In the case of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the initials A.G. might as well stand for, “Agent of God”.

Instead of upholding the law, this self-righteous zealot and religious right rock star has wasted tax payer’s money to go on outlandish moral crusades that have little to do with his actual job. Cuccinelli seems more interested in furthering his political career, than serving the citizens of Virginia.

Case in point: According to an editorial in today’s Washington Post, “Cuccinelli had sought to force the University of Virginia to provide a warehouse of documents and correspondence relating to climate scientist Michael Mann, who used to work at the university.”

The goal was for the Agent of God to use his position of power — and state resources during a time of recession — to try to disprove the science behind the theory of global warming. The problem is, Cuccinelli did not do his homework and his case was left wanting. According to the Post:

Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. put a damper on a pernicious fishing expedition by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R). Mr. Cuccinelli, twisting a state law aimed at preventing fraud in contracting….

Judge Peatross pointed out that the attorney general hadn’t provided an “objective basis” to conclude that the scientist did anything fraudulent. That’s because there is no objective basis for the charge. Mr. Mann’s work might be construed as controversial, but it has been heavily scrutinized and found to be legitimate.

The operative words here are “objective basis”. There is nothing objective, fair or moral about Cuccinelli’s vindictive attacks on climate change scientists, academia and LGBT equality. This embarrassing failure is reminiscent of when the publicity seeking Agent of God — according to the Washington Post — urged the state’s public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements. Cuccinelli went on this crusade, even though it had the potential to harm the state’s well-regarded higher education system:

But some individual college board members and others said Cuccinelli’s action would be highly controversial on campuses, where many argue that such policies are necessary to attract top students and faculty.

“What he’s saying is reprehensible,” said Vincent F. Callahan Jr., a former Republican member of the House of Delegates who serves on George Mason’s board of visitors. “I don’t know what he’s doing, opening up this can of worms.”

The self-appointed Agent of God should get his eyes off higher political office and stop flushing the tax money of Virgina voters down the toilet. If Cuccinelli is unhappy with his current job and wants to engage in dead-end ideological crusades, may I suggest he leaves Richmond and takes a job in Virginia Beach with Pat Robertson or secures a teaching gig at Liberty University? Virgina’s government — which is supposed to serve all the state’s citizens — is no place for Cuccinelli’s unsuccessful morality experiments.

If Cuccinelli is unable or unwilling to perform the tasks required by his day job, he ought to resign.

Commence making fun of Virginia now:

Virginia’s attorney general Ken Cuccinelli is hard at work on the important issues of the day — like making sure the Roman goddess depicted on his state’s official seal isn’t exposing herself.

The current seal shows “Virtus, the goddess of virtue, dressed as a warrior,” with her foot resting “on the chest of the figure of tyranny, who is lying on the ground.” She is holding a spear and her left breast is exposed.

Or at least it was exposed. At a recent meeting, Cuccinelli provided pins to his staff with a new seal on which “Virtus’ bosom is covered by an armored breastplate,” the Virginia Pilot reported. These new pins were not paid for by taxpayer dollars, Cuccinelli’s office insisted.

Because, you see, what if kids see it and know that ladies have boobies?  Because how would they have known otherwise?

So anyway, Ken gave Virtus a full-body burkha breast-plate, presumably to keep the male conservative Republicans in the state from masturbating furiously and continuously every time they see an official document from the state of Virginia.

It was a serious problem, you guys!

This, by the way, is the original seal:

Nico Pitney reminds us that this is not the first time Ken Cuccinelli has shown himself to be a completely mentally disturbed wingnut:

Cuccinelli has previously gained national notoriety for questioning President Obama’s citizenship,rescinding protections for gays and lesbians at Virginia universities, and claiming that homosexuals engage in behavior that is “intrinsically wrong” and offensive to “natural law.”

Uh huh.  Like the natural law of scary, undefined, nipple-free boobies that give Ken Cuccinelli’s friends and family funny sensations in their tingle parts.

(The Awakening Conference was sponsored by the Freedom Federation and held April 15-16 at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen reports live from the event )

If the Religious Right fringe one day establishes a theocracy in America, no one will be able to credibly claim that they did not explicitly broadcast their dubious intentions. Having just spent two days at “The Awakening” conference at the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’ Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, one message was unmistakable: Many key Religious Right figures vehemently reject separation of church and state and believe America is a fundamentalist Christian nation.

“The Bible is the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” thundered Cindy Jacobs of General’ International from the stage. “I believe there is an awakening to do just that.”

What’ frightening is that many leaders on the Religious Right hold a basic belief system that is seemingly incompatible with democratic forms of government. Their central tautological argument is that liberty originated from God and so the only way to be truly free is through a theocratic system that honors the creator of freedom.

Huh? Exactly.

According to this mindset, God has ordained the faithful to be in positions of leadership, rendering any form of government that does not elevate these “chosen ones” or reflect their extreme views as illegitimate.

The Saturday night rally began with a surprising controversy. Lou Engle (pictured), the constantly rocking, intense, mustachioed cleric of The Call with the booming voice of a professional wrestler declared, “We are here to honor all denominations. There will be no tongues tonight.”

