Monthly Archives: July 2013

Loudoun should adopt San Antonio’s non-discrimination language

Christianist Christians are claiming that they will be discriminated against under the city of San Antonio’s proposed non-discrimination policy.

No person shall be appointed to a position if the City Council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability.

Is it reading comprehension? I bolded the word religion. The Washington Times headline reads, “San Antonio proposal could set the stage for barring Christians from city council.”

“San Antonio’s current ordinance hasn’t been used to police city officials’ personal views on race, gender, or religion. That’s because the ordinance is meant to prohibit clear cases of professional discrimination and bias – not bad personal thoughts,” Equality Matters explains. “Right-wing media’s attacks on the San Antonio proposal represent but the latest example of the anti-equality movement’s Orwellian strategy to depict LGBT rights – whether marriage equality or employment non-discrimination – as a danger to liberty.”

We have a clear case of professional discrimination right here in Loudoun. Our BoS should adopt the similar language and lobby the state of Virginia to do the same. It would open up a lot positions in the governor’s office, AG, House, Senate, and local governments across the state. We’d have to add a warning label to the ballot.

WARNING: If you vote for a professional bigot, he or she may be removed from office at any time.

 

Eugene Delgaudio’s Identity Crisis

A chastened Supervisor E. Delgaudio listening to the public demanding his censure (photo J. Flannery)

Sterling Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio lost his ever-present orange hat, his open smile, his false swagger and his law suit when he tried to prevent the Board of Supervisor from having a hearing last Wednesday on what Mr. Delgaudio did or did not do to abuse staff and misuse and mingle County resources with his gay-bashing hate group and his campaign fund-raising activities.

Mr. Delgaudio said he wanted to know before last Wednesday’s meeting what the Board’s specific charges were.

The Board listed five charges, with the help of Board Member, Mr. Shawn M. Williams, drawing principally upon the 8-page statement filed by Ms. Donna Mateer, a former staffer (submitted last March)(that Mr. Delgaudio has had ever since), and the recent critical grand jury report (June 24, 2013)(that didn’t indict but did plainly identify various kinds of official misconduct by Mr. Delgaudio).

Mr. Delgaudio wanted an opportunity to respond.

Chairman Scott York called the Board into a Committee of the Whole in public so that Mr. Delgaudio could.

When given the opportunity, Mr Delgaudio lost his voice.

Mr. Delgaudio carped, sniveled and complained that he needed more time. Continue reading

Why we talk about “reality-based world”

Stupid is as stupid does – as Ta-Nehisi Coates lays bare in this withering response to a recycled apologia for racism appearing in the National Review.

His main point: Advising the assumption of criminality for all young black men one encounters fails not only because it is morally bankrupt, but because it is factually false. If the purpose of the advice is “safety,” it is not and cannot be effective. “That is not surprising,” explains Coates with great restraint, “given that this is the kind of advice which betrays a greater interest in maintaining one’s worldview than in maintaining one’s safety.”

The problem is the same with this world view as it is with the one that encourages parents to rely on filtering software to control what their children see on the internet. The problem is the same with the world view that insists “abstinence-only” sexuality education is the solution to teen pregnancy and STIs, and the one that believes LGBT people will disappear if only we can be denied equality, dignity and safety. Setting aside the obvious moral problems, they are wrong because they don’t work. None of these approaches can do the things they purport to do, because none of them have a basis in reality.

Continue reading

Why does Ken Cuccinelli want to leave Virginia children vulnerable to sexual abuse?

In 2003, as surely everyone knows, Virginia’s archaic and nearly universally ignored “Crimes Against Nature” law was rendered unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Lawrence v Texas. Because it is unconstitutional, because it is a blanket prohibition of oral and anal sex for everyone, it can’t be used to prosecute anyone. Case in point: When the law was used in 2005 to prosecute a 47-year-old man for soliciting a 17-year-old girl to perform oral sex, the conviction was overturned.

That outcome was perfectly predictable – and avoidable. In 2004, there was a bipartisan effort in the Virginia legislature to fix the law by eliminating the part that makes it unconstitutional:

§ 18.2-361. Crimes against nature.

A. Any person who (i) carnally knows in any manner any brute animal is guilty of a Class 6 felony, or (ii) carnally knows any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, is guilty of a Class 6 felony 3 misdemeanor, except as provided in subsection B. B. The provisions of clause (ii) of this subsection shall not apply where all persons are consenting adults who are not in a public place and who are not aiding, abetting, procuring, engaging in or performing any act in furtherance of prostitution.

and leaving in place a statute that would be viable in the prosecution of adult predators: Continue reading

Honey, Who Bought the Rolex?

