House to convene at 4 P.M.

The House will convene at 4 P.M. on Thursday to approve the extension to the Patriot Act.

More as it becomes available.

Patriot Act Extended

Story from CNN Politics:


Senators voted on Wednesday night to extend some expiring and contentious parts of the Patriot Act for six months after leaders announced minutes earlier that they had reached a bipartisan agreement.

Last week, the House voted 251-174 to renew the 16 provisions after striking a compromise that altered some of them. The provisions were set to expire at year's end if not renewed.

Controversial measures include those allowing the FBI -- with a court order -- to obtain secret warrants for business, library, medical and other records, and to get a wiretap on every phone a suspect uses.

The House approved a bill that would have extended most of them permanently, but a filibuster after the bill reached the Senate stopped the measure from moving forward.

Republican leaders tried to break the filibuster Friday, but could muster only 52 of the necessary 60 votes. Four Republicans crossed party lines to oppose the extension.

That vote came on the same day that The New York Times reported that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. residents, without warrants.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, cited the newspaper report as the reason he opposed permanently renewing the Patriot Act provisions, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, called the newspaper's revelation "devastating" to the renewal effort.

More as it becomes available.

New Shorter URL

Courtesy of ShortURL.com, I now have a shorter web address to shorten the
typing:

http://leftwing.2freedom.com

Feel free to leave a comment concerning this URL, whether you like it or not, etc.

The blogger of Neal 2028

For those of you who don't know, the author of Neal 2028, Neal Osborne, is
quite excited about the idea that the CensureBush.org coalition is holding
over 60 town hall forums on January 7th. And for those of you who don't
know, January 7, 2006 happens to be his 18th birthday. So, wish him a
happy birthday when you get a chance and keep blogging!

--
Justin Fleenor
jf

John Conyers' legislation to censure Bush and Cheney

I received this in an email today and I thought I should share it with everyone who doesn't have access to the Democrats.com email list.

CensureBush.org Campaign Launched in Response to New House Legislation

The AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, an alliance of over 100 grassroots organizations, has launched a new campaign called CensureBush.org in order to support new legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers that would censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney and create a select committee to investigate the Administration's possible crimes and make recommendations regarding grounds for impeachment.

H.Res.635 would create a select committee - modeled after Sam Ervin's Watergate committee - to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.

H.Res.636 and H.Res.637 would censure, respectively, Bush and Cheney for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that they and others in the Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of the Administration, for failing to adequately account for certain misstatements they made regarding the war, and – in the case of President Bush – for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958.

These two efforts are complementary - H.Res.635 seeks accountability for the Bush administration's monumental crimes, while H.Res.636 and H.Res.637 seek accountability for their coverups.

Ask your Congress Member to support these efforts!http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=8329176

More information:http://www.censurebush.org/

-------------
The House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff has just released an extensive report titled "The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War." It is available at http://www.censurebush.org/





------------------------------------------------------------------------
The After Downing Street / Censure Bush Coalition has organized over 60 town hall forums around the country on January 7th and plans to make these new developments in Congress a focus of many of those events:http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

New Features to Virginia Left Wing

I now have better accessibility for my blog and all new features

• Site Navigation (Instead of scrolling for a while, you can click "Skip Navigation" in the header and choose the section you wish to view)
• Technorati search
• Google Web Search and "Virginia Left Wing" blog search
• Site Feeds brought to you by Feedburner
• Comments now open inline instead of in a popup box for those with popup blockers who wish to view comments

And coming later today...

• Brand-new ads that you'll want to see
• Features that you'll have to wait and see

Jackie Stump Leaving

Delegate Jackie Stump, a 15-year veteran of the House of Delegates,
representing Buchanan County, and parts of Russell and Tazewell
Counties, is resigning his seat for health reasons.

More from Neal 2028's Post

He apparently got it from Brian Patton

The Daily Press has also published a story on this breaking news story in the past 4 hours.

Link to story

Blogshares

Ok, here's a little side note to my Blogshares account.

Someone, I'm not sure who the guy is, has decided to do a HTO, or
Hostile Takeover, on Virginia Left Wing blog stock shares. Now,
contrary to what some people think, I am not opposed to this. I see it
as a growing opportunity to build my blog's stock shares in the major
market.

