The joke that is the VA legislature
May 15, 2012 19 Comments
So, I thought about blogging this story yesterday about some idiot state legislator in Virginia who did not want to approve a judicial appointment because the nominee is openly gay. I decided that, ultimately, this is only one nut and there’s nuts all throughout state legislatures. Alas, let’s make that nuts all throughout Virginia’s state legislature (or, the Republicans therein, at least). This is just wrong and pathetic on so many levels:
A late-hour lobbying offensive by social conservatives prevailed in the House of Delegates early Tuesday to torpedo bipartisan support for the judicial nomination of an openly gay Richmond prosecutor.
After a lengthy discussion, the GOP-controlled House of Delegates defeated the nomination of Tracy Thorne-Begland, Richmond’s chief deputy commonwealth’s attorney. He would have been the first openly gay judge elected in Virginia.
Thorne-Begland received 33 votes, and 31 delegates voted against him. He needed a majority of the 100-member House — 51 votes — to secure the judgeship…
Thorne-Begland’s nomination for a judgeship on the General District Court in Richmond, where he has been a prosecutor for 12 years, had been approved by courts committees in the House and Senate.
But his nomination came under fire late last week, as the Family Foundation and Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, stoked fears that the 45-year-old attorney would allow his sexual orientation to influence his judicial decisions.
Republicans cast the 31 votes against Thorne-Begland. Ten Republican delegates abstained and 26 delegates, including a handful of Democrats, did not vote. Eight Republicans voted for Thorne-Begland…
“The rejection of Mr. Thorne-Begland shows that discrimination based on sexual orientation is alive and well in Virginia,” Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, said in a statement after the vote in the House of Delegates. “And, it shows that legislators are more concerned about the Family Foundation scorecard than Richmond’s District Court.”
Thorne-Begland was the only one of more than three dozen judicial nominees — including 10 others from the Richmond region — who was not elected to a judgeship following a marathon legislative session dominated by review of amendments to the two-year state budget proposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell.
The defeat of the nomination came in spite of statements of support for Thorne-Begland from Republicans and Democrats alike.
“It is without question that he is extremely qualified,” said Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond, a former Richmond prosecutor who assured colleagues that Thorne-Begland would handle his role as a judge in a “dignified way and a correct way.”
Earlier Monday, Gov. Bob McDonnell told reporters that judicial qualifications, not sexual orientation, should determine who serves in Virginia’s judiciary.
“All I can tell you is what I’ve always said about judges, and that is that these ought to be merit-based selections solely based on a person’s skill, ability, fairness, judicial temperament, ” the governor said at an unrelated event.
Good for McDonnell who’s had his share of unseemly positions in the past. Anyway, Thorne-Begland really has an interesting backstory, too:
Thorne-Begland, a decorated officer and fighter pilot – came out as a gay Naval officer 20 years ago to challenge the military’s now-defunct “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. His announcement resulted in his honorable discharge from the Navy. Between 2002 and 2006, he also served on the board of Equality Virginia, a nonprofit gay rights group…
A number of conservative House Republicans with military backgrounds questioned Thorne-Begland’s decision to speak publicly about his sexual orientation while he was in the military and subject to its code of conduct.
“For me it’s not not about fear and bigotry and ignorance and so forth,” said Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William. ”It is very definitely about duty.”
Riiiiiiiight. No bigotry or ignorance to see here. Move along. Again, it’s one thing when you get one or two fringe lawmakers, but this was a decision of the majority of the VA House of Delegates. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2012 Republican party.
About Steve Greene
Why is it that you never cover the wingnuts in the lib camp?
1) They are typically not this embarrassingly stupid.
2) The political bias of my FB friends and blogs I read suggests I come across less of such stories. Though I still contend we are talking AA as compared to Major League.
It is not stupid to reject gay marriage, it is simply a difference of opinion.l Again libs always portray conservatives as stupid uneducated rednecks simply because we disagree. We also don’t believe in wealth re-distribution either, does not make us stupid. We live in a land of freedom where every one has a shot. It does not guarantee eqaulity of outcome, that is up to the individual.l And before you trot out the sob stories study Oprah Winfrey who came from nothing and was sexually abused routinely by relatives growing up
Disagreeing about gay marriage is not stupid. Rejecting this incredibly qualified prosecutor for a judgeship because he is gay and supports gay marriage is embarrassingly stupid.
“It is not stupid to reject gay marriage, it is simply a difference of opinion.”
Mr marraigecouch seems to be willing to make comments, but when he is shown to have no reasonable reply or argument he always seems to finish with “I was abused, and if you haven’t been abused, your not allowed to have an opinion.”
He should simply start with this argument, it would certainly save some time and get right to the heart of his irrationality.
I’m still waiting for his refutation of slavery and witchcraft in the new testament. I’m not an expert like Mr Marraigecouch, who has professed to study the bible in college (or some such) but I find it interesting that for all the horror some modern Christians have for homosexuality, it appears to be about on the same level in the bible as adulterers. I guess that Newt is no better (or worse) then homosexuals, and there is some debate (naturally) over the translation and meaning of the words and passages. Whats more, it seems that Jesus himself had nothing to say on the matter.
“Again libs always portray…”
Yes. ALWAYS. Every single ‘lib’ in the USA. Or is it every single lib in the world? After all, you have personally met every single one, yes?
“We live in a land of freedom”
The land of freedom where the majority is allowed to take away the rights of the minority, constitutional rights be damned. That’s some freedom you got there. Freedom to do what the majority tells you to do.
“…portray conservatives as stupid uneducated rednecks”
You portray yourself to the world with what you write.
