Archive for March, 2013
Delaware Senate Passes Death Penalty Repeal 11-10.
This late afternoon, the State Senate passed Senate Bill 19, the repeal of the death penalty in Delaware and replacing it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. It was not a straight party line vote, to my surprise. Come inside to see who voted which way….
Tuesday Open Thread [3.26.13]
![Tuesday Open Thread [3.26.13]](http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/25309/large/gay-marriage-trend21.jpg?1364297498 "Tuesday Open Thread [3.26.13]")
It will be a historic day at the Supreme Court over the next two days as the Court hears arguments in two cases affecting marriage equality in this country. Today, the Court will consider whether California’s ban on same-sex marriage, a law known as Prop 8 or Prop Hate, which was passed by referendum in 2008, is unconstitutional. Tomorrow, the Court will consider whether the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.
Why Is Consent So Difficult To Understand?
con·sent
/kənˈsent/
Noun
Permission for something to happen or agreement to do something.
Verb
Give permission for something to happen: “he consented to a search by a detective”.
Sometimes you come across an article that won’t let you move onto other things. Here’s mine:
MARCH 22–A New York City man flying cross country with his 12-year-old son allegedly put his hand underneath the skirt of a sleeping female passenger and massaged her thigh, an act he later defended by telling the victim, “It’s not like I molested you. It’s not like I stuck my my finger in your pussy or grabbed your tits.” […]
As detailed in a probable cause statement, a few hours into the flight the woman took medication to help her fall asleep. About 40 minutes before arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the woman “woke up… to Zorse massaging her thigh underneath her skirt.” […]
When questioned by investigators, Zorse claimed that he believed the female passenger was “flirting with him, telling him he was attractive and he was a good father,” adding that he felt he had “bonded” with her. While copping to placing his hand on the woman’s leg for “approximately 30 seconds,” Zorse denied placing his hand up her skirt. He did acknowledge, however, that he “could have said something like ‘It’s not like I stuck my finger up your pussy or grabbed your tits,’” according to the probable cause statement.
Here’s what really bothers me about this ugly, illegal incident. Zorse confesses. Easily. He doesn’t see anything wrong in what he did to a sleeping (NON- CONSENTING) woman because he believed “the female passenger was “flirting with him, telling him he was attractive and he was a good father,” adding that he felt he had “bonded” with her.” It’s all about his feelings. Those are his only social clues.
Zorse determines what constitutes flirting. He also determines what constitutes bonding. He even decides that the conversation before the woman fell asleep progressed to the point where he could touch her. He had already granted himself permission.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., March 26, 2013
Jack Markell: From clammed-up to happy-as-a-clam. The Governor who was unwilling to take a public position on a minimum wage increase effusively praised it after it had passed the Senate:
“I commend Senator Marshall for the changes he made to the bill. I assured Senator Marshall I would sign the bill as passed by the Senate because of the help it will provide to many struggling families,” Markell said in a statement.
Jack Markell has proven time and time again that he cares not for struggling families. But Markell was able to (a) get a cost-of-living provision struck from the bill, (b) get the effective date for the bill pushed back, and (c) lower the amount of the minimum wage to $7.75 an hour in 2014 and $8.25 in 2015. All this in exchange for dropping his threat to veto the bill. Ladies and gentlemen, your Democratic governor. Still, kudos to the 12 D’s who voted yes. It’s better than nothing, which is all you’re gonna get from this governor. For the record, self-professed ‘friend of labor’ Cathy Cloutier voted no. This will not be the last time that she proves to be a phony during this, or any session, of the Delaware General Assembly.
