Quote of the Day

"Speaking of priorities, research is needed into whether the American People believe manure still stinks more than Congress."

Frank Hyland

Food for Thought - Priorities

Coal: A Reliable and Inexpensive Energy Source

In response to Blue Virginia’s post citing the Washington Post saying coal mining only accounts “2 percent of employment in central Appalachian region”, Governor Allen wrote the following for GeorgeAllen.com.

Coal Jobs Vital for Virginia, America

www.georgeallen.com/2010/02/28/coal-jobs-vital-for-virginia-america

By George Allen

It is wise to diversify job opportunities in the Coalfields of Southwest Virginia and elsewhere in Appalachia. But these writers, who are against or unfriendly to coal, are concocting misleading facts to diminish the positive attributes of American coal.

The Reality is that coal mining provides very good-paying jobs for those involved directly in mining as well as for people who manufacture and supply mining equipment and those who transport coal to electric power plants, steel mills and our Virginia Ports. A job is important to all men and women whether in retail or mining. These writers miss the fact that coal-related jobs pay more than retail jobs.

All of us who use electricity benefit from American coal, which by all measurement is the most available, reliable and least expensive source of power. Beyond the hundreds of thousands of American jobs related to American coal, the coal severance taxes in Southwest Virginia actually help fund the attraction of new businesses via the Coalfields Economic Development Authority.

As a country, we are blessed with plentiful coal resources. Rather than become more dependent on foreign, more expensive or intermittent energy sources, let’s creatively and cleanly utilize our American coal.

Saturday Statistic: Just “2 percent of employment in the central Appalachian region”

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Blue Virginia Blog

From this morning’s Washington Post comes a factual response to those who claim, against all evidence to the contrary, that the highly mechanized form of coal extraction known as “mountaintop removal” is a major employer in Appalachia (or anywhere else). As Justin Maxson, president of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, explains, it’s not.

Go to http://www.bluevirginia.us/2010/02/saturday-statistic-just-2-percent-of.html to continue reading.

When the Census Bureau Arrives at YOUR door...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsDhkPym01k&feature=email

Quote of the Day

"In recent years, town councils and state legislatures around the country have come under attack for opening their meetings and sessions with prayer. I founded a bipartisan organization called the Congressional Prayer Caucus to recognize that, for over 200 years, prayer has played a central role in strengthening the fabric and foundation of our society.

The United States Supreme Court said, “The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom.”

The first act of the first Congress was to bring in a minister to pray and read four chapters out of the Bible. Since the election of the Chaplain of the House in 1789, each day's proceedings have opened with a prayer by a chaplain. You can read the prayer of the day on the chaplain’s website here: http://chaplain.house.gov/Additionally, on the first night the House is in session each week, I join other Members of the Prayer Caucus in a room right off of the House floor to pray for our nation.

I will continue to affirm our nation’s spiritual history and our Judeo-Christian roots and protect our right to pray. If you wish to read more about my work on this issue or about the Prayer Caucus, please visit my Web site."

Congressman J. Randy Forbes

Quote of the Day

"The sheer arrogance of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi axis of power defies logic. These ideologues dissemble, bribe and continue to invent cunning new schemes to pass their pet bill, all the while knowing that a majority of Americans strongly disapprove!"

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

What Did Obama Know and When Did He Know It?

No One is Allowed to Disagree with Dear Leader! You will be silenced. That appears to be the new message to Americans and it looks like it has thin-skinned, narcissistic 'Obama' written all over it. Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families has the details.

Censoring The First Amendment

Two of our most cherished freedoms are found in the First Amendment – the freedom of speech and freedom of worship. In one recent move, the Obama administration assaulted both.

Four months ago, my good friend Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a Marine veteran, was invited to speak at a prayer lunch at Andrews Air Force base. But the chaplain’s office recently rescinded the invitation. In a letter, the chaplain told Tony that he was being disinvited “due to statements posted on the Family Research Council Web site which are incompatible in our role as military members who serve our elected officials and our commander-in-chief.”

Whoa! Was FRC advocating the violent overthrow of the government? Not exactly. During President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, he called on Congress to repeal the ban on open homosexuality in the military. Perkins dared to express his opposition to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which is current law.

The Family Research Council has been around for a long time – I led the organization during the 1990s, when the last Democrat administration tried to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” FRC’s position today is the same as it was then. I find it hard to believe that the chaplain’s office was uninformed about where FRC stood. I can’t help but wonder if this disinvitation wasn’t ordered by hacks at the White House.

Speaking before congressional hearings in recent days, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey all expressed their opposition to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” And, according to a recent survey by The Military Times, only 30% of active duty members support the president’s position.

