Matt Denn seems confident

Indeed, most of the organizations interested in a yes outcome in the vote this afternoon in the Senate seemed to be guardedly optimistic. I dare say if the outcome was truely in doubt the Lt. Governor would not be posting a status update like this: To guard against complacency, there is still time to lobby Senators Bob Marshall, Bethany Hall Long and Cathy Cloutier. Encouraging emails or calls only please. Find their contact info here.

Monday Open Thread [5.6.13]

At this weekend's NRA convention you could buy 'Obama' mannequins designed for use as target practice which actually bleed when shot. It is things like that which makes me have almost no sympathy for families like the Sparks family in Kentucky, the family that had a five year old son shoot and kill his 2 year sister with his "My First Rifle." That family may be suffering horribly, but in my opinion they deserve that suffering for their irrespondibility and negligence. I know the two things are not directly connected, and I don't know the particular political views of Mr. and Mrs. Sparks as it relates to the NRA v. Obama, but still. Irresponsibility and selling and marketing guns to children has been a direct result of the NRA's efforts to fight any and all regulations. So when children of gun lovers actually die, it is very difficult to feel sympathy for the parents.

QOTD — What to Do About Syria?

This morning, I listened as NPR gave John McCain more air time to call for some type of intervention in the Syrian mess. Lindsay Graham has been screeching for more capability for someone over there to have better capacity to kill one another. Even Mitt Romney has gotten into the act to call President Obama weak over his handling of Syria. In the meantime, we have a press running all over the place certain that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, when that is far from certain:

The NRA’s Declaration Of War

When I was growing up the NRA was all about guns.  Oh, they were political, but more along geographical lines (red state/blue state, urban/rural) than political parties.  And while we still see this today there's change in the air - and that change is being driven by the NRA. There was a time when being a gun owner was the only ideology one needed to be an NRA member.  Republican/Democrat/Independent/Liberal/Conservative didn't matter.  If you liked guns, the NRA was the group for you. But liking guns isn't enough anymore.  Today, the NRA has dropped any attempt at being a nonpartisan group of gun owners.  They have gone full Tea Party.  If you're a gun owning Dem or liberal the NRA has made it clear you're not welcome.  Of course, any sane person is no longer welcome because the NRA has finally revealed their crazy in stunning, splendid glory. Many of us have always known the crazy was there, but the NRA use to be somewhat politically savvy.  They spoke about the 2nd Amendment, protecting yourself, hunting and responsible gun ownership - they wore a mask of reasonableness.  That mask has been ripped off.

Sunday Open Thread [5.5.13]

And WTF is up with Tom Gordon's CAO?
Grimaldi, who is County Executive Tom Gordon’s chief administrative officer, got in a shoving match during a Delaware Police Athletic League meeting in late 2011 or early 2012, witnesses said. And he was charged with offensive touching after a 2010 altercation that Grimaldi said was his reaction to an attack, court records show.
Having a government gig apparently means never having to be accountable, I guess.

Saturday Open Thread [5.4.2013]

[...]If your "way of life" involves handing deadly weapons to five-year olds, your way of life is completely screwed up and you should change it immediately because it is stupid and wrong. (And, again, also, too: goddammit, "learning to use and respect a gun" means at least knowing that the fking thing is loaded when it's sitting in the corner of the parlor like it's a damn umbrella stand or something, and we should talk about that part, too.) It is not in any way "normal" to hand a kindergartner a firearm. If a mother from the inner-city of, say, Philadelphia did that, and the kid subsequently shot his sister to death, Fox News never would stop yelling about the crisis in African American communities and the Culture Of Death, and rap music, too. If your culture is telling you that children who have only recently emerged from toddlerhood should have their own guns, then your culture is deadly and dangerous and that should concern you, too. If your culture demands that, in the face of a general national outrage over the killing of other children, your politics work to loosen the gun laws you have, as they apparently did in Kentucky, then your culture is making your politics stupid and wrong and you should change them, too.[...]

Friday Open Thread [5.3.13]

The U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April, which is a good not great number, but the better news is the revisions for February (a great month that is now Clintonian Great) and March (a Bushian bad month of low job growth that has now become Obamian Good).
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +268,000 to +332,000, and the change for March was revised from +88,000 to +138,000. With these revisions, employment gains in February and March combined were 114,000 higher than previously reported.

This is why Cathy Cloutier keeps getting reelected…

... yeah, you can say it is the well timed moderate votes recently and over the last several years that have pretty well placed her in the "sane Republican" and "moderate" categories, but never ever underestimate the personal touches. For example, most politicians, if they are worth their stuff, send out happy birthday messages to their constitutuents, mostly in the form of mass produced postcards or cards, like the one my State Representative Debbie Hudson sent me....