2000

This is post number 2000.

The only real significance is it is 150 posts more than where Tommywonk stopped exactly one year and fifteen days ago…

If some future historian looks back, I can only guess they may kindly make some note of the quality of thought that underlies these efforts, but my guess, is no one will ever notice…

Irregardless, as long as the urge to put thoughts down for others continues, we will go on. As usual, with no goal, no direction, and no ulterior motive. Probably upon reflection, my biggest surprise, right here, right now … is that I still enjoy it so much, and can’t wait to jot my thoughts down, click the button, and send them off to where ever cyberspace and the vast internet ocean, lets them drift….

For each of you who have become regular over the years, … thank you friend…

For Those Who Follow DelawarePolitics.Net

I’m trying to put all your ideas together into one package. So, let me get this right… All you are asking is for, is a country where:

1) There is no universal healthcare.
2) Few entitlement programs.
3) Low Flat Tax System.
4) Faith based Government.
5) A deep reverence for God.
6) Extremely strict rules against abortion.
7) Marriage has already been strictly defined as between man and woman.
8) Homosexuality is a sin, and illegal.
9) Dress Codes are strictly enforced.
10) Tattoos, piercings, baggy pants, are banned.
11) Has the Death Penalty which they aren’t shy about using.
12) Strong private school system with religious focus.
13) Widespread dependency on oil and natural gas drilling.
14) Growing nuclear program
15) Nonexistent environmental nuisances
16) Culture that promotes family and stereotyped roles for men and women.

I’ve endeavored to put all your values on one page. I share your frustration because today, ever since 2008, it seems like America is moving further and further away from these values.

But you don’t have to be frustrated anymore. I have looked far and wide and have discovered a place already in existence that has those values in place, and more. If you sorely long for those values above, it is sincerely a place where you and your family would be very happy.

It is Iran.

You don’t have to pay me. I don’t need any commission. Just glad to help a fellow Delawarean out…. No problem.

Of Course Mother Nature Hates Republicans!

Many of the areas hit by the storm had also been hit by Irene. In New Jersey’s Hamilton Township, Tom Jacobsen also recalled heavy spring flooding and a particularly heavy winter before that.

“I’m starting to think we really ticked off Mother Nature somehow, because we’ve been getting spanked by her for about a year now,” he said while grabbing some coffee at a convenience store…..

OF COURSE YOU DID, DUMMY. YOU VOTED FOR REPUBLICANS!

Why I Read The Foreign Press Instead of The Crap Found In American Ones

I’m printing this article in full: tell me, where in America can you find journalism this “fair and balanced”?

Another crisis in the horizon?

A | A | A |
Winarno Zain, Jakarta | Tue, 07/19/2011 7:00 AM A | A | A |

It seems the world economy has faced endless threats preventing it from sailing smoothly into a strong recovery this year.

First there was the Greek debt crisis that jolted several major banks, and then a political uprising in the Middle East that pushed up oil prices, and then a tsunami in Japan that disrupted manufacturing activities in many countries.

The world economy has not fully dusted off the adverse impacts of these three events. Yet another headwind is looming large on the horizon. This time it is the possible default of the US government of its debt on Aug. 2, if the US Congress fails to approve an increase to its debt ceiling as requested by President Barack Obama. By that date, the US government debt would have reached its maximum allocated limit of US$14.3 trillion.

The current negotiation between representatives of Democratic and Republican parties on the US budget deficit has run into a deadlock, and so the possibility is real that there won’t be any substantial agreements reached, since the dateline is nearing. Major rating agencies such as Standard and Poor, and Moody’s have warned they are ready to downgrade the US government debt rating from top grade AAA.

This would be the first time in 90 years that the US government debt has been downgraded.

It is not hard to imagine what will happen if by Aug. 2 the US government has exhausted its credit ceiling and can not get additional debt to pay for its spending needs.

The US government would have to curb its spending, and because some of these relate to payments to government employees, pensioners and other social benefits, this would strike a severe blow to the consumer spending that is so essential to the US economic recovery.

With debt default and credit rating downgrades, it would be difficult for the US government to get loans. Faced with increasing risk, investors would ask for higher returns for US government bonds. This would push interest rate higher, further depressing the economic recovery.

The US dollar would plunge, triggering a surge in commodity prices and another round of inflation around the world. A deadly combination of inflation and economic stagnation could spin the world economy into a tailspin as happened in the early 1970’s.

How would this worst case scenario affect the Indonesian economy? As capital flows out of the US, investors have tended to seek safe havens elsewhere. Commodities, especially gold and oil, would be their first targets. Emerging markets could be the next destination of this capital flight, depending on the assessment of investors on the strength of its economy and their vulnerability and exposure to the US economic fallout.

But financial crises always result in a loss of confidence and produce negative sentiments in the financial markets. They put financial markets into disarray, and as investors panic, capital starts flowing out of emerging economies.

During the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, capital moved out from emerging economies back to the advanced economies. At that time, the US government bonds and commodities like gold were considered safe havens.

If the US government defaults on its debt payment this time, the question is will the situation change? Will the US government bonds still be considered a safe haven for investors? If not, then where else will they put their money? Or maybe they would prefer to keep their money in the same place and not move it anywhere. If so, the Indonesian economy could get some benefit and may not have to face another shock.

In the longer term, however, the situation may change. No country is immune to the negative ripples of a US economic crisis. As US imports plunge from weakening domestic demand, exports from emerging countries will also suffer. The extent to which these negative impacts affect each country will depend on their trading and banking exposure to the US economy.

What is disturbing about this debt talk is the use of this debate as a political game. This is especially apparent in the Republican stance.

Economist, market analyst and CEOs of financial institutions and even the IMF itself have warned that if Congress fails to raise the ceiling of the US government debt, the world economy would slip into deep recession.

The Republicans did not fully accept Obama’s proposal to raise the debt ceiling. They only agree on a smaller number, but even it was given with some conditions. The Republicans asked Obama not to raise taxes, especially for the wealthy, and Obama should cut social spending, a sacred cow for the Democrats.

By using tit for tat tactics in the negotiation and by seemingly ignoring the impending consequences and dangers, the Republicans were trying to push Obama into an intricate political dilemma.

If the US economy slip into another crisis, economic contraction would be inevitable. Corporate bankruptcies would spread, and jobless rate would surge.

A presidential election is still slightly more than one year away, and Obama’s reelection prospects are solid. But his popularity rating is highly dependent on the unemployment rate. That is why the Republicans think the only way for them to erode Obama’s popularity now is by pushing the US economy into crisis.

As the stakes are high, the two political parties should temporarily set aside their ideologies and adopt a pragmatic stance for the interests of saving the world economy from another catastrophe.

President Obama demonstrated his willingness to compromise his political ideology during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Being a Democrat, Obama’s political inclination is generally anti-big business.

Obama realized that it was reckless lending by some big banks on Wall Street that triggered the financial crisis. But he also realized that saving these banks from bankruptcy was key to saving the world economy from further disaster.

His decision to pour $800 billion of taxpayer’s money to bail out these banks was hard to swallow by his fellow party members, but it worked. Now it is expected that the Republicans will be willing to do likewise.

The writer is an economist.

Attention Hube, Anderson, Protack, Copeland, Knotts &

Quite often these days I find someone expressing my observations better than I ever could… Coming across this one, I put away all intentions of coming up with an original post this day, and decided to guest another blog post in its entirety to kick off the Memorial Day weekend… Historically that is when we all become very patriotic and really understand the sacrifices made for us and our country…. Without further ado, I am now featuring txjhb from the blog Social Mode.

