…just busy.

I wanted to chime in on the Supreme Court madness last week but didn’t have the time and now it’s a little late to really add anything worthwhile to the debate other than to say “what they said”. In that, man, SCOTUS is on some messed up crack.

Well, and I’ll share this:

Supreme Court Decision Sparks Proposal To Seize Souter’s Home

Following a Supreme Court ruling last week that gave local governments power to seize private property, someone has suggested taking over Justice David Souter’s New Hampshire farmhouse and turning it into a hotel.

“The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare,” Logan Darrow Clements of California wrote in a letter faxed to town officials in Weare on Tuesday.

Souter, a longtime Weare resident, joined in the 5-4 court decision allowing governments to seize private property from one owner and turn it over to another if doing so would benefit a community.

…

Clements is the chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Freestar Media that fights “abusive” government through a Web site and cable show. He plans to move to New Hampshire soon as part of the Free State Project, a group that supports limiting government powers, the Concord Monitor reported.

Mwa ha ha ha.

What the article fails to point out is that the Free State Project is a Libertarian brainchild that seeks to flood New Hampshire with so many Libertarians that the state will descend into anchary they will finally have some clout somewhere and be able to take over. Not a horrible idea, really, and if they can pull it off they might finally be loud enough for folks to take notice.

Alright, off to finish packing for a weekend getaway to Cape Cod that should take my mind off of a lot of stuff that’s been going on here. Hopefully I’ll come back all refreshed and get back on this blogging horse.

While Shaun Kenney came up short against Bobby Orrock in the 54th (55%-45% final), it wasn’t a loss. That Shaun was able to pull in 45% of the vote against a 16 year incumbant that outspent him 5 to 1 says something.

What sunk this race for Shaun were factors outside of his control: the 11th hour falsely claimed Allen endorsement by Orrock and Democrat crossover.

A Thursday mailer last week by Orrock claimed the endorsement of Senator Allen which was not the case. This claim was based off of Allen’s appearance at a fundraiser. The Allen camp moved to deny an endorsement and Orrock apologized with a quarter page ad in Tuesday’s Free Lance Star, but the damage was done. An interesting role reversal when you look at the 2003 Caroline County Board of Supervisors race where Orrock denied he had endorsed a candidate after showing up at one of their fundraisers.

And Democrat crossover was HUGE. The VEA had people at the polls handing out literature. Teachers walked by commenting on how they’d never voted Republican before and would probably be in trouble if others found out. The Free Lance Star even cites a poll worker’s observation:

At the Smith Station precinct in Spotsylvania, poll chief Sharon Deane said a few people had admitted they usually voted Democratic, but had picked up Republican ballots because they wanted to vote for Orrock.

“One said, ‘God forgive me,’” for voting for a Republican,” Deane said.

But despite all of that, despite the “endorsement” and the crossover and the huge difference in finances, Shaun was still able to pull 45% of the vote.

Conservative voters spoke loud and clear yesterday, and hopefully Orrock will listen.

“In two years, if we don’t get the voting record that we believe reflects the values of the 54th district,” [Kenney] said, “we will be here again.”

It was a good, hard fought race. There are always things you can look back on and say “we should have done that”. But in the end, Shaun Kenney ran a damn good campaign and if folks played by the rules, we’d have some different results today.

Before I Forget, because I’ve done nothing but forget for the last week or so, WVCW’s very own Requiem Radio has a dedicated blog now. Get all sorts of dandy updates on the tasty sensations of METAL as well as info on contests and giveaways (I want contests and giveaways…). And while you’re doing this websurfing thing, check out RR’s host Tim’s personal blog wherein he talks more madness about stuff that has less to do with RR and more to do with, well, madness. And life. Can’t forget about life. And be sure to shower him with love and praise because I’d hate for him to stop blogging and ruin this little domino effect I hope to cause for all WVCW shows. Imagine, blogs for shows from people you can listen to 24/7. Shucks.

Tonight at 8pm EST you can catch the newest Under The Covers. Got stuff lined up from Tori Amos, Reel Big Fish, Duran Duran and maybe a little Jackie Chan.

On a side note, I heard a kick ass cover of Britney Spears’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” at a restaurant but no one working there had any idea who the artist was (and no one looked, either). So, does anyone out there know of a guy doing a live acoustic version of this where the crowd sings along at the high pitched parts? If you can find it, I’ll give you a cookie. And a shout out on the air. Maybe more, depends on how generous I’m feeling. FOUND IT! Thanks to Jason Tippitt for pointing me to Travis for doing the cover. Expect to hear this one next week.

Catch you all later tonight.

http://www.newyorker.com/shouts/content/articles/050606sh_shouts
By Paul Simms

Hello? Can everyone hear me? Anyone?

Check, check. Check, one two.

Is this thing on?

Not the microphone—I mean my Electronic Larynx Implant device. Is it working? Hit the “Reboot” button, and see if that ook ook-ook ook.

Ook? Ook? Ook-ook.

Ook!

Ook-ook-oo—why does it seem like it always takes an eternity for the eli to reboot? I mean, isn’t this something we should have ironed out a long time ago?

Oh. O.K. We’re back online now? Good. You can all hear me out there? Great.

Fantastic bit of writing from this week’s NEW YORKER. A must read.