Monthly Archives: November 2011

Why Anonymous Blogging is Sometimes Essential

There are plenty of us in the blogosphere in various states of anonymity. Some are anonymous to protect their jobs. Some to lob potshots with impunity. But some people do it to protect their lives.

Lately, the Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel have been waging a war against bloggers in parts of Mexico. So far four people have been killed for using social media to communicate about the activities of the drug cartel, two by beheading.  Each of the dead have had a note attached to their bodies explaining that the reason that they were killed was for their social media activities.

“This happened to me for not understanding that I shouldn’t report on the social networks,” advised a note left before dawn with the man’s body at a key intersection in the city’s wealthier neighborhood.

Luckily, this can’t happen here, right? Wrong. There have been attempts by some to reveal the identities of bloggers here and elsewhere. I was personally called by a crazy commenter from Alabama about a gun thread here a few years ago. There are always risks associated with facts and opinion in an open society and we mitigate those risks as much as we can.

It is this sort of thing that makes outing of contributors and commenters a bannable offense here at DL.

Newt-onian Physics (Edited for Precision)

Any candidate, named Mitt Romney, at rest will remain at rest in the hearts of true patriot Christian ‘mericans, and any candidate. not named Mitt Romney, in motion will remain in motion unless they move up in the polls and get a little media scrutiny.

Newt’s got a watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHgziac87-Y[/youtube]

“The latest castoff from ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ Herman Cain, is here with us tonight. No, wait, I’m sorry. That’s a joke from next year.”
—Jimmy Kimmel

Veteran’s Day Open Thread [11.11.11]

At 11:11 am today I was trying to find the number of Delawareans that were killed in WWI. I couldn’t find a number, but I did find out that a staggering number of people were killed in that war. (22 million casualties e.g. killed or wounded) Great Brittan alone lost 2.5 million out of 5 million in arms.

At least the deaths were not in vain and the horror of “The Great War” made it impossible for any other country to ever contemplate the idea of going to war.

El Somnambulo Seeks Your Help…

…in assembling the Third Annual MVP List. This list honors those Delawareans who were (M)ost (V)aluable to the (P)rogressive cause in Delaware in 2011.

In the past, I have generally limited this list to public officials. However, I am open to suggestions from outside the realm of elective public service.

These annual MVP lists have generated a lot of controversy, due both to some of my inclusions and some of my omissions.

At the end of the day, it’s my list, and only my list. (Hey, I’m a listaholic.) However, your input last year impacted both who made the list and the ultimate order of the selections. And, if you ultimately don’t like my list, you can post your own list over here.

Here are the previous lists, with attendant bouquets and  beaucoups brickbats:

https://delawareliberal.net//2010/12/09/bulos-2010-top-10-mvps-most-valuable-to-the-progressive-cause/

https://delawareliberal.net//2009/11/23/bulos-2009-top-10-mvps-most-valuable-to-the-progressive-cause/

See how much fun this can be? Here are three things to keep in mind with your submissions:  (A) Please explain why your suggestions deserve consideration; (B) These are not lifetime achievement awards, so explain why they deserve consideration for this year’s list; and (C) As you can see from the preceding lists, you don’t have to be a progressive to be included on the MVP list. Virtually no one argued with my selection of Christine O’Donnell as my #1 choice last year, although several disagreed with my inclusion of Tony DeLuca in 2009.

OK, kids, the clock starts NOW, and runs until December 1, when I will put my list together.

To quote Andy Reid, “Time’s yours.”

Penn State and UD Have Something in Common-And It’s Not Good

Practically every angle of the almost incomprehensible scandal at Penn State has been covered ad infinitum.

I have yet to hear anything at all, however, about the degree to which the Board of Trustees knew, didn’t know, acted, or didn’t act, to address this scandal. At least not until this week.

It is inconceivable that the Board was not aware of the strong possibility that this scandal could well explode. In fact, back in April, this article by Mark Madden spelled out much of what was to come to pass. So, the Board at least knew then. No doubt they knew earlier about the impaneling  of the grand jury. I find it hard to envision that members of the board, many of whom were/are close to the football program, did not know the particulars of Sandusky’s ‘retirement’.

