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Byron York at the Washington Examiner has Senator James Webb’s repudiation of the Obama administration decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 figures in a New York City courtroom (emphasis mine): I have never disputed the constitutional authority of the President to convene Article III courts in cases of international terrorism. However, I remain very concerned about the wisdom of doing so. Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to...

We need to start blasting all his phones, emails , twitter account, facebooks, and writing to the newspapers. Even if you don't live in his state you need to still be active on them and tell them no business in Virginia if Webb votes in favor of Obama's reckless Obamacare and cap n trade Danville 308 Craghead Street Suite 102A Danville, VA 24541 Phone: 434-792-0976 Fax: 434-972-0978 Hampton Roads 222 Central Park Ave. Suite 120 Virginia Beach, VA 23462 Phone: 757-518-1674 Fax: 757-518-1679 Northern Virginia 7309 Arlington Boulevard Suite 316 Falls Church, VA 22042 Loehmann's Plaza Phone:703-573-7090 Fax:703-573-7098 Norton 756...

The Talk Shows Sunday, October 25th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Afghan presidential candidate and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Mike Tuffin, of America's Health Insurance Plans.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck U. Schumer, D-N.Y.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wis. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Abdullah;...

The military junta of Burma is working hard at oppressing the country’s people and is following in North Korea’s footsteps in becoming a rogue state. At this time when the U.S. is most strategically and morally obligated to support the country’s democracy movement, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has begun engaging the junta, drawing the ire of today’s Martin Luther Kings and George Washingtons in Burma. Senator Webb became the first member of Congress to visit Burma on August 15, and granted the leader of the junta, General Than Shwe, his first visit from a senior American policy-maker. Webb also...

In my last post on Burma, I reported the second meeting in as many months between Senator Jim Webb and Nyan Win, the foreign minister for the Burmese junta. This time the meeting was in Washington, which required that Win be granted a visa waiver (he, like the rest of the junta's senior figures, is on a prohibited list). [snip] Foreign Minister Nyan Win is actually Major General Nyan Win in the Burmese Army. Before heading up the Foreign Ministry where he became the point man for explaining away the butchery his regime visits on the Burmese people, he was...

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

The Talk Shows Sunday, September 27th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kit Bond, R-Mo.; Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell; conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Former President Bill Clinton, New York Gov. David Patterson and Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jim Webb, D-Va.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.THIS WEEK (ABC): Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.

According to Reuters, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win "has arrived in New York after being granted permission to visit the Burmese embassy in Washington, a US official said yesterday." The unnamed source quoted by Reuters stated that Nyan Win "made a side trip" to the embassy in Washington, but did not meet with any members of the US government." The Burmese embassy has so far refused to comment but Burma-watchers in Washington believe he is still there. All senior members of Burma's military junta are banned from visiting Washington except for very specific international meetings. Nayan Win would certainly fall...

NORFOLK If Congress wants meaningful health care reform, its leaders must stop rushing to pass a bill and hold legislative hearings to air the pros and cons of specific proposals, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday. "My thought right now is to slow this down," the Virginia Democrat said. "Open it up. Have some hearings. Let people get their different viewpoints out in a very public way." The problems today with angry people shouting at each other during community forums around the country and the confusion over what might be included in any health care overhaul have their roots in...

A new educational benefit for veterans kicked in at the beginning of this month, marking the first time since 1984’s revamping of the Montgomery GI Bill that Congress has acted to improve education opportunities for servicemen and women after separation. This new program, known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, is exclusively available to military veterans (and the dependents of veterans) who served on or after September 11, 2001. Sponsored in the Senate last year by former Navy Secretary and current Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22) rewrote and rebuilt the entire veterans’ educational benefit structure....

Myanmar freed an ailing American whom it had sentenced to seven years of hard labor and handed him to an influential U.S senator on Sunday, a move that could help persuade Washington to soften its hardline policy against the military regime. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured John Yettaw's freedom, said he believes years of sanctions have failed to move the Southeast Asian country toward democratic reforms or talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US senator visits Suu Kyi Published: 16/08/2009 at 04:50 AM Rangoon (AFP) - US Senator Jim Webb met Burmese military ruler Than Shwe and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday after securing the release of the US citizen jailed for visiting Suu Kyi's house in May. John Yettaw, bound for Bangkok Sunday afternoon. Webb, a Democrat with close links to US President Barack Obama, became the first official US visitor to hold talks with the reclusive Than Shwe, encountering the regime's supremo in his bunker-like capital, Naypyidaw, officials said. Webb then flew to Rangoon to meet Nobel peace...

