Virginia’s love-hate relationship with federal spending

MoonHowler

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Northrop Grumman is headed to Virginia. It is the 61st largest company in the United States and it is a huge defense contractor.

According to the Washington Post:

RICHMOND — At a news conference last week at Northrop Grumman’s Rosslyn offices, where a panoramic view of Washington loomed outside a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell ticked off the reasons he thinks the giant defense contractor chose to locate its new corporate headquarters in the commonwealth.

He cited the state’s low corporate tax rate, its business-friendly regulations and right-to-work laws that prohibit requiring employees to join unions.

One factor the Republican didn’t mention: The massive flow of federal spending that provides the core of Northrop’s business and has made it the nation’s 61st-largest company.

McDonnell has been a leading voice in railing against rising federal spending. But lost amid the calls for Washington to freeze or reduce spending is this twist: Although most economists agree that mounting federal debt could be dangerous to the national economy, Virginia has thrived on Washington’s decade-long spending spree, according to analyses done by professors at Virginia colleges.

Ten cents of every federal procurement dollar spent anywhere on Earth is spent in Virginia. More than 15,000 Virginia companies hold federal contracts, a number that has almost tripled since 2001. Total federal spending — from salaries to outsourced contracts — has more than doubled, to $118 billion, since 2000, as homeland security and defense spending skyrocketed in response to the 2001 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2008, it accounted for about 30 percent of Virginia’s entire economy.

Federal dollars have filtered through the rest of the economy, too, helping to build the high-tech Dulles corridor and funding new homes and cars for federal workers and contractors and meals at local restaurants. The billions have helped fuel the economic boom cycles of the past decade and have cushioned the blow of the recent recession, particularly in Northern Virginia, where the unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly below 6 percent, less than the state and national rates.

“We have a rich uncle, I like to remind people — Uncle Sam,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.

Maybe Cuccinelli shouldn’t be trying so hard to piss off the feds. It sounds like Virginia is riding the old gravy train. To have less than 6% unemployment in this economy is enviable. To be getting 10 cents of every federal procurement dollar spent anywhere on earth is quite an accomplishment.

Much as McDonnell probably won’t like sharing the limelight, much of Virginia’s pro-business reputation was developed and nurtured by people like Mark Warner. Under the Kaine administration, Virginia was voted the number one state to do business in. McDonnell is savvy and should continue the tradition of attracting and maintaining businesses and a robust economy. He just needs to rein in his attorney general since much of that business originates with federal contracting.

Greece Riots in the Street; Our DOW Drops 1000 Points in Minutes

MoonHowler

Greece had rioting in its streets near its parliament. As these events unfolded on TV, the DOW dropped 1000 points in a matter of minutes. The American stocks didn’t stay down at -`1000 for long. It came back somewhat, if we call -330 a come back. Investors might want to check their assets.

A work related call prevented me from seeing the entire free fall. Where is Formerly Anonymous to do some interpreting for us? We can’t say he hasn’t warned us of impending doom.

UPDATE: The DOW is hovering just under 300 down. Fox News is saying they just got word that there was a bad trade on Proctor and Gamble. (whatever that means) Who knows. All this is beyond my pay grade.

Arizona Follows PWC’s Path, or Does It?

MoonHowler

 

From insidenova.com:

What’s happening in Arizona is exactly what happened in Prince William, but board Chairman Corey Stewart says outcry and criticism shouldn’t dissuade the state from going forth with tough new immigration laws.

“Essentially, we were the test case for what’s going on in Arizona,” said Stewart, R-At-Large. “I can tell you the intensity they’re facing is exactly the intensity the board of county supervisors faced, and it came from several corridors … that essentially tried to threaten the county.”

In late April, Arizona’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, signed into law new immigration policy giving local law enforcement the authority “to reasonably determine the immigration status of a person involved in a lawful contact [with officials],” according to the summary sheet of S.B. 1070 posted on the state’s website. The lawful contact clause in particular caused concern among civil rights activists who foresaw worst-case scenarios where police would engage in racial profiling and de-mand paperwork proving legal status from, say, pedestrians based on skin color.

Prince William County’s immigration policy, by contrast, states that police broach the issue of legal presence only after “physical custodial arrest,” according to a June 2008 press release from the police department on the main points of enforcement procedures.[bold mine]

Read More

Much Huff and Puff…House Still Standing

MoonHowler

“I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in.  ”  At the end of the day, the house was still standing and much of the huffing and puffing seemed like idle threat. 

