ride – maybe a misdemeanor instead of a felony after a probation period but not a complete dismissal.

Newsom discussed transportation and wanted to do such things as contraflow lanes to better manage traffic going into Fairfax or the nation’s capital.  On most things he was not studied on the issues and had simplistic answers.  He also regurgitated the right-wing talking points.  Then there was a story that got me on the front page of the Potomac News with the incumbent delegate:

“Brickley/Sanders Spar Over Sovereign Immunity”

Spar over WHAT?  Find out next post…more highlights:

African-American activists associated with the NAACP endorse a Republican for delegate?

Sandy speaks in a black church?

Who tore down whose signs where?

Who got flowers from a different young woman before his first political debate and a date afterwards?

Find out next blog post…

It has become quite common that one or more of the ranking sites decided to either go down completely or have major issues just when my software kicks off on Sunday mornings to gather the rankings for the (now) 51 Virginia blogs I track each week. And even when the sites all cooperate, it seems that one or more has decided to make a change to their web page where the rankings are posted.

Which means that it is a constant battle.

In order to allow for an occasional outage of a site, I have added  added Quantcast to the mix. I initially rejected them as there were not enough Virgina blogs listed to make them inclusive enough for ranking purposes.

But they have recently made a change and will begin adding more of the sites – so they say. As I do a lookup each week, the blogs will get noticed and the process of crawling the sites will begin.

We now have 5 ranking engines added to the weekly mix. I have decided to throw out the two worst scores and average the best 3 out of 5. Over time, this should begin to reach the point that most of the Virginia blogs can manage to be listed in at least 3 of the ranking sites. This allows those that are not ranked to avoid being assigned a ranking that would always be worse than any listed blog.

The key is to get your blog listed. This will not only help in these rankings, but will also drive more traffic to your blog. And this ranking is done strictly to promote Virginia Blogs.

The top 3 blogs are separated by only a few points. Bearing Drift is #1 overall with an average score of 88,203 with Vivian Paige “All Politics is Local” a close second with 88,721 and Virginia Right! has dropped to third place with an 89,780 average ranking.

Others moved up or down, some very little, others a good bit.

The rankings for last week, while unpublished, were accurate. So the rise and fall is measured with all 5 sites, tossing out the worst 2 for 2 weeks.

Here are the standings!

The Overall Standings:

Left Leaning Blogs:

Right Leaning Blogs:

Presidential Candidate Cong. Ron Paul came to Davenport (on the Mississippi River), IA and spoke to a packed crowd according to this report from the Paul campaign and the local TV station!

I would say momentum is moving toward Paul this week.  The debt was downgraded, terrible casualties in Afghanistan, and a sense that politics as usual is the cause of much of our woes.  Paul is not politics as usual.  He needs to be elected President.

Here are this week’s Virginia Political Blog Rankings.

One change you will note is the addition of a “Weekly Trend” column. This is a comparison of an individual blog’s trend from the previous week. It is only a measure of the blog’s rise or fall compared to itself. So, two blogs may very well switch places in the overall standing from a previous week even though both trended downward.

This was indeed the case this week as Blue Virginia rose to the number 5 spot replacing Shad Plank, while Shad Plank moved down to number 6. Both blogs were VERY close in rankings, and while both trended downward, Blue Virginia fell a bit less.

The intent of the trends column is to give the writer (or writers) of an individual blog some measure of feedback for the past week, and an idea if something they were doing was popular (or not so popular). And the obvious reason here is to improve the quality of Virginia’s blogs.

We also added a format that is easier to view.

Overall: 23 Blogs trended upward, 48 Blogs trended downward, and 3 were unchanged.

Righty Blogs: 18 Blogs trended upward and 32 trended downward, and 2 were unchanged.

Lefty Blogs: 5 trended upward, 16 trended downward, and 1 was unchanged.

Overall: 31% improved, 65% declined.

On the Right: 35% improved, 62% declined.

On the Left: 23% improved, 73% declined.

