Monthly Archives: January 2010

Legislative Pre-Game Show-Jan. 12: Demagoguery On 1st Agenda of Session

What do you do if you’re a politician and you’ve got nothing but bad news to run on and you’re facing re-election?

Simple. Conjure up potential ‘horribles’, create simplistic legislation attacking said ‘horribles’, and run as if you bravely stood up to said ‘horribles’, even if what you did was simply to create horrible legislation to buttress your political bona fides.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Business as Usual in the Delaware General Assembly.

While the State Senate seems to have been taken completely by surprise by the first legislative session day of 2010, and has no published agenda nor list of meetings, the House, for better or worse, has an agenda, literally and figuratively. First, the literal agenda.

Two of these bills are demagoguery in bill form, aka the figurative agenda.

SB 60 (Sen. DeLuca/Rep. Mitchell)-This bill seeks to substitute the ‘judgment’ of the Delaware General Assembly over presumably namby-pamby judges and prosecutors when it comes to determining when bail should not be permitted. Probably b/c the General Assembly did such a great job when it established minimum mandatory sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

This bill would (read it yourself, I’m not making this up) enable the General Assembly to “… from time to time prescribe by law, when the proof is positive or the presumption great…those offenses which may not permit release on bail…in addition to capital murder.”

Got that? Capital murder charges are already non-bailable. But the General Assembly wants the opportunity to be the backseat driver when it comes to second-guessing the judges and prosecutors. If this passes, who will sponsor the bill to make sure that the pediatric pedophile is not eligible for parole? My guess? All 62 legislators. As if any judge or prosecutor would even consider letting that slime out on bail.

This is a bill about symbolism, not substance. Except that, as experience has taught us, no good comes from allowing the Honorables in Dover to interfere with the judicial process.

HB 252 (Rep. Lee/Sen. Bunting)-Here we go again. Yet another bill pretending to be tough on sexual offenders without distinguishing dangerous predators from those who pose no risk to society. This one would  “add parks and recreation areas to properties that a sexual offender shall not reside or loiter within 500 feet. Current law only limits residing or loitering by sexual offenders within 500 feet of school property.”

Presumably churches are exempt b/c the priest shortage would be exacerbated.

This is bad public policy. Dangerous sexual offenders should be kept away from the public. We can all agree on that, I hope. But to drive those who pose no threat and have paid their dues further and further from society serves no public purpose. In fact, it makes it more difficult for them to find and keep jobs, places them at greater risk of physical and mental conditions that likely would have to paid for out of Medicaid funds, and is simply punishment after the offender has already been punished and represents no further threat.

But it is good politics, especially in bad times. It’s something that everyone can put on their brochures: “I fought to keep dangerous sexual predators away from our children.”

With the Delaware General Assembly, some things never change.

Mourning A Hero

I think hero is a word that is overused in our society. A hero is not someone who can throw a football far or a well-off person with a chronic disease. In my mind, a hero is an ordinary person who does an extraordinary thing, usually at great risk to themselves. One person who fits that definition to the letter is Miep Geis, who died yesterday at age 100.

Mrs. Gies sought no accolades for joining with her husband and three others in hiding Anne Frank, her father, mother and older sister and four other Dutch Jews for 25 months in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. But she came to be viewed as a courageous figure when her role in sheltering Anne Frank was revealed with the publication of her memoir. She then traveled the world while in her 80s, speaking against intolerance. The West German government presented her with its highest civilian medal in 1989, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted her in 1996.

When the Gestapo raided the hiding place in the annex to Otto Frank’s business office on Aug. 4, 1944, and arrested its eight occupants, it left behind his daughter Anne’s diary and her writings on loose sheets of papers. The journals recounted life in those rooms behind a movable bookcase and the hopes of a girl on the brink of womanhood. Mrs. Gies gathered up those writings and hid them, unread, hoping that Anne would someday return to claim them.

“Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” is perhaps one of the most important books ever written, in my opinion. It made the Holocaust, its horror and its cruelty, real in the eyes of people because of Anne Frank. Anne Frank was just a regular girl with an extraordinary gift of writing that helped personalize the trauma.

Miep Gies was born Feb. 15, 1909, as Hermine Santrouschitz, a member of a Roman Catholic family in Vienna. When she was 11, she was sent to Leiden to be cared for by a Dutch family, being among the many Austrian children suffering from food shortages in the wake of World War I. She was given the Dutch nickname Miep and later adopted by the family.

