Republicans Just Cost Me $1000 A Year!

They cost you too…

The drop in payroll tax from 6.2% to 4.2% results in a savings of about $1000 a year to every wage earner.

(If truth were widely known, that tax cut is actually a bad idea. It hemorrhages a dying social security fund, requiring the eventual death of the program or an expensive emergency last ditch surgery in the future.)

But it is hard not to give a $1000 present to every voter. Even if it only comes out as $19 dollars and change each week… But, still again, if your electric bill is $198 and you only have $189 in your account, that additional amount is, well, a lifesaver…..

But, Republicans in the House, even after Republicans in the Senate voted passage, overwhelmingly voted….. not to vote on the measure…

They didn’t vote against it… THEY VOTED NOT TO VOTE ON IT……
(speculation is that they lacked the votes to keep it from passing)..

So, how does that relate to you?

House Republicans (read Tea Party) just voted NOT TO VOTE on whether or not you will be losing an extra $20 a month out of your next paycheck.

Imagine what this is doing to payroll clerks around the country?
Imagine what this is doing to family budgets around the country?
Imagine what this is doing to businesses who rely on consumer spending around the country?
Imagine what this is doing to businesses heavily involved in the financial sector, around this country?

So what would normally happen?

Normally a group that can’t find agreement, acknowledges the sad fact, and long before the deadline, announces that they failed to reach agreement and that things would continue as they were on a temporary basis, to unfortunately allow for more time to solve differences.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOO, …. WE ARE STUCK WITH A TEA PARTY THAT FUCKS THINGS UP.

Instead, we have a vote not-to-vote, then get all sorts of very lame excuses from those who are delaying, none of which apply to the real problem that Social Security is doomed unless drastic action gets taken (higher rates, not lower), and we get nothing….

The tax cut will expire…

It is like sequestering a jury in a room, where everyone after much fact-covering argument has agreed to a judgment, except for one person who’s been bought off. And nothing, nothing, logic, emotional appeal, bullying, snuggling up to, befriending, produces any change. And you go years, every working day, to the same court house, the same jury room, they same chair at the same table, hear the same arguments, hoping against all odds, that today, he will see the light and switch. You go the next day.

That is today’s Congress. Held hostage by Tea Party Republicans who live in a dream world untouched by the reality of living under $185,000 a year. Like that bought-out juror, every day, they hold up progress with the unjustified belief that, if they wait long enough, the other 11 jurors will give up and sway over to the sole juror’s way….

Two things can happen… 1) return to the public and announce a hung jury, and do a complete retrial.. or 2) sneak up to that one juror, put a gun to his head, say nothing, pull the trigger, clean up the mess, dispose of the body, then go out to the public and announce what the 11 of you have decided…..

One is the nice way, sanctioned to due process of law. The other is the American Way.

It’s time to initiate the kavipsian policy of expression or what is otherwise known as “Show Us How You Really Feel”… Who knows? It could become the next great movement? The next time someone you know (or don’t), says anything about how millionaires should keep their tax cuts and the poor should pay, nod your head in agreement, smile a little bit, then hit them as hard as you can in their mouth, I mean as hard as you can! Put them flat on the ground holding their jaw… Then loudly say, “Don’t every talk that stupid way to me again!” Who knows, if 99% or all 303,930,000 would respond that way to our fellow congressional delegates, and the other 3.9 million of their like who advocate such madness, we might actually get the very progress we need, not because of intimidation, but because such policy is right….

For those who argue expression of violence is un-American, I’ll remind them that tonight, is John Wayne Night on AMC: view it!… I argue that such action is VERY American and perhaps it has been the lack of such spontaneous expressions of frustration from working American people, that has caused the logjam where nothing gets done because of one holdout, who thinks he can sway the world to his opinion and face no consequences… ….

Practice now, by punching brick walls.

Thornburg and Paradee

Is it just me, or do those two candidate’s names sound like twitter birds….  Unfortunately there is no twitter site for the Twenty-ninth Representative District, so this post will have  to do….

Again, featuring the best Delaware Voter’s Guide ever… we go to the top of the page, click voter’s guide, drop down to the Twenty-Ninth District, and click on Charles Paradee.

