Via Gizmodo — a bus stop ad that can tell when you aren’t looking at it. When you are looking, you see what appears to be a happy couple. When you look away, the picture is of the guy apparently beating up the woman. Very, very powerful and one of the cleverest meetings of compelling content and technology I can remember. Take a look:
Click on the image to get a larger version. It’s a powerful ad, isn’t it? And be sure to go over to Gizmodo to see more on the detail of this technology.
Remember when the Republican National Committe was debating on whether or not to change the name of the Democratic Party?
In that vein, we should decide what to call conservatives because we all know they are anything by conservative.
My two favorites are:
Do you have ideas?
2 days to go. Based on press reports, the white smoke has yet to be seen from the Legislative Hall chimney. The state’s finances, of course, being the foremost subject facing the Delaware General Assembly. Lots of ‘whipping’ is gonna have to go on, especially in the House Republican Caucus, for a balanced budget to emerge. The reason why the House Republicans are essential is that a super-majority is required to pass revenue-enhancers and both the operating budget and the Bond Bill. And it’s gonna have to be more than the bare majority to pass. D’s won’t ‘walk the plank’ w/o sufficient Republican support.
The Delaware State Senate has no posted agenda for today. They are now working from must-lists, which are lists of bills submitted by legislators and reflect the bills they consider essential priorities. Hence the term ‘must-list’. There are also no committee meetings scheduled today for the Senate. Since the Senate has not yet chosen to ‘stream’ its session, unlike the House, the Senate will operate in virtual anonymity today, free from prying eyes save for those who venture to Legislative Hall.
Memo to the New Senate Leadership: Start (a) posting full roll calls, not just the numbers w/o the names; and (b) start streaming your proceedings. Otherwise one might question the body’s commitment to open government.
By contrast, the House has three agendas posted and, perhaps more importantly, four ‘revenue-enhancers’ that have been laid on the Speaker’s Table. That term (LOT) means that the legislation can be lifted from the table and considered under suspension of rules, assuming that a majority does not object. These four bills sponsored by Rep. Schwartzkopf are the revived versions of the tobacco and alcohol tax increases plus the increased licensing fees for establishments involved in gaming and/or the sale of alcohol. Check ’em out: HB 194, HB 210, HB 211, and HB 212.
People with long, if you can count two weeks as long, memories will recall that HB’s 210, 211 and 212 were previously defeated in the House, but were revived due to a common parliamentary maneuver (a supporter of the bill switches to ‘no’ when it’s clear that there are not sufficient votes to pass it, then as a member of the ‘prevailing’ side, moves to restore the bill to the calendar). If you click on the bills, you will note that the Senate Republican leadership signed on as sponsors, leaving the House R’s the holdouts to passing the bills. No doubt, Rep. Schwartzkopf will not move to lift these bills from the table until or unless it’s clear that the House R’s are prepared to fall in line. Legislative Hall equivalents of ‘Kremlinologists’ can likely take R support of this package as a strong signal that a deal has been struck on the entire financial package. Conversely, if the bills aren’t run today, that’ll tell you that it’s gonna be a long June 30/July 1.
If past years are history, the House will likely try to work through its entire agenda(s) today, and will probably work ‘must-lists’ most of the day tomorrow.
For those of you in Leg Hall, try to pay attention to who is going in and out of the Governor’s office, long ‘caucuses’ when it appears that no one is actually in caucus, and the like. Much of these last two days revolve around negotiating and/or brinksmanship, so sometimes what’s not happening is far more instructive than what’s happening.
A proposal to seriously reduce legislative funds designed to repair roads is ill-considered and will not save money in the long run. It will delay repairs of suburban streets, many of which, by DELDOT’s own grading of the roads, need to be done ASAP. The delays will only lead to increased repair costs when and if the streets are funded in future years. The people who will suffer are the motorists who use the streets and the residents who live there.
While Mike Chalmers of the News-Journal called this a controversial program, it is controversial only for those seeking to gin up controversy:
DOVER — The upcoming state budget would give lawmakers less than half the money they got this year for a controversial program to fix streets, plant trees and pave parking lots in their districts, a legislative committee recommended Sunday.
The General Assembly’s Bond Bill Committee cut the Community Transportation Fund to $8.4 million for the fiscal year that begins Wednesday, down from $18.6 million this year. The move is included in a package of capital-spending measures totaling $435.7 million.
In fairness, there was a time when this fund, then known as the Suburban Street Fund, was controversial. That was in the era when ne’er-do-wells like Norman Oliver got funds siphoned to projects having nothing to do with infrastructure repair. But, they got caught, and DELDOT and the General Assembly cracked down. Under the current system, the purposes for which the funds may be used are written down (Rule 12) and clearly defined. While the legislators may propose how their money is utilized, DELDOT must sign off on each and every expenditure.
This is not to suggest that there still aren’t some abuses. For example, a certain City of Wilmington legislator continues to expend an inordinate amount of money on tree removal/replacement, and actually had to ‘borrow’ money from another city legislator to fulfill the tree promises he/she had made, but could not fund. The same legislator, working with a well-connected councilperson/state employee, also found a way to provide funds to help pave a non-public senior center parking lot.
This example aside, most legislators have demonstrated both the maturity and integrity to abide by the rules and to actually fund the projects most in need of funding. If the rules need to be tightened a little more for the few who think the rules shouldn’t apply to them, so be it. But DELDOT has the sign-off authority now. In the few cases that seem hinky, they can lay down the hammer on their own.
