Sunday, September 30, 2012

Email of the Day


Lambeau Field

This is what ESPN failed to show. Apparently, they thought their commercials were more important than showing this scene for about 5 seconds. This is absolutely amazing that this could be demonstrated.  Can you imagine the time involved in developing such a fete!  Consider the number ofseats and people involved.  Some of those seats had to be empty, too.  What a challenge!


Those who attended the game said it was extremely emotional to see the entire bowl of the stadium turn red, white and blue. It took 90 workers two weeks to get all of the colored card boards mounted under each seat. Each piece of card board had eye slits in them so the fans could hold up the colored sheet and still see through the eye slits. Every seat had to have the proper card, with no mistakes, to make this happen.







Tweet of the Day




#GOP -: 'And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who "understands" Marx and Lenin. Ronald Reagan   http://bit.ly/W5Dbba   #tcot


Facebook Pics of the Day






Quote of the Day



“Soviet Communism spent 70 years trying to eradicate the transcendent support for virtue. It failed but now post-Communist Russia struggles in the wake of that legacy to cultivate a truly free society. And on our shores, in the wake of the financial crisis, we see how quickly a deficit of virtue can lead from capitalism to cronyism, where trust, courage, and entrepreneurial risk-taking and innovation give way to corporate-government collusion, collapse, and subsequent calls for more of the very medicine that accelerated the crisis — a nanny state that feeds on envy while reaching its tentacles ever deeper into everything from the money supply to the mortgage market.”




Video Pick of the Day





Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Haters Hate List


The Southern Poverty Law Center – which has labeled WND and other conservative organizations "hate groups" – spent $12.5 million maintaining, publishing and promoting its hate-group reports in 2010. 

That's right – $12.5 million to make lists of people you don't like and label them haters.

But wait until you see how much it spent on fundraising ... then what was spent on the organization's actual mission.


Hurt among nine members of Congress to receive national award





Nine Virginia members of the 112th Congress including 5th District Congessman Robert Hurt received the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Friend of Farm Bureau Award.

The award is given at the end of each Congress to those members who were nominated by their respective state Farm Bureaus and approved by the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors.

This award is based upon voting records on AFBF’s priority issues established by the American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors, the number of bills that a member has sponsored and co-sponsored, specific leadership roles on Farm Bureau priority issues and how accessible and responsive that member is to Farm Bureau members and leaders.

This year’s Virginia recipients are Sen. Mark Warner (D), Rep. Eric Cantor (R), Rep. Randy Forbes (R), Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R), Rep. Morgan Griffith (R), Rep. Robert Hurt (R), Rep. Scott Rigell (R), Rep. Robert Wittman (R) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R).

“In their own unique way, each of these members of Congress has demonstrated leadership on issues affecting farmers and the commonwealth’s economic welfare,” said Virginia Farm Bureau Federation President Wayne F. Pryor.

“Their action on the budget, the environment, labor and trade issues helped maintain agriculture as Virginia’s largest economic sector. Attention to tedious amendments and the marathon pace of federal legislation are reflected in the designation as a friend of Farm Bureau,” Pryor said. “On behalf of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, we thank and commend each of them for their service.”


Robert Hurt Delivers Remarks At Danville Jobs Announcement



WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) today delivered the following remarks after Norhurst, Inc. announced that it has expanded and will now operate out of the old Dan River Executive Campus. In doing so, Norhurst will bring over 100 new jobs to Danville. You may listen to Robert’s remarks HERE
“I am proud to be able to represent Virginia’s 5th District in the United States Congress and I can’t tell you how glad I am to be here today.
 
“You know, growing up a little north of here in Chatham, Virginia – I think for those of us who grew up here, we always took the fact that Dan River Mills was here for granted. The fact that it had been here and it had been part of this community for decades – we took these things for granted.
 
“And I can tell you that certainly at its height, Dan River Mills was a beautiful, beautiful company. We all know that back in the 50’s, Dan River Mills was the second largest employer in the state of Virginia, only behind the shipyards, and the reason that it became the company that it did and hit the heights that it did was because of the people here. It has everything to do with the people here, the resources here. And it had everything to do with the fact that it made the finest quality products that people all of the world wanted. And that I think was the recipe to its success.
 
