Wednesday Open Thread [7.25.12] : Delaware Liberal

puck says:

July 25, 2012 at 12:01 pm

McConnell raises the stakes on today’s tax votes, and the game just got more interesting.

McConnell agreed to waive filibuster rules and have a straight majority vote on the tax cut extension bills today (middle-class only vs. full extension). This means either or both could pass today, instead of both dying by filibuster. So it won’t be quite the kabuki ritual it was shaping up to be.

Wavering Dems will not be able to hide behind the filibuster, so true positions will be recorded for both sides. There is little downside for Repubs, because even if middle-class cuts pass, they won’t pass the House. But if the full extension passes the Senate, it goes to Obama’s desk and forces his hand.

A senior GOP aide said McConnell wants to force vulnerable Democrats such as Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Kay Hagan (N.C.) to vote for the Democrats’ proposal to raise estate taxes.

“The only way to force people to take a stand is to make sure that today’s votes truly count,” he said. “By setting these votes at the 50-vote threshold, nobody on the other side can hide behind a procedural vote while leaving their views on the actual bill itself a mystery, a simple mystery to the people who sent them here,” McConnell said Wednesday morning on the Senate floor.

jason330 says:

July 25, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Why don’t Democrats know how to play this game?

jason330 says:

July 25, 2012 at 12:15 pm

This should be a no brain for “vulnerable Democrats such as Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Kay Hagan (N.C.).”

The President has been uncharacteristically clear and forceful. No Democrat worthy of the name should not have a problem voting the right way.

puck says:

July 25, 2012 at 12:34 pm

Still no veto threat directly from Obama.

Update via dkos:

As of now, the only vote scheduled is a procedural motion to proceed to the Democratic bill, at 2:15 ET. Which means that, as of now, Reid isn’t taking McConnell up on his offer for two simple majority votes.

I guess it’s not a done deal then.

chlorophil says:

July 25, 2012 at 3:26 pm

Kristen Stewart cheating on the vampire kid has me all broken up.

puck says:

July 25, 2012 at 4:44 pm

Senate agrees to majority vote for tax bills. Repub bill failed 45-54; Dem bill up next with Joe Biden in the big chair.

puck says:

July 25, 2012 at 5:11 pm

Dem bill passes 51-48 (according to some dkos commenter). Middle class only tax cuts. The bill is likely DOA though for more than one reason, not least of which it didn’t originate in the House.

WWB says:

July 25, 2012 at 6:19 pm

Anybody else as suspicious of this story as I am?

http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/column/columnpost/is-vandalism-a-sign-of-today-s-politics/868537

My comments are on my blog, so I won’t repeat them here.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:32 pm

President Obama on the passage of the Senate middle class tax relief:

With the Senate’s vote, the House Republicans are now the only people left in Washington holding hostage the middle-class tax cuts for 98% of Americans and nearly every small business owner. The last thing a typical middle class family can afford is a $2,200 tax hike at the beginning of next year. It’s time for House Republicans to drop their demand for another $1 trillion giveaway to the wealthiest Americans and give our families and small businesses the financial security and certainty that they need. Our economy isn’t built from the top-down, it’s built from a strong and growing middle class, and that’s who we should be fighting for.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:34 pm

@WWB. That church’s sign looks familiar. Did this church make these accusations before in an election season? Or maybe put something up that was wholly inappropriate?

socialistic ben says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:36 pm

i dont think the sign in that article is a church… unles oyu are talking about something else

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:38 pm

And hey WWB, welcome to Delaware blogland and to Delaware Liberal! I apologize if I missed you commenting here before.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:40 pm

Looks like a church sign, but I guess it isn’t. In any event, this sign looks like familiar history here.

SussexWatcher says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:47 pm

Wow … cassandra utter fail … did you even read the column?

The first two paragraphs make it crystal clear it damn straight isn’t a frigging church:

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, pass the sign each day in front of Hudson Management’s building on Route 1 and Eagle Crest Road.
For a long time it paid tribute to the late Craig Hudson, son of owner Joe Hudson and father of Christian and Jamin Hudson.

The top of the sign even reads “HUDSON MANAGEMENT.” Odd name for a church!

But you’re right, cassandra … it does look awfully familiar … hmm … where have we seen that sign before … Oh, yeah! I remember where.

http://delawareliberal.net//2011/05/24/socialism-at-the-gates/

pandora says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:49 pm

Utter fail? Really? Someone is very testy.

I’m with WWB. No one messed with the sign.

WWB says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:51 pm

Thanks for the welcome Cassandra. I have posted here some before, but not on a regular basis. This was just a story I thought was worth sharing here….wasn’t sure how much play it was getting, as I only ran across it by accident myself.

SussexWatcher says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:52 pm

Yeah, utter fail. If she had bothered to read the first two paragraphs or look at the photo, she would have seen it was not a church. I know it’s difficult, but at least try.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 7:55 pm

Once it started with the hundreds of people driving by the sign (establishing Rockwellian innocence, directly bypassing the WhoWhatWhereWhenHow), I skimmed down to the That’s when the trouble started. Thinking that is where the meat of the thing started. I was right.

But thanks for finding that thread. Good times!

SussexWatcher says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:01 pm

My apologies. I take back everything nasty I’ve ever said about cassandra.

My eyes have been opened, and I can see now that reading past the 11th word of a sentence, and looking at the totality of a photograph, is really, really hard work. Besides, it’s not like having an informed opinion is actually important on a blog.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:17 pm

Well, once you get an informed opinion, you’ll be able to judge its importance.

And where I come from those signs are church signs, a real business wouldn’t be caught dead with that kind of thing unless it was a gas station or Dairy Queen. I understand if this sign is pretty much the only thing that might signify a business to you.

SussexWatcher says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:23 pm

Ooof! Wounded to the quick by someone who has the attention span of the boil on a gnat’s backside. I’m hurt, really, I am.

pandora says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:24 pm

Somebody needs a hug.

socialistic ben says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:25 pm

nothing says credibility like being able to gracefully admit when you were wrong.

cassandra_m says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:33 pm

nothing says patronizing git like not following along before pontificating. but thanks for not changing.

jpconnorjr says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:37 pm

At least 10 maybe more Real Estate offices in Sussex County have that type sign, Lingo, a couple , Coldwell Banker, a couple, Resort Quest, a couple , at least 3 Remax offices. Ocean Atlantic and so on….. None have been “caught dead” but of course this is an uniformed opinion by decree of the queen of all signage. If we started counting other service businesses in the county just on Rt 1 and 113 we could easily reach 100 of that sort of sign but that too is uninformed since the lady in Wilmington determines what a sign in Sussex should look like.

socialistic ben says:

July 25, 2012 at 8:56 pm

hahah i dont even know what that means… yes, i saw your half-knowledgement that you made an error followed up by some kind of justification, then… of course, an insult to the person who pointed it out.

puck says:

July 25, 2012 at 9:48 pm

@SW… My memory is a bit longer than yours. Here’s a better view of that sign:

http://delawareliberal.net//2008/11/06/im-adding-myself-to-the-list-of-delawareans-with-no-future-in-politics/

John Manifold says:

July 25, 2012 at 10:16 pm

Whoa! Serious criticism of Delaware electoral machinery:

http://www.countingvotes.org/

Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina are the states least prepared to catch voting system problems and to protect voters from disenfranchisement due to equipment failures.

SussexWatcher says:

July 25, 2012 at 11:00 pm

Bob Stickels just quit as Dewey Beach town manager. Looks like even he couldn’t tame the idiocy, childishness, backstabbing, schizoid personalities and pettiness in the town.

MJ, what’s your take?

Aoine says:

July 26, 2012 at 1:08 am

I dont know about MJ – but they should put Dewey Beach on the Jerry Springer show – if I could only sing!! but I could write a book…..

does that clear it up for anyone??

i think there is going to be a world of hurt coming down the pike now that the AG has found MAJOR violations of FOIA

it negates ANY votes/action taken on those now ‘illegal’ meetings – including Diane Hanson getting her lawyers fees paid for conflict of interest violations

I cannot believe what happens in that town – many years ago they offered me a position – while I was mulling it over I did a little homework – I turned the position don – looking back, one of the smartest moves they ever made

they should just tear up the town charter and start all over again