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STERLING, Va. - A close inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers at Dulles International Airport turned up something unexpected. Inside a fully-cooked chicken they found cocaine with an estimated street value of $4,300. The 60.4 grams (2.3 ounces) of coke was found inside two small, clear plastic bags inside the chicken's cavity. Officers discovered the white powdery substance during a secondary inspection after a flight from El Salvador arrived shortly after midnight Saturday. It tested positive for cocaine. "CBP officers have seen many unique narcotics concealment methods, and they all present the same challenges to discover them. Our officers'...

Time: December 5, 2009 from 11am to 2pm Location: BJ's Street: 13053 Fair Lakes Shopping Center City/Town: Fairfax VA Website or Map: http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin Event Type: book, signing Organized By: O. P. Ditch Latest Activity: 1 day ago

Gov. Tim Kaine did a victory lap around Virginia on Tuesday to mark the beginning of a historic ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, speaking confidently of the law's longevity despite his successor's opposition to it. Flanked by legislative allies at Chadwicks restaurant in Alexandria, the outgoing governor said the ban would cut heart and lung disease associated with exposure to secondhand smoke among restaurant patrons and workers, while not hurting the businesses' bottom lines. The stop was sandwiched by visits to Charlottesville and Richmond. The new law represents one to Kaine's few major policy wins in a term...

Department of Human Resource Management Commonwealth of Virginia Health Benefits Program [1 VAC 55 ‑ 20] Public Comment Forum On this Action: This action will amend section 1VAC 55 320(E) to include adults, other than spouses and incapacitated adult children, as participants in the Health Benefits Plan for State Employees NOIRA Stage - View the regulatory documents In Progress! Opened on 11/23/2009 and closes at 11:59pm on 12/23/2009 More about public comment forums Enter a comment

The DMV now has yet another pro-gun source of information and cyberspace assembly area for gun owners. The Virginia Gun Owners Forum (VGOF) started up in March 2009 and its owner Rick Sandlin says the site already has "over 700 members strong with more than 21,000 forum posts . . . [and] provides a place for people within the Commonwealth of Virginia to conduct local firearm purchases, trades and sales."

(snip) "I think it's time for us to start looking at this seriously," said Supervisor Gerald W. Hyland (D-Mount Vernon), who has been lobbying behind the scenes for the tax since the board's retreat this past summer. He said a meals tax would bring in about as much as a property tax increase of 5 cents per $100 of assessed value and would be spread over a larger group of people. "The best thing to say to a room full of people is that even though we're in a tough time and a recession, you still go out to eat,"...

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine emerged from a closed-door meeting with his top economic advisers Monday, saying that to offset a projected budget shortfall next year, he may have to raise taxes -- a prospect quickly dismissed by Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell. After meeting with his Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates, Mr. Kaine said he won't take anything off the table when it comes to fulfilling his responsibility to protect the state's AAA bond rating, providing Virginians with necessary services and keeping the state competitive to attract business. The purpose of the meeting was to set revenue projections that will be...

There is no yelling. No invective. No spittle-laced derision. Instead, there is a soft, warm welcome for the dozens of young men and women reporting to Officer Candidates School at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia. Arriving in polos and khakis, they check in at their leisure, anytime between 8 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., filing off buses or dropped off by well-wishing parents at what could just as well be the first day of college. This is no Parris Island, the legendary boot camp in South Carolina where the drill instructors' ferocity explodes almost the instant recruits arrive. But for the...

Results of SurveyUSA News Poll #16075

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Al-Qaeda imam emailing Ft Hood killer was repeatedly arrested for soliciting prostitutes I was reading some background info on Anwar Al-Aulaqi, the Yemeni-American Al-Qaeda cleric that was corresponding with Ft Hood killer Maj. Nidal Hasan, and remembered something curious I saw several years ago. It took me a while to track it down, but a 2004 article in US News and World Report on Al-Aulaqi provided this curious tidbit about the "imam": The probe of the 9/11 attacks soon led Washington FBI agents back to San Diego, where they found that al-Awlaki...

Who Are the White House Party Crashers? FOXNews.com Tareq and Michaele Salahi have established themselves as high-profile fixtures in the Beltway social scene, but there appears to be another side to this couple that includes a warning to consumers by the Commonwealth of Virginia to beware of their charity solicitations, and at least one socialite questioning the use of their 'charity' funds. Forget reality TV. The northern Virginia socialite couple now being investigated by the Secret Service for crashing President Obama's first state dinner on Tuesday night has a past straight out of the best -- or worst -- of...