Yet we have no record of what the BOT did about this, or indeed whether they deliberated at all. Why? Because Penn State is not officially a state institution per se, but a “state-related institution. As such, it now belongs to the Commonwealth System of Higher Education, and is not part of the fully public Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”

Among other things, this means that, in addition to the university collecting millions upon millions of dollars from the State of Pennsylvania, the Board of Trustees is not obligated, nor do they, make any proceedings/minutes of Board meetings public. That includes to state officials. I wonder if the Board is going to battle FOIA demands from the Feds once that investigation is under way. It wouldn’t surprise me if it does.

Which brings us to the University of Delaware and, for that matter, Delaware State University. Just like Penn State, UD and DSU keep these board meetings totally in-house. Neither the public nor public officials are deemed worthy of knowing what is going on at these institutions that gorge themselves of public funds. That is wrong, has been wrong, and should be corrected by legislative action.

Any attorney could write the bill: ‘Any institution of higher learning receiving state funding from the State of Delaware shall make records of all Board of Trustees proceedings available to the public. Any disbursement of state funds to these institutions shall be contingent upon the making public of said records.” That’s a start but, hey, I’m not an attorney.

The fact is that we don’t know what is going on at these institutions. At least not until our intrepid State Auditor decides not to pursue some miscreant or other. Much that goes on is kept secret from the public within the respective Boards of Trustees. Just like much that was going on was kept from the public by the Penn State Board of Trustees. It is possible, maybe even likely, that the Penn State BOT withheld information and may well have placed children at risk as a result.

It is time to end this public/private charade. I call on the Delaware General Assembly and the Governor to let the disinfectant of sunshine into the proceedings of these  institutions that claim that they are public when they back their armored trucks up to Leg Hall every June 30, but maintain that they are private entities when it comes to making any of their proceedings, including how they spend those public dollars, public.

My New Blog Crush Sums Up Last Night’s GOP Debate

Take it away, Charles Pierce!

Former Admiral James Stockdale, wherever you are, you’re finally off the hook.

You may recall that, back in 1992, while he was Ross Perot’s running mate, Stockdale got up at a vice-presidential debate and asked the crowd, “Who am I? Why am I here?” Stockdale was old, and he had been beaten half to death as a POW in Vietnam. Rick Perry cannot avail himself of either excuse for what was a singular moment of utter vacancy in the middle of last night’s Free Market hootenanny in which he said he was going to abolish three federal agencies and could only come up with two. (Ron Paul’s going to be able to come up with nine, six weeks after he’s dead.) Someone, please, someone who loves this man more than I do, get him out of this race before the rest of his marbles just go rolling down the aisle.

Up until that point, when Perry’s campaign sank into the swamp wherein lie the bones of a thousand misbegotten candidacies before his, this particular exercise was remarkable only for two things. The first was the fact that, for the very first time, the assembled candidates determined that the debate would be fought out largely on the basic issue that everybody who doesn’t agree with them, or who has somehow inconvenienced them in the past or present, or who may inconvenience them in the future, or who fails to see what they see in the apotheosis of the blessed market should be treated with the kind of contempt you reserve for the hotel housekeeper when she under-mints you at turndown time. This debate was going to be conducted in the basic language of Republican dickheadedness. Straight, no chaser.

He runs through all the candidates, so go read the whole thing.

The other striking thing about the debate was the complete, balls-out, stigmatic, religiously euphoric, seeing-the-Virgin-go-past-on-a-go-kart veneration of The Market. (A minor deity, The States, also came in for some ritual prostration, too, as though local legislatures aren’t the most singularly venal places on earth not involving latex jumpsuits and a donkey.) Let The Market work its magic and the budget will be in balance, unemployment will sink, personal income will rise, the housing crisis will abate, health care will be cheaper and more plentiful, and all the people will have houses and all the students will be able to afford college. I am not paraphrasing here. I am merely condensing two hours of magical thinking into a single sentence. The solution to every problem — every damn one of them — was to rely on The Market for a solution. It was like watching one of those Star Trek episodes where entire societies grow up serving a computer that the people took for a god. To listen to two hours of this was to fall into a kind of cargo cult, insulated in the mountains of some remote country far from here, where everybody sits around all day and looks at a radio, expecting it to speak, and nobody knows how to turn the damn thing on. [emphasis mine]

