MASON CONSERVATIVE

RIP MIchael Jackson

I know what he turned into, but I'm old enough to remember when he was great and for me, I'll always go with Smooth Criminal

Quick Question For FCRC

I was driving up Chain Bridge Road today right past the FCRC headquarters and on the back yard of the building thats facing the road was dotted with a couple of McDonnell signs, a Bill Bolling sign, and a Jim Hyland sign . . . but nothing for Ken Cuccinelli.  Perhaps they are out of them because of high demand, I don't know.  But I would like to think that the local party would show support to all of our statewide candidates.  

UFC 100 Is Almost Here

So I couldn't be more excited about this.  

Full Card:

Heavyweight Unification Fight:  Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir

Welterweight Title Fight:  Georges St-Pierre (c) vs. Thiago "Pitbull" Alves

Middleweight:  Michael "The Count" Bisping vs. Dan "Hendo" Henderson

Welterweight:  Paulo Thiago vs. Jon Fitch

Middleweight:  Alan "The Talent" Belcher vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama

Light Heavyweight:  Mark "The Hammer" Coleman vs. Stephan Bonnar

Lightweight:  Mac Danzing vs. Jim Miller

Light Heavyweight:  Jon Jones vs. Irish Jake O'Brien

Welterweight:  Dong Huyn "Stun Gun" Kim vs. TJ Grant

Welterweight:  CB Dolloway vs. Tom Lawlor

Lightweight:  Shannon Gugerty vs. Matt Grice

Speaking Of Governor's Associations . . .

Bloggers on the left seem to be working hard to tar Bob McDonnell with the fact that McD has gotten a ton of money from the Republican Governor's Association who's chairman was Mark Sanford.  That led me to think, what about the Democrats and Creigh Deeds.  It didn't take long before I found that the Democratic Governors had dropped a cool $100,000 - straight and untraceable cash- into the Deeds for Governor campaign.  So okay, what's the big deal, right?  Nothing if it ended there, but the DGA's involvement in Virginia goes beyond giving money, its crossed over into breaking election laws on behalf of Democrats:

The State Board of Elections is levying a $2,500 penalty against the Democratic Governors Association, which has funneled nearly $2.2 million to a group running a TV ad critical of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell.

David Allen, campaign finance manager for the State Board of Elections, said he plans to assess the civil penalty to DGA for failing to file timely campaign finance reports.
Now McDonnell's campaign is calling for Common Sense Virginia, the recipient of the DGA funds, to yank its ad.

"It's a dishonest, negative ad funded in apparent violation of Virginia rules," said McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin. "The ad needs to come down immediately. It's insulting to Virginia voters."

Common Sense Virginia plans to continue airing the ad through this week. McDonnell's campaign started running its first TV ad Monday.

Yoni Cohen, a spokesman for Common Sense Virginia, said it is in full compliance with Virginia law. Its ad criticizes McDonnell for opposing expanded unemployment benefits. McDonnell has said the federal stimulus money to pay for the benefits comes with too many strings attached.

Virginia law requires a 527 committee to register with the State Board of Elections when it gives $10,000 or more to a Virginia candidate or political organization. The 527 committee also must disclose the sources of its money.

The DGA has not reported any source contributions to the state since April 15. Emily DeRose, a DGA spokeswoman, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Monday that the association hasn't deposited any checks that it may have received since April 15. The organization has hosted at least one fundraiser since.

Allen said state law requires the groups to report not when they deposit the funds but when they receive them.

"They are required to file a report each time they make a contribution," he said. "Even if they have not received any funds, they still have to file showing zero contributions."

So I find it laughable that Democrats are attempting to insinuate that McDonnell is hiding and/or laundering money with a straight face when they were busted for doing the exact same thing!  All McDonnell did was attend fundraisers and accept donations.  What the Democrats were doing was create a shadow organization, funneled $2.2 million into it to do nothing but attack Bob McDonnell.  And they refused to disclose who the donors were.  This isn't an accusation, its a fact.  And they got busted.  What I want to know is if Creigh Deeds . . . oh yee of bipartisanship . . . will stand with these law breakers?  I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

And as an aside, I laughed when I saw who the bloggers were connected dots that weren't there.  These were all bloggers bought by Terry McAuliffe, the king of campaign shadiness.  I mean, nobody played the rackets game better than T-Mac and these guys are thought he was qualified to be governor!  So consider the sources.