Apparently the angry voter scene snarled a little but made little impact on primaries yesterday.  Voter turnout was low and incumbents often won.

Most winners ended up being mainstream candidates. In Hernon, Democrats grabbed up all but 2 of the seats.
In the City of Manassas, the following happened:

Marc Aveni – 1230 (33.0%)
Andy Harrover – 1225 (32.9%)
Steve Randolph – 1209 (32.4%)

That is a pretty even vote. No surprises there.

Throw the bums out just didn’t happen.

UVA Loses 2 LaCrosse Players: An Update

MoonHowler

There is more to the UVA Lacrosse story than the death of Yeardly Love. Tragic as it is, the entire UVA community, and especially its athletic community has been dealt a horrible blow. I called down today to life-long friends who live 2 blocks from the murder site. They were all devastated. University towns very much personalize their tragedies. Yeardly was a well-loved campus icon and the teams, both hers and his, were headed to the national finals.

There is another side to this story that transcends personal tragedy:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

This murder sent shock waves across the nation. This story is just another perspective.

Yet when all is said and done, someone’s child is dead. Someone else’s child faces many years in prison if convicted. And sports teams come and sports teams go. The Duke lacrosse team recovered and so will UVA’s. Friends and family and the school in general, however, might not have that luxury.

Do student athletes lead a different life? Are they under more stress than others? Do they party harder to make up for the intensity of the sport they play? Is being BMOC or BWOC more difficult?

My father was a student athlete at UVA during the Great Depression. His family had no money to send him to school. He was fortunate enough to land a scholarship. There was no free lunch. He played 3 sports. Football, basketball, and baseball, and excelled at all three. Until his dying day he bore resentment towards sports and the amount of time they took out of his life. Maybe these kids felt the same way. And maybe it got too much for them.

Regardless, maybe this week we are all Wahoos.

That good old song of Wah-hoo-wah,
We ‘ll sing it o ‘er and o ‘er.
It cheers our hearts and warms our blood
To hear them shout and roar.
We come from Old Virginia,
Where all is bright and gay.
Let’s all join hands and give a yell,
For the dear old UVa.
Wah-hoo-wah,
Wah-hoo-wah.
Uni-v, Virginia,
Hoo-rah-ray,
Hoo-rah-ray,
Ray! Ray! U-V-A!

The Cavalier Dailyhas copies of affidavits and more on the story and crime scene

Not with a bang but a whimper….

MoonHowler

The Opt Out Resolution, that call to arms by Corey Stewart passed the BOCS on Tuesday, not with a bang but  a whimper. What passed in a 6-2 vote, was a resolution that directs the county staff to find out how much new federal health care regulations will cost Prince William County. Both Supervisors Jenkins and Principi voted against this Resolution because they felt it was taking the staff off their regular jobs and that staff was already short.

From the News and Messenger:

With a vote of 6-2, Prince William supervisors Tuesday passed a resolution that directs staff to find out how much new federal health care regulations will cost the county.

The resolution also requires staff to report these costs to the board and to alert state and federal authorities if there’s a problem—that is, if the regulations amount to unfunded mandates that will require supervisors to raise taxes or cut essential services.

Supervisors John Jenkins, D-Neabsco, and Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, voted against the measure after attempts to amend the document—to set up a committee to study the issue and to direct staff to research and report on tax-saving benefits of the federal health care plan—failed.

The actual resolution that passed is a watered-down version of what was originally proposed, and is in not a call to opt-out of the federal health care plan. It does not support, or even mention, the state’s lawsuit against the federal law, either. Rather, the resolution, which is available online at the county government’s website, http://www.pwcgov.org, is a directive to staff.

This Resolution is a far cry from what was originally proposed for our county by Corey Stewart, early in April at a political rally down in Stafford County. Stewart originally  said he was proposing a resolution that would direct the staff not to honor new medicaid claims that were to be ushered in January 1, 2014 as a result of HCR. By April 15, Stewart was handing out fliers at a Tea Party Tax Rally calling his proposal an Opt Out Resolution. By the time Moonhowlings.net received a copy, there was no ‘Opt Out,’ just a directive for staff to study the costs and report back to the board. Funny how that all worked out, isn’t it?