This left many in the audience offended, and well, tongue-tied. In a huff, several people stormed out of the main chapel. Sensing a gaffe, Engle soon reappeared on-stage and happily declared, “I apologize, we can speak in tongues!”

At this heavily advertised event, there was no shortage of the paranoid and prejudiced. But, one pleasant surprise was that attacks on LGBT people were on the decline. The crowd was more riled about President Barack Obama’ healthcare plan, which the Family Research Council’ Tony Perkins referred to onstage as “a socialistic time bomb.”

The big news at the conference came from Engle. While sitting in the audience during the “LGBT Agenda” breakout session, he spoke up and conceded that the next generation of evangelical Christians is largely supportive of LGBT rights (but not abortion). Engle said that when he preaches against gay people, the Christian youth often “rage against him.” Engle, a giant in right wing circles, said that the far right has lost on this issue barring a miracle, such as an intercession at a 500,000 strong youth rally. When he floated this idea to the activists on-stage, The Liberty Counsel’ Matt Barber said they should privately discuss such a rally after the forum.

Good luck with that idea, considering the breakout session at Falwell U. drew only 15 people. Virtually everyone in the small crowd was a hardcore anti-gay activist from groups such as Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). Clearly, gay bashing was an issue that was not motivating many young people, as it has been in the past. (Although, it seems Engle’ group, The Call, may already be testing his intercession plan in Uganda) (Read More)

I’ve found in monitoring radical anti-gay Christian extremists that they’re usually not normal, rational people who happen to dislike gay people. Usually, they’re detached from reality on several fronts. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is apparently no exception. Cuccinelli, you’ll remember, decided to use his status as AG to direct Virginia’s colleges and universities to remove sexual orientation from their non-discrimination policies. Unfortunately for him, Virginia happens to be home to Smart Kid Schools, and smart kids and Christian fundamentalist windsockery go together like oil and water, and his efforts have been rebuffed so far.

He’s also embarrassing himself with his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, which is the only primary healthcare source for many women.

But also? Cuccinelli seems to be a a hardcore birther, having been caught on tape having the following conversation:

Q What can we do about Obama and the birth certificate thing?

Cooch: It will get tested in my view when someone… when he signs a law, and someone is convicted of violating it and one of their defenses will be it is not a law because someone qualified to be President didn’t sign it.

Q: Is that something you can do as Attorney General? Can you do that or something?

Cooch: Well only if there is a conflict where we are suing the federal government for a law they’ve passed. So it’ possible.

Q: Because we are talking about the possibility that he was not born in America.

Cooch: Right. But at the same time under Rule 11, Federal Rule 11, we gotta have proof of it.

Q: How can we get proof?

Cooch: Well… that’ a good question. Not one I’ve thought a lot about because it hasn’t been part of my campaign. Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is. You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.

Right Wing Watch has the video if you want to hear the Cooch for yourself.

This of course also reveals that Cuccinelli probably has race issues, since the birf certifkit thing has been so thoroughly debunked that only backwards knuckle dragging white people with inferiority complexes in the face of black men who are smarter than them still cling to the birther fantasies, the way they cling to guns and religion. (Hee hee.)

Okay, so let’s count. So far, Cuccinelli has

1. Major inferiority and fear issues where gays are concerned.

2. Major inferiority and fear issues where women are concerned.

3. Major inferiority and fear issues where Barack Obamas are concerned, going so far as to cling to fantasies that he is ineligible for the office of the presidency.

4. Probable Fear of a Black Planet.

Isn’t that enough? Isn’t that enough wingnut fear, enough wingnut neurosis, enough mental illness for one far right wingnut official?

Oh, for Christ’s sake:

In an overlooked recording from the campaign trail, candidate Cuccinelli told a crowd that he was considering not registering his son for a Social Security number because “it is being used to track you.” He also claimed that many others are not registering for Social Security numbers for the same reason.

Direct quote:

We’re gonna have our 7th child on Monday, if he’s not born before. And, for the very concerns you state, we’re actually considering — as I’m sure many of you here didn’t get a Social Security number when you were born, they do it now — we’re considering not doing that. And a lot of people are considering that now, because it is being used to track you.

Video:

Good lord!

Apparently, like Victoria Jackson, Ken Cuccinelli would be a lot safer if he wore a helmet. I’m worried he might hurt himself otherwise.

Anyway, here’s some music, just because it’s still one of the best responses to people like Ken Cuccinelli I’ve ever heard, and also because if Ken stumbles across this post, it might make him pee:

UPDATE: Another quick link for thee: Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog makes a solid case that Cuccinelli is not only a Birther, but also a Tenther (another fringe whackjob movement) and a liar (self-explanatory).

Betty Cracker at Rumproast has traveled into the future and brought back the headlines from wherever in the future she visited. (Next week sometime, Betty?) Anyway, who would have ever thought?

What a completely unexpected tragedy!

(If you don’t follow politics, and have somehow missed the stories that make this funny, click gay for Bob McDonnell and panic for Ken Cuccinelli. If you follow the long arc of these stories, they tend to have a certain, um, pattern, so, as Betty said, “it’s only a matter of time.”)

UPDATE: Jon Stewart took on the subject of the anti-gay lawmakers in Virginia, and their beautiful heads of hair, in a “Gaywatch” segment last night. Watch it, via Good-As-You: