Hard Truths of "Saving" the Rural Economy

A lengthy piece in the New York Times looks at an issue plaguing large swaths of the country, including Southwest Virginia and Virginia's "Southside": economic decline in rural areas that seems impossible to reverse.  The piece looks at economic forces, especially the synergy of urban tech centers that works against rural areas, population decline and lower academic achievement that afflict many rural areas.  Here in Virginia, the economic mantra coming from the Northam administration is "all welcoming," yet in Southwest Virginia, the motto is seemingly "only white conservative Christians need apply."  All of the causation enumerated in the article are true, but nowhere are experts willing to call out what to me is another major cause of rural decline: right wing, hate based religion and an often too willing embrace of ignorance.  Progressive businesses want the best and brightest employees and care little about race, sexual orientation or religious belief - a mindset that is the opposite of what finds in Southwest Virginia. Here are article highlights:

Can rural America be saved?  There are 60 million people, almost one in five Americans, living on farms, in hamlets and in small towns across the landscape. For the last quarter century the story of these places has been one of relentless economic decline.

The election of Donald Trump, powered in no small degree by rural voters, has brought the troubles of small-town America to national attention, with an urgent question: What can be done to revive it?

Rural America is getting old. The median age is 43, seven years older than city dwellers. Its productivity, defined as output per worker, is lower than urban America’s. Its families have lower incomes. And its share of the population is shrinking: the United States has grown by 75 million people since 1990, but this has mostly occurred in cities and suburbs. Rural areas have lost some 3 million people.

These days, economic growth bypasses rural economies. In the first four years of the recovery after the 2008 recession, counties with fewer than 100,000 people lost 17,500 businesses, according to the Economic Innovation Group. By contrast, counties with more than 1 million residents added, altogether, 99,000 firms. By 2017, the largest metropolitan areas had almost 10 percent more jobs than they did at the start of the financial crisis. Rural areas still had fewer.

The Economic Innovation Group measures “distress” as a combination of data ranging from joblessness and poverty to abandoned homes and educational attainment. Since the 1990s, there has been an “intensifying ruralization of distress,” said John Lettieri, the group’s president.

[N]obody — not experts or policymakers or people in these communities — seems to know quite how to pick rural America up. States, municipalities and the federal government have spent billions to draw jobs and prosperity to stagnant rural areas. But they haven’t yet figured out how to hitch this vast swath of the country to the tech-heavy economy that is flourishing in America’s cities.

[F]actory jobs can no longer keep small-town America afloat. Even after a robust eight-year growth spell, there are fewer than 13 million workers in manufacturing across the entire economy. Robots and workers in China put together most of the manufactured goods that Americans buy, and the high-tech industries powering the economy today don’t have much need for the cheap labor that rural communities contributed to America’s industrial past. They mostly need highly educated workers. They find those most easily in big cities, not in small towns.

In a report published in November, Mark Muro, William Galston and Clara Hendrickson of the Brookings Institution laid out a portfolio of ideas to rescue the substantial swath of the country that they identify as “left behind.” They identify critical shortages bedeviling declining communities: workers with digital skills, broadband connections, capital. And they have plans to address them: I.T. training and education initiatives, regulatory changes to boost lending to small businesses, incentives to invest in broadband.

Wisely, they suggest that any federal government effort must choose its targets carefully. Better to focus on middle-sized places that are near big tech hubs and have some critical infrastructure, rather than scatter assistance all over the landscape. . . . . however, even the authors concede that they may not be up to the task. “I don’t know if these ideas are going to work,” Mr. Galston acknowledged when I pressed him on the issue. “But it is worth making the effort.”

This is the inescapable reality of agglomeration, one of the most powerful forces shaping the American economy over the last three decades. Innovative companies choose to locate where other successful, innovative companies are. That’s where they can find lots of highly skilled workers. . . . . This dynamic feeds on itself, drawing more high-tech firms and highly skilled workers to where they already are.

In hindsight, no amount of tax incentives would have convinced Amazon to expand in a medium-sized city such as Columbus, Ohio, rather than Northern Virginia and Queens,which sit in some of the largest pools of talent in the country. If even medium-sized cities find it difficult to compete, what are the odds that, say, a small town like Amory, Miss., where 14 percent of adults have a bachelor’s degree and a quarter of its 2,500 workers work in small-scale manufacturing, have a chance to attract well-paid tech jobs?

What if nothing really works? Is there really no option but to do nothing and, as some have suggested, return depopulated parts of rural America to the bison?

Instead of so-called place-based policies to revitalize small towns, why not help their residents take advantage of opportunities where the opportunities are? Geographic mobility hit a historical low in 2017, when only 11 percent of Americans picked up shop and moved — half the rate of 1951. One of the key reasons is that housing in the prosperous cities that offer the most opportunities has become too expensive.

[T]he costs of rural poverty are looming over American society. Think of the opioid addiction taking over rural America, of the spike in crime, of the wasted human resources in places where only a third of adults hold a job.

And if today’s polarized politics are noxious, what might they look like in a country perpetually divided between diverse, prosperous liberal cities and a largely white rural America in decline? As Mr. Galston warned: “Think through the political consequences of saying to a substantial portion of Americans, which is even more substantial in political terms, ‘We think you’re toast.’ ”

The distress of 50 million Americans should concern everyone. Powerful economic forces are arrayed against rural America and, so far, efforts to turn it around have failed. Not every small town can be a tech hub, nor should it be. But that can’t be the only answer.

