Just saw this in my email about this bill that would authorize two more casinos. Via the House Majority Caucus:
At the request of the sponsor, HB 194 has been removed from the House Agenda for Thursday, April 1, 2010.
So those of you planning to go to Dover can spend your afternoon at the local watering hole, because the bill authorizing two more casinos in the state is being set aside for another day. A day it has votes to pass, I’d guess.
We’ll add more when we hear it.
In case you missed it yesterday, the ACA survived the first of what will undoubtedly be many attempts to nip at the edges of its authority. The issue at hand this time was the provision that insurers would be prohibited from denying to coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. The goal and spirit of the law was ensure that these children would be guaranteed access to coverage as well as the full range of benefits of that coverage. This is to take effect six months after the signing of the law, well in advance of the 2014 date for guaranteed access for everyone else.
Not surprisingly, though, the insurance companies and their high-priced lawyers had a different take on the wording of the law. According to their interpretation, they would have to grant full coverage to children already in plans, but would not yet be forced to accept new customers, even children, with pre-existing conditions. Republicans took this as proof that the bill was shoddily written. Other conspiracy-minded individuals took this as proof that the administration had a hidden agenda to aid the insurance industry. Sane-minded people were just outraged that lawyers would take what they commonly do — look for loopholes in laws — and apply it to this situation.
In response, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter on Monday to Karen Ignagni, the head of AHIP, the insurer’s trade association, that basically said, “You don’t want to do this.” She also stated that she would issue regulations clarifying the letter of the law. Ignagni responded Monday night with a letter of her own that essentially said, “You’re right. We’ll do what you say.”
The fight was obviously not very long, nor was it over an issue that would effect a great deal of people. However, it did highlight one of the big problems facing anyone bent on repealing almost any part of the Affordable Care Act — it ain’t gonna look good. The insurance companies were fighting for their right to deny coverage to sick kids. That’s not exactly a great PR move. Trying to undo just about any other part of the law would likely put the repealers in an equally unappealing position. I say, “Bring it on.”
I just went back to take a look at the old DL endorsement post from October 2008. I stated that DL did not endorse in the Insurance Commissioner race in one of the threads today. This is true. It is interesting looking at the comments that this non-endorsement generated.
Eric Bodenweiser, one of the founders of the now-defunct Sussex County Community Organized Regiment (SKKKOR) is on a mission to save the 14th RD, and by doing that, saving Sussex County. He has House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) in his figurative gun sight (knowing how off-balanced Bodie is, it might be literally, too). And he has picked up the help of disgraced former House Speaker Terry Spence and an anonymous website which attacks Pete.
Bodie, as his friends call him, organized SKKKOR to save Sussex County from the socialists that were barking at the gates. He echoes the screeds posted on the business sign of the Hudson Family Sports fields along Route 1 between Lewes and Milton. He is on a mission to “take back the 14th,” and thereby ridding Sussex County of it’s progressive leadership.
Budweiser hates the word “progressive.” He prefers to use “liberal,” pronouncing each syllable with disdain dripping from his lips. A few weeks ago, he authored a diatribe that was printed in the Cape Gazette. In it, he bashes Pete for supporting the Del Pointe casino-resort complex planned for Millsboro. Gambling is evil, in Budweiser’s eyes because it destroys families. Casinos will cause people to become gambling addicts, losing their homes and jobs, forcing them into bankruptcy and maybe even to other vices (smoking, drinking, cussing). But he offers no statistical data to back up his claims, while there is ample evidence, albeit from the gaming industry and Congress (both of which are the Devil) that shows no correlation between casino openings and bankruptcies in the host communities. Check out http://www.americangaming.org/industry/faq_detail.cfv?id=62 for details on the study.
But Budweiser went further than getting stupid over gambling. He found his inner Joan of Arc and decided to go off on what I call his “Christians first, Christians-only” rant. Just as St. Joan was bent on saving France from the G-Dless English, St. Bodie Girl is mad-crazy about saving Sussex County from the G-Dless lefties. He claims that we progressives “identify us (conservatives) as haters in an attempt to isolate us. Our struggle is not against them, but against the spiritual forces of evil,” and then he references some Bible passage and equates Liberals with the forces of evil (much like Beckpalinbaugh). Progressives do not hate conservatives. I can think of a few that I actually admire (Barry Goldwater in his later years, Former Colorado Governor Ralph Carr, who was a champion of the Japanese internees in Colorado, former Senator Alan Simpson). What we dislike is the self-serving attitude that conservatives and teabaggers actually claim to know what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These self-anointed Constitutional scholars (sorry, completing a connect-the-dots coloring book on civics doesn’t mean you know anything about the Constitution) have no idea what Jefferson, Adams, Washington, Rodney, Hancock, et al, meant when they authored the documents our country and government were founded upon. It goes hand-in-hand with their interpretations of the Bible – they use whatever parts suit their needs to vilify those they disagree with or despise. Many down here in Sussex suspect St. Bodie Girl is behind the anonymous website that is going after Pete. The sight was set up through an Arizona web-hosting company using godaddy.com. St. Bodie Girl, without being asked, denied he was behind the site. Sounds a little like a guilty conscience. The website in question (I won’t post the name of it as I don’t want it to get anymore traffic than it deserves) has been promoted by Dan Gaffney on WGMD, the self-proclaimed “Voice of Delmarva.” Dan, be careful, some of your secrets might get out.
