October 2007 Archives

In an amusing little story in the Washington Post about why the Jews are more intelligent than the rest of us, there was this little tidbit:

Entine flashed a slide titled "Smart Jews" and another announcing "Mozart and Einstein IQ>160. What about yours?"

Wasn't Mozart Catholic?

Ah, all is right with the world.

After weeks of wondering when quarterback Tony Romo will get a new deal, the wondering can cease.

Romo and the Cowboys have agreed in principal on a six-year extension worth $67.5 million, which includes just north of $30 million guaranteed, league sources told FOXSports.com.

[My opinion: Heh. To the extent anyone pays attention to this story, it is ultimately going to work to Greg Ahlemann's favor. Dismissing tickets is a widespread practice, and Mr. Ahlemann inadvertantly, by simply telling the truth, caused his opponents for the sheriff's seat to take untenable knee-jerk public positions which anyone familiar with the workings of law enforcement will immediately recognize as BS. Mr. Ahlemann apparently did a fine job making his case more clearly on all of the local television news outlets this afternoon. This is the type of story that is only effective if it does not have the opportunity to percolate in public consciousness. Once people begin to think about it, they realize the guy telling the truth is on the much more solid ground. The Post sprang it a week too early.]

[Mr. Ahlemann also stated today: "Any voters who don't want to hear their Sheriff telling the truth shouldn't vote for me."]

Yesterday's attempted October surprise on Loudoun County Sheriff Candidate Greg Ahlemann by reporter Bill Brubaker of the local "we try harder" publication has, unsurprisingly, turned into another signature boomerang piece by the Washington Post.

Discerning readers might have gathered from the original story that the contention of supposedly "experienced" Loudoun sheriff candidates Mike George and Steve Simpson that they never dropped tickets or asked for them to be dismissed does not quite ring true. As two officers interviewed in the story stated, it is a common practice. How could Mr. Simpson and Mr. George, with such long service records, have avoided the practice?

Former Loudoun County sheriff's deputy Dave Price (2001-2006) has an explanation: "Total hogwash."

"Dropping tickets" is, according to Mr. Price, "very commonplace."

Regarding the Washington Post reports of the statements by both candidates Mr. Simpson and Mr. George, Mr. Price said any law enforcement officers "read that, they know he's either straighter than any straight arrow they've ever known - or else he's lying."

Mr. Price said his father, a police officer for over three decades, confirmed he "did not know of any that haven't taken a call" to drop tickets.

Mr. Price recalled an incident in which he ticketed a teenage girl for speeding. Soon afterwards, a Fairfax County Police Department lieutenant asked Mr. Price to dismiss the ticket because the girl was on the local softball team. Mr. Price complied - which he said is the practice nearly all the time.

Another incident precipitated Mr. Price's resignation from the Sheriff's Office, about three weeks before he left.

On that day in 2006, Mr. Price was manning radar on River Creek Parkway in Landsdowne, where residents had been complaining of frequent speeders in the 35 mile an hour zone. He clocked a vehicle traveling at 55-60 miles per hour, and proceeded to pull it over. The driver became "belligerent with me, cursing me up and down," Mr. Price relates.

"He would not calm down. Finally his friend in the passenger seat told him to 'shut up, let's just go to court.'"

After writing the ticket, as he drove away, Mr. Price got a message from Sheriff Steve Simpson asking him to call Mr. Simpson's personal cell phone number. According to Mr. Price, Mr. Simpson asked him to drop the ticket, saying "The guy is some building contractor the county is trying to schmooze to get some building built. He said you were very professional with him. He has had lots of tickets and is worried that his insurance will go up. Would you mind getting rid of the ticket?"

Mr. Price agreed to drop the ticket and reports this is when he begain looking for another job.

The Post's Mr. Brubaker elected to just now release a story that would have been breaking news in January of this year.

At that time, former deputy and candidate for sheriff Greg Ahlemann issued a press release detailing an incident that took place in September, 2006, when Lt. Colonel Randy Badura pressured a deputy to agree to drop charges against Bruce Zurschmeide, who the deputy had charged with the triple misdemeanors of DUI, refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test and attempting to elude police. The deputy was asked to agree to the charges, which might have resulted in a sentence of year in prison, being dropped to a petty "drunk in public" which only carries a $50 fine.

Sheriff Simpson reportedly backed Mr. Badura in seeking the reduced charges.

Mr. Ahlemann took an interest in the incident as symptomatic of corruption which was hurting morale within the Sheriff's Office. He proceeded to investigate the details, some of which were divulged in the press release.