…

Miep became a trusted employee and friend of the Frank family and joined in its alarm over the persecution of German Jews. In May 1940, the Netherlands fell in Germany’s invasion of the Low Countries. In July 1942, when thousands of Dutch Jews were being deported to concentration camps, the Frank family went into hiding in unused rooms above Mr. Frank’s office. He asked Mrs. Gies if she would help shelter them, and she unhesitatingly agreed.

…

Having married a Dutch social worker, Jan Gies, in 1941, Miep Gies joined with him and three other employees of Mr. Frank’s business in sheltering the eight Jews and caring for their daily needs. The protectors risked death if caught by the Nazis.

Mrs. Gies, while continuing to work for Mr. Frank’s business, which remained open under figurehead Christian management, played a central role in caring for the hidden. She found food for them, brought books and news of the outside world and provided emotional support, bringing Anne her first pair of high-heeled shoes and baking a holiday cake. On one occasion, Miep and Jan Gies (he is referred to in the diary as Henk, one of many pseudonyms Anne used) spent a night in the annex to experience the terror there for themselves.

Thank you, Ms. Geis for risking your life to help people. Thank you for being a hero. You are missed.

More Tea Party Rifts

A group called “Tea Party Patriots” has put together a National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Sarah Palin is the headline speaker and tickets are pricy, at $549 per person. Part of the reason for the high price is that Sarah Palin is charging $100,000 speaking fees.

Not all activists are thrilled about the convention, or its cost. One of the convention doubters is Erick Erickson of Red State:

RedState founder Erick Erickson — an important voice in conservative activist circles — is wary of the convention too. He writes:

…I think this national tea party convention smells scammy.

Let me be blunt: charging people $500.00 plus the costs of travel and lodging to go to a “National Tea Party Convention” run by a for profit group no one has ever heard of sounds as credible as an email from Nigeria promising me a million bucks if I fork over my bank account number.

I am led to believe a number of the sponsors who lent their names early on have grown wary of the event. That lines up with what I am hearing.

…

The tea party “leaders”, if there are any, are actively at work in their home towns changing things one letter to the editor, one contribution to a candidate, and one protest at a time. They are not on bus tours headed to Nashville licking their lips at the $500.00 per person payments coming in to their for profit company.

Erickson is right, they’re in it for profit:

The convention’s prime organizer, Nashville criminal defense lawyer Judson Phillips, founded Tea Party Nation, a for-profit company that runs a networking site for activists. Phillips, a former local prosecutor, didn’t respond to several requests for comment, but he told Politico that the convention was intended to make a profit so that Tea Party Nation can “funnel money back into conservative causes” through a 527 group it plans to set up.

Some activists have even called on Sarah Palin to boycott the convention.

Criticism of the convention is not the only setback for Tea Party groups. Another group called The National Tax Day Tea Party called for a protest at the Detroit auto show in protest of the auto company bailouts. However, Michigan activists protested the protest and the AP reported only 2 protestors showed up.

The Michigan Messenger reported on Michigan tea partier and ex-GM employee Joan Fabiano Facebook campaign urging her fellow protesters to stay away:

“In conclusion it is my opinion that this protest is ill-conceived and quite frankly an attempt at attention grabbing grand standing by those outside and unfortunately inside of Michigan. … Why must some Americans boycott G.M. and throw INNOCENT people, such as myself, out on the street trying to find another job in this economy? Did I do something wrong? Would you like to see yourself out of a job if your company’s leadership made the errors and you had NOTHING to do with it?”

As the Messenger reported, Fabiano, like most tea partiers, is opposed to the government bailouts of banks and the so-called “out of control spending” in D.C.. But when it comes to General Motors and Chrysler — two companies bought out by the government in the depths of the economic downturn — Fabiano said the protest could hurt the business climate in the one of the worst states for unemployment in the country.

Yes, it’s easier to see the purpose of government intervention when it’s your job they’re saving, isn’t it?

Think Progress reports that at least 16 GOP candidates have challengers from Tea Party groups. I guess a bunch of Republicans are getting Scozzafava’d.

I know the conventional wisdom right now is that the GOP will make big gains in the 2010 elections. Fractures in the party, motivated activist and depleted fundraising will all make the election year difficult for Republicans.

