Endorsement In Primary For New Castle County Executive

So why even vote?

For one, the county is what controls most of our lives, if you live outside any of the smaller city limits…

Two, you pay them enough in taxes (included in your escrows if paying-off a mortgage). or a painful separate check if the asset is fully yours.

Three. They establish and run almost all the things that impact your daily lives… When it comes down to “gee, how well do we like this place in which we live”, the country has probably 60%, the state 30%, and the Federal government 10% of that decision…

If you don’t believe me simply try living without a sewer for one year… You get tired digging holes in your back yard.  But also add the perks that sprout up, those festivals in our county parks, that farm next door that never was developed into a section 8 housing unit, the police who not only protect us, but let our kids pet their Clydesdales, and you sort of get a general idea of how important our County actually is to us….

So what happens, when county government stops working?  You get everybody fighting for themselves… sort of like New Jersey.  You get no planning. You get results where anything goes. You get increased crime because either one can buy off cops who have no one watching over them, or because they were strictured through lack of funding. You get no perks, unless you want to pay a private citizen your out-of-pocket money to get them… And all the stuff you do have now, starts falling through the cracks out of neglect….

Bottom line: it is very important to have someone running the county who can do it well…

Which thrusts us sometimes into this bizarre choice.  Is it better to have a person more concerned with morals and appearances who always seems to be deep in a moral struggle just to do their basic job?… Or is it better to be stuck with someone always having the whiff of corruption seeming to surround them, but who makes your own personal life SO MUCH BETTER and easier by his abilities and skill to get things done before you even get to worry about them…..?

This bizarre choice is what New Castle County faces this primary season when choosing its Executive. ….. …. …. Your vote will simply depend on which of the above traits YOU think is more important, either it being sanctimonious, or being successful; which YOU prefer to see embedded in your leader….

Delaware Liberal just came out in support of Matt Meyer.  Interestingly that same writer penning that article was also a fervent supporter of Hillary,  even to the point of being quite vicious towards Bernie who was performing a service like Matt, challenging the current leader on their principles, especially when it came to the appearance of impropriety over their past choices between ones constituents and ones cronies and corporate friends.. If we remember correctly, the writer’s response to such criticism boiled down to:  she’s effective, she gets things done, her enemies naturally try to discredit her and having no substance, must use whisper campaigns and false accusations.

It is ironical that this one writer was all Hillary in the national, and is now all Matt in the local because in this race, Tom is the candidate being pilloried more like Hillary, the seasoned politician, whereas Matt as the new interloper gets a “buy” on using morality to launch a challenge…

Because like Hillary, Tom Gorden has had an amazing career.  Granted some is timing. But also granted is that he is feared by this state’s developers, ever since he shocked them with a moratorium on all new development..  He implemented that necessary action which had been a political albatross, so much so that none of his predecessors had been willing to touch it before he arrived.  Whereas you may not agree with the copious amounts of development you have seen being dug lately; the control over what has actually been approved for development, was far more consistent with the opinions of those living in those local neighborhoods during the split terms of Gordon, than what occurred during the interims of those holding the office during the split… Can you say: Barley Mills Plaza?

In what matters to our longterm happiness, Tom Gordon has done a better job.  In that way, he is our Hillary, the workhorse who simply because he chooses to support the majority will of the people over the peculating wills of the elite, has special interests spend inordinate time digging for dirt and constantly slandering him , even haul him in as a criminal.  Yet when actually investigated (Hillary 13 times, Tom 1) , though there may be some impropriety brought to light (on both Hillary and Tom) it is innocent shadiness; nothing near what the accusers tried to paint… In fact, if you notice the shaming in the Delaware Liberal article, the problem they try to paint on Tom is that he was “accused”; little mention that a judge who “actually” saw the “evidence offered”, said it was political bullshit and dropped the case.  There really is no difference here between those “accusing” Hillary, indicting her in public because she was called in to account 13 times… (for no one gets called up 13 times unless they are an actual criminal, right) and those indicting Tom Gordon because of “similar” accusations.  Yet in each of those times, the evidence overwhelmingly showed not only was there no actual wrongdoing, but we glimpsed how great she was at running things.  The real evidence that comes out of each of her “hauling in’s”, is that she is an awesome human being… probably the best we’ll see in our lifetimes… And the same can be said about Tom.