Good work, citizens of Prince William County. It looks like we avoided another Stewart Folly.  Hats off to the supervisors who voted no.  As our regular, George Harris,  has stated, he found out much of what he needed to know by making a couple phone calls.  Why can’t the county do the same thing rather than turning every issue into a circus?

Colonel Morris Davis: Perfecting a More Perfect Union

MoonHowler

Colonel Morris Davis published some of his thoughts on being an American and and what it takes to nourish our country:

My father was a 100 percent disabled veteran of World War II. He left home a healthy man in the prime of life and returned seriously disabled by a broken back during a training accident. My earliest memories are of him going to the Bowman-Gray Hospital at Wake Forest University for multiple surgeries, spending weeks at home in bed in a full-body plaster cast, his back and leg braces and crutches, and the hand-controls that let him drive without using the gas or brake pedals. Like many of his generation – and like many of the men and women I see now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center – there was never a word of bitterness over what he lost, only pride in his country and a bond with others who served in defense of democracy.

Robert Hutchins, former Dean of the Yale Law School and Chancellor of the University of Chicago, said “The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”

I believe that living in a democracy is a privilege, not a right, and each citizen has a duty to do his or her part to ensure the privilege isn’t lost to future generations. That was a lesson I learned from my father at an early age. I joined the Air Force a few months after he died and served for 25 years, in part because of his example.

Volunteers for military service aren’t apathetic or indifferent about democracy. They pledge to support and defend the Constitution, and many make the ultimate sacrifice; I saw proof every morning when I drove by the white stone markers aligned in rows at Arlington National Cemetery on my way to work. We owe them a duty to do more than just passively surrender to the challenges we face; we have an obligation to participate in working towards solutions.

It says something when we cast nearly as many votes to select the next American Idol as we do to select the next American president, when more can name the “Plus Eight” that belong to Jon and Kate than the eight members of the Supreme Court remaining when Justice John Paul Stevens (Navy veteran) retires, and when Tiger Woods wrecking his marriage and his SUV is the lead story on the national news. Too many of us are too absorbed with the superficial world of celebrities and the schadenfreude of their calamitous lives.

The most basic duty of citizenship is participation, something Americans do less than citizens of most other countries. Almost all eligible voters in Australia – about 95 percent – cast ballots in national elections; typically a little more than half of eligible voters in the U.S. do the same. That’s a sad fact. There is no excuse for being uninformed on issues and there is no excuse for not voting. In my view, you forfeit the right to pontificate if you’re too lazy to participate.

I’m involved in the Coffee Party, a group that promotes civil discussion about issues and greater public participation in the political process. I don’t believe any political party or any group along the ideological spectrum has a monopoly on good ideas, and I believe we should be able to discuss issues and ideas without hurling insults and threats. We seem to lose sight of the fact that we’re all in this together.

We have the power and the ability to prove Hutchins wrong and to advance the ideal the Founding Fathers envisioned – continuing to perfect the union, doing justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and passing these privileges along to those that follow – if we just have the will.

Colonel Davis seems to have great hope for America. Will the ideals envisioned by Colonel Davis win in the end or will apathy indifference and a slow extinction become our fate?

Big Government and Eating Your Words

MoonHowler

Its all rhetoric and political swashbuckling until real world problems become your own. 

 

Today’s Washington Post has an excellent opinion piece written by Dana Millbank entitled, Through Oil-fouled Water, Big Government Looks Better and Better.  The entire article has been posted below because every word needs to be taken to heart and read carefully.  There was simply no part that could be considered for truncating purposes. 

Through Oil-fouled Water, Big Government Looks Better and Better

Dana Millbank, Washington Post

There is something exquisite about the moment when a conservative decides he needs more government in his life.

About 10:30 Monday morning, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), an ardent foe of big government, posted a blog item on his campaign Web site about the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “I strongly believe BP is spread too thin,” he wrote.

The poor dears. He thinks it would be a better arrangement if “federal and state officials” would do the dirty work of “protecting and cleaning up the coast” instead of BP.

About an hour later came word from the Pentagon that Alabama, Florida and Mississippi — all three governed by men who once considered themselves limited-government conservatives — want the federal government to mobilize (at taxpayer expense, of course) more National Guard troops to aid in the cleanup.

That followed an earlier request by the small-government governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal (R), who issued a statement saying he had called the Obama administration “to outline the state’s needs” and to ask “for additional resources.” Said Jindal: “These resources are critical.”

