Kissing Bandit in Loudoun

There is a Kisser on the loose. Over in Loudon County a man, maybe a foreigner, is kissing random joggers. See the video here
Loudoun County Sheriff's officers have identified and talked to the man believed to have kissed at least four female joggers last week in Sterling.

None of the four joggers wanted to press charges against the 71-year-old man. He has an ailment and showed no criminal intent, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said.

The incidents happened on Whitewater Drive in the Lowes Island area. Several female joggers reported that an older man had approached them at different times, extended his hand as if to shake hands, then kissed them on the cheek or hand, Troxell said.

The man is not being named since he was not charged.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to the SWAC Bloggers....

Tea Party director, Richard Armstrong running for Staunton City Council.

The director of the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots is the first official candidate to fill the Staunton City Council seat of outgoing state District 20 Del.-elect Dickie Bell.

Former Detroit policeman and Navy veteran Richard Armstrong, 63, on Monday submitted his application and Staunton vision statement.

See the story at News Virginian, or at Augusta Conservative

Cantor-sponsored job fair in Culpeper turns out 700

Congressional Whip Eric Cantor (R-7th CD) sponsored a job fair Monday in Culpeper ... and more than 700 unemployed Virginians turned out to take advantage of the opportunity to talk with 50 employers looking for new employees. WVIR NBC-29 was there to cover the event and has details as well as video.

This is the Congressman's second job fair. The first, held earlier this year in Chesterfield, also attracted thousands.

A little Change of Scenery

We decided to make a slight change of scenery.
This is a pic of Grand Caverns, near Grottoes Virginia

Here are a few from inside the caves

Swoope has a carriage company

Blue Ridge Carriage Company has 2 big Percherons

They are neighbors and co-workers.
I have no financial stake in their business, but I wish them good fortune.

Voting 'Absent'

Warner and Webb Didn't Show Up to Represent Us...

I'll be getting another round of 'form letters.' You'll tell me how you 'have concerns' about the bill as it is written and other such nonsense. If you really cared about the legitimate concerns so many of us have about it then why did both of you vote to allow this destructive monstrosity to go to debate in the first place?

Will Mark Warner vote anti-business and create new federal agency?

Call Sen. Mark Warner (804.775-2314 or 202.224-2023) and tell him NO new federal agencies.

While most eyes are on the massive federalized government health care bill now making its way through the Senate, Congress is secretly working on other legislation to broaden and expand government even more. We cannot afford this continued spending ... America's back is breaking under the burden of debt.

Maximus at The Contemporary Conservative summed it up very well: Will Senator Mark Warner vote to create a new Frankenstein Federal Agency designed to strangle business recovery?

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced a wide-ranging piece of legislation last week that combines some of the worse anti-business provisions of securities "reform" legislation that was floating around.

Known as “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2009," the bill would create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and promote what is referred to as "scheme liability."

There are business impacts that are direct to certain kinds of businesses, those that are indirect (such as to realtors, small banks, and auto dealers who will be harmed further if people can't get home loans or car loans) and those that hit all of us as end consumers either through reduced or eliminated access to certain kinds of loans or through higher prices for products and services (as the increased cost of doing business is passed along).

This thing is massive ... and creates another bureaucratic agency with more layers in government resulting in more taxpayer costs at a time when the federal debt has TRIPLED in the past six months.

One sentence in this massive Senate financial regulatory legislation would leave small businesses, banks, and accountants as well as virtually any other business subject to a flood of new securities class action lawsuits. Class action lawyers, who support the bill, would be allowed to sue virtually anyone who did business with a public company alleged to have engaged in fraud even if they didn't know anything about the alleged fraud.

This guilt-by-association provision would hurt innocent companies by forcing them into extortionate settlements. Because securities class action lawsuits tend to seek massive damage awards, many bystander businesses -- even those bearing no culpability whatsoever -- would feel compelled to settle the lawsuits rather than go to trial and risk losing a "bet-the-company" case.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice are already in place and authorized to prosecute those who aid and abet violations of securities laws so why is another newly-created agency necessary?

There have been news reports in many states of securities class action lawyers engaging in pay-to-play with public pension fund officials, contributing large amounts to their campaigns in return for contracts to represent the pension fund in lawsuits in which the lawyers are likely to make tens of millions of dollars in legal fees.

Aside from specific concerns that certain businesses have because of the direct impact coming from this legislation, it is a given that consumers will be adversely impacted by anything that drives up the cost of doing business.

So whether it is because of increased legal costs in defending against lawsuits, increased costs of complying with regulations or artificial determinations about the cost of products, these new increased costs of doing will will be passed on to the consumer. And that is everyone.

The Heritage Foundation agrees there is absolutely no rationale for creating such an agency:

During last year's presidential campaign, Barack Obama noted that "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

This phrase neatly sums up the ongoing ... Financial Services Committee markup of .... the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) Act of 2009. Despite honest attempts to improve the bill, the overall concept is still badly flawed, and any result that comes close to the original concept will be a major mistake. There is simply no rationale for creating such an agency that a coordinating council of state and federal financial regulators cannot accomplish easier and at a lower cost.

Sen. Mark Warner is a member of the committee and, as a businessman, should be pulling back in horror at the thought of this overreaching government bureaucracy. Calls and letters are urgently needed to ask Sen. Warner to vote NO on creating another bureaucratic agency. He can be contacted by letter, FAX, or phone call:

The Honorable Sen. Mark Warner
919 East Main Street, Suite 630
Richmond, VA 23219

FAX: (804) 775-2319
PHONE - Richmond Office: (804) 775-2314
PHONE - Washington Office: (202) 224-2023

Congress should rely on legislation already in place, such as the SEC and Department of Justice, to enforce the laws on the books rather than create new bureaucracy, more debt, and more opportunity for ACORN to have access in this Obama administration.

Can Someone Show Me the 12th District?

This is Enlightening...

The Stimulus Money is Saving and Creating Jobs in Nonexistant Congressional Districts [click to read]. I'm wondering how ACORN might be involved in this.

SWAC Girl says: "Virginia has eleven congressional districts. Yet DJ at Right-Wing Liberal alerts us that somehow the Obama administration provided over $2.26 million to the 12th Congressional District. There is no such animal ... will there be an investigation by the media?"


Virginia's eleven Congressional Districts.

No, Virginia, there will NOT be an investigation by the media. Just the obligitory "we knew about it but it's not real news" piece.

This is Frightening...

Cook County politics come to Virginia? We're wondering if some ACORN volunteer turned member of the administration rode the Metro across the river and discovered the large cemetary there. In Chicago that is an underrepresented voter block, as you well know, and the staffer simply jumped the gun. After the Census comes redistricting.

Recently [I am NOT making this up]!!! there was a cemetary in Cook County that was digging up graves and reselling the plots! That it happened in Chicago makes you wonder... if these people were actively voting they didn't need a cemetary plot anyway, did they?

So I have a macabre theory as to where this "12th district" is. Watch out for purple shirts and ACORN 'Voter Registration Drives" in 2010 folks.

H.R. 3962 Made Simple...

This Diagram Will Help You Understand Obamacare


THYME Special Healthcare Edition

Our staff worked through the night to reduce the two thousand page document into a diagram that is easy to understand. Those of you who are sharp historians will recognize the infamous 1938 'Man of the Year' cover from the 'other' weekly newsmagazine.

3 of 69 Blue Dogs are Virginians. Call Them.

TELL THEM TO VOTE NO
ON PELOSI/OBAMACARE

14.Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA): “I’m Not Persuaded Any Sort Of Tax Increase Is Needed.” “‘I’m not persuaded any sort of tax increase is needed,’ said Rep. Gerald Connolly, a first-term Democrat from Virginia. He suggests Democrats should focus more on finding budget savings. ‘The jury is still out on what, if anything, we have to do for revenue enhancement.’” (Greg Hitt And Martin Vaughan, “Health Bill In House Relies On Wealth Tax,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/11/09) CONTACT HERE

Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-1492
Fax: (202) 225-3071

4115 Annandale Road, Suite 103
Annandale, VA 22003
Phone: (703) 256-3071
Fax: (703) 354-1284

48. Rep. Glenn Nye (D-VA): “We Will Be Unable To Support Any Health Care Legislation That Doesn’t Meet The President’s Goal Of Driving Down And Holding Down Cost Of Health Care As Determined By The CBO.” “Sustainability requires that the burden on the American taxpayer and the federal budget be limited. To that end, we will be unable to support any health care legislation that doesn’t meet the President’s goal of driving down and holding down the cost of health care, as determined by the CBO.” (Rep. Glenn Nye, Letter To Speaker Pelosi And Leader Hoyer, Link, 10/14/09)Glenn Nye, III (VA-02)DC Phone: 202-225-4215 202-225-4215 Fax: 202-225-4218

51. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA): Won’t Support A Program That Funds Abortions. Perriello said he does not currently support any of the three proposals in congress. He said he won’t support a program that funds abortions, but he said it’s starting to sink in with people that the feds aren’t trying to do away with private insurance. “You still hear concerns about it being a public mandate rather than a public option. People are going to be given a wide range of choice between private insurance and maybe, or maybe not, a public option. I think people are starting to understand that,” Perriello said. (Brian Damewood, “Locals Sound Off Over Health Care,” wset.com, 8/18/09)TOLL-FREE NUMBER: 1-888-4-TOM4US (1-888-486-6487)

