An open letter to Republicans

Hey, how are you doing?  I know this must be a tough time for you.  You have dreams.  You dream that your party, the Grand Old Party, will work hard to disenfranchise all moderate thinkers so the party is dominated by far right, ultra-conservative, old, white people.   You would like to see your party take a firm stand on gay issues, because let's face it - these people are sick and perverted.  You would love to see everybody be allowed to discriminate against gays because they're just yucky.  They are tearing apart families, communities and the very fabric of society.  They're only interested in converting our young to their sick lifestyles.  I know that you dream of a time when respected scientists can be hounded for disagreeing with your personal beliefs.  What audacity for a scientist to rely on facts and studies when all they need to do is follow the political ideology of our elected officials.  You dream of a time when all women must report their heavy periods to the police or face jail time because who knows what they might be trying to hide.  And speaking of women, I know that you feel the same way many of your men feel....not too keen on that whole contraception thing or abortions even if the mother's life is in jeopardy.  You dream of a time when contraception and abortion will be a thing of the past.  

You have so many dreams.  If your party would stop spending so much time on solving actual problems maybe they could concentrate on the big things.....the social issues that matter so much to the masses.  

What?  You mean you don't dream about all those social thingys? You really do want Virginia to move forward on health care, transportation, jobs, education and a myriad of other real issues.  

Here's a crazy idea!  Instead of pulling the lever marked "R" just because that's what you always do, how about joining us.  I think you'll be surprised at how much we have in common and how little we care about social issues.  

We're waiting with open arms.

Love,

The Democrats

The Most Reverend E. W. Jackson - Con Man

This is a reprint from Thinkprogress.org.  Well worth the read about Reverend Jackson's PAC and how it seems to be primarily benefitting the Reverend instead of it's stated purpose. 

In 2010, Bishop E.W. Jackson — the Virginia Republican nominee for Lt. Governor — created a political action committee designed to elect “conservative black candidates” in districts represented by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But a ThinkProgress review of Jackson’s PAC filings reveals that it backed just one such candidate, while funneling thousands to Jackson himself.

Objecting to the way members of the all-Democratic Congressional Black Congress has been “conflating the black struggle for civil rights with the demands of radical homosexuals for marriage and other special rights,” Jackson announced the STAND America PAC in April, 2010. He vowed to “demand that representatives of the black community start respecting the values of the people who elect them,” noting that the PAC would make sure that happens.

Since its formation, the PAC has reported raising about $130,000, all from individual donors. Of this, just $2,750 went to conservative African American candidates — about two percent of total spending. $1,000 of that went to Michel Faulkner (R), who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) in 2010. The remaining $1,750 went to Jackson’s own unsuccessful 2012 campaign for U.S. Senate in Virginia. The committee also made a $1,000 donation to the 2012 re-election campaign of House Republican Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), who is white. While one solicitation asked for contributions to help defeat then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) in his Senate campaign, the committee reported no contributions to his Republican opponent nor any apparent independent efforts in that race.

The vast majority of the PAC’s funds went to overhead — fundraising, strategic consulting, and overhead. More than $20,000 of the PAC’s spending, over 15 percent, was paid in “consulting – management” fees to Jackson himself. While using a PAC for personal inurement is not illegal, it is hardly the purpose for which the contributions are apparently solicited.

Other spending went to travel and meals (about $7,500), other consultants (more than $53,000), and bank fees (more than $700, including four account “overdraft” charges). The PAC also made donations to 912 First Landing Patriots and the Hampton Roads Tea Party (two Virginia Tea Party groups) and the Christian Coalition and Vision America (two Christian conservative organizations).

While new PACs do face significant upfront costs, the percentage spent on political activity isunusually low and the group appears to spending little on the group’s stated mission. Campaign finance expert Paul S. Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center frequently warns — when donating to political action committees it is really “donor beware.”

October 8, 2012

On the Glenn Beck show:

BECK: How do you get people who are religious, who are decent people, just completely to divorce themselves of those principles in the voting booth? It’s like Harry Reid. I’m a Mormon, he’s a Mormon. I don’t understand, I’m sure he doesn’t understand me. I don’t understand how he can be for the things he is and do some of the things that he does and still say that he’s in good standing with the scripture, because it doesn’t work.

JACKSON: There’s a saying I’ve heard among ministers: “some are called and some were sent and some just got up and went.” I think some of the people who claim to be Mormon or claim to be this or claim to be that, that’s all they’re doing. They’re just claiming. It’s a head thing. It’s something they inherited. But they don’t believe it or feel it in their hearts.