The irony, of course, is that the funds used by state and federal programs trying to revitalize rural areas come from the the diverse urban areas and the very people that so many rural voters view with contempt or worse. 

Roanoke Times Endorses Pat McCrory for Sending Jobs to Virginia

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory who prostituted himself to Right wing Christian by signing HB2 continues to get pummeled for the damage he has done to North Carolina's economy.  Now, the Charlotte Observer reports on how the Roanoke Times of Roanoke, Virginia, endorsed McCrory for all the economic good he has done for Virginia and the Roanoke area in particular.   As I have said many times, bigotry does have its price as does social backwardness - think Gloucester County, Virginia - when communities are vying to attract good paying jobs.  Progressive businesses do not want to locate in areas defined by discrimination.  Here are highlights from the Observer:

From an editorial published Friday in the Roanoke (Va.) Times:

Which candidate would do the most to help our local economy? That’s easy. It’s Pat McCrory, the Republican governor of North Carolina, who’s seeking his second four-year term in the November election. We can point to specific and multiple ways he has helped the economy – our economy. North Carolina panicked and made a spectacle of itself by passing HB2, its so-called “bathroom bill.” In response, various companies and even sports leagues pulled events from the state. Three of those have wound up in Salem — the NCAA Division III men’s and women’s soccer championships, as well as the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship. That’s money in the bank for us.

McCrory has given Virginia a competitive advantage in economic development, as well. When the University Economic Development Association recently held its national conference in Roanoke, the keynote speaker highlighted a North Carolina program to encourage partnerships between colleges and companies, as a way help recruit technology companies interested in research and development. The speaker hailed it as a model for other states to follow as they try to build a “knowledge economy.” Then the speaker noted that McCrory had cancelled it. The pro-business audience groaned.

On Monday, a data company picked Richmond as the site for a new office, with 730 jobs. Industry officials said it beat out Charlotte specifically because of HB2.

Feel free to argue all you want which presidential candidate would be best, but it’s clear that Virginia would be best served if North Carolina re-elected McCrory.

How Southern States are Challenging Gay Marriage

While the South likes to see itself in sanitized version of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind - a land of cavaliers and their fair ladies and beautiful antebellum houses  - the truth is that much of the South's true history has been far different and very, very ugly.  From the scourge of slavery, to segregation and the Jim Crow laws to hate filled evangelical Christians, much of the South's history is based on the subjugation and mistreatment of others.  Some things never change it seems as a number of Southern legislatures - all controlled by Republicans, of course, pandering to what my New Orleans belle grandmother would have deemed "white trash" - are enacting anti-gay laws under the disingenuous smoke screen of defending "religious liberty."  These laws grant noting less that special rights to Christian extremists and, in some cases, are worded so broadly that gays will not be the only ones to face open discrimination.  In Virginia, we fortunately have a governor who will veto the foul legislation.  Other states are a different story and businesses in Georgia are bracing for a backlash and/or considering leaving that state.  The Christian Science Monitor looks at the modern day  equivalent of the effort that undid Reconstruction.  Here are highlights: 

Four more states joined a broad conservative push against same-sex marriage this week, as several moved forward legislation that protects businesses, officials, and organizations who refuse to serve gay couples. In Kentucky, lawmakers pushed to create separate marriage licenses for gay and straight weddings. 

Citing religious liberty, lawmakers in Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi approved bills that they say offers equal protection for same-sex marriage opponents and supporters alike. These are states where there is far less public support for the Supreme Court's June 2015 effective legalization of gay marriage than polls show nationwide. 

Although majorities of Americans support the right to gay marriage, Southern states, in particular, show a different story. In Mississippi, for example, where support for gay marriage is the lowest in the country, only 25 percent support it, and just 54 percent believe it should be illegal to discriminate against gay individuals, according to polls by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). Overall, 53 percent of Americans support gay marriage, while 37 percent oppose it; 71 percent support laws against discriminating against gay or transgender people for housing or jobs.

On Friday, Mississippi's House voted 80-39 to pass a bill protecting state officials, faith leaders, and religious organizations who act on their beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman, that sex is only acceptable between husband and wife, and that gender is established at birth. The protections would include circuit clerks and judges, as well as employment decisions, such as firing an employee whose actions are considered out of line with a religious organization's views. The bill is now being held for further debate before going to the state Senate. 

Similar legislation passed in the Georgia Senate on Friday, despite businesses' concern that it could hurt the tourist industry.

Gay marriage supporters, however, say that what such legislation favors is discrimination. 

"We don’t allow people to discriminate against . . . interracial marriages, interfaith marriages, disparate-age marriages. We can’t start this precedent where there’s this one type of relationship that people can discriminate against without any fear of punishment," James Parrish, the executive director of Equality Virginia, an LGBT advocacy organization in Richmond, told the Washington Post.

From state to state, conservative lawmakers claim their religious beliefs against gay marriage face discrimination, not gay couples themselves. 

[M]ajorities of all Christian groups surveyed support non-discrimination laws to protect gay people, and majorities in all but two of those groups oppose letting private businesses refuse them service: 56 percent of white evangelicals, and 58 percent of Mormons. 

The demographic trends are pointing in a direction decidedly against the conservative positions, yet the older-generation leadership of the party is still wedded to the former consensus," George Mason University's School of Policy, Government and International Affairs Dean Mark J. Rozell told the Washington Post. "The Republicans frankly haven’t figured it out yet." 

