Top 10 Virginia Political Blog Stories of 2007

The stories that made the blogosphere buzz...

10) GOP politicians join the blogosphere - Jim Gilmore, George Allen, Brandon Bell, and Marty Williams all started their own blogs in the 2nd half of 2007 in an attempt to help conservatives catch up to liberals in terms of how loud their digital voices were heard.

09) The quick rise and fall of Virginia Oddsmaker - This was everyone's favorite Virginia blog for one hot second (including me), then inexplicably collapsed for no known reason.

08) The near-implosion of Roscoe Reynolds' campaign - When Roscoe angrily dodged questions about his questionable campaign consultants on a local TV show, the ensuing words that were typed by bloggers were deafening.

07) Blogs United - Some thought it went well, others did not. Many people believe that there will not be another bipartisan conference of this kind with bloggers due to their mostly-partisan nature. To this, I (and others) say "nay", but many disagree with me.

06) Joe Stanley/ODBA - Joe Stanley, a political consultant, likens the ODBA to Satan's Children (well, to sum it all up) and then links a false ODBA website to the NAMBLA website. Ben Tribbett at NLS (and friend of Stanley's) attempts to set up Daily Whackjob (Whackette in particular) as the fall guys for this revelation, and then attempts to smear the ODBA itself.

05) Blogging Ethics - Was the buzzphrase for most of the spring and summer as bloggers argue over what constitutes "good" blogging ethics.

04) SWAC vs. The World, the Hanger/Sayre primary - Conservative bloggers who supported Scott Sayre in the 24th Senate District primary got into it with other conservative bloggers, liberal bloggers, the Staunton News-Leader...the tension and ill feelings were quite palpable for a while.

03) Election '07, Dems Take State Senate - Riding momentum from the 2006 national elections, strong grassroots work in the Tidewater area, and a growing "blue" trend in NoVa, the Dems took control of the State Senate and made a few gains in the House of Delegates.

02) Abuser Fee Uproar - Most people hate it, the Dems blame the GOP, the GOP blames the Dems, Gov. Kaine applies fee to Virginia drivers only, and the ensuing debacle that occurred.

01) The Virginia Tech Massacre - I don't think this needs any description as to why it was so important.

Any other stories that hit the blogs this year that you feel warrants inclusion, any stories here that need to be excluded? What's your take?

Oh Dear Lord...

Raising Kaine knows how to misinterpret conservatives for their own political views like none other, except for maybe Daily Kos.

Now they're saying Fred Thompson blames Virginia Tech University for the shootings.

They totally ignore the fact that Thompson was making more of a reference to the university overriding state law in Virginia, not "blaming" the university. He was stating fact.

This is why I won't even bother signing up for a free membership to the website, it's not even worth the money you pay to be a member. It's one blog I read for the pure laugh I get from the misinformation they spread about conservativism.

The article RK references can be read here.

Weekly Podium: "It's Not Really About Guns"

A week has come to pass since the horrible tragedy that took place on 04/16/2007 in Blacksburg, VA. Since then, there has been a lot of banter in the media about gun control issues, security on campus, bullying in schools, and other problems. Gun control, either for or against, seems to be the central topic on most people's minds.

Maybe, though, this problem with this incident has much less to do with guns, bullying, and campus security than some may think.

Personally, I believe that the key problem deals with the mental stability of college students today. I've spent plenty of time around college students in our current generation...I was one. Also, I have had plenty of friends who have gone, or are still in, college. The pressures of college are immense. Tens of thousands of dollars are being invested in you, so that you can excel at institutes of higher learning. You are supposed to meet the expectations of people who are considered experts and authorities on their respective subjects. You must write essays that your professors will approve of, and read tens of thousands of pages of bland text while researching the topics. Many people do manage to survive (or thrive, if lucky) in this environment.

Some, however, end up suffering through less-successful endeavors in higher academia.

Given the fact that many kids grow up in broken and/or abusive homes, endure traumatic ostracization in primary and secondary schools, or suffer from other kinds of mental/psychological afflictions...why are we surprised when someone completely cracks under the pressure of the post-secondary educational system in America?

The person responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre, Cho Seung-Hui, had long-standing psychological issues. Apparently, it was obvious to teachers, students, and experts who evaluated Cho and believed him to be a threat to himself and/or others. How come there wasn't a non-derogatory suspension (for lack of a better term) from the school so Cho could receive proper treatment and care?

I, along with more than a few people I know, believe that the psychological condition of college students should be something that is evaluated before being allowed to enter a school of higher education.

We interview, test, and evaluate potential college students based upon SAT/ACT scores, application essays, and sometimes in face-to-face interviews (depending on the school). Why not have students go through a psychiatric evaluation, as well? It would at least cut down on the suicide rate in our universities, as well as the dropout rate due to school-related stress and anxiety.

