2) Where are his hands and what are they doing to make that old woman smile?
Shout out to hottie 6th District Rep. Diana McWilliams.
Vote in the comments on whether or not you think everyone’s favorite Senate Majority Leader is inebriated. Since he shows up everywhere else pretty much crocked, it’s a logical inference to make that he may be a bit toasty in this photo.
PS…Why is County Council President Paul Clark not flipping some pizza dough?
As many of you know, some friends of mine recently acquired a great new sandwich shop/cafe in New Castle called Marabella’s. They had some modest success over Thanksgiving by offering pre-made dinners for families interested in taking it easy on Turkey Day. The dinners included the bird, all the sides as well as homemade desserts. Well, the guys at Marabella’s are bringing the goodness back just in time for Christmas.
If you’re interested, consider having them cater your family Christmas dinner or party at your place of business. I’m talking full-scale nourishment here. A light-lunch or a four-course feast, the folks over at Marabella’s would be most happy to help you out. From their website:
CHRISTMAS DINNER ADVANCED ORDERING
If you’d like Marabella’s Cafe to create the perfect Christmas Dinner for you and your guests, simply contact us by email or by phone and let us know! A traditional or custom menu will be created just for you!
Happy Holidays from Marabella’s Cafe!
So consider having the good folk over at Marabella’s prepare your entire Christmas feast this year. Mention that you read about them on Down with Absolutes! and an awesome 10% discount will be applied to your order. If a huge Christmas feast isn’t for you, then simply head over for lunch. The Roast Beef Italianos (Roast beef, broccoli rabe, provolone and gravy all on a hoagie roll) are absolutely awesome!
Marabella’s is located at the intersection of Rtes. 273 and 9 near Old New Castle. The phone number is 302.322.2555.
Today we learned more about that hush-hush Iraq Project led in part by former Secretary of State James Baker. In it, there is some brief mention of the same thing Independent candidate for US House Karen Hartley-Nagle has been calling for: the tactical shift of US forces from a combat role in an ultimate attempt to bring them over over the next 12-18 months.
Of course, in the same article, King Asshat Sen. Joe Biden makes a bit of sense:
“I’m concerned the Iraq Study Group may miss the most important point: the need for a strategy to build a sustainable political settlement,'’ Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said. “Bringing the neighbors in and starting to get our troops out are necessary, but not sufficient.'’
But I like Karen Hartley-Nagle a bit more. At least she doesn’t run and hide like a cowering baby when I ask her questions.
I love local talk radio. If it weren’t for folks like Al Mascitti, Rick Jensen, and Gerry Fulcher, I probably wouldn’t be nearly as interested in this political stuff as I am today. Listening to their shows and having the opportunity to call in (and even appear in-studio) has been quite a thrill and my (shitty) reputation has grown since.
I’ve got quite a few friends out there who record their radio shows on a daily basis and who send me the best clips. Some even go so far as to mash-up clips to make some overarching point that wouldn’t have been made otherwise. And today is one of those days. Today’s also another one of those days where it seems the Republicans are my whipping boys.
All throughout this campaign, folks like me and Dana Garrett have openly touted our support of Republican Tyler Nixon. Tyler seems to be quite the whipping boy himself among rank-and-file Republicans in Delaware. And he’s also perhaps one of two or three Republicans in the state who has explicitly outlined some bold initiatives for bringing Delaware into the 21st Century. In fact, all throughout the campaign Tyler emphasized his ideas in a neat little package entitled “The Five E’s,” in which he placed “Ethics, Energy, Environment, Economic Development, and Education” at the fore of his campaign. Republicans didn’t bite, preferring rather to play nasty politics by endorsing a candidate before the primary who wasn’t nearly as invigorating as Nixon.
In fact, as thorough as he is, Nixon’s made these statements on air MULTIPLE times, none the least his appearance on Dana Garrett’s own Progressive Voice talk radio show on which he explicitly outlined his ideas. Click here to listen to a recording of this interview from July 10.
