An Eye For An Eye…..

Courtesy South Park

Since many Republican voters have no concern or empathy over what it is like to be a minority, I am calling for all those who whether in your employment, your family, your circle of friends, your bar, your church, to become ostracized after the election in a way very similar to how Afro Americans are treated every day.

I think both our state and county officials need to mandate racial profiling on all elderly white males… Automatically pull them over and try to find something incriminating.  I think every pickup truck with American flags flying off the back, definitely needs to be shaken down.  Handcuff them and go through their trucks with K9’s for any drug paraphernalia….. Ha, ha,, maybe one just…. might…. appear.. lol. lol..  I think every NRA sticker is an automatic reason for lighting them up… Pull them over and write a ticket unless they are so conciliatory, you feel they will never disobey the law again in their lives..

I think our county and state offices need to have two wait-in-line tickets at all their offices… One for whites, and one for everyone else… after the everyone else gets done, then move to beginning at the top of the line for whites… I think that anyone who is a white male, and works with you, and is not particularly overly sentimental to the female prerogative, needs to be fired and replaced with someone either male or female who is.  I think that any male who compliments a female making her uncomfortable, needs to be fired on the spot…I think all white men should find themselves on the receiving end of a sexual harassment lawsuit, and leave it to the judge to determine if such a suit has merit or not.

I think all elderly white males still employed in the state’s workforce need to take a 25% pay cut so they are on par with women.

I think everyone who we can pin as being a Trump-supporter right now, must by law, wear a yellow star that says:  KKK …  We should be able to imprison without bail, any known Trump supporter including that now famous list of Delawarean Republicans still supporting Trump. who get caught in public not wearing the required identification.

I think we should have affirmative action towards Trump supporters and based on the percent of the popular voter that Trump supporters receive per state, we should guarantee that all businesses cap their white male employees at that low number… If only 30% of the voting public supports Trump, then no business or government employer is allowed to have any more than 30% white male Republicans on their payroll.  The remainder have to be filled by women, and non white smart intelligent human beings… After all, fair is fair.

So please, you who are NOT Republicans… if you have a neighbor, a co-worker, or a friend who you know is still a Trump supporter which now, means they must also be a closet racist.  contact the FBI office closest to you and report them as possible domestic terrorists…

We cannot be too safe… We will only be safe when every rednecked Trump supporter is rotting in jail…   Then,  life will be good.

Gosh, wouldn’t life be awesome?  We can dream…

 

 

The Horrible Koch Ads On Delaware’s WDEL

They don’t say they are Koch ads.  And they don’t say anything really… Just moan and groan about nothing….

One of the statements being made by a senior women, is “and they promised us we could keep our own insurance, well you know how that goes.”

Whoa, Back up old lady. The fact is, that you can keep your own insurance if you wish.  Not only was that extended originally, but it was extended again.  If you want your crappy piss poor insurance policy, you can keep your crappy piss poor insurance policy, even though it gouges you in they eye and pays nothing if you go blind.

Those type of policies should be illegal…   The only reason they aren’t, is because in order to fill the spirit of a promise, they are grandfathered into existence despite the fact they hurt everyone who has them…. Hopefully those people will grow some brains and get a cheaper policy that covers them far better… But if they are adamant in their stupidity, well, a promise is a promise.  They can keep them….

 

But what is funny, it that this old senior woman,  jumps into minimum wage….   Raising the minimum wage will hurt women …..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Even demented old seniors in nursing homes know that making $10.10 for every hour in a forty hour week, is better than making $7.25 dollars an hour in a forty hour week… It doesn’t matter if you are a man, or a woman… It is $2.85 dollars an hour better or $114 dollars a week, better, or $456 dollars a month better….

That will hurt women the Koch Brothers say….

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

The only thing stupider than a Koch Brother is someone who actually believes them…..

Hello. Rick Jensen?

 

If Delaware has 11,000 workers making at or below minimum wage, and all of those theoritically were given a $450 monthly raise,  the spending power of the Delaware economy would jump $5 million dollars a month…

If the Koch’s owned half the wealth, that means this awesome  jump in the economy is $2.5 million a month out of their own pocket….  No wonder they are throwing $6,000 at WDEL to try to trick you into calling for NOT improving our economy.…

If you liked Ronald Reagan, you need to switch to the Democratic Party, now!

Now, if only Rick Jensen was as smart as you are….  😦

What? Fed Now Says Gas Powered Electricity Is More Carcinogenic Than Coal Fired Power Plants? How?

I was done with my shopping at Acme, had picked up a bouquet of flowers, and saw the Blue Crab and ducked in to get some food to go…Heck, I didn’t feel like cooking…  I decided to pass upon driving through the new WSFS atm, and instead came straignt out of Suburban Shopping Center, got stuck at the light where the Soviet interference blocks out WDEL, and with the green, pulled straight ahead onto Rt.4 towards the Bob… I go up the rise that is the bridge, squeeze down to one lane, and look to my left at where the new power plant will be. thinking of course it would be way off in the corner by the railroad tracks… As I looked, it slowly dawned that it would be right at the corner, right next to the bridge i was on…  Holy Crap.

I would be directly under that smoke stack at least 4 times every day… Why would that concern me?  Because concentrations of the heaviest particles are thickest the closer one gets to the stack…  My open window or car vent would suck those in, and keep them in my car, for what? maybe a mile, or two?  I would be breathing lots of stuff that normally stays deep underground… Like lead.  Like cobalt, Like uranium, Like Radon. I know, as do you, that all it takes is one atom to get sucked into my lungs, bond with a cell tissue, and stay there, and I die of lung cancer.   Of course it could happen in Ohio, and since atoms never die, get blown from there over to Rehoboth Beach, and be hanging right above the ocean about an inch, right where I come up and gasp for air… and the same thing could happen… Therefore I have to look at probabilities.  My probability of dying from cancer is almost infinitely larger when I drive under the stack 4 times every day, or 28 times every week, or 1456 times at the minimum, every year I live in Newark…  Just imagine the probability from those living in Devon, less than 200 yards from the belching stack…

Belching, as in burping up lead, cobalt, antimony, uranium, cesium, strontium, radon,  Ever had to work with someone who had bad breath?  This would be infinitely worse….

Here is where you say… Wait!  But Jack Markell and Sam Latham all said that gas was cleaner than coal.  How does you headline fit in with your claims that gas is dirtier than coal….

Great question… Let us answer that with an entertaining example….  let us say there is a house up the street, shared by 4 young people, maybe they are in a band even…. But rumor is they smoke pot…   Now let us say, you rent one of your rooms out to Justin Beiber, and Lo, come to find out he smokes pot too…  but not that much…. Now, which of the two, is going to provide you the greatest opportunity to get high from second hand smoke:.  The reggae band 15 houses away, or Justin Beiber who crashes at your house when on breaks from his tour?

It’s the same way with carcinogens in pollution.  Coal plants are in Ohio.  This 248MW natural gas co-generation power plant, is 200 yard away….

The figures for mean damages per ton of emissions are higher for natural gas plants than for coal plants because of the locations of the plants. If you think about it, a power plant located near an urban area will do more human damage than one located in the country, all other things being equal….

There can be no question.  The rate of death will jump in areas surrounding Newark if this power plant goes in.  Explaining it is cleaner than coal is irrelevant for there is no coal plant going in… The comparative factor must be against the status quo.  Right now, there is nothing polluting the air breathed by the citizens of the town of Newark. Soon there will be… and obviously as a result, more people and animals will die horrible, painful deaths than do now.  That is inevitable, and must be recognized, while at the same time, not blown out of perspective.

There are times when the benefits might be worth the risk of dying prematurely. WWII for example.  And not everyone will die early. Just those unlucky to breathe in the unlucky molecule, which today, doesn’t exist in Newark but when finished, will soon be belched out 24/7 right there by Route 4’s bridge over Amtrack..  Those in receivership will die, while the rest of us live on… The question stands: is this power plant worth dying for? Is the money being made for its investors, worth the copays our estate will fork over on our own terminal medical bills…

You say yes?  or was that a no, I heard?

I Will Not Be a Member Of A Party In Which Hate Speech Elevates Candidates For Higher Office Rather Than Disqualifying Them.

That is why I have left the Tea Party.  I would encourage Rick Jensen of WDEL to do the same.

11 Score And 16 Years Ago…..

Occasionally something that you looked at many times, but have never seen, suddenly jumps out and changes your whole perspective. For example, I had always thought that as far as the Revolutionary War went, Delaware’s only claim to fame was that the new flag was first flown in battle on Delaware’s soil…….

