Sierra Hotel!! I may have to get out the check book for these guys. For the non-Virginia folks, bear in mind that Allen's opponent is one each Jim Webb, Marine and former Sec of the Navy. Outstanding guy and entirely capable of doing much more than Allen, whose gifts are grinnin', chewin' tobacco and mindlessly voting as his party's central committee dictates.

Lurch, pls go VFR Direct to my fellow Virginia resident Jeff Huber and make sure he's aware of this one, too!

Mike, you forgot to mention that George Felix "Macaca" Allen Jr is a purebred racist.

I finally got around to watching this ad, was busy pushing money for cancer research today. And I got it funded.

Anyways, this might be one of the 3 best TV political ads I've ever seen. If George Felix Allen can be beat by Jim Webb, than Allen's political career - and any White House ambitions - are dead.

Oh, and I just found out, excuse my language, but -- fuck. NJ lost it's 45th in Iraq - a Marine Pfc only a week into his tour.

Congratulations on the funding victory, WK. It's a good step.

Here is another group to consider. They just got their web site up on the 11/ 9 . http://www.ivaw.net/ Regards

Go to newsweek.com and look for an article on 'How Dems plan to exploit Iraq War" for a great article about Webb. I couldn't get a link to it.

You want it, you got it, Toyota.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757418/site/newsweek/

Fine puff piece on Webb, who I believe is the "real deal" at least for the moment, and could well be the temporary salvation of the Democratic Party.

It will be interesting to see how the Facsists swiftboat him. I don't think he will take it in the supine position as Kerry did. True, Kerry's major failing in that matter was internal staff confusiion about the proper response. They took - what? - about 10 days to figure out a proper response. I'd have had the response in 3 minutes.

With the pathetic Kerry response as a roadmap I think the Webb campaign will strike back with quick riposte to the testicles, followed up by a jugular rip. In a gentlemanly way, of course, as befits a US Senator.

Lurch,
Slightly off topic -- my cousin has the impresion that they have already provided our troops with better body armor that can "stop a teflon bullet". This is notcorrect, right?
If I have uderstood this correctly then the money has barely been approved let alone new equipment acquired.
Being the naive cynic I am, I doubt that if new armor is in the works it will still not be the best -- just the product of the next producer in line, that is, one who has not given as much campaign contributions as the other bloodsucker.

I believe they're STILL outfitting units with the better ceramic armor. It seems cash flow is the main problem in acquisition, because I can remember a minor scandal (A Bu$hCo scandal that's only minor - imagine that!) that the prime manufacturer of the armor had more production capacity than DOD was paying for.

Chuck, my understanding from a quick research is that ceramic plate armor is proof against teflon-coated bullets, both rifle and pistol calibers. Fully prepared Kevlar armor is supposedly proof against pistol caliber teflon-coated bullets, but Kevlar may or may not deflect or stop rifle bullets, depending on some variable factors including age of the armor and whether it's been properly maintained, climatic conditions, etc.

The fact is that your cousin may be operating under a misconception. I'm not really sure that the typical AK-47 round (7.62x39) and AK-74 round (5.45x39) one would find in Iraq and Afghanistan is teflon-coated. I think that might be an expensive and unnecessary luxury.

There's no mention of whether the rounds Peter Granato fired at the two protective vests were teflon-coated, although I doubt they were, since it's REALLY hard to obtain them in the US. Why not ask them?

On another off-topic note, how's your visit going?

Lurch,

As usual - great post.

Mr. Allen and Mr. Webb will be debating this Sunday on Meet The Press.

I sent Russert's show a link to both the Vote Vets site and to the video with Granato via their "post questions you want asked" section at their site.

I told him that if he didn't show this ad and ask George Allen to defend himself then I would have to deem his program less relevant than John Stewart's "Daily Show." In which I will have to stop wasting my time on Sundays tuning into a program that repeatedly ignores the relevant facts and issues.

Some of you Virginia folks may want to think about sending a note with a link to the ad to Webb's campaign site. If Russert doesn't show the ad ( and he probably won't ) Webb can bring it up and hit George Allen with the content himself.

Good luck getting rid of Mr. George Allen.

KW

This morning's Newport News Daily Press has an article covering both the vests commercial and an Allen-organized event in Richmond where several women complained about how there lives were hell while attending the USNA because of an article Jim Webb wrote - 27 years ago.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-26377sy0sep14,0,2754617.story
For once, I will not share my thoughts on the tragedy of discovering that life is not all hugs and air kisses...

I know it was a mental struggle, but thank you for not saying. "You want it, you got it, Macaca!"

Thanks for the tipoff on that article, Mike. In this he-said, she-said political and "journalistic" world we inhabit today, I can certainly see how an article written 30 years ago is morally and legally equivalent to refusing to pay for adequate protection for troops being sent off to fight in an illegal and immoral war.

James Webb really is a deeply flawed human being for advocating treating women as second class citizens and sentencing them to the living hell of not being testosterone-engorged enough to fight and kill on a whim.

Why, shucks... he's obviously so 'wrong' that any female middies at Annapolis should only be given commissions as USMC 2LT's and sent at once to the Fleet Infantry school.

Now eveyone knows Snuffies ain't macacas.

He's got a genetically ingrained warrior ethos and he's a Democrat. He's OK by me.

I feel the same, whether it's nature or nurture. I like to see a Dem fight.