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….”

 

More Snow-Closing Brinksmanship

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the region at 6 a.m. Monday lasting until 7 p.m.

The weather report is identical to last week’s… 6 inches due starting at 10:00

Just like last week, we knew the exact forecast a day before…..

It was to start around 9.  The districts decided to go for the half day.  Clear roads going in at 6 am, but by 10:00 the roads were dangerous after the first hour’s snow.  The elementary schools didn’t get out until 12:30… often awaiting delayed buses from previous runs.  Furthermore, as everyone was leaving to go home from work, as the danger of the 2-3 inches fallen so far became apparent, they not only had to navigate at 5 mph on the account of the ice and snow, but all major routes were stop-and-go from blinking red school bus lights disgorging their precious cargo.

The entire northern state of Delaware was a disaster, by 1:00…  Exactly right when the buses were still running with elementary kids, and the snow was already too deep to go get them if anything had happened.  The buses were driving on unsafe roads…

This, I know has to be balanced against children who only get one meal a day and that is at school..  We can certainly thank our Republican friends for that later.  But we must sincerely consider whether any meal is a reason enough for creating the most costly snowstorm traffic damage estimates ever made  by New Castle’s County’s insurance companies..  Most could have been prevented if we’d just trusted the weatherman and said no school on account of snow….

And if it had been done the night before, all parents could have had contingency plans in place, instead of telling their boss they had to leave early to be home for their child getting off the bus, then finding themselves being stuck 1 hour and a half because of snow.   Meanwhile the child is standing outside the locked door, wondering where her parents are…..

We can do better, we must do better… call off school early.

Choosing Life Over Jobs

One of the sad things one realizes as one gets older is that all the crap one accepted as being the way the world worked, could have been changed.  It wasn’t the way the world worked… It was the way those benefiting from that arrangement, wanted the world to work.

One of the worst realizations about life, is that when one reaches this level of wisdom, one is already depleted of energy  and doesn’t possess enough force to fight for it…..

Our world is made up of forces constantly fighting each other.  The way things are, is the way the stronger forces keep it…   If the forces that were weak, ever bonded together to overcome the force that dominates…  things change…, As a metaphor it is very similar to how our world will reverse polarities very soon (if it hasn’t already)….

In other words, the 60’s revolt against the draft…. would never have happened unless people revolted against the draft.  The fight to protect the environment, would never have happened if people didn’t fight to protect the environment…..

I was reminded of this, listening to Sam Latham on WDEL’s Rick Jensen show while talking to John Flaherty who was filling in for Rick.  Sam represents the AFL-CIO and his role is to promote jobs in Delaware… That is his role, and he fills it well…

Some listeners may have heard that 50% of Delaware’s building trades union workers are out of work..  That is a lot. One would certainly feel for them and would like to help them get work if one could… We all live in fear of suddenly losing our job, and at our backs we here the words, “what if it was you” and naturally want to do what we can to help a brother out…

While enunciating emphatically, Sam said… “He cared only about jobs,  Not clean water, not clean air, but jobs.”  He was making a point.  Later he said.. ” Of course I care about those two; just not now; Now we need jobs.”….

If it helps Sam, it is a good thing he spoke that way.  His job is to drum up jobs, and his cadre is shrinking as each day passes.  High paying jobs get termed; low paying jobs get hired….

The point of this election however, is not jobs in Delaware.  It is not energy in Delaware.  It is not about getting rid of shysters hiding in political closets, who pretend not to recognize themselves on literature supporting them, but supposedly done by an independent organization….

Nor is it about poisons raining down on you. Nor is it about sucking White Clay Creek dry in the summer time. Nor is it about a loud clanging, louder than your morning alarm, that goes on 24/7 and never (it’s in their contract), stops.. Never. Stops.

This election is not about any of those… It is about something far more important… Much more than all of that….

It is about … you…

Let me define.  You need to vote for what will make your life better… Because you are you… I know it sounds simple, but it is rather profound, so work with me here. 🙂

• If your life would be better by having one of these jobs, you need to vote for Polly.  Your life will be better.
• If your life would be better by having this deal go through, as would be that of the heads of the University, you need to vote for Polly.
• If you live would be better by having this deal go through, as would be that of any in the building trades, or contractors, you need to vote for Polly….

Too obvious you say?   But, …

If your life would be better by not having 24/7 clanging louder than your alarm, you need to vote for Amy Roe.

