Southwest Virginia Blogs

I realize Mr. Fuhrman gets up early and publishes a lot of posts each morning, however, I could not help but notice that he put very little objective thought and research into one of his latest entries.

Today, via the Southwest Virginia Blogs aggregator¹, I happened to catch his post entitled “Boucher’s Big Plans,” in which he took some time to critique Congressman Boucher’s statements to the Coalfield Progress.

One of Mr. Fuhrman’s first points really caught my eye. He refers to Congressman Boucher’s statement regarding the economic benefits of a price floor on oil as “idocy.”

Mr. Fuhrman said:

A price floor. What that means is Boucher doesn’t ever want that gallon of gasoline you pay for to get too cheap. What’s with that? And, if he’s willing to set prices on gasoline at the pump, is he willing to set prices on milk? Aspirin? Diapers? PlayStation3’s? Water?

His averment that “Boucher doesn’t ever want that gallon of gasoline you pay for to get too cheap” is, of course, clearly and completely false.

In my opinion, the reason that Congressman Boucher would support a price floor on oil is the same reason that Republican Senator Lugar of Indiana does. They both – Boucher and Lugar – are concerned about our dependence on foreign oil and they want to improve the local economies of their constituents.

A price floor on oil, as Philip Gordon opined in this article for the Financial Times earlier this year, would be a “simple” way to get energy producers and consumers to “make long-term investment and consumption decisions in a way that makes little economic sense so long as price stability is not guaranteed.”

Gordon, I think, is on target when he says “Americans will not take long-term decisions to [invest in alternative energy sources (i.e., coal-to-liquid, ethanol)] unless they know that a future sharp fall in oil prices will not undercut them.”

In other words, Congressman Boucher, specifically, appears to looking for a way to reduce our dependence on imported oil while greatly improving the economy in the Coalfields of Southwest Virginia.

Sen. Lugar’s support for an oil price floor is based on the same reasoning, but his interest is in ethanol, as opposed to coal-to-liquid fuels.

Producers will not be able to attract the requisite investors necessary to develop and manufacture coal-to-liquid and ethanol fuels as long as there is still a chance the bottom will fall out of the oil market. A price floor would remove that concern.

As for what to do with the collected funds if the price per barrel actually ever fell below the floor, Gordon had some excellent ideas. Gordon suggested “[t]o make the proposal even more palatable politically, Washington could promise to spend the money on education, healthcare, homeland security and even tax cuts rather than use if for deficit reduction, a noble purpose but one that rarely excites voters.”

The reason I point this out is that, obviously, I am very concerned about the improvement of life here in the Coalfields. I do believe that the furtherance of coal-to-liquid transportation fuels will help our struggling economy. I further believe that a price floor on oil will be necessary if we want to see meaningful investments in coal-to-liquid development.

It would be very unfortunate if someone took Mr. Fuhrman’s post and knee-jerk reactions at face value, and used it as political fodder against Congressman Boucher’s efforts to improve the Coalfields of Southwest Virginia.

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¹ No blog has ever been removed from the Southwest Virginia Blogs aggregator, but the offensive content, which has recently been discussed at length, would certainly be a basis for removal.

The 38th President, Gerald Ford, passed away yesterday evening.

This report says that he was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan.

I guess I, like most people, remember him largely for his pardon of President Nixon.

My thoughts and prayers will be with his family.

It is now official. The “m-word” is the most politically incorrect word.

From the article:

The word “macaca,” used by outgoing Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia to describe a Democratic activist of Indian descent who was trailing his campaign, was named the most politically incorrect word of the year on Friday by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage.

The word might have changed the political balance of the U.S. Senate[.]

It is still hard for me to believe, this one word, uttered right here in Dickenson County by a U.S. Senator, could have created such a huge stir in the world.

Jayne’s friend, Kristin, was visiting from Ohio last weekend and we took her to the Breaks for dinner. Both of them are fairly apolitical, so I doubt either understood why I drove so slowly by that very spot where Sen. Allen used the “M-word” and made what most people thought impossible a reality.