I’m Gumby Dammit!

Over the weekend, Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby died.  So for your enjoyment, here are a few Gumby clips.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhczFRlBT2E[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5fb11PqbZE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M4_XZ3FLHw[/youtube]

Breaking! From Talking Points Memo: Palin Joins Fox News

This is not a joke, it’s real. Although, come to think of it, it IS a joke.

Maybe, just maybe, this will remove any last vestige of credibility that this network has. And maybe, just maybe, someone in power will review whether this House organ for the Rethugs is living up to its broadcasting obligations.

She’s also one step closer to that reality show I predicted when she ‘resigned’. After all, would’ja rather watch the Kardashians or the Palins? If I had to choose, it’d be the Palinistas.

Of particular interest to moi and perhaps no one else, the Palins and the von Susterens have grown close:

She and her family have grown close with Fox News personality Greta Van Susteren, who often interviewed the Palins during and after the 2008 presidential campaign. Tripp Palin, Sarah Palin’s grandson, made his television debut on Van Susteren’s show. Van Susteren’s husband, John Coale, has consulted Palin. Todd Palin even went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with Van Susteren after his wife declined to attend.

Hmmm, that reality show is really lookin’ goooood!

Race and Speech Patterns

Harry Reid has come under fire for his statements about the benefits of President Obama’s speech patterns.  The statement in question is that then-candidate Obama didn’t speak in “the negro dialect” unless he wanted to.

I am a little torn on this issue.  There is a dialect, one could call it an accent, that could be called stereotypical of African-Americans.  Perhaps the key is the word stereotypical.  I know many African-Americans that speak in the same cadence, pronunciation and word-selection as I do.  I also know a number of Caucasians that speak in a manner that is very different than me.

So can adults discuss this issue without appearing as a racist?  If there is a speech pattern that would be stereotypical of African-Americans, is there a non-insulting way to describe that dialect?  I suspect that we all understand the idea that Harry Reid was trying to convey in his private conversation.  There are a number of people that wouldn’t vote for a black candidate that speaks stereotypically.  Of course, we don’t have a problem electing a guy that talks like he just fell of an Texas turnip truck.

I am prepared to be skewered by this post, so skewer away.

Monday Open Thread

Well, it’s Monday much to my dismay. Why do the weekends go so fast? Let’s get started with an open thread.

For all those Republicans bashing Harry Reid try to remember the difference between his remarks and those of Trent Lott. Trent Lott said the following, at the 100th birthday celebration of Strom Thurmond:

When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.

Thurmond ran as a segregationist.

Josh Marshall explains the problem with Lott’s comment was not just its content but Lott’s history on race:

Two things in tandem ended Lott’s career in the senate leadership. First, Lott had a long history of support for and association with segregationist and white supremacist groups in the South. Not in some distant past but in the year’s just before his downfall. (He was also a staunch opponent of virtually all civil rights legislation. But that actually didn’t distinguish him that much for many other Southern Republicans of his generation.) To a lot of us at the time it was always a bit of a mystery how someone with his record could have risen as high as he had. This was all widely known in Washington, DC but it was by common agreement overlooked and excused. (In many ways, because of this, it was a scandal of official Washington — as much as Lott.)

What Harry Reid said was clueless and insensitive and I’m certainly not going to make any excuses for them. Harry Reid’s comments were actually in support of Obama’s campaign. You do see the difference don’t you?

Despite what you’ve been hearing, Obama had a really good year. A new study by Congressional Quarterly found that Obama won 96.7% of votes in Congress.

In all, Congress took 151 votes in which Obama had taken a position ahead of time.

His wins included votes for creating a massive economic stimulus package, bailing out the auto industry, letting the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco and confirming Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

But they also included key moves toward overhauling the health care system, regulating financial services and reducing greenhouse gases which have not yet passed both chambers of Congress.

…

In the House, Obama won 68 votes and lost four.

Among the losses: a vote to disapprove further spending on a bank bailout and a July vote to pass a food safety overhaul. Both were temporary setbacks since Congress eventually ended up supporting the president’s position.

In the Senate, Obama won 78 votes and lost one.

The Republican win there came on an amendment which would have barred spending money to transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to the United States. In the end, the bill allowed the transfer under certain conditions.