US Senator Jim Webb has said jailed American John Yettaw is to be released by Burma's military leaders and will leave the country with him on Sunday. The announcement came shortly after Mr Webb held talks with Burmese military ruler Than Shwe in Burma. Mr Webb also met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, days after she was given house arrest for 18 more months. Mr Yettaw's uninvited visit to Ms Suu Kyi's home led to her trial. He was himself given seven years' hard labour. Mr Webb's office said Mr Yettaw would be officially deported on Sunday morning and...

Yangon - US Senator Jim Webb arrived in Myanmar's military capital Naypyitaw Friday for high-level talks with the country's ruling junta that are expected to include a meeting with Senior General Than Shwe, government sources confirmed. Webb, a Democrat from Virginia who is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, flew direct to Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, in a chartered plane from Vientiane, Laos. He is scheduled to meet with junta chief Than Shwe at 11 am (0430 GMT) Saturday , a foreign ministry source said. Webb's trip to Myanmar, part of a five-nation tour of...

On June 10, the nation tragically witnessed a memorial dedicated to commemorating an atrocity become the site of yet more death. Just before 1 p.m., longtime neo-Nazi James Wenneker Von Brunn entered the Holocaust Museum on the National Mall and opened fire in an attempt to complete the Final Solution his hero had left tentative, an omission Von Brunn dubbed “Hitler’s biggest mistake.” As former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen wandered the museum grounds, Von Brunn killed Stephen T. Johns, a black security officer, then was shot himself. As of this writing, the 88-year-old is in critical condition. The white-wing fringe...

With Capitol Hill Republicans cranking up the volume on the issue of where to send alleged terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) reversed himself Sunday, and questioned President Obama's "artificial timelines" for closing the facility. Webb, appearing on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" with Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, said that after reviewing Obama's plans to close the facility within one year, he doesn't agree with the president's time schedule and he opposes bringing any detainees to U.S. soil. "We spend hundreds of millions of dollars building an appropriate facility with all security precautions in...

America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives.

America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace. Its irregularities and inequities cut against the notion that we are a society founded on fundamental fairness. Our failure to address this problem has caused the nation's prisons to burst their seams with massive overcrowding, even as our neighborhoods have become more dangerous. We are wasting billions of dollars and diminishing millions of lives. We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the long-term consequences...

Paid Parental Leave Urge Senators to Support This First StepAsk your senators to support upcoming legislation to guarantee federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for a new child, as a first step toward universal paid leave.Action Needed:Providing paid leave to parents is only fair to working families who need to both care for a new family member as well as maintain an income. Most industrialized nations have provided paid parental leave for decades.Paid parental leave for 2.7 million federal workers can be the model that we can work to achieve for the rest of the country. This important...

As both an honored veteran of the armed forces and one of the Senate’s most outspoken pro-gun democrats, your endorsement of the candidacy of Barack Obama carried great weight with gun-owning democrats and moderates. After all, his voting record regarding gun-rights and the right to self-defense was abysmal and gun owners were justifiably hesitant to believe his sudden assertion that he “supported” the right to keep and bear arms. It wasn’t until you, and other pro-gun democrats, began to speak out that the tide began to turn. And why wouldn’t it? Your voice means something to those of us who...

I see that Virginia Senator James Webb is in the news with an announcement about preserving "Virginia’s abundant natural, historical, and cultural resources." That's great. In his editorial, Webb stated: "Virginia is fortunate to have such an abundant supply of pristine lands steeped in history. Extending the Civil War Battlefields Preservation program will enable children to experience the same untouched landscapes of their ancestors and visit the places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians, alike." I'm grateful that Senator Webb recognizes this emotional connection Virginians have to their ancestors and the land. (Too bad others don't.)...