Guest Post — Statement in Support of Senate Bill 19 by Stewart Dotts
Today the Senate is expected to debate and vote on Senate Bill 19, to abolish Delaware’s death penalty. This Guest Post is by Mr. Stewart Dotts — this was his testimony from last Tuesday’s committee hearing. Mr. Dotts also served as a juror in the capital murder trial of James Cooke. After I read this, I was really sorry I couldn’t have been at that hearing. This is powerful testimony. Mr. Dotts has given us permission to reprint his testimony in its entirety. And even though debate and vote is on Tuesday, there is still time to reach out and let your Senator know that you support REPEALING the death penalty in Delaware, and they should vote YES to repeal. Reach out to them here, from the Repeal Project website. Read Mr. Dotts first:
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.26.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8513/8579293004_ae1e457401_z.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.26.13]")
Delaware’s Prayer Warriors not asking God’s help with building a more secure mailing list?
THE technology of the righteous needs some tweaking. Doesn’t everyone’s? But hey… this is strange…Check out this panicky email and let me know if you find them beseeching God for his help in cracking down on their email leaks – because I must have missed it.
Force Congress to display logos of their corporate backers on their clothes
The idea of forcing Congresscritters to wear NASCAR-style coveralls with the logos of their financial backers has been bandied about before, but here it is in official White House petition form.
Monday Open Thread [3.25.13]
Molly Ball asks “Has Obama Turned a Generation of Voters Into Lifelong Democrats?,” — and answers in the affirmative.
The under-30 vote went nearly as strongly for Obama as it had before: Obama got 66 percent of the under-30 vote in 2008 and 60 percent in 2012, the best youth-vote showings for any presidential candidate since 1971, when the voting age was lowered to 18. Against the by-now-familiar backdrop of massive Obama rallies on college campuses, liberal youth might just seem like the normal order of things. But there’s nothing natural about it. Ronald Reagan came within a point of capturing the under‑30 vote in his 1980 presidential election, then won it by 19 points in 1984, giving the lie to the idea that kids are inherently liberal.
Now some Democrats hope Obama’s repeat success with young voters signals the arrival of a cohort whose members will vote Democratic for the rest of their lives. “These are voters who are in their formative years, politically,” Joel Benenson, the lead pollster for the Obama campaign, told me excitedly in the days after the election. “People frequently maintain the partisan identity that shapes their entry point into politics. What’s happening now is something people will hang on to for decades to come.”
Could Benenson be right? Has Obama turned an entire generation of voters into lifelong Democrats? The answer, according to political scientists who study partisanship, may well be yes.
![Monday Daily Delawhere [3.25.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8089/8579292974_875e3cfb50_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [3.25.13]")
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.24.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8515/8579293034_2d8c2c63df_z.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.24.13]")
Saturday Open Thread [3.23.2013]
![Saturday Open Thread [3.23.2013]](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/72362_501582129901705_1777339824_n.jpg "Saturday Open Thread [3.23.2013]")
So how are your NCAA brackets doing? I was reminded by President Jed Bartlett via Twitter that there is no Federal Disaster assistance for your brackets. Oh well.
The PDD/DL Vote Tracker for the week ending March 22, 2013. Where is the Marriage Equality Bill?
Here is the third update to the PDD-DL Vote Tracker, to reflect the action that has taken place since the General Assembly returned from the Budget hearing recess during February and early March.
One bill you will not see on the chart below is the Marriage Equality Bill. But that is only because it has not been filed yet. It has been reported that Rep. Melanie George Smith will introduce marriage equality legislation during this session. The session ends on June 30, 2013 at midnight. Interestingly, the Supreme Court will likely issue its ruling in two marriage equality cases (Hollingsworth v. Perry is about the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and United States v. Windsor argues that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional) on or about the same day, as the Court usually holds its most important or controversial decisions for the very last day of its term, which also ends at the end of June (remember last year with the Obamacare ruling, it was on June 28). One thought I had was that Rep. Smith would wait until the ruling to introduce the legislation as the worst the Court could do is return the issue of marriage equality to the states. But I would think Smith and other advocates would not want to wait until to last minute to introduce and then vote on the bill.
So we are probably looking at April, after the Easter break. Come inside for the full chart.
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