Thanks to those who are trading my blog shares and good luck in the future.

Another day, another test for the Democrats

So, I wonder if you readers have heard about the conflict between the
Democratic Party and Lamar Advertising Co. Apparently, the party wants
to put up billboards that say, "Shame on you, Jean Schmidt..." to make a
public statement about the attack she made on Democrat John Murtha last
week. Point your browser to http://www.democrats.org/lamar for more
infomation.

Warner 2008

I haven't been able to write any new posts in a while, on account of me being sick and on account of it being Thanksgiving week. There's been a lot going on, so I haven't been able to get to writing a new post.

I don't really have much to talk about tonight. Except for the fact that bloggers are raving about Mark Warner 2008. For an example of what I'm talking about, go to Young Voters for Warner. It's got upcoming voters in 2008 talking about the enormous possibility that Mark Warner will run for President in 2008. Well, I do believe that if he does run, he will pick up at least the nomination for the Democratic Party.

An interesting post I found on my best friend's blog, Neal 2028, is that he believes if Warner runs in 2008 and wins the nomination, Jay Rockefeller would be a very good choice to run for Vice President. Go check out the post.

Also, for those of you who wish to sport the Mark Warnerism and his possible run for the presidency on your website or blog, here is a graphic I pulled from Brian Patton. He made it himself based on Warner 2001.


If you have a graphic, feel free to drop me a line in the comments to this post, and I'll be happy to use your graphic.

H RES 571- Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately

REJECTED!

House Resolution #571, titled "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately," was rejected late Friday night by a landslide margin of 3-403, Ayes to Noes.

The Ayes were all Democrats, being

McKinney

Serrano

Wexler

The noes were extensive:
Republicans in roman, Democrats in italics, Independents underlined

Abercrombie Ackerman Aderholt Akin Alexander Allen Andrews Baca Bachus Baird Baker Baldwin Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett (MD) Barton (TX) Bass Bean Becerra Berkley Berry Biggert Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blumenauer Blunt Boehlert Boehner Bonilla Bonner Bono Boozman Boren Boucher Boustany Bradley (NH) Brady (PA) Brady (TX) Brown (OH) Brown (SC) Brown, Corrine Brown-Waite, Ginny Burgess Burton (IN) Butterfield Buyer Calvert Cannon Cantor Capito Capps Cardin Cardoza Carnahan Carson Carter Case Castle Chabot Chandler Chocola Cleaver Clyburn Coble Cole (OK) Conaway Conyers Cooper Costa Costello Cramer Crenshaw Crowley Cubin Cuellar Culberson Cummings Davis (CA) Davis (FL) Davis (IL) Davis (KY) Davis (TN) Davis, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Deal (GA) DeFazio DeGette Delahunt DeLauro DeLay Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dicks Dingell Doggett Doolittle Doyle Drake Dreier Duncan Edwards Ehlers Emanuel Emerson Engel English (PA) Eshoo Etheridge Evans Everett Farr Fattah Feeney Ferguson Filner Fitzpatrick (PA) Foley Forbes Ford Fortenberry Foxx Frank (MA) Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Gibbons Gilchrest Gillmor Gingrey Gohmert

Gonzalez Goode Goodlatte Gordon Granger Graves Green (WI) Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Gutknecht Harman Harris Hart Hastert Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Hayes Hayworth Hefley Hensarling Herger Herseth Higgins Hinojosa Hobson Hoekstra Holden Holt Honda Hooley Hostettler Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Hyde Inglis (SC) Inslee Israel Issa Istook Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Jefferson Jenkins Johnson (CT) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Johnson, Sam Jones (NC) Jones (OH) Kanjorski Kaptur Keller Kelly Kennedy (MN) Kennedy (RI) Kildee Kilpatrick (MI) King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kline Knollenberg Kolbe Kucinich Kuhl (NY) Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Leach Lee Levin Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Lewis (KY) Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Lucas Lungren, Daniel E. Lynch Mack Maloney Manzullo Marchant Markey Marshall Matheson Matsui McCarthy McCaul (TX) McCollum (MN) McCotter McCrery McGovern McHenry McHugh McIntyre McKeon McMorris McNulty Meehan Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Melancon Menendez Mica Michaud Millender-McDonald Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller, George Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Murphy Murtha Musgrave Myrick Napolitano Neal (MA) Neugebauer Ney Norwood Nunes