He was interviewed by Mr. Brubaker months before he won the nomination.

The Post reporter elected to sit on the story until this past Friday, October 26, when he called Mr. Ahlemann with some follow up questions.

Today, Mr. Ahlemann released to the media some background data which adds a layer of important information to the story. First is an audio recording of Mr. Ahlemann's interview with an internal affairs investigator.

The interview is worth listening to a couple times through, because it demonstrates the IA investigator is not investigating at all, but is in fact attempting to fix the story of what happened to match what would be in Mr. Badura's and Mr. Simpson's best interests. The investigator attempts to ascertain from Mr. Ahlemann that Mr. Ahlemann has not let out any information that would be damaging to the department.

Another interesting note is that the Zurschmeide family now appears to be actively promoting the false idea that the arrest of Bruce Zurschmeide was invalid (the IA interview above affirms the "arrests were good," putting the lie to the Zurschmeides' contention). A recent e-mail circulated from a member of the family argued:

Last Fall my brother was erroneously arrested on his own property by the current Sheriff's department for a DUI. After investigation, the Commonwealth Attorney reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

In an effort to support his platform, Mr. Ahlemann claims and recently reported in the October 28th issue of the Washington Post that my brother received special treatment "by a high-ranking sheriff's official". The truth is that the arrest took place on private property and after an unsolicited investigation, the Commonwealth Attorney decided to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor. My brother does not have a relationship with any high-ranking official from the Sheriff’s office, nor has he ever met Sheriff Steve Simpson. At no time did Ahlemann bother to speak to the arresting officer or to my brother about the facts of the arrest. Instead he chooses to falsely cite this incident as a platform for change.

The data - in particular the IA interview - accompanying this post, clearly shows the Zurschmeide family should have let this story die.

Regular, non-connected residents of Loudoun County know that for similar behavior they would be behind bars.

So while the Post's front page story attempted to paint Mr. Ahlemann as engaging in unusual practices, the truth of the matter strongly appears to be that Mr. Ahlemann is the only one telling the truth. Mr. Simpson - by advocating for lessening charges that would have any normal citizen facing extended time in detention - has some explaining to do in the case of Mr. Zurschmeide.

As the former deputy Mr. Price noted about Mr. Ahlemann, this entire story should "put Greg up higher because he's actually being honest about it. What's the point of lying about it?"

Supporting the original press release from Mr. Ahlemann, below the fold are copies of the original complaints in the Zurschmeide case filed by the arresting officers.

This story from the FRONT PAGE of yesterday's Post - along with the Loudoun Times-Mirror, certainly among the area's foremost political advocacy organizations - deserves thoughtful comment which I unfortunately am not yet in a position to provide.

(Day jobs are a killer, and this is one of the periodic weeks when I can't break away to do a lot of "free" work such as this blog surely can be.)

But I will try and get to it late tonight.

Just on the facts contained in the article it should have raised eyebrows among careful readers about what exactly the reporter, Brubaker, or his editors were trying to accomplish. It should also raise SERIOUS questions about why anyone would trust either of the old guys running for this office. More later ....

In the meantime, below the fold is a response from the Greg Ahlemann camp.

The Centreville Citizens Coalition is a brand new civic group formed to address the illegal alien problem in that area, which has become especially notorious at the library - a de facto day labor center for illegal workers. Please contact the Coalition if you are concerned and want to find like-minded people committed to solving such problems.

Referred by Blog Fu.

Mukit Hossain, Gerry Connolly and Mahdi Bray speak about illegal immigration at a Muslim political event in Reston in August, 2007.

Actually, they don't really talk about illegal immigration, but rather they invoke fearful straw men and proceed to condemn them: Opposition to illegal immigration is "intolerance;" anybody who is not "white" will be "profiled" and "targeted"; it's "open season" on EVERYBODY.

Not the most helpful messages, to be sure. But they are worth listening to to get an idea why there is so much confusion about an issue that, at its core, is relatively simple. Luckily, most legal residents of Virginia are now far beyond being susceptible to this sort of rhetoric.

Over 50 politicians from across the political spectrum spoke before the Muslim audience. Most of the speeches were fairly tame and uncontroversial. Senate Candidate Patricia Phillips was one of the few who stated clearly her position on the rule of law with respect to illegal immigration.

Patricia actually may have been the ONLY candidate who spoke in favor of immigration enforcement - I have not had a chance to review my notes. But I do recall an attendee whispered to me "man, this woman has more stones than most of the guy-politicians here."

