Delaware Dem's Latest Posts
![Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.20.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8550172062_99b9304dd8_z.jpg "Wednesday Daily Delawhere [3.20.13]")
Tuesday Open Thread [3.19.13]
![Tuesday Open Thread [3.19.13]](http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18hymglrdjx4egif/xlarge.gif "Tuesday Open Thread [3.19.13]")
“We’ve got a socialist in office right now — how’s that working for us?” — Republican National Committeeman Henry Barbour (R), quoted by The Hill, while talking about the Republican Party’s need to improve its brand.
Well, Haley, it is working out quite well, actually. The Stock Market is hitting record highs, the economy is growing and showing real signs of a take off this year, the unemployment rate is falling, millions of new jobs are being created each year, and we have cut our deficit in half over the last four years. If that is what socialism is called, then hell yeah, give me more socialism!
Email the House Judiciary Committee Today.
We have an action item for you this morning: can you all please take some time today to email or call the members of the State House Judiciary Committee (their email addresses are below) and ask them all, whether they are a Democrat or a Republican, to support the Criminal Background Check Bill, or House Bill 35. At the last hearing on this bill, our side was severely outgunned in terms of vocal support, as the hearning room was full of NRA members and other pro-gun advocates who wrongly believe that any regulation on guns amounts to a violation of their Second Amendment rights.
If these members just rely on what they heard at the Hearing two weeks ago, they would think that 90% of all Americans and Delawareans oppose this bill, when in fact it is the opposite. The vast majority of all Americans and Delawareans support this common sense regulation to make sure that guns do not get into the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.
Right now, federal law requires federally licensed firearms dealers to perform criminal history background checks on prospective firearms purchasers. However, when the sale or transfer of a firearm does not involve a licensed dealer, no background check is required. This loophole is how convicted felons, those with mental illnesses, minors and other prohibited purchasers get their guns. One step we as a community and a state can take to make sure that tragedies like Newtown, Aurora, Tuscon, and Virginia Tech never happen again is to make sure that everyone who buys a gun is subjected to background checks.
The plain truth of the matter is that this bill does not infringe on the liberty of responsible gun owners, hunters and anyone who is legally permitted to own a gun. It seeks only to prevent those who are legally not permitted from purchasing a gun from purchasing a gun. How any responsible citizen or gun owner can rise in opposition to that principle is beyond our understanding.
Here is the contact information:
Rebecca Walker 302-744-4351; Rebecca.Walker@state.de.us
Melanie George Smith 302-744-4351; melanie.g.smith@state.de.us
Gerald L. Brady 302-744-4351; Gerald.Brady@state.de.us
James Johnson 302- 744-4351; jj.johnson@state.de.us
John L. Mitchell Jr. 302-744-4351; john.l.mitchell@state.de.us
W. Charles Paradee 302-744-4033; trey.paradee@state.de.us
Charles Potter Jr. 302–744-4351; Charles.potter@state.de.us
Darryl M. Scott 302-744-4351; Darryl.Scott@state.de.us
Stephen T. Smyk 302-744-4321; Steve.Smyk@state.de.us
Jeffrey N. Spiegelman 302-744-4171; jeff.spiegelman@state.de.us
David L. Wilson 302-744-4150; David.L.Wilson@state.de.us
There is also another hearing on this bill tomorrow at 11:30 am in the House Chamber. If you can be there, be there!
Ten Years Ago Today
Ten years ago today, President George W. Bush commenced the U.S. invasion of Iraq, to “disarm” the country, “free its people,” and transform it into a “united, stable and free country,” all the while knowing that his sole basis for justifying the war (that Iraq had WMD) was a complete and total lie. It seems quite appropriate that the Iraqis celebrated this anniversary today with a dozen car bombs that killed 50 people. Yea, Freedom!
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.19.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8549072959_08235e95a2_z.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [3.19.13]")
Monday Open Thread [3.19.13]
You want proof that Hillary will run in 2016? Well, she just released a video announcing her support for marriage equality, which was not a surprise, but since she had to steer clear of making any political statements while Secretary of State, Hillary has been silent on the issue since the 2008 campaign. In my opinion, if she were just a private citizen enjoying her retirement, I don’t think such a video would be released.