And it’s not just Tyler Nixon the Republicans openly steal from. It’s Sen. Karen Peterson. Though Senate thugs like John Still initially despised the idea of open government, he’s come around as was reported about a month ago. People like Sen. Peterson and Nixon have been going on and on about open government for years. More audio is right here in the form of a phone call to WDEL by our very own Joe M., who blogs at Merit-Bound Alley. Joe posed a great question to Sen. Liane Sorenson (who, it should be noted, had supported Sen. Peterson’s open government bill via her signing a petition), who basically flaked out on the response when asked why certain Republicans didn’t just sign onto Sen. Peterson’s bill. Click here for that audio clip.
Of course this all does lead back to Tyler Nixon in a way, because many of the Senate Republicans’ same points they made FOR open government were taken directly from his own.
It’s becoming clearer and clearer everyday that Republicans in the state of Delaware are becoming less and less a powerful influence than they once were. A clear sign of their cowering can be made by the fact that they feel threatened by maverick individuals within their own party who are seeking the respect and attention they deserve. I can name about half-a-dozen of these individuals off the top of my head, but for the sake of brevity, this post will be have a clearer, targeted message.
The Republicans had hoped to gain seats in the Senate and maintain their comfortable majority in the House. They gained nothing in the Senate and are rapidly losing seats in the House. Let’s hope no Republican Representatives retire in two years because The Blue Wave could easily take the three seats currently keeping the GOP in the majority.
So the Republicans have a problem. I believe some of the blame can be attributed to the fact that “Republican” is almost a nasty word these days; so fouled up by a belligerantly hostile Republican Commander-in-Chief that many Republicans are finding it hard to even support the man. Unfortunately, this means the good fortune for many local Republican politicians has been soured by the general attitude that citizens nationwide are feeling about the party.
However, an even greater argument can be made that certain individuals within the leadership of the Republican Party — be they politicians or rank-and-file party-folk — have been unwilling to bend with the times; that is, accept that their party must abandon some of the ways of the old and look to the future to guide policy and implement new ideas. Several totally unthrilling (and hand-selected) candidates were offered to Delawareans this year by the Republicans. The Republicans and Democrats both laid out their hands early on this year in backroom-deals that saw them endorsing candidates well before the primary. To the Democrats it didn’t really matter because they were expected to reap the rewards big. The Republican leadership, however, seemed to be operating on the cavalier attitude that they knew better than the thousands of registered memebers of their party. And that arrogance certainly didn’t gain them any points in an election season that was already weighted well enough against them.
And that arrogance has been called out in a stunningly damning anonymous letter from a Republican who wants his or her party to return to some common sense. Ron Williams discussed some of the contents of this letter in his column yesterday, though some of us in the Delaware blogosphere have known about it and its contents for a while now. Click on the image at the left to open up a pdf of the letter. In short, many in the party’s leadership have been thoroughly eviscerated in what can only be described as a militant missive meant to convey some strong feelings to people who should know better and who need to hear this message.
The letter writer is brutally honest, using words such as “conniving,”“deceitful,” and “ineffective.” And those are just the words used to describe Republican National Committeewoman Priscilla Rakestraw! Here is some of his/her pointed commentary:
Terry Strine: A failure at almost every level except fundraising.
Mike Castle: He is the real party chairman who has had a 20 year alliance with Tom Carper. Maybe his stroke will wake us up to get a replacement for him in 2008.
Christine O’Donnell: Self-absorbed, delusional, and single issue.
In the end, the letter writer claims the Republican Party has done wrong by casting Mike Protack as the delusional fop in the party. The letter writer believes Protack is one of a few who’s actually offered fresh ideas on how the Republican Party can more fervently attract newcomers and retain their near-disenfranchised base that has been held hostage by Party leadership.
The writer ends with this sobering plea:
I have lived in New Castle County and I now live in Sussex County. I have won and lost elections and I have been a delegate for years. Please read and understand what I say and don’t spend a lot of time figuring out who I am. Our party is on life support, and we can’t wait much longer.
