My Letter to the Editor

Piece I responded to (Bristol Herald Courier):

"Was vote against Boucher rigged?

Virginia’s longest serving U.S. Congressman, Rick Boucher, is beloved by all of the people of his district, having served them through 14 terms. He received 68 percent of the vote in 2006 and was not even contested in 2008. So does anyone think it a little strange that he lost his seat garnering only 46 percent of the vote?
It reminds me of the curious result in South Carolina where an unknown, unemployed black man named Alvin Greene beat a well known state senator with 59 percent of the Democratic vote in the primary. He then lost the general election 68 percent to 28 percent to Jim Demint, the incumbent Republican.
Did Rick really lose? He deserves this theory be presented: It has been documented time and again by the best computer scientists in the country that 80 percent of America’s votes in 2010 were tabulated by hackable, inaccurate, unreliable, electronic voting machines. After a university team hacked into California machines, that state outlawed electronic voting machines for the 2010 election. In another instance, computer scientists tested the vulnerabilities of a mock District of Columbia election in 2010. They were able to infiltrate the online system and change votes without leaving a trace.
Do the research and you will find that this is a taboo subject. Perhaps it is because both parties are involved. I don’t know!
There are several documentaries out there exposing the fraud. One was produced by HBO, called "Hacking Democracy." Bev Harris at blackboxvoting.org has been on this for years. This, in my opinion, is the reason Boucher lost. It does not deserve to be pushed under the rug by those in charge of voting in the Fightin’ Ninth. Rick Boucher’s congressional career could have been terminated because of it.

Gary Carrier
Bristol, Tenn."


My response:

"Mr. Carrier is mistaken that Mr. Boucher’s loss in November was the result of a 'rigged' election. It was the result of the people of the ninth district of Virginia changing their minds about the Congressman. While the results of the election were much different from previous years, and would have to be for Mr. Griffith to win, that does not automatically point to foul play.

Boucher received 46 percent of the vote in 2010. In 2006, (the last year it was a contested race) he received 68 percent. While this 22 percent difference is quite large, Boucher himself knew it was going to be a tough race. According to OpenSecrets.Org he spent 2.9 million on media, campaign expenses, and administrative support in 2010. He only spent $828,000 in 2006 on the same items.

Boucher lost because the ninth no longer wanted his services and he most definitely saw this change coming."

Another Week in DC

Monday - I the second half of the medicaid event. I just sold books but I enjoyed it. I also stuffed letters for Caitlyn's "Gokhale" distribution list.

Tuesday - I did more letters. Oh joy. I also sold books at another event. I did Cato Today too. I'm getting pretty quick at it now. Definitely not the four hours like the first time.

Wednesday - I worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed again. Give it a week and it really piles up. I had to go through close to 300 articles. I did CT again and we had another interesting GA meeting.

Thursday - I delivered more handbooks after we did a hill briefing. Then I went on a dome tour with several of the LU kids. One of the most epic things of the semester so far.

Friday - I put together an email for Brandon and I worked on something else. Can't think of it right now though...

A sweet reminder of home...

Well this past week was good week. On Saturday we went to the Eastern Market. Epic. I got an awesome shirt. I'm going back next weekend fo sho. The last couple (3) Sundays I've been volunteering at Ebenezer's (8:20 in the AM!) and its been pretty awesome.

On Monday, I did Cato Today once again and I did Caitlyn's RSS feeds. (I need to do that this week...).

Tuesday, Catinca, April, and I reorganized the book room. As in alphabetized several hundred books. They moved the book room from the basement to the second floor so everything was crazy. Took several hours but it looks quite lovely. (insert faux British accent). I also put together two packages for Caitlyn filled with Bad Medicine (one of our publications).

Wednesday I did Cato Today and we had another incredibly topically random GA meeting. We started googling congresswomen that we thought were good looking. Very interesting choices mentioned. I also delivered some more handbooks to the hill.

Thursday, I worked on a large mailing which used the contact info for the Gokhale distribution (over 300 contacts).

Friday we had another informal libertarian lunch group on the hill and as soon as I got back to Cato, I left for the Planet Wisdom Conference in Woodbridge, VA. It was so awesome to get to hang out with my church. I missed that! Great friends and great times. Thanks guys!

Two weeks...

So I've been incredibly lazy and I haven't posted in forever (2 weeks).

Last week...

Monday - I worked on the list of new freshmen and on Tuesday I finished it. Not exciting.

Wednesday - I did an email and fax and I did Cato Today which got out by 11:30.

Thursday - I delivered some handbooks to the hill.

Friday - I did Cato Today and I went to the hill with more handbooks. I went to the capital hill club after work and got free food.

Weekend - worked on my Govt 302 paper and went to the National Cathedral.

This week...

Monday - I went with Brandon to the RSC. Always cool. Saw Ben

Tuesday - I started a project for Caitlyn where I went through her RSS feed and summarized all the stuff happening (state agencies). I also took testimony to Dirksen and we had an event where I found my backup job...

Wednesday - I did CT, worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed thing, and Nita Ghea spoke to us. We had a GA meeting where we talked about dogs, gay congressmen, hot congressmen (?), and retro music and tv.

Thursday - ?

Friday - Handbooks on the hill

Parental Units

As the previous post said, I was off on Monday. Awesome. Tuesday I worked on the Report for Government Affairs and on Wednesday, I finished it. Also I did Cato Today in 2 hours! The quickest I've done it. I started at 8:30 so I had to wait 30 minutes (until 11) to send it out. I went to the the informal lunch group and I met a mult-millionaire. Pretty epic. I also did an email for Brandon. On Thursday, I didn't do that much. We had a lecture with Tom Palmer (my favorite) and I did a mailing for Caitlyn. On Friday, I did CT in 2 hours again! On a roll baby! I also started putting together a list of freshman congressman and their offices so we can deliver handbooks to them. My parents came up on Friday so I hung out with them all weekend. It was awesome to see them again. We had dinner with all my DC friends on Saturday and Kayon started talking "real suthern" like my parents. pretty funny!

Ain't Presidents Grand?

As you can see from the title, I was off work today. Much needed day off, let me tell you. It was a great week though. A lot of epicness. I've been using that "word" too much... Anyways, here's the stitch:

On Monday, I helped one of my fellow interns make phone calls to see what Representatives were coming to our New Member Breakfast on Tuesday. No one I talked to was coming. Drat.

On Tuesday, I did Cato Today again. I was not planning on this and I got started about an hour later than usual (9:30). I was doing the newspaper delivery and when I got done the other guys asked me to take if for the day. Kind of rough. I tried the pizza place near work with Saagar. Pretty good stuff.

Wednesday, I worked through the Gokhale distribution list till I was down to the last two emails. When I got home, I called numbers for both and I was able to get an email for one.

Thursday, I finished the Gokhale list. Thank the Lord! I now hate excel. Completely. I was able to start a new project too. I began to put together my department's (Government Affairs) quantitative report for 2010. I have to list all the events and put descriptions with the events. That evening in the apartment, I had a huge foreign policy "discussion" with Josh, Jason, Taylor, and Nick. I was ganged up on, but at least I know I'm right. Our military is there to provide for the common defense, not world domination and messing in already hostile situations does nothing to make them better (the Middle East).

Friday, I worked more on the project and then I went to the International Students for Liberty Conference. It was awesome. I attended the whole weekend. I saw John Stossel, David Boaz, Gary Johnson (2012), and several other awesome speakers. If you ever get the chance to go to one of these, don't think, do it. (Employee of the Month reference.)

Today (Monday), we went to the national zoo. Saw red pandas (my favorites), giant pandas, shrews, leopards, and a bunch of monkeys. Check out my pics on Facebook if you want to see them. Awesome stuff.

Thanks and peace.

Bourbon Babies! "Somebody hit her with the ugly stick"

A wee bit behind but at least I'm posting...

On Monday I went with my supervisor, Brandon Arnold, to the Republican Study Committee. That's always an interesting meeting. Its a bunch of Republican staffers that discuss whats coming up for the house. Pretty legit. On the way back to Cato in the taxi, Brandon explained the process of making laws and procedures. Pretty awesome, and intricate, stuff.

Tuesday I started making phone calls for my distribution list. Calling offices all over the country. I hate phones... but it was still fun. You can definitely tell when you're talking to people from the south. I left about an hour early so I could drop of some testimonies for Mark Calabria for the next day.

Wednesday: More phone calls. OH JOY. Another discussion with Kuznicki. I still haven't decided if I like him. He's good, but odd. I also put together a list of freshmen congressmen that declined their provided health care. For lunch I went to Micky D's and I saw Dan Griswold. I also bought lunch for two homeless guys.

Thursday: I did CT again but I was overconfident. So it took a while. And then I went with Caitlyn Korb and Roger Pilon to a Hill briefing about restoring Constitutional liberty. Pilon and Rep. Scott Garrett spoke. Pretty awesome.

Friday: LYNCHBURG!!! But first work. It wasn't bad. Then four hours on the train.

Went to Jordan Connell's concert. EPIC. and then I went to b-dubs with everyone: JB, Cribby, Stephan, Sara Beth, Ryan, AJ, Zack, Corey, Zach, Lexie, Chris, Allison, Nick, and a random Asian girl I don't know.

Saturday: We went to the mall and got Chinese like old times (Stephan, Sara Beth, and Grant) and went to Walmart and Target. Then I went to the ball game and then played the futuristic risk and it was epic. Watched Wall Street with JB and Zack. Not sure about that.

Sunday: Left on the train at 10. Back in DC...