We keep hearing that the pork in the bill is 1% of the total. Tonight while channel flipping MSNBC, Maddow, had a reporterette on that said even Senator Jim Webb is upset with this "stimulus" bill quoting him as saying there is at least 100 billion of costs that do not belong in this bill. No vote tonight. Harry Reid was "mistaken" about having the votes. Dems are losing moderate Democratic Senators on this bill.

Mark Warner now has an email address in the Senate. That email is warner_info@warner.senate.gov We need to write him often...so he remembers the conservative nature of the voters in Virginia. His address in DC and phone info is: B40C DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 DC Phone: 202-224-2023 DC Fax: 202-224-2530 PS Jim Webb has no email but does have a webform for messages: http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

Fear of gun control under Obama drives firearms purchases. Ever since Barack Obama won the presidential election, Dusty Medor’s phone has been ringing off the hook. Medor, a soft-spoken bearded gunsmith, runs D & J Gun Repair out of his home in Sterling. Prior to the election, he saw sales dropping a bit, which he attributed mostly to the lagging economy. Now, business is booming so much that he is struggling to restock merchandise fast enough for customers. Gun sales are not only up but Medor is also overseeing more online "transfers," when a person has purchased a gun over...

The Young Democrats Meet the Third Thursday of the month: Next Meeting Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:00 PM Democratic Headquarters 164 High St. NE Warren, Ohio 44481 Rokey Suleman, Past President and Founding Member Fairfax County Registrar Rokey Suleman is disqualifying an overwhelming majority of the military federal write-in absentee ballots received in his county on the basis that no address had been given for those witnessing the voter signatures on the ballots. This is the same guy: Yes. The same guy. Should someone start writing to all of the outlets that might put this into the hands of media...

For a guy who just four years ago was running his first statewide campaign, Barack Obama has made startlingly few missteps as a presidential candidate. --snip-- I was surprised, then, when Webb told me that while he was enthusiastic about Obama and would campaign for him, he did not intend to vouch for him on social issues. “I believe that Barack Obama has the temperament and the intellect and the ideas to be president,” Webb said. “But I don’t talk about his positions, and I don’t defend his positions.” When I commented that Webb wasn’t where Obama was on gun...

At a rally for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Roanoke, Virginia, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Vir., cited Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- and Obama's pick of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. -- as evidence that Obama would be a better president. "What is the one decision that a candidate for president makes before he or she is elected that clearly indicates what their judgment is?" Webb asked the crowd. "The selection for who is going to run with that individual as Vice President." "Do you really think that Sarah Palin is the most qualified person in the...

Virginia’s soon-to-be senior senator, Jim Webb, was the warm up act for Barack Obama on the Democratic nominee’s seventh visit to Virginia since clinching the Democratic nomination. Webb, who at one point was mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama, praised his colleague from Illinois for picking Joe Biden. “People know Joe Biden, and people know that he is capable in a moment of stepping forward and assuming the responsibilities of president of the United States,” he said. And while he called John McCain a friend, he questioned the GOPer’s judgment. “Now John McCain chose Gov Palin,” he continued...

The Obama campaign goes up in Virginia with its first ad featuring Senator Jim Webb, who offers a strong and personal defense of Barack Obama on guns and assures Virginians that Obama will protect our country's "greatness." We obtained the radio spot, and it's a strong one, starting off with an "important message to Virginia sportsmen and working families": Click To Play In the ad, Webb, a Vietnam vet and gun enthusiast, recounts his own gun history -- his dad gave him his first rifle when he was eight -- and goes on to explain that gun-love runs in his...

Muslim vote is powerful, group told Examples are cited in Dearborn BY ZACHARY GORCHOW FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER December 24, 2006 Muslims played a critical role in some key elections this year. But elected officials won't take them seriously if they don't continue to organize and turn out Muslim voters, two politically active Muslims said Saturday at a convention in Dearborn. If there are efforts to register Muslims to vote, educate them about the candidates and get them to the polls to vote for one candidate, politicians will court their support, Jameel Johnson, an aide to U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks,...

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia wants the Pentagon to freeze up to $300 million in contracts with companies the military is hiring to place pro-U.S. news stories and entertainment programs in the Iraqi media . Webb wrote Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to ask that the deals be suspended until they can be reviewed by the Senate Armed Services Committee and the next presidential administration. A freshman Democrat, Webb sits on the Armed Services panel. With the United States in "a grave economic crisis" and Iraq's government carrying a $79 billion budget surplus drawn from oil exports, "it...

