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The Golden Flush Award /Click Image for Past Winners
Usually this is an after thought…” Oh, wow, year’s over, let’s get a person of the year”… And then once we elect one, we go… “holy crap… we totally forgot so and so….”
So to try to stir up some old simmering coals of memory, both mine and others, and perhaps even to (heaven forbid) get some debate going in the blog sphere, I thought I’d make an initial run on Thanksgiving Week, and then add people into the nominating category as others mention various ones I should kick myself for forgetting.
It will also force me to review the year which is something I rarely do… because face it, as a human being, I am slave of the moment…. If I did this last year, come December 14th the entire world would have been turned upside down and all the old priorities of 2012, would in one day become trivial….
And so starting early gives me the chance to make the argument for each of those I decide to enroll with your kind recommendations included….
Julius Cephus: Particularly this one man organized and stopped an end run around the Port of Wilmington. The Kinder Morgan deal did not go through, and the Wilmington Port is bustling like never before… Kinder Morgan was to strip the union of power, and drop the rates of pay, further dampening the economy of Wilmington proper. It was also the first defeat of a Lavine-Markell development project, .. Fisker and Bloom had gone forward without a hitch. Julius and other’s push back resulted in a General Assembly motion that stated they, not the governor, had final approval. It was the first time we were exposed to the current Governor’s manipulations. They were to play a significant part across this year’s tapestry.
Steve Newton: A blogger who has written infrequently, but effectively. His piece on SB 51 is what alerted us to the end run being performed by Dave Sokola on lowering the current standards being used for educating teachers. It is brilliant. It took an evening of reading the legislation line by line and cross referencing it with Steve’s analysis, to understand the huge negative impact this bill would cause. By the time this was done, the Bill had already passed the Senate unanimously without comment, and with an friendly amendment added that was voted upon without even being read. Some public outcry was mustered within the House, both in committee and on the floor, but under the Governor’s direction, the Speaker of the House, pushed the bill to the floor before significant outcry could be mustered. Only 4 House members were not on record for it’s passing. Our educational schools now have to water down their teaching standards to meet the new law. Steve also has brought the Highmark story to Delaware. His research in the increase of medical costs in Western PA as a result of knocking out competition by unfair practices, leads one with a cold chill of what to expect in Delaware’s future. We are already there. As an insurer, Highmark is only paying medical claims in its own affiliated clinics. As the new Blue Cross/Blue Shield owner, that is a huge percentage of Delaware’s residents. None can go to any other hospital. He has properly fingered Karen Weldham Stuart for not catching this prior to implementation. Without Steve, this would have passed unnoticed. The News Journal still has not once mentioned the takeover of Delaware’s health field under one owner.
Ernest Lopez. If Kennedy were still writing Profiles of Courage, he should include this man. Ernest Lopez is a conservative, and voted with Libertarian values to pass the gun legislation recommended by Markell and Biden. Reflecting the views of his district, instead of taking the threatening message sent to him down from the NRA, he voted for his district. A very vocal minority, who is always vocal, and always in the minority, swore they would unseat him. He disregarded their idle threat, and voted both his and his constituents conscious. A major billboard was put up to call him out. His vote caused the passage of us now requiring background checks at public gun sales. Now a certifiably insane person cannot slap cash and get a gun. It is a no-brainer, and Ernie was the only Republican with brain enough to even know what a no-brainer is….
Cathy Cloutier: her vote allowed gays to marry. Again, she is a Republican who said enough is enough… Tired of voting against her conscious just so Sussex County would not flip over to the Democrats, she finally did not toe the line and voted along the lines of her own constituents, all overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage. In doing so, she went against the entire grain of her party, who firmly feel that gays are second class citizens, even though most Republicans in office are closeted gays.