“And so there is nothing that broke the hearts of folks more than to see the decline of that company. And was there anything that was more heartbreaking than to see the buildings that represented this great company dismantled brick by brick, and we all recall as we watched that process take place.
 
“But the thing that I think is remarkable, and I love what Mr. Norton said in his prayers – this is a resurrection, this is the story of a comeback. And just as the bricks of these buildings were taken apart over in Schoolfield, it is our job to make sure to make sure that we rebuild those buildings brick by brick. And so there are so many people to thank for that vision.
 
“I thank Danny Marshall and Frank Ruff, and the General Assembly and the Tobacco Commission for the work that they have done, not only in supporting jobs in Southside Virginia and across this state, but also for the policies that come out of Richmond. When you stop and think about the policies that make Virginia one of the best places in this country to do business, that doesn’t come just by accident, that comes through hard work.
 
“And then I think of the city. Talk about vision – the vision of this city, Mayor Saunders and the City Council, Jeremy Stratton and the economic development team, talk about hard work, putting those bricks back together piece by piece and rebuilding our economy. We are grateful for your vision, we are grateful for your hard work. Often thankless work, but the result we see here today.
 
“And then finally, none of these things are possible without the private sector – without Tim Norton and his company that are willing to make the investment here. And let me tell you, I love what he said when I talked with him minutes ago, he talked about this: he said, ‘We make products, we have services we provide, we make IT products that people all over the world want,’ and he said, ‘We want to be as big as Dan River once was.’  And that’s the secret ingredient to the American Dream and it’s taking place right here.
 
“And so Tim, I thank you. I thank you for that American can-do attitude that says we will continue to compete in this global economy and we will dominate. We will dominate because of the people here in this community and because of the resources that come to bear here. So it is a proud day for me to be with you all today.
 
“On behalf of the people of the 5th District, make no mistake, we are grateful that you are here. And we have a flag that we have flown over the capitol in Washington and as a token of our appreciation, on behalf of the people of the 5th District, we want to welcome you, we want to wish you the greatest success, and above all we want to thank you for your commitment to Southside Virginia.”
 

Quote of the Day



“A left-wing Super PAC funded by George Soros' son has produced a video featuring blockbuster actor Samuel L. Jackson bashing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. But what makes this pro-Obama celebrity endorsement unusual is that the video is a four-minute obscenity-laced rant that concludes with a young girl screaming out of a window, "WAKE THE F--K UP!"

“Liberals and their left-wing media allies never miss an opportunity to blame conservatives and the Tea Party for the overheated rhetoric that has lowered our public discourse and divided our nation. It is a lie meant to intimidate and silence conservatives. 

“This Soros/Jackson video is a disgusting new low in the left's contributions to the coarsening of our culture, not to mention the delinquency of a minor. It should also serve as a clarion call for men and women of faith to redouble their efforts in this election in order to take back this country and defend our cherished values!”

Gary Bauer


Touchdown or Interception?



By Congressman Randy Forbes 

The lockout is over.  The NFL referee lockout, that is.

Happy as fans are, it’s hard to get that image out of our minds:  two officials, standing yards apart, both thrusting their hands in the air - one signaling touchdown, one signaling touchback.

It wasn’t a good day.  Ref-bashing aside (enough of that has been done), the NFL referee lockout has left me thinking about this:  When it comes to judgment in most anything -  sports, business, government - there are differences of opinion and there are just plain bad calls.  Telling them apart is critical.

From where I sit, Congress has had a number of bad calls over the last several years, ones that will affect us for years to come.  A few that jump to mind: defense sequestration cuts that threaten national security as well as 200,000 Virginia jobs, $716 billion in cuts to Medicare under the new health care bill, an impotent stimulus spending with an initial price tag of $825 billion – not to mention an additional $347 billion (yes, billion) in interest alone.

These weren’t situational factors.  And, they weren’t purely partisan issues either.  But the bottom line is that they were decisions.  They were calls.  They were bad calls.  And when it was decision time, I voted no on each of them.

If there's anything reverberating in me from watching the NFL referee disaster over the last two weeks, it's that we’ve got to have the right people in positions to make the important calls.  We don’t necessarily have to agree with them on everything.  And when we differ in opinion, we ought to extend grace across the political aisle as much as possible and work to try to find common ground. 