At some point, one has to shut down the accusers… “You have no evidence”.

Matt has a nice resume full of “progressiveness” but is seems short on the executive skills needed to run a metropolitan county.  There is no endorsement by others in his “creds” showing he has experience in leading huge numbers of people, often including among that number, those who are trying to see you fail. In his resume I didn’t see any past acclamations which told us how good he was with dealing over conflict.  How strong will he stand up to the selfish interests of County Council? Whereas his resume tells us what kind of a person he is, it doesn’t tell us what kind of an Executive he will be. So instead of starting a stock exchange, will he insist on using that money to send Payless shoes to Africa?  Point made.

And since Delaware Liberal made a big deal on ethics, one should wisely point out that Matt Meyer’s hit piece last sent out in the mail, uses the same kind of ethics both he and Delaware Liberal try to pretend he is above…

His photo has a bright picture with school kids; Tom’s is grainy yellow darkened to show all the weathered lines on his face… Is that on the up and up?  Playing with what you are given, putting out something that is Foxnewsworthy?

Highlighting “Pleading guilty to two criminal charges” without mentioning they were minor misdemeanors, the felonious charges were dropped because they were politically crafted. Is that completely honest?  Most of us plead guilty to criminal charges every time we mail in a check for a speeding ticket.

“He was elected in 1996. Since then, many of our largest corporations have downsized or left the state: GM, Chrysler, MBNA, Avon, Astra Zeneca and Dupont?” Oh, you went there? Lets refresh the record on those companies.  Both GM and Chrysler were bailed out by the Feds.  Did Gordon have anything to do with that?  MBNA was bought out by Bank or America… Did Gordon have anything to do with that?  Avon consolidated elsewhere due to a huge national sales drop, could Gordon have bought all its makeup and applied it to his grainy yellow weathered face (see above) just to keep them in business? Astra Zeneca, again bought out. Dupont split for liability reasons…  None of these are Gordon’s Fault. So what is Matt trying to accomplish by making it look so? Make himself look immature and amateurish?  In fact, it was Chris Coons and Paul Clark who were in the office when most of those took place…right?

So is Matt Meyer being fair here?  In all truth, this was written probably by his hired consultant, who tells everyone “I’m his consultant; I’m running his campaign” but in reality just creates and mails those things you get in your mailbox, and Matt Meyer’s consultant’s literature is no different from Tony Deluca’s, Tom Sharp’s, or those creeps’ who attack John Kowalko every two years.

Bottom line, Tom had nothing to do with those business switches and losses.  and starting in 1996 covers a lot of time, 20 years. Twenty years that between being up or down, things have been pretty good in New Castle County compared to anywhere else near or far.

Matt’s flyer says we gave him a second chance and got more crime and decreased job opportunities.   Has crime increased?  There is less in my neighborhood than was during Paul Clarks’s span, so naturally I had to look it up to see….

(Just in case some of Matt’s supporters can’t see too well)………..

Perhaps they mistakenly add Wilmington to the mix but really, is that fair to add Wilmington to New Castle County when the current executive has no police-fire-or ambulance jurisdiction within Wilmington’s city limits?

Within the county, crime has dropped 16.4% since we gave Gordon a second term.. I’ve seen its results with my own eyes….

There also was much ballyhoo made in Delaware Liberal’s comments about the drop in reserves… In your own personal life, if a tree falls in your back yard and you have money in savings to cover its removal, … do you keep that money in savings, and leave the tree to rot?

That is what those who bring up this ridiculous charge are advocating…  we had needs, we had reserves, we used them…

They say” OH NO!  YOU USED THE RESERVES! YOU ARE AN INCOMPETENT IDIOT “. Collectively the entire populace of New Castle County should respond in kind by giving the only person we have ever had who has actually increase our reserves, another opportunity to do it again… In that quiet way, we will all have the last laugh and say….”no, it looks like you are the idiot….”

 

Delaware: Open For Beesness…..

Delaware’s finest performing Full of Bees… The great…. Todd Chappelle

Coupled with Rick Jensen’s comment on 9 million new immigrants, we are in the middle of a beesy weekend of puns… I predict…..

Mine? The new state logo above in my Title… (You’re very welcome….. 🙂 )

Ok…. one more then….

=========

You get up every morning
From the sound of your alarm clock’s warning
Then leave at 8:15 to go into the city…

You see sinage smilin’ down
Warnin’ bees swarmin” all around…
And marshmellow-like foam gumming up all the highways….

And if your lane’s lucky and on time
You can get to work by nine….
And start your slaving job to carry your own load…

But if you ever get annoyed
Just think of being self-employed
Cause us apiarist just dip up honey all day

(Till ‘they’ call…(ringtone) saying…. Hey! Do you know anything about…. bees?)

Then I’ll be
Takin’ care of beesness, every day
Takin’ care of beesness, in every way
I’ll been takin’ care of beesness, it’s all mine
Takin’ care of beesness while working overtime

(Work it out)

If it were easy being an apiary-ist
And your face could contort like a Drew Carey-ist
And you would squeal when stung, like a newborn colt

But if your windows are rolled down,
Warning. You’ll never make into town,
Unless you can sprint super fast like a Hussein Bolt.

But chances are that you’ll go far
With windows rolled tight up in your car….
But with traffic you might not make it into town…..

So if you’re stuck in traffic,
Don’t do anything that is graphic…
Just sit calmly and look at things from afar….

Tell your boss it’s not your fault….
95 is one big, huge car lot
If that if he fires you, Governor Markell with him will be annoyed…..

Cause you’ll been sittin’
Takin’ care of beesness, every day
Takin’ care of beesness, every way
You’ve been takin’ care of beesness, it’s all mine
Takin’ care of beesness, and working overtime
Take good care of beesness
When I’m away, every day whoo

Remember you get up every morning
From the sound of your alarm clock’s warning
Then leave at 8:15 to go into the city…

You see the sinage smilin’ down
With bees still swarmin’ ’round…
And marshmellow-like foam gumming up all the highways….

Frightened people pushin’, people shovin’
Performing their last rites and their last lovin’
Just praying they make it alive into the city…..

But, if you ever get annoyed
Consider me, I’m self-employed
Then respect what I have to do all day

*While you’re slavin’ ) I’ll be….
Takin’ care of beesness …every day
Takin’ care of beesness ….every way
I’ll bee taking care of beesness, …they’s all mine
Takin’ care of beesness and working overtime ….

Takin’ care of beesness
Takin’ care of beesness
Takin’ care of beesness
Takin’ care of beesness
Takin’ care of beesness

(Not as good as Todd’s but it is a try… nevertheless…. )

Hey, anybody got a buzz?

Image Courtesy of Newark High School.

Power Plant Synopsis; Brief and To The Point

It is Newark’s decision.

They do not need to kow tow to the State of Delaware.
They do not need to kow tow to Govrenor Markell.
They do not need to kow tow to Alan Levin.
They do not need to kow tow to the Delaware Chamber of Commerce.
They do not need to kow tow to the University of Delaware.
They do not need to kow tow to the AFL-CIO.
They do not need to kow tow to the DE Building & Construction Trades Council.
They do not need to kow tow to the editorial board of the Wilmington News Journal.
They do not need to kow tow to Al Mascitti on WDEL’s Morning with Al Mascitti.
They do not need to kow tow to Polly Sierer new mayor of Newark.
They do not need to kow tow to Vince D’Anna, head of the mysterious Polly Sierer PAC….

Their responsibility is strictly to those mostly silent residents living within the Newark’s City limits.

Those people who have to put up with outlandish noise.
Those people who have to breathe 64,482,304 Bq’s of radon over today’s 10 Bq’s of radon PER HOUR falling down across their cars, lawns, and pets across the town.
Those people who will die of lung cancer over the next 75 years… because of this decision……

That is who you are responsible to… Them and only them. If the residents of Newark are going to be taking a bullet for someone… at the end of 75 years, do any of the above rate high enough to be granted such an honor?

State Of Delaware Gets Front Paged On Kos

If Christie laughed at every time he was lampooned, he’d lose weight.

Serendipity Strikes Hard Here

From Nancy:

I thought it absolutely amazing that name of the person leading the charge to protect the spawning grounds of Delaware Bay, was Amy Roe…

See if you get it…..

Should be a good omen …….

9/11 In Memory Of Our Most Tragic Defeat

The cannon fire could be heard from Brandywine Hundred. It was louder in Concord. It was deafening in Chadd’s Ford. The Battle of the Brandywine was in full swing, and the result was a defeat of the American Forces leaving Philadelphia wide open to the British invasion.