Not so! Two hundred thirty-six years ago today, things were really jumping in these parts. It may seem like a long time ago to most of us, but in reality it is only a string of three ten year olds who each knew someone who was ninety. In the vernacular, that means that most of us know someone, who themselves knew someone who actually had spoken to someone, who was alive during the Revolutionary War!…… Whoa…….

August 25, 1777 close to 300 ships sailed up the Chesapeake Bay, anchored off off Elk Neck, Maryland, and began disembarking. That has been called the largest fleet ever assembled off either of the America’s coasts. To put that number into perspective, the famous Spanish Armada, consisted of a meager 130 Spanish ships. The most-oft talked about Battle of Trafalger, consisted of a combined total of some 60 ships. Modern historians can get a perspective by comparing those 300 ships to the 700 off of Dunkirk or the 900 off of Normandy…….

It must have been quite a sight to stand on the top Iron Hill and see over 300 tall masts sailing to defeat you. And on board those ships, were 15,000 solders disembarking to begin marching towards your capital city….That’s close to the total number of women living across Greater Newark in 2010.

Were we living 236 years ago, we would all be on edge! Anticipating a major battle on Delaware soil, 11,000 continental troops were moved into Delaware and bivouacked at what used to be known as Red Mill Neck, and now is near the Marshalltown bridge over top of Red Clay Creek.

The British moved in steps, out of Elkton to Gray’s hill, then up the road to Newark. One account said their line stretched from Glasgow to the bridge across the Christiana, where the I 95 and 896 interchange is today. They marched through the village of Newark, and then advanced parallel to today’s Kirkwood highway and camped at Milltown, just two miles from the American Camp in Newport. For one day, they stared each other down. The potential existed for a pitched battle to have occurred on Delaware soil. When no attempt was made by the British, Washington got scared that he was to be flanked to the north. Had General Howe chosen to do so, Washington and the Continental Army would have suffered a catastrophic defeat. At 2 am, the Continentals forced marched north to Chadd’s Ford, thereby occupying the high ground, and then on the following day, occurred the Battle of the Brandywine, the second to last major battle to be fought by Washington until Yorktown, four years latter.

Just a small footnote:  it was in Delaware  where General Pulaski, from Poland, met Washington while in Wilmington and was placed in charge of developing the calvary.

Although only a small skirmish actually occurred in this small state, with just a few things happening differently, a major conflagration could have happened that could have ended the war for the Americans.

Needless to say, it was relatively scary “in these parts” just 11 score and sixteen years ago.

Full Resolution

So… We Are Rating the University of Delaware By Common Core

The educational department of the University of Delaware is ranked 31st in the nation... That is at least out of 5000 accredited teaching schools…

Not only that, they are 31st in the top ranked educational teacher training country in the entire world… Apparently there is no educational crises in America when it comes to teachers receiving top notch training.

Overall, the top 10 countries in rank order are the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom….

What just passed last Thursday in Delaware, now requires the University of Delaware, again now ranked 31st in the top educator nation in the world, 🙂 to be judged solely on how its teachers administer Common Core when they go out into the field…

Common Core?

Just how good is this Common Core we are talking about?

New Attack on Common Core From Pennsylvania Democrats

Common Core Standards attacked by Republicans

‘Common Core’ Standards Come Under Attack By Lucas Johnson, Associated Press

Nation at Risk Anniversary, Common Core Under Attack

Common Core Conundrum

Common Core State Standards Under Attack

The RNC’s Attack on Common Standards

The War Against the Common Core

911: Common Core Under Attack

Rotten to the Core: Conservatives spearhead drive at RNC meeting to stop Common Core

Weingarten Calls For A Moratorium on the Implementation of the Common Core: A “Save Harmless” Year for Planning That Includes Parents, Teachers and Principals.

Washington Post: Common Core is in Trouble

Common Core Standards Facing Increased Opposition

Common Core – Language

Common Core Makes Waves

Indiana Among States Acting to Oppose Common Core Standards

Lisa Nielsen: Is the Common Core an Attack on Progressive Education?

Common Core: Education Without Representation

The Common Core: The Good, the Bad, the Possible

Your Children Need a Néw Brain for Common Core

Kentuckians Against Common Core Standards

Toynbee Predicted Privatization

One would think someone in Legislative Hall would have at least looked into Common Core before mandating that the 31st best teaching institution in the best ranked nation for turning out good teachers, would have to be judged on its effectiveness by the results of a program everyone is having so much trouble with.

Progressives are against it. Tea Party Advocates are against it. Democrats are against it. Republicans are against it.. Red States are against it. Blue States are against it. How could this be? Could it be possible they all have children?

