Archive for December, 2013

Thursday Daily Delawhere [12.5.13]

Filed in Delaware by Delaware Dem on December 5, 2013 • 0 Comments

Yet More Suckitude From John Carney

Filed in Delaware, National by El Somnambulo on December 4, 2013 • 40 Comments

He is terrible. Today, our ‘Honorable’ voted with the Rethugs and 35 other phony D’s to “exempt many private equity fund advisers from a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law which required advisers with more than $150 million in assets under management to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”

What earthly public purpose could be served by such an exemption? None, none at least that makes sense from a progressive perspective.

Late Night Video — United States of Ameoba

Filed in National by cassandra_m on December 4, 2013 • 2 Comments

This is from the Economist — a really outstanding infographic that shows the extent to which the two governing parties in the US have pulled apart (approx. 1 minute long).

WDEL Feed A Friend Campaign

Filed in Delaware by cassandra_m on December 4, 2013 • 0 Comments

Every year, WDEL devotes a day of programming (at least from 9 til 4 or so) to raising funds for a number of great institutions who are trying to help feed Delawareans in need — the Newark Area Welfare Committee, the Sunday Breakfast Mission, the Emmanuel Dining Room, YWCA Delaware and the St. Paul’s Church Outreach Center. And it is a great deal too — every $11.50 pledge buys a case of food to help feed some of our neighbors in need. Tomorrow — Thursday 5 December — is this year’s Feed A Friend Day and we encourage all DL readers and commenters to call WDEL during Al Mascitti’s show from 9 til 12 to pledge what you can to this worthy cause. Why Al Mascitti’s show? Because Al has a goal of raising $10,000 tomorrow AM (he’s going to do a 10% match up to $1000.00); because his show is the only local one working at deconstructing right-wing memes; and because he takes El Som off of our hands for a few hours during the week. 😆

We’ll post the phone number to call in the morning, and remind you to call and pledge in multiples of $11.50. (They’ll take credit cards.) After you pledge, it would be really fantastic if you’d go to your Facebook page and ask your friends to call in to pledge too.

Wednesday Open Thread [12.4.13]

Filed in Open Thread by Delaware Dem on December 4, 2013 • 17 Comments

Polly Sierer was officially sworn in as Newark’s new mayor last night in City Council Chambers. I admit that that I did not follow Newark’s election very closely, since I do not live in Newark and it was a non partisan election focused on local issues. Indeed, I did not have to cover it since Nancy Willing at the Delaware Way did a fantastic job doing so, as she always does on local New Castle County matters. But the election took a turn to the interesting yesterday:

Roe and a small group of residents sought to delay the swearing in over questions that had regarding an outside advocacy group’s activities and confusion regarding polling place information.

Nancy has more. Kavips has much more on what he calls a power grab.

Wilmington Breaks Its Shootings Record

Filed in Delaware by cassandra_m on December 4, 2013 • 62 Comments

Over the past several days, Wilmington lived through another rash of shootings resulting in a new shootings record: 147, surpassing the 2010 record of 142. On Monday, I returned home from seeing The Godfather on the big screen at Penn Cinema to multiple flashing red lights at 6th and Madison Sts — 2 women had been shot sitting on their porch earlier that evening. Earlier on Monday, the WPD reported arresting a man carrying an illegal gun not far from this spot — on the 500 block of W 5th — and credited the community with reporting this guy. On Friday, a man was shot in the 600 blk of W 6th St. Other shootings up on Lea Blvd AND at the Riverfront made this a heartbreaker of a Thanksgiving weekend for Wilmington.

Wednesday Daily Delawhere [12.4.13]

Filed in National by Delaware Dem on December 4, 2013 • 0 Comments

Now Accepting 2013 MVP Nominees!

Filed in Delaware by El Somnambulo on December 3, 2013 • 24 Comments

Yes, the 2013 MVP (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause in Delaware) list is coming soon. As soon as I write it, in fact.

This Top Ten list reflects those Delawareans who most contributed to the advancement of progressive causes in the year-gone-by.

Those on the list don’t even have to be progressives (Tony DeLuca and John Sigler have made it, and that doesn’t even include the 2010 winner…) , but they have to have made at least one signature contribution to the cause.

Once again, I seek your nominees. Several of your suggestions have made it onto previous lists.

Tuesday Open Thread [12.3.13]

Filed in Open Thread by Delaware Dem on December 3, 2013 • 2 Comments

Kevin O’Holleran, who managed Mark Herring’s (D) campaign for Virginia attorney general, writes that gun control was the key to Herring’s narrow win.

“Political conventional wisdom has it that in a purple state, such as Virginia, support for gun-safety legislation is best played down. As manager of Mark Herring’s campaign for attorney general, I got a lot of advice. One of the things I heard most frequently was that we should soft-pedal his strong record and advocacy for sensible gun legislation. It would hurt us outside of Northern Virginia and wasn’t a voting issue within the Beltway, I was told. Like much conventional wisdom, this was wrong — and we not only ignored this advice but did the opposite.”

You know why? Because those who are against gun control to such an extent that it is their number 1 issue will never vote Democratic. They will always vote Republicans. So those voters are lost. And Democratic candidates will lose even more voters, from their own base, if they soft pedal or play down not only their records but their positions on reasonable gun control. Stand up and Man and Woman Up, Democrats.

Legislative Scorecards from the ADA and the PDD

Filed in National by Delaware Dem on December 3, 2013 • 6 Comments

December is the time of year for year end reviews. The Delaware General Assembly will be restarting its 147th Session this January, and now is a good time to see what they did, and how they did it. The Delaware chapter of Americans for Democratic Action released its 2013 Legislative Report Card last month. Their legislative report card focuses on the individual members of the General Assembly and how they sponsored and voted on specific progressive pieces of legislation.

The Progressives Democrats for Delaware (PDD) released their legislative scorecard today, and they instead focused on how their progressive priority legislation fared in the General Assembly as a whole that is completely controlled by Democrats. The PDD report is entitled “The Good, the Bad, and the Incomplete” and states that “four legislative goals were achieved; four were defeated, while four were incomplete.”

The full reports are inside.

I Fear For Our Daughters

Filed in National by pandora on December 3, 2013 • 29 Comments

hen incidents like this happen a chill runs up my spine.

A Michigan woman who suffered a dangerous, painful and prolonged miscarriage when she was 18 weeks pregnant is at the center of a lawsuit that claims she was denied appropriate treatment by a Catholic hospital guided by religious, not medical, concerns.

Yeah, I know. The new Pope is saying awesome stuff… perhaps he can back those words up with deeds?

What happened to this woman is 100% unacceptable. They knew the pregnancy wasn’t viable. They knew the safest treatment option. They knew they were endangering her health. And I’m sure they knew she had two children at home, because, as a mother, I can’t imagine not worrying (aloud) about my children when I’m in the emergency room. But, I’m beginning to think that these Catholic bishops, and other “pro-lifers”, only consider pregnant women mothers because they seem a-okay with creating motherless children.

It’s as if losing a child is only okay if a woman suffers maximum pain and risks her health and life. I can’t wrap my head around that, but these incidents keep happening so that’s the drill.

John Carney’s Friendship Initiative – A Scorecard

Filed in National by jason330 on December 3, 2013 • 8 Comments

John Carney decided to establish his street cred in Congress by building friendships with Republicans. It was the very heart of his brand-building first term. A daring strategy, and as it turned out, a stupid one.