Snapped Shot

This truly is too tragic for words:

Police: Kidnapped woman dies in crash

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A kidnapped Virginia woman died when her alleged abductors crashed her car during a police chase, authorities said.

Barbara Jean Bosworth, 61, of Alexandria was killed Saturday when her car careened into trees in Prince William County, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Two men in the car with Bosworth were hospitalized in critical condition.

Bosworth apparently was able to call her husband and indicate something was wrong after she was allegedly kidnapped by the two men at the Springfield Mall, police said in a statement.

Gerry, how much longer are you going to let this rampant disregard for the law continue in this county?

Previously at Gerry Connolly's Springfield Mall: Impersonating Those whom Americans Won't Impersonate, Gang-banging where Americans Won't Gang-Bang, Stabbing Those whom Americans Won't Stab, Murder Mall: Why shop anywhere else?

(h/t someone who was Googling this)

We went to the Burke Centre Festival today, which was an awesome time. What made it even better was to run into Keith Fimian, the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives here in Fairfax County.



If you live here, and are as annoyed by Gerry Connolly as I am, be sure to vote for Keith in November.

And if you want to meet him in person, chances are he'll be at the festival tomorrow, too. Be there or be square.

Or at the very least, rectangular.

RIGHT! THIS! SECOND!!

If only I weren't stuck behind a desk. I totally wish I could be at Van Dyke Park right now.

Fox News has the live feed over yonder. Best of luck getting it to work!

Update: Fred!'s done. Masterful speech, once again. And now, we're hearing music and waiting for someone else to hit the stage.

Update: The candidates and their spouses hit the stage. My eardrums exploded from the levels on that announcer's voice, incidentally.

Wow, less than 24 hours to respond? That's pretty impressive for we dry, droll Republicans!



Oooooo! Busted for Copyright violation by CBSNews? That's gonna leave a mark.

The McCain camp will be appearing at Van Dyke Park today, right near Snapped Shot's stomping grounds. After initially planning to appear at Fairfax High School, the campaign discovered that there actually are Republicans living here in Gerry Connolly's Fairfax County, and had to move to a larger venue.

Of course, a move like that can't be treated as the simple matter-of-fact that it is. J.R. over at Bearing Drift explains:

Because of the popularity of today’s McCain/Palin event in Fairfax, the McCain campaign realized two days ago that they had to change venues. The campaign started to explore what options they might have to ensure that the location the did choose would be large enough to accommodate the 20k+ tickets they gave out.

However, not having that bit of information, Democrats began a letter writing campaign yesterday to keep McCain from having the event at a high school in Fairfax (after the decision had already been made to move).

I can confirm that the local news had already started talking about how they were "hearing" that parents at FHS were upset that a political campaign was using the High School, but conveniently, there were no names mentioned, and no interviews with irate parents. J.R. continues:

So, let’s take this at face value: Barack Obama held an event yesterday at a Lebanon, VA high school. Today, Barack Obama will be at Granby High School in Norfolk. And, if memory serves me correct, Obama held a townhall in a Fairfax High School earlier this year.

Clearly, these events were all political. And, clearly, Obama is a regular participant.

There's nothing new about political campaigns using schools for their events and rallies. This kind of campaigning has been going on for at least as long as I've been alive, and most likely far longer.

Of course, considering that politicians built all of these multimillion dollar facilities, is it really all that unreasonable for a politician to be able to use them once in a while?

h/t Alton Foley, one of my Old Dominion Blog Alliance compatriots:



From the creators:

We believe that all fair-minded journalists were as shocked by some of the coverage as we were, and in that vein, we encourage you to republish and redistribute the cartoon. There are no royalties or restrictions involved.

Clearly, the attacks against Mrs. Palin and her family have gone far beyond the pale, and have no place in a mature discussion about the direction America is going in this year.

Sincerely,

Robert Romano
Editor
ALG News Bureau

Update: Did you know that Governor Palin vigorously supports the culling of wolves? One more reason for the mentally challenged to be outraged.

(h/t CY)

Q: How Porous Are Our Borders?

That concludes our game of SnappedShot-eopardy for today.

Barney Frank wants to make Republican candidates' families the issue now?