Here is the link to hear Patricia's address:

I'm not sure what to think of the result of this meeting. I've struggled with the idea of whether I could vote for Rudy Giuliani for President if he wins the nomination, but with my boy Fred Thompson and the rest of the supporting cast failing to catch Rudy at this point, this thought process moves further into my everyday contemplation.

This comment by Luis Kuhelj is one that I think deserves more prominence than buried at the end of a long string of comments, so I'm posting it here ... you may wonder why. I believe what he states is that those that found Mr. Watson's comments as bigoted made an implicitly bigoted slime against those that are less intelligent.

Louis Kuhelj said:

The outcry of those who are against the statement made by Dr. Watson clearly show how little value they place on a human being. Since when has the intelligence or the lack thereof been the sole determination of value of a human being or a particular racial group? It seems to me that even if he is right, it in no way diminishes the value of both the black community and the individuals comprising it anywhere in the world. They are as valuable as any white counterpart because we are all made in the image of Him who created us.

What is not to like about this man?

Eugene Delgaudio, Sterling District Supervisor, has stood by the legal residents of Loudoun County and is one of our few advocates for immigration enforcement on the Board of Supervisors. He stood by the residents of Herndon during the 2005 imbroglio over the day labor center and ensuing, mildly resonant 2006 elections.

He is the hardest working supervisor in Loudoun County, overseeing the Sterling District from dawn till dusk till dawn. The many residents on his e-mail list get constant updates on everything from crimes, to emergency situations, to store openings, to volunteer opportunities.

He is, frankly, beloved by the Sterling residents. Countless residents have saved his letters of congratulations and thanks - for making the honor roll, or for displaying the American flag. They know that nobody else, not even as nice a lady as Jeanne West, would cheerfully put in the time and energy that Eugene Delgaudio contributes day after day, year in and year out, advocating for this district. He has a personal connection with so many members of the Sterling community and the residents of Loudoun County.

He personally championed the immigration enforcement resolution the Loudoun Supervisors eventually approved unanimously in July - at a time when the media were excoriating any politician who dared to breathe a word about local immigration enforcement.

Small wonder all of Eugene Delgaudio's public events draw huge audiences.

Some people disapprove of his irreverent style: Oh yes, he appears to enjoy his job too much - that I will grant. But in the effort to bring a common sense approach to local government it sometimes becomes necessary to laugh certain things off. Or rather, to laugh a LOT of things off - and this is a way he particularly connects with his constituents. We all know the way the government uses our tax dollars is often ridiculous. It is refreshing to have a Supervisor such as Eugene Delgaudio who is not afraid to say when that is the case.

Our newly emancipated friend Laura stopped in with an interesting comment in this thread, which began as follows:

I know for a fact that the last two times I hired American stonemasons neither one lasted more than a week. The first showed up at 10 am for two days, then he asked me for an advance to help him buy a car because his was broken down. Fired!

The second was an awesome stonemason but he worked a week and then ended up in jail for domestic assault. Fired!

No other Americans have applied for the job.

To which I made the following reply:

Laura, you are a hard one to decipher. Substitute any another nationality for "American" above and you have the precise formulation to get yourself publicly excoriated if not thrown in jail. In fact, I have a studiedly politically incorrect friend who just the other day made a similar observation regarding the quality of plumbing work performed by persons who might have been patrons of your former organization. But I am old school that way, and I have absolutely no problem with either my friend's generalization or yours. Because sometimes stating the truth is politically incorrect, I lean towards the truth anyway.

I am sure you would gladly allow similar blanket observations with regard to Mexicans, for instance.

And if I read you correctly, you are making the exact same type of argument guys in contracting and other trades make regarding their competitors who hire illegally.

So you seem to be a kindred spirit with some people on the "other side" of the debate from you, - except your proposed solution to illegal immigration is to simply apply a semantic trick: change the world "illegal" to "legal" for all those who have cut in line? ("comprehensive immigration reform")

You must have gotten to know SOME people who are following the legal pathway to U.S. citizenship or employment status, right? Do you honestly think it's fair to allow people who break the rules to be simply given the privileges that others have to work for? Because comprehensive immigration reform, in every form it's been proposed so far, makes those who follow the rules look like chumps.

And here is a good question that Jack used to trip Zimzo up with back in the day: Do you believe the U.S. has the right to set any limits whatsoever on how many people come into the country? If so, take the limit, the line of demarcation you consider fair - how many people are allowed in - and tell me: What do YOU say to the next million people trying to get in? What do YOU say if they just sneak in?