In fact, it appears there is no one who is in favor of common core, across this entire great nation we are so fortunate to live in… No one except 59 Delaware legislators, who apparently didn’t get the memo…..

“Go Ahead, Do Your Driveby, Little Girl…..”

…. said Rick Jensen as Liz Allen finished and hung up the phone before Rick could answer….

I usually drive in silence but I laughed out loud when I heard that. Seriously glad I was not drinking coffee that very second…

To set the background, Rick was trying to pin the blame on unions like would a normal corporate shill and Liz called in and was objecting…

Basically her argument was that there were a lot of things wrong with this Kinder Morgan Deal.  Most of you know, I’ve outlined many.  Al Mascitti has outlined some. Nancy Willing outlined some. Norinda outlined some.  Bobby Marshall has outlined some.  John Kowalko has outlined some. The News Journal writers  and editorialists  have outlined some.  Even Alan Levin truthfully  outlined some…. And of course, Liz Allen was Delaware’s voice.  She outlined many…. And don’t even  mention that the entire House of the General Assembly, both Democrats and Republicans unanimously voted for General Assembly oversight on this strange thing happening, despite the Governor and Alan Lavin saying…”shouldn’t do that!!!”

THE  ENTIRE  HOUSE  OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  VOTED  FOR  SENATE  BILL  3  YET  KINDER  MORGAN  IS  SINGLING  OUT  A  LABOR LEADER,  JULIUS  CEPHAS? ? ?

All of these people are more to blame for swaying public opinion than Julius Cephas.  However, truth be told, without Julius, none of these people would be swaying public opinion….  He didn’t harangue, he didn’t bash, he’d didn’t twist arms…

All Julius did to persuade this wave against Kinder Morgan, was speak the “truth”.  The letter paints Julius as a feisty uncooperative fiery personality…  Anyone who’s sat on a panel with Julius finds that hard to believe.  That is not how Julius handles adversity.  He digs down and works.

Of course as we all age we come to realize that anything is possible.  But if we are going to allow ourselves to consider even the most outrageous items,  what I find far more possible, and far more probable, was that Kinder Morgan was seriously planning on cutting jobs.  Furthermore, it probably had it’s eye on the DRBA portion of the state pension fund… Speaking strictly as a vulture capitalist here… who wouldn’t?

Apparently Julius Cephas was in the way…  We all owe him a thank you.

I know Texas gas firms.  This deal is not off.  What we have here is a lighter being held up  to Delaware’s foot.  To scare us a little, try to get us to move things up, to get us to concede… They sharply deduced that to have a successful operation here, they need to do away with the union.  Hence, instead of excoriating Bob Marshall’s leadership, which they would have done if they truly were to pick up and go, …knowing they might need him later instead they chose to focus on Julius Cephas…

Can they turn the state into an out-roar against Julius and the Longshoreman’s union, so much so that we offer them a counter-offer with “the union”  completely eclipsed out of it?

In their minds they think they can.   They’re Texans…  Look at Governor Perry.  (Hope you weren’t drinking hot coffee right there… )

What they don’t realize is that to convince Delaware to come aboard, they have to accomplish all these four things…

A.  Convince us first  on the concept of privatization; Trust us, our state is completely against it.

B.  Give us $5 billion for 50 years.

C.  Promise us the Longshoreman’s Union will be around forever .

D.  Expand business so the outside businesses will grow….. 

I think this is more money than they want to bear right now….  But if they are willing to agree to these propositions,   send us an offer….

Us Delawareans are a little stronger negotiators, with a little more backbone,  than is Alan Levin….  I’m sorry from a honesty point of view, if his actions sort of misled you.

There are two ways to do business.  One is do what is best for the business by being selfish..  The second is to do what is best for the customer and community, which in our view, turns out to be what is best for the business.

Delawareans (minus Rich Heffron)  subscribe to the latter…..

 

‘

Levin and Marshall Head to Head On Port Of Wilmington

Most of you missed this, but Alan Levin and Senator Bob Marshall stopped by coincidentally at the same time to visit Rick Jensen of WDEL, and smooth as he was, Rick convinced both to sit down for an hour and go head to head over the topic of  privatizing the Port of Wilmington….

