Okay, so I am not sure if anyone noticed, but Governor Jack Markell held another of his “Town Hall” meetings last night at the Cape Henlopen High School last night. The tag line he is using is, “Moving Delaware Forward”.
I would encourage all to take a look at the logo of this site, see anything familiar? That’s right, Governor Markell has hi-jacked the theme of this conservative website. We have been using the tag line since we opened our doors, and now the most corrupt, and biggest failure as the governor of Delaware, has decided to try to horn in on it.
Oh well, imitation is the highest form of flattery after all.
So a couple of things from the forum last night. First of all, anyone who went thinking they would actually get answers to their questions about the state’s economy, and or jobs, well I can sum up the evening for you, “blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah balh”.
And when the Governor ran out of talking points, he would turn to his support system, the cabinet secretaries he brought along with him to field the questions that he couldn’t answer, at least then we actually got a more detailed explanation of the situation.
It went something like this, “blah blah, yadda yadda, blah yadda, yadda blah”.
The introduction of the Governor was like something from, “This Is Your Life”, all that was missing was the voice of the Governor’s eighth grade teacher from behind the curtain saying how she remembered when little Jackie would pull the pigtails of all the girls in class. Not sure what Mr. Markell is running for, but last night seemed more like a campaign event, rather than an attempt to reach out to the citizens of the state to find out their concerns. It was all fluff, and no substance.
The other interesting thing about this event was the almost complete absence of the usual suspects of the so-called TEA Movement. Cape is in the heart of the Sussex County contingent of the radical rights nest of TEA activist. Why, one of the most notorious loose cannons, Don Ayotte, kicked off his losing campaign for county council only a few miles from last night’s venue.
There are any number of so -called activist that call that area home, yet none of them could show up, and actually challenge this governor, a governor they have been very vocal in criticizing.
Even Lacey Lafferty, someone who is telling everyone she can, that she is running for governor was there, yet her former constant companion Bill Christy was absent. Mr. Christy had become a very visible supporter of Ms. Lafferty, and was known to comment on this very blog and local talk radio, and other events. But as of late has dropped off the radar.
The list of pitchfork and torches folk who were not at last night’s event is long and telling. It goes to prove what I, and others have said and known for quite some time, these people are all bluster and bluff, they will scream from behind a keyboard, or a phone line, but when they have the chance to confront their political adversary face to face? They go to ground like a fat little ground-hog.
They had the chance to come out and ask about common core, or any number of issues that they run around the county and state crying about the sky is falling. But hey maybe the sheriff was holding another posse meeting, or maybe there was a lima bean growing seminar scheduled at the same time.
Where was the number one right-wing activist organization, the 912 Patriots? Would this not have been the perfect chance to stand outside with signs and protest this governor’s over reaching administration?
What did we see from the hard right last night? Nothing, silence. Just what we would expect, they are little more than tin cans full of rocks rolling down a hill, a lot of noise and little else. They will talk about confronting our elected officials, but when they actually have the chance, what do they do? They sit home polishing their newest sheriff challenge coins.
Okay so they missed the deadline, and the so-called government shut down has begun today.
Not sure how that will affect most citizens, who are not actually government employees, but it has begun.
As I said, on a personal level not sure that many people will feel any effect right away, but as time passes I guess it is possible that the ordinary citizen may run into problems, let’s face it over the years we have allowed government to grow into every aspect of our lives. We have become dependent upon it for the most basic of our needs.
However on a purely political level this shut down may have far-reaching effects upon the two parties.
If by some wild chance the Republicans can actually gut this out and hold fast to their goal of postponing Obama care, then that would be a defeat for the Democrats that no one saw coming.
On the other hand, if the Republicans simply hold out for a week, and then cave for some meaningless compromise, well then, they just look weak, and will have done nothing but piss off the voters.
In my opinion the second scenario is the more likely to happen, it has happened before, and it has cost the GOP seats in mid-term elections.
So who will benefit from this high drama? Again in my opinion, the people most likely to see any benefit from this whole thing will be the TEA movement agitators. When the Republicans fold on this, it will allow the TEA people to fire up the haters again to send in their dollar donations and to clamor once again for primaries.
We will again see the pitchfork and torches crowd in the streets calling for the replacement of all sitting Republicans. Not that some of them don’t need to go, but all this is going to do is to allow the Democrats to once again gain seats in both houses of congress and to be able to make the final push for an actual socialized health care system.
Instead of this grandstanding in congress, the GOP would have been better served to have worked to actually win elections in 2014, especially in the Senate, and then once in control of both houses they could have actually made the changes they say they seek now.
Instead they have chosen to be pushed around by the TEA people into what the TEA people do best, put on a show that leads to no real solutions, and only hurts the GOP in the end.
We have seen this far too many times, in recent times. We see some Republican, or a group of Republicans, or even all Republicans in congress putting on some big show of blocking a budget increase, and threatening to “shut down the government”.
The latest act comes from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the fight to block funding for Obama care. It started in the House, with Republicans passing a bill to extend the debt ceiling, AGAIN!, but tying it to defunding Obama care.
First of all this is but another empty show for fund-raising purposes. Does anyone really think that Republicans suddenly grew a spine and will actually allow the government to shut down? Not likely, since many remember what happened to Republicans after the shut downs during the Clinton administration.
So like in the past, the Republicans will take their threat up until the final seconds of the current extension, and then come out of some closed-door meeting, waving another empty agreement around and claiming victory, all while the debt grows higher and I’ll bet you, all while Obama care gets funded. History does and will repeat itself.