The last line of this AP story suggests that Congressman Boucher supports Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland to be Majority Leader in the House.

Hoyer’s backers say he has been an able lieutenant to Pelosi and has done nothing to disqualify himself from holding the same position in the majority.

He has been aggressive in lining up supporters, most of whom are sticking with him.

“One of the first things I learned around here is that when you give your commitment you honor it,” said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., a Hoyer supporter.

On the other hand, House Speaker to-be Nancy Pelosi supports Congressman John Murtha from Pennsylvania.

Rob, at RK, is reporting that Senator-Elect Jim Webb will be on the “Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Veterans, and Joint Economic Committees.”

I am very pleased to hear these assignments. Webb’s background makes him very well-suited for these positions.

The full listing of Senate committee assignments can be found here.

The Democrats have taken control of the House. The Senate is still up in the air. Webb is in the lead, but the race remains too close to call as absentee ballots are counted. Corker won outright, but not by a huge margin.

What does it mean to you? And what would you like to see now? This is your opportunity to play pundit for a day.

I always find election night exciting. How about you?

You can watch statewide results in Virginia as they roll in here on the State Board of Elections web site. Looks to be a nail-biter for Allen and Webb. 

The polls aren’t closed yet in Tennessee, but here’s the link to the state web site. Among the nuggets there: More than 867,000 voters cast ballots in early voting; more than 142,000 of them were in Shelby County. I don’t know if the state is going to post real time results, but I’ll be checking it out.

The Tennessee senate race has showed us one thing: if you make false and negative attacks ads about your opponent’s family, be ready for a visit by him.

I cannot blame Ford for getting tired of his family being attacked by Mr. Corker. Good job by going to talk about it.

As if anyone in Southwest Virginia (i.e., Tri-cities media market) ever wanted to know anything else about Bob Corker or Congressman Harold Ford, here is the latest flip-flop from Corker:

Looks like Mr. Corker is just not cut out to be in the U.S. Senate.

Vote for Harold Ford, Jr.

And don’t forget Jim Webb, as if you could!

Mark Warner announced today that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for President in 2008.

It looks like it will be at least 2012 before we get to see a Virginian on the ballot for president. I guess the good news is that this will free Warner up to run for the Senate in 2008, assuming Sen. John Warner does indeed retire.

This could also shake things up for 2009. Warner could run for Governor again, leaving Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran to challenge for the Attorney General’s office.

The latest poll numbers don’t look good for Congress. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, two-thirds of those polled disapprove of the way Congress is doing its job. Actually, a majority seems to think Congress is doing nothing and lack of action on major issues like immigration, Social Security and controlling the pork only reinforces those beliefs.

So what do you think? Do you agree with the poll? Are you happy with Congress? Unhappy? Do you see a seismic shift coming like the one that gave the Republicans control in 1994?

The newspaper’s editorial board is about to start another round of interviews with candidates. Congressional and Senatorial candidates who have agreed to sit down with us include U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, Bill Carrico, David Davis, Rick Trent, Bob Corker and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. We’re still working on Allen and Webb.

If you could ask one question of these gentlemen, what would it be?

- Andrea Hopkins

Being in the Tricities market area, I get to watch many more ads for Tennessee candidates than Virginia ones.

I wanted to show the new ad that the RNC is currently running that attacks Harold Ford, Jr. on national security issues, but it is apparently not available online yet.

Here is a good one, though, that the DSCC either already ran and I missed it or are planning to run.

Can Democratic candidates win on issues like gas prices? I guess we’ll see.

Watching the images of Sept. 11, 2001 on various television news programs this weekend brought back many of the emotions of that day. We have moved on with our lives, but seeing the images again reminds that we still have further to go. I cannot imagine how it must feel for those who lost loved ones or lived through the horrors.

I saw the terrorist attacks unfold on television. My second child was just a few months old. Now as a kindergarten student, he is delivering lunch to Bristol’s first responders to commemorate a horrific event of which he has no memory. My daughter, who is 9, understands too much.

