VB Dems

“They call themselves conservatives but that’s not it, either. They don’t want to conserve what we now have.  They’d rather take the country backwards – before the 1960s and 1970s, and the Environmental Protection Act, Medicare, and Medicaid; before the New Deal, and its provision for Social Security, unemployment insurance, the forty-hour workweek, and official recognition of trade unions; even before the Progressive Era, and the first national income tax, antitrust laws, and Federal Reserve.  They’re not conservatives.  They’re regressives. And the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century.” – Robert Reich

Let’s start calling them what they really are: regressives.

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What are the biggest problems facing America? Unemployment? Climate change? The deficit? Immigration reform?

Our own Virginia Republican Rep. Randy Forbes has now successfully achieved his top legislative priority: re-affirming that “In God We Trust” is the national motto.

That may seem redundant, an unnecessary waste of time, even silly — Congress rectified the apparent omission of our Founding Fathers by making it the official national motto in 1956, and they even re-affirmed it previously in 2002.  However, Rep. Forbes felt it was essential to make absolutely sure that it is still the motto today.

But what about next year? Rep. Forbes may need to bring his bill up for a vote frequently to make sure it remains the motto in the future.

But wait!  Rep. Forbes sponsored a “non-binding resolution.”  If this truly is a Christian nation, as Rep. Forbes asserts, shouldn’t that resolution be binding?

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Redistricting has just placed me into the 21st House of Delegates district, so I attended the debate between 21st House of Delegates candidates Adrienne Bennett and Del. Ron Villanueva sponsored by the League of Women Voters at Landstown High School last night.  Although this is one of the few contested races in the region, the Virginian-Pilot did not report on it.

Adrienne Bennett was well-prepared and gave sharp responses to each question. She stressed the need for sustainable dedicated transportation funding as absolutely necessary for economic growth.  She also confronted Del. Villanueva with many of his unpopular votes (including his opposition to nonpartisan redistricting, his opposition to government transparency, his support for burdensome regulation of Planned Parenthood, and his support for cutting public education funding).

Del. Villanueva called being held accountable for his legislative actions “negative campaigning.”  His answers were often vague or evasive and he mostly declined to defend his votes in the General Assembly.  He kept repeating that he was raised here, has four kids, and has served in public office for 10 years.

The fairly small crowd seemed to be evenly mixed in their support of the two candidates.  All of the questions came from the audience, and the moderator kept asking for more.  I submitted my question early, but it was never asked (maybe the moderator thought it was too long).  I will ask it here instead.  Perhaps Del. Villanueva or one of his spokesmen can answer it in this forum:

Del. Villanueva sits on the House Finance Committee and claims to have helped balance the budget. It was “balanced” three ways:
1. By relying on $1.9 billion in temporary federal stimulus funding (that he opposed),
2. By borrowing $850 million from the state pension fund, and
3. By borrowing another $3 billion for transportation.
That’s all deficit spending.  How is that a “balanced budget?”

Few environmental issues were raised, other than one about uranium mining (see comment).  There may have been more environmental questions at the Lynnhaven River NOW debate that Villanueva skipped (see post below).  Villanueva has a cumulative record since 2000 of supporting the environment just 39% of the time.  Bennett has been endorsed by the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.

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Local Congressmen graded on clean water:
Rep. Rob Wittman: D
Rep. Scott Rigell: F
Rep. Bobby Scott: A+
Rep. Randy Forbes: F

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From Blue Virginia.

Ron Villanueva failed to show up for a forum hosted by Lynnhaven River NOW on October 5th. He had committed to attend, but unexpectedly didn’t show.

Lynnhaven River NOW is a grassroots environmental group focused on the health of the Lynnhaven River. As environmental issues that will impact the Lynnhaven River are hot political issues right now, missing this forum calls into question whether or not Ron Villanueva, the Republican who introduced the bill to allow offshore drilling in Virginia, considers the issues important to Lynnhaven River NOW, and others concerned about clean water, are important to him.

Villanueva’s campaign signs say “He cares. He listens. He gets results.”

Obviously he didn’t “care” enough to “listen” to the concerns of Lynnhaven River NOW, or even “care” enough to let them know he wasn’t going to make it to the forum. With his record, it would be wise for voters to question who he’s getting these “results” for. Does he get results for the people of his district, or big corporations profiting from actions like offshore drilling or dangerous uranium mining?

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President Obama has urged Congress to pass the American Jobs Act.

It is expected to result in 1.9 million new jobs, a 1 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate and a 2 percentage point increase in the gross domestic product, according to Mark Zandi (Moody’s Chief Economist and former economic advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain).

