Things We Learned on Twitter Today- GOP Scare Tactics Not Accurate

We saw this interesting tweet from Virginia state Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Hot Springs) who was easily re-elected over Charlottesville attorney T.J. Aldous on Tuesday, though since Republicans were able to brand conservative, pro-life Democrat state senate incumbent Roscoe Reynolds as a 'liberal,' his opponent Bill Stanley won the highly-contested seat in the Martinsville area and gave the state senate to Republicans by an extremely narrow margin.

In his tweet this evening, Deeds, whom I volunteered for when he ran for state attorney general in 2005 and endorsed in 2009 against his opponent Bob McDonnell, a fervent right-winger who is now governor, said the following: "Does government regulation really kill jobs? Economists say overall effect is minimal-Washington Post."

His tweet comes at a time when I saw several militant anti-Obama billboards, including two in Beckley, WVa, the heart of coal country, which said that every state from Indiana to South Carolina was in Obama's 'job-killing zones.' Interestingly, all these states, which included Virginia, were highlighted in red, the color used by the electoral college when it has voted Republican in the presidential election.

Though West Virginia was one of the eight states that selected Michael Dukakis in 1988, it has gone Republican for the last three presidential races. But, Obama won four 'Bush states' in Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and North Carolina during the last cycle.

There have been a number of dubious anti-Obama billboards paid for by far-right groups. One near Orlando, Fla., actually said "Please Don't Vote Democrat" which an image of the Twin Towers from 9-11. Another one in Grand Junction, Colo., which was eventually removed, compared our president to a terrrorist. Others have shown Obama wearing a turban while another one put a Soviet Union flag beside the president. And, these shameless people assuredly call themselves patriots.

Special Quote of the Week- Albert Camus

Today, we conclude with a spillover entry from the month of May, in which we posted quotes from famous novelists, with a quip from the late French writer Albert Camus
(1913-1950). Like the subject of our other entry on our other blog who was George Orwell (1905-1950), both writers were born abroad and died at age 46. While Orwell was born in India, Camus was born in Algeria. He often wrote about the plight of the north African country which remains an area of concern today given the political upheveal in neighboring Libya. Prior to the Libyan mess, there were earlier uprisings in neighboring Tunisia, which lead to the 'Arab Spring."

In addition to his criticism of colonialism, Camus was an outspoken critic of the death penalty, saying that it would never deter perspective murderers because 'the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in the state of equilibrium.'

Alas, the likes of Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-Tex.) and others on the anti-intelllectual right will assuredly always find a way to dismiss any logic that challenges their self-righteous Christian hypocricy.

McDonnell will be speaking at the Virginia United Methodist Assembly Center in Blackstone, Va. on June 11th, according to Eskii Kebede of "The Collegiate Times," the Virginia Tech student-run newspaper in Blacksburg, Va. The topic will be the faith of the founding fathers. Assuredly, any arguments about how a man who sees himself as an upstanding Christian can support the morally inconsistent pro-death penalty argument will not be brought forth.

Camus, who recieved the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, is known for three novels "The Stranger" (1942), "The Plague" (1947) and "The Fall" (1956).

Surreally enough, the much-heralded Turkish film director Zeki Demirkubuz loosely adapted "The Stranger" into his well-recieved 1999 film "Yazgi" ("Fate). I'm sure Camus would have been proud; here is his quote:

"An intellectual is someone who mind watches itself."

Editorial Commentary........Good Republicans/Bad Republicans

Since we think she's a bit more attractive than Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (of course, a Republican!), we thought we'd go with this patriotic image of Raquel Welch from her 1970 film "Myra Breckinridge" which Leonard Maltin claims to be 'god-awful.'

Cuccinelli is a fringe, right-winger who somehow got elected and now in addition to threatening to sue the federal government over recent health care proposals, he actually moved to cover up a breast on Virginia's state flag!

Cucinelli, who represents my home state of Virginia and is a favorite of the Roanoke Tea Party (or as we call them the Yosemite Sam crowd), draped the breast of the goddess Virtus. Of course, along with Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is also to the right of Chuck Norris, Cucinelli was in favor of Virginia's now infamous 'April is Confederacy Heritage Month" proclamation. And, we thought former Virginia governor George Allen had flown the proverbial cuckoo's nest!

But, there are some Republicans who express views I actually agree with. On his Twitter page, Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) who represents the Provo, Utah, area said: "Let's start recognizing true heroes--military, teachers, scientists, students who triumph in something other than sports."

Of course, if Cong. Chaffetz were to recognize the University of Utah gymnast Daria Bijak, who I have a bit of a crush on, I would not protest. But, the fact that she is a native of Germany may pose a bit of a problem.

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM-College Volleyball Team Looking for Facebook Fans.

According to a tweet from the University of Michigan's women's volleyball team, the lady Wolverines are looking for Facebook fans.

The team, which is in their off-season, put up a Facebook site over the weekend and they got 100 fans in less than a week. Michigan finished second in the Big Ten to Penn State, which is currently dominating the sport.

In other collegiate sports news, The University of North Carolina Tarheels are hosting Virginia Tech in baseball in Chapel Hill this afternoon, even though both schools are in recess.

Author John Grisham ("The Pelican Brief") gave the commencement at UNC, while Virginia's new very conservative governor Bob McDonnell did the honors at Virginia Tech.

Just down the road, right-wing nut Glenn Beck spoke at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Yes, I wouldn't want to go to school there either!

Far-Right Republican Becomes Governor of Virginia

The National Rifle Association (NRA), The Heritage Foundation and The Christian Coalition now have one of their own (two of these groups are based in Virginia!) as arch conservative, fringe right-winger Bob McDonnell has been elected governor of Virginia.

McDonnell, who beat moderate Democrat Creigh Deeds, is an alumnus of Pat Robertson's Regent University. At a debate at Roanoke College in Salem, Va., McDonnell pledged that he would be a moderate governor in spite of his staunch pro-life, Christian right views.

This is a very sad day for all Virginians, and it should be a lesson to fellow Democrats, independents and even moderate Republicans that if you become politically apathetic, these guys can win and then we must all suffer the consequences as it happened when George W. Bush became our president for eight long years.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Dog Washing

We normally post the Silly Pictures to Fill space pieces on Tuesday, but today we are posting it on Monday to make everyone in Virginia aware that tomorrow is Election Day.

And, I desperately want to see Democratic state senator Creigh Deeds from Hot Springs, Va., beat out his far right opponent.

If you are a Virginia resident and you happen to see this, I will come to your house and wash your dog if Deeds wins tomorrow. I don't care if you live in Roanoke, Charlottesville, Grundy, Arlington, Woodstock, Abingdon, Boones Mill, Hopewell, Danville, Floyd or Newport News. We really, really need this one folks!

I wish I could do more but alas I live just over the border in North Carolina now.

I also want to mention that there is an animal shelter in my hometown of Salem, Va., which desperately needs folks to adopt animals, so this is not a mere political entry, but I do sincerely believe that Deeds' opponent Bob McDonnell will be a nightmare for Virginia in the same way that George W. Bush was for us as Americans.