Nussle Oberstar Obey Olver Ortiz Osborne Otter Oxley Pallone Pascrell Pastor Payne Pearce Pelosi Pence Peterson (MN) Petri Pickering Pitts Platts Poe Pombo Pomeroy Porter Price (GA) Price (NC) Pryce (OH) Putnam Radanovich Rahall Ramstad Rangel Regula Rehberg Reichert Renzi Reyes Reynolds Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Ros-Lehtinen Ross Rothman Roybal-Allard Royce Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Ryun (KS) Sabo Salazar Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sanders Saxton Schakowsky Schiff Schmidt Schwartz (PA) Schwarz (MI) Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Sensenbrenner Sessions Shaw Shays Sherman Sherwood Shimkus Shuster Simmons Simpson Skelton Slaughter Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Snyder Sodrel Solis Souder Spratt Stark Stearns Strickland Stupak Sullivan Sweeney Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor (MS) Taylor (NC) Terry Thomas Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Turner Udall (CO) Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Walden (OR) Walsh Wamp Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Weldon (FL) Weldon (PA) Weller Westmoreland Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (SC) Wolf Woolsey Wu Wynn Young (FL)

I think it was almost ridiculous to see this even come to vote in the house. An immediate withdrawal would be a less-than-welcome, even ludicrous, answer to the War in Iraq. My personal belief, which has been asked upon many times in Government class, is that there should be a timetable set to leave the country. I really don't think that the Iraqi government is up to dealing with the insurgency themselves and running their own country right now without a little bit of democratic leadership. Any comments to this? Feel free to have your own discussion in my comment box. I'll even write you back in the box if time allots.

AG Race down to 345 votes

Well, it keeps getting closer and closer. According to the State Board of Elections, Bob McDonnell's lead is narrowing as Creigh Deeds is only 345 votes away as of 2:57 P.M today. The Attorney General's race has been tight since last week when elections were held. More as it becomes available

AG Race down to 352 votes!

Good evening readers. Tonight is shaping up to be a very chilly night. But the fire is still present in the ever-continuing counting of the ballots. As of 5:27 P.M. today, Republican candidate for Attorney General Bob McDonnell holds a 352 vote margin over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds. Once again, state mandates require there to be a county-by-county, ballot-by-ballot recount. I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out in the vote count before the actual recount.

Check out the post on the Raising Kaine Blog about where the votes are coming from.

AG Race down to 446 votes!

Wow, this election just keeps getting better and better. Officially, the Virginia State Board of Elections has Republican Bob McDonnell ahead by 446 votes over Democrat Creigh Deeds. If the vote margin is 1,000 votes or less, the state is mandated to hold a recount.

This information is current as of 7:00 A.M., November 15, 2005.

More updates as they become available.

Pictures from Saturday's Democratic Rally

Tim Kaine and me












Mark Warner and me












Me, Creigh Deeds, and Neal

TIM KAINE WINS!!!

AP Reports that the Virginia Gubernatorial race goes to Tim Kaine!!!

Now, let's just hope for Leslie and Creigh!

Personally, I think Bolling has it all wrapped up on Byrne, but Deeds still has a chance against McDonnell!

LET'S GO DEMS!!!

LIVE GOVERNOR'S RACE RESULTS! 8:57 P.M.

ELECTION RACE RESULTS AS OF 8:58 P.M. EST


Office: Governor

Precincts Reporting: 1755 of 2426 (72.34%) Registered Voters: 4,451,909 Total Voting: 1,375,071 Voter Turnout: 30.89 %

T M Kaine
Democratic
698,494
50.80%

J W Kilgore
Republican
645,610
46.95%

H R Potts Jr
Independent
29,848
2.17%

Write Ins
1,119
0.08%

Vote Totals:
1,375,071

LIVE GOVERNOR'S RACE RESULTS! 8:47 P.M.

