Mark Herring's Opponent for AG is a Right Wing Zealot

Herring's opponent would set Virginia back by decades

Virginia has been on the wrong side of history many times since its golden era during the founding years of the nation.  Support for slavery and going to war to protect the institution is one such blot of Virginia's history.  So to are the Jim Crow laws which saw Virginia lead the way in steadily taking away the rights of black voters and, hand in hand with those laws was the "Massive Resistance" movement to close down public schools rather than integrate them with all races.  Then of course, there was Virginia ban on interracial marriage that had to go to the United States Supreme Court twice before the court in disgust overturned the Virginia Supreme Courts rulings supporting the ban in Loving v. Virginia.  When he took office, Attorney General Mark Herring did not to repeat that foul history by defending Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage.  He also has shown an adversion to Virginia Republicans' efforts at voter ID laws aimed at disenfranchising minorities and other likely Democrat voters. 

Herring's opponent in the 2017 statewide Virginia elections, Republican John Adams is the polar opposite of Herring.  He supported the ban on same-sex marriage and has stated that "“I have a religious faith that tells me that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman. That’s what I believe.”  He also supports voter ID laws that have little or nothing to do with perverting voter fraud, but which instead , as noted above, are aimed at stopping "those people" from voting, so draw your own conclusions as to whether "racist" applies to Adams.  The Richmond Times Dispatch has a lengthy piece on Adams which should make your blood run cold if you are not a heterosexual, white conservative Christian. As you might guess, he is also big on "religious freedom" laws - laws that allow Christian extremists to ignore non-discrimination laws based on alleged "religious belief." His vision of religious freedom does NOT include religious freedom for gays, Muslims, Hindus or other non-Christians despite his posturing  And yes, he supported the toxic Hobby Lobby decision (he worked on the case for Hobby Lobby) and counts as friends a who's who of right extreme wing Republicans.    Adams is so toxic that the haters at The Family Foundation must be having near orgasms. 

Ironically, his campaign website has a section called "Defending Our Valuers."  A quick read makes it very clear that "our values" are white Christofascist vales.  Do NOT sit out this election.  Mark Herring must be re-elected.  Having John Adams as attorney general would be nothing short of a disaster and would reprise the insanity of when Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli held that office.  We do NOT want to go backward in time.

Rreasons “White Pride” is Always Racist

With the far right in America and many Republican extremists ready to launch a war against Islam and give the NSA unfettered powers in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, it is important to remember that these same individuals are more often than not supporters of "white pride" and lament the demise of total white privilege in America.  Yes, Christianity and Islam have often been at odds with each other over the centuries, but for the American right, besides religious differences there is the convenient fact that one doesn't find many lily white Muslims.  Most have darker skin shades which, to these "godly" patriots sets the stage for a form of McCarthyism where every non-white is suspect.  A piece in Salon looks at some of the reasons why the "white pride" movement is always based on racism.  Here are excerpts:

The Ku Klux Klan is currently sponsoring a Harrison, Ark., billboard that sends the following message: “It’s not racist to love your people. www.WhitePrideRadio.com.” The message is featured next to an adorable photo of a kitten and a puppy. On the White Pride Radio website, the group further clarifies their mission: “A lot of people recognize that there is an ongoing program of genocide against white people. There are websites, newsletters, videos, and radio shows, but too many talk about family without including the family. It has always been our mission to not just promote the white family, but to make them a part of this cause of white Christian revival.”

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time that a Harrison billboard has gone viral. Following similar signs in Alabama and Eugene, Ore., a message went up that read: “Anti-racism is code for anti-white.” If that doesn’t clear it up for you, let’s put it bluntly: White pride is always racism, always. Here’s why.

Whiteness is an artificial sociological construct which has been used throughout history to exclude certain groups of people from the rights guaranteed others and to justify bigoted attitudes.

As Nell Irvin Painter explains in The History of White People, the notion of “white culture” is a myth. “Our culture was founded in 1789 right about the same moment that Blumenbach was inventing Caucasians . . . . White Americans, however, are not a single ethnic group or a distinct number of ethnicities; they are an amalgamation of everyone who benefits from white privilege, and its boundaries are always shifting.  Before the Civil War, this distinction often made the difference between whether you were a full citizen or a slave with three-fifths congressional representation; afterward, as Edward J. Blum discussed in Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865-1898, the paradigm of “whiteness” was used to forge a new sense of national unity for the American people as a way of healing sectional, regional, and class strife.


Throughout American history, many groups considered white today (e.g., Germans, Irish) were viewed as non-white.

