Late Night Video — Gov. Markell Appears on Huff Post Live
Not sure that big news is made here -- discussing gun safety (universal background checks), kids aging out of foster care, gay marriage (approx. 13 minutes):
PDD-DL Vote Tracker Update for May 22, 2013
Not much new this week, since the Assembly is out of session for the next two weeks as the Joint Finance Committee finishes the budget. Still there was some action on the bills we are following, and there have been two new bills that I have added to the Trackers as they seem interesting. The first is Rep. Rebecca Walker's House Bill 131, or the Gestational Carrier Agreement Bill. At first, I thought the term "Gestational Carrier" was an overly technical and political correct replacement for Surrogate Mother. But it turns out that I was wrong.
There are two kinds of Surrogacy. One is where the surrogate mother is genetically related to the child she is carrying, or in other words, the surrogate mother used her own egg and had it artificially inseminated by the intended father. This is called traditional surrogacy. If the surrogate mother carries an fertilized egg to term and she is not genetically related to it, that is gestational surrogacy, and Representaive Walker's legislation establishes the legal rights of all involved in a gestational surrogacy.
Titles and labels aside, the bill is a good idea, as it establishes into law the notion that these agreements between a couple and a surrogate mother are binding legal contracts. According to the legislation, after the child is born, the intended parent becomes the legal parent of the child and the gestational carrier would have no parental rights. In New Jersey, Governor Christie vetoed a similar law, and his official reason is that it could radically change the traditional notion of the family. Please. This bill allows more families to be created, which I thought was a good thing.
The other bill (Senator Hocker's Senate Bill 74) features an unholy alliance of Progressive and Arch Conserative sponsors, all agreeing on transparency and open government. See Democratic Leadership, the GOP is really going after you on transparency. It is a potent issue, and you ignore it at your peril.
Wednesday Open Thread [5.22.13]
Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma has in the past opposed emergency aid for Hurricane Sandy. But unlike his Oklahoman colleague in the Senate, Tom Coburn, he will support federal emergency funds for the Moore Tornado disaster. Which means of course, he is a flaming hypocrite who would deny aid to East Coast Democrats and liberals but gladly take it for his Sooner state conservatives. Not so, says Inhofe. A tornado and a hurricane are "totally different."
That was a "totally different" situation, Inhofe told MSNBC, arguing that the Sandy aid was filled with pork. There were "things in the Virgin Islands. They were fixing roads there and putting roofs on houses in Washington, D.C. Everybody was getting in and exploiting the tragedy that took place. That won't happen in Oklahoma."Oh sweet Jesus. Is Inhofe unaware that the Hurricane hit the DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and all of New England too? Is he not aware that the Virgin Islands are hit by tropical storms and Hurricanes on a yearly basis. Why are Republican Senators so fucking stupid? Why!!!???!!!
I like this new Pope.
“This ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy … The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! …
We all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there,” – Pope Francis, in the weekly Wednesday homily (sermon) today at the Vatican.
Wednesday Daily Delawhere [5.22.13]
From Sarah McBride.
Finally got my hands on the Phillips complaint.
It's pretty disgusting, the allegations contained therein. Read at your own peril. It is a public filing, so it is ok for you to read it. And while the Plaintiff/alleged victim is over 18 now, and while her name is plastered all over that complaint, I will not tolerate any mention of her name here in the comments. If the complaint is to be believed (and I do believe it), this young woman was a sexual assault victim, and I will not have her attacked by name or even mentioned by name on this thread. Consider it the Rape Shield Law extended.
A story to keep an eye on…
From the News Journal:
A 58-year-old New Castle man was critically injured this morning after opening an ammunition box left by a neighbor in the Van Dyke Village neighborhood for a special trash pick up, officials said. Explosive experts from Dover Air Force Base have been called to help after officials believe they found more explosives. According to Chionchio, a woman on Van Dyke Drive put several items out for a special trash pickup today. This included an ammo box that belonged to her husband. She did not know there were explosives in the box, Chionchio said. The man, a neighbor from across the street, asked if he could have the box. After getting her permission he took it across the street and placed it on a pickup truck tailgate. As he opened the box, Chionchio said, a mortar shell went off, covering him in shrapnel.When I first read this story as it was breaking this morning, it sounded like a man was building a bomb and it exploded on him. Now it appears that the husband of the woman who put out the explosives in the trash unknowingly, and that the injured man was an innocent victim. Still, the question remains why the husband had the explosives in the first place, and how many more explosives does he have. Before our Second Amendment fetishists get their britches in knots, please note that there is no right to bear explosives. It is quite illegal. And it is quite Constitutional for them to be illegal.
Tuesday Open Thread [5.21.13]
Virginia state Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), the Republican nominee for Attorney General in Virginia, had introduced legislation in 2009 to require women to report their miscarriages to their local police department. Not only that, these devastated women would have to provide information in their report on the location of the fetus' remains. Or else what, you ask? Well, if the mother did not report her miscarriage to the police, she would be charged and presumably be found guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, which in Virginia carries a maximum sentence of “confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500.” And they wonder why women, nationwide and in Virginia, have a problem voting Republican. Hey Assshain, oh excuse me, Obenshain, a woman's miscarriage is none of your goddamn business, nor the government's. It is a horrible tragedy for expectant mothers to go through. And you want to make their pain worse.
In case you needed any further proof that Birtherism was just Racism disguised…
So Fox News has finally decided that it is ok to be born outside this country if you want to be President. Yes. Fox News says that Senator Ted Cruz (R-Asshole) is eligible to run for President despite the fact that he was not born in the United States.
How interesting. And how confusing.
How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?
Pete Santilli went on a disgusting rant and caught the attention of the Secret Service who paid him a visit saying...
“We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will take the appropriate follow up action,” Edwin M. Donovan, a Secret Service spokesperson, told TPM on Monday. “He certainly has a right to free speech, but the Secret Service has a right and an obligation to determine what a person’s intent is when making comments like this.”And what were those comments?
‘Miss Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted, she needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina,” he said. “I wanna pull the trigger. That ‘C U Next Tuesday’ has killed human beings that are in our ranks of our service. I want to remind you that in Benghazi, Miss Hillary ‘the fricken’ biggest vagina on the face of the planet’ told troops to stand down and to not go in and interfere with the operation that they set up because they’re moving arms; Barack Obama is moving drugs through the CIA out of Afghanistan and Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America.”
24 Dead in Oklahoma Monster Tornado
Tuesday Daily Delawhere [5.21.13]
From Sarah McBride.
Buycott, Shop Your Conscience
Have you heard about this app? Buycott installed on your smartphone can scan products you intend to buy and give you a rundown of that product's corporate history. It can also give you data on what those corporations do with the money they earn from your purchases. Interesting, right? For people who are trying not to buy anything from Koch Industries, for example, data from the scans you take can help you leave their stuff on the shelf.