Month: April 2008

Follow-up: Representative Rob Wittman wants to ban the sale of Playboy and Penthouse at military PX’s.

Wittman is a cosponsor. (For details on the original story, click here.)

Apparently, Wittman (who has no military experience whatsoever) believes that men (and women) that have volunteered to serve in the military are incapable of deciding what they want to read.

They can apparently volunteer to serve in the greatest armed forces in the world with the possibility that they will make the ultimate sacrifice, but are unable to decide what is appropriate for themselves to read.

Men (and women) who serve in combat zones and see death on a routine basis will apparently have their precious minds, their virgin eyes and ears, warped by the likes of Penthouse and Playboy.

Does Wittman think that because some soldiers, sailors, airmen, or Marines see the likes of Penthouse and Playboy that, to quote the bill’s sponsor, Paul Broun of Georgia, it will “escalat[e] the number of violent, sexual crimes, feeding a base addiction, eroding the family as the primary building block of society, and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad”? (see also: Straw man)

Is our military that out of control?

And as Wittman is so eager to point out, twenty percent (20%) of his district’s residents “are military or retired military personnel”, so how many of them support this stupidity?

Do the Marines at MCB (Marine Corp Base) Quantico think it’s a Congressional prerogative to control what they read? What about the soldiers (et al.) at Fort A.P. Hill? The sailors at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Dahlgren? What about the airmen at Langley AFB (Air Force Base) which is right outside his district (and I’m sure some of the base personnel live inside his district)?

And how comforting that Wittman will be on the subcommittee that does the first hearing on the bill (that would be the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness).

Welcome to the Republican Nanny State.

FYI: Randy Forbes (R) of Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District and Virgil Goode (R) of Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District are also cosponsors of this piece of stupidity legislation.

Unintentionally funny headline.

Ain’t it always?:

Multiple suspects sought in various crimes:

We have a crime alert about a homicide suspect who’s on the run.

Fredericksburg police are searching for this man, 25-year-old Marcious Cousins.

He’s the key suspect in a homicide that happened last Sunday in Lynchburg at a Super 8 Motel.

Cousins is known to frequent the Fredericksburg area, as well as Orange and Spotsylvania Counties.

Cousins should be considered armed and dangerous.

Call police if you see him.

Has the Democratic Party of Virginia written off the First Congressional District?

They don’t bother to list the candidates that are running for the Democratic nomination on their website.

For those that are curious, the candidates are:

The Democratic candidate will be chosen by a convention in Williamsburg on May 17th.

Outragous

Wesley Snipes gets 36 months (3 years) in federal pen for not filing his taxes.

Meanwhile, a man that didn’t file tax returns for three years only got 8 months in federal pen.

Meanwhile, a guy gets one year in prison for running a business of his city office and tax evasion.

Meanwhile, a former teacher only gets 5 years for child pornography.

Meanwhile, a guy gets five years for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Meanwhile, a guy that downloaded child pornography that included the sexual torture of infant and toddlers only gets 7 years.

Need I continue?

So much for proportionately.

Bonds? You don’t have to pay those things off do you?

Oh — you do? You sure? Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Virginia lawmakers are divvying up $1.4 billion in bricks-and-mortar projects and handing an unexpected goody to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine: an appointment to the powerful agency that oversees corporate Virginia.

In unanimous votes, the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate yesterday endorsed a plan to finance through the sale of taxpayer-back bonds 75 construction projects over the next six years.

The bond bill will provide building funds for colleges, mental-health facilities, parks and state offices.

The projects include the purchase of an office tower in downtown Richmond to house the tax department and a replacement for the art deco-era hospital on the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

Elsewhere, the package includes $110 million to replace Western State Hospital, a state psychiatric facility; and $82 million to improve mental-health facilities.

Repeat after me: $1,400,000,000.00

Weekly News Media Briefs – Week Ending April 19, 2008

From the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office: Weekly News Media Briefs – Week Ending April 19, 2008:

On April 13, 2008, Deputy T. P. Connolly stopped a vehicle for a traffic infraction.  After investigating, Andrew K. Baker, 27, of Ruther Glen was charged with driving under the influence.  He was released on a personal recognizance bond and an arraignment date of April 16, 2008 was set.

On April 13, 2008, Deputy C. S. Wooldridge responded to a domestic in Woodford.  After investigating, John D. Kearns, 41, of Woodford was charged with 2 counts of domestic assault.  He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of April 17, 2008 was set.

On April 14, 2008, Deputy J. K. Miller responded to a complaint of illegal dumping in Milford.  After investigating, Delontae M. Coleman, 20, of Bowling Green was charged on a summons with illegal dumping on private property.  His court date is July 25, 2008.