Well before Senators Barack Obama and John McCain rose to the top of their parties, a partisan shift was under way at the local and state level. For more than three years starting in 2005, there has been a reduction in the number of voters who register with the Republican Party and a rise among voters who affiliate with Democrats and, almost as often, with no party at all. Jim Webb, arms crossed, at a rally in 2006, won his Senate race in Virginia with strong support from inner suburbs. While the implications of the changing landscape for Mr. Obama...

The US should avoid suggesting that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be followed by a surge of troops in Afghanistan, according to Jim Webb, senator for Virginia. Ruling himself out as a possible running mate for Barack Obama, Mr Webb’s comments come as an implied criticism of the Democratic party’s orthodoxy on Iraq and Afghanistan – including Mr Obama’s own stance. "The dynamic is that terrorism works the seams of international law. We can’t create stable societies in places like Afghanistan;that can’t be our objective.”Mr Webb’s background as a “Reagan Democrat” – the group of working-class Democratic supporters...

Authorities investigated the mysteries surrounding the death of U.S. Senate aide Fred Hutchins on Wednesday, a day after his body was found beside his sport utility vehicle on U.S. 220 near Fincastle. "We're just working to let the evidence go wherever it goes," said Botetourt County Sheriff's Maj. Delbert Dudding. One of his deputies obtained a search warrant to look through the downtown Roanoke apartment of Hutchins, who was 26 and ran U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's office in Roanoke County. According to the search warrant, potential evidence was sought that might exist in Hutchins' computer, his cellphone, his answering machine...

Authorities investigated the mysteries surrounding the death of U.S. Senate aide Fred Hutchins on Wednesday, a day after his body was found beside his sport utility vehicle on U.S. 220 near Fincastle. "We're just working to let the evidence go wherever it goes," said Botetourt County Sheriff's Maj. Delbert Dudding. One of his deputies obtained a search warrant to look through the downtown Roanoke apartment of Hutchins, who was 26 and ran U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's office in Roanoke County. According to the search warrant, potential evidence was sought that might exist in Hutchins' computer, his cellphone, his answering machine...

** Originally published January 12, 2007 ** The Botetourt County kid who handed out political business cards as a grade schooler is now the local face for U.S. Sen. James Webb in the Roanoke and New River valleys. Fred Hutchins, who has spent the past several years as state Del. Onzlee Ware's legislative aide, has been hired by Virginia's new Democratic senator to run his Roanoke-based U.S. Senate office. For the time being, it will be in the same place as former U.S. Sen. George Allen's, in an office complex off Virginia 419 near the Roanoke County Administration Building. "I'm...

Authorities in Botetourt County this morning discovered the body of a well-known Democratic operative and U.S. Senate aide along U.S. 220, dead from an apparent gunshot wound. The body of Frederick W. Hutchins Jr., 26, of Roanoke was found shortly after 7 a.m. along southbound U.S. 220 by a Botetourt County deputy who had stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the highway's shoulder, according to the sheriff's office. Hutchins was an aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb, D-Va. Hutchins had been shot in the head, and a gun was found beneath his body, Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said. The...

An aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb was found dead alongside a Botetourt County road yesterday, according to a Richmond newspaper. Frederick Wayne Hutchins Jr., 26, apparently had been shot once in the head and a gun was found under his body, the Richmond Times Dispatch was reporting. The body was discovered outside his vehicle on an embankment on U.S. 220 near Fincastle.

As oil trades in excess of $135 a barrel the theme of the left has been to invest in “green alternative energy solutions.” But Sen. James Webb, D-Va., touted as a rising star in the liberal movement, isn’t playing along. “We need to look at nuclear,” Webb said on July 8. “We need to have a sensible nuclear policy. We haven’t built a nuclear power plant in this country in 30 years. Technology’s changed a lot in the last 30 years. You know when I was saying this two years ago, as some people in this room know – there...

Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), considered one of the favorites to be picked as Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) running mate on the Democratic ticket, announced Monday that he would not be a candidate for the job. “Last week I communicated to Sen. Obama and his presidential campaign my firm intention to remain in the United States Senate, where I believe I am best equipped to serve the people of Virginia and this country,” Webb said. “Under no circumstances will I be a candidate for vice president.”

A Virginia Senator with less experience than Obama, and maybe not a lot in common either, takes himself out of the Veepstakes.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) waded into the debate over John McCain's military service Monday to say that the Republican should avoid using military service in politics. Webb, a Barack Obama supporter, was on MSNBC's "Countdown" to talk about his G.I. Bill to increase education benefits for returning veterans which is now law. Webb criticized both McCain and President Bush for not supporting the bill. Then, unprompted, Webb weighed in on the debate over retired Gen. Wesley Clark's remark that "riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down" isn't "a qualification to be president."

There is nothing that has fascinated Democrats this election cycle more than the prospect of their nominee winning Virginia in November. It would indeed be the Democrats’ first time to do so in more than 40 years, and the idea of cutting into the Republicans' hold on the south is, understandably, extremely exciting for them (although if they have set foot in Northern Virginia, which contains a third of the state's votes, they would understand the foolishness of interpreting a Virginia victory as anything resembling the takeover of a “southern” state.) Nonetheless, that is all they are talking about. They...

Barack Obama’s vice presidential vetting team will undoubtedly run across some quirky and potentially troublesome issues as it goes about the business of scouring the backgrounds of possible running mates. But it’s unlikely they’ll find one so curious as Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb’s affinity for the cause of the Confederacy. Webb is no mere student of the Civil War era. He’s an author, too, and he’s left a trail of writings and statements about one of the rawest and most sensitive topics in American history. He has suggested many times that while the Confederacy is a symbol to many...

WASHINGTON — The Marines, in full dress uniform, perform their summer drills in silence, flipping their rifles in near-perfect precision in front of the Iwo Jima memorial, illuminated by the glow of sunset. One man, the guest of honor, stands stock-straight at the center of the pageantry, Marines on both sides, watching as they pass. Order. Precision. Tradition. Just across the Potomac River from his Senate office, this is Jim Webb's world. The first-term senator from Virginia has built a life around a deep love for the military. His sons have followed him, with one serving in the Marines in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With his two Purple Hearts, three tattoos and spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, Sen. Jim Webb is emerging as the Democrats' point man on two of the most profound matters facing the electorate this November: national defense and the military. A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama's go-to person on national security, where the...

Richard Just at the New Republic magazine is not impressed with Virginia senator Jim Webb as a running mate for Barack Obama. Webb is fundamentally illiberal, he writes, a misogynist and an ethnic nationalist and "something of an apologist for the Confederacy." So why do lots of liberals like Webb, Just asks. "In the years since he left the Republican party, Webb has found his way to certain policy stands that liberals correctly find attractive. He was right about Iraq, and, on economics, he is right to criticise the disparity between rich and poor." Just can't figure out how a...

By pushing a bill that distances himself from the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate on offshore drilling, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia is picking a curious time to exercise his well-known independence. Webb wants his home state to have the right to explore for energy off Virginia’s coast. His staff insists his proposal pertains only to natural gas, and not oil, and that it is completely in line with the state’s other two leading Democrats — Gov. Tim Kaine and former Gov. Mark Warner, who is running for Senate. Yet by attaching his name to the bill, sponsored by...

Wisconsin Democrats, gathered in convention at Stevens Point Friday night, had no national party "stars" to gush about. Presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama, who was in the state Thursday, skipped the partisan gathering. So, too, did New York Senator Hillary Clinton, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, Virginia Senator Jim Webb and all the other "names" mentioned as prospective vice presidential candidates. Nor did they have a keynote speaker to get all excited about. In the absence of a national celebrity, they had to settle for a "keynote" from Governor James Doyle -- who would have addressed the convention anyway....

How can you tell when someone really, really wants to be vice president? He becomes very outgoing, and very sensitive, at the same time. That’s what has happened with Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) lately. I have not, in the past, been on the senator’s press mailing list. Nothing unusual there; I don’t cover him and don’t usually write about him. But lately, his press office has wanted to make sure I know everything he’s doing. Which TV shows will he visit? Which hearings will he attend? I’m getting frequent updates. There are also signs Webb is paying a lot of...