![Monday Daily Delawhere [3.18.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8112/8550172178_c4899e38c5_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [3.18.13]")
Sunday Open Thread [3.17.13]
John Dickerson‘s Slate post, “Is Obama Setting a Trap for Republicans?” probes white house strategy in the budget negotiations. Sure, the president would like a grand bargain on the budget, and he has to try for one, knowing full-well that the Republicans could string him along for a while, then sink the negotiations at any time. In that event, Obama has the cover he needs to hang tough and reveal, once again, that the Republicans can’t govern because they won’t compromise — not a bad meme for 2014.
St. Patrick’s Day Daily Delawhere [3.17.13]
![St. Patrick’s Day Daily Delawhere [3.17.13]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8366/8549073365_34211627ce_z.jpg "St. Patrick’s Day Daily Delawhere [3.17.13]")
Most Irish immigrants worked at the mills lining the Brandywine River and some tributaries. Many worked at Eleutherian Mills near Henry Clay Village, where the DuPont company produced gunpowder. One of the jobs at the powder yard was to grind the saltpeter for production, which was done with this grinding wheel.
The Polling Report [3.16.13]
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–2016–Quinnipiac: Former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton (D) 45, Governor Chris Christie (R) 37; Clinton (D) 50, Representative Paul Ryan (R) 38; Clinton (D) 50, Senator Marco Rubio (R) 34
With Chris Christie the only GOP candidate polled making it a race against Clinton, it really is a shame that he has as much chance of winning the Republican nomination as I do.
NATIONAL–PRESIDENT–2016–Quinnipiac: Christie (R) 43, Vice President Joe Biden (D) 40; Biden (D) 45, Rubio (R) 38; Biden (D) 45, Ryan (R) 42
NATIONAL–MARRIAGE EQUALITY–Quinnipiac: Support for same-sex marriage is inching up and now stands at 47% to 43%, including 54% to 38% among Catholic voters.
Said pollster Peter Brown on the surprising and ironic finding about Catholics: “Catholic voters are leading American voters toward support for same-sex marriage. Among all voters, there is almost no gender gap, but a big age gap. Voters 18 to 34 years old support same sex marriage 62% to 30%; voters 35 to 54 years old are divided 48% to 45% and voters over 55 are opposed 50% to 39%.”
And we have much more on the Pennsylvania and Michigan gubernatorial races and other Senate races inside…
Saturday Open Thread [3.16.13]
Roll Call points out that Paul Ryan is required by law and all that is holy to get down on his knees and praise President Obama and his policies, for without him and them, his budget plan would be nothing.
Ryan’s budget eliminates the deficit in 2023 not because of large new spending cuts relative to his past budgets, but because he’s keeping hundreds of billions of dollars a year of President Barack Obama’s own budget policies in place.
Ryan’s claim to a balanced budget rests entirely on the 2010 health care law, known in GOP circles as “Obamacare.” Ryan’s budget keeps the tax revenue from the health care law, as well as its $700 billion-plus Medicare trims and other cuts. Ryan included those Medicare cuts in his previous budget blueprints but campaigned against them when he joined Mitt Romney’s GOP presidential ticket last year.
Ryan’s budget also would not balance without the $600 billion-plus increase in taxes extracted by the president in the fiscal cliff deal.
What Ryan would repeal is the $1.8 trillion in new spending on the health care law, which primarily subsidizes the purchase of private insurance. That includes $263 billion in spending on the law in 2023 alone.
The Weekly Addresses
The weekly addresses from President Obama and Governor Markell (who hands it off to Secretary O’Mara this week), as well as the West Wing Week video about this past week at the White House. And we also have a video of the Governor playing a charity ping pong game. I am not sure why he is shorts and a t-shirt for a ping pong game.
Empathy, or why liberals are better than conservatives.
There is a saying that a liberal is a conservative who has not been mugged yet, or has not paid taxes yet. You can really adapt it to whatever policy position you want. And now we liberals can modify it once more: A conservative is a liberal who has not been affected by what he opposes yet.
Yes, I am talking about Senator Rob Portman and his announcement yesterday that 1) his son his gay, 2) and because his son is gay, he has changed his mind about gay marriage.
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