Shaun Kenney

The Politico has the story here. Snow actually has a Virginia background, having written editorials for the Virginia-Pilot, and will be truly missed. Probably one of the best communicators I have seen in action.

Garren Shipley is liveblogging the transportation debate in the House of Delegates, with Cover It Live. Definitely the coolest liveblogging program I’ve seen in awhile!

Acton Institute’s PowerBlog reviews Civ IV, and offers some of the same critiques I might offer. Don’t get me wrong — Civilization IV is one of the greatest games ever produced (and Beyond the Sword is an excellent addition), but the fact that a command-and-control economy seems to be the most optimal set, or that the free market is given short thrift are problems that one simply suffers through.

Some of the other problems in gameplay (an emphasis on conquest, for instance) are unavoidable. One wonders how an armed society would react to an “invasion” as opposed to an unarmed society… and while BTS does structurally provide for such values, no one has gotten around to creating the truly tailorable government, then smashing them against one another.

Pseudonymous blogger cycle12 whines about crashing a Gilmore event, and does the usual scare tactic after he is snuffed out:

I made sure to videotape the faces of all four Gilmore Gang members before I left, but I certainly did not want to place the Orange Market’s owner in the position of having to decide whether to ask a long-time customer and friend to leave his business premises, so I left quietly of my own accord.

Of course, all of this is on tape, and I also took along a friend to serve as a witness in case that became necessary. As we left the Orange Market premises, one of the young male Gilmore Gang members followed us across the parking lot and kept watch on us as we crossed the street, talked together for a moment and then got into our cars to leave.

Tomorrow morning my video tape will be converted to several DVDs and I will also have those final 90 seconds – when the Gilmore Gang obstructed and confronted me – of filming converted to either a JPEG or an MPEG file so that it can be transmitted via e-mail to the Warner campaign, to Raising Kaine if you’d like, and perhaps to YouTube for greater potential broadcast purposes.

Here’s the problem. If you stalk a random person, that fits the definition of creepy. If you stalk a politician for the purposes of intimidation (which this was), you’ve already violated the boundaries of decorum.

Just smash the damn camera next time.

And please, don’t claim these stalkers are “journalists” or bloggers masquerading as journalists trying to get a story. Journalists don’t actively participate in the process… these ambushers record the event specifically to produce an outcome of their choosing. A bit of integrity would go a heck of a long way, fellas.

I hate to make the argument, but there have been political movements in the past who reveled in ambushing the opposing political movement… and frankly, that’s precisely what these so-called progressives are doing. The reaction is a fine line between distinguishing between protecting the integrity of free speech and free expression, or preventing disruption via security details.

Some maturity and some integrity might air on the side of the latter… but the behavior of the “splash-and-trash” progressive faction of the Democratic Party (and the MSM that feeds or blithely ignores them) gives little credence to truth, much less anything short of total victory… whatever that might be.

Sadly, wthey are doing it at Mark Warner’s (or his campaign’s) behest is the real question. I doubt this, but in an age of sponsored bloggers and astroturf online — as opposed to genuine grassroots — rarely am I surprised anymore.

Former RPV Finance Chairman Fred Malek notes the recent addition of Steve Schmidt to the McCain presidential team.

Malek doesn’t post terribly often… but when he does, you learn some insight every time.

Yet another pleasantly surprised voter engages a Catholic politician, this time on the role of faith in the political arena:

Tom’s response was interesting and unexpected. He made a distinction between religion in legislation (which he says he opposes), and religion in politics. He said that religion does have a place in politics if for no other reason than to understand the motivations of politicians. If a politician is casting a particular vote for religious reasons, that motivation should be public, not rationalized.

Not terribly far off course. One might hasten to add that religious belief forms one’s character, and that character is inseparable from the individual. In short, faith informs conscience.

Jack Kennedy certainly believed this. It’s a small wonder why today’s modern left-leaning Catholics (Perriello included) don’t share Kennedy’s convictions, but rather are more than willing to allow political expediency contradict their own inner mores, character, and yes — their faith.

Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite for Stringorchestra Part 1-3. If you like Vivaldi, you’ll enjoy Warlock.

The Democratic Congress scores the lowest approval rating in the history of modern polling

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This shouldn’t be surprising. Republicans hate the “do-nothing Congress” almost as much as the Democrats hate their “do-nothing Congress.” It used to be that a common theme with Democratic leadership (at least in the House) was the tradition of getting things done and greasing the wheels of power.

That tradition of Tip O’Neill is sadly lost, perhaps not to be recovered in a generation. At least Republicans during the 1990’s had an example to follow… whether that is damning or faint praise (or both) is for the reader to decide.

RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick does the Tertium Quids Podcast, talking about HB 6055 (he opposes), the inheritance he received at RPV (says it’s worse than he thought), and talks a bit about the GOP brand (need to rebuild the image, this time with substance).

You can listen to the podcast in its entirety. Well done, and one I will be adding to my iTunes list right now.

…or possibly barbecue .