Sounds like someone needs to put this person in charge of something.
CertainDemocrats have been gloating of late because of the House Republicans’ complicit failure to enact some sensible change in their party’s House leadership. Though I’m not a Democrat, I am gloating somewhat. However, I’ll be fuming big time when the Senate Democrats choose to re-elect Sens. Thurman Adams and Harris McDowell to their leadership positions.
Perhaps that’s a mendacious sign of things to come. Could it be that the cocky Senate Dems feel they’ve got no reason to change leadership because — like the House Republicans — they’ve got the majority and see no reason to mess with a “winner?” My senses tell me there will be no race to change leadership by the Dems this year. And more’s the pity, because under the leadership of Adams and McDowell (and, to a certain extent, Majority Whip Anthony DeLuca), these loons have been a major part of the legislative problem in Delaware over the past decade. Whether it’s open government, equal rights for all, or the electricity deregulation business, Democrats have been at the forefront of corruption in the Senate. Though certain bloggers and nefarious creatures may be hesitant to agree to that diagnosis, it’s truth smells a whole lot worse than that which emanates from Cherry Island.
What I find most interesting about the Democrat leadership in the Senate is the endorsement Adams has received by many Republicans, including newly-elected Minority Leader Charlie Copeland:
After Monday’s vote, Copeland said Senate Republicans will fully support Adams, who has said he plans to seek another term at the post. Copeland is often mentioned as a potential GOP candidate for governor in 2008, although he has not committed to running. Copeland again said his immediate priority is “doing the best job I can for the members of my caucus.”
What about doing the best job you can for your constituents and the other 700,000 citizens of the state, Charlie? Not supporting tyrant thug Thurman Adams would be the first step. Your tacit, ringing endorsement of that corpse is a sign that we’re likely to get the same “stay the course” bullshit your comrades in the House offered up last night. You want to be governor, ole boy? Then refine your message and come out swinging against Adams.
Here’s how I see it: The Dems own the State of Delaware. They can basically do whatever the hell they want. The Republicans have proven themselves to be quite complacent idiots when it comes to attempting change. They did it partially by kicking misogynist Sen. John Still out on his ass and electing Sen. Copeland as minority leader (although this seems quite tactical from their perspective). It is now up to the Senate Democrats to do something about the mess they’ve got in Adams and McDowell (and, to a lesser extent, the de facto power awarded near-dead Sen. Jim Vaughn). Either keep up the status quo like their buddy President George Bush or offer up some fresh candidates to take over leadership in the Senate.
I’m thinking Sen. Karen Peterson, the only real Democrat senator who’s put forth some awesome ideas in way of totally revamping the way state government handles its business.
The ball’s in the court of the Democrats now. Whether or not they decide to play is up to them.
Taken from Ryan Cormier’s great blog Pulp Culture, this video of loons rampaging a Circuit City near the Christiana Mall on Black Friday is most assuredly a reason why the terrorists hate us.
Wow. Republicans really are into staying that proverbial course. First the re-election of George Bush in 2004. Then the continued out-of-hand ridiculousness in Iraq. And now Delaware’s House Republicans have opted to stay with the bland by keeping in all its leaders. House Speaker Terry Spence will bring his total number of years in that position to 22 and Rep. Wayne Smith will make it 12 years by the time the term ends in 2008.
I hear the tears are flowing freely over at Dave’s joint.
As one commenter from Delaware Online’s forums says:
Well folks we finally died tonight. After years of declining results, our elected reps sucsessfully reinstated the same tired old faces into power in the House.
You are all fools in New Castle County………time to break away from all of you idiots.
Hugs and Kisses from Kent County. the home of real Republicans, not Castle Cretins.
The Delaware Democrats (particularly in the Senate) may not be offering actual better ideas, but the Senate and House Republicans as a whole had better wise up real quick (even though the Senate GOP did do a smart thing by ousting sexist and homophobic John Still as minority leader). The Republicans in no way will take the Senate over the next decade. However, they’re bleeding seats in the House and this could screw them big time in 2008. Electing the same-old stale faces to leadership was likely not the best idea.
