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1 Comment![TGIF Open Thread [8.16.13]](https://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DL.Thumbnail.png)
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2 CommentsSaid King: "Last year, almost everybody in my conference would've agreed with me on this immigration issue. And this year, it seems as though after the presidential election a spell's been cast over a good number of Republicans and they seem to think the presidential election was about immigration. I'd ask them, find me that debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama that addressed immigration. I don't remember it. I can't find it. The election was about jobs and the economy, not immigration. And yet some Republican strategists and leadership have decided let's just go ahead and debate immigration for twelve months and then we'll see if we can solve the problem."Let's unpack this. First, is Mr. King aware that he and his Republicans lost the election? So if the election were just all about the economy and jobs, then it seems to me that a majority of the American people have, by a large margin, disagreed with his and his Republican views about jobs and the economy. Second, the election wasn't just all about jobs and the economy. It was also about Obamacare. And again, the American people agreed with Obama about Obamacare, not Steven King and the Republicans. So I assume that Steven King and his Republicans will cease their repeal and hostage taking efforts. Third, and most importantly, the election was about immigration reform. Mitt Romney took a hard right stance on self deportation to win the Republican primary. The President instead campaigned on a comprehensive plan that would include border security and a path to citizenship. Once again, Steven King and Mitt Romney lost. The President won. And he won by winning Latinos by 70-30%. The reason why Republicans are talking about immigration reform after the election is because they can no longer lose Latinos by that aforementioned margin and ever again win a national election, based on the group's growing demographics and the declining numbers of angry conservative whites out there. The Republicans, the smart ones anyway, realized that they must repair their relationship with Latinos, and the way to do that was to both modify their stances towards immigration and pass immigration reform. So that is why you and your Republicans are discussing it, Mr. King. But, please proceed Governor... er ah, Congressman King. Please keep talking about Latinos all being drug dealers with cantaloupe calves.
The silence is deafening from the Insurance Commissioner's office. Not only has Nancy Willing inquired at least five times regarding any investigation of this mess, Senator Petersen requested an Insurance Commissioner's inquiry when I sent her the materials, and Dr. Vince Schaller, Medical Director of the Lantana/Hockessin Walk-in Clinic has filed multiple complaints and inquiries. From Karin Weldin Stewart's office: ... crickets ... This [controversy] has also been an ongoing primer [into] who does and doesn't respond to real inquiries from citizens and constituents. I live neither in Petersen's district, nor in John Kowalko's. Both responded almost instantly when I asked. I also always get quick responses from legislators like Paul Baumbach, Brian Bushweller, and Ernie Lopez--again: I live in none of their districts. On the other hand, I have sent all the same information (repeatedly) to Senator Greg Lavelle and Representative Joe Miro. I do live in their district, and Dr. Schaller's clinic is a small business within their district that employs several dozen people, and is the only such clinic in our district. From the two of them: ... crickets ...Steve goes on to say that he does not want this to be a partisan issue, I guess because he lists several Democrats and one Republican who are responsive on this issue, while his own Republican legislators are not. I agree, it is not a partisan issue. It is an ideological one. The Dems he listed, with the exception of Bushweller, are progressives. Corporate-backed legislators or executives, whether they be Jack Markell or Karen Weldin Stewart or a host of other Democratic and Republican state legislators, are not going to be terribly troubled by this whole Highmark/MedExpress issue. Progressives and libertarians, for their own ideological reasons, will. Steve, in another post, highlights another scam from Highmark and predicts that it will drive BayHealth or ChristianaCare out of business in the next three years. Meanwhile... Mike Matthews is back!!!!
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4 CommentsSince Boehner can’t just tell House Republicans that their party needs to let go of the whole stop-Obamacare thing until they win a few more elections, what will he tell them? Apparently, he’s going to tell them to try using the debt ceiling: “Sources tell me the House GOP will probably avoid using a shutdown as leverage and instead use the debt limit and sequester fights as areas for potential legislative trades. Negotiations over increasing the debt limit have frequently been used to wring concessions out of the administration, so there may be movement in that direction: Delay Obamacare in exchange for an increased debt limit.” Trading a government shutdown for a debt-ceiling breach is like trading the flu for septic shock. And Boehner knows it. Republicans will effectively be going to the White House and saying, “Delay the health-care law or we will single-handedly cause an unprecedented and unnecessary global financial crisis that everyone will clearly and correctly blame on us, destroying our party for years to come.” It’s not a very persuasive ransom note to send. And Boehner knows it. It’s just something he’s saying to talk his party down from this tree. But come October, when they climb up into that higher, more dangerous, tree, he’s going to have to think of some new crazy promise to entice them down. Then, three months later, that promise will come back to bite him — and the rest of us. And eventually, someone’s going to make a mistake, and Boehner won’t manage to pull his people back from the brink at the last minute.No, the only way this ends is with Boehner sacrificing his Speakership (or at least forming a coalition speakership with Pelosi with 21 or so sane Republicans). Boehner eventually will have to sacrifice his political career.
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14 CommentsAttorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Monday that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to gangs or large-scale drug organizations will no longer be charged with offenses that impose severe mandatory sentences. The new Justice Department policy is part of a comprehensive prison reform package that Holder unveiled in a speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco. He also introduced a policy to reduce sentences for elderly, nonviolent inmates and find alternatives to prison for nonviolent criminals.
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1 Comment[Deputy Mayor] Clifton – sitting in the mayor’s chair Funk has occupied since being elected in 2004 – said Funk changed the effective date of his resignation to accommodate the process for a special election in accordance with the city’s charter. Council will hold a special meeting on Sept. 30 to schedule the special election, which is expected to be held Nov. 26, Clifton said. Although Funk was not in attendance at Monday’s meeting, he made a statement in a city news release distributed immediately after Clifton’s announcement. “Considering that it is not in my best interest health wise to attend the many meetings between now and the end of the year and to allow the election process to move forward in a timely fashion, I determined September 30 to be an appropriate date for my term to end,” Funk said in the news release.
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3 Comments"When the House Judiciary Committee passed a late-term abortion ban in June, Republican leaders scrambled to find a female, media-savvy legislator to bring the legislation to the floor. Their biggest problem: Not a single Republican woman was represented among the committee's 23 Republican members. They eventually settled on Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who isn't on the Judiciary Committee." "The episode underscored a growing problem that is worrying Republicans: Women are badly underrepresented within their party in the Congress. Only eight percent of House Republicans are women, and there are only four female Republican senators. Of the long list of potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders, there's not a single woman."Well, women tend to get turned off by Republican policies and attitudes towards women, and then there is the picture on the left. Come inside and find out what it is,
