Delaware
Sunday Daily Delawhere [12.7.14]
![Sunday Daily Delawhere [12.7.14]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7493/15929591011_28eddfe7ea_c.jpg "Sunday Daily Delawhere [12.7.14]")
Taylor’s Bridge School, on Fleming Landing Road in Taylor’s Bridge. The school was built in 1923, partly funded by P.S. DuPont, and was decommissioned as a school in 1949. It became a community center in 1950. Photo by xzmattzx on Flickr.
Saturday Daily Delawhere [12.6.14]
![Saturday Daily Delawhere [12.6.14]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8582/15929591081_23f09ab925_c.jpg "Saturday Daily Delawhere [12.6.14]")
A birdhouse at Buckley’s Tavern, made to look like the tavern itself, on Kennett Pike in Centreville. Photo by xzmattzx on Flickr.
Thursday Daily Delawhere [12.4.14]
![Thursday Daily Delawhere [12.4.14]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7504/15745800247_8151ca0120_c.jpg "Thursday Daily Delawhere [12.4.14]")
The former Rollins Tower, on Concord Pike in Fairfax. A Bank of the Month has the naming rights now. Photo by xzmattzx on Flickr.
Shockingly Candid Response to ACLU “Resegregation” Lawsuit
First the accusation, then the shockingly candid DOE response below the fold.
Delaware’s charter schools are causing resegregation and discrimination against minorities and students with disabilities, the ACLU and Community Legal Aid Society are arguing in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
The groups say that, especially in the City of Wilmington, most charters are easily racially identifiable as either mostly white or mostly minority schools, with those serving minority students vastly underperforming those serving more affluent white students.
The complaint is filed against the State Department of Education and the Red Clay School District, which authorize all of the state’s charters.
Wednesday Open Thread [12.3.14]
Americans are narcissists. Self centered. Especially when it comes to their income, economic well being. They know how much things cost, and the costs usually always rise. They know how much they make, and that usually doesn’t rise, especially in this Reagan Anti-Middle Class Era that began in the 1980’s. When they are making enough money to afford things, Americans are happy. See mid to late 1980’s and mid to late 1990’s and early 2000’s for proof of that. When they are not, they are not.
First Read: “It’s possible — though hardly a certainty — that lower gas prices over a sustained period of time finally begin to change the public’s perception about the U.S. economy. After all, the economy has produced 200,000-plus jobs in each of the past nine months; GDP for the last quarter was revised up to a healthy 3.9%; and the unemployment rate has declined from 7.0% in Nov. 2013 to 5.8% now. But many Americans haven’t been FEELING that improvement, due in large part to wages not keeping up with the cost of living.”
“Politically, an improving economy helps the president and his party. (It also makes it harder to say the health-care law has stifled the economy.) And in macroeconomic terms, lower gas prices serve as a kind of economic stimulus — which Congress doesn’t have to pass or finance. Yet more importantly, they’re an easier way for Americans to ASSESS the state of the economy. The monthly jobs report might not mean a thing to them, but they can see when it costs just $35 to $40 to fill up their tank each week when it used to cost $50.”
Now Accepting Nominations for 2014 MVP (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause) Awards…
Every year, I recognize those who were most valuable to the progressive cause in Delaware. The nominees can be progressives, but they don’t have to be. In fact, they can be members of the Forces of Evil who unwittingly advanced the progressive cause. They can be elected officials, appointed officials, candidates, or any member of the general public. Maybe even a group as opposed to an individual. Knock yourselves out.
I am putting together this year’s list, and I need your help (but then, you already knew that).
Deadline is Friday, December 12 at 11:59 p.m. Please don’t just provide names, but rather, tell us how they advanced the progressive cause in 2014.
You are now officially on the clock. Whaddayagot?
![Wednesday Daily Delawhere [12.3.14]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5536/10475359685_6554e443bc_c.jpg "Wednesday Daily Delawhere [12.3.14]")
DL Exclusive: Rep. Bryon Short Considering Run for State Insurance Commissioner
State Rep. Bryon Short (D-Highland Woods) today told Delaware Liberal that he is considering a run for State Insurance Commissioner.