As is often the case with progressive candidates, the first selection is his campaign website.. I see we are to drop the Charles and call him Trey… Ok, with a quick click on Trey’s website we see….wow… Protect, Preserve, Prepare is his motto… He even breaks it down further… Protect Open Space (sounds what Sussex County needs as well)..Approximately 85% of the 29th District lies outside the Growth Zone. Despite this fact, the 29th District has been one of the fastest growing areas in the State over the past decade. As the results of the 2006 Levy Court elections show, the people of the 29th District want elected officials who are committed to protecting the rural nature of Kent County from unbridled growth. Trey will be your advocate.

Preserve the low tax structure (also needed in Sussex County)We need Representatives who are equipped to understand the complex budget issues facing our State and who are willing to make the tough decisions. Trey is a self-described fiscal conservative whose background and experience in finance and small business will serve Delaware well.

Prepare for future development–The future is bright for Delaware… if we make the right decisions! We have to recognize that people will continue to move here as long as our taxes are low and our quality of life is high. Growth will continue. Will we do it wisely or will we fall into to the same traps as our neighbors, leading us to higher property and school taxes.

Fascinating.. (This guy’s platform is right out of my post below this one, which advocates what Sussex County must do to save itself from a terrible fate… ie vote Joan Deaver)…There is a picture of him and his hunting dog setting out on the Leipsic River.. Now that is someone we can trust to keep the best parts of Delaware…the way they are now……. Thanks to the Coastal Zone Act I have been remarkably surprised at how many parts of Delaware resemble the way it looked during the colonial area… The view of many of the ships plying up the Delaware River differs little from what those first explorers must have seen. Try saying that while traveling up any other ships channel in the civilized world….

With all the controversy swirling around the Democratic Insurance Commissioners candidate’s resume, it is refreshing to see Trey posting his online… How open is that?…. We see UD all the way, and an English major to boot, always a good sign… At least we see that from having lived in Newark, that he knows what overdevelopment looks like, (unlike someone who grew up, went to school, and never left her hometown)….. We see he is familiar with stable duty; which means he already has a pair of high topped work boots to use while dealing with the lobbyists inside the halls of Legislative Hall…Being prepared he will be, as is always a former Eagle scout… We see he worked at Merrill Lynch… oops… oh so that’s why he is running for office now… 🙂 He is a NRA member and a member of Duck’s Unlimited…He’s a Chamber of Commerce guy, licensed for insurance, securities, and financial planning….

For those of you outside of Dover who as children used to travel through it on your way to the beach… he hails from the Paradee Gas Company lineage…and…. the dude plays drums…Awesome. (I don’t think the blogger’s band has a drummer yet….)

On his issues page, the first thing catching your eye is the title…Education is more important than cheap beer… He continues with this: I purchased some beer to enjoy with friends at a cookout. As I left the liquor store, I glanced at my receipt to see that I had paid $4.85 per six-pack of beer. I wondered for a moment how much my purchase decision would have been affected had I been required to pay $4.89 per six-pack. I doubt anyone would notice an increase of less than 1 cent per individual beer. In the waning hours of the 144th General Assembly, House Bill 518 was defeated in the State Senate, days after passing in the House of Representatives. HB 518 would have increased the tax on a six-pack of beer by 4 cents, 10 cents on a bottle of wine, and 37 cents on a .75-liter bottle of liquor. The tax increases would have generated an estimated $4.5 million in revenue for our cash-strapped State. Three hours after HB 518 was defeated, our lawmakers voted to slash $10.9 million from “programs for remedial readers and students who need extra schooling in the summer” and “funding that provides extracurricular academic help, professional support for teachers and school discipline.” I am proud that my State Senator, Nancy Cook, had the courage to stand up for the children of our State by co-sponsoring HB 518, and I am terribly disappointed that the current Representative of the 29th District, Pamela Thornburg, did not.” Shame on that Pam Thornburg who puts cheap beer before the education of those needing extra schooling. Shame. Shame. (We know how she likes parties)

Other issues… we see he is for open government… (his opponent was one of the few Republicans voting against House Bill 4, much to the chagrin of one Dave Burris..) He offers us his jobs proposal where he arguably points out the ineffectiveness of his incumbent who, in answer to the question what can be done to bring jobs to Kent County… could only come up with one: sports betting at three local racetracks….

Further along he adds: While on the subject of alternative energy, I must also add that it is absolutely shameful how our current legislature has handled the proposed wind power farm. We have an opportunity to attract good paying “green collar” jobs to our State. The development of alternative energy sources is the next great growth industry for our Nation. Delaware needs to get its share of these jobs by providing a business friendly environment that will attract forward thinking
entrepreneurs and businesses.

Here is an inquiry into his family tree. And here is his answer to the News Journal Questionnaire.

Here we see his father owed the city of Dover $800.68 for a sewer tap that was annexed after he had installed it…(I didn’t even know they had computers back on September 13, 1965… lol. )

Here is a search engine report for the Heritage Gas Company, (also known as the Paradee Gas Company..)

From here, Google starts getting confused and substituting items with “parade” in place of Paradee.

Here is his endorsement from the AFL-CIO. And here is his PDD endorsement…. I don’t know how many of either live in his district…

Ok, Let’s Check Out The Other Contender

Click on Pam Thornburg and now we are ready to go.

Pam has an interesting fault.. She has a large wealth of Google data under two spellings of her name..Pam Thornburg (correct) and Pam Thornberg (incorrect).
One thing worth mentioning is that Pam Thornburg has no mention of it, but Pam Thornberg was one of the opponents of the Smoking Ban back in 2002 who introduced bills to water down or delay its taking effect….(Remember… she’s a party girl)….Here we have her at the 11th annual Delaware Standardbred Owners Association (DSOA) Awards Dinner at the Dover Sheraton Hotel on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008.
Here we have her lauded for her work with the Career Transition Project in Kilroy’s own Red Clay District for those with special needs… Hey didn’t I just mention that she voted to cut funding for them? Something like education versus cheap beer? And it was her special project that got budget sliced? Beer IS important.

From beer we go to her official state website… We see she went to high school and college and never left Dover…We see she has been in Legislature since 2000, riding in with Minner, and lists herself as a full time legislator…We see she has oversight of Corrections and she should be answering some hard questions there… since what happened, occurred on her watch…

Here is what she has proudly sponsored…

HB 85 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES.

HB 175 AN ACT TO AMEND SUBCHAPTER III OF CHAPTER 31 OF TITLE 20 OF THE DELAWARE CODE PERTAINING TO THE EXERCISE OF EMERGENCY POWERS.

HB 189 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TAX DITCHES.

HB 224 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FALSE ALARMS AND SECURITY SYSTEMS.

HB 452 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO TAX DITCHES.

HB 492 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION.

HR 7 COMMEMORATING JANUARY 22-26, 2007 AS DELAWARE AG WEEK.

HR 37 ESTABLISHING THE GROCERY STORE BEER SALES TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF BEER SALES IN GROCERY STORES.

HR 39 COMMEMORATING JANUARY 7-12, 2008 AS DELAWARE AGRICULTURE WEEK.

HR 46 PROCLAIMING APRIL 21 THROUGH APRIL 25, 2008 AS SMALL BUSINESS WEEK.

HS 1 FOR HB 224 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FALSE ALARMS AND SECURITY SYSTEMS.

Which one jumped out at you?  Yep… me too…

ESTABLISHING THE GROCERY STORE BEER SALES TASK FORCE TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF BEER SALES IN GROCERY STORES.  (I guess the liquor stores close too early in Dover).  That bill was laid on the table only to be strickened upon the opening of the  next session… The Girl loves to party…

So much that only three of her bill got to the governor’s desk… 1) One NRA piece saying the state could never confiscate ones firearm in a Katrina style emergency; 2) one grandfathering encroachments on Tax Ditches, and 3) one fining those with false security alarms… But thanks to her… January 7 – 12 was Delaware AG (Attorney General…lol) week, and April 21 – 25th was Small Business Week… Shucks… I missed it…

Next we have the Delaware Task force that was created by Pam Thornburg who sponsored House Resolution 69,, From the minutes we see the task force met two times and then…Rep. Thornburg stated that she did not feel the task force need to meet again.

Next we have project Vote Smart synopsis of Pam Thornburg’s voting record… There we see that she did not vote on one of John Atkins bills HB 537 back in 2006, even though she was a sponsor.