What about you? What are your feelings on this fifth anniversary? How far have you come? How far do we still have to go?

And what about all the look-back coverage: newspapers, television news, documentaries and an assortment of movies? Is it too much?

- Andrea Hopkins

Back when Ned Lamont was polling at 5% (at least it seems it was that low), Lowell Feld starting telling me great things about Lamont and trying to get me to support him. I figured he was just crazy (sorry man) and I was worried if we started fooling around up there that we would end up losing the seat.

After hearing more and more about Lamont, though, it is easy to see he is the top Democratic candidate for senate in CT. Also, it now appears safe that either Lamont or Lieberman one will win the seat and the Republicans are not going to be able swope in and swipe it.

Now it appears certain that Lamont will win tomorrow’s primary. Once that happens, though, the ball is in Lieberman’s court. I sincerely hope he will not run as an Independent, as he has plans to do. The only people that win in that situation are the Republicans.

As most readers of this blog know, I am a huge Kevin Harvick fan.

In this interview, though, Harvick confirmed he has no political aspirations.

On Iraq:

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be?

Harvick: Oh, the president. The first thing I would do is drop a bomb and clean the place out, over in Iraq.

Instead of making everybody suffer through everything we go through, I’d just wipe it out and be done with it.

Not exactly the PC answer. But, did anyone really expect a PC answer from Harvick?

Just across the state line, in Tennessee, there is another Senator who wants to be President. Bill Frist, who like George Allen, plans to make a run for President in 2008. But unlike Allen, Frist is not running for re-election to the Senate.

The good news is that Frist vacating his Senate seat has created a great opportunity for Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. Three Republican candidates are vying for the nomination to take on Ford. In a recent poll, Ford is nearly dead-locked with all three of the Republicans. This is certain to be a close race and a possible Democratic pick-up.

Ford is a popular Congressman, who has “been re-elected four times by an average of 80% of the vote and enjoys a reputation as a consensus builder.” Read more about Harold Ford, Jr. on his website (a very good one, I might add).

We cannot forget about Frist’s sacrifice, though. Frist obviously wants Tennessee to have a full-time Senator that will serve a full term. Allen, on the other hand, is being selfish and running for a second term in the Senate, despite that he is bored with the Senate and wishes he had been born in Iowa.

Fortunately, though, Virginia has a candidate that is willing to serve a full term and put our Commonwealth ahead of his own personal political aspirations. Come November, we will have two new great Senators: Jim Webb and Harold Ford, Jr.

You can find out more about Net Neutrality here.

Congressman Boucher, in an interview with the AP, summarized the problem we are facing well. Boucher said “[b]roadband providers are planning a two-lane Internet with a fast lane for their content and for the content of those who pay, and a slow lane for everyone else. Startups cannot afford the fast-lane fees, and in the slow lane they cannot succeed.”

Also, be sure to make your picks in Forward Together’s “Map Changers” contest. The new deadline is June 18, 2006.

Clearly, Congress must have solved all the pressing problems facing the nation. Sky-high debt? Paid off. War in Iraq? Not a problem. Oh, and that border thing? Fixed.

How else to explain the focus on amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage? Even supporters admit there are not enough votes for this to pass. So the only possible reasons for this discussion at this date are to rally the Republican base, divert attention from the immigration issue or to create a campaign tool to use against Democrats and Republican moderates in the fall.

- Andrea Hopkins

Have you ever wondered what happens in the Oval Office right before a big speech?

Me too. Now we can find out. Check this out:

In what has to be the worst kept secret ever, President Bush is set to address the nation tonight and announce plans to send the National Guard to the border to backstop the Border Patrol.

Some folks will find this contradictory to my earlier positions, but I don’t see a huge problem here. I have never favored an open border. What I favor is combining enhanced security (to stop the drug runners, possible terrorists and gang members, for example) with a rational process to bring immigrants already here into full participation in our society.