Merit-bound Alley

According to the NJ, masks give folks a lower level of inhibitions, allowing us to have a shocking good time. Quoth Pahl Hluchan, a professor at the Delaware College of Art and Design:

People who are normally very reserved or very shy, once they put on a mask, they take on the personality of the mask,” he said. “It gives them permission to act in ways they wouldn’t normally act because it’s no longer them. It’s the mask that’s making them behave the way they behave, and they’re not as connected to their actions.

Happy Halloween, All!

Turning into my development today, I happened to notice a giant billboard, politically themed. What was it? Doug Suiter for County Council!!!

Wow, I’ve never seen that kind of advertisement for the position of County Council, so I looked the guy up. Turns out he seems like a pretty decent guy. I’ll probably vote for him, since I can’t for the life of me think of anyone else who’s running for County Council.

I guess that HUGE FUCKING BILLBOARD did it’s job.

Anyone who was looking for the upcoming 1st Senate District Debate between Tyler Nixon and Greg Chambers is going to be deeply disappointed. Apparently shaken by the barrage of common sense (the bane of the weak and banal) from Tyler Nixon at this weeks TNA Candidates night, Craven Greg has opted out of his WDEL debate with Tyler.

I suppose he made the right decision. Considering his bland and bewildered performance at the Candidates Night, it’s the right decision to put his tail between his legs and tremble in the corner until the 7th, quietly weeping. Maybe his confusion is communicable, because I can’t for the life of me figure out how this feeble gutless wonder was able to gain the support of the Republican Party even before the primaries.

I wonder if good ol’ Mike Castle will lend Greg his wheelchair*. I’m certain it’s rather difficult for the Republican hopeful to walk considering his recent spine-ectomy.

*Video courtesy of Down With Absolutes!, question courtesy of Delaware Liberal

The Republican Senate Caucus recently blew the doors off of the Delaware politics doors recently with the announcement of a five-point plan to open up the government. This move, 10 days before the midterm elections, is forcing the Dems to to stand and support their bold move or be forever lambasted as Haters of Democracy.

Folks like Karen E. Peterson have been fighting for this for years, with little to no support from some of the Republican Senators supporting this new plan. So, what caused this 180-degree turn? Were the Rs visited the night before by the Ghosts of Democracy Past, and woke with love in their hearts, finally buying us Cratchits our Freedom Turkey? Wow, that was a tortured metaphor. Someone call Gitmo.

Does it even matter what caused this? I see a huge benefit to the people of Delaware in this move. People like Tyler Patrick Nixon and Jason over at Delaware Liberal have been fairly vocal that their parties need some fixing. Will this be the catalyst for that? The Republicans move seems to be the crowbar in the door to give these worthy folks who are not blinded by party loyalty the foot in to start to hold the hands of the parties and help them take those tentative first steps back to their former glory, where they did work for the people, and not self-glorification.

I am an idealist at heart, and I see nothing but good coming out of this as it will begin to put more power in the hands of the people to enact even more change.

You may notice a new page above called AOPoI. I created this to make the An Outsiders Perspective on Islam essays more easily available. On this page, you will see a link to each part of the project, a short description, and at the bottom, what the next essay will be. Check it out!

TNA is hosting a candidates night at Salesianum tonight beginning at 6:30PM. The address for the event is:

Salesianum School

1801 N Broom St

Wilmington

I will be there a little late, hopefully around 8PM due to my wonderfully limiting work schedule. Hope to see a few of you folks there!

While I do support the work the FoHG does, spam is never a good way to get support from fair-minded, intelligent bloggers. They have posted a spam message in the about section of M-BA, and on a thread on Down With Absolutes!. A word of advice to the Friends of Historic Glasgow: please find a less parasitic way to garner support for your cause.

UPDATE: Our own Nancy Willing is looking into this issue, as it seems that this may indeed be a troll or overzealous supporter.  Thanks go out to Nancy, Super Sleuth!

This post is far too long in coming. Most people that know of Tyler and his campaign for the 1st Senate District. I first heard of him from Down With Absolutes! and Delaware Watch, then did a little reading through the few (at the time) articles about him and some of his posts on gazziza.net, and was inspired to send him a supportive email, which I will share:

Mr. Nixon,

I have never been a supporter of a GOP candidate until I started reading about you and your campaign. I’ve read through your website, and through posts you’ve made on gazziza.net , and I’ve never had the pleasure of hearing from a candidate with the integrity, enthusiasm, and pride in civil service as you show in every view I’ve heard from you. I am not a constituent in your district, but I will be pulling for you to win it handily. Hold fast to your principles and keep getting your word out and the people will understand the value in electing you.

More’s the pity to this state and it’s people if they don’t.

Warm Regards,
Joseph J. Madjeski

PS An early Happy Birthday to you. I will be turning 30 on the 16th!

Tyler and I have kept in touch since then, and I have volunteered for his campaign, and hope to be able to help out before the 7th. Tyler is a unique candidate in that he has a platform that almost anyone who wants to improve Delaware can agree with. His progressive views on energy, the environment, open government and more are tempered by his rock-solid conservative economics.

Tyler also has an inspiring charisma and energy that will be invaluable in the State Government. He is not a politician, but a public servant and his passion to work for us is obvious and undeniable. These merits are coupled with an ability to gather people from traditionally opposing viewpoints to support the issues that he represents. That shows an almost unprecedented level of leadership, and shows that service to Delaware is far more important to Tyler than partisanship.

