Chris Saxman for Delegate 2007...

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Republican Delegate Chris Saxman announced the beginning of his re-election campaign for 2007 today at the Holiday Inn of Staunton in front of a large gathering of area supporters. Also in attendance and guest speaker was Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell with his wife and he spoke to those in attendance as well.

Saxman spoke of his tenure in the Virginia assembly as a Delegate and the many positive things done by the Republicans in the last sessions. He also spoke of the challenges ahead for Virginia and the nation when $74 trillion comes due in the next decade for the spending on entitlement programs and programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Saxman also talked about the final consolidation of the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind which took 30 years for the schools to be combined as they should. Nothing should take this long but nothing in Government that makes sense is done quickly…

Saxman also spoke of when he was in High School he looked at joining both the Young Republicans group and the Young Democrats group. He asked what the Republicans what they stand for and was told Strong defense, lower taxes, less government. He then asked the Democrats group and was told that all they know is they hate the Republicans. This reminds me of a statement I believe by Peggy Noonan that said: “We are Democrats and we are not sure what we stand for but we do know that we can’t stand Republicans“…

Attorney General Bob McDonnell spoke about the work being done in Richmond by the Republican Delegates and by using “Commonsense Conservatism” as a rule. Virginia unemployment rate is at an incredible low of 2.7%, crime rates are down, and dependency on Welfare is also down. He also spoke of two projects he is working on and getting strong support from Virginia citizens and Delegates…

McDonnell’s first project is Youth Internet Safety and the efforts being made to protect our children from sexual predators on the internet. Working to eliminate Spam and identity theft as well as improving the internet service provided to Virginians.

McDonnell’s next project is to work at reviewing the 24,000 pages of regulations in Virginia to make them more efficient and to cut programs\laws not needed anymore.

Staunton Republican Chair Anne Taetzsch attended the Saxman announcement with her Father Jim Taetzsch...

“Hey Charlie!, got those numbers for you”…

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To follow up on my prior post "Charlie Rangel's Vision" here are some numbers...

Investor Business Daily had a great follow-up about Democratic Representative Charles Rangel comments about the un-educated being the ones going to Iraq to fight in the war.

"The mean reading level of 2004 recruits is a full grade level higher than that of the general youth population."

"Less than 2% of military recruits have less than a high school degree vs. 20% of the general population."

"In 2004, 92.1% of those who became active-duty officers held a baccalaureate degree or higher. Census Bureau data show that only 25.2% of civilians ages 18 and up hold such degrees."

"In the Air Force, almost 50% have advanced or professional degrees."

http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=249524207811885

"Diplomacy"

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The Capitol Hill Newspaper reported:

"At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon."

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/112906.html

In the post prior to this one I asked what would happen if Webb ran into Charle Rangel in the halls of Congress...

"I wonder if Representative Rangel will ask Senator-elect Jim Webb about the options his son had before going to Iraq where he is presently serving?"

Charlie Rangel's vision of "Choice"...

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While driving to work I heard the following statement by Democratic Representative Charles Rangel from New York to host Chris Wallace of FoxNews Sunday. “I want to make it abundantly clear that I have been advocating a draft ever since the president has been talking about war, and none of this comes within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee. But I want to make it abundantly clear, if there's anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment.”

“If a young fellow has an option of having a decent career or joining the Army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/11/charlie_rangel_john_dingell_ba.html

Now before you go looking for that famous quote from Democratic Senator John Kerry allow me to provide it here “Education -- if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well," said Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat. "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

As soon as I got to work I found a co-worker who is a Marine and just returned from serving in Iraq for six months. I asked this Marine several questions about his decision for joining the Marine Corps right out of high school without telling him about the above quote made by Rangel. Jon told me that the attacks on 9-11 hit close to home and his family and he felt it his responsibility to go fight the terrorism that has attacked this country not just on 9-11 but for numerous years leading up to 9-11. Jon informed me that joining the Marines was not his only option and in fact he was ready and accepted to go to a college before he decided to join the Marines and serve his country. He also told me of friends and fellow Marines lost in combat and of Marines that have re-enlisted at the first opportunity. He told me of a fellow Marine who was a Maryland State Trooper before going to serve in Iraq and upon his return he has opted to return to the battle in Iraq\Afghanistan. This Marine\State Trooper is also engaged to be married and is still choosing to return to the battle on terrorism.

Ironically later on this same day at work I noticed a Army Sergeant who I have worked with on projects with the “From Our Hearts” program. This program has sent numerous shipments of packages to the troops serving in Iraq\Afghanistan. http://fromrhearts.blogspot.com
I told him about Rangels comments and he told me that he does not see a large percentage of recruits signing up “just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits” as Rangel has claimed. The Sergeant said the biggest problem they see is that some of the recruits wishing to serve their country are in poor physical condition and must be placed in special PT classes to get them in proper condition.

