Karma Strikes, Justice Rules, and Pittsburgh Loses

Arizona 21, Pittsburgh 14.

How sweet it is! Team Rooney, now you know what goes around comes around.

As a loyal Redskins fan the only team I really dislike is the Dallas Cowboys.  But that support lives beyond the playing field…and because of it, as I noted last January, the Steelers seemed to be itching to get on my list.

The reason? The insulting treatment of Russ Grimm as they selected their new head coach following Bill Cowher’s retirement. At first it seemed like they would select Grimm. As events played out it turns out they probably never really wanted to hire Grimm but kept him dangling as a safe fall back. Their offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt saw the handwriting on the wall and grabbed the head coaching job in with the Arizona Cardinals when it was offered. Grimm, a Pitt alum, a Pittsburgh guy from birth, Assistant Head Coach and Line Coordinator under Cowher, thought he had a shot.

Not hardly.

Shoot, I was ready to fall in behind the Steelers as my #2 team if Russ got the job. Instead, Team Rooney picked Mike Tomlin, Defensive Coordinator with the Vikings.

In retrospect, it made some sense…Tomlin, like Cowher and Chuck Noll before him, was in his mid-thirties and a highly regarded defensive coordinator. So why not tell Grimm up front they didn’t want him? I think they owed him that. Instead, the Steelers dangled him and dumped him. Professionally speaking, it was a crime against a good man.

Whisenhunt, not being a Rooney syncophant, recognized talent and hired Grimm as his Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Line Coordinator…and guess who the Cardinals were scheduled against in Week 4?

You got it.

Seems like in this blood match, it was the Arizona defense that stood tall. Arizona 21, Pittsburgh…..14

Now the blood has cooled and I doubt the Steelers will ever reach the level of the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, black and yellow is just too good a combo to hate for too long (as opposed to blue and silver). Nonetheless, I am glad to see Whisenhunt and Grimm get a little back today. The Steelers did a good man wrong, and it is my sincere hope that:

(a) During the Tomlin era the Steelers are “0 for Arizona”
(b) Russ Grimm gets a fair shot at the Redskins job after Coach Gibbs concludes his current stint.

Brother Rooney, now you know the wages of sin and the ravages of Karma…what you will learn is that it is the gift that keeps on giving.

ALSO: In the Karma Category, the SD Chargers under the tutelage of Norv Turner dropped to 1-3 today. 

You may remember that this is the team that went 14-2 under Marty Schottenheimer last year, and that Marty was fired for his troubles due to the personality issues between him and the team GM…and that the team waited to fire him until AFTER their offensive and defensive coordinators took head coaching jobs with other teams.

Yep, Karma lives…

Cutler survives, Martinez shines: Olympia 2007

The votes are in, and Jay Cutler held onto the title of Mr. Olympia for another year by holding off a hard charging Victor Martinez. Dexter “The Blade” Jackson came back from a disappointing performance at The Arnold competition last spring to finish third.

Ronnie Coleman, despite my earlier prediction, came in 4th.

The big surge came from german competitor Dennis Wolf, who moved from 16th in 2006 to 5th in 2007, and was the clear crowd favorite.

The complete Top Ten…the top six earn an automatic invite to the 2008 edition of the Olympia competition

1- Jay Cutler
2- Victor Martinez
3- Dexter Jackson
4- Ronnie Coleman
5- Dennis Wolf
6- Melvin Anthony
7- Silvio Samuel
8- Gustavo Badell
9- Johnnie Jackson
10- David Henry

Now it is out to finish yard work…and in the days ahead we will return you to the regular rotation of topics-such as the Hoot’s apparent inability to capably debate…

Questions You Love to Hear

Tonight my precocious and musically inclined eight year old looked me in the eye and asked, “Dad, did God invent Rock and Roll, or did Elvis Presley?”

An inquisitive mind, and already thinking outside the box.

You have got to love it!

Cutler, Coleman…and Martinez: Olympia 2007

Flexonline reportsthat it is all up for grabs in Las Vegas…and indirectly that my Coleman prediction may not bear fruit.

Cutler came through prejudging as the biggest guy, but Victor Martinez apparently is in exceptional shape. Coleman is not in the shape of past years, and while he may be a near lock for the top five but may not pose a real threat to win the whole shooting match.