And then you have Spence, who during the last two years of his reign in Dover, was responsible for approving hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable spending for his fellow Republicans in the House. He wants to “take Pete down a peg or two” as he was quoted in the Snooze Journal’s Dialogue Delaware column on Sunday. Spence – you lost, get over it. You’re pissed because Pete exposed you for the crook you are. He would do well to just take his pension and disappear into some dark place as many roaches like him do when light is shined on them.
St. Bodie Girl and his followers are not on a mission from G-D; they are on a mission to rid society of what they believe is wrong and evil. Take a look in the mirror, Eric, take a look in the mirror. You might not like what you see.
On today’s opinion page of the News Journal Ron Williams makes several points.
1. He really doesn’t like bloggers, especially anonymous bloggers
2. Bloggers that use to be journalists are sorta okay, but, in general, he doesn’t like bloggers.
3. Having got that off his chest he then proceeds to write an article about a blog post.
Priceless.
It’s Wednesday and it’s time for an open thread. Do you have any burning thoughts you want to share with the rest of us? Put your thoughts, non sequitors and links below. This thread is open!
There’s not too much I can add to this story of a Hutaree wedding:
Isn’t it romantic? Weddings always make me cry.
Code Pink tried to arrest Karl Rove at an author event.
Rove: “With all due respect, this shows the totalitarianism of the left.”
Gee, I thought it was patriotic to yell at public functions? What’s Rove’s problem? Oh, he also called the Downing Street memos a fabrication. Rove skittered away without signing any books either.
“Idle hands are the Devil’s playground.” Prof. Harold Hill- “The Music Man”
No doubt this is a biblical reference as well, a book I’ve been meaning to read for some time now. I use it here b/c we’re starting to see well-meaning, but dangerous, legislation starting to surface, most concerning additional charges for existing crimes. While prosecutors love nothing more than being able to ‘overcharge’ in hopes of getting plea deals, creating new offenses does nothing if the offenses being ‘upgraded’ aren’t being enforced in the first place.
Kids, when legislators have no money to spend, you get bills like Valerie Longhurst’s HB 348, “which imposes enhanced penalties in more than 60 criminal offenses if the victim is a vulnerable or infirm adult.” I reallyreallyreally want to give the Beaudhisattva the benefit of the doubt, but there are plenty of laws specifically protecting elderly and vulnerable residents, but many of them simply are not being enforced. Enforce the bleeping laws and there would be no need for overcharging using gimmicks like this.
This bill is typical of legislators trying to appear ‘tough on crime’. Stuff like this always gets through the General Assembly b/c who wants to appear to be a wuss on crime? It’s totally unnecessary. At best, it will prove to be superfluous. At worst, it will simply be more offenses that will not be enforced. Bet your bottom dollar that it’ll pass.
But that’s nowhere near the worst bill introduced yesterday. That dubious distinction once again goes to Greenville’s Greed Gratifier Rep. Deborah Hudson (Capano). Using typical Rethug hyperbole, HB 353 is entitled ‘the Delaware Health Care Freedom Act’. Meaning Delaware insurers would be free to ignore federal healthcare reform unless, wait for it, the General Assembly acts to the contrary. At which point, of course, IC KWS would be the chief enforcement agent. Here’s how the To The Manor Married Capano puts it: This bill “clarifies that only the State of Delaware has the legal authority to regulate private healthcare insurance, systems, plans, and services within its borders”. BTW, I think that Rethugs are walking en masse off a cliff on healthcare, so there’s a bright side to everything.
*Sigh*. OK, let’s check out yesterday’s ‘action’. On second thought, let’s not. Not a single bill of note passed yesterday. Plenty o’ bills introduced. I repeat: Everything that is being done during this three-week session easily could have been done in one week. The General Assembly wasted plenty of money by holding three weeks of session here.
Plenty of huntin’, fishin, and trappin’ on today’s Senate agenda.
Committee meetings are front and center in both Houses today.
