This Speaks Volumes

I've figured it all out. Finally. There is indeed a two-party system here in Virginia. They consist of: (1) Those in Richmond and (2) those who pay dearly to support those in Richmond.

In order to understand the makeup of the former, one need only read carefully these words:

M. Warner hires GOP adviser
Aide to Republicans to assist Democrat's bid for U.S. Senate
By Jeff E. Schapiro, Richmond Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Former Gov. Mark R. Warner has hired a strategist from the Republican Party's failed bid to save its Virginia Senate majority to enlist GOP support for his Democratic U.S. Senate candidacy.

William H. "Will" Payne II joined the Warner campaign from the staff of Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, a key ally in Warner's successful effort to win a $1.4 billion tax increase in 2004 for schools, police and human services. (link)

Here's how it shapes up: We have a ruling class in this commonwealth that includes prominent Republicans and Democrats who are driven to grow government - dramatically - at taxpayer expense. And there are those who will oppose them. We'll call us ... taxpayers.

You? You're either with us or against us.

Want To Prolong The Agony?

Want to make the problem worse? Sign on to President Bush's plan:

GOP wary of Bush's rate freeze
By Patrice Hill, The Washington Times

The Bush administration is running into unexpected opposition to its plan to prevent the foreclosure crisis from spreading by freezing the starter interest rates on some subprime mortgages for five years.

The deal, according to congressional sources, will be offered to about 2 million borrowers who took out mortgages on primary residences between January 2005 and July 2007 and whose rates will reset from January 2008 to July 2010. (link)

As Richard Nixon taught us many years ago, you screw with the economic laws of the universe - those having to do with the nature of capital - and you make the problem you're trying to solve worse.

It was expected that the subprime mortgage problem will continue for as many as five years. Adopt this plan and it will continue for a decade.

Fight the inclination to meddle and stay away from it. Otherwise more people will be harmed.

What a Joint

I told someone yesterday that I'm probably out of my element when I find myself staying in a hotel that, if I were the manager, I wouldn't allow a lowlife like me to enter. But staying here I am. Welcome to my temporary home away from home - the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel.

I had to get a map in order to find my way around.

I need (but haven't been supplied with) a shuttle bus to get from the reservation desk to my room. (As an alternative, one of these would be nice).

The hotel logo is on the toilet paper in my room, for God's sake. (Think I'm not swiping that? - no pun intended.)

Nice digs.

Photo courtesy of the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel.

This Is Your Big Chance

For you ghouls who have been looking for the perfect tragedy to exploit in order to push your gun control agenda, I think you have your big chance. The Virginia Tech massacre, though horrific, never quite fit the mold and didn't relate well to the demands being made by those who are hell bent on disarming the innocent among us (the 120,000,000 Americans who don't commit crimes).

Virginia Tech may not get it done for you, but this just might. Have at it:

Shooter kills 8 at Omaha mall
By Anna Jo Bratton, The Washington Times

Omaha, Neb. (AP) — A man opened fire with a rifle at a busy department store yesterday, killing eight persons before taking his own life in an attack that made Christmas shoppers run screaming through a mall and barricade themselves in dressing rooms.

Robert A. Hawkins, 19, who ... (link)

They plot behind closed doors:

... A few days to allow the aggrieved to mourn the dead.
... The expression of outrage accompanied by generous use of exclamation marks.
... A former police superintendent uses his credentials to smear the law-abiding public.
... Passionate calls for new laws to _______ ________ (fill in the blank).

I can see that hungry, eager look of anticipation.