Tag: Featured
The DNC Needs A Dean Redux
A couple of commentaries appeared in the media this week from two divergent factions in the party, both in agreement. Governor Terry McAuliffe and Howard Dean both went public with rather extensive statements that the DNC needs rebuilding. We must have messaging on our accomplishments and what we stand for.
McAuliffe spoke quite critically of the failure of our National Party to address the challenges of our struggling middle class and the need for major economic reforms. This from a guy who I always viewed as a brilliant fund raiser but shallow thinker. He did leave our party in great financial shape. Maybe I was wrong about the shallowness.
I think he really understands the failed leadership of our Party here in a time of our most desperate need for economic reform. He also spoke of our President’s brilliant record on so many fronts which were ignored by the DNC’s non-existent messaging program.
Adding insult to injury, the clueless but very well insured Democratic leader Chuck Schumer came this week with absurd commentary that it was a huge mistake for Congressional Democrats to undertake healthcare reform in Obama’s first term. In a clearly uncoordinated messaging effort of his own without collaboration with the White House or DNC, he said we should have focused on the economy and not done the Affordable Care Act. Is our Federal Government a one trick pony, incapable of multi-tasking?
Power vs. Authority
I teach my organizational behavior students that, in their relationships, there is a difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to influence behavior, while authority is the right to influence behavior.
Authority is derived from some level of mutual agreement within the relationship. In America we give police departments the authority to pull us over if we appear to be speeding. We grant that lifeguards on the beach, and cops on the highways enforcing the rules that we’ve established redounds to the general benefit of society. Social scientists call the extent to which we accept authority as legitimate as the “zone of indifference.” When a cop, a lifeguard, or even our fast food managers go beyond what we perceive as their authority, we seem to know it intuitively. We all have a highly tuned sense of our personal zone of indifference.
Unlike authority, power does not depend on a relationship. The lunchroom bully can influence behavior, but there is no consent given or implied when he takes the weaker kid’s lunch money. Power is as power does. The bully has the ability to take the lunch money based on his strength, so he takes it.
Now we have a class of citizens, police, who have abused their authority and have only power left. One cop murdering an unarmed kid and getting away with it doesn’t simply diminish his own authority. That injustice drains authority out of the entire system. And once gone – authority does not come back. Once the mutual agreement that we’ve entered into in order to establish lines of civil authority has been broken, power is the tool remaining in the state’s tool box. We call that a police state.
Delaware, meet your next Governor – Ken Simpler
The mainframe at the home office in Omaha has crunched the numbers and all signs point to Simpler. Follow me below the fold for the breakdown.
Bienvenida A Casa !
Welcome. Come out of the shadows now, thanks to a courageous President Obama. I’m sorry this has taken so long but there are a few nativists here who have made the process of legalizing your residency difficult. Let’s forgive and ignore them.
Tom Carper just heaped praise on this Republican – You will totally believe what happened next
Yesterday Tom Carper heaped praise on his GOP buddy Tom Coburm of Oklahoma. After praising Coburn, he handed over the gavel of an Ebola hearing to the nutbag:
“I don’t want to chair this hearing today. I want Tom Coburn to chair it,” Mr. Carper said from the dais on Wednesday. “So I’m going to pass tho gavel over to him and put him in charge, and I’m going to try to be a good wingman. All right, Thomas, it’s all yours.”
What did the grand gesture of bipartisanship get Carper? Well, LATER THE SAME DAY Coburn predicted “anarchy” and “violence” will be the result of any executive order on immigration.
“Concerned Neighbors Of Cooke Elementary School” VS The Red Clay School Board
I plan on attending the RCCD school board meeting tomorrow night (7pm at Brandywine Springs Elementary School). This is going to be interesting, mainly because the Concerned Neighbors of Cooke Elementary School’s stated concerns regarding the addition of Lancaster Court Apartments to Cooke’s feeder don’t hold water – they also keep changing. If you haven’t […]
Democrats: Look What Two Parties By And For The Rich Got Us.
Hey DNC and State Party Chairs: Look at our reality. We’ve got the Presidency for two more years; the Repugnant party has both houses and the Supreme Court. What’s more, they’ve got 68 out of 98 partisan state legislatures and 31 governorships. We, the party “of the people” came up just a bit short but your reaction seems just a bit muted given these dire circumstances.
Opposing BFD China Climate Deal? Treason.
For years Republicans have held China’s resistance to a carbon reduction treaty as a reason to oppose President Obama’s efforts to address the climate crisis here. So, he cuts an amazing deal with China and what are Republicans doing? Opposing it. This is nothing short of treason.
Attendance Zone Decision for Cooke Elementary School Results In A Protest
An ipetition landed in my email. Here’s what it says:
Protest of Red Clay School Board’s Attendance Zone Decision for Cooke Elementary School
We demand that the Red Clay Consolidated School District School Board reverse their October 15 decision to deviate from the Attendance Zone feeder pattern that had been presented by the Attendance Zone Committee and accepted by the community. This last-minute decision undermined six months of work by the Attendance Zone Committee and did not give the community an opportunity to voice concerns. The students of Lancaster Court Apartments will not benefit from this decision, and the decision contradicts the Neighborhood Schools Act. The Board’s action was not ethical and the decision is not acceptable.
So… I made some calls to try and figure out what happened. I’m piecing this together from various conversations, so if anyone has additional insight please let me know. Here’s what I heard….
America’s Third World Voting Systems A Disgrace
Voting across the country is in chaos. Our state by state patchwork of voting rules, laws, ID’s, machines, processes, poll worker training and counting can only be described as third world. I believe these systemic flaws contribute to the national malaise about voting participation. For many it is a pain in the butt. Others, a huge inconvenience. For many a discouraging experience.
Rude Obnoxious Christie-wannabe running for Governor
Sen. Colin Bonini (R-17RD), having won reelection yesterday essentially unopposed, has announced that he is running for Governor in 2016, as was speculated here earlier this week. Indeed, it fits into Colin’s practice of running for higher office during the off year between his Senate elections.
And thus the musical chair game begins.
Bored Blue State Democrats. Tanked Down Ballot.
Ok, many of you are not going to like this from a recent transplant from Texas no less. But I’m going to give you my truth as I saw it with my own eyes.
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