Image courtesy of tumbler (http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lq5wccNpkQ1qlv6exo1_500.jpg)

Imagine that you’re Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and your First Lady, Maureen McDonnell, comes skipping into the State Mansion’s Main dining room to present you with a spanking new $6,500.00 Rolex watch.

“Hey Honey, pass the butter,” Bob may have said, “and, by the way, can we afford this Rolex?”

“Oh, this little thing,” Maureen may have said, “I admired the one that Jonnie Williams, Jr. wore.  Isn’t it so world leader-ish?  You really should have one.  Everyone will notice.”

“Yes, but how did we pay for it?” You’d imagine the Governor would ask that; any other spouse would, even with a public salary of $175,000.

“Why, silly, it’s Jonnie of course.  Jonnie paid for it.  We have no money for a Rolex.  Our finances are abysmal.  And Jonnie has already bought me some terrific clothes.  You should have something for yourself.” Continue reading

The BoS MUST halt Supervisor Delgaudio’s recruiting activities

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisor’s MUST put a halt to Supervisor Delgaudio’s youth recruiting activities and apologize to all teens for allowing the Supervisor to coerce them into joining a right-wing club with the imprimatur of county government. I sent a letter to the BoS stating such.

Here is how the letter opens:

The purpose of this letter is to recommend that you bar Supervisor Delgaudio from sponsoring the “Eugene Delgaudio Sterling Teen Job Fair.” The Sterling Supervisor uses the job fair to recruit youth into a right-wing political club that has a history of violence, defamation and hatred towards minorities and progressive causes. Furthermore, this board should send a letter of apology the participants of prior job fairs and their parents advising them that the county was not aware of the recruitment activity and that it does not endorse or sponsor the Sterling Supervisor’s recruiting activities. I’m requesting that you take this into consideration at your July 17, 2013 meeting under the agenda item “Grand Jury Report: Follow-up on Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio Investigation.” Continue reading

The Edge-Ucation Candidate – AG Cuccinelli

Our outgoing State Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, who wants to be Governor, got a fine higher education himself but, it appears, he hasn’t learned the value of an education for others, certainly not for our children.

We learned early on following his election as AG that he did not respect academic freedom.

Mr. Cuccinelli went after one university researcher’s studies of climate change, Professor Michael E. Mann, because Mr. Cuccinelli couldn’t believe that humans since the industrial revolution could have an adverse effect on climate change.

Having no evidence of any possible fraud, Mr. Cuccinelli simply subpoenaed a volume of Professor Mann’s private academic materials and correspondence, UVA resisted, and a state judge quashed Mr. Cuccinelli’s attack; so, the AG tried again and the Court said he was wrong again; the Washington Post wrote an editorial saying that Cuccinelli was “determined to embarrass Virginia.” Continue reading

A sci-fi version of “tolerance”

Crossposted at Equality Loudoun.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state.

Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.

The above is science fiction writer and anti-gay fanatic Orson Scott Card (humorously, he once referred to marriage between two people of the same gender as itself “an act of intolerance,” openly advocated the criminalization of “homosexual behavior,” and more recently threatened to “act to destroy [the] government and bring it down” if marriage equality became a reality). Card is upset because some people who might otherwise be his fans have publicized his long history of inflammatory statements targeting LGBT people, and suggested that our money could be better be spent elsewhere. Among normal people, making such informed choices is known as “the free market.” For Card, though, “tolerance” demands our silence regarding his behavior.

Continue reading

NVTA’s bad and ugly: bicycles and pedestrians

The NVTA's "good"

Have you ever driven around Loudoun County and observed:

  1. Shopping centers designed exclusively for automobile access even though they’re  walking distance from residential developments?
  2. Pedestrians venturing to cross dangerous very wide divided highways to get from a residential area to a shopping center?
  3. Jogging and bicycle paths to nowhere; paths that border a residential development and then abruptly stop?
  4. Major routes where bicycles and pedestrians are simply prohibited?

If you ever wondered who thought this is not only acceptable, but a “good idea,” look no further than the NVTA. Continue reading

Prosecutor Punts on Delgaudio!

Supervisor Delgaudio pretending to be a criminal source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BWMgydjhOc

The Arlington County prosecutor, Theophani K. Stamos, looking into the gay-bashing Loudoun County Sterling Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, never invited the grand jury to vote on whether Mr. Delgaudio committed any crime.

She identified one crime, then said Mr. Delgaudio couldn’t commit it, and took the voting decision away from the grand jury.

Mr. Delgaudio’s counsel said afterwards that Delgaudio “cooperated fully.”  How is it then that the prosecutor never asked Mr. Delgaudio to testify before the Grand Jury “under oath?” Continue reading