I would love to hear your thoughts on that question.

Help Save Loudoun is pleased to present Starletta Hairston, former councilwoman of Beaufort County, South Carolina, and Rich Kelsey, a local attorney, author and expert on illegal immigration who has been following the issue since 1994.

October 25, 2007, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Founders Hall, Ashburn Volunteer Fire Rescue Department
20688 Ashburn Road
Ashburn, VA 20147

The overall topic will be "Illegal Hiring and Illegal Migration" - how to address the root cause of illegal immigration into the U.S.

Ms. Hairston will discuss the evolution of Beaufort County's Lawful Employment Ordinance, one of the very few examples of local legislation aimed at immigration enforcement that has a) been passed, and b) avoided successful legal challenge. Help Save Loudoun has encouraged the Loudoun County Board to pass a similar measure (and has urged our lawmakers in Richmond to pass enabling legislation if needed).

Mr. Kelsey will discuss several topics, including the legal and legislative ramifications of local and state level immigration enforcement.

There will be ample time for audience question and answers. Often this is the most valuable portion of the program, where audience members can gain a great deal of information in a short period of time.

For example, some people, such as our good friend Zimzo, argue that the damage caused by illegal hiring is a myth, and that no American worker or American business owner has ever been damaged by companies hiring unauthorized workers. Others disagree with Zimzo. Who is correct? Come to the meeting and find out.

....On second thought, don't come to the meeting to find THAT out because I can tell you right now, Zimzo is dead wrong and everyone who has not been DEAD for the past five years should know it.

The only one who gets to make that absurd statement is Zimzo, and the only reason I would permit him to show up and make it is because I would have a bucket of water ready to pour over his head.

But feel free to show up and ask any other types of questions.

(Just kidding. We allow ANY questions and never even bring a bucket to these meetings.)

The Fairfax Times has endorsed the right honorable state senator from Fairfax, Ken Cuccinelli or, as I like to call him, "The Man." Even the Washington Post refused to make an endorsement in this race and called Ken, "a highly intelligent and capable Republican."

The fact that a liberal editorial board can honestly say that they have to overlook how much they dislike conservatives and endorse a smart conservative like Ken Cuccinelli doesn't just say a lot about how terrible Janet's campaign has been, but it also says a lot about how much Cuccinelli deserves another term.

This blogger intends to head out to Cuccinelli headquarters and volunteer during the 72 hour program just before Nov. 6, and you should too. I say we build a firewall around Ken's district in NoVA so that we can hold onto the state senate.

Cuccinelli in 37th District

The 37th Senate District seems to be a moderate, swing district – not an ideal home base for a hardcore conservative like Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R). There are a number of things in his tenure that we find problematic – particularly his lack of support for transportation funding in the 2006 special session and his "no" vote on the governor's amended transportation bill this year – however, his opponent has given us no reason to support her.

Democrat Janet Oleszek, a school board member, had essentially nothing to offer The Times' editorial board in the way of specific ideas for the state's future. Similar to her performance in public debates, she answered questions about specific proposals with generalities. We feel it would be irresponsible to back such a weak candidate.

Cuccinelli, on the other hand, knows state issues inside and out. While we may not agree with him on a number of topics, there is no doubt as to where he stands. And, on occasion, he will go against his party on issues he feels strongly about.

He also listed a number of interesting, specific proposals for mental health reforms in the state, sure to be a top issue next year as the General Assembly tries to address the problems highlighted by the shootings at Virginia Tech earlier this year.

The 37th Senate District includes Centreville, Burke, Fairfax and parts of Springfield.

Although the vote was an extremely positive result, here are the ugly details about how some prominent senators voted. Notably, the top Democratic candidates for president, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, once again demonstrated their pro-amnesty position.

Also, we saw some key Republican defections. A friend writes the following:

Senator Sam Brownback - a lost cause

Barely days after dropping out of the presidential race Senator Sam Brownback showed his true colors and voted AYE for the Amnesty. He never fooled many of us. Hopefully from this day on no one else will be fooled by this open borders/amnesty advocate. This duplicitous Senator should simply be ignored from now on. He is not to be trusted.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison - needs severe chastising

Senator Kay Baily Hutchison voted AYE as well - on this AMNESTY bill that had NO enforcement provisions whatsoever. Even the very flawed so called "comprehensive amnesty bill" defeated this past summer had some enforcement provisions. This bill had none. Senator Hutchison showed that she cares more about illegal aliens than she does about her own constituents and the law abiding citizens of the United States. Senator Hutchison is not however a lost cause. She does however, need to be reminded who voted for her and whom she is supposed to serve. She needs severe chastising by the people of Texas.