About the time that Alabama, Florida and Mississippi were asking for more federal help, three small-government Republican senators, Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions of Alabama and George LeMieux of Florida, were flying over the gulf on a U.S. government aircraft with small-government Republican Rep. Jeff Miller (Fla.).

“We’re here to send the message that we’re going to do everything we can from a federal level to mitigate this,” Sessions said after the flight, “to protect the people and make sure when people are damaged that they’re made whole.”

Sessions, probably the Senate’s most ardent supporter of tort reform, found himself extolling the virtues of litigation — against BP. “They’re not limited in liability on damage, so if you’ve suffered a damage, they are the responsible party,” said Sessions, sounding very much like the trial lawyers he usually maligns.

All these limited-government guys expressed their belief that the British oil company would ultimately cover all the costs of the cleanup. “They’re not too big to fail,” Sessions said. “If they can’t pay and they’ve given it everything they’ve got, then they should cease to exist.” But if you believe that the federal government won’t be on the hook for a major part of the costs, perhaps you’d like to buy a leaky oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

It may have taken an ecological disaster, but the gulf-state conservatives’ newfound respect for the powers and purse of the federal government is a timely reminder for them. As conservatives in Washington complain about excessive federal spending, the ones who would suffer the most from spending cuts are their own constituents.

An analysis of data from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation by Washington Post database specialist Dan Keating found that people in states that voted Republican were by far the biggest beneficiaries of federal spending. In states that voted strongly Republican, people received an average of $1.50 back from the federal government for every dollar they paid in federal taxes. In moderately Republican states, the amount was $1.19. In moderately Democratic states, people received on average of 99 cents in federal funds for each dollar they paid in taxes. In strongly Democratic states, people got back just 86 cents on the tax dollar.

If Sessions and Shelby succeed in shrinking government, their constituents in Alabama will be some of the biggest losers: They get $1.66 in federal benefits for every $1 they pay in taxes. If Louisiana’s Vitter succeeds in shrinking government, his constituents will lose some of the $1.78 in federal benefits they receive for every dollar in taxes they pay. In Mississippi, it’s $2.02.

That may explain why, as the oil slick hits the Gulf Coast, lawmakers from the region are willing to swallow their limited-government principles as they dangle federal aid before their constituents. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he would “make sure the federal government is poised to assist in every way necessary.” His colleague Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said he is making sure “the federal government is doing all it can” — even as he added his hope that “industry” would pay.

President Obama tried to remind the government-is-the-enemy crowd of this situation in a speech on Saturday. “Government is the police officers who are protecting our communities, and the servicemen and -women who are defending us abroad,” he said. “Government is the roads you drove in on and the speed limits that kept you safe. Government is what ensures that mines adhere to safety standards and that oil spills are cleaned up by the companies that caused them.”

For the moment, some of the conservatives have new appreciation for governmental powers. “We’re going to have the oil industry folks, the BP folks, in front of us on the Commerce Committee,” Florida’s LeMieux vowed in the news conference Monday. “We’re going to talk about these drilling issues.”

But not before the taxpayer sends some more big-government money down to the small-government politicians of the gulf.

 

At what point do we stop thinking that the other person’s needs are frivolous and our own important? Are the politicians in the gulf states who are banging the drum about smaller government opportunists? Hypocrites? Or could it be that all those elected officials just needed a reality check about what we do when disaster hits us?

Poll Pooch Guards Polls on Election Day in Herndon

MoonHowler
Poll Pooch 2008
Poll Pooch 2008

The town of Herndon apparently takes its poll pooches seriously.  This great dane puts in an appearance at every Herndon election according to sources.  He was there bright and early this morning when the polls opened at 6:30. (above picture from 2008)

I also understand that one of the founders of Help Save Herndon is on the ballot for town council.  Hopefully our Herndon friends will keep us apprised of how election day is going over in Herndon. After viewing the town council meetings, it appears that peace and tranquility isn’t part of the main objective.

Is that a donkey lying down or a great dane running for office on the Jones’ sign?  Perhaps he will further explain this logo on the candidate website: 

http://www.herndonunited.com/

signs

UVA LaCrosse Tragedy: 2 Lives Lost

MoonHowler

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

George Huguely, 22, has been charged with murder in the death of Yeardley Love, 22. Both were fourth-year U.Va. students from Maryland and lacrosse players.  Huguely is from Chevy Chase and Love was from Cockeysville.  Both students were to graduate in a few weeks.

Love, 22, was found dead in her apartment yesterday morning. Hours later, 22-year-old George Huguely was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.  Roommates summoned police thinking that she was comatose from alcohol poisoning.  First responders found that Ms. Love’s condition was far more serious and that she had suffered physical trauma.  While not elaborating, police ruled out weapons.  Neighors heard nothing.

Police say the two had been in a relationship but investigators plan to interview fellow players.  Huguely’s lawyer says that  “he is confident the death of a women’s lacrosse player from the same school, Yeardley Love, was not intended.”  What a horribly tragic accident.  One of these young people will probably spend time in prison and the other, who has been described by those who know her as an angel, is gone.  Dead.  Never to play lacrosse again, never to graduate, never to go to that first day of a new job.  Her life has been snuffed out, for whatever reason. 

Ms. Love is the 7th UVA student to die this academic year.  We don’t send out children to college to die. 

The University issued the following:

U.Va. President John T. Casteen III said in a statement that he hopes Love is remembered for her talents and her potential and not for the way she died.

“However little we may not know now about Yeardley Love’s death, we do know that she did not have or deserve to die — that she deserved the bright future she earned growing up, studying here and developing her talents as a lacrosse player,” Casteen said.

“She deserves to be remembered for her human goodness, her capacity for future greatness, and not for the terrible way in which her young life has ended.”

Casteen said he knows of no explanation for what happened to Love.

“This death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the university’s and our own sympathy for Yeardley’s family, teammates and friends,” he said.

 

UPDATE:

All Eyes Still on Prince William County

MoonHowler

All eyes are still on Prince William County as the residents of Arizona feel our pain at the Harkins Valley Art Theater near Phoenix.  The theater has been packed each night for screenings of 9500Liberty. Eric Byler has been in the Phoenix area for approximately a week now.  This afternoon he hosted a radio show with 3 Republican business people who disapprove of the law passed, SB 1070.

Many folks from Arizona now know all about 0ur county.  A write up in AZ newspaper Phoenix New Times revealed:

The film chronicles the heated battle over an Immigration Resolution (drafted by the same folks who brought us SB 1070), in Prince William County, Virginia that passed in 2008 and was quickly repealed because of devastating economic effects (read more about it here). 9500 Liberty captures both sides of the battle in Prince William County through numerous interviews and video clips, some of which provoked the audience at Harkins into both jeers and cheers.

For example, when a woman tells the Prince William County Board of District Supervisors that they must “Never forget 9/11 and who did that to us – illegals,” the audience at Harkins Valley Art let out a collective grumble. Minutes later, they roared in unified laughter when a man tells the Supervisors, “Don’t confuse the 9/11 with the 7-11.”
Naturally our own Alanna and Elena are  folk heroes and Eric is extremely busy.  That is what happens when you have directed a film on immigration and one of the biggest news events of the day suddenly becomes a highly controversial state law in Arizona rather than a resolution in a county in Virginia.
When asked by Lydia Aranda, a local Wells Fargo executive and a member of the Governor’s Latino Advisory Council,  what was the main lesson he’d  (Byler) learned in Prince William County that continues to be relevant  here  in the county, he responded:
“If [co-director] Annabel [Park] were here, I know what she’d say,” Byler replied. “The biggest lesson is that the immigrants in our community are already integrated into the economy, because the economy does not discriminate based on your national origin. A dollar is a dollar.”
Byler also denied that demonstrations and rallies were productive in our area.  He said that community leaders and business people spoke with supervisors individually and those private conversations are what ultimately lead to a softer approach.
It looks like a home boy it one out of the ball park with 95ooLiberty.
Full story at Phoenix New Times.

Car Bomb Plot Suspect Arrested

MoonHowler

According to CNN:

New York (CNN) — A U.S. citizen has been arrested in the Times Square bombing probe, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced early Tuesday.

Faisal Shahzad was arrested at JFK airport in New York as he prepared to board a flight to Dubai, Holder said.

The officials said the suspect is the person who bought a Nissan Pathfinder used in the bombing attempt. Earlier, a law enforcement official said the buyer is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, and that investigators are looking at more than one person in connection with the unsuccessful bombing.

The report came as CNN learned that the Joint Terrorism Task Force investigating the bombing attempt is considering the possibility that the attempt involved more than just a “lone wolf.” The identity of the person under scrutiny was not known, however.

According to a source familiar with the investigation, investigators believe the plan was an intended terrorist attack to set off explosives in the heart of midtown Manhattan on Saturday night, but the individuals didn’t have the expertise to detonate their device.

It is important to note that this is an on-going investigation. What a terrific job of capturing the evil-doers.

AG Goes Back to Bare-Breasted Attire

MoonHowler

The Virginia AG has decided that the replacement breast plate lapel pins he had made for his staff were just too distracting so he has returned to the bare-breasted Goddess Virtue of the Great Virginia Seal. He did try to lame out of why he did such a stupid, cultural warrior stunt in the first place:

“The image on my office lapel pin is similar to that of a large antique state flag that hangs in the Virginia Capitol,” Cuccinelli said in a statement yesterday. “That is where I got the idea for my pin. I liked this particular image and thought it would be something unique for my employees.

Cuccinelli attempted mock outrage that people would find his decision to cover up the Goddess ridiculous:

“I cannot believe that joking with my staff about Virtue being a little more ‘virtuous’ in this antique version has become news.

“This is simply a media-made issue that has become distracting to the work of my office. I am going to end this distraction by discontinuing future use of the pin.”

The Democrats opportunistically have been laughing their hind-quarters off because of Ken’s efforts to make an Amazon Goddess more modest. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

The Democratic Party of Virginia also called the latest dustup a distraction — and blamed Cuccinelli. “Does Ken Cuccinelli have anything better to do?” the party asked in news release.

“All Virginians should be concerned that Ken Cuccinelli is wasting the people’s time applying his ultraconservative political agenda to every aspect of his job, even classical art,” said party Chairman C. Richard Cranwell.

“Attorney General Cuccinelli’s good will has run out with our citizens,” Cranwell added. “Virginians demand common sense, results-oriented government, not distractions, embarrassments and misplaced priorities.”

Steve Farnsworth, a political scientist at George Mason University, said the seal flap “is the latest in a whole session of national punch lines.”

The controversy has been a distraction from the accomplishments of the McDonnell administration, and it has made life difficult for the Republican Party of Virginia, he said.

If Cuccinelli really was on top of things he would know that Goddess Virtue didn’t get on the state seal by being a cream puff. Sic Semper Tyrannis! Thus Always to Tyrants.  Don’t mess with Virginia’s boobs!

GOP Worried that Az Legislation Might Hurt both Fall and Future Elections

MoonHowler

Republicans got that dead cat bounce from the new law in AZ.  However, now they might be going back to the old adage about being careful what you wish for.  Now the movers and the shakers in the GOP are worried that there might be a negative impact from this law and that some new potential base might be lost.

According to Politico.com:

Arizona’s immigration law has been an immediate hit with the Republican base, but some of the party’s top strategists and rising stars worry that the harsh crackdown may do long-term damage to the GOP in the eyes of America’s Hispanic population.

 From Marco Rubio to Jeb Bush to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Republicans who represent heavily Hispanic states have been vocal in their criticism of the Arizona law, saying it overreaches. Even Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, a conservative hero for his win last fall, has questioned the law.

 And the party’s long-term thinkers worry that the Arizona law is merely a quick political fix which may create a permanent rift with the fastest growing segment of the U.S. electorate.

Most of us were unaware the Governor McDonnell had weighed in on the AZ  issue. 
The question people need to be asking themselves is will the new legislation help alleviate AZ’s violence.  If the answer is no, then they need another strategy.  They are making a bad mistake if they are curbing lawn care workers entering the United States.  Meanwhile, London burns. 
Specifically, Rove, Jeb Bush, and Governor Perry had the following to say:
“I think there is going to be some constitutional problems with the bill,” top Bush strategist Karl Rove said during a stop on his book tour. “I wished they hadn’t passed it, in a way.”

Jeb Bush was also blunt: “I don’t think this is the proper approach.”
 

Regardless of what GOP heavy-weights say, the many folks in AZ are pleased with their legislation. It must be that RINO Karl Rove who just doesn’t have what it takes to be a conservative Republican. [Sarcasm key pressed.]

Open Thread: Week of 5/3/10

MoonHowler

Nothing new around these parts. I hear the bus loads are coming in to protest something. Must be a joke. Surely Corey isn’t passing another Resolution.

And to all those who seem to think that moonhowlings.com has something going on with AZ, we are NOT the news. It seems to be that on-going reading comprehension problem that is causing rumors.

Enjoy the week.