Debate Night!

Debate Night!

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There's a debate for Attorney General Candidates (I don't know if this includes all of the ballot-qualified candidates) at Widener tonight, starting at 6pm, conducted by WDEL. You can listen on WDEL or go over to Widener to see it in person. Delaware Public Media and the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication sponsor debates with the major party candidates for U.S. House and U.S. Senate tonight at Mitchell Hall. This website provides the times (House starts at 7 and the Senate starts at 8), and there are rules for the debates there as well. Not sure if you can still attend in person, but that is likely there at the website. You can also watch a live stream (I think!) of the House and Senate debate.

Wednesday Open Thread [10.15.14]

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South Carolina Prosecutors Say Stand Your Ground Doesn’t Apply To Victims Of Domestic Violence. Well, of course not! Stand Your Ground is for white men who want to shoot people with impunity! So silly to think that an expansion of 2nd Amendment rights would apply to you women and colored people:
In the cases of women who claim they feared for their lives when confronted with violent intimate abusers, prosecutors say the Stand Your Ground law shouldn’t apply. “(The Legislature’s) intent … was to provide law-abiding citizens greater protections from external threats in the form of intruders and attackers,” prosecutor Culver Kidd told the Post and Courier. “We believe that applying the statute so that its reach into our homes and personal relationships is inconsistent with (its) wording and intent.”
Poll of the week discussion thread

Poll of the week discussion thread

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Today's poll asks DL readers so indicate (in general terms) why they plan on voting for the person they will be voting for in the Carney vs. Izzo vs. August showdown for Congress in three weeks. Normally I'd choose "I just automatically vote for the Democrat" but since Carney cannot lose this election, I'm going for Bernie August this time to try and cut Carney's margin of victory by one vote.
Brenda Mayrack is Wiping the Floor with Tom Wagner

Brenda Mayrack is Wiping the Floor with Tom Wagner

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I've been listening to this debate on WDEL and Brenda Mayrack is really crushing it here. Wagner is crouching behind a story that his is a technical and complex job, which is why he isn't doing accountability and watchdog roles -- even though he thinks he should be re-elected to do accountability and watchdog work. He sounded *very* condescending to her and she bypassed that BS to stay on her message. Wagner spent a great deal of his time explaining how the real work of accountability belongs to agency management and the legislature. Basically, Wagner wants you to know that:
Another reason to vote for Bernie August instead of John Carney

Another reason to vote for Bernie August instead of John Carney

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John Carney's greatest accomplishment in congress, the accomplishment that he puts on the top of the list of reasons why he should be re-elected is that he "sat down with Republicans." Yes. The very Republicans who continue to scheme to undermine the economic recovery to further their own narrow political aims. The Republicans who have never even pretended to reciprocate John Carney's ardor for compromise and bipartisanship. John Carney just thinks they simply need to be "sat down" with. It is absolutely ludicrous that he is claiming "sitting down with Republicans" as a great accomplishment, but there you have it. So every Democrat has a choice in this election - reward that kind of obstinate ignorance with a meek party line vote, or vote in a way that affirms your Democratic values by saying "yes" to Bernie August.

Monday Open Thread [10.13.14]

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This ought to be the talk of everyone today -- with the Texas Ebola problem, we are seeing how the US Public Health system has been deliberately broken: That chart is from a great piece in the Scientific American, showing how Public Health spending has been on the decline. The author, Judy Stone, provides some context for how Public Health considerations have been undermined over the past few years. Read the entire thing, then take a look at some of the material she provides in the links at the end of the article:
QOD — How Can An Accountability Testing Scheme Produce Such Low SAT Scores?

QOD — How Can An Accountability Testing Scheme Produce Such Low SAT Scores?

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We found out this week that approximately 25% of Delaware's High school students are college-ready, in terms of their SAT scores. Leaving aside that SAT scoring is not the most reliable measure of college-readiness, what is the correlation between the SATs and the DCAS testing regime in Delaware's schools? It seems to me that if DCAS measures what a kid is learning (yes, I know that is a BIG IF), and the kids are taking a curriculum that makes them ready for college, how can the SAT scores be so out of line with all of this testing? It is pretty remarkable to me that DCAS is used as an accountability test, but that it apparently all of that learning it measures doesn't translate to better SAT scores.
I am voting against John Carney’s bipartisanship idiocy by voting for Bernie August

I am voting against John Carney’s bipartisanship idiocy by voting for Bernie August

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In spite of how brazenly Republicans have decided to undermine the economy for their own narrow political ends, and in spite of the fact that even the so-called "moderate" Republican friends of John Carney never break with their leadership and reciprocate his affections - John Carney can't shut up about how great it is to "work with" Republicans" and he even considers "sitting down with Republicans" his greatest accomplishment in congress. With "accomplishments" like that, who needs failures? The upshot is that Carney has not given Democrats any reasons to vote for him. That is why I'm voting for the Green Party candidate Bernie August. I may even give money to the guy. But make no mistake - I am a Democrat. I want Democrats to win elections because at the Party's core, we are is still the party of the American working man. Also, when Democrats lose elections, that means Republicans win. And yet, in this case there is no downside to voting for the Green Party candidate. Rose Izzo cannot win. John Carney cannot lose. The only question is the margin of victory. If Carney wins by one fewer vote this election, that's fine with me. If two years from now he wins by 10 fewer...great. If, in some great and glorious future, Democratic voters eventually decide that their votes needs to be EARNED then eventually, John Carney will get the picture.