[T]he term “white” has not always meant the same thing. Although WASPs have always benefited from that term in this country, virtually every other European nationality has been considered lesser at some point, from Eastern Europeans (like Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians) and Southern Europeans (like Italians, Greeks, and Spaniards) to long-standing victims of Western persecution (like the Irish and the Jews).  During World War I, a particularly virulent strain of anti-German prejudice swept the nation. When Millard Fillmore sought a second term as president in 1856, he did so as the candidate of the Know Nothing Party which was based primarily in anti-Catholic (and specifically anti-Irish) prejudice, netting 22 percent of the popular vote in the process. Yet as time has gone on, even the Irish and the Jews have gradually been accepted as “white” by the majority of the American population.

It is sponsored by the Ku Klux Klan, which by virtue of its history is a racist organization with a white supremacist agenda.  It’s easy to forget that the KKK was once a politically powerful organization. During Reconstruction (the 12-year period immediately following the Civil War), the KKK was used by Southern whites to subjugate the recently emancipated black slaves and thus reestablish white supremacy for a century. For a long time they were viewed with a romantic tinge by many Americans, including D. W. Griffith in his landmark epic motion picture The Birth of a Nation when it was released in 1915.

The billboard is a symptom of white minority politics.   . . .  Coining this phenomenon “the birth of white minority politics,” former Republican political adviser John Avlon talked to hundreds of Tea Partiers and kept his thumb on the pulse of the radical right-wing surge that occurred immediately after Barack Obama’s election in 2008. “I think there is an anxiety underneath this that President Obama represents the rise of a multicultural elite and the rise of a non-white majority in America,” he observed, adding that “if you talk to many of these protesters in the field, one of the dates that keeps coming up is 2050, which is the date the U.S. census estimates that there will be a non-white majority in the United States.”

I continue to ponder why some people simply cannot see the common humanity in others regardless of skin color or sexual orientation.  Why the sick need to feel superior or to look down on others?  Perhaps being gay and hated by the same segment of society that hates blacks, Hispanics and other minorities makes one less judgmental of others since one finds them self always being judged.

A National Review Writer's Racist Screed

UPDATED: While some argue that Derbyshire's post was done in jest, perhaps it wasn't. This from Rich Lowry at National Review:

Needless to say, no one at National Review shares Derb’s appalling view of what parents supposedly should tell their kids about blacks in this instantly notorious piece here.

I have often felt that today's Republican Party is increasingly racist and that often one sees GOP candidates using coded messages to win the votes of racists. Some of Newt Gingrich's batshitery is a prime example. Now, in a wildly racist screed, John Derbyshire (pictured at left) of the National Review has thrown this often denied racism out in the bright light of day. It's beyond shocking, but I suspect his views are held by many in the GOP base who hold contempt - or worse - for all but those who are white, heterosexual conservative Christians. Think Progress looks at this wildly racist rant. Here are highlights:

Popular conservative columnist and National Review writer John Derbyshire topped all of his previous racistscreeds (and sexist rants) today by posting a long breakdown of all of the important lessons he has taught his children about race — and he’s outdone his own racism with this one.

Derbyshire wrote the column in the third person, as a list of lessons to his kids about race. . . . he cuts to the heart of his lessons for his children:

(10a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.

(10b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.

(10c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).

(10d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.

(10e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.

(10f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.

(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.

(11) The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black. These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”

We need to thank Derbyshire for being honest enough to openly state what so many of his conservative cohorts are thinking.

The GOP After Daniels and After 2012

Michael Grunwald has a piece in Time Magazine that looks at the state of the GOP in the wake of Mitch Daniels' announcement that he will not seek the GOP nomination for the 2012 election. Grunwald goes on to speculate as to where the GOP will be post 2012 - particularly if the GOP candidate loses to Obama. As a former Republican, I can speak personally to being driven away by the party's growing extremism - something that Grunwald believes will intensify if Obama wins re-election. Personally, I believe that the best long term solution for the GOP is to have the party go down to crushing defeat enough times for the rational few in the party (admittedly an ever declining number) to stage a coup and retake the party from the Christian Taliban and Tea Party. The question is how many elections cycles will be required to reach that point. Here are highlights from the Time column:
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The most important political story of the Obama era has been the Republican Party’s growing defiance of reality —its denial of climate science, its denunciations of Medicare cuts while proposing Medicare cuts, its denunciations of debt while proposing debt-exploding tax cuts, its resistance to financial regulation in the wake of a financial meltdown, and so on. Now the GOP’s most promising reality-based presidential candidate, Mitch Daniels, has passed up the race.
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Obviously, this has big implications for 2012. Michael Scherer thinks it means Mitt Romney is a practically inevitable nominee. I’m not so sure. But I am sure that reality’s fate in the primary will have big implications beyond 2012.
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There are still at least two reality-based Republicans in the race: former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who has the inconvenient distinction of serving as Obama’s ambassador to China, and former Massachusetts governor Romney, who has the even less convenient distinction of authoring the blueprint for Obama’s health care reforms.
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If Huntsman or Romney wins the nomination, and then Obama wins the election, the GOP will quickly shift from “loosely tethered to reality” to “out of its freaking mind.” Remember, after its crushing defeat in 2008, the party faithful concluded that John McCain lost the election because he wasn’t conservative enough—and that George W. Bush lost his popularity because of his big spending. So the party moved even farther toward its right-wing base, casting away moderates
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On the other hand, if Huntsman or Romney wins the nomination and then beats Obama, the Republican Party might rediscover big-tent reality-based policies.
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And if a reality-denying extremist actually beats Obama, well, then we’re in trouble, because reality-denial isn’t going to fix the double-dip recession we must have had to make a reality-denier electable.
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There is one other possibility, and that’s Tim Pawlenty. He seems like he might have been reality-based when he was governor of Minnesota, but he’s doing an effective job of denying reality as he pursues the nomination.
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Maybe he’s the Fred Thompson of 2012—logical on paper but a dud on the trail. And as Scherer says, it’s definitely Romney’s turn. But I’m not so sure Romney will get his turn. He’s not so plausible when he pretends to be delusional.

