Anthony's 18th

OK, it was only the 18 MONTH birthday for Anthony on Friday, but I thought it merited a “Front Page” photo.

A life full of walking around the neighborhood, a dinner at Cracker Barrel and Imagination Movers rung in number 18.

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OK, beyond this point, we now have to start talking about it in years.  I remember asking one set of parents how old their child was and they said — 29 months.

Huh?  Once you PASS 18 months, its no longer months, only years.  So, “going on 2 years” is the new answer to “how old is he?”

Pro-Life Rally at the Legislature

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Thursday, March 19 at noon at the Capitol.

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Those pro-lifers out there who want to make an impression on the Legislature should attend.  I’ve spoken to it in the past and it’s always a great rally.

Of course, most of the Democrats in the Legislature are “pro-life.”  Their constituents wouldn’t elect them otherwise, so most give lip service to it, go back home and campaign on it and never have any plans of passing any pro-life legislation.

Go up there and show your support.

WVGOP announces Underwood Intern Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                            

Contact: Gary Abernathy

Monday, February 23, 2009                                                  

304-768-0493

CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Republican Party today announced a new program paying tribute to former West Virginia Gov. Cecil H. Underwood, who passed away in November.

The Cecil H. Underwood Intern Program will utilize the talents of young Republicans across West Virginia as they work with the State Party each summer to carry out the party’s efforts in a variety of activities.

“Gov. Underwood had a special connection with young people, and this program will be one way for his legacy to live on in our party for years to come,” said state GOP Chairman Doug McKinney.

Cecilia Baker, the governor’s daughter, said, “Our family is honored by this gesture. Our father deeply appreciated the talents and contributions of young people, and this program will help develop and encourage their participation in the political process.”

McKinney said the intern program will provide logistical and ground support for the party, grow new ideas and talent with potential future leaders and party staff, and publicly demonstrate an active, growing, and community-oriented party. Interns will develop conservative values and leadership skills, and gain valuable work experience and interaction with party and community leaders. 

Cecil H. Underwood first ventured into politics in 1944 at age twenty-two with his election to the House of Delegates. He retained this seat until 1956, serving as House minority floor leader in 1949, 1951, 1953, and 1955. In 1957, he became the youngest governor in the history of the state and the first Republican governor in twenty-four years. In 1996, Underwood became the state’s oldest governor, forty years after his first election to the office.

For more information or to contribute to the program, contact the WVGOP at 304-768-0493, or email wvgop@wvgop.org.

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Paid for by the West Virginia Republican Party

McGraw’s claims against Eli Lilly dwindling

Sign the petition on behalf of Logan

If you read this blog, you know that it is very rare that I advocate to go and sign a petition, but I felt compelled in this case.

Attached is the wording of the petition and I would encourage you to go to the WV Against Abuse website by clicking HERE to sign the petition.

Its crazy to me that Pepper Eren (the mother of Logan Goddall) is being considered for parole.  Petitions rarely work, but if WVAA is able to take the Parole Board a petition showing the public outrage over her possible release, then maybe it will help sway them to keep her in jail.

See the petition below, and if you feel compelled, please go there and sign up, I did.

Thanks!

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Keep Logan’s mother in prison!

Pepper Eren did nothing to protect her 2-year-old son, Logan, from the abuse inflicted on him during his short life.  In fact, she visited him 1/2 hour before his death and even though he was unable to stand or hold himself up, even though his eyes were rolling back in his head and his teeth were clenched shut, even though he could not speak or cry for help, she walked away from his bruised and burned body, leaving him in the hands of Michael Merrifield who then murdered him.

We believe that Pepper Eren is just as responsible for Logan’s death as Michael Merrifield. We believe she should have cared for her son, protected her son, sought help for her son, and saved her son’s life.  Instead, she walked away. 

Pepper Eren should not be eligible for parole, she should be serving a life sentence.  Instead, she was given only a 1-10 year sentence and is again (after only three years) eligible for parole. 

We urge the Parole Board, when making the determination of whether or not to approve parole, to consider Logan’s brutalized body, the pain and suffering that he endured, and the indifference that his mother displayed.  We urge the parole board to consider Pepper Eren’s concern for her relationship rather than her concern for her son.  We urge the parole board to consider the fact that Pepper Eren was the only person who could have saved Logan from Michael Merrifield and yet she WALKED AWAY and left him to die. 

We urge the Parole Board to once again DENY parole for Pepper Eren.

Thank you.

Plants swearing in today, Monday, December 29

Mark Plants will be sworn in as Kanawha County Prosecutor today at 4pm at the old County Courthouse. 