Creigh Deeds, What WON'T You Tax?

Let me first start this with Bob McDonnell's newest ad, in which McDonnell makes the case for low taxes and right-to-work as a way to bring a resurgence in the state economy.  When times are tough like they are now, the absolute worst thing you can do is raise taxes to artificially fund the government.  I say artificial because tax hikes never fix anything, they might fund something for a year but in the end it only fosters government growth and more taxes.  When taxes get too high, people leave, destroying the tax base, forcing taxes to be raised higher and higher to fund the same growth with a smaller base.  Its insedious.  McDonnell is making that case . . .

This, of course, leads us to Rural State Senator Creigh Deeds who seems to have not met a tax he hasn't wanted to raise.  And its not just Republican cant, this is real.  We can't rebuild this country on high taxes and government tax overs forever.  Eventually, people will need to open business and create jobs from the bottom up.  That is the only way to get past what we are going through.  What won't work is THIS, outlined by RWL:

It was June 24, 2008, and three separate tax-hike bills passed the Senate Transportation Committee (of which Deeds was and is a member): SB6009, SB6010, and SB6015. Deeds voted for all three.

Now, this version of SB6009 (LIS) did not have all of the tax increases its hideous floor version acquired, but Deeds still voted in favor of the following:

• An increase in the gasoline tax by 6 cents
• An increase in the state sales tax on cars by 1/2%
• An addition sales tax of 1/2% on Northern Virginia
• A hotel occupancy tax of $5 per night on Northern Virginia
• A grantor’s tax (real estate) of $.40 per $1000 on Northern Virginia

Not conent with that, Deeds proceeded to vote in favor of SB6010, which imposed the following (LIS):

• A “recapture” index on the gasoline tax that would lead to a de facto tax increase of over 14 cents per gallon
• An increase in the state titling tax on cars by 1/2%
• An additional sales tax of 1/2 cent on Northern Virginia
• An additional sales tax of 3/4 cent on Hampton Roads
• A hotel occupancy tax of $5 per night on Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads
• A grantor’s tax (real estate) of $.40 per $1000 on Northern Virginia
• An additional increase in the gasoline tax by 1% on Hampton Roads
• An addition 1% sales tax on the Richmond metropolitan area, the Fredericksburg region, and (by my reading) the SWAC area

The regional tax hikes would become part of the floor version of SB6009.

Finally, Deeds voted in favor of SB6015 (LIS), which imposed these tax hikes:

• A increase in the wholesale gasoline tax by 5%
• An increase in the state sales tax on cars by 1/2%
• An increase in the state rental tax on cars by 1%

In one single day, Deeds voted for thirteen different tax increases.

Rob Wittman Is Settling In Nicely

Rob Wittman is turning into a pretty good congressman in DC right now, braving the winds and voting against the stimulus bills and now weighing in on Health Care.  President Obama and his state run media outlet ABC are pimping socialized medicine tonight and refused to let any Republicans to buy time to offer our views.  But Rep. Rob Wittman released a video quickly outlining some of the things the House GOP is working on (thanks, BD):

Rob Wittman is really turning into quite the find for Virginia Republicans and I expect a fast rise through the House as a hardworking, head-down, representative.  

Jay McConville Gets His Chance

So blogger and Delegate Kris Amundson is retiring this term, with a bit of a late announcement today.  I've heard nothing but good things even from Republicans about Delegate Amundson so I wish her the best.  But when I heard it, bells went off in my head about what an opportunity this is.  Normally, yeah I would shrug and say this is a tough district.  But Republicans do have a great candidate in Jay McConville community leader active in Mount Vernon.  Mount Vernon is one of those small towns that is very tight-knit locale that might do unconventional things in local elections.  This is also why its always great to run candidates in every race no matter what the odds.  Amundson more than likely would not have retired had she run unopposed like she did last time, so my forcing her to actually work for her seat it didn't work in her work-life balance.  A couple other things that help Republicans in this race . . . now its an open seat much like the Danny Smith-Kay Kory race.  Also, Pat Herrity carried Mount Vernon district in his special election razor-thin loss to Sharon Bulova.  Lastly, I think incumbency and personal popularity like that Admundson enjoyed tends to hide the problems in a district.  And there are problems in Mount Vernon stemming from crime issues along Route 1 and other things.  With this now an open seat, McConville will lose the burden of having to convince voters to dump Amundson along with arguing for himself.  Now he just gets to go out, work hard, hit the doors, and advocate for himself and his issues.  It makes things much easier.  

