Conservativa

CSPAN is on, Obama speaking live. He just said if he were President, he would have the troops home in 16 months, and also he would defeat Al Qaeda. Um, where?

He speaks a lot of nonsense, but I like his style - he is taking some swipes at Hillary while bashing the Republicans. The crowd is loving the speech. He is a breath of fresh air compared to Hillary.

Speech over. Ooh, look, Howard Dean is up, calling for a recess. Long time no see, Howard! Speaking of Howard Dean, I’m taking bets that at some point in her campaign Hillary will lose it and have some kind of Yeeearrgh! moment like he had. Just a hunch. She is famous for her discipline, yeah, but everyone makes mistakes. She will make one at some point (worse than the illegal/driver’s license thing).

Just because it’s pretty.

Photo details: Canon EOS5D, ISO 400, 1/320 at f/10.

Shaun Kenney to leave the RPV? Next week to take a job with the American Life League, according to the Washington Post. A good cause, and all of us bloggers wish Shaun all the best. It’s a loss for the RPV, though. According to the story, RPV Exec. Dir. Judd will announce the new person at this weekend’s advance.

Check out George Allen on video providing commentary on the debate, from the Fred Thompson campaign. Good stuff. As far as I can see, Rudy’s and Mitt’s campaigns are not liveblogging on their campaign sites.

Because it’s just time. No really, think about it! (From the always-excellent American Digest).

Photo details: Canon Rebel XT, lens at 55mm, ISO 400, 1/125 at f/5.6.

Know where your themes are coming from. A few have malicious code embedded in them. Story here.

Sen. Stosch yields to Norment. More info from the Washington Post, including these changes:

“Stosch was given the new position of Republican leader emeritus. Newman was given the job of caucus chairman.

Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) will be leader pro tem while Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) and Frank W. Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) will be party whips.”

Okay, now everybody, let’s get some work done.

A treat for lovers of photography or American history: shorpy.com, updated (mostly) daily, with wonderful photos from around 1900-1940. Just go see.

According to the Washington Post, Del. Bob Marshall is considering a run for Senate. Good discussion over at BVBL. Be sure to read the comments by “CleanItUp.” (No, I don’t know who is behind the pen name).

Still no issues on the Warner campaign website. Even the Washington Post has noticed. Heh.

Jim Gilmore makes it official. He is in the race for U. S. Senate. The website looks good - at the moment, it seems to have more to it than Warner’s site. Heh. Go over to Warner’s site (get your own link, please) and see if you can find what he’s running on. Go ahead. You know, issues.

Interesting - Warner seems to be running on a platform of “The seat is mine because I’m just entitled to it.” Same as Hillary’s platform, come to think of it.

Gilmore will run on the issues. This is gonna be fun.

Where do I start with the article on the editorial page, written by Brian Moran? The only way to deal with it is to slice out all of the cliches. Once I did that, I was left with only a few sentences. Only one sentence do I want to comment on - this one, near the end:

“Yet leadership is not about restoring past successes or watching history in the rear-view mirror - it is about having a forward-looking agenda to provide results for people.”

First, you can’t “restore” “past successes” - successes are things achieved, thus in the past, and one cannot restore the past - it’s over, right? And where else would we be watching history? Again, it’s in the past, thus, using that metaphor, you would have to use the rear-view mirror. History will not be seen approaching us from the front windshield. Because it’s in the past.

I do get his point. We have to look at the past, but it is not wise to project those conditions into the future.

Look at the last part of the sentence - “agenda to provide results for people.” (Hmm, he didn’t say what kind of results). I don’t elect someone to hand me an agenda (particularly if that agenda will be drawn up in the mind of someone who writes like Moran writes) to provide “results” to people. I elect someone to build roads and bridges, supply a police force and military, and levy such taxes as are needful for those kinds of things - things I truly cannot do for myself. I do not elect people to spend my tax money on hare-brained schemes to fix what may or may not be climate change, to raise my children, etc.

Why do Democrats love to think of themselves as the party of the people, but in fact don’t trust the people?

Photo details: Canon EOS3, Fuji Pro400H. Originally had a bad pumpkin color cast. Fooled with the color in Photoshop, but removing the color cast left a pale mess, which you see here.

…and I saw this evening some people with a lighted Christmas tree, yes, I said Christmas tree, in their yard. As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up.

Names etched in glass in the Virginia War Memorial. The glass is nearly colorless, so depending on how you look at it, the names seem to be written on the sky. Or, you could say they are like movie credits scrolling up, naming the thousands without whom the movie would not have been made. These are names without whom we might not have our country. We should always remember and give them the credit.

Have to highlight this story, noted in Michelle Malkin’s blog. Here’s the quotation, from a little boy, Hunter:

‘Added Hunter, “For my report, I asked my dad if he likes being a soldier. He said he likes it because he gets to help people. He’s very proud and that’s one of the main things he joined the Army for.”‘

Here’s the link to the story.

It is the job of every military to defend its country by force, which may mean killing a lot of people, which every soldier knows. But he also knows how humane our military is, in general. (If you doubt this, pick up any history book and start reading anywhere).

See also, this picture. Shows the cruelty of war but the kindness of many American military people.