Per usual, the Senate has the normal number of meetings with no posted agendas. Seriously, is it not time for someone to hold the Senate to the FOIA standards that it enacted? If not, then the entire exercise was a bleeping joke. There is no excuse for not giving notice as to what will be considered and/or discussed in committee meetings. The culprits this time are the Senate Community/County Affairs Committee; Senate Highways/Transportation Committee; Senate Labor/Industrial Relations Committee; and the Senate Revenue/Taxation Committee.
Here are the few bills of (my) interest:
SB 212 (Ennis)-Senate Finance Committee-Enables New Castle County to impose a surcharge on building permits for Fire Service. Essentially helps underwrite costs for providing such services.
SB 222 (DeLuca)-Senate Judiciary Committee (why, I have no idea)-Establishes pilotage rates through 2013. Kids, it’s nostalgia time. Every non-election year, the Delaware River and Bay Pilots hosted a spectacular cruise on a ferry out in the bay for virtually everybody affiliated with the Delaware General Assembly. Fresh shrimp, steamship round, free booze, and musical entertainment was served up in endless portions to all of us. I admit it, I loved it. I also admit that I shook my head when, the week following the cruise, legislation increasing the pilotage rates sailed through both houses of the General Assembly. Probably makes me a bit of a hypocrite. The cruises are no longer, but the memories linger on.
SB 193 (Bushweller)-Senate Public Safety Committee-Allows school buses to be equipped with LED lighting.
The House exclusively holds committee meetings today.
The House Education Committee will be very busy today. In addition to hearing from Del-Tech President Lonnie George, the committee will also consider Rep. Schooley’s HB 350, which requires schools to seek greater parental involvement in their children’s education. This bill is an outgrowth of Delaware’s receipt of Federal Excellence in Education funding.
The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on issues regarding juvenile sex offenders.
The House Manufactured Housing Committee will consider three bills concerning manufactured housing (what else?). No word yet on whether Rep. Longhurst will throw anybody out of the hearing room this time…
House Revenue & Taxation considers Speaker Gilligan’s HB 349, which “will require nonresident persons, corporations or pass-through entities that sell real estate owned in this State to declare and pay their estimate of the tax due on the gain recognized from the sale before the deed will be recorded.” Resident individuals and corporations are already required to do this. Seems like a reasonable way to raise a few bucks.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow, it’s No-Limit Texas Hold-Em at the Casino Corral, aka HB 194. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.
I think we’ve all been a little disappointed since Chris Coons announced his Senate run but hasn’t been very visible. There’s some increasing evidence that his campaign is starting the ramp up, and he just got a big boost from John Kerry. John Kerry’s PAC announced his “Final Four,” four Senate seats that he says will make a great impact in November (excerpted text is from an email).
It’s very simple: The Senate seats left vacant by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the seat left open by health care reform’s champion Chris Dodd, and the open seat in Missouri being sought by a leading architect of the Tom Delay era in Congress, will all come down to the wire.
And oh how much the Party of No wants to crow about winning them. They want Republican victories in these races to be a big bold faced referendum on the Obama-Biden Administration and the change brought by a Democratic Senate.
The obstructionists and deniers have responded to the health care reform victory by going from “no” to “hell no.” They are attacking with everything they’ve got – the “target practice” of Sarah Palin was just a taste of what’s coming.
And these Senate seats are ground zero in the struggle to choose between a Senate that gets the job done for Americans, or a Senate that blocks, obstructs, and does the bidding of Wall Street not Main Street.
So what does Kerry say about Chris Coons?
In Illinois, Alexi Giannoulias is running to hold the open seat created by Barack Obama’s historic election, while my friend Chris Coons is running to fill the seat Joe Biden held for 37 years in Delaware.
Have you been holding out on us Chris? I had no idea that you and John Kerry were so close.
Snark aside, this is a big boost for Coons. John Kerry still boasts an impressive email list carried over from his 2004 campaign. I do find the company he’s keeping in Kerry’s list interesting. Blumenthal in Connecticut is ahead by 20+ points, Giannoulis in Illinois has a small lead over Mark Kirk, Carnahan is 4 points down in Missouri and Coons was down by double digits in the last polling I saw. The DE-Sen race is probably the most difficult of these four races – Coons is struggling with a late start and low name recognition against a popular pseudo-incumbent.
If you are inspired to donate, here is John Kerry’s Final Four Act Blue page.
The podcast of yesterday’s WDEL interviews can be found on the Podcast page. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but though it important enough to get out to you folks. Here is the link to the mp3.
I think I know how Glenn Beck chooses his guest hosts. Beck picks someone more nutty than he is so that he sounds sane by comparison. Case in point, guest host Doc Thompson:
On Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning, guest-host Doc Thompson explained his belief that he, as a white person, is a victim of racism inherent in the new Affordable Care Act. You read that right.
