In the grand classical musical, “Gigi,” Maurice Chevalier as Honore sings to Hermione Gingold as Mamita.
Maurice starts, “We met at nine,” Hermione corrects, “we met at eight.”
Maurice again, “I was on time;” Hermione, “you were late.”
Maurice’s finishes, “Ah yes, I remember it well.”
Our Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, could sing a duet, a kind of odd coupling, with Jonnie Williams, the Star Scientific CEO.
Ken might start, “we were at the beach,” and Jonnie, “we were in New York.”
Ken, “We’ve no ethical breach;” Jonnie, “Are you a dork?”
Ken, “Ah yes, I remember it well.”
Ken’s insouciance about remembering Jonnie’s favors, including those Ken solicited, is impossible to credit as believable.
En route to New York, Ken was flying “like on a G-6,” on Jonnie’s private jet, but Ken didn’t disclose it in his filings. He invited the local Commonwealth Attorney in Richmond to review his conduct and decide if he forgot to file or not.
Ken flew to Kentucky on Jonnie’s Favors-to-the-Elected air express. Ken should have remembered to disclose that as well. Again, let’s have the Commonwealth Attorney consider whether Ken remembered that.
There was $10,000 of stock, that’s 8,660 shares, that Ken held in Jonnie’s company, and $6,711.00 worth of Jonnie’s questionable product (that Ken received gratis). Ken didn’t remember to disclose these matters. Something else for the Commonwealth Attorney to consider.
A fair question is what in the world could Jonnie possibly get for favors given Ken, a shareholder in his company?
While Ken has been receiving favors from pal Jonnie, and holding shares in Jonnie’s company, Jonnie’s company was locked in litigation with the Commonwealth of Virginia, represented by Ken’s office, over whether Jonnie’s company has to pay an $860,000 tax assessment in Mecklenburg County.
Not that Ken thought he had the favor-giving Jonnie over a barrel, but Ken did ask Jonnie to host Ken’s Thanksgiving family dinner, worth about $1,500 or so, at Jonnie’s posh mountain retreat.
Jonnie let Ken catch a summer vacation at his home too, and that was worth about $3,000 for the week.
The Richmond Commonwealth Attorney, seemingly a not too distant cousin of Chief Inspector Jacque Clouseau, didn’t find anything suspicious enough in Ken’s odd coupling of public business with private favors.
(But steal a loaf of bread from the Richmond Giant and the Commonwealth Attorney will make you feel like Jean Val Jean I suspect.)
The measure of a politician of character, whether a candidate or elected official, is, first and foremost, how he resists the corrupting influence of contributors and favor givers. The higher the office, the worse the pressure, the stronger the character required.
When an elected official serves a hidden agent, he deprives us of the most basic requirement of public office, impartiality. Such an Attorney General or Governor is untrustworthy, as we rightly suspect that neither case law, nor statutes, nor common sense, nor fundamental fairness matter, only access to the official matters – and that comes at a certain price.
We all know that old saying, once shame on you, twice shame on me.
We have no reason to expect Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to grow an ethical backbone between now and November.
So we shouldn’t elect him Governor and give him even more authority than what he’s enjoyed and abused as our outgoing Attorney General.
If we bar the door to the Governor’s Mansion to Mr. Cuccinelli, we’ll save ourselves testing again how well Ken remembers the favors bestowed upon him. We’ll also avoid the national disgrace and public spectacle of another corrupt Governor.
Let’s give Ken the vacation he so sorely needs – but let’s have him pay for it out of his own pocket this time.
(Photo: The Christian Post/Napp Nazworth) Dr. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, speaking at the Young America's Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference, Washington, D.C., August 3, 2012.
Robert P. George, a leading Conservative professor, co-author of Chuck Colson’s Manhattan Declaration, and co-founder of National Organization for Marriage (NOM) will lead the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). George’s appointment confirms what we’ve suspected. USCIRF is a fraudulent Congressional commission devised by Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) to advance his religio-political turf. It is a waste of $2M/year (formerly $4M/year). USCIRF would have been abolished in 2011 had it not been for heavy lobbying from Prison Fellowship Ministries and Congressman Frank Wolf. See Wolf’s admission that he constructed the USCIRF in 1998 here and PFM’s appeal here.