But the real issue here isn’t the military’s policy or existing federal law. The bigger issue is the ongoing attempt by the intolerant Left to silence men and women of faith. Your freedom of speech and your freedom of worship are at stake, my friends. This is why it is so important for men and women of faith to be fully engaged in the public policy process. This is why it is so important that we succeed in taking back the House and the Senate in 249 days!

Rangel throws his staff under the bus

Rangel, seems to have no idea what his staff is doing. Which one of his staffers will step forward to take a bullet for him? He can afford to make it worth their while... maybe send them on a trip to the Caribbean.

If his staff takes a hint from John Edwards' insiders, there will be videos, books, and TV talk show appearances to follow.

Has Rangel Lost Touch? Black Conservatives Speak Out on Rangel Ethics Rebuke

Washington, DC: Members of the Project 21 black leadership network are speaking out about the congressional "public admonishment" of U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY), the chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, for going on trips to the Caribbean paid for by corporate sources in violation of House rules.

Bishop Council Nedd II: "Contrary to what Charles Rangel believes, common sense dictates that adults, and elected representatives of the people in particular, need to be held responsible for their actions. Has Rangel completely lost touch with the real world? I have never been on a trip and not known who was paying for it. And if someone was paying for me to go on trips to the Caribbean, I don't think I would ever forget them." (Bishop Council Nedd II is the bishop of the Chesapeake and the Northeast for the Episcopal Missionary Church, a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network, and author of the New Visions Commentary "Rangel Ethics Mess Feels Like History Repeating Itself.")

Jimmie Hollis: "As a lifetime politician, Charlie Rangel didn't seem to think the rules applied to him. They do, but it looks like he will be receiving the minimum punishment. It's a sad commentary on congressional ethics and on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's campaign promise to clean up Congress. Is this the way it has to be?" (Jimmie Hollis is a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

Bob Parks: "I'm amazed it took 18 months for lawmakers to find wrongdoing, but not amazed at how long it took Congressman Rangel to blame it on his staff." (Bob Parks is the moderator of the web site "Black and Right" and a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

Darryn "Dutch" Martin: "That Chairman Rangel refuses to take responsibility is bad enough. But the fact that he sees fit to blame his staff - who presumably take orders from him - is just lame. Yet again, liberal orthodoxy states that the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to Rangel and his ilk." (Dutch Martin is a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network.)

The House Committee on Official Standards, better known as the Ethics Committee, has concluded Rangel improperly accepted trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008. The Ethics Committee opened its investigation after receiving information from the National Legal and Policy Center, a group that promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action.

Rangel reportedly will be forced to repay the cost of the trips. He is blaming the error on his staff, telling reporters, "Common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or errors of staff unless there's reason to believe that the member knew or should have known - and there's nothing in the record to indicate the latter."

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke out in support of Rangel and against the proposition that lawmakers are responsible for their own activities, saying, "I think it's quite a statement to say that lawmakers can be held accountable for what their staff knew." She also has declined to ask Rangel to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel was elected to House in 1970, replacing Adam Clayton Powell, who also faced ethical problems, including questionable travel to Florida. Powell was stripped of his committee chairmanship.

Project 21, established in 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org), a non-profit foundation established in 1982 and funded primarily from the gifts of over 100,000 recent individual donors.

Sunday: Congressman Eric Cantor on NBC

Virginians are so proud of Congressman Eric Cantor. As Rush Limbaugh noted today, Congressman Cantor was one of the outstanding conservatives who 'ate Obama's lunch' at the Obamacare Summit on Thursday.

Congressman Cantor on "Meet the Press" this Sunday Morning

Congressman Eric Cantor is scheduled to appear this Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press" where he will discuss this week's White House Health Care Summit.

To find out when the show will air in your area,

please click here.

Obamacare's Silly Summit

Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, has an analysis of Obama's dog and pony show:

Lights, Camera, Action!

President Obama and congressional leaders of both political parties met today at the Blair House, across from the White House, to debate healthcare reform ideas. It didn’t take long for President Obama to launch into a campaign speech, berating his critics and suggesting that the problem is conservative opposition. Let me make this point again: Obama’s “problem” is the American people and some in his own party who have rejected his socialist scheme.

The only reason ObamaCare is not already a reality is because Democrats could not agree. They have historic majorities in the House and Senate, and a president willing to sign almost anything they give him. But the reason congressional Democrats could not reach a consensus is that they know the American people don’t want what they are offering. Here’s proof.

