Free Republic

McAuliffe joined Holder to head up the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group devoted to ensuring that Democrats add representation during the redistricting process, which will be based on the 2020 national census. The two men worry that Democratic donors focus too much on presidential elections, and not enough on the elections which control down ballot races nationwide. “We’ve got to be smarter about how we’re building the future of this party,” McAuliffe told the Times. “We have been decimated at the state level, and it’s at the state level that they draw the maps. We raise all this money...

Virginia is trying to pull a fast one on motorists who live along the Interstate 95/395 corridor, and we all will be moving slower and paying more as a result...The latest plan effectively hands ownership of Interstate 95/395 to a foreign corporation for the next 80 years. Transurban Group, Melbourne, Australia, will lease the existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for the 64-mile stretch between Spotsylvania, Va., and the Pentagon. Transurban will be responsible for building new access ramps and performing maintenance for the lanes. Drivers interested in a congestion-free ride can pay an expected $1 - or more - per...

Moore used footage of Maj. Stone's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in his antiwar propaganda film, Fahrenheit 9/11. He did so without the permission of Maj. Stone's family. The family was not pleased. Maj. Stone's mother called Moore a "maggot that eats off the dead." Catherine Baker Knoll has done Moore one better (or worse). On July 19th, a funeral service was held at St. John Lutheran Church in Carnegie for Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich, 32. Goodrich and fellow Marine reservist Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek, 22, were killed by mortar fire July 10th while conducting combat operations in Hit, in...

The Associated Press reports, "High school students in Fairbanks, Alaska, shouted from street corners to protest bigger class sizes. Parents in Denver braved frigid wind chills to rally against cuts to a voter-approved school fund. Buses for a demonstration in Frankfort, Ky., had interstate traffic backed up for two miles. "Public schools typically eat up more cash than any other state service. So as states face their worst financial conditions in decades, many have planned school cuts broad and deep, from firing teachers to requiring cheerleaders to pay if they want a squad." In "School Choice Can Help States Meet...