Keeping up with VA asshattery
 

Thinking because we do have such a dangerous man seated in our capitol, it might benefit those of us who actually live here to try to stay abreast of what he's up to and where to go to fight him...

Currently, with the AG's anti gay discrimination push :

Facebook has a few pages dedicated to keeping up with rallies, etc. I'll try to get some of them posted here if folks want to sign petitions or are able to actually get to the events.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Won...9397836?ref=nf


Trying to keep current with everything going on in VA is tricky, but we can at least try.


http://www.commonwealthtimes.org/?p=3449


http://vimeo.com/10881010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041001268.html

Will try to keep more info coming as I come across it. Hnag in there Virginians.. keep fighting the good fight! Letters to representatives, rallies, petitions... anything we can do.

This made my eyes a little misty.
Then I realized it was all that Afrin Theo is pushing.

Jess, your AG scares me and I want to punch his mouth shut.

Just saying.

no doubt.
I offered a friend some afrin the other day when she needed eye drops. It usually ends up in my eyes anyway..lol

Huckabee was in the paper yammering on about gay marriage opening the doors to polygamy and incest and so on. I guess they are back to singing that old tune again. If you ask me, the anti gay groups are pounding out the rhetoric at full force because their days are numbered and they know it. All they can do is fling around shite and more and more people are realizing that it really is just shite.

Rufus.

It certainly has it's moments. We all do what we can, ya know..
Thanks for the support!

PERSONALLY?

I think listening to Tiny Tim and watching Woody Allen and/or Roman Polanski movies will lead to incest, child rape and perhaps polygamy WAY faster than being married to boring old me.

If you marry me you may or may not love shoes a little too much but that is tame compared to what some straight christian/mormon folks are doing.

Can someone explain something to me (being Canadian and having a feeling this is some American legalese): am I understanding correctly that VA denies "civil rights" to felons (those who have served their time and are out in public) from the right to vote? Isn't this a constitutional violation (federal) of rights?

It's kind of a misrepresentation.
After you discharge Parole, most states have to allow you to vote.

Most states? Why do ANY state deny the right to vote because of criminal past (whether violent or not)? If you've done your time and served the sentence according to what was meted out why are simple civil rights denied? (as per the last link in Jess first post in this thread).

Welcome to America, land of self righteous indignation and holier than thou attitudes about anyone who has ever done anything just the slightest bit wrong. And, since minorities are disproportionately jailed in this country, it helps keep those pesky minorities out of the voting booth where they might decide to vote Democrat.

Good luck to everyone in VA on the 19th, when the gun-totin' god-fearin' wacko wing nuts who are hiding their racism behind some non-existent threat to the 2nd Amendment strap their penises, I mean guns, to their belts and proceed to scare the crap out of everyone else. I really appreciate the fuck out of my tax dollars being wasted by the feds having to keep an eye on these ignorant asshats.

You have not technically served your time until you've discharged parole.
Besides, nobody wants felons to vote. Ridiculous, but true.

From wiki coz it was an easy first hit:
In modern times, felons can receive punishments which range in severity; from probation, to imprisonment, to execution for premeditated murder or other serious crimes. In the United States felons often face additional consequences, such as the loss of voting rights in many states; exclusion from certain lines of work and difficulty in finding a job in others; prohibition from obtaining certain licences; exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and body armor; and ineligibility to run for, or be elected to, public office. In addition, some states consider a felony conviction to be grounds for an uncontested divorce. All of these losses of privileges, including others noted explicitly by the judge in sentencing, are known as collateral consequences of criminal charges. Finally, if a felon is not a U.S. citizen, that person may be subject to deportation after sentencing is complete.

I may be wrong about this, but to the best of my understanding the right to vote is generally reinstated after a felony sentence has been carried out. That is the only right reinstated ( I think). Although, I do recall a big bruhaha in recent news about a politician winning some race even though he was a convicted felon. So, I may be wrong on this, or it may be a state to state issue.
I am also not sure if the returning of the right to vote is only to non-violent felons or to all. Interesting question though.. will be looking it up.
Thanks

Really glad we are quite a few hours away from that park.

I found this http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.r...ourceID=000286 in reference to felon voting by state.

Interesting information, especially when you look at the racial demographics. As Adele so correctly stated, the numbers are very disproportionate (and disturbing).

Looks like the Oath Keepers pulled out of the rally - "they lost control of the event":

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rig..._open-car.html

I wonder if its a matter of their loss of control of the event or if they felt they would lose their media exposure in the masses that are planning to attend?

Part of the Oath Keepers statement from above article:

"We fully support the right of Americans to peaceably assemble and publicly exercise their right to bear arms right along with their right to free speech, association, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances."

