Daily Archives: May 7, 2012

The other day, we watched in disgust as Willard "Mitt" Romney allowed anti-gay bigots to harass one of his top staffers out of his campaign. It was so cowardly that even one of the main anti-gay bullies called him out, asking, " if Mitt Romney can be pushed around, intimidated, coerced, coopted by a conservative radio talk show host in Middle America, then how is he going to stand up to the Chinese?" Good question.

But wait, you say, perhaps that was a fluke, not the real Willard you know and love? Well, uh, no. This has happened many times before, such as when Willard wouldn't stand up to OxyRush's calling Sandra Fluke a "slut," or Donald Trump going "birther" or Michele Bachmann's lunacy (actually, both Trump and Bachmann are now proudly on Team Willard), etc., etc. And now, yet another example of Willard's craven cowardice, as he fails to stand up to someone speaking into his own microphone, at his own rally, and charging President Obama with "treason." Once again, Romney was AWOL when it mattered, unlike even John McCain, who defended Barack Obama in 2008 against bigoted comments about how he was an "Arab" (although of course McCain didn't get to the heart of that one, which is that there is NOTHING whatsoever wrong with being a member of an Arab, or any other racial or ethnic group). Willard couldn't even get himself to do that much. Utterly pathetic and despicable.

P.S. See the Obama campaign's response on the "flip."

Saturday, Senator McCain boarded a 777 in Frankfurt almost without notice. Debarking at Dulles International, only two people in arrivals had any idea who he was. He stumbled throughout his campaign for the Presidency, his Veep pick was disasterous, and now few even recognize him. He has marginalized himself.

So why ask him his opinion on broadcast television? Easy, the pearls that issue forth. Yesterday, Senator McCain actually uttered these words in response to a question about advice to Mitt Romney on picking a VP:

"The absolute, most important aspect is, if something happened to him, would that person be well qualified to take that place? I happen to believe that was the primary factor in my decision in 2008. And I know it will be Mitt's. And I'm very happy to say we've got a very deep bench" - John McCain on ABC This Week, May 6, 2012 (segment begins at 11:15)

Really? "I happen to believe?" He doesn't know what his primary consideration was? The facts are not within his grasp? Well, after all, more and more that is not a surprise.

Gotta love this huge crowd that - unlike Republican rallies - actually looks like America! It's also great to see Coach Shaka Smart and former Governor Tim Kaine both strongly supporting Barack Obama for reelection. Why is this important? As the Obama campaign slogan clearly states, we want to keep moving "FORWARD," not lurch backwards with Republicans, whose only "answers" to our problems involve heaping money on the wealthiest corporations and individuals, slashing education and other important infrastructure, privatizing Social Security and Medicare, playing games with America's credit rating, pushing their war on women (e.g., defunding Planned Parenthood, mandating "transvaginal ultrasounds," etc.). Obviously, those are not the "answers" our country needs.

Meanwhile, it's important to point out that as Bob McDonnell runs expensive (and fallacious) ads while running around Virginia trying desperately to repair his tarnished image as a supposed "moderate" who would focus on jobs, Virginia is doing better today than it was when Barack Obama took office in SPITE of Republican obstructionism, cuts to state and local government employees, and other damaging policies. If you run into "Transvaginal Bob" at one of his taxpayer-funded Image Repair Tour stops, you might want to point that out to him!

RICHMOND, VA - Customers of Dominion Virginia Power will hold a Rally for Our Clean Energy Future in downtown Richmond on Tuesday May 8th, to demand that the company include significant clean energy investments in its 15-year "Integrated Resource Plan" (IRP). The rally will be held outside the offices of the State Corporation Commission which has scheduled a public hearing on Dominion's IRP at 10:00 a.m.

Dominion's plan includes no large-scale wind or solar projects over the next 15 years, and will achieve just one-sixth, or less, of Virginia's conservative benchmark for energy efficiency by 2022.