The most Reverend Jackson probably knows a lot about pretending to be a Christian or Mormon or this or that. 

The Comany you keep.....

Republican Party of Virginia Treasurer, Bob FitzSimmonds is a "very close friend" of gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinnelli.  He was Cuccinelli's legislative director during his time in the Virginia Senate .  He has also run for the state senate multiple times.  He is the former director of what is now called Care Net Pregnancy Help Center and the former chair of the Virginia Crisis Pregnancy Center Directors Association.  He created an abstinence-only curriculum for schools called the "Keep it Simple Say NO Abstinence Program."

FitzSimmonds recently  made the statement that he is "not a big fan of contraception." According to FitzSimmonds, sex education has caused the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.  After last year's election FitzSimmmonds posted on his Facebook page "When Obama is 90 years old and he dies and goes to Hell, he is going to say this is all Bush's fault."

This is the type of person that Cuccinnelli will surround himself with if he is elected governor and has the opportunity to impose his extreme philosophy on the Commonwealth.  Cuccinelli and his cronies want to limit a woman's right to contraception and deny their choice to an abortion for any reason.  

And seriously Mr. FitzSimmonds....Obama is going to Hell for providing health care to the uninsured, but Bush is Heaven bound for lying his way into a war of choice that has killed thousands of innocents? Crazy is as crazy says and you can tell crazy by the company they keep.

Out of context

The most Reverend E.W. Jackson, said it's important to note that his incendiary remarks on abortion were made before he entered the political arena. He notes that his comments must be taken in context and, moreover, they were made when he was holding an entirely different job...they were in his role as a minister, not a candidate. He made these comments to The Daily Caller in a story published today. 

Sorry E. W.....that's not going to fly.  Hate is hate no matter the job you claim to be doing.  You can't take hate out of context.  And by the way...does anyone else find it offensive that he's standing in front of a picture of Martin Luther King?

Pandora radio sells out

Pandora's problem? The more they stream, the more they lose.  They're still trying to figure out how to monitize the whole streaming music thing.  Not enough people are willing to pay a subscription to listen to ad free music. Pandora is depenent on ad sales to pay for the music people want to hear. The net loss in the three months ending April 30 grew to $28.6 million, or 16 cents per share, from a loss of $20.2 million, or 12 cents per share, a year ago.

I guess Pandora is now more concerned about making money and is willing to accept advertisements from anyone. Pandora radio recently accepted advertisements from FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform), an anti-immigrant hate group as identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

According to SPLC:

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a group with one mission: to severely limit immigration into the United States. Although FAIR maintains a veneer of legitimacy that has allowed its principals to testify in Congress and lobby the federal government, this veneer hides much ugliness. FAIR leaders have ties to white supremacist groups and eugenicists and have made many racist statements. Its advertisements have been rejected because of racist content. FAIR’s founder, John Tanton, has expressed his wish that America remain a majority-white population: a goal to be achieved, presumably, by limiting the number of nonwhites who enter the country. One of the group’s main goals is upending the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended a decades-long, racist quota system that limited immigration mostly to northern Europeans. FAIR President Dan Stein has called the Act a "mistake."

"Immigrants don't come all church-loving, freedom-loving, God-fearing … Many of them hate America, hate everything that the United States stands for. Talk to some of these Central Americans." 
— FAIR President Dan Stein, interviewed by Tucker Carlson, Oct. 2, 1997

Time to try Spotify or some other service?

What would Jesus tweet?

Thanks to Think Progress for sifting through Reverend Jackson's Twitter feed for some particularly illuminating tweets:

The President has proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Pride Month. Well that just makes me feel ikky all over. Yuk!

If Bill Clinton was the “first black President,” Barack Obama is the “first homosexual President,” based on their respective affinities.

The homosexual movement is a cancer attacking vital organs of faith, family & military – repositories of traditional values.

I do not believe Obama is the anti-Christ. But "Christians" who follow Obama would probably follow the Anti-Christ. Are they Christians?

Obama & comrades are totalitarianists. Their Unholy Alliance will destroy this country if we let them. Uprising in 2010 elections!

The most Reverend E. W. Jackson ..... A great example of Christian love.  

If you don't protest, you accept

Ken Cuccinelli has stated that he won't be defending his running mates now or any time in the future. That could be because his running mates, especially the most Reverend E. W. Jackson, are indefensible. While Cuccinelli has stated he won't defend Jackson, he has also stated he wants him as llieutenant governor breaking ties in the deadlocked Senate.  Sorry Ken....you can't have it both ways.  You either agree with your running mate and defend his positions or you speak out against them.  You got what you wanted with your convention.  You forced out moderate republicans to guarantee your victory however you made the same mistake national repubicans are making.  You can't control crazy.  So Ken, you have a choice to make.  Either repudiate your running mate and sound reasonable, or try to keep him at arm's length and hope that the electorate won't tie the two of you together.  

