The NRA’s Declaration Of War

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When I was growing up the NRA was all about guns.  Oh, they were political, but more along geographical lines (red state/blue state, urban/rural) than political parties.  And while we still see this today there's change in the air - and that change is being driven by the NRA. There was a time when being a gun owner was the only ideology one needed to be an NRA member.  Republican/Democrat/Independent/Liberal/Conservative didn't matter.  If you liked guns, the NRA was the group for you. But liking guns isn't enough anymore.  Today, the NRA has dropped any attempt at being a nonpartisan group of gun owners.  They have gone full Tea Party.  If you're a gun owning Dem or liberal the NRA has made it clear you're not welcome.  Of course, any sane person is no longer welcome because the NRA has finally revealed their crazy in stunning, splendid glory. Many of us have always known the crazy was there, but the NRA use to be somewhat politically savvy.  They spoke about the 2nd Amendment, protecting yourself, hunting and responsible gun ownership - they wore a mask of reasonableness.  That mask has been ripped off.

Sunday Open Thread [5.5.13]

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And WTF is up with Tom Gordon's CAO?
Grimaldi, who is County Executive Tom Gordon’s chief administrative officer, got in a shoving match during a Delaware Police Athletic League meeting in late 2011 or early 2012, witnesses said. And he was charged with offensive touching after a 2010 altercation that Grimaldi said was his reaction to an attack, court records show.
Having a government gig apparently means never having to be accountable, I guess.

Saturday Open Thread [5.4.2013]

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[...]If your "way of life" involves handing deadly weapons to five-year olds, your way of life is completely screwed up and you should change it immediately because it is stupid and wrong. (And, again, also, too: goddammit, "learning to use and respect a gun" means at least knowing that the fking thing is loaded when it's sitting in the corner of the parlor like it's a damn umbrella stand or something, and we should talk about that part, too.) It is not in any way "normal" to hand a kindergartner a firearm. If a mother from the inner-city of, say, Philadelphia did that, and the kid subsequently shot his sister to death, Fox News never would stop yelling about the crisis in African American communities and the Culture Of Death, and rap music, too. If your culture is telling you that children who have only recently emerged from toddlerhood should have their own guns, then your culture is deadly and dangerous and that should concern you, too. If your culture demands that, in the face of a general national outrage over the killing of other children, your politics work to loosen the gun laws you have, as they apparently did in Kentucky, then your culture is making your politics stupid and wrong and you should change them, too.[...]

Friday Open Thread [5.3.13]

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The U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in April, which is a good not great number, but the better news is the revisions for February (a great month that is now Clintonian Great) and March (a Bushian bad month of low job growth that has now become Obamian Good).
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for February was revised from +268,000 to +332,000, and the change for March was revised from +88,000 to +138,000. With these revisions, employment gains in February and March combined were 114,000 higher than previously reported.

This is why Cathy Cloutier keeps getting reelected…

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... yeah, you can say it is the well timed moderate votes recently and over the last several years that have pretty well placed her in the "sane Republican" and "moderate" categories, but never ever underestimate the personal touches. For example, most politicians, if they are worth their stuff, send out happy birthday messages to their constitutuents, mostly in the form of mass produced postcards or cards, like the one my State Representative Debbie Hudson sent me....

Thursday Open Thread [5.2.13]

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Michael Tomasky: "How stupid does the Senate background-check vote look now, I ask the pundits and others who thought it was dumb politics for Obama and the Democrats to push for a vote that they obviously knew they were going to lose. I'd say not very stupid at all. The nosedive taken in the polls by a number of senators who voted against the bill, most of them in red states, makes public sentiment here crystal clear. And now, for the first time since arguably right after the Reagan assassination attempt--a damn long time, in other words--legislators in Washington are feeling political heat on guns that isn't coming from the NRA. This bill will come back to the Senate, maybe before the August recess, and it already seems possible and maybe even likely to have 60 votes next time."

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Thurs., May 2, 2013

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The question of the day: 'Why Tuesday, Why Not Today?' Why is HB 75 (Marriage Equality), which cleared the Senate Executive Committee yesterday, not being worked today? The questions, and my highly-speculative answer are herein reprinted in their entirety:
Dale: Does anyone have any insight as to why the Senate vote on HB 75 was scheduled for next Tuesday, a full week (not actually) after the committee vote?
El Somnambulo thought that it might be scheduled for the very next day. And I read on the site of the conservative DE Family Policy Council that they thought the same thing. Why put it off a week? Could this mean that the 2 “undecided” senators are not simply keeping their intentions under wraps, but instead might genuinely be undecided and need more time? Is Hall Long requesting the extra time so that she can “poll” her district, as the News Journal reported?
El Somnambulo: Good questions, Dale. Blevins knows what she’s doing here, and your speculation could well be accurate. If she thinks that they need a little room to come to grips with their decisions, then I think that’s the right thing to do. There might, repeat, MIGHT, even be an Alphonse/Gaston situation here. What if two senators are reluctant to be the ‘deciding’ vote on an issue, but would each conceivably be ‘yes’ votes if theirs was the 12th rather than the 11th vote? That way, they’d have cover that their vote in essence made no difference. Seems crazy, I know, but stranger things have happened. I know that this issue is a ‘no-brainer’ for a lot of us, but there’s lots more at play than meets the eye with some legislators. I DO know that HB 75 has a superb grassroots lobbying effort behind it, so I don’t think we’ll lose ground between now and next Tuesday. Might just gain some.
Anyone have anything to add? Keep in mind that the goal of supporters should be to help these senators get to 'yes'.