Archive for August, 2013
“Free” online gambling in Delaware starts today (free is in quotes because the multi-million dollar bail out can’t be far behind)
UPDATED WITH MY REVIEW BELOW – Don’t get me wrong. I like playing poker (for money) online. Or I should say, I did like playing online when it was less illegal than it is now. I’m not an anti-gambling prude, but the idea that the mewling welfare cases and tax cheats that run the Delaware casinos can run a decent online poker room makes me laugh. It also makes me a bit nauseous to see that”online” gaming in Delaware will include virtual slot machines. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the state to simply rob people at gunpoint?
A 10 Day Around the Horn [8.16.13 to 8.27.13]
![A 10 Day Around the Horn [8.16.13 to 8.27.13]](http://delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HORN-240x180.png "A 10 Day Around the Horn [8.16.13 to 8.27.13]")
Sorry for the delay in getting this around the horn to you. I meant to have it ready on Friday, but I had my physical. So I delayed it to Saturday, but then I had my Fantasy Football draft. And then on Sunday and Monday I was toying with the idea of just waiting until Friday for a two week round-up. But then I started writing it and it was getting too big. So I am just going to post what I have now, and do another Around the Horn column on Friday, September 6.
So here is what the Delaware blogosphere was talking about this past 10 days. I have organized the postings into individual subjects. Organization FTW!
This week we are talking about Bloom Boxes and the Newark Data Center, Teachers and Testing, the constitutionality of Charter Schools, the New Castle Tire Incinerator, the looming and dooming Highmark monopoly.
Tuesday Open Thread 8.27.13
History says don’t do it. Most Americans say don’t do it. But President Obama has to punish Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s homicidal regime with a military strike — and hope that history and the people are wrong.
If it is true that the regime killed hundreds of civilians with nerve gas in a Damascus suburb last week — and Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Monday that the use of chemical weapons is “undeniable” — then Obama has no choice. Such use cannot be tolerated, and any government or group that employs chemical weapons must be made to suffer real consequences. Obama should uphold this principle by destroying some of Assad’s military assets with cruise missiles.
I say this despite my belief that Obama has been right to keep the United States out of the Syrian civil war. It is not easy to watch such suffering and destruction — more than 100,000 people killed, millions displaced, cities pounded into rubble — and do nothing. Now I believe we are obliged to hit Assad. But then what?
Obama should have never drawn a red line. By doing so, he boxed himself in to using military force if the line was crossed.
My Thoughts On The Miley Cyrus “Incident”
First, I refuse to buy into the parent “outrage” over their precious children witnessing such an “outrageous” display. Hello? It’s MTV. It’s what they do – it’s their flippin’ business model. Second, if you’re one of those people who still thinks MTV is a music video channel… let me enlighten you. Here’s a sample of MTV’s programming lineup: 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom, Real World, Engaged and Underage, Jersey Shore, Lingerie Football League, and, of course, Snookie and Jwoww. There’s plenty more, but that gives you the idea. So, I’m not going to waste my time over parents who were shocked by a show on MTV.
Back to the Miley incident… (If you haven’t seen the VMA video, here it is.)
I am not disgusted or outraged by her performance. I am embarrassed for her.
Late Night Video — Breaking Bad: The High School Musical
I’m still watching this on Netflix, so people are sending me Breaking Bad material (spoilers or no) — this one is especially hilarious when Pollos Hermanos shows up. About 4:30 long:
Before You Hoist That Next Black & Tan…
You need to know about Dick Yuengling’s public statements about labor unions and Gov. Corbett of Pennsylvania. Go ahead and read it, I’ll wait.
Until now, I’ve neither known nor cared about Yuengling’s politics. I have enjoyed the occasional Black and Tan. However, it was Dick Yuengling, not anyone else, who made his views public. He did it on purpose. In a speech before the Pennsylvania Press Club, Yuengling reportedly called for the adoption of ‘right to work’ laws in Pennsylvania to disenfranchise unions and to enable him to make beer more cheaply. He also called Gov. Corbett ‘a great man’, according to the Associated Press.
From the First State to the Last State: The State of Sussex
So some disgruntled Republicans in northeastern Colorado, displeased with the recent election results that elected Democrats, have gotten a ballot question on the ballot in one local northeastern Colorado county about whether that local county, along with several other northeastern Colorado counties, should seccede from the State of Colorado. This notion has inspired our local wingnuts downstate to dream of a State of Sussex.
First, it should be pointed out that the procedural hurdles for the sore losers to form a State of Sussex are quite high.
Monday Open Thread 8.26.13
Booman warns us to beware the “Do Something” mantra on Syria:
The problem in Syria is that the opposition is no longer preferable to the regime and the regime is beyond redemption. Until I see evidence that contradicts it, I am not going to assume that Samantha Power is unaware of this conundrum just because she wrote a book condemning historical indifference to genocide in the West. The assumption is that she favors military action because she’s always argued that we should not stand idly by while evil regimes slaughter their own people. But all that tells us is that she is morally opposed to doing nothing when we can intervene at an “acceptable risk.” The problem in Syria is that there are no acceptable risks.
Can Our Super Bipartisan Congressional Delegation Help Avoid Perpetual Sequestration?
Now that de-funding Obamacare and destroying the credit worthiness of the United States have faded as the most important things EVER!, continuing to hobble the economy through austerity and perpetual sequestration is the thing that is going to give Boehner his Boner back. (If the Democrats go along with it.)
And let’s face it – they will.
“My Son Beau is Fine.” I’m sorry, I need more than that.
So last Thursday, upon the Vice President returning home to Delaware with his son, the Attorney General, Beau Biden, the White House released a statement on his behalf, stating as follows:
Yesterday our son Beau underwent a successful procedure. He is in great shape and is going to be discharged [Thursday] and heading home to Delaware. He will follow up with his local physicians in the coming weeks.
I said at the time that I thought, based on earlier reporting, that this successful procedure was in fact the biopsy, and thus until we hear the results, this health crisis for the junior Biden was not concluded. Commenter Puck disagreed, saying:
It’s possible the “successful procedure” was in fact the treatment. There are minimally invasive radiosurgery procedures that could have been done in that timespan in Texas, and conceivably would have constituted full treatment. It’s also possible there is no issue of cancer, but rather some type of abnormal cluster of blood vessels which might require the same kind of treatment. I know this is just speculation, but I’m willing to indulge a little.
Could be. It would explain the very vague yet optimistic statement from the Vice President above and his statements on Friday in Scranton, PA:
“And I just want you all to know, since so many of you have asked me about my son, things are – it’s not only good to be here, but things are good at home in Delaware. My son Beau is fine,” he said, eliciting applause and cheers from a crowd of approximately 2,500 in the Lackawanna College student union.
The problem is though, with these vague statements and no further comment, is that Beau’s recent medical crisis and his overall medical state remains unclear at best. You don’t travel from Indiana to Chicago and then to Philly and then to the best cancer center in the country in Houston for a minor issue.
Recent Comments