Open Thread

How much more proof do you need that these wingnuts are over their heads? This fool of a Congressman from Florida (GOP, naturally) thinks that the State Department and Commerce…

The Cape Henlopen School District is feeling the heat (it seems) over their decision to remove one book -- The Miseducation of Cameron Post--from their summer reading list, so they decided to abolish the reading list all together. It wasn't enough that they banned the first book without even reading it (they googled it and saw the controversy-- gasp) OR even talking to the teachers' group that put the book on the list. And as far as I can tell, they took this decision to abolish the summer reading list again without talking to a single soul responsible for curriculum. If I'm a parent in this District, I'm making the replacement of this entire school board crew a priority. Because they are pretty clearly incompetent. Apparently this move is meant to avoid actions by the ACLU, but certainly isn't about helping students maintain some learning readiness.

The New Yorker takes a look at VP Joe Biden's evolution in the White House:

Over the years, Biden has acquired a singular place in the pop culture of American politics. In a White House that privileges self-containment, Biden ambles between exuberant and self-defeating. He was barely in the West Wing before the Onion declared, in a headline, “SHIRTLESS BIDEN WASHES TRANS AM IN WHITE HOUSE DRIVEWAY,” establishing a theme—“Amtrak Joe,” the hell-raiser at the end of the bar—that is so enduring that it obscures the fact that he is a lifelong teetotaller. (Too many alcoholics in his family, he says. He grew up sharing a room with his mother’s brother, and recalled of the experience, “Even as kids, we noticed Uncle Boo-Boo drank a bit heavily.”) Instead of raging against the indignities of the Vice-Presidency, Biden luxuriates in the job. Perched in his chair during the State of the Union address, peering down on his former congressional colleagues, Biden makes a pistol out of his finger and thumb, and blasts away, winking and gunning with no evident irony. Last year, C-SPAN taped him getting ready to swear in new senators. He greeted each senator’s family with frisky enthusiasm. To the old ladies, he’d say, “You’ve got beautiful eyes, Mom, holy mackerel.” To the young women: “Remember—no serious guys till you’re thirty!” To the little kids in their Sunday best: “Take care of your grandfather. Your most important job.” The full package—the Ray-Ban aviators, the shameless schmalz, the echoes of the Fonz—has never endeared him to the establishment, but it lends him an air of authenticity that is rare in his profession. It has also produced a whiff of cult appeal, such that his image now has more in common with Betty White than with John Boehner. In May, after a teen-ager invited Biden to her prom, he replied with a corsage and a handwritten note encouraging her to “enjoy your prom as much as I did mine.” On Twitter, people went affectionately berserk.

This is a good weekend, I'm putting off the house work activity (or I'm going to save this for some office timewasting on Monday) -- The Delaware Test was created by some Delaware denizens of Reddit. It's a bunch of questions, including a fair number of political ones. Take it and tell us: 1) your score; 2) what you think of these questions and 3) what question is missing.

New York Magazine presents a piece noting that the longstanding alliance between Teacher's unions and Democrats may be close to over. That might make some sense, really -- Democrats have been at the forefront of initiatives that specifically work at dismantling the public school system and also scapegoating teachers for a multitude of longstanding problems in schools. I'm a fan of unions exercising their political power -- especially since it looks like even that is under threat. I'm not sure about the best way to go about that, but it is time to stop accommodating AND providing contributions and boots on the ground while getting nothing in return:

I had a great time last night and it was great to see everyone! Hope we'll do another DL get-together soon. Here are two long reads for this great Sunday Morning -- this piece (in Politico, but may be the best thing they've ever published) is from Nick Hanauer -- firmly ensconced in the 1% -- talking about the trainwreck to come if income inequality isn't dealt with. This is a brilliant -- and scathing -- piece. He reminds us that this kind of income inbalance is at the fulcrum of alot of painful upheaval, that supply-side economics isn't working, and that those business interests who continue to agitate for supply-side policy are arguing for long-term failure.

But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution. [...]

Yes! It's Friday! And tonight and tomorrow night are your last chances to attend the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival. Tonite's headliner is Ariel Larrieux and tomorrow's headliner is Brian Culbertson. Grab your chair and head down to Rodney Square -- this is one of the truly fantastic events in Wilmington and an awesome way to spend an evening. Or Saturday afternoon AND evening!

Two more days to go to the St. Anthony's festival! They haven't had the best weather this week, but today seems to be perfect -- who's going?

I LOVE this story -- a British WWII vet busts out of his retirement home to go to Normandy for the D-Day celebrations.

An 89-year-old British World War II veteran who went missing from his retirement home was found in France enjoying a D-Day anniversary get-together with former comrades, police said Friday. Bernard Jordan slipped out of The Pines care home in the seaside town of Hove in southern England on Thursday wearing his medals under his raincoat. The former Royal Navy officer then joined a coach party heading for events marking the 70th anniversary of the landings at Ouistreham in Normandy, northern France.

Another gorgeous Saturday! Here is a cartoon just for FBH, which pretty much summarizes his approach to anything Obama: