Gov. Warner offers advice for national Dems

In this article from the Augusta Free Press, Governor Mark Warner offers some advice for the national Democratic Party. Some of it is actually very good advice, advice that I hope the Dems don't take:

"I think the Democratic Party can't write off two-thirds of the country and not be competitive in the South and parts of the Southwest and parts of the Midwest," Warner said.

"I think national Democrats start with at least one strike against them in unfortunately much of the country," Warner said. "It's not just about the South. The voter in Southwest Virginia is not that different from a voter in rural Ohio, or southeastern Missouri, or parts of the Oklahoma panhandle. And I don't think some voters ever really heard John Kerry's ideas this year because of how they identified him."

Criminal Prosecution System

Take a look at this post by Beldar about a case in Houston where a woman took out charges, harrassed the prosecutor's office with phone calls for weeks, contacted the media, and made a general nuisance of herself -- only to refuse to show up when the court date came around.

You wouldn't believe how often similar nonsense happens here in Virginia. The magistrates are sometimes not discerning enough when allowing charges to be taken out, and so we have dozens of cases that have no business being in court, that my office gets dragged into prosecuting. Many of these cases are really disputes over property between neighbors ("Hey, let's take out a trespassing warrant, or a curse & abuse charge!"), or arguments over girlfriends. It's a waste of time, but many citizens are abusing the criminal justice system to get revenge, or something akin to it.

I don't know what the answer is, but I don't have enough manpower in my office to prosecute murders and rapes when we're distracted by matters that have no business being in court to begin with.

Nominations Open for 2004 Weblog

Check out the 2004 Weblog Awards here. Nominations are now open in 33 different categories. Be sure to head over and take a look, and nominate whomever you feel is deserving.

You should also feel free to nominate Commonwealth Conservative for "Best New Blog," "Best Conservative Blog," and/or "Best of the Top 500-1000 Blogs."

Okay, I'm trolling for votes there, but seriously, you should support these awards. They continue to grow, and they're fun. I'll be voting (though I will refrain from nominating myself; honorable, huh?).

The NBA is a disgrace

This is why Major League Baseball is my favorite. Did you see the brawl last night near the end of the Indiana Pacers - Detroit Pistons game? I've never seen anything like it. Here's the way ESPN describes it:

Indiana's Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charged into the stands and fought with fans in the final minute of their game against the Detroit Pistons, and the brawl forced an early and ugly end to the Pacers' 97-82 win.

Officials stopped the game Friday night with 45.9 seconds remaining after pushing and shoving between the teams spilled into the stands and fans began throwing things at the players near the scorer's table.

"It's the ugliest thing I've seen as a coach or player," said Pistons coach Larry Brown, who was in the middle of the confrontation, trying to break it up.

After several minutes of players fighting with fans in the stands, a chair, beer, ice, and popcorn were thrown at the Pacers as they made their way to the locker room in one of the scariest brawls in an NBA game.

"I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "I'm sorry the game had to end this way."

Rick Carlisle, of course, is a former star basketball player at the University of Virginia, and he's as classy as they come. His players, however, are not, especially Ron Artest -- but his players weren't the ones most responsible for escalating this incident to what Bill Walton calls "the lowest moment for the NBA in 30 years." The fans in Detroit (well, Auburn Hills) were disgraceful, throwing things and trying to fight the players.

Here's the video of the brawl; it's unreal.

I wish Carlisle would get sick of this nonsense in the NBA and come home to coach Virginia.

Was Kerry dishonorably discharged?

The story floating around the blogosphere today is about the possibility that John Kerry was actually dishonorably discharged (or less than honorably discharged) from the Navy, way back when. Today, the New York Sun has an article that is fanning the flames. Read it here.

According to the Sun:

An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service.

The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.

According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163. "This section refers to the grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service. And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr. Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an honorable discharge.

A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, was asked whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an honorable discharge. There has been no response to that inquiry.
Of course, Kerry has repeatedly refused to sign Form 180, which would allow the release of all of his military records. If he was honorably discharged, those records would clear everything up and we can move on to whatever allegations are going to come out about Bush now. There are about 100 pages of files that remain unreleased, and I'm not the only one eager to know what is in those records.
Erick at Political Junkie has his thoughts. Polipundit is more skeptical, but asks the question that I want answered:

But then why won’t Kerry sign form 180 and release all his military records? His refusal to do so is only going to fan these flames.

UPDATE: Powerline has much more, including the possibility that what Kerry actually received was a "general discharge."

UPDATE 2: BeldarBlog has the definitive post on this budding controversy. Go there now.

UPDATE 3: NE Republican has more thoughts.