This also made me think of a member of the Augusta County Republican Committee who is presently serving his 12 month tour in downtown Baghdad with the National Guard Reserve. His wife told me of how he called her at the first word of the first plane striking the World Trade Center tower and that it was no accident. “A big plane like that does not hit a big building like that by accident”. She then told me of how he called again after the second plane hit and told her that “We are at war”…
SSgt. Herb Harman was forty years old at the time and immediately started to condition himself by running in the Virginia mountains to get ready for his tour to fight terrorism. Ssgt. Harman volunteered and requested to serve in Iraq and has been downtown Baghdad for over ten months now. Ssgt. Harman had a good job, nice house, incredible family, and a very nice life happening here in Shenandoah Valley. He did not have to volunteer to go active duty and he did not have to request downtown Baghdad but he did. This is something I do not believe Democratic Representative Charles Rangel and many members of his party understands.

And what about the troops who are re-enlisting for another tour while still in the theater of service? Many of these heroes have served multiple tours in combat and have volunteered to serve their country and fellow citizens when they had a clear choice. Have you heard of the many injured service members who have requested to be returned to front line duty upon their healing and\or fitting of artificial limbs to replace those lost in combat so to be with their fellow service members? Just something I do not believe Rangel understands.

I wonder if Representative Rangel will ask Senator-elect Jim Webb about the options his son had before going to Iraq where he is presently serving?

Viable Tissue mass?...

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An unborn elephant, tiny but perfect in every way. A dolphin swimming in the womb, just as it will have to swim in the ocean the moment it is born. An unborn dog panting.
Each one amazing and now, thanks to these remarkable pictures, they can be seen for the first time.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/galleries/index.html?in_gallery_id=9136&in_image_id=302430&in_page_id=1055

These photos of animals in the womb bring up an interesting question for those who believe that abortion does NOT kill a living being...

"So NOW we hear issues?!"

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Now that we are past the election for Virginia U.S. Senator and Jim Webb is the new Senator-elect he is finally talking issues. Issues that, with the help of the media, he was able to ignore or sidetrack away from during the 2006 campaign. How could he avoid\ignore these issues during a campaign leading up to a mid-term election? Easy. When you have the MainScream media pushing their agenda at every chance they can keep the hard questions away from “their” choice in candidates.

The George Allen mis-step of using the word “Maccaca” was a one or two day story after he apologized for calling the Webb staffer the name. We should have moved onto more important stories that concerned what the candidates have done and intend to do for the citizens of Virginia. Instead the MainScream media, including local newspapers like the one here in Staunton, continued to focus and return to the “Maccaca” story. Even when this story started to fall off they found other stories to keep the “Issues” important to Virginia voters out of the spotlight. Brent Bozell had a great story on this topic on Townhall.com
"By Election Day, 112 Post (Washington Post) news stories and editorials had used the word "macaca." But that wasn't enough. Then came the truly shaky allegations that Allen used the "N-word" during his college days in the 1970s. Still, that wasn't enough. Stories that young Allen stuffed deer heads into the mailboxes of black folks for laughs were deemed as newsworthy history and not merely as hearsay. Reporters like Shear acknowledged that the accusers were Democratic partisans, but that didn't stop them from spreading them around. Rumors were king -- and the "defensive crouch" was established.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrentBozellIII/2006/11/16/a_macaca_majority

Now that the election is over the Senator-elect has started to talk some of the issues that should have been presented to the Virginia voters before the election. Recently Webb had a article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal “Opinion Journal” section. The article is entitled “Class Struggle” and I urge you to read it to see how your Senator-elect feels about our economy and economic policies. http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009246

Now that we now know how the Senator-elect feels about these issues it would have been nice to have been able to see these issues highlighted by the media instead of stories from “Democratic partisans”… Maybe we could have heard the answers to questions like:

Mr. Webb. You stated that: “America’s Top Tier own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people.” Is it not true that the majority and up to 70% of the citizens are invested in the stock market and have seen the incredible returns in the last two decades since the Reagan and Bush
tax cuts?