After all, America is stronger when we don’t tear each other down, when we don’t rip each other to shreds over differences of opinion.  However, the people that make the calls have got to know the rules.  And they’ve got to understand the consequences of their calls.  Therein lies the difference between partisanship and practicality.  


Rep. Hurt Receives Chamber Award




Lynchburg, VA - 5th District Congressman Robert Hurt focused on the economy and President Obama's health care legislation at Thursday morning's Chamber of Commerce meeting.

He also received their "Spirit of Enterprise" award. It's given to a member of Congress based on rankings for key business votes.

Hurt explained to the group why he wants to repeal President Obama's health care plan.
Hurt says he hears from many small business owners who tell him it's crippling them, making it impossible or difficult to expand.

"That's why it's so vitally important to that we work in Washington to repeal that law, and replace it with something will actually work, and reduce the cost of healthcare in this country, and not increase it.. and that will preserve our individual liberties that we all care about," he said.


I (Heart) (Kidney) (Liver) (Spleen) NY!


If you're traveling to New York, you might want to make sure your family knows your organ donation wishes. Some New York health care workers have filed a lawsuit with the shocking claim that they were pressured by the state Organ Donor Network to prematurely declare patients brain dead so that their organs could be harvested. Their lawsuit names four different instances of unethical organ harvesting at four hospitals. Organ donation has been long guided by what is known as the "Dead Donor Rule," which explains that "to hasten the death of a person whose death... is already inevitable is homicide in law," and that "anyone removing organs from an apparently inanimate body... must first ask himself whether he can positively pronounce the body dead."


While that moral barrier seems like common sense, it's apparently too much for doctors anxious to do transplants. One of the plaintiffs, Patrick McMahon, a nurse practitioner who had the role of organ transplant coordinator, may have been fired for resisting the practice of prematurely calling a patient dead. All four cases included elements of pressuring next of kin into providing consent before the patients were dead. The patients included a 19-year-old man who was injured in an automobile accident, a mother who had recently undergone a kidney transplant, a woman who was recovering from a drug overdose, and another adult male. According to McMahon, all patients showed signs of life when they were declared dead. As with abortion and embryonic stem cells, this is the trend in our culture: discarding lives of the powerless when they're inconvenient or when their destruction may benefit the powerful.


Tony Perkins
Family Research Council

Virginia Voter Registration



Dear Friends,

Over the last few days, voters across Virginia received their new voter registration card from the State Board of Elections.  Your card should have arrived through your regular mail.  Governor McDonnell instructed the State Board of Elections to mail these new cards to voters after he signed into law Virginia’s new voter identification requirements.

If you did not receive a card, it may mean your voter registration is not up to date.  It may be that you moved or changed your mailing address, or this may be your first time voting in your locality.  Regardless, if you did not receive a voter registration card in the mail recently you should consider checking your voter registration online.

It’s easy to check your voter registration online.  The State Board of Elections has a webpage set up just for that purpose.  To get there, you can either click here
 or go to the State Board of Elections website at www.sbe.virginia.gov
 and click on the link near the top of the page that says “Check your registration.”  That will take you to an online form.  By selecting your locality and providing your first and last names, your date of birth, and the last four digits of your social security number, the site will confirm whether or not you are properly registered.

If you find out you’re not properly registered, it’s easy to rectify that as well.  The Virginia Voter Registration Application Form is also available online.  To obtain the form you can either click here
 and click on the link on the far left side of the page (you may have to scroll down) that says “Voter Registration Application.”  You have to print the form and complete it.  Then, you mail it to your local Registrar, whose address is right on the form.

If you are not already registered to vote, your local Registrar must receive your Voter Registration Application by Monday, October 15.


This year’s elections are extremely important, and will determine our nation’s direction for generations to come.  It is essential that you be counted.  If you did not receive your new voter card in the mail, please take a moment to follow the steps detailed above to ensure your voice will be heard on November 6. 

Yours in service,

Senator Bryce Reeves


Tweet of the Day




"The only way the constitution can protect us is if we protect the constitution."  http://youtu.be/YPEQMJ0w2qI 


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Facebook Pics of the Day






Friday, September 28, 2012

Obenshain Blasts Democratic Party on Property Rights



Questions DPVA's Opposition to Virginia Property Rights Amendment

HARRISONBURG—Today, Senator Mark Obenshain blasted the Democratic Party of Virginia for their opposition to the Virginia Property Rights Amendment, which will enshrine the right of private property in the Constitution and protect against eminent domain abuse.