As has been the case through so much of its history, the South is out of step with the rest of the nation and suffers a well deserved reputation of a region where hate and bigotry thrive.  Here in Virginia, the backwardness is especially acute in Southwest Virginia, a region of the state where coal industry jobs are drying up, unemployment is soaring and few businesses seek to locate because of the region's backwardness and bigotry.

The Economist: The Economic Detriments of Anti-LGBT Discrimination

via WikiCommons/Daniel Chapma, Chensiyuan, Dmitry Andeev

The Economist is a well respected British magazine that includes serious stories and articles so often missing from American publications.  Thus, it is significant that the magazine will be hosting the world's first ever global summit on the detrimental economic effects of LGBT discrimination.  The event will take place March of 2016 with simultaneous sessions in New York, London and Hong Kong.  Past studies have shown that anti-LGBT discrimination and persecution hold localities and nations back economically.  It's a message that the Republican Party refuses to hear, especially in economically depressed areas - e.g., Southwest Virginia - where the GOP dominates and furthers discrimination that keeps progressive businesses from thinking twice about relocating to the regions.  Here are highlights from Out Magazine on the summit: 

The United Kingom-based Economist announced that it will be hosting the world's first ever global summit on the detrimental economic effects of LGBT discrimination in March of 2016. The 24-hour rolling event, Pride and Prejudice, will be held concurrently across three continents, in New York City, London, and Hong Kong. It's professed aim is to "challenge policymakers and industry leaders to rethink the future of the global LGBT movement and its impact on business."

Daniel Franklin, executive editor of The Economist told Gay Star News:

"The Economist has long supported equal rights for LGBT individuals. Nearly 20 years ago in our cover story, ‘Let them wed’, we argued in favor of same-sex marriage. Progress since then has been huge but uneven—hence the need for a global conversation on the costs of LGBT discrimination."

Elena Sukacheva, a Senior Vice President, added:

"The Economist will drive to uncover the true cost of discrimination to businesses and communities through research and discussion with a wider array of stakeholders than ever before, including business, politics, academia and civic society. Three consecutive events within a 24-hour period will be a first for the group."

From its website for the event, the Economist states in part as follows:

Businesses see competitive advantage in creating a reputation for inclusiveness. Yet global acceptance of LGBT people is not evenly distributed. Worldwide, the situation ranges from mild intolerance to hostile rejection and violence. In many businesses, the “glass closet” remains a formidable barrier to advancement or authenticity. Discussion about same-sex relationships is controversial in many countries, but in a globalised world, gay rights are now a significant issue.

Companies in competitive, talent-driven sectors like banking and the law have developed sophisticated policies to ensure LGBT inclusion, while other businesses struggle quietly with the need to manage diverse workforces. Apple, one of the world’s most innovative companies, believes the creativity associated with diversity helps drive its success. Can inclusive workplace policies give other companies the same advantage?

Participants in Hong Kong, London and New York will take part is a series of globally oriented conversations and tackle the thorny questions pertinent to their region, with a common question in mind: what is the cost of LGBT discrimination?

Gov. McAuliffe: Hillary Clinton's Message Will Play Well in Virginia

Here in Virginia, the Virginia GOP continues to try to drag Virginia back into the 1950's and thinks that cutting taxes for the rich is the magic formula to "create jobs."   One need only look at Southwest Virginia which largely embraces the GOP Kool-Aid to see that the formula simply doesn't work and that bigotry, religious extremism and the embrace of ignorance are toxic when it comes to attracting new businesses and/or building a growing economy.  The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Gov. Terry McAuliffe believes that Hillary Clinton's campaign message will resonate in Virginia - at lease outside of the knuckle dragging backwards regions.   Here are excerpts:

Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Sunday that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s message “fits perfectly” with where he is trying to take Virginia as governor.

McAuliffe noted that in 2013 he won Virginia while campaigning on marriage equality, on being “a brick wall” in protecting women’s reproductive rights and on boosting the state’s economy.

Clinton’s message is: “How do you build the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday?” McAuliffe said. “How do you help families? How do you provide pre-K, so that every child has access to early childhood? How do you make sure everybody has access to health care? A healthy, educated workforce, that is what our foundation of our nation is built on.”

He added: “All these issues that Hillary has championed, on pre-K, reform in education, reforming our transportation system — we’ve done that in Virginia. So her message fits perfectly on where we need to go in Virginia.”

“Let her lay out her positive agenda. It’s what I did when I ran for governor of the commonwealth of Virginia in 2013. We had a historic win.”

McAuliffe noted that his 2013 election broke a “38-year trend” in Virginia. Beginning with Democrat Jimmy Carter’s election as president in 1976, the party of the successful presidential candidate lost the governorship in Virginia a year later. That ended when McAuliffe was elected in Virginia following President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012.

“We have brought people together in a bipartisan way around ideas,” McAuliffe said. “And that’s what Hillary can do for this country and that’s what she will do.”

In an April 9 swing state poll issued by Quinnipiac University, 52 percent of voters said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, while only 40 percent said she is. To counter that Clinton has to talk to the voters, McAuliffe said.