On a personal note, I got to spend some extended time talking to McConville at the last FAYR meeting and liked what I heard.  He is a veteran, has deep roots in Mount Vernon and clearly is running not for ideology but for bettering his community, which he is worried about.  His public career is much like our last successful local candidate John Cooke, serving in home owner's associations and youth leadership associations, things that puts him in touch with not just the political winds of the district but also the real life issues that people think and worry about.  He makes good points, a good case for getting more back from Richmond.  I'm thrilled that this is an open seat and can't wait to see how McConville does.  

This Is So Stupid

Anyone trying to score points on Bob McDonnell for taking money from Mark Sanford's RGA is retarded.  Of course McDonnell is going to get money from the RGA, and even if he did get money directly Sanford (which he did not) he can't possibly know what these guy do behind closed doors.  

The Case Of The Missing Governor *UPDATE* ITS OVER FOR SANFORD

I don't really get to check the internet until the evenings because my work does not allow internet access, so excuse me if it seems late for this BUT IF THIS is true that Mark Sanford flew down to Argentina, telling nobody, to have an affair . . . its reprehensible and Sanford should resign immediatly.

How many of our best have to continue to do this to us?  Vitter, Ensign, now Sanford?  What the hell is wrong with these people?  Don't they realize that so many people rely on them, have hopes for them?  Hopefully he'll just go away and never come back.  And what makes Sanford worse than Ensign and Vitter is he put his personal needs ahead of his state.  I can understand a governor getting burned out and wanting to head out without anybody with him.  But this . . . leaving his state and the country without telling his LG or his legislative leaders in case of emergency . . . he needs to resign now and just stay gone.

I've made it known my affinity for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and his recent Walden moment of leaving everyone behind to take a several day hike.  I won't lie, its weird.  But I guess, from The Politico, Sanford is kind of a different guy.  But it seems to me that much of the hubbub might be drive by the fact that Sanford has been a very effective and articulate spokesman from the very beginning against what Obama is doing.  Perhaps, my ears perked, this is a bit of a smear job to make a potential opponent look silly?  Remember, this is how Sanford performs and how reasonable and effective he is when he is on television.

This is not the kind of guy Republicans should toss aside because of a few personal foibles.  He is clearly smart, probably knows more about economics in his pinkie than the entire Obama White House, and he can break it down into simple terms for people who didn't work on Wall Street like he has.  He is relaxed, articulate, not overly partisan, and smooth.  We saw it with Sarah Palin, now we are beginning to see it with Mark Sanford as how the fourth estate circles around the White House, protecting their king.  IF you need any more proof, witness the "press conference" today where Obama wasn't asked about foreign affairs nor was he asked about spending.  He controls them because he controls access.  We need someone Americans can relate too as a regular guy, a guy who understands how unfair it is to bailout business and people who made the wrong choices at the expense of those who made the right ones.  Someone willing to expose the folly of fixing a debit by creating more debt, thus driving down the value of the dollar.  He has guts, but he's calm about it.  Thats why I like him so much.  Anyways, just food for thought.    

A Fitting End . . .

Former Congressman Tom Davis (R-Jeannemarie) is the frontrunner to join the Court of Obama as one of the many czars in the Administration, I'm guessing as a cyber czar.  Anything to get out of the house, I guess.  But seriously folks . . .

I would actually be surprised if he took the job because for the first time in his life he is making some serious money in the private sector.  Plus, I'm pretty sure he hasn't given up on his long-sought goal of serving in the US Senate.  And Davis has enough problems with the base at home, I doubt actually joining the Obama Administration would help him.