Wednesday Open Thread [3.13.13]

Today's edition in restoring your faith in humanity: The man who secretly filmed Mitt Romney's 47% fundraiser speech to the 1% will be interviewed tonight on MSNBC by Ed Shultz. Why did he do it? Well, it turns out that simple manners, and respect and concern for the staff goes a long way.
Prior to his political fame, the filmmaker worked as a bartender for a high-end catering company. Before that company was hired for the Romney event, it catered a dinner at which Bill Clinton spoke. The bartender/Romney-ruiner told the Huffington Post that after the speech, Clinton went to the kitchen to thank the staff, posing for photographs and signing autographs. So when the bartender heard about the Romney event, he decided to bring his camera with him, just in case the candidate met with the staff like Clinton did. But because he's Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate didn't greet or thank any of the staff working the event, and rushed out shortly after his speech, though not before bartender secretly filmed it, noting that Romney told the dinner guests it was off the record but not the staff working the event.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up: Wed., March 13, 2013

Delaware now has a proposal to eliminate the death penalty for capital crimes. I support it. In the past, I have been an agnostic when it came to the issue of the death penalty. But when I saw Thomas Capano, who carried out one of the most vile and grisly homicides/cover-ups in Delaware history, escape the death penalty (though not death) through legal legerdemain, my decision was made for me. The Tom Capanos of this world don't get the death penalty. Therefore, those with less influence shouldn't, either. Any death penalty statute should be administered equally, not on the basis of the (lack of) legal resources that one has at their disposal, IMHO. It's not, it never has been, and it should go. I note that police of virtually all stripes have aligned in near-unanimity in opposition. Need I remind you or them that, thanks to DNA projects all over this country, death row inhabitants are being cleared of homicide convictions, often caused by 'thin blue line' corruption and/or ineptitude? Yeah, yeah, I know, not in Delaware. Really? How can you be certain? This is a courageous stand by the sponsors. In case you haven't noticed, police are a potent political force in this state. Legislators, in general, prefer to take the path of least political resistance. They haven't done that here, and I thank them. By name: Senators Peterson, Simpson, McDowell, Bushweller, Henry, Sokola, and Townsend; Reps. Scott, Miro, Barbieri, Baumbach, Keeley, Potter, M. Smith, Williams, Kowalko, B. Short. Thank you.

What Guest Worker Programs Look Like

Last week, there was a surprise strike at multiple McDonald's restaurants in Central PA -- of student guest workers from Asia and Latin America who are here on J-1 visas. First, though, I'm pretty stunned that these restaurants can't find workers closer to home. It isn't as though we don't have millions of people looking for work, but I'd love to know why it is so difficult to hire American fast food workers.