National

Pacem in Terris is convening a community meeting to discuss gun violence and what steps we can take on implementing gun control, both nationally and locally. They are having are having the inaugural meeting of the Delaware Campaign for Gun Sanity tonight at 7 pm in the Community Hall at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pennsylvania Avenue & N. Rodney Street in Wilmington. Parking is behind the church. This will not be a venting session on the NRA and guns. We must get beyond our comfort zone and act.

Wilmington's Skyscraper Canyon: Looking up 11th Street from near Walnut Street in Wilmington.

The House will vote to amend the bill. It will get no Democratic votes, and I wonder if it gets 218 votes at all. If the amendment does not pass, I doubt the bill itself will pass. Eric Cantor, the #2 Republican in the House, and the likely next Speaker (more on that in a moment), has said he opposes the bill. So let's assume that the House amends the bill and passes it. The Senate is gone. It's business is done for the year. The 112th Congress, Senate edition is over. So that's it. The bill dies. We are off and over the cliff. Words cannot express how shocking and yet completely predictable this is. Remember, the House GOP, through Boehner, cut off negotiations with the President two weeks ago, and they planned to pass a "Plan B" bill to raise taxes on only those making over a million dollars. Speaker Boehner led this effort, but a majority of caucus refused to vote for it. Pursuant to a GOP rule called the Hastert Rule, which holds that no legislation shall receive a vote on the floor of the House unless a majority of the GOP caucus supports it, Boehner was forced to pull the bill. In essence, there was a tea party coup against Boehner at that moment, led by his own #2, Eric Cantor. Humiliated and weakened, with his career over, Speaker Boehner then tried to pass the buck to the Senate, saying the House will not vote on another Fiscal Cliff package unless and until the Senate reaches an agreement, passes it, and sends it to the House. Nevermind that this is unconstitutional, since all revenue bills must originate in the House first, the Senate inexplicably complied, and reached a last minute agreement negotiated by Vice President Biden and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and they passed it by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, 89-6. Yes, Boehner demanded that his Senate Republican colleagues go out on a limb and vote for a deal, and surprisingly they did. So the Senate bill is sent to the House, with Boehner lobbying his caucus in favor of passing it, and his caucus, once again under the true leadership of Eric Cantor, revolted again, refusing to vote for it unless it is amended to suit their desires. To call the House GOP petulant temper tantrum throwing children is to insult petulant temper tantrum throwing children. So the deal is dead. Lord knows what happens now. 1 trillion in sequester cuts (half to defense and half to non-SS/Medicare/VA domestic spending) are not in effect. The Clinton tax rates on income, dividends and capital gains are in affect. All 2009 stimulus measures like college tuition tax credits, unemployment insurance and the AMT and Medicare doc fix are rescinded. The Farm Bill extension is dead, which means dairy prices triple. Speaker Boehner is likely to be defeated by Eric Cantor for the Speakership on Thursday. Happy New Year.

So we have news this morning that, allegedly, Vice President Biden and the Turtle leader, Senate Minority Leader Mitch "I'm going to lose to Ashley Judd" McConnell have made some alleged and mysterious progress overnight in their last second talks to reach some kind of deal to avert falling off the fiscal cliff.

Sources close to the talks said a deal is now more likely will come together but cautioned that obstacles remain, including how Speaker John Boehner and House Republican leaders react to any tentative agreement. “The Leader and the VP continued their discussion late into the evening and will continue to work toward a solution. More info as it becomes available,” a McConnell spokesman said.

I am cynical, and I am pretty convinced a deal is impossible, and thus this is nothing but further political kabuki theatre so that McConnell can later blame the breakdown on Biden and Obama, or Senate Dems. The reason why I say that is that because a raise in tax rates on the wealthy is the line in the sand and a dealbreaker for both sides. For the Dems, a deal must include it. And for the Rethugs, a deal cannot include it. There is no getting around that central fact. The Republicans have proved time and again that they will continue to fellate the rich and billionaires at the expense of the rest of us until the end of time. So what is going to happen tomorrow?

The News Journal has a poll listing the following as the most important events in 2012, and you are to choose between them. Hurricane Sandy is an obvious choice, though its affects on Delaware were most decidedly not as severe as on New Jersey and New York. But some of the choices reveal that 1) either it was a slow slow news year, or 2) the News Journal has actually cut so many reporting jobs that they do not know what is going on in their state anymore. Ashley Biden's wedding? Are they serious? I was unaware it happened until just now. A Dewey Beach murder? The rest are short lived controversies or stories that don't really give rise to STORY OF THE YEAR status. Out of them, I suppose the whole disgusting and evil Eric Bodenweiser saga has to be the winner, but I would say the story of the year is the Demise of Tony Deluca and the Rise of Bryan Townsend. But alas, it is not a choice. Make sure to vote in our poll.

The Death Penalty Information Center recently released its year-end report. It revealed that Delaware was one of only 9 states that carried out an execution in 2012. In fact, in the last 35 years, Delaware is garnering a reputation of being the Texas of the East Coast. We rank third nationwide over those 35 years in executions per capita. It's time Delaware had this discussion, and I highly endorse the efforts of the Delaware Repeal Project, an organization seeking to end the death penalty in Delaware. Below please find their press release regarding the Death Penalty Information Center's report, and if you think it is time for Delaware to end the death penalty, sign the their petition.