Perhaps he'd be pleased if we opened up a new investigation into his past associations, then.

Fairfax County Public Schools has reported a "dramatic" increase in Virginia Standards of Learning tests over the past year. This news would be all the more exciting if the change weren't for such predictable reasons:

The percentage of students passing the Virginia Standards of Learning grade level tests went up by double digits in some categories, in part due to a change in the testing method for students who are still learning English.

Part of the VSOL tests, which have been an honored tradition in Virginia's public education system since long before I was born, is testing the student's proficiency in English; which, last I checked, was still the lingua franca of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Fairfax County, in Gerry Connolly's infinite wisdom, no longer feels that English proficiency is a requirement for Virginia's students to learn.

Corecttlee. [sic]

California, being one of the original Soviet members of the United States of America, has raised taxes on just about everything through the roof. Is it any surprise, then, when faced with the inevitable results thereof—there's a reason why so many Californians end up here in Northern Virginia, after all—that the legislators of that vaunted State corral of buffoons have come up with the ultimate solution:

Build a really giant wall around the State, and refuse to allow anyone to leave!

Oh wait, you say that didn't work in the past?

Alright then, the General Assembly has the next best thing in dictatorial sovietism:

Tax the ever-living heck out of anyone who leaves!

Brilliant, товарищи!

Who would dare to leave such a People's Paradise, anyway?

Both of these signs were found in the produce section of my local Shopper's Food Warehouse, which is a supermarket chain here in the D.C. Metro area:



Notice that these signs were located within mere feet of each other. And while zucchini apparently fell under the category of "Hispanic" favorites, that dastardly lettuce, my eternal and mortal enemy, seems to be a "Latino" favorite.

Those far-sighted "diversity" managers over at SFW must really be bending over backwards to cater to the latest fads in American culture.

(By the way—If anyone can explain to me what the unimaginably subtle differences are between these two food types, I'm all ears.)

Aww shucks! Thanks for the link, Doug!

Heh, you know, when I run into signs like this, I'm usually happy enough with taking a picture of it and e-mailing it in to the Park Service. Apparently, these guys aren't in with the latest "technology."

Two self-described “grammar vigilantes” were sentenced to one year of probation and have been banned from all National Parks after they were caught “correcting” a a historical sign at the Desert View Watchtower on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Jeff Michael Deck, 28, of Massachusetts and Benjamin Douglas Herson, 28, of Virginia, pled guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property.

The men were on a tour of the United States from March to May 2008 with a purpose to stamp out typos in public signage and other venues, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona.

One: I'm delighted to see someone finally use the correct form of "pled," instead of the usual "pleaded" nonsense.

Two: I do have to hand it to them, that's a pretty awesome "tour" they had planned.

Well, except for the whole "breaking the law" thing, that is. Continue reading »

The billion-dollar "Liberal-Unintelligence Complex," if I may use a play on that age old bogeyman.

Consider this wonderful case of selectively "unselective" admissions, in which a Christian seminary waxes poetic on accepting a Muslim student onto its all-Christian campus:

"My prayer is that having Salih on campus will help deepen the Christian faith of our other students and that his faith will also deepen [Ed.:—i.e., his faith in Islam will be deepened... at a "Christian" university] as a result of his immersion experience within an unapologetically Christian community," said the Rev. Robin Gulick, interreligious officer of the Center for ******** ********** Studies. "I believe this will result on both ends from the informal dialogue and conversation that will take place during his residency here."

Can you guess which denomination's seminary this is, without clicking through to the full article first?

(I'm betting on "yes," incidentally.) Continue reading »

Celebrate diversity:

Our future.

The Herndon Police responded to a stabbing in the 1200 block of Springtide Place just before 11 p.m. on Wednesday August 20.

Officers found a 40-year-old Herndon woman had been stabbed in the upper torso. The victim was transported to INOVA Fairfax Hospital and was treated and released. "This stemmed from a domestic dispute," said Lt. Jeffrey Coulter of the HPD.

Police detectives have obtained warrants charging Fredy Zuniga-Casceres, 27, with Burglary and Malicious Wounding. Zuniga-Casceres has no fixed address and also goes by an alias of "Illiny," according to police.