I'm Innocent of Rape Your Honor. After All, She Was Wearing a Nightie!

Update - Please note that Richard Black dropped out of the race to gain the Republican nomination for Virginia's 10th District on January 22, 2014 stating that:

 "...it is imperative that I remain in the Senate...too much is at risk for Virginia, and I must not trigger another costly senate race by stepping down from my seat at this time.".  

Richard Black, the Republican candidate for the House in Virginia's 10th Congressional District is seeking to replace the long-term Representative, Frank Wolf, who is retiring.  State Senator Black has the backing of the extreme conservative faction in the 10th and, as you will see, has been known to hold some fairly radical views on some key issues and has a rather interesting way of illustrating his opinions.   Here we go:

1.) On relaxing the "family rule" in Virginia's mortgage lending:  According to the Washington Times in July 2003, the Virginia Housing and Development Authority made the decision to allow unmarried couples, including homosexuals, to apply for low-interest mortgages by abolishing the rule that loan applicants be related by blood, marriage, adoption or legal custodial relationship.  Until that time, Virginia had the only state housing-finance agency in the United States that enforced the "family rule".  What did State Senator Richard Black have to say about that?  Here's a quote, noting that Mr. Black is referring to the $90 million in bonds that Virginia issued to fund the state's housing authority:

"[Virginia] is now spending $90 million to subsidize sodomy and adultery.  I just don’t understand why we are taking money away [from worthwhile programs] and supporting a radical homosexual agenda.”

Note that the change in the "family rule" had nothing whatsoever to do with redefining the state's legal definition of a "family".

2.) On requiring women to wait 24 hours between seeking and having an abortion: On top of the "informed consent" aspect, this bill made changes to the emergency contraception practices in Virginia.  Nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants would now be allowed to prescribe emergency contraception that, in some cases, prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus.  In addition, physicians could prescribe the pill for women who aren't their patients.  Again, what did State Senator Richard Black have to say about that?  Here's a quote:

""This is a baby pesticide we're looking at. It's a toxic method of eliminating a child,"

3.) On spousal rape:  Back in 2002, this is what Richard Black had to say about prosecuting cases of spousal rape:

Did he mean a flannel nightie or did he mean negligee or is that splitting the proverbial hair?

Just in case you wondered, Richard Black was born near his mother's farm in Baltimore, Maryland in May 1944.  He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1973 and a law degree in 1976, both from the University of Florida and has pursued post-graduate legal studies at the University of Virginia.  He served as a Marine, enlisting in 1963and flew 269 combat helicopter missions in Viet Nam.  He was appointed to head the legal office at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri by the Judge Advocate General of the Army.  While in Missouri, he served as an ex-officio member of the City Council for St. Robert where he was responsible for shuttering eight houses of prostitution!  He retired from military service in 1994 and became a partner in a law firm.  He was elected to the Virginia Senate in November 2011.

And we wonder how it is possible that politics in America has become so polarized.

In case you wondered, Senator Black did receive 20,786 votes or 57.1 percent of votes cast in the Virginia State election in 2011, beating his competition, Democrat J. Shawn Mitchell by just over 5,000 votes.