• If your life would be better by not having cancer in 10 years, (true average exposure time around power plants), you need to vote for Amy Roe.
• If your life would be better by having beautiful White Clay Creek still flowing and not diverted to the power plant in summer, you need to vote for Amy Roe.
• If your life would be better by having less deep earth elements on  your car, patio furniture, pets, and lawn, you need to vote for Amy Roe.
• If your live would be better by having another employer in that spot on the STAR campus, instead of an industrial plant which will chase away more  sophisticated new high quality jobs than it could attract,  you need to vote for Amy Roe.

In other words there is a myriad of people with a myriad of interests out there…   All of them mean something to each person…  If I value jobs more than anything, I can’t really fault you for valuing your health over anything… And vice versa…  You don’t know me and if I value putting jobs before environmental concerns, then I have a history for wanting to do so… I’m certainly not stupid, and neither is Sam Latham.  Nor is Amy Roe…

(I’m not yet convinced that doesn’t apply to Polly Seirer or Vance Funk considering how easily they got played …. or caught…. )

But other than those two possibilities  🙂 , people for the most part, are not stupid.  Everyone votes on the concerns they have for their own lives….

So how does one determine which is right and which is wrong?  Pretty much by the numbers… We count the votes and say … “it appears that those who care enough to vote, want this town to go in this direction….”   If the town goes in that direction, there WILL be a minority that does not agree….  But there WILL be an even bigger majority who thinks going there is the correct direction, and since more feel that way than don’t, … that is the way we should go….

Yes. This is too simple. Yet it is very profound….  For across the study of history, whenever a majority of citizens wants to go towards a certain way, the profundity is that it usually works out for the best.  Not always, (Prohibition) but history always tends to work better, when things are decided by a majority… In my past, when I found myself on the losing side, I still could see the gains  in other arenas, that happen because of the vote… True, they don’t happen according to my priorities, but they still happen nevertheless…. and the good that was promised by the other side, came about.

Which brings us to the center.  How we convince those deciders is  the  prime issue.  If one side, then another side makes their passionate arguments, it is done to try to convince  the merits of their presentations to those voting …  Then those voters vote…..

That is why too much money, is an attempt to obfuscate the balance that this discourse provides.  If one gains a monopoly on the argument by buying out the media, by putting only one side’s ideas into people’s minds, one is damaging the brand called democracy.  One is trying to grab power, to make outcomes based on trickery, untruths, and lies.   Lies are very ineffective if allowed the opportunity to be proven wrong.  In fact, if lying is ever proven beyond a doubt,…  it usually backfires upon the liar.  All then side with the victim about whom the lie was told…

But if one hears only one side because of a monopoly on the media… bad decisions get made…. Even though that lie can make rational sense in light of all arguments presented,  without it’s opposing view getting air, it can never get BUSTED!

When one tries to create a monopoly on the conversation, one violates the good decision making process our elections provide… When one wants to win so bad, enabling themselves to put their decisions in effect without having the necessary vetting required,  there is a very high probability that the decision made, will turn out to be rather costly…

If it was good, it would have been voted on by the electorate anyway…

So…  are “one, two, or even three new jobs” to one, two, or even three Delawareans worth your death 40 years earlier than otherwise? Could be…  or … could not be… But you need to decide that, and no one else.

That is why this trickery performed in order to influence the election of Newark’s mayor, is so troubling….

• One more reason to vote for Amy Roe.

Appeal To Nancy

I hope you see this… I wanted to document a list of the damage the Pam Scott regime had done to New Castle County, such as destroying historical buildings, brushing aside traffic studies, mitigating necessary environmental policies, .. In general, everything they did that deteriorates the quality of life for people in New Castle County for years to come..

Then I realized it really should  come from you… You have the archives in Delaware Way; you know how your archives are organized, and you with a quick email sent “To All” could rapidly receive a plethora of details your contacts had lived through and fought against…

I know it will be a labor of love, and may take some time… But I think the world should know how this erosion of resident’s rights for the accumulation of money for a few, was done.  I figure it would probably take one day to go thought your archives, cutting and pasting links to all the articles on one page…

Often local struggles are rarely documented.  However they touch our lives far more than state or national issues.  It would be nice to have the truth out first for once…  all organized in one volume.

I really feel it should come from you. 🙂

It Is One Thing To Fire A Teacher Over A Standardized Test. It Is A Completely Different Thing To Make Her Never Teach Again!

The same controversy surrounding Tennessee’s equivalent of SB51, has at least that state’s Democrats fighting for those educating our children .  Not like up here where Dave Sokola and Erica Jenner joined forces and sold the teaching profession out for a couple of pieces of silver.

Think for a second.

