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Time for a variation of Godwin’s Law and other logical fallacies from people supporting Lippa’s railroading of Benjamin Boyd.

For those not familiar with Godwin’s Law, it states: “As a Usenet [a message board-style system] discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” It was also used in the ye olde days (back when you had to carry the electrons on your back!) to determine when a Usenet discussion had reached it’s peak and needed to be ended due to someone deciding to compare someone else they were arguing with to a Nazi or Hitler. Anyone that make a comparison to Nazism or Hitler was determined to have lost the argument as well.

Well, here’s a new wider variation coined by me: As any argument continues, online or offline, the probability of a comparison to a mass murderer, including a serial killer, approaches 1.

And, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached that point in the back and forth regarding Sheriff Tony Lippa’s vendetta against Caroline County High School football coach Benjamin Boyd. In a letter to the editor in the July 23, 2009, edition of The Caroline Progress, Roger Cavendish stated the following as part of a tirade against former Principal Jeff Wick, the Caroline County School Board, et al.:

I can certainly understand why Jeff Wick is an ex-principal with his moral values. For him to even suggest that the drug crime was nineteen years ago is disgusting. I am sure that if Mr. Wick has anything to say about it the next time Charles Manson comes up for parole, he will want to hire him as a music teacher — after all, it has been forty years since he killed Sharon Tate and he is quite a musician.

Yep folks, he just compared someone that was convicted of two misdemeanors for the possession of steroids nineteen years ago to someone that was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of seven people. Do I really have to point the absurdity of that argument? To compare someone to Manson, who was involved in the brutal murder of seven people, including the murder of Sharon Tate who was eight-months pregnant at the time of her death, is beyond absurd; it’s reprehensible.

In the same letter Cavendish also stated that former School Board member and Coach George Spaulding had also come out in support of Boyd’s hiring and condemned Spaulding for supporting Boyd. Now that’s pretty interesting since Lippa is such good friends with George Spaulding through his wife Elisabeth Spaulding. Elisabeth Spaulding is the widow of Stan Benson who was a very good of friend of Lippa before his passing several years ago. In fact, Lippa was a big supporter of Spaulding’s failed bid for the Bowling Green Board of Supervisors seat back in 2007. Does all that support and friendship go out the door when someone ends up on the wrong side of one of Lippa’s vendetta, or, in this particular case, is it just the ravings of a lunatic like Roger Cavendish? It’s hard to decide at this point.

And then we have a portion of a the letter that appeared in the same edition from former Virginia State Trooper Robert Gordon:

As for the cheap shot by Mr. Wick regarding Sheriff Lippa’s son-in-law being interested in the coach’s position, it now has become a situation where members of the School Board and former principal Mr. Wick are now attempting to portray Sheriff Lippa as the bad in this entire matter.

First, note that nowhere did Gordon deny the truthfulness of Wick’s allegation. And, uh, excuse me, that’s a cheap shot? Is it a cheap shot for the Sheriff, the chief law-enforcement officer in the county, to publicly and falsely accuse someone of committing a crime? Is it a cheap shot for the Sheriff to invade another government employee’s privacy and to go around stating as a fact what was included on the employee’s application? Is it a cheap shot to get someone indicted for two felonies as part of a larger vendetta against someone and then run to a friend at WTVR Channel 6 News (Jon Burkett) to have him do a story about the charges?

No, of course not. It’s only a cheap shot to reveal to the public why a elected public official is pursuing a vendetta against someone. This is part of a wider revelation I’ve had: To Lippa and the people that are supporting him in this travesty of justice, they think there are two sets of rules: One set just for them and another set that everyone else has to follow. The problem is their set of rules is blank. They can do whatever they want: falsely accuse someone of a crime, try to publicly ruin a man’s reputation using the media, or try to get a man fired from a job that he was properly hired for, and it goes on and on. But when someone dares to point why they’re taking this course of action it’s a ‘cheap shot’, ‘an invasion of privacy’, ‘uncalled for’, or whatever else they want to say about it.