The Nightmare Act has failed a cloture vote, 52-44!

Maybe the death of the Republican Party will produce a birth of freedom in another country. I guess only time will tell.

Harry Reid is trying to push through the "DREAM" act in S 2205 while he thinks no one is looking.

This is a bad, bad bill. See the reasons below. Main reason, it is a front-door amnesty which will lead to immediate reward for illegal behavior while millions are waiting in line to enter the U.S. legally! It is an outrage. Because of chain migration it will result in a new flood of under-educated and unskilled immigrants when social services at every level of government are unable to provide adequate benefits to existing citizens.

We just received word that a group of U.S. senators' staffers are right now in a meeting with a contingent of illegal aliens pleading their case.

We also heard that the phone calls are largely against the "DREAM" act. Let's keep that momentum going!

CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW: Ask them to commit to voting "no" on cloture tomorrow on S 2205 in order to keep it from coming up for a vote in the full Senate.

DC Office of Senator John Warner
Washington, DC
202-224-2023

Midlothian Office of Sen. John Warner
Midlothian, VA
804-739-0247

D.C. Office of Sen. James Webb
Washington, DC
202-224-4024

Virginia Beach Office of Sen. James Webb
Virginia Beach, VA
757-518-1674

If you are in another state find your senator's contact info by clicking here.

Highlights:

• S. 2205 would do what all amnesties do -- entice millions more people to become illegal aliens here. The word across the world would be that immigration crime pays.
• The DREAM Act amnesty doesn't just offer U.S. citizenship to illegal alien teenagers, it also provides amnesty to the parents of most of them. Once the amnestied teens become citizens they can obtain an amnesty for their parents.
• Plus, anybody who can claim to be under the age of 30 can also make a claim to have arrived before the age of 16 and make a move for the amnesty (plus all of their relaties through chain migration).
• S. 2205 provides for no extra enforcement to help ensure that families around the world don't risk their teenagers' lives by forcing them to enter the U.S. illegally across the deserts. Passage of this amnesty likely would increase deaths of illegal aliens in the desert as more and more people attempt to get into the country in preparation for the next amnesty.
• Many of the advocacy groups pushing the DREAM Act amnesty openly say it is intended as a way to break the barrier and then to push for several more amnesties and rewards for illegal aliens.
• Many of these teenagers weren't brought to the United States illegally by their parents. Rather, many of them came on their own and found illegal shelter with legal immigrants who were from their country. Passing this amnesty will encourage millions more families to consider forcing their young teenagers into dangerous journeys to America to become illegal aliens and hope to get similar rewards.
• If there is a compelling story for giving amnesty to any of these high school students, it should be told only after the rule of law has been restored, including a fully functioning entry/exit system at the border and mandatory verification of all new hires by all businesses, governments and non-profits.

More background info here and here.

The Washington Post, god bless 'em, has this marvelous knack for unintentionally putting the dime on people it actually intends to cast in a hagiographical light.

You may recall the priceless case last year when the Post relayed the purportedly heart-warming, inspiring tale of an illegal-alien-boarding-house magnate named Jorge Morales.

Now we have this story, about which it's hard to know where to begin. I encourage everyone to go read it. Here is a highlight:

But a slowdown in the construction industry has forced Ventura to cut his workforce to 15 people. Meanwhile, his plan to buy a new house and offset some of the mortgage by renting some of the rooms backfired after county residents called for a crackdown on overcrowding.

I mean, the nerve of those county residents...

This is exactly why we need to ramp up the crackdown at the local level. As many legal residents suspect, there are people who have no intention of following the current rules for what you can and can't do in a neighborhood. Therefore, we need to add more and more teeth to the regulations until they have the desired effect of forcing acceptance of the rule that you are NOT ALLOWED to run boarding houses in our neighborhoods.

The Loudoun County supervisors REALLY should have gotten some ordinances passed this month.

The whole point is to send the message that this is not the place to be if you are here illegally or hiring illegally. It is as simple as that. The "foot dragging five" (those not endorsed by HSL-PAC) caused this board to miss a great opportunity to follow Prince William County's lead.

As all of our regular visitors know, few institutions are more effective at ticking me off than the Republican Party. So now get this:

I just heard a report that, this week, Mark Albright - the Republican candidate for the Blue Ridge supervisor seat - was seen by the side of the road picking up Greg Ahlemann signs and throwing them into the back of his truck!

While I don't have hard evidence the actions took place, I do know that Albright held an event several weeks ago, and invited Steve Simpson and introduced him to the audience. No big deal - except he had not invited Greg Ahlemann (Ahlemann go wind of it and showed up).

So putting these reports together, I tend to give some credence to the report of Albright stealing the signs.

Which means apparently now we have another guy, in addition to those already outed, who signed a pledge to support the Republican ticket and instead is actively opposing the Republican nominee for Sheriff.

As discussed here previously, the local party has within it a questionable contingent which seems intent on driving a wedge between itself and some fairly conservative, politically active people, who have absolutely no personal loyalty to any of the prominent individuals within that faction. It will be interesting to see what sort of effect this behavior has on the party following the election.

Or before the election, for that matter.

The Washington Times Washington Post reports that the Prince William County laws against illegal immigrants is having the desired effect. Illegal immigrants are "self-deporting," and moving to jurisdictions that cater to them, such as Maryland.

[In case you think you've accidentally stumbled onto some sort of frilly women's blog, you have have not; you are in the right place. As a public service to my wife's blog, which is experiencing technical difficulties, I am publishing a recent post of hers here to ensure the cause gets adequate public attention and to allow her to point to the images from her blog until it is fixed. WARNING: This post contains no vitriol, sarcasm, personality destruction or raucus hoo-hawism such as our readers have come to expect here, and therefore I will not be held responsible if you become dizzy and fall off your chair while reading it. If you find you enjoy this sort of thing, please remember there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I encourage you to spend more time at my wife's blog which, at the end of the day, is probably doing the world much more good than this one.]

First, the snowflake:

Check out the front:

And the back:

Next, the bio:

Matthew Cordell is an illustrator of children's literature, newspapers, magazines, and many things in between. Though he spent most of his life in small town South Carolina, in 1999 he migrated midwest to set up shop in Chicago. It was there that he met his soon-to-be bride, his passion for children's books and deep-dish pizza.

Matthew's children's books include: Toby and the Snowflakes, Righty and Lefty, and The Moon is La Luna. Currently he is working hard on forthcoming picture books with Candlewick and Feiwel and Friends. Matthew now lives in the burbs of Chicago with his exceptional wife, picture book author and YA novelist Julie Halpern, and their squeezably soft Siamese cat, Tobin.

And, the self-portrait:

Julie Halpern and Matthew Cordell (as illustrated by Matthew):

Now, onto the Q&A:

Warrenton - - In a candidate forum hosted by the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce [last week], Karen Schultz informed the audience she supports "broad-based tax incentives as well as direct support for new tolls and hot lines [sic]," when responding to a question regarding what she would support changing in transportation legislation.

Schultz's comments on raising toll fees come during a time when the owner of the Greenway Toll Road is under scrutiny for financial records showing the State Corporation Commission (SCC) relied on a flawed analysis of the financial profits for the toll road's private owner, raising toll fees 60%. Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell has agreed to launch a review of the financial records of the Macquarie Infrastructure Group and its affiliates, the Australian based operator of the Greenway as those records relate to the SCC approval.

"I am shocked and disappointed to hear Karen Schultz supports toll hikes at a time when the owners of the Greenway are already gouging Virginians," said campaign spokesman Mike Spellings. "Citizens should be able to trust their representatives to know the issues and to protect them from these kinds of excessive fees and shoddy oversight, not enable it."

"Northern Virginia is the economic engine of the state," stated Vogel. "Our families, businesses and students rely on affordable transportation to survive. Our drivers should not be forced off Virginia's highways because they cannot afford the high toll cost. The impact of the new Greenway toll, approaching $5 a trip, will force many drivers off that highway and onto to other roads that are already over capacity, making congestion worse. Regular families need a representative who understands the issue and whose response to everything is not to raise taxes or raise tolls."

Vogel is a nationally recognized attorney and native Virginian. She has twice served as a Trustee of the Board of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, appointed in 1999 by the Governor. Vogel is a member of the Board of Trustees of Massanutten Military Academy and Co-Chair of the capital campaign for the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum. She resides in Fauquier County with her husband and children.

Help Save Loudoun PAC candidate endorsements for the November 6, 2007 elections have been announced.

Loudoun County Sheriff: Greg Ahlemann
Senate, 37th District: Ken Cuccinelli
Senate, 33rd District: Patricia Phillips
Senate, 27th District: Jill Holtzman-Vogel
Delegate, 86th District: Tom Rust
Delegate, 13th District: Bob Marshall
Delegate, 50th District: Jackson Miller
Delegate, 52nd District: Jeff Frederick
Broad Run Supervisor: Lori Waters
Sterling Supervisor: Eugene Delgaudio
Sugarland Run Supervisor: Mick Staton
Leesburg Supervisor: Jim Clem
Catoctin Supervisor: Geary Higgins

Review the details by clicking here.

Illegal immigration this time

h/t: BVBL

While no fan of the Davis machine (referring to Congressman Tom Davis and his wife the state senator), I do enjoy seeing our party catching up to the Dems in the funny video department. So in line with my post from the other day and the fact that I'm too busy today again to blog substantively, here's another funny video about Democrats posing as moderates.

h/t: Mason Conservative

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the State Department to close the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax.

The commission does not specifically criticize the school's teaching materials; it said Saudi officials would not make them available. But it said it is concerned about the textbooks used in the school because those used by schools in Saudi Arabia promote violence against Christians, Jews, Shias and polytheists.

What astounding hypocrisy. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom wants a school shut down for exercising its religious freedom.

Disclaimer: I interviewed for a teaching position at ISA some 16 years ago. Despite my obvious "Caucasianness," I never felt unwelcome during the interview, and was even given a campus tour while classes were in session.

Despite that pleasant experience, I do not know whether ISA is promoting violence, nor do I care. Their religious freedom extends even that far.

I realize that many on the left think that religion should not even be allowed to offend anyone, much less promote violence, but religious freedom must extend to even the most vile ideas, because they are only ideas. Ideas should be combated in the open with other, better ideas, not with censorship.

When the ideas become plans to commit violence, then there is a problem.

We've addressed this matter innumerable times since March, but as the election approaches and the next General Assembly as well, it seems worthwhile to post some reminders.

Twelve House bills dealing with illegal immigration, most of which passed by overwhelming - if not veto-proof - majorities in the General Assembly, were killed in Senate committees this past session.

If you want to research bills yourself, you can of course go to the GA Web Site and type in the bill number or search by representative.

To save you a little time, here are some research aids produced by friends at ANCIR and Help Save Herndon:

Some good bills which died in Senate committees.

Details on some of the bills.

This is why a number of us were saying, after the session had ended, that this Senate needs to be burned down and replaced. It looks like we did not succeed in getting rid of Ken Stolle - but who knows, maybe he has seen the light. It certainly means we need to dump some career politician types and replace them with people committed to implementing immigration enforcement measures in our state.

More to come.

Normally, I would have just left this as a comment (here).
As setup, the discussion was about illegal immigration, but something touching on education (Laura had mentioned teaching and pay; I don't know if she knew I am a teacher, but I felt a couple of things about teaching were worth mentioning.)
Joe thought it worthy of posting as an entry and asked I do so. Here it is:

Laura,

I do apply that same rubric to all labor. What is really difficult is when companies can outsource the labor to a different country (for example, software) which allows lower wages to be used, it is very difficult for those in that industry to compete. Doing the same with other industries would also mean that meaningful wages would have to be paid, but not as long as illegal immigrants are filling the positions.
Now something that will probably take you back a little. I think illegal immigration should be fought at every level of government, but as I teacher, I sometimes know when a student is in the class as a child of a legal immigrant, and when they are in the class as a child of an illegal immigrant -- and I am bound not to reveal that information by privacy in education laws. I've also worked in a district that was nearly pure naturalized citizens -- people that have lived in the country, who's parents lived here, and grandparents lived here (sometimes for many generations). Guess which district has more respectful children: Loudoun -- by far. People that are immigrants (legal or otherwise) have seen first hand how good the education is here for their children, and they demand respect of those that teach. Go somewhere that the parents have always seen good education, and there isn't necessarily the same level of respect.
That said, I still believe the laws should be enforced.

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
are the rule

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries, then
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass

Tax all he has
then let him know
that you won't be done
till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers,
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
he's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid.

Put these words
upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove me
to my doom..."

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
It's time to apply
The inheritance tax.

A must see!

79-year-old Nobel Prize winner James Watson, who received the award for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has a tenancy to dip his toes into very troubled waters. In his most recent book, he has remarked that, "There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so."

Dr Watson told The Sunday Times that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really". He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

What if Watson is right, and the genes responsible for differences in human intelligence are found?

A little trip down memory lane, back to June 9, 2007:

Mr. Ahlemann got quite the ovation from the Loudoun County Republican Committee Convention, that is for sure.