Got this call several hours ago. Just took me a bit of time to get back to a computer! Yes yes. Your new House Minority Whip is, indeed, my very own hot Rep. Helene Keeley: The gorgeously anti-woman-beating Keeley is ready to serve her constituents and the citizens of Delaware in many salacious ways!
Why do you think she went for the position with the word “whip” in its title? Word has it that one of Keeley’s first acts of infamy will be to publically whip former House Majority Leader Wayne Smith until his voluminous ass is a pleasant shade of red. I hear Rep. Smith likes it like that.
I suppose some people were surprised. When I read this morning that Kahunaville abruptly closed its doors, I was not one of them. I’d heard for months that that dump was due for closure not only because of the noise complaints, but because the managers were retarded idiots who were basically running the club/restaurant/bar/arcade/brothel into the ground. Though the management certainly knew how to attract a bevy of national acts, marketing fell way short and many of the shows were often attended well under capacity.
There’s even more stuff, however, I can’t really get into it. I would likely find myself at the bottom of the Christina wearing cement boots…
Either way, good bye, Kahuna. One less cesspool for oversexed and drunken frat hogs and sorority hoes to trash every Friday night.
Me here. Yeah, I know. I just want to let you know my life is really ridiculously crazy right now and I’m working on quite a few personal projects — the most of which is an attempt to find a flexible job to accomodate my impending student teaching jaunt due to commence at the beginning of the year. Anyone know of a job that will let me work five or six hours a night and then full-time on the weekend? Shoot me an email…’cause my fat ass needs to get paid.
Anyway, just want to tell you I’ll be back with some great stuff tomorrow. Well, it may not be great, but at least it’ll shut up the dozen weirdos who’ve emailed me to demand some freshness.
Tomorrow, kiddies.
Click the image for the full effect!
Posted by Mike Matthews in Personal at 11:59 PM PST
Those of us who spent yesterday morning on our computers, as opposed to the prevalent shopping frenzy or turkey coma, were privy to a rare treat: bloggers on the radio! Imagine my delight at the prospect of not one, but FIVE of our home grown bloggers, not only on WDEL, but actually accepting phone in questions! Obvious comparisons to sitting ducks aside, WDEL’s Gerry Fulcher, a blogger himself, played host to Dana Garrett, Jason from Delaware Liberal, Dave Burris and our own Mike Matthews. Too bad they didn’t invite Hube. Suffice to say, after a great deal of cackling on my part, I toned down my questions from “Mike, how many tube socks have you used during Christine O’Donnell’s campaign” to “Do you think Christine O’Donnell should’ve won, and why?” We all know the answer to THAT question, but I wanted to hear it stated publicly.
I just have to say that our local bloggers are a well spoken, intelligent bunch. I was honored to heckle speak to them publicly. When Mike brought up Ruth Ann’s latest colonoscopy, I knew that free speech was alive and well in Delaware, and my patriotic heart swelled with pride.
Thanks, bloggers, for restoring my faith in Democracy!
Jordan Warfel is one of my favorite religious righties. Where would we be without something like this, written by Mr. Warfel?
The American Family Association, www.afa.net, which was leading a coalition of organizations to boycott Wal-Mart this weekend, has called off the boycott. That’s right. There will be no boycott. Wal-Mart says now that it will not support any “controversial” groups. That means that it will not be giving any more money to the homosexual agenda. There was an enormous groundswell of support for the boycott at the Christian grassroots level. I have never heard this kind of excitement and anticipation over an AFA boycott. Well apparently Wal-Mart heard it too, and has decided not to go up against the AFA and its allies. It is a good thing to.
Wal-Mart made a huge PR blunder in supporting the homosexual agenda. Wal-Mart should have known that they would get resistance. And they should have known that they would not be getting many browny points from the unions. The unions have been fighting Wal-Mart for a long time. Wal-Mart cannot afford to make more enemies by supporting the homosexual agenda.