We see she voted for the 2008 budget, and voted no on the bill to raise her beer 4 cents….She voted yes to collective bargaining…She voted against increasing the cigarette tax,…She voted against raising the minimum wage from $6.15….She voted yes to prevent state employees from paying dues or fair share fees without written consent….She voted “no” against a sterile needle programs, and against a ban on open alcoholic containers in one’s motor vehicle…. (That’s what the drive to the beach is for…) and she voted yes to repeal the statutes of limitation on child abuse cases and to ban the exemption of state employees from being charged under those statutes…

Next we have a wonderful little piece of satire describing here role on the House Committee of Energy in its approval hearing on Bluewater Wind’s proposal… (Like Charlie Copeland, she fought for Delmarva all the way until the final bill was signed…) The piece is appropriate.

Next we have some beautiful pictures of Pam Thornburg as she performs her daily duties as a member of the General Assembly…..

Next we see that on May 8-9th, 2006, the person representing the 29th district, got to party in some really swank digs… The Greenbrier of White Sulphur Springs.. I hope she got a chance to play a round of golf… It is one of the most beautiful courses east of California…. And if she is ever in jail, her supporters can get “Free Pam Thornburg” signs here…

Here is Pam Thornburg’s answer to the News Journal Questionnaire….

Next we have Nancy from Delaware Way’s description showing Pam Thornburg as a tool of Delmarva Power in its battle against Bluewater Wind… It would be wise to remember that even after it was proven that Bluewater Wind cost much less than Delmarva could offer from other sources… Pam Thornburg emphatically backed Delmarva Power against the wishes of 90% of her constituency….She is a special interest legislator… (No doubt, Delmarva Power threw better parties, thanks of course to her fellow party-er... Joe Farley…)

In an effort to stifle John Kowalko, (totally ineffective) she used Joe Farley, lobbyist for Delmarva Power to filabuster most of the time allotted for discussion.. More from Delaware Liberal…

We see another party this time closer to home.. December 2-4, 2005. Minutes of the Kent County Transportation meeting from March 2, 2005 .... are here…

Here, much more pertinent, are the opening minutes of the early meetings of the SEU, that infamous board which tried to scarf $100,000,000 into McDowell’s hands… and still might… A piece is ready for the new session which as shown last June, is full of some shady dealings…..

We see why she is the way she is… As the state chairman of ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, she shares with them a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty. Just to name some of the original founders, two of which were Henry Hyde (he liked to party as well) and Jesse Helms… But before we go on… isn’t the whole problem we are facing with our economy the result of the policies that organizations like ALEC sneak through our legislative bodies? Isn’t what we are feeling this economic session the result of deregulating and not supervising adequetely those in charge of the money… Doesn’t it seem reasonable that someone who is so into a failed policy of the past, would do our state much more harm than good?

And then we have this.

And from here we see that the Twenty-Ninth District is split 40% Democrats, 35% Republicans, and 25% other.. The key for both candidates is the other…..

The Inevitable Conclusion

That depends entirely upon you….  however if you want my synopsis, it would be that we need forward thinkers now, and not someone playing around in the past to dally in “little” things… I saw Thornburg in action during the Bluewater Wind controversy and it was scary… Why someone would hurt the citizens under their care, who as you all know were struggling so hard to keep up with their utility payments, support the entity beating them down, and be glib and laugh about their plight sarcastically….  I didn’t know people like that ever got elected….  A “small business week” sounds nice, but really…. what does it do…  what does it accomplish… how does it make anyone’s life even a little better?

The twenty-ninth district is so lucky to have someone like Paradee who reflects their values, but looks to carry those values into the future rather than return them to the past….  There are some trying times ahead… someone tackling new problems with an antiqued set of tools is not what the twenty-ninth needs right now…  Thornberg’s philosophy dates back to 1973… as a nation we have moved on since then…

Every two years the Legislature gets shuffled… (but unfortunately not as much lately as it has needed)… Pam Thornburg has, on every one of the great issues that affected this state’s positioning of itself among its neighbors, been on the wrong side…… She was against cheap clean power from Bluewater Wind almost chasing away 500 high paying jobs…… She is against open government; she voted against House Bill 4.  She way back when, was against the smoking ban, in a state with one of the highest cancer rates in the nation for heavens sakes!…  On the other hand if it involves gambling, liquor, beer, wine, cigarettes, open containers in motor vehicles, or any other vice… whoopi… she is all for it…(or so her record would make it seem….) That’s the small town mentality…that comes from never opening ones horizons….

One thing is certain.  Someone good needs to fill that post…Someone forward looking, smart, conservative, family oriented, knowledgeable in business, conservation, the locality, and interested in preserving what is best of western Kent County.  Protect, Preserve, Prepare. The twenty-ninth district could do no better than put Trey Paradee into the House of Representatives on November 4th….

Democracy: It’s Alive Below The Canal

photo from file.

(Overheard on his cellphone to his developer boss; paraphrased, coming from a skinny twenty something, logo’d in a golf shirt, khaki pants, standing in the vestibule corner as everyone filed out; “it’s spinning out of control. E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y is angry. I don’t think we can fix it. It’s going the wrong way. I think we lost the election.”)

Now I’ve seen many meetings.  Usually it’s always the same comfortable group, the same participants, with one or two of the same troublemaker activists.  We all know each other, politely nod to our enemies,  and once our duty is performed, socializing progresses afterwards.  The short story version appears in the News Journal two days later….

Usually.

That was not what happened last night, August September 4th ( 🙂 h/t rsmitty) inside the Crossroads Presbyterian Church, which had blissfully wonderful cushioned green seats; that is if you were early enough to grab one…

Standing-room-only would be too cliche to describe the turnout.  This issue at hand was so hot it swelled participation far above the 200  the organizers had expected…. (237 cars were counted; 500 participants?)  They had even forgotten to plan for a microphone, assuming normal voices would suffice.

They didn’t, and fortunately a microphone was found.

Dignitaries (ie our politicos) sat across in front of the crowd… Dick Cathcart sat center, Bill Bell sat next to him.  Bill Powers sat and stood on Cathcart’s left. Penrose Hollins drove down to represent Council. Bill Dunn, Bethany Hall Long, Earl Jacques, Rebecca Walker, Tom Scherer, Mike Protack, Bruce Ennis, members of the land use committee, and the Superintendent of the Appoquinimink School District showed up.  Ms Fitzpatrick (sp) came in place of Representative Lofink, who was unfortunately at his son’s wedding rehearsal, to which one irate resident blurted out….”that’s no excuse!” Her spouse, quickly put his hand on her leg, and warned her to calm down..”it’s his son’s wedding….”

Yes tensions were that high…..

But the real star of the entire evening was the map….  Yes, a silly map.  It stood tall over the entire meeting, dominating everyone’s attention… It out staged the County Council Head, Penrose Collins, who stormed off when it became obvious that the audience was not interested in his point of view….

Most felt that was fair play…. for no one had taken the time to consider their point of view when these ordinances were passed, affecting the entire lower region of the New Castle County… That it turns out, appears to be true…. no one.

The map stood tall over the entire proceeding, reminding everyone, every minute of the immense changes coming soon.  And the changes were immense….

Here is the scale they are speaking off.

Three new schools will need to be built, one each year, to accommodate the new influx of  students.  The school district was surprised tonight; the plans were made without consulting them.  They have no money to grow.

Traffic will grow by 1800 cars.  What’s the visual of 1800 cars?  At fifteen feet per vehicle, 27,000 feet total divided by 5280 ft/mile, equals a line of cars, parked bumper to bumper, a little over 5 miles long…  Imagine a line of cars parked on the shoulder of RT 1 from St. George’s bridge to the heart of Odessa.  There is your visual image.  Deldot was surprised tonight.  The plans were made without consulting them. And they too, have no money to grow.

Most of the areas do not have sewer capacity yet; however in a rush, building will progress, anticipating promised waivers to use septic systems, until the county sewer system can catch up….. (Do you follow county finances?)  They have no money to grow…..

The wells to supply additional amounts of water; they are not yet drilled.  They are on hold, for they have no money to grow….

The anger seemed to grow exponentially within that room… (Thank heavens they held this disclosure within a church).

