Potomac Highlands Funding Presidential Candidates

The following information is from official public records of the Federal Election Commission


Democrats

• Hillary Clinton has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands

• Amy Carpenter, Romney Employer: American Woodmark Contribution: $75
• Kermit Garrettson, Keyser Employer: Keyser Inn Contribution: $350
• Robin Dolly, Moorefield Employer: Mountain Medical Contribution: $1000
• Joanne Webster, Mathias Employer: Information Requested Contribution: $500
• Victor Wulf, Baker Employer: Retired Contribution: $250

• John Edwards has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Robert Mayhew, Romney Employer: Information Requested Contribution $2300
• Barack Obama has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Robert Erber, Baker Employer: Information Requested Contribution $200
  

• Bill Richardson has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Robert Alcock, Lost City Employer: Lost River Woodworking Contribution $250

Republicans

• Mitt Romney has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Jeffery Hott, Franklin Employer: Hott's AG Service Contribution $350
• Edith Shankle, Bloomery Employer: Retired Contribution $1250
• Fred Dalton Thompson has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• David Maher, Milham Employer: Self-Employed Contribution $250
• John McCain has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Carl Smith, Moorefield Employer: Retired Contribution $300
• Ron Paul has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• Jack Mullen, Keyser Employer: Starcast South Contribution $800
• James Landis, Peterburg Employer: Conquest Publishing Contribution $1000
• James Gillmore has received contributions from the following persons in the Potomac Highlands
• David Bookman, Romney Employer: Retired Contribution $500

All records are public and on file at the Federal Election Commission

Thank You Secretary of State

I recently converted to a new type of business. I must say that I was thoroughly impressed with how easy and FAST the entire process was. I have my new certificates in hand in under 5 business days. I was notified via email of each approval from the various departments involved. The website was fairly simple to navigate and use. Overall, I was very impressed...I guess we are Open For Business!!!



For more information on business registration visit http://www.business4wv.com/

Drought Response: Are we ready?

Prior to the recent rains the Potomac Highlands had been heading for a drought according to NOAA. The graphic explains how bad it was beginning to get here.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has been on TV asking the Federal Government to stop the release of water from Federal dams and reservoirs . It seems that even though the area is in an extreme drought the government is releasing water faster than it is flowing into the dams. The reason is Department of Natural Resources and US Fish and Wildlife is still maintaining flow rates based on requirements for wildlife instead of people.

At what point do the people begin to be more important than the wildlife? The Potomac Highlands is in a drought right now. Ours has not been as long as the one in Georgia, but according to NOAA the short term is bad.

The state should have a mechanism in place that says to our DNR, when water resources become critical the people take priority.

Potomac Highlands Republican Dinner

The Potomac Highlands Republican Club is hosting a dinner in Romney on Saturday November 3rd at 6 PM at the old Bottling Works.

Secretary of State Betty Ireland will be the keynote speaker and Senator Dave Sypolt will host the event. Senator Clark Barnes and GOP strategist Gary Abernathy will also speak on Republican issues. Guests include elected and party leaders from across the region and the state. Representatives from the office of Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and the major presidential campaigns will be on hand.

All are invited regardless of party to share in a good time and to meet state leaders. Tickets are $25. Please contact Christy Barnett at 304-790-0522 or Stephen Smoot at 304-788-1573 or smoot.stephen@gmail.com

*******************************************************************

The dinner kicks off the creation of the Potomac Highlands Republican Club. This new organization will try and mobilize Republicans in Pendleton, Grant, Hardy, Hampshire, and Mineral counties. The club's goals are to strengthen the party and support candidates. Many voters care about certain issues but do not get involved for a variety of reasons. The club wants to involve everyone who has an interest whether they can help out for a few hours per week or a few hours per month. Vast potential exists in the growing Potomac Highlands to become a key part of Republican success in West Virginia.

Some Presidential Candidates may not be legal Candidates in WV

Presidential Candidates must be registered as members of the party that nominate them according the West Virginia state code. Since the code was amended in 1991 it has not been enforced. This means that presidential candidates George Bush Sr, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and H. Ross Perot were all illegally placed on the ballot.

Secretary of State Betty Ireland believes that the law is unconstitutional, but has no choice but to enforce it until it is declared unconstitutional. The Mountain Party of West Virginia plans to challenge the law in the courts.

