Eric Cantor elected House Majority Leader

Statement of RPV Chairman Pat Mullins on Rep. Eric Cantor's Election to Majority Leader
 
-- Cantor is first Virginian to hold the post--
 

RPV Chairman Pat Mullins gave the following statement:

"I want to be one of the first to congratulate Rep. Eric Cantor on his election today to be the new Majority Leader in the House of Representatives. The rest of the nation will now know what we in Virginia have known for years  - that Eric Cantor is a hard-working, common-sense conservative, and a tremendous leader.

The new Republican majority has a daunting task ahead in repairing the damage done by President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid. Voters overwhelmingly recognized that the country must change course, and quickly. Righting the ship will be hard work, but the new majority couldn't have chosen a better person to help lead the effort.

Congratulations, Majority Leader Cantor on a great achievement! "

Blogosphere bids farewell as "The Other McCain's" Smitty heads to Afghanistan

How many blog posts does it take to send off a conservative blogger who happens to be a Navy reservist going to war in Afghanistan? In the case of "Smitty," Stacy McCain's sidekick over at one of the most-read blogs, The Other McCain, the answer would be 35. At least. And probably more.

Smitty's Veterans Day announcement of his imminent deployment caught some off-guard. After all, these wide-spread eclectic citizen journalists are keyboard jockeys, not camel jockeys. Smitty had confided to a few that he would be shipping out but was firm that he didn't want anyone blogging about it before the 2010 elections. Nothing, he emphasized, should draw attention away from the immediate task at hand: send Democrats packing with pink slips in hand as Americans toiled to begin a correction of their political course on November 2.

Smitty can ship out knowing that task was accomplished and that the blogosphere will be a watch dog to keep the mission on task.

His farewell blog told where he was going and that he would be on hiatus from writing for a while:

Stacy has greased the skids here, but there will be a hiatus in regular blogging activity for the Smitty portion of this blog duo at the close of this post. I hold orders to activate in mid-November and report to Kabul, Afghanistan in time for Christmas. Bandwidth, and latitude for skylarking online will not exist until the end of 2011.

With an outpouring of thanks, good-natured jostling, and bids for safe travels, bloggers responded to the news that "Smitty" aka Chris Smith was deploying to Operation Enduring Freedom by doing what they do best: write.

Familiar blog names such as Fishersville Mike, Yankee Phil, DaTechguy, Little Miss Attila, The Lonely Conservative, No Sheeples Here,  Point of a Gun, Red State Eclectic, Right Wing News, theblogprof, Troglopundit, The Frugal Cafe,  Red State, Pirates Cove, SWAC Girl, and WyBlog and many more hung their hearts on their sleeves to salute this patriotic American. Who says bloggers don't have feelings?

In typical Smitty style, however, he didn't want the attention on him. As he wrote:

But don’t thank me; thank Americans, from the Founding Fathers forward to the Tea Parties, to my electrician brother-in-law who just runs around fixing things all day. The exceptional American dedication to individualism, the ideals of the Constitution, and the courageous soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in whose bigger footsteps I follow make it all worth it. I’ve benefited so much from the American people, educationally and otherwise. Thus, it’s with a sense of gratitude to you that I depart on this set of orders, finishing out my Navy Reserve career in active duty style.

In a follow-up "thank-you" post, Smitty was appreciative to everyone for the "outpouring of well-wishing concerning the deployment." He added that his mother called him and broke down at the sheer volume of responses from the blogosphere. He deserved it. One blogger called him an officer and a gentleman. He's all that and more.

Thank you, Smitty, for your service ... and Godspeed.

Looking ahead

The 2010 election is just six days past, but pollsters are already looking ahead.
Public Policy Polling is planning on running a poll on the 2012 Virginia Senate contest this weekend. Should be some interesting combinations.

Election Day 2010

About the Three Constitutional Amendments

Words Mean Things... Tom White Translates

This Analysis from Virginia Right [click to read] will help you understand the proposed amendments. I voted "NO" on all three this morning.

Question 1:

Shall Section 6 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia be amended to authorize legislation that will permit localities to establish their own income or financial worth limitations for purposes of granting property tax relief for homeowners not less than 65 years of age or permanently and totally disabled?

Question 2:

Shall the Constitution be amended to require the General Assembly to provide a real property tax exemption for the principal residence of a veteran, or his or her surviving spouse, if the veteran has a 100 percent service-connected, permanent, and total disability?

Tom writes: "These amendments are simply shifting the approval of these tax breaks from the Virginia Legislature to the local Board of Supervisors in each locality. If these measures shifted powers from federal to state or local level, they would be a good thing.

But all they are actually doing is allowing local Boards to bypass the oversight the Virginia Constitution put in place. Localities can still do these things now if they so decide, but they must seek approval from the state legislators. This is a wise check and balance and should not be changed.

Most agree that taxes should be both fair and equal. If a locality decides that some people deserve inequitable tax treatment, oversight is a good idea. While removing or reducing taxes based on age or ability is a noble thing, it must be balanced with fact that you are simply shifting the tax burden to others."

Question 3:

Shall Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia be amended to increase the permissible size of the Revenue Stabilization Fund (also known as the “rainy day fund”) from 10 percent to 15 percent of the Commonwealth’s average annual tax revenues derived from income and retail sales taxes for the preceding three fiscal years?

Sounds really fiscally responsible, Right? Tom points out that this is simply allowing the government to overtax us and not account for it. Remembering how VDOT suddenly found it had saved all that money after all, let's just say I'm skeptical at this point.

As Virginia Goes, So Goes the Nation?

Some Thoughts from Lynn at the Washington Examiner


Arriving at the Lincoln Memorial for the Restoring Honor Rally. These people know there's nothing funny about the destruction of the greatest country on earth.

Lynn writes These Thoughts [click to read] on the midterm elections. Read Lynn's article, read the predictions in Virginia Virtucon and then turn off the media. Time to get busy and start rebuilding this great nation.

Virginia Virtucon Predictions [click to read].