Wednesday Daily Delawhere [2.6.13]

Remnants of the subdivision of Glenville, on Route 4 near Stanton. Glenville was prone to frequent flooding, and after the area was pretty much destroyed after Hurricane Isabel in 2003, the county bought out the residents and condemned the area. Sidewalks, driveways, and front lawns can still be seen in some spots that were abandoned.

Fox News Dumps Dick Morris

In a victory for reality and a defeat for bullshit, Fox News won't be renewing its contract with Dick Morris, the world's worst political pundit. Morris, AKA the King of Wrong Mountain, was last seen predicting a Mitt Romney landslide in November, a prediction not even Rasmussen's polling hype supported. Fox could have saved themselves some money by listening to me in 2008; it shouldn't take over a decade for a network to fire someone who makes nothing but wrong predictions. My all time favorite Morris prediction was that Hillary Clinton would beat Obama in the Hawaii caucuses because of "the Asian vote". Yes, Obama won his home state by a landslide, of course. Combined with Chris Wallace sticking it to Wayne LaPierre, this news suggests that reality-based discourse is on the rise.

The Uselessness of John Sigler — Part 138

John Sigler's email continues to make a fool of him -- this time the email (which I haven't seen) criticizes the Governor for his overseas trips. Really? Sigler clearly missed the fact that one of the real growth areas in American jobs is importing them from overseas. Still, it is a good bet that Sigler's email provides no clues as to the places in Delaware where the Governor should be visiting to help bring in new jobs. The man is clearly not supposed to be making sense -- just fine-tuning his manufactured outrage. The Governor provided a choice response though:

When non-gun people shoot, they shoot skeet

I'm not saying Carper doesn't still shoot and still enjoy chowing down on "possum, rabbit, squirrel and wild boar." I'm simply observing that when non-gun people want to shoot something, they are typically going to shoot skeet. How do I know this? I'm a non gun person and when shooting come up as a topic, I think to myself, "I'd like to try skeet shooting, I guess."
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Carper owns a 16-gauge shotgun. Rep. John Carney owns a Remington 11-87 shotgun. The Delaware lawmakers, both Democrats, are gun owners who support banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The pair also favor background checks for all gun purchases.

Dispatches from the looming GOP Civil War – The Underpants Gnomes of FREEDOM!

In searching for overheated rants about Karl Rove, I came across this bit of revisionist history from Red State's Eric Ericson:
In Delaware, many conservative, myself included, made the conscious decision that it would be far better to have the Democrat win than Mike Castle because of what Castle would do whispering in the ears of Republican leaders. Few of us thought she could win. But Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint get particular blame for their endorsements, which totally ignores that those endorsements came when it was clear O’Donnell was on a glide path to victory in the primary as Delaware Republicans were rejecting Mike Castle without much outside help from conservatives.

Wayne LaPierre Gets Beat up by Fox News

Chris Wallace interviewed LaPierre yesterday and by most accounts it seems that Wallace did not deliver a softball interview. This clip of the interview has been in wide circulation, and in it, Chris Wallace is not just tough on LaPierre and his talking points, but also lets LaPierre just hang from the rhetorical noose he creates. Interesting that this is from FOX News -- especially since Rupert Murdoch has been on Twitter actively dissing US gun laws and attitudes to guns. This video is approx. 10 minutes long:

Yeah, you really do not have a right to vote.

The original Constitution itself is silent on the right to vote. Indeed, in deferrence to the godforsaken "State's Rights" faction, the Constitution leaves the determination of voting qualifications to each individual state. So while the 15th Amendment referred for the first time to a "right to vote" and prohibited the states from denying or abridging that right to vote on account of race, states still had significant power to deny that right to vote through literacy tests, poll taxes, and other forms of intimidation. So the 15th Amendment, and all subsequent voting Amendments (i.e. 19th (women) and the 26th (age of 18), are better understood as not establishing a right to vote but instead telling the states that you cannot deny the privilege to vote on account of race, religion, sex, or age. States were free to deny the vote in any other way they saw fit. And many states have tried to make voting as difficult as possible. Long lines, lack of polling stations, shortened registration deadlines, prohibition on felons voting, and harsh residency requirements are all examples. So a Constitutional Amendment is required to not only explicitly spell out that right to vote, but to take away the ability of the states to deny the previous privilege to vote.