If your boss gave you a pop quiz at work, how well do you think you’d do? … Guesses?

The correct answer is: you would do only as well as he wanted you to do.  If he wanted you do do well, he’d quiz you on things you do every day enabling you to pass with high marks.  If he wants you doing poorly, he fills the test up irrelevant questions, that you haven’t thought about in decades (because they are irrelevant); at work you are constantly being bombarded with things that truly do matter..

So we are talking about taking a teacher’s license away because her students did poorly on a standardized test, not by how good or not good the teacher is!

Does the teacher make the test?  Of course not:  the test is made many states away by people who have never stepped foot in a classroom and get paid 6 digit salaries. The tests are untried at the time of taking. They are not last year’s test remade.  No one knows how relevant or non relevant these tests are.

Does the teacher get to know the material on the test so she can teach her students the relevant data?  No, that would be cheating.  The teacher has to guess before hand what will or will not be covered, and then has to teach her best guess.  What if those think tank “specialists” have different philosophies?  Bad scores.

Does the teacher get to interpret the test, to explain the questions in a way the child might better understand?  No, that is considered leading the child.  So if a child can’t understand the question, because they haven’t a Masters or Doctorate degree in education, they fail.

Does the teacher have any control over the test taking environment?  No, if every one stays up late to watch Breaking Bad, and then texts till two in the morning about what happened on the show, and what might happen on next week’s episode.,..  they will do poorly.  To them its some dumb test that doesn’t matter anyway.  They’ll still get promoted…  456 + 789… ah, my head hearts…  let me guess… umm  “{c}”

Imagine lining up all of Delawares School Board and Rodel Foundation officers around the Governor, as he signs SB 51, and taking one photo, then firing all those who blinked, grimace, moved, or otherwise “failed” to properly enhance the photo…..

As their cleaning out their office, you can here Hefferman mutter… “they didn’t even count down. They just took the picture.  If they’d counted down, I could have been ready.”

And speaking of FAILURES.  OH!  MY!  GOODNESS!!!  Rodel’s Vision 2015 has failed to meet its objectives (GOALS) it set for itself back in 2006.  They have had 7 of the 9 years they gave themselves to make it happen. Instead of  firing itself, it announces its name is now Rodel 2020….  But a teacher who’s students blink during 3 hours one day from watching Breaking Bad the night before?  YOU’RE A LOUSY TEACHER!   WHAT A FAILURE YOU ARE!  GET OUT OF OUR SCHOOL!  EVEN BETTER!  GET YOU OUT OF OUR ENTIRE PROFESSION!

That is why this is so stupid. SB51 is so stupid. Everyone who voted for it, without reading it, is so stupid.  Every blog except those who raised awareness against it, is so stupid.  Mr. Sweeney, is so stupid….

I won’t belabor the point anymore.  But firing a teacher for a photo moment, is ridiculous.  Taking away their license for the same should in a proper universe, damn you to an eternity in Hell.

If you yourself personally choose to go to Hell, you will find the following assorted people there to keep you company.

Blevins,  Hocker,  Peterson,
Bonini,  Lavelle,  Pettyjohn,
Bushweller, Lawson,  Poore,
Cloutier,  Lopez,  Simpson,
Ennis,  Marshall, Sokola,
Hall-Long, McBride, Townsend,
Henry, McDowell, Venables,

Atkins,  J. Johnson,  Ramone,
Barbieri,  Q. Johnson,  Scott,
Bennett,  Kenton,  B. Short,
Blakey,  M. Smith, D. Short,
Bolden,  Longhurst,  Smyk,
Brady,  Miro,  Spiegelman,
Briggs-King,  Mitchell,  Viola,
Carson,  Mulrooney,  Walker,
Dukes,  D.E. Williams, Keeley,
Gray,  Outten,  K. Williams,
Heffernan,  Paradee,  Wilson,
Hudson,  Peterman,  Schwartzkopf,
Jaques  Sweeney, Markell, Murphy, Jenner.

Just looking over that list, … I would bet that if this list ever got public, and people could see the likes of the company they’d be spending their eternity with, .. our churches would be overflowing this weekend!…

By the way, can anyone out there possibly tell me when was the last time a doctor lost his license for one case of malpractice judgment decided in court against him? Or one Secretary of Education fired for in his first year statewide test results, in what even the friendly News Journal headline lambasted as: “Disappointing Results”?

GO TO CHURCH!

How Proud! Newark Goes To Williamsport!

Newark National erupted for six runs in the third inning Sunday night, winning the Little League Mid-Atlantic Regional title with an 8-2, nationally televised victory over Pennsylvania in Bristol, Conn.