VIRGINIA, Va. -- It's probably the last time that Timothy M. Kaine will step outside his house in the morning to find two dead deer and a turkey on his doorstep. But yesterday, the outgoing Virginia governor and his wife, first lady Anne Holton, stood outside the Executive Mansion in Richmond to preside over a Thanksgiving tradition that dates to the late 1600s -- Virginia's Indian tribes paying tribute to the governor. On a damp and gray but mild morning, Kaine welcomed about 200 people, including members of several generations of Indians in traditional garb, as well as Capitol Square...

Terry McAuliffe, the millionaire businessman who ran unsuccessfully for Virginia governor this year, is negotiating with investors and a U.S. automaker to lure a factory to southern Virginia -- raising speculation that the ambitious Democrat is not done with state politics. McAuliffe has talked with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to brief him about his plans, which are focused on luring thousands of jobs to a part of Virginia where unemployment is high. McAuliffe declined through a spokeswoman to comment on his efforts, but Kaine confirmed the meeting and said McAuliffe is in the "very preliminary" stages of trying to...

Got to Valley View Mall at 8:30pm (our drive was about 90 min). Before eating dinner with family at Abuelo's Mexican, decided to swing by the Barnes and Noble. Asked my wife if she thought there'd be a line (the signing was next morning at 10am) -- she said "no way". She was surprised (she's a big Palin fan, but gets her news through me as English is not her first language) -- well there was of course a line of chairs and tents that was already very long. It made our dinner at Abuelo's more hurried than we planned....

Most of Palin's supporters I talked to acknowledged that they had never heard of her until Sen. John McCain plucked her from obscurity last year and made her his running mate. They didn't care that she had quit the governorship of Alaska to personally cash in -- for millions -- with a ghostwritten-book bonanza. Or that the last elected office for which Palin finished her term was mayor of a town smaller than Vinton. When you wade into a pool of Palinmania like the one that collected outside Valley View on Sunday morning, you realize that stuff doesn't matter. Before...

More than 300 people camped overnight outside Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Valley View Mall for the chance to meet former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Today, she signed her new memoir, 'Going Rogue.'

A few weeks ago seven of the eight incumbent Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates who lost their seat to a Republican had one other thing in common - a lower National Rifle Association (NRA) rating that their opponent . . . [and] the disparity in support for gun rights between the parties seems to have sharpened.

11:40 a.m.: Palin signs the books at a table near the far left corner of the store, an alcove closed off by metal detectors and security guards. Her father, Chuck Heath, seated to her left, shakes people's hands and asks their names. Palin greets each fan with a quick 'Thank you, thank you' and grasps a hand if a fan offers, her smile barely budging. She rarely glances down at the stream of open books on the table top as she scribbles her loopy "SP" on each one. Barnes & Noble security is starting to bring the standby line inside...

Sarah Palin fans can’t seem to wait until Sunday to get their place in line for Sarah Palin’s autograph. Palin will stop in Barnes and Noble at Valley View in Roanoke, part of a stop for a tour to sell her book, “Going Rogue.“ More than a dozen people camped out just outside the bookstore. The first person in line got there at 8 a.m. on Saturday. “She has a lot of things I really admire but she has a very much of strong backbone,“ said Sunhee Muskopf, the first person in line. Others had to figure out ways to...

Roanoke, VA - More than 1,000 people are expected to swarm Valley View Mall this weekend for a chance to meet former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Palin will be at the Barnes and Noble Book Store to sign copies of her book, "Going Rogue." In the event of rain, Valley View mall has agreed to open its doors at 7:00 a.m. so people can duck inside. Palin is expected to address the crowd in front of the store, following her book-signing. The store will start handing out a limited number of wristbands at 6:00 a.m. A Barnes of Noble...

Note: The following news brief is a quote: http://ny1.com/8-queens-news-content/top_stories/109259/queens-imam-involved-in-terror-investigation-granted-holiday-travel 11/20/2009 09:14 AM Queens Imam Involved In Terror Investigation Granted Holiday Travel By: NY1 News The Queens imam under house arrest for allegedly interfering with a terror investigation will spend Thanksgiving in Virginia. According to reports, Ahmad Afzali was given permission to travel to his father’s home for the holiday. A federal judge in Brooklyn approved the trip after a request was filed by Afzali’s attorney. Federal prosecutors reportedly did not oppose the request, but the office of pretrial services was concerned his electronic ankle monitoring bracelet would be out of...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

RICHMOND | Civil rights organizations are asking Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to sign an executive order restoring the rights of nearly 300,000 felons before he leaves office in January. Virginia and Kentucky are the only two states that permanently strip felons of their civil rights, such as voting, serving on juries or holding public office. In Virginia, the power to restore those rights lies solely with the governor. Mr. Kaine has restored rights to more than 4,000, felons, a greater number than under any other Virginia governor. He and former Gov. Mark Warner, a fellow Democrat, restored more altogether than...

