We’ve been lied to about the “needle exchange” bill that passed the Delaware General Assembly. Local lawmaker Pete Schwartzkopf (14^th District) defended his support for this free needle distribution program many times on my radio show. Here is what Pete, and other supporters of the bill said, and what we are now learning is the dirty truth about the bill:

#1 “This is a very controlled operation with specially marked needles”

“Program participants will get state-issued ID cards” “They will show the card to exchange workers to get clean needles and to police to show that they are exempt from drug paraphernalia laws. “The clean needles won’t be marked, as was once planned”

#2 “This only effects Wilmington”

Oh really? “Although the exchange program will operate only in Wilmington, anyone with an ID card can have needles anywhere in Delaware without being prosecuted for possession of paraphernalia.”

#3 “The State is not flooding the streets with more needles, you have to exchange a needle to get a needle”

“the exchange won’t have to be even, one dirty needle for one clean one.”

I’m wondering what the exchange will be! Can Sussex smack users go to Wilmington, get an ID and several needles, and be free of prosecution after shooting up on the boardwalk? If the above quoted News Journal article is correct, then we’ve been sold a crock of lies concerning this “clean needle” law.

Some of us have, long ago, been there. Others are probably enjoying a peek at theirs now, with only two weeks to go before the joy and excitement of watching their little ones open Christmas gifts, hoping Santa brought the “only thing I really wanted”. A puppy, kitten, hamster, guinea pig…whether four or two little legs, fur or feather. Two words…Please, DON’T! Don’t be a Santa-wannabe, fufilling your child’s (or even spouse’s) dearest wish. You’ll get over the disappointed look in the hopeful recipient’s eyes when they don’t find a puppy in a stocking or box much sooner than an animal will recover from ill-treatment, neglect, or being shuttled from one home to another. Granted, for some it might be the perfect “forever” gift but for too many the joy and the “wish” only lasts about as long as any electronic game, the newest doll. Give it a couple of months and the toys are broken, cast aside from boredom, given away or exchanged for something “better”. Sadly, a gifted animal most times lasts no longer and is ignored, abandoned, palmed off on a friend, taken to the pound.

If you’re determined a puppy is what your family really needs, please consider waiting until after the holidays. You’re so busy at this time there is little patience for it’s needs or care and it doesn’t take long to tire of a puppy who hasn’t learned what “outside” is for (and it’s NOT for chaining him up next to a draughty kennel in all weathers). You’re all too busy at this time to teach it not to chew the furniture so by New Year’s day your couch, new throw rugs, or fluffy Christmas slippers are ragged.

Puppies and kittens, especially, are undeniably tempting to buy at Christmas. Malls all decorated, festive muzak, pretty lights on trees and pet stores with “Christmas Sale!” placards, cages full of tiny creatures at “bargain prices”. Before you let even one of them catch your eye and melt your heart…for a moment or a week or two…STOP. Think…not about making a child’s wish come true but of how you see that wish in a month, six months or the rest of his/her life. In your home as a loved “family member”, by your fireside, accompanying you on walks or…too much work, too much time, this was a mistake, what do you mean “it’s a life-long committment?” let’s get rid of ‘IT’!!”

If, indeed, you know your home and family is made for, ready for, loving, caring and keeping a pet for the length of it’s life…do yourselves and the pet a favour. Get the holidays and busy-ness over first. And check out the animal shelters, rescue organizations first before the mall “mill outlet”.

http://www.puppymillrescue.com/christmas_puppies_for_sale.htm

spk eng! hErd rownd d cuntrE mo & mo dEz dAz, w d immigrant “prob” bt how lng b4 we aL wiL find it neceSrE 2 Lern a nu, RitN lngwij o b deemed illiterate?

I bet, if you read that without needing to consult a text-message dictionary, you’re maybe under thirty. The misspelling of proper English has always been a pet peeve of mine. Many people just aren’t spellers and I’m not rude enough to criticize them but it puzzles and dismays me twelve years of education doesn’t rectify this. Some even go on to college…and graduate…with less than perfect spelling skills. Now, I’m appalled to learn that text message abbreviations/phonetics are beginning to be accepted for school papers??! For those who are “spelling challenged” I’ve always said that ‘as long as the message is clear afforded a pass but this scares me:

Beginning this year, New Zealand high school students may use text speak on national exams, meaning they won’t lose points if they replace words with popular abbreviations, such as 2 for “to” or “l8″ for “late.”

New Zealand is the first country I’ve heard of allowing…nay, perhaps encouraging…this means of communicating and that rather surprises me. Maybe there are others but I have to wonder (heaven preserve us)…how long before we follow suit?

Oh, weL… sun. & a shhh dA, gueS I best go try find an on-line tutorial, hone my cmUnik8shn skiLz & Lern a nu lngwij. aftR aL, Ive a resume 2 wrte. Catch U aL l8r!

