Delaware

How far do you walk? 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, 6 minutes, 30 minutes? What is distance you will walk before you start to think that maybe driving or taking a bus makes more sense? It turns out that walking distance has more to do with what you are looking at, and less to do with how far you need to go.

Walk Appeal promises to be a major new tool for understanding and building walkable places, and it explains several things that were heretofore either contradictory or mysterious. It begins with the assertion that the quarter-mile radius (or 5-minute walk,) which has been held up for a century as the distance Americans will walk before driving, is actually a myth.

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, we have State Representative John Kowalko announcing his reelection bid at the Newark Senior Center, 200 White Chapel Drive in Newark. It starts at 11 a.m. Later Wednesday night at 7 pm we have the monthly meeting of the Progressive Democrats for Delaware at the Delaware Democratic Party HQ’s, 19 E. Commons Blvd, in New Castle. Kathleen MacRae, the Executive Director of the ACLU of Delaware, will be speaking about efforts to repeal the death penalty in Delaware; and Erik Raser-Schramm, the director of the 2012 Coordinated Campaign, will speak on their efforts in the upcoming election. On Thursday, August 2 at Timothy's of Newark from 7 pm to 10 pm, there will be a fundraiser for Democrat Paul Baumbach for his race to succeed Terry Schooley in the 23rd RD. Here is a like to the Facebook site for the event.

I'm back, and I'm ready to talk the latest in Delaware political doings! From 10 am to 12 noon, today, WDEL-1150 with my favorite sparring partner, Al Mascitti.

Another story that I saw last week on WGOP that struck me as a little odd was this one. Hey "liberal" News Journal, if I, as a party activist and blogger, run against an entrenched incumbent upstate in 2014, will I get such meaningless yet glowing coverage as this:

State Senate Candidate Matt Opaliski is discarding candidate surveys and is declining endorsements and contributions from liberal groups. Opaliski on Tuesday was reviewing postal and electronic mail that is typically sent to campaigns during the election season by various organizations seeking to survey candidates on positions that usually favor these groups and, in most cases, hint at a potential endorsement. Opaliski tells WGMD that he threw two questionnaires in the garbage; one was from the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Delaware and another was from the Laborers’ District Council of Delaware. Opaliski says that since Planned Parenthood treats babies like trash, he decided he would treat their survey and any potential endorsement or campaign contribution from them like trash. Opaliski is running for the newly reapportioned 18th District Senate seat.

Hey all women and all workers, you got that? The message from Opaliski is: "YOU'RE TRASH." I highly doubt many aspects of this "story."

I meant to get to this last week when I first saw it, but time gets away from us so easy. Anyway, Republican Propaganda Channel, otherwise known downstate as WGMD, tells us that presumptive GOP Lt. Governor nominee Sher Valenzuela wants starting and growing a business to be an easier endeavor.

So, she’s creating a business accelerator with the help of Delaware State University to help others travel through the minefield of government bureaucracy to help them find and use resources already available.

Anyone want to guess the hypocrisy part?