DINWIDDIE, Va. – The driver of a Miley Cyrus tour bus was killed Friday when the bus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said. Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddie County, about 40 miles south of Richmond. Speed and weather weren't considered factors. The driver, William G. Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, died at the scene, police said.

The wife of the most senior Republican in the Senate was arrested Wednesday night after her vehicle struck a parked car. Police said Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar's wife, Charlene, drove her car into the parked vehicle just after 6:15 p.m. Wednesday in their McLean, Va., neighborhood. No injuries were reported.

Archers will take to tree stands in Colvin Run Mill Park and Colvin Run Stream Valley in coming weeks to reduce the area’s burgeoning deer population, which poses a threat to motorists, hikers, flora and fauna, Fairfax County officials said. The Fairfax County Police Department’s Animal Control Division, working in conjunction with the Fairfax County Park Authority, began allowing select hunting groups into the wooded park areas on Nov. 16. Archery hunts also will be held at Laurel Hill Park in Lorton. Officials estimate the county is home to about 25,000 deer, or 60 per square mile, which is roughly...

Be there!

WASHINGTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy. Sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity projects, adding to the existing $47 billion loan guarantee program. Although the additional loan guarantees would not be limited to nuclear power, the nuclear industry would likely be the major recipient of the extra money because it is one of the most established low carbon...

'Passionate response' at meeting leads to closure of park site Planned deer hunts in two Fairfax County public parks are riling animal-rights advocates and residents who say the county's new bow-and-arrow deer-culling program is inhumane and dangerous. Starting before dawn Monday, a handful of archers from Suburban Whitetail Deer Management of Northern Virginia, a nonprofit volunteer deer hunting group, went to the Colvin Run Stream Valley and Colvin Run Mill parks and hunted deer from 20- to 30-foot-high deer stands. It was unclear how many were killed, said Eric Huppert, a founder and president of the deer hunting group, but...

The FDA's website lists the Swine Flu H1n1 vaccines ingredients which include mercury, squalene and formaldehyde. Research the ingredients for yourself. Click here to find out what scientists have discovered about damaging effects of mercury on the brain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKvDQ9OkNM Although Dystonia is a less prevalant disorder, autism rates in America's children have skyrocketed. 1 in 150 children in America are diagnosed with autism. Mercury has been proven to cause nonsocial and uncontrollable behavior in primates. Scientific studies has proven mercury poisoning causes neurological damage... Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements...

Senator, As a Virginia voter I am writing you to ask that you oppose the “healthcare reform” package your Democratic colleagues in the House and President Obama have introduced. This legislation is harmful to Virginians, will raise our taxes, and create a massive federal bureaucracy that will restrict patient choice. Please vote against any attempt to federalize our medical care system.

NEW YORK (AP) — In what could be one of the biggest counterterrorism seizures in U.S. history, federal prosecutors sought to take over four U.S. mosques, a New York City skyscraper and 100 acres in Prince William County owned by a Muslim organization suspected of being controlled by the Iranian government. Prosecutors on Thursday filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets.

RICHMOND, Va. - With his state under an emergency declaration because of heavy rain and floods Thursday, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was in Arkansas for a Democratic fundraiser. Kaine is chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He appeared Thursday with Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe at a closed $250-per-ticket luncheon at a home in Little Rock. -snip-

America’s mainstream religious denominations used to teach the faithful that they would be rewarded in the afterlife. But over the past generation, a different strain of Christian faith has proliferated—one that promises to make believers rich in the here and now. Known as the prosperity gospel, and claiming tens of millions of adherents, it fosters risk-taking and intense material optimism. It pumped air into the housing bubble. And one year into the worst downturn since the Depression, it’s still going strong. Like the ambitions of many immigrants who attend services there, Casa del Padre’s success can be measured by upgrades...

“I wish the president would have started the debate by explaining to the American people that our current health care system is not financially sustainable, for even another decade,” Mr. Warner said. “Driving down health care costs should have been the focus of the debate.”

JARRATT, Va. -- John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who kept the Washington region paralyzed by fear for three weeks as he and a young accomplice gunned down people at random, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection.