The two top blogs in the state, Vivian Paige’s #1 ranked left leaning blog All Politics is Local and the right leaning Bearing Drift opened a wider margin over the remaining Virginia Blogs, both trending upward this week. But Bearing Drift closed the gap a bit this week gaining 12% on the top ranked blog.

Congratulation to both for a good week.

As we collect more data, the trends will be expanded to monthly, quarterly, etc.

And here are the results (Note the Drop Down to display more than 10 on each table and the navigation arrows at the bottom):

All Virginia Blogs Ranked

[table "1" not found /]

Righty Blogs Ranked

[table "2" not found /]

Lefty Blogs Ranked

[table "3" not found /]

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Birds of a Feather Remember last week or the week before when it was being reported that Fidel said that the Cuban economy doesn’t work?  Well just like a leftist, he’s back pedalled from that position, since like all good leftists, lying is second nature.  Just ask Obama.  The Cuban economy is in shambles and leftist apologists are working to get sanctions removed before Fidel and his brother Raul have an unhappy encounter with the people they betrayed.  Fidel said what he said, but now disavows it as it is proving to be a bit uncomfortable for him.   Frank Calzon at the South Sentinel lays out the scene.  Cuba, once the largest sugar producer in the world, is now importing sugar for their own needs.   That is yet another symptom of the Cuban government’s command and control economy, something that the…

Visit link:
I didn’t say that the Cuban economy doesn’t work. As always, I’m just misunderstood.

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Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

This game captures the One’s vision of our nations transformation. From the website Narf TV

Go here to read the rest:
Obama’s America is Now a Board Game

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Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

  The Richmond Times Dispatch has outlined some of the crippling aspects of the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A doctors’ group in western Henrico County has made a decision it hoped to avoid. The doctors say their social devotion to helping their community’s most unfortunate residents has been trumped by dollars and sense. They have decided to stop participating in Medicaid, the health-care program for the needy funded by federal and state governments. Christine Talbot , practice administrator for Richmond Allergy and Asthma Specialists, recently met with the doctors. She told them: “I know philosophically you want to help, but basically, if you don’t pull out of Medicaid, you guys are going to be holding the bag, and they’re never going …

Read the rest here:
Nancy, We Are Finding Out What Is In It, and It Sucks

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Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

Someone sent this to me in an email and I don’t know the source, otherwise I’d provide attribution.  I like the idea, though.     FINALLY — A great  alternative to body scanners at airports . . .      The Israelis are  developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns  that come with full-body scanners at the airports. It’s a booth you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you. They see this as a win-win for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial.  Justice would be swift. Case closed!  You’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system . . .  “Attention standby passengers — we now have a seat available on flight number 990.”

Continue reading here:
New Invention from the Israelis for airport security

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Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

You.  202.224.6665 Ask why she hates her country.  Ask if the Democrats haven’t already done enough damage to this country and why MeerKowSkee would work on behalf of Harry Reid to add another Democrat to the Senate.  Ask why she disrespects the will of the people of Alaska. I went a bit further.  I told the staffer that although it is apparent that Murky doesn’t have any integrity, what about him and his integrity?  It doesn’t seem that he has any since he’s working for a woman that would rather add another Democrat to the Senate rather than surrender the job her daddy gave her. So, add her to the list of detestable pseudo-Conservatives like Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, and Charlie Crist. You might also tell the staffer that you’re donating to Joe Miller’s campaign .

Go here to read the rest:
Do you know who Lisa Murkowski needs to hear from?

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

I think I just found where a little chunk of the Stimulus money went.  I tallied up the campaign funds of the seats that the Obamacare Gang of 219 are trying to defend versus their opponents. Democrats:    $238,122,981 Republicans:    $72,562,610 That’s a more than 3 to 1 advantage. Now where would Democrats get a quarter of a billion dollars for these 219 races?  Money comes from Unions to politicians, and politicians give our tax dollars to Unions.  Of course, they’re too clever than to have a smoking quid pro quo, and they are all very devious and slippery, making sure these deals are impossible to trace, but that number is staggering.  That’s over $1,000,000 per seat, 12 of which are unopposed and some that might as well be. Thanks for getting the big money out of politics, Senators McCain and Feingold.

Read more here:
Even More on Obama’s Gang of 219

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

Texas radio host and Truther Alex Jones is nuts.  There’s just no other reasonable reaction to this recent clip of his radio show, in which he blames gayness on some bizarre government conspiracy.  Really .  Roll tape. Double reminder: Until being a Truther became a problem for her , GOP fringey candidate for gov Debra Medina was a welcome and frequent fellow traveler and guest on Alex Jones’ show .  For a whole lot of reasons, it’s good that the Texas primary was months ago, and that Medina lost. Note to the programming folks at KLBJ radio in Austin : Can’t you do better than Alex Jones?  Really?

View original post here:
Reminder: Alex Jones is nuts

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

This lady is pretty gutsy for having the courage to criticize the President to his face.  This Obama voter is tired of defending this President and his policies.  If only she had been paying attention to the warning signs PRIOR to voting. This is the kind of person who won’t necessarily flip to the other side of the aisle, but it’s good enough for her to stay home on election day. Incidentally, didn’t this woman get the great news?  The recession ended in June 2009 according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Happy Days are Here Again!

More here:
Buyer’s remorse

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

The day after the House of Representatives’ vote on Obamacare I captured information on the Gang of 219 that voted for it as well as their opposition.  That was back on March 23rd and it was as much therapy as scientific research, but I had convinced myself that it might prove useful in removing each and every one of these arrogant Congresscritters that had voted against the will of the people. I revisited my old spread sheet tonight now that the primaries are done.  The website Politics1 is an invaluable website for compiling such things, incidentally. It was dismaying on March 23rd that of those…

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Gang of 219 revisited

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

We’re now hearing that the incumbent Senator from Alaska, who lost to Joe Miller in the Republican primary is now considering a write-in campaign.  In order to be successful, it is vital that the voter spell her name exactly correctly, so as a service to the nation, DTN will follow the lead of Drew M. over at Ace of Spades and provide the proper spelling of her name. MERKOWSKEE Don’t forget to get it right on November 3rd.

The rest is here:
Public Service to Alaskans

The American Spectator ran an excellent piece on Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. They have captured the inspiring efforts of Cuccinelli to defend our constitution not just for Virginia but for all of America. The freedom of the American people and the creation of our country was due to the efforts Virginians like Madison, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason and others. The American people are fortunate that at this point in time another Virginian, Ken Cuccinelli, stands between the overreaching oppression of the federal government and them. Last Sunday, days before 20 other states went to federal court to oppose the new health reform law Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli – who had already …

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The People’s Attorney General

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

Over the last year or so, in between the brush wars of the 2009-2010 election cycle, I have kept an eye on the actions taken by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina… and I have been impressed. What I have witnessed over this period is a that Jim DeMint is an unapologetic, dyed in the wool, Ronald Reagan conservative, even when its inconvenient. He has done whats right, even in the face of opposition from his own party. He has supported, through his Senate Conservative Fund , and personnel endorsements a host of CONSERVATIVE candidates for the US Senate, including, Marco Rubio…

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I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING!! ITS THE SMELL OF VICTORY

Posted at Disrupt the Narrative –

Forbes magazine’s cover story “How Obama Thinks”  by Dinesh D’Souza offers a brilliant explanation of the inexplicable behavior our 44th President. The strange policies, bizarre actions and  general oddities have frustrated and befuddled Americans (both critics and supporters alike). D’Souza identifies the president’s Father and his anticolonial dream as the impetus for all that Obama does. The author is from India and his perspective and insight into the Asian and African idea of anticolonialism. Here is his description Anticolonialism is the doctrine that rich countries of the West got rich by invading, occupying and looting poor countries of Asia, Africa and South America. As one of Obama’s acknowledged intellectual influences, Frantz Fanon, wrote in The Wretched of the Earth , “The well-being and progress of Europe have been built up with the sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians…

The rest is here:
A Review of the Forbes Cover Story – “How Obama Thinks”