WHO | Dominion Customers - speakers that include Dr. Ravi Gupta, Chair of INOVA's Environmental Committee and Jeff Ryan from Solar Services Inc., a small, solar business based in Virginia Beach, Glen Besa, Director of the Virginia Sierra Club -Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Appalachian Voices and the Wise Energy for Virginia Coalition

WHERE | State Corporation Commission, 1300 E. Main St., Richmond, VA 23219  (Corner of 13th and Main)

WHEN | Tuesday, May 8th, Noon-1p.m.

BACKGROUND | Virginia families cannot afford for Dominion to maintain its "business as usual" dirty energy plan. In the past year, Dominion's coal-fired generation cost Virginians $1.3 billion in externalized costs, according to a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences, as a result of pollution that is harmful to public health (for which the company is not held liable). Health impacts from Dominion's over-reliance on fossil fuels results in 332 premature deaths, 5,528 asthma attacks and 293 asthma emergency room visits each year.  

In Florida, you must register to register persons to vote unless they are immediate family or you work for the state. It is more difficult to register voters there than it is to get a concealed carry permit in Virginia. McDonnell is missing the boat on the voter ID veto.

As indicated last week, the voter ID bill that the Governor seems intent to allow to go into law without his signature is unimaginative child's play on the part of Virginia Republicans. In Florida, other than the two exceptions, anyone who solicits or collects any voter registration application is or is an agent of a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization (3PVRO). Some specific responsibilities of 3PVROs:

• Timely submit all voter registration applications collected, including incomplete applications
• Serve as a fiduciary for the applicants from which it collects voter registration applications
• Ensure its assigned ID # is on any voter registration application
• Keep its registration and registration agents' information updated within 10 days of any change
• File monthly reports on Form DS-DE 123 no later than the 10th of each month reflecting an accounting of all registration forms it provided to and received from its registration agents during the preceding month

So why, in a year that he could be on the Republican national ticket, McDonnell even hesitates is the bigger question. And the biggest question of all is why, if he is the leader of the state party, he cannot manage to influence his own party members in the legislature to let go of this voter ID nonsense. Next year, he and his could ramp up suppression so much more effectively following Florida's (and ALEC's?) lead.  

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

In certain parts of the media, it is fashionable to refer to those who deny the existence of human-induced climate change as "climate skeptics."  Don't buy it -- what these people are practicing is not skepticism but denial.

For an in-depth discussion of this whole phenomenon, pick up a copy of John Cook's and Haydn Washington's excellent book "Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand".  Cook's Skeptical Science website is the place to turn for descriptions in plain English of climate science at both beginner and intermediate levels, and in direct refutation of all the Koch brothers' and Exxon-Mobil's talking points.  The book excels in peeling back the stinky layers of the onion that is climate change denial.  

The first layer consists of corporate miscommunication to protect dirty profits, which has been thoroughly documented, as here and here and in the whole Heartland Institute affair.  But where the book really excels is in describing the next layer, that of our psychological tendency to refuse to believe in scary, disturbing realities.  It's essential to understand these psychological dynamics if we are going to successfully convince the public and our major institutions to take significant action, before it is absolutely too late.

Here are a few Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, May 7. Also, check out the great photos (including the one here), by The Richmonder, of President Obama's "Ready to Go" Rally in Richmond on Saturday.

*Virginians less optimistic about McDonnell, direction of state, Post poll finds (Transvaginal Bob "has lost support among independents and urban women after a 12-month period that closed with a partisan standoff over the state budget and an uproar over a bill requiring women seeking an abortion to first undergo a vaginal ultrasound.")
*Cuccinelli's legal loss highlights debate
*Democrats: Candidates wanted
*Forgiving felons? Something fresh in GOP playbook
*In Va., a giant letdown
*Metro still monitoring 24/7 key equipment that failed in January
*McDonnell urges UR graduates to make a difference, serve others
*Editorial: Gridlocked and gutless ("Paltry investment means capacity isn't keeping pace with growth in the number of vehicles on Va. roads.")
*Upcoming 2-year budget has some plums for region
*Editorial: Good planning heads off fiscal woes ("For now, the Roanoke council can keep its promise and allow the extra meals tax to expire. Leaders should remain focused on future school needs.")