Steven Latimer

Mother has informed me that conservative pop star Ann Coulter has had her jaw wired shut. In disbelief, I did a Google News scan. It's true -- the diva of the conservative movement had a tumble not too long ago and has indeed had her jaw wired.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has a decent overview of what jaw wiring is (The concept is new to me, too):

The act of wiring a jaw keeps it closed for some amount of time. Originally this was as the mandibular equivalent of a cast, to fix the jaw in place while a fracture healed [...]

Because this is not exactly front-page news, reports of Coulter's procedure seem to be almost exclusively confined to the Internet. It seems as if coverage is coming mostly from liberal bloggers and liberal websites like the Huffington Post. The left-wing blogosphere must be eager to make light of Coulter's condition and exploit the irony thereof.

In fact, I could only find one fair, Coulter-positive write-up of this story. Unfortunately, this was at Associated Content and I closed the screen before I could copy the URL for inclusion here. Because Associated Content is full of user-generated content, it would be impractical -- if not near impossible -- for me to find the post.

Ann Coulter has her fair share of haters, but do not count me among them: despite her biting rhetoric, she is a fundamentally good woman. When this blog was in its more infant stages, I wrote about my experience at the 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference here. What I didn't mention is that I got to briefly meet Ann during a book signing event sponsored by the Leadership Institute. (Coulter signed my program.) The 2009 conference is scheduled for February. I can only assume her jaw will have been unwired by then.

Best wishes to Ms. Coulter for a speedy recovery.

I've agreed to become a regular columnist next semester for the Commonwealth Times. From where things stand currently, this will be a twice weekly thing and will be placed in the paper's "Opinion" section.

Rich Griset, the paper's Managing Editor, would like me to focus on conservative topics to strike a balance with the Commonwealth Times' more liberal Opinion Editor Sarah Sonies, but adds I am free to write about whatever I wish.

As usual, suggestions are welcome ...

I have a bit of good news to share - after a somewhat protracted hunt - this morning I signed a 6-month lease for a parking space near my residence in Richmond (about .2 miles away). The lease begins on 1 January 2009 at 3pm and terminates on 30 June 2009 at 9am.

Unfortunately, due to my social and academic obligations, I have been unable to blog about anything in the past week or so.

Check back Monday for a bevy of news and analysis.

UPDATE (17 NOV 11:39pm): Sadly, due to a ferocious term paper for my MATH 490 class, I can't put anything significant here until Wednesday night.

This morning when I woke up my alarm clock said that it's about 10:30am. But when I checked my cell phone - whose battery was recharging throughout the night - it read 9:30am.



I just got a free hour due to Daylight Saving Time. How sweet is that?

UPDATE (9:43am): Ironically enough, I'm finding that I'm spending a part of this "free" hour turning back my watch and two alarm clocks (I'm a heavy sleeper, I know).

This morning, I awoke bright and early and headed down to Capitol Square for the "Save the Chaplains" rally. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 diverse Virginians came out to the mostly Evangelical-appearing event (I'm bad at estimating crowd sizes - hence the wide range).

The gist of the matter was that it goes against America's and Virginia's founding principles and it is bad public policy to mandate to whom Virginia State Police chaplains may or may not pray.

None of the speakers, guests, or rally-goers expressed hostility or negative sentiment to Governor Tim Kaine (who was clearly not in attendance), just their disappointment in his refusal to reinstate these chaplains who had to resign their claplaincies or be terminated from their positions. Tim Kaine is a good Christian, and the rally-goers were simply redressing their grievances, stated one of the speakers.

The speakers at this event made it clear that they are not trying to force any particular faith on anyone. That would be rude. Rather, they find it in poor taste to tell someone that they cannot pray to whomever they wish.

I brought my digital camera with me and took video. First, State Senator Steve Martin belts out the first and fourth verses of the national anthem:



Martin along with Delegate Bill Carrico reported that legislation is on its way that will prevent future incidents like this from happening in Virginia. (The Virginia General Assembly convenes in January 2009, a mere two months from now.)

Later, Mathew Staver, the dean of Liberty University's School of Law speaks on the rule of law and American heritage:



To add my two cents worth, I find this entire situation patently unfair and wrong. I can only hope this event convinces Governor Kaine otherwise and highlights the situation to the general populace.