Yesterday, CNN released the results of a new poll on healthcare reform. While some specific reforms are popular, this socialized Big Government takeover is not. When asked what Congress should do now, only 25% of those polled said Congress should pass a similar bill; 48% said scrap it and start over; and 25% said drop it and move on. That means the approach favored by Barack Obama and congressional Democrats has the support of just 25% of the American people, while 73% oppose what they are doing.

It couldn’t be clearer: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON’T WANT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!

While there have been some good points at today’s summit, I think the best point was made before the summit by a man who isn’t there. Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) said that our biggest problem today isn’t healthcare, but the fact that we already have a government we can’t afford. Barack Obama wants to make it even bigger with another trillion-dollar entitlement program run by the very folks who have bankrupted the Post Office, Social Security and Medicare. That is a point that almost every American understands. In fact, it has spawned a new political and cultural movement. (More on that in the next item.)

I’ve been watching the healthcare summit all day. (It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.) I know that conservatives were divided on whether it was a good idea for the GOP even to attend for fear that Obama would dominate the event. But my sense is that this has not been a good event for the president. He has alternated between looking angry, arrogant and bored.

Republican participants have been persistent in getting their main points across. Yes, the meeting was a “set-up.” Yes, the Democrats will try to ram their scheme through Congress in the days ahead. But we will fight back and the GOP did that well today. And, of course, there is the most important meeting coming up – on November 2nd – when we will all meet at the polls.

Scrap Obamacare!

The Obama Health Care Summit

On Thursday, President Obama will be hosting a six hour "bipartisan" health care summit at the Blair House in Washington, D.C. to present his plan, which is a combination of the bills previously passed in the House and Senate last year. There are also some dangerous new provisions including a new tax on capital income to fund Congress' ever reaching entitlement programs. You can read more about Obama's Health Care Proposal here.

The best hopes for true progress on health care reform would be to completely scrap Democrats' previous plans and working with Republican ideas to draft a new approach to fixing the important problems facing the future of American health care. In short, the summit seems to be more of a publicity stunt to help Democrats repackage a universally unpopular health care package.

According to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the following Senators will be attending the Summit:

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, (R-AZ)

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander, (R-TN)

Ranking Member Senate Finance Committee Chuck Grassley, (R-IA)

Ranking Member Senate HELP Committee Mike Enzi, (R-WY),

HELP Committee Member Tom Coburn, M.D., (R-OK)

Sen. John Barrasso, M.D., (R-WY)

House Republicans have not announced who will be representing them at the Summit.

Women have a great deal at stake in the current health care debate as we most often find ourselves making the health care decisions in our families. As women, it is crucial that we continue to make our voice heard on this issue.

Contact your Representative and Senator TODAY to let them know you want to make the health care decisions for you and your family!

Democrats Demean Black Conservatives

Washington Post/Henry Louis Gates Website Wants to Write Black Conservatives Out of Black History

Washington, DC: As Black History Month draws to a close, the web site The Root has chosen to publish a hateful article that demeans black conservatives solely for their political views -- grouping them with brutal dictators, convicted criminals and self-centered celebrities. This has drawn a stinging rebuke from Project 21 member Bob Parks.

"It doesn't take much for liberals to call black conservatives 'self-hating,'" noted Parks, "but what is it called when someone decides that blacks deemed inappropriate should be wholly removed from history? What kind of egos are we talking about here?"

The Root is operated by The Washington Post. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. serves as The Root's editor-in-chief.

In a recent posting, "Black Folks We'd Like to Remove From Black History" by Jada Smith, 21 blacks are singled out for being "embarrassing." Smith wrote: "[W]hile we love our own, we sure do dream of erasing a few of them."

"It's not enough that progressives intentionally distort and rewrite black history to their political advantage, but now The Root, the Post and Professor Gates are showing additional contempt for black people by allowing open suggestions about who should be excluded from that rewritten history," Parks pointed out.

Of the 21 blacks selected by Smith to purge from black memory, there are five American political figures, five infamous foreign dictators, two criminals and nine celebrities. The two liberal politicos -- current D.C. councilman and former mayor Marion Barry and former Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon -- earned their shame by being convicted of breaking the law.

The three black conservatives are demeaned solely for their politics. Republican Party chairman Michael Steele is the "Bozo of politics." Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas allegedly lacks "standing" among blacks because "he looks to the Constitution as 'colorblind.'" Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, whose activism extols the values of the Declaration of Independence and the rights of the unborn, has "never managed to make a lick of sense."

Project 21's Parks added: "The Root meticulously nominated five political figures among narcissistic celebrities and murderous dictators. The two liberals broke written laws, while the others were convicted of the crime of being black and conservative. It's ironic that the hyper-sensitive Professor Gates presided over this fantasy of removing certain onerous blacks from our history. Now that he's got me riled up, I wonder if he and his bosses at the Washington Post will have me over for a beer to talk about their writer acting stupidly."