Flexonline.com has some podcasts available for downloads.

Message to GOP-Listen to Norm Preach!

I have long preached that for the Virginia GOP to regain primacy they had to create and articulate a vision for the future of the Commonwealth.  To date, they have failed to heed my advice.  The GOP AND the democrats seem far more desirous of power than purpose, and the lack of substantive discussion of policy hurts both parties and the people they purport to represent.

 However, Norm Leahy pinpointed recently the Vision Quest the GOP must follow.  GOP leaders should read and heed.

I suggest that not only has Norm has hit it on the head, he offers the fundamental goals the GOP should embrace and follow to regain the leadership high ground in Virginia.

…the only question is will they do so.

Dave Marsden Causes Cry for a Robert Whitehead

Paul Simon sang “Where Have You Gone, Joe Dimaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…”

Recent comments by my delegate, David Marsden, cause me to cry “Where have you gone, Robert Whitehead? A commonwealth turns its lonely eyes to you…”

You see, one human quality that annoys me to the nth degree is the person who tells folks how things should be done, and then refuse to live up to the standards they have pronounced.

Dave Marsden (D-Burke), my delegate, did that recently in The Burke Connection (issue for September 6-12, 2007).  He derides the recent transportation bill, then says he voted for it only because it was the only alternative.  He attacks those who sign “no tax pledges” because although no one likes taxes they are a necessary evil, and signing a no tax pledge means a legislator has “substituted your allegiance to the Commonwealth with a promise to a special interest group and its ideology.

Of course, this offers little cover for Delegate Marsden, who as one who has not signed a “no tax pledge” presumably had much more latitude to introduce and advocate for higher taxes. Of course, he fails to talk about what taxes he thinks should be raised. While claiming that a 1.5 cent tax increase on a gallon of gas would have raised the same $65 million that the abuser fees are attempting to raise, he never comes out and says he supports it. Marsden certainly provides no info to suggest that he introduced a bill to make this happen.

This really sounds like a whole lot of CYA to me.  If Delegate Marsden thought taxes should have been raised, then perhaps he should have introduced the bill. 

That’s why we need a Robert Whitehead back in the legislature.

Whitehead is greatly lost to the pages of history. He was a native of Lynchburg, a UVa man, Commonwealth’s Attorney of Nelson County from 1933 to 1941, and a member of the House of delegates from 1942 until his death in 1960 at the age of 62. He was an articulate critic of the Byrd Machine and a loyal Democrat, choosing not to run for the democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1957 for fear of splitting the party and electing a Republican (Ted Dalton narrowly lost to Thomas Stanley in 1953, and was running again).

However, his real reputation was built as a watchdog of the state budget. Each session, as soon as the state budget was issued Whitehead would take the huge hard copy document to his Richmond motel room and seemingly absorbed every bit of data contained therein. He was the man who pointed out spending foolishness and taxing silliness. He fought for funds for education and was able through his voluminous knowledge of state government to push the Byrd Machine reps to think about the voters needs when budgeting and not to focus solely on having a surplus every year.

Whitehead sought to develop and then deploy a knowledge of how the state works, what needed to be done, and why. His knowledge and his eloquence made him a dangerous and respected foe of the Byrdites on the floor of the House of Delegates. His death was mourned by friend and foe alike, and his passing was considered a blow to the governance of Virginia.

Compare that to how things work now…

Our elected officials will not say the words “raise” and “taxes” in the same sentence. One bunch goes on about how we need more revenue to meet state needs. The other bunch simply say we don’t need to raise taxes. Neither side is too specific about the “what’s”, “why’s”, and “how much?” issues. Marsden is a perfect example, talking in glittering generalities about what needs to be done and what others have done to mess things up without offering much detail about how he would address the situation. In fact, his net is not cast nearly far enough. It isn’t just the “no tax pledge” folks who do not offer a realistic appraisal of state needs and state revenues to support their cause, it is also those who choose to blame and point fingers without offering their own appraisal of state needs and state revenues.

Delegate Marsden does not bear the blame alone. He has many compatriots in partisan quiesence…he is simply the one to most recently to commit his lack of contribution to print.