Texas: Hunkering Down for the Oil Bust

I left Houston and the oil industry just before the oil bust reached its lowest point in the 1980's.  The impact of the oil bust then was profound and wreaked havoc on employment and the housing market.  Now, Texas is facing a possible replay of those bad days given the plunge in oil and gas prices.  Locally, regular gas is below $2.00/gallon - something not seen in years.  And the glut of oil doesn't look to be ending any time soon given OPEC's apparent plan to make competing production uneconomical.  A piece at MSN News looks at the prospect faced by Texas which is ill equipped to face the crisis.  Here are article highlights:

MIDLAND, Tex. — With oil prices plummeting by more than 50 percent since June, the gleeful mood of recent years has turned glum here in West Texas as the frenzy of shale oil drilling has come to a screeching halt.

Every day, oil companies are decommissioning rigs and announcing layoffs. Small firms that lease equipment have fallen behind in their payments.

In response, businesses and workers are getting ready for the worst. A Mexican restaurant has started a Sunday brunch to expand its revenues beyond dinner. A Mercedes dealer, anticipating reduced demand, is prepared to emphasize repairs and sales of used cars. And people are cutting back at home, rethinking their vacation plans and cutting the hours of their housemaids and gardeners.

Dexter Allred, the general manager of a local oil field service company, began farming alfalfa hay on the side some years ago in the event that oil prices declined and work dried up. He was taking a cue from his grandfather, Homer Alf Swinson, an oil field mechanic, who opened a coin-operated carwash in 1968 — just in case.

It’s at times like these that Midland residents recall the wild swings of the 1980s, a decade that began with parties where people drank Dom Pérignon out of their cowboy boots. Rolls-Royce opened a dealership, and the local airport had trouble finding space to park all the private jets. By the end of the decade, the Rolls-Royce dealership was shut and replaced by a tortilla factory, and three banks had failed.

[S]ince the Permian Basin rig count peaked at around 570 last September, it has fallen to below 490 and local oil executives say the count will probably go down to as low as 300 by April unless prices rebound. The last time the rig count declined as rapidly was in late 2008 and early 2009, when the price of oil fell from over $140 to under $40 a barrel because of the financial crisis.

Unlike traditional oil wells, which cannot be turned on and off so easily, shale production can be cut back quickly, and so the field’s output should slow considerably by the end of the year.

The Dallas Federal Reserve recently estimated that the falling oil prices and other factors will reduce job growth in Texas overall from 3.6 percent in 2014 to as low as 2 percent this year, or a reduction of about 149,000 in jobs created.

Over a lavish buffet lunch recently at the Petroleum Club of Midland, the talk was woeful and full of conspiracy theories about how the Saudis were refusing to cut supplies to vanquish the surging American oil industry.

“At $45 a barrel, it shuts down nearly every project,” Steve J. McCoy, Latshaw Drilling’s director of business development, told Mr. Pruett and his guests. “The Saudis understand and they are killing us.”

Under Rick Perry and the Texas GOP's years of misrule low paying jobs were the main thing created.  As noted in posts before, Texas' far right agenda and anti-gay policies have worked to discouraged companies in less volatile industries to relocate to the state.   Now, many Texans may be about to pay the price for such misguided policies.

Pat Robertson: Satan Responsible for Gay Rights, Recalls Day When Gays Stoned to Death

The Hampton Roads area chambers of commerce and government development offices work endlessly to transform the region's image and make the region more attractive to world class businesses.  Perhaps the first thing they need to do to accomplish this goal is to find a way to have Pat Robertson committed to a mental institution or find another means to silence the nasty nutcase who seems to at least monthly spout batshitery that embarrasses the region and  makes Hampton Roads the home of whacked out crazies. In his latest episode of diarrhea of the mouth Robertson vents against gays and even give the impression that he might long for the days when were stoned to death by the "godly folk."  Right Wing Watch has details:

Today on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson said that Satan is behind homosexuality and that Jesus wouldn’t have served gay couples since they would have been stoned to death.

Robertson made the remarks following a report on a Colorado baker who was sued for refusing to serve a same-sex couple and the controversy over Arizona’s so-called “religious freedom” bill. The segment included interviews with the baker, his attorney, a sympathetic customer and three conservative activists. It didn’t feature any interviews with people defending the gay customers.

“I think you got to remember from the Bible, if you look carefully at the Bible what would have happened in Jesus’ time if two men decided they wanted to cohabit together, they would have been stoned to death,” Robertson said. “So Jesus would not have baked them a wedding cake nor would he have made them a bed to sleep in because they wouldn’t have been there. But we don’t have that in this country here so that’s the way it is.” (Robertson’s claim that Jesus would never have encountered a same-sex couple is a matter of debate.)

Robertson added: “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have to recognize what I said a few years ago, at that point homosexual marriage was condemned, homosexuality itself was considered a pathology and now those that are practicing that activity have turned and become the oppressors of those who hold deeply-held religious points of view, the tables have turned.”

“What is it about gays? What is it about abortion? Have you ever thought why they’re on the forefront right now? Both of them deny the reproduction of human species,” Robertson said, adding that homosexuality is “a meaningless exercise because it doesn’t go anywhere.”

“The Devil is trying to say, ‘I’m going to destroy your progeny any way I can. If you will kill your babies, that’s fine, I’m with you; if you will deny the chance of having babies, that’s fine too; but I want to destroy your opportunities to reproduce,’” he said. “It’s a very serious thing and we’re not talking about it, and we need to as a society, we have to realize where the attack is coming because it is definitely an attack.”

Co-host Wendy Griffith agreed: “The Devil wants to steal, kill and destroy. Well said Pat.”

