Yes Virginia, We Love Pork

As Norm mentioned last week Virginia members of the House could not muster the courage to vote for the Flake amendments. Not all of those on Congressman Flake's site were voted on, but five were and Virginia was a collective 0 for 55. Good work, give yourselves a pat on the back!

Why, there is nothing more important in a Defense Appropriations bill than funding an aquarium. Or a "Wind Demonstration Project". Anyone that wishes to see a wind demonstration need only step inside the US Capitol, or for that matter, any location with a large gathering of politicians.

Read Norm's post for a bit of info on each of these projects. And the five amendments that received votes can be found on the Club for Growth blog.

For every $3 million in pork our Representatives should call or visit every man, woman, and child in their district and ask them for a penny. I imagine it would be difficult when they explain that they are taking your money and spending it on things that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with the core responsiblities of government and it is being spent in a different state.

There are always the arguments that the definition of pork depends on your perspective. I disagree, I absolutely do not care how much money is "brought home" to Virginia. Pork is pork. If a museum in Richmond needs money the federal government should absolutely not provide it.

The best and worst of sports

Is there anything better in sports than Stanley Cup playoff hockey? Didn't watch nearly as much this year since it was not on ESPN, but it is the best. In addition to not seeing as many games I did miss Bill Clement and Gary Thorne calling the game. Two of the best.

Congrats to Carolina for winning the Stanley Cup. One small bit of trivia thanks to my friend Ted. Did you know that the CFL Grey Cup is North America's oldest professional league championship trophy?

The worst in sports? Aluminum bats in college baseball. I can't stand that "ping" sound. It makes it hard to watch. I don't know the history behind why the NCAA uses metal bats, but I think it is time to make the switch back to wood.

Blog Summit

Once again, I haven't blogged in what seems like a month of Sundays. Not that I haven't had anything to say.

My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.....

I've just been busy - and you can call me Mr. Lamar.

I ended up going to the Sorensen blog summit and I'm glad I did. Met a ton of new people and saw some people I hadn't seen in a while. Let's see if I can remember them all - James Martin from VA Progressive, Virginia Centrist, Brian Patton, Waldo Jaquith, Steve Sisson - The Blue Dog, Romeocat from Cathouse Chat, Bob from Commonwealth Commonsense, Jon Henke from QandO, met Chris from Spank that Donkey in person, and saw Norm, Rick, and Shaun again.

I think that is most of the people I spent any amount of time with. Oh, I did sit at the same table on Friday night (the dinner was excellent) with Del. Brink and Del. Amundson from VA Extra Innings.

It was a little bizarre at first meeting other bloggers, but for the most part when I talked to someone I felt like I had known them for a long time. I think I was most surprised by Virginia Centrist. For some reason I thought he would be an older guy. Of course, I think it was James Martin that said the same about me. It may also have been James that wasn't sure what side of the aisle I sit on until recently. I'm going to have to do a better job of letting people know I am to the right, way to the right.
The first session I went to was with Waldo and Jon about promoting and enhancing your blog. Learned quite a few things - some of them I may even use. No one is a big fan of Blogger, but for me the price is right and I don't blog enough to justify spending much time moving.

The second session, and first on Saturday, was about ethics and blogging. The most interesting topic to me was about anonymous/pseudonymous bloggers. I tend to agree that anonymous comments should be somewhat discouraged; however, it is the message that should be paid attention to and not the messenger. I don’t want to go on about this much, but I don’t think there is an issue with pseudonymous bloggers. If you don’t trust me because you may or may not know my real name I really don’t care. Jaded JD has his thoughts here.

The third and final session was about blogging and journalism. It was an interesting discussion. I don’t consider myself a journalist, but I think there are bloggers out there who should be. The discussion did somewhat inspire me to try to do some original stuff. We’ll see how long that inspiration lasts.

I enjoyed all of the speakers, but I enjoyed AG McDonnell and LG Bolling the most. Bob Holsworth did an excellent job also. Mike Shear did a good job also. Others have more detailed accounts, but Shear thought by the end we might be throwing rotten tomatoes at him. Jerome Armstrong was just ok. He was the least polished public speaker, but I did find it interesting to hear from the far left (just to the left of Pluto as the Blue Dog might say).

All in all it was a good time. I did feel vastly outnumbered, especially on Friday, but Saturday was better with Norm and Shaun there. You know you are surrounded by liberals when you hear about how great LBJ was and when someone refers to the Presidents social security plan as “dismantling” social security. Yes, allowing people to keep the money they earn in their own account would be disastrous. Why, just the thought of allowing to someone to have more control of their own money makes me sick……

McDonnell to hold press conference

Attorney General Bob McDonnell will be holding a press conference tomorrow regarding the budget situation and the role of the Office of the Attorney General. It should be interesting. I wish I could go.

Regarding the LG Bolling quote:

I agree with the governor; that doesn’t mean I disagree with the attorney general

That may be one people don't forget. I honestly don't know if it was taken out of context at all, but it sounds like he is trying to straddle the fence and that never looks good.

Married to earmarks

Via AFP comes the news of Congressman Rick Boucher's wedding. The happy couple was married "on a former railroad bridge overlooking Damascus on the Virginia Creeper Trail."

It turns out it is the same trail that the Congressman worked to get $750,000 for (in taxpayer dollars). Isn't that nice? We all helped pay for improvements to his wedding location. Is it really the job of the federal government to fund improvements to a bike path? If tax dollars are going to go to that type of project, should it not at least be state dollars? Or preferably, county or city tax dollars.

Earmarks are out of control. Spending is out of control. The whole stinking government is out of control

In other related news, AFP is launching an Anti-Earmarks TV Ad Campaign. Good. I hope people watch, get disgusted, and call/email/fax their Senators. I will.

Sorensen - to go or not to go?

That is the question. I know the deadline is fast approaching (at least I think it's tomorrow), but I still haven't made up my mind about whether or not to attend the blog conference. I can't decide if it is worth the $50 or not. I would probably not stay at a hotel since the drive home isn't too far. I suppose it would be worth it just to meet everyone, but to steal a joke from Jay Leno (he used $100 though) - when I was a kid a $50 bill was as rare as a hen's tooth. You know what they call it nowadays? Gas money......

Anyway, I do wish Chad and some of the others could make it. I'd like to talk some Reds baseball with Chad. A three game sweep of the Astros, in Houston no less, has really boosted my morale. At least Norm will be there, and talking to Norm alone is worth the price of admission. We'll see. I still have a few more hours to think it over.

Another good Jay Leno joke - Kenny Rogers blinked the other day......and pulled a groin muscle.