Sunday Open Thread [3.10.2013]

It is a gorgeous Sunday, following a gorgeous Saturday. I'm even thinking about working on my yard this afternoon -- a thing I try to ignore until the very last minute. In any event, I hope you are enjoying this day!

Sunday Daily Delawhere [3.10.13]

The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Wilmington, usually held on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, from a few years ago. At the terminus of the parade route is a party held at St. Patrick's Church, where the church serves beer to hundreds or parade-goers.

Friday Open Thread [3.8.13]

Yesterday, as I traveled the Pennsylvania mountainside, I listened to all the Rand Paul Filisbuster Aftermath, and I have to say, I contemplated driving myself off a mountain when I realized I agreed with Senators McCain and Graham in what they said in rebuking Paul. First, I must say that I enjoyed the filibuster if for the simple reason that it sparked a good debate on the Senate floor, it was basically theater, and it showed the country and these fucking cowardly traditionalists in the Senate how a good a talking filibuster, a real filibuster, can be. I hope Majority Leader Reid listens to his deputy, Dick Durbin, and revists filibuster reform today. Now. Make the talking filibuster the norm. Now, back to McCain and Graham.....

Kinder Morgan Deal is Dead Part II

Or we could call it Kinder Morgan Deal is Dead -- The Fingerpointing. The NJ has another piece up this AM -- Port lease efforts on hold, which has a few more details on this story, but mostly it is additional reaction from some stakeholders. Aaron Nathans gets a key bit wrong -- there wasn't a $200M investment on the table, it was more like $41M. The rest was lease payments to the state. But the more I hear about this, the more I wonder about what we don't know about this deal. Was this lease payment meant to be funneled back to the Port for the automation upgrades talked about for the warehouses? Who knows. I have attached a copy of the letter so you can see it directly.

Job Growth Surges

The economy in February added 236,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate dropping to 7.7% from 7.9%, the lowest the main rate has been since December 2008. The economy would have grown by 10,000 jobs more (246k) if austerity measures had not resulted in the loss of 10,000 public sector jobs. Hopefully the economy will continue to grow so that the impact of the Sequester spending cuts, which will not be overturned. Indeed, in my view, while the cuts are bad and dumb, they at least give the President a rejoinder to the idiocy from Boehner and McConnell whenever they or any Republican says "The President got his tax hikes (or new revenue)." We can say, "Yes, and you got your spending cuts. So if we don't get any new revenue, you don't get any new spending cuts. There, we can be petulant children too."

Friday Daily Delawhere [3.8.13]

This is St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, on Union Street in Wilmington. The church is the center of the Forty Acres neighborhood, which was settled by Irish immigrants in the 1860s through 1880s. St. Ann's was built in 1887.

Kinder Morgan Deal Is Dead

In today's Open Thread, SussexWatcher points us to the news. Both the NJ and WDEL have reports up providing a summary of what was in the Kinder Morgan letter and some local reaction. EDIT -- WDDE has put up their report with some additional detail on why KM walked away. It looks like the deal is off of the table, although the NJ discussion with KM seems to leave a slim bit of wiggle room for everybody.

Late Night Video –What If You Rammed Every Car That Cut You Off

Ever been cutoff by a clueless driver? Where you had to accomplish the feat of standing on your brakes while also spewing forth every curse you've ever known? Me too. So what if you didn't hit your brakes and just hit the offender's car? That is what the maker of these videos has done -- Alexei Volkov, a bus driver in Zelenograd, Russia not only just hit the cars that cut him off, but he videotaped them. This video (approx. 1 min, 30 secs) is a compilation of some of these events. It is funnier than it should be and I do not endorse this, but damnit, I sure do understand why he did it!

Money Isn’t Working In School Board Elections

When it comes to school board elections something is different. Just ask Michael Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and Michelle Rhee. They lost big in Los Angeles.
Despite Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and Rupert Murdoch's big contributions, LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer was re-elected to the board, defeating their hope that Los Angeles would become the next big pathway to privatized education.
It seems that money, which is a must in other elections, doesn't count for much in school board elections. And we don't need to look at Los Angeles for proof. We experienced this phenomenon in Delaware. Last year I wrote several posts on the upcoming school board elections. I hadn't been paying much attention at the time, but as the election drew near, my attention was snagged. Something different was happening:
I haven’t really commented on the upcoming School Board elections, mainly because I can’t wrap my head around what’s going on. With all the attention on these races – phone polls, money, PACs – I keep feeling I’m missing something – Big. What is going on? What’s on the line? And why the hell is so much money being dumped into an election that, I predict, will still have a dismal turn-out. Basically, what’s the agenda? For the life of me I don’t see it. Yeah, I get the split is between Charter and Choice (Ed reformers) supporters vs Traditional Public School supporters, but that’s hardly new. What’s new are the aggressive tactics being employed and the money being spent. All of this keeps me wondering… Am I missing something about these races; something that makes them vitally important? Is something major about to change depending on who wins these elections? If so, what?
So that's where I started. The amount of money being dumped into our local school board races caught my attention. What held my attention was the emergence of Voices 4 Delaware, a nebulous PAC, that, in essence, became the school board candidate. You couldn't turn around without being hit with one of their mailers or receiving another one of their phone calls. As I write this today, I can't even remember the names of most of the candidates they supported, but I remember them. And just like what happened in Los Angeles, big money lost in Delaware last year.

Economic Myths

I talk to people. I listen to people a lot too. You may not know it from my blog persona, but I am very good at having grown up conversations. Recently, a surprising number of people I've spoken to have said that they think that the DJIA being high means that the economy is better. Some slightly more sophisticated people think that the DJIA being high means that economic improvement is right around the corner because these "flush with cash" companies will start building factories and hiring people. A few very sophisticated people know that "the Dow" isn't related to our economy much at all anymore. They know that the widespread mythology that the DJIA is related to the economy is a testament to the success that the investor class has had framing their goals and aspirations as the country's goals and aspirations. Who knows though, maybe if we all believe in the DJIA hard enough, if we light candles and kneel before our Jim Cramer (sp?) shrines, companies will put some money back in the system? Maybe the egg heads who are always looking for clear connections between "cause" and "effect" just need to shut up and enjoy a day at the dog track. Maybe it is time for a good old fashioned ghost dance? Sequester, schma-quester - Happy days are here again!!