VA-02 News From the Candidates

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor Launch "Contract with Congress"Congressional Reform That Restores Trust in Government
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA - 3/22/2010 -

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor, both Republican Congressional candidates in Virginia's Second District, have launched a partnership initiative of Congressional Reform called the "Contract on Congress."

"Republicans, Independents and Democrats are losing faith and trust in government," said Republican Congressional Candidate Ben Loyola. "Part of that is government's growth beyond what it can and should do effectively, but part of that is the Congressional perks and privilege that need to be reformed."

Republican Congressional Candidate Scott Taylor said, "This contract represents some of the true reform that is needed to ensure the future prosperity, character and livelihood of this nation. If we continue to elect cookie-cutter politicians, we will continue to get cookie-cutter results."

Both candidates hope that fellow Republicans will join the initiative and support the Contract.

These reforms include:

"No Taxpayer Propaganda Act"

In this age of free, electronic communications, television, radio, telephone and texting, the most outdated expense of Congress is the Frank, where taxpayers get expensive, multi-color mailpieces from politicians and taxpayers pay for every last one of them.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor propose ending the taxpayer funding of these expensive, multi-color political communications.

"End Congressional Pensions"

It's completely unfair to tax citizens who don't have wealthy pension plans to pay their Members of Congress to have them. Representatives serve by the will of the people, and rich retirement benefits defeats the purpose of a citizen legislature as designed by the Founders.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor pledge to put an end to rich pensions for the privileged in Congress. Members of Congress must live under the same types of retirement plans like 401K/403B that are regularly found in the private sector.

"Constitutional Supremacy"

America is the only country where power exists with the people, and through the Constitution the people loan this power to government to accomplish certain tasks. Too often bills pass in Congress with no basis in any reading of the Constitution. Any initiative in Washington should plainly show its Constitutional basis and justification.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor would favor the rule that each bill presented will explain its Constitutional basis.

"The Dozen before Dirty"

Incumbents rarely lose. Incumbents who serve more than six years almost never lose. Committees are controlled by incumbents in districts where they will never be replaced in an election. It breeds corruption.

A dozen years is enough for any representative. No Member of Congress should serve more than 12 years.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor pledge to propose a Constitutional Amendment to limit terms to 12 years and personally pledge not to serve more than 12 years.

"A Pork-Free Diet"

In these days of trillions of dollars of extreme debt and budget deficits that are routinely ignored by Congress, the earmark process must be reformed. Defense-related spending has a firm Constitutional basis, but earmarks for special projects that are beyond the purview of government that are simply used for political patronage and to "bring home bacon" for a district must end.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor pledge to introduce no earmarks and work for a ban on non-defense earmarks.

"No Pay for Overtime"

When was the last time Congress passed a budget on time? We don't know either. Instead, they pass "continuing resolutions" and "supplemental appropriations" that reward their inaction and usually get loaded up with perks and special interest favors.

Members of Congress should reimburse the Treasury for every working day the budget is not passed on time.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor will sponsor reforms where Members of Congress must reduce their salary for each day the budget is not passed on time.

"End Deficit Spending"

The federal government has been operating on deficit spending for decades, except for the few years during the Republican Revolution in the 90s. Today's deficits are unconscionable. Government can live within its means. It just doesn't want to.

We've got to stop excusing this deficit spending. No quarter should be asked or given. And Members of Congress should forfeit a quarter of their salary each year the budget is not in balance.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor pledge to propose a Constitutional Amendment to require a balanced federal budget.

"Public Option for Public Servants"

The worst kind of representation is the kind that forces citizens into systems that legislators would never accept. Any health care "public option" plan should require that each elected official be made to take the same option that they are prescribing for the people they represent.

Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor will require Members of Congress to forgo participation in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program if Congress passes a "public option" health care plan. They will have to enroll in the same public option they force upon citizens.

"Read Before You Vote"

You can't effectively represent the voters who sent you to Washington to vote on legislation when you haven't read it, but Congress does it all the time. Bills that are thousands of pages and amendments with pages in the hundreds can't possibly be read before it's time to vote.

