Tag: El Somnambulo
KWS Goes to Bat For Mega Insurance Company
Our purported insurance regulator, Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart, is instead trying to run interference for Met Life. Check out this article from the state government website: fer cryin’ out loud:
DOVER, DE – In a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and other federal regulators, Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart has urged them to reconsider their vote to propose that MetLife be labeled as a “systemically important financial institution” (SIFI) and therefore subject to tougher federal regulation. “Based on my experience as an insurance regulator (insert joke here), and a regulator of one of MetLife’s larger insurance subsidiaries, I do not believe that MetLife’s businesses and corporate structure create the kind of systemic risk that Dodd-Frank’s SIFI designation process was designed to address,” she said. Stewart argues explicitly against the designation of MetLife and said state regulators are capable and competent to continue the oversight of the company (insert joke here).
‘Bulo’s Fave New Tunes: Sept., 2014
Best stuff to hit my ears last month, lotsa diversity:
Melaena Cadiz: Neon Drag
Elliot Bronson: New Pain
American Wrestlers: I Can Do No Wrong
Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear: Live By Water
Circa Waves: So Long
Leonard Cohen: Almost Like The Blues
Amber Run: I Found
What’d you like? What great stuff have you heard lately?
Why Not Invest A Few Shekels in These Candidates?
1. Sean Matthews, 11th RD: Even if you backed Dennis E. Williams in the primary, you’d have to admit that Matthews is infinitely preferable to R candidate Judy Travis, whose support comes from far out of the political mainstream. As opposed to your traditional Brandywine Hundred R, Travis is one of only two House candidates to get the support of the Delaware chapter of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.
2. John Mackenzie, 22nd RD: A rarity. Campaign stuff that’s worth reading. Click on this and on this. Not only is it clear that he wrote his own copy, but he comes across as someone who will be a serious legislator and quite the progressive. He perhaps reminds me most of Michael Barbieri, who is one of the most outstanding legislators we have. We could use several more legislators like him, and Mackenzie is in that mold.
3. Marie Mayor, 20th RD: Well, let’s see. She’s right on the issues, she’s running a great campaign, she never really stopped running after the 2012 election, she almost won last time, and she, too, would immediately take her place as one of the best legislators in Dover. The political stars could also be aligned, as the anti-Obama folks won’t overrun the Sussex County results like in 2012. I also believe that, once she’s elected, her constituent work will enable her to get reelected several times over. Let’s help her win!
Can We Talk About Pedophilia?
No, not the act of abusing children and/or engaging in inappropriate behavior with them. Such activities are criminal and should be subject to the strongest enforcement the justice system can bring.
I’m talking about adult attraction to children which never rises to the level of physical contact, but which may include viewing images that we find abhorrent, and may cause acute mental anguish for those with this condition.
A thought-provoking piece in Sunday’s New York Times argues that pedophilia is a mental illness and makes an effective argument that we’re treating it improperly. Read the whole thing before reacting reflexively. Here are some salient excerpts from Prof. Margo Kaplan‘s op-ed:
El Somnambulo Predicts ‘Em All For You
This column will self-destruct sometime around 9 p.m. next Tuesday. Or perhaps Saturday, according to Dave Tackett’s latest mailer (seriously, he has the wrong day for the primary on his mailer.) Time to pick the primary winners (and losers).
State Senator-SD 11 (D): Even with pretty good name recognition, it’s hard to win a D primary against a popular incumbent when your ideological base resides within a right-wing evangelical church. Bryan Townsend gives Dave Tackett a well-deserved whooping, I mean whoooping, 62-38. (Memo to Dave: Next time, try Spell Check. Despite what it says on your latest piece, there are only two o’s in ‘trooper’, not three. Oh, and political mailers should have a disclaimer as to who paid for them. You’re welcome.)
Delaware Political Weekly, Or An Approximation Thereof: August 16-22, 2014
This article got lost in the Chip Flowers Implosion, Version 4.0, but it shouldn’t have. House D’s facing primary challenges sending out thinly-veiled campaign lit on the public’s dime. A practice that was discontinued under Speaker Gilligan (Terry Spence was the Godfather of this practice), but reinstated by Speaker Schwartzkopf just in time for the primaries. Now here’s the rest of the story. Complaints regarding this practice were filed with Elaine Manlove of the State Department of Elections. She determined that she had no legal jurisdiction over the complaints, that they did not technically violate state law, and referred them to…The House Ethics Committee. Did I mention that the House Ethics Committee is chaired by Valerie Longhurst, one of the two legislators who it’s been confirmed have sent out these mailers on the taxpayers’ dime? Now, that’s the Delaware Way.