 

One of the best things that could happen to Hampton Roads would be to see CBN shut down and Regent University taken from Robertson's grasp and control.  The man is an insane, senile bigot.

Indianapolis Chamber Of Commerce Opposes Same-Sex Marriage Ban

This blog has long argued that state sponsored homophobia and bans on gay equality are bad for business.  And, as more states allow gay marriage, those that do not will find themselves in an increasingly uncompetitive position when it comes to recruiting new businesses and attracting entrepreneurs and the so-called "creative class."  Homophobia likewise makes regions of states less competitive than more gay friendly cities and counties - e.g., backward and homophobic Martinsville, Virginia, has once again been awarded the distinction of having the highest level of unemployment in Virginia.  Apparently, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerces recognizes this reality and has come out against a move by Christofascists and Republicans to enact a constitutional amendment to Indiana's constitution to ban same sex marriage.  Think Progress reports the chamber's action.  Here are excerpts:

The Indy Chamber, Indianapolis’ business coalition, has come out in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Indiana. According to John Thompson, chairman of the Chamber’s board, the amendment would deter talent from moving to the state:

THOMPSON: The Indy Chamber is in the business of strengthening our economy and attracting top talent to our region. The proposed marriage amendment does nothing to help show the nation that Indiana is a place that welcomes all, not just some, and we must be mindful of how actions such as this will impact our competitiveness on a national and global level.

In its press release, the Indy Chamber also noted that the amendment would be redundant because Indiana already bans same-sex marriage through state laws:

Indy Chamber leadership recognizes that the amendment would duplicate existing Indiana law, which already defines marriage between one man and one woman. The amendment is a distraction from building momentum in the state legislature to address economic and workforce development challenges in the Indianapolis region and across the state.

Read the full statement of opposition (via Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed).

Indiana’s legislature already voted once to approve the anti-gay amendment back in 2011. A second vote is required during the 2013–2014 legislative session before it can advance to a referendum, and the Republicans decided to delay that consideration until 2014. Gov. Mike Pence (R) also supports the amendment, and was even caught censoring pro-gay comments from his Facebook page back in June.

As seems to be the norm, religious extremism and hatred of others are the main hallmarks of today's Republican Party.

McAuliffe Eviscerates Cuccinelli on Child Support, Violence Against Women Act

As noted in a post yesterday, Ken Cuccinelli has expanded the GOP's war on women from efforts to ban all abortions even in instances of rape and incest to now seeking to limit their ability to leave failed marriages and to reduce child support payments thus sending more women with children into poverty.  Cuccinelli's upside down priorities toward women are, of course, only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his extremist agenda.  Not surprisingly, Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe has jumped all over Cuccinelli's sick agenda.  Here are statements McAuliffe made on the issue via Blue Virginia:

...Virginia has to be a Commonwealth that is open to businesses and welcoming to all. I talk to business leaders from both parties every single day. I constantly hear that politicians focusing on a social, ideological agenda is not helpful for business. We cannot keep putting walls up around Virginia by attacking women's rights, scientists, or gay Virginians. This is a fundamental difference in this race. I know we need to focus on the economy...Ken Cuccinelli has shown that he will spend his time in office on a social, divisive, ideological battles...that have defined his career.

[The Washington Post report this morning] was shocking. It detailed his ties to a radical group that fought against adequate child support because they think it is quote punitive unquote to men...and contend that men are frequently victimized by false allegations of domestic abuse unquote. According to the Washington Post, my opponent even took the unusual step of handling the private case for a leader in these groups while he was sitting Attorney General. Ken Cuccinelli has worked to implement their agenda on trying to restrict women's health care rights...Quote Cuccinelli was also the long Senate vote against legislation to increase child support payments by tying them more closely to inflation unquote. Opposing adequate child support is inexplicable and it's just plain wrong...

...Why would you introduce legislation that would punish people who want to get out of a bad marriage?...Cuccinelli was one of three [Attorneys General] who did not sign [a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act]. My opponent still won't explain what he dislikes so much about the Violence Against Women Act, but that group he is tied to believes that many women make up claims of domestic abuse.

During this campaign, there are many issues where Ken Cuccinelli and I have disagreed, and on some of them, I can at least understand his position, even if I don't agree with it. But the positions laid out today in the Washington Post on child support, the Violence Against Women Act and on family law is just beyond my comprehension, and I believe beyond the comprehension of most Virginians...

...Ken Cuccinelli's social agenda is more than just extreme, it is bad for business. The Republican Lt. Governor said just this week, quote, he is a rigid ideologue who thrives on conflict and confrontation...Virginia simply can not afford to have their leaders pursuing their own rigid ideological agenda...

With more and more states adopting progressive policies to attract progressive businesses and entrepreneurs,  it is insane to try to drag Virginia back into the 19th century.  Yet that is precisely what Cuccinelli and his backers at The Family Foundation are trying to do.