Sadly for us this marks the end of Delaware’s direct involvement in the Revolutionary War. After this battle, the war in the North became a sitting game, and Cornwallis felt compelled to shift to the South to try and gain some momentum. He misread the South’s resilience, and the war of course ended when he got boxed at Yorktown.

As for Delaware, the British had previously marched up from Glasgow through Newark then up Kirkwood Highway and camped at Marshalltown. One can still see the embankments they threw up. The Americans realized that they had only a narrow route north before did the British. Had the British chosen to fight through the night, the war would have been over with Washington’s defeat. He was trapped by water on three sides. General Howe was a person adverse to exertion, and chose to investigate the following morning. When the British awoke, they saw the Americans had disappeared in the night, leaving their camp fires burning to fool the British watchmen.

The British marched north to Kennett Square, probably along what is now Route 82… On the morning of 9/11 the British marched towards Philadelphia. Washington assumed the lazy Howe would march the easiest route and set up defenses in Chadd’s Ford covering the road to Baltimore, which is Route 1 today. What Washington miscalculated is that the British had better intelligence than he. Here is how.

Washington was employing those in Philadelphia to give him advice. Howe was approaching on the outside, and chose those locals to tell him the layout. The difference in intelligence was a simple as one looking out, and one looking in. Perhaps you may remember the meme last decade of showing a city as the makeup of their entire World? For instance one of Rehoboth, would show Rehoboth and Dewey and Ocean City in Great detail, and Washington and Baltimore as tiny patches on the last edge of the map? Well that myopia actually affects our judgment. As one approaches the unknown, one is apt to know only his one way. But to use that same analogy backwards, as one approaches the known, from the area of the unknown, one is far more perceptive of all other options leading towards that goal or destination.

So it was with Howe, who found out there were two ford to the north, both overlooked by Washington, and the access to the battle field was relative easily. Howe committed 5000 of his 18,000 troups to attacking Washington’s front lines, and sent 13,000 north to cross both the west and east branches of the Brandywine, then head south. imagine the surprise of the American army who had been confident that they were holding their own, to find they’d been fighting a measly 5000 men in the fog, and now had 13,000 marching behind them on their right side….

We retreated. Some said it was a disciplined retreat, and Lafayette is given a lot of credit for that. He was wounded this day in history by the way, yet he established a rallying point, communicated it to all the troops, and an orderly retreat was managed. But the surprise to our right cost us dearly. We lost 11 of our 14 artillery guns. The British listed 587 as killed, missing or wounded, but no records of the Americans lost is known.. General Nathaniel Greene is later quoted as guessing 1200 to 1400 Continentals were lost… Commander Howe wrote to the British Foreign Secretary that 300 dead, 600 wounded, 400 prisoners were the total of America’s casualties.

One cannot imagine how dark things seemed for the prospects of an American nation after this day.

• Americans had been tricked and easily routed.
• They’d lost 79% of their artillary, having only 3 cannons left.
• The Continental Congress fled in the night to Lancaster for one day, then to York.
• Military supplies were moved to Reading.
• Philadelphia, the cradle of democracy, was wide open to the British Army.
• It was 52 years before the founding of Yeungling’s brewery, so none was available to drown one’s sorrows.

They suffered fully sober.  If we can remember the tragedy of our 9/11, try to imagine something ten times worse. There was no hope, period.

A makeshift hospital was scrambled together in Wilmington Delaware, and 350 causalities were sent.

Looks Like The Deep Wins Out Over The Blue

The deep blue sea… How often have we heard that? So which of those adjectives are the more predominant, which of those words carries the most descriptive weight? A conundrum?

Not if you add the word “water” to each of those descriptive adjectives…. as in”

Deepwater
Bluewater

Still puzzled? Add the noun “wind”

Deepwater Wind
Bluewater Wind….

The Washington Post reports a deal has been struck and the first Offshore Wind Farm, (which was to be Bluewater Wind 5 years ago), is now going to be Deepwater Wind off Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Rhode Island will now become the center for wind farm technology on the East Coast. If Delaware ever gets to this point, and one would think Markell would have been on top of this one, we will now be buying all our stuff from Rhode Island and importing it down the East Coast on barges, instead of vice versa.