Here is video of a Virginia Prison Spokesman giving a detailed preview of the upcoming execution of D.C. Sniper Mastermind John Allen Muhammad, who will be executed tonight at 9:00 PM ET. . . . (VIDEO)

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) denied clemency for John Allen Muhammad on Tuesday, clearing the way for the sniper to be executed by lethal injection at 9 p.m. and putting an end to one of the most trying local criminal cases in U.S. history. Muhammad, 48, was convicted of capital murder in the slaying of Dean Harold Meyers on Oct. 9, 2002, at a gas station outside of Manassas, part of a spree that left 10 people dead in the Washington area and included shootings in several other states. A jury in Virginia Beach, where the trial was moved...

t - 3 hrs and counting down..

Hello, Mike Ruane here to talk about the DC sniper case and answer your questions. _______________________

This is a big week for the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. It's Defense Education Week, and the student group, which has 100 to 200 members, has organized a week's worth of seminars and gatherings in support of concealed carry on Virginia college campuses. Monday night's featured speaker was Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. Earlier Monday, I spoke to Ken Stanton, 32, a serious-sounding engineering graduate student and the vice president of the Virginia Tech chapter of the concealed carry group. Here's his argument in favor of guns on...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to block the execution of John A. Muhammad, the sniper who terrorized the Washington area seven years ago. The step cleared the way for Mr. Muhammad to be put to death on Tuesday unless Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia intervenes. The court did not comment in refusing to hear Mr. Muhammad’s appeal, but three justices objected to the relative haste accompanying the execution. Justice John Paul Stevens complained that “under our normal practice,” Mr. Muhammad’s petition for the court to take his case would have been discussed at the justices’ conference scheduled...

The alleged Fort Hood shooter apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there. Whether the Fort Hood shooter associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The family of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 and wounded 29 at the Texas military base, held his mother's funeral at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., on May 31,...

Army massacre fiend Nidal Malik Hasan attended a Virginia mosque at the same time as two of the 9/11 hijackers -- and the FBI is now investigating whether there is a connection between the men, an official confirmed yesterday. Maj. Hasan -- the Army psychiatrist accused of fatally shooting 13 people and wounding 29 others at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday -- had held his mother's funeral at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., in May 2001. The mosque's imam at the time was the ultraradical Anwar Aulaqi, thought to have ties to Osama bin...

FORT HOOD, Texas (Nov. 8) – A key U.S. senator said Sunday he would begin an investigation into whether the Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology. Sen. Joe Lieberman's call for the investigation came as word surfaced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there. Whether Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into, according to a...

Terrorist Islamic Center Remains Off Limits Major Hasan and 9/11 Ops Shared Prayer Mats by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org What is taking place in the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia?What is being taught within this $6 million facility, replete with traditional minarets?What are the ties between members of this radical mosque to terrorist groups, such as al Qaeda?This mosque located in President Barack Obama’s backyard has been a magnet for militant Islamists from the time of its construction in 1983. It has been established and sustained by wealthy Saudi Arabian dignitaries and businessmen, who uphold...

Barack Obama and the Democrats want you to know they had a good week. Last Tuesday Republicans threw away a New York congressional seat they had held for a century, preferring to fight each other than win an easy contest. Excellent, say Democrats. Civil war in the Republican party augurs well for next year’s mid-term elections. What’s that, you say? Oh, yes, Democrats did lose the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, with huge swings to the other side, but this was to be expected with the economy in such bad shape. Read nothing into that, say Democratic strategists. Still...

Last Tuesday’s election in Virginia has been reported by some as a vote of no confidence in the Obama administration. Maybe it was – but a closer look indicates that seven of the nine incumbents who lost were caught flat footed on gun rights. . . . Philip Van Cleave, President of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. feels that "the results show that this election was open season on anti-gun incumbents. The antis have lost at least five reliable anti-gun votes in the already pro-gun House of Delegates, and their perennial bill to restrict private firearm sales at gun...

The media has made little mention of the fact that Nidal Malik Hasan and his family belong to the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church Va.. Dar al-Hijrah is a turnstile for terrorists and terror. Remarkably, four of the 9/11 hijackers briefly lived in the town of Falls Church, Virginia, three blocks from the WAMY office headed by Abdullah bin Laden. All four attended the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church Va. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center had members like: Osama Bin Laden's nephew Abdullah bin Laden. http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=abdullah_bin_laden Sheikh Mohammed al-Hanooti, who was named as a co-conspirator in the...

In November 2008, 658,000 Americans under 30 voted in New Jersey and 782,000 did so in Virginia. In November 2009, 212,000 Americans under 30 voted in New Jersey and 198,000 did so in Virginia. In other words, young voter turnout this year was down two-thirds in New Jersey and three-quarters in Virginia