Monday Open Thread [4.8.13]
Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has died. It is interesting that I feel the same way about her as I did about Ronald Reagan: I liked her personally even though I did not always agree with her policies (indeed I mostly disagreed with them). That is probably why both were successful leaders of their countries. God speed Baroness Thatcher.
Back to American politics….
“Running for president is like sex. No one ever did it once and forgot about it.” — James Carville, quoted by Maureen Dowd.
“I think the emphasis on partisan polarization is misplaced. There’s nothing about strong partisanship that makes effective government in the U.S. impossible… Indeed: I suspect the game theorists might actually find that it should be easier for two well-organized parties to cut those deals, even if their ideal points are quite distant, than it would be to reach a deal between unstructured, factionalized parties, even if there are no extremists among them… And yet: dysfunction, crises, threats of shutdown and irrational outcomes no one claims to want.”
“My conclusion? It’s not partisanship. It’s not polarization. It’s not even extremism. It’s the Republican Party. The GOP is broken.”
The Washington Post reports on “an emerging Democratic strategy for taking back the House from Republicans after the tea party takeover of 2010.”
“The best way to defeat the conservative, ideologically driven GOP, Democrats say, is to field non-ideological ‘problem solvers’ who can profit from the fed-up-with-partisanship mood of some suburban areas. These districts will offer some of the few competitive House campaigns in the country.”
“The GOP’s greatest challenge is the fact that Democrats begin each presidential election with a near lock on the Electoral College. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have given their electoral votes to the Democratic presidential nominee in at least five out of the last six elections. These states represent 257 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency. Under current trends, the GOP nominee has to pull the equivalent of drawing an inside straight in poker to get to the White House.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144358n
Families of the Newtown victims were on 60 minutes last night. Their poise given what they’ve been through is pretty incredible. They are channeling their grief to push for gun control regulations.
This is a deeply strange story of aspiring Border Agents admitting to crimes during their polygraph tests. This is from 200 of out of I-don’t-know-how-many-applicants who made “significant admissions” during their polygraph. At first I was wondering why people with these kinds of past issues would actually apply to be a cop, but I think that what is disturbing here is that you really don’t know much about the people that you work with, right?
And how about an alternate obituary for Baroness Thatcher? In the UK she is a much more polarizing figure than she is here, so read (and do go read the whole thing) with that in mind:
She certainly blazed a trail. And she blazed one that hurt a great many people.
And the Westboro Rat Bastards are picketing Roget Ebert’s funeral.
I’ll never forgive Margaret Thatcher for that shitty movie her life inspired.
You actually wasted 2 1/2 hours of your life watching that?
I saw that movie and it *was* a mess.
GOP congress to investigate Beyonce and Jay-Z over Cuba trip. Cuz.. You know, important stuff and shit.
Brezhnev took afghanistan
Begin took beirut
Galtieri took the union jack
And maggie over lunch one day
Took a cruiser with all hands
Apparently to make him give it back
Republicans Call for Tougher Sanctions on Beyoncé
I found this in my inbox today, dated April 1 (I don’t check my email very often):
Spring is well underway and the link above brings an issue filled with stories that affect the Homeless Community. We lead off with a look at the proliferation of Liquor outlets in the downtown Wilmington area and the erosion of quality of life that they bring to the community. Ironically, we have a story on the lack of public bathrooms in the same area. Sadly, there are more Liquor outlets than bathrooms. We have a profile on long serving Sen. Harris B. McDowell II who is the Co-Chair of the Delaware General Assembly Joint Finance Committee. There is an examination of the innovative “Trauma Informed Probation” . There is a new Community Relations Coordinator at Connections, Grandville Brown. He is building bridges between the neighborhoods and community leadership. He is a re-entry success story in his own right. The passage of The Death Penalty repeal in the Senate and its prospects in the House is examined. We have a look at bail reform, Steve Studer has another story on Recovery and much more.
Please pick up a copy from your local vendor,
Thank you!
—
Joe Connor,
302-XXX-XXXX
I seriously hope this was an April Fools joke.
Roland: Why? Are you offended by the idea of a publication for the homeless?
geezer–
I’m not offended by the publication. I actually BUY it once or twice a month. I’m “offended” (not really, just surprised) that a jackass like Joe Connor would have the nerve to email me at my unpublished work email address.
Got it. I just didn’t know the back story.
There’s more than a few people who found their previously unpublished emails now on Joe Connor’s list. I’ve been advising people to email him to ask to get their names off of it.
Mr. Lebay, we do not email randomly our list grows through subscription or recommendation of readers. You are pretty sensitive for a guy who has published personal info regarding my life and whereabouts. Be that as it may, as I have no clue who you are you will need to decide whether to make a deletion request. If you do I promise it will be honored promptly:)
I get Joe’s emails too, but he has my address legitimately.
Whatever your feelings about some of his political endorsements — and I have gone at him as hard as anybody here except perhaps Cassandra — he deserves credit for the work he’s doing.
This is good: http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/sheriff-summit-a-call-to-action/985657.
The Sussex County “Sherf” has instituted weekly “posse” training, open to everyone over the age of 15, to assist the ‘Sherf’ when call upon to persecute ‘crimnles’.
Joe,
You know my name isn’t LeBay, so let’s cut the shit. I have never subscribed to anything related to your work. I have never revealed any personal info about you, simply because I don’t know ANYTHING about you other than what you’ve posted here at DL and what has been published about your kid-toucher coworker in The News Journal.
It seems KWS and Tom Gordon are big supporters of the kid toucher:
http://www.addictionscoalitionde.org/images/OSAJULY12.pdf
I don’t know what your “work” is other than that you claim you’re the executive director of “another organization” outside of Connections CSP, Inc.
Have a great day, and cross the street & talk to me face-to-face if you have something to say to me.
Delaware Dem, the reason you mostly disagreed with Margaret Thatcher is that she was a devout Capitalist, and you are a devout Socialist
V. here is Mark Mattioli who lost his son at Newton explaining why more gun control is not the right answer
http://freedomslighthouse.net/2013/04/09/incredible-newtown-father-explains-why-gun-control-is-not-the-answer-video-4813/
Rusty
While I disagree with him pretty strongly (except for his interest in improving mental health – that’s very important), I also am impressed with his poise after such a horrible thing happened to him and his family.
Is the Mel Slawik who’s president of the Addictions Coalition and apparently works for the PD any relation to the ex-NCCO executive?
Same guy. He works with former blogger Joe Connor, Jr at the Coalition and is a big supporter of our Insurance Commissioner.
No, he’s not related to the ex-NCCo executive. He is the ex-NCCo executive.
People are rightly sensitive about how their email gets distributed — some of us have multiple emails to be able to give out or signup for stuff just to keep it out of your primary venue. The usual etiquette is to give people a chance to opt-in to your email list and if you are just adding people, it is normal to give people an easy way to opt out. People who may have your address for a legit reason who just add your name to some email list without a way to opt-out are just spamming you. And it is easy enough to tell your mailbox to always send this email to a spam box. If your email is gmail, hitting the spam button enough tells Google that they might want to have a closer look at this address.
Mr.. Lebay I do not know who you are. Apparently I have your email address. Feel free to communicate with me, or not.
For anyone who has an interest in the publication the current and all back issues are here http://www.addictionscoalitionde.org
And again, I email the paper to people I know or to addresses given to me by people I know.. Anybody who wants to be removed just needs to say the word. For the record that has happened once in 2013 thus far.