Motions to waive reading of legislation pass with consistent success and Members of Congress pass omnibus bills and don't have a clue what's in them.

That's wrong.

Each bill should be read aloud before a quorum of each chamber, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and each member should swear that they've read each bill they vote on. Each bill should be online in sufficient time for interested Americans to read as well.
Ben Loyola and Scott Taylor pledge to read every bill they vote on and will listen to constituents who have comments, concerns and suggestions about legislation.

Scott Taylor is a candidate for the Republican nomination in Virginia's 2nd Congressional district. He is a small business owner in Virginia Beach, former Navy SEAL and Iraq-War Veteran. To learn more about Scott, please visit www.ScottTaylorforCongress.com

Ben Loyola is a candidate for the Republican nomination in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. He's a 25-year resident of Virginia Beach, US Naval Academy graduate, 30 year Navy veteran with combat experience, and succesful award winning business-man. Visit www.Benloyola.com for more information.

Crush From Blackfive on Andrea Shea King Tonight

SEAL 3 Update
For more on Chris Carter, aka Crush, go here.

As posted on Backfive.net:

I will be discussing the SEAL 3 Special Courts-Martial on the Andrea Shea King Show tonight at 9 PM. I hope to get as many fellow B5-ers as we can to tune in. We must get as many people active on this matter immediately.

For the latest on the SEAL 3, visit the Victory Institute.

Everyone Who Showed Up Is A Hero

SEALs assault case goes to court

The mother of slain Blackwater guard Jerry Zovko drove from Ohio to give each of the accused SEALs a blessed rosary and lend them her support.

"These young SEALs are in this situation because they caught the mastermind behind the death of my son, and not only my son and his co-workers but also the marines who went into Fallujah after their death," said Donna Zovko. "I am very proud of these young SEALs and thankful to them. They did not do anything wrong."

Early in the morning, before the SEALs' arraignments even began, a crowd of about 100 people formed outside the base to show their support for the accused men. Some of them were from Hampton Roads and some of them drove hundreds of miles to stand by the accused SEALs. And, just about every car that drove past the base honked in support.

"It's made me, and the other two guys, feel very good about the situation. It's helping us get through everyday," said an overwhelmed McCabe. "It makes us feel so much better knowing that we have so many people behind us, I just can't explain how much better I feel because of that."

McCabe's father was among the crowd. "You send these kids into harms way, they don't know if their next step is going to be their last step. They go get one of the most high profile terrorists on the planet and for that they get a court martial," said Marty McCabe.

"Tears my heart out. Last time I read the Constitution it was, 'We the people.' It doesn't cover these clowns, you know these guys who climb out from under rocks and kill women and children."

The citizens who gave up their Monday morning to be in Norfolk in support of these Warriors made a difference. Thank you everyone.

BRAVO ZULU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Am A Warrior and This Is My Song

H/T Mike in Tidewater

October 26-Day of the Deployed

From my second family at Soldiers Angels.

Cantor Gets Asked A Serious Question

Carter is a member of DCProtest Warrior and a friend of mine.

Redstate Jeff Emanuel

Bravo-Zulus to the whole team.
Well Done.

Read the whole thing here:
The Story of a Successful Rescue (and a Democratic Administration’s Attempt to Claim Credit)

Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophants’) attempt to spin today’s success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort.

What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four-day-and-counting standoff between a rag-tag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.

Instead of taking direct, decisive action against the rag-tag group of gunmen (such as outlined here; note how close #1 is to what actually took place), the Obama administration dilly-dallied, dawdled, and eschewed any decisive action whatsoever, even in the face of enemy fire, in hopes that the situation would somehow resolve itself without violence — thus sending a clear message to all who would threaten U.S.
interests abroad that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no idea how to respond to such situations, and no real willingness to use military force to resolve them.

Any who think they weren’t watching every minute of this are guilty — at best — of greatly underestimating our enemies.

Like the crew of the Alabama, which took swift and decisive action to take back their own ship rather than wait for help from Washington that they knew could not be
counted on, Captain Philips took matters into his own hands for the second time in three days this afternoon, leaping into the water to create a diversion and allowing the NSWC team to eliminate his captors. The result, of course, was the best that could possibly be expected: three pirates dead, the captain unharmed, and a fourth Somali man who had surrendered late Saturday night in custody.

The heroes of 1776 still exist

God Bless America!
1215 military members Re-Enlist!
Largest re-enlistment ceremony in the history of the USA.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

If you don't get chills when you pledge this, you don't understand what you are saying or doing.


From Bob Krumm:

BAGHDAD – How are you spending your 4th of July holiday? While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military. Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.

h/t Instapundit.com

HOLY CRAP! Possible gift of a CARRIER to India!

Now this is ballsy! That is the only word for it. We seem to be offering India the USS Kitty Hawk AS A FREAKIN' GIFT!

Sort of.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the US Navy, the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) is our oldest carrier in service and is on her last cruise. She was commissioned April 21, 1961, becoming the ship with the second longest active status in the Navy. (The USS Constitution sailing ship in Boston Harbor is 209 years old and is still retained on active Navy status.)
The carrier, at 1,069 feet long, displaces over 81,000 tons fully loaded. Her air wing consists of 85 combat and support aircraft.
Miss Kitty is scheduled to be decommissioned this year.
Apparently, that might change.......

India is seeking a carrier. Russia was supposed to provide them one free of charge, except for the cost of a rebuild, which Russia is to do. Russia is screwing it up, due to corruption and a general failure of industry: "As reported by Russian military analyst Aleksandr Golts, "the money [$1.5 billion] was allocated, but the work was never done."

Oops. And thus was an opportunity born.

From The Weekly Standard via Redstate: (emphasis mine)

Enter the United States. According to numerous sources inside India, when U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits New Delhi late in February (provided his Tuesday Potomac Primary Day broken shoulder does not alter his itinerary) he will be carrying a signed letter from U.S. President George W. Bush offering a better deal for India than the one they have been struggling to get out of Moscow for four years now. The Indian Navy will reportedly be offered the soon-to-be decommissioned USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) aircraft carrier for free--provided the Indian Navy will agree to purchase 65 of the newest model Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to be operated off of it.

If true--and if New Delhi accepts--this can do more than just sink the Russian carrier deal and the MiG-29K contract. The Indian Air Force (IAF) are deep in the throes of a tender to purchase almost 200 new fighter aircraft, with Boeing and RSK-MiG both in the field of six contenders. An order of 200 fighter airplanes is unheard of--larger than any such export sale in more than 20 years. In an era where sales of 12, 20, or 40 fighters are more common, this is the PowerBall Lotto of export competitions.

If the Indian Navy decide to take on the F/A-18E/Fs, it makes logistical sense for the IAF to do the same and the competition for this massive sale would probably be over for all of the other competitors before it gets started. This would be a huge blow to the fortunes of RSK-MiG, who are bidding an advanced, developed MiG-29 model they have now re-labeled the MiG-35. It could make it hard for the famous Russian planemaker to stay in the military aircraft market.

Just last December Boeing placed $1 billion worth of outsourced production with India's HAL. To run for 10 years, this contract will have the Indians building portions of the F/A-18E/F, the Chinook CH-47 helicopter, and other Boeing platforms. This incentive--plus the carrier deal--could make the Boeing Super Hornet the proverbial offer that is too good to pass up.

It seems as if the proverbial "Yankee trader" might be back. While I have mixed feeling about the idea of a foreign country sailing one of our carriers, the USA has a long history of passing our older ships onto other countries in order to improve relations and alliances. And making India our ally in that part of the world is definitely a good thing......

Cool stuff.

This is just cool.

Rail gun reaches 10 megajoules.

Rail way vehicle reaches 6589 mph.

Check out Popular Mechanics.

Go Navy!

Iranian fast attack speedboats provoke US Navy

While the speedboats themselves are a minor threat, the dropping of those boxes could be practice for mine dropping...

The US was seconds from firing. I'm of mixed feelings. I want to watch the Iranians get what they deserve but I don't want more violence in the area. However, I REALLY don't want to see US ships get blown up.