George’s USCIRF appointment along with his peer Dr. Zhudi Jassar have been controversial do to their shared belief that, “sub-humans don’t have religion.” They don’t directly say that. They engage in name-calling to dehumanize their targets. They call people “activists”. Activists are not persons. They don’t have inalienable rights. Zhudi Jassar explains that activists use the “grievance industry and victimization” to falsely claim that their stories are legitimate, and representative of a larger group.
Back in 2011, while lobbying for USCIRF funding, Chuck Colson demonstrated how this is done.
Clinton lamented that LGBT people, “are arrested, beaten, imprisoned — even executed. Many are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.”
I believe that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable rights just as our Declaration of Independence says. Neither LGBT people nor anyone else should be singled out for discrimination and persecution. But I can’t help noticing that while President Obama and Secretary Clinton were vigorously defending sexual freedom, religious freedom is being ditched.
Colson implies that LGBT people don’t have religious freedom, our first freedom. LGBT people have “sexual freedom.” Since “Christians” have certain beliefs about sexual morality, LGBT anti-discrimination “ditched” “religious freedom.” Grievance industry anybody?
Colson taught Dr Robert P. George well. His many group affiliations have “perfected” the use of “the grievance industry and victimization.” The SPLC, Right-Wing Watch, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and many other watchdogs, including this site, have documented instance after instance of this behavior. Let’s focus on George’s American Principles Project that describes itself as “Conservative.”
Are we conservatives? You bet we are, if by a “conservative” one means a believer in the rule of law, democracy, limited government and respect for civil liberties, private property and the free market, equality of opportunity, the sanctity of human life, the protection of marriage and the family, and the defense of our nation’s sovereignty and security.
In February of 2011, World Net Daily reported on a “new” organization constructed by the APP. GetConservative was formed to create a split in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). GetConservative (notice astroturf webarchive URL) created the split by boycotting the conference (emphasis mine).
When it became clear that the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) had joined the effort to marginalize social conservatives by allowing GOProud to be a prominent part of their 2011 event, APP led a boycott of CPAC to protest the inclusion of a group that actively opposes fundamental conservative principles (like the defense of traditional marriage). The point of the CPAC boycott was not to urge others not to attend, nor was it an effort to dictate who should be permitted to be part of the conference. The point of the boycott was to state unequivocally that for conservatism to have meaning, the fundamental principles of it (including the defense of traditional values) must be respected, and that to invite an organization that actively worked against one of those principles was a slap in the face to social conservatives and an injury to conservatism as a whole.
The boycott was praised by Sterling Supervisor and hate-group leader, Eugene Delgaudio.
Another social conservative group is leafleting CPAC and is attempting to force the group to throw out the anti-Christian leftist groups that embrace immorality.
Their letter reads: This is a time of both promise and conflict for conservatives. As the country recoils from the leftist initiatives of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress, we find more and more people prepared to hear and respond to our message of smaller government, lower taxes, respect for family, marriage, and life, and a strong national defense.
If you don’t think there was any collaboration between Delgaudio and George, notice that in the top photo, George is speaking to the YAF conference. Supervisor Delgaudio offers scholarships to this conference at the Teen Job Fair. The Public Advocate praise is an admission of the collaboration, and it isn’t a surprise. We know exactly what George and Delgaudio were doing. They created a CPAC “survey question,” conducted a survey, tabulated results, formed alliances, and identified leaders for their anti-gay cause de-jour. GetConservative didn’t want to “urge others not to attend” because they wanted and needed the data because it’s a small, small world where the very existence of people who hold opposing views is a slap in your face. Best to orchestrate the takeover of this small world from a small, small community that centers in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.
- SPLC Facebook timeline photo (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151766944914700&set=a.439820219699.236067.170591064699&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf)
In the grand classical musical, “Gigi,” Maurice Chevalier as Honore sings to Hermione Gingold as Mamita.
Maurice starts, “We met at nine,” Hermione corrects, “we met at eight.”
Maurice again, “I was on time;” Hermione, “you were late.”