On April 15, 2008, Deputy F. L. Brennan and P. E. Ford responded to a disturbance in Carmel Church.  After investigating, Roseanna M. Sutherland, 34, and Craig F. Sutherland, 37, both of Bar Harbor, Maine were charged with being drunk in public.  Both were ordered held until sober and a court date of May 28, 2008 was set.

On April 15, 2008, Deputy R. J. Anderson responded to a domestic in Woodford.  After investigating, Kevin H. Curtis, 42, of Woodford and Henry H. Curtis, 78, of Woodford were charged with 2 counts each of assault and battery.  Judy M. Martin, 37, of Woodford was also charged with brandishing a firearm.  All were released on $1000 bond each and court dates were set for April 18, 2008.

On April 16, 2008, Deputy D. W. Mundie and Investigator M. M. Ellett were questioning a burglary suspect.  While speaking to him, they discovered marijuana growing at the residence.  Antoine T. Johnson, 18, of no fixed address was charged with manufacturing marijuana, breaking and entering, and 2 counts of felony larceny.  He was ordered held without bond and an arraignment date of April 18, 2008 was set.

On April 18, 2008, Deputy C. S. Overman responded to a domestic in Dawn.  After investigating, John D. Taylor, Sr., 57, of Dawn was charged with domestic assault.  He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of April 24, 2008 was set.

On April 19, 2008, Deputy C. S. Overman responded to a report of a fight in the street in Woodford.  After investigating, Matthew C. Riley, 24, of Woodford was charged with domestic assault.  Bond and court information were not available.

On April 19, 2008, Deputy C. S. Overman responded to a domestic in Bowling Green.  After investigating, Carlos M. Gonzalez-Rodriguez, 50, of Bowling Green was charged with domestic assault.  He was released on a personal recognizance bond and a court date of April 24, 2008 was set.

Caroline County Sheriff’s Office Wrap Up

According to Sheriff Tony Lippa, Caroline Deputies made 3 drug arrests, 1 driving under the influence arrest, 21 domestic violence arrests, and 51 other criminal arrests during the past week.  The deputies served 243 civil papers, issued 249 traffic summonses, handled 15 motor vehicle crashes, responded to 32 alarm calls, and dealt with 13 juvenile offenders.  The Sheriff’s Office Communications Center dispatched 441 calls for service and handled 1,077 telephone inquiries.  The CCSO also logged 40 calls assisting outside agencies and had 226 self initiated calls.

A Tale of Two Parties (and their respective websites)

The Caroline County Democratic Committee (CCDC) has their website at http://www.carolinedems.com/

The Caroline County Republican Committee (CCRC) has their website at http://www.carolinegop.com/

Compare and contrast the two:

Website title:

  • The CCDC has a proper title for their web page (“Caroline County Democratic Committee”) which allows it to show up better on a search engine.
  • The CCRC‘s website, on the other hand, has the great title of “Page 1” — which is appropriate since it’s the only page on the server.

Links:

  • The CCDC has links to various Democratic groups in the Commonwealth and to local candidates. There’s a single 404 error message with the Spotsylvania County Democratic Committee‘s website due to the SCDC redesigning their website. That’s one out of twenty links (5%). UPDATE 2008/04/23, 8:37 p.m.: Link fixed. Zero out of twenty links do not work now (0%).
  • The CCRC has links to the “State Republican Events” (404 error), the “Virginia GOP” (404 error), a link to Bobby Orrock’s bio information (404 error), and ironically, a link to Delegate Wittman’s website and contact information. First, he’s no longer a Delegate, and isn’t his former seat represented by a Democrat (Albert Pollard) now? So that makes five out of eleven links useless (45.45%).

Upcoming Events:

  • The CCDC has information on their meetings, updated monthly (last updated for the April 19th, 2008 meeting). They also have information posted about calls to caucus and other events.
  • The CCRC apparently has a meeting scheduled for September 18th. Considering the CCRC specifies that’s it Monday, September 18th, that would mean September 18th, 2006. Also, be sure to check out “[their] upcoming booth at the Harvest Festival.” I guessing that would be the 2006 Harvest Festival.

Elected Officials:

  • The CCDC has pictures and bios of local elected Democrats.
  • The CCRC has a picture of George Felix “Macaca” Allen (he must be doing a revival tour I’m not aware of or something). ‘Nuff said.

Committee Contact Information:

  • The CCDC has contact information for their committee officers as well as a new member application.
  • The CCRC? No such luck.

Monthly Newsletter:

  • The CCDC produces a monthly newsletters and has it available on their website (as well as archives going back to July 2007).
  • The CCRC? Negatory.