Little League World Series play begins Thursday in Williamsport, Pa. Newark National will face Iowa, champions of the Midwest Regional, at 8 p.m. Friday. The game will be televised on ESPN.

Kilroy Shocked The Sheriff; But He Did Not Shock The Deputy.

Posting this in timely fashion so something has to get down about it.

A) Kilroy links to the Sheriff’s Sale report showing Moyer’s Attorneys put it on the auction bloc to buy it up themselves.

B) That link goes down.

C) Investigating why that link went down, the address he posted
“/sheriff/documents” was moved to the forbidden list.

D) All documents with that address, meaning all sheriff sales etc, valuable public information that is required to be publicly accessable to prevent the type of corruption that just occurred, ….. everything with “/sheriff/documents”… is now frozen….

Is this law firm guilty of corruption in the highest order?

Potter’s Field and SB51.

Charles Potter has just introduced an amendment to SB51 striking the 3.0 average entry requirement. He says it discriminates against a black child who struggled hard though High School to get a 2.99… The toady for the administration is arguing that there is a clause allowing 10% of those not to be above target. He could slid in under that…  Potter’s response is that  what if that child was on the cusp, and after 10% were in, he was next and would be denied.

The administration is saying that this bill is to raise standards  and if you don’t raise standards what’s the point of having this bill.

Potter is dancing around the topic, but is essentually saying this is a bad bill and needs to be voted down if it doesn’t have this amendment, and finally, finally, debate is getting out on the floor,  The administration’s toadies are panicked… They’re wearing the stone expression face.. 

Now points we made are poking holes in the bill, but the speaker is reigning discussion to the amendment….

Any discussion of this bill is good… 

Fact is,  Potter is correct.  This bill certainly does discriminate against  wanna be teachers who studied their whole career, and with so many strikes against them, ARE proud of their 2.5 record… AND THEY SHOULD BE…

Grimaldi…. This Is For You….

Courtesy of  Top Hits of The Seventies

NRA’s Death Rattle

Just before someone expires there is a stir, a gasp, a movement, and for one second it looks like all is well, they are coming back to life, and then the eyes just stop. The spirit has moved on.

Anyone attending the Civic League for New Castle County Debate on Gun Control, as well as the General Assembly hearings in Dover this and last week, got a visual of that same scenario …

The meeting took place Tuesday, March 19, at the County building just off the road to the landfill…

The meeting room was packed with Andy Griffiths, Barney Fifes, and Aunt Bee’s numbering close to 170. No Opeys. One person represented Sussex County. One person represented Kent, and the preponderance represented New Castle County.

It had the feel of a coming out party. The participants were giddy to see so many others there just like them. Each felt the entire universe’s lifeforce passed through them and them alone, and none had qualms shouting down speakers who just were not as enlightened as them. Many of the 9-12 Patriots were in attendance, foregoing their required date with a treadmill just to make the meeting. Quite a few over 70 years in age, both men and women, actually shaved for the occasion.

Probably it would be safe to say, roughly 4% of the attendees supported the Governor’s Plan on Gun Control. The rest all showed up to fight oligarchical tyranny. that multi-headed hydra capable of shape-shifting at a moments notice. It would be safe to say, just two years ago, that hydra would have been in the form of a horrendous Hawaiian Birth Certificate, or the (spooky music here) lack of one.

Anthony N. Delcollo, Esq., President, Delaware Association of Second Amendment Lawyers (guess which side he was on) felt the power of the room and tried to channel himself into the Great Wonderful Oz. Although he was capable of mesmerizing his captive audience who hooted and hollered at his unsupported platitudes, outside that small room the Great Oz would no doubt have as much critical acclaim as the current movie does bearing the same name.

Mark Blake, Hockessin Civic Leader and NRA lifetime member, enjoyed having a room that supports him, (he is usually on the other side regarding Land Use). Seriously. There were no challenges to numerous misstatements. One could say anything in support of unlimited use of unlimited weaponry aimed at unlimited people and receive a standing ovation. He did repeatedly. Other than the luminary idea of putting locks on school room doors, nothing new to the argument was provided. It was the “same ole”, “same ole” platitude that since criminals don’t obey laws anyway, so … what’s the point of even having law? ….. Applied to guns, that was crux of the argument.