“From an Invited Guest Author: Ron Williams…

Republican Party is disintegrating. In many ways this is unfortunate. I have read the Republican Party platform and I find that I can agree with many of their positions, such as immigration and fiscal policy. Also, their platform position on personal responsibility resonates with me.

However, the disintegration of our Party does not come from its stated platform, but from its politics. It amazes me how political the Republican establishment has become. The Party must be judged not on what it says but rather what it does. And what our Party does, is practice a set of politics which is self destructive and, in a very real sense, un-American. It is clear to me that the Republican Party is doing all it can to see that the country does not emerge from the current Recession in an orderly fashion.

It seems the Republican Party is hoping the country in fact does fail to recover, so that they can say, “I told you so.“ I find that position to be actually un-American and, in many respects, traitorous. The Obama administration has been in office less than two months, and the Treasury Secretary in place an even shorter time than that, Yet the Republicans are already “harping” about a failed administration and a failed Treasury Secretary.

We are in a war, an economic war. To actively work to cause the country to lose that war should be seen as an act of traitorous behavior. If the Democrats had worked as actively against President Bush in his pursuit of the Iraq war as the Republicans are actively working against President Obama in this economic war, the Republicans would have gone ballistic in their attacks. We should all go ballistic in our attacks against Republicans for their current behavior. They should be rewarded by losing even more seats in the next round of elections.

Some in the party have an inkling their problems are and are trying to address these problems by looking at their platform and by looking at new ways of selling this platform to middle America. However, this effort is going to be stymied by the far will right wing of the party which is dedicated to its right wing issues and will suffer no “dilution“ of their message.

At first blush, You would think there is a struggle for the heart and soul of the party, but that is not really the case. There is no question that right wing of the party will prevail. And the party will therefore remain a collection of Grumpy Old White Men (GOWMs), with a sprinkling of a few women and a minority here and there. Further, these GOWMs seem to really lament the changes that are occurring in this country. It is becoming younger. It is becoming a multi-cultural society, with no single group as a majority. It is becoming a society where women will play a leading role. It is becoming a country where the natural order is being turned on its head.

I would suggest that this change in the natural order is causing them tremendous heartburn. But what makes matters even worse is their current failure to have developed any serious solutions. In response to the every problem facing this country it was clear that their one and only solution is “tax cut.“ But not just tax cuts in general, tax cuts for the wealthy. Their mantra appears to be if you cut taxes for the wealthy it will free up money to allow the wealthy to buy equipment, buy materials and hire new employees. The problem with this mantra is that it has been tried for the last eight years, and it has helped to bring us the current fiscal disaster. All of the Republican actions have been shown to not work. And it appears the party is not prepared to change its positions. Therefore, I believe the Republican Party is in a disastrous state, but because of its mind set its actions would not change and the party will continue to disintegrate. That is too bad, because we do need at least two parties to keep things in balance. It just appears that the second party is not going to be called “Republican.”

Ronald Williams”

rwilliams@sbcglobal.net

Outside The Perimeter: The Return

Courtesy of Department of Defense

“By the first light of the third day, look to the East!”

Everyone knows that living starts on the weekend… That makes Monday the third day… It is my sincere hope to return this feature back to its original time-slot so those starting their week, have something worthy to follow… Of course that leaves “Around the Horn” to synopsize on Friday, so between the two of us, we have full weekly coverage….

I apologize to Deldem of Delaware Liberal if this first return edition bashes up against his on vacation version of what went down this week…

So what happened this weekend?

• Delaware Curmudgeon
  

Shirley opens with a story of what being an American is all about.   The teary eye part made me proud that America still recognizes its heroes, and goes out of their way to make sure they know it…  All of us can learn a lesson from this post…. When was the last time you went out of your way to make a member of our armed services feel welcomed?

She carries another idea that I will be stealing shortly.. It’s from down under. and it certainly is worthy of the read, if you haven’t caught it earlier…. it’s just another way of self expression…. 🙂

Delaware Liberal

Aside from seven videos of varying topics, one an hour and twenty-six minutes long, and four quotes, the memorable posts on Delaware Liberals this weekend are the following… (We only covered the full first two pages, lol)… Their best was this one, The Morning After….. which describes the cuts to the state budget… “The Morning After” in this case does not refer to contraception, but is instead, related to the budgetary announcement made by Jack Markell on Thursday…. It begins with….

March 19, 2009 will forever be remembered as the date that Delaware’s Gilded Age officially ended. An age that was literally ‘built on a house of (credit) cards’ is no more.

The interesting point is that ultimately, it is the responsibility of the wealthy to carry the weight of the rest of us. Pandora follows the same theme with “What’s In The Water At CNBC”: apparently someone argued on that show that Wall Street couldn’t be run by anyone making under $250,000…… the unsaid premise is that the wealthy, who are overpaid for their results, need to make sacrifices so those making less, do not have to…

However the most uplifting piece of the entire weekend, was on this blog and had nothing to do with the economy… or the wealthy… It is about race, and in a spirited fashion on the weekend that Battlestar Galactica ended its 6 year run, Cassandra puts this vignette forward… I’m impressed she saw it, since she admits she doesn’t watch the best show on television this decade. Next to Obama’s Philadelphia campaign speech on the reality of “race”, this is as good as it gets….

Delaware Libertarian

This blog has taken on new life with the economic crises swirling around us… In an amazing piece, Steve Newton (in real time) breaks down the implication of Markell’s budget cuts and other attempts to balance the budget, and illustrates how those cuts will affect our employees… I can proudly say, it as good, or better than that other Delaware blogger who is prone to such analysis…… Again the same theme comes out…..

But the reality doesn’t work that way. If you eliminate one unnecessary management position making $120K, then you have saved enough money to keep thirty employees at the $40K and below level from having to take a hit.

Again the message is simple: Cut off the top to save those on the bottom, holding everything up… The shocking truth of what happens when citizens are preoccupied with other matters than their government, showed up in this comment…. “a vacant position in my agency, one that had been vacant for 1 1/2 years got filled by someone on Minner’s staff. Let me reiterate. WE DID WITHOUT THIS POSITION FOR 1 1/2 YEARS. AND NOW WE FILL IT? Luckily it is not a merit position, so it’s possible that the position gets vacated anyhow. But this is one of those 120k positions. “

Again the message: cut the top to save the bottom….

Delaware Politics (FSP)

Delaware Politics begins with their take on Markell’s budget… One noticeable trend has been the life recently pumped back into conservative blogs. I have not yet commented upon it, but…. they were pretty shoddy all election season and up until the inauguration…. But with the Democrats now in the driver’s seats, the conversation among the back seat drivers, has again become interesting to listen to… At least one can feel they are getting pumped up, perhaps stealing the energy leaking away from those liberal blogs, who are now getting tired, and starting to wind down in their ardor and intensity…

Dave Burris does his take on Markell’s budget… Most notably he notices the lack of cuts in services…

“But when the rubber hit the road, not only did they fail to cut an agency, they didn’t cut ANYTHING. That is a massive failure to lead. We got such a large deficit (I don’t believe the numbers, but maybe you do) because we grew our government at a rate of 2.5 times inflation during the Queen Worthless administration. If we don’t address that, we will continue to have this problem as more and more of the economy is eaten up by the government.”