Hats off to a great job done by the organizers, including one Chuck Mulholland.  No one could have prepared them for what took place.  Their natural demeanor saved the day, rising to the challenge of the moment.  Particularly impressive was Chuck’s impromptu changing of the agenda, as it became quite apparent that citizens were there to make their voices heard, not listen to failed excuses….  That change-up, diffused some tension, perhaps saving a riot…     I’ll bet he never expected to put 3 miles on that evening, all the while carrying the microphone.

The question of the day?  How could this have happened…

The answer:

Mr. Pam Scott Paul Clark, President of County Council.

All these elements were rushed though, without vetting, to get developers in construction phase before the public could become aware of what was aimed at them.  No vetting was done, so no leaks would occur.  The last thing developers and Paul Clark needed,  was a large meeting of outraged citizens.

Obviously the details of the arrangements were made in his home, and presented fait accompli to the Council for its rubber stamp.   That is after all, what New County Council’s  tend to do…

Therefore Paul Clark needs to go.

Councilman Bill Bell, who resembles the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, performed the role of a stool quite adequately.  “No one told me” was his response….” I didn’t know…” he stammered.  The question which immediately popped into every head but one, was  ” why not?”  That’s your job…

Obviously his principal function was to be the Rose Margaret Henry of the County Council. Being put in that position by the developers and unions, means he obviously feels he doesn’t need to call back his constituents, doesn’t need to show up at their meetings, doesn’t need to answer their letters or emails…  Like Margaret Rose Henry, all he needs to do is show up… and vote the way he is told..

When faced with 450 some people he began to get nervous.  His primary is days away…  His opponent Tom Scherer, who is having his own personal fight with the developers of his development, over their unfulfilled promises..  certainly does appear to be the better choice,  Towards the end, almost reduced to pleading for his seat, Mr. Bell promised too late, to “not support” the resolution that due to his complicity, has already been passed….

If there was another star, other than the map, the organizers, and the citizens themselves, it was Representative Dick Cathcart…  Angered at the incompetence bordering on deceit coming from   Mr Pam Scott Paul Clark and his Council, he promised legislation to forever put County Council growth under State oversight…. it’s about time.

Bruce Ennis, surprised everyone in the room by coming down hard for a moratorium on all new development.  Two, three, four years  whatever it takes to get local citizens to become comfortable with the new developments.  He cited Kent County as a place where citizens took control and booted all developers our of governmental oversight positions….  That county is once again under control of its citizens; spawning a series of lawsuits from developers against it.  Ennis implied that as long as New Castle’s citizenry supported the continuation of a moratorium against such lawsuits, he would as well.  Most nuisance lawsuits would be thrown out, costing nothing since they were filed with no legal grounds to support them, but still the stigma of having lawsuits might make some citizens feel uneasy….  The consensus in that room was: if you take on the developers…. we got your back….

Go get them Bruce.

They came to listen.  They got their earful.

Distilled to its basic elixir, here is the essence.

New Castle County  development is controlled by developers and the Building Trades Union who are linked together in their interest for growth.  Money for developers, jobs for employees.  They own the following:  Chris Coons, Paul Clark, Bill Bell, Bill Powers, George Smiley, and Bob Weiner….

Breaking that connection is the first step in returning Democracy back to those New Castle County citizens who live outside the city. Democratic Voters have the opportunity to sever that connection during Tuesday’s primary, September 8th.   Voting Bill Dunn over Paul Clark, Tom Gordon over Chris Coons, Tom Scherer over Bill Bill, and Carl Colantuono over John Cartier, will do your part in returning Democracy to County Government. (Yeah, I know one is controversial, but if elected, we will own him, not the developers).

I’ve run out of time and space.  Not mentioned here was the citizens fear of falling property values; not mentioned here was one realtor who spoke 6 (?) times, warning citizens of how workforce housing would affect their property values, not mentioned here was the question of where these workforce housing residents, transferred from Wilmington’s projects on the East Side, would find ever find work to pay for their housing, pimps, and bags of crack; not mentioned here was the cost of someone to cut down tennis shoes hanging from electric wires; not mentioned here was how noble Bill Dunn looked when working the crowd, compared to Paul Clark 4 years ago; not mentioned here was how poorly workforce housing residents obey driving laws; not mention here was how insufficient the current sewer systems are today, even without additional units; not mentioned here was how County Council increased the density levels, so developers could sell more houses per lot, more profit per lot; not mentioned here were the number of minority citizens who vehemently said they left the city to get away from the trash the County was again forcing upon them; not mentioned here was how hard everyone has worked, and suffered, to build their piece of the American dream, which now the County Council, at the bequest of Developers and Building Trade Unions, was about to destroy, WITHOUT EVEN CONSULTING THEM!