Bethany Hall Long: on the same vote, made a viable personal decision, and also voted for the legalization of gay marriage. Unlike Cathy’s vote, this was accomplished at great personal sacrifice, for all of those in her personal life, were solidly against this policy from taking effect. In voting for what was morally right, she had to contend against those whose influence she could not escape. She went with the correct vote, over the easy one. As a result, Gay marriage is now legal in Delaware.
Paul Baumbach: gave great ammunition against the fight for SB51, and later against HB 165. Both bills which will damage Delaware’s education for years to come. He was one of the four who put up a fight on the House floor. Paul also arranged for the meetings in Newark to discuss the new Power plant that figured in this past week’s election.
John Kowalko: also was against SB51, HB 165, as well, being against the power plant. In fact, John was the first person to sound the alarm over how big the power plant would be. Without his big voice, it may have slid through unnoticed. The power plant has defined northern Delaware politics since September.
Kim Williams; responsible for HB 40 which investigates Charter School’s meddling into our educational systems. She was as an acting state representative, allegedly refused entrance into a committee hearing on education, for fear she might say something damaging to the bill being rushed through…. She brought to the public’s knowledge, that the Charter School bill was drafted illegally without public input, and the charter group constructing it, was also under FOIA, to which the private group denied. The Attorney General backed up her assertion, that the bill was formulated illegally but their decision was moot, because the bill was passed both houses anyways. Kim Williams also in the HB 40 task force, led the group to realize that charter schools unlike public schools, do indeed filter those entering charters to weed out those who might lower their test scores….
Mark Murphy, Rodel, Sweeney, Hefferman, and the Fake Educational Reform Establishment: I almost purposefully did not post this. Although the first person’s name is usually followed by explicatives whenever mentioned, it is unlike Voldermort’s, still getting mentioned. Mark Murphy was not put in his position based on his ability. He was placed there for his loyalty to the cause of corporatizing public education. Markell pulls the strings, Murphy figures how to get it done… It is hard to make a puppet the most influential person of the year… So I was going to skip him… But at the last minute, remembered that every time he or anyone of these make an op-ed, it resonates as gigantic news. The entire community rises up to counteract each op-ed, usually with the word “lies” thrown liberally about…. So, they do exert an influence. I looped all of them together, as the group of liars in a Greek play, who stand on the stair steps and taunt the protagonists. Well,… they are part of the play…….
Dan Short: Sometimes villains get noticed too. Primarily a single issue candidate, who personally supports the NRA, he actively campaigned and organized to create enough backlash so Markell’s gun laws could not get enough votes… Without him, there is a possibility that all four of Markell’s gun control pieces of legislation would have passed both houses of Delaware’s legislature. Dan Short should be given the credit for stopping them.
John Sigler: Single handedly by his very brief tenure as the re-elected head of the Republican Party, he pointed out through his pigeon shooting, just how inept the Republican Party was at everything else. With his leaving, all fissures cracking the Republican bedrock, were impossible to ignore. Blogs split. The IPOD’s split. Former candidates of the same party just months earlier, now not talking to each other. The Delaware Republican Party is dead; no it is past dead. More dead than a pigeon shot inside a box by John Sigler, former head of the Delaware Republican Party.
Nancy Willing: Her blog, the Delaware Way, is the go-to site for local information. Whether about Dover, about New Castle County, about any of New Castle County’s associations, Nancy combs all sources and puts them down in aggregate form. Heavily involved in the Power Plant controversy, The Delaware City Rail Yard controversy, Barley Mill controversy, the Woodlawan controversy, the Kinder Morgan controversy, the Charter School Controversy, the Common Core Controversy, Nancy has who is saying “what”, and links to “why”. One can expend less energy by using her blog to follow all the stuff the News Journal neglects, in a few quick empty steps.
Amy Roe: a head of the Sierra Club, who emerged from nowhere to lead the fight against the power plant, and give quite a run against the establishment candidate. Becoming the face the anti- power movement could coalase behind, she gave the anti power plant movement both dignity and grace. Coming up short only 115 votes, she has awakened Newark now politically as never before… The power plant if it goes forward, now has a strong group of Newarkeans against it. Hopefully they will be monitoring it regularly and helping authorities keep in in compliance with all local law.
