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.