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Green

George Allen Wants To Be Virginia’s Tar Sands Senator

By Josh Israel on Feb 15, 2012 at 4:50 pm

George Allen's attack ad

George Allen's attack ad

In a new ad for the Virginia U.S. Senate race, Republican candidate George Allen implausibly argues that the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport Canadian tar sands crude from Montana to Texas refineries, would benefit the state of Virginia.

The unnarrated 75-second spot, entitled “Unabashed,” laments that the nation has endured “35 straight months of unemployment above 8%” and highlights President Barack Obama’s administration’s rejection of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Then, it shows a lengthy series of video clips and newspaper headlines tying likely Democratic nominee, former Gov. Tim Kaine, to the administration’s position and backing the tar sands project:

– “Obama’s decision will cost the U.S. jobs” [Chicago Tribune, 1/19/12]
– “Obama’s Keystone pipeline rejection is hard to accept” [Washington Post, 1/18/12]
– “Obama’s Keystone pipeline nix worries small business” [CNNMoney.com, 1/19/12]
– “Obama’s pipeline decision delays energy security” [USA Today, 1/18/12]

Watch the spot:

The ad ends with the text “Tim Kaine. President Obama’s Senator. NOT VIRGINA’S.”

The claims that the Keystone XL pipeline would be a significant job creator have been widely debunked and the media citations reference stories that relied on flawed information. But even if you believed the industry’s inflated claims of tens of thousands of jobs, is hard to imagine that a construction project nearly 1,000 miles away from even the Commonwealth’s western-most point would put a significant number of Virginians to work.

More likely to benefit, however, would be the big oil and other energy companies whose multi-million-dollar lobbying campaigns have focused heavily on pushing the pipeline’s construction. And, as it happens, that sector has heavily funded former Sen. Allen’s campaign. Though the campaign has refused to disclose the list clients at Allen’s company or what he did for the energy industry as a consultant in the time between his last campaign and this one, ThinkProgress reported last year that Allen founded an industry-tied group to oppose clean energy reforms, spoke at a global-warming deniers hosted by the Heartland Institute, and toured Virginia with the Koch Industries-funded Americans for Prosperity.

A more truthful ad would say: George Allen. Big Oil’s Senator. NOT VIRGINIA’S.

Health

Virginia Advances Radical Anti-Choice Bills, Lawmaker Suggests Abortions Are ‘Matters Of Lifestyle Convenience’

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 15, 2012 at 12:17 pm

The Virginia House gave final approval yesterday to two bills that will tighten abortion laws in the state. One requires women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, and the other states that life begins at conception.

The debate grew heated, and Deputy House Majority Leader C. Todd Gilbert (R) even suggested that women undergo abortions to maintain their “lifestyle.” He later apologized for his remarks:

“Abortion is a sad and deeply serious occurrence,’’ Gilbert said in a statement. “Individuals on both sides of this issue agree that it is tragic for all involved. I recognize that few women undergo the procedure lightly. It leaves scars, both mental and physical, that can last forever. I regret that my comments earlier today on the House floor were insensitive to that reality.’’

Gilbert, who opposes abortion rights, shocked opponents of a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion when he said: “In the vast majority of these cases, these are matters of lifestyle convenience.”

The state Senate already approved the ultrasound bill, so now it goes to Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who has already said he will approve the measure.

But two studies have already shown that ultrasounds do not influence women’s decisions on abortions. It is unclear if the GOP-controlled Senate will also approve the personhood measure. Last year, when Democrats controlled the Senate, they voted down a similar measure.

NEWS FLASH

GOP-Controlled Virginia House Passes Personhood Bill | The Virginia House of Delegates “gave preliminary approval Monday to a so-called personhood bill” and rejected an amendment that would have ensured contraception can remain legal. The measure sates that “unborn children at every stage of development enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of the commonwealth, subject only to the laws and constitutions of Virginia and the United States, precedents of the United States Supreme Court, and provisions to the contrary in the statutes of the commonwealth.” The House is expected to formally approve the bill tomorrow and lawmakers expect that it can also pass in the Republican-controlled senate.

