Congressman Randy Forbes: A Do Nothing Extremist

I've noted before that I've known 4th District Congressman Randy Forbes for 37 years and I don't know what became of the young law student I once knew.  Forbes has become increasingly a willing prostitute for far right religious extremists and compared to other members of Congress, including other members from Virginia, has little in the way of legislation to show for his years in Congress.  Crazy Christofascist backed bills and obstruction are about all he has to show for his years drawing a nice congressional salary.  A piece in the Virginian Pilot looks at Forbes' dismal record and how he stays in office thanks to districts that are racially gerrymandered.  Here are excerpts:

Randy Forbes has not been a consequential member of Congress.

By almost every measure of effectiveness, he trails his peers in the House of Representatives, not just among the 435 members of Congress, but among the 11-member Virginia delegation.

In Forbes' 13 years in office, only one piece of his legislation has been signed by a president, according to Congress's database. It was a bill, in 2002, to "designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3131 South Crater Road in Petersburg, Virginia, as the 'Norman Sisisky Post Office Building.' "

In the current Congress, Forbes has sponsored legislation:

-- "Affirming the vital role that prayer has played throughout the more than 200-year history of our Nation..."

-- Expressing "the sense of the House of Representatives that the funds made available for the cost of the President's trip to Africa instead be used to compensate those who have been placed on an administrative furlough as a result of sequestration."

He's also introduced bills that would bar the use of embryonic stem cells and rein in the IRS (the "Prevent IRS Overreach Act of 2013").

Late last year, Politico reported that Forbes was creating "friction" within the House leadership by pushing to have campaign funds denied to gay GOP candidates.

The bills a member of Congress sponsors say something about his priorities. The legislative success of a member of Congress says something about his influence among his peers.

The fact that none of Forbes' legislation since 2002 has made it to the president's desk argues that he's not representing the residents of the 4th Congressional District as they deserve and have every right to expect.

Forbes has instead wasted his time in Congress on inconsequential and unnecessarily divisive issues (does Congress need to inform Americans about the role of prayer?) that appeal to a narrow band of the electorate.

Which is all he needs to get re-elected.

This is what happens when elected officials get to tailor their own electoral districts. By packing Democrats into Scott's district, the General Assembly has made the 4th Congressional District so reliably Republican that, not only is Forbes in no danger of losing next month's election, but the Democratic Party has consistently failed to find or support a credible candidate to oppose him.

Forbes, instead, seems content to keep his head down and run for the finish line in his sharply tailored district, confident that he won't be held accountable for his stunning lack of influence and legislative success.

Gingrich, Santorum, and Bachmann Sign "Personhood Pledge

With the failed conservative policies - dare we say reactionary policies - of the Republican Party and its ignorance embracing party base dragging the country (and the middle class) downward, what are some of the GOP presidential candidates doing? Signing on to even more extreme batshitery! Newt Gingrich, Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum and Michele "I'm Married to a Gay" Bachmann have all signed Personhood USA's pledge to support and promote both state and federal "personhood" laws. Laws like the one that went down in flames last month in Mississippi. Right Wing Watch has details on the lunacy:

Last month, the radical "personhood" amendment in Mississippi was trounced in the polls, with 58% of voters rejecting the Religious Right's effort to implement draconian anti-choice restrictions in the state.

But that has not stopped supporters of this "personhood" movement from moving ahead with plans to try and pass similar amendments in states across the nation.

And now Personhood USA has announced that Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich have all signed the organization's pledge to support and promote both state and federal "personhood" laws . . .

The "Personhood Republican Persidential Candidate Pledge" reads as follows:

I oppose assisted suicide, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, and procedures that intentionally destroy developing human beings.

I pledge to the American people that I will defend all innocent human life. Abortion and the intentional killing of an innocent human being are always wrong and should be prohibited.

If elected President, I will work to advance state and federal laws and amendments that recognize the unalienable right to life of all human beings as persons at every stage of development, and to the best of my knowledge, I will only appoint federal judges and relevant officials who will uphold and enforce state and federal laws recognizing that all human being at every stage of development are person with the unalienable right to life.

Ken Cuccinelli - GOP AG Candidate is a Fanatic

Most of the attention during the run up to the November elections in Virginia has been focused on the race for governor and Bob McDonnell's Christianist road map laid out in his CBN University thesis. Unfortunately, McDonnell looks like the moderate he is pretending to be when compared to GOP candidate for Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli holds a mind set that's like a throw back to the Spanish Inquisition or the evil Catholics in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The guy is in short a flaming lunatic. Yet other than a recent Washington Post story, too little seems to have come out as to just what an extremist Cuccinelli is in terms of many of his views. Here are some highlights:

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Attention, Virginia voters: If the polls are correct and nothing big changes in the next 12 days, you're going to elect a state attorney general who's so ardently conservative he makes gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell sound like a mealy-mouthed moderate.