Crabill Watch: Catherine Crabill gets the coveted endorsement from the conspiracy theory clearing house Prison Planet.com.

Not a real surprise, right?

But a couple of words do not probably describe the type of folks that are behind Prison Planet.com. It isn’t just Oklahoma City Bombing Truthers (OKC Truthers) and United Nations one-government nuts like Crabill, it’s 9/11 Truther (people that believe that the Bush, or the Jews, or combination there of were responsible for the 9/11 attacks), anti-vaccine loons, anti-fluoride morons (they must worry about people trying to “sap and impurify” their “precious bodily fluids”), and, of course, those newest nuts known as Birthers (people that believe that Barack Obama is not a “natural born citizen” and therefore ineligible to be President). Of course, Crabill has previously shown her support for the Birthers between links on her campaign site to WorldNetDaily and comments made elsewhere.

To get a good idea on how insane the folks at Prison Planet.com are, consider this quote from the very article calling Crabill a “[p]atriot”:

GE manufactures jet and attack helicopter engines used in Iraq and Afghanistan to kill thousands. Not only is GE complicit in mass murder, it also pled guilty in federal court to civil and criminal charges of defrauding the Pentagon and agreed to pay $69 million to the U.S. government in fines — one of the largest defense contracting fines ever. Part of this fraudulent scheme was used to fund Israeli military programs not authorized by the United States – in other words, [Jim] Newell’s [the author of an article lambasting Crabill] boss helped Israel torture and kill Palestinians.

I’m loathed to even post stuff like that anywhere on my blog but I feel it’s important to document the type of insane people out there that have decided to support Crabill’s candidacy. I did make the prediction that Crabill would make the Republican Party and anyone running as a Republican look like a complete moron and it’s nice to see I was correct in that hypothesis even though I don’t like the net result.

And, no, I won’t be linking to that site. You can get your own link if you want to read that drivel! And the only reason that I even know about the endorsement post is because of a handy “Catherine Crabill” Google Blog alert. Heck, it was Google News search that found me the first article detailing Crabill’s OKC Trutherism, so they’re a a pretty good resource FYI.

Speaking of disclosing convictions on an application: Did a Caroline County Sheriff’s Office sergeant disclose his involvement in the tear gas attack of a gay bar when he was hired?

Prologue: I had originally planned on publishing this post on Monday but I deferred posting for one reason. The person involved, Travis Nutter, was one of the investigators which worked on the Joseph Beverley murder case for which John Wayne Peck was on trial for earlier this week. Since I did not know if Nutter would be testifying during the trial for the case, and out of concern for some juror who might have tried to Google his name and find some reason not to believe what he testified to, I opted not to publish this post until after the trial concluded. And, yes, I’m aware that jurors are not supposed to use to Internet to check up on witnesses nor defendants, but given the number of morons that were obviously on that jury I believe my concern was well-founded. Anyway…

It’s amazing the stuff you can find on the internet by accident.

He was also given a bad conduct discharge by the United States Marine Corps according to The Washington Blade:

A former Marine who was given a bad conduct discharge from the military six years ago for his involvement in the tear-gas attack on a Capitol Hill gay bar is currently working as a deputy sheriff in southern Virginia.

Travis Lee Nutter is employed as a deputy in the Caroline County Police Department [sic], located south of Fredericksburg, Va., according to Deputy Sheriff Roger [sic] Moser.

Moser said he was unaware of Nutter’s involvement in the 1997 incident, which gay activists have characterized as a hate crime. According to Moser, Nutter was hired as a Caroline County police officer [sic] in 2000.

The incident dates back to the summer of 1997, when a group of five U.S. Marines, stationed at the Marine Barracks at Eighth and I Streets, in Southeast, D.C., threw a CS grenade, containing tear gas, inside Remington’s, a gay country-western themed bar, just six blocks from the base.