Now, while I certainly support all of those things independently, I sure as heck hope to never see them doing them simultaneously.
ACK!

Really glad they opted out of this one. It did have quite a rumble stirring.

Link to the on line petition from Equality Virginia for those who can't be there in person to sign.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?s...GTWUDhdqHM%3d&

Wow, even some of the scary people are afraid to show up. This is not good.

Makes me REALLY glad there are several hundred miles between us and the locale.

Here we go again.. McDonnell talking out of both sides of his mouth...

He appeared at a groundbreaking event for an agricultural complex for VA's seafood industry and in the same event furthered his stance on offshore drilling. Multiple personality much?

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/ne...223405/342522/

It's not multiple personality, it's republican personality, which is basically to suck up to any and all industry that will line pockets of war chests whist pretending to give rats ass about constituents who you will tell any lie to in order to get re-elected. The oil companies line the pockets and the seafood industry contains voters.

It's perfectly clear :)

I guess I see the issue of failing constituents happening on both sides of that fence. So I no longer am able to say it is Republican or Democratic hypocrisy.

What kills me is that with VA's coastline, if king nutbucket wants to generate more energy , why not install wind powered turbines. They may not be incredibly attractive , however done properly can create a very architecturally interesting visage. And, they aren't going to spill tons of oil on our coasts and kill our oceans. Wind on the coastlines is a constant. There are plenty of areas along our shore that could be used for this. Same is true for our other coasts ( in country, not just VA).

I love that the govt asks us to become more aware of energy saving... longer lasting, more efficient light bulbs and let's not forget to check our tire pressure. However, they fail to see and act on long lasting alternatives to crude production.

Fortunately, all new drilling has been put on hold until further regulations/ safety precautions have been set by EPA. UNFORTUNATELY, oil and water will never mix, no matter how safe they think they can make it.

With most of the news coming out of our state revolving around the stupidity of our Gov and AG, I thought it might be nice to see some positive stuff happening as well.

Smack dab in the heart of Richmond is VCU. Quite a progressive minded liberal arts school. I am always happy to hear of the good work being done less than half a mile from the seat of the Governor's homophobia.

http://www.news.vcu.edu/news/VCU_Pol...ning_to_better

friggen &^^$#@@^** grrrrrrr
 

“This… ah, homosexuality”
Robin Gorsline | Posted February 3, 2011 filed under Featured, News & Views

Read more: Ebbin, Equality, General Assembly, Gilbert, Non-Discrimination, virginia


“This… ah, homosexuality”
Sometimes it is hard to remain optimistic. Especially when a bill is in the fate of a narrow subcommittee.

Sometimes it is hard to remain optimistic. I am by nature hopeful–believing that in all things and at all times, as Dr. King said of the arc of the moral universe, that God nudges us to bend toward justice and love–but optimism can leave me. That’s because optimism deals with the shorter range of things.

Last evening, I lost just about all my optimism. For the second day in a row, a subcommittee of the Virginia House of Delegates acted with impunity toward the pleas of the LGBT community, and our allies, for some measure of justice.


Del. C. Todd Gilbert, Chair of the Subcommittee
This time it was the Professions/Occupations and Administrative Process Subcommittee of the General Laws Committee. They took three rather different bills–each providing a different scope of protection against employment discrimination–and one bill that added “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the State Human Rights Act, and “rolled” them together into the terms of the bill they most disliked (because it had wider protections, and was offered by the one openly LGBT person in the General Assembly, Del. Adam Ebbin).

The member who offered the motion to roll them all together did so, he said, because all the bills deal with “this . . . ah, homosexuality” so we can take them up as one bill. It felt to me he was saying, “If you’ve seen one of them, you’ve seen them all.”

And “rolled” is the right word. We were rolled, like folks mugged in a dark alley for our wallets.

Good folks–Scott Johnson, Dorothy Fillmore, Rev. Jeanne Pupke, Claire Guthrie-Gastanaga, and some high school and college students and a UVA professor whose names I do not know–spoke, eloquently. The subcommittee seemed to listen.


Del. Adam Ebbin
But it took them no time to decide. NO, they said.

No, you are not discriminated against. Sure, maybe there is some “soft” discrimination (I can only imagine what they, white males, would do if they experienced even that)–but nothing we need trouble ourselves about. No, we need not even so much as use the word “gay”–heaven help us if we utter the word “lesbian”–and certainly not “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in any law of the Commonwealth. It feels like they think that if they do not use the words, we will go away. Disappear.

Of course, we will not accommodate them that far. But if we do not rise up soon and demand our rights, we might as well disappear. They will bow down to the Virginia Family Foundation, and the Catholic Conference and the Associated Baptists, and repeat the mistruths they spread UNTIL we decide to gather together a mass movement to demand some respect.

We have to respect ourselves enough to demand it.

I am ready. Are you?


This article taken from GayRVA...http://www.gayrva.com/2011/02/03/%E2...lity%E2%80%9D/

Why Local Elections Are So Important
 

Virginia board rejects proposal that would have allowed gay adoptions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...1303341660.jpg
Lawrence Webb, left, and his partner, Clifton Taylor, who live in Falls Church, are considering moving out of Virginia to adopt a child when they are ready to have children.




By Anita Kumar, Wednesday, April 20, 8:33 PM

RICHMOND — Despite emotional pleas by gay-rights groups, a state board overwhelmingly voted late Wednesday to continue a practice that some argue allows faith-based organizations in Virginia to discriminate in adoptions.

The State Board of Social Services’s 7 to 2 vote came after a slew of faith-based groups and adoption agencies insisted that they be able to screen prospective parents on religious or moral beliefs.








“Today, the State Board of Social Services told the 1,300 children already waiting for a loving, forever home that they’ll have to wait longer,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights organization.

The proposed regulations, part of a massive overhaul of adoption rules, would have added protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, disability and family status. The current rules follow federal law banning discrimination based on national origin, race and color.

“Its broad language would place an undue and unconstitutional burden on private faith-based child placing agencies by forcing us to compromise our religious beliefs in order to maintain our license to operate,” said Andrew Brown of America World Adoption, a Christian agency that processes 400 adoptions a year.

Virginia is one of 34 states where only single men and women and married couples can adopt, according to the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.

Lawmakers and activists have disagreed about whether the proposed regulations would have allowed other classes, including unmarried couples — heterosexual or homosexual — to adopt.

But Lynne Williams, director of state licensing for the Department of Social Services, told board members that unmarried couples would not have been able to adopt even if the original proposed regulations had passed.

About 3,330 same-sex couples are raising about 6,700 children in Virginia, according to the Family Equality Council, a gay-rights organization. Most were adopted in Virginia, allowing only one parent to have custody.

Lawrence Webb and Clifton Taylor, who live in Falls Church, are considering moving out of state to adopt a child when they are ready to raise children.

“It would be a tough decision to make,” said Webb, 36, a Falls Church City Council member and assistant dean of admissions at the University of Mary Washington. “But starting a family would take precedent.”

“It should be all about a child — I don’t believe someone should tell me that I can’t,” Taylor, 31, a government contractor in the District, said.

The board, which has five Democratic appointees, voted after receiving advice last week from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) and Social Services CommissionerMartin Brown, an appointee of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s (R). All three opposed the proposed changes.

Cuccinelli’s office told members in a memo that the proposal “does not comport with applicable state law and public policy” and that the board “lacks the authority to adopt this proposed language.”

His position reverses a 2009 decision made by his predecessor, William C. Mims, a former Republican legislator and now a Virginia Supreme Court justice.

The board met in closed session with Assistant Attorney General Noelle Bell-Shaw before the debate. At least one group, Equality Virginia, questioned the legality of the closed-door session. Bell-Shaw declined to comment.

Cuccinelli spokesman Brian Gottstein said later that advice in the 2009 memorandum was “incorrect.”

“In our 2009 review of the 77 pages of proposed adoption regulations, we missed the fact that one line in those regulations would have created additional protected classes of citizens in Virginia, which is beyond the scope of the agency,” he said.

Board chairwoman Bela Sood, who was appointed by former Democratic governor governors Mark Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, requested that the panel postpone the vote, questioning the lack of time for public comment and for the board to consider the latest advice. But the board voted 6 to 2 to deny her request.

Last year, nearly 2,500 children were adopted in Virginia, according to the Department of Social Services, but it does not track how many are adopted through faith-based groups. About 5,700 children are in the foster-care system in Virginia. Of those, 1,300 are ready to be adopted.

Kaine, who is running for U.S. Senate next year, proposed the change in regulations in November 2009, less than two months before he left office. He recently said he supports the rules but declined to say whether he supports same-sex adoptions. He has previously opposed them.

Other adoption regulations approved Wednesday will be reviewed by McDonnell, the Department of Planning and Budget, and Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Hazel. McDonnell must sign off on the new rules.

McDonnell has said he opposes the changes because faith-based organizations should be able to make their policies.

“Today’s vote by the board will ensure that Virginia remains in compliance with federal law while allowing private and faith-based organizations to continue providing vital adoption services for the large number of children who need to be placed in safe, loving homes,” McDonnell spokesman Jeff Caldwell said.


I don't understand how a Government policy can/ should affect the policies of a "faith based" private business. Sometimes, I hate this state as much as I love it.

Source: Washington Post

Regarding Bob McDonnell's TRAP Laws.... Virginias war on women...