First Alan Levin;  Delaware Economic Development Office….

a.  Delaware river will be dredged to 45 feet.

b.  Panama canal will open to new big ships from the Pacific, which will be coming up the Delaware River.

c.. Ships if not coming here, may go to ports north to Philly, Paulsboro, Newark NJ, Norfolk.

d.  If we don’t accommodate these larger ships, jobs will go elsewhere taking 3000 jobs. By 2016 we should start seeing them.

e. Was not a sweetheart deal. Competing bids were proffered.  Local  ILA (International Longshoreman) even asked the state to search out new private/public partnership bids back in Sept 09

f. Turns out that the  Bank of Montreal was advisor for port transactions, the division was located in San Francisco. It’s job is to  just finance ports.  Sent out 70 inquiries  17 expressed inquiries for further information,   4 actually made bids.  2 were called non responsive.  leaving 2 good. Kinder Morgan and one private equity group financed by local individuals.

g. Of the two bids received, the Kinder Morgan bid secured workforce. The other group said they would rob workforce pension and union bust to squeeze their profit out of efficiencies.

h. Kinder Morgan bid grants a three year guaranteed security, to the  ILA, to the  teamsters, to the businesses outside..  What other business gives you a three year guarantee?

i.  Kinder Morgan would grow profits by increasing tonnage.  They want to add 3 additional warehouses  200,000 square feet each, and 28 additional jobs.  The other bidder, made up of local cutthroats, would cut the workforce to squeeze out its profit.

j. Kinder has the ability to bring in additional volume, to negotiate and bring other companies in.  The other bid doesn’t.  Improvement costs are substantial.  $12 million per crane. It costs between $60-70 million to replace berth 5 and 6, just the repair of which will cost $8-10 million. We need the long term lease. Companies want return over time.  they won’t do it for 5, they won’t do it for 10. That’s why it is a 50 year lease.  The people of Delaware want commitment as well.  They don’t want someone saying “we’re outta here” after 5 years.

k. BDO did an independent audit.  As does the State Senate  they also show a $ 3 million yearly loss.  Reports are posted in their auditor’s office.  BDO is independent and won’t jeopardize  their reputation by lying about the port of Wilmington.  It is bottom line business.  Net profit in the end, is minus $3 million dollars.  The General Assembly is putting in $10 million a year for improvements.  That $10 million doesn’t get us past where we are. It doesn’t get us out to the large ships.  We need to get out into the Delaware  and that will cost $100’s of millions of dollars.  Kinder Morgan has considered expanding the Delaware River auto berth, built 20 years ago to accommodate Volkswagon.  The berth goes southward. Kinder would go northbound, and put two berths, with two cranes which will service the 3 warehouses being built.l.

l. LNG is off the table,  that has been committed to in the General Assembly and will also be in the lease. Can Wilmington accommodate LNG tankers?  No!  The port of Wilmington is not big enough to do LNG.  And two, they will not increase coal over today’s level; our same level of 100,000 tons of coal is stipulated for the next 50 years.

m. Protests against the port are  having negative effect. Both Mr. Kinder and Mr. Foster came with the understanding we were the ones seeking and they were not expecting negativity. They understand the ebb and flow, but were not prepared for this huge outcry. it was us. We invited them to the party. Had they come to us as a hostle takeover, the outcry could be right and proper… So far we’ve done  what we thought was right.  We got to find a way to stop the annual spending of the $10 million because the $10 million won’t get us out to the river. Kinder proposed and promised and has done it elsewhere.

n. Kinder Morgan if they have a customer who needs to get to the river, they then will build to go to the river; they can make the extension at that time.  But Kinder (like any successful business) does not promise or commit to anything except what it is prepared to do today.

o. If deal falters, the future of port will be tenuous.  It will continue to have great management, and a great workforce, but won’t have the proper resources to go to river.

p.  If deal collapses, no,  the port won’t go bankrupt.  but collapsing the deal  is not responsible.  Being responsible is doing something to stop the $10 million  bleeding.