Hey Mike
God decreed that homosexual acts as well as sex with animals was a death sentence crime in the old testament. In the new testament Jesus preached love and forgiveness but also said, go and sin no more. I knew a gay man working as a custodian in a baptist church and was also a member of that church. The people accepted him with open arms as most churches do. The key was the statement that he made to me and others: “I can’t help being gay, but I don’t have to act on it and as such don’t have sex.” Now I know that you would consider that extreme, but I don’t see it as any different than a pedophile choosing not to act on their sexuality. Interestingly civil laws still prevent sex between people and animals but I don’t see you fighting for their right to have sex with animals.
Of course I don’t know if EVERY SINGLE LIB practices hate speech,. but the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY THAT I HAVE DO.
MET OR HEARD OF PRACTICE HATE SPEECH
Hey Mike
I forgot to answer you about slavery and witchcraft. This was in the old testament that was all about law. Slavery for the most part was about indentured servanthood. God did order the death sentence for witches and others. In the New Testament Jesus preached forgiveness and a better way. It was part of God’s progressive revelation.l
And yet again, you never actually show the quotes that refute the earlier bible, the bible that was supposedly written through “divine inspiration” by the same God. Either the bible(s) are divinely inspired and worth heeding in their entirety, or they are just words, of which the entirety may be ignored.
You never actually ever say anything to refute the points I made. Again, the bible puts fornicators and adulterers on the same level as homosexuals (along with other “sins”), so when can we expect laws to prevent adulterers from wedding ever again? When can we expect fornicators from being prevented from wedding? When will they be fired from their jobs without recourse? When will Newt be refused membership in the Republican party?
You said you studied the bible in college. In the new testament it states that Sorcerers are an abomination. It doesn’t say forgive them. So given your own statements laws should be enacted to kill witches.
Oh, slavery in the bible is just servitude. Here again we have mr marriagecouch simply picking and choosing what he wishes to believe. Is that what was practiced in the USA when slaves were hobbled with a hammer? Whipped to death? Raped by their owners? Simple servitude? After all, these were all God Fearing Christians. They followed the Bible.
They too used the Bible to justify their hatred.
A simple search on the web shows terms like:
“But the type of “slavery” to which MOST biblical law applies…”
The Bible talks about buying and selling humans including your own children. It doesn’t matter what kind, even though you can, again, pick and choose to prove whichever point you want to make. The point is, the new testament doesn’t say anything to stop this practice.
That is the entire point of why I said it is according to the Bible(s), slavery is FINE. Now. This entire argument is about you. YOU. YOU picking and choosing which parts of the bible YOU choose to follow. YOU choose to hate homosexuals. I know, that’s just your opinion. I know, you say you don’t. But again, the proof is in your writing. Your attitudes. The stands you take.
I don’t see you railing to toss adulterers or fornicators out of office, both of which are mentioned in the SAME quotes in the new testament as homosexuality.
Come on, you said you Studied The Bible In College. But you seem unable to use it to make your points, which you state is based on the Bible. This is what YOU said. You said you don’t like homosexuals because of the Bible.
But the Bible says so many, many things, and you choose to ignore the vast majority of it. Do you also hate people who have gotten divorced? Do you hate adulterers? Fornicators? Do you want to see laws to prevent any and all of them from getting married?
Jesus said “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.” That darned Newt. He’s a bad man, an adulterer, according to Jesus. Isn’t the Biblical punishment for adultery getting stoned to death?
And adultery is a sin as bad as homosexuality, according to the bible. Also liars, idolaters, perjurers, etc, etc, etc. And slave traders too. Slavery is good, if you are a slave you should be a good slave, but your not allowed to buy and sell slaves. All perfect sense. No wonder everyone picks and chooses from the Bible.
There are so many people in the new testament to look down upon and make laws against.
But its always the homosexuals who get it in the end.
I find it interesting that a quarter of the state legislators didn’t even bother to vote. Did they not want to be on record? Are they just too lazy to do their job?
One would think VA’s citizens would expect their elected representatives to at least show up and do the job they were elected into and are paid for (which I assume includes pension and healthcare).
In any other job it would be cause for dismissal. It’s disappointing that people who are hired to stand on their hind legs and make hard decisions, can’t make any decision at all.
Good point. My understanding is that an abstention is functionally the same as a “no” vote. In other words, for most of these guys just an act of extreme cowardice.
Interesting that you should say that, Obama is on record for a whole lot of votes when he was in the Senate and the State Senate as voting present,k check it for yourself on the net
At least he showed up and actually voted.
Yes, but you neglect Steve’s words that it showed cowardice to simply vote present as Obama was frequently guilty of.
Context, John. Context.
And hey guys, Obama is slipping in the polls and it has nothing to do with him flip flopping on gay marriage. Romney is pulling ahead in the current polls and is leading Obama now including liberals. Hmm perhaps Obama’s prediction of a one term presidency is about to bear fruit
Check out the current political cartoons about the messiah
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/05/15/99193
Please don’t put words in my mouth.l I don’t HATE ANYONE nor have I said that. You want scriptures, here they are Romans 1:21-32 Leviticus 18:22-23, Leviticus 20:15-16. No where does it have equivalence to adultery or fornication because those sins don’t require the death penalty as homosexuality and death with animals.l The new testament passage in Romans is somewhat softer and does not require the death penalty.
Context as in it only applies to conservatives and libs all agree to ignore the Messiah’s sins which only futher reinforces the notion that there is one rule for libs and quite another way more serious one for conservatives. So glad to see your own words condemning your own actions