Delaware Primaries

I've been receiving multiple robocalls per day from the O'Donnell and Castle campaigns for the last week. We're really sick of them and they are not convincing anyone in my family to vote for a particular candidate. I'm already voting for Castle. O'Donnell doesn't have anything to recommend her other than conservatism. Conservatism won't win her the general election. On the other hand my politically neutral wife is pissed off enough that she probably won't vote in the primary. If the Republicans keep it up, she might vote Democrat to spite them.

It has me wondering if the Delaware Republicans even know how to campaign properly. Two years ago, my long-incumbent state representative Vince Lofink lost the election to Democrat Earl Jaques. This is largely because Jaques and his wife did their legwork. They went door to door. He hit every HOA meeting in the district. People knew who he was and voted for him. Two years later and Earl has already knocked on my door and will almost certainly be at my HOA meeting. The Republican candidate? Still haven't met him. I expect Jaques to win re-election quite handily unless things change after the primaries.

Campaigning requires real legwork. Robocalls are fake legwork. This is why people are annoyed.

Easy Mark

I also seem to be the type or person that con-artists pick as a likely mark. But because Delaware is pretty small state, people tend to work the same areas over and over. Back when Amy was taking the train in a lot, I used to get hit up by the same well-dressed twentysomething at the Wilmington Train Station. He didn't remember me, but I sure remembered him. He doesn't take it too well when you inform him that he gave you the same sob story last month. Especially if you say it loud enough that the whole train station can hear. Other people have tried to work me in the Newcastle Walmart parking lot as well. They tend to hoof it towards their cars when you tell them you've heard it before from them.

The weird thing about all of this is that regular people didn't tend to bother me on the street. Even as a scrawny college student people ignored me or got out of my way. Perhaps I just don't look angry or purposeful enough anymore?

Tax Day Tea Party

A number of Tea Parties are being held today even in the tiny state of Delaware. The one of most interest to me will be at the Shipyard Shops in Wilmington from 4:30 to 6pm. I don't think I'll actually be able to get there because it's too early and too far away from work, but good luck to anyone who can.

No Mention of YouDee?

Wow two whole threads bashing stupid college mascots and not one mention of the Delaware's Fighting Blue Hens.

Via Instapundit.

Gun Show Control

Alphecca brought up a pro-show story from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It points out that despite rhetoric indicting gun shows as a huge source of weapons for criminals, the statistics are quite different:

Federal data indicate otherwise. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report, “Firearm Use by Offenders,” only about 1 percent of guns used in crimes come from gun shows...

It would be nice if Delaware's new governor would re-examine issues like the "gun show loophole" instead of just parroting lefty groupthink on the subject. If it doesn't make sense in a state like Virginia that actual has shows, it makes even less sense in Delaware where shows are practically nonexistent.

Fun with the Boys

Amy and I went to a DelOC gathering at the IHOP on 13 just outside the Newcastle County Airport. Evening is definitely the time to go there as the restaurant was essentially empty but for the gunnies. It was fun and I think Amy even enjoyed herself despite being the only girl.

Oh, and that bottomless plate of pancakes they sell was cooked up by the devil. Which is why I stayed home today with the mother of all tummy aches.

Buy A Jake's Hamburger Today

From Jake's Hamburgers:

Jake’s Hamburgers in Delaware announced today that they will be holding a fundraising event on behalf of the family of Delaware City / Volunteer Hose (Middletown) Firefighter Michelle Smith.

The event will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at all Jake’s Hamburger locations in Delaware.

Jake’s will donate 20% of all sales that day to the trust fund that has been established for the benefit of Michelle’s daughter, “The Emily A. Burge Trust Fund,” c/o the Delaware City Fire Company.

In addition, Firefighters will be on hand at each location throughout the day to accept donations on behalf of Michelle’s family.

Please join us in supporting this very worthy cause, and in honoring Michelle’s service to our community. For more information on this event, please contact Jeff Smith by email at jsmith@vhc27.com.

Michelle Smith died when she stopped to help an injured motorcyclist on Route 40 and was hit by another car. She was 30 and her daughter Emily is 12.

Via The Delaware Curmudgeon

Beautiful Scenic Newark

...where two college students are robbed and pistol-whipped in the wee hours of the morning on Haines Street. But, but, it's a gun-free school zone!

As an aside, thanks to the News Journal's PC reporting policy, you have look elsewhere to find out that the two men were white. Even though we get a complete description of their wardrobe, which they can change in seconds, we don't have any idea of their skin color which they cannot.

Illegal Background Checks

Not just for Joe the Plumber in Ohio anymore. It turns out that the Delaware State Police have been doing them regularly. Some concerned citizens have recently started accessing the records via FOIA. It would be nice if we had an attorney general that would actually take the DSP to task for violating state and federal law.

F'ing RINOs

While he may be the last great GOP politician in Delaware, where firearms rights are concerned, he is part of the problem. When I first heard of AWB renewals came out, I was inclined to follow the NRA's suggestions and contact my Congressman. After I did and Castle essentially responded with a message saying he though selling out my fundamental constitutional rights was a grand idea, I stopped bothering.

New Gun Shop

A few years ago, I spent a weekend visiting (or in some cases just trying to find) all the gun shops in Northern Delaware. It seems there is now a new one, Patriotic Firearms, which just opened in Meadowood Shopping Center on Kirkwood Highway. I'll have to put my day off tomorrow to good use.

UPDATE: Unfortunately the new gunshop isn't open yet. The display counters are in, but there isn't even any signage yet and definitely no actual product.

I hit two Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart in search of ammo. Ammo sale prices at both are often quite competitive, especially since you don't need to pay for shipping. No dice. Who ever decided on how to price their .223 stock is an idiot. You can buy 20 rounds for $8 (if by the case), or 50 for $25 (no case price), or 200 for $95. This meant the good deal, a case of 20 round boxes, was gone and no one was buying the more expensive ammo. I did manage to pick up the last box of Winchester 147gr 9mm JHPs at Walmart. I've been wanting to run some of these through my hipower to see how it handles them.

Oh and I came real close to buying a "military" jacket at H&M today. It was essentially an all cotton M65-style shell with a button-in polyfill liner. It was a nice jacket, but I just couldn't get myself to buy it. Then I realized for what they wanted (~$80) I could just buy an M65 with a liner and get a better jacket.

Every Weekly Meeting During Grad School

My usual experience in graduate school was that my adviser would tell me to do an experiment I knew wouldn't work. I would go off, do it, report that it didn't work, reiterate why it wouldn't work (but with experimental support this time), and then go off to do it the my way so that it would. Every professor was the same and the key to good relations seemed to be knowing when to stop fighting them.

The Gunshow

I did stop off at the Nur Shriners Temple gun show on Saturday. I was more surprised by what I didn't see than what I did. What didn't I see?

• Young people. There were a hundred or so people mulling around the show floor (which was about the size of a basketball court). Most were older white men between 55-75. A few were younger family men in their forties toting their kids about. A very few were my age or younger. This was not a place for young urban males to buy their gats.
• Handguns. I'm guess the show broke down to a third were non-weapons. Military surplus in various forms, books, holsters, scopes, grips, etc. Another third was knives. There were easily as many knife dealers as there were gun dealers. The rest were almost all older shotguns and mil-surp bolt action rifles. There were handful of handguns tables. There were probably a few dozen total hanguns. No luck finding a deal on an older .357 revolver. No-one seemed to be selling cowboy action guns either.
• Modern military arms. One person was prominently displaying an M1A (and wanted $6k for it). Another had a few AR-15s and a weird AR upper that accepted P90 mags and ammo. (Why would you want a gun that is the same size and weight as an AR, but takes more expensive and weaker ammo?) With an Obama administration looking more likely, I expected a lot more of that sort of stuff. I expected someone selling stripped AR lowers in bulk, but I saw 1 stripped lower and it was a novelty item tagged at $250.
• Ammunition. Slim pickings here. There were a few historical ammunition curiosities, like a really old box of .44-40 hunting ammo. There was one table that had a few hundred rounds of 7.62x39. Another sold .30-06 in en-bloc clips for an M1 garand. That was it.

So that was the show. I hit Millers and X-ring on my way home. Millers didn't have much I was interested in, but X-ring had several stripped lowers for under $150 and a 3" Ruger GP100. No sale, but nice to know that this stuff is out there.

Primary Results

Well things are shaping up well in the Diamond state. In the governors race Markell pulled out a close win over Carney. Grandma Ruth had this to say:

Markell often criticized the "Minner-Carney" administration for problems facing the state, but Minner said she did not view the defeat of Carney as a negative response to her eight years as governor.