I noticed there was no mention that the failure of the Bush economy has drastically reduced ALL sources of revenue pouring into state coffers on which our government used to thrive during the last 8 years… But he does agree with Markell on across the board cuts: “I agree with the administration that cutting pay across-the-board is better than across-the-board layoffs in this environment, because layoffs would cost the state unemployment money,”

Interestingly, being conservative in a time of crises, leads to some silly conclusions… This one for example: “the gain from the Gross Receipts Tax increase is a pittance compared to what the state would get if they would just get out of the way and let these small business owners grow the economy”. Really? Currently we have 7.5 % unemployed, and our largest employer, the state, is taking an 8% across the board pay cut? And paying more for medical? And more in taxes? Where is all that money going to come from to allow these small businesses to grow the economy? You can give them a zero tax rate, but it no one spends in their business, they don’t pay taxes anyway… Nope, you need to make people spend, before any type of business aid makes sense…. Small businesses aren’t going to grow… They are just trying to hang on and stay solvent! Screw growth!!!!! lol.

In another attempt at silliness the lovely Marie Evans is proposing the Greenville Casino… The land is available… Three casinos, she points out in a state 96 miles long, with some creative placing, puts one every 16 miles…( as I said: creative placing… lol).. Unfortunately since Greenville is too close to the northern edge, were one to go in up there, her 16 mile theory would be impossible…

Likewise the Special Olympians apology to our and their president, does crack a faint smile….

And I’m outraged, outraged that there is no mention of the Democratic Party in each of these instances.

And the DSEA? They also are outraged, outraged that while arguing for higher taxes on all other people, under Markell’s budget…. THEY WILL HAVE TO PAY HIGHER TAXES TOO… OUTRAGEOUS!!! lol….

Welcome back to the fight guys!

Delaware Watch

Dana carries the AFSCME demostration over the cutbacks… They want the rainy day fund tapped out so they have their jobs… The only question, besides that is must be repayed every year., is that once spent, then what gets done next year…

Delaware Way

Nancy covers the controversy over whether pensions should be capped at higher rates, than those just years away from retirement….

Down with Absolutes

Mike Matthews has a job interview today… GOOD LUCK from all of Delaware’s Blogosphere…

The same theme brought to you by Markell’s budget cuts appears in Byron Short is Wrong (IMO)

In short, the most disappointing thing about Gov. Markell’s proposal is he’s shifting too much burden on the poor, lower-middle class and, in reality, isn’t asking much of those state employees (cabinet heads, directors, etc.) who could stand a tightening of the belt. Or a complete axing of their positions.

Knock something off the top, to save the foundations supporting the bottom…. Where have I heard that before?…

Already two proposals are in state legislature that work to mitigate the effects of the cuts… One doesn’t allow retirees to have the lower wages be used as a determinant of their pension size, and the other, gives two state employee’s married to each other, less cuts than two single state employees sharing an apartment, would get… These bring up questions of fairness.. One can sense in both these proposals that these employees are “entitled” to earning more money.. It’s a valid point.. They are lucky to have jobs… and if they get a “by” or a “pass”, who is it then who gets hit with the charge for allowing them not to carry the load everyone else is being dealt… If they really wanted to have done something constructive… they could have worked for Kerry…. But nooooo, they didn’t.. and now they are paying the price…. We all are.

Kilroy’s Delaware

However, a job is better than no job at all and this is not meant to be an insult! I didn’t enjoy my pay cut and the traumatic impact. Unfortunately Governor Markell did the right thing. Those at the top of the pay scale will survive better than those at the bottom!

Where have we heard that sentiment before? I don’t know… but it sounds vaguely familiar…

And some wise words to AFSCME union wannabe’s who wish to increase their power within their organization… “Suck it up and be thankful you still have a job because others will be glad to take it.”

Mikes Musings

Mike Mahaffie went to the last of the Markell meetings before this budget proposal came out… What is interesting is how the theoretical side of the equation seems dreamlike when compared to the reality all all the posts following the Thursday budgetary announcement… But although Markell was unable to attend due to the death of his father, Mahaffie does capture many of the sentiments “flickering” around the room…. One that stands out, was this gem:

As things wrapped up, Senator Simpson and Representative Carey, both Republicans, made a point of praising Governor Markell, a Democrat, for his bipartisan approach to the budget problem and openness to working together. They pointed out that Sec. Kee is one of several republicans in the Markell cabinet.

“On my count… all hands pull on the ropes…. Heave!”

Mourning Constitution

One of those heaving is Brian from the Mourning Constitution. He tackles sports betting from the revenue side, and argues income beats job cuts….. Bringing money into the state, by making us the Vegas on the east coast, could keep some people some jobs…

For some facing job cutbacks, some good advice on how to survive a panic attack, can be seen here… This lesson might come in handy…. and then again, if you start foreseeing your own death.………

Redwaterlily’s Ramblings

As for the current vacancies at the Delaware DOC – just a month ago at a meeting of the Corrections hearing before the Joint Finance Committee, there were 33 vacancies in order to assure MINIMUM staffing – while in actuality there are over 330 vacancies that need to be filled to assure smooth, safe, and efficient operation of Delaware’s prisons.

Redwaterlily shows us what is occurring across the state simultaneously. Everyone is questioning their department, and wondering how they can afford any more cutbacks… Every department has needs… Every department has hard working employees who are not making the money they deserve… But as El Somnambulo points out above, by law,any extra money is spent in one sector, must be cut from another one…. The total amount is to remain the same… So each time one says they must keep their department open…. They are dooming another department somewhere in the State of Delaware, to double the amount of cuts….

The Colossus of Rhodey

Although quite prolific lately, this was a quiet weekend for the Colassus of Rhody… amounting to this list of what was NOT said by Obama on Jay Leno’s show….

Tommywonk

Tommwonk’s weekend contribution deals with: Jack Markell’s budget…. Tommy focuses on how this budget will be perceived by the staff budget meetings…

We are open to discuss other ideas to meet our financial challenges, and in fact encourage your ideas, because the $750M [deficit] we face now may be our best-case scenario, if the fundamentals of the national economy do not improve.

Our best case scenario.. In this sobering piece,

..
The actual budget proposal made by Markell is here…

Looking at our problems…. it is easy to get overwhelmed.. sometimes it helps to realize through out history greater problems have befallen greater numbers of human beings…. But somehow we muddled through… We will muddle throughout this time, ….

And to give us a greater perspective, as always, Duffy weighs in with two sentences… Sentence One….. and Sentence Two….

Remember how this opened? It was a celebration of an American hero… Like them, today we need our wealthy to contribute more to the nation that gave them opportunity. Today we need our wealthy stepping up and heeding the call of their country. Like our young boys who are on foreign soil, they too must suffer the sacrifice, and without grumbling, willingly pay more to the state to cover those expenses incurred assisting those less fortunate than themselves…

Outside The Perimeter: Black Hole Edition

Courtesy of Department of Defense

Since the election was over, the Delawarean blogosphere has been searching for its identity. So much of our time was focused on a certain result up to November 4th, that after it was over, no one really knew what to do with themselves…

Since then, there has been some focus on the economy. Likewise, there has been some chatter on the selection of the cabinets. But on the other hand, more importantly, there has been a lot of self absorption. I guess that is to be expected. As readership dips everyone who takes blogging seriously scrambles around to calls of “look at me… look at me…”

But while we were doing so…. there were issues that got ignored. Events that have great importance in how things will progress over the next two, if not four years probably got less discussion here in the Delaware blogosphere, than actually occurred at the bottom of a Delaware-on-Line article…

And that is what this edition will seek to uncover… All that which was not said on the Delaware blogosphere since election day…

I will start with Delaware Liberal. Having at least 5 of 10 of Delaware’s most active bloggers (subjective of course), they of course would be the canary in the coal mine. I might as well share with you the trigger, that caused me to take this problem up a step, exposing it to see whether or not it had implications across three counties of readers…..