My personal opinion?  You won't repudiate him because you can't.  You agree with him and you don't want to alienate the only real base you have....the teapublicans.  255,826 repubicans cast a ballot in the 2012 U. S. Senate Primary when the Reverend got less than 5% of the vote.   Your convention went pup tent (as opposed to the big tent you guys love to talk about) with 8,094 people attending and voting.  You disenfranchised moderate republicans to pack the house with your tinfoil hat friends.  You got what you wanted.  Man up now and be vocal in your support of the most Reverend E. W. Jackson and Mark Obenschain.  Let the electorate see your true colors!

Sound familiar?

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.  Sinclair Lewis

Sounds like the Virginia GOP ticket and all the Teapublicans.  They talk a good game about getting government off our backs and out of our lives, but they seem very interested in our bedrooms. You can't thump the bible but spew hate and you can't complain about the government in your life but want it in people's bedrooms.  

No Federal help for Oklahoma

In a 2012 candidate forum, the most Reverend E. W. Jackson voiced his opinion that the federal government should have no role in providing aid in cases of natural disasters. Too bad Oklahoma.....you're on your own.

It's Media Bias.....not E.W.Jackson

"The media's bias is to bring up dirty stuff to anyone who tries to straighten the country out," said Fleta Del Bianco, of Spotsylvania, Va. "He is a great speaker, a great orator."

I don't know Fleta...heck, I don't even know if that's a male or a female!  What I do know is that media bias is not to blame for people questioning the Reverend Jackson and his crazy talk.  I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people out there who want to straighten the country out and they do it without hate speech.  Now that I think about it, there's probably some gay people out there who whould like to straighten the country out.  

Seriously...this man is indefensible and it will be fun watching the Teapublicans complete mental gymnasitics trying to defend him as the best choice.

He wanted what?

The Reverend E. W. Jackson isn't  standing alone on the GOP slate as the only ultra-conservative.  There's enough ultr-conservative craziness to fill the entire stage when the three candidates get together. Mark Obenschain is perhaps best known for proposing legislation that would have criminalized a misscarraige if the woman failed to report it to the police.  Specifically, any woman who has a miscarraige without medical assistance would be required to report the miscarraige to the local police department within 24 hours or be charged with a class one misdemeanor punishable with up to 1 year in jail and a fine.  

Speaking from personal experience, my daughter-in-law just had a miscarraige.  She went through this terrible ordeal with just her husband by her side, laying on the floor of the bathroom all night long.  After a night of throwing up and horrible cramps she's supposed to drag herself down to the police department to report on her ordeal.  She didn't even see a doctor until the next day to confirm the miscarraige.  What was the purpose of Obenschain's legislation?  

Obenschain states he withdrew the legislation of his own accord because of unintended consequences. What consequences was he looking for?  What problem was he trying to correct?  He withdrew the legislation because of the uproar it caused.  The republicans love their women....just as long as they know their place!

Why any woman would consider voting for any one of these candidates is beyond me.

No Apologies

“I say the things that I say because I’m a Christian, not because I hate anybody, but because I have religious values that matter to me,” Jackson told reporters at a campaign stop in Fredericksburg. “Attacking me because I hold to those principles is attacking every church-going person, every family that’s living a traditional family life, everybody who believes that we all deserve the right to live. So I don’t have anything to rephrase or apologize for. I would just say people should not paint me as one-dimensional.”

At least he's consistent.  No trying to hide his agenda.  No trying to backtrack from his statements.  He's unapologetic...got to give him credit for that.  His statements do raise some questions however.  Like attacking  him is attacking every church-going person, every family that's living a traditional family life?  I'm a church going person....I live a traditional family life....been married to the same person for 36 years, raised three children who are gainfully employed.  I don't feel attacked when someone attacks the Reverend Jackson.  Some would say, and I'm sure Reverend Jackson is included, that I'm not really a Christian since I don't hold the same beliefs as the religeous right.    He says we all deserve the right to live.....I guess he should have added unless you're gay or a democrat.

He may be unapologetic, but he's still wrong in so many ways and so wrong for Virginia.....The percentage of the vote for him in November will give us an indication of how many truly horrible people there are in our state, because they are the only people who could pull a lever marked E. W. Jackson.  Do not give this man a political pulpit to spew his hate.