The following year Nutter, along with the other Marines involved, served brig time, was demoted to private status and was given a bad conduct discharge from the military as a result of the incident.

According to Moser, Caroline County Police Department authorities are aware of Nutter’s military background. But Moser would not comment when asked if he knew of the details surrounding Nutter’s discharge from the Marines. Moser also would not say if the department would investigate whether Nutter lied about his involvement in the ’97 incident when he applied to join the force.

It could not be confirmed by Blade deadline if Nutter had been convicted of any crime for his involvement in the Remington’s incident, but coverage of the attack in the Blade seven years ago documented Nutter’s demotion and bad conduct discharge from the military.

“We don’t hire any convicted felons,” Moser said. “By Virginia law, you can’t carry a weapon if you’ve been convicted of a felony.”

Moser added that the Caroline County Sheriff’s office conducts a National Criminal & Intelligence check on all applicants.

Moser said all applicants must pass a criminal background check, and a federal background investigation before being considered for the position. But because the Remington’s case was handled by military authorities, it may not have appeared on a criminal background check.

The Blade this week requested Nutter’s discharge records from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and was told that the request would take “several days.”

When Moser was asked if he had viewed Nutter’s military discharge records prior to hiring him, he said he was “not at liberty to discuss anything involving an officer’s personal issues.”

Nutter did not return calls seeking comment.

[…]

The Blade reported in early 1998 that Nutter, who was 21 at the time, was charged with conspiracy in aiding Ryan M. Barrett, the Marine who threw the tear gas grenade into Remington’s. Barrett pleaded guilty to conspiracy, assault and theft charges that year during a court martial proceeding at the Marine base in Quantico, Va.Barrett admitted that he threw a CS grenade — commonly known as a tear gas grenade, which is often used to control crowds during outdoor riots and other disturbances — into the gay bar.

The CS grenade was thrown into Remington’s at 2:15 a.m., on Saturday, July 12, 1997; about 70 patrons were inside at the time. No serious injuries were reported, but shortly after the attack, Remington’s owner Steven Smith told the Blade that many customers and employees had suffered stinging in their eyes and throats.

Authorities charged the Marines with conspiracy to commit assault, assault, wrongful disposition of property (the tear gas grenade), breach of peace, and underage drinking.

Five months after the incident, a judge in a military court martial sentenced Barrett to four months confinement in a brig, lowered his military status to private and issued a bad conduct discharge.

Nutter was demoted to private; the lowest military rank, and was one of five Marines sentenced to a 35-70 day confinement in the brig.

Nutter was given a bad conduct discharge for his involvement in the incident.

[…]

After the sentencing of the other four Marines in ‘98, the Marine Corps prosecutor of that case, Maj. Joseph Bowe, told the Blade that the bad conduct discharges, and the fact that these men had been convicted of crimes listed as federal offenses will remain on the records of the four for the rest of their lives.

It could not be confirmed by Blade deadline if Nutter had been convicted of any crimes listed as federal offenses, but he did receive a bad conduct discharge from the military in February of 1998.

For those that are unaware, a bad conduct discharge is just one level about a dishonorable discharge. And while I don’t see where The Washington Blade did any follow-up regarding whether Nutter was actually convicted of any crime for the whole accident, what I did find out online regarding a bad conduct discharge says that it can only be given to a someone as the result of a court martial which leaves me to believe that Nutter was convicted of something.

And while Homer Johnson bears the responsibility for hiring Nutter, it was Lippa that retained Nutter as investigator even after his office learned the full details of Nutter’s separation from the military.

And to make matters even worst, Nutter was just promoted to sergeant where he “will serve as the first line supervisor for the Investigative Division” according to Portsia Smith’s “Caroline Crossroads” blog at Fredericksburg.com.

I guess everyone deserves a second chance, except for that monster Ben Boyd of course. </snark>

Tip: If you don’t want to be facing a two-count felony indictment, you better not apply for a job that a relative of Sheriff Tony Lippa has also applied for.