ELECTION RESULTS AS OF 8:47 P.M. EST


Office: Governor

Precincts Reporting: 1634 of 2426 (67.35%) Registered Voters: 4,451,968 Total Voting: 1,281,318 Voter Turnout: 28.78 %

T M Kaine
Democratic
649,957
50.73%

J W Kilgore
Republican
602,443
47.02%

H R Potts Jr
Independent
27,840
2.17%

Write Ins
1,078
0.08%

Vote Totals:
1,281,318

LIVE GOVERNOR"S RACE RESULTS! 8:37 P.M.

ELECTION RESULTS AS OF 8:37 P.M. EST


Office: Governor

Precincts Reporting: 1540 of 2426 (63.48%) Registered Voters: 4,451,969
Total Voting: 1,221,738
Voter Turnout: 27.44 %

T M Kaine
Democratic
624,912
51.15%


J W Kilgore
Republican
569,051
46.58%


H R Potts Jr
Independent
26,703
2.19%


Write Ins
1,072
0.09%

Vote Totals:
1,221,738

Excerpt from the AP

Here is an exerpt from an Associated Press story printed this morning about both the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races.



"In Virginia, Republican Jerry Kilgore, the former attorney general, is in a too-close-to-call race against Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine for an open seat.

Virginia's harshest ad criticized Kaine, a Roman Catholic, for his opposition to capital punishment. On radio and television, the father of a murder victim tells viewers: "Tim Kaine says Adolf Hitler doesn't qualify for the death penalty. This was one of the worst mass murderers in modern times."

Kaine, a former criminal defense attorney who had suggested to a panel of newspaper reporters that he wouldn't favor executing Hitler, Josef Stalin or Idi Amin, fired back with an ad pledging to carry out death sentences "because it's the law."

The death penalty, property taxes and immigration dominated debate in Virginia, which has voted more and more Republican in recent years — even while current Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, barred by law from seeking a second term, holds soaring approval ratings."

Potluck Dinner with Virginia's candidates for office

This evening, I had the opportunity to listen to the Democratic candidates for state office. Afterwards, I got to meet and greet with the candidates before they left for another rally.

I met with:

Tim Kaine
Leslie Byrne
Creigh Deeds

and other notables:

Governor Mark Warner
Former Governor Linwood Holton
Representative Rick Boucher
Delegate Joe Johnson
State Senator Phillip Puckett

I had a wonderful 10 minute conversation with Governor Warner about the Kaine campaign, and his tenure as governor himself. He declined to talk about hopes for running for president in 2008, but said, "We'll just have to wait and see."

Tim Kaine was very busy meeting with the other approximately 200 people at the dinner. I did have time to tell him that he knew my best friend, Neal Osborne (Neal 2028), from a Democratic rally in Wytheville. He remembered and was pleased to know that people my age were getting involved in the political process so early.

I had the time for individual pictures with Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, and Creigh Deeds. Overall, I believe the night went very well. Once I get the pictures developed and onto a CD, I'll upload them to my blog. But for now, I leave you with the memories of another Democratic-ruled night. Good night and God Bless!

Welcome to Virginia Left Wing!

Here is the first of many posts on the NEWEST Virginia Democratic blog.

Please remember to vote on November 8th!

Virginia Governor's Race Remains Virtual Deadlock

The latest Mason-Dixon poll has Democrat Tim Kaine with a one-point lead over Republican Jerry Kilgore. But with the poll's margin of error- ±4 percentage points- the race remains deadlocked going into the last few days.

Last month, the Mason-Dixon poll had Kaine 2 percentage points behind. Here are the numbers broken down:
Tim Kaine (D) - 45%
Jerry Kilgore (R) - 44%
Russell Potts (I) - 4%
Undecided - 6%

Margin of error - ±4%

Poll conducted November 1, 2005 to November 2, 2005, polling 625 likely voters.

It seems to me that the Kilgore campaign is faultering. Today, there is a Democratic Rally and Potluck Supper at Abingdon High School, beginning at 5:00. Featured guests will be Tim Kaine, Leslie Byrne, Creigh Deeds, Governor Mark Warner, 9th District Representative Rick Boucher, and others. I urge to public to come out to support the Democratic candidates as they turn into the home stretch.