No Obamacare = Pay a Fine and Go To Jail!

"As Congress deliberates, voters are getting increasingly anxious over another aspect of the President's plan--a mandate that threatens to throw Americans in jail who don't have a government-defined health care plan. (Of course, the irony is that everyone in prison gets free health care!) The Joint Committee on Taxation confirmed this last week when its Chief of Staff, Tom Barthold, sent Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) a hand-written note, which said, "Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 fine." Sen. Ensign was quick to argue that the Constitution doesn't give the government the power to mandate the purchase of insurance. Still, this President has given every indication that he will not be content until he not only regulates health care--but the lives of the patients too."

Tony Perkins

Family Research Council

The Individual Mandate IS Government Takeover

With or without the so-called "public option", the Individual Mandate means ObamaCare is a government takeover of healthcare. That's because the individual mandate gives government control over the healthcare system by giving the government the authority to FORCE you to comply!

In fact, if you don't pay the Individual Mandate TAX, you'll face up to a $25,000 fine or even ONE YEAR IN JAIL!

There is no escaping the government-run ObamaCare system. This is the definition of a government takeover of healthcare!

Here's what CATO Institute says about the Individual Mandate:

"Simply making health insurance compulsory gives government as much control over healthcare as would a compulsory government program."

So... We've been lied to... The truth has been distorted... And the real dangers of ObamaCare (the pubic option and the individual mandate) are alive and well.

Steve Elliott, President
Grassfire.org

Telling the Truth with Humor

Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List, has a video everyone needs to see.

"Henry Hyde fought hard, with passion – and his opponents respected him. He had everything we are searching for in our elected officials today. He was an authentic human being and Member of Congress – witnessing fearless humility in defense of life. If there was ever a “Godfather” of the pro-life movement, it was Henry Hyde.

One of his legacies is the Hyde Amendment, made into law in the face of intense opposition, which has prevented any Medicaid funding of elective abortions for thirty three years.

Now, many supporters of the current health care legislation designed to bring about the greatest increase in abortions since Roe v. Wade dare to claim that they are innocent of the federal funding of abortion because of the Hyde Amendment.

Sometimes, laughter dispels doubts better than any other method. And Henry Hyde had a great sense of humor!

That is why the SBA List created this video.

We need the truth to get out there. They say that humor can carry a message far. Encourage your friends and family to watch this video. We cannot allow our opponents to muddy the waters."

Quote of the Day

"From Afghanistan to Iran, North Korea to Venezuela, Russia to China, America’s enemies are concluding there is nothing to fear from America under “O.” From Poland to France, Great Britain to Israel, our friends are concluding there is no resolve in the Oval Office. I am no prophet but on this I can predict with certainty: The headlines in the months ahead from around the world will make it clear that America under Obama is in retreat and that tyrants are on the move."

Gary Bauer

Campaign for Working Families

Deeds Shows his Contempt for Voters

Deeds Running on Raising Taxes, Except on TV

- Deeds Pledges to Hike Taxes $1B, New Ad Cynically Touts Lower Taxes -

RICHMOND – Democratic candidate for Governor Creigh Deeds has won the praise of editorial boards for openly promising to raise taxes by at least $1 billion each year, but cannot bring himself to say so in television ads that misleadingly credit him with favoring lower taxes. A new ad reports that Deeds “knows keeping taxes low” is the right approach, despite numerous published news reports to the contrary.

Watch the ad here.

“This ad is in direct conflict with what Deeds is running on,” said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins. “Lower taxes? That’s a funny way to describe taking another billion dollars from the people of Virginia every year. He’s trying to be the first candidate ever to win by promising to raise taxes. He just won’t put it in his television ads.”

Deeds Praised for Tax Hike by Editorials

Some daily newspapers serving Virginia breathed sighs of relief on their editorial pages following Deeds’ public pronouncement in the Washington Post that he would raise taxes for transportation.

Washington Post

“R.CREIGH DEEDS, the Democrat running for governor in Virginia, has now unequivocally committed himself to support higher taxes …,” declared the Washington Post (September 24, 2009). “… by articulating that position in plain English … Mr. Deeds showed political guts.”