It was an honor to help Mark win election, he will make an excellent, excellent prosecutor.  Everyone is welcome to see him be sworn in to his new position.

MEMO to WCHS Radio: Bring back the Nancy Guthrie commercials

I never thought I’d say this.

But, having just heard the single worst commercial in the history of WCHS radio (possibly the world), I actually long for the days of the inane, incomprehensible Nancy Guthrie commercials.

At least with Nancy, you knew it was going to end.  You knew that her penchant for stringing together sentences — which by themselves made sense, but when put together with a series of other sentences, you were left scratching your head trying to figure out exactly WHAT she was talking about — would eventually end on election day.

But, there is a commercial SO bad running now that you see people within their cars shoving bamboo shoots up their fingernails.  I see road rage incidents within passing cars — but, the difference is the road rage is being committed ON THEIR RADIOS. 

When I hear it, I have the nearly uncontrollable desire to drive my car off a cliff.

If you listen to CHS radio (or at least Hoppy’s show), you have heard it.

It is the woman singing a tune for Smith Company Motorcars to the melody of “Santa Baby.”

Holy crap. 

Trust me, if you have heard it, you know what I am talking about.  And, if you don’t know what I’m talking about then you could not have possible heard it.

I want to find the person who sings it, and tear out her vocal cords.

Seriously, CHS should fire anyone remotely associated with the production of that commercial. 

I mean, I feel bad for the poor sound engineer who has to be fired, but he should have quit before actually putting that commercial in the system.  You know, it’s like when a soldier gets an order from an insane commander and knows it is morally wrong, but still carries out the order.  They still send those folks to Fort Leavenworth.

Trust me, Levenworth is too good for anyone associated with the production of this commercial.

I mean, the commercial is THAT bad.  Is it the first five minute commercial?  It feels literally like it lasts at least 4:45.

Until this commercial, I thought the Carbonocks commercial with the little girl at the end crying “Is Daddy coming home?” was bad.  That one only made me want to jam a fork in my eye.

This Smith Company Motorcars commercial makes me long for a Vietnamese prison camp.  They should take it and use it for terrorist interrogation and about half way in to the 5 minute long commercial, the terrorists will be begging to be waterboarded.

And here, I thought that I was growing weary of the never ending parade of “testimonial” commercials on CHS.

Look, I understand it has to be tough to have so many advertisers and having to come up with unique sounding commercials for each client.

But, whoever produced, recorded, and approved that Santa Baby commercial should cast out to the wilderness.  Heck, anyone who WALKED by the room while it was being recorded and didn’t immediately call John Raese to get it stopped should be fired.  Maybe anyone in the building near the production studio should be fired.  Anyone even tangentially associated with it should at least be publicly flogged.

Yes, as you might surmise, I wasn’t too crazy about the Santa Baby commercial for Smith Company motorcars. 

I’m sorry, but that commercial drives me to near insanity by its sheer horror.

Plants fundraiser and victory celebration set for TONIGHT

The Mark Plants for Prosecutor committee is holding a fundraiser to retire the debt from his successful campaign for Kanawha County Prosecutor.

Mark has really hit the ground running with a strong transition team and a couple great hires to date.  He is holding some debt from the campaign and this is an opportunity for those who didn’t contribute to him (and those who did, but did not contribute the maximum during the general) to help Mark out and contribute to his effort.

The fundraiser information:

Tuesday, December 9th
5:30-7:30pm
The home of Larry and Lisa Pack
2146 Presidential Drive, Charleston (the turn right before you get to John Adams Middle School)

Below is the text of his fundraising letter, in case you didn’t receive a copy.

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Dear Friends,

Election night was truly an honor for me and my family.  It is humbling to know the people of Kanawha County entrusted me with their vote and are counting on me to insure the safety of our citizens serving as Kanawha County Prosecutor.

With your help, we shocked the political establishment in Kanawha County by defeating their anointed candidate.  We are proud to have won such a close, hard-fought victory.

                Unfortunately, our campaign went into debt to insure election victory.  We had no choice.  To get our message out to the voters about my experience as an Assistant Kanawha County Prosecutor, we had to purchase radio and TV ads.  But, it’s good to know those ads helped us win on election night.

 We have hit the ground running setting up a transition team and beginning the tough work ahead.  I plan to be an aggressive Kanawha County Prosecutor and will make you proud of your support.

Our friends and supporters, Larry and Lisa Pack, have offered to help us retire the debt by hosting a fundraiser at their home.  We need your help to make this event a success and we want you there to help us celebrate our victory! 

                This campaign was long and trying – and expensive – but, we came out on top!  Our campaign is counting on your financial contribution. 