If the law is not found unconstitutional, then some presidential candidates names may not appear on the ballot in May. This could include Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and others.

Shush!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week the Mineral County Republican Executive Committee voted on a resolution. Very rarely does this body make a specific statement on county policy. However it did encourage the Mineral County Commission "to oppose any additional requirements placed on building construction in Mineral County." This included additional fees and regulations above and beyond the state code.

They did not sacrifice a cat on the courthouse lawn, or anything similarly outrageous but you would not have believed it by the response of the county commissioners. Janice LaRue responded responsibly by saying she would look out for the good of the county rather than simply one political party. Fair enough.

However Cindy Pyles registered her extreme disappointment over the resolution and aimed her comments at two Republicans in particular. "I am really very disappointed in Bob Harman's signature, as a former commissioner," she said. Pyles then named who she thought was the true malefactor of this horrific deed when she stated, "This has the hand writing of Gary Howell all over it."

Horror of horrors and right before Halloween at that! Imagine the gall of Gary Howell, Bob Harman, or the Republican Executive Committee expressing an opinion! It must have been so disappointing for Cindy Pyles to hear a Republican organization expressing its own party's principles of less government and less financial burdens on citizens.

The problem with liberals is that they often see their views as the truth. They feel that if a person just uses their faculties of reason, that they will also arrive at the same conclusions. No room exists for rational disagreement in this world view. If a conservative disagrees they are either uninterested in progressive government, or selfish, or stupid. There is no thought that a conservative could have a valid and reasonable objection.

Conservatives have principles based on reason, logic, and American tradition. They should not let the disappointment of liberal county commissioners dissuade them from speaking their minds on what is right.

WV Slogan

Governor Manchin's slogan of "Open for Business" has proven immensely unpopular. I'll admit that it is a little goofy, but There is now a site to vote on the new slogan. I had noticed that "Open for Business" never made it onto the license plates of West Virginians, so I guess it is not going to make it. The choices offered are

Almost Heaven

The Mountain State

Wild, Wonderful

http://www.wva.state.wv.us/wv_slogan/default.aspx

The questions that I have is this, how much is all the moving and shaking of the signage/ slogan changing going to cost the people of WV? And, is it worth the effort?

WVGOP Convention Format Favors.......Ron Paul?

Much has been written (much less has been understood) about the West Virginia GOP's new convention format for selecting at-large national convention delegates. I won't try to explain the entire process right now, but basically each county (based upon a formula) is allocated a certain number of delegates to the state convention. Those delegates to the state convention, in turn, will meet in Charleston on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 to cast votes for one of the 10 Republican candidates that have elected to participate. The winning campaign will then name 18 individuals to serve as West Virginia's at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention.

For purposes of this post, the important thing to understand about the state convention is that victory will go to the candidate best able to mobilize and turnout its supporters. Fund raising doesn't matter. National polls matter even less.

The winning candidate will identify the number of "public" delegates available to each county, and will find (through e-mail lists, coalition groups, or other networks) enough people to fill those slots. There will likely only be a handful of counties where there are competitive elections in the races for Delegate to the State Convention; in most of the counties, anyone who files to be a delegate will likely be a delegate. In that scenario, whichever campaign recruits delegates to file for the state convention can just rack up those votes. The very serious campaigns will even consider paying the $25 filing fee for their people to run.

In addition, I suspect that most counties will end up forgoing the county caucus process and select county "public" delegates strictly online. In this way, the Ron Paul campaign may have an advantage. It is becoming a recurring storyline through the campaign how Ron Paul is a phenomenon on the Internet; he has a network of very dedicated followers who flood message boards and online polls. If he has enough people in the state to put up some delegates (which is a monumental "if"), I would suspect that he also has enough people to show a significant online presence for purposes of voting.

I have a feeling that we'll have a good idea who will be the winner of this convention on November 30. That's the last date to register to run for delegate, and its the last day to register to vote online. In counties where there is no county caucus (which will likely be most counties), that's the end of the game.

We might just see that this new experiment has provided a golden opportunity for a dark horse.

Brickstreet needs Repaving

One of the main things, and one of the things we can actually fix, keeping businesses from locating in West Virginia is our high workers comp rates. Let's face it when you choose a place to locate your business you go to the place with the lowest prices.

I can look out the window across the river into Maryland, and about 2000 feet away is substantially lower workers comp rate for my business. However I believe in keeping everything in my home state, so I stay, even at a competitive disadvantage.

Now July 1, 2008 Brickstreet will no longer be the only game in town, but their is an issue tied to that. I will get to that in a minute. Right now Brickstreet is a government created monopoly, and most businesses in West Virginia have been receiving increasing rates from Brickstreet. We have no choice, but to pay them or cease operations. It is nothing more than government sponsored extortion.

What upsets most of us business owners is the fact that Brickstreet is advertising. Why? Nobody can compete with them by law. Why do you need to advertise when you're the only game in town by law? That is just wasting money of the owners of Brickstreet and hurting its clients. We pay higher rates to cover needless advertising!

Now on July 1st, 2008 other companies are allowed to offer workers comp insurance, but their is a catch. The competitors are only allowed to price 5% lower than Brickstreet. This is nothing more than price supports for insurance.

Price supports do nothing more than cost consumers more money. Only the Free Market gives the consumer the best price. These price supports are nothing more than corporate welfare for Brickstreet. They will keep wages lower in West Virginia, because if they company has to pay more for insurance, then that is less they can pay the employee.

We must open up Workers Comp up to real competition in the state, so that we can all benefit and not just the fat cats running Brickstreet.

Commissioner's Report

One of our County Commissioners, Cindy Pyles, spoke to the Lion's Club about the various goings on in the County on Thursday, October 18, 2007. A lot seems to be happening, but two specific items troubled me and I am hoping to get some clarification.

Keyser Fire Department - When I moved to Keyser in April 2006, I knew precious little about the new bridge, except that it would take out the fire department and the building that housed the business I had just purchased. I assumed, wrongly, that the new fire hall near Airport Addition was to be the "new" home of the Keyser VFD. Apparently that is not the case as the Keyser VFD will be relocated to a new facility somewhere. I came from a town about 5x the size of Keyser that had 1 fire hall and a superb paid fire department. I was confused as to why Keyser needs two separate stations 1 mile apart? Several county fire departments are rated better than Keyser for insurance purposes (New Creek and Fountain as two examples). That means that your insurance in Keyser is rated higher than if you had the same house in the New Creek District or Fountain District. Confused as to why the fire department would use their resources to fund two separate houses I asked a fellow Lion why this was. The explanation was that the City owned the building downtown, but the fire department owns the one up by airport...? I don't get it, so I probed, if my house in Airport Addition (Keyser City Limits) catches fire...who comes to put it out? Well, apparently both fire houses would respond??? They are approximately 1 mile apart. The volunteers at one likely pass the other fire hall to get suited up and on the truck then backtrack to my house. Why don't we go to one fire hall, use the excess funds to pay a full time staff member or two, boost the fire department rating, and save everyone some insurance money? Keep in mind I am paid as an insurance agent a percentage of the cost of your policy, so this plan would result in a pay cut for me. But I feel that it makes sense. Can anyone better explain the need for two fire halls.

Second, talk turned to the 911 response center. I was still trying to get answers on the fire department, so I may have missed something, but it seems that the 911 center is being built up by Keyser High School. Commissioner Pyles was asked if this is being built on a cemetery. It was the one time I saw her transform into a politician and "To the best of her knowledge the only cemetery was down the road and not the site for the 911 center". I smiled. Then the question became, who owns that land. Obviously, the county, right...wrong! The response indicated that the county is building a county services building on land that they do not own and are not intending to acquire. huh? I am sure that with a 99 year lease and some other legal provisions this could make perfect sense. A lease would not require a capital investment for the purchase of land, it could save up front costs, it could be the difference in the need for a levy (tax) or a bond issue, if the county has enough to build a building but not to acquire land and build a building. It could be a lease with a purchase option to delay the need for purchase capital. A whole slew of possibilities, but no one pursued this, no answer came, and I did not feel the need to pursue the question. It could be the only way to locate near the school which likely already has the infrastructure needs to support a call center. Here's to hoping that the commission has done their due diligence before selecting this spot.

Overall, I will say that I was impressed by my first meeting with Cindy Pyles. She was knowledgeable about all of the projects going on, she held the attention of the room, was political when needed, and (despite a lack of sleep and teaching young minds during the day) seemed to be genuinely interested in the projects that were going on.

God Bless.

Ted Kennedy to Introduce Legislation Condemning Italy

Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy's spokesperson announced this morning that he will introduce legislation condemning Italy for an act of genocide in its past.