Now… state senator Bobbie Marshall…author of Senate Bill 3 signed by Jack Markell, overseeing the lease of port….

a. Big problem is… we do not have details of Kinder Morgan.  No written proposal,

b.Expansion is something we all favor. but deal  receded into one of ” no expansion”, but we will now have to turn over the entire port. including the 300 acres owned by Delaware citizens, managed by Diamond State Port Authority to someone we don’t know.

c. Port is actually  a profit making entity if you remove the depreciation yearly. Actual operation is profitable.

d. Port could grow jobs within the  interior 250 acres if port grows and expands, and with new money, more employment opportunity exists if expansion occurs…

e. Point out that Julius Cephus (ILA) has rallied people, businesses, and elected officials, and has pointed out that this may not be beneficial in long term.

f. Preliminary proposal at this time, the due diligence will be present by end of month which will allow presentation to bond bill and bond bill will hold hearings on the proposal… Senate Bill 3 requires review by bond committee.

g. Members of legislature representing the state of Delaware, passed bill in 1994 to allow Diamond State to operate the day to day operations, but never was it place  in the code, to give either Diamond State or the governor sale and total control of 300 acres of port property.  General Assembly and its citizens are the tenant. Diamond State Port is the renter.

h. Port of Wilmington Directors are responsible to exercise “all function” of port….including the leasing of lands to companies…. That is different from” selling” the land of the taxpayers out from under them.  The state taxpayer keeps ownership but leases to Kinder Morgan.

i.  All  interested parties, need to read Miami Herald and how expansion of Panama Canal will affect the ports of the east coast. We need to invest the Delaware river side of the port and that is not happening with Kinder Morgan.

j.  This is a lease, this is not a sale to Kinder Morgan. The Diamond State board can do leases….  Alan’s understanding is if the bond bill committee approves Kinder Morgan deal, it goes to the House and Senate for up or down vote with no debate.  But Marshall say debate will be impossible to quench.

k. Any one can appear before the bond bill committee… Alan will appear. Senators can appear. Kinder Morgan will be given total control of port. Diamond State Board will still be in place, will still have oversight, but not its running on a day to day basis.  They make sure agreement is in force, and if not, they will take appropriate action.

l. Worried about control  People getting laid off?  Kinder Morgan will automate and cut employees down to one.  Low skilled people will get shut out,  Has happened all over the country.  Failed private ports run by Kinder Morgan, cut people.  (Which ones ask Jensen.)

m. Kinder Morgan is interested in the fruit business, Kinder Morgan is paying premium for fruit; they want to build three warehouses. Already they are seeking  long term contracts with Dole, Chiquita, and the Chilean Pacific Seaways in order to get their fruit.  They have to have to be given the chance.

n.  (Jensen) Depreciation needs to be on the form to comply with IRS. Depreciation is where the loss of the port is coming from. Without it, the port is profitable according to Marshall.

o. Kinder Morgan is a bulk and liquid bulk company. (John Vitale):  Concerned this deal will cost him money; his business is on the outside of the port.  Container experience is limited to one 10 acre container port in Florida. Taht is all the experience they have.  Products generating most jobs in ports are containers, breakable containers as in fruit, and automobiles. Handling bulk products are the least job creators.   The outside area around the port has grown because the conscious decision not to handle bulk, because they didn’t mix with fruit and automobiles… .

p.   Ok, (John Vitale) With Kinder Morgan switching to bulk, we could end up out on the river, but we still would have 20 percent of today’s  jobs.

q.  Flat out,(John Vitale)  bulk products are far more profitable and will drive out costlier containers which are labor intensive, forcing the outside businesses to go out of business. High number of jobs at the port are there because of fruit, these will be lost by not sticking to containers…. A for-profit company will not be in the best interest of the  existing port.

r.  Ferrous alloys, fertilizer, liquids are not competitive with the outside businesses. (Alan).  We can promise this:  employees will last three years, we will get an income stream to the people of Delaware, and that capital improvements will happen.  Check out Vancouver where Kinder Morgan has spent in last two years, $140 million spent on improvements for cargo bulk containers, something they didn’t anticipate when they leased it two years ago. …They are  willing to pay a premium for our expertise. They think fruit is good business.

s. Concern that we are putting too much faith in hope. Kinder Morgan is a Wall Street for-profit stockholder company.  Delaware’s General Assembly’s support is contingent on growing business to the river. Legislators are very worried about the external  businesses existing outside the port.  i

t.  Bonds $7 million owed to the city (Roger Roy) ..  In 1994, we made two deals with Wilmington: one to pay them over time, and the other was to take over  the bonds they owed,  which is to pay off their bonds which they currently have.  State still owes city close to$7 million..

u. (Kowalko).  We will debate the bill on the floor. … Alan is saying the Bond Bill Committee will debate the pre proposal proposal… not the proposal because at this time, there is  no proposal.  Issue is not about Kinder. …  The bond bill was to discuss t he ethics of privatization of the port, not the deal itself.  Therefore when it goes on the floors, that will be the only time to debate the actual Kinder Morgan proposal.