Alex Seitz-Wald, thankfully, transcribed the relevant portion. “For years I’ve suggested that racism was in decline and yeah, there are some, you know, incidents that still happen with regards to racism, but most of the claims I’ve said for years, well, they’re not really real,” Thompson told listeners. “But I realize now that I was wrong. For I now too feel the pain of racism. Racism has been dropped at my front door and the front door of all lighter-skinned Americans.
“The health care bill the president just signed into law includes a 10 percent tax on all indoor tanning sessions starting July 1st, and I say, who uses tanning? Is it dark-skinned people? I don’t think so. I would guess that most tanning sessions are from light-skinned Americans. Why would the President of the United States of America — a man who says he understands racism, a man who has been confronted with racism — why would he sign such a racist law? Why would he agree to do that? Well now I feel the pain of racism.”
Life is so unfair for us pigmentally-challenged Americans!
This is from the good news/bad news file. Local political activist and fabulous auto mechanic, Ed Osbourne has won a Sammie Award for being a Modern Day Sam Adams. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the organization awarding Ed this prize is the Sam Adams Alliance, which appears to be a tea party type organization. As a point of reference, the speaker at the awards ceremony on April 16 is Andrew Breibart, boss of America’s favorite pimp and would-be telephone man.
Ed won the award for his tireless efforts to get reasonable eminent domain legislation enacted to prevent E.D. abuse in the wake of the landmark Kelo v. City of New London decision by the Supreme Court. Ed’s battle culminated in the signing into law of E.D. reform by Governor Markell last year.
Congratulations Ed!
Welcome to Tuesday on another dreary day. I keep hearing rumors that the end of the week will be nice and sunny. Bring it on! What’s on your mind today? Share it in our daily open thread.
I’m not so sure that Republican donors should be that outraged at the RNC’s expenses. Scamming their followers seems like a way of life for national conservative leaders. Sean Hannity and Oliver North are holding charity concerts where most of the money is going to the Hannity-North charity:
CREW’s complaint, lodged with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleges that Hannity and Freedom Concerts have been dishonest in suggesting that the entirety of the revenues from ticket sales goes straight to a scholarship fund. Freedom Alliance does not actually manage the concerts, Crew discovered via a Freedom of Information request and promotional materials. Instead, they’re organized by a middleman—a promotional company called Premiere Marketing. The firm is headed by Duane Ward, who is also the president of Premiere Motivational Speakers Bureau, which represents both Hannity and North and has a “long history in conservative activism.” Ward previously worked for Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and ran North’s legal defense fund following the Iran-Contra scandal in the late 1980s. Premiere in turn donates an “unknown portion of the concert proceeds to the Freedom Alliance,” alleges CREW. “We have no idea how much money it actually is,” CREW executive director Melanie Sloan told reporters on Monday. But CREW argues that Hannity and Freedom Alliance’s claims that the revenues go directly to scholarships amounts to “illegal and deceptive marketing practices.”
A man was arrested yesterday for making threatening You Tube videos. The newest one directly threatened the life of Eric Cantor. The Philadelphia man, Eric Leboon, seems to be severely mentally disturbed and also seems to have quite a hobby making threatening videos:
The initial portrait emerging of the man charged with threatening to kill Eric Cantor and his family suggests he’s made similar, if not criminally actionable, threats on dozens of occasions against an ideologically diverse array of public figures.
According to the federal complaint against him, Norman Leboon of Philadelphia has admitted making some 2,000 videos that contained threats. A sampling of his “work” reveals rambling incoherent videos that mix pseudo-religious incantations with random warnings and threats. In one video he addresses President Obama, Vice President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid by name and says, “Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your god, it will be severe, you will know god’s swine, god has warned you.” (Some conservatives are already chortling over the fact that Leboon contributed to Obama’s 2008 campaign, though it’s not clear what that’s supposed to signify.)
Leboon did give $505 dollars to the Obama campaign. The DNC announced they are planning on giving that amount to charity.
No Delaware public figure generates more angry letters to the Delaware Liberal tip line more than Insurance Commissioner, Karen Weldin Stewart. We have probably received more than 50 of them about her since she was sworn in a little over a year ago. Most are rants of unsubstantiated rumors and vague assurances that her house of cards are about to come tumbling down. Honestly, we don’t have the resources to follow her around for a day (as we have had suggested to us) or tracking down her CV for lies, exaggerations or distortions.
We also did a series of posts about a questionable RFP and were rebuffed by Elliot Jacobson repeatedly via email and in the comments section of this blog.
However, this morning, the partisan Republican Caesar Rodney Institute published some of the results of their digging. Among their findings:
I am still looking at the documents that CRI has made available (car records, emails, etc.) but they appear to be selectively released. What do you think?