Reflections as Gay Marriages Resume in California

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay in the Proposition 8 case and gay marriages resumed in the nation's most populous state as couples turned out in droves to tie the knot.  I'm thrilled for these couples who will now be living in a state where they receive equal rights as citizens.  It's a bitter sweet feeling knowing that in Virginia it may be many years before LGBT Virginians ceasing being the new blacks under Virginia's discriminatory laws.  One thing the flood of California marriages will do is set the stage for more pressure on Virginia businesses to demand that the Virginia GOP stop pandering to spittle flecked Bible beaters as the competition for top employees becomes increasingly tilted against Virginia businesses.  In the past, big businesses have been the major players in reversing anti-gay laws - e.g., Capital One led the charge to end the ban on employer paid insurance benefits for same sex partners.  Think Progress looks at developments in California:

On Friday afternoon, the ninth circuit court lifted its stay on same-sex marriages in the state of California, acknowledging the Supreme Court’s opinion in Hollingsworth v Perry that supporters of anti-gay Proposition 8 did not have standing to appeal a lower court judge’s ruling that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The move, which came earlier than expected, allows gay and lesbian couples to begin getting married immediately.

As soon as the news came down from the ninth circuit on Friday, California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris began marrying couples — starting with Proposition 8 plaintiffs Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier.

UCLA estimates that 37,000 same-sex couples in California will get married in the next three years. 

Earlier on Friday, the Office of Personnel Management issued new guidance for “heads of executive departments and agencies” on how they should treat the gay and lesbian couples whose marriages are newly acknowledged as valid, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Both situations underscore the immediate, life-changing impact that same-sex couples are experiencing in the wake of Wednesday’s decisions.

The contrast between California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli could not be more stark: Harris supports modernity and equality while Kookinelli supports hate, ignorance and bigotry (all while likely tortured by self-loathing and secretly longing for some hot gay sex).

Virginia: The New Gay-Rights Battleground

The Republican Party of Virginia's nomination of a slate of extremists for its state wide ticket last weekend is drawing a great deal of media attention to Virginia, most of it negative.  One can't help but wonder what progressive business would want to consider relocating to Virginia as the utter batshitery of Ken Cuccinelli, E.W. Jackson and Mark Obenshain gets increasingly disseminated across the country and world.   The one irony is that all the attention is ruining Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli's effort to avoid social issues in his campaign to dupe voters into believing that his not a religious extremist.   An article in Politico looks at how the campaign season may shape up and how Virginia is suddenly a gay rights battle ground.   Here are article excerpts:

Welcome to the gay rights battleground of Virginia.  Yes, you read that right. In the 2013 off-year elections, a state that once leaned solidly to the center-right has become the newest focal point in the national debate over same-sex relationships. A gubernatorial race already defined partly along culture-war lines has grown even more contentious since last weekend, when Virginia Republicans nominated as their lieutenant governor candidate a firebrand minister who has called gays “very sick people psychologically” and suggested a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Remarkably, in a New South battleground where Democrats have traditionally won by carving out independent, non-partisan reputations, it’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe who’s most eager to keep gay rights on the political front burner.

After Republicans nominated Rev. E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor at their state convention last weekend, the Virginia Democratic Party held a conference call – led by openly gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin – to accuse the GOP ticket of representing “the biases of the past.” McAuliffe’s campaign issued a statement Wednesday charging that the gay-rights views of Jackson and GOP gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli were “divisive,” “dangerous” and bad for business.

Gone, in other words, is the conventional Southern Democratic playbook of running away from the national party on culture. Encouraged by last year’s joint victories by Sen. Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama, Democrats argue this is simply The Way We Live Now in Virginia.

Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee said the fundamentals of Virginia’s cultural politics have changed so sharply that it makes sense for the party to trumpet cultural views that appeal to the state’s increasingly urban and diverse population.

The McAuliffe campaign’s research backs up that assessment, according to multiple operatives involved in the race, who see Cuccinelli and Jackson’s culture-warrior history as a valuable tool for motivating low-turnout Democrats in the off-cycle campaign.

Democratic polls and focus groups have consistently found that voters react with horror to a 2008 statement by Cuccinelli that the “homosexual agenda” brings about “nothing but self-destruction, not only physically but of their soul,” as well as to Cuccinelli’s opposition to public universities including gay-rights protections in their anti-discrimination policies.

One private Democratic poll taken last month showed that 81 percent of targeted young voters – aged 18 to 29 – called that information a “very strong reason to vote against” Cuccinelli. A March focus group of middle-class, Democratic-leaning women in Virginia Beach found Cuccinelli’s quote about the “homosexual agenda” similarly powerful.

University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato said that “twenty years have made a world of difference” in Virginia politics, as far as which side of the cultural divide is safer for statewide candidates.

“The gay rights issue here is emblematic. In the Old Dominion, a party associated with gay rights would be headed for a tumble. Now, it’s exactly the opposite. A sizeable majority in Purple Virginia do not consider the anti-gay views of Cuccinelli and Jackson to be acceptable,” Sabato said. “It’s old versus new. If the Democrats had a nominee like Tim Kaine, this contest would be over.”

Republicans have responded to the emergence of Jackson with reactions that range from cautious to downright critical.

On the Democratic side, too, there’s a recognition that the social-issue message will only be effective if voters believe it’s tied directly to their daily lives. Some voters may turn out simply to send a message to a politician they view as bigoted. But more will turn out and vote if McAuliffe and the rest of the Democratic ticket successfully argue that right-wing cultural views – embodied most vividly by Jackson – will cost Virginia jobs.

I can only pray that the Democrat base wakes up and turns out in November.  If this GOP ticket wins, Virginia will not be a fit place to live for women and minorities, not just gays.

Pat Robertson: Gays Can Change Just Like Murderers and Rapists

The Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia desperately needs to diversify its economy and attract new progressive business so as to reduce the area's dependence on federal defense spending.  And some efforts are being made to enhance the area's image.  But unfortunately, time and time again snake oil merchant/televangelist Pat Robertson (head of Regent University a "Christian" university in Virginia Beach) shoots off his mouth and makes the area look like a bunch of knuckle dragging Neanderthals.  The man is a continued embarrassment and unfortunately no one seems to be able to rein him in and tell him to just shut the f*ck up.  His latest tirade against gays will do nothing to improve the region's image nationally and internationally.  Here are excerpts from Right Wing Watch:

Today on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson insisted that gays and lesbians can “change their sexual preference” just like murders, rapists and thieves can change themselves. He later warned that the U.S. is on the verge of adopting hate speech laws.

Robertson, who has repeatedly promoted ex-gay therapy, said that just as gay people can change their orientation, “a murderer can change, a rapist can change, a thief can change.” Robertson was reacting to a case in Ecuador, where a politician was found to have violated his country’s electoral code’s prohibition on discrimination by making anti-gay remarks.

Let's be clear.  In my view, Robertson is a crook, snake oil merchant and utter hypocrite.  Oh, and did I mention that his an arrogant asshole to boot?

Virginia Business Revolt Over Virginia GOP's Culture Wars Agenda

I have noted any number of times that the Republican Party of Virginia - and its Christianist puppet masters - fails to grasp the fact that low taxes are not the only prerequisite to making Virginia a business friendly state and a place that businesses would consider as a possible relocation venue. Key to any business relocation is the ability to (i) retain key personnel and (ii) attract new talent/employees. States and regions that are socially backwards and intolerant of minorities, gays and non-traditional thinking - Southwest Virginia is a prime example - are simply NOT deemed attractive to progressive and innovative companies and businesses no matter how low the tax rate. Now, a number of Virginia businesses have written a letter to Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell (pictured above with the ever slimy Eric Cantor) and the members of the General Assembly demanding that he and the Virginia GOP cease their culture war against women, gays and modernity in general. Why? Because it is hurting their businesses. Here are highlights from the letter via Blue Virginia:

As business leaders and employers in Virginia we applaud your successful bi-partisan efforts to keep Virginia first in national rankings as the most business-friendly state.

We urge you to maintain this ranking going forward by ensuring Virginia is a magnet for the best and the brightest employees and entrepreneurs.

Specifically, we urge you to reject extreme proposals governing social issues on which Americans are passionately divided. Otherwise it will be difficult for Virginia to attract and retain the entrepreneurs and talent we need to grow Virginia.

A full list of the signatories of the letter can be viewed at the Blue Virginia link.

This current session of the Virginia General Assembly has made Virginia a national laughing stock and made most Americans likely view Virginia as peopled by Bible beating extremists who want to take the state back to the Middle Ages. One can only hope that Taliban Bob and some of the Virginia GOP Kool-Aid drinkers will open their ears and listen.

Southwest Virginia.Wants to Change Its Image

I have mixed emotions about a story in the Richmond Times Dispatch that looks at efforts in Southwest Virginia to change the region's image and attract "entrepreneurs and high-tech businesses." The goal is meritorious and I feel for many in the region who suffer from the harsh economic realities that many municipalities face. The one aspect that those trying to recast the region's image doesn't seem to address is the social and cultural backwardness of the region and its intolerance towards those who are deemed "other." Yes, the region is physically beautiful and there are many good people in the region. But, when a region is anti-black, anti-gay, anti-immigrant and far right Christianist in its mindset, attracting progressive business is going to be difficult. Here are some story highlights:
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Heartwood officials say Southwest Virginia will change the nation's negative perception of Appalachia. "Give us three years," said Chuck Riedhammer, the marketing director with a $1 million budget to promote the new facility, a regional artisan center set up as a gateway to Southwest Virginia's arts and culture.
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Our No. 1 objective isn't even tourism," said Todd Christensen, executive director of the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Commission, which is overseeing the project. "Our number one objective is to develop a quality of life that's going to attract entrepreneurs and high-tech businesses to the region."
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Heartwood is designed to bring all of the region's cultural assets under one roof. The theme of what's included, from artisans and musicians to local foods and outdoor recreation sites, has become almost a mantra: "authentic, distinctive, alive."
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Tamra Talmadge, spokeswoman for the Virginia Tourism Corporation, said Heartwood packages the generations-old culture in a new form at a time when tourists, particularly of the millennial generation, are craving authenticity.
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I continue to believe that Southwest Virginia's biggest problem is the strangle hold that the Christianists have on the region. Having visited Martinsville back when I was representing Michael Moore in his lawsuit against the Virginia Museum of Natural History, as an LGBT individual, suicide would seem a positive option rather than living long term in the area. I suspect innovative and progressive business would view the region in a similar negative perspective.