Maurice’s finishes, “Ah yes, I remember it well.”
Our Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, could sing a duet, a kind of odd coupling, with Jonnie Williams, the Star Scientific CEO.
Ken might start, “we were at the beach,” and Jonnie, “we were in New York.”
Ken, “We’ve no ethical breach;” Jonnie, “Are you a dork?”
Ken, “Ah yes, I remember it well.”
Ken’s insouciance about remembering Jonnie’s favors, including those Ken solicited, is impossible to credit as believable.
En route to New York, Ken was flying “like on a G-6,” on Jonnie’s private jet, but Ken didn’t disclose it in his filings. He invited the local Commonwealth Attorney in Richmond to review his conduct and decide if he forgot to file or not.
Ken flew to Kentucky on Jonnie’s Favors-to-the-Elected air express. Ken should have remembered to disclose that as well. Again, let’s have the Commonwealth Attorney consider whether Ken remembered that.
There was $10,000 of stock, that’s 8,660 shares, that Ken held in Jonnie’s company, and $6,711.00 worth of Jonnie’s questionable product (that Ken received gratis). Ken didn’t remember to disclose these matters. Something else for the Commonwealth Attorney to consider.
A fair question is what in the world could Jonnie possibly get for favors given Ken, a shareholder in his company?
While Ken has been receiving favors from pal Jonnie, and holding shares in Jonnie’s company, Jonnie’s company was locked in litigation with the Commonwealth of Virginia, represented by Ken’s office, over whether Jonnie’s company has to pay an $860,000 tax assessment in Mecklenburg County.
Not that Ken thought he had the favor-giving Jonnie over a barrel, but Ken did ask Jonnie to host Ken’s Thanksgiving family dinner, worth about $1,500 or so, at Jonnie’s posh mountain retreat.
Jonnie let Ken catch a summer vacation at his home too, and that was worth about $3,000 for the week.
The Richmond Commonwealth Attorney, seemingly a not too distant cousin of Chief Inspector Jacque Clouseau, didn’t find anything suspicious enough in Ken’s odd coupling of public business with private favors.
(But steal a loaf of bread from the Richmond Giant and the Commonwealth Attorney will make you feel like Jean Val Jean I suspect.)
The measure of a politician of character, whether a candidate or elected official, is, first and foremost, how he resists the corrupting influence of contributors and favor givers. The higher the office, the worse the pressure, the stronger the character required.
When an elected official serves a hidden agent, he deprives us of the most basic requirement of public office, impartiality. Such an Attorney General or Governor is untrustworthy, as we rightly suspect that neither case law, nor statutes, nor common sense, nor fundamental fairness matter, only access to the official matters – and that comes at a certain price.
We all know that old saying, once shame on you, twice shame on me.
We have no reason to expect Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to grow an ethical backbone between now and November.
So we shouldn’t elect him Governor and give him even more authority than what he’s enjoyed and abused as our outgoing Attorney General.
If we bar the door to the Governor’s Mansion to Mr. Cuccinelli, we’ll save ourselves testing again how well Ken remembers the favors bestowed upon him. We’ll also avoid the national disgrace and public spectacle of another corrupt Governor.
Let’s give Ken the vacation he so sorely needs – but let’s have him pay for it out of his own pocket this time.
I saw that (and note your attempted moral equivalency for the sake of your eternal argument here).
IMO, the entire Filner situation is an absolute cluster****. This thing with the vets who went to him for help is beyond depressing.
Now women from the National Women’s Veterans Association are coming forward to expose Filner as a predator who used their organization as a hunting ground for survivors of sexual assault in the military, because he thought they were vulnerable and unlikely to speak up. Only a sociopathic personality behaves that methodically. Anyone who knew and protected this monster is as morally culpable as those continuing to protect Delgaudio. God bless the whistleblowers.
Saldana is calling for his resignation, and also speculates that he’s refusing to resign in order to keep resignation as a bargaining chip in the upcoming lawsuits. Hopefully those who protected him will also be exposed in the course of testimony.