Let us continue with our football picks, NFL East plus other contests of local interest. Here is week #14:

Eagles @ Redskins: This is a tough one to call. Garcia has the Eagles charged up and has delivered, whereas the Redskins pass defense has improved. Betts is doing great, and the Eagles defense against the run has been poor. I’m going with the better QB, thinking that will overcome home field advantage, but I could well be wrong. Finally, the Eagles should want this win more than the Redskins. Eagles

Giants @ Panthers: Another tough call; both teams need a win for a wild card position, and both have serious problems, the Giants with inconsistency and injuries, and the Panthers with inconsistency and injuries. Delhomme may not play due to his injured thumb, so this will be a key deficit, therefore I’m going with Eli, Tiki & Co. Giants

Saints @ Cowboys: It’s not getting any easier. The ‘Boys are up against the best offense in the NFL, but the Saints have two receivers out this week. On the other hand, Bush is coming of age in the running game. But the Cowboys have become a consistently good team, and you can’t beat Parcells for his expertise, except Peyton learned under Parcells. On a hunch, I’m going with the home team: Cowboys

Bears @ Rams: On the surface, this should be an easy pick, but with Grossman’s erratic performances, who knows? The Rams have similar problems including injuries and terrible team discipline/spirit. Based on defense, my pick is: Da Bears!

Ravens @ Chiefs: I’m picking the Ravens based on their great defense against a poor Chief defense. Ravens

Browns @ Steelers: I know I am right on this one!!! Steelers

Why? Because no one ever got infected with E. Coli at La Queztalteca… Okay, so all the Taco Bells in Delaware are closed… I guess that means no 10-pack of crunchy tacos and Mountain Dew Baja Blast for dinner… I’m never shocked by the mindless indulgence of the people of Delaware.. Upon reading the quotes of some Taco Bell enthusiasts in today’s News Journal.. I can’t help but thinking that we are lost as a society:

Sean McNeil: “I’m not sick so far,” he said. “It’s pretty much hit-or-miss wherever you eat.” Bernadette Weikel: “I came in for a quick taco because I figured it would be safer today than ever,”Is it really worth being infected with E. Coli for a taco?? I wish that all fast food was deadly (I mean, faster). That way maybe I could stop myself from pulling into every Hardees that I see…

Is it really worth being infected with E. Coli for a taco?? I wish that all fast food was deadly (I mean, faster). That way maybe I could stop myself from pulling into every Hardees that I see…On a side note: Burger is selling X-Box games that feature the Burger King in different Scenarios… Marketing to Children is just tremendous.. I hope it never stops. Get em hooked on the Double Whooper with Cheese at an early age… Their future cardiologist will thank you.

The Iraq Study Group Report is an attempt by a non-partisan commission to get President Bush to change his definition of “victory”.

Even our new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, confirmed by a vote of 95-2 yesterday, thinks we are losing in Iraq.

A military “victory” is not possible, the Iraq Study Group has unanimously concluded. Moreover, they maintain that a continuing military effort in Iraq is unsustainable without the support of the American people.

Basically the Iraq Study Group is saying that Bush has completed his mission there, consequently now is the time to turn the rest of the mission over to the Iraqis in a timely and orderly fashion.

This will be very difficult for Bush to accept, because he went over there to dump Saddam, to have some control over oil, and to establish a military position there. (Forget all the WMD, al-Qaida link, and the nuclear threat garbage we were fed!) He succeeded only on the first objective.

Obviously, therefore, Bush has had to morph these superficial goals with the new one: A stable, democratic Iraq government able to provide its own security and rebuild the infrastructure. So far this objective has not been achieved under our guidance; in fact, the situation on the Iraqi ground has grown seriously worse, a civil war many now say, including Colin Powell. So Bush must change his strategy and tactics. Will he?

We need to invoke a comprehensive diplomatic effort involving Iraq’s neighbors, we need to better train and equip Iraqi security and police, and we need to focus on helping to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, recommends this Iraq Study Group.

Will Bush sign on to these recommendations? I think he will try to “Stay the course!”, but use more moderate rhetoric to make it look as if he has signed on. That’s his style!

It is a good thing that control of Congress has changed, because now it will not be so easy for Cheney/Bush to wiggle to get their own way regardless.

Instead of stabilizing the Middle East, their neoconservative strategy as implemented has done the reverse. There was no way that such a strategy based on US dominance in the Middle East would ever have worked, in my view.

The Iraq Study Group has provided the nucleus of a new plan for Iraq, a plan that is actually an exit plan. Will Cheney/Bush listen? I believe they are going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into this exit plan, so Congressional oversight will be needed to git er done!!!

So YES, the Iraq Study Group Report will be immensely helpful in this internal political battle to follow!!!

I’m seeing a loophole in the recent “No Limit Texas Hold Em” poker tournaments the Delaware Legislature recently approved. A loophole that could mean a new casinos in Delaware. These “poker” events are now allowed in Delaware for charitable fundraising under very “strict” rules. One of the rules placed on sponsoring charities is:

Ҥ 1827. Limitations of Texas Hold’em Poker tournaments.
No sponsoring organization shall conduct more than 4 No Limit Texas Hold’em Poker tournaments per year with each tournament by the sponsoring organization to be held at least 75 days apart. Texas Hold’em Poker tournaments shall not commence prior to 1:30 p.m. and shall be limited to 6 consecutive hours. (75 Del. Laws, c. 117, § 1.)”