I wish I had more time…

Nancy, Geek?  Can you add more?

Who Is This?

This is a guessing game. It’s supposed to be fun. You do the guessing. I’ll reveal the answer at some point in the future. Bottom line, I am interested in how this plays out. (To keep answers out of moderation, no links please.) You may use the categories above for some helpful hints, but knowing me, don’t expect to find the answer that easily.) 🙂

1) Foreign policy/defense: I want American imperialism rolled back and American interventionism halted, as the same time we begin to pull free from the military/industrial complex by slashing the budgets for defense and homeland security to reasonable levels.

2) Civil libertarian issues: I want to see gay marriage legalized; drugs decriminalized; Real ID abolished; the Patriot Act gutted; and immigrants viewed as human beings. I want intrusive government the hell out of my life.

3) Fiscal sanity: I want a government that stops growing and taking an ever-expanding bite out of my paycheck; I want to see wasteful programs cut, and to have Congress faced with the same sort of imperative the Delaware General Assembly had to face this year: balancing the budget.

Burris

Pursuing a topic through Google, I came across this. I thought it would be a fitting tribute to a great man, especially on this day.

State Rep. Hocker Bangs Blogger Burris

(…no wonder they hide behind the secrecy of closed doors….)

🙂

Satire or Truth?: Please Judge Ms. Pamela Thornburg

Hello to my fellow Delawareans:

Hi, my name is Pamela Thornburg and I am from Dover and I am a Republican who voted to keep a vote for Bluewater Wind locked up in committee.

As a Republican I think your concerns do not matter. I am bought and paid for by corporate interests and this Bluewater Wind deal will prevent my lobbyist friends from making tons of money. You citizens have no understanding on how tough it is to be a lobbyist. The need someone to look after them too.

I am confident that after this hoopla is all over no one will remember that I voted to kill this bill. But had I voted on your side, to give you cheap energy with clean air, my lobbyist friends would stop calling on me and not invite me to any parties…..and I love parties……

Knowing that you all have tons of extra money and will not miss a couple of hundred dollars going to Delmarva, I hereby support those corporate interests who need to take billions, not just millions of your excess cash.

I refuse to vote for cheap power for anyone.

Sincerely,

Pam Thornburg.

Dem’s Got Race; Republican’s Got Religion

Naturally one should expect the two most divisive divisions of America to surface during a heated campaign. What is fascinating is that these virulent battles are taking place within the parties, and not between them.

Race as sometimes been a public issue, such as when John McCain first ran in South Carolina, but rarely has it grabbed headlines like it has this week. Likewise religious controversies have been a constant source of friction between the far right and far left, but never within the confines of the Republican party. Republicans were supposed to protect religion against everything Satanic.

WTF is going on?

Has America finally come to its senses and decided to tackle race and religion, the last two divisive issues facing us, that up to this point and since the beginning of man have never been completely reconciled? Have we therefore already resolved the issues that predominated the last election cycle: what was it…….gays and marriage? Or the cycle before that back in 2000,….. morality versus competence? Since we are on this topic now, it must have come to pass that we solved those problems then, although I confess I must have been preoccupied, since I seem to have missed all the hoopla and fanfare that came with their resolution…………………

Just to give one an idea of how this has exploded, I used to have a spot on page 2 if one dared google Obama Hillary. In less than one week it has been pushed back to I-don’t-know-where…….I couldn’t find it…….Such is the explosion of commentary that this controversy has spawned.

What caused it?

Nothing really. Hillary was trying to maintain her lead among black women, who feel she has the best shot at winning, by stating that Martin Luther King talked, but it was Lyndon Johnson who did the walk. If any of you have heard Jack Valenti‘s reminiscences of those days in the Johnson White House, Johnson twisted a lot of arms to make that happen. Yes, it may not have happened had MLK not been outspoken, but it definitely would not have happened if someone other than Johnson, a backwoods white Southerner, been in office instead. It was Johnson’s persuasion coming from inside the mentality of the Bible belt, that provided enough votes to make the law.

