Snapped Shot

A 7-year-old tells Michelle Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for First Lady, that we need to "finish what we started in Iraq."



Makes me proud to be a Virginian, I tell ya!

(h/t drillanwr)

The Mrs. just reported that the fire alarms at Gerry Connolly's Springfield Mall are going off right now, and that she saw smoke.

Not sure what's going on yet, but will keep you posted. Nothing much surprises me about that dump any more.

The Brian you're trying to reach is unavailable right now. He just passed out after discovering that he is in agreement with Erin Brockovich:

Gardasil, as you should know by now, is an HPV vaccine sold by Merc [sic], a vaccine with a flawed marketing campaign targeting young girls. The premise is that the vaccine will protect young girls from cervical cancer, as well as a couple of varieties of HPV. But the vaccine is NOT a cancer preventative, and it has not been thoroughly tested. Not only does Gardasil not protect everyone, it does not prevent all types of cervical cancer. According to current science, there are fifteen types of HPV associated with cervical cancer but Gardasil only counters HPV types 16 and 18. The vaccine requires three doses to start and scientists don't even know how frequently boosters will be needed. They don't know because they did not adequately research this before putting the vaccine out on the market using our young girls as guinea pigs.

Merc was even pushing to have this untried vaccine REQUIRED by states. Governer Perry of Texas--who bypassed the state legislation with an executive order--has ties to Merck. Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff is one of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas. The governor also received $6,000 from Merck’s political action committee during his re-election campaign. "Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12." As a mother, should I have to sign a waver to protect my daughter from having a potentially dangerous vaccine forced on her?

What makes this vaccine so terrible? It's not just the fear that some parents have that administering a vaccine against stds to nine year olds will encourage sexual activity. The concern is based on much more concrete issues than that. 7195 of them, in fact.

The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) now has 7195 individual adverse reactions listed--and as it is a database not everyone knows about, not all of the adverse reactions are being reported. The Centers for Disease Control report over 9,000 adverse reactions for Gardasil. There is a rising total of deaths connected with the administration of this vaccine; as well as have been reports of seizure activity, tingling, numbness and loss of sensation in the fingers and limbs. There is serious question about girls initially having short-term health problems associated with getting this vaccine that could turn into long-term neurological or immune system disorders; and there is serious question about administering this vaccine at the same time as others.

Previously: Wow!, More on Merck's Virginian Money-Grab, An Assembly of Errors.

Thanks for the spelling correction to a most polite troll.

Not that I mind—I'm sure this troll talks to his mother that way, too.

... And boy, am I truly humbled to see a legendary Virginia blogger like Greg Letiecq using one of my "patented" headlines to promote a story!

Thanks for the subtle nod, Greg—I'm glad you were able to put it to good use! If it weren't for bloggers such as yourself, our Commonwealth would be in far worse shape.

Previously on Snapped Shot: Gerry Connolly's Fairfax County, an Illustrated History.

Personally, I think Virginian students deserve better than this Soviet-era indoctrination:

ABINGDON, Va. – After an in-service training session last week, some Washington County, Va., school teachers are preparing to implement a curriculum on climate change and environmental stewardship.

Developed by a group of educators, the program is aimed at teaching children about the connection between their actions and the wider world – so they can help save the planet.

“More and more information is coming towards these kids every day,” said Deni Peterson, who runs the Learning Landscapes program that has brought educational gardens to county schools. “These are depressing issues, these are hard issues for these kids, so I just try to plant some hope in there.”

When our first public schools were created, their mission was to teach the children of this grand Commonwealth the skills they needed to succeed in life.

They should be able to read, in order to be able to independently discover knowledge.

They should be able to count, so that they can avoid being cheated.

Why then, when our modern system has become so expensive to maintain, do we continue to branch the curriculum out into areas that are so obviously political? Shouldn't we be concentrating our resources on the things that matter the most, as our ancestors so wisely proposed?

Or could it be that the entire notion of a "public" school system can no longer survive the fragmented country that we've become?

I don't really have anything to add to this one:

Fatal crash in Lorton

A Woodbridge man has been charged with aggravated involuntary manslaughter and drunk driving in a two-car crash that left a 53-year-old Groveton man dead.

At about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3, Robert L. Thomas was driving northbound on Route 1 at the intersection of the ramp to Interstate 95 in Lorton. At the same time, Alfredo Martinez Rivera was driving in the southbound lanes of Route 1. Rivera lost control of his 2006 Pontiac and drove over the concrete median and straight into Thomas' 1996 Saturn, police said.

Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene.

Rivera, of 13102 Kumar Road, was treated for injuries not considered life-threatening. He is now being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

This is the 11th traffic fatality in Fairfax County this year. There were 33 fatalities at this time last year, police said.

A man was arrested in Annandale for assaulting a 1-year-old child yesterday.

That's okay, though. Gerry Connolly and the rest of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors won't even bother to consider that Mr. Castellon is anything less than a truly multi-cultural denizen of our esteemed County of Blight:

George Washington is the past. Could this be our future?

A 25-year-old Fairfax man is in custody for allegedly sexually assaulting a 1-year-old infant after her christening party at the Annandale Boys and Girls Club.

On the early morning of Sunday, July 27, the victim's family were cleaning the party room, when a stranger to the family, Juan Miguel Sejas Castellon, allegedly picked up the infant and assaulted her.

Castellon was "at the party, but was unknown to the family," said police spokeswoman Shelly Broderick.

The crying child was taken from Castellon's hands by her mother, who later found undisclosed injuries on her body. The child was treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Castellon, of 3894 Bradwater Drive, was later charged with one count of animate object penetration and one count of abducting an infant child with intent to defile.

No word from the Fairfax Times on Mr. Castellon's immigration status. One imagines that he's a member of the genetically pure race known as a "Native" American. (Pronounced: "Illegal Immigrant.")

In the twisted race-baiter's definition of the term, that is.

Welcome to Gerry Connolly's America.