Steven Latimer

I had the pleasure of witnessing the VCU Men's Basketball team beat UNC-Wilmington. Things started out not-so-well, but the Rams ended up winning convincingly. With the win, VCU wins the Colonial Athletic Association season and gets the number one seed in the March 7-10 tournament.

GO RAMS!

Eariler today, conservative icon and legend Bill Buckley passed away at the ripe age of 82. I am saddened to learn of his death.

In the words of George Will, "Before Ronald Reagan, there was Barry Goldwater, and before Barry Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review, there was Bill Buckley, with a spark in his mind."

Buckley may be gone, but his ideas, hard work, and gumption will continue to inspire many.

Just awful. It's amazing how quickly people can fall from grace.

Last night, and most of today, a nasty storm is blowing through the Northeast. It's dumping cold rain in Richmond, and it's wreaking havoc elsewhere. Last night some freezing rain fell. J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College decided, in its infinite wisdom, that they would open at 10 a.m. today, meaning my 9 o' clock class was cancelled. I did not know about this until I arrived in class and no one was there. I did not receive the message since I wake up in the morning, catch the VCU Campus Connector, and go.

Why? There was a bit of freezing rain. Who cares? That's no sufficient reason to delay class. Public transit was operating on schedule and VCU did not cancel or delay their classes.

Your state at work, folks.

All day today, the Greater Richmond Transit System is honoring the life and legacy of Ms. Rosa Parks by reserving the first seat on the bus in her honor.

Parks is best known for refusing to give up her bus seat on public tansit, for which she was arrested. This kicked off the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

This begs the question: why is GRTC doing this today? Rosa Parks was a woman of courage whose actions brought us greater equality, and we can be thankful. But why is she being remembered today? Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913 and died on October 24, 2005. She refused to give up her seat on December 1, 1955. So wouldn't it be more appropriate to recognize her on December 1 or February 4?

I attended CPAC 2008, which was held in Washington, D.C. It was a week-and-a-half ago, so I've forgotten most of the details, but it was a fantastic event. I met a lot of rad people and also saw a lot of old friends.

I got to see John McCain, George Allen, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich speak. These were all a real treat. I wanted to see Mitt Romney but I arrived too late and they were turning people away from the doors. McCain got a lot of boos from the conservative crowd, especially on immigration.

Even after the public outcry, John McCain still does not understand the threat that illegal immigration poses. Legal immigration is fine, and we should continue to welcome legal immigrants, but there should be no illegal immigration, and offering amnesty creates incentive to come here illegally.

Paul was well received. A lot of the "conservative" crowd doesn't like his foreign policy, but otherwise they like him. Even Ann Coulter made glowing remarks of Ron Paul; Coulter said it would be fabulous to have Ron Paul in charge of domestic policy.

Allen was not originally scheduled to speak, and when there was a lag in time between McCain's speech and what preceded it, Allen was introduced as a special guest. The crowd immediately got to their feet; conservatives love George Allen. George Allen is a great public speaker; when he speaks it is impossible to not listen.

Gingrich spoke the last day of the conference, in the afternoon, so it had the effect of being a keynote address. Words can't fully do his welcoming justice, so here is the YouTube video of Newt's over-the-top entrance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j9nCAJdgkg

Ethics charges aside, conservatives are still very appreciative of what Newt did in 1994 and the crowd immediately got to their feet. I've never seen a standing ovation quite like it. It was like a party of 5,000 people in one room clapping and hooping and hollering for Newt.

Newt's speech was one of the best speeches I've ever heard in my life. It was just right for the occasion.

This is just a sampling of what I did at CPAC, it was a week or two ago and the details aren't fresh. I had an amazing time and look forward to CPAC 2009!

Sad...especially by 1 point against ODU. Thankfully the Rams are still #1 in the CAA.

First, I am back from CPAC and am very tired. I shall therefore discuss CPAC here at a later time.

Today the Redskins named Seattle assistant Jim Zorn the new Head Coach, replacing Joe Gibbs. I'm a little surprised by the choice here: first of all, until today I have never heard of Zorn. Wasn't he one of the bad guys in Power Rangers?