House Incumbents Spending Taxpayer $$’s To Fend Off Primary Challengers?
It sure looks that way. Both Valerie Longhurst and Dennis E. Williams have sent out official House correspondence to their districts that are little more than taxpayer-funded campaign pieces. There may well be others who have done the same.
The supposed deniability comes in that these are allegedly legislative updates to constituents. They are sent on their personal House letterhead, in House envelopes, and likely through state mail. And they are prepared in-house by state employees on state time. They tout the alleged accomplishments of the legislators, and, as campaign pieces are prone to do, try to mislead voters on issues where the incumbents are vulnerable. Oh, and so far, they’ve only been sent out by incumbent House members facing primaries.
When I worked in the Senate, we were forbidden from doing this. During the brief time that I worked for the House, then-Speaker Terry Spence allowed us to send such mailings. Of course, it’s likely not coincidence that this policy was set during the election season that the Rethugs were desperately trying to hold onto their majority, and if they did it, he had to let us do it. Truth be told, most of July and August were spent on preparing and sending these mailings.
Only one person can authorize such mailings: The Speaker of the House. It’s likely legal, as the General Assembly routinely exempts itself from laws that apply to everyone else. In fact, apparently it’s technically legal to send out these sorts of mailings up to 35 days prior to an election. But I submit that it’s a wasteful misuse of taxpayer funds.
Brenda Mayrack Lures ‘Bulo Out of the Shadows
Other than doing door-to-door with Bryan Townsend and hosting Mitch Crane at the Arden Fair, I’ve not been out front in actively campaigning for political candidates since I took my leave of the Delaware General Assembly.
Brenda Mayrack has changed that. To the extent that I’ll be on her Host Committee for this upcoming event:
Darley House Meet & Greet
Thursday, August 7, 2014 | 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Darley House (Corner of Philadelphia Pike & Darley Road)
3701 Philadelphia Pike | Claymont, DE 19703Additional parking available next door at the Church of the Ascension.
Buy your tickets now.Friend: $30 | Supporter: $75 | Host: $100
That’s right. As a host, I’m ponying up $100. Why?
Because, for all intents and purposes, we haven’t had an auditor, let alone a competent auditor, for however long Tom “Suspendered Disbelief” Wagner has been in office. I’ve argued on this blog for years that we really need a competent auditor. A competent auditor can and will save the state lots of dollars. It’s not even mostly about waste, fraud, and abuse, it’s about working with agencies to save the state money while not cutting services.
“Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?”: Chapter, Oh, 1,000,000 and Something.
Wilmington City Council pays $1000 so that Councilman Mike Brown can fly back from Florida on the city’s dime to cast the deciding vote to override the Mayor’s veto of cuts to the Fire Department budget only to come up…TWO VOTES SHORT.
Oh, and for reasons that not even Mike Brown can explain, he lied about where he was vacationing. Why? I have no idea. Apparently, neither does he. From Amy Cherry’s WDEL story (watch and listen)…
Carney Sides With Pesticide Polluters
To be fair, he hadn’t cast any real egregious votes for a few weeks now. That has changed. Carney sided with pesticide polluters who don’t even want to get a permit to spray in waterways. This despite the fact that there had not been a single complaint from a single state or provider urging a […]
Far Right Rethuglican Organization Endorses…Dave Tackett!!??
This is truth, not fiction. The Delaware Chapter of the Faith & Freedom Coalition has endorsed putative Democrat Dave Tackett in the Democratic Primary against State Sen. Bryan Townsend. Tackett was endorsed along with a bunch of R’s. The Faith & Freedom Coalition is the home for the usual suspect right-wing nut jobs. Ralph Reed is the founder and chairman. Their endorsers include Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Marco Rubio, the Christian Broadcasting Network, Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann, and Ted Cruz, among many others. This group, this group, has decided to endorse Dave Tackett. For those who doubt me, here is the press release….
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