With a name like Delaware Liberal, one would expect that entity to be aware of liberal happenings in the state of Delaware. Naturally that would be the assumption one would get based on that blog’s official name……. So imagine my surprise when I saw these words…….

Man, this snuck up up on me. On Saturday is the special election to replace Diana McWilliams (who is moving to New Mexico) in the 6th RD.

Bottom line, the seat did go to Republicans by 73 votes…. which since the state Constitution requires a super-majority to raise taxes, just one Republican vote can now shut down “the change we need”.

Not only was the issue not vetted nor discussed prior to the election, but they appeared surprised that it was even taking place. Only one blogger out of the eight on that staff seemed even slightly concerned. (Liberal Geek (so that he feels honored)).

The analysis (courtesy of John Tobin) showed…”the numbers are clear that in the five districts where Kovach won, turnout was 25.5% and the seven districts where Migliore won, turnout was 13.5%. Districtwide turnout was 18.1 %, but turnout was not evenly distributed which benefited Kovach.”

Obviously the other side was ready. “We will be at the total mercy of the Democrats who will have very little when it is a choice between their pet projects and your wallet. No excuses, just take 15 minutes out of your day and vote. Turnout appears low. Your vote is vital.”

But Delaware Liberal was preoccupied that day as well as the week leading up to Saturday’s vote with a video clip from “The Office“, a chimpanzee banging on a manual typewriter, and Mike Castle’s apology to Chrysler workers…. as well as an eloquent rating of DV’s posts that day of December…..

Point is not to take anything away from their humor and levity, but instead, to refocus all of our attention again back to “what is really important…”

So since November, what other issues have slipped past the watchdogs of the media? While we’ve been sleeping, you know the enemy has not… ( The enemy being corruption, misuse of power, and insubordination to public authority.)

Workforce Housing was stayed for a couple of weeks (Check out the upcoming January 13th meeting). Continuance of that proposal will turn lower New Castle County, into a Wilmington suburb, with overcrowded roads, over crowded schools, over extended police services, and tons of shit dumped into the water supply because sewers are not developed in those areas… It was sneaked through once. The same players will sneak it through again… Only Nancy at Delaware Way has published anything on the topic.

Which makes these words somewhat ironic, when they were uttered on Delaware Liberal recently, considering that the largest issue impacting our state locally over the next 15 years… has been met largely with silence except by her…..

Other issues not mentioned across Delaware’s blogosphere… The upcoming SEU finagle that Harris McDowell set up last session so that it could slip by unnoticed, just as soon as the new legislature takes effect, which is I believe…. just nineteen days from now…

Equally quiet was the election of the leadership of the Democratic Assembly… There were three weeks between the election and the Senate leadership. Due to the vacuum of silence, the same group is running the Senate. Perhaps if enough noise had been made beforehand…….

Wind farming is now on the back burner… Only Tommywonk has written anything regarding Delaware’s economic lifeboat.

Healthcare for Delaware. Not much has been written. Where do we go from here… We have a new governor, we have a Democratic majority in both houses, and we have a depression slamming into us with gale force winds and the health insurance industry just raised their rates in January by another 19%.

Sussex County overdevelopment. You know developers are not sleeping. That was a hot topic down South this past election season. But since the election… silence? Again it is only Nancy who has been the conduit of that information northward….

So when one looks at all that which important to us locally, our General Assembly, our utility bills, our health care, our quality of life, our neighborhoods, we see nothing but a black hole… Something that sucks in everything relevant and lets nothing out to be aired or discussed… As we discovered with wind, the airing and discussion is really the driving force that gets conversations going where people discuss the outcomes… As we have discovered since…. when there is lack of discussion, weird things can get passed, simply because only far too few individuals are allowed the clue to what is really going on… If we persist dancing around these black holes we encounter, we are no better than the New Journal was this entire millennium!

There is a telling parallel between the dying MSM and today’s Delaware blogosphere…. Commercialism… Mike Matthews is different from when he first began his blog… Some may say better, but it is hard to say which is better or worse, but I think even he will agree, he is different now… Some things are taboo if one is interested in promoting oneself.. The internal struggles of Delaware Liberal have sort of shown that same propensity… Keep it safe..

I am calling it as I see it, for I remember well having discussions prior with Jason330, regarding the News Journal’s failure stemming from its inability to print what people really wanted to hear… the news… Like… what is going on around here today…. That local interest is what carried papers through most of the 20th Century. Today, it’s all about advertising.

So I raise a question. Can one be an dirt digging blogger and still create a commercially viable blog? Or does one have to sell out so others are comfortable placing bets on their blog, expecting that that those ads will reach others? Once attributed to selling out, your audience leaves to go elsewhere.

I believe one builds ratings doing what they are there to do. If an advertiser signs on, it is because he is guaranteed readership… not because he wants to control the programing.

Finally our conversation brings us around to the biggest black hole imaginable… the one that occurred to fellow bloggers Mat Marshall and Dominique…. Each time I think… I sigh, and just can’t imagine… But reading through the comments was like reading a who’s who of Delaware bloggers.. We do have a community after all, between the commentators, and bloggers themselves and as each of us realized the scope of the loss, our differences became quite small. We are, after all, 99.9% alike… And something on this scope…really drives it home that we all do need to work together; sharing the tremendous amount we have in common, working for something we can all agree on, instead of squabbling over the tiniest of differences we have among us…

It’s getting hard to write through tears. I must end it now.

Outside The Perimeter (@2X)

Courtesy of Department of Defense

So here is what is going on across Delaware’s blogosphere….

The Colossus of Rhodey is bemoaning some publication’s or journalistic attempt to describe the left side of the Supreme Court as being moderate… Like Jane Fonda’s hell he says…. He also revisits John Edwards (remember him) sending a campaign staffer to by a Wal*Mart Playstation 3, while slamming Wal*Mart in his campaign speeches… The seventeenth of November was a light day for him, …but then Battlestar Galactica came on that evening… as his review on the eighteenth brings that episode back to life….

Duffy  has a post covering open ended gaming... it’s worth it visiting to see his reminiscence of his reaction to playing on a 2600…. I didn’t know that Americans spend more on games than movies? He also finished an extensive piece on religion and science.. Instead of debating between science and religion…we should include science in the classification of religion… I was intrigued by this statement….and after turning it over, I would have to say it is true… “There are many points of contention and conflict between Arab Islam and the West, but the chief religious contention between Islamists and the West is not really between Islam and Christianity but between Islam and Western scientific-materialism.” And to show you that Republicans never learn... Trent Lott is again appointed to the Number 2 spot….. Wow.

Delmar’s Dustpan covers a cover girl, a beauty of Delmar fame… Another Delmar, beauty, this architectural wonder, was once owned by the William Freihofer Baking company. But with new news of a priestly scandal, Delmar’s Dustpan makes a surprising find about the difference between two Delmarva newspapers… The News Journal and the Daily (Salisbury) Times….. If one’s blood has not boiled once yet today, they should view his catch (same link) of the FBI knowingly sending 4 men to jail to protect the identities of their informants… Two died.

