The “War on Terror” Surveillance State Hits Journalists

Yesterday, the AP disclosed that the DOJ obtained lists of "incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery." Apparently this is in the service of an investigation of a leak -- one that revealed an Al-Queda affiliate plot to blow up an airliner on the anniversary of the killing of Bin Laden. Except that it wasn't a real plot --it was one cooked up by a CIA plant to try to discover the elements of this affiliate. The Obama Administration has been pursuing this leak -- they seem to pursue them all -- but there is a little extra impetus in this one:

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 14, 2013

While we were busy celebrating the passage and signing into law of Delaware's Marriage Equality Act, the House effectively killed off legislation providing a modest hike in Delaware's minimum wage. Make no mistake: the killing of SB 6 was deliberate and planned, and the co-conspirators were all Democrats: Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, Rep. Bryon Short, and Gov. Jack Markell. Here's how it happened. After bargaining in what he thought was good faith with Gov. Walker Markell, Sen. Robert Marshall agreed to amendments that significantly reduced the impact of SB 6. Specifically, he agreed to push back the effective date, to decouple subsequent rate increases from the rate of inflation, and to lower the amount of the increase. Markell praised the eviscerated finished product, and said he could support the bill. Which was the last 'support' he provided. And Speaker Pete got the memo loud and clear: Kill the bill! And he did. How? By assigning it to the House Business Lapdog Committee, aka the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance/Commerce Committee, instead of to the House Labor Committee. Chaired by Rep. Bryon Short. You may recall that this is precisely the same tactic that former Speaker Bob Gilligan employed when Markell wanted him to kill the bill last session. And, for the second straight session, Short did not disappoint. SB 6 was passed in the Senate on March 21. It did not receive its hearing in the committee until May 8, and that was deliberate. Short allowed the bill to languish until the last day that, according to House rules, it had to be considered in committee. Many of you are aware of the full-court press opposition led by the respective Chambers of Commerce in the past two weeks. By delaying consideration of the bill, the committee chair enabled that campaign to have optimal effect. To the point where empty tabula rasas like Andria Bennett were reciting Chamber talking points verbatim in opposition to as Democratic a bill as you'll ever find. Gov. Markell demonstrated some slickness here. By saying that he would sign SB 6, he eliminates any political stigma that Democrats would attach to him in a future run for political office for publicly opposing a minimum wage increase. And he gets Pete and his DLC house cronies to kill the bill. Just like he did last year. Just remember, Markell's fingerprints are all over this. Cut'n save.

Mother’s Day Open Thread [5.12.13]

Happy Mother's Day! Hope you are lavishing attention and gifts on your Mom today. The adorable Kid President has a message to all of the Moms out there (not the least of which is that the secret to changing the world is Moms):

Saturday Open Thread [5.11.13]

Today's NJ has a piece by Adam Taylor explaining the stakes in the upcoming meeting regarding rezoning several areas of the Beaver Valley holdings of the Woodlawn Trustees. I've seen alot of Facebook energy on this, but this is the first I've seen the issues spelled out.
In all, the plans call for 200,000 square feet of commercial space that would be housed in several buildings and residential developments with a total of 432 houses and townhomes, Green said. The commercial development would be called Concord Commons, an age-restricted community would be called The Mews at Concord and the other residential development would be called The Preserve at Concord.
Nothing about this seems like conservation. And conservation is about more than preserving recreational options. And certainly this is one more opportunity to increase traffic and congestion on roads that were not built for their current capacity.

What is it about Sussex Conservatives and Sexual Assault?

First the alleged child rapist Eric Bodenweiser, and now this:
A young woman is suing a veteran Sussex County councilman, claiming he repeatedly sexually assaulted her after encouraging her to become in involved in politics. The lawsuit filed this week in Kent County Superior Court alleges that Republican Councilman Vance C. Phillips forced sex on the woman several times in 2011, beginning a few weeks after she turned 18. The 17-page complaint includes graphic details involving bondage and sex toys during the sex acts that she says happened in Kent and Sussex counties. The complaint also says Phillips threatened the young woman not to tell anyone.
This seems to be connected to the allegations about Vance Phillips in an anonymous letter sent to the General Assembly last year. From the News Journal:
Delaware State Police investigated Phillips last year after members of the General Assembly received an anonymous letter claiming he was involved in a relationship with an underage girl. No criminal charges were filed. Phillips' attorney, Joe Hurley, said he was told by the attorney general's office earlier this year that the investigation was complete and that there would be no criminal prosecution.
So what does the 17 page complaint say? I am trying to get my hands on it, but here is the News Journal's synopsis:
The lawsuit alleges that Phillips first met the girl at a GOP event in Sussex County in March 2010, when she was 16. The complaint said that she later began working with him almost daily, regarded him as a close friend and adviser, and became "completely reliant" on him. On May 9, 2011, a month after she turned 18, Phillips accosted the young woman in a parking lot of a Georgetown dentist's office, exposing himself and trying to take her clothes off, according to the complaint. Phillips then told her to follow him to an isolated rural area, where he again tried to have sex with her. About a week later, the woman alleges, Phillips sent her a text warning her that if she told anyone what had happened, she would never have a career in politics, that he was "a very powerful politician with lots of power over the courts and judges," and that no one would believe her. Phillips demanded that she meet him in Laurel, locked her in a farm building near his home, and sexually assaulted her, the complaint alleges. Other attacks followed, with the woman claiming she feared what would happen to her if she did not submit to Phillips' demands, according to the lawsuit.

Open letter to the last remaining sane Delaware Republican

Hi, I know we've had our differences. I know I've berrated you for allowing Christine ODonnell to ever address an audience. I've scorned you for voting for George Bush (twice!). I've scoffed, and spit on the ground as you've walked by to show my utter contempt. But I'm past all of that now. I'm just full of pity for you and honestly reaching out right now to see what i can do to help you. I've been moving in this direction for a while because I can see you are a decent person. It know you have some whack-adoodle notions about taxation, but I think you want a better, more just, healthy, and sustainable democratic future for our state and country. I know that you have about as much in common with John Sigler and his whack job a-holes who have taken over your party as I do. This, from Daily Kos, really brought that home for me. "The meetings didn’t take. “[Newt] Gingrich and [Mitt] Romney understood, … and I think they even believed the evidence and understood the risk,” [MIT scientist Kerry] Emanuel says. “But they were so terrified by the extremists in their party that in the primaries they felt compelled to deny it. Which is not good leadership, good integrity. I got a low impression of them as leaders.” Throughout the Republican presidential primaries, every candidate but one—former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was knocked out of the race at the start—questioned, denied, or outright mocked the science of climate change. Soon after his experience in South Carolina, Emanuel changed his lifelong Republican Party registration to independent. “The idea that you could look a huge amount of evidence straight in the face and, for purely ideological reasons, deny it, is anathema to me,” he says." While I used to say "tough titties" that's the party you created out of your cynical belief that you could control the idiots and Christianist maniacs, I now realize that "I told you so" isn't going to cut it moving forward. We can't have a two party system in which one party of openly committed to simply fucking shit up out of spite. So, I'm honestly asking - what can I do? How can i help the GOP return to some semblance of sanity and decent? You know how to reach me. Let's chat. I wouldn't be much of a liberal if I didn't think we could work things out. Sincerly, jason330 PS. What the fuck were you thinking voting for George Bush for a second term? Honestly. okay- just had to say that one more time. Now I'm don't with finger pointing. I promise. onward.