Tom Gorden; although much quieter than his first term in office, Tom Gorden is rapidly rolling back the privileges the previous Clark administration handed over to our state’s top developers. The Barley Mill plaza which had a green light, is now parked at a red. In a big sea change, though handled quietly, community groups are now no longer persona non grata in county government. It is no longer accepted as a matter of course that the Woodlawn Trust will be gobbled up by developers. If enough fight can be mustered, it can be stopped. Furthermore, with Tom there is closer coordination with the City of Wilmington, than we have experienced anytime in our lifetimes. In the county, local policing has been stepped up, particularly in neighborhoods prone to crime…
Dennis Williams: Came in with grand expectations, which looked deliverable for a while. The tide is turning and his relevance on this list, is because every day, the headline reality in Wilmington’s streets, brings his electioneering boasts back to haunt him, like a sizzling hot branding iron. Time, Dennis, to say “Damn the torpedoes… Their punk asses are going in jail no matter which blowhard on City Council spouts off,before mine gets tossed in jail for impersonating a mayor..”
Alan Levin: Jack Markell’s second in command, he was instrumental in defending Markell’s position on Kinder Morgan and the port, as well as the new power plant for the data center. He also had a hand in keeping Dole in Delaware, and worked to slip the power plant past a slew of unsuspecting Newark City officials.
Jack Markell: had his hand in everything. He was behind Kinder Morgan’s takeover. He was behind SB 51 and HB 165. He was behind the illegal charter group, requiring HB 40. He also was the driving force for the four rational steps to gun legislation, 2 of which were passed. He was also the driving force behind the passage of gay marriage, signing the bill in the chambers just moments after its passage. He also supported the transgender bill in its travels through the labyrinth of Legislative Hall. He as behind keeping Dole in Delaware. He was behind changing an icon in Millsboro away from pickles, over to poultry. He pushed the bill to curtail Flowers. Despite your opinion over whether these were good or bad, they still showed a ubiquitous and wide reach across the state of Delaware. Seems like nothing got done that didn’t have his fingerprints all over it.
John Young: As head of Christina board, John Young led the board in standing up to Mark Murphy and Jack Markell, by refusing the RTTT funds slated for his district. Although some hired fools, (Jea Street) tried to paint Young into a corner, it served the opposite purpose and gave Young a platform. For the fist time, Common Core was getting publicly bashed. For the first time, many were finding that aligning themselves blindly to this sham of improving standards, was probably going to hurt them politically in the next couple of years. It was the fist salvo back, so the damage estimates were not high, but it did open eyes of many who had been on the sidelines of all educational issues, making them also become vocal in fighting Common Core. His blog Transparent Christina has channelled a lot of detailed information into the Delaware market, and had made Common Core an apprehension, instead of the savior it was supposed to be….
Kilroy: Kilroy has always been haranguing over education. In fact he was doing such a good job I left that issue alone for years, because other issues for me, like the economy and elimination of guns from the hands of the mentally ill, were more important. But as the issue has shifted back into the limelight, Kilroy’s hard hitting is making its mark… Kilroy is blunt, and right now, that is the language that needs to happen. Blunt descriptions of what takes place in the stratosphere of he academic field…. Kilroy often breaks stories before the News Journal, especially ones embarrassing to the Murphy/Markell cartel of education. If you have read Kilroy over the past couple of years, you would already know that Common Core is not the panacea we have been promised. It is a power grab for taxpayer dollars, financed by Wall Street itself…. If you think otherwise, you haven’t been reading a balanced reading list….
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That is what I have so far. In retrospect I am surprised that education has played so much, as even I have only come to that topic lately… But if one looks over the News Journal op eds, education really did dominate the discussion in the 2nd smallest state this year….
I may have forgotten some big ones. To reiterate, that is why I am posting this early, to catch those big mistakes as they get brought to my attention….