Merit Bound Alley tells us of Joe’s plan to hook up with Tyler Nixon for a seminar of alternative energy, featuring a symposium of solar, wind, and bio fuels.. Someone named William Kempton is speaking on wind. Joe M is still in the process of trying to find out how many Karen Peterson votes were written in during the election just passed… but the Department of Elections does not plan on releasing them until the next year… He also gives a head shout to another blogger who made his predictions for the next race… two years away…. titled appropriately… “True Addiction“… Equally fascinating was Joe M’s personal vignette covering the problems being hidden within the Wilmington Catholic Diocese.

Delaware Watch recommends visiting Merit Bound Alley as well. (I didn’t check out the audio…) Dana Garrett takes on the Republican Party’s blame game among themselves and their propensity NOT to blame those who made the decisions …but underlings of those who made the decisions…. no matter what the economic status is within their families…. He also notes that Liberals have outed the Conservatives among our neighbor to the North… Apparently across the board, the term Conservative is equatable to Creationism, which was another once firmly held belief, despite the total absence of fact to back it up…. Dana also pokes holes in capitalist theory… Guess who’s gross domestic product — a measure of all the goods and services in the economy — rose 10.2 percent from July to September compared to the same three-month period during the previous year? Did anyone say Chavez? “It’s ironic, this revolution. The rich are even richer now.” Dana also uncovers a little know legislative attorney who defends Rep Wagner’s little past double dipping episode: charging in front of a judge, that anyone who wanted to sue against collecting from the state twice…. “had no standing to do so.” Aye! Protecting the little guy, huh?

Nancy’s The Delaware Way has a piece attributing the Democrat’s win to Dean and moderate conservatives who left the Republican Party… Even she admits she is reeling from the events of this past week with her pictorial representation she posts here…. She appears to be going through a light phase… going back a week is her celebration that Andy Reid accepts that his play calling sucks….

From Down State, Mikes Musings, starring a blogger still remarkably self absorbed since 1962, shares with us one of his life changing moments….. But more important for us, is the changing of Delaware’s status away from being the first state… nay, even being a state at all! But solutions are the real reason Mahaffie is happy. Using technology to bring back the best of olden times, is what technology is all about….

Tommywonk has his thing on Purple America…. He also celebrates another blogger’s bump to the home page of Daily Kos… He takes time to eulogize an economist responsible for uttering these profound words of wisdom: What George W. Bush has done has been to shift taxes from the present to the future–and also made future taxes uncertain, random, and thus extra-costly from a standard public finance view. So no matter how high our taxes go… Democrats cannot be blamed….

This person is wondering what the difference is between a Republican and a Democrat… Do we see seeds of a future post? Perhaps… But nevertheless, he has picked a new chairperson for the Republican Party.. One who has combed through all evidence and knows their weaknesses inside and out… The name of their new chair, may surprise you….. And this, will make you want to hug your kids forever.

Dave Burris,  quotes an article from TIME, outcrying that Republicans were only 77,611 votes shy of taking control of the House of Representatives, and that just a shift of 2847 votes in Montana, could have kept them in control of the Senate…. In fact, instead of drowning his sorrows for the Republicans faulty showing, he is crowing that in a bad year, where they should have been squelched, they weathered the storm rather well… “In a year that was supposed to be a big, blue wave where Democrats dominated from sea to shining sea, it almost wasn’t that at all. I can’t imagine conditions that would favor the Dems more, so this will probably be the best they can do.” he boasts.

Delaware Liberal, along with Tommywonk, and FSP, praise Joe M. for his work in pursuing the missing write in vote… a vote whose total was to be suppressed until after the choices were made for Senate leadership…. Also Jason goes out on the early line in his predictions for two years hence… I wonder how prognosticatable he will be? One of the interesting aspects of our blogosphere is the interaction between right and left… This interesting exchange covers Bush’s handling of the Iraqi war…I hope no one eats their words…. He comments on FSP’s head scratching over what was going on with the National Republican Leadership.. Dave Burris with this quote: “I spoke to the Sussex County Republican Women’s Club on Wednesday, and one portion of my message to them was that I was certain that our leaders in Washington had gotten the message that voters sent on Election Day.
Now, I’m not so sure.” And we have breaking News that Mike Castle has filed again…One must check out the link provided… We also have the traditional rant over the “liberal media” which is not so liberal after all.…. then proves it with this worthy piece about the News Journal burying an environmentally sensitive piece that might offend the entrenched powerful….even though not publishing it could kill someone over time….. That Delaware blogger had better slow down… He just might burn himself out….. lol
At least I’m glad to see he his taking a break… on this post election weekend….

Oh! And as if we needed another one……….From the ranks of our regular commentators, a new Delaware blog is now on the boards as of 11/17……Welcome. Here is its opening post…..We shall see if it makes any difference… Most likely, due to “the fix” that’s in ….. this blog too will matter very little…….

Outside the Perimeter: 2008 Election Stats

Courtesy of Department of Defense

Campaigns clean up; celebrations abound; and most of us scurry across the internet to savor this historic moment in time…. There is undeniable evidence that something changed last night… In my humble opinion, I believe that what we received was notice that in a lot of people’s heads… a polarity switch occurred… We’ve heard talk that it was coming, but in truth we have been hearing the same talk since 2000; last night we received confirmation of the exact number of individuals who felt that way.

Comparisons are already being made… the Kennedy’s….the Bushes….. the Clinton’s…. but I saw something different in Obama’s speech last night than I have from any other national leader in my lifetime upon their night of victory…. While standing among the masses in front of a giant television screen…. I was taken with how different it was from the Clinton’s win in ’92, and unlike their celebratory coming out of the governor’s mansion back in Little Rock… Obama came out weighed down with the seriousness to with which then approached his speech… It was as if already the heavy mantle of responsibility had collapsed upon his shoulders, and already bearing its brunt for what he had to do… he wasted no time and stepped up to the task of moving forward over 300 million people.

Someone next to me… a young first time voter…. said.. “maybe we can now start looking at the real problems facing this country….” Our eyes met and we both realized simultaneously just how bad those problems were. and exactly just how much Obama and Joe would be counting on our help….. our help.

Whether it’s money, time, sweat, love, hope, concern, self sacrifice; it might take all… But it would be far worse than that other option: the one we had seen the “in lack of fruit thereof”…. namely to trust ourselves to the fate of “doing nothing”….. After all, that is why we were all there……

But better… was the breadth of the victory… Across the entire scale of our nation, and especially within this state, politicians on both sides who put their campaigns to task, on winning one for the party…..“do it for the party” ….. failed abysmally…. America said NO to party politics… Those candidates who successfully made the argument that their personal traits could carry us forward during these trying times….. who were open minded apart from party ideology, for the most part…. won… irregardless of party affiliation….

Of course there were Democratic coattails… Just the number of new sign-ups alone carried a blue wave before it, still, in almost every district, a solid core of voters understood that party politics had to go away…. People were chosen on their attributes…. and those lacking them, with an R attached to their name, just could not be counted to make those necessary changes different in polarity from those previously made during the past eight years….

Last night, as tension built up toward Virginia’s inclusion into the blue state’s total…. and the realization that still, a lot of states of this nation hand intentionally chosen to go the wrong way…. it occurred to some of us that it is a fine, thin line that exists among the few of those who actually decide the fate of each election… It is that undefined, wispy thin fine line, that gives God the ability to steer this nation in the right… or occasionally…. in the wrong direction… But looking at the vast geographical area covered in red, I realized what a fine line it was…

And as citizens around the world celebrated America’s new future, it was clear that Obama and Joe really need to thank just two people for their victory last night…… Sarah Palin…. and George Bush….. Without either, we may have had a squeaker flipping in either direction…..