So enter Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican form Texas. He has been putting on a show over in the Senate, where by the way, the House Bill has as much chance as snow in August, Sen. Cruz has decided that reading Dr. Seuss books is the best way to get his point across. And what is his point?
Well I don’t think his point is to stop Obama care. Like so many of the TEA movement darlings in the past, of which Sen. Cruz is but the latest, he seems only to be promoting himself, setting himself up for a run at the White House.
I am sure I cannot be the only Republican that is tired of the circus acts of these TEA movement puppets. We get the clowns falling out of the car, we get the pretty girl riding in circles doing fancy tricks on horseback, we even get the daring trapeze artist. What we don’t get is any real change, we get nothing but empty promises and then we get sold some song and dance that they have worked out a compromise that does nothing to move conservatism, but simply allows the Democrats to have their way.
I commend the House Republicans for the bill to de-fund Obama care, it is a good start. But only if they are willing to run the bluff. If they simply wait until the last possible moment and then cave, it only makes them look weak.
And Senator Cruz? Either read something of substance, or sit down. We are tired of the TEA movement and its antics, it may raise your one dollar donations, but it does nothing to convince people who conservative solutions will work.
The bad news just keeps coming in for Delaware Governor Jack Markell. He is now under investigation for possible campaign finance fraud involving the bundling of donations and kick backs.
But even more telling about the Governor, and his party, the same party that controls both the legislative and the executive branches of Delaware government by the way, the Democrats, have been so focused on so-called social issues in this most recent legislative session, issues such as an unending number of gun bills intended to make law-abiding citizens into perceived criminals.
Then we had the homosexual marriage bill, and the bill to allow cross dressing men to use the same public rest rooms as our wives and daughters. Along with the push to legalize marijuana.
So while the Democrats have been addressing these important issues, what have they done to create jobs, or to bring Delaware back away from a possible double dip recession?
Well some would say not a whole hell of a lot, others would say not anything that has worked.
Delaware recently received a warning from Moody’s that we are the only state in the nation still in danger of slipping back into recession. Also Delaware’s unemployment rate has stagnated at around 7%, while that of the nation has been at least slowly reducing over the same time period. And even so, Gov. Markell insist that all is well, and that we are on the right track to recovery. Why, he has even taken his little dog and pony out for a tour of the state to speak with the people to reassure them that the kingdom is well.
But let us look at some of the so-called successes of the Markell administration. The crown jewel of failure has to be Fisker Automotive company. Gov. Markell touted the deal with Fisker as the saving grace for Delaware in creating new high paying jobs for Delaware. The Governor believed this so much that he and his water boy Alan Levin decided to follow the lead of the federal government, and subsidized the foreign auto maker here in Delaware, heck tax payers were even paying the electric bill for the plant in New Castle County. But at least we got some good high paying jobs out of the deal. Oh no, that’s right we didn’t, in fact, Fisker has actually cut about three-quarters of its original hires. But those are some really sharp cars that were built-in Delaware. Oh! Wait, not a single car was ever built here.
Now it has been announced that the federal Department of Energy will be auctioning off the balance on the loan it made to Fisker at a sizable loss, and guess what, the deal does not include any mandate that Delaware be reimbursed for any of the money we paid out. Good job Governor.
I guess if the feds are bailing on the loan, then it is a pretty sure bet that Fisker is done, and Delaware tax payers will never see a penny of return on the twenty or so million that the Markell administration lined the pockets of some well to do Democrat donors.
So what other gems has the governor dug up for the citizens of the state?
Well there is Bloom Energy, this is the company that produces fuel cells, it is also the company that Gov. Markell and the legislature mandated that the rate payers of Delmarva Power subsidize with higher electric rates. Now there is talk of spreading the good news to all electric rate payer of all electric suppliers within the state. I have also heard that Bloom is refusing to allow anyone to see inside their plant, since it may be that they are not actually producing anything here.
Of course Gov. Markell has overseen the largest expansion of state-run gambling in the state’s history. And with every expansion we are told the revenue will solve all of our fiscal problems, and they never do.
A recent two-year revenue forecast from the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council, has predicted that casino revenue will be down by around $25 million, while personal income taxes will rise by around 3.8 percent to about $136 billion. Gee! I wonder when the spending cuts start? Yeah right! The state of Delaware depends on the $200 million in casino revenue to balance its bloated budget, so where will the priest of voodoo come up with the short fall? Well if history is proof, he will seek to raise taxes and fees. But of course they will have a sunset clause, that will just be ignored.
Another bright note is the news that corporate income taxes are also down by about $5 million for the budget year starting in July. But hey! The good news is that all of the money being spent to tell people to stop smoking seems to be working, because the cigarette taxes are also down, again lowering the projections.
So as you can see, Gov. Markell and his minion have plenty of ideas to create jobs and to improve the state’s economy, it’s just that none of them seem to be any good.
All we get are corporate welfare plans, mandates to force people to pay higher rates for electric, that is already one of their largest expenditures, and an unending expansion of gambling in the hopes that there will be enough people foolish enough to part with their hard-earned money, enough to prop up the top-heavy, bloated government.
But hey! Gov. Markell, don’t worry about creating jobs by focusing on helping the local small business people, you know by finding ways to lower their energy cost, or removing some of the regulations and start-up fees, you just keep throwing our hard-earned tax dollars at those foreign companies that end up living high on our dime and then leaving us high and dry. And while you’ re at it, why don’t you expand gambling one more time to see if you can rob some hard-working lug of his paycheck.
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