In the mid 100s AD, the Roman Republic launched an aggressive war against the militarily vulnerable city-state of Carthage. Its armies marched into the city, destroyed every building, murdered every civilian, and even sowed salt into the surrounding fields so nothing would grow in them. Rome's brutality marked the largest single massacre of a civilian population until World War II. Neither the Roman Republic, nor its successor the Roman Empire, nor the current Republic of Italy have acknowledged or apologized for this act of brutality. Kennedy said that it is time to redress the wrongs of history. Italy can start with an apology to the current government of Tunisia, then negotiate reparations.

Obviously this is a sham article, but it is not too far off the mark from a real issue. Democrats in Congress have proposed a statement of condemnation against the current Republic of Turkey for atrocities committed by the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rightly refuses to apologize for the actions of another government. President Bush would rather Congress not antagonize one of our few real Muslim allies that is also a long standing democracy.

This becomes a slippery slope. In all honesty we would have to condemn the United Kingdom for their Boer War concentration camps, France for some of their colonial practices, and many others. Condemnations and apologies for historical events make little sense. The current generation does not own the guilt of acts committed before they were even born. Yes this counts Japan and Germany as well. Our sense of justice is supposed to be individual. People commit crimes and need punishment; nations are not culpable to the end of time just because their history has some stain.

The proposed resolution against Turkey is tantamount to forcing an individual to apologize for the crimes of their great-grandfather. There is no point to it, nor fairness in it.

*********************************************************************

Add this to the file of "if they had a gun, they would have been fine." In Great Britain, a family was attacked and beaten because they put details of their son's 16th birthday party on YouTube. Over 100 uninvited guests showed up at the residence and demanded entry. They attacked the father and beat everyone else while stealing food and champagne.

A shotgun full of rock salt or wood splinters would have dispersed that mob right away. It would not even happen in West Virginia.

The Fed, good or bad?

Even with a Finance degree I am just starting to learn about the monetary system in our country. Here are a couple of articles that I will be reading. The question I find fascinating is this: Congress is given the power to print, i.e. "create" money. However this is actually being performed by the Federal Reserve Bank (and I thought they just played with my interest rates...). So, instead of printing our own money, the government is outsourcing this task to the Fed, then selling bonds (think of this as getting a loan) from the same bank. That's all well and good, but those bonds (loans) come with interest. Who pays the interest accumulated? You and I pay it in the form of taxes. Some of what I read indicates that this is as much as 40% of your income taxes going to pay interest on these "loans".

Quick summary, the government needs money so it borrows money from the federal reserve that will be paid back with interest. The federal reserve then asks the government to print the money that they need to loan to the government. Then the Fed charges interest to the government which is paid by your tax dollar.

Wouldn't it be better to simply tell congress to print their own money and stop outsourcing this job for an interest based charge? If you were taught like I was, you were taught that this was done to avoid a conflict of interest on the part of a politician leading he/she to print a bunch of money shortly before election day. Everyone is happy in November, then the country faces huge inflation. Although this isn't much different from the Fed creating a bunch of money on behalf of that politician it does take the accountability off of the Fed and pass the interest on to some of our countries wealthiest families. Afterall, who do you think owns America's banks.

Two possible solutions, First, the Fed should charge a one time fee for its money printing services each year. The job should be left out to bid and awarded to the best company for the job. I am fully aware that this company will make money and they most likely won't be the lowest bidder, it is politics after all. Then again, it would be easy for Americans to find out that they were paying billions if not trillions each year for a private company to decide how much money we should print this year. Keep in mind that the actual printing is done by the government, the Fed is just getting paid for saying how much to print and what interest rate they will charge for that determination. That is the kind of clarity we need from our government right now.

Possible Second solution, get rid of the system. Congress, print your own money and face the people every two or six years if you screw this up! Don't whine that it is too touchy for elected officials to be involved with, so are tax increases, public health care, national defense, and a host of other topics but our elected officials seem to manage to get involved in those areas...what's one more? Roll up your sleeves and earn that lifelong paycheck.

