Like I Said

I'm liking David Robinson.

Harmony

As Dems fret about the possible rending of our party over our Presidential nominating contest, I can only sigh wistfully listening to Republicans singing in perfect harmony.

Robinson Campaign

Today, BB is a Dann-Free, Gutierrez-Free, Dem-Dem Cagematch-Free, Unregistered-Chemical-Free, and Stereotypical-Suburban-Insularity-Free zone.

It is a beautiful day, and we are each responsible for claiming and maintaining our states of mind.

To that end...

I like David Robinson. I think that he's going to give Pat Tiberi his biggest challenge yet. This is above and beyond my baseline Dem advocacy. I get enjoyment out of promoting this campaign. But honestly, the gap between giving the "biggest challenge" and actually upgrading our representation in D.C. still needs some serious shrinking. The easiest thing you can do to shrink that gap is to visit my ActBlue page and slide some cash to the candidate. Harder, but more rewarding opportunities for helping were in my inbox this morning:

Join the Robinson for Congress Grassroots Team

With less than 200 days to go until Election Day, now is the time to start telling voters about David Robinson and why he is the best choice to represent the 12th District in the U.S. Congress.

Over the next several weeks, the Robinson Campaign will be pulling together a Grassroots Team – a group of committed and energetic Robinson supporters who are willing to spend a few hours on the weekend, or a few hours during the week, reaching out to voters at the door or on the phone.

No Experience Required! "If you can walk, you can canvass. If you can talk, you can phone bank." Training will be provided.

We are going to win in November with good, old-fashioned hard work; and the Grassroots Team will be a critical part of our success. If you would like to be part of the Team, RSVP to Jed Thorp, Grassroots Coordinator at jedthorp@hotmail.com or 617-553-0541.

For more information on David Robinson and his campaign platform, please visit www.robinson2008.com

A completely sincere Enjoy Your Day to all y'all.

Let's try this again

Yesterday, I was moaning and groaning about the news, but most of my irritants were removed during the day. Apparently, I had inflated the number of reserve officers (the actual number will be 10-15, rather than 40), and in other Bexley PD news, City Council voted to pursue LEED certification for the new station, bringing Earth Day up off the mat. The media returned its focus to Gutierrez and Stankoski rather than Marc Dann and Utovich, and Pennsylvania... The complete and utter predictability of both the events and the coverage allowed me to ignore anything said after 9:30pm.

A good night's rest and then...

I read the latest AG office story. Gutierrez won't be facing criminal charges. Some see this as a sign that there's no real scandal, some see it as a wider spread to the cover-up. It's pretty patently neither. Imagine for a second that an intoxicated woman undid two of her own buttons to make herself more comfortable while in a semi-conscious state. A guy walks in, tries to wake up the passed-out woman in his bed, fails, says hell with it, and strips to his boxers as he does every night and goes to sleep on the other side of his own bed. Woman wakes up with buttons undone, boss in underwear, and no memory of either event occurring. Is that what happened? Probably not. Is it plausible enough to get an acquittal? I think so. As far as I know, that wipes out the extent of the evidence that a crime was committed in the condo.

So, game over, right?

Wrong.
The basic accusation remains:

"Both of these women felt that they were put in a situation where they were dealing with very powerful men that could affect their jobs, that scared them," Elliott said. "They did everything they possibly could to fend off these advances."

Both women have filed complaints with the office and both were interviewed Monday, separately, for nearly three hours each by investigators with the attorney general's office. They have also filed federal complaints.

Elliott said they would have come forward sooner but were embarrassed, feared retaliation, and had hoped the behavior would stop if they ignored Gutierrez.

The fact that no physical contact can be proved does nothing to explain how one of Gutierrez's subordinates ended up drunk, nervous, and passed out in his bed. And it doesn't explain what the NCAA refers to as "a lack of institutional control."

Apparently the internal investigation has wrapped up and a report is forthcoming, so we wait. But just as yesterdays exchange was a sideshow, so is this latest.

And the Pennsylvania stuff... while people go back and forth over one digit or two (note the AP's correction at the bottom of this piece*, the initial delegate count looks like 47% for Obama and 53% for Clinton.

Add to that the temporary(?) retirement of the highest profile left-side blogger in OH, (and a guy I owe at least a couple of favors to), and it's two Oscar-worthy mornings in a row.

*"This version CORRECTS Corrects (sic) margin of victory to 'more than nine points' sted (sic) '10 points.'"

Grumpus

I'm never sure if days like today in which all of the news makes me see red or feel blue are because I'm reacting to the stories or viewing the stories from the wrong side of the bed. Y'all can form your own opinions...

Joe at Columbus Homes Blog recently wrote that one of the most notable features of Bexley was the omni-presence of our police force. I guess we're playing to our strengths, because we're adding 40 15 volunteer police officers, complete with guns. Don't get me wrong, nobody likes having their garage ransacked or having a car barrel down the block past the houses of a dozen pre-schoolers at one and a half times the posted speed limit, but at some point there's a transition from feeling safe to feeling creeped out, and we might be getting close. Perhaps we can be a little more transparent and just keep officers permanently stationed at Main/Parkview, Main/Gould, Livingston/Mayfield, Cassady/Delmar, etc. You know, keep a presence where it will do the most good.

Of course, I should be celebrating Earth Day. I'll celebrate it by asking: Is there lead in the synthetic grass that Bexley's students play on?

Moving down Broad Street, an important new development has occurred in the investigation of the Sexual Harrassment complaints at the A.G.'s office - 2300 emails between Marc Dann and Jessica Utovich have been released. This is important because Marc Dann is accused of assaulting Ms. Utovich. I mean, because Ms. Utovich has complained of harrassment. I mean, because even though there are criminal complaints and EEOC investigations going on, all anybody really cares about is who, if anyone, Marc Dann is boinking.

Finally, I would have thought that by now, everybody would have figured out that the Dem nomination system does not work like the Electoral College or the GOP nomination system. Pennsylvania works like this:

• 103 district delegates are to be allocated proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in each of the State's 19 congressional districts.
  • CD 9: 3 delegates
  • CDs 5, 10, 16, 17, 19: 4 delegates each
  • CDs 3, 4, 11, 12, 15, 18: 5 delegates each
  • CDs 6: 6 delegates each
  • CDs 1, 7, 8, 13, 14: 7 delegates each
  • CD 2: 9 delegates
• In addition, 55 delegates are to be allocated to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide.
  • 35 at-large National Convention delegates
  • 20 Pledged PLEOs

It is possible to win the popular vote and still get fewer delegates. It does not matter who "wins PA," and it only matters a little what the spread in gross vote totals is. The media has had four months to explain this to folks, but they've insisted over and over again that explaining how delegates are selected is "confusing" and "complicated," and have stuck with the winner/loser descriptions. I used to think that they were contemptuous of the public. Now I think that they're just lazy.

Enjoy your day.

Lament

I can't seem to avoid getting into arguments that follow this basic pattern:

Other Person: "Hitler liked to rape kittens."

Me: "There is no evidence Hitler ever raped a kitten."

Other Person: "I can't believe you're taking Hitler's side! What other Nazi beliefs do you support?"

Sigh.