Poor Andrew Lippstone, Esq., Governor Markell’s Chief Legal Counsel…. Two hundred and thirty five years ago, he would have been picked up, dropped and rolled in a bed of tar, and covered with half the chicken feathers of Sussex County. One has to admire the courage to even attempt to engage against a force so righteous they were deaf to any reasoning. To them however, he provided the entertainment giving an excuse for every member to show their extensive knowledge of every individual part of every firearm in the cannon of military weaponry… Being so overwhelmed was obviously discomforting to him; hoping of course 235 years of the “right to free speech” would prevail among people wishing they lived inside a piece of parchment written 235 years ago.

Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence Representative (Nancy will supply me with the name) announced the results of a new poll on gun violence. OVER 50% OF SUSSEX COUNTY WANTS ALL GUNS REGISTERED! NEAR 60% OF KENT COUNTY WANTS ALL GUNS REGISTERED. OVER 90% OF NEW CASTLE COUNTY WANTS ALL GUNS REGISTERED!… or were in support of some type of background checks with no exceptions…

This data was attacked. The sample size was too small it was said; questioned was the 600 people sample size for the entire state of Delaware? Forget that national polls are also decided on the same number polled, there were 200 people there in that room and almost 100% were in favor of no regulation on any weapon ever…. That poll had to be a lie, a disingenuous trick. a surreptitious plot to steal the truth away from the American people. Someone was lying. It was obvious that 100% of the people support open warfare with military weapons anywhere at anytime… because… well, they said… look around….

In their enthusiasm at not being a shunted minority, their exuberance is forgivable. But one hoped, that someone, just one person, would point out to them, that… you know? There were other people living in Delaware too, who weren’t in that room…

You know? They probably didn’t get that email that told them they were about to lose their prized possessions and to show up in force to demand they keep things the status quo. They probably just got home and had to cook dinner or eat dinner with the kids, and then do homework, put them to bed, and then get ready for the grind tomorrow. You know, after a rough day, there was probably something better they needed to do than find a building just off the road to the landfill, and park their car in a crowded lot, and freeze their butts off walking through the labyrinth of that parking lot and finding the entrance to the main steps of that building… I would offer that perhaps drinking wine would have been a better option. You know?

There was not one black person in the room.

This group was very representative of Delaware’s entire population.

It brings to mind this… I wonder if this “debate” had been scheduled say, in the auditorium of Bancroft School, just off Pine Street, or in the Auditorium of Pulaski School, up on the hill off Rt 4, or in the Kingswood Community Center in Northeast Wilmington, or in the Boys and Girls Club off Union Street, or in the Salvation Army Building between Shipley and Orange Streets, if the NRA would have been so overwhelmingly represented. If those 80 year old white folks would be willing to park on the street, walk the one or two blocks on inter city sidewalks to share their view with those living within walking distance, who hear the pop, pop, pop almost on a daily basis, and it is not at a shooting range…. I wonder if these brave, pompous, arrogant, white haired, Viagra driven septuagenarians would be willing to sit next to a young muscularly built black man who has probably had more experience fighting humans with his bare hands, that that old white man has ever fired his assault rifle. I wonder if these pompous protagonists feel strong enough, virile enough to weather the hurt soul of a black woman who lost their child solely because the NRA has purposefully made guns so easily available and has interceded to discourage law enforcement every step of the way in trying to preserve the peace… Do you really think these old men would show up in the inner city to say, “guns don’t kill people! We already have laws. We need to lock up criminals or people who sort of look like criminal, you know, “those people”, and throw away the key. We don’t need any more law and order!!!”

Tell me. Do you think they would be willing to do that? if the location were made in say a …. more American atmosphere?

The point being made here for all to listen, is that America is bigger than the NRA.. Tailoring meetings and demonstrations just so they can play their strong suit, is not moving America in the direction it needs to go, towards civilization. If all you have is 200 people, getting those 200 people to show up an one spot, is easy. If the room only holds 200 people, it is easy to bluster you have 100% of support in your favor… You say just look around.

On similar grounds, one could say that 100% of people support Miss America Beauty Pageants. Or 100% people support Model Train Collecting. Or 100% of the people prefer to look at old and new postage stamps. Or that 100% of the people want to “flip That House.” Or that 100% of the people prefer to listen to classical music….. “Just look around…” (All good causes by the way….)

I think those analogies properly put the overwhelming support shown by those who want no law on guns, at meetings they can pack, into their proper perspective….

Polls show that close to 9 out of 10 Americans are sick of the NRA making their lives unsafe and want Government to get off their ass and finally do something about it. 9 out of 10 people, especially including those “normal” Americans who own firearms.

I venture that the fact that as the NRA and the Tea Party get crazier and crazier each time they realize no one is listening, is justification enough that they themselves,… know it is true…