We need more Robert Whitehead’s in Richmond. We need more folks who will not only say we should run government like a business, but more folks who will actually work to make that happen. We need folks who will offer a state program based on a specific analysis of where we are, where we want to go, how we will get there, and how much it will cost.

The election rhetoric on both sides doesn’t reveal many who are doing that…in fact, it seems to reveal more candidates like Hoot, who in the recent debate (as reported in the Burke Connection) repeatedly declined to offer specific remedies to state problems. When asked how she would have voted on the recent transportation bill, Hoot refused to answer, claiming the question was “hypothetical”:

“Had I been there, I would have worked for a better compromise,” said Oleszek. “I cannot answer a question about a hypothetical situation.”

I really cannot see how she could say that with a straight face….and they wonder why I call her “Hoot”. Asking how she would vote on a specific bill is not at all hypothetical…and suggesting she would have worked for a better compromise when every single democratic state Senator voted against the bill suggests there was little room for or work done toward compromise, but was a really nice general answer.

When Hoot said businesses employing illegal immigrants should be punished, she was asked if she had a specific proposal. Her reply? She didn’t have one, and she needed “to do more research”.

Of course, the Cooch is one of the folks Marsden was attacking, not wanting to “raise taxes”, but agreeing to a funding plan that focuses on abuser fees-which, if it has the unintended consequence of causing better, safer driving, then the revenue to be recognized from fines for traffic abuse will be lower than anticipated, and the funding issue is still unresolved.

I do hope they get this DNA cloning going much faster, because from what I am seeing from those in or aspiring to the legislature these days we need to get Robert Whitehead back in the House of Delegates as soon as possible…because lord knows there do not seem to be a lot of folks in Richmond these days willing to take a stand that focuses on needs of the state-as opposed to the needs of their political aspirations.

Cuccinelli-Oleszek: The Hoot Gets Cooch-Whacked

After getting emails from both campaigns, Bwana sees the Cooch and the Hoot finally debated last night to help the voters of the Virginia Senate 37 district decide who they should support in November.  Too bad no one really knew it was going on.

Initial reports suggest the Hoot should have stayed home.  The Mason Conservative, who was in attendance, says Cooch was a clear winner.  As of 1500 9.26.2007 RK had not seen fit to offer any diary entries about the debate, which suggests they are searching for the right spin, or they are hoping that if no one mentions it perhaps folks will forget the debate ever occurred.  Even web sites not favorable to the Cooch are not disputing the MC recap of the event.

TMC offers a preliminary view of the event, then a later more detailed account. While he is clearly a Cooch supporter (full disclosure-as am I), if his accounts are even half true then the Hoot got rolled.

Highlights abound. First, Hoot refused to acknowledge the Cooch and apparently would not shake his hand.  Then she refused to let a citizen tape the event:

…[Oleszek demanded] a private citizen to stop videotaping the debate. I met the gentleman afterwards, and he was not a reporter, a blogger, or anything else. Just a citizen who was taping it so his friends could watch it afterwards. Even the Connection Newspaper reporter spoke up and said that it could not be done. It was a public building, a public forum, with two public officials. So much for openness in government, eh Janet. Not to mention they have been following Ken around since January videotaping everything on him.

Apparently sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander…

Hoot offered less than impressive takes on bills.  When asked, yes or no, would she vote for the original Transportation Bill, MC reports her response:

she said–and I quote, “I must waffle”

Huh?

Oleszek got tough on illegal immigration. She said she would penalize businesses for hire illegals…then she was asked how. MC reports:

…she replied “I don’t have a specific plan.”

Again, huh?

Apparently she is willing to do as legislative services directs, because “they have a lot of ideas”…in which case I don’t know why she is running-just turn over the legislature to legislative services.

I look forward to seeing other reports. I was not there, and cannot offer anything to the MC comments and eagerly await more information on the debate.

However, if the MC reports is anywhere near accurate, then clearly Cooch won the debate, and showed he is the one who should be returned to Richmond.  Hoot better hope for a democratic wave.

UPDATE: Hoot’s people have found their spin.

