But get your committees and fair-minded organizations to make statements, too, especially in th 5th!  We got it out this a.m. at NCDC

http://www.nelsondem...

And Gordie's pushing and poking just might have been a factor :)

Lynchburg News Advance needs plenty of LTEs.

Try calling/emailing this group of Congressmen.

The House Immigration Reform Caucus.

Virgil is a member along with about 100 other members of Congress. Below is the site with all the names and contact info. Do all of these members agree with Virgil. I bet they do, but it's worth a try. Are they all really like Virgil?

http://tancredo.hous...

Rep.Tom Tancredo, chair of House Immigration Reform Caucus.

http://www.tancredo....

an email to my esteemed representative this morning as I had a couple of things I wished to share with him.

I had read where he said the pros for his missive of hate and bigotry far outweighed the cons from his constituents.

Naturally I wanted to participate in the re-count and help him to re-think that opinion at least.

The whole federal system of "contact your congressman" is shut down until January 4. Is that convenient timing or what?

If he thinks this will blow over by January 4 and things will get back to normal after having humiliated said constituency in front of the entire world, he is in for a rude awakening.

Just finished watching tonight's CNN piece on Goode.  Their reporter talked to citizens of Rocky Mount to get their reaction to Goode and his xenophobia and alas, the reporting stated that the consensus was solidly in support of Goode.  Of course, that's his home town and a stronghold of his but still...  The reporter also said that the local newspaper hadn't gotten any negative comments in the LTEs it had received so far.  I am disheartened.  Peace on earth, goodwill to men?  But only if you're just like me.  No diversity allowed.

and I listened to what they said. I got the impression none of them were aware that the oath is sworn by raising ones hand and repeating after the judge. I felt none knew about the private ceremonies, where the Koran, Bible or what ever book is used in that ceremony.

It definately was a one sided story from CNN. To just go to Rocky Mount in a District the size of New Jersey is haphazard reporting, which is starting to be common place on CNN. I suspect they wanted to get an encouraging story supporting Goode. Wolf has a habit of reporting the good side of news till other networks pick up on a different view, then they change their tune.

In todays journalism it is hard to find a commentator like Keith Olberman.

Someone else has probably linked to this from the AP article:
"Virginia’s senior senator, Republican John Warner, said in a statement Thursday that he respects the right of congressional members to freely 'exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic faith utilizing the Quran.'"

Once again Warner shows that some GOPers decent fellows, and gives a taste for how he continues to be elected by pulling the moderate votes his way.

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-4605

December 7, 1906

Mr. John W.A.S.P.
7—— S—————————— Dr.
Earlysville, VA 22936

Dear Mr. ____________:

  Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the King James Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to Catholicism in any way. The Catholic Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Catholics elected to office with their first Allegiance to the Pope not the USA. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clevland and allowing many persons from undesirable countries to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Catholics in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Catholic student came by the office and asked why I did not have a picture of the Pope on my wall.  My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, the Pope is not going to be on the wall of my office.” Thank you again for your email and thoughts.

Sincerely yours,
Virgil H. Goode, Jr.
70 East Court Street
Suite 215
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151

While not in support of such rhetoric or in denying anyone freedom of religion or choice of worship maybe the mainstream media in its infinite wisdom not to cover things unless theres well a "macaca" might what to do a piece on why middle-class America and rural America for that matter embraces such feelings. Goode's home town is 100% behind them. Are they are bigots? No. Is a vote of support for Goode mean you are against ones right to freedom of religion? No. Folks in the true middle class and in Goodes district are simply wondering when is all going to stop....the attack on the values that this country once was based upon. After speaking with many in Goodes district there is a fear out there that there is an attack on principles that appear to be going unchecked. Everything Christian appears displaced. Christmas nativity scenes being removed for fear of offending, talks of localities offically requiring Spainish in the classrooms of public schools, removal of pledge allegiance for rference to God, athletic teams not allowed to pray in public as it "could" offend members of student body not even particpating, immigration problems with regard to foriegn student visas....the list goes on....while Goode message is wildly misplaced, many feel Goode was addressing an action that is an attack on founding traditions...this in Congress!!, what next? So goes the Starbucks crowd waiting in line tonight for nice White Chocolate Mocha....sentiment is growing out there that there is an attack on everything Christian or of Christian values. Whether true or not...people are beginning to notice....take note ...pundits hammer at the lack of integrity these days in Washington...well when I guy stands up and expresses his view no matter how unpopular....now thats what leaders should be made of...or are they just leaders when they echo only what we percieve to be true....While I do not endorse the comments...It certainly takes courage to voice it and his folks embrace him for it.

Most of Virginia looks something like this right now -
http://www.maddogpro...

Every year the Christmas displays become ... brighter to the point of being toured by drunken revelers on busses. I don't think they are Muslims, and there's no shortage of nativity scenes among these decorations.

The corruption of which you speak is strongly affiliated with the very people who ran on a platform of conservative values. Goode is involved in it himself with MZM.

Our country was founded on freedom of religion. Period. Virgil was not attacking Christianity. And neither is anyone else.

I do not recall referring to any corruption, nor do I believe Mr. Goode was attacking Christianity, what I was referring to is the events with the State that are causing people to perceive that the "traditional values" are under attack and whether you agree or not Mr. Jefferson and the rest of the founding fathers used Christianity as the basis of everything. Of course we have freedom of religion, but we also have freedom of speech....those bright lights and "displays" are part of that tradition...freedom of expression and speech is every bit as important to our tradition as freedom of religion. My comments were not an attempt to politicize religion...it should never be, but to point out that many Virginians are questioning the direction we are heading when we see that the values that have long guided our Commonwealth throughouts its history seem to be fading. If you think the Christian tradition is not under attack your mistaken. When we exclude traditions of one religion to appease that of another we simply undermine our very tradition of freedom of religion. Maybe we can reflect and embrace it in celebrating Jamestown next year. I am not sure why you would bring a platform into it...you DONT have to be Republican to have a sense of traditional values ....thank god we moderates have a voice in todays Democratic Party. My comments are as always are as a VIRGINIAN first. I regret you may not have understood my intent.

sorry, I skipped a couple of steps here.

while Goode message is wildly misplaced, many feel Goode was addressing an action that is an attack on founding traditions...this in Congress!

Some traditions that are important in Congress are character, honesty and however you want to express it "thou shalt not steal."  I should have been explicit about that.  Goode said he received many letters on that. I wonder if he received any letters about Foley.

My only real objection to the lights beyond the aesthetic is that collectively such a display amounts to an enormous amount of energy when we need to be working towards energy independence, but set that aside.  This is arguable, but from what I see, the sum total of the deliberately tacky Christmas displays far exceeds any displays of all non-Christian religions combined.

The only point I'm trying to make is that around this time of year, it's impossible to go very far without seeing a religious display and that's totally at odds with the bunker mentality that I see expressed in some places - that Christianity and Christmas are under attack. In any case, I think we can agree that the true spirit of Christmas is not about "stuff."

We have some neighbors who have quite a few blow up Christmas things in their yard. I can't remember, but I believe they are all religiously neutral, like snowmen and penguins. Every night, they deflate because of the cold, and sometimes they reinflate them.  Sometimes not.  I never thought about it, but I don't think the churches have outdoor nativity scenes, but several private homes do. That's not something that I would call traditional really.

Now as far as the religious component of the various shooting wars, that's real enough. 9/11 was implemented by religious extremists. The rest is history.

While I despise and completely disagree with Goode in his rationale, I agree it is important to understand WHAT is driving the anger behind our fellow middle class Americans before simply doing a bunch of labeling.

The fact is, ILLEGAL immigration IS causing a lot of negative social impacts. No, illegal immigrants didn't destroy our health care system, but they sure do highlight the inequalities and inherent unfairness in it. They also highlight the struggles in public education, and make it virtually impossible to fix.

As was well said " There is a Nobel Prize waiting in economics for anyone who can prove that a rapid increase in the supply of labour does not decrease the price [wages] on said labour."

To automatically label someone as a bigot just because they have concerns over immigration policy is as disenguous as the GOP is in labeling those who oppose our position in Iraq as being "liberal."

ON the religious aspect, well, I admit I have far more trouble finding a logical rationale on the reaction, but I am all for understanding it first before labeling anything.

By understanding, it is possible for a candidate to better position themselves to explain how they really DO support these constituents, not the other way. Webb is a perfect example.