It must be true if Glenn says it...

Glenn Beck has called E. W. Jackson "one of the biggest truth-tellers I've ever seen, one of the bravest guys I've ever seen."  

Personally, I think the nomination of the most Reverend Jackson is part of a conspiracy to make Ken Cuccinelli look moderate.  Cuccinelli represents an extreme wing of the Republican Party, but as they say....placement is everything.  Next to Jackson, Cuccinelli looks like the model of reason.  Could this be why they nominated him?  Are they really willing to throw away the lieutenant governor position to get Cuccinelli elected?  It's the only reason I can think of for nominating someone as obviously unhinged as Jackson appears to be.  

I love my running mates!

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), the Republican nominee for governor, endorsed his newly-nominated running mate, Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr., but refused to say whether he agreed with Jackson’s myriad controversial comments. 

Cuccinelli told a crowd in Abingdon, VA on Monday that he wants Jackson, as Lt. Governor, breaking ties in the currently split Virginia Senate: “I don’t need to know what the subject matter that’s going to tie up 20-20 that the LG can vote on will be. I’m confident that we’re going to get the right vote every single time out of E.W. Jackson. So I’m glad he’s on this ticket, too.” 

But in a statement to the Virginia Pilot, Cuccinelli also said he would not answer questions about his new running mate’s views. “We are not defending any of our running mates’ statements now or in the future,” he noted, adding “The people of Virginia need to get comfortable with each candidate individually.” 

Given the panic and criticism from some Republicans over Jackson’s surprise victory at Saturday’s Republican Party of Virginia nominating convention, it is unsurprising that Cuccinelli wants to keep his running mate at arm’s length. But their arch-conservative views on key issues seem largely identical: 

They said it.....

Former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Vince Callahan, a Republican, said that the GOP convention turned the Republican "big-tent party" he helped build into a "pup-tent party."

Former GOP Delagate Katherine Waddell says the ticket makes Virginia "a playground for a divisive social agenda."

We can not allow a small, but highly motivated group of right-wing voters turn back the clock in Virginia.  We need to turn out the vote of all the moderate, intelligent voters who believe we can do better.  The GOP ticket does not represent the Virginia we know and love.

The GOP Dream (Nightmare) Ticket

I keep starting this blog in fits and starts.  Nothing keeps me riled up enough to  continue to devote good time to it's upkeep.  I'd much rather be working in my yard, reading for pleasure, spending time with my family....almost anything than the daily work of the upkeep of a blog.  Unfortunately events keep happening that drag me back to the idea of blogging and blogging seriously.  The GOP faithful selected their ticket this past weekend.  At the top is Ken Cuccenelli - to no one's surprise.  We'll talk about him in other posts.  For Luitentent Goverenor we have E. W. Jackson, the man who got 5% of the vote in his 2012 run for the post eventually claimed by Tim Kaine.  Attorney General is Mark Obenschain.   This ticket leaves no doubt about the conservative direction of the Virginia GOP.  While some thought the GOP might moderate their views after the 2012 Presidential election, the Virginia GOP didn't get that memo.  This ticket is unabashedly conservative and not inclined toward inclusiveness.  It is a small tent.

  

E. W. Jackson was out of the GOP mainstream in 2012.  Now the stream has shifted course and he is right in the middle. The Reverend Jackson is not shy about his thoughts on gays And Democrats.

Here are some of the most alarming facts you need to know about E. W. Jackson:

He has said that gays and lesbians are "very sick people" whose minds are perverted.  According to Reverend Jackson homosexuality "poinsons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies."

He says that blacks who join the Democratic Party are voluntarily selling themselves into slavery

Planned Parenthood is "more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.

He claims Democrats are engaged in a concerted effort to do away with all symbols of our Judeo-Christian culture - full disclosure - I am a liberal Christian....haven't tried to do away with any symbols that I know of.

He opposed hate crime legislation as a "virulent strain of Anti-Christian bigotry and hatred....I don't even know what that means.

Bottom line: the most Reverend E. W. Jackson embodies some of the most extreme beliefs of the Teapublican party.  He ascribed to the belief system that you are either on my side or you are evil personified.  There is no room for compromise in his system of beliefs.  

The GOP must be comfortable in their small tent, because nominating Reverend Jackson will not get them the black vote and it certainly won't get them independent voters.  

I don't want to spend my time blogging, but the introduction of the GOP ticket means I must speak out for Virginia.  Virginians aren't crazy enough to elect these people......are they?