The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.

The Vote Tracker is Back and Updated.

To break this down succinctly, the 147th General Assembly has two months of life left to it. (Quick, sci-fi fans, what movie is that paraphrased line from?). At the beginning of this session, all the way back on January 3, 2013, Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Dems began keeping track of our how legislators voted on legislation of interests to Progressives. Come inside to see our Vote Tracking Charts. Not included in the charts below are four bills that were just released yesterday concerning strengthening Delaware's FOIA statute. And I got a little excited when I saw the emailed press release come across my inbox, until I opened up the press release and saw the subtite: "Four bills sponsored by Reps. Atkins... " I actually felt a physical drop, sitting there at my computer. Because how good can an Open Government bill be if it is sponsored by John Atkins? I read further and discovered that this was a package of bills sponsored by four very different legislators, some of which are good, some of which are meh, and some of which will roll your eyes.

Tuesday Open Thread [5.6.14]

I am taking advantage of the two hats that I wear in Delaware politics (Delaware Liberal and the Progressive Democrats for Delaware) and introducing you to a new ad campaign for the PDD that you may have already seen in the social media. And at the same time that I am introducing you to it, I want to get further ideas for it from the DL Hive Mind. If you have a catchy slogan that captures one or more progressive principles, feel free to offer it publicly here or send it to me personally at delawaredem@delawareliberal.net.
General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 6, 2014

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., May 6, 2014

Ban the Box passes! HB 167( J. J. Johnson), which would 'prohibit a public employer from inquiring into or considering the criminal record, criminal history or credit history or score of an applicant before it makes a conditional offer to the applicant', passed the Senate 15-5 on Thursday. As we've previously mentioned, the bill does:
specif(y) that once a background check is conducted an employer shall only consider felonies for 10 years from the completion of sentence, and misdemeanors for 5 years from the completion of sentence. Further, employers are required to consider several enumerated factors when deciding whether to revoke a conditional offer based on the results of a background check.
HB 167 does not apply to those positions where a criminal background check is statutorily mandated (law enforcement, the courts), but it does apply to contractors with state agencies. Sens. Greg Lavelle and Ernie Lopez were the only Rs to vote yes. Credit where credit's due. The bill now heads to the Governor's desk. BTW, Rep. J. J. Johnson is one of our most effective legislators. He is low-key, doesn't call attention to himself, but he quietly gets things done. Apropos of nothing, he's also a serious jazz buff. He deserves to be better-known.

Tuesday Daily Elsewhere [5.6.14]

Alright. I think we have posted every picture taken of Delaware, ever. So we are going to take a break from our Daily Delawhere picture and start a new series called the "Daily Elsewhere picture" for a few weeks. I have taken lots of pictures over the years in various different locales, as my real world job allowed me to travel to places that I probably would have never gone to voluntarily. I will not give you any hints as to where the picture was taken. You have to guess. Some will be easy. Some will be hard. Here is your first one....
Incarceration Nation

Incarceration Nation

Much is being written recently about the appalling status of incarceration rates in the U.S.A. Not much is being done. All sorts of causal factors are cited: the War on Drugs, poverty, moral breakdown, the economy, mental illness, demise of the social contract.....the list is endless.

Monday Open Thread [5.5.14]

The graphic on the right is amazing. I think we can safely say that racists became more vocal and proud of their racism upon the election of a black President, which is something that most observers, myself included, did not see happening. And that is because their racism could now be legitimatized as partisan opposition. Meanwhile, A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that "Americans in large numbers want the U.S. to reduce its role in world affairs even as a showdown with Russia over Ukraine preoccupies Washington." This goes against what we see in the media and what is espoused by pundits. According to them, President Obama should have wrestled Putin and a Siberian Bear to death on live TV by now, and defeated Russia, all the while without provoking a thermo nuclear holocaust that would surely result from any war with Russia. And last week, when the 250 girls in Nigeria were kidnapped, the first question asked by Erin Burnett on CNN was "Why isn't the US doing anything?"
Saturday Open Thread [5.3.14]

Saturday Open Thread [5.3.14]

So these poll numbers explain the Benghazi!!! freakout by the Republicans yesterday. NATIONAL--PRESIDENT--Washington Post/ABC News: Fmr. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (D) 53, Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) 41 FLORIDA--PRESIDENT--Quinnipiac: Clinton (D) 49, Bush (R) 41; Clinton (D) 52, Rubio (R) 40; Clinton (D) 55, Paul (R) 37; Clinton (D) 52, Christie (R) 34; Clinton (D) 56, Ryan (R) 36; Clinton (D) 57, Cruz (R) 31; Clinton (D) 53; Huckabee (R) 35