v. (Liz Allen)  Vancouver contract shows Kinder Morgan is not liable or loss for any cargo, not liable for any delay, strikes, fires explosions, or acts of god, and Kinder Morgan is indemnified from all losses…. Both (Alan and Rick) spoke up that sounded like a standard hold-harmless contract, one required for all business.  So who is responsible if there is an explosion (Liz)?   Responsibility goes to Kinder Morgan, they have the liability(Alan), their insurance covers that, and we are not absolving them of liability.  All obligations go to the person leasing the deal, not the lessor…

w. (Rick)  Emotion doesn’t make sense. Why so much negative  emotion?. (Bob Marshall)  Those interested and raising concerns are those who work in the port, work in businesses  around the port.  Kinder Morgan is a profit making company, former operator working as Enron officials, that raised a red flag. Rick asks:  is everyone at Enron a criminal?   No.

x. (Alan) Trepidation is about change to what we know.  We have tried to mitigate  that concern on everyones issue.  Bottom line is people of Delaware can no longer afford putting $10 million a year to upgrade the port.

y. (Alan)we take money away from everyone else in the state to bolster the port. We have an obligation to the port of Wilmington, but we can’t take anything away from Seaford, and Laural, and education and public safety….

It Is The Presses’ Fault; Speaking Of The Sequester

We’ve all dealt with duplicity.  Where someone will complain loudly behind their bosses back and as soon as he pops into the room, they flip and lavish praise, sometimes to the point of criticizing others in the same room….

Today I listened to WDEL’s two talk show hosts, and Allan Loudell during his two news broadcasts.

Of the three, Al Mascitti was the most honest, Allan the second, and Rick Jensen …. not even plausible.  Let me explain.

Al Mascitti laid out the facts.  The sequester was small compared to the overall budget, but the people it hurt, were the ones who not only had no safety net but nowhere else to go.   The sequester could have been, and would have been prevented if the Republicans had not filibustered the Senate bill to raise the revenue from those who could easily have afforded: the top one percent.

Allan Loudell was neutral and baited both sides.  I believe I counted four times he asked leading questions that would suggest it was both side’s fault that this bad sequester bill was passed.  I believe I counted three of the four who all laid the blame solidly on the Republicans.  However,  why was this even brought up? Any impartial observer like a journalist from another nation, can easily see off of any newscast that the Democrats are running around the country trying to avert the sequester and warn America ahead of time about its effects, while the Republicans are doing nothing!  In fact, they are gloating over how they pulled the sequester off ……   It is disingenuous to even pretend this is not completely a Republican debacle;  one forced upon the nation by their party and their party alone, and forced in such a way, that Democrats were powerless to prevent it from being fulfilled…..

Rick Jensen, … oh my.  His time was spent trying to pin the sequester on Jack Lew, because Jack Lew was the person Bernstein said originally brought it up…  Therefore only in his mind, is it a Democratic machination.   There was no mention of course, that it was a Republican filibuster that prevented the solid alternative from reaching a vote.  There was no mention that it was all the Republicans who agreed upon the sequester, and voted for it.  There was no mention that a budget act without the sequester attached, was vetoed by every single Republican when it came up for a vote, and that the sequester was only passed, because the Republicans all piled on to push it through….

And here is how he tried to explain all the press reports to the contrary.  “Oh, the press is part of Obama’s team.  They are all lying and twisting things to make it look like it’s the Republicans are the ones who made this sequester happen….. ”  

Upon hearing this misstatement, one must readily ask themselves, hey, wait a minute! Since the press is rather hostile to Obama, perhaps reality IS that they are indeed telling the truth, (and nothing but the truth), and perhaps Rick Jensen is dismissing that truth, and all the facts supporting it, because it makes his side look really bad….

Most people will probably accept the latter before the former. After all, only 24% of voters today will admit grudgingly that they were once Republican.

And here is the problem for the rest of us.  If the press can’t straight up tell the truth, how can the American people ever know?  If the press tries very hard to contort reality into making this appear an even handed event when it certainly is not, they are doing the public a disservice by not informing the public of the reality taking place before their faces….

So, why are we not being informed Republicans filibustered that piece of legislation that would have prevented the sequester?  That alone, makes them the culprits.  You cannot filibuster a bill that will prevent something, and then say… It wasn’t us; it’s the other sides fault.

So, why is only Al Mascitti telling the truth, and nothing but the truth at WDEL these days?