Danville District Office
308 Craghead St., Suite 102
Danville, VA 24541
Phone: (434) 791-2596
Fax: (434) 791-2598
Office Manager: Ebony Guy
Map

Farmville District Office
515 S. Main St.
Farmville, VA 23901
Phone: (434) 392-1997
Fax: (434) 392-3254
Office Manager: Joe Topham
Map

Charlottesville District Office
313 2nd Street, SE, Suite 112
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: (434) 293-9631
Fax: (434) 293-9632
Office Manager: Esther Page
Map

Martinsville District Office
10 East Church Street, Suite K
Martinsville, VA 24112
Phone: (276) 656-2291
Fax: (276) 656-2293
Office Manager: Kimble Reynolds
Map

Washington, DC Office
1520 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4711
Fax: (202) 225-5681

See the full list here

Ft. Hood Shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was a Hokie

The Virginia-born soldier,Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was single with no children. He was 39 years old.
He is a graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997.

Read more here

Look What Happened in the Albemarle BOS...

They Just Voted in a Republican Majority!

I was over in Charlottesville for meetings today. I had the radio on as I was driving and couldn't quite believe my ears. Both Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas won their respective elections and that puts three Republicans on the five member board. Snow is a local businessman and his family ran a successful nursery for years.

Both Thomas and Snow ran on a on a zero-based budget during the campaign. That means the budget starts at zero and each department has to justify all of their funding. Sounds good to me!

Beverage beats Dixon in treasurer's race

The race for the Waynesboro treasurer's seat, which turned into a four-way scamper with two late write-in candidates, finished with Republican challenger Stephanie Beverage taking the win from incumbent Sandra "Sandee" Dixon.
With Beverage's victory, the Republicans finished a sweep of the area. As of press time, Beverage had 1,867 votes, 42 percent, to Dixon's 1,180, 27 percent. There were 1,383 write-in votes cast between the two candidates not on the ballot, reports the Newsleader .
What is amazing to this blogger is 1383 write-ins. Good Job Stephanie for beating the odds.

The Sweep is Official!

Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli Win Big

What a historic night! Lynn is live-blogging from Richmond and Big-government [that's YOU, Mr. Obama] took a serious hit! It's pretty clear that McDonnell won with his clear message. Yes, Virginia, there ARE great communicators.

Congratulations to our next Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General!

Election Day 2009 ... vote GOP McDonnell~Bolling~Cuccinelli

Virginia's winning Republican team ...
Bill Bolling ~ Bob McDonnell ~ Ken Cuccinelli

Election Day 2009
Please exercise your freedom to vote
and go to the polls today.

Nothing is so sweet as the taste of freedom....

Photo by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
GOP Flyaround at Weyers Cave Airport - 1 November 2009

Survey USA - McDonnell up 18

Survey USA releases its final poll before the election, putting Bob McDonnell ahead 58-40. In its final 2005 poll, Survey USA had Tim Kaine leading by five points when he eventually won by six.
Looking at the numbers are:
Below the Beltway
Tertium Quids
Nova Town Hall

Real Health Care Reform Secrets: Part1

In order for there to be real Health Care Reform and not just a massive Government take over, some facts must be exposed. Learn more about it at The Augusta Conservative.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue VIIIA, Special Election Issue.

A Clear conservative message has Bob McDonnell leading steadily in the polls.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume I, Issue VIII, Special Election Issue.
Photo by Jen Fariello

The Moderate Democrat's Dilemma

Pity Creigh Deeds. His job is not an easy one. First he must convince Virginians that he is 'one of them.' Even though the Washington Post and Senator Mark Warner are big fans, he's got to project that "down home folksy voice" that says he remembers his Bath County Roots.

Then there's the question of how tightly to embrace that donkey on the National level? It's probably a good idea to "not support" the Cap and Trade Tax being pushed forward by Mark Warner and the National Organization.

Then there's the base. You've got to put in a dig about George Bush's "tax cuts for the rich" but move on before someone points out that those lower rates spur corporate growth. You've got to convince college girls that Bob McDonnell wants to reinstate the Middle Ages so they'll "rock the vote!" Still you have to deal with the fact that most Virginians find Bob McDonnell's moral values mirror their own.

Since you are effectively running against your national party AND the Republicans, who's on your team? Your guaranteed tax cut for "any business that hires a new employee" sounds good but how do you create a climate where the business actually needs more employees due to increased productivity? You see Creigh, I have to justify the ENTIRE cost of the employee before I will hire him or her.

And bringing broadband to every cowpasture in Virginia will probably go to the lowest bidder -- someone from out of state.

Also, how clear should you be on tax policy? A lot of us believe that government needs to restrain itself, just as we have had to in this current economy, and those 'evil' tax cuts will eventually lead to more business activity and increased revenues. It is not a fluke that the states in the most fiscal trouble right now have the highest tax rates. But who should YOU listen to?

Finally, how much should you bash your opponent when it starts to sound like that's all you have to offer? It's starting to sound something like this:

Folksy Voice: "We already know that Bob McDonnell Beats His Dawg!, But did you Know: BOB McDONNELL BEATS HIS DAWG!!!, and by the way, he supports Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and Bob McDonnell Beats His Dawg..."

It's time to present your positve ideas. If you bash a good man's reputation long enough, it becomes obvious that you're bashing a good man's reputation. All good men have their naysayers and it is all too easy to become known for your naysaying.

Just the Facts M'am

Recently Creigh Deeds' advertising referenced the website FactCheck.org to discredit his opponent. But follow the trail below to find out just how fair and balanced FactCheck.org really is.

The ANNENBERG Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania is the organization behind the FactCheck.org website that is being referenced by voters and media personalities alike to help them form opinions on the “truthfulness” of the claims being made by political ads as well as statements made on the Campaign Trail.

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Ph.D. is the Director of the ANNENBERG Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania which is the organization BEHIND the FactCheck.org “truthfulness” website.

Dr. Jamieson's newest book entitled “Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment” is a MAJOR HIT PIECE against the Conservative voices in the media on television, radio, and in print. View the book’s Table of Contents [click to read]. Then decide for yourself.

What’s the bottom line? FactCheck.org is a LEFT-BIASED organization that has sold itself as “Politically NEUTRAL” to America’s voters and media personnel. The fact is, the ANNENBERG Public Policy Center (APPC), the sponsoring agency behind FactCheck.org, is itself supported by the same foundation, the ANNENBERG FOUNDATION, that Bill Ayers secured the 49.2million dollars from to create the Chicago ANNENBERG Challenge“philanthropic” organization in which Barack Obama was the founding Chairman of the Board for and Ayers served as the grant writer of and co-Chair of for its two operating arms. Hardly an 'unbiased' source. Source: Free Republic

PPP - McDonnell up 14

Public Policy Polling finds little change in its last poll of the gubernatorial season - it's Bob McDonnell up 56-42. The poll shows an even split in the electorate, 35 percent Republican and 35 percent Democratic.
Also looking at the poll are:
Blue Virginia
Virginia Virtucon
SWAC girl
Nova Town Hall
Renaissance Ruminations
Tertium Quids

Below the Beltway

Inspiration at the Airport

Two Trips to SHD Prove to be Stirring


A young American takes in a B-17 Flying Fortress as the Collings Foundation WW II aircraft visit the Valley.

I've been to Shenandoah Valley Airport twice this week. Both times were greatly moving. Last week gave many Valley residents the chance to see some of the planes that helped win the great war. You could walk through the bombers and see the battle stations of young men in their twenties and imagine what it was like to defend freedom [and your airplane] from the enemy.

The second trip was to greet Virginia's Conservative ticket for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. They spoke of facing the challenges before us with clarity and purpose. The Conservative message rang through the terminal as over 200 citizens cheered. Small business, a proven jobs generator, needed to be set free to do just that. We need to reopen the rest areas for all the truckers serving this revitalized marketplace. Government needed to get lean and responsive again. Bob McDonnell, Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli were saying all the things "they" said nobody could say anymore. "They" were calling Virginia a "blue state." I think Virginia just needed more oxygen.

Rocking the Vote...

...Getting Grandma to the Polls Just Got Easier

Last year my lovely wife did a little research and discovered that our local polling place in Jollivue was more than willing to help voters with mobility issues. If we drove her 95 year old Father and 85 year old Mother to the polling place election officials would actually bring the touchpad voting machine out to the car for them and register their votes.

I can't vouch for every polling place but I would assume this policy exists statewide.

One more excuse bites the dust!

Mason-Dixon poll - McDonnell up 12

Two days until the election and another double-digit lead for Bob McDonnell - 53-41 in the Mason-Dixon poll.
Blue Virginia looks at the polling numbers, as does Below the Beltway

StrictlyVA welcomes Bob from "The Journey"

StrictlyVa is a group of SWAC bloggers who write about anything and everything to do with Virginia.

The group of five ... Yankee Phil, Fishersville Mike, Augusta Water Cooler, Augusta Conservative, and SWAC Girl ... has increased to six with the addition of Bob from The Journey.

A photo blogger aka citizen journalist, Bob offers commentary and his unique window on the world around him through his photography and art. His first post for StrictlyVA talks about how the media will spin a Republican win if Tuesday sees a sweep of the top three of McDonnell, Bolling, and Cuccinelli. We look forward to more from Bob including his always-informative THYME Magazine editions.

The merry band of bloggers at StrictlyVA welcome Bob!