Cuccinelli speaks on punishing criminals

This week Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli visited a high-school class and said some reasonable things, such as “I don’t think we should be enthusiastic about [the death penalty],” and also “If you hit your spouse, it is a misdemeanor, but betting on chicken fighting is a felony. That struck me as being out of balance.”

Cuccinelli advises against proposed rules that could pave way for gay adoption

Now that I’ve established myself as a fair arbiter who can see both the good and the bad in Cuccinelli, let me comment on his ongoing campaign to make Virginia a laughingstock of the world, which continues apace this week with his advisory memo stating that gay adoption “does not comport with applicable state law and public policy.” The attorney general also offers that “opening up adoption to same-sex couples may actually hurt the foster children more than it helps.”

Lately Dan Savage has been linking every few days to one of the myriad daily accounts of horrible child abuse at the hands of straight parents. Most recently he called attention to a case where “Police have arrested four Indianapolis residents in an alleged scheme to sell a baby to a convicted child molester and his sister-in-law… for $300.” Each time Savage links to such a story, he gives it the headline “Every child deserves a mother and father.”

If I ever decide to found a gay rights advocacy group, one of its practices will be to teach public classes in logic. If logic were a subject in schools, more people might grasp that being gay doesn’t “rub off” on children. Come to think of it, adding logic as a primary- and secondary-school subject could transform American society. Given that it would actually improve education, though, it’s no more likely than public funding for Montessori schools, so it will be up to my future advocacy group to trawl the Pilot comments pages, locate citizens who never learned how to use logic, and give them scholarships to our school.

After Obama speech, McDonnell says no new taxes

Graduates of our school will laugh derisively at politicians who say “tax hikes” when they mean “tax hikes for billionaires.”

U.S. files 4th Circuit brief with Virginia over health care law

Today Ken Cuccinelli’s office will issue a response to the government’s response to Cuccinelli’s response to the health care law.

Gambling raids include restaurateur’s property

Even Cuccinelli’s comments on gay adoption aren’t quite as ridiculous as sending SWAT teams to shut down gambling operations.

A philosophical defense of blogging

This interesting piece by Matt Yglesias helps me feel that I’m not wasting my life by reading so many political blogs.

Visitors can climb Cape Hatteras lighthouse free today

To get there and back will cost $67 in gas.

Study: Va. parole policy may keep prisoners from coming back

The gist here is that Virginia’s recidivism rate is below average because we keep people locked in prison until they’re too old and feeble to commit crimes.

Guns are still bad and other rants

I agree with JesiO’s moving argument for gun control in Wednesday’s IYRTP. I would add that while reducing violence through gun control seems politically unlikely, reducing violence through drug legalization seems quite possible. If we ever come to our senses and adopt Portugal’s drug decriminalization policy, crime will fall precipitously, with virtually no bad unintended consequences whatsoever.

George Allen touts endorsements

The former senator has been endorsed by the owner of a Confederate flag pin factory, a “vintage noose” advocacy group, and of course admirers everywhere of francophone racist slurs.

Note: in fairness to Allen, his office has stated that his vintage noose is “simply an emblem of [his] law-and-order mentality.”

Life on the list

This American Prospect piece describes the disastrous unintended consequences of our national sex offender registry.

Raise America’s taxes

I can’t read Nick Kristof’s Times column due to its new firewall that blocks access for one month after twenty page views. Rather than read him for fifteen dollars, I’ll make blanket assumptions for free and assume he agrees with my belief that we should tax the rich.

Orange Prize shortlist shows women’s writing in ‘rude health’

The Orange Prize, created “to celebrate and promote fiction written by women,” has narrowed its fiction shortlist from twenty to five.

National Poetry Month

Time flies when you’re having fun, and sure enough National Poetry Month is half over. Revel while you can. If you’re seeking ideas on how to make merry, the Academy of American Poets offers Thirty Ways to Celebrate. “Play Exquisite Corpse!” “Take a poem out to lunch!” “Ask the post office for more poet stamps!” Or if you find these notions to be inadequate, as I did, you can go my route and tattoo a poem on your left bicep.