HoodaThunk?

OK, now that's just disturbing

A “couple’s toilet.” No, really. Someone actually thought this one up. And built it. I’m still not sure whether to laugh or poke my own eyes out; either way, that’s just disturbing…

(Hat tip: The Leaky Brain)

December 1st, 2007 Posted by ricjames | Human Interest | no comments

Lingamfelter introduces bill to bring registration by party to Virginia

Via BVBL, VA Delegate Scott Lingamfelter has introduced HB20 which proposes to bring party registration to Virginia. This is long overdue here in the Commonwealth. The summary of the bill is:

Primary elections; voter registration by political party.  Adds party affiliation to the information that an applicant is asked to provide when registering to vote. The applicant may indicate that he is an independent. Voters registered prior to January 1, 2009, will be designated as independent unless they provide a political party designation in writing to the general registrar. Voters may change their party affiliation or independent status by written notice at any time except the 28 days before an election when the registration records are closed. The state party chairman of each political party must notify the State Board by January 31 of each year of the party rules governing who may participate in the party primary.

The bill was brought in the pre-filing stage and is pending a committee assignment.

When you are going to have the State involved in the process of party primaries, then it is imperative that the State have a method of determining who is supposed to be permitted to vote in them. Party nominees and platforms should be decided by members of the party, not by people unaffiliated with the party. It’s not fair that I, as a Republican, have my vote for my party’s nominee to a given office diluted by votes cast by people who aren’t party members. It’s not fair to the State to make that assertion and then deny the State the ability to know for sure who is and isn’t declaring themselves a member of the party. This bill would fix all of that.

Write your GA members and ask them to get behind this bill. Move it through the committee process as swiftly as possible and vote to pass it on the floor. Let’s get this going and have it ready for next year.

December 1st, 2007 Posted by ricjames | Virginia Politics | no comments

Why is Helen Thomas in the White House Press Room?

Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters takes note of an exchange between White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and press corp fossil Helen Thomas in this post. I don’t usually quote nearly the entire post of another blog but you’ve got to see this here. The “Q” in this segment is Thomas, asking her “questions”:

Q    Why should we depend on him?

MS. PERINO:  Because he is the commander on the ground, Helen.  He’s the one who is making sure that the situation is moving —

Q    You mean how many more people we kill?

MS. PERINO:  Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position, bestowed upon you by your colleagues, to make such statements.  This is a — it is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, at the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive.

Q    Do you know how many we have since the start of this war?

MS. PERINO:  How many — we are going after the enemy, Helen.  To the extent that any innocent Iraqis have been killed, we have expressed regret for it.

Q    Oh, regret.  It doesn’t bring back a life.

MS. PERINO:  Helen, we are in a war zone, and our military works extremely hard to make sure that everyone has the opportunity for liberty and freedom and democracy, and that is exactly what they are doing.

I’m going to move on.

Take a close look at that exchange. Beyond showing Thomas’ clear agenda and bias, beyond showing Perino’s completely justified outrage, this entire incident wasn’t a reporter asking a question. It was an activist and professional heckler trying to prove a point and engage in what I’ll loosely call debate. So here’s the real question: Why is Helen Thomas still allowed a seat in that room?

The Press Room is for Press to ask questions of the White House, as represented by the Press Secretary. Cindy Sheehan wouldn’t be permitted in there to heckle Perino with anti-war commentary and Ann Coulter wouldn’t be permitted in there to go off on No Child Left Behind. They’re activists, partisans; they’re not reporters. Helen Thomas isn’t, either, so why is she still allowed in there.

The White House should toss down the gauntlet to the Press on this and revoke Thomas’ credentials to be in the White House. Members of the Press Corp should be asking questions to elicit information from the White House for the purposes of reporting to the public, not using the Press Room as a soapbox to advocate on their views. The nation needs to hear what the White House is saying about the issues, not Helen Thomas. We care what the President is saying and doing. What Helen Thomas thinks about the war and the generals conducting it is something she can write into her memoirs and people who give 2 figs about what she thinks can read it there. The rest of us don’t give a… well, you get the idea.

Someone at the White House should get this idea and give Thomas a little break from her beat. Someone at her place of employment should consider giving her a longer break from their payroll.

December 1st, 2007 Posted by ricjames | GWOT, Politics, The Media | 3 comments