Ron Paul is having Kucinich problems…

Dennis Kucinich dropped out of the Presidential race a couple weeks ago because he was worried he might lose his primary seat to a Democratic primary challenger.

Ron Paul has a couple primary challengers (story #1, #2) and it looks like he’s a little worried too:

Here is another way you can help Ron Paul continue to defend freedom and keep the movement alive. Under Texas law Ron Paul can run for President and Congress at the same time and he is doing just that. If you have already given to help elect Ron Paul President, you can also help him by giving to his reelection campaign to Congress. Go to his congressional web site starting TODAY and donate to make sure Ron also wins his reelection campaign for Congress. Let’s help reelect Ron to Congress and elect him President at the same time. Let the Establishment know that the movement will continue, whether in Congress or in the White House. The Texas Primary election is March 4, so time is short for Ron to fund this campaign.

[…]

Federal election laws make it impossible for Congressman Paul to use any of his presidential funds for his congressional race so long as he remains a candidate for president. That creates a real problem because as long as Ron Paul continues to have success running for President, he will have a hard time securing funds for his congressional reelection.

Christ, talk about delusions of grandeur…

And then there’s this even more interesting part:

This message paid for by the Committee to Re-Elect Ron Paul

[…]

Paid for by the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Committee.

The email was sent through his Presidential campaign’s email address — not his Congressional campaign’s email (regardless of the message saying it was paid for by his re-election campaign). I’m pretty sure it’s against campaign laws to use a service bought with one campaign to solicit money for another campaign otherwise I don’t think he would have a problem putting money from his Presidential election into his Congressional campaign.

And before you ask, the only reason I’m getting a message from Ron Paul is because I’ve subscribed to all the surviving Presidential campaigns’ mailing lists.

(By the way, vote Mitt Romney!)

Okay, joint Board of Supervisors/School Board worksession back to being on February 4th

They seem to be having trouble figuring out the day for some reason. First, it was the 4th as announced at the last Board of Supervisors meeting. Then it was the 5th according to the ticker on the county website. Now, it’s the 4th according to the February Message from the County Administrator:

The Board of Supervisors will hold its regular meetings this month on Tuesday, February 12 and Tuesday, February 26 at 6 p.m. at the Community Services Center. In addition, a joint worksession with the Caroline School Board will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, February 4 at the Community Services Center.

This was a no brainer

From the AP via WUSA9: Virginia House Panel OKs College Emergency Plan Measure:

Legislation requiring colleges and universities to develop emergency management plans was unanimously endorsed Friday by a House of Delegates committee.

[…]

The bill would require universities to update their emergency plan every four years, establish a threat assessment team, and create a system to notify students and employees of emergencies by e-mail, phone, text messages or other means.

UPDATE: The following colleges/universities have already set up alert systems:

General Assembly comes through on full-time funding for Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office?

There had been a question of whether the state would fund the conversion process for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office from part-time to full-time status this year.

Budget Amendment Item 73 #1h, #5h, #6h, #1s, #2s, #3s (sorry, can’t provide direct linkage):

Explanation:

(This amendment requests general funds to convert four part-time Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ offices to full-time status, in accordance with §15.2-1629, Code of Virginia. The amendment provides funding to convert the offices for Buckingham, Caroline, Charles City, and Middlesex counties to full-time status. Funding is needed a) to convert the salary of the Commonwealth’s Attorney to full-time; b) to convert the salary of the part-time administrative assistant to full-time; c) for additional office expense funding; and d) for start-up equipment costs in the first year.)

Let’s hope these amendments survive the budget process.

Thanks to Delegates Abbitt*, Hargrove, McClellan, Moran, Morgan*, Morrissey, Orrock, Peace, Putney*; and Senators Colgan*, Deeds, Marsh, McDougle*, McEachin, Stolle*.

*Indicates Chief Patron of an amendment

Delegate Peace is also Chief Patron of a budget amendment (Item 493 #198h) that would provide $50,000 to the Quin Rivers, Incorporated; which is a community action agency serving Charles City, New Kent, King William, King and Queen and Caroline counties.