If you want to hear his earlier speech at the Convention, which evoked an even more thunderous response because there were triple the number of people in the room (and left Steve Simpson visibly shaken), click here to hear it - scroll down to the Hipcast media player bar.

PLEASE posted an interesting comment right before the blog went down. (On Sep 29, 2007, PLEASE commented on Go Maryland!!!) I liked it, I did not agree with a lot of it, but I did like it. PLEASE’s theology has an interesting ideological streak as the bold statement below demonstrates:

"love, is 100% Liberal."

Such a statement causes me to ask for someone to explain the entire nutroots movement, the black panthers, the SLF, the ELF etc.

I am sure PLEASE was and is thinking about M.L. King. King was about love, but there is a whole set of baggage that comes with him. One cannot, though PLEASE would like to, divorce King from the SLF, ELF and moveOn.org. Since the left is stuck with all of these groups of self identified liberals the above statement does not hold water. Furthermore, since the nutroots make up a huge block of the liberal party, I think it safer to say that today liberalism is in a dark and angry place.

As much as I hate to copy and paste from the Washington Post, they've got it right about Jill Vogel (other than throwing the word moderate at her...Jill is conservative to the bone).

For the Virginia Senate Control of the upper house is in the balance, and some key races are in Northern Virginia. Monday, October 15, 2007; Page A14

AFTER A DECADE of Republican control, the Virginia Senate is up for grabs this year in a state that has tilted Democratic in several recent elections. With all 40 Senate seats (and much else) on the ballot Nov. 6, several of the key races are in Northern Virginia, whose political muscle in the General Assembly has not kept pace with its economic weight and exploding population. It's vital that the region field a strong legislative delegation for the coming battles in Richmond over transportation and education funding, illegal immigration, deficit-cutting, and more. The Post's endorsements in contested Senate races appear below in bold type.

District 27 : In this open-seat race, we support Republican Jill Holtzman Vogel, [emphasis added] a lawyer who made her name as counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaign during the Florida recount of 2000, as chief counsel to the Republican National Committee and as a political appointee in the federal Energy Department. She's also been heavily involved in state and local affairs, which has given her a solid grounding in the issues facing her largely rural district, comprising parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties and points west. Articulate, fast on her feet and pragmatic, she is the sort of moderate Republican that has become scarce in Richmond. Her opponent, Democrat Karen Schultz, is a respected, hardworking educator, school board member and community leader but lacks Mrs. Vogel's spark and command of state issues. [emphasis once again added-Singleton]

How rich. Employers of illegal aliens attempt to convince business reporters that they cannot function without the cheap labor.

We have heard this sob story before: Work will not get done and, oh my, fruit will rot on the vines. This Post reporter, at least, attempts to answer the obvious questions.

Local and state enforcement of hiring laws causes illegal aliens to leave and legal workers to earn better wages:

"They will not stay here if they know they will get no taxpayer subsidy, and they will not stay here if they know if they ever come into contact with one of our fine law enforcement officers, they will stay in custody until they are physically deported."

Hispanic business groups, citing school enrollment losses and church parish figures, say the laws, which start going into effect later this year, have caused as many as 25,000 undocumented workers to flee the state in recent months. The loss is being decried by the Oklahoma State Home Builders Association.

"In major metro areas we are seeing people leave based on the perception that things are going to get bad for them and that this state doesn't want them here," said Mike Means, executive vice president of the association. "Now we're looking at a labor shortage. I've got builders who are being forced to slow down jobs because they don't have the crews. And it's not like these people are going back to Mexico. They're going to Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, anywhere where the laws aren't against them."

Means said that while construction wages haven't yet gone up in Oklahoma, they are likely to do so if the shortage worsens. Advocates of such laws say that is precisely how strict regulations on illegal immigration can help American workers -- by forcing wages higher. But construction industry leaders counter that a wage increase in Oklahoma, where builders are already paying $15 to $20 an hour for labor in a state with low unemployment, would lead to a net loss of jobs as some businesses are forced to close, particularly if other states allow less stringent hiring practices.

Guess I can't drink Miller anymore...

Strong words from Loudoun County Republican Committee chair Paul Protic:

These folks are the Republican nominees and endorsees; they've earned the right to carry the GOP banner either through a primary or convention victory, or endorsement and thus, they are not only entitled to, but expect the Republican Party's support. The two independents running were once members of the LCRC and made a pledge to support whoever won their race. At that convention, after losing their races for nominations for Sheriff and Broad Run Supervisor, respectively, Steve Simpson and Jack Ryan publicly conceded defeat offered motions by acclamation