Archive for January, 2013

Bipartisan Reading

Filed in National by cassandra_m on January 3, 2013 • 4 Comments

Ross Douthat’s column in the NYT last Saturday recommends that we spend some time in 2013 challenging our political selves by regularly reading from at least one source that is not in your partisan political comfort zone. He reasons that since this is not a national election year, we’ll be abit safer reading “across the aisle” (apparently the hyper partisanship dies down in off election years) and end up challenging what we think we know or at least understanding better our political opposites.

Carper’s Gone Rogue. Make That Rogue-er.

Filed in Delaware, National by El Somnambulo on January 3, 2013 • 25 Comments

Poor despairing Tom Carper. Forced to sit in his Senate Democratic Caucus and see his dreams of ‘entitlement reform’, aka gut the New Deal and the Great Society, go down the drain. From today’s unbelievable (but true) News-Journal piece:

Carper said he “sat there in despair” during meetings with fellow Democrats to discuss the deal brokered by Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Carper had been telling colleagues for months this was their chance to do something meaningful about tax and entitlement reforms. The deal ultimately passed by Congress does neither, he said.

Don’t believe that Carper is going after Social Security? Read this illogic in all its Carperesque rationalization, then read what Sen. Bernie Sanders has to say about it:

Sperm Donor Required To Pay Child Support?

Filed in National by pandora on January 3, 2013 • 19 Comments

Well now, this is interesting…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state of Kansas is trying to force a man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple to pay child support, arguing that the agreement he and the women signed releasing him from all parental duties was invalid because they didn’t go through a doctor. Under Kansas law, a doctor’s involvement shields a man from being held responsible for a child conceived through artificial insemination.

Okay, so if you go through a doctor (and pay a big fee) then you aren’t responsible, but if you skip the doctor (and the big fee), sign an agreement, with all involved parties, that relinquishes your parental rights, you are still responsible. Wonder which group helped write this law?

Delaware Campaign for Gun Sanity

Filed in National by Delaware Dem on January 3, 2013 • 0 Comments

Pacem in Terris is convening a community meeting to discuss gun violence and what steps we can take on implementing gun control, both nationally and locally.

They are having are having the inaugural meeting of the Delaware Campaign for Gun Sanity tonight at 7 pm in the Community Hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pennsylvania Avenue & N. Rodney Street in Wilmington. Parking is behind the church.

This will not be a venting session on the NRA and guns. We must get beyond our comfort zone and act.

Thursday Daily Delawhere [1.3.13]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on January 3, 2013 • 2 Comments

The Milton Theatre, on Union Street in Milton.

Wednesday Open Thread [1.2.13]

Filed in Open Thread by Delaware Dem on January 2, 2013 • 17 Comments

Breitbart News (with is a contradiction in terms) claims at least 20 House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position when it comes up for a vote tomorrow. Now, there are 233 Republicans taking their oaths of office tomorrow. If there are really 20 Republicans who will not vote for Boehner for Speaker, that means Boehner will be denied a majority, as 233 minus 20 is 213. Since there will be two vacancies at the start of the new Congress, only 217 votes is needed for a majority. So Boehner needs to peel off either 4 of those Republicans or 4 conservative Democrats to remain Speaker. Are there 4 conservative Democrats in the House anymore?

Perhaps that is why John Boehner had a short temper with Harry Reid outside the Oval Office last Friday.

An Emerging Working Congressional Coalition?

Filed in National by El Somnambulo on January 2, 2013 • 33 Comments

I think it’s possible, perhaps probable. I also think it’s the most overlooked byproduct of the ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations.

I also think this means that President Obama has more leverage in upcoming fiscal negotiations than many progressives are willing to admit or have yet come to realize.

Allow me to explain.

Wednesday Daily Delawhere [1.2.13]

Filed in National by Delaware Dem on January 2, 2013 • 0 Comments

Wilmington’s Skyscraper Canyon: Looking up 11th Street from near Walnut Street in Wilmington.

New Year’s Day Open Thread [1.1.13]

Filed in Open Thread by Delaware Dem on January 1, 2013 • 9 Comments

So what happens now?

Filed in National by Delaware Dem on January 1, 2013 • 18 Comments

The House will vote to amend the bill. It will get no Democratic votes, and I wonder if it gets 218 votes at all. If the amendment does not pass, I doubt the bill itself will pass. Eric Cantor, the #2 Republican in the House, and the likely next Speaker (more on that in a moment), has said he opposes the bill.

So let’s assume that the House amends the bill and passes it. The Senate is gone. It’s business is done for the year. The 112th Congress, Senate edition is over. So that’s it. The bill dies. We are off and over the cliff.

Words cannot express how shocking and yet completely predictable this is. Remember, the House GOP, through Boehner, cut off negotiations with the President two weeks ago, and they planned to pass a “Plan B” bill to raise taxes on only those making over a million dollars. Speaker Boehner led this effort, but a majority of caucus refused to vote for it. Pursuant to a GOP rule called the Hastert Rule, which holds that no legislation shall receive a vote on the floor of the House unless a majority of the GOP caucus supports it, Boehner was forced to pull the bill. In essence, there was a tea party coup against Boehner at that moment, led by his own #2, Eric Cantor.

Humiliated and weakened, with his career over, Speaker Boehner then tried to pass the buck to the Senate, saying the House will not vote on another Fiscal Cliff package unless and until the Senate reaches an agreement, passes it, and sends it to the House. Nevermind that this is unconstitutional, since all revenue bills must originate in the House first, the Senate inexplicably complied, and reached a last minute agreement negotiated by Vice President Biden and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and they passed it by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, 89-6. Yes, Boehner demanded that his Senate Republican colleagues go out on a limb and vote for a deal, and surprisingly they did.

So the Senate bill is sent to the House, with Boehner lobbying his caucus in favor of passing it, and his caucus, once again under the true leadership of Eric Cantor, revolted again, refusing to vote for it unless it is amended to suit their desires.

To call the House GOP petulant temper tantrum throwing children is to insult petulant temper tantrum throwing children.

So the deal is dead. Lord knows what happens now. 1 trillion in sequester cuts (half to defense and half to non-SS/Medicare/VA domestic spending) are not in effect. The Clinton tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains are in affect. All 2009 stimulus measures like college tuition tax credits, unemployment insurance and the AMT and Medicare doc fix are rescinded. The Farm Bill extension is dead, which means dairy prices triple. Speaker Boehner is likely to be defeated by Eric Cantor for the Speakership on Thursday.

Happy New Year.

So Tom Carper voted against the Deal?

Filed in Delaware, National by Delaware Dem on January 1, 2013 • 34 Comments

Of the the 8 Senators voting against the Biden-McConnell deal, one of them was our own, very special Tom Carper. What was his chief complaint? It raised taxes on the rich? The deal did not cut spending? The deal did not eliminate or cut Medicare or Social Security. He hates the unemployed and wants to cut all unemployment insurance. I am very curious to hear his reasoning.

In the grand scheme and in context, and considering that I want the sequester cuts to go into affect (because it cuts 500 billion from the Defense budget and unless we let those cuts go into affect automatically, we will never get that much cut from the Pentagon budget ever), it is not a bad deal. It is not a good deal either, as the Democrats caved on indexing the Estate Tax to inflation. Going from 250k to 400k? Meh, I can live with that. Payroll tax holiday not preserved? That’s the bad part of this deal, in my opinion, along with the estate tax indexing.