Project 21, established in 1992, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research (http://www.nationalcenter.org), a non-profit foundation established in 1982 and funded primarily from the gifts of over 100,000 recent individual donors.

Obama's Folly

Obama's latest ploy is truly the work of a megalomaniac.

ObamaCare: A Prescription For Socialism

Like a monster from a bad horror movie, no matter how many times the American people think the specter of socialized medicine is dead, Democrats keep bringing it back to life. Yesterday, under the pretense of beginning a genuine bi-partisan discussion of healthcare reform, President Obama released his own plan in advance of Thursday’s healthcare summit.

But this invitation to talk came with a threat. If Republicans don’t go along with what Obama has put on the table, Democrats will resort to the reconciliation process. Under that gimmick, they only need 51 votes in the Senate.

How many of you liked the legislation Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi came up with? Well, if you liked the Reid/Pelosi plan then you’ll love Obama’s prescription for socialism. Obama took the Senate’s bill as his starting point and made it worse! One White House spokesman called it “an opening bid.” The White House isn’t likely to find many buyers.

A recent Rasmussen poll found that 58% of likely voters opposed the Reid/Pelosi legislation, and 61% wanted Congress and the president to scrap it and start from scratch. The American people demanded a genuine bi-partisan reboot of the entire process. Instead, we’re getting more of what we didn’t want.

House Republican Leader John Boehner issued a statement yesterday blasting the president’s approach: “The president has crippled the credibility of this week’s summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected. This new Democrats-only backroom deal doubles down on the same failed approach that will drive up premiums, destroy jobs, raise taxes, and slash Medicare benefits.”

Here are some of the details of the president’s proposal.

• It will cost approximately $1 trillion, but no one knows its real cost. The Congressional Budget Office stated that while the plan includes much of what the House and Senate have proposed, “it modifies many of those elements and also includes new ones.” But the White House draft was too vague to provide an official cost estimate.
  
  
  Think about that for a moment. The president recently used his executive authority to create a new commission to tackle the federal debt. It is widely expected that this commission will propose major tax hikes along with entitlement reform. But at the same time, President Obama is proposing yet another trillion-dollar entitlement program. He insists his healthcare plan won’t add to the deficit. If that’s true, that means he’s taxing one trillion dollars out of the economy, in addition to whatever the debt commission might recommend. How much sense does it make to pile on to the federal government’s already out-of-control entitlement obligations?
  
  
• One of the ways Obama purports to pay for his plan is by raising the Medicare payroll tax and applying it to so-called “unearned” income. So if you’re a senior citizen living off investment income, dividends or other savings (which have already been reduced by low interest rates), Barack Obama wants to hit you with another tax that is expected to raise at least $120 billion.
  
  
• Remember the “Cornhusker kickback” that Senator Ben Nelson (D) got to help his state of Nebraska offset increased costs? Well, it’s still there, but Obama expands it to every state. In other words, every senator is being offered a bribe in order to expand the government’s role in your life.
  
  
• The individual insurance mandate, which many senators and legal experts believe is unconstitutional, is part of Obama’s plan. If the government can compel you to buy health insurance, what else can it force you to do or not do? As George Will recently argued, “Would it be constitutional for the government to legislate compulsory calisthenics for all Americans?” That may seem like a laughable suggestion, but the Japanese government is measuring waistlines.
  
  
• In his proposal, Obama more than doubled the penalty on employers who do not provide health insurance – raising the fine from $750 per employee to $2,000.
  
  
• A new element of the president’s plan is price controls – giving the government the authority to set insurance rates – meaning more Big Government control and manipulation of industry. The problem with price controls is that they never work and lead to rationingand shortages.
  
  
• The president’s plan not only makes abortion a taxpayer-funded healthcare right, but it expands the tax dollars available to pay for the destruction of innocent life. According to Douglas Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, “If all of the president’s changes were made, the resulting legislation would allow direct federal funding of abortion on demand through Community Health Centers, would institute federal subsidies for private health plans that cover abortion on demand (including some federally administered plans), and would authorize federal mandates that would even require non-subsidized private plans to cover elective abortion.”
  
  
  The American people overwhelmingly oppose the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions, but Obama demanded it. In doing so, he completely ignored the concerns of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and dozens of pro-life members of Congress who supported the Stupak amendment.