More Anti-Gay Nastiness from Iowa Republicans

I continue to be shocked at the level of ignorance and outright anti-gay bigotry coming out of the mouths of Republicans around the country, with Iowa - a state once known for being progressive - currently ranking up with the most hateful. In order to be a Republican today it seems one must be a religious extremist, thinly veiled racist, amazingly ignorant and threatened by anyone and anything that looks even slightly different than one self. Oh, and did I mention a lobotomy might not be a bad idea as a prerequisite for party membership? The mantra coming out of the Iowa GOP is relying heavily on the NAZI model that depicted Jews as a threat to society and a public health risk. Among the moronic haters leading the charge is Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons (R) who is pictured at right — a co-sponsor of Iowa’s anti-gay marriage bill - who is depicting gays as a public health risk. I'd suggest that chosen ignorance and threatening the constitutional right of freedom for all citizens, not just Christianists, in the long term poses the largest risk of all to citizens. The Wonk Room at Think Progress looks at Alons' message of hate and ignorance. Here are some highlights:
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Yesterday, I interviewed Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons (R) — a co-sponsor of Iowa’s anti-gay marriage bill — in the state capitol and asked him if he agreed with the Family Leader’s characterizations. Alons did, reciting some bullet points from the Family Leader’s “fact sheet” and suggesting that defining marriage between a man and a woman would reverse these “problems to society”:
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ALONS: I think that whole lifestyle has brought a lot of problems to society…For the most part when you look at some of the issues that have been brought up by homosexuals’ lifestyle, there are a lot of negatives that have been brought into society and I think government is trying to deal with that and should be dealing with.
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ALONS: Well, look at all that has been spent, you know, with the AIDS and with the issues related to the dying at an early age. I think life, longevity, of a lot of these folks is below 50, when you know, the normal people that do not enter into that kind of relationship, their either late into their 70s or early 80s for longevity. A lot more actual productive years and contributing to society. [...]
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I can't help but wonder how anyone becomes as ignorant and bigoted as Alons. The cynic in me also wonders when Alons will get caught toe tapping in some men's room. The louder the homophobe, the more likely they get caught on the down low.

Nutcase Del. Bob Marshall Continues to Embarrass Virginia

UPDATED: For readers who would like to share their thoughts/feelings with Marshall (who claims to be thinking about challenging Jim Webb for his U. S. Senate seat when Webb's term ends) you can do so via this conatct information:

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Robert G. Marshall

Delegate of 13th District

P.O. Box 421

Manassas, VA 20108
703 – 361 – 5416 (office and fax)

703 – 853 – 4213 (cell) (preferred)

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Yesterday I noted how Del. Bob Marshall - who might as well describe himself as a professional homophobe/gay basher - wants to introduce legislation that would circumvent DADT repeal and bar LGBT service members from the Virginia National Guard. Marshall and his accomplice in theocracy, Attorney General Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli seem determined to make Virginia a state where no progressive business would want to locate unless they are willing to live in a Medieval like society when it comes to religious freedom. While Marshall's anti-gay venom may be popular with the frigid bitches at The Family Foundation, he's helping to drive the younger generation into the arms of the Democrats. With all of the members of the House of Delegates up for election in November, 2011, one can only hope that voters in Loudoun County decide that Marshall has done enough to embarrass their area of the state and the state as a whole to merit a voter enforced retirement. These highlights from CBS News demonstrate that Marshall's batshitery has gone national:
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[D]espite a number of polls indicating widespread public support for the repeal of "Don't Ask," some Republican congressmen have already vowed to fight it. Republican Virginia Del. Bob Marshall says he is drafting legislation that would ban gays from serving in the Virginia National Guard. "This policy [to allow gays to serve openly] will weaken military recruitment and retention, and will increase pressure for a military draft,'' he said in explaining the effort.
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Marshall also lambasted the integration of openly gay men and women into the military as a "social experiment with our troops and our national security."
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After 232 years of prohibiting active, open homosexuals from enlisting in our military, President Obama and a majority in Congress are conducting a social experiment with our troops and our national security," Marshall said. "In countries where religions and cultures find homosexual acts immoral, the Obama administration's repeal policy will work to the detriment of all American troops in securing local cooperation with our nation's foreign policy goals."
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Traditional conservatives and the Tea Party movement are united only in their contempt for equal rights for all Americans and a desire to return America to a 19th century idyll," he [David Brock] said, adding in an interview with the Times that the group has no plans to compromise its goals.
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My advice again to Mr. Marshall: hire a gay escort and get the Hell over your closeted self-hate that you continue to transfer to the rest of the LGBT community.