Virginia Beach Bistro's First Drag Brunch Was Sell-Out

OMG! The Bible beaters at CBN, Regent University, Kempsville Prebyterian Church, Trinity Church (Congressman Scott Rigell's church), and other centers of anti-gay extremism in Virginia Beach are going to be convulsing and wetting themselves when they learn that Croc's, a long time Oceanfront restaurant's, first drag brunch was a sell out and that more are being planned. Currently, the only regular drag brunch to be had in eastern Virginia is in Richmond where the two seatings always sell out. I hope Croc's will continue the drag brunches into to the main tourist season this coming summer. Virginia Beach likes to see itself as a first class resort destination, but sadly in reality it caters principally to blue collar and working class families and in its quest to be a "family resort" anything fun and different gets squashed or run out of the resort area. It is one reason I NEVER go to Oceanfront and frankly would advise discerning and sophisticated travelers to pick some other destination. Kudos to Croc's for having the spunk to begin what can be a hilarious and fun way to do brunch. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot (Note that folks had to be turned away at the door):
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A little song, a little dance and some bawdy jokes accent the new brunch menu at Croc's Eco Bistro. The venerable Oceanfront eatery has started Sunday brunch service with a twist - the addition of a cabaret-style show featuring female impersonators.
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The first drag brunch was Jan. 16, and both the 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. seatings were sold out. In fact, folks were turned away from the brunch, says Laura Wood Habr, a co-owner of the restaurant.
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A half-dozen female impersonators danced, told jokes and lip-synced to everything from Nancy Sinatra to Lady Gaga, all dressed in outfits that ranged from psychedelic, swinging '60s to Las Vegas showgirl. "It's a high energy event," Habr says, noting that the show is modeled after the long-running, popular drag brunch at Godfrey's in Richmond.
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The next drag brunch is Feb. 13, and future dates will be set, says Habr. Croc's is at 620 19th St. Call 428-5444 or visit www.crocsrestaurant.com.

Hawaii Civil Unions Bill Moves Forward

Last year Hawaii almost saw passage of a civil unions bill but for the veto of its then twice divorced - and complete hypocrite - governor, Linda Lingle. This year, with a new governor who has said he will sign the civil unions bill if it reaches his desk, the legislative process has started once again and the civil unions bill has cleared a Senate committee. Unlike Virginia, Hawaii already has employment protections for its LGBT citizens and civil unions will be a big step towards full equality under the law for LGBT Hawaiians. With Illinois about to grant legal recognition to same sex couples, the progress in Hawaii will make anti-gay states even less competitive in the quest for progressive businesses and economic growth. No doubt Hawaiian Christianists who would prefer to keep gays second or third class citizens are not happy campers. KITV has coverage on the legislative process and here are some highlights:
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The state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday passed a bill to provide civil unions, offering benefits and responsibilities identical to marriage, for unmarried couples. More than 70 people turned out to testify.
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The proposal has the support of a majority of lawmakers and new Gov. Neil Abercrombie. So, the goal of supporters is to pass the controversial legislation early in the season so it does not become a distraction or get delayed as other issues take lawmakers' attention.
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The civil unions bill is nearly identical to a measure that passed the Hawaii Legislature last year before it was vetoed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican. . . . The bill must go to the full Senate before moving to the House for further consideration.

JFCOM's Possible Closure - The Risk of Putting All One's Eggs in One Basket

For far too many years the city leaders in the Hampton Roads area have placed all of their economic eggs in one basket. Virginia Beach has chosen to focus on tourism, yet still offers no really top of the line hotels and resorts with the result that big spending tourists go to other destinations. Worse yet, the resort area is run like a police state where only certain "family friendly" businesses are welcome. Top of the line clubs - especially the horrors, gay clubs - are nonexistent and parking has become so difficult/expensive that many locals (gay and straight) simply avoid the resort area entirely. Why go where one is not wanted. The rest of the cities have focused far too much on courting the military and military contractors and the result is that with the proposed closure of the military's Joint Forces Command ("JFCOM"), some of this short sightedness may be coming home to roost. Sadly, most of the leadership of region's cities do little to embrace diversity - although Hampton may have started to crack that mold through its meeting with HRBOR - and a similar closed mindedness is evident at the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce whose leadership is made up of the good old boy types who strike me as believing that blacks, women and gays all need to know their place. A Virginian Pilot article looked at this issue and the likelihood that JFCOM's high tech jobs could be headed to Florida. Here are some highlights:
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Hampton Roads leaders trying to save the Joint Forces Command from extinction are looking nervously to the south. Florida, already in the running to snag one of the Navy's Norfolk-based aircraft carriers, may also turn out to be a beneficiary of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' plan to close the Norfolk-based military command known as JFCOM.
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[P]erhaps the most vulnerable piece of JFCOM is the command's modeling and simulation functions. Those high-tech operations, used for training, experimentation and development of new warfighting concepts, have been the catalyst for a booming cluster of related businesses near JFCOM's operations center in northern Suffolk.
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The nightmare scenario for local leaders is that those programs will be dismantled and consolidated in Orlando, Fla., which has an older, more deeply rooted and much larger concentration of modeling and simulation operations.
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James Koch, an economics professor and former president of ODU, said . . . . Even without JFCOM, the Hampton Roads economy will remain heavily dependent on military spending - dangerously so, in Koch's view. Federal spending on military installations now tops $10 billion a year in Hampton Roads, more than in any other metro area in the country. The direct and indirect effects of military spending account for nearly half of the region's economy, ODU economists estimate, up from one-third a decade ago.
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The trend holds lessons for local leaders, Koch said."I am a great supporter of the Department of Defense, but we cannot depend upon the DOD increasing its expenditures every year, or even keeping them at the same level. "The lesson is that we need to really work on diversifying our economy."
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Diversifying the economy in an area where social and cultural backwardness are still too prevalent and where arriving travelers at Norfolk International Airport are greeted with a huge display of Pat Robertson and Regent University will not be easy. The burden rests, however, not just on local leaders but also on the governmental leadership in Richmond which currently is sending a strong message that diversity and tolerance are in short supply - especially in the governor's and attorney general's offices.