NRA Endorses a Democrat

Creigh Deeds, the Democrat candidate for attorney general, has been endorsed by the NRA. After my initial surprise, I realized that it's not that surprising. Deeds is from the moutains of Virginia and McDonnell is from Virginia Beach. Want to guess which area has more hunters?

Larry Sabato has another take on the endorsement;

They want to endorse some Democrats because you never can tell when the minority party is going to take over Congress or the state legislature or the governorship," Sabato said. "They want to have a voice like any other interest group.

I'm always amused how the ads for attorney general always feature cops and talk about locking bad guys up. The office doesn't prosecute anyone. The AG is basically the Commonwealth's lawyer. He's nowhere near as harmless as the Lieutenant Governor though. That's why the AG traditionally resigns from office to run for Governor and the LT Governor does not.

Sheehan

Ed Koch takes Cindy Sheehan to the woodshed.

Here's a good quote,

Many Americans, myself included, now see her as a person who has come to enjoy the celebratory status accorded to her by the radicals on the extreme left who see America as the outlaw of the world. These radicals are not content to be constructive critics. They are bent on destroying this country.

Here's another,

Those who rail against the United States have simply failed to sell their message to the public at large. They keep losing elections, local as well as national. Rather than broadening their appeal, they have narrowed it.

Another Internet Test

You are a Social Conservative (35% permissive) and an... Economic Conservative (63% permissive) You are best described as a: Republican Link: The Politics Test

Subscriptions for Soldiers

Subcriptions for Soldiers is a neat program. Here's how they describe it;

For only $10 you can send a gift subscription to active servicemen and women serving around the world right now. We have gathered thousands of requests for magazine subscriptions from our sevicemen and women and now we need your help!...For each Gift Subscription you send, Subscriptions for Soldiers will donate $2 to the Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors (TAPS).

I know that this program works because I received a subscription from someone. Thank you whoever did that, I really appreciate it.

Don't Get Stuck on Stupid

Once again, General Honore is a breath of fresh air. He was at a press conference trying to get the press to relay important evacuation information to the public. The press wanted to bring up the failures of the evacuation effort last time. He kept telling them not to get "stuck on stupid." Radio Blogger has the transcript and the mp3.

Here's the gist of the press conference:

Honore: Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people

Male reporter: General, a little bit more about why that's happening this time, though, and did not have that last time...

Honore: You are stuck on stupid. I'm not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita

Wow

I just read the last situation report for the Hurricane and came across the following number; 24,068.
That's the number of lives saved by the Coast Guard in the response to Katrina.

Kilgore and NASCAR

Hermie Sadler will be driving the Kilgore for Governor car at the Nextel Cup race in Martinsville this year.
The AP picked up the story and here's a cool quote;

[Hermie Sadler] also said it's unlikely younger brother [Elliott] Sadler, who drives the No. 38 Ford, will wind up running with a competing Kaine for Governor paint scheme.

"Not if he wants to stay a Sadler," Hermie said.

My wife and I are Elliott Sadler fans. I always root that Hermie makes a good showing. I really hope that he's able to do well. I would hate for that car to get crumpled halfway through the race.

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Hat tip to the Commonwealth Conservative.

VADM Allen

VADM Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Chief of Staff, has been tapped to lead the relief efforts on the ground. I've never met him but I have heard a lot of good things. Here's his official bio.

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Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen assumed duties as Chief of Staff, U.S. Coast Guard and Commanding Officer, Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC in May 2002. Vice Admiral Allen oversees general management functions of the Coast Guard. He is also currently the Chairman of the Department of Homeland Security’s Joint Requirements Council.

Prior to this assignment he served as Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Fifth Coast Guard District; and U.S. maritime Defense Zone, Atlantic where he was the operational commander for all Coast Guard activities in an area of responsibility spanning five Coast Guard Districts, over 14 million square miles, involving 26,000 military and civilian employees, and 27,900 auxiliarists. He served concurrently as Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, and Commander U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic. VADM Allen led Atlantic forces in the Coast Guard’s response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

In his previous flag assignments he commanded the Seventh Coast Guard District and directed all Coast Guard operations in South Carolina, Georgia, most of Florida and throughout the Caribbean; and was the Coast Guard's Director of Resources, where he was responsible for formulating the Coast Guard's budget, developing long range plans, and managing the Coast Guard's performance plan.

A specialist in operations both in the coastal and offshore environments, Vice Admiral Allen has served in three Coast Guard cutters ANDROSCOGGIN and GALLATIN, and command of the medium endurance cutter CITRUS. His coastal operations command assignments include Captain of the Port / Group Long Island Sound, CT; Group Atlantic City, NJ, and LORAN Station Lampang, Thailand. Vice Admiral Allen's other assignments included a tour as search and rescue controller in the Greater Antilles Section, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Intelligence Watch Officer at DEA/INS El Paso Intelligence Center, El Paso, TX; Chief Budget Officer, Maintenance and Logistics Command, Atlantic, Governors Island, NY; Deputy Project Manager, Fleet Modernization and Rehabilitation (FRAM) Project, and Assistant Division Chief, Programs Division, Office of the Chief of Staff, Coast Guard Headquarters.

Vice Admiral Allen is a native of Tucson, AZ. He graduated from the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in 1971. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the George Washington University and received the 2000 Distinguished Alumni Award. He also holds a Master of Science degree from the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2003 Vice Admiral Allen was elected a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow.

Vice Admiral Allen is married to the former Pamela A. Hess of Champaign, IL. She is the Assistant Dean for Student Services at the George Mason University School of Management. They have three grown children, Amanda, Meghan and Lucas and two grandchildren, Zachary and Andrew. Vice Admiral Allen is the son of Clyde and Wilma Allen. Clyde Allen is a retired Coast Guard Chief Damage Controlman and World War II veteran.

Fraudulent Websites for Hurricane Katrina Victims

From a recent email sent out.

BULLETIN: Relief and charity efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina began immediately after the hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast area. Shortly thereafter, web sites began to appear which were designed to defraud unsuspecting users. Some of the activities include soliciting donations for seemingly charitable purposes, attempting to collect personal information through phishing scams and also spreading malware to unsuspecting users. Over the past few days, domain names that redirect users to malicious web sites have appeared online, in addition to email scams requesting donations for those impacted by the hurricane. While some of these sites and messages may be legitimate, many are not. At the time of this bulletin, please be aware that the following domains are reported to be suspicious:

katrinahelp.com
katrinacleanup.com
katrinarelief.com.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and additional domains may continue to appear.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

We recommend that staff be advised to:
*Validate the relief fund or charity through a known reliable entity.
Please refer to the FEMA link below for a list of reputable disaster relief resources for Hurricane Katrina.
*When a message containing a request for donations for these victims appears, do not respond unless you are certain it is a valid message.
*Avoid visiting untrusted web sites.
*Avoid opening email messages and attachments that claim to contain video, photos, or other information relating to relief solicitation for Hurricane Katrina.
*Follow standard best practices for email and web browsing security.

REFERENCES:

SANS: http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2005-08-31

Washington Post::http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/08/katrina_phishin.html

Better Business Bureau: http://www.give.org/news/disaster_pr.asp

Federal Emergency Management Agency:
http://www.fema.gov/press/2005/resources_katrina.shtm

Russ Potts Review

The writers at Red State have noticed Russ Potts. They've realized that Potts went from being a conservative Republican to liberal Democrat overnight. Check it out.

Virginia Fuels Tax Refund

I stumbled onto this at the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries website.

"Starting July 1, 2000, gasoline and diesel motor fuel purchased and used in a recreational or pleasure boat or ship is eligible for a complete refund of the Virginia motor fuel tax that was paid. The Virginia tax is 17.5 cents per gallon and 16 cents per gallon for diesel."

Why hasn't the commonwealth been advertising this? Hmm.