The fundraiser and celebration will be held at the Pack residence:

Campaign Fundraiser and Victory Celebration
Tuesday, December 9^th, 5:30-7:30pm
2146 Presidential Drive, Charleston, WV

Can you contribute today?  All checks should be made payable to the “Plants for Prosecutor Committee.”  A contribution of $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or any amount will help erase our debt.  Thank you in advance for your financial support and I look forward to seeing you at our Victory Celebration!

                                                                                    Sincerely,

Mark Plants                                       
Kanawha County Prosecutor-elect

* Public employees please disregard

Wheeling Intelligencer: Voters won’t be fooled again

Awesome editorial from Wheeling yesterday…

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Voters won’t be fooled agin

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It’s an old piece of homespun advice, used sometimes as a warning against being gullible.

But West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw has fooled Mountain State voters many times. Now, he’s attempting to do it again, by pulling out the oldest trick in his political book.

It won’t work. Not this time. West Virginians aren’t falling for it.

A young reformer, Dan Greear, is challenging McGraw for the attorney general’s job. Voters will decide the issue on Tuesday - and we believe they will select Greear. It has not escaped their notice that among his top priorities is to act as a vigorous advocate for consumers.

Several times in the past, McGraw has fooled voters by claiming that he is the defender of the “little guy” against big business. Now, desperate to mislead us once again, he is using the same strategy.

McGraw and officials in many other states have filed a variety of consumer protection lawsuits against various companies during the past several years. McGraw rests his claim of being a consumer advocate on such lawsuits.

But as voters have learned, he has abused the process severely. He hires private attorneys - many of whom have made big contributions to his campaigns - to represent his office. They reap millions of dollars in fees.

And when McGraw’s office wins one of those lawsuits, he keeps millions of dollars in proceeds in his own office. The money should go to the state treasury - but McGraw doles it out himself in an attempt to win good will and votes.

Greear wants to stop all that. He wants to use in-house lawyers to handle most of the attorney general’s work. When private attorneys are needed, they should be hired according to merit, he believes. And money collected by the attorney general should go to the state treasury, Greear thinks.

There should not be a let-up on filing of consumer protection lawsuits - only in how they are handled, Greear is convinced.

But McGraw wants voters to think he is defending us against big business. His deputy, Fran Hughes, said last week that, “When you go up against the biggest companies in America and you make them pay, they’re going to get their pound of flesh, and that’s what’s happened.”

No, it won’t work this time. West Virginians have seen too much of McGraw’s misbehavior while in office. They are coming to realize that priority isn’t “the little guy” - but is, instead, Darrell McGraw.

We’ve been fooled before. Shame on McGraw for that. But we won’t be fooled again.

Martinsburg Journal: Reformer Greear the right choice

Add another (and another, and another) to the growing chorus of newspapers across the state who have endorsed Dan Greear over Darrell McGraw.  In fact, other than the ultra-liberal Charleston Gazette whose endorsement of McGraw actually included the words “he’s unconventional” every daily across the state is supporting Dan Greear.

See the editorial below.

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A young reformer, Charleston attorney Dan Greear, is running for attorney general. We endorse him and urge Mountain State residents to vote for him in this year’s general election.

Greear has a simple, five-point platform. He wants to enforce consumer protection laws and improve the state’s business climate. He wants more accountability in the attorney general’s office. He wants to end abuse of the office for political gain. He wants to use competitive bidding when the attorney general has to hire outside lawyers. And he wants to get tougher on crime.

For years, McGraw has gotten away with a cynical strategy: He has hoped that his promises to protect “the little guy” would prompt voters to overlook his many abuses of power.

But West Virginians recognize a scam when they see one - and they’ve seen one from McGraw for far too long.

McGraw’s office really doesn’t score many “consumer protection” victories on its own. Outside lawyers - often those who have contributed to McGraw’s re-election campaigns - are hired to handle “consumer protection” lawsuits. When they win, they collect millions of dollars in fees.

And even if the lawsuits win tens of millions of dollars, much of it doesn’t go to the state treasury. McGraw keeps it, doling it out to various “worthy causes” and reaping goodwill that comes in handy at election time. Meanwhile, governors and legislators scrimp for money to pave roads, improve schools, and yes, enforce the law.

A new outrage has surfaced from the attorney general’s office. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, McGraw’s office has stated that six months of Consumer Protection Division records have been “misplaced.” West Virginians will just have to guess how the money was spent.

Our state has put up with Darrell McGraw for far too long. It’s time to show him the door.

That can be done by electing Dan Greear as our new attorney general. Again, we urge voters to cast their ballots for him - for a needed change.