Obama probably will not enjoy the majorities he has now for the rest of his term. Now is the best time to get progressive legislation passed.

Post Your Legislative Wish List Here!

Tomorrow, the Delaware Legislature goes back into session in Dover. Two things seem a good bet — getting a budget this year when there are still revenue shortfalls is going to be brutal and the legislature will continue their dysfunctional behavior to get to that budget. We keep hearing about detailed reviews of state agencies to look for efficiencies or even eliminations. I’m definitely expecting to see that in some detail this year. And I fully expect that repubs will stamp their feet over it all while offering nothing to fix the budget problems.  I’m also curious about the package of reforms that will be proposed to be able to compete for Race for the Top funds.

Use this thread to tell us what your top priorities for the legislature to accomplish this year. On my wish list:

  • Reform redistricting
  • Some consolidation of the 19 school districts
  • Approval of medical marijuana
  • Everytime a repub says cuts aren’t enough, make them say what else they’d cut.  Do not let them get away with the usual handwaving.

From The Delusion Files

Rod Blagojevich in an interview with Esquire:

“It’s such a cynical business, and most of the people in the business are full of shit and phonies, but I was real, man — and am real. This guy, he was catapulted in on hope and change, what we hope the guy is. What the fuck? Everything he’s saying’s on the teleprompter. I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.”

This guy got elected governor twice.

Why Not?

I hope the DSCC is not unilaterally disarming in the U.S. Senate race.

Democrats ousted Delaware’s popular longtime Republican Sen. William Roth, Jr. in 2000 after his age became an issue in the race but they are leery about playing the age card against GOP challenger Rep. Mike Castle (Del.).

There is evidence that Democratic strategists believe Castle’s age, 70, could hurt him down the stretch. If he won election, he would enter the Senate, where accrued seniority determines influence, as a 71-year-old.

By the time he got one term under his belt and would be in a position to chair a subcommittee or a seat on one of the chamber’s most powerful committees, he would be 77 years old.

I think it is a legitimate question what a 71-year-old freshman Senator in the minority party hopes to accomplish. Especially since the only function of Republicans in the Senate right now is blocking legislation.

More House Prefiles

This adds to the discussion started on legislation that has been prefiled for this session.

  • HB 300 proposed by Representative Brad Bennett has been prefiled and it establishes a 10-day response window to respond to FOIA requests. If the public body can’t respond to a request within 10 days for certain reasons — “voluminous records, requires legal advice or a public record is in storage or archived” — they can take the additional time with some notice to the requestor.

The bill currently has 21 House co-sponsors (Bennett, Scott, Brady, Carson, Cathcart, Hocker, Hudson, Jaques, Q. Johnson, Kovach, Kowalko, Lavelle, Longhurst, Manolakos, Miro, Mitchell, Oberle, Ramone, Schwartzkopf, D. Short, Walls, D. Williams) and nine Senate co-sponsors (Sokola, Bonini, Bushweller, Peterson, Booth, Cloutier, Connor, McBride, Sorenson), has been assigned to the House Administration Committee.

This bill seems like a no-brainer — giving entities subject to FOIA a time limit to respond gives FOIA requests a reasonable priority in the daily business of that entity and partially closes a loophole that lets an agency deal these requests to the bottom of the deck. It would be good if an entity that is taking the extra time under the allowed conditions above has to tell the FOIA requester exactly why their request is being extended (rather than just a notice), but that is a quibble for a good bill.

  • HB 298 proposed by Representative Miro prohibits the use of cell phones in a vehicle while that vehicle is in motion.  It adds a $50 fine for the first offense and a $110 fine for the second.   Law enforcement personnel are exempted while working as are school bus drivers.  (school bus drivers are subject to other law that also makes it illegal for them to use cell phones while the bus is operating, but has some exemptions for work reasons)

Current sponsors include Rep. Miro & Sen. Sokola; Reps. Hudson and Lavelle.

Both Wilmington and Elsmere have hands free cell operation requirements now. I know that the Wilmington law also bans texting while the vehicle is moving too. HB 298 does not specifically deal with texting. If this law goes into effect, then I think only Pennsylvania will be our only neighbor with no cell phone ban. Frankly I think that the fines need to be higher to make any real dent in people’s behavior, but it will be interesting to see the commentary around this.