And I would be remiss not to mention my BIGGEST surprise of the evening…. After McCain finished his acceptance speech…I realized for the first time since 2004’s primaries…that he was not really a bad guy after all…. The spell of Republican philosophy from which he could not shake himself, was truly the biggest millstone placed around his neck, long before he was picked up and thrown into the squalid farm pond comprising America’s National Political race… As an individual after all, he was a pretty good guy. … Why he made the mistake of acknowledging his party’s base, will forever haunt him as “The Road Not Taken“ as he moves on at term’s end toward the oblivion of talk show “experts”, a position frequently held out to those who have nowhere else to go…..

So now with a glistening eye, we turn our attention to those brothers and sisters living in our “village” (did you like that Dominique) and how this historic event was played though their eyes……

First up is Kilroy…. Crow Pie…ummmmm… I am so jealous… It is a speciality of which I have never had the privilege to indulge…. I’m guessing that with today’s economy, and the porn business fading, that Crow Pie will soon be on the menu at the Bull’s Eye, since their prime customer, cannot go back to his house… For those other bloggers who stuck out their necks too far… Kilroy has provided all of us….a tasty recipe….

Kilroy, unfortunately has not posted Copeland’s pictures from the Twin Lake Days, but you can find one from the archives that may represent those fun times…. here…. But seriously, one of the best posts of the day, nails local politics to the tee…. and shows why our next Senator should be Senator John Carney….

I want to single out a newcomer… not really that new, for he as been a commenter for awhile and a contributor on Steve’s Delaware Libertarian. His first Blog, something about peppermints, morphed less then a couple of month ago into the Mourning Constitution…. He literally saved me hours by doing the lifting for the State Insurance Commissioners Race… I’m so thankful that I was able to cross that off my agenda and sleep one night instead…. Most commendable was his journey of self discovery… opening at thread and pursuing it to its end… changing his mind once, it not two times, as things suddenly did not appear the way they were portrayed…. And I want to point out that it again, proves the maximum…. THAT BEING OPEN IS THE BEST METHOD SO FAR for getting to the truth of a matter…..It’s especially difficult when those other around you have traded truth for a bribe of some type, to slither through the definitions of shades of different facts or fictions… Brian did that, and personally I want to thank him for making it clear for the rest of us…….

Palin Haters will love Brian’s take on Obama’s win….. and the GOP would be wise to take this admonishment that as dark as things appear now… they will eventually get better… With just swig of mother’s milk, a clean diaper, and the formation of a new party, even for Republicans, life may someday turn itself around…..

Everyone will be surprised by our local cheerleader Hube’s deadpanned take on the election… It Is, What It Is…. He further alludes to his secret passion for one of our female Republicans running for a state office, and a secret distaste for someone who once won the American Idol competition… Hmmmm, or was it the other way around….? But comics have again taken center stage until the next election cycle raises it head or the next News Journal publishes a stupid letter…..

At the time of this writing Duffy is around 24 million miles away… at least his brain is, as he confesses here.…
He sobered me up with what happens when you buy exotic pets listed in Hube’s old comic books for $13.95.. By the time this posts, he may have his post election thoughts together (from 25 million miles away). as here is his front page….

Delmar’s Dustpan, projects the rural aspect of voting in an election.. It is rather sobering to hear that some people are disappointed that McCain did not win… He has interesting analysis of the campaign results...as well as several helpful tips one can use with those campaign signs implanted in your yard…. He has looked through the Department of Election’s tabulations and being that his perspective is different, he provides some surprising finds…..

Joe M of Merit Bound Alley has some insight as to why Ramone was able to break the tide in his district… two words… constituent services… wait, he is not elected yet….. But we can see why there are no world class Japanese bands… Obama is beautiful day…. Joe is the only one so far who tempers his joy with a sadness that unfortunately passed in California….

As of her last posting, our favorite curmudgeon had not posted her thoughts on the results… We know from her previous writings, that the election did not go her way…. … … …. .. at all… Fortunately she made it to work on time: Tuesday November 4, 2008. What a nice employer (about 300 employees, heavily Democrat) who gives up two hour paid leave to those that vote. That’s called putting ones priorities in the right place.

Delaware Watch quietly posts the revelation that Obama has won, and uses Frederick Douglas’s early words to juxtapose against yesterdays event. Further down he carried Election Day’s Delaware’s Talk Radio’s schedule, in case you want to save it as a souvenir.

Nancy’s The Delaware Way opens with this two liner, and carries Jud Bennett’s celebratory dance over Joan Deaver’s election victory… The casual observer should note that the latter post crosses party lines.. No big thing here in Delaware… especially when ones quality of life, is on the line…

From Down State, Elbert With An E salvages this tiny bit of light out of the dark morass precipitated by the Obama induced landslide against everything Republican. The bright spot? Christine O’Donnell lost her bid for US Senate, she did win in a couple of representative districts. In the 38th, she topped Biden 7194 – 6239. In the 39th, she defeated Biden 3813 – 3791. In the 40th, my district, she bested Biden 4684 – 4154. At my polling place, my direct neighbors, she won 687 – 645. People just see things differently I guess… I also shows the incredible challenge that one Delaware Liberal commentator’s dream must face, if he want it to become reality….. It is also a reminder that Representatives Joe Booth, Gerald Hocker , Dan Short, and Cliff Lee, are not totally off their rockers.for no reason…. They have to live with their constituents too…..

Someone may be dropping LSD because no posts since the election have psychedelically materialized at this point… Congratulations on the strength of Markell’s vote in some of those same areas mentioned above in Elbert’s post… Your efforts appear to have been productive… Some of us are extremely interested in looking forward to your thoughts of just exactly what you found in your endeavors…being blue in red county of a blue state….post election……

From Sussex Red, to Blue, we somehow get Green… Land use if not in the public’s mind already, WILL become Sussex County’s new problem… Minner kowtowed to the same developers, Baker’s buddies, that caused her to veto the eminent domain bill.. Now a flawed land use plan has been thrust upon the Lower Third of this great state… Unquestionably, we are about to find that a private career offer, somewhat related to excessive Land Development, will soon be offered to our state’s First Lady…. But in a squeaker, plans were hampered when Joan Deaver squeaked by with a win over developer-toady Mark Baker. Minner’s executive action means Joan now will need strong support from our next administration…..But still… a win is a win is a win.

Mat Marshall (“Who?” for newcomers) just returned to Down With Absolutes… Welcome Back!…from all us “old hands”.
Do you need to undergo de-briefing? Or have you kept up with our shenanigans over your hiatus….?
Mike Matthews, who was hanging out at the winning party last night, has his bloggers extravaganza reporting covering New Castle County’s election scene… focused more upon the northern half…. Featuring the lovely Liz Allen as a supporter for the statewide Democrats only non-winner, the winsome Jack Markell who won BIG, and from the Ed Osbourne file...

But isn’t it funny, and perhaps it is only my impression, but as soon as the results are posted.. the intensity we lived leading up to that time, becomes historic. Relevancy moves forward with time… That is the impression I just got from traveling next to Matthews in his little car. Perhaps those vignettes can be used by historians to determine their effect upon our viewpoints…but at a little over twenty four hours they seem dated… But at the moment, man… at the moment…… More relevant I think is that with victory… and standing next to teary eyed black men, excited that they were seeing something impossibly dreamed of… so long, long ago… Mike has warmed up to the fact that really it will be ok to have Obama as our elected leader… His reading of this Newsweek article seems to have helped alleviate some apprehension…. The real question is when will Dominique succumb to his spell?

One of those things on my wish list this season was to post a photo of the Libertarian Political sign posted around our neck of the woods, and subtitle it with the “Long Arm of Steve Newton” who writes the Delaware Libertarian.…(it never happened because it was always dark and campaign signs show up terribly under flash photography)… But true to form Steve shows us the ubiquitous role of a third party… throwing the vote away from the expected winner…. In a role villanized by Perot in 92, Nader in 00, Barr comes through in two states North Carolina and Indiana.. to chop McCain’s lead enough to give those states to Obama….In Steve’s words: Third Parties do make a difference–whether or not it is always the difference they are looking for. If it weren’t for Steve, these details about third parties would simply be unknown… Further third party analysis of yesterday’s results, yield the number of votes for Libertarians (1.4 million) and the number of votes for Bob Barr… (477,000.) It looks like with his campaign debts that Bob Barr will be forced to eat meatloaf for a while whenever he is dying of Munger hunger. But somehow Steve’s premise does not stand up to a simple fact check….

Tommywonk covers his role in yesterdays victory and some insight into last nights celebration at the Doubletree… His candidate barely slipped past Libertarian in-fused Tyler Nixon in a very close race…(It WAS close to Tommy’s house; he lives in that district)..Equally humorous is the Doonesbury cartoon (people still read those?) he includes to celebrate Obama’s victory..(He’s half white you know..)

Tommy points out the most prevalent fact that yesterday’s race bodes for the future of the Republican Party, at least here in Delaware… “Concerns that Charlie Copeland might make it a close race for Matt Denn proved unfounded. Copeland managed only 38.7 percent—just three points higher than Christine O’Donnell won against Joe Biden. Hmmm. a real vote getter that one….. Hey, here’s an idea… Maybe it’s their ideas that turn 60% of the people off? Look like the Republicans will need to get a new leader now. Let’s see: their old one and his friends at FLS lost almost all the candidates they went to work for… Sorenson, I believe, was the only one who barely squeaked by, and that was solely because she was also an early supporter of wind… Charlie caused the loss of all the others, even in heavily loaded Republican districts! Delawareans tend to backlash against false and negative campaigning… (Isn’t that right, Jane Brady?) No question: Charlie just singly handed Delaware to the Democrats for years to come. Thanks to Charlie, this time Democrats will get to do the redistricting…. I’m starting to like the sound of the Blue Enigma Party… as the prime alternative to the Democrats in 2010… Unless Steve can get something together first to take advantage the Republican foundering ….

Delaware Politics.Net (FSP) has breaking news… Dave Burris, founder of that site, is starting a new blog... No doubt, he is looking for more freedom to express himself within his moderate views, and not willing to embarrass other members of DPN, who sometimes write stuff that only themselves can believe…..

Please visit and sign his petition (jumping the gun) to ask Jack Markell to create and sign Executive Order 1 to put all state spending on line. This is something we can do to change Legislative Hall immediately… Voter’s demand it… And Jack, don’t worry about those legislators who whoop and holler and threaten to stymie your plans… Just tell us who they are and we (the aroused public) now have the ability to make their lives more miserable than they can make your… (Isn’t that right, McDowell, Copeland?) Hat’s off to Burris… while Jason was calling him patsy names, he was building a website to actually do something…( starting cat fights is one of my specialties)..

Finally we get to Delaware Liberal… We held off for last for a reason… and it was due to the fact they have seven contributors… all of which are FIRED UP over last nights results, had I started this post as I had planned, most of the links would be on the third page by now….. ..

By contributor:

Deldem: Deldem jumps out of the gate with a series of headlines…as the news breaks… Deldem needs tissues. And Biden needs a haircut...(Amtrack loses out, but NCCo Airport gets upgrade) Literally. I am shocked that Copeland lost so horrifically. He is their future, and he barely beat out Karen Hartley Nagle’s vote total. Nevertheless, on the national scale, we will be in good hands… The Delaware GOP has been destroyed. Obliterated. Decimated. If you are a Delaware Republican, there is no hope. True conservatives in Delaware will be better off starting a new conservative party from scratch, for the GOP brand is so thoroughly discredited that it will be a generation or two before it can recover. Deldem is suing Burris, for misappropriating the name Delaware Politics, which could be the real reason Dave left to form his own blog… I hope Deldem has better luck than that which occurred when someone else threatened to sue over a picture of someone in a yellow shirt…. Threats of lawsuits that occur within our blogworld, tend not bode well on the one who dares to initiate the threat….. (That’s gotta be my vote for the best mud on the face accusation made in 2008). Oh gracious… I get hysterical every time I remember it…Next we have a story that, wait, get this: includes these three topics: sex, Mike Matthews, and a kitten. Deldem picks up on a question posed to Carney last night… I mean Senator Carney… On the day after,we see some footage of Chris Matthews from Hardball dancing ecstatically over Obama’s win….not know he was on camera….

Jason330: What most of us had called two days before, Jason calls at 9:42 pm. For once Jason is speechless…. Jason again illustrates why Liz Allen sometimes needs to just sit down and shut up.. Yes, we were all thinkin’ it… yet no one was sayin’ anything out of politeness… just keepin’ the decorum… then bam… Liz brings it on…. And poor tiny Karen gets caught in the crossfire… When you’re just 5815 votes up over Christine O’Donnell and you’re a blue in a blue state… THERE ARE NO EXCUSES. Basically if there is any issue that needs to be discussed, it is “why” KHN won the Democratic Primary, instead of someone poised to put Castle in the hot seat…. I hope that Jerry can fill us in on that topic in time to remedy that in two years… But if there was a “fix” done Liz, it was to put your candidate ahead in September, so we could watch the tumble in November…. Whatever. It’s over. More later. But first, Jason remembers a PPD meeting, where both parties are welcomed… if you are not a progressive when you come in… you will be one when you leave… it’s that simple… It’s not about party… It’s about a movement…. This one is great for the comments… Christmas it is… But speaking of holidays… Jason takes first crack at Thanksgiving, …. these turkeys are done…..

Donsquishy: Proves that listening to Queen/Kiss is infinitely better than performing for camera…(Get this guy outta’ here… I’m listening to music.) The countdown continues…. We also have a public service message about healthcare….

Cassandra: Cassandra weighs in on Wasilla Hillbilly’s Raid on Neiman Marcus…

Pandora: Woke up late… yawn…(is this New Hampshire again) and leads with Obama’s chief of staff announcement… Pandora lifts from Kos, the places to live if you want neighbors who don’t have a clue…. Is there a red dot where the 37th, 38th, and 39th all come together?

Liberalgeek: Perhaps this explains some of the losses incurred by the Republican Party this season.. Note to Republicans: NO ONE CARES. But we all care about Obama… our hero…. for good reason…. More about last nights victory party from Liberalgeek, as well as commentators who were there as well….

Nemski: Menski is the first to publish totals.. his choice is the End of Clatworthy race and the election of Dr. Katz… ( I really am fascinated that I’m still alive…)

And finally…. as the day after draws to a close… and bloggers tuck themselves for another busy day tomorrow…. we close with the national anthem, posted by Deldem from Delaware Liberal, that spontaneously occurred in Lafayette Park beside the White House… Through out our history, there may have been some sung with as much emotion…. The first, at the relief that the Baltimore bombardment had not done in the fort, at Normandy, at Iwo Jima, when the might of America, was realized on a global scale… and finally tonight… as hope, which has rarely been coupled with thoughts about our government…and history, which last night was realized the world over……..for once in our lifetimes….came together…. and …..rhymed…..

Outside The Perimeter: Post Convention Stress Disorder

Courtesy of Department of Defense

Obviously the conventions would dominate those weeks in which they take place within our local blogosphere….

Since the Democrats began their convention, the number of posts relating to just national politics were as follows.

Delaware Liberal 77
Delaware Libertarian 6
Delaware Politics.Net 26
Delaware Watch 5
Delaware Way 5
Down With Absolutes 13
The Colossus of Rhodey 20

The number of posts relating to our state races were as follows:

Delaware Liberal 12
Delaware Libertarian 5
Delaware Politics.Net 5
Delaware Watch 2
Delaware Way 7
Down With Absolutes 13
The Colossus of Rhodey 6

Of course there were some judgment calls. Most particularly with our Senator running as Vice President, that always forced a judgment on whether the post should be considered local or national.

I say it should be no wonder that most local posts remained focused on the national fracus… For these are historic times… The first person with Afro-American blood is right now, running for the White House. The first conservative female (ever) is vying to survive the achievement of the Vice Presidency…. The first Delawarean in anyone’s lifetime, is right now on the national ticket…There was even a storm that looked like Katrina all over again…and the Republican convention downsized accordingly…. Out West, the police busted up a group of drinking conservatives who allegedly threatened to assassinate Obama… The other convention’s police, not to be outdone, were able to arrest Amy Goodman….

So I don’t want to fault those who ignored local politics in order to focus on the national agenda…

I just want to debate whether that is the most effective use of our time, irregardless of whatever party we are discussing…. The underlying question begs to be asked…. Does anything we say or picture upon our blogosphere …make even the slightest difference in the National Race?

Meanwhile we have local people desperately trying to find out about their candidates, as well as candidates trying to get their message past the WNJ’s blockade……and can’t; because we are not talking about it…And it certainly wasn’t a very quiet week in local politics.

The last week before the Primary begins today. On the Republican side, we have the hard liners fighting new blood… After 8 years of Bush, Republicans must consider whether they should stay the course, or molt into a new party still sporting the same name? Protack versus Copeland-Lee is about to determine that….Should Protack upset the regular party faithful, as his state’s highest ranked candidate, he will have considerable input on the direction his party must take, at least until a new figure emerges…. Conventional wisdom considering his win, says there is no way…. But across this nation, Republicans have lost three seats in special elections, all in reportedly safe districts…. If enough of Delaware’s Republicans want to force their party to run on issues, instead of running on slander, then Protack could just get enough bounce to go over the top…..

Stranger things have happened.

On the Democratic side, the governors race is heating up. But you would never know it if you only read the blogs for information (Unless you read Down With Absolutes)… Since a majority of bloggers consider themselves not only Democrats, but progressives, this is a tragic silence. Fortunately the News Journal stepped in, and took over the bloggers role this time, and published a great comparison of both candidates. Hats of to their editing department for their picturesque face off: that put bloggers to shame.

One would think there would be some buzz over the Democratic race to pick Mike Castle’s successor. Granted, the candidate we wanted to run is either going to win or lose the governor’s race next Tuesday, but irregardless, in a Democratic year, nothing substantial has been said about any of these candidates…

Fortunately WPVI Channel 6 stepped in and carried the bloggers role by televising their debate last Sunday morning…. But none would know by just reading the blogs…. It was actually a good chance to see who was honest and direct, who was prompted with canned answers, and who was trying to toe the center by not giving specifics and speaking in platitudes…..

And our insurance commissioners are infighting among the Democrats to see who takes on John Brady…. To be honest, the only one I know anything about is Gene Reed, and that is because of Mike Matthews. There have been three debates yet no one has mentioned them in blogworld…..

But the big, really big race. ie the one affecting us (up North) the most, is the Gordon-Coons battle. Tuesday decides it; there is no Republican challenger…. Fortunately this race has gotten some mention. Before the conventions started, cassandra m wrapped up a synopsis of their debate, that was not flattering to Gordon… But where we get our hard nuggets of info, are out of comments, as one side’s supporters bash those representing the other side…. But the real question of who will better reign in our developers ravaging our countryside, has yet to be answered…..

Equally strategic, is whether Bill Dunn can upset Paul Clark…. Clark is better funded, but previously committed official endorsements for Clark are now dropping like flies, since Bill Dunn has now entered the race….At stake is the question of whether developers should have unlimited access to our county government? Or should they have only the same rights as everyone else? Dunn is for reform… Clark is “the way we were”……

Up North, the big General Assembly race is in the fourth… the seat previously held by Copeland…. Three Republicans, and two Democrats, are battling among themselves for the right to go to Dover… All are well funded for a Primary and the fourth is covered with election signs… However very little has been said about this race within the blogosphere. What will be done when they are elected, will be anyone’s guess….

Democrats in the 6th Senate have a battle on their hands between John McKenzie and Mike Terranova. That race has not registered in our little blogosphere…. Nor has the Republican race for the 10th….between Andrea Daley and James Weldin…. Andrea is a frequent writer on Nancy’s Blog, Delaware Way…… But has any blog covered the pros and cons of either candidate? No.

County Council 8 and 12 are up for grabs on the Democrat’s side. In the 8th, John Cartier and Carl S. Colantuono go head to head for the grand prize… Carl Colantuono was previously highly recommended during a different race two years ago… In the 12th, the new guy Thomas Scherer is giving William Bell a run for his money…. Bell has all the trappings at his disposal that come with being an incumbent, but it appears that Tom is making up the discrepancy on the ground……

In town since Republicans do not exist in the city proper, the mayor, city council president, and the members of Districts 1,2,3,4,8 are all to be settled next Tuesday… But if one were reading the blogs for news, no one would ever know…. Before he left, Tommywonk featured Campbell Hay, who has the dubious distinction of being the only city candidate featured in blogland….

Kent County has a primary in the 3rd district of Levy court, just among the Democrats… and that winner goes against blogger David Anderson, I presume? Further south, Sussex County has a three way Republican race in the 2nd District, and a two way Republican race in the 3rd. In the last race, one of our states more insightful bloggers has put his hat into the ring… To find out his stance on everything, just Google Jud’s Rants Delaware... It should lead you right there……

So all that aside, during this week of conventions, what did we learn locally?

1) We learned we are more exited about the national circus than we normally let on…. It can suck up all our energy…..

2) We learned that we did not live up to our reader’s expectations; who will walk in to the booth on primary day, still in the dark, as if we didn’t exist at all.

3) We learned that candidates need to use us by sending their info to be published, and in order to distinguish ourselves from the News Journal, we need to print it…..

4) We learned we need to apply endorsements based on our values, and adequately explain to readers why our support is forthcoming…..

5) We all have favorites. But if you read the local blogs during this past week of convention coverage….. you would never know it…..

With one week to go in the primaries, we can make some inroads. However the lesson that we take for this week, is that as thoughtful bloggers, we CAN make real impacts on local races decided by the slimmest of margins. Talking mostly about national campaigns, only helps keep things running in our state, the same way as they always have been.

And none of us would agree that running in the same way…is good…..