The wind kinda of went out of Delaware today.

Thank You Tom

Tom Carper came out publicly for the end of DOMA and the support of same sex marriage.

Although some may snipe it is politically motivated, it isn’t.  It just is what is right.  Period.

Courtesy of Tom:

“As our society has changed and evolved, so too has the public’s opinion on gay marriage – and so has mine. I pray every day for God to grant me the wisdom to do what is right. Through my prayers and conversations with my family and countless friends and Delawareans, I’ve been reminded of the power of one of my core values: the Golden Rule. It calls on us to treat others as we want to be treated. That means, to me, that all Americans ultimately should be free to marry the people they love and intend to share their lives with, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that’s why today, after a great deal of soul searching, I’m endorsing marriage equality.”

Going against the platitudes one has been brought up under is always hard.  It takes great courage to step out into nothing but air and hope the bridge forms under ones feet……

Thank you Tom for taking that step.

Editors Note:  John C arney came out in support the day before.  The entire Delaware Congressional Delegation is now anti- Conservative on this issue.  Since  fewer Conservatives exist today then there were domestic Marxists in the 1960’s, this should be interpreted as simply the mainstreaming of our current delegation.

Just When You’ve Mastered “The Electric Slide”, Get Ready For “The Global Shift”

We knew this but it  is now being published… and so it is in the news.

The world is getting warmer… and we can now predict our climate by looking at map at 300 miles south and guessing what our weather will be from that…

Just as plate tectonics and  Darwin’s origin of the species were able to lay the groundwork of reason  for explaining puzzling observations, this simplifies what to expect from global warming rather startlingly.

Texas is now  what we alway thought of when we considered the weather of Mexico; Oklahoma is now West Texas; Kansas is now Oklahoma; Nebraska is now Kansas; South Dakota is now Nebraska, North Dakota is now South Dakota: Southern Manitoba is now North Dakota…..

If  West Texas had 3 days of rain, now Oklahoma is getting 3 days of rain;  If it snowed 12  times in South Dakota, it is now doing the same in North Dakota… and so on.

So, to predict our heat, rain, winters, etc, our guide would be North Carolina.  Longer growing seasons,  some winters with no snow, hot summers…

However due to Global warming, the East Coast has a caveat.  An anomaly so to speak  and actually some relief from the North Carolina summer heat we would normally expect….

With the unprecedented melting of the Arctic and Greenland icecaps dumping its excess into the Labrador Current, that cold water drops South hugging the East Coast shoreline all the way down to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where it finally becomes neutralized…   Therefore even though we have hotter air masses, the colder ocean temperatures creates a buffer against Global warming off the entire northeastern US.

Europe, Japan, and Alaska all experience  the same mitigating effect, although with both Greenland and the Arctic Icecaps melting into the Labrador, the US East Coast gets a stronger volume of cold water.  Call it our icy shower effect….

Once melting stops and the currents dry up, we return to the North Carolina scenario of the twentieth century….

Chart Courtesy of NOAA

So, we in Delaware really get the best climate on the East Coast.    Warm winters, little or no snow, and cool breezy summers….. as well as a longer growing period, and… less dependence on fossil fuels for winter heating.

Gee, global warming isn’t so bad for Delaware after all….  Oh, the rising seas?  There you go again… Why did you have to spoil the rosy picture I was painting?

 

Infidelity: Delaware’s Port

If you were supposed to be getting married and found your future spouse out on a date with someone else,  there is probably a good chance you won’t be getting married.   One could alway hope.  Perhaps it was a business meeting.  Perhaps it was an old friend?  Perhaps a long talk with a former love?

But in all probability, your fiancée is probably going to call the wedding off.

It is in this framework that we hear that Kinder Morgan,  the only approved suitor for the Port of Wilmington, has just bought out Copano for $5 billion.   Let’s see.  The total cost of their Wilmington Port investment up front fee was $16 million or 0.32 of One percent of what they just spent on buying out Copano.

That gives you an idea of how important Wilmington was  to them.

Today they signed an agreement totaling $30 million investment in improvements down in Southern Texas with Calpine, a power generating company.

At the same time they were meeting with the Diamond State Port Authority here just off 13 south of  State Road….

The Wilmington Port nor Diamond State Port have commented at this time….

Looking at the money there is a good chance we just got brushed off……