Delegate Peace is Chief Patron of another budget amendment (Item 493 #226h) that would provide $25,000 for construction of the Dawn Library.

GOP in the House of Delegates mature as ever…

From Tim Craig’s blog at The WaPo: Lawmakers Boo “Young Liberals”:

A group of students from Charlottesville and Albemarle County high schools didn’t exactly experience southern hospitality when they visited the state Capitol yesterday.

During the House session, Del. David J. Toscano (D-Charlottesville) stood up to introduce the students, who were sitting in the gallery. But when Toscano said the students were members of the “Charlottesville Young Liberals” club, some GOP lawmakers started booing.

After initially being taken aback, Toscano responded by saying: “They are here to witness the process. Whatever you may think of what they may think, I hope you would give them a warm Capitol welcome and help educate them on how things work down here.”

Ironically, the reception probably offers a lesson for the students on how things “work” in partisan Richmond this year.

Oh, I’m sure they just got plenty of education on how things work in Richmond…

UPDATE: Much thanks to Assembly Access for the video:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrYBDzpnhUU]

UPDATE #2: Raising Kaine: “For their part, the Republicans claim they were ‘joking.'”

UPDATE #3: Addendum on Tim Craig’s blog post:

GOP aides stress the lawmakers who booed were joking, which is common in the sometimes unruly House chamber.

Reasons not to vote for John McCain: #254,903

From the Second Amendment Project: Key Second Amendment Races, 2004:

Arizona
Republican John McCain (*C/F-) posed as a strong Second Amendment during the 2000 Republican Presidential primaries. But in the next session of Congress, he sponsored the McCain/Lieberman gun show bill, which would have given the federal government the administrative power to prohibit all gun shows, and to register everyone who attends a gun show. And of course the McCain/Feingold campaign finance law is the most extreme Congressional assault on First Amendment rights since the Sedition Acts of the Woodrow Wilson and John Adams administrations.

(H/t: Ann Coulter)

Spotsylvania deputy faces abuse charge in Caroline County

From The Free Lance-Star: Spotsylvania deputy faces abuse charge:

A Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputy has been charged in Caroline County with sexually abusing a child.

Richard E. Lloyd Jr., 38, of Dawn is charged with aggravated sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a child.

Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith said Lloyd is on administrative leave from the office and that the issue was a personnel matter.

Lloyd was arrested Jan. 23 on the charges and was released from Pamunkey Regional Jail on a personal recognizance bond. The child is related to Lloyd, authorities said.

Caroline Sheriff Tony Lippa said Lloyd’s arrest stemmed from a call from the Department of Social Services requesting assistance.

Online court records show that Lloyd is set for a jury trial May 28 in Caroline County Circuit Court.

A special prosecutor from the Goochland County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office will be trying the case.

UPDATE: The article from The Caroline Progress.

And the Court of Appeals of Virginia opinion on the prior custody battle.

Bloggers and Journalists = Homeland security threat?

I-kid-you-freakin’-not, from the AP via WUSA9: Trains, Bloggers Are Threats In Drill:

It’s the government’s idea of a really bad day: Washington’s Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York go dark. Bloggers reveal locations of railcars with hazardous materials. Airport control towers are disrupted in Philadelphia and Chicago. Overseas, a mysterious liquid is found on London’s subway.

And that’s just for starters.

Those incidents were among dozens of detailed, mock disasters confronting officials rapid-fire in the U.S. government’s biggest-ever “Cyber Storm” war game, according to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise to test the nation’s hacker defenses, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others.

The laundry list of fictional catastrophes – which include hundreds of people on “No Fly” lists suddenly arriving at airport ticket counters – is significant because it suggests what kind of real-world trouble keeps people in the White House awake at night.

And it shows what idiots are at the Department of Homeland [In]Security.

Imagined villains include hackers, bloggers and even reporters. After mock electronic attacks overwhelmed computers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an unspecified “major news network” airing reports about the attackers refused to reveal its sources to the government. Other simulated reporters were duped into spreading “believable but misleading” information that worsened fallout by confusing the public and financial markets, according to the government’s files.