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State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II of Fairfax County, the Republican candidate to be the state's top lawyer, portrays the environmental movement as a socialist ploy and said in 2003 that homosexuality is just plain wrong. . . . His idea of a compelling issue was championing a measure last year to make it easier to deny unemployment benefits to immigrant workers fired for not speaking English. . . . Last year, he proposed to deny citizenship to children born in the United States if their parents weren't here legally.

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In short, rational voters ought to be running screaming from Cuccinelli. Sadly, too few seem to be paying attention to the AG race. Fortunately, the Virginia Democrats have made a video set out below which allows Cuccinelli himself to demonstrate just out side the mainstream he is and that the concerns of average Virginians are not his priority.

Bogus Claim of War Against Catholics

I'm not sure where he is getting his information from, but Michael Gerson has a whiny column in the Washington Post alleging that Barack Obama has "declared war" on Catholics. It seems that Gerson must be listening too much to nutcase William Donohue of the Catholic League and members of the morally bankrupt Church hierarchy rather than rank and file Catholics who, according to a new Gallup survey do not support the Vatican's take on many issues to the extent some would have you believe. Much of the noise seems to derive from Obama's scheduled visit to Notre Dame to give the commencement address. It would seem to me that the outrage - both real and feigned - would be better directed towards demanding mass resignations of the bishops, cardinals and the Pope who enabled or covered up for sexual predator priests. But that would require independent thinking - something that is abhorrent to traditionalist Catholics. First some highlights from Gerson's column:
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Some friends who are loyal alumni of Notre Dame are distressed that God's alma mater is hosting a pro-choice president at commencement. For decades, they argue, Notre Dame has accommodated, legitimated and enabled pro-choice views, compromising its identity as a Catholic institution. They question the wisdom of the Obama invitation, which they believe adds to that confusion. But some critics go further, calling President Obama's appearance "an outrage and a scandal." And that goes too far.
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A number of Catholic thinkers set out a "pro-life, pro-Obama" position -- disagreeing with Obama's pro-choice views but trusting in his moderate instincts and conciliatory temperament.So far, Obama has done little to justify this faith. His initial actions on life issues -- funding overseas abortion providers, removing restrictions from federally funded medical experimentation on human embryos, revisiting conscience protections for pro-life health-care professionals -- have ranged from conventional to radical.
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Catholics are having second thoughts, but it could get much worse. If the president and Congress are not careful on several issues, these concerns could open a major rift between the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party. First, Obama has raised deep concerns among Catholic leaders by signaling that he will overturn Bush's executive order protecting health workers from firing and discrimination if they refuse to perform actions they consider morally objectionable.
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I think the key words in Gerson's column is "Catholic leaders" which most likely means the hierarchy and the William Donohue style of Catholics who seem to think they are always being persecuted even when they are the ones doing the persecution. I suspect that Gerson needs to stop listening to the same Church officials who claimed they knew nothing about the rampant sex abuse problem within the church. They lied about that and they are lying now. Here are some findings from Gallup:
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PRINCETON, NJ -- Despite the Roman Catholic Church's official opposition to abortion and embryonic stem-cell research, a Gallup analysis finds almost no difference between rank-and-file American Catholics and American non-Catholics in terms of finding the two issues morally acceptable.
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The argument of those who protest the extension of the invitation to Obama [to speak at Notre Dame] is that Catholics have a distinctly conservative position on these moral issues. That is certainly the case as far as official church doctrine is concerned, but not when it comes to average American Catholics. The new Gallup analysis, based on aggregated data from Gallup's 2006-2008 Values and Beliefs surveys, indicates that Catholics in the United States today are actually more liberal than the non-Catholic population on a number of moral issues, and on others, Catholics have generally the same attitudes.
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Catholics are at least slightly more liberal than non-Catholics on the issues of gambling (an issue to which the Catholic church is not totally opposed), sex between an unmarried man and woman, homosexual relations, and having a baby out of wedlock. Catholics are essentially tied with non-Catholics on the moral acceptability of abortion, divorce, and stem-cell research using human embryos.

Separating Science and Politics

UPDATED: Politico reports that Nancy Reagan applauds Obama's stem cell policy change:

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Under fire from congressional Republicans for lifting restrictions on stem cell research, President Barack Obama got a powerful endorsement for his move Monday from Nancy Reagan, the former president’s wife. *

“I’m very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research,” she wrote in a statement released shortly after Obama reversed the Bush administration limits. “These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers."

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In yet another move that shows the re-emergence of science over religion in guiding governmental policy, President Obama is set to announce tomorrow that he is reversing the Chimperator's ban on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research. No doubt the religious extremists are wailing and wetting themselves as they convulse over the news. In my view, Obama still has a long way to go in totally reversing all of the insidious changes the Chimperator made at the behest of his Christianist masters. As I have noted before many times, I never cease to be amazed how the Christianists and the Catholic hierarchy put far more value on embryos than they do on the lives of those suffering from diseases that might be cured from this type of research. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

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WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce Monday that he is reversing Bush administration limits on federal financing for embryonic stem research as part of a pledge to separate science and politics, White House officials said Friday.

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[A] White House ceremony is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, when Mr. Obama is expected to make an announcement. One person familiar with planning for the event said the president would also speak about a general return to “sound science” in his administration, as a fulfillment of his campaign promise to draw a demarcation line between politics and science. The Bush administration was often accused of trying to shade, or even suppress, the findings of government scientists on climate change, sex education, contraceptives and other issues, as well as stem cells.

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Because embryonic stem cells are capable of developing into any type of cell in the body, many scientists believe that they may one day be able to provide tissues to replace worn-out organs or nonfunctioning cells and, thus, offer powerful new treatments for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's disease and other ailments. Some researchers say the stem cells may even be used someday to treat catastrophic injuries like damage to the spinal cord.

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“It must be Friday night because word leaks of yet another deadly executive order by President Obama,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, calling Mr. Obama’s intention “a slap in the face to Americans who believe in the dignity of all human life.”

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ut the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation praised the president’s plan. “By removing politics from science,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, the organization’s president and chief executive, “President Obama has freed researchers to explore these remarkable stem cells, learn from them and possibly develop effective therapies using them.”

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As for Tony Perkins' comment, my response is that through his constant deliberate lies and disingenuous, hate based propaganda, he and his foul organization are a slap in the face to honesty and integrity. The man is truly despicable.

Issues Pose a Challenge for Obama and Pope

The Washington Post has a story today about the differences in views/beliefs between Barack Obama's and Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI. Personally, I believe that Obama, if need be, should tell the Pope to stop attempting to meddle in civil law matters in the USA. As for the U.S. Bishops, perhaps a proposal to amend the federal racketeering laws by Obama so that it could be more broadly applied to bishops and cardinals who covered up the sexual abuse of children might be a nice response. Basically a message to shut up or be prosecuted and have even more disgusting Church secrets come out. I am so tired of people giving deference to those - including Benedict XVI - who had a hand in the sex abuse scandal cover up. Cardinals Eagan of New York and Mahoney of Los Angeles are two other names that spring to mind. The Church hierarchy consists of frauds and in some cases those who deserve to be criminally prosecuted. Here are some highlights from the Post story:

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VATICAN CITY -- In the 24 years since the United States and the Holy See established full diplomatic ties, relations have never been closer or warmer than during the administration of President Bush.

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The relationship between the Vatican and the White House is bound to change this month with the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, whose support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research has drawn denunciations from a number of church leaders.

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From the U.S. hierarchy, however, congratulations have been mixed with criticism. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the church should "rejoice" in the election of the country's first African American president, but insisted that it would confront Obama over abortion and stem-cell research.

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Of most urgent concern to the church is clearly the Freedom of Choice Act, a proposed bill that would overturn a host of restrictions on abortion. Critics say the proposal would eliminate so-called conscience exemptions for publicly funded health-care facilities, thus forcing Catholic hospitals to provide abortions or shut their doors.

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Another potential irritant in U.S.-Vatican relations emerged in late November when a federal appeals court ruled that a lawsuit over alleged sex abuse by Catholic priests could proceed against the Holy See, despite its sovereign-state status.

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In spite of such problems, the Vatican will seek to work closely with the new administration in a number of areas, Franco said. Foremost on its agenda is the fate of Christian minorities in the Middle East -- particularly in Iraq, where their status has grown increasingly precarious during the Bush administration.

Bloomberg Quits the GOP; Bush to Veto Stem Cell Bill- AGAIN

Michael Bloomberg, who joined the Republican Party in 2001 after spending his life as a registered Democrat, has left the GOP and registered as an independent. I suspect that Bloomberg, like myself, feels that the GOP as currently constituted and led by Chimperator Bush left him. What is interesting is what Bloomberg has to say about how progress has been made in New York City:

We've balanced budgets, grown our economy, improved public health, reformed the school system and made the nation�s safest city even safer."

We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face."

Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there's no limit to what we can do."

Meanwhile, we have Chimperator Bush about to veto the bill on stem cell research again, proving (1) that he puts the voodo version of Christianity espoused by the Christianists ahead of science and what the majority of the public supports, and (2) that he is not a successful elected executive. Nothing like blindly following Daddy Dobson's orders:

President Bush has chosen to use his veto pen three times - twice on the stem cell issue where politics, ethics and science collide. Pushing back against the Democratic-led Congress, Bush plans to veto a bill Wednesday that would have eased restraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.