A 10 Day Around the Horn [8.16.13 to 8.27.13]

A 10 Day Around the Horn [8.16.13 to 8.27.13]

Sorry for the delay in getting this around the horn to you. I meant to have it ready on Friday, but I had my physical. So I delayed it to Saturday, but then I had my Fantasy Football draft. And then on Sunday and Monday I was toying with the idea of just waiting until Friday for a two week round-up. But then I started writing it and it was getting too big. So I am just going to post what I have now, and do another Around the Horn column on Friday, September 6. So here is what the Delaware blogosphere was talking about this past 10 days. I have organized the postings into individual subjects. Organization FTW! This week we are talking about Bloom Boxes and the Newark Data Center, Teachers and Testing, the constitutionality of Charter Schools, the New Castle Tire Incinerator, the looming and dooming Highmark monopoly.
Tuesday Open Thread 8.27.13

Tuesday Open Thread 8.27.13

Eugene Robinson:
History says don’t do it. Most Americans say don’t do it. But President Obama has to punish Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s homicidal regime with a military strike — and hope that history and the people are wrong. If it is true that the regime killed hundreds of civilians with nerve gas in a Damascus suburb last week — and Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Monday that the use of chemical weapons is “undeniable” — then Obama has no choice. Such use cannot be tolerated, and any government or group that employs chemical weapons must be made to suffer real consequences. Obama should uphold this principle by destroying some of Assad’s military assets with cruise missiles. I say this despite my belief that Obama has been right to keep the United States out of the Syrian civil war. It is not easy to watch such suffering and destruction — more than 100,000 people killed, millions displaced, cities pounded into rubble — and do nothing. Now I believe we are obliged to hit Assad. But then what?
Obama should have never drawn a red line. By doing so, he boxed himself in to using military force if the line was crossed.
My Thoughts On The Miley Cyrus “Incident”

My Thoughts On The Miley Cyrus “Incident”

First, I refuse to buy into the parent "outrage" over their precious children witnessing such an "outrageous" display.  Hello?  It's MTV.  It's what they do - it's their flippin' business model.  Second, if you're one of those people who still thinks MTV is a music video channel... let me enlighten you.  Here's a sample of MTV's programming lineup: 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, Real World, Engaged and Underage, Jersey Shore, Lingerie Football League, and, of course, Snookie and Jwoww.  There's plenty more, but that gives you the idea.  So, I'm not going to waste my time over parents who were shocked by a show on MTV. Back to the Miley incident...  (If you haven't seen the VMA video, here it is.) I am not disgusted or outraged by her performance.  I am embarrassed for her.