SWAC volunteer's GOP signs stolen from yard

Just got a call from a Republican volunteer who woke this morning to an empty front yard ... a yard where four signs had been the day before: McCain-Palin, Gilmore, Goodlatte, and Win the War.

Someone had stolen them during the night, something that had never happened to her before especially since she lives in a Stuarts Draft neighborhood and is not on a main thoroughfare. Her husband noted that all Republican yard signs along their (very long) street had been stolen last night.

The sign that hurt the most to lose, she said, was the Win the War sign, one I had given her in 2007 and that had been proudly displayed in her yard since that time.

This campaign seems to have more shenanigans at the local level than any election I've worked the past nine years. It was first noticed in the 2001 Mark Earley-Mark Warner gubernatorial campaign and has escalated in the years since ... but this year the amount of stolen signs is more than I ever remember hearing about as volunteers call in with information from throughout Augusta County.

Dirty tricks from the opposition ... brace yourself for Election Day.

Photo by SWAC Girl

Roanoke Times checks out Roscoegate....

Today's Roanoke Times looks into the Joe Stanley/Roscoe Reynolds/ODBA connection:

Involved in the war of words is Franklin County Democratic Chairman Joe Stanley and bloggers from the conservative Old Dominion Blog Alliance.

Tensions rose on Aug. 17 when Stanley created OldDominionBlogAlliance.com and redirected it to the Web site for the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

NAMBLA is an organization that seeks to lower the age of consent for sex between men and boys.

Related stories:

* Charlie at Good Sense pens Few Regrets.
* Chris Graham at The New Dominion has Prank -- or dirty trick?
* Jerry at From On High wrote Franklin County Democratic Chairman Losing It

Roscoe Reynolds-gate widens....

Can misleading domain names on the internet be a federal offense? The code reads:

"Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both."

The controversy over Joe Stanley's dirty political trick of switching domain names continues to grow. He bought the domain name of the conservative "Old Dominion Blog Alliance" and then linked it to the NAMBLA website causing unsuspecting readers to link to the "North American Man-Boy Love Association."

Here's the law:

Misleading Domain Name: Those who use a misleading domain name on the Internet in an attempt to deceive a minor child into viewing material that is considered harmful to that minor is committing a federal offense. This is irrespective of whether or not the material meets the legal definition of obscenity. [18 U.S.C. 2252B]

U.S. CODE > TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 110 > § 2252B
§ 2252B. Misleading domain names on the Internet

(a) Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a person into viewing material constituting obscenity shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

(b) Whoever knowingly uses a misleading domain name on the Internet with the intent to deceive a minor into viewing material that is harmful to minors on the Internet shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 4 years, or both.

(c) For the purposes of this section, a domain name that includes a word or words to indicate the sexual content of the site, such as “sex” or “porn”, is not misleading.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “material that is harmful to minors” means any communication, consisting of nudity, sex, or excretion, that, taken as a whole and with reference to its context—

(1) predominantly appeals to a prurient interest of minors;

(2) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and

(3) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

(e) For the purposes of subsection (d), the term “sex” means acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, or physcial [1] contact with a person’s genitals, or the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.

[1] So in original. Probably should be “physical”.

Related posts:
* Chris Graham at The New Dominion wrote Prank -- or dirty trick?
* Riley writes You'd Think Roscoe Reynolds-gate Was a Federal Offense or Something.
* Kilo writes Sen. Roscoe Reynolds and Joe Stanley -- No Comment!
* Ward presents Friday Whine and Cheese: Roscoe Reynolds Double Feature.
* Scott's Morning Brew has I haven't looked at Ferguson's financials....
* Scott's Morning Brew also has Roscoegate: Things that make you go hmmmm.