Round Up. that squirt-squirt chemical on TV that cleans up plants out of cracks in your sidewalk?
It was discovered to be a herbicide by Monsanto chemist John E. Franz in 1970. Monsanto brought it to market in the 1970s under the trade name “Roundup”, and Monsanto’s last commercially relevant United States patent expired in 2000.
Generically it is called glyphosate. Glyphosate was quickly adopted by farmers, even more so when Monsanto introduced glyphosate-resistant crops, enabling farmers to kill weeds without killing their crops. This was great for farmers. You kill all plant-life, then plant your crops. No weeds, ever.
Industry regulators in Europe, removed from the political pressures of Monsanto, have known for years that glyphosate causes birth defects in the embryos of laboratory animals….
As the problem became known, Republicans in Congress shut down the accumulation of all pesticide data as of 2008….
The last data shows that 185 million tons were commercially applied, plus 5 million tons residentially, plus 15 million tons by governmental agencies… American yearly total. 205 million tons.
Last data was 2007. This is 2013.
- 205 million tons 2007
- 205 million tons 2008
- 205 million tons 2009
- 205 million tons 2010
- 205 million tons 2011
- 205 million tons 2012
- 205 million tons 2013
1230 million tons gross since last tabulation…..
Two problems. The corn or soy you eat, is loaded with glyphosate. Republicans have halted on domestic tests on the effects of glyphosate on humans.
Secondly, it wipes out food sources for pollinators.
The numbers of wintering Mexican Monarch butterflies registered this year are under 2 million. Last season they were 60 million. California’s count, which once boasted 120 thousand, are down to 2000….
Something is happening.
Some is due to habitat demise. Over 2 million acres of habitat are commercialized each year. But habitat demise has not grown 97% to account for this year’s drop in Monarchs. Lack of Milkweed has. Monarchs can only live on milkweed. Milkweed only grows on the edge of farmers fields. It does not grow well in the shade of wooded forests.
Round-Up kills all plants other than that GMO Round-Up resistant strain planted. If there is no milkweed, there are no monarchs. The caterpillars never grow, the pupa never forms, the monarch never emerges, the census data drops, never to return.
Monsanto denies it has anything to do with the demise of the Monarch butterfly as a result of use of its chemical.
What can be done?
- Force milkweed planting. Mandate every farm designate over 1% of their crop area to milkweed production in 2014…. As with a dying child, if medical attention is not applied immediately, the patient dies.
- Government lands likewise should be sown with milkweed seed, and allowed to lie fallow.
- Create National attention. When every school child becomes aware of the monarch’s plight, so will their parents.
- Limit the amounts of Round-Up sold and applied per acre.
- Remove the ban on testing what effects might be caused by Round-Up on human beings from eating GMO crops. It could be worse than DDT and we wouldn’t even know….
Oh! Those Republicans And Their Empty Chairs!
Photo Courtesy of RNC
John Sigler steps down and the race is on for the new Delaware Republican Chair. Most have dropped out but two: An officially declared candidate, and one unofficial one.
At stake is the future of Delaware’s GOP.
Those two are Charlie Copeland and Jeff Cragg.. To most readers, this would be considered a battle between losers, sort of like a Sunday fall afternoon football game to determine which team will lose to get the first NFL draft pick in spring. But I would like to inform you, that is not true.
It is a battle between good and evil. At stake is the future of the Republican Party.
When one speaks of the future, one can look at one thing. Getting votes. For that is what the Republican Party is bad at. The other things, money, organization, fervor, dedicated partisans, blocs of ad time, connections to the “right” people, they have plenty of.
The thing they ardently lack, is people who will even want to vote for them.
The biggest deflection away from the Delaware GOP occurred between 2004 and 2008. During that time, one person, speaker of the Republican House, controlled the entire republican agenda. As you may have guessed, that is the present candidate Charlie Copeland.