This whole issue is just complex enough to ward off most nosy taxpayers that would question the system. Combine this with the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank, The IRS, and the income tax were founded in the same year, things are a little fishy. Tack on the fact that purchasing the bonds created in the system provides a tax incentive (perhaps a nice word for bribe) to investors who might question the system and we have all the makings of a nice conspiracy. I look forward to reading more about this topic. I hope it turns out to be the best possible solution to the difficult job of determining monetary policy, but it is our job to constantly question those that serve as our representatives and even those that they partner with. I have a few links to articles that I will be reading below. God Bless

http://www.maxexchange.com/ybj/chapter2.htm

http://www.justiceplus.org/bankers.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/63639/The-Federal-Reserve-is-Privately-Owned-by-Thomas-D-Schauf

http://batr.org/markets/federalreserve.html

http://www.reformation.org/federal-reserve.html

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul53.html

http://www.bigeye.com/griffin.htm

http://www.maxexchange.com/ybj/chapter18.htm

Romney Devoting Full-time Staffer to West Virginia

Governor Mitt Romney's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has brought Wendy McCuskey on board as statewide field director. Wendy has previous West Virginia campaign experience, having worked as part of the 2004 President Bush re-elect and during the 2006 legislative election cycle.

Wendy's responsibility is to assist in building Governor Romney's grassroots organization across West Virginia. She is hard working and professional, and has made an extremely positive impact with the campaign. If you're part of a local Republican organization in West Virginia, chances are you'll be meeting her soon.

The assignment of a full-time staff member to the state demonstrates the seriousness with which Governor Romney is taking West Virginia. Couple that commitment with the fact Governor Romney has visited the state nearly a half-dozen times in the past year, and I think you must come to the conclusion that Governor Romney feels as strongly about West Virginia as the President does.

The scheduling of the West Virginia Presidential Nominating Convention, along with West Virginia's competitiveness in the general election, makes the days of our state as a political backwater long gone. It's nice to see someone like Governor Romney working hard to earn our votes.

Christy Barnett Shines at Grant County Meeting

The Grant County Republican Executive Committee held a meeting to discuss the upcoming state Presidential Convention. Also in attendance were members of the Pendleton County Executive Committee.

The meeting opened with Christy Barnett explaining what was required of the county to send its members to the state convention. Members must be present in Charleston to vote as no proxies will be allowed. If the delegate cannot attend, then they may appoint an alternate.

Those wishing to be an at large delegate must register for that position prior to November 30th, with the state party in Charleston. If more people than the alloted number allows, then a county convention will need to be held between Jan. 1st and Jan. 14th. It was decided that Grant County would hold another meeting to finalize plans.

Christy went onto explain about the Potomac Highlands Republican Club and the upcoming dinner to be held on Nov. 3rd. Christy explained that the clubs primary function would be to provide support to Republican candidates and support functions. Many attending felt that an organization like this had been needed for along time and welcomed the support it would bring, and thanked Christy for all the hard work she has done for the party and the state.

County Commission told not to interfere by Mineral County Republicans

Last Thursday night, concerned by the results of a recent County Commission meeting, the Mineral County Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution presented by Rose Anne Maine, Mineral County Assessor.

Property Owner Rights and Economic Development Resolution

Whereas… The implementation of building codes, their fees and requirements would adversely impact the economy, cost of construction, property rights, and personal rights of the residents of Mineral County;

Whereas… The citizen homeowners and businesses are struggling as their property tax bills soar having an adverse effect on the economic development of Mineral County;

Whereas… The economy works best in a free market atmosphere free from government intervention and regulation;

Therefore let it be Resolved… That the Mineral County Republican Party urges the Mineral County Commission to oppose any additional tax or fee burden placed on the homeowners, businesses, and contractors of Mineral County;

Let it be further Resolved… That the Mineral County Republican Party urges the Mineral County Commission to oppose any additional requirements placed on building construction within Mineral County;

Let it be further Resolved… That the Mineral County Republican Party supports that building codes only be enacted by the people’s vote.

A fee is just another tax

Politicians try to avoid the word tax when ever they can. They like to use words like user fee, impact fee, license fee, etc, but let's face it is just another tax.

There is a movement in Mineral County to impose new taxes in the form of "fees," but we are smart enough to know these are just more taxes on an already over taxed population. Mineral County is one the highest taxed counties in the state, and we have little or nothing to show for it.

The latest assault on the tax payer is being pushed by those trying to stop new economic development in the county. There are now rumblings of sub-division impact fees in the county. The fees would be paid by the developer, which in turn will tag the fees on the price of the land raising the cost to the end purchaser. That additional cost of the property will be recorded as part of the assessed value, and the new land owner will pay property tax on that piece of property forever. It is away for the county government in increase the taxes on everybody, and slide it in under the radar.