Cutler v. Coleman-Olympia 2007

As noted in other posts, I am a fan of many sports/games that are somewhat outside the mainstream.  One of them is bodybuilding. It is a sport that requires exceptional work and dedication.  While I lift, I am nowhere in the shape of some of these guys, although I have lost 27 lbs since may 23, and no longer am a shoo-in to win my audition to play the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man in the next Ghostbusters Movie…

There is a stunning resemblance…but I smile and I don’t own a sailors hat…

But this weekend Las Vegas will host Olympia 2007, the Super Bowl of bodybuilding.  Preliminary judging is on Friday, with the finals on Saturday.  This year will be a showdown between reigning champion Jay Cutler and 8-time winner Ronnie Coleman.  Cutler defeated Coleman in 2006, and plans to do it again.  Coleman intends to be the first man to lose and then regain the Olympia title.  Doing will give him the career record for Olympia wins at nine, pushing him ahead of Lee Haney (8).  Both are ahead of Arnold Schwarzenegger (7).

Muscle and Fitness offers analysis and handicapping, and if reflects the uncertainty surrounding the event. Cutler won in an upset last year after four second place finishes behind Coleman…will Cutler get the Champ’s benefit of the doubt from the judges, or will there be a sentiment to send Ronnie out a winner? Coleman announced his retirement from competitive bodybuilding earlier this month. On the other hand, Coleman has said he thought he was robbed last year, and that the triceps injuries cited for the loss were not major problems.

My thoughts? My prediction? Coleman wins.

Why? Keep in mind this is a sport based on subjective judging. Bodybuilding is in constant need of someone or something to keep the sport alive and pumping, and keep folks buying equipment, supplements, etc. Some still say that need is why Weider backed Schwarzenegger over Oliva in 1970, and again why he wanted Arnold to win in 1980 to overcome the fitness theories propounded by Mike Metzger.

The sport needs some controversy to fire up talk, participation, excitement and the commitment purchase of goods, services, and supplements. If Cutler wins, then the status quo reigns.  If Coleman wins, you have short term publicity plus the range of stories about which supplements, equipment, techniques he used to regain the title.  This leads to Olympia 2008, where you will have an “empty stage” with no reigning champion following Coleman’s retirement…and no matter who wins gives you the same increase in short term publicity about supplements, equipment, etc.

Plus, a lot of folks will want Coleman to go out on top…

Obviously, this is not a sure shot.  Coleman is 43, and if he is not over the hill then he can certainly see the peak from where he stands.  He wants to go out on top, not on second.  Cutler, having already finished behind Coleman four times, wants to start his own string.

I just have a hunch that the two of them are going to be r-e-a-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-y-y-y close in the judging, and for the reasons listed above I think the subjective judging will nudge over to Coleman.

We shall see!

GOP 2008-Cantor for Senate, Gilmore and Davis for Congress

The other day I was looking at precinct reports for the last few elections, and I had a blinding revelation.  I found the GOP weak spot, and what the party has to do in 2008 to put forth their ticket with the best chance of winning.

In 2008, the GOP needs to run:

**Eric Cantor for the US Senate
**Jim Gilmore for Congress in Va 7
**Tom Davis for Congress in Va 11

I understand this is not going to happen, but if the party wants to win and if it wants to make a statement on the party platform while winning, this is the path to follow. Why? Because the GOP has a problem.

Here is the GOP problem…the 3rd and 8th congressional districts.

If you look at the last two years worth of elections, the combined votes of the Third and Eighth districts guarantee at minimum approximately a 114,000 vote edge for the Democratic candidate (Deeds). Byrne enjoyed a cushion of 118,000 votes, The Gov 136,000, Jim Webb 150,000, and John Kerry 164,000.

Simply put, there are no two congressional districts combined that offer a counterweight for the GOP. When the GOP wins it has consistent majorities in the other congressional districts, or at least runs close. Under current composition I imagine the GOP base is going to be around 33% in those districts.

This means that while it would be nice for the GOP to score a chunk of votes in either of the two, is it not likely to happen.

