BREAKING: Superior Court Rules that Jeff Christopher Is Not a Police Officer

172 Comments
Here is the key language from the decision:
To summarize, Delaware’s constitution recognizes the office of sheriff but does not enumerate any specific power or authority held by the office. The Court concludes that the common law authority and responsibilities of the Sheriff are subject to modification and restriction by the legislature. The 2012 legislation extinguishing the Sheriff’s law enforcement powers is valid. This Court declares and holds that a sheriff in Delaware shall not be involved in law enforcement and shall not act in any capacity as a police officer or peace officer. This decision moots the Sheriff’s complaints that the County has not properly funded his office and attempts to meddle in his business. IT IS SO ORDERED.

The Last Letter

5 Comments
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

Ten Years Ago Today

12 Comments
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!

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tues., March 19, 2013

18 Comments
Go ahead. Pick a hot-button issue. Any hot-button issue. This year's General Assembly is considering it. Can't remember this many controversial issues under consideration. Gun control? Check. Gay marriage? Check. Death penalty? Check. Minimum wage? Check. I'm not sure if there's enough time/political capital to go around. So. Please allow me to prioritize. To me, there are no excuses for the Delaware General Assembly not passing gun control and minimum wage legislation this year. The votes are there for minimum wage. Only the Governor's (a) unwillingness to get on board, and/or (b) the Governor's opposition to minimum wage stand in the way. Last year, it was (b), and friendly house leadership buried the bill in an unfriendly House committee. This year, the Governor has stated that he's excited about the debate (Truthometer says? BZZZT), but won't take a position. Only with Jack Markell could that be considered as progress. Let's be practical here. Markell's best chance to stop the bill, and it's not good, is in the Senate. But, the Senate voted for minimum wage last year and, other than Sen. Venables, I think it's unlikely that any other D's will vote no. The margin of support for minimum wage is even larger in the House, so Markell's only chance there is to get the bill buried in committee.

AZ Job cuts demonstrate the weakness of conventional “economic development”

22 Comments
It sucks that AZ is leaving. And it is probably too tender right now for "lessons learned," but here it goes... You can look like a hero for a few years by throwing a bunch of money at a large corporation to get them to locate in Delaware, as Tom Carper did with AstraZeneca. Or you can be more like Portland and Seattle and do the harder work of trying to invest in building infrastructure for new ventures and make the public investments in of quality of life factors that entrepreneurs look for when building companies. Both methods cost money, but I think the Seattle model beats the shit out of the Tom Carper model.

BREAKING: Steubenville Rape Trial Verdict – Guilty

58 Comments
Via CBS:
The accuser in the rape trial of two Ohio high school football players testified Saturday as the trial neared an end that she recalled drinking at a party last summer but could not remember what had happened when she awoke the next day naked in a strange house. Testimony in the four-day nonjury trial against Trent Mays and Ma'lik Richmond ended after the judge heard from the 16-old West Virginia girl and others in the juvenile court case. Judge Thomas Lipps said he would announce a decision Sunday. If found delinquent — the juvenile court equivalent of guilty — the two defendants could be held in juvenile jail until they turn 21, when they would be released.
(If you click on the link above, be sure to read the comments. Steubenville isn't our only problem.) For those of you not familiar with this case, I wrote about it here.

The Polling Report [3.16.13]

5 Comments
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...

The Weekly Addresses

4 Comments
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.

16 Comments
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.

NRA Chooses Greg Lavelle and Ernie Lopez to Scuttle Criminal Background Checks.

15 Comments
Any doubts that the Delaware Republican Party is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association should now be laid to rest. Former NRA Executive Director (and State Rethug Chair) John Sigler has anointed his serial bloviator and vice-chair Sen. Greg Lavelle as the person best-suited to kill mandatory criminal background checks on firearms transactions.  With an assist from self-styled 'moderate' Sen. Ernie Lopez. Lavelle's tortured explanation as to what his newly-proposed legislation would do goes like this. According to the News-Journal quote, his bill:
"...doesn't mandate background checks. It doesn't create a registration. It allows people to make smart decisions for themselves."
Great. Because people always make smart decisions for themselves. Especially when it comes to deadly weapons that they're unloading for cash. And, if they don't, they could be in trouble once the bodies are scraped off the bloody sidewalk. Lavelle's attempt to scuttle criminal background checks would make 'it a crime to sell a firearm to someone prohibited from possessing guns'. Got that? It would be up to the seller to conduct a criminal background check on a prospective purchaser. (Or, perhaps, to look soulfully into their eyes.) Except, of course, any seller would not have access to any sort of data base. And Ernie Lopez, marching in lockstep, has proposed a bill to increase penalties for those who 'knowingly' sell firearms to someone prohibited. Even by NRA standards, this is pathetic. Without background checks, the gun sales addressed by HB 35 would be 'unaddressed' by the Lavelle and Lopez proposals. After all, under their proposals, ignorance is a deliberate defense. 'I didn't know that this guy was a three-time loser.' All righty then. Let's call this for what it is: An attempt to muddy the waters just enough to deep-six common-sense legislation. It's up to you to let your legislators know that you will not stand for this. And for you Brandywine Hundred/Greenville denizens who supported Greg Lavelle and, for that matter, Ernesto Lopez last time? They're both up for reelection in 2014.

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., March 14, 2013

4 Comments
Ladies and gentlemen, to the barricades! Or, at least, to your phones, your e-mail, you know the drill. The Forces of Ee-vil are afoot in Leg Hall. The gun nuts, the Chamber of Commerce shills. Their goal: Stop progressive legislation from passing. For the gun nuts, it's the backgrounds check on gun purchases. For the Chamber fat-cats, it's minimum wage. I believe that there is enough legislative support to pass both bills. But it won't happen unless you contact your legislators, and either let them know that you've got their back, or that you expect them to do the right thing. The background check bill is in House committee. An outpouring of gun nuts prevented the bill from moving out of committee yesterday. So, the committee meets again, next Wednesday, starting at 11:30 a.m. until...whenever all those who wish to speak have spoken. Here's what you can and should do. Contact your own State Rep and politely tell them that you support HB 35 and ask them to do the same. The odds are that you will speak to a staffer first. These are good people. Be polite and friendly. Make sure that they've gotten the message correctly. If you wish to participate in the discussion, either directly or via correspondence, here's how....