Supreme Court rejects Cuccinelli’s bid to ban sodomy in Virginia
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to re-establish the ban on oral and anal sex in his state.
In March, Cuccinelli had appealed to the Supreme Court after a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had declared Virginia’s anti-sodomy law to be unconstitutional. But on Monday, the Supreme Court said that it would refuse to hear the case.
Cuccinelli had argued that the Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision, which banned anti-sodomy laws, had not applied to cases involving minors. But if Cuccinelli had succeeded, experts said that he would have also effectively banned oral and anal sex for adults.
“As we’ve said from the beginning, this case was never about sexual orientation or private acts between consenting adults,” Cuccinelli spokesperson Brian Gottstein insisted to The Washington Post on Monday. “Virginia’s law couldn’t be used against consenting adults acting in private. It only applied to offenses committed against minors, against non-consenting or incapacitated adults, or in public.”
Cuccinelli is the Republican Party’s nominee for the Virginia’s governor’s race. He faces off against Democrat Terry McAuliffe in November.
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Virginia candidate E.W. Jackson: Yoga leads to Satan
E.W. Jackson, the Virginia GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, suggested that yoga could open individuals to Satan, according to a report.
Accompanying a profile of Jackson, who has been a thorn in the side of GOP gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli, the National Review’s Betsy Woodruff on Wednesday posted excerpts of Jackson’s 2008 book, “Ten Commandments to an Extraordinary Life.”
Including one about the dangers of “emptying yourself” with yoga:
“When one hears the word meditation, it conjures an image of Maharishi Yoga talking about finding a mantra and striving for nirvana. … The purpose of such meditation is to empty oneself. … [Satan] is happy to invade the empty vacuum of your soul and possess it. That is why people serve Satan without ever knowing it or deciding to, but no one can be a child of God without making a decision to surrender to him. Beware of systems of spirituality which tell you to empty yourself. You will end up filled with something you probably do not want,” Woodruff excerpts.
And Jackson doesn’t seem to be a big fan of “most people”:
“[M]ost people are dead spirits. As such they have the nature of Satan who does not want to have anything to do with God or anyone related to Him. Of course they are not aware that they are imbued with the nature of Satan. They would be mortified by the idea of becoming Satanists or devil worshippers. Satan benefits far more from people who do not know they serve him than from those who knowingly bow to him. Your spirit was made for attachment. It is either attached to God or to Satan, but it is not neutral, no matter how much people think themselves to be.”
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
A little more detail about this case: Cuccinelli's stated rationale for pushing the issue is to keep a child predator behind bars. The victim at the time was 17. As far as I can tell, the state of Virginia defines a minor as someone younger than 15. So, even if Cuccinelli got his way, some other creepo could sleep with a teenage girl every day and walk as long as he remembered not to use certain positions.
Seems like the obvious thing to do here is to raise the age of consent, but what do I know?
Alternately, the law could be shifted to give an actual usable definition of consent in the first place, so that it could be used to better work around the actual (rather than common legal) definition of rape.
Just raising the age of consent in itself seems like at best a half step to me.
Cuccinelli's comments about yoga are standard evangelical talking points, and not really very surprising at all. Sadly, I'm started to stop seeing this sort of thing as "extreme" since so many Americans, including prominent politicians, are evangelical Biblical literalists.
These days, if I thought I could move to Canada and make a go of it, I would
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Channel72 wrote:Cuccinelli's comments about yoga are standard evangelical talking points, and not really very surprising at all. Sadly, I'm started to stop seeing this sort of thing as "extreme" since so many Americans, including prominent politicians, are evangelical Biblical literalists.
Dalton wrote:Cuccinelli just narrowly lost the VA Governor's race. Only narrowly!
Yes, when I saw that Cuccinelli was up, I was getting a bit nervous
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
I'm rather upset that despite everything McAuliffe won by a tiny margin. He ought to have creamed Koochy-Kook.
El Moose Monstero: That would be the winning song at Eurovision. I still say the Moldovans were more fun. And that one about the Apricot Tree.
That said...it is growing on me.
Thanas: It is one of those songs that kinda get stuck in your head so if you hear it several times, you actually grow to like it.
General Zod: It's the musical version of Stockholm syndrome.
I am curious to look at the voter breakdown once everything is properly counted.
I wonder how much of the close vote was due to people voting "The Devil you know" and such.
Praying is another way of doing nothing helpful
"Congratulations, you get a cookie. You almost got a fundamental English word correct." Pick
"Outlaw star has spaceships that punch eachother" Joviwan Read "Tales From The Crossroads"! Read "One Wrong Turn"!
General Mung Beans wrote:I'm rather upset that despite everything McAuliffe won by a tiny margin. He ought to have creamed Koochy-Kook.
Full returns show something like 3% which is fairly respectable actually.
Crossroads Inc. wrote:I am curious to look at the voter breakdown once everything is properly counted.
I wonder how much of the close vote was due to people voting "The Devil you know" and such.
The "hicks" in the Western part of the state were solidly for him. My understanding also is that he had a lot of the white male vote.
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Well the right is in full on screaming mode after the loss.
Mostly against 3rd part candidate "Robert Sarvis" who got more than enough votes to have swung it for McAuliffe, if you assume that most Sarvis' vote would have gone for Cuccinelli.
Praying is another way of doing nothing helpful
"Congratulations, you get a cookie. You almost got a fundamental English word correct." Pick
"Outlaw star has spaceships that punch eachother" Joviwan Read "Tales From The Crossroads"! Read "One Wrong Turn"!
Crossroads Inc. wrote:Well the right is in full on screaming mode after the loss.
Mostly against 3rd part candidate "Robert Sarvis" who got more than enough votes to have swung it for McAuliffe, if you assume that most Sarvis' vote would have gone for Cuccinelli.
McAuliffe was not a great candidate. Many people who might have voted for a less tarnished Democrat candidate voted independent as well.
Being blunt, Bill Bolling would have probably won
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Cuccinelli won independents by 9 points and was only down 9 points with women even though some polls had him losing that demographic by 24.
Honestly this is a disaster for demo rates who expected a double digit win, mostly because its clear the shutdown was overshadowed by the health care debacle which will still be lingering and indeed repeat itself to a large degree when the business mandate kicks in next year.
Should the Federal Heath Care website have actually come online November 6?
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
I'm currently living in a blue dot of Virginia in the Shenendoah Valley, and out here it was very much for McAuliffe, but voter turnout is still very low. The only people who were motivated to go out were the Cooch voters, because they wanted to get their guy in power. There were also zero bumper stickers for McA while Cuc had tons and tons, usually on the same beat up trucks that say "Green is the new RED" and stuff like that.
There may have been a massive motivation disparity here, and Cuc may have won were it not for the fact that he was such an asshole that a bunch of people like me went out to cast votes in favor of his opponent. The gun control ads that have been attacking McA have been running forever too, and that's a big hot button issue... surprising no-one.
I hang out in Norfolk and Richmond and it was a pretty blah election season, the only thing of note I heard anyone discussing was the nastiness of some of the ads. I had a split ticket this year.
Talking about close though, these are the numbers I dug up for the Attourney General race!
Democratic Mark Herring 50% 1,099,083
Republican Mark Obenshain 50% 1,099,302 W
Looking at the Lt Governor Race, I think somebody with less problems than McAuliffe would have slaughtered Cuccinelli
On the other side, I think William Bolling would have beaten McAuliffe easily
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
I'm not sure if you are from VA or not but thats not really the case in regards to the LT govenor race. Basically the Republican candidate is a super religious minister type who ran on that line and also got the nomination via a sort of primary coup. His candacy was dead on arrival with not only independants and moderates but also the Republican base. He probably only got the votes he did due to party line voting and the fact that you can't leave the LT Govenor slot blank on a VA ballot. I had a long arguement yesterday at the polls about this and the machine would override if you left the local offices blank (which I did) but not the statewide offices. I will be following this up with the election board, but the point is you are forced to pick one which could explain both the vots he got AND the ones the Dem got (like in my case).
I think Cuccinelli had many of the same issues as Jackson and in effect he seized his candidacy from Bolling
He is also a hyper religious nut job. VA now has flipped on the gay marriage issue and Cuccinelli has shown his position pretty clearly on gays.
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Dalton wrote:Cuccinelli just narrowly lost the VA Governor's race. Only narrowly!
It's because T-Mac scared the shit out of a lot of gunowners. Why he decided "You know, Cooch is absolutely batshit insane and my base is going to vote for me over him anyway, so I oughta start talking up mag limits and black rifles" in a pro-gun state like Virginia is beyond me.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Lonestar wrote:It's because T-Mac scared the shit out of a lot of gunowners. Why he decided "You know, Cooch is absolutely batshit insane and my base is going to vote for me over him anyway, so I oughta start talking up mag limits and black rifles" in a pro-gun state like Virginia is beyond me.
I was thinking about that myself. Now of course I will not be able to buy ammo for six months
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
Dalton wrote:OK, T-Mac is either a shitty politician, has REALLY stupid advisors or is seriously considering a 2016 run.
Something New?
I actually consider him a pretty shitty politician but by far the lesser of two evils
I actually voted for a Republican because the other choice was an Independent who went to Regent University (Commonwealth Attorney - A city position)
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."
Thomas Paine
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."
Ecclesiastes 9:5 (KJV)
