Monthly Archives: September 2011

Wednesday Open Thread

Yeah, Sarah Palin isn’t running.

“Does a title shackle a person? Are they — someone like me, maverick, you know, I do go rogue, and I call it like I see it, and I don’t mind stirring it up…. is a title and is a campaign too shackling? Does that prohibit me from being out there, out of the box, not allowing handlers to shape me?”

I no longer watch or listen to her because her voicemail is like nails on a chalkboard, but even reading her quotes gives me headaches.

Meanwhile, a new Pew survey finds that 52% of the American people have confidence in President Obama in handling the deficit. Only 35% have the same confidence in the GOP to handle the issue.

In Pennsylvania, a new Quinipiac poll is out. Among its findings, Pennsylvanians oppose by a wide margin (52 to 40%) the Republican plan to change the way its electoral votes are allocated. 57% say the Republican plan is just a power grab to help their presidential candidates rather than a plan to better reflect the will of the voters. Even Republicans are split, with only 48% saying they should change the system.

In the Republican presidential primary race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 18 percent, with 16 percent for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 12 percent for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, 8 percent for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and no other candidate, including Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, above 6 percent.

President Obama leads all current GOP candidates: Obama gets 45 percent to 43 percent for Romney, leads Perry 46 – 40 percent, and beats Santorum 45 – 42 percent.

Economists: Pass the Obama Jobs Bill, No Recession; Do what the GOP wants, Recession Guaranteed.

From Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Indeed, while the economists surveyed are not in agreement on how many jobs and how much growth will be produced, they are in agreement that it will do both. Moody’s Analytics estimated that the plan would boost economic growth by 2 percentage points and create 2 million jobs. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimated the plan would add 1.5 percent growth to the economy, Macroeconomic Advisers LLC said 1.3 percent and UniCredit Research, up to 2 percent.

So if you pass the President’s plan, you avert a recession. If you don’t, you are responsible for it. And if you pass the Republican plan, which includes severe cuts in government spending, the end of the payroll- tax holiday and an expiration of extended unemployment benefits, you would actually cause a recession by those actions alone. JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief U.S. economist Michael Feroli estimates that those actions would would cut GDP by 1.7 percent in 2012.

Could This Happen in Sussex

When a person is elected to public office, the take an oath to uphold the laws and Constitution of the State. Unfortunately, some think they can pick and choose which laws to obey and enforce.

Rose Marie Belforti is a 57-year-old cheese maker, the elected town clerk in this sprawling Finger Lakes farming community and a self-described Bible-believing Christian. She believes that God has condemned homosexuality as a sin, so she does not want to sign same-sex marriage licenses; instead, she has arranged for a deputy to issue all marriage licenses by appointment.

But when a lesbian couple who own a farm near here showed up at the town hall last month, the women said they were unwilling to wait.

Now Ms. Belforti is at the heart of an emerging test case, as national advocacy groups look to Ledyard for an answer to how the state balances a religious freedom claim by a local official against a civil rights claim by a same-sex couple.

So this small town clerk claims that because she believes being gay is a sin, she does not have to do the job she was elected to do. Sounds a lot like our resident homophobic Clerk of the Peace, George Parish, down here in Sussex.

From the Sussex Countian newspaper:

Parish is still not sure how he or the office will respond once civil unions are officially legal in the state, but did say several times, “We will not break the law.” How he intends to handle the requests, however, is a mystery even to him. “It’s something we’ll have to figure out over the coming months,” he said.

I’ll tell you, George, how you will handle this – you will do the job you were elected to do or resign. If you won’t resign, then we will ask that you be removed from office. Take this advice from New York:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, who made same-sex marriage a priority of his first year in office, has expressed little sympathy for clerks who object to the law. “When you enforce the laws of the state, you don’t get to pick and choose,” he said this summer.

Putting A Price Tag On Sex

Given all the stupid articles ever written about sex, this has to be the stupidest.

Grab a cup of coffee, this is going to take a while.

Women are jumping into the sack faster and with fewer expectations about long-term commitments than ever, effectively discounting the “price” of sex to a record low, according to social psychologists. […]

“The price of sex is about how much one party has to do in order to entice the other into being sexual,” said Kathleen Vohs, of the University of Minnesota, who has authored several papers on “sexual economics.” “It might mean buying her a drink or an engagement ring. These behaviors vary in how costly they are to the man, and that is how we quantify the price of sex.”

By boiling dating down to an economic model, researchers have found that men are literally getting lots of bang for their buck. Women, meanwhile, are getting very little tat for their . . . well, you get the idea.

Do people still think this way?  Does a guy still say, “Hey, Doll Face, I expect to get laid tonight after springing for that lobster.”   Seriously?  I doubt it.

