Tag: Featured
Will The Tea Party Burn The House Down ?
My former Texas Senator, John Cornyn, with whom I’ve never agreed, told Ted Cruz words to the effect that you don’t burn the house down to kill the rats. But I wonder. is Cruz crazy enough to try to do just that? I read he is now collaborating with House teabaggers to create a coup against their own elected leader, John Boehner to take the country to the brink of default on the debt ceiling issue.
I saw these people up close and personal in my Texas life and I can tell you that while they give lip service to the Constitution, they do not recognize the rules laid down therein. They do not recognize the results of democratic elections when they lose and in fact, do all kinds of nefarious things to break rules which do not serve their interests. These people are rabid revolutionaries. They are not incrementalists by any definition. Burning the house down for them is the easiest way they can achieve their white bread theocracy. They are smart enough to understand that they have to first inhabit the house in order to get to the oven to light it and burn baby burn.
A Wilmingtonian’s Appeal to City Council President Theo Gregory
We’ve all read the NJ articles and listened to the WDEL reporting, and some of us actually sat through the Channel 28 debacle of former Mayoral Policy Advisor Velda Jones-Potter’s “explanation” as to how City taxpayers ended up paying for 20 WPD officers and other city resources at the Foxtail concert on 14 September. Many of us (publicly and otherwise) have been calling for a full, impartial investigation by City Council — an investigation where the parties involved provide sworn testimony and where any found wrongdoing is referred to the Attorney General. Mr. Gregory did promise a Special City Council meeting dedicated to looking into why taxpayer dollars were so badly mishandled and who would have authorized this. Monday, September October 30 is the date, but I want to ask — again — that Mr. Gregory make sure that this is a robust questioning and investigation. Wilmington already has a bad reputation for governing itself, and making sure that the tough questions get asked and making sure that unethical behavior has consequences would be a great beginning in changing that reputation.
A Small Request for County Councilwoman Lisa Diller
Most of us have seen this grandstanding bit of business from Tom Gordon publicly calling for an apology from you for insisting on requests for information from the County Executive’s Office be provided when requested. Ms. Diller’s response here has been characterized as yelling — which it might be, it certainly sounds as though she’s frustrated with the lack of communication and the selective release of information to Councilmembers. If you listen to the audio of that meeting, (start around the 10 minute mark) you hear one Councilman talk about the Administration spending money on events and photo ops the County doesn’t seem to have. The rest of this discussion is specifically about the refusal of Gordon and the County Attorney to provide a briefing in Executive Committee during that Finance Committee on the Pike Creek appeal.
More on the Navy Yard Shooter And Our Failed Mental Health System
Many insightful issues and questions were included in your comments. I’ll try to deal with them concisely and welcome an idea exchange. I’ll address your issues with an abbreviated Q, followed by my response. Let me explain that my engagement on mental health services derives from more than 10 years as a day to day care giver for a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic son starting in around 1999 when he was 33 and I was close to starting my retirement. My experience involved very frequent involvement with psychiatrists, counselors, outpatient centers and psychiatric hospitals, primarily in Texas but also Mississippi and Florida. I have no experience with the Delaware psych community. I initiated four psychiatric hospital admissions for my son; he has had many more since those four.
As The Potter’s Field Turns
There was lots of chatter yesterday about the appearance of Velda Jones Potter and her son on Charles Potter’s leased access show on Channel 28. Unfortunately, yesterday was also a big football day and plenty of people prepping for the Emmys and/or Breaking Bad. Matthew Albright of the NJ missed all of the fun and found himself watching this show.
News Journal hides exculpatory Markell campaign facts under sensational headline
It is pretty clear that E. Norman Veasey is on witch-hunt, and the News Journal’s Maureen Milford is happy to play along. If you doubt that there are axes being ground, those doubts should be dispelled when you get to this….
RIP, the middle class: 1946-2013
The American government (Democrats & Republicans) basically decided that low prices were more important to the economy than jobs. This Edward McClellend piece in salon will walk you through the whole sick history.
When I was growing up, it was assumed that America’s shared prosperity was the natural endpoint of our economy’s development, that capitalism had produced the workers paradise to which Communism unsuccessfully aspired. Now, with the perspective of 40 years, it’s obvious that the nonstop economic expansion that lasted from the end of World War II to the Arab oil embargo of 1973 was a historical fluke, made possible by the fact that the United States was the only country to emerge from that war with its industrial capacity intact. Unfortunately, the middle class – especially the blue-collar middle class – is also starting to look like a fluke, an interlude between Gilded Ages that more closely reflects the way most societies structure themselves economically. For the majority of human history – and in the majority of countries today – there have been only two classes: aristocracy and peasantry. It’s an order in which the many toil for subsistence wages to provide luxuries for the few. Twentieth century America temporarily escaped this stratification, but now, as statistics on economic inequality demonstrate, we’re slipping back in that direction. Between 1970 and today, the share of the nation’s income that went to the middle class – households earning two-thirds to double the national median – fell from 62 percent to 45 percent. Last year, the wealthiest 1 percent took in 19 percent of America’s income – their highest share since 1928. It’s as though the New Deal and the modern labor movement never happened.
Williams’ Mayoralty Headed for Potter’s Field?
Wherein the “nothing to see here folks, move along now” defense run into actual journalism.
While Wilmington officials used taxpayer money to help cover police expenses and other services at a concert last weekend promoted by a top city employee’s son, organizers of other events that weekend found themselves paying for their functions’ security.
Mayor Dennis P. Williams defended using public money to pay for some costs of the all-day, hip-hop Foxtail Fest, arguing that other events last weekend also received city services. But organizers of three other events made clear Thursday that they were not treated the same, particularly when it came to security.
Whoops.
How America’s Mental Health Establishment Empowered the Navy Yard Shooter
The security breaches are already being well covered in the public media on the tragic D.C. Navy Yard massacre. So is the absurd U.S. tolerance and obsession with violence. And, hopefully, the gun culture debate is firing up again. But what I’d like my readers to focus on is the total failure of our mental health system, if you can call it that. The dozen innocent victims of the shooter’s crazed act and their families can look to the numerous red flags apparent in his long history of schizophrenic behavior ignored or overlooked by mental health professionals and Aaron Alexis associates alike. And no, it was not within his capability to recognize the illness in his own behavior. The responsibility sits squarely with the so called professionals. They own it as do they own the stunning inadequacy of our country’s mental health care. Here’s what we must address as a society, holding these professionals accountable for joining we the people in fixing this travesty of a system.
Kudos to Senator Townsend and Representative Osienski
Starting last Friday, State Senator Bryan Townsend and State Representative Ed Osienski began participating in the Food Bank of Delaware’s SNAP Challenge, where they live for a week off $31.50, which is the average national Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit per person. You hear all the time from evil conservatives about how good the lazy […]
Ed Reform Isn’t About Education
Yes, I’ve written about this before, but in case you’ve forgotten, Ed Reformers have changed their motto from Charter Schools offer a superior education (compared to public schools) at less cost to Parent Choice! Which is really convenient since it allows them to ignore failing schools by claiming these schools are what parents want. Oh, ed reformers are quick to point out failing public schools in the name of supporting charters, but are mum on schools like Moyer Academy and Pencader.
Which brings me to an interesting article in the News Journal on Sunday…
New Workmans Comp Ratepayer Advocate To Do the Job the IC Won’t
This didn’t get alot of press, except from WDDE — but Delaware’s workmans compensation rate-payers now have an advocate and watchdog. The Ratepayer Advocate position was one of the recommendations of the Workers Compensation Task Force that was charged with taking a hard look at excessive increases (26% over two years) in workers compensation rates — made especially critical by the fact that the Insurance Commissioner seemed ready to approve another set of increases without regard for the ratepayers. Lt. Governor Matt Denn headed up this commission and he and this group were able to submit to the Governor a set of reform recommendations that built on the reforms that Denn implemented when he was IC. So basically, the Governor and the GA asked Matt Denn to take up the work of reducing the impact on ratepayers — the job that the IC is *supposed* to do. Mr. Fred Thompson has been named to the position and he is a former Deputy Insurance Commissioner.
Carney Misses Chance for Bipartisanship
When it comes to John Carney’s cherished bipartisanship vs. the obligation to do the job he was elected to do, John Carney has chosen…neither.
According to this article, 162 members of the U. S. House of Representatives have called for a debate in Congress prior to any authorization of attacking Syria. 62 Democrats are among those signing the letters to call for such action. John Carney is not among them.
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