Roanoke Times

“The words finally came to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds in an op-ed written for The Washington Post and published on Wednesday. Until now, Deeds has been rightly criticized for failing to articulate a plan to provide much-needed funds for transportation,” opined the Roanoke Times.

Deeds’ Tax Hike to Alter House Races

“Deeds’ decision to write an op-ed for The Washington Post directly expressing his belief that taxes will need to be raised in order to respond to Virginia’s transportation needs has reframed the gubernatorial campaign. In a bold way,” wrote political analyst Bob Holsworth.

“People who either write or read newspaper editorial must get very confused the first time they see a Creigh Deeds TV ad,” Mullins said. “The fact that he purposefully conceals his plan when broadcasting to the general public shows a severe disdain for voters.”

More Great 9.12 March on DC Links

Here are a couple of great presentations from the 9/12 Event

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2aPvF6cgRU

and

a salute to the veterans at the march in

Washington, DC on Sept. 12th:

Link to this Smilebox:

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d54457a4e4463314d6a6c384f446b344e6a4d344d773d3d0d0a&sb=1

Thanks to the Duncans for this post.

Democrats Need to Practice Civility

An excellent article from the Chairman of the National Black Republican Association.

BE CIVIL?

By Frances Rice

It’s a sure sign that Republicans are winning a debate on issues when Democrats, aided by well-meaning civility police pundits and activists, demand that Republicans stop showing their passion and “be civil”.

I am still waiting for those with such a keen sense of civility to demand that Democrats cease their unrelenting and uncivil, even racist, attacks on black Republicans. I won’t hold my breath.

High on the Democrats’ list of those to be denigrated are accomplished black Republicans who do not toe the Democrats’ liberal agenda line. Shamefully, Democrats do not want poor black children to have as role models any black person who does not engage in victim mongering and works hard to become prosperous rather than become dependent on government handouts.

The message that Democrats gives to poor blacks is despicable. If you remain poor, uneducated and vote for Democrats, we will celebrate your victimhood. If you get a good education, get a good job and vote for Republicans, we will denigrate you as "acting white”, a "sellout”, an "Uncle Tom”, a "House Negro”, a "House N-word", a "Lawn Jockey”, and worse..

Brazenly, on the left-wing Internet website called "The News Blog," Democrats posted a doctored photograph of then Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele (now chairman of the RNC) when he was running for a Senate seat, depicting Steele as a "Simple Sambo" with a blackened minstrel-style face, nappy hair and big, think red lips. The cartoon caption read: “Simple Sambo wants to move to the big house”. This contemptible racist stereotype is the same one Democrats used to demean black men during the era of slavery and segregation.

In addition to other outrageous racist images of Dr. Condoleezza Rice produced by several Democrats, cartoonist Jeff Danziger depicted Dr. Rice as an ignorant, barefoot "mammy",reminiscent of the stereotyped black woman in the movie “Gone with the Wind” about the slave era black woman who remarked: "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies". This is the type of racist stereotype Democrats used to demean black women during the era of slavery and segregation.

Democrats now love Gen. Colin Powell, but spewed out racist attacks on Powell before he endorsed Obama and embraced the liberal agenda of higher taxes and a bigger government to provide poverty producing handouts to blacks.

A video was shot by WKRN Video Journalist Beau Fleenor at Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee that shows Al Sharpton demeaning Gen. Powell and Dr. Rice, when Sharpton was asked to give his opinions about whether Powell and Rice were “House Negroes". That video can be found on the Internet.

An article that appeared in a Portland, Oregon paper was one of many exposing how hardly a ripple of protest was made by black Democrats when Harry Belafonte publicly denounced Gen. Powell as a "House Negro".

With impunity, the late Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy called black judicial nominees, including Judge Janice Rogers Brown, “Neanderthals”. Democrat Senator Harry Reid slurred Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an incompetent Negro who could not write good English. “Slap at Thomas stinks of racism,” was the headline of the New York Daily News’ December 7, 2004 editorial.