It is not just user fees that cause property assessed value to increase to benefit the coffers of the county. Additional unnecessary requirements put on the developers in the name of progress, do little more than increase the taxes on the end land user. The politician likes pretend that the develop pays these for these requirements and fees, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Let's look at what really happens; A developer purchases 10 acres of land, and wants to put in 10, one acre lots. He plans to sell each lot at $20,000 per lot. The county comes in an puts in a $10,000 impact fee, and requires the developer to put in an unnecessary storm water run off pond for an additional $10,000. The developer simply divides $20,000 by 10 = $2,000. He then adds the $1,000 to each $20,000 lot making them $22,000 lots.

The person that purchases the lot pays for the impact fees and the pond, not the developer as the county politician claims. Not only does the new land owner pay the impact fee, but he pays tax on the additional assessed value forever, and has to live with the mosquito's that breed in the unnecessary pond.

Addition fees and requirements are just another way for politicians to raise taxes on the taxpayer, and call it something else. Mineral County cannot afford any additional taxes, even if they call them fees.

The Death of Down Time

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” Genesis 2:2

Even God rested after the work week. But in our current culture we never seem to let our minds rest. There is so much noise from work, writing blogs (thanks Gary), TV, radio, mp3 players, more TV, video games, social activities and so on that we never actually stop to just rest. It is no wonder that children are being diagnosed with ADHD and a host of acronym labeled problems. Might the challenge for kids be that they are so filled with noise and distractions from the day they are born that they don’t know what to do with themselves if they aren’t “plugged in” to something? Might some of the hyper active kids be better off if we can teach them how to let themselves rest?

When buying our mini-van, my wife and I made a point of not getting one with a built in entertainment center. We have a DVD player that works in the car on long trips of at least 2 hours or more. Anything less, no TV, no DVDs. My daughter loves the DVD player, but she is also very well behaved (for a 14 month old) on shorter trips. If need be, we give her a little childrens book that she flips through, or she watches traffic and the people around us.

I was recently in the high school here in Keyser around 1:30pm. There were kids hanging out in the lunch room, some football players watching game film, some wandering around the halls. All were either chatting with their peers, listening to music, or watching TV. I didn’t take a full tour but I wonder if the library was empty? What would be wrong with teaching the kids to sit and study quietly, or to read, or to simply sit and think in a quiet space? I used to love study halls because it meant I wouldn’t be bothered by anyone. Most of my peers seemed to hate it, almost as though they were afraid to be alone with their own thoughts. They wanted to be on the computer, listen to music, chat, etc. Too few people take time to adequately let their minds and bodies rest and recharge. Could it be that most of us don’t know how?

My wife and I joke that we just learned how to vacation, but it is true. On our honeymoon, we didn’t relax until the last day. We were simply trying to fill our days with activity. By the time we took a Baby moon to Hawaii, we knew how to relax, but it still took about 3 days for our minds to let go of everything else in our lives and let us relax. By that third day, we would wake up, feed the birds, snorkel a little, then hang out by the pool and read or do nothing. We had several days we didn’t even leave the hotel. When we came back, we were rested, relaxed, and more productive then ever. On a recent trip to OBX, we were in vacation mode the second we arrived.

By writing this I simply want to encourage everyone to take some down time. What is better, going through 7 days a week at 70-80% of your productive level, or taking one or two days to rest, gather yourself, and operating at 95-100% for the other 5-6 days? I will guarantee one thing, you will look forward to your days of rest, perhaps to the point that you no longer feel depressed about the other 5-6 days of work each week. God Bless

Eating Our Own

In addition to being a conservative, I'm a member of the West Virginia Republican Party. In fact, I currently serve as one of the party's Vice Chairmen, a regional political director for the upcoming State GOP Convention, and as Chair of the state party's Audit Committee. I've been actively involved with the state party since early 2001, and from that vantage point I have seen Republican party politics in West Virginia up close.

One of, if not the overriding, reason members of our party do not constitute a majority of elective officers in this state is that we eat our own. Republican primary elections are notorious for their divisiveness, and I always--always--go into a primary election cycle with the feeling of a pit in my stomach. This cycle is no different.