I previously coyly mentioned a rumor that’s been going around as to why Sheriff Tony Lippa has declared a vendetta against Caroline County High School football coach Ben Boyd. I also stated that I wasn’t going to repeat the rumor at that time because it hadn’t been confirmed by anyone yet. Well, this portion of a letter from former Caroline County High School principal Jeff Wick, which appeared in this week’s edition of The Caroline Progress, is enough for me:

Is it a coincidence that the sheriff’s son-in-law [Robbie Jenkins] also interviewed for this job and did not get it? That is for the public to decide. In the end, this miscarriage of justice and harassment of a law-abiding citizen who paid the consequences for a disclosed incident that occurred 19 years ago is ludicrous and needs to end.

Well said.

It’s pretty interesting that The Caroline Progress actually published the letter with that particular section intact since they’re supposed to be such a pro-Lippa publication. If Lippa’s lost The Caroline Progress, he’s lost Caroline County I would say.

Nothing like some rampant nepotism to make a sheriff’s office great.

I speak of the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office specifically. There are at least two blatant and egregious examples of nepotism that has been demonstrated by hiring practices in that office and an additional examples that at least has mitigating circumstances. I’m not going to directly identify the employees — I personally don’t have a problem with one of the person involved — and instead will use their initials, but to anyone that has any knowledge of the office they should be able to identify the employees involved.

Then we have C.R., who’s currently a sergeant. He’s the stepson of another officer (again, officer in this context is someone of Lieutenant’s rank or higher). He’s also a blood relative of Supervisor Maxie Rozell (D-Reedy Church). In C.R.’s defense, he’s been employed by the sheriff’s office for awhile and as far as I know he actually deserves his rank of sergeant.

And now we get to the nuts and bolts of this post: We have A.L.J., who was hired as a dispatcher around a year ago. As you might be able to guess by her maiden name, she’s a close blood relative of Sheriff Tony Lippa. Her qualifications? As I recall from her engagement or marriage announcement that appeared in The Caroline Progress, she’s taken interior design classes at Germanna Community College. Hmm…I guess I can see that, interior design skills helping to dispatch and coordinate police and fire activities (snort). There’s another bad joke in there but I’m going to say it.

And then we have the most recent incident that I just learned about: J.A. was recently hired to be a court-services deputy. This particular person is a close blood relative of Supervisor Wayne Acors (I-Madison). Need I say more?

You know, this is the type of stuff that you would have expected during Homer Johnson’s day with the pervasiveness of the “good ol’ boy network” and not from someone (i.e., Lippa) that claims to be all about “professionalism” and hiring the most qualified candidates. All that apparently goes out the window when a relative of Lippa’s wants a job or a family member of a Board of Supervisors member wants a job.

On Monday: You won’t believe the history of someone that was just promoted to sergeant by Tony Lippa.

And the railroading of Ben Boyd continues?

As you may be aware, Caroline County High School football coach Ben Boyd was indicted on July 1st for forgery of a public record and uttering of a public record. Below you’ll find a story from Jon Burkett of WTVR Channel 6 in Richmond (I apologize if you experience popping in the audio but that’s WTVR’s doing, not mine):

By Major Scott Moser’s own admission “the case is currently under investigation” and “could take a couple weeks” according to Jon Burkett. So, you know, don’t worry about making sure the guy is actually guilty or anything, let’s just indict him. Anyone remember the age old quote about being able to indict a ham sandwich? Perfect example here.

In certain situations, that would be alright. If you catch a suspect standing over a dead body with the proverbial smoking gun, then yeah, you would indict the guy while forensics testing and whatnot were still being done. But this situation takes on a completely different light because the sheriff — the chief law enforcement officer in the county — has publicly and falsely accused Boyd of a different crime previously while displaying zero knowledge of the situation.

And according to The Free Lance–Star (get your own link), Boyd was arrested at the school. That’s right, he wasn’t even given the opportunity to turn himself in. After all, when you have a vendetta against a guy, you want to cause the biggest scene and most embarrassment possible.

Who knows, Boyd could very well be guilty of these charges. But the Sheriff’s Office sure as heck doesn’t know for sure since they have “a couple weeks” of investigating to do still.

And, of course, there’s also the matter of Tony Spencer in this whole thing. He is the Commonwealth’s Attorney after all. But at least he’s been mum to the newspapers and other media stating “This case needs to be tried in a court, not in the press.” That’s a far cry from Lippa’s public announcement of vendetta against Boyd previously as well as Lippa’s personal friend (i.e., Jon Burkett) rushing to do a story about the case for WTVR while parroting everything that comes out of the sheriff’s office.

Yes, they’re friends before you ask. If you don’t believe me, think about this: When does WTVR do any stories about Caroline County? When it involves Lippa and his sheriff’s office. I don’t recall them covering the Gaudenzi case (a 14 year cold case) and, after all, Lippa wasn’t involved in the case, only the Virginia State Police was.

I would love to know why Lippa decided to pursue a vendetta against Boyd, an interesting theory has been suggested elsewhere (primarily on one newspaper’s website) — which I don’t plan on repeating on this space currently — but you better hope that the next person Lippa decides to go after it isn’t you or someone you care about.

And the point of sentencing guidelines is what exactly?

From The Free Lance–Star:

A Spotsylvania County man was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for the repeated molestation of his 15-year-old daughter.

He pleaded guilty last fall to incest, sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and indecent liberties of the girl after his wife, the girl’s stepmother, hid video cameras in the family’s home after suspecting abuse.

[…]

[Defense Attorney Eugene] Frost asked the judge for a five-year sentence. The sentencing guidelines called for a midpoint of a 19-year active sentence.

But Beck deviated to a much lesser sentence than that recommended in the guidelines.

The total sentence given to the man was five years for each of the indecent liberties charges, life in prison for the sodomy and 20 years for both the incest and aggravated sexual battery.

Beck though, suspended all but two years on each conviction.

He also ordered that part of the time the man spends in jail be at a facility that offers sex-offender rehabilitation.

What exactly is the point of having sentencing guidelines when the judge essentially ignores them, especially when it’s for a crime like this?

Hopefully the next time Judge Beck is up for reappointment someone at the General Assembly remembers this and gives him hell for it.

POS Jajuan Carlos Lewis pleds guilty in ‘murder by mob’ case.

Sentencing agreement is for a ten year active sentence for the murder count and another five years for a robbery charge according to The Free Lance–Star.

He’s the second person to take a plea in this case as I recall. Lashawn Monroe pled guilty for this charge and a capital murder charge a couple months ago.

Two down, seven more to go.

Correction time: Ben Boyd did disclosure his convictions for steroid possession.

If The Caroline Progress can be believed:

Also commenting Tuesday, School Board Chairman Margaret Watkins said that Coach Boyd included the misdemeanor conviction on his application. She said that everyone has something in their past they regret. She pointed out that few at Citizens Comments criticized the hiring.

Well, in a battle between The Caroline Progress and The Free Lance–Star, they both lose. But in a normal world, someone would list those convictions on their resume. And since the burden of proof is on me to show that he didn’t (even if all I’m doing is quoting one rag of a paper, i.e., The Free Lance–Star), if another rag (i.e., The Caroline Progress) comes along and says that he did indeed list those convictions, I’m going to issue a retraction and a correction. At least until there’s some evidence contrary to what The Caroline Progress has said. Although, for some reason they use the singular term “conviction” when Boyd was in fact convicted of two different counts: possession of steroids and misbranding of a prescription drug.

Anyway…my my, my face is red. Of course, it’s not as red as some other people’s faces should be.

Just sayin’.

Eric Cantor votes to give a company (which he owns stock in) a government-enforced majority control of their market until the end of time.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that my idiot brother (shameless plug: check out his two hate-blogs, On The Right and Orange, VA Independence Day Tea Party) brought Cantor’s vote to my attention.