You also added: “The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes“. “The average CEO of a sizeable corporation makes more than $10 million a year, while the minimum wage for workers amounts to about $10,000 a year”. While that is a large difference, ( minimum wage is now $5.15 an hour and $10,712 a year as compared to $10,000 a year and $4.81 an hour as you stated) I am sure the productivity and qualification of the CEO is probably a bit more then the minimum wage worker you mentioned. By the way, show me somebody working at the minimum wage and show their qualifications. There is probably a good reason why they are making the minimum wage for they maybe new to the job market, limited skills, part time worker, poorly educated, or the likes. What do you as the Senator-elect propose to do to increase the “Marketability” of that person to make them more productive and valuable to the job market? Also Mr. Webb, if you propose to raise taxes on the corporations who pays for those increases? Are the increased taxes just passed onto the consumer and gives the evil corporations more reason to move “offshore” to find lower taxes?
You also brought up: “In the age of globalization and outsourcing, and with a vast underground labor pool from illegal immigration” What is your stance on illegal immigration and how do you intend to deal with this “Underground labor pool?”

And how about the statement: “medical costs have risen 73% in the last six years alone. Half of that increase comes from wage-earners' pockets rather than from insurance, and 47 million Americans have no medical insurance at all."
How do you intend to address this issue and do you favor a “Socialist” view for the healthcare issue? Of the 47 million that are not insured is that because of their choice to spend their income and if they do not “Invest” in healthcare should the state provide it?

There are numerous other questions and issues that we could have asked the Senator-elect before the election but we will just have to watch his actions over the next 6 years. Shame the media did not focus on any of this during the campaign for they were spending valuable print space on people dressed in “Monkey & Banana” costumes in downtown Staunton…

More for the Troops...

T-Bonetooter's owner Diane Rankin meets Mike Flook for the first time after he stops by Monday night to help pack more boxes to be sent to the Troops in Iraq & Afghanistan. Mike has been serving in Iraq working for the Department of Defense as a Firefighter with a crew stationed in Kalsu Iraq which is 45 miles South of Baghdad. Mike's unit has been receiving packages from the "From Our Hearts" program http://fromrhearts.blogspot.com for sometime and he made it a point to stop by and meet those responsible for these gifts from home for the troops.

Mike also took the time to meet with TV-3 who stopped by to cover the packing of boxes to be sent out this week. During this time Mike spoke about how the members of his unit have shared the contents of their packages with as many people as possible. He spoke of how the guys treasure each item and are sure to pass some of the "essentials" on to servicemembers who may not get packages from home. He also spoke of driving their fire apparatus along the fenceline so to be able to throw candy and toys to the children that gather to see them. In fact Mike made a request from his teammembers that any items sent to them during the holidays should be toys or items for children for they wish to have something to pass onto the children in the area. Flook also said how much it is appreciated to get packages from 9,000 miles away and from home and people who took the effort to send them something.

Awhile back I ran into Arin Sime at the Shad Planking event and learned that he was running for State Senate in 2007 in the 24th district. I have seen him several times during the past year and enjoy talking with somebody who agrees that both the State and Federal government is taking too much of our hard earned money and not spending it wisely. I was gald to see Arin join in Monday and help pack boxes for the troops and I believe he was very impressed by the amount of effort and supplies that go into these packages. It was great to see him join in and help out in this very special and worthwhile project...

"This was a wonderful evening of community and a great example of neighbors coming together to help neighbors, especially when those neighbors are a world away defending our nation. The little touches and heartfelt appreciation that were put into every item prepared and packed was impressive. It was a real honor for me to be there and contribute in some small way." Arin Sime www.arinsime.com

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"Of course Jim, I did not mean you"...

. "Education -- if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well," said Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat. "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

"Invincible?"

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"The New culture of corruption"

It appears the new Speaker may have hit the first “Speed-bump” of her new coveted position and it came from her own party. The Democratic majority has picked Hoyer over Pelosi’s choice of Murtha by a landslide vote of 149 to 86...
Gonna be a bumpy ride Nancy?

During the run up to the 2006 election Nancy and her crew pushed the “Culture of Corruption” theme whenever possible to smear the Republican Party for their gain. The MainScream media was more then happy to focus on wrongdoings of elected Republicans but yet failed to note and report the same\or worse coming out of the Democratic Party.

While working the polls during this past election we had a significant increase in volunteers to help out at the polls and people were asking on election day if they could help out even before and after they voted themselves. I met a local in my district who volunteered at the polls and has become interested in joining the “GOP Valley” blogs. He has since started documenting the recent\past incidents and statements by those of the Pelosi team. Most of these are not anything new and have been out there for sometime but just seem to be ignored by the “Big” media if these incidents do not fit in their “Game Plan”. Mike also spoke of his disappointment with our local newspaper and we had a long discussion just on that for I have noted the “bias” and selective reporting in the past many times here.

I have added his new blog, “Hard to the Right” to my list and it will be interesting to see how busy Nancy and her crew of “The New Culture of Corruption” keeps him busy in the future…
http://hard2right.blogspot.com/

2006...

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"Trent, Trent, Trent, Trent,"