ObamaCare A Qualified Success

ObamaCare A Qualified Success

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We're 90 days past Sebelius's near catastrophic launch. In spite of amazing roadblocks, Republican resistance and sabotage, Republican governor's further undermining a key element to serve the health needs of our poorest citizens, and what our President had the honesty to characterize as "self inflicted wounds", We've got a success here.

Thursday Open Thread [1.2.14]

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This is interesting and presents a possible paradox of conservative ideology that will destroy it once and for all. From Haaretz:
"Israel will pay for abortions for women aged 20 to 33 regardless of circumstance starting next year, health officials said Monday, adding that they hope to make eligibilty for state funding universal in the future."
Conservatives, especially the theocons and neocons, place utmost importance on Israel. For the theocons, the reason is obvious, it is the Holy Land. For the neocons, it is the protection of Israel is almost the sole purpose of the existence of the United States. The conservative Likkud government of Israel is now going to provide not only free abortions, but they are going to do it through evil socialist universal healthcare.
New Years Day Open Thread [1.1.14]

New Years Day Open Thread [1.1.14]

Happy New Year to all. A new year, new hopes, new opportunities. But right now, we have the same old politics, which are hopefully changing for the better. Paul Krugman on whether our fiscal politics are changing:
The intransigence of the right wasn’t the only disease troubling America’s body politic in 2012. We were also suffering from fiscal fever: the insistence by virtually the entire political and media establishment that budget deficits were our most important and urgent economic problem, even though the federal government could borrow at incredibly low interest rates. Instead of talking about mass unemployment and soaring inequality, Washington was almost exclusively focused on the alleged need to slash spending (which would worsen the jobs crisis) and hack away at the social safety net (which would worsen inequality). So the good news is that this fever, unlike the fever of the Tea Party, has finally broken.

Carney The Craven

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Our congressman, you know, the one who refused to push for Congress to stay in session until benefits to the long-term unemployed were restored, nevertheless found the time to send…
Honoring the 2013 MVP’s (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause)

Honoring the 2013 MVP’s (Most Valuable to the Progressive Cause)

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One of the people in the picture to the left is the MVP this year. There were several worthy contenders who just missed the list this year. Superior legislators like Melanie George Smith and Michael Barbieri deserve consideration every year. Ed Osienski is fast approaching that status. Helene Keeley and Kim Williams were on my list at one time or another during my deliberations. 2013 was a great year for social justice in Delaware. Economic justice, not so much.  However, I am encouraged that at least three strong voices for progressive principles joined the General Assembly this year, and a couple of Leg Hall vets found their voices as well. The progressive grassroots became more effective this year, and helped ensure historic victories that would not have happened without their support. Marriage equality, transgender equality, and justice for manufactured home owners,  being among them. The most notable omission from my list, and I struggled with it, is Governor Jack Markell. His role in hastening civil rights for the LGBT community will most assuredly be his lasting positive legacy. But, his actions in slowing the passage of minimum wage; his continued pushing for corporate education solutions and favoring charter schools; his granting of a tax cut for Delaware's wealthiest citizens; his almost-disastrous actions concerning the Port of Wilmington; and several others, led me to omit him from the list. At best, the good and the bad canceled each other out. And, no, you don't have to take the bad with the good. Or at least you shouldn't accept it. I don't. Now to the list....
2013: Our Year in Numbers and Our Most Popular Posts of the Year

2013: Our Year in Numbers and Our Most Popular Posts of the Year

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One thing is made clear from this list of our most popular posts: Chip Flowers is good for business. Posts about him and his travails this year were among our most popular, most likely because he has some fervent fans who waste no time coming here to defend him, and fervent detractors who likewise come here to pile on whenever we put a post up on him. The Flowers scandal and the Marriage Equality victory clearly were the political stories of the year here. But before we get to the list, let's over some numbers. We also had our busiest day in the history of Delaware Liberal this year. Now, usually, our busy years and busy days are relegated to election years and specifically, Election Days and Nights. For example, we had 1,001,363 unique visits to our site in 2010, the midterm election year, and 1,333,982 unique visits in 2012, a presidential election year. This year, it looks like we are going to be well short of that high mark, with 883,537 as of this writing. But that is still higher than the past similar off year, 2011, when we had 791,519. So the site continues to grow. But I digress. I started off talking about our busiest day, which was, before this year, September 10, 2010, the night Christine O'Donnell upset Mike Castle in the GOP primary. But the witch got dethroned this year by the passage of the Marriage Equality law. That is sweet and poetic justice. So May 7, 2013 is now our reigning champion for busiest day, a day when we got 18,942 unique visits.