Archive for May, 2013
Mother’s Day Open Thread [5.12.13]
![Mother’s Day Open Thread [5.12.13]](http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/321481_460333794040664_91603920_n.jpg "Mother’s Day Open Thread [5.12.13]")
Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you are lavishing attention and gifts on your Mom today. The adorable Kid President has a message to all of the Moms out there (not the least of which is that the secret to changing the world is Moms):
Sunday Daily Delawhere [5.12.13]
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [5.12.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8122/8712576464_2d745b3878_z.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [5.12.13]")
Winter Oasis on Kirkwood Highway, Wilmington, DE. From AmSteinsgraben on Flickr.
Saturday Open Thread [5.11.13]
Today’s NJ has a piece by Adam Taylor explaining the stakes in the upcoming meeting regarding rezoning several areas of the Beaver Valley holdings of the Woodlawn Trustees. I’ve seen alot of Facebook energy on this, but this is the first I’ve seen the issues spelled out.
In all, the plans call for 200,000 square feet of commercial space that would be housed in several buildings and residential developments with a total of 432 houses and townhomes, Green said.
The commercial development would be called Concord Commons, an age-restricted community would be called The Mews at Concord and the other residential development would be called The Preserve at Concord.
Nothing about this seems like conservation. And conservation is about more than preserving recreational options. And certainly this is one more opportunity to increase traffic and congestion on roads that were not built for their current capacity.
What is it about Sussex Conservatives and Sexual Assault?
First the alleged child rapist Eric Bodenweiser, and now this:
A young woman is suing a veteran Sussex County councilman, claiming he repeatedly sexually assaulted her after encouraging her to become in involved in politics. The lawsuit filed this week in Kent County Superior Court alleges that Republican Councilman Vance C. Phillips forced sex on the woman several times in 2011, beginning a few weeks after she turned 18. The 17-page complaint includes graphic details involving bondage and sex toys during the sex acts that she says happened in Kent and Sussex counties. The complaint also says Phillips threatened the young woman not to tell anyone.
This seems to be connected to the allegations about Vance Phillips in an anonymous letter sent to the General Assembly last year. From the News Journal:
Delaware State Police investigated Phillips last year after members of the General Assembly received an anonymous letter claiming he was involved in a relationship with an underage girl. No criminal charges were filed. Phillips’ attorney, Joe Hurley, said he was told by the attorney general’s office earlier this year that the investigation was complete and that there would be no criminal prosecution.
So what does the 17 page complaint say? I am trying to get my hands on it, but here is the News Journal’s synopsis:
The lawsuit alleges that Phillips first met the girl at a GOP event in Sussex County in March 2010, when she was 16. The complaint said that she later began working with him almost daily, regarded him as a close friend and adviser, and became “completely reliant” on him.
On May 9, 2011, a month after she turned 18, Phillips accosted the young woman in a parking lot of a Georgetown dentist’s office, exposing himself and trying to take her clothes off, according to the complaint. Phillips then told her to follow him to an isolated rural area, where he again tried to have sex with her.
About a week later, the woman alleges, Phillips sent her a text warning her that if she told anyone what had happened, she would never have a career in politics, that he was “a very powerful politician with lots of power over the courts and judges,” and that no one would believe her. Phillips demanded that she meet him in Laurel, locked her in a farm building near his home, and sexually assaulted her, the complaint alleges.
Other attacks followed, with the woman claiming she feared what would happen to her if she did not submit to Phillips’ demands, according to the lawsuit.
Open letter to the last remaining sane Delaware Republican
Hi,
I know we’ve had our differences. I know I’ve berrated you for allowing Christine ODonnell to ever address an audience. I’ve scorned you for voting for George Bush (twice!). I’ve scoffed, and spit on the ground as you’ve walked by to show my utter contempt. But I’m past all of that now. I’m just full of pity for you and honestly reaching out right now to see what i can do to help you.
I’ve been moving in this direction for a while because I can see you are a decent person. It know you have some whack-adoodle notions about taxation, but I think you want a better, more just, healthy, and sustainable democratic future for our state and country. I know that you have about as much in common with John Sigler and his whack job a-holes who have taken over your party as I do.
This, from Daily Kos, really brought that home for me.
“The meetings didn’t take. “[Newt] Gingrich and [Mitt] Romney understood, … and I think they even believed the evidence and understood the risk,” [MIT scientist Kerry] Emanuel says. “But they were so terrified by the extremists in their party that in the primaries they felt compelled to deny it. Which is not good leadership, good integrity. I got a low impression of them as leaders.” Throughout the Republican presidential primaries, every candidate but one—former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was knocked out of the race at the start—questioned, denied, or outright mocked the science of climate change.
Soon after his experience in South Carolina, Emanuel changed his lifelong Republican Party registration to independent. “The idea that you could look a huge amount of evidence straight in the face and, for purely ideological reasons, deny it, is anathema to me,” he says.”
While I used to say “tough titties” that’s the party you created out of your cynical belief that you could control the idiots and Christianist maniacs, I now realize that “I told you so” isn’t going to cut it moving forward. We can’t have a two party system in which one party of openly committed to simply fucking shit up out of spite. So, I’m honestly asking – what can I do? How can i help the GOP return to some semblance of sanity and decent?
You know how to reach me. Let’s chat. I wouldn’t be much of a liberal if I didn’t think we could work things out.
Sincerly,
jason330
PS. What the fuck were you thinking voting for George Bush for a second term? Honestly. okay- just had to say that one more time. Now I’m don’t with finger pointing. I promise. onward.