Honestly, I don’t know why Wal-mart even tried to gain some notice with the gays and lesbians. I believe study after study has shown gays have higher incomes than straights — or something to that effect. So, why would any of those Birkenstock-wearin’ and rainbow-flag-wavin’ folk ever shop at Wal-mart? On the other hand, it was likely a good move on Wal-mart’s part to stop “supporting the homosexual agenda.” The redneck trailers may have been minimally filled with toys made in China this year had they continued to “advance” and “promote” homosexuality among God-fearing Christians.
At least people like Jordan Warfel and the American Family Association are helping Americans identify the real enemies: couture-clad and incessently-promiscuous homosexuals!
Posted by Mike Matthews in Conservatism at 9:08 PM PST
Wow. I post the picture below and now it seems the floodgates are opening! To be sure, let me state my intent is indeed to have you kind folks send me as many pictures of politicians and their fans as possible. So send ‘em in. You know how to reach me.
This one’s interesting and goes to show just how morbidly incestuous the two major parties really are. The ethnic lookin’ fellow on the left is none other than Italo Carrieri-Russo, who served heavily on Sen. Tom Carper’s re-election campaign this year. Apparantly, as has been noted on other blogs, Mr. Carrieri-Russo (related to similarly-hyphenated Alexander Snyder-Mackler?!?) was a covert operative among Republicans some time ago. (Or is he now a covert operative among the Dems? Ticky fella he is.)
Oddly, though, this pairing may be appropriate. If it weren’t for the “D” preceding his name, I know many people who would mistake “Torturin’” Tom Carper as a Republican. Oh well, Sen. Carper may have the chance to redeem himself if he joins Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodds on a common sense rebuttal to the torture bill Carper voted “Yea” on two months ago.
But poor Italo. Poor…poor Italo. Perhaps he joined the other side after realizing his own would be losing so poorly this year.
Click on the image to enlarge.
PS…I’ve renamed the Delaware Thoughts category “First State Filth.” Just sounds better.
The News Journal’s online feature allowing readers to comment on news, feature, sports, and opinion stories has gained quite a bit of popularity over the past few months. I’ve always maintained that this new feature was introduced because of the popularity of commenting on blogs. Fat chance I’ll get The News Journal to admit that, though!
Anyway, it seems the editors at Delaware’s paper of record have become selective in their allowances of which articles can be commented on and which can not. Could it be that The News Journal isn’t interested in offending the homosexuals?
Update: Just got off the phone with reporter Alison Kepner, who tells me this was an editor’s decision to not include comments on this story. After being forwarded twice to the incorrect person (I was supposed to be forwarded to Deputy Editor Ezra Fieser) I gave up.
With apologies to my good friend Ferris Wharton (who certainly doesn’t need any more humiliation after losing to a guy as intelligent as a door knob), I just can’t pass this up. This hilarious photo appeared in my inbox early this morning. Offer your best caption. In the photo are Chairman of the Delaware College Republicans Seth Wimer, candidate for Attorney General Ferris Wharton and blogger Ryan Silberstein from Jokers to the Right.
I love stuff like this. A Florida congressional representative has come out (and I’m not talking about Mark Foley!) and admitted that the reason Republicans lost this year is because not enough “white rednecks” showed up to vote:
“White rednecks” who “didn’t show up to vote for us” partly cost GOPers their cong. majorities, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) told fellow Republicans today. And Putnam, seeking the post of GOP conference chair, chided ex-Chair J.C. Watts (R-OK) for ruining the conference’s ability to serve its members.
Three Republicans in the room independently confirmed to the Hotline the substance and context of Putnam’s remarks. But Putnam’s chief of staff insists that the remarks were taken out of context.
Examining the 2006 midterms, Putnam blamed the GOP defeat on “the independent vote, the women vote, the suburban vote.” He said that “heck, even the white rednecks who go to church on Sunday didn’t come out to vote for us.”