I can’t vote for Tyler, as I am not in his district, but I wholeheartedly support him with any time and money that I can. Having Tyler in office will help all of Delaware.

PS: Yes, Tyler and I do share a birthday, but my praise is not due to 09/16 partisanship.

I’m calling to all the good people of the 14th Senatorial District to relieve Senator Vaughn of duty. Senator Vaughn has been described many times as an enemy of democracy, and it tough to find stronger words than that. But I’ll try. The antediluvian James T. Vaughn is the Chair of the State Senate Judiciary Committee, a position gives him the dubious power to hold a bill from ever being voted on by the Senate. One of these is SB 94, a laudable effort sponsored by the 9th’s Karen E. Peterson to include the General Assembly under the FOIA, which has been held in Senator James Vaughn’s desk drawer for the last 18 months, with little hope of ever seeing the light of day.

Oh, that Desk Drawer. Not since Charybdis has there been a more lethal trap. Vaughn has often and lovingly bragged about the numerous bills that he has dictatorially withheld from the voting floor, no doubt with a smug grin and satanic twinkle in his jaundiced eye. Dana Garrett of Delaware Watch has started a great series documenting bills that have been swallowed by Senator Vaughn’s lack of ethics. A lack of ethics is exactly what it is when Senator Vaughn can so consistently and so brazenly thumb his nose at the Democratic process that makes this country great.

14th, you have the unique opportunity to aid all of Delaware by ending Vaughn’s arbitrary exercises of petty authority. The other districts can vote in people who can end the control of the Chair, but only you can exorcise the GA of the man that so monstrously abuses it. Only then can the people of Delaware see worthy legislation come to a vote. Please do your duty for Delaware, look James Vaughn in the eye and say, “Get thee behind me!”

Well, let me begin by saying that having a 3 year old with you is not the best way to give musicians your full attention. However, we really did have a great time down in Middletown. I got to finally meet Dana Garret and hung out with Mike Matthews for a second time. There was a lot of great music on stage, an oddly high percentage of which seemed to be politically themed. The Everett theatre is a decent place, and the stage was nicely decorated with a projected image of a Rorschact test, apparently. I looked at the image for a while and saw the image of naked elves riding goats. What does that mean?

The act that stood out most for me was Melissa Cox, an astoundingly talented guitarist and lyricist with a truly beautiful voice. My daughter enjoyed her and flautist/vocalist Nicole Gallagher, as she danced around throughout the set. Check out Melissa and Nicole in their Newark, DE based Celitc Fusion band, Mythica. Show a little love and check out their website, you will not be disappointed.

I had to leave shortly after Mythica’s performance, and I got the chance of a few minutes with Michael Berg. This was to be my first interview, and I think I screwed it up rather nicely. First note: get a voice recorder, because I apparently don’t write very quickly. Since I don’t have an exact transcript of Michael’s answers, I will paraphrase as best I can and provide some great quotes that I did happen to write down. Those will be in ” “.

JM: You were at the Brandywine 100 debates recently…

MB: Well, kinda.

JM: Yes, you were briefly at the debate and you were led out by an officer. Were you actually arrested?

MB: No.

JM: Do you think that kind of confrontational activism alienates voters?

MB: Were you there?

JM: Actually, no, but I had heard reports of the debate.

MB: Well, as I was led out, there were people in the audience shouting “Let him speak!”. “If you think I didn’t do my career justice, I don’t give a shit. I’m not in this for a career.”

JM: I know you’re a proponent of immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Do you think immediate withdrawal will have any negative effects on the social and political atmosphere?

MB: I think withdrawal will have an “immediate positive effect”. A person dies in Iraq every three minutes. I’m not saying that the deaths will immediately stop, but once we leave, “the fuel for the hatred will be eliminated”. “The violence is the result of invading.”

NOTE: It was about this time that I turned to check on my daughter to find that she had spilled 20 ounces of water on the carpet. The next few minutes were spent cleaning it up while Michael patiently waited.
JM: Sorry about that. One of the other candidates, Karen Hartley-Nagel is in favor of setting a date in the future to leave. Do you think a plan like that has any merit?

MB: No. The shortest time I’ve heard for a future withdrawal was 3 months. When my son, Nick, was killed in Iraq, he was there for 91 days. He was there for 54 when he was taken. Waiting to get out will only prolong the deaths.

JM: Outside of the war in Iraq, what is the next most important issue and how would you fight for it?

MB: “Healthcare. Universal, single-payer healthcare.” I would cosponsor, support, and vote for bills supporting this. 18,000 Americans die per year due to inaccessible healthcare.

JM: Is there anything else you would like to add?

MB: Just that I am not in this to gain a career. I’m in this to make some changes in this country.

Thanks were then exchanged.

In summary, this was a good event. My daughter got to hear some hippy music, and I got to enjoy it with her. Michael Berg is a refreshingly plain-spoken and terribly nice guy. I wish I could have done him better by the interview. Michael got his points across very well and made a lot of sense. Now, I have to figure out whether to vote for him, or stick with Karen Hartley-Nagel. I can’t thank Michael enough for bearing with me on my first amateur effort!

Check him out!