The Commonwealth of Virginia's Ultimate Blog

Monday, February 28, 2005

A Southern Gentleman

I loved the comments that Jamie Foxx made after winning the Oscar for Best Actor, and deservedly so for his magnificent performance in Ray. I especially enjoyed his tribute to his grandmother who he essentially thanked for making him the man he was by "beating" him. He said that his grandma could have won an oscar for how well she beat him. Foxx came close to tears visibly about how she would talk to him after beating him and tell him how she wanted him to be a good southern gentleman. Good to see corporal punishment endorsed on Hollywood's main stage. I bet a lot of people were squirming in their seats. Come on...these people probably forbid their kids from playing with toy guns or eating sugar!

So, here's a shout out to good ole southern discipline!

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Norma McCorvey's Petition for Cert Denied Yesterday

Norma McCorvey's petition for cert for an overturning of the case which she made possible so many years ago was denied yesterday by the Supreme Court without opinion. This was not surprising whatsoever, given the fact that the court's composition would have to change signficantly before Roe v. Wade would be overturned. The media did not cover the story at all. I could not find any stories about it. If you have one, please link it.

What is disappointing is that many pro-lifers got very excited about this and were praying and agitating and raising awareness about this cert petition when there was little or no chance of the Supreme Court taking this case. I think it's dangerous to get the base of the pro-life movement excited and mobilized about hopeless causes. It's damaging to the ability of the movement to persevere. The fact is we have to gain two more pro-life seats on the Supreme Court, somehow. Until we can do that, no change will occur. So let's not create false hopes and then dash those hopes on the rocks.

Monday, February 21, 2005

Potts Playing the Potter Role from It's a Wonderful Life

What a bitter, bitter man. He obviously has no life. Many of you have already enjoyed www.stoppotts.com, the anti-Russ Potts website "exposing" him for who he really is. I find the similarity of his name to the Potter character in It's a Wonderful Life quite convenient for analogies. He even looks like him and talks like him a bit.

I'm personally sick of this mantra from so many sources about this new factionalism in the Republican Party. There have always been factions within the Republican Party. It is in the very nature and character of political parties to have personalities and ideologies struggling for control of the party. In the 1980s, we saw a very intense battle between the Christian right embodied in the Moral Majority, Pat Robertson, and the Christian Coalition versus the more traditional country-club Republican types. The caucus meetings for sending people to state conventions were heated and nasty. In 1993, we saw John Warner turn his back on Mike Farris, the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, accusing him of all sorts of barbaric practices. Again in 1994, John Warner abandoned the Republican Party nominee, this time in the person of Ollie North and endorsed a third party candidate, Marshall Coleman, who had twice been the unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor in the 1980s. In 2001, the split between Hager and Earley was a little more tame, but still many Hagerites refused to vote for Earley. The fact is a split between moderates and the right of the Republican Party of Virgina is not new. It's always existed, and it comes and goes regularly depending on the situation. It keeps the party young and brings new people into the party, strengthening us in the end. That's the benefit of factions in a party system. We come together at the end. For those of us who don't know how to come together (thank you, John Warner, you traitor), we will not forget.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Alabama Federal Judge Shuns Yale Law School

This is an awesome story. An Alabama federal judge has decided to refuse all applications from Yale Law students for a clerkship with him based on the fact that Yale Law School does not allow military recruiters on campus.

Apparently, the federal judge, Judge William Acker, Jr. is a Yale Law graduate himself and has had many Yale Law clerks over the years. He notified Dean Harold Koh of the law school of his intention to boycott all Yale clerks in a letter on Monday. Good to see somebody taking a stand!

Fitch's Cool Bio

So as many of our fellow bloggers have already analyzed ad nauseam, George Fitch is running for governor, apparently against Jerry Kilgore for the Republican nomination, or perhaps not. But I just wanted to link to his website, and comment that you have to admit he has a far more entertaining biography than Jerry Kilgore has.

First, he coached the Jamaican bobsled team in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, immortalized by the movie Cool Runnings, starring John Candy, who plays George Fitch's character apparently.

Secondly, as Reagan's consul to Belize and commercial trade attache to Jamaica and France, he has significant foreign policy experience compared to Jerry Kilgore. Perhaps Fitch should be running for Ambassador to the U.N. or something.

Finally, and perhaps coolest of all, Fitch was born in Canton, China to a missionary family during the Communist Revolution. His father served in the OSS during World War II in China and also served with General Chennault's Flying Tigers. His grandfather, who wrote a book, called My Eighty Years in China was provost of Nanking during the Rape of Nanking in 1937.

Monday, February 07, 2005

In Memoriam

Ronnie spoke at the University of Virginia on December 16, 1988 at the very end of his presidency. His speech is located here and is an interesting look back at his two terms. Just thought you might enjoy it. There is also an interesting series of questions by then University President O'Neill for President Reagan.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Cook County Judge Holds That Pre-Embryo Is Human

Here is a bold move by a Cook County, Illinois judge who is allowing a couple whose embryo was accidentally destroyed to sue the fertility clinic responsible. I'm assuming that this will be quickly overturned by the appellate court, though I can hope that is not so easily done. In the war for the hearts and minds of the American people, it seems perhaps to be an attempt to swing the center of the debate farther to the pro-life side by reframing the debate.

Judge Lawrence claims in his opinion that the Illinois legislature has been very clear that an "unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person." He bases this assertion on the state's Wrongful Death Act which allows suit, though apparently not criminal prosecution for the killing of a fetus in an assault or accident. It's good to see that the pro-life movement's fight for legislation that will protect the unborn as a person is truly having its effect in the courts.