Justice

Business Groups Shut Down Anti-Muslim Bill In Virginia

By Ian Millhiser on Feb 13, 2012 at 9:50 am

Anti-Islamic Delegate Bob Marshall (R-VA)

Last month, a bill intended to combat the nearly non-existent problem of courts citing Sharia law was cruising to passage in the Virginia House of Delegates. For the moment, however, the bill appears to be dead after numerous business groups stepped forward to oppose it:

One bill, HB825 from Republican Del. Bob Marshall of Prince William County, would have prohibited judges and state administrators from using any legal code established outside the United States to make decisions. [...]

But when legislators started hearing from business groups concerned about how the proposal could affect their dealings abroad and foreign companies located here, they sent the bill back to committee.

“I had some business concerns,” said Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, after making the motion Thursday to kick back the bill. “It’s just something that needs some work.”

It’s unfortunate, if far from unexpected, that similar protests from religious groups, both Islamic and otherwise, were not enough to kill the bill. Nevertheless, the emergence of business opposition to these sorts of bills is a very important development.

The first wave of anti-Islamic bills introduced in state legislatures specifically named “Sharia” or Islamic law as off limits to state court judges. Such laws are unambiguously unconstitutional, as the First Amendment forbids any law that exists for the sole purpose of lashing out at a particular faith. Del. Marshall’s bill short circuits this constitutional limit because it does not expressly call out something unique to a particular faith. Instead, it paints with a broad brush by forbidding citations to any legal code that’s not established in the United States.

The problem with this tactic, however, is that there are all kinds of legitimate reasons why a judge may need to rely on foreign legal sources in order to render a decision. Most significantly, contracts between U.S. and foreign companies frequently require any disputes between them to be resolved under a foreign nation’s law. Needless to say, business don’t like it when lawmakers take away an important tool that they need to conduct international business just to push back against some baseless fantasy about judges lining up to replace the Constitution with Islamic law.

So the punchline is that anti-Islamic lawmakers are now in a bind. They can either push a narrow law targeting Islam, and have that law be struck down in the courts, or they can broaden the law, and wind up pushing something with spillover effects that will greatly annoy powerful interest groups.

Or, alternatively, they could simply abandon their anti-Islamic crusade altogether, and devote their attention solving problems that actually exist.

NEWS FLASH

White House Condemns Virginia’s Anti-Gay Adoption Bill | The White House has spoken out against a bill advancing in Virginia’s legislature that would allow private adoption agencies to discriminate based on religious beliefs — specifically against same-sex couples. White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said the following on behalf of President Obama:

While the president does not weigh in on every single action taken by legislative bodies in our country, he has long believed that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals based on their interest in offering a loving home, not based on discriminatory and irrelevant factors. He recognizes that adoptive families come in many forms, and that we must do all we can to break down barriers to ensure that all qualified caregivers have the ability to serve as adoptive families.

The bill has already passed the Virginia House and will soon be heard by the Senate. The Williams Institute reported yesterday that the state could incur great costs for every young person that remains in the foster care system because of the discrimination the provision allows for.

Update

Jeff Caldwell, a representative from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s (R) office, responded to the White House’s comments:

If/when it passes the General Assembly and reaches his desk, he will sign it. The governor has expressed his belief that faith-based adoption agencies should not be required to conduct adoption services that run counter to their religious beliefs, understanding that these organizations conduct a large portion of the state’s adoptions and could cease working to find homes for these children if they feel they cannot do it in accordance with their beliefs.

NEWS FLASH

Virginia’s Anti-Gay Adoption Restrictions May Create Costs For State | A Williams Institute study suggests that Virginia will incur additional costs by passing a provision that allows private adoption agencies to refuse to place children with couples based on religious or moral beliefs, essentially legalizing and encouraging discrimination against same-sex couples. The House passed the bill last week and the Senate has advanced it out of committee. According to the report, for every child that cannot be placed in an appropriate foster or adoptive home, the state will have to pay an addition $2,000 for congregate care. The state will also have to pay nearly $30,000 for every child that remains in foster care. Currently, there are about 5,500 children in Virginia’s foster care system. Given Virginia law already prohibits unmarried couples from adopting, the new policy will likely further limit the state’s ability to find homes for children.