Why can't Republicans in West Virginia conduct a primary election campaign free of the kind of ugliness that divides the party for the general election? Why do some Republican campaigns seem intent on driving their party brethren onto the sidelines for the general election? The fact is, we are too small a group, in too small a state, to survive the kind of infighting that has marked us in the past.

Is there no such thing as good faith disagreement any longer? Are our intra-party opponents in a primary campaign to be dismissed simply as "drinking the kool-aid" if they support one candidate over another? Are we to trash another candidate based upon what church he attends? Or another based on whether he's divorced?

I'll be clear; this isn't just an internal Republican problem--there are too many instances of bad faith in politics; the current manufactured controversy over Rush Limbaugh is a prime example of bad faith opposition.

But keeping it in the Republican house, I think we've been so marginalized over the years--so politically abused and mistreated--that we've become conditioned to think that a victory in the primary is the best we can hope for. Like a line from the film "Braveheart" -- perhaps we are so used to eating the scraps from the table that we've forgotten we have a right to something better.

As the primary heats up, as we move toward the convention and the grassroots organizations begin to fill out and compete for delegate votes, I hope that every Republican involved with a campaign will think about the fact that the winner--whomever he is--will need every, single, last person affiliated with any of the Republican primary contenders if he expects to win in November, 2008. We're facing enough of an uphill climb as it is without driving away future supporters for after the primary.

I would hope that we would have learned better by now.

A President That Can Unify America

One president is capable of uniting America's diverse social and cultural groups. That president is Iranian strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Today he will stop at New York City's Columbia University to give a speech. If it is like most of his other ones it will say absolutely nothing of real substance. If he is smart, he will leave Holocaust denials and other known beliefs at home.

Many people are arriving to hear him speak, ask him questions, and protest and almost zero support him. Not only Jewish groups, but also conservatives, gays, Christians, and others have lined up to see and confront this individual. Can anything in the American body politic produce such a reaction? Absolutely not.

Most groups on the right and left in American politics are much closer to each other than to the brand of hatred practiced by this man. His loathing of Israel and denials of the Holocaust are as well-known as his nuclear ambitions. And now Ahmadinejad seeks to score points by showing up the United States by speaking on our soil. As of right now he plans to defy the New York City Police Department and go to Ground Zero. New York City's hostile reception will likely not make Iran's censored news, and probably not even Al Jazeera. However when he leaves, hopefully he knows full well where America stands when it comes to his hateful brand of diplomacy and politics.

As for unity, it is something often called for by our politicians, but rarely seen. This is not a negative. Iran's people must demonstrate unity or they receive punishment. In America we all have the right to speak freely on our political points of view without fear of reprisals. This diversity of opinion makes us stronger because those that can speak freely in a political system usually feel no need to act violently. Someday the mullahs of Iran will be overthrown and called to account for their crimes against those people.

The Holocaust, Slavery, and Coal Mining

The war over West Virginia's coal mining history remains alive and well, evidenced by some sharp reaction to Russ Sobell's book Unleashing Capitalism.

Delegate Bill Hamilton (R) Upshur, criticized a chapter in the book that argued for a revised look at the historical memory of coal miners' experience. The chapter contended that the fluidity of the labor market required most operators to treat their workers with decency and that company stores were not predatory operations. This conflicts with the memory of Hamilton's father, a coal miner, who related stories about bad treatment and corrupt practices to his children. Hamilton goes further to claim that Sobell's book is comparable to Holocaust denials and mitigating accounts of American slavery.

Hamilton is correct to raise questions about this chapter in Sobell's book. Social and other pressures placed upon these workers exceeded the economic. One can still see in at least one old coal town the Gatling gun mounts on the porch rail of the boss's house. The practices of the Baldwin and Felts Detective Agency are also well known and recorded. That being said, Sobell's numbers do raise questions and tend to enhance, not detract from, the overall historical debate. History ought never shy away from a serious attempt to examine the past even if it conflicts with accepted beliefs.

That being said, even mentioning these abuses in the same breath as slavery or the Holocaust diminishes the horror of these two events. Yes coal miners were exploited and abused in especially Southern West Virginia. However most "agitators" found themselves blacklisted or physically tossed out. Residents of coal towns were deprived of constitutional rights. That being said, system did not systematically deprive these people and their families of their liberty for the purpose of coercing labor or murdering them. Bringing it to the same level as slavery or the Holocaust is a rhetorical mistake.