The other candidate recently lost a statewide election to an incumbant governor. If anyone knows what it takes to get a good Republican candidate elected to a statewide office, it is him. He’s been there. He’s tried.
The odds are on that Copeland will probably take it for all the wrong reasons. One, he works on the principal that if you support Copeland he’ll support you. With him as the future chairman, every Republican will be watching their backs to swivel in the last second. to dodge the stick of the knife. One must remember all the past double crosses attached to the Copeland name. There were many times when promises went unfulfilled.
Some who think back, may remember better times when Copeland was the principle mover of the Republican caucus. They envision him again returning their party to glory. They remember the press releases, the interviews, the photo ops; they look to no longer having their party appear the loser that it is. They forget how it got that way.
It got that way because the Republican Party fell in love with itself. Better to masturbate than go out and get votes it thought. They talked of how great they were, and ignored the problems real people were having. They talked of doubling down, being resolutely determined, and smashing down all who stood in their way, when it was real genuine hurting people, who found themselves standing where the Republican Party wanted to go. Take more money from the middle class, get rid of more unions which are only there to make sure people were treated fairly, cut more services needed by everyday people so the rich could get richer.
Instead of results, Copeland gave us blame. First blame the Democrats, then as the election results went sour, blame Bill Lee, blame Tim Ross, blame everyone but the real culprit.
Now let’s look at Jeff Cragg. When no one wanted to run, Jeff said,… “If Republican Party goes into the “General” with a blank spot for governor, our party is finished. ” When Copeland said, “Who me? Run for Governor? And lose to Markell? Are you effin crazy?” Jeff did just that,. for the good of the party; it is still intact. Whereas Copeland made a decision based on personal ambition, Jeff took the opposite tack. Jeff came to the aid of his party suffering a stunning defeat, because it needed him.
Copeland ran the party in better times. But that party was shattered, broken in part because all the personal connections built up over lifetimes, were split, shunned, double-crossed, and poked fun of, leaving very few pieces standing; so few pieces still upright they couldn’t save Mike Castle…. Jeff put pieces together and ran.
The question before the Republican Party is this. Of the two who can get more people to vote Republican… A builder? Or a Tearer-Down?
Who makes the better preacher? The one who can convert more sinners into saints? Or which of these two has a better shot of success? A person responsible for the previous collapse, or a person experienced in building something out of nothing?..
We all have a gut and mine says the latter: the person who built something out of nothing. Not the rich son who squandered his Father’s wealth.
All the money in the world won’t help Delawarean Republicans one bit, if no one wants to cast their vote because of what your party stands for……
We’re going somewhere with this.
Republicans legislators in Ohio, Virginia, and Florida have put forth bills to take urine from welfare recipients to test for drugs.
Seriously. Some well known Republicans brag among themselves that they even want to hold the cup….
Ohio had this bill squashed last spring by their Governor. It is back again in the form of a three county trial.
Virginia, tried passing it last year but it was shelved because it would cost the state $1.2 million to implement while saving $ 229,000….
Florida did pass it and too, found out that so few tested positive, that the cost of the testing far outweighed any savings. Plus, they are still being assessed for legal fees from the action being declared unconstitutional.…
One would think Republicans would remember what doesn’t work. But no.. Now Kansas and Ohio and Virginia have new legislation to redo the same problem….
I’m just curious,…. with only paltry savings on the indigent, why wasn’t this procedure proscribed when we lent big banks an open line of credit to put themselves back on their feet?
Did we make AIG pee in a cup? Did we make Bank of America pee in a cup? Did we make Citibank pee in a cup? And why not?
I wonder how much cocaine those $4o million in bonuses bought? Poor people don’t do coke. They don’t have that kind of money.
Just imagine if testing positive could have save us $440 billion?
Since Democrats don’t legislate pee, it can only mean Republican do other things like fantasize with pee when they are behind closed doors. For if you didn’t love pee so much…. ugh, why would you even bring it up?
kavips 