General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: May 10, 2018
Well, I sure didn’t see the Equal Rights Amendment imploding on the Senate floor, but that’s what happened. What started as a simple basic statement of equality–“”Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of the sex of the person”–got mired in a bunch of Rethug-pushed talking points. Talking points like coed prisons and mandated state payments for abortion. Led by litigator/senator Anthony Delcollo, the R’s tied the Senate up in knots with proposed amendments, and the bill went down on a largely party line vote. (BTW, people I know and respect have told me that it’s not Ken Simpler, but Delcollo, who is the most likely future R governor in waiting.) The bill requires a 2/3 majority vote, meaning 14 yes votes in the Senate, so, even if Cathy Cloutier who (note to the News Journal) is from Heatherbrooke, not from Arden, shows up and votes yes, the bill is still one or two votes short. I’m reaching the conclusion that the story of this legislative session will be the utter ineptitude of the people running the place.
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. You’ll note that Gov. Carney signed several notable bills, incuding the ban on marriage of those under 18 years of age. Oh, and the ‘Build An Electoral Wall Around Karen Hartley-Nagle’ bill.
Looks like the House either plans a quick getaway or perhaps a protracted session. Today’s Agenda notes that ‘(t)here will be no caucus break’ today. For you newbies, on days that the House works an agenda, there are generally party caucuses presumably to discuss the respective agendas almost immediately after the official ‘change of the legislative day’ and various ceremonial activities. They can often last upwards of two hours. There’s no way that today’s negligible agenda requires anything approaching that. If I were forced to choose a highlight, it would probably be this bill, which establishes a 10-year residency requirement in order for senior citizens to qualify for a property tax break.
Today’s Senate Agenda holds even less interest for me than the House Agenda. Feel free to scour it and discuss anything that intrigues you. Me? Like the House, it’s time for a quick getaway.
“I’m reaching the conclusion that the story of this legislative session will be the utter ineptitude of the people running the place.”
For the record, that would be the Democrats.
Having successfully gutted the Coastal Zone Act, they’ve turned to pretending they’re “liberal” by promoting this kind of nebulous horseshit, which does nothing but prompt a gazillion lawsuits by people who were passed over for promotion at work.
What’s wrong with this sort of law? Paula Manolakos, a white woman (yes, the wife of Nick), in 1999 won a lawsuit against the city of Wilmington and was paid more than $800,000 because she was racially discriminated against. If you think that’s a good thing, then you’re another of these phony “liberals” too. Just like Stephanie “gutting the coastal zone is a good thing” Hansen.
The ERA constitutional amendment would have failed by one vote if Cathy Cloutier had not, yet again, went off for a “family issue”. Margaret Rose Henry changed her vote from “yes” to “No” for procedural reasons- a Motion to Reconsider must come from someone who voted “No”. Her vote and Cloutier’s ( she was a sponsor!) would have made the vote 13-8. 14 votes were needed. The defeat of the bill rests largely with Greg Lavelle who participated in the rally for the bill and stated he looked forward to voting for it. His vote would have been the 14th. All the more reason, as if one were needed, to replace him with Laura Sturgeon.
It is time for legislators of both parties who vote against basic human rights (Banning Conversion Therapy for minors and the ERA for example) to be defeated.
“Having successfully gutted the Coastal Zone Act, they’ve turned to pretending they’re “liberal” by promoting this kind of nebulous horseshit,…”
The VRP (Very Rich Person’s) Party has so many go to ploys and scams that they fall out onto the floor like candy out of a cracked pinata. I remember Green Delaware’s passionate defense of Mike Castle because he was “good on environmental issues” lol.
Good times.
How is banning conversion therapy for minors a “basic human right”? The issue isn’t conversion therapy, which is hardly alone in the annals of quackery, but parental control of minors. Why is telling a child he or she can’t be gay any different from the myriad other ways in which parents have legal control over their children?
Don’t misunderstand, I don’t think conversion therapy should exist, because it’s quackery. But the solution isn’t banning it, unless you thinking banning recreational drugs worked. The solution is prosecuting it as fraud, which it is.
I believe TNJ calls her Arden because Heatherbrooke is a neighborhood and they prefer to use municipalities. Her address is Wilmington, but she’s obviously not Wilmington in the same way, say, Margaret Rose Henry is.
Banning conversion therapy for minors is a basic human right because to not be subject to actions of others that are dangerous is a right the State needs to assert and protect. Parents may not subject their children to practices that are a threat to their well being. Banning conversion therapy and prosecuting those who practice it save many minors from a life if conflict (“I know who I am but my parents, counselor and religious leader say it is wrong”. This has led to lives of self-hatred and all-too often suicide.
Conversion therapy works as intended. It is intended to a successful a money making scheme that preys on fucked up parents. Which is why it will not be banned because the DE Gen Assembly never met a money making scheme it didn’t like.
“because to not be subject to actions of others that are dangerous is a right the State needs to assert and protect.”
Really? According to whom? And we should start with conversion therapy instead of anything else because….?
“Banning conversion therapy and prosecuting those who practice it save many minors from a life if conflict ”
Right. But we can’t get guns banned.
The notion that, of all the destructive things that parents can and do inflict on their children, conversion therapy is the one that deserves to be banned, is absurd on its face, and there’s no logical way to justify it — other than it’s important to gay people.
Democrats pass laws because they’re too fucking lazy to actually change anything.
@Harold: Whereas I believe TNJ calls it Arden because about 2% of the staff is from Delaware and has no idea what to do with all the unincorporated places in the state.
@Harold,@Alby: and then there’s the headline writer for a fairly recent story about a house fire who decided to locate Newark in “NJ.” It would be hard to believe until you find out that the paper’s headline writers are based in Des Moines, and I suspect that less than 2 percent of Iowa’s population has even the foggiest idea of where Delaware might be located.
Alby- we are not “starting” with Conversion Therapy. Lots of laws protecting children have proceeded it. Endangerment of Children is a broad law. It us used when adults fire weapons near children. It is used when people drive under the influence with children in their cars. There are laws that require innoculation over the objection of parents. This bill merely adds to that a disproven form of therapy that is dangerous to children.
Alby, you are not always right but are always certain
So a 12 year old should be able to go through conversion therapy but a pair of 17 year olds cant marry?
“Endangerment of Children is a broad law. It us used when adults fire weapons near children. It is used when people drive under the influence with children in their cars.”
In the examples you cite, it’s an add-on charge. Nobody gets arrested for discharging a weapon only because it was discharged near a child. Nobody gets arrested for endangering children while DUI without first being charged with DUI. And so on.
“There are laws that require innoculation over the objection of parents.”
And such strict laws they are. Look how many people were punished over the mumps outbreak in Delaware, or any of the measles outbreaks.
“This bill merely adds to that a disproven form of therapy that is dangerous to children.”
Disproven? No, not disproven. The preponderance of evidence is against it, but as long as one person claims it worked, it has not been disproven. It can’t be. Nor can it be proven. And even those who favor banning it do not make the claim that it has been proved “dangerous to children,” again because this is virtually impossible to prove.
And this issue, unlike the others you cite, treads on the First Amendment.
Regardless, the burden belongs on those providing the therapy to prove it works, which they cannot do. Enough civil suits for fraud and the problem goes away without making legal hash of the Constitution.
BTW, does anyone in Delaware even offer this service, or would this follow the example of tongue-splitting and ban something nobody even offers?
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/05/10/synthetic-opioids-gambling-to-lose/
Opioids are not coming from poppy plants, they are coming from Labs! not a kitchen lab either. Think any of the legislators know these facts?