Posts

West Virginia’s “Pro-Life” Governor Vetoes Bill Banning Abortions After 20 Weeks

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, who describes himself as pro-life and campaigned as a pro-life candidate, has vetoed a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

West Virginians for Life, the statewide pro-life group, tells LifeNews it is disappointed in Governor Tomblin’s veto of HB 4588, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Similar bills have been passed in ten other states and Governor Tomblin is the only governor who has vetoed one of these bills.

In his veto message, the Governor claimed that attorneys advised him the bill was unconstitutional. Many cite an Arizona law as proof, however, according to Mary Balch, J,D., National Right to Life Director of State Legislation, “Arizona’s ‘Mother’s Health and Safety Act,’ a law which banned abortion after 20 weeks last menstrual period is not the same as West Virginia’s Pain-Capable Fetus Protection Act.

“West Virginia’s Pain-Capable Fetus Protection Act protects children from abortion beginning at 20 weeks fetal age, based on scientific evidence that by this stage of development the child would experience excruciating pain. Arizona’s law, as its name implies, focused on protecting the health and safety of the mother,” Balch explained.

“The Governor has placed himself in a minority position on this bill,” said West Virginians for Life (WVFL) President Wanda Franz, Ph.D.

Read more from this story HERE.

Kenyan Woman Claims She Was Kept as Domestic Slave by Saudis near DC for Months (+video)

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: taberandrewA 25-year-old Kenyan woman has come forward with allegations that she was kept as a domestic slave for three months by Saudi Arabian diplomats living in Northern Virginia.

The allegations come to light two weeks after News4 first reported an investigation into possible human trafficking at a Saudi-owned compound in McLean, Va.

The Kenyan woman — who goes by the name Sheila — said she was brought to the U.S. from Kenya by way of Saudi Arabia last summer, by people who forced her to work long hours each day, seven days a week, as a domestic worker.

“I used to work from 6 in the morning to 8, 10 in the evening,” Sheila said by cell phone to News4’s Jackie Bensen. “From Monday to Monday.”

Did you ever have a day off? Bensen asked. “No,” Shelia replied.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Conservative’ Virginia Now Embracing Homosexual Marriage

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Matt WuerkerWelcome to the gay rights battleground of Virginia.

Yes, you read that right. In the 2013 off-year elections, a state that once leaned solidly to the center-right has become the newest focal point in the national debate over same-sex relationships. A gubernatorial race already defined partly along culture-war lines has grown even more contentious since last weekend, when Virginia Republicans nominated as their lieutenant governor candidate a firebrand minister who has called gays “very sick people psychologically” and suggested a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Remarkably, in a New South battleground where Democrats have traditionally won by carving out independent, non-partisan reputations, it’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe who’s most eager to keep gay rights on the political front burner.

When McAuliffe first ran for governor in 2009, he ran a conventionally cautious Democratic campaign, endorsing civil unions for gay couples but warning that Virginia would be unlikely to accept gay marriage. After all, it was only a few years earlier – in 2000 – that Republican George Allen ridiculed then-Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb for representing “Vermont values,” after his vote against the Defense of Marriage Act.

This year, McAuliffe fully supports same-sex marriage.

Read more from this story HERE.

Feds Investigate Saudi Human Trafficking at Diplomat’s Home

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APFederal officials are investigating reports of human trafficking at the upscale Virginia home of a Saudi military attaché, after immigration agents removed two domestic workers from the house earlier this week.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Tuesday night removed the two alleged victims, Filipino women who claim the Saudi attaché confiscated their passports and made them work long hours without pay.

MyFoxDC.com reports that one of the women had tried to escape through a gap in the front gate as it was closing.

Officials responded to the McLean, Va., home following a tip that two workers were being held in circumstances that amounted to human trafficking.

According to real estate records, the Virginia home is owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Armed Forces Office. MyFoxDC.com reports that the Saudi Embassy claims the compound is separate from their operation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Background Checks Won’t Make US Safer

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Ross Catrow

In April of 2007, a mentally disturbed student showed up at the campus of his school, Virginia Tech, brandishing two semi-automatic pistols, murdered 32 students, teachers and school employees and wounded 17 others. Then he took his own life.

It was the one of deadliest mass-shooting incidents in American history. The nation was in shock, as it is now following the December mass murder at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The press and public outcry was the same then as now. How can we stop horrors like this from occurring? We’ve got to stop criminals and nut cases from getting their hands on guns. The tragedy spurred passage of the first major piece of federal gun-control legislation since the assault weapon ban was passed in 1994.

The new law, signed by President George W. Bush in January of 2008, appropriated $1.3 billion for states to get the names of those deemed mentally ill into the FBI national data base used for gun-purchase screening. This supposedly would solve the problem of lax state compliance and make the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) more effective.