Saturday Daily Delawhere [5.11.13]
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [5.11.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8559/8711450223_119d2b58a9_z.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [5.11.13]")
Beautiful scene from the Mt. Cuba Center. From Elaine K on Flickr.
Friday Open Thread [5.10.13]
The Hill recounts the story about how Delaware’s own Joe Biden forced the President’s hand on gay marriage:
Last May, in the heat of President Obama’s reelection efforts, Biden went on “Meet the Press” and said he was “comfortable” with same-sex marriage. Obama had not at that point announced his support for gay marriage, and the vice president’s endorsement left the campaign lurching to clarify the administration’s position.
The following week, Obama acknowledged he had decided to make an announcement endorsing gay marriage before the election, but Biden’s comments forced his hand early. Biden at the time said he apologized to the president for putting him in that position, but in the Rolling Stone interview, Biden said Obama couldn’t have been happier.
“I got blowback from everybody but the president,” Biden said. ”I walked in that Monday, he had a big grin on his face, he put his arms around me and said, ‘Well, Joe, God love you, you say what you think.’ I knew he agreed with me. It wasn’t like he was in a different place.”
Booman wonders if the “Biden Push” was and is the seminal moment for progress on marriage equality in America. Recall that ever since, the polls have shown nothing but majority approval for it, and momentum in the states passing gay marriage legislation has been brisk.
![Friday Daily Delawhere [5.10.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8140/8711450243_8c5b171071_z.jpg "Friday Daily Delawhere [5.10.13]")
Pro Rassler Provides Sophisticated Analysis of Delaware Marriage Equality
From the Bible of Pro Wrestling, Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Weekly, comes the following:
–Jay Briscoe got himself into trouble, deleting his entire Twitter account over what he tweeted Wednesday:“The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!”“..try and teach my kids that there’s nothing wrong with that and I’ll fucking shoot you.”
About 12 hours later, after realizing that was probably not the right thing to say, he wrote:“I feel very strongly about who should teach kids about certain things but I showed poor judgment by using that analogy and I’m sorry.”
A few hours after that, he deleted his entire account. ROH released this statement: “Ring of Honor Wrestling respects and appreciates every fan regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference. The recent post by Jay Briscoe does not represent the views or opinions of Ring of Honor Wrestling, its owners, management or employees.” ROH has said Briscoe will both make a public apology for his remarks on Saturday’s house show in Belle Vernon, PA, and he has agreed to donate his pay for the next two weekend to the Partners Against Hate charitable organization.
Thursday Open Thread [5.9.13]
We haven’t had a polling report in a while, but suddenly we have all a slew of polling info just released this week. Come inside for the polling goodness…
North Carolina House GOP Approves Child Murder Bill
Withholding treatment is murder, in my book.
“Parents would have to give their teenagers permission before they could receive birth control or be treated for sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse or mental illness, under a bill approved in a House committee on Tuesday.”
Heaven forbid they should get treated for life-threatening conditions without permission! Supporters say the aim of the bill is to restore parental control over teenagers lives. I say the aim is to kill teenagers who have sex or use drugs, and maybe if they’re bullied and harassed for being gay, they can commit suicide rather than get counseling for depression. Remember, these same people want to make sure their teenagers have easy access to (and training with) their gun collections (or be able to buy them online if their hippie parents don’t have any). The life of the child was never their concern.
PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update [5.9.13]
![PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update [5.9.13]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7403/8722264251_0ea189901b_o.png "PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update [5.9.13]")
The Governor signed HB 35 into law yesterday, surrounded by a group of parents who lost their children in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Connecticut last December. The law extends mandatory background checks to most private gun sales this July. There are three other gun control measures that are part of the Governor’s gun control package: a bill establishing gun-free school zones (HB 67), a ban on high-capacity magazines (HB 58), and a requirement to report lost or stolen guns (SB 16).
SB 16, the aforementioned bill that would require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within 7 days after discovering the bill lost or stolen, has cleared the committee and is headed to the House floor for a vote. How anyone can oppose this bill is beyond me. Indeed, if you oppose this bill, you must be a terrorist or a criminal, or at least an enabler of the two.
Represenative Kowalko’s HB 13 finally passed the House after six years of trying, 30-11. The bill bans lawmakers from becoming lobbyists after they leave the General Assembly for one year after leaving office. His previous bills called for 2 years. The Republicans have introduced that version of the bill in the Senate, and offered an Amendment was offered to increase the term to 2 years, but it was defeated. I am not sure why, but some Democrats in the House are really making themselves look like defenders of lobbyists by opposing this legislation. Some surprising names in the no column. And given that all the Republicans voted yes, it is obvious that they are using this and the double dipping issue to their advantage. And the Democrats voting no are dumb enough to let them.
Come inside for the rest of the Vote Tracker….
Senator Chris Coons Calls Out Republicans for Not Getting to a Budget Deal
Recall that the Senate passed its budget in March, and the House passed its budget before that — meaning that if we’re finally following the “regular order” of budgeting, there should be a Senate and House Reconciliation Committee so that these two bodies can come to some agreement on a budget. That budget — a policy document only, it appropriates no money — is supposed to guide the appropriation process. Except that the GOP doesn’t want to work on a budget until we are much closer to the debt ceiling problem. We were supposed to have faced the debt ceiling in march or April, but the Treasury figured out a way to postpone that until Fall. So the GOP is stuck with a pretty bad timeline — blowing up the economy over the debt ceiling just before they start campaigning is very bad juju. And they have NO negotiating position unless the debt ceiling is imminent they think. So Senator Coons took to the Senate floor today to call to get back to the regular order of the budget process and to stop the effects of the sequester:
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