While he has not made a decision on the race, he told me that it’s important that the IC’s office does an effective job of ‘setting the marketplace’ to ensure competition and consumer choices, and to ‘effectively address the concerns and problems facing consumers’. He also said that the work of the office ‘is very important, but unfortunately people aren’t made aware as to just how important it is, and how it impacts them’.
Short has attended the last two NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) meetings in order to extend his knowledge for both his House committee work and to possibly prepare for a statewide run.
Tuesday Open Thread [12.2.14]
![Tuesday Open Thread [12.2.14]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/OPEN.THREAD.6-240x180.jpg "Tuesday Open Thread [12.2.14]")
E. J. Dionne, Jr.: “Now, it will be a Republican Congress vs. a Democratic president. Voters will have a much easier time seeing who stands for what…Obama and progressives should spend the next two years accomplishing as many useful things as they can, blocking regressive actions by Congress, and clarifying the choices facing the nation’s voters. And they’ll get much further by doing all three at once.”
The 62 Project: Not Better Late Than Never. But It’s Finished. Just In Time To Change It.
I was planning to finish this in time for…well, some time before now. However, sloth and other events intervened. So here we have it, 1-62, for each and every member of the 147th Delaware General Assembly, based on their careers, not just the past session. For those I previously profiled, you can click on the links. For the rest, the floor is open for questions and vitriol.
1. Sen. Karen Peterson: A fierce negotiator/advocate who successfully leverages her bargaining power to pass progressive legislation. Imagine that. Accruing power not for personal ambition, but to pass a progressive agenda. An easy choice for #1.
2. Rep. Mike Barbieri: Quietly does outstanding work on kids’ issues, and has helped turn back the neanderthal mandatory sentencing excesses of the Sharp/Smith/Vaughn/Brady years. He’s impressed me from Day 1. A thinker and a doer. We need more social workers in the General Assembly.
3. Sen. Bob Marshall: Has gotten better and more effective as he’s gotten older. He serves as perhaps the leading Democrat from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party in challenging Jack Markell’s DINO-ism. He’s got at least one more minimum wage increase in him.
4. Rep. Melanie George Smith: Her work, along with Barbieri and others, on sentencing reform, was legislating at its best. It wasn’t easy, it required a tremendous attention to detail, plus political smarts. Forget her political roots, focus on her legislative skills.
5. Sen. Dave Sokola: Anyone who thinks it was easy for a legislator from the Pike Creek/Hockessin area to support progressive reform wasn’t around when he got elected. That’s what he did and that’s what he does. And, while he gets criticism from some of our education people, he stood up to the ‘forced busing’ bashers, including his own Pro-Tem, Tom Sharp. His sponsorship of civil unions reflects the kind of person he is.
![Tuesday Daily Delawhere [12.2.14]](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15736139196_04584e8c56_c.jpg "Tuesday Daily Delawhere [12.2.14]")
Coming Tuesday: The Entire 62 Project Unveiled.
The Bataan Death March of projects reaches its ultimate destination tomorrow.
Both here on DL and on the Al Mascitti Show beginning at 10 am. You can listen right here.
The entire 147th General Assembly legislative roster ranked from 1-62, based on legislators’ careers, not just the past couple of months.
I think the project got bogged down b/c, although it’s really easy to write about the best legislators, the worst legislators, and the most eccentric legislators, there was a group of legislators ranked somewhere between 40 and 50 who were not particularly interesting to me. Legislators who were just there. I lost my mojo. Finally got my mojo workin’ last weekend.
Anyway, once the list is posted, I’ll tweak the list before the start of the 148th to account for injustices, new info, and, of course, to address both the departed and the newcomers.
Since the list is completed and will not change before tomorrow, feel free to predict your #1 and #62.
Monday Daily Delawhere [12.1.14]
![Monday Daily Delawhere [12.1.14]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/15250077614_34f3df13ef_z.jpg "Monday Daily Delawhere [12.1.14]")
The facade of Hercules Plaza in Wilmington. Photo by xzmattzx on Flickr.
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