Dan Snyder has brought in the big names since he bought the team: Marty, Steve Spurrier, and Gibbs. Hiring Zorn, who I've never heard of, breaks the pattern.

I'm still shocked Al Saunders and Gregg Williams got fired. I was expected one of the them to get the bump especially since everyone seemed to like Williams.

Obviously no one hires an idiot as coach, so let's look for the best out of Zorn.

Folks I'm in Washington for CPAC. I'm saddened to learn of Mitt Romney's decision to leave the race, but I understand how he feels.

I'm going to see Ron Paul speak this evening. Right now I'm in the CRNC's party suite hanging out and eating lunch. My parents don't know I'm in DC (yet).

If you weren't aware, I am a candidate for VCU Student Body President.

The campaign's blog can be found at http://larvcusga.blogspot.com

I'm in the MCV library right now and my cell phone rang.

My mobile phone's front LCD screen read "Unavailable" so just for fun, I answered it, knowingly violating of the library's policy which bans cell phone conversations near the computer terminals. I'm glad I answered.

"Hello?"

Basically it was a recording from Ron Paul, asking me to vote for him. (I have already voted for him, via absentee ballot.) Apparently the campaign has my phone number (I'm not surprised) and is robocalling all the likely voters. It was a sweet, 30 second message from Ron explaining the importance of voting for him, and voting for what he beleives in--in short, voting for the right reasons.

Virginia votes Feb. 12, the week after Super Tuesday.

This kind of personal--even if it's just a recording--contact with voters which is very important in politics. This is really good stuff. It means Ron Paul cares about his supporters; he contacts them on the telephone. It also means he will compete at least through Super Tuesday.

Ron Paul won't win any primaries, but his ideas are important, and will continue to inspire many to work for Freedom.

I seriously considered voting for Mitt Romney, but when I opened my absentee ballot and looked at the words "Mitt Romney" it just didn't feel right.

At a time in which Joe Sixpack and Sally Soccermom are more concerned with what's on the idiot box, and when Hillary & Co. are interested in mastering the 8-second soundbyte, Ron Paul continues to be quite the thinking man and his supporters continue to be very intelligent, well-read, and versed in policy.

The National Football League's Super Bowl XLII took place last night with much to-do. Unfortunately, I was not impressed.

For starters, the commercials were not funny, for the second consecutive year in a row. Granted, Budweiser always has a few funny ones on tap, but all in all, nothing warranted a hearty knee-slap.

I did see a few commercials in the Richmond market during pre-game for our friend B. Hussein Obama, which for me, is a few commercials too many. (that's what they call "dark" humor!)

As far as the game goes, the offenses were very sluggish. Neither team broke the 20-point margin and the Patriots really blew it, which was a real shame considering the way they've played throughout the year. We all knew the Giants were capable of beating the Patriots (Week 17 anyone?) but I was very, very shocked. It all seemed so melodramatic.

To complicate matters, I was at a Super Bowl party. I decided to leave at halftime since everyone was rooting for the Giants and I wasn't having much fun anyway. Seems to me since the Washington Redskins hold the most currency around Richmond, we wouldn't want the Giants to win. Other way around.

In the end, the Pats really pulled a George Allenesque performance, as the last ditch effort went nowhere. As Eli Manning accepted the Lombardi trophy, I turned off the television.

There's always next year.

I predict the New England Patriots will defeat the New York Giants 28-20 in Super Bowl XLII to finish a perfect 19-0.

For those of you who don't know, National Review is a biweekly conservative magazine founded in 1955 by the conservative legend William F. Buckley.

Since October 2007, I've been recieving NR in the mail, but not through my own volition. I don't mind it coming to me; in fact, I welcome it because I find the content illuminating.

I have never given National Review my address or contact info, so I have a few hypotheses to explain its presence in my mailbox. Either

(1) Someone I know bought me a subscription as a gift and didn't tell me about it, or

(2) The editors obtained my contact information from a third party and is sending me issues as a "trial" and will eventually send me a letter, asking me to subscribe to their publication, in hopes I have enjoyed their writing.

In either (any?) event, I'm not going to complain.

Maybe you should call up National Review and ask for the Steven Latimer special.