Way hot!
Posted by Mike Matthews in Dumb stuff at 9:13 AM PST
With a 96% “freshness” rating, “Casino Royale” is tracking as one of the best-reviewed films of the year. Entertainment Weekly gave it an “A” while Rolling Stone gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. This one sounds like it’s going to be the film to beat this holiday season. Of course I’m biased, but it’s great to see a Bond film getting so much respect after the last few were so thoroughly maligned by critics.
Anyone going to check this one out this weekend? I may have a more thorough Bond re-cap (a la Hube) a bit later.
Posted by Mike Matthews in James Bond at 9:03 AM PST
Imagine this scenario. I would ask you to close your eyes to heighten the experience, but I do realize you wouldn’t then be able to read it. Here goes.
Imagine…
You walk into any one of those obscenely humongous warehouses where electronics are sold. Take your pick. Circuit City, Best Buy…whatever. However, before entering you have to climb over a pile of worthless, smelly assholes camping outside in 30-degree, pouring weather for a piece of action. No, not pussy. The type of action these sophomoric Revenge-of-the-Nerds rejects are looking for is a highly coveted X-BOX 360, released today around the world.
In this country, I believe OVERconsumerism is an unhealthy obssession. Unfortunately most of us, myself included, fall victim to it without ever recognizing it. How else could my CD collection blossom to such magnificent proportions?
It just goes back to the mental image of having to witness a line of assholes camped out to buy a piece-of-shit video-game system that will merely become obsolete when the next Big Thing is released in another year. I’m a glutton myself, but at least food tastes good. Can someone please explain to me the appeal of these $400 wastes of space?
Perhaps I’m sour because I missed a perfect opportunity to earn some quick cash in this hedonistocally capitalist society. Had I acted more expeditiously I would’ve seen a good thing much earlier. These pieces of shit are selling for more than a grand on eBay! I could have gone into short-term debt by purchasing about 10 of these paperweights and then turned a $6000 profit — even more after seeing some of those auctions nearing the $2000 mark!
I’ve neglected the title of this post — Why the terrorists hate us.
In the months and years following 9/11, pundits on both sides of the aisle have attempted to define and explain why the terrorists do the fucked up shit they do. Those on the left say we should attempt to “understand” them. Those on the right want to “blow ‘em up.” I fall somewhere in the middle.
However, I think I now know why the terrorists hate us. This is my unscientific theory here, so don’t go all ape-shit on my ten-acre ass.
Click the photo to enlarge.
However, that didn’t stop one Republican from basically cribbing all of Tyler Nixon’s ideas and repackaging them (though in nearly the same wrapping paper!) on the radio earlier this week. This Republican? The new Senate Minority Leader, Charlie Copeland. So thorough was he in “presenting” Nixon’s ideas that this mash-up has been produced. 
It’s becoming clearer and clearer everyday that Republicans in the state of Delaware are becoming less and less a powerful influence than they once were. A clear sign of their cowering can be made by the fact that they feel threatened by maverick individuals within their own party who are seeking the respect and attention they deserve. I can name about half-a-dozen of these individuals off the top of my head, but for the sake of brevity, this post will be have a clearer, targeted message.
Wow. Republicans really are into staying that proverbial course. First the re-election of George Bush in 2004. Then the continued out-of-hand ridiculousness in Iraq. And now 
Got this call several hours ago. Just took me a bit of time to get back to a computer! Yes yes. Your new House Minority Whip is, indeed, my very own hot Rep. Helene Keeley: The gorgeously 
Jordan Warfel is one of my favorite religious righties. Where would we be without 
With apologies to my good friend Ferris Wharton (who certainly doesn’t need any more humiliation after losing to a guy as intelligent as a door knob), I just can’t pass this up. This hilarious photo appeared in my inbox early this morning. Offer your best caption. In the photo are Chairman of the Delaware College Republicans Seth Wimer, candidate for Attorney General Ferris Wharton and blogger Ryan Silberstein from