At their most recent meeting, the Democratic Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee adopted a resolution

 in opposition to the Virginia Property Rights Amendment, and affirming the Party’s support for involuntary takings which transfer property from one private party to another.

“The simple principle that the government can’t take your property for anything but a true public use is one embraced by the vast majority of Virginians,” said Obenshain. “In their opposition to the Virginia Property Rights Amendment, Virginia Democratic leaders have positioned themselves well outside the mainstream.”

“I don’t care who you are: Republican, Democrat, or Independent. Mainstream Virginia voters of all political stripes believe that private property is important enough to be protected by our Constitution, a point apparently lost on the Democratic Party brass,” Obenshain added.

The DPVA resolution claims both that the Amendment is merely a restatement of current law and that it “will lock into the Virginia Constitution a prohibition on using eminent domain to advance private enterprise, job creation, tax revenue generation, or economic development.” And whereas Democratic lawmakers have dismissed claims that takings exceed legitimate definitions of “public use” under current law, the Party’s resolution expresses concern on the grounds that just such takings will be curtailed. Said Obenshain, “Democrats can’t have it both ways.”

Obenshain also challenged the DPVA’s stated opposition on the grounds that the Amendment would “add to the complexity and expense of governmental entities seeking to utilize eminent domain.”

“If distinguishing between things that are clearly public uses, like roads and schools, and things that are clearly not, like shopping plazas, is ‘complex,’ then so be it. But this isn’t rocket science,” he said.

On the question of expense, he added, “The Amendment ensures that property owners are justly compensated, which has always been the intent. Although I laud the Democratic Party’s newfound commitment to thrift, it’s clearly inappropriate to save money by shortchanging property owners.”

The DPVA resolution further lists, as a rationale for their opposition, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s support of the Amendment’s ratification. “I get that the Democratic establishment doesn't like our Attorney General, but it’s hard to come up with a more petty reason than that to oppose a constitutional amendment that protects the rights of all Virginians,” said Obenshain.

Noting that 17 of 22 Senate Democrats supported the Amendment on first passage in 2011 (an election year for General Assembly members), Obenshain asked, “Why the change of heart? If private property was worth protecting in 2011, it’s worth protecting now.” Notably, Senator Mark Herring, who is pursuing the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, voted against the Virginia Property Rights Amendment in 2012 after supporting it in 2011.

“If I have the privilege of serving as Virginia’s next Attorney General, Virginians can count on me to stand up for private property rights—always,” said Obenshain.
A copy of an email Senator Obenshain shared with friends and supporters on this issue is appended below.

Senator Mark Obenshain is a candidate for Attorney General. He represents the twenty-sixth district in the Virginia Senate. The district includes the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rappahannock and Rockingham (part).

ON THE WEB:


Mark's Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/markobenshain

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Virginia Democrats: "Who Needs Property Rights?"
Senator Obenshain's email to friends and supporters (9/28/12)

First the national Democratic Party leadership abandoned any pretext of standing for mainstream values when it dropped references to God from the party platform. Now the Virginia Democratic establishment is doing the same by opposing the protection of our private property rights. The Democratic Party walked back excluding God from the platform; don’t be surprised if they try to back away from this crazy position, too.

Of course, I don’t think the national Democrats experienced a true change of heart—remember that embarrassing moment when the delegates clearly refused to back down but party bosses ignored the vote because it looked bad? Similarly, even if the Virginia Democrats do shelve their opposition to property rights, it would probably be safe to chalk it up to pure damage control.

Still, damage control is what they ought to be doing right now, because the position the Democratic Party of Virginia has staked out is an astonishing one – a position many of their own would find shocking. Here’s where things stand.

When Virginians go to the polls this November, they will have the opportunity to weigh in on a vitally important issue: whether or not the Constitution of Virginia should protect the right of private property and stand as a bulwark against eminent domain abuse.

Some—mostly on the left—have opposed the Virginia Property Rights Amendment, calling it unnecessary. They’ve said that eminent domain abuse doesn’t exist in Virginia, that an Amendment is superfluous. As the Amendment’s Senate patron, I’ve always pointed to cases of clear abuse, some ongoing, and to attempts by some Democrats to chip away at the laws we have protecting the rights of private property owners.

