I cleaned up the Blog Roll…

Over on the right side of our blog, and down below the Recent Comments section, we have our Local Blogroll, divided into various categories: The Left (for liberal / progressive blogs) The Middle (for Delaware blogs that are either centrist / moderate or that are nonpartisan or even nonpolitical) The Right (for conservative blogs) Contributors (for links to the various and wonderful Delaware Liberal Contributors) The News I have removed old dead links to some of the news sites and blogs and updated them with the correct links. And I have also removed some old dead blogs and sites, and I also removed links to Daily Kos and the Onion, because they are not really local Delaware blogs or news sites, and that is what our blog roll is for. But, with the shocking and yet unwitting help of the reich wing king of Delaware, the one and only Hube, I have also added some long overlooked blogs and some new ones, so take a look. And if you know of a blog that we have missed, let me know. I also wanted to give a shout out to Steve Newton and The Delaware Libertarian for reaching the 300,000 visitor milestone recently. It is indeed an accomplishment you should proud of. Congrats! But to correct your guess at our traffic, we are at 5,224,112 views since late December 2007, when we moved over to Wordpress and started keeping track. I am sure the Jason and Dr. Nick show that was Delaware Liberal before garnered untold millions of more views, or at least that is what Jason tells me.

Has Facebook’s Time Passed?

Okay, I've never been a big Facebook user so I might be jumping the gun.  Here's what I have noticed in the past six months - almost all of my new friend requests are coming from family and friends over 60.   What's funny is the comments that accompany these friend requests.  Most say the same thing:  "Look who finally joined Facebook!" Basically, I'm not the one to judge whether Facebook's time has passed.  I have an account I glance at about once a month and while I find some of the comments/posts interesting, most are not. Two years ago, my then 13 year old daughter deleted her Facebook account, citing its useless drama as the reason.  She did rejoin, because it was where her school posted its information on Cross Country and Track meets and practice changes.  The last time she posted anything on Facebook was on March 20, 2013.   Her previous post was on February 23, 2013.   Seems to me if Facebook is counting on her to keep them going strong they might be in trouble.

Friday Open Thread [4.5.13]

I said on Wednesday at the PDD Meeting that Gun Control on the Federal level so long as the Republicans are in control of the House, and hell, so long as Democrats are cowardly preserving the filibuster privileges of the Senate Republicans. Indeed, it is a mystery to me why some Democrats and everyone in the media thought somehow that Republicans would abandon the NRA and pass even the most innocuous gun control measure. On state level, things look better, in Connecticut and Colorado and Maryland, and also here in Delaware, where at least one bill, the Universal Background Check bill, has a good chance of passing if we lobby our legislators so that the hear sane reasonable voices in addition to the insane pro-gun arguments. But whether legislation is successful on the state or national level, the issue is back as a cultural wedge issue, and this time the case can be made, based on the poll numbers I showed you in the Polling Report today, that it benefits Democrats.

The Polling Report [4.4.13]

We've got a lot of national polls this week on a host of issues, from immigration to gun control to job creation, spending cuts, and raising revenue, and on each the Democrats' and the President's positions are preferred, in some cases overwhelmingly, by the majority of Americans. Their respective job approvals are higher than that of their Republican counterparts. So why is it that Republicans like Speaker Boehner and Congressman Paul Ryan, or basically any Republican in front of a microphone or a camera, say that the American people want what they are selling. It never fails. It is what they always say. Are they just lying because our cowardly limp press will never challenge them on it? Or are they trying to move polls to their favor by repeating a lie?

I read it as a joke. Others read it as a vile sexist attack. Your thoughts?

"She's brilliant and she's dedicated, she's tough. She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general." -- President Obama, quoted by the Washington Post, on California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D). Yes, it was a comment, and yes, a compliment, on Harris' appearance. But it is also a joke. He said it to get a laugh and a cheer. He obviously did not say it to belittle her, as some who are yelling sexism are saying. To the contrary, he said as a joke, or a bonus, after he listed Harris' true and most relevant characteristics.

Thursday Open Thread [4.4.13]

Here are two stories with somewhat of a similar theme to them, and that is, "if people know the truth, they wouldn't like us," with us being the Republican Party and organized religion. First, the good old GOP. Gary Bauer, a former Republican presidential candidate and religious right stalwart, told some truth about the varied and now disperate factions of the GOP:
"If we gave our voters an accurate portrayal of our ideas, that we want to cut the rate of growth on Social Security, give tax cuts to billionaires and then the values issues, the values issues would be more popular than the economic agenda of the current Republican Party.”
It is always refreshing when a Republican tells the truth, if only because it is so rare.

Thursday Daily Delawhere [4.4.13]

The Vice President, also known here are Papa Joe or Uncle Joe, with what I can only describe as a "I will destroy you" look at a Delaware Lady Blue Hens game recently. Normally we present pictures of Delaware places and landscapes here at Daily Delawhere and not of Delaware people, but I liked this picture.

Wednesday Open Thread [4.3.13]

Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas opposes gun control because gay marriage leads to bestiality.
In fact, I had this discussion with some wonderful, caring Democrats earlier this week on the issue of, well, they said "surely you could agree to limit the number of rounds in a magazine, couldn't you? How would that be problematic?" [...] And I pointed out, well, once you make it ten, then why would you draw the line at ten? What's wrong with nine? Or eleven? And the problem is once you draw that limit ; it's kind of like marriage when you say it's not a man and a woman any more, then why not have three men and one woman, or four women and one man, or why not somebody has a love for an animal? There is no clear place to draw the line once you eliminate the traditional marriage and it's the same once you start putting limits on what guns can be used, then it's just really easy to have laws that make them all illegal.
You know, I get that conservatives, by their very nature and by definition, are supposed to fight change. That's their role. And I understand that opposing these very popular, very sane and very reasonable changes in our society can be very difficult, especially when you have no logical or understandable reason for it, which is why these insane conservatives often sound insane and delusional. It is because they have no logical or rational reason to oppose these changes. But they must oppose them, because they are conservatives, and so they have to come up with a reason. The problem for today's conservatives is that they let the very dim bulbs of their movement speak too often. Gohmert. Steven King. Sarah Palin. Michele Bachmann. They speak way too often. Probably because the smart and intelligent conservatives are way too embarrassed to be speaking out against change anymore.