Cry in the Wilderness of a GOP Moderate

I have commented often on what has happened to the Republican Party over the years since I resigned from the party as it began to fall under Christianist control. It's not a pretty picture and those moderate members of the Party who remain are headed towards extinction unless someone is elected to leadership who can stop the exodus of rational, educated, and non-religious zealots from the GOP. Politico has an interesting column by one of the endangered species GOP moderates calling for a return to rationality in the Party and also reciting statistics that should wake up Republicans - at least whatever non-Kool-Aid drinkers who are still left. Here are some highlights:

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On Friday, the 168 members of the Republican National Committee will vote on a new party chairman. After what can only be described as disastrous outcomes of the past two election cycles, lifelong Republicans like me held hope that we have finally learned that the key to winning is being inclusive and true to our limited government core. I had hoped that the RNC members would focus on the pressing bread-and-butter issues facing our country and our party.

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[T]he debate among the candidates for RNC chairman is more of the same: a call to energize the right wing of the party, despite the fact that this hyper-ideological, so-called base no longer represents the majority of GOP voters. And, as a consequence, vilify anyone who does not pledge 100 percent allegiance to an exclusionary social agenda. . . . The RNC members continue to pander to a small, vocal, fundamentalist faction instead of revamping its message, mission and agenda to appeal to a broader base of voters. All of this bodes ill for the GOP.

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According to national exit polls, the Republican brand lost with the two largest voting blocs in the country: women and moderates. Self-described moderates — who make up 44 percent of the electorate — gave Barack Obama a 21-point advantage over John McCain. Women gave Obama a 13-point advantage (56 percent to 43 percent). The GOP won the male vote only 49 percent to 48 percent, a negligible difference. Voters under 30, the future of both parties, gave Obama a landslide victory (66 percent to 32 percent). . . . These facts seem to be either ignored or not enough for our party leaders to see that the base is changing.

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[T]he reality that the reason the Democratic Party is the majority in Congress and in the White House is that they ran on a platform of inclusiveness and diversity. Our newly elected president took the oath of office sounding like a “big-tent” Republican — calling for common-sense solutions, leaner budgets, a reduction in government waste and greater personal responsibility — because he knew that these are the beliefs of the majority of voters. Meanwhile, the GOP is looking to repair its party by doing just the opposite: excluding voters, ignoring issues of concern and exhibiting an inability to provide common-sense solutions.

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The newly elected chairman must welcome diverse views on heartfelt social issues while remaining true to core Republican principles of limited government, individual responsibility and personal freedom. If the party cannot do this, there will be no Republican Party to fight over in the future.

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Personally, I do not see rationality returning to the GOP any time soon. Not when the lunatic base continues to weld too much power over the leadership. Therefore, perhaps the best solution is for the GOP to cease to be a national party either until it comes to its senses or is replaced by a new moderate conservative party not controlled by religious extremists.

Anchorage Daily News Endorses Obama

Sarah Palin's more or less home town paper has endorsed Barack Obama for president in its editorial today. Of note is the fact that the paper flat out states that Palin is NOT ready for prime time noting that putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time. If anything, the Anchorgae Daily News was too easy on Palin, but given her history of seeking vengence, the thrust of the editorial is focused on why Obama is the better choice. Here are some highlights:

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Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.
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Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

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Sen. McCain has stumbled and fumbled badly in dealing with the accelerating crisis as it emerged. He declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at 9 a.m. one day and by 11 a.m. was describing an economy in crisis. He is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout. His behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery.

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Sen. Obama warned regulators and the nation 19 months ago that the subprime lending crisis was a disaster in the making. Sen. McCain backed tighter rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but didn't do much to advance that legislation. Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it.

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Sadly, maverick John McCain didn't show up for the campaign. Instead we have candidate McCain, who embraces the extreme Republican orthodoxy he once resisted and cynically asks Americans to buy for another four years. It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington.

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[F]ew who have worked closely with the governor [Palin] would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.