Isn’t this the point when you call Jack Bauer to find the source?

The $3 million, invitation-only war game simulated what the U.S. described as plausible attacks over five days in February 2006 against the technology industry, transportation lines and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers. The government is organizing another multimillion-dollar war game, Cyber Storm 2, to take place in early March.

So, bloggers and journalists are homeland security threats, now?

Where’s the wargame for the thousands of people coming across our southern border? What about the northern border?

How about the Iraqis illegally entering through the southern border? Illegal border crossing isn’t just for people from Central America anymore.

Wait, I forgot what Director Chertoff of the Department of Homeland [In]Security has previously said: ““We’re living in a world in which lettuce and fruit is not being picked because we are enforcing the law.”

And, another comment:

Secretary Chertoff: I mean, I understand it’s personally difficult—must be personally difficult sometimes for people to hear discussion on the radio or on television or on blogs which is intemperate, where people are called names. That’s where I do think we step over the line if someone says that you’re a sellout or a traitor if you support the bill. Or sometimes—I mean, I don’t spend a lot of time in the blogosphere but sometimes I see blogs. And, you know, when people write blogs, some of them are well reasoned. But some of them have a lot of capital letters and exclamation points and a lot of language that you tend to hear in an Army barracks and a lot of cursing and attacking of other people’s motives. I don’t think that that’s particularly helpful.

How about a nerve gas attack at a mall? Or a suicide bomber? We still haven’t caught the anthrax mailer!

How about totally incompetent security checks at the airport? How does a 16 year-old get on an airplane with a bag that has rope, handcuffs, and duct tape?

How about our ports? Wait, I forgot, Dubai isn’t running them, so everything is safe there. *snort*

Sci-Fi Nerd Alert: Railgun tested at Dahlgren

From the AP via NBC4: Navy Puts ‘Railgun’ To Test In Va. Trial:

A futuristic weapon getting a trial run by the Navy demonstrated its destructive power at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

In the demonstration Thursday, engineers fired the electromagnetic railgun at what they said was a record power level: 10 megajoules.

Current Navy guns generate about 9 megajoules of muzzle energy.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy to launch projectiles long distances — more than 200 nautical miles.

Because the railgun uses electricity and not gunpowder to fire projectiles, it eliminates the possibility of explosions on ships.

The Navy hopes the railgun will eventually replace the standard 5-inch gun on its ships. The weapon isn’t expected to be deployed until at least 2020.

UPDATE #3: From the AP via FOXNews: Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun:

[A joule is defined as the energy needed to produce one watt of electricity for one second.

The railgun tested Thursday actually has a capacity of 32 megajoules, but the Navy is slowly building up the energy level in a series of tests.

That’s a lot of power, but with a new series of electrically-powered ships coming on line, the Navy figures generating capacity will not be a problem.

According to the Navy, the railgun, when fully developed, will be able to launch solid projectiles at Mach 5, or about 3,700 mph.]

(H/t: Ace of Spades HQ) (one of the funniest blogs out there) for the FOXNews story.

UPDATE: Some video from Future Weapons (April 9, 2007) off of the Discovery Channel:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OqlTXwLG40]

UPDATE #2: Some extended unclassified test footage from NSWC Dahlgren:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54aLcC3G74]

“Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead!”

Well, almost, from the AP via NBC4: Va. Senate Passes Fees Repeal, Resolves Rebate Flap:

The Virginia Senate passed a bill to repeal high fees on bad drivers after ending an impasse over how to rebate fees already assessed and collected.

Wednesday’s 39-0 vote came after Republican Sen. Kenneth Stolle and Democrats agreed to allow those ordered to pay the fines to petition courts to vacate the order.

Once the order is set aside, the state will reimburse the amount paid.

Stolle’s amendment also prevents the Department of Motor Vehicles from withholding driving privileges for failure to pay any fees not yet collected.

Partisan wrangling over how to refund the fees had held up the legislation since last week.

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates.