Funding Highways by Underfunding Pensions

Funding Highways by Underfunding Pensions

This is the latest from the Congressional brain rust -- this time trying to find money for the Transportation Trust Fund. This time, it is Hoouse Republicans who are looking to use this trick to look like they are paying for the extension to the Transportation Trust fund. Instead of looking at rational ways of raising revenue (taxes, closing tax loopholes), they've decided that undermining America's already hemorrhaging pension system is the right place to get money to pay for our roads. But this is apparently not the first time this accounting gimmick has been floated to actually fund something. The Democrats tried using this mess into a bill to extend unemployment insurance and it was part of the funding mechanism for the last temporary Transportation Bill. Which means that this bit of business is available for some appalling bit of bipartisanship. (Even though the GOP looked at the pension smoothing plan to pay for unemployment benefits and said that it paid for nothing. Now they are all for it.) So what is Pension Smoothing?
Expanding the Port of Wilmington

Expanding the Port of Wilmington

You've probably seen this article in Sunday's NJ that spins out a vision by Tom Gordon to expand on the Port of Wilmington by building a new facility directly on the Delaware River capable of handling the larger ships coming through the world's seaways. This new facility would be south of the current port, just south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I give Tom Gordon some credit for thinking about capitalizing on the current Port asset. I wrote about this alot when I was writing about Kinder Morgan and I'm still surprised that this isn't higher up on the economic development agenda.
Contact the FCC NOW On Net Neutrality

Contact the FCC NOW On Net Neutrality

July 15 is the closing date for comments on the FCC's proposal to let ISP's create fast lanes to the internet -- charging people for faster service, while likely deteriorating the service of those who can't or won't pay more. From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Unfortunately, the FCC is considering a plan that would allow some Internet providers to provide better access to some websites that pay a fee to reach users faster. This kind of “pay-to-play” Internet stifles innovation. New websites that can’t afford expensive fees for better service will face new barriers to success, leaving users with ever fewer options and a less diverse Internet.
Wilmington City Council Steps Up to Try to Control the City’s Costs

Wilmington City Council Steps Up to Try to Control the City’s Costs

The last city budget process highlighted once again the difficulty of using that fast-track process to start implementing some budget discipline within the city’s operations. Indeed, that budget not only raised the property taxes of city residents, but also left the city with a surplus – a surplus that no one understands its purpose. There were multiple problems brought up during the hearings – the number of vacant but budgeted positions, the fact that the city isn't paying its portion of the water and sewer bill, and the fact that the budget largely ignored the WEFAC finding that the city’s financial difficulty can’t be resolved by taxing its way out of it. On top of that, city residents really pushed back on city council people over the passage of that tax increase.  To respond to this, City Council is finally exercising its prerogatives as the body that approves spending, to start pulling spending back. This week they started with the staffing at the Fire Department, and they promise to look at all City Departments with an eye to reduce funding for vacant positions and look for better efficiencies.

Late Night Video — Bill Maher Shooting the Zombie Lies in the Head

Zombie Lies. Perfect description of the perpetual GOP talking points -- the ones they keep repeating even though they've been definitively proven to be a lie. But those lies/talking points never go away and the usual GOP suspects can pick up where they were 6 years ago, get in front of a TV camera and it is as though the past 6 years never happened. The lies keep coming back as do the liars that tell them. Maher here wants to know why they can keep saying them over and over again -- my opinion is that the journalists who will tell you that their job is holding people accountable are also telling you a Zombie Lie. Bill Maher and his New Rules:

Late Night Video — “I’m the Guy Doin’ My Job, You Must Be the Other Guy!”

This is President Obama earlier today in Texas talking about the complete uselessness of GOP obstruction (and lawsuits). I like him when he's not really worried about reaching out to the GOP, and yet he always does. This is definitely dripping in well-deserved ridicule for the GOP and their no-show job ways, but he still invites them to work with him. Still -- I REALLY wish that there was more of this from Democrats across the board. The GOP is absolutely vulnerable on the do-nothing charge and that should be part of the narrative from now until election day:

The Delaware Test

This is a good weekend, I'm putting off the house work activity (or I'm going to save this for some office timewasting on Monday) -- The Delaware Test was created by some Delaware denizens of Reddit. It's a bunch of questions, including a fair number of political ones. Take it and tell us: 1) your score; 2) what you think of these questions and 3) what question is missing.

Breaking: UD Pulls the Plug on the Data Center/Power Plant

I just got an email on this and there isn't much available yet. From WDEL:
UD announced it has terminated its lease with The Data Centers (TDC), putting a halt to TDC's plans to develop a data center on the site of the former Chrysler plant. A report issued Thursday, UD faculty and administrative leaders concluded that the proposed facility, which included a 279-megawatt power plant is not consistent with their first class science and technology campus.

The Second Treasurer’s Debate (Democratic Version)

(Edit: I've fixed the title since the first debate was in Sussex some weeks ago.I'm sorry for the mistake.) Tuesday night was a debate sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists between Chip Flowers and Sean Barney. Unfortunately, I could not go, but a friend was there and provides this Guest Post of the proceedings:

Tuesday Open Thread [7.8.14]

New York Magazine presents a piece noting that the longstanding alliance between Teacher's unions and Democrats may be close to over. That might make some sense, really -- Democrats have been at the forefront of initiatives that specifically work at dismantling the public school system and also scapegoating teachers for a multitude of longstanding problems in schools. I'm a fan of unions exercising their political power -- especially since it looks like even that is under threat. I'm not sure about the best way to go about that, but it is time to stop accommodating AND providing contributions and boots on the ground while getting nothing in return:

Late Night Video — John Oliver Fixes the Flaw in Climate Change Journalism

Climate change is always reported as two opposing views -- one side who *believes* and the other side that *does not believe*. Treating a science topic (it isn't a *belief* topic) as though it was a political topic is one of the worst journalistic offences we are subject to, and we are subject to quite a few of them throughout the day. John Oliver takes note that this topic is always addressed as one for and one against, as though there was an equal amount of scientific evidence that climate change does not happen. He brilliantly works at a fairer debate -- one that weights the conversation towards the evidence -- hilarious: