The Weekly Addresses

In President Obama's weekly address, the President reiterated his commitment to ensuring that all hard-working Americans get the secure and dignified retirement they deserve. In Governor Markell's weekly message, he addresses ongoing efforts to support the supplier diversity community in Delaware at Star-Med in Hockessin. This week the bipartisan House Small Business Caucus in the General Assembly took a field trip to Painted Stave Distilling in Smyrna to meet with representatives from Delaware's vibrant craft beverage industry. I am sure they did some taste testing. Rep. Bryon Short, who co-chairs the small biz caucus with Rep. Danny Short, invited brewers, winemakers and distillers from all over the state to share their success stories, as well as suggest things state government could be doing to help their businesses grow and thrive. Since the law permitting farm wineries passed in 1991, and since the law permitting craft distilleries passed in 2012, Delaware's great craft wine, beer and spirits community has grown to 18 businesses, with more coming next year.
Friday Open Thread [2.27.15]

Friday Open Thread [2.27.15]

Kudos to Former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Yes, I just said that. Why?
“These are Americans. You are talking about, in the case of ISIS, people who are beheading individuals and committing heinous crimes, who are the face of evil. To try to make the relationship between them and the unions is inappropriate.” — Rick Perry, in an interview with NBC News, criticizing Scott Walker’s comparison of union protests with the Islamic State.
Scott Walker is an evil man and his political career must be destroyed at all costs. He is a slightly smarter Sarah Palin with male genitalia. Luckily, the polling boom has gone to his head, and he let some of the evil stupid contained within his brain to leak out. Eventually, he will be toxic to the general public. I mean, if even Rick Perry says you have gone too far, you are obviously off the road and in the forest.
The Dress.

The Dress.

It is all anyone is talking about today. And if they are not talking about that they are talking about escaping llamas, and if they are not talking about that, they are spoiling the first couple of episodes of House of Cards, which dropped its full season on Netflix at 3 am this morning (yes, I woke up at 4:22 am and have already watched one episode in bed on my phone and no I don't have a problem). Anyway, the dress. What colors are this dress?
Thursday Open Thread [2.26.15]

Thursday Open Thread [2.26.15]

The Senate is moving forward on a clean bill funding DHS until September, and though it's not clear when that vote will happen, we know that House Republican leadership plans, at the very least, to let things go down to the wire. For some House Republicans, after all, a DHS shutdown is not such a big deal. First Read: “With the Senate easily advancing a ‘clean’ bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the ball is now in House Speaker Boehner’s court. And the timing couldn’t be more problematic for him: The conservatives assembling at CPAC probably aren’t going to appreciate House Republicans caving in their fight against the Obama administration. It’s déjà vu for Boehner: He’s caught between trying to help his caucus out of tricky situations, and looking over his shoulder for conservatives who want his head on a platter if he caves to Democrats. What we haven’t been able to understand: Why haven’t Boehner and Republicans been able to make their success (so far) in the courts against Obama’s executive action an asset here?”
Science Takes On A Zombie Outbreak

Science Takes On A Zombie Outbreak

Given my and DelawareDem's love of The Walking Dead, I had to post this. This is for you, DD!
A team of Cornell University researchers has determined the best place to hide during a zombie apocalypse. A graduate statistical mechanics class was inspired by a reading of “World War Z,” a fictional oral history of a zombie war, and decided to explore what might happen in an actual zombie outbreak, reported Phys.org. [...] He said most films or books assume that a zombie outbreak would affect all areas at the same time, leaving a small pocket of survivors after a few months. “But in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn’t seem like this is how it would actually go down,” Alemi said. Cities would fall quickly, the researchers found, but it would take weeks or even months for zombies to penetrate less densely populated areas.
Wednesday Open Thread [2.25.15]

Wednesday Open Thread [2.25.15]

Nevada State Assemblywoman and Cliven Bundy supporter Michele Fiore (R) said:
If you have cancer, which I believe is a fungus, and we can put a pic line into your body and we’re flushing with, say, salt water, sodium cardonate ([sic] through that line and flushing out the fungus. These are some procedures that are not FDA-approved in America that are very inexpensive, cost-effective.
Who knew that cancer is like athlete's foot? Idaho State Rep. Vito Barbieri (R) thinks the throat and stomach are connected to the vagina and uterus. Wrong hole, sir. But there is a sign of hope. In Wyoming, state Rep. Harlan Edmonds (R) was kicked out of a House Labor, Health and Social Services meeting after proposing an amendment to a bill protecting gay and transgender people from discrimination that would make it effective when “hell freezes over,” instead of the date of July 1.
“Many longtime observers said that while some members of the public have been tossed from committees, this was the first time they’d seen a lawmaker removed from a meeting.”
Good for the Republicans in Wyoming for showing a bigot the door.
Constitutional Absolutists

Constitutional Absolutists

Only 30% of Republicans oppose making Christianity the national religion. Let that sink in for a second.
A majority of Republicans nationally support establishing Christianity as the national religion, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday.
The poll found that 57 percent of Republicans "support establishing Christianity as the national religion" while 30 percent are opposed. Another 13 percent said they were not sure.
Even with Tom Carper, Keystone backers fall short for veto override

Even with Tom Carper, Keystone backers fall short for veto override

Carper's office has not yet released a statement, but his ardor for the Keystone tar-sands oil pipeline is well known, making his a target for Republicans seeking to override yesterday's presidential veto. Andy yet, there is does not appear to be much upside for Carper if he votes, once again, for this ecological cluster-fuck.
Yes Red Clay. No Christina. So What’s Next?

Yes Red Clay. No Christina. So What’s Next?

Residents in the Red Clay School District approved a measure that would raise taxes .35 cents per $100 of assessed property value over three years to cover increased operating expenses in their budget and provide for improvements in technology, curriculum and student services (the actual cost to the average homeowner in Red Clay once the measure is fully phased in would be $280 per year). Residents in the Christina School District had two options to chose from, and they said no to both. The first option was a bare bones measure to just "keep the lights on," and it would have raised taxes .65 cents per $100 of assessed property value phased in over three years. Only 26% of Christina residents voted yes to that. The second option would have raised taxes an additional .40 cents per $100 of assessed property value phased in over four years (so a total of $1.05 per $100), with the additional funds to pay for improvements in technology, arts, and early childhood learning. Only 22% voted yes. So what's next?