I speak of the recently passed bill that will give the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco products. Ironically, the bill was supported by the biggest cigarette maker out there: Philip Morris. Why? Well, check out what National Review Online had to say:

Last week, overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, authorizing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate cigarettes and other tobacco products. The New York Times proclaimed the bill an “enormous victory for public health.” President Obama, himself a sometime smoker who reportedly struggles with nicotine addiction, declared that the legislation “will protect our kids and improve our public health” and is expected to sign it later this week. The bill grants the FDA expansive new regulatory authority, but more regulation does not guarantee greater protection of public health — or the public good.

Anti-smoking groups, such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, have long sought FDA regulation of tobacco products and called passage of the bill a “historic victory.” Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. Henry Waxman, the bill’s primary sponsors, have sought greater tobacco controls for years. Sen. Dick Durbin proclaimed that the legislation will “protect children and protect America” from the scourge of cigarettes and nicotine addiction. Interestingly enough, the bill also had support of the nation’s largest cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris, and its parent company, Altria. That alone should clear away some of the euphoric haze surrounding its passage.

[…]

Manufacturers will be required to place expanded warning labels on their products and to provide the government with more detailed information about cigarette contents and smoking by-products. The law also bars flavored cigarettes — save for menthol. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “Menthol cigarettes are initially exempt from the ban because of demands from the Congressional Black Caucus. About 75 percent of African-American smokers buy menthol brands.” The leading maker of menthols is Philip Morris.

[…]

Limiting tobacco advertising and stalling the development of new tobacco products won’t help public health, but it will certainly benefit the nation’s largest cigarette manufacturer. Government regulation is the most tried-and-true way for incumbent firms to squelch smaller competitors, which helps explain why Philip Morris supports the bill and smaller tobacco companies oppose it. Harder to fathom is why public-health advocates who should know better celebrate the law as a major advance.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is revealed as yet another Beltway deal for Big Government and Big Business. Those who proclaim it a victory for public health and the public good are blowing smoke.

And here’s what Forbes had to say about the bill:

Their [Philip Morris’] reasons for cheering aren’t all so high minded. The bill, already passed by the House of Representatives, will change the face of the tobacco industry by giving the FDA the authority to restrict tobacco product ingredients, impose nicotine caps and limit advertising campaigns. It solidifies the position of the producer with the greatest market share–Altria–which makes 50% of all cigarettes in the U.S.

Because the domestic cigarette market is shrinking every year, manufacturers are competing fiercely for customers. Companies like R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco argue that under FDA regulation, they’ll have trouble convincing people to switch to their brands because of stringent advertising restrictions. That means no more sponsorship of sports and entertainment events, color or photo ads in publications with significant teen readership, or free gifts with tobacco products.

“Bringing new products to market will be extremely difficult,” says Maura Payne, a spokeswoman for Reynolds America, which owns R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel, Winston, Doral and other cigarette brands.

Anyway, to get to the the point of my post, check out these two pages of Eric Cantor’s most recent personal finance disclosure form available via OpenSecrets.org (PDF):

Yeah folks, he owns between $15,001 and $50,000 in stock of Philip Morris and between $1,000 and $15,000 of stock in their parent company Altria Group. So, Eric Cantor voted to give a government enforced majority market share to a company that he has a financial interest in. Isn’t that a violation of the House’s ethics rule? If it isn’t, it sure as heck should be.

And here’s a bigger issue. A couple weeks ago Cantor was at the Republican Party of Virginia convention talking about how he wanted smaller and less intrusive government and blah blah blah, but when it comes down to an vote that will increase the size and scope of government and benefit a company that he has a financial desire to do well, that goes out the door.

And if cigarettes are so dangerous and so bad that they need to regulated by the government, why is he making money off their production and sales? Isn’t that like accepting blood money?

Up Next: Let’s correlate campaign contributions and how politicians vote…