Markell v. Arizona

Markell v. Arizona

If only the socially progressive Governor Markell was also the economically progressive Governor Markell. Well, I will enjoy the former...
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) spoke out against the controversial anti-gay bill in Arizona Monday, stating that if Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signs it into law, the state should not be allowed to host the Super Bowl next year in Glendale. "It seems to me if they pass this law and if she signs it, the NFL may be looking, or maybe should be looking, to move the Super Bowl out of that state. There are so many places around the country that are welcoming to everybody," he said in an interview on MSNBC with host Ronan Farrow.
Christine O’Donnell back to conjuring the same old spells of small scale grifting and vicitmhood

Christine O’Donnell back to conjuring the same old spells of small scale grifting and vicitmhood

"Burble, bauble, toil and trouble. Give me a scotch and make it a double." That's my spell. Read on to see Christine ply her dark arts in an attempt to once again separate fools from their purses.
Delaware Tea Party star Christine O'Donnell is at it again, attempting to raise money and generate sympathy by claiming she was victimized by the IRS and Delaware's Division of Revenue. O'Donnell wrote an op-ed for the New York Post on Saturday, saying she was "preyed upon" by state and federal officials who "leaked" her private tax records, resulting in damage to her 2010 U.S. Senate campaign. She refers as evidence to a publicly available federal tax lien that was filed in New Castle County as the IRS audited O'Donnell's 2005 tax return for unpaid federal taxes. The News Journal wrote about O'Donnell's financial problems, including the lien, in this March 20, 2010 story.
Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

Monday Open Thread [2.24.14]

Arizona's Republican-controlled legislature passed a pro-discrimination bill last week that gives government sanction to any form of discrimination that a bigot wishes to practice. Now, obviously this law is blatantly unconstitutional and it will not survive its first encounter with a judge, any judge, anywhere. And Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed a similar bill last year. So there are hopes that this bill will never take affect as law. But to prod Brewer along, and to punish the bigots who call themselves the Republican legislators, George Takei has sent a message to the people of Arizona.
Acting DEGOP Chair, “Charlie” Copeland’s confused fundraiser

Acting DEGOP Chair, “Charlie” Copeland’s confused fundraiser

There is a lot of weirdness packed into Acting DEGOP Chair, Copeland's fundraising appeal. Let's unpack it, shall we?
Dear Fellow Republican, This past week Joe Biden told his fellow tax. borrow and spend Democrats that, "There isn't a Republican Party". I need your help to prove him wrong!
That was February 14th. Way to jump on this hot news item, Charlie.
As a Delaware Republican, you've watched the strong arm tactics of the Biden family over the years, and the negative impact it's had on our nation and our state.
He doesn't say what strong arm tactics, so I guess this it just Biden hating for the sake of Biden hating. A little red meat for the downstate dummies who aren't at the cocktail parties Charlie attends with the Bidens. Maybe the strong arm tactics he is talking about is the dastardly winning of the elections? I can see how Copeland would view the ability to win elections as some sort of mysterious black magic.

Sunday Open Thread [2.23.2014]

This is an eye-candy Open Thread -- a very cool infographic featuring visuals for 50 Incredible Natural Phenomena. The magnetic north one might be controversial, but this infographic is not for creationists:

Late Night Video — Omnipotent #WaveOfAction

This is pretty intriguing -- Eminem, Ice Cube, Korn plus elements of Anonymous put together this video meant to help promote the worldwide Wave of Action on April 4,2014. There's not a ton of info at the website, but they seem to want to inspire activity around the world (protests, social service, rallies, media projects) plus create celebrations of Occupy at their major protest sites. This video is 4:46: Anyone know anything more about this event? Let us know in the comments.

Saturday Open Thread [2.22.2014]

Michael Tomasky has taken to the NY Review of Books to speculate about A New Populism in the Democratic Party. He sees signs of the party "soft-shoeing" its way leftward:
For example, the Center for American Progress (CAP), under its new president Neera Tanden, has pushed “middle-class” or “middle-out” economics as the left’s alternative to supply-side, trickle-down economics. The idea of middle-out economics is that the government, instead of investing in the top 2 percent by means of tax and other privileges, should instead invest in the broad middle through a number of left-leaning policy choices from which the bounty would radiate out to all sectors of the society. These would include a much higher minimum wage, paid family leave, and improvement of decaying infrastructure. Obama’s Knox College speech on inequality is one expression of the middle-out view in the way it ties middle-class investment to growth.4 CAP has been pushing the White House to take up these arguments, not the other way around. John Podesta, CAP’s former president, helped launch a new think tank, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, devoted specifically to issues related to inequality. Podesta is now a White House counselor, which gives these issues respected representation in debates in the Roosevelt Room and the Oval Office. This is all a welcome shift in emphasis, but of course it doesn’t mean that populist policies are going to become reality anytime soon. There is opposition to them within the Democratic Party and its broader policy solar system. Not nearly as much as there once was; the radical rightward shift of the Republican Party has, perhaps inevitably, moved the Democratic center of gravity leftward. But the opposition to populism continues.