But now I can just point to a resolution adopted by the Democratic Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee (their governing body). You want to know why we need the Virginia Property Rights Amendment? Look no farther than the astonishing reasons the state Democratic Party cites for opposing it:

They oppose it because it “will lock into the Virginia Constitution a prohibition on using eminent domain to advance private enterprise, job creation, tax revenue generation, or economic development.”

In other words, they oppose it because it actually defines public use – because it makes clear what was once taken for granted, that condemning your property to hand it over to a private developer is not a legitimate public use. They actually want to preserve government’s ability to continue to engage in abusive eminent domain practices.

In recent years, “public use” has been turned into an ill-defined notion of “public purpose,” where a “public purpose” is whatever a local government wants it to be. And the Democratic Party of Virginia wants to keep it that way.

And they go on. They also oppose the Amendment because they say it will “add to the complexity and expense of governmental entities seeking to utilize eminent domain for the benefit of taxpayers, even when property is taken for unquestioned public purposes.”

Let’s unpack that statement. Firstly, what do you think of that telling “even” – as if takings for “unquestioned public purposes” (not even “public use”!) are just one sort of legitimate taking? And what sort of complexity are we talking about here, the “complexity” of distinguishing between true public uses (roads, schools, utilities, etc.) and impermissible takings (e.g., handing over the property to a private developer)? This isn’t rocket science.

And “expense” – what expense, exactly? They’re referring to the requirement that property owners must receive fair compensation. Does this come with a price tag? Sure. But let’s call it what it is: just compensation. We all want to save money, but presumably not by shortchanging property owners.

Our friends in the Democratic Party aren’t quite done. Here’s the final reason cited for their opposition: “Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli strongly supports the amendment.” Listen, I get that the Democratic establishment doesn’t like our Attorney General, but it’s hard to come up with a more petty reason than that to oppose a constitutional amendment that protects the rights of all Virginians.

They will be happy to know, however, that one of their own candidates for Attorney General, Senator Mark Herring, is opposed to enshrining property rights in the Constitution of Virginia. Or at least, he is now, voting against the Amendment on second passage earlier this year – after supporting it once its first year passage became a fait accompli in 2011. He supported it before he opposed it. Sound familiar?

Make no mistake about it: Virginia Democrats are gearing up to oppose the Property Rights Amendment. If we let this opportunity to restore property rights slip through our fingers, we may not get a chance again for a very long time. We have to win this one.

That’s where you come in. Please forward this email to friends and family to make sure they know how important it is to take a stand for property rights this November. Ask your City Council or Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution in support of the Virginia Property Rights Amendment. Get your local party committee to indicate support for the Amendment on their sample ballots. And most of all, remember to vote for property rights in November!


Video Picks of the Day






Tweet of the Day


.@NancyBoricua WHITE HOUSE COVER UP! BBC is reporting that Barack Obama & White House have told 9 different stories on Libya Terror Attack #OFA #Obama2012

A Tweet by @cgpb

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Email of the Day: Prayer request


I have a prayer request. There's a lady I've known forever. She's very sick. On top of that, she's being abused by those to whom she has given everything.

 

Lies about her abound, and seem to come from all sides. Just breaks my heart. Seems there's nothing I can do alone but maybe, if we join in and lift her up together, we can heal her. She's well over 230 years old, but way too young to die. Her name is 'America'.

 

And I love her and have always been proud of her. Please take time to say a prayer for her - even if it is a short, simple prayer like, "Lord, please heal our land. Amen.”

 

Thanks

Question of the Day: WHY?



Robert Hurt Commends Monticello High School AFJROTC Cadets At Ceremony



WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Virginia) released the following statement after participating in a ceremony to award Monticello High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) cadets for their completion of the Mountaineer Cadet Officer Leadership School this past summer:
MonticelloHS 162
[Robert Hurt Presents Awards To Monticello H.S. AFJROTC Cadets]

“I commend the Monticello High School AFJROTC cadets for their commitment to this program and to continued development of critical leadership skills. In addition to furthering their education, these students have also focused their high school careers on selflessly serving their community. As we recognize the AFJROTC cadets who have completed the Mountaineer Cadet Officer Leadership School, I would like to applaud them for their achievement and leadership and thank them for their service and dedication to our local community.”