The idea of waiting 75 days was to prevent a new “casino” from opening in a town near you.

Along comes a retired doctor, and a retired pharmacist in Rehoboth Beach forming a group called the Delaware Fundraising Charity Inc. They call themselves an “umbrella” charity organization. This Sunday they will have a poker tourney for American Cancer Society, and next Sunday another tourney for Knights of Columbus. Both events held at the Atlantic Sands, downtown Rehoboth’s casino hotel apparently. This group claims they would like to produce a new tourney every week. The Delaware Gaming Board says the 75 day wait between events does not apply because the Delaware Fundraising Charity Inc. is a “third party vendor” and the applications for the event are under the name of the charities and not DFC Inc. Fifty percent of the proceeds are promised to the charity…the other 50 % will be to cover expenses. Let’s crunch some numbers:

It costs $150 to enter. 180 people can play, for a potential of $ 27,000. Maximum prize award is $8,000, leaving us with $19,000. 50% to the charity leaves $9,500 for the day to cover “expenses”, not counting drinks, food, etc. Hey, the Sands may be giving the room for free, in exchange for selling the booze.

The point is, according to the Gaming Commision this group, or any other group can do this every day, as long as a new charity is involved. Anyone want to open up a casino?

Not much of a fast-food junkie I, once in a while, make exceptions. That being so, went to an area “golden arches” the other day; got a fish sandwich and fries, the fries being the more important. This is the “Eeuuuww”…thought they had been sitting too long, got all weak and limp. Yesterday, (blame the Christmas rushing around like I do), did the same at a closer “arches” and the fries were no better. So I’m thinking, despite the fact that I’ve seen no announcement saying they have enlisted in the trans-fatless brigades, they are surely testing the waters. Sad…for if nothing else, everyone seems to prefer Mickey D’s fries to any other and have done for years.

So they aren’t the healthiest food in one’s diet but, every once in a while, we most of us DO want something that’s good-tasting, taste and texture fat-globule satisfying, knowing it’s bad for us yet not giving a hoot. Beginning to look like that is not going to be our choice for much longer. KFC, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, NY restaurants, Canada….please! ‘Tis the season! Everybody sing…

(Tune: Winter Wonderland)

Deep fat fryer’s we will listen

And the fat, it should glisten

We came here to munch

But french fries should crunch

I’ll take my chance on one clogged artery

On a busy day I like to grab some

Junk food for the errands on my way

I can get the healthy when I stay home

But tasty, greasy’s better for today

So get your nose out my business

Don’t want fries that are listless

We give you our dough and, hey…don’t ya know

I’ll take my chance on one clogged artery!

********************

What happened to having a choice? I know…don’t go, don’t patronize them. I’m thinking about it…….

As NRG Energy attempts to get approval for constructing a second coal fired electricity generating plant at Indian River, Delawareans are being presented with an opportunity to construct wind powered generators just off of our coast. We are fortunate to have near ideal conditions for wind power, and can supply all our electrical needs and then some from the wind.

Coal burning not only increases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into our air, but also produces deadly mercury compounds plus an array of toxic gases like oxides of sulfur and nitrogen and finally, emphysema and lung cancer producing fly ash. Moreover, the strip mining of coal lays waste our mountains and streams of the likes of West Virginia and Kentucky. NRG’s proposal claims they can do carbon sequestration, “putting the stuff away somewhere”, but the technology is not yet economically feasible, according to Leonard Schwartz, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UD.

A documentary film called “Kilowatt Ours” demonstrates these negative aspects of coal mining and burning, yet our national government has been promoting the coal industry, exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. This film will be shown again in Sussex County in early January, along with a presentation by Dr. Willett Kempton from UD. When the date is set, I will announce it here.

Since the decision on the future of power generation in Delaware is now being considered by the Legislature, it is imperative that citizens contact their Representatives and Senators to express concern about another coal fired plant at Indian River.

For additional information on this topic:

http://abettersussex.blogspot.com/
http://www.cleartheair.org/regional/factsheets/factsheetDEfinal.pdf

An informal survey of about 50 callers this morning voted the honor of “Best Burgers on Delmarva” to Dewey Beach Club (DBC), Five Guys Burgers, and The Purple Parrot.  Pay special attention to the DBC Gourmet Black and Blue burger; with blackened seasonings and blue cheese, for $ 9.50.   Five Guys gets good marks for “general everyday burger eating”, (whatever that means!)  Five Guys will have a Lewes location opening next week.   The Purple Parrot on Rehoboth Avenue has some great burgers and a special “burger night” on Monday; a one pound burger with toppings and a side for only $ 6.00!

 

Hosts choice, for an out of the way and offbeat stop is the Milton Quick Stop, where they make the big burgers up ahead of time and leave them wrapped in foil under a light bulb.  When you order they open it up and add your choice of toppings!  Tip:  If you are eating it in the car, leave off the tomato because the heat of the meat creates a juice drip problem.  I’ve ruined two silk neckties this way!