Once again proving that she isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Were I a registered Democrat, I would have voted Markell for just that reason. The NRA hates Markell and Sarah Brady loves him though. He's been calling for a state assault weapons ban and an end to state-wide preemption. I guess I know who I'm voting for in the general election.

Lee crushed Protack 70/30. Good, but Lee should have won by more. Who keeps voting for Protack anyway? His supporters on the internet always seem to turn out to be, well, Mike Protack.

In my very local results, Weldin edged out Daley in the 10th state senate district. I'm guessing it was based on Weldin's endorsement by outgoing Senator Steve Amick and because of allegations that Daley is a registered Democrat. I wish I'd had more time to check those out. Weldin outspent Daley, but that always makes me suspicious when we're looking at smaller state elections. I always want to know where that money is coming from although I suppose a few big dollar supporters could really effect this sort of election.

Getting Dirty But Feeling Good

I spent some time Saturday volunteering with my church's singles group at Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County's Millers Row work site in Wilmington. I nailing up fireproofed plywood and oriented-strand board to the lower sections of the townhomes. Hard work, but we accomplished a lot before Hanna forced us to call it quits after our lunch break. When I got home I was drenched, but happy. I need to get out of the house and volunteer more.

One funny thing, my knees have been giving me trouble lately. They're just generally sore and achy right now. But they didn't give me any trouble when I was working on the houses, even with the broken ground on the job site. Maybe it was because I was wearing good supportive boots for once. Maybe it was because I morning on my feet and moving instead of sitting in an office chair. Maybe it was because I had something to do other than complain about my knees hurting. I don't know, but it was certainly a nice change of pace.

In Local Immigration News

Several Delaware Burger Kings are having trouble running full schedules after Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids netted 30 illegal immigrants from 7 BK locations across Newcastle County late last week.

Unfortunately the 896 Burger King isn't on the list because it has some of the worst service I've ever had in a fast food joint.

Financial Training

A friend tipped me off about the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute and it's related programs like the Delaware Money School and Purses to Portfolios.

Financial training is one of those things people need, but rarely get. One of the big reasons the working poor stay poor is that they don't know how to spend and save their money. They also have few role models to show what wise financial stewardship looks like. Honestly, I think Home Economics would be far more useful if it taught people more about bank accounts and less about sewing or cooking.

Jack Markell, our State Treasurer and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate, founded these programs. I don't know that I love his party platform, but making free financial training was and is a great idea.

UPDATE: My coworker pointed out that financial training has a big problem. A lot of the people who need the training aren't fiscally responsible enough to realize it. I'm sure that's true. I'm also sure that there are a lot of people who want to be fiscally responsible, but just don't have the math skills to understand what that means in a practical sense.

Joe Who?

A phrase destined to be uttered by non-Delawareans everywhere. Every blog has analysis of Obama's choice for running mate, but I like Miss Anonymous's the best:

Obama must be in pretty bad straits to think he needs Biden. He needs Biden (if you'll excuse the hackneyed phrase) like a fish needs a bicycle. (Maybe he just needed a little GRAVITAS.)

How can you have a ticket of change and pick the guy who's like the wallpaper of the senate?

I agree with her here though:

Least it wasn't Hillary, he needs her like his back needs a knife. Which may be yet to come, if she decides to hijack the convention the way it's been whispered.

On the good side, I haven't seen this many people happy about Delaware getting mentioned since Wayne's World.

Forfeiting Real Debate

Duffy asked the left side of Delaware's blogosphere a serious question:

Please explain how you will tax corporations and not have them pass that cost on to consumers.

The answers he received were the standard "they're rich so they can afford it" and the always popular "you're stupid!" This explains why I never bother to read anything the left side of the Delaware blogosphere puts out.

There is a good reason why they won't pass all of the costs of their tax increases on to the consumer, but it involves actual economics so you won't hear it from the lefties. It and the rest of the discussion are taking place over in Duffy's comments.

Dreaded Phone Calls

I was polled over the telephone at dinner time yesterday. Normally I hang up on pollsters as if they were telemarketers, but it occurred to me that someone (possibly someone I even like) would be using this data to make important decisions. They asked me whether I love or despise President Bush (neither). Who various Delaware candidates for office were and what I thought of them. In the end, they focused more on the Democrats than the Republicans, so I can't help but wonder if I haven't aided the dreaded enemies of the Republic. Oh well it was a risk worth taking none-the-less.