It wouldn't have to be a long evaluation, just long enough to get a sense of the person applying for enrollment. Also, if a student needs to be evaluated and/or counseled during their time at the university for mental instability of any kind, there should be steps put in place to allow students to "take a break" from school and get the assistance they need, and once they are deemed ready to come back to school, they should be allowed back in without any problems...but should be made to attend periodic counseling or evaluations, just to make sure they are still doing well.

This would cost money, both with the inclusion of psychiatric evaluators on university payrolls, and the exclusion of those students who fail the evaluation (and their tuition dollars). However, I'm sure that state and federal government wouldn't mind avoiding more incidents like the one at Virginia Tech, nor would they mind decreasing the college suicide rate.

Here's some facts about suicide amongst high school and college students:

• Nearly 1,100 suicides are projected to occur this year on college campuses.
• In the past 50 years, the suicide rate for 15-24 year olds has increased 200%.
• Suicide is the second-leading cause of death of college students, only behind traffic accidents.
• Since 1950, the suicide rate for college-aged women has doubled, for college-aged men the rate has tripled.

Now, the suicide rate in colleges compared to the "real world" is lower, but we shouldn't send kids into a high-pressure environment like college without making sure that they are mentally and emotionally capable of handling it. To further exacerbate a person's psychological instability with the pressure of college does not necessarily bode well for their chances in the real world, provided they make it through college.

My friend Hunter Golden recently ranted about the relative psychological instability of college students through his own experiences working at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachussetts. While his rant is admittedly rambling and sometimes disjointed, the stories and points made within are interesting and worth a read. Some of the stories about these disturbed students, and the lack of reaction to their issues, is a bit shocking.

While my attempts to find a solution to this ever-present problem of mental and emotional instability amongst college students are a bit far-fetched to be implemented immediately, I would hope that small steps could be taken to start such a process. Maybe then, we can get people like Cho Sueng-Hui the proper help and care he needed before he decided to carry out his own personal, crazed idea of vengeance.

The thing is, will the colleges and universities of America be willing to part with the tuition funds from those turned away?

Hokie Hope Day...

That is all that needs to be said for today.

Peace and Love to all of you,

Phil Chroniger

Anger Replacing my Sadness

Those who know me know that I'm a fairly open-minded person. I may not agree with you, but I tend to believe that people have a right to their opinion, and have probably come to their conclusions due to some form of personal research or life experience.

However, as much as I try to be open-minded and even-keeled about how I view the world, and how I view other people's opinions, sometimes I completely fail to see the logic, sense, or in this case sanity, of certain people and what they represent.

I hate this man.

This man represents a lot of what's wrong in the world today. This man wants to make you believe that you're going to die for being human. And now, this man is going to be coming to Virginia.

This man is Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church (aka "The WBC). The single biggest promoter of hate, homophobia, and anti-Americanism there is. This man, and his followers, are famous for doing things that make any average person sick to their stomach.

This is the group that constantly pickets and protests outside of the funerals of fallen soldiers, holding up signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "Thank God for 9-11", and "God Hates Fags".

They rail against Catholicism, Islam, America, Homosexuals, Jews...pretty much everyone outside of their church. In fact, since members of this "church" (I use the term loosely) cannot marry outside of the church, 80% of the members are related to each other. It's a community of hate and ignorance.

I apologize for the language in that last sign quote, but those are the words of that man and his followers. It's a word he seems to have quite an affinity for. He states that American soliders dying in Iraq is a good thing because America "loves fags" and that this is "God's will". They protested and picketed at the site of the Sago Mine Disaster last year, holding up signs that said "Thank God for Dead Miners".

Even Jerry Falwell has referred to Phelps as a "first-class nut". When Jerry Falwell considers you too extreme of a Christian organization, you know you're seriously screwed in your interpretation of Christian teachings. The KKK even thinks these WBC wackos are too extreme, and have launched propaganda campaigns against the WBC in Virginia...and this was back in December of 2006.

Now, the WBC plans to protest at the funerals of all those slain at the Virginia Tech Massacre. Many people have suggested that larger Christian churches should appear at these funerals. To counter the hate and vile spewed forth by the WBC with peace, prayer, and hymns. Others are calling on the "motorcycle blockades" that have been employed at funerals and other gatherings that have drawn the ire of the WBC.

The actions and viewpoints. taken by these people is sick, disgusting, and revolting on any and all levels of life. They may have the right to these opinions due to the 1st Amendment, but I will never agree, condone, or even vaguely understand their virulent disapproval of anything they don't declare to be "right".

To those who go out to confront these harbingers of hate, I commend you for your efforts. You're helping make this world a better, more peaceful place.

I don't care if you're a liberal, conservative, statist, libertarian, anarchist, communist, facist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, man, woman, straight, gay, transgendered, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native-American, Arabic, multi-racial, or anything else I may have forgotten to mention. If you have the ability for rational thought, and have any compassion for human beings, there is simply no way anyone can stomach the insanity that flows forth from the pulpit of Fred Phelps.

I think that's something that almost all of us can agree on.