A survey of 34 economists agree that it would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year.  If it doesn’t pass, a reduction in government spending, the end of the payroll- tax holiday and an expiration of extended unemployment benefits would reduce GDP by 1.7% in 2012, according to Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

It is already a bipartisan compromise, including many specific proposals that have been supported by Republicans in the past (including the payroll tax cut) :

“From the trade agreements, tax relief for small businesses, regulatory relief, and unemployment benefits programs, there are a lot of areas of commonality between the House Republicans’ jobs plan and the proposals the president discussed last night.” – Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor 09/09/2011

There is broad public support (including a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters) for many of the specific proposals (small business tax cuts, business tax breaks for hiring new workers, more infrastructure spending, and more funds to hire teachers, cops, and firefighters and paying for it by eliminating corporate tax loopholes).

Will Congressional Republicans vote for it? Of course not. Their top priority isn’t job creation:

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president” – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell National Journal 10/29/2010

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The 4th circuit court has unanimously dismissed two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of health reform, ruling that “Virginia, the sole plaintiff here, lacks standing to bring this action.”

The court found that the Virginia law “does nothing more than announce an unenforceable policy goal of protecting Virginia’s residents from federal insurance requirements.”

Cuccinelli will have to find some other way to get his name in the news.

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Raising the Medicare eligibility age might save the federal government $5.7 billion dollars, but it would actually cost employers, individuals, and state governments $11.4 billion.  That’s a bad deal.

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Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is apparently considering challenging Senator Mark Warner in 2014.

Maybe he’s counting on Vice President McDonnell to campaign for him.

UPDATE: Nevermind!

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Without any idea of who the Republican presidential nominee will be, Gov. McDonnell is already auditioning for the Vice Presidential slot.

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Media pundits declared a Tea Party victory in the debt ceiling deal, but they didn’t really get what they wanted out of it: no Medicare phase-out, no balanced budget amendment, no deep spending cuts, mostly reductions in defense spending.

The self-inflicted crisis has further damaged the Republican brand. Public disapproval of Congress is at an all-time high, and more than twice as many people disapprove of the Tea Party as approve — down to 18%, which is pretty much just Tea Party members approving of themselves.  (So much for building a populist movement.)  It has all the makings of a wave election.

Next year, Congressional Republicans may be faced with the choice of letting Bush tax cuts expire on income in excess of $250,000 (as President Obama proposes) or allowing them to expire for everybody (in the more likely case of Congressional gridlock).

Meanwhile, progress marches on, leaving conservatives in the dust:

• New York recently became the 6th state to allow gay marriage.  UPDATE (01/23/2012): Washington may have the votes to be the 7th state to allow gay marriage.  

• President Obama recently announced new fuel efficiency standards that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, pollution, and associated health costs.

• On Tuesday, Wisconsin Democrats may take back a majority in their state Senate.  [UPDATE: Voters threw 2 Republicans out of office in the middle of their terms, but came up 1 short of a Democratic majority.]

• On September 20, the policy of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the military will be history.  UPDATE: Done!

• One federal appeal court has already ruled health reform constitutional.  Any day now, federal appeal courts in Atlanta and Richmond may do so as well. If so, the appeal courts will be unanimous.  With no disagreement to resolve, the Supreme Court could simply decline to hear an appeal.  [UPDATE: I was hoping for a sweep, but the Atlanta appeal court ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional.  The score is now 1-1 at the appeal court level and the issue will have to be resolved by the Supreme Court after all.] [UPDATE: The Richmond court threw out Cuccinelli's case, saying the state has no legal standing.]

• Meanwhile, Vermont is moving forward with single-payer health system.

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According to a new Washington Post poll:

In order to reduce the national debt, would you support or oppose:

Cutting spending on Medicaid, which is the government health insurance program for the poor?
Support: 26%
Oppose: 72%

Raising taxes on Americans with incomes over $250,000 a year?
Support: 72%
Oppose: 27%

Increasing the amount of Social Security tax paid by people with incomes over $107,000 a year?
Support: 66%
Oppose: 33%

Those are the three options with the widest majorities.  The public is overwhelmingly opposed to the Republican plan to cut Medicare and Medicaid and their absolute refusal to even consider tax increases.

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Paul Hirschbiel announced today he is running as a Democrat for Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District seat in 2012.

Like Rigell, Hirschbiel is a millionaire who could fund his own campaign.

Republican consultant Brian Kirwin has selectively reported that Hirschbiel supported the political campaigns of George W. Bush and Bob McDonnell, but it appears he contributed even more to Democratic candidates.

On the other hand, Kirwin has also said the election could “easily” go Democratic again in 2012, when Obama is expected to compete heavily in the area and the freshman Rigell is facing his first re-election:

“What I would suspect is in 2012 you’ve got Obama back on the ticket, all Democrats have to do is run a respectable candidate and Rigell is history. It’s very military, not hard-core Republican. Before 2000, this district was owned by Democrats.”

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Foodborne illness kills 3,000 Americans and costs $152 billion each year.

The Republican solution: cut $87 million from the Food and Drug Administration and $35 million from the USDA’s food safety and inspection service.

Another in the continuing “Republicans against…” series.

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Robert Reich connects the dots on the economy, in less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds.

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