I’m still chewing on the fact that apparently former assemblywoman Lori Saldana (D) reported to the local party two years ago that at least six women had been victims by that time that she knew of, and was among those told that anyone who didn’t support Filner would receive no support from the party. She later endorsed him for mayor.
I know. Men like Filner were entitled to such behavior for a very long time, as an institutional method for keeping women in “their place.” I think it’s exactly because the line on workplace behavior is still contested with ragey men crying “why do there have to be rules?” (and beyond the workplace we have the example of Yale trying to recast the violative crime of rape as “non-consensual sex”), Filner’s defiance shows a willful allegiance to misogynist ideology, not “oh, he doesn’t know any better, he’s just of that generation.” He chose to take that side. There’s no excuse for pretending not to know it’s illegal to physically restrain your employees and stick your tongue in their mouths, and there’s no reason not to call such deliberate treatment of other people a moral abomination.
Glad to see you articulate it here elderberry, that Filner is just an Old White Guy. But then why is he a Dem, shielded by Dems for years?
Good for you both to acknowledge the inappropriateness of his behavior, but after the endless screeching of “War on Women!”, no plaudits for brushing it off with “nothing to see here on Wiener”, “Clarence Thomas is worse” (you racist! lol), and MOST of all why the hell were the Cali Dems shielding him for so long?
As much mileage as you guys get for anyone voting remotely Republican being evil for not getting on your Delgaudio float, why the crickets on the years’-long shield for Filner?
I hate to break your bubble, but Filner is just a character out of another generation. I can’t tell you how many women of a certain age had to put up with being fondled, groped, kissed, or slobbered on, and how many men thought they were well within bounds to do it. Think back tot he movie 9 to 5 to see and example of such a boss, with his sexual entitlement to “show affection” to his employees in so many demeaning ways. There is properly a huge uproar over Filner, because the line on workplace behavior has been well drawn for awhile, but we still have equally disgusting predator Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, don’t we? As for Wiener, who gives a fig? There has been no testimony he ever touched anyone at all, or that any of this was nonconsensual (since the latest female involved is trying out for porn films?). I think the only one who really should care about Wiener is his wife. None of it was in the workplace so what business is it of ours?
I don’t know whether he’s a sociopath like Delgaudio – that’s a very specific condition in which a person essentially has no conscience or regard for the value of other human beings. Delgaudio doesn’t actually believe a word of the hate-vomit that he sends out, it’s just a means to the end of filling his pockets. Can the same be said of Cuccinelli? I’m not saying he’s not, I just don’t have enough information and don’t think that word should be used casually as a synonym for a$$hole. My impression of Cooch is that he’s an idolator who truly believes he has ‘divine’ endorsement for his policy agenda. The GOP is riddled with such people by its own design. They made a conscious decision to fold biblical literalists and christianists into their party; nobody in the Protestant world gave a second thought to abortion until it was created as an “issue” for that political purpose.
If we’re talking broadly about moral compass though, I don’t think it’s a partisan problem. Weiner may be merely pathetic and ridiculous, but Filner is as morally bankrupt as they come. He is unequivocally unfit for office and needs to be removed. He reminds me more of Delgaudio every day with his insistance that he won’t resign, that he did nothing wrong, and the latest, that if he did anything that others think is wrong, it’s because “they” didn’t tell him and provide him with “training.” Are people born this way, or does a little power do it to them?
How long does it take us to figure it out. They think they are above the law because God talks to them.
The law is the foundation of government and they have no respect for government. They are willing to use the law when it suits their ends but they have no respect for it. We’ve seen it from top to bottom in the modern incarnation of the Virginia Republican Party.
These people are truly moral outlaws, and yet they want us to be outraged over a few pictures of Anthony Weiner’s anatomy that were exchanged between what appear to be consenting adults.
Mr. Kookinelli’s moral compass has lost its true north if it ever had one. He’s a sociopath.
If you survive that long. After all, you might have a bread knife. But I digress. This memory problem of Ken’s feels a bit recycled. He still “can’t recall” whether or not he has ever violated the unconstitutional VA law prohibiting consensual sex between adults of which he’s so fond – so very fond that he’s made it a centerpiece of his campaign (in order to scrape the very bottom of the voter barrel, one presumes).