If only this had been the law of the land a year earlier, commentators opined, the Virginia Tech tragedy might not have happened.

Read more from this story HERE.

Wolf Says NASA Prompted Hiring Of Person Linked To Chinese Espionage; May Be Dozens More In Agency

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APOfficials at NASA’s Langley Research Center permitted a contractor to hire a Chinese national affiliated with an organization designated by U.S. national security agencies as an “entity of concern,” and then allowed the individual access to classified information, according to Rep. Frank Wolf.

The as-yet unidentified individual was permitted to take that information back home to China, according to Wolf, the Virginia Republican who is chairman of a House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA.

Wolf said during a Capitol Hill news conference today that “at least several dozen other Chinese nationals,” are employed at Langley, and he charged that they are employed in a manner to “circumvent” congressional bans on Chinese involvement at NASA facilities.

Wolf said he has talked with FBI Director Robert Mueller and the Neil H. MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia about the alleged national security violations at Langley, which is located in Hampton, Virginia.

He said he first heard the allegations from numerous whistleblowers who were career NASA employes and met with them about two weeks ago. He said he turned over information and documents to the FBI.

Read more from this story HERE.

Professor Bans Fox News, Claiming It Makes Her Cringe

/5 Comments/in , /by

Back in the day, teachers often scoffed at using encyclopedias as serious academic references. These days, they reserve their scorn for Wikipedia and — at one public university in West Virginia — Fox News.

A syllabus for a political science course at West Liberty University instructs students that they must filter out two potential research sources, reports WTOV, a nearby NBC affiliate.

According to Fox News, ironically enough, the syllabus says (with grammatical errors preserved for posterity):

DO NOT use

1) The Onion — this is not news this is literally a parody

2) Fox News — The tagline “Fox News” makes me cringe. Please do not subject me to this biased news station. I would almost rather you print off an article from the Onion

No other media or research sources — such as, say, MSNBC — appear to be prohibited.

Stephanie Wolfe, the visiting assistant professor behind the ban, has a one-year contract with the university in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle. She is replacing another instructor who is on leave.

Read more from this story HERE.

Virginia Advances Bill Pushing For State To Establish Its Own Currency (+video)

/1 Comment/in , /by

Virginia is one step closer to breaking ties with the country’s monetary system.

A proposal to study whether the state should adopt its own currency is gaining traction in the state legislature from a number of lawmakers as well as conservative economists. The state House voted 65-32 earlier this week to approve the measure, and it will now go to the Senate.

While it’s unlikely that Virginia will be printing its own money any time soon, the move sheds light on the growing distrust surrounding the nation’s central bank. Four other states are considering similar proposals. In 2011, Utah passed a law that recognizes gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as tender and requires a study on adopting other forms of legal currency.

Virginia Republican Del. Robert Marshall told FoxNews.com Tuesday that his bill calls for creation of a 10-member commission that would determine the “need, means and schedule for establishing a metallic-based monetary unit.” Essentially, he wants to spend $20,000 on a study that could call for the state to return to a gold standard.

The gold standard is a system under which a country ties the value of its currency to gold, setting a fixed price at which gold can be bought or sold by the government.

“We’re not going to be printing money with Dave Matthews or Jeff Davis on the front of it,” Marshall said, referring to two famous Virginians.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Federal Judge Rules EPA Overstepped Authority Trying to Regulate Water as Pollutant

/3 Comments/in , , /by

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia officials scored a key victory Thursday in their battle with the Environmental Protection Agency over what EPA critics describe as a land takeover.

U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady in Alexandria ruled late Thursday that the EPA exceeded its authority by attempting to regulate stormwater runoff into a Fairfax County creek as a pollutant. O’Grady sided with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which challenged EPA’s stormwater restrictions.

“Stormwater runoff is not a pollutant, so EPA is not authorized to regulate it,” O’Grady said.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says the ruling could ultimately save Virginia taxpayers more than $300 million.

An EPA spokesman could not be reached for comment after business hours.

Read more from this story HERE.

Va. Bill Would Order Schools to Arm Teachers

/7 Comments/in , , /by

photo credit: R0Ng

Del. Robert G. Marshall is proposing a bill that would require some teachers or other school staff to carry concealed weapons in schools.

Marshall (R-Prince William) requested that the bill be drafted in response to the mass shooting last week at a Connecticut elementary school.

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said this week that there should be a discussion about whether school staff should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to protect children against intruders.

Marshall’s proposal goes beyond the governor’s comments, which were made in the course of a radio interview Tuesday. Marshall would not only allow staff with concealed handgun permits to carry them in schools, but require school districts to designate some staff members to do so. Those employees would have to be certified in gun safety and competence, Marshall said.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) said through a staff member Wednesday that he does not favor requiring school employees to be armed.

Read more from this story HERE.