Justice

Virginia Set To Repeal One-Gun-Per-Month Law, As Lawmakers Push NRA Fantasy Bills

By Ian Millhiser on Feb 6, 2012 at 5:10 pm

Later today, the Virginia Senate is expected to pass a bill repealing the state’s 18 year-old law limiting firearm purchases to one gun per month. The one-gun-per-month law, which was enacted to eliminate Virginia’s role at the “gun-running center of the East Coast,” is opposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and is almost certain to cease to exist once the repeal clears the state senate.

It’s important to note that this repeal has absolutely nothing to do with protecting the Second Amendment. Although the Supreme Court held in D.C. v. Heller that individuals enjoy a Second Amendment right to “self-defense” — at least within the confines of their own home — it’s not clear why anyone needs to own an arsenal to protect themselves. At the very least, the Second Amendment allows lawmakers to ask Virginians to wait a month before they can dual-wield pistols against a home intruder, and to wait another month before than can do so with an assault rifle strapped across their back.

Nor are Virginia lawmakers content simply to allow real people to pretend like they are characters from a video game. As the Virginian-Pilot reports, a long list of strange NRA fantasies wait behind the bill repealing the one-gun-per-month rule. A short list includes:

None of these bills have anything to do with the Second Amendment either, which allows concealed carry regulation and allows guns to be banned from “sensitive places.”

NEWS FLASH

Virginia’s Republican Controlled Senate Committee Rejects Restrictive Abortion Bill | The Republican controlled Virginia Senate committee has voted down legislation that would have forbidden women from having abortions after the fetus has reached 20-weeks gestational age. “The proposed 20-week limit was predicated on the assumption that fetuses can feel pain beyond 20 weeks, but other citations suggest that does not occur until at least 24 weeks, or roughly the beginning of the third trimester.” Initially, the committee was deadlocked on the bill, the vote stalling at 7-7, but were in the end swayed after hearing testimony from a woman who had decided to have a late-term abortion after the proposed 20-week cutoff upon learning her child would be born with a myriad of health issues that would have ultimately bankrupted her family. Just two weeks ago, however, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced similar legislation in Congress. — Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Feb 3, 2012 at 1:25 pm

NEWS FLASH

Virginia House To Approve Anti-Gay Adoption Bill | The Virginia House of Delegates will vote today on legislation that would permit “private, faith-based adoption agencies to deny placements that conflict with their religious beliefs, including opposition to homosexuality.” Last year, the Virginia Board of Social Services adopted “regulations that allow discrimination by private agencies based on personal factors, including gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and family status” and the proposed measure “would convert those regulations into state law.” One of the bill’s chief co-patrons is Bob Marshall (R), who is currently running for U.S. Senate.

Update

The bill passed with a vote of 71-28.

NEWS FLASH

AARP Slams Virginia Voter ID Bill, Says ‘Seniors Will Choose To Stay Home’ Rather Than Vote | Virginia is joining the growing number of states attempting to pass a voter ID bill that could jeopardize the voting rights of millions of minorities, low-income voters, students, and seniors. Today, the AARP — a non-partisan non-profit organization for senior citizens — warned state GOP lawmakers that their voter ID bill could disenfranchise a great number of Virginia’s seniors. Noting that “a good percentage — about 18 percent of people 65 and older” don’t have a photo ID, the non-profit said the bill “could mean a lot of seniors will choose to stay home.” Though the bill allows for a provisional ballot if the voter lacks ID, the AARP says the bill “sends a negative message to a powerful block of voters.” “Older people want to stay connected. That is one of their greatest privileges is to be able to vote. We want them to know their vote counts and to encourage them to get to the polls,” stated AARP. Virginia General Assembly’s black caucus is holding a protect the vote rally today in opposition as well.

By Tanya Somanader on Jan 31, 2012 at 5:10 pm

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