There absolutely, unequivocally, irresolutely is no way Democrats are culpable to the sequestration…  This is absolutely, unequivocally, and irresolutely the Republican’s mismanagement that put us into this predicament…. Pure and simple.

If you don’t know that.  You are not reading news.  You are reading make-believe….. The most frustrating part of the latest frame of the budget war has been that the media’s fetish for evenhandedness prevents us from seeing the simplest truth…..

Sorry Schellenberger! Trix R 4 Kids

On Saturday March 2nd, Thomas Shellenberger wrote a piece that the News Journal despite it’s better judgment, allowed to be published…. The headline was the boring and is so common lately, it is usually panned: Disarming the law abiding is not sound gun control.… Why is this inane?

Because it is not even part of the equation. To put it into proper perspective, it was as if the proper answer to preventing  Newtown’s shooting, was that we needed machines emitting secret rays that make guns jam up as soon as they are brought on premises; it is that far out there…. This opinion piece is simply aimed at pandering fear over having imaginary entities football-tackle gun owners and steal their guns; and nothing else. And by now three months after Dec. 14th, no one believes it anymore.

I can remember when people believed aliens were dissected at Roswell. (And for all I know they very well could be). But,…. whether they were or not, it has not impacted my life one way or another… Likewise, the giant controversy that swept up Mike Castle in its eddy (whether Obama was born in Kenya), was nothing but a giant distraction designed to gin up ignorant people to hold out the unrealistic hope that such could be true and a non-black would then become President… Again, it had nothing to to with any practical purpose and only had one effect: to make every one its believers appears as the stupidest, most ridiculous, idiotic, imbecilic, deranged, dumb-ass, and incompetent human beings ever to exist on this planet. Shellenberger seems to be pushing the same kind of argument.   Here is why.

• No one cares about law abiding citizens; get this: they are not even a part of the equation.
• The criminal justice system of Delaware had nothing to do with the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.
• No law abiding citizen will be disarmed by the anticipated plans soon to be put in place by Biden and Markell.
• Having a No-gun rule around young children is extremely good common sense.
• If the police want new sales of assault weapons banned, who are you to want otherwise, .. a criminal?
• Evidence supports the ’94 assault weapons ban could possibly have had a positive effect on decreasing mass killings.

Those tired arguments put to rest, here is exactly why we do need more regulations upon guns.

• There is not enough regulation at the moment.
• It is too easy for the wrong people to get their hands on a gun.
• The NRA has purposefully made tracking guns as difficult as possible to enable criminals to shoot people with impunity.
• There is now less level of responsibility involved with owning a gun, than having a 16 year old driving a car.

Then there is this very tired old line…. yawn….

“until we fix the criminal justice system so the laws already on the books are enforced and provide a meaningful deterrent, passage of any new laws only interfere with law abiding citizens….”

oh, oh… I must have dozed off there a second…

That is exactly the problem.  There are not enough laws…  Granted, there are enough laws in some places, but right next to those places, are spots where there are no laws against purchasing any weapons at all.   Chicago has a store across its county line that sells 10% of all confiscated guns acquired by Chicago law enforcement.  Everyone of those is sold legally.  California has Nevada, where a very high rate of confiscated weapons come from. Mississippi has no laws.  There is an Iron Pipeline it is called that funnels guns bought in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia right up 95 into New York City…   EVERYONE OF THESE GUNS WAS BOUGHT LEGALLY…..

So how can you enforce laws on the books when there are no laws on the books?  Duh.

Crash. (The argument of the NRA and Schellenberger just shattered on the floor….)

Here is what we do need… Simply put, and no legal person has to worry about a thing…..

• A national background check  that pinpoints every known gun, to an owner who is responsible for that weapon.
• Requirement that stolen guns get reported ASAP or owner is charged with conspiracy in crime he was accomplice to.
• As requested by police,  a ban on the sales of new assault rifles.
• A ban on high capacity clips.
• Liability insurance up to $1 million on every gun owned.  The insurance conglomerates can figure out the price and deductions.

Obviously any sane gun owner has nothing to fear.  So why are gun owners so frightened?  Are all the weapons in their possession bought at shows and are formerly stolen and they don’t want anyone looking at the registration number to find out?

Yes. Of most of the gun owners I know, yes, they are very worried about this.  That is exactly why they are so kooky over this common sense legislation that will both protect their 2nd Amendment rights and our right to live without fear of gun nuts on the loose….