Notice, also, how the writer portrays men as the winners.  They get what they want, while women…  Well, it can’t be that women want sex, could it?  Could it possibly be that women can enjoy sex without (gasp!) commitment?  I’m really tired of this sort of article – more tired of people who agree with it:  People who believe bargaining with sex will lead to a happily-ever-after.

Here’s the deal.  If a person is only interested in having sex with you, then whether or not you sleep with them will not generate a commitment.  Sorry, won’t happen.  It drives me nuts that society keeps telling women that withholding sex will get them what they are “supposed” to want.  God forbid, a woman could have sex because she enjoys sex.

“Every sex act is part of a ‘pricing’ of sex for subsequent relationships,” Regnerus said. “If sex has been very easy to get for a particular young man for many years and over the course of multiple relationships, what would eventually prompt him to pay a lot for it in the future — that is, committing to marry?”

It always comes back to that ring on the finger.  It’s also as if women are just a series of vaginas.  No brains.  No distinct personalities.  Nothing more to offer than sex.  Have sex too soon?  No marriage for you, you bad girl!  Who cares if you’re awesome?

So, what can women do to return the balance of sexual power in their favor? Stop putting out, experts say. If women collectively decided to cross their legs, the price of sex would soar and women would regain control of the market.

This is beyond offensive – to men, as well as women.  I’m really tired of being told women are in charge of men’s basic urges; that it is somehow our job to civilize them.  You know who uses that excuse?  A rapist.

This summer a male neighbor stopped over.  He started going off on how women dress.  His exact words:  They are dressed like they want to have sex. My response:  Maybe they want to have sex.  The expression on his face was priceless.  The idea that a woman would want to have sex never dawned on him.  Poor guy.  After a moment, he continued:  Well, they’re asking for it. Now you can imagine my expression.  “Really?” I said.  “Here’s a newsflash.  Just because a women wants to have sex doesn’t mean she wants to have it with you.” Needless to say, he left in a huff.  Oh, well.

Viewing sex as a commodity is dangerous.  It takes us back to the day of the lobster dinner; to a place where wearing a mini skirt equals a discounted price.  It takes us to a place where women are merely products, not unique individuals.

It’s also a load of crap.  Sex and love are not synonymous.  They can exist together, but pretending they always do is foolish.  Wanting to marry a person because it’s the only way to get them into bed is a recipe for disaster.  Telling women that not having sex will lead them to Prince Charming is a lie;  Telling them that they are selling a commodity and need to up their price is vile.

Women like sex.  If you don’t believe that fact… well, it must suck to be you.  You, and your partner, have my deepest sympathies.

Christie ain’t Christ

So last night Governor Christie gave a speech and took questions from the parishioners at the Cathedral of Saint Ronald, otherwise known as the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Instead of giving Shermanesque statements denying any run for President this year, which he has given in the past, this time he was more deflective and coy. Especially after one questioner basically got down on his knees and offered his firstborn daughter as sacrifice.

Don’t even say anything tonight, go home and think about it. Do it for my daughter, do it for our grandchildren, do it for our sons, please sir: we need you. Your country needs you as president.

The media and the some elements of both the Teabagger base and the GOP Establishment both view Christie as the savior. For the life of me, I don’t know why any part of the GOP Establishment detests Romney. He is the strongest candidate against Obama, and since he is weak minded and an expert at flip floppery, he can be easily controlled if he is elected. Indeed, he could be another Reagan in that fashion.

I can understand why the Teabagger base detests him, for that same reason: Romney has been for or against every issue, and thus has no principles. So then why is Christie the savior for these people? His stances on gays and Muslims are unacceptably moderate, far more liberal than Romney.

Democrats should rejoice if Christie does run. It further weakens both Perry and Romney, if you thought Perry flopping on the campaign trail was a sight, wait until you see how Christie handles it. I mean, the man can’t even walk 50 yards without the aid of a limo. And I suspect the Teabaggers will fall quickly out of love with him once he breaks with the orthodoxy.

Idiot Chicken

In one of the more idiotic statements offered by a politician in some time, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue said suspend congressional elections for two years “so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.

“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. You want people who don’t worry about the next election.”

So, Congress has no election in 2012? What about the President? What about the Governors? Does Governor Markell get a pass? And in 2014, when presumably Congressional elections resume, you think the American people won’t hold whatever decision these cowardly Congressmen and women make against them? Especially if they betray the American people once more by slashing entitlements and favoring the rich with more tax cuts? You are one stone cold idiot, Ms. Perdue.

This country has held elections in Civil Wars, Depressions, Panics, World Wars and Cold Wars. The reason why we do so is because the schedule of elections is set in the Constitution and it would take a Constitutional Amendment to change that, a point President Roosevelt made in 1944 when it was suggested we couldn’t fight the Germans and campaign for election at the same time.