I’m beginning to wonder why any of them is running for President since they don’t believe government serves a purpose.  Seriously, these are the best and the brightest of the Republican Party?  Perry comes across as a stoner – forgetful and giggling.  Cain emphasizes his respect for women by calling Nancy Pelosi “Princess Nancy.”  Gingrich is a “historian” who merely offered advice to his firm while taking money from the dreaded Freddie Mac.  (Keep in mind Newt is what passes for an intellectual in the GOP.)  And Mitt keeps up his I care for the middle class because they are me stance.

Every single one of them is an embarrassment.

Convince Calistro

So today, a new Facebook page was put up by a grassroots movement to convince Wilmington’s Paul F. Calistro, Jr., the current Executive Director of West End Neighborhood House, to run for the Mayor of Wilmington in 2012 as a progressive alternative to the prospective candidates currently assembled. I am told that Calistro has a lot of support among he same progressive activists that supported Governor Markell in his primary race against John Carney in 2008.

To quote the as of yet unknown author of the Facebook page:

Paul Calistro is known throughout Wilmington as a strong community leader. Why? Because he gets people talking. He gets people thinking. He gets people together. His numerous accomplishments over the years as Executive Director of West End Neighborhood House speak volumes about his effectiveness and commitment to helping out his fellow citizens. Paul gets things done. He is constantly striving to meet new goals, from greening our community and making sure our streets are clean to improving the lives of our youth and supporting the endeavors of artists and small business owners.

Paul is one of the finest men I have ever known, and if he was to run for Mayor and win the office this City would continue to evolve for the better. If elected, he would inspire our city to even greater action. I want my City to be truly renowned as a place to be somebody, and I know that if Paul answers this call to service, we will all have the opportunity to be whomever we want to be–in a Wilmington that lives up to its full potential as a safe, welcoming, and livable community. […]

Paul Calistro is an inspirational force. Through the vehicles of Cornerstone West and West End Neighborhood House, he has led the revitalization of Wilmington’s West Side: through affordable housing (bringing over 100 new homeowners to our community), the Rodney Street Reservoir Community Garden (Winner at the DCH Garden Awards), and the Cool Spring Farmers Market. If what he has done for the West Side in any way parallels what he can accomplish for the entire city, Wilmington will truly become renowned as “A Place To Be Somebody”.

I don’t know much about Calistro, but I “liked” the page because I want to hear more. I am not endorsing him because how can you endorse someone who is not even running yet. But I want new and different candidates for the Mayorship of Wilmington. If you want that too, then do the same.

Personhood – The Wedge Issue that Could Swing 2012

A lot of people are cheering the defeat of the Mississippi Personhood amendment yesterday. Its defeat marked the 3rd time since 2008 that this type of amendment has gone down in flames (the other two were in Colorado).

But as Nick Baumann writes in Mother Jones, this is a grand plan by the GOP to continue fighting the culture wars.

Like the Mississippi measure, these [Congressional] bills, which are not constitutional amendments, would extend the rights of legal personhood—including equal protection under the law—to a zygote, the single cell formed when a human sperm fuses with an egg. The national measures are “designed to achieve the same end” as the Mississippi effort, says Sara Rosenbaum, a health law expert and professor at George Washington University who frequently testifies before Congress on reproductive rights issues. “The aim of the bills is to reclassify or to overturn…the fundamental constitutional fact on which Roe v. Wade rests,” she adds. Opponents of abortion rights agree with Rosenbaum’s analysis: The National Pro-Life Alliance, a group that backs all three bills, calls them “a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade” and sees them as a way of “legislatively overturning” the Supreme Court decision.

