Ken Cuccinelli is on the defensive about his position on cockfighting. He submitted a long letter to the Connection newspapers in response to a Humane Society ad that appeared locally. Here's Cooch's response, which is a bit different in tone than what he wrote on his website. http://www.connectio... Here is the ad from the Humane Society. http://www.fund.org/... Cooch's basic position is this:
The punishment for crimes against animals should not be the same as punishment for crimes against PEOPLE. And I do not believe putting someone who fights chickens in jail for an entire year is a wise use of our tax dollars.
Bottom line: I voted against the cockfighting bill because it put crimes against chickens on a par with crimes against human beings.
(Aside to Cooch: what about, e.g., white collar crime, income tax evasion, etc.)
But Cuccinelli on his own website was less than serious about the issue (hat tip to http://citizentom.wo...)
Dear Fellow Republican:
Well, the cockfighting bill has reared its chicken head at the last moment of our election. The Humane Society has taken out ads in local papers complaining about my vote against the cockfighting bill last session. You can see the ad by clicking here. Highly unusual, to say the least. Well, I suppose the liberals stick together?
This is both serious and funny at the same time. I mean, we are talking about chickens after all.
Note that the Humane Society didn't have any complaint whatsoever about the gambling element of the offense. All they cared about was making chicken fighting a felony.
Ken is wrong. The Humane Society does care about the ancillary crime aspects of cockfighting: see their piece at http://www.fund.org/...
Cooch has never been serious about this issue. When it was being considered, he questioned the bill's application to other fighting animals. "Isn't it true that if I drop two hamsters in a cage and my 11-year-old and I bet a quarter on the outcome, I could get a class 1 misdemeanor under this bill?" Cuccinelli asked. http://www.roanoke.c... He closed his piece to "Fellow Republicans" by noting that he enjoys "a good drumstick?"
This article explains more context to the bill-the participation of criminal elements. http://www.roanoke.c...
The Bill the Senator voted against would have raised the penalty to include the potential of jail time. With so much money floating around at such events, a $500 fine is not much of a threat. A spokesman for the Humane Society said: "They can win $10,000 or $15,000 at these derbies. When you can win that much money, a misdemeanor fine is just seen as the cost of doing business."
Here is why the local sheriff was concerned. Maryland made cockfighting a felony in 2004; North Carolina did so in 2005.
"As a result of this, evidence has begun to accumulate there has been significant transfer of fighting venues from North Carolina to Virginia," Reynolds said.
The Mecklenburg County raid seems to support this. According to Mecklenburg County Commonwealth's Attorney Nora Miller, about three-quarters of those charged were from out of state, with the vast majority from North Carolina.
The legislative liaison for the Virginia Animal Control Committee said that illegal gambling is only one of the crimes to be found at cockfights.
"I have never read of a cockfighting arrest that did not involve a host of collateral crimes: gambling, drugs, alcohol, firearms, child endangerment, assaults, up to and including homicides," Strouse said.
Cooch is not being straight with his constituents. From the tone of his letter to his "fellow Republicans" he does not think animal cruelty is a serious issue.
Cuccinelli Complains about His Own Extreme Position on Stem Cell ResearchGOP official demands that ad containing statements by Cuccinelli be taken off the air
FAIRFAX - In a strange turn of events, Ken Cuccinelli complained this week that he did not "lead the fight to stop stem cell research," despite his own quote bragging of defeating the life-saving research practice.
On Thursday, Fairfax County GOP Chair James Hyland submitted a letter to NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX on behalf of State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, demanding that the latest ad by the Janet Oleszek for Senate campaign be removed from broadcast.
All four networks immediately rejected the GOP's request to take down the ad.
In the ad, the recorded voice of Senator Cuccinelli can be heard boasting that "we were able to defeat embryonic stem cell research on the floor of the Senate."
In his letter, Hyland argued on behalf of Cuccinelli that the ad is "intentionally false and misleading" because the Senator did not "lead the fight to stop stem cell research."
"This is the second time that Ken has tried to run from his record," said Oleszek campaign manager Jonathan Murray. "Last week he sent out a mailer disputing his own votes on guns, and now he's doing the same thing with stem cell research. Ken is desperate to prevent his own constituents from finding out just how extreme his positions are."
In 2005, state legislators in Virginia had an opportunity to assume a national leadership role in the field of stem cell research - a move which not only would provide hope to millions, but could potentially generate thousands of new jobs in Northern Virginia.
In the ad, Senator Cuccinelli can be heard delivering a portion of his campaign kickoff speech to supporters on March 6, 2007:
"Life has been a very tough issue, for instance, in the Senate. We haven't been able to get anything out of, what I call, 'the committee of death'. I believe since I got there, [unintelligible] I'm the only Senator to put in an abortion bill and it never got out of committee. Mark has put in the, now infamous, Planned Parenthood budget amendment, which was voted down in the Senate, amazingly. That's the kind of reception we get. However, we were able to defeat embryonic stem cell research on the floor of the senate [clapping and cheering]. When we went on that floor, we only had 17 votes. We got six votes, on the floor, to defeat embryonic stem cell research."
What a wacko.
LOL. That's a GOP group (also controlled by the pharmaceutical lobby), started by Richard Vigeurie. http://www.sourcewat...
The AARP Bulletin of February, 2003, has an excellent, well-researched article explaining this subversion of the democratic process by 60 Plus and two other astroturf organizations (United Seniors Association and the Senior Coalition). It notes that none of these groups have significant membership roles or community bases. "All three organizations claim to speak for millions of older Americans, although as recently as 2001 none of the three listed any revenue from membership dues on their tax returns," it states. "Moreover, an investigation by the AARP Bulletin shows that virtually all of their largest contributions in recent years have come from the same source - the nation's pharmaceutical industry."
See also http://www.stealthpa... and http://www.60plus.or... which shows the group saying global warming is unsupported by the evidence.
Cooch -- you should be ashamed of yourself.
Think a moment about some of the recent disgusting headlines--- the unspoken undercurrent running through what today we regard as uncivilized, anti-social, even psychotic behavior, behavior which was actually a part of society in barbarian days.
There really is a connection between such behavior and the recent rise of authoritarianism, the endless war syndrome espoused by Bush's so-called War on Terrorism, and the appeal of fundamentalism (an angry Jehovah is going to burn your ass, you sinner, haha!). Brutality against animals incites brutality against anything or anyone weaker, or seen as "the other," and, once such a scapegoat has been publicly identified and the anger objectified and made acceptable by leaders (leaders like the current Republican leadership) then it takes on a life of its own, beyond the mundane uses intended by that leadership (winning elections).
And so our system degrades to the lowest common denominator. You cannot run a civilized society if you let people like Cuccinnelli continue in office.
As for that other stuff, I guess it goes on.
Only problem -- he's a heavy GOP contributor, having given $2400 to them in 2004. http://www.campaignm...
Well, I guess he likes Bush (who in my book is a war criminal) 24 times more than animals.
Where does this even happen? Is there some part of Virginia that is like the movie Deliverance? And how prevalent is this?