Tuesday Open Thread

The Deltones, a cappela group from the University of Delaware that was chosen to compete with 15 other groups on a new reality show on NBC called “The Sing-off,” were a hit among the judges last night. They have advanced forward to the next round. The Deltones have 15 members, 10 alumni and five current UD students. The winners of “The Sing-Off” will get $200,000 and a recording contract.

Meanwhile, Senators Coons and Carper and Congressman Carney jointly announced a $3 million grant to Delaware’s Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. This programe helps Delaware’s at-risk families receive home visits from nurses and social workers to improve maternal and child health, child development, school readiness, economic self sufficiency and child abuse prevention.

Bloom Energy Meetings Tonight and Tomorrow

If you can’t make PDD’s meeting with Senator Coons in New Castle tonight, then perhaps you can attend the Public Service Commission’s hearings on Bloom Energy this week. The PSC hearings this week are tonight at the Cannon Building Hearing Room, 861 Silver Lake Boulevard, Dover, Delaware at 7 p.m. and tomorrow at the Carvel State Office Building Auditorium, Mezzanine Level, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington, Delaware, also at 7 p.m.

These hearings will concern Bloom Energy’s planned fuel-cell factory in Newark, which would cost Delmarva customers a surcharge of $1 a month for the next 21 years. This surcharge would fund the subsidy to Bloom Energy, which will allow it to build the fuel cell factory at the old Chrysler assembly plant and hire 900 workers. The factory would manufacture “Bloom Boxes,” which are pictured on the front page below.

These Bloom Boxes will contain hundreds of fuel cells that use a chemical reaction to generate electricity. In addition to the Bloom Energy factory at the old Chrysler plant, Delaware plans to place two clusters of Bloom Boxes on two sites in New Castle County adjacent to Delmarva electrical substaions. These clusters themselves will generate approximately 30 megawatts of power for the electrical grid, which is enough to power approximately 25,000 homes.

PDD Welcomes Senator Chris Coons Tonight

One of the issues we will be discussing with Senator Coons tonight is the American Jobs Act, the DADT repeal and the prospect for the repeal of DOMA in the future, and his opinions on the budget and the horribly named Super Congress. If you can’t make it tonight, what questions do you have. If you can make it, please join us at the special meeting of the Progressive Democrats for Delaware at 6:30 p.m. at the Delaware Democratic Party Headquarters, located at 19 E. Commons Blvd, in New Castle. PDD meetings are open to all like-minded voters.

As Furor Grows Over Sigler’s Endorsement of Racist Gathering, More Questions Arise

In addition to endorsing the racist ravings of a Sussex County disk jockey, DE GOP Chair John Sigler promoted the gathering on the GOP state website as a Republican event. It was in fact a fundraiser for an ultra-conservative PAC. How “ulta-conservative” is the PAC in question? So conservative that Joe Booth is too liberal for them.

It is not at all clear that people who attended the event knew if the money was being funneled to am ultra-conservative PAC and not the DE GOP as the web site implies. Granted, the vast majority of attendees were probably RWNJs but the practice seems shady to say the least.

Comment Rescue:

On September 1, DelawarePolitics.net put up an announcement for the Bull Roast and the comment section had to be closed after it was exposed that the PAC hosting it was the same PAC that tried to unseat Senator Joe Booth, and Don Ayotte had deleted the link to the Department of Elections page that showed the PAC supported Bodenweiser. Even Fay Voshell can be witnessed backing out of her support of the event in the comment section.

The PAC in question “The 35th Reprsenative DIstrict Conservative Committe” may have been named to try and blur the between the GOP establishment and the ultra-right wing extremists who favor Colley’s brand of white power Republicanism. But even so, Siglar clearly should have known that this was not a GOP event.

Here is a link to their DOE fling which shows that they were the group trying to unseat that lefty pinko, Joe Booth.

Calls are still out to Sigler.

Jail Or… Church?

Simply amazing:

A small town in Alabama is offering non-violent offenders the choice between doing prison time and paying a fine, or working their sentence off by going to church every week. […]

Bay Minette Police Chief Mike Rowland said the program would save the town the $75 a day it costs to house an inmate. And, he said, “it was agreed by all the pastors that at the core of the crime problem was the erosion of family values and morals. We have children raising children and parents not instilling values in young people.”

“You show me somebody who falls in love with Jesus, and I’ll show you a person who won’t be a problem to society,” he told WKRG.

Imagine that!  All pastors agreed that the problem is the erosion of family values and morals.  Talk about job security.  And, let’s face it, houses of worship are having trouble putting butts in the seats.  Now the town can send them clients.

Notice also the emphasis on Jesus.  And while the town claims that it won’t dictate which church the offender must attend it should be noted that “no mosques or synagogues are participating in the program because there are none in the area.”