Even black Democrats will be maligned if they dare step off of the Democratic Party’s political plantation. When black Democrat Juan Williams wrote his book entitled "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-end Movements and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America" that exposed the deplorable conditions in black communities caused by the Democrats running those communities, Williams was denounced on national TV by another black Democrat as a "Happy Negro".

For details about how Democrats during the 1960’s even smeared Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a Republican, see the article posted on the NBRA website.

“Civility, Ours and Theirs” is an article that provides more details about how Democrats vilify black Republicans while wagging their finger at Republicans about being civil.

Our political discourse can be elevated to the high standards demanded by the civility police only when Democrats are also required to play by the rules of civility.

Frances Rice, a retired lawyer and US Army Lieutenant Colonel, is chairman of the National Black Republican Association and may be contacted at: www.NBRA.info

Quote of the Day

"Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) latest “bi-partisan” healthcare bill has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. The liberals in Congress are upset because it does not provide for a public option, while conservatives are upset that it still amounts to a government takeover of healthcare and forces individuals to buy healthcare coverage whether they like it or not. A large percentage of younger workers in our country are healthy and would prefer not to pay for healthcare coverage. Also, many wealthy Americans, who can afford to pay their own bills, don’t want to be forced to buy a policy they don’t need.

But what, under the Baucus plan, would happen to people who refused to buy health insurance? The bill states that a $1,900 “excise tax” would be assessed. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) asked what would happen to someone who refused to pay the tax. He was told by Tom Barthold, Chief of Staff for the Senate’s Joint Committee on Taxation, that the person could be charged with a misdemeanor, face up to one year in jail and a fine of up $25,000.

During the 1994 healthcare debate, the mandate issue was at the forefront. At the time, the Congressional Budget Office called the individual mandate “an unprecedented form of federal action.” In the history of the United States, the federal government has never legally forced people to purchase any service or good. If this bill is passed, history will be made.

This is another step in the direction of Big Government socialism. The Left wants MORE control over your life. Liberals think they can run your life better than you can. Of course, there is one “benefit” to not paying the Baucus healthcare excise tax -- you will get free healthcare in jail!"

Gary Bauer

Campaign for Working Families

Health Care: Sign the Petition

Follow the link from this message making the email rounds and tell Congress they deserve the same health care they plan to foist on everyone else.

Congressman John Fleming has proposed an amendment that would require Congressmen and Senators to take the same health care plan that they would force on us. (Under proposed legislation they are exempt.)

Congressman Fleming is encouraging people to go to his Website and sign his petition:

http://fleming.house.gov/index.html

Senator Coburn and Congressman Fleming are both physicians.

Regardless of your political beliefs, it sure seems reasonable that Congress should have exactly the same medical coverage that they impose on the rest of us.

Please urge as many people as you can to do the same!

Deeds: Got a Position?

Speaker Howell, Del. Kilgore, Mullins Challenge Dems to State Position on Deeds Tax Increase

RICHMOND - Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins has been joined by Speaker of the House of Delegates Bill Howell and Del. Terry Kilgore (1^st District) in calling for Democratic candidates from across Virginia to declare whether they support Creigh Deeds in his promise to raise taxes if elected. Deeds says he will raise more than $1 billion in taxes, which would mean at least a 20-cent hike in the gasoline tax.

"This is just the absolute wrong time, as Governor Kaine has recognized, to be raising taxes - when you're in a deep, deep recession. Particularly the gasoline tax, which is a very regressive tax that impacts the people who can least afford to pay it the most," said Speaker Howell. "I would be interested in knowing where the other Democrats are on this. Do they support their gubernatorial candidate or not?"

"I think it's a clear defining issue between our candidates and their opponents," said Kilgore. "Particularly in my part of the state, where people have to drive long distances just to get to work, raising the gas tax at this time is just the wrong idea. But we want to know where the House candidates stand."

"Mr. Deeds, in his transportation piece in the Washington Post, again really didn't outline a transportation plan. The one thing that was different this time was that he did acknowledge that he would raise taxes," Mullins said. "We feel it's important that since the top of the ticket has said he would raise taxes and his ticket mates have agreed, we really need to know as voters in the Commonwealth where their candidates for the House of Delegates are going to be."