Look, everybody’s picking the budget apart and complaining about their part of the universe that is affected the most. If the powers-that-be want to take the entire process out of the legislators’ hands, fine. El Somnambulo thinks that’s short-sighted since the legislators (presumably) spend lots of time in their respective districts, and they know which roads need repair.
However, the result of this cut will be worsening road conditions, more need for expensive quick fixes, and increased costs once the deferred roadwork finally gets done. Not to mention less construction jobs.
That sounds like a losing bet all around.
From Uncle Dave at Dvorak Uncensored:
Credit to Steve Newton and his friend Waldo for pointing up to this great graphic. You really have to click through and look at it in the large size.
I guess all the good doctors in the United States are going to have to go to another richest country on another planet to make the money they make now. The new plan is going to bankrupt them.
Who is more at fault: Bernie Madoff or the SEC?
Update 11:47 AM: Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Oh, Mark Sanford, why won’t you let me ignore you?
The State newspaper has a timeline out on the uncovering of the Mark Sanford affair, with some new juicy tidbits.
A reporter called a Sanford staffer, saying the paper had e-mails that outlined an affair between the governor and Maria. Unless Sanford would address the issue privately, The State would have no choice but to ask him — with TV crews filming — if he knew Maria at his press conference that afternoon.
The names of two other women tumbled into the newsroom.
Fearful Sanford’s staffers did not get it — that the paper would ask publicly what Sanford’s relationship was with Maria — a State editor called Davis, Sanford’s former chief of staff.
Davis, a Beaufort lawyer, recently had been elected to the state Senate. When called, he quickly said he no longer worked for Sanford.
The editor said he knew that but wanted to talk with Davis. Sanford had landed from Argentina, and the paper had e-mails about an affair with a woman in Argentina.
The editor told Davis why he thought the e-mails were genuine. They mentioned Coosaw, the Sanford plantation, and Sanford’s love of digging holes; they quoted Bible verses and contained details about Sanford’s known schedule.
And more names of women were coming in over the transom. The total was at three and counting.
“Women?!” Davis responded, sounding incredulous. “Women?!”
With these additional revelations, I really don’t see how Sanford will be able to survive the calls for resignation.
A number of our conservative friends are upset at their standard bearer, Congressman Mike Castle. Not that this is news, since for years far right conservatives like Dana Pico and David Anderson have called Castle a RINO. With his vote for Cap-and-Trade, the conservative dogs are howling yet again.
Saturday, George Soros funded a BBQ at Donviti’s home, and we evil liberals gathered to plot the next round of tyranny against the oppressed conservative minority. And I wondered aloud whether Castle’s vote was a sign he was indeed running for the Senate, or instead was a sign that he just did not give a fuck anymore and was voting his conscience (hence a sign that he was retiring). Given that he already has primary opposition, and given that conservatives in the state already view him suspiciously, I would have thought Castle would have catered to this conservative base a little more.
Or maybe he just views Anderson, Pico et al as impotent. Maybe he thinks that the conservatives in this state can’t get their act together to oppose him. Sounds like Castle is challenging their manhood.
Steve Benen at Washington Monthly reminds us that even though this is a non-election year, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes.
IF I EVER HEAR THE WORD ‘SUPERDELEGATE’ AGAIN…. The current system the major political parties use to nominate presidential candidates has very few defenders. The process is, by any reasonable measure, a frustrating mess, and every cycle or so, party officials get together to try to make the system function in a less painful way.
It was just over one year ago that Barack Obama became the presidential nominee from the Democratic Party. Just reading the word “superdelegate” brings back painful memories of the nomination battle with its PUMAs, Michigan and Florida clusterf*#ks and other assorted cast of characters.
I would certainly like to see the Democratic Party nomination process become more democratic. So, what would you propose to make the system better?
Some of my ideas…
Remember how the right wing was screaming tyranny at the election of Barack Obama and at the passage of an economic stimulus package? Remember how Michelle Bachmann thinks answering the census is tyranny? Given that the events in Iran and Honduras over the last few weeks have shown us real world examples of tyranny, will these right wingers cease their empty rhetoric (simply because it has been proven to be empty in comparision) or will they continue (because spouting empty rhetoric has never stopped them before)?
You just know it will be the latter. They cried tyranny after the Cap and Trade bill was passed, and they will again after health care is passed. For the petulant uneducated spoiled children that currently comprise the Republican Party and the right wing of this country, tyranny is not being defeated in a landslide election and then watching your victorious opponent implement his agenda. Tyranny is not voicing your opposition to this popular agenda and this popular President in public spaces throughout the country with no fear of governmental reprisal. Instead, it is irony.
It appears there has been a coup in Honduras and a new president has been sworn in. The details are still a bit sketchy, but the old president was exiled by the military to Costa Rica this morning. The news reports say that the president resigned, but (former?) President Manuel Zelaya denies this. There were early reports of demonstrations, but things seem to be calm right now.
The administration has condemned the coup, despite the ties of the previous government with Venezuela.
By Sunday night, officials in Washington said they had spoken with Mr. Zelaya and were working for his return to power in Honduras, despite relations with Mr. Zelaya that had recently turned colder because of the inclusion of Honduras in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, a leftist political alliance led by Venezuela.
If anyone has any information about what’s happening in Honduras, post it in this thread.