So Hillary is innocent…….Let’s move on.

Obama, who due to the color of his skin, obviously got some heat from his supporters who only heard, or thought they heard, or heard it from someone who thought they heard, that Hillary had put down MLK. And Obama casually made the statement that Hillary’s comment had offended some people.

Of course it did. The fault lies not with Hillary. It lies with those people who were too lazy to find out what was actually said and took someone else’s assessment and embellished to the point that their adrenalin kicked in! I could have made the same statement as Obama, because I know people like that, regardless of skin color.

Should Obama have kept silent then, and not brought it up?

No! He is in the middle of a campaign. His job, his goal, is to try to splinter some of the oppositions supporters over to his side. If he lies, to do so, that is an unpardonable sin. But to tell a truthhood, ….well……like it or not, that is what politics is!

Next Hillary on Meet the Press accuses Obama of using her comment to drive Blacks from her campaign. Should she have kept quiet?

No, she too is in the middle of a campaign. Long-term supporters are leaving camp and she needs to console them to stay. Shedding light on why and what is happening, is the best way to stem the damage. Again, if she lies, that is abominable. But to be maligned for telling the truth……..that is politics, and her job is to win.

Last I heard…..Obama had called a truce…..Hopefully to focus on more important issues.

So why did this happen?

It can be explained by a theme common in small towns that played itself out from the beginning of man. Shakespeare as well as 60’s and 70’s television shoes used the same plot line.

That is where a busy body, listening in to conversations to obtain gossip, mishears something and creates a victim by telling that person what they thought they heard. The victim, naturally angry, fires back a salvo which this person then takes to the innocent perpetrator, who in turn becomes angry thinking he has become the victim of an unprovoked attack.

Our thirty minutes of entertainment are taken up by stringing us along on how the reconciliation will eventually occur.

Today, the busybody is our press. Our press is not content to report the news. They feel that they should make the news.

Words are duplicitous instruments. They can sometimes have two nuances of meaning. And when one then strings several of these words together, those nuances can pile up and and give different interpretations of meaning. As one example, the word “clean” has a good meaning……and now we know, a bad meaning….

Because of something called the “speed of light”, something said in Los Angeles, can be seen in New York before a breath is taken after the end of the original sentence. Bottom line? The media acting as Ms. Busybody has people looking for anything to create a fight!

“Hello, this is Brian in New York. Hillary just said “Blah, blah.” This is good. Get your camera man, we need his reaction in real time, can you get to him in two minutes?”

Two minutes later.

Got it….here it comes…..it should work, can you fire it back on Hillary…….

And so on.

Meanwhile the deficit clock speeds up out of control. Meanwhile a cell phone sets off an IED under a Humvee, killing 9. Meanwhile, enough fresh water to supply greater Los Angeles for a day, flows out of just one of the hundred thousand little lakes scattered across Greenland’s ice cap, and plunges into the sea.

And all our entire press can talk about, is “He said, She said…..” Now can you get a glimmer of understanding as to why the rest of the world doesn’t really like America, not the one of old, but the one that stands today?

As once proud Americans, it should disgust us. Really!

As for salvation, all I can say is thank heavens for the blogs. Everything I have learned this past year has come from them.

Today I am disgusted to the point where the opposition now looks rosier than the roster of our own party. And we are at the point where only two states have voted so far…………

But then, those Republicans…….they’re undergoing the exact same problem with religion……

Quotes are taken out of context. Reactions make the news, instead of whatever was actually was said. Our screens are filled with no-names analysing the controversy, instead of the clips showing the full context of the speech itself.

Thank heavens for C Span. The camera is turned on and left running. If one watches these incidents on C Span, every one of these controversies becomes debunked. They don’t exist in real life. They are digital fabrications…………

What can you do? Boycott the media (C Span does not count). If a controversy piques your interest, at least on the ‘net’ you can for yourself determine that it is “much ado about nothing.”

This shows that a serendipity primary battle, is impossible. Many look at our state’s gubernatorial races and assume repairs can be made in 7 weeks. All it takes is one misinterpreted ambiguous comment, and the deal is off……