Recently in Delaware Category

Back when we moved to Delaware, TB was skeptical about settling in the Newark area. "It's so far from work", she said. "And gas prices are going up."

"Look", I replied, "No matter how high gas prices get, we need to stay the course. If we just keep our large V8-equipped vehicles running as much as possible, in no time at all we'll be a short drive from the beach, and our property values will go through the roof! You just gotta be patient."

She and the kids still thought I was off my rocker, and I still catch flak about it to this day. Soon, though, that patience is going to pay off in spades. Vindication, baby. Vindication.

It's a fairly slow news day (for the moment, anyway), here's a few miscellaneous items:

• Eric Ruth at the WNJ suggests that Delaware businesses will gain from the upcoming bump in Maryland sales tax. Good thing, if it happens, but color me skeptical. Folks wishing to dodge Maryland sales tax already come here to shop. Last night I went to Elkton with the family to shop at the only decent Wal-Mart in the region, and parked in a sea of Delaware-tagged vehicles. It would seem that that sales tax isn't the only thing folks consider in choosing where to shop.


• Fox News has been flogging this story about a dog from the Washington Square area possibly being held for ransom. Not to take away from the story itself, as it's truly difficult not to empathize with the dog-owner's loss, but why is this a national top story for Fox? Have they run out of MAWWs (missing attractive white women)?


• I stayed away from the story about the NIE last week. Opinions on the right are as varied as I've seen, and the left predictably has flip-flopped on their view of our intelligence agencies. Before, they were untrustworthy tools of the administration, suddenly the CIA is back in vogue now that the meme is convenient to the reflexive purveyors of hatred toward all things Bush. All kinda predictable, I suppose. A couple of points, though. Applying pressure on a rival nation and actually going to war are very different, and I've seen nothing substantive to indicate that Bush has crossed that line or even plans to. With even many on the right (including me) conceding that the administration has made plenty of errors, why does the left feel compelled to engage in fantastic conspiracy hype and downright dishonesty?


• Okay, one more thought on the NIE. In industry, it's not uncommon to design something even go so far as to prototype it, then shelve the design while waiting for some outside event to occur, such as new availability of raw materials, or the maturing of complementary technology, or an anticipated change in market conditions or politics. The elephant in the middle of the room regarding Iran is that they did indeed have a nuclear weapons program, and they are still enriching uranium they don't need. Isn't it possible that they shelved it for reasons having nothing to do with us? Wouldn't it be folly to assume that "shelved" is the same as "scrapped"? Just asking...


• On the CIA's destroyed interrogation tapes - everyone knows that we waterboarded two or three terrorists a few years ago, and haven't done it since. Does a tape of an event already admitted to really add anything new to anyone's argument on either side? Other than to be used as fuel for demagoguery, that is. Speaking of which, all of the "obstruction of justice" talk seems to be a little overboard in light of the fact that no one was objecting to the CIA's techniques at the time, including some key Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Bob Graham, and John D. Rockefeller. But I don't hear anyone calling for investigations on their complicities in the matter...


• I agree that Huckabee is starting to look like he has too many warts to go the distance. Shame, too, as he seemed pretty likable before his record started coming to light. Maybe there's still time for Fred to come alive...


• Lots of folks seem to agree with the sentiments in this opinion piece. I can't remember Ron Williams' message, though - all that stuck with me was the childish and petty tone of the piece. Shame, too, as Ron might have had something important to say...

Delaware moved a step closer to a "carbon tax" on electricity generating plants Friday, part of its effort to comply with a regional pact to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Opinions varied widely during a planning meeting near New Castle over how to justify, collect and use the $35 million to $40 million that could be generated annually under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Of course, the simplest answer will elude these geniuses - if you have trouble figuring out how to "justify, collect and use" a tax, then maybe that tax is - dare I say it - unnecessary?

Over at First State Politics, there's a petition worthy of your consideration.

While the state should have the flexibility to move funds from one account to another to cover contingencies, the routine use of one fund as an overdraft account for another shows an unwillingness to address underlying problems.

Signing the petition asks the Joint Finance Committee to put a stop to this irresponsible accounting practice.

This time it's Finance Department employees stealing your money:

Finance Department employees may have stolen as much as $1 million in the last two years using an intricate fraud scheme targeting refunds for unclaimed stock certificates, bank accounts and other abandoned assets that revert to state ownership.

Abandoned financial property -- known as escheat -- is one of the state's largest revenue sources, bringing in about $364.9 million last year alone. Money comes from abandoned assets that have been dormant for five or more years or unredeemed retail store gift cards.

As an aside - gift cards? Looks like they glossed over another type of theft. Next time I'm giving cash.

State Auditor R. Thomas Wagner Jr. says, "This could be the largest case of government fraud we've ever had...".

More later...

Update (11/06/07 10:58AM): Good Question.

I'm sure you've all heard the revelations about the University of Delaware's diversity training from Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, and others. Today the story merits front page above-the fold treatment at the Wilmington News Journal, our local daily paper. From the story by Beth Miller, a quote from one of the students who had to attend the training (emphasis added):

Brooke Aldrich considers herself open-minded and accepting of all kinds of people.

But the University of Delaware freshman said statements made in a recent diversity training session on her floor of Russell Hall tried to make her believe she was a racist.

"I personally have no problem with anyone of any background, race, sexual identity, or any religion," said the 18-year-old Hockessin resident, who is majoring in animal science. "I accept people for who they are as people. But coming out of the group sessions makes you feel as if I was in some way a racist, just by the color of my skin. It was like, 'Because you've never been oppressed, you're part of the problem.' "

Here's another from later in the article:

Aldrich said other exercises made many students feel uncomfortable. In one, she said, students were asked if they approved of such things as affirmative action or gay marriage. If they did, they would join students on one side of the room. If they didn't, they would join students on the other side of the room. They were not permitted to explain their reasons or to answer "I don't know," she said.

While this is now getting some attention and will likely be changed as a result, keep in mind that the program ran for four years before anyone heard about it. My question is how many more schools are doing this that we haven't yet heard about?

Update (11/1/2007 8:51 PM) As predicted, UD has discarded their indoctrination program. Good. Here's the post at FIRE's website.