Last week, Democratic state Senator Edd Houck (17^th District) threw up a red flag on tax increases in an e-mail to constituents, balking at increasing the economic burden on Virginians during a difficult economic period. Houck, a member of the Virginia Senate since 1984, is the second-ranking member on the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee. He is also one of five senators to serve as a conferee on the Budget Conference Committee, a small group of legislators from each chamber who meet to hammer out taxing and spending proposals for consideration by the entire General Assembly and approval by the governor.

"Fortunately, Governor Kaine's proposals contain no tax increases," Houck wrote in an e-mail that largely dealt with efforts to balance Virginia's budget. "With salaries remaining stagnant or worse individuals losing their jobs, a tax increase is unneeded."

Del. Steve Landes (R-25^th District) challenged his opponent to state a clear position on Deeds' tax increase proposal. Democratic candidate Greg Marrow quickly distanced himself from his party's standard-bearer, Marrow responded by saying he "does not support tax increases" (Waynesboro News-Virginian).

Deeds has felt the need to make clear his belief in higher taxes following his embarrassing performance in the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate last week. Immediately following the debate, Deeds held forth with the press corps in a disastrous exchange that resulted in a YouTube video that is rapidly approaching 50,000 views in one week's time. The Fairfax Chamber has since endorsed Republican Bob McDonnell for governor.

"With only about five weeks left until the election, we really need to know where these Democratic candidates stand on the Deeds tax increase," Mullins said. "It looks more and more like Creigh is out there on an island by himself, which tells me that not only does he have no firm plan for transportation, he's also not going to have a way to pay for it either."

Republicans Announce More Reforms

Ken Cuccinelli and Bob McDonnell unveil plan to reform Virginia's mental health system.

Proposals allow for more humane treatment of the mentally ill to

improve their quality of life.

FAIRFAX - State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, candidate for Attorney General, along with Bob McDonnell, Republican gubernatorial nominee and former Attorney General of Virginia, joined members of the press this morning on a conference call to announce their proposals to reform Virginia's mental health system.

Cuccinelli and McDonnell are both recognized leaders on the mental health issue. Both have championed legislation to make substantial reforms to the system in the past, but as they discussed this morning, there is still much that needs to be done. "As is so often the case, leadership is critical to success in mental health," said Cuccinelli.

Below is the announcement released by McDonnell for Governor, followed by the McDonnell/Cuccinelli Mental Health Policy Proposals:

McDonnell and Cuccinelli Unveil Plan to Improve Quality of Mental Health Care in Virginia

-Building on Successful Mental Health Records, Ticket Mates Unveil Plans to Expand Community Based Care, Better Involve Families and Communities, and Support Wounded Warriors-

RICHMOND - Bob McDonnell, Republican gubernatorial nominee and former Attorney General of Virginia, and State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, Republican candidate for Attorney General, today unveiled their plans to improve the quality of mental health care in the Commonwealth. McDonnell and Cuccinelli announced their proposals during a press conference call this morning.

The McDonnell-Cuccinelli plan includes the following highlights:
· Expand community based system of care
· Include families and communities in support system
· Support wounded warriors
· Improve children and adolescent services
· Update Virginia's mental health statutes to reflect changes in system

Speaking about the mental health proposals, McDonnell remarked, "Mental health care is a critically important issue that unfortunately often is overlooked. Working together across party lines we made great strides in recent years, but there is still much room for improvement. As Attorney General, and as a legislator, I made mental health reform a priority. This included working closely with Governor Kaine to include the names of all individuals ordered to undergo involuntary mental health treatment in the firearm background check database. I also patroned significant legislation to expand the community based system in the Commonwealth. As Governor I will continue to work in the same bipartisan fashion.

We must improve and expand community based mental health care. Every citizen should have access to basic services such as crisis intervention, counseling, and housing and employment supports. Behavioral health services should involve the family and community, as well as mental health consumers and their advocacy groups in mental health policy decisions. We must also put in place more services for vulnerable children, and that means working to expand community based treatment for children in every region of the state. It is essential that we work together to minimize the impact of mental illness, while maximizing the opportunity of every individual to participate to their fullest possible extent in the life of our Commonwealth."

Cuccinelli noted, "After more than a decade of working within the mental health system, I have a great appreciation for its many complexities and how it affects individuals, their families and the community. I have also come to believe that we in Virginia must help improve the current system for the benefit of the mentally ill and society at large. As a State Senator, I took the lead on sponsoring and supporting legislation year after year to reform the system. We made progress, and I look forward to continuing this work as Attorney General. I have a five-point plan that I will work across party lines to pass. It includes transferring mentally ill prisoners to mental hospitals to give them the treatment that they need, allow for step-down treatment which provides for patients in in-patient care to transfer over to out-patient care with oversight, require that TDO orders be issued between 24 and 72 hours, allow for more non-lawyer presentation and modernize the Virginia statutes regarding mental health to make them legally consistent with one another. I look forward to turning this plan into action as the next Attorney General."

Both Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli have strong records of working to improve mental health services and procedures in Virginia.

Bob McDonnell has a background in healthcare as a Medical Service Corps Officer in the U.S. Army, and as a manager with the American Hospital Supply Corporation. Bob has an extensive record of leading on mental health reform issues, including legislation to move to a more community based system (HB2596 2001; HB995 2002), and championing legislation to require a state and community consensus and planning team for any restructuring of the system of mental health services involving existing state mental health facilities.

McDonnell was Co-Chair of the Virginia Supreme Court Mental Health Task Force from 2007-2008, helping to create major reforms in the system. As Attorney General Bob issued a landmark opinion to end the terrible policy that forced some parents to surrender custody of their seriously mentally ill children to access state-funded services. He subsequently worked to improve the Comprehensive Services Act to better serve children in need of services. Responding to the challenges facing Virginia's mental health system over the past few years, particularly in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, McDonnell worked with Governor Kaine to issue Executive Order Number 50 instructing all executive branch agencies to immediately begin including the names of individuals found dangerous and ordered to undergo involuntary mental health treatment in the database accessed before the sale of firearms by licensed gun dealers to ineligible individuals. During the 2008 General Assembly session, Attorney General McDonnell championed landmark legislation to ensure access to mental health information and modify standards for involuntary commitment of the mentally ill.

A member of the State Senate since 2002, Ken Cuccinelli is the recognized expert on mental health issues in the General Assembly and is a leader in reforming the system. As a private attorney, Ken Cuccinelli has served as a court appointed representative for the mentally ill and worked with mental health professionals and patients and their families for over a decade. Ken has also worked for many years with Fairfax County's TDO Taskforce to improve the delivery of services in Fairfax. In the State Senate, Cuccinelli has been working to reform Virginia's mental health system from the moment of his arrival in the Senate, with too many bills to mention since 2003 - long before others recognized the deficiencies in Virginia's mental health system. Among his accomplishments are reducing the requirements for admission to Virginia's mental health system, establishing the ability of school systems to share mental health information with our universities once their students go to college, and creating more humane transportation alternatives for patients while reducing the burden on law enforcement, among others.

Improving the quality of mental health care in the Commonwealth

The McDonnell/ Cuccinelli administration will be a strong advocate for Virginians with mental health needs and their families. When we invest in people and focus on outcomes, we can transform the system to provide services that families and individuals need to minimize the impact of disabilities and strengthen the abilities of individuals.

McDonnell and Cuccinelli are recognized leaders in this area for proposing many substantial reforms to the mental healthcare system. While we have made strides in recent years, there is room for much improvement. Our strengths lie in the state's evidenced based practices such as Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), which lead to lower hospitalizations and decreased criminal justice system issues. However, funding for transitioning to a community based system has been inconsistent and lack of housing for consumers is a serious issue for many individuals.

Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli will work in coordination to take a comprehensive approach to reforming the mental health system, and continue to build upon their past leadership in this area.

Community Based System of Care

Approximately 200,000 people are served annually by the Commonwealth's Community Services Boards. Community based mental health care is critically important, and the McDonnell administration will support the expansion of community based programs. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission has shown conclusively that community based programs are the most cost-effective options for most consumers. Every community should have access to basic services such as crisis intervention and stabilization, child and adolescent services, counseling for individuals and families, housing and employment supports, and many others.

Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli support the policy of the National Alliance on Mental Illness that any savings realized from the downsizing of state mental hospitals should be reinvested into the community to develop, expand, or strengthen the community-based system of care, as McDonnell's original reform bill in 2001 envisioned (HB2596).

We support an affordable consumer-centered behavioral health system offering accessible and effective treatment and prevention services delivered in community-based settings.

Family and Community Values

We believe that behavioral health services should involve the family and community support. While a delegate, Bob McDonnell sponsored sweeping legislation requiring a broad consensus among local government officials, consumers, family members, advocates, state facility employees, CSBs, service providers, local health departments, local social services staff, sheriffs' offices, and other interested citizens as a part of proposed restructuring of existing state mental health facilities. Our administration will continue to involve mental health consumers and their advocacy groups in mental health policy decisions. Ken has also worked for many years with Fairfax County's TDO Taskforce to improve the delivery of services in Fairfax.

Children and Adolescent Services

Children and adolescents with serious mental health needs are among Virginia's most vulnerable citizens. Virginia's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services estimates that between 92,000 and 111,000 Virginia children and adolescents have a serious emotional disturbance. Only one in five of these children and adolescents received needed treatment.

Community based care is particularly important for children. We must work in coordination to expand community based treatment services to children in every region. By investing in proven community based services we can help identify child mental health problems early, treat them close to home and reduce symptoms. This will avoid costly inpatient and residential treatment, which can be as much as four times the cost of community-based services.

The McDonnell administration will also encourage innovative partnerships between local school divisions and mental health providers to reach troubled students before tragedy strikes. We will also work to streamline children's mental health services at the state level; presently families confront a confusing array of offices and funding streams that cross multiple secretariats.

MR Urgent Waiting List

Virginia's "urgent" waiting list, for MR Medicaid waiver slots, with more than 2,000 people on it, is too long. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Department of Medical Assistance Services are working on a plan to reduce the waiting list. We will review the plan when completed to establish a strategy to reduce the current waiting list.

Wounded Warriors

The establishment of this program to aid with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) was a true bipartisan effort. The legislation authorized about a $4.5 million program for two years. Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli are concerned about our veterans returning from war with PTSD and TBI. We will keep faith with Virginia's wounded warriors and their families, by supporting the continuation of this program.

Updating Virginia's Mental Health Statutes to Reflect Changes in System

Since the early 1970's, Virginia's mental health system has evolved from an institutional-centered system to a community-based system of behavioral health care. As the state's institutions have shrunk, thousands of formerly institutionalized consumers are now served in their communities by our CSB system.

The McDonnell-Cuccinelli team will revisit the relevant code provisions, identify best practices, and adjust the system to incorporate what we have learned about community-based care delivery systems. Areas for specific attention include:

· Our jails now contain thousands of mentally ill inmates. Virginia should acknowledge this changed reality and adjust the "jail to hospital" transfer codes. We need to develop coherent programmatic jail-based content to serve this population. We can improve the prospects that mentally ill inmates will not reoffend once released.

· The current behavioral health continuum of care fails to recognize the need for something between in-patient and outpatient care - a so-called "step-down" option. We will restructure the treatment process to best serve the needs of patients, while creating an opportunity for patients to be moved from in-patient to outpatient care without having to start the entire judicial process over from the beginning for each patient.

· Require that Temporary Detention Order's be issued between 24 and 72 hours from detention to TDO hearing.

· Allow specially trained law students to represent willing petitioners with behavioral health issues.

Bob McDonnell's Record of Results

Bob McDonnell has a background in healthcare as a Medical Service Corps Officer in the U.S. Army, and as a manager with the American Hospital Supply Corporation. Bob has an extensive record of leading on mental health reform issues, including major reforms to move to a more community based system (HB2596 2001; HB995 2002), and championing legislation to require a state and community consensus and planning team for any restructuring of the system of mental health services involving existing state mental health facilities. McDonnell was Co-Chair of the Virginia Supreme Court Mental Health Task Force from 2007-2008, helping to create major reforms in the system.

As Attorney General Bob issued a landmark opinion to end the terrible policy that forced some parents to surrender custody of their seriously mentally ill children to access state-funded services. He subsequently worked to improve the Comprehensive Services Act to better serve children in need of services.

Responding to the challenges facing Virginia's mental health system over the past few years, particularly in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech in April 2007, McDonnell worked with Governor Kaine to issue Executive Order Number 50 instructing all executive branch agencies to immediately begin including the names of individuals found dangerous and ordered to undergo involuntary mental health treatment in the database accessed before the sale of firearms by licensed gun dealers to ineligible individuals. During the 2008 General Assembly session, Attorney General McDonnell supported legislation to ensure access to mental health information and modify standards for involuntary commitment of the mentally ill.

Ken Cuccinelli's Record of Results

A member of the State Senate since 2002, Ken Cuccinelli is the recognized expert on mental health issues in the General Assembly and is a leader in reforming the system. As a private attorney, Ken Cuccinelli has served as a court appointed representative for the mentally ill and worked with mental health professionals and patients and their families for over a decade. Ken has also worked for many years with Fairfax County's TDO Taskforce to improve the delivery of services in Fairfax.

In the State Senate, Cuccinelli has been working to reform Virginia's mental health system from the moment of his arrival in the Senate, with too many bills to mention since 2003 - long before others recognized the deficiencies in Virginia's mental health system. Among his accomplishments are reducing the requirements for admission to Virginia's mental health system, establishing the ability of school systems to share mental health information with our universities once their students go to college, and creating more humane transportation alternatives for patients while reducing the burden on law enforcement, among others.

Quote of the Day

"Too many of us assume that Obama and his people share our goal of resolving the conflicts with Iran and Afghanistan. This may be a false assumption. Just as false as assuming that Obama is interested in recovery of the free market economy when his entire life has been devoted to destroying it — so that it can be replaced with a socialist economy. If you think Obama wants what's good for America, you'd better think again. He doesn't care about America; he cares about global socialism and little more. And if that means destroying American capitalism, then that's fine with him. In fact, it is preferred."

JR Dieckmann

Deeds: Running Scared

Chris Wallace Calls Out Creigh Deeds for Ducking Debates

Democrat Repeatedly Refused National TV Appearance, So McDonnell Appears Alone

Second Joint Appearance in a Week Deeds Has Dodged, First Was at VUU Tuesday

WASHINGTON, DC - Democratic candidate for governor Creigh Deeds repeatedly rebuffed invitations from Fox News to participate in a nationally televised debate scheduled for this morning, leaving Republican Bob McDonnell no choice but to appear alone. McDonnell took questions from host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" this morning, with Wallace twice noting that Deeds had refused to meet on the program. This is the second time in the space of one week Deeds has refused to appear jointly with McDonnell. The first was Tuesday at Virginia Union University.

Click here to watch the video.

This is not the first media outlet to notice that Deeds has a consistent reluctance to appear in public forums with McDonnell. The Republican had proposed a series of ten face-to-face meeting only to be turned away on multiple occasions. The two have participated in just two debates so far, with less than 40 days to go before the election.

Deeds Bailed on Joint Appearance at Virginia Union University As Well

The two candidates were invited to appear in a debate hosted by Virginia Union University this past Tuesday, but were forced to appear separately because of Deeds' refusal to share the stage with McDonnell.

"And we are worried about Deeds' reluctance to take the stage with McDonnell," wrote the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "A governor must be willing to face his constituents and the political opposition. Why is Creigh Deeds so afraid?"

"I know that the last time Deeds agreed to debate Bob the results were, shall we say, less than beneficial for Creigh," said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins. "This is a time in Virginia that calls for leadership. People are looking for answers and they want someone who will lead and not be afraid to take on the difficult questions. Ducking debates every step of the way is not what I would call leadership."

In what has become an Internet phenomenon, Deeds conducted a now-infamous press gaggle following the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce debate on September 17th. The clip of the exchange is rapidly approaching 50,000 views on YouTube.