Gary Bauer

Campaign for Working Families

Quote of the Day

"In spite of all hope, the White House clearly has not learned a thing from the election results in Massachusetts. President Obama is determined to ram a government takeover of healthcare through Congress this year no matter what. Today, he’s unveiling his framework for the legislation, and price controls are a big item on the president’s agenda. The White House is now seeking the power to set insurance rates.

This morning, a White House spokesman said, “The president expects and believes the American people deserve an up or down vote on health reform, and our proposal is designed to give ourselves maximum flexibility to ensure that we can get an up or down vote if the opposition decides to take the extraordinary step of filibustering health reform.” In other words, Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will use the reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate, to force socialized medicine on the American people. We will analyze the president’s proposal this afternoon and expose its hidden agenda tomorrow morning."

Gary Bauer

Campaign for Working Families

Feb 25th Thursday in DC then VA

Take a stand against obamacare on February 25th this Thursday: please to let people know to spread out between Caribou Coffee on Pennsylvania Avenue corner of 17th St NW DC and down Pennsylvania Avenue all the way to the Treasury Building as individuals taking a stand against this obamacare push trap at the Blair House.

We plan to meet inside Caribou Coffee around 9 AM. Most effective time is 9:15 to 10:15 AM or even just 9:30 to 10 AM to stand out there with a message regarding Hands off my Healthcare or a blank poster to speak volumes: start over with a blank page! Training to follow in DC for those interested: http://americansforprosperity.org/021910-critical-condition-patients-summit

Then 2-25 this Thursday evening at 5 PM AFP will have Hands off My Healthcare & Budget Town Hall style meeting with the PORKULUS BUS in Culpeper, VA 22701. Location to be announced: free pork BBQ!

Remember: register for Saturday Feb 27th www.leadershipteaparty.com if able to attend this amazing training with Richard Viguerie, Michael Leahy, Mark Skoda & Dallas TEA Victory in a Box

Rita Grace

H#540-937-3757

Constitutional TEA Party

March 6th: Time to Dance

50s & 60s DANCE - 6 March

American Legion Post 157 at 310 Thrift Road,

downtown Madison, Virginia

BYOB * free snacks * buy soft drinks

TICKETS: $10 EACH AT THE DOOR OR RESERVE EARLY AT $8EA/2 FOR $15

Call 540-661-0454

Starts at 7:30

Enjoy tops tunes sung the way they should be

with DJ Wayne

Feb. 27th: Don't miss this Incredible Opportunity!

Opportunity knocks: In the form of an incredible conservative training on HOW TO WIN.

Sign up: revised class hours for this Saturday February 27th welcome 10 AM to 4:30 PM.

What: Leadership TEA Party Class 2

When: Saturday February 27, 2010

Where: TriVison TV Studio, Chantilly, VA

Why: To learn some of the best Rapid Response Collaboration Techniques: Dana Loesch, Eric Odom, Dallas TEA Party Team and Michael Patrick Leahy's Rules for Conservatives; Victory in a Box, an amazing data program developed by Dallas TEA Party to win elections; Keynote by Richard Viguerie: Where have you been? Mark Skoda offers high-tech low-cost training In the Clouds that you can't afford to miss. Millennials, Home Schoolers, High School topics. Conservative Leadership in action; Live Panel Participation televised Q & A. Can be viewed online for a small fee.

Sign up early: Free limited to 50 registrants for live participation: TEA Party, 9-12, local area group at no charge for live participants' registration

Who: All who are not involved in 5th disctrict debate or local events please participate live, send others available.

How: Sign up online www.leadershipteaparty.com (agenda will be ready Monday Feb. 15 for February 27th Saturday LTP Class 2)

Well worth looking into, investing your time. Please contact us for special areas of interest: H# 540-937-3757

Share with others like-minded

Must see video: The Navy Competes

GO NAVY! Our US Navy Ceremonial Guard Silent Drill Team was invited to compete in an International Tattoo in Norway in May of 2009. The Navy competed against military units from all over NATO and won first place. I think when you watch this video you'll see why they won. (Sound on) US Navy in Norway

Quote of the Day

"Bold action is required to change Washington’s fiscal course. If we do not cut spending and address our nation’s debt, not only will our children and grandchildren be saddled with our burden, our national competitiveness will suffer significantly. We need strong and comprehensive solutions when it comes to addressing Washington’s appetite for spending."

Congressman J. Randy Forbes (R-Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District)

Put Your John Hancock on the Mt. Vernon Statement

** What does the Mount Vernon Statement have to do with your civics IQ? Take a minute to watch the latest Perkins-on-Point video and find out. When you're finished, click over to the FRC website to put your name alongside the thousands of other Americans who want to recommit themselves to the Founders' ideals. **