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An Alien Has Taken Over Our Governor

Did Tim Kaine actually say this? Did we fight two savage budget wars in the legislature only to have our governor - finally - agree with the Republicans in the House of Delegates?

Seems so. This from this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

"Gov. Tim Kaine, in his address yesterday to lawmakers about state budget woes: 'We will continue to manage through the national economic decline without increasing the general-fund tax burden on Virginia residents.'"

Well, shut my mouth. Tim Kaine is concerned about our being grossly overtaxed. I don't know which planet that alien beast came from who has taken him over, but I'm now big on Pod People.


On second thought, what's that "general-fund" qualifier?
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 5:48 AM 
Where Have You Guys Been?

A matter of not-so-great importance has been beating around the blogosphere for at least three years now but suddenly - finally? - makes its way to the minds of the editorialists at the Roanoke Times:

Kaine's eyebrow

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. At RealClearPolitics, Brendan Nyhan asks whether Gov. Tim Kaine's wandering eyebrow should eliminate him from the veepstakes. Check out the C-Span video of his response to the 2006 State of the Union to see the eyebrown in action. I remember how distracted I was by his left eyebrow during that speech. It was like some furry caterpillar with a mind of its own, inching up and down Kaine's forehead completely at random. After the speech, Nyhan wrote that Kaine's eyebrow was "too distracting for the party to ever put him on national television again." (link)

I don't think I've ever made mention of our governor's uncontrollable muscle reflexes. After all, there's not a whole lot he can do about that eyebrow wandering hither and yon. That "furry caterpillar with a mind of its own." And then there's the fact that there are so many more substantive issues that he engenders that one might concentrate on.

Still, I understand if people find it ... distracting. But what's a man to do?
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 5:27 AM 
This Makes It Even Worse

It turns out that the man who stammered his way through last weekend's sorta-debate with John McCain had a heads-up on what questions would be asked, and he still blew it:

Candidates Got Advance Look at Questions
By Perry Bacon Jr. and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post Staff Writers

Responding to questions about whether Sen. John McCain had an unfair advantage over Sen. Barack Obama at Saturday's forum on faith at the Saddleback Church in California, a spokesman for the Rev. Rick Warren said both candidates had an advance look at a few questions.

Spokesman A. Larry Ross said the candidates had agreed that McCain would not listen to Obama's interview, which came first by a coin-flip agreement. But Ross said Warren gave them both a sense of what to expect.

Warren provided McCain and Obama with the four subject areas, Ross said -- leadership, stewardship, worldview and international compassion -- and provided them a sense of the themes he would ask about, including topics such as energy and taxes. (link)

As everyone now knows, the Obama campaign is accusing McCain of cheating, because he was so much better prepared.

Not a good argument to be making, in my estimation: "I wasn't prepared! And he cheated!"

Our future president.

Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 5:08 AM 
Barack Has Some Nasty Friends

You thought William Ayres was the wrong kind of (anti-)American to be hanging with? Bill Ayres is a boy scout compared to this guy (revealed in "Obama's Rapid Response Backfires"):

On Page 171 of [his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father]," Obama flies into a fit over chronic black poverty in Chicago's South Side, blaming whites who took flight to the crime-free suburbs and took jobs with them. He's overcome by the same black rage Davis radiated in his Waikiki bungalow years earlier.

Obama took to heart Davis' advice to "keep your eyes open" to signs of institutional racism. He became race-conscious like never before. He admits he never "let it go," even when he could see that overt racism was a thing of the past.

A communist mentor. It all begins to make sense.

Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 4:50 AM 
Something To Consider

Is U.S. Representative Eric Cantor more popular here in the commonwealth than our fair governor? Some think so:

In fact, as the Obama campaign reportedly considers choosing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine as their running mate, it's an open question whether Mr. Cantor, not the lame-duck Governor, has a greater political following in the swing state. Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner, almost certain to be a shoo-in in the fall, has confessed that he feared Mr. Cantor as a statewide candidate more than either long-serving Rep. Tom Davis or the eventual nominee, Jim Gilmore.

"The Case For Cantor," The Washington Times, August 19, 2008
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 4:45 AM 

Sink a shovel into the ground here in Virginia and ...

Dig reveals 1760 tavern's floor plan
By Markus Schmidt, Petersburg Progress-Index

Petersburg, Va. | Archaeologists now have the Golden Ball Tavern's complete floor plan, after a month of digging and uncovering thousands of artifacts from the historic site.

The Golden Ball, built in the 1760s by tobacco merchant Richard Hanson, stood on the corner of Old Street and Market Street. British soldiers are known to have frequented it during the Revolutionary War, and later it served as the first Petersburg City Hall and courthouse. It was demolished in 1944.

Mr. Stevenson said the oldest among the thousands of artifacts found were spearheads, tools and ceramics belonging to American Indians who lived on this site before it was populated by British settlers.

The youngest finds - such as shoes, coins, empty bottles and pottery - date back to the 1930s. (link)

Petersburg. Once a wonderful, vibrant Virginia city. Then the Civil War came along ...
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 4:34 AM 
A Good Line

From a John McCain speech yesterday:

"Both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home. The great difference — the great difference — is that I intend to win it first.”

"In V.F.W. Speech, McCain Attacks Obama on War," The New York Times, February 19, 2008
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 4:27 AM 
Here Kitty Kitty I've met people up north who probably don't have the first clue ...
Posted by Jerry Fuhrman at 4:05 AM