Archive for October, 2013
The 62 Project: #’s 30, 31, 32
We begin the ranking of the 62 legislators smack dab in the middle. As a listaholic, the thought of doing a double countdown, both up to the top and down to the dregs, is close to orgasmic. And, um, the foreplay is just starting.
I laid out my criteria here. I’ll let the articles speak for themselves. In addition to expressing opinions on the rankings, please let me know how you’d like to see this countdown improved. I’m sure there will be subtle format changes as this moves forward.
To me, here’s the lede of today’s rankings: Being in the middle of the rankings does not mean ‘meeting expectations’. As it turns out, all three of the legislators profiled here should be better and should be ranked higher, making their performances so far disappointing, at least to me.
Republican Shutdown and Default Apocalypse Open Thread, Day 15: The Final Chapter?
The Republican Shutdown and associated tantrums have entered its third week. Day 15. As of this moment, we are 60 hours from a Republican Debt Default (the end of the day, or 11:59:59 on Thursday, October 17, being the deadline). We are at the verge of a Senate deal. We are also hearing this morning that the House GOP may vote tonight on its own bill, which I think is dead in the Senate and which I think will actually fail in the House (since no Dems will vote for it, and many of the Teabaggers will not like it). The contours of that deal are as inside, as well as what I think of it…
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [10.15.13]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7321/10100835635_935916fb66_z.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [10.15.13]")
Vet to Cruz: Keep Your Slimy Hands Off My Memorials
Ted Cruz, you dishonor your title, Senator. You do not deserve it. You dishonor all U.S. military veterans and the monuments built to honor us.
Late Night Video — Ginger Gibson on the Fact Checker Hotseat
Former NJ reporter Ginger Gibson was on Reliable Sources on Sunday speaking to their stand in media critic (Frank Senso), who asked her what she did with the factchecking that gets produced by the various organizations doing this. She told him she ignored it, and we’re off to the races:
Republican Shutdown and Default Apocalypse Open Thread, Day 14
Today is Columbus Day (if you are in South Dakota, this is Native American Day) so much of the government (Feds and state) is REALLY closed, as are many other companies. But this is Day 14 of the Republican Shutdown and here is the state of the government as I understand it:
- Obamacare is alive and no longer a GOP hostage
- The Government is still shutdown and the GOP wants to keep it as a hostage
- The debt Ceiling has not been raised and is still a GOP hostage — although there are plenty of noises this morning looking to raise the debt ceiling
- Various Federal parks or monuments are opening using state funds, and good luck getting those back from this Congress.
Announcing the 62 Project
I am El Somnambulo, and I’m a listaholic.
Today I announce The 62 Project, which will ultimately yield my rankings of legislators from 1 to 62.
However, I intend for it to be much more than just a list. I will write a selective bio, some brief, some lengthy, on each state legislator. I want to give people who don’t really know the legislators that well the opportunity to know them better. For better or worse.
I also don’t want this to be just a snarkfest, although, to put it mildly, THERE WILL BE SNARK. Lots of it. Hey, can’t help myself.
So, how have I ranked the legislators?
Chart of the Day — Who the US Owes Money To
Since it looks like we’ll be hearing about the debt ceiling all week (unless the Senate comes up with a rescue plan between this Sunday night writing and Monday morning), it is useful to remind ourselves who the US owes money to:
![Monday Daily Delawhere [10.14.13]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3780/10100537454_097e8fe6ba_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [10.14.13]")
Late Night Video — Eric Cantor Has Control of the House CR
Interesting, yes? The House GOP quietly passed a rule change on October 1 that changes the House rules from letting any member of the House bring forward a bill with amendments WITHOUT the amendments; to only Eric Cantor can bring ask for a vote on a bill with controversial amendments WITHOUT the amendments. Go that? Apparently they went to this length of changing the rules so that they could continue to control their caucus — even when they would weaken as the government shutdown persisted. Contrast that with Harry Reid hanging on to the filibuster. The GOP loudly has been wringing its hands and warning that changing the filibuster rules would be a “nuclear event” in the Senate. But here we have the House GOP going so far as to making certain that their guys face all of the damage being done to them — and they made this rule change while no one was looking. No reason to come to any accommodation with these fools any time soon, I’m thinking. If they want to burn down the house, make sure they are firmly locked in it. This is Chris Val Hollen on the House floor showing how the new rule works (a little over 5 minutes):
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [10.13.13]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7427/10105983596_c2ee09888c_z.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [10.13.13]")
Why is the Delaware NAACP Bullying Councilwoman Lisa Diller?
This past Tuesday, the NCCo County Council met for usual business, but ended with an extraordinary bit of public commentary directing actual threats at Councilwoman Lisa Diller. We talked about the original incident here. But the NAACP President, Richard Smith, read a letter into the record that you can hear via the County’s audio of the meeting. The full meeting is about 30 minutes long, but if you go to about the 26 minute mark you can hear from Mr. Smith and Mr. Roosevelt Nichols (not sure I heard the name correctly) who read the letter sent to Ms. Diller.
The letter recommends that Ms. Diller take Diversity Training and Anger Management Training. It also says that “…we will monitor your future County Council behavior from now on.” (my transcription of the audio). Mr. Smith then takes the mike to also recommend Diversity Training and ask for a meeting with Ms. Diller. And if that doesn’t happen, “We’ll do what we have to do — you can take that any way you want to.” ‘Refuse to take the black community for granted” and he’d have 14-18 NAACP states here to protest or something.
Got that? The Delaware NAACP suits up in County Council to defend the indefensible behavior of Bernard Pepukayi — that behavior being an inept dodge of a valid request from a Council Member for a briefing on a the status of an appeal of a recent court decision in the Pike Creek Golf Course case.
Republican Shutdown and Default Apocalypse Open Thread, Day 12
Here is the current state of negotiations as I understand it:
- Obamacare is alive and no longer a hostage
- The government is still shutdown and still a GOP hostage
- The debt limit is still a GOP hostage
- White House talks with the House are done or stalled — it looks like the President is not negotiating with the threat of shooting hostages on the table still
- White House is talking with the GOP in the Senate who are trying to get a 6-month plan to open the government and and the borrowing limit extended through January.
Recent Comments