A group of concerned West Virginians have organized an event to protest the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) support of President Obama’s health care reform plan.

This event comes as polling data from Rasmussen Polling shows that AARP’s reputation is being hurt by it vocal support of President Obama health care reform efforts.

Only 18% of people polled believe that seniors join AARP because they support the political agenda of the organization.

BURN YOUR AARP CARD EVENT(S):

Kanawha County
Saturday, December 5th
12:00 – Noon
MacCorkle Entrance to CAMC

There are other “Burn Your AARP Card” events planned around the State of West Virginia. As I receive the information about them I will post it.

Friday Front Porch! Where the reader becomes the blogger. Use this thread to talk about anything, complain about something, send kudos to someone, or simply share gossip. Have a good weekend!

West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan may have some of the worst ethics in the entire Congress of the United States of America. He may be the most unethical Congressman to ever serve West Virginia in Congress.

Through his position and chairmanship on the appropriations subcommittee that directly oversees the budget of the Department of Justice he has tremendous ability to influence a government bureau that is investigating him for possible criminal acts.
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Charleston Daily Mail reports…

Congressman Alan Mollohan, who had no opposition from the GOP in eight of his 14 election bids, could have more than a half dozen Republicans vying to unseat him in 2010.

So far, at least seven Republicans have expressed interest in Mollohan’s seat in the first congressional district. That’s as many as have opposed Mollohan in all his elections since he won the seat in 1982, according to records from the Secretary of State’s office.
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State Senator Brooks McCabe is the newest name in a long list of possible Democratic candidates for Governor in 2012. The rumor was confirmed by Charleston lawyer Tom Heywood.
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The Cook Political Report has upgraded West Virginia’s First Congressional District from “Safe Democrat” to “Likely Democratic” for the 2010 cycle.

This simply means they believe the seat is currently not competitive, but has the potential to become engaged.

If President Obama’s legislative team thought it was difficult to pull together 60 Democrat votes in the U.S. Senate to move the health care bill to the next step they should be preparing for another tough debate on Capitol Hill among his own political party.
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There’s a new name on the attack list being kept by the liberal extremist West Virginia Blue blog. When Democrat State Delegate Ralph Rodighiero announced his primary challenge against Congressman Rahall on Friday he joined a long list of Democrats that are not welcome in the Democratic Party that West Virginia Blue envisions.
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West Virginians for Education Reform is ramping up its effort to push for charter schools in West Virginia.
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Not sure why is was announced late on a Friday afternoon, but…

“Two term West Virginia House of Delegates member Ralph Rodighiero, D-Logan, filed his precandidacy papers at 12 p.m. today to run against 3rd District Congressmen Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., in the 2010 Democratic Primary, making him Rahall’s only Democrat competition.” – West Virginia Watchdog. West Virginia Watchdog was the first to report this news.

Friday Front Porch! Where the reader becomes the blogger. Use this thread to talk about anything, complain about something, send kudos to someone, or simply share gossip. Have a good weekend!

From press release…

“The bottom line from today’s meeting is that Administrator Jackson and the EPA believe they have no obligation to take economic factors or jobs into account when it comes to mine permits.” – Congresswoman Capito

Using various sources and lots of other data here are my initial thoughts on races in House Districts 1 through 25. The ranking of these races will change after the January filing period when we see the final list of candidates who have filed.

My thoughts on races in House Districts 26 through 50 will be uploaded early next week. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, leave a comment or send them to me at wvared@gmail.com.

You can find my outlook on the West Virginia State Senate, published earlier, by clicking here.
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Government spending as a negative is hard to grasp for voters. To save the taxpayer, we need to figure how to express this problem in ways that voters will get.
Story by Rob Cornelius,  The State Journal, (Cross-posted from The State Journal)

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For years, too much government spending has been one of those issues that only boring people in suits cared about very publicly. They drone and complain about leaving some giant bill for our children or grandchildren or something like that.

It doesn’t really register with voters. In fact, the act of former legislative deficit hawks nationally in the mold of Sen. Bob Dole has become a hard one to see performed live. Like Vaudeville, it doesn’t seem to sell a whole lot of tickets.

Telling folks “no” is way less likely to make you popular than giving everyone still more and more “free” stuff.
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Governor Joe Manchin

Governor Joe Manchin and West Virginia Democrats are quietly pushing a gas tax on the residence of West Virginia. The Governor’s proposal will stop a scheduled reduction in the gas tax in 2010 and completely remove a 5-cent reduction in the tax in 2013.

The West Virginia Legislature is considering legislation (HB 404 and SB 4004) which the Governor proposed to establish a floor on the portion of the gasoline tax which readjusts on a annual basis.

The Charleston Gazette explains the gas tax very well…

“The gas tax is a combination of a base rate of 20.5 cents a gallon and a rate equal to 5 percent of the average wholesale price of gasoline for the previous July-October.”

“That part of the gas tax currently is set at 11.7 cents a gallon. However, because of low gas prices this year, that tax rate is poised to adjust downward by about 3 cents a gallon on Jan. 1.”

“Under the proposed legislation, the adjustable portion of the gas tax could not drop below the current 11.7-cent a gallon level.”

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