This is an obstacle for a Tom Davis candidacy. Davis is a Northern Virginia congressman, and has precious few ties downstate. His big argument is that he can cut the democratic numbers in NOVA enough for him to win in 2008. But his impact in Fairfax may be limited, especially when it is realized that Webb beat Allen by 50,000+ votes, but 60% of that came from the 8th district portion. In addition, Davis is more moderate than your downstate GOP voter. Even if Congressman Davis score more moderate voters in NOVA, is he may be unable to draw as well downstate among conservative voters…and by that I mean the Reagan conservatives and Byrd Democrats, conservatives whose primary concerns are foreign policy, defense, economics, and spending-and not social issue.

H’mmm, you say…interesting, then the GOP has to run Gilmore.

Well, not so fast…

Gilmore is loved by conservative Virginia GOP folks downstate, but the incomplete rollback of the car tax, the budget deficit he left, his ham handed attempt to intervene in the Hugh Finn situation, and other acts hurt him in Northern Virginia and Tidewater.  In other words, the very thing that make him popular to the base and downstate hurt him in the very areas he needs to be able to expand the GOP vote.

Then who should the GOP run?

McDonnell or Bolling? Nope, they want to butt heads in 2009
Mills Godwin? Can’t-he’s dead
George Allen? Can’t-he’s dead politically, although he is planning to resurrect his career…
Virgil Goode? Not hardly
Eric Cantor?-Now you are onto something

Cantor brings the fund-raising chops and connections to the race to be competitive with Warner. He has the conservative appeal of Gilmore without the baggage or gaggage, and can keep the base in place in Northern Virginia.

As an aside, Virginia has had only one downstate/eastern Senator in the last sixty years. Robertson and the Bryds were Valley folks, Scott, Robb, Warner, and Webb (with family roots in SWVa) from Northern Virginia. Allen was (politically) from Charlottesville, although by the time he went to the Senate he had served as governor, so he was kind of above geographic connection by that time. Since 1946 the only US Senator elected from Virginia who lived in the Tidewater/Richmond/Southside area is Bill Spong.

That kind of pitch might make the difference with moderates downstate. Beyond this Cantor is a demonstrated conservative who by running can start the GOP back on the path to being a party of principles and positions, and not simply posturing and lusting for power.

But if Cantor goes to the Senate, then what of Davis and Gilmore?

Davis waits for Webb in 2012 and runs for reelection in Va 11, giving the GOP a strong candidate in Va-11 against what will be a strong democratic opponent…and helping Cantor indirectly. Gilmore? Gilmore runs for the Va-7 seat Cantor currently holds, running in a very strong GOP district that is simpatico with Gilmore.

There are numerous reasons this play won’t happen. Cantor is deeply entrenched in the House leadership, and he may prefer holding his seat and looking toward being Speaker of the House rather than giving it up for an uncertain shot at the Senate. Davis has long wanted to go to the Senate, and he may simply decide this is the year he wants to go. Gilmore? I kind of doubt his ego will allow him to run for anything other than a statewide campaign. Besides, Gilmore has something of the Don Quixote in him…and he would rather lose the campaign he wants to run than win a lesser one. He will see his campaign as one based in principle, and prefer a more difficult campaign even against high odds-somewhat like Horatius Cocles in BC 507 against the Etruscan army (as recounted by Thomas Macaulay):

Then out spoke brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate,
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?”

So Cantor will run for reelection, and Gilmore and Davis and their respective delegates will likely meet next June in parliamentary combat to choose the GOP nominee for 2008. However, I do not expect it to be quick and clean, like a Renaissance duel or High Noon in the main street at Dodge City.

No, I expect it to be the emotional equivalent of an Old Mississippi knife fight, where each combatant held a knife in their right hand while their left arms were tied together…someone always died, and the survivor often did not live too long-and if they did they suffered sever trauma.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. There doesn’t have to a donnybrook next June. Factions can be assuaged, ambition  served, ego massaged, careers advanced, all through a simple reordering of candidates can make all the difference in Virginia in 2008.

The prescription?

**Eric Cantor for the US Senate
**Jim Gilmore for Congress in Va 7
**Tom Davis for Congress in Va 11

You heard it here first…

WaPo: A Keen Grasp of the Obvious…

Today’s WaPo has an article on local political fundraising. The title to the article, and the focus of the article, is:

Fundraising Report Shows It Pays to Be Incumbent

Well, duh…