Also in Mother Jones, Kate Sheppard writes about how initiatives are being prepared for battleground states in 2012. The states being eyed are California, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Ohio, and Florida. Obama carried all of those except for Montana in 2008. This effort is similar to the anti-equal marriage amendments that flooded the ballots in 2004 and was probably the reason Kerry lost Ohio.

I was a Kerry traveler in 2004 and spent the last week of the campaign in Columbus, OH, working the phones, going door-to-door, and working the polls on Election Day. The right-wing had geared up for battle and had people everywhere pushing Issue 1. Many of the people I spoke to on Election Day said they were coming out to vote in favor of Issue 1, which passed overwhelmingly. Voting for W was an afterthought. It had the backing of the GOP establishment (in fact, Ken Blackwell rode the success of Issue 1 to the GOP nomination for Governor in 2006).

And this is the problem with the initiative process. So-called local groups, whose funding is almost totally from outside the state, push to get these issues on the ballot, paying people to circulate petitions. I doubt that this is what those who originally championed the initiative process had in mind. You have groups like the Mormon Church bankrolling Proposition 8 in California and Personhood USA, based in Arvada, CO (Arvada is a shit hole of a suburb in the Denver area) which backed Amendment 26 in Mississippi and is pushing the initiatives for 2012. And if you had any doubt about this group’s beliefs, here’s an excerpt from their website:

What is Personhood?

Personhood is a movement working to respect the G-d-given right to life by recognizing all human beings as persons who are “created in the image of G-d” from the beginning of their biological development, without exceptions.

What is Personhood USA?

Personhood USA desires to glorify Jesus Christ in a way that creates a culture of life so that all innocent human lives are protected by love and by law.

Personhood USA serves the pro-life community by assisting local groups to initiate citizen, legislative, and political action focusing on the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement: personhood rights for all innocent humans.

We intend to build the support of at least two thirds of the states in an effort to reaffirm personhood within the U.S. Constitution.

Personhood USA opposes vigilante violence.

Personhood USA is a 501(c)(4) Christian ministry that welcomes those who believe in the G-d-given right to life.

Well, the last time we mixed politics and religion, people were burnt at the stake. We cannot allow this wedge issue to make the ballots next year. We must do whatever we can to help those in the 6 target states to fight Personhood USA in keeping these off next year’s ballot.

Wednesday Open Thread [11.9.11]

A longtime Pocomoke City, MD councilman has died from injuries sustained Tuesday in a two car crash following a round of golf. Tragic. But the kicker: Bob Hawkins was 92. So he was still in office and golfing at 92.

Apocalypse imminent: Donviti supports Obama again.

PPP for Daily Kos & SEIU:.

Q: Do you think the Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jump start the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected or not?

Yes: 50
No: 41
Unsure: 10

Watch out George Will. You’re making some sense. Are you feverish?

“What is the candidates’ objection to Obama implementing the status-of-forces agreement that his predecessor signed in 2008? The candidates should answer three questions: How many troops would they leave in Iraq? For how long? And for what purpose? If eight years, 4,485 lives and $800 billion are not enough, how many more of each are they prepared to invest there? And spare us the conventional dodge about “listening to” the “commanders in the field.” Each candidate is aspiring to be commander in chief in a nation in which civilians set policy for officers to execute.”

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet.

Common Cause Forum Tonight on Citizens United

Common Cause of Delaware is holding a for a special forum on the future of Delaware politics tonight at 6 pm in the post-Citizens United age of secret, unlimited political spending. Will Delaware’s tradition of civility in its politics endure now that special interests can spend unlimited amounts on our elections? Is last year’s U.S. Senate race in Delaware, which set a record for money coming from out of state and for total money spent, a harbinger of things to come?

The forum will be held in the Banquet Hall at the back of the Iron Hill Brewery Restaurant on Main Street in Newark. It starts at 6 pm. Find out how Common Cause and other groups are working to make political spending in Delaware more transparent and make it easier to hold our elected officials and our political candidates accountable. Common Cause is Delaware’s nonpartisan watchdog and is working to bring together groups across the political spectrum who want to see a greater degree of transparency in our government.

RSVP: http://www.commoncause.org/DE/AnnualMeeting