So a man decides his wedding and honeymoon are more important than anyone’s health…never mind his own…sprints through several countries to Greece and back, sneaks in via Canada when the CDC tell him he is NOT to fly aboard commercial airlines, drives from Montral to the US and, courtesy of the CDC is taken to Atlanta to be hospitalized. Now airlines, several countries, an hotel and who knows how many others are on a search for those who had close contact with this…pompous jerk. He calls himself a “successful, intelligent man” yet freely admits that when told he had to turn himself into Italian health authorities…”…you’re nuts! I wasn’t going to do that!”

Okay, so “they” say he isn’t a threat despite the fact that it was already termed a “fatal form of the disease” as well as “rare” and drug resistant. Oh…that’s reassuring…and NOT the point. Currently under armed guard quarantine in Atlanta, he’s got the nerve to be choked that he’s being guarded. Why? And why is he not being prosecuted? Anyone else who threatened GBH would be…and rightly so. This man…not only is he as bad, he’s worse. And certainly not what I would call intelligent.

Me, I’d do the same with him as has been done with other, most of them only so-called Domestic Terrorists…lock him up, let him sit and wait a trial that could take a few years and let’s see how “intelligent” he thinks he is, then. 

So… some talk show hosts have politics… some have school issues… I don’t know how I got stuck as the fast food watch dog.. k… using the term dog and fast food in the same sentence.. maybe not a great idea..

Anyway… did you ever notice how fergalicious the sandwiches look on the fast food menu board or in tv ads?? (Like, you know? Wow… a number 3.. a number 5 and.. two hashbrowns… oh… and three orange drinks.. and maybe another number 3.. but, supersize that one.. oh and can you give me extra bacon on those french fries?)

Well.. I’ve stumbled upon a Web site that illustrates the difference between the advertising pictures and the actual sandwiches.. want a sample to wet your appetite?

How about the delicious Burger King Whopper?
 vs.

mmmmm…. I’m getting hungry…

Want some more samples… visit this website

Are the Skateboard restrictions in Rehoboth Beach too stringent? Another season starts.. another series of violations occurs.. (see photo :below: courtesy of the henney report, http://www.henney.com/)

So basically the city ordinance states “No skateboards anywhere in, around, or near the city or Rehoboth are to be ridden, viewed, stared at, or smelt.” So, the fine isn’t wallet busting..

[Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined for the first offense not less than $15 nor more than $25, and for a second or subsequent offense shall be fined not less than $25 and shall pay the costs of prosecution. [Amended 4-21-2003 by Ord. No. 0503-3]

But are they really that bad? Is it the danger? The Sound? The element? Do they scuff up the fancy Rehoboth sandscaping?

I think that it does make the city a little less family friendly.. but, I understand wanted to keep the city safe and sound… or safe from sound??

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard on and/or over any sidewalk adjoining any street, any street in the City of Rehoboth Beach from May 15 until September 15 of any year.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard or scooter on and/or over the bandstand or any public structures throughout the entire year. The term “public structures” shall, in addition to its ordinary meaning, include but not be limited to the city’s benches, plaques, memorials and steps.

C. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or operate any skateboard on, under and/or over the Boardwalk or any of the Boardwalk pavilions throughout the entire year.

Is there no way skaters and regular folk can get along? I’ve seen plenty of worse things in Rehoboth than a dirty skater kid. Although, they’re a little too full of themselves for me. (that last statement has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve never been coordinated enough to shred the pavement.)

“It was 1866 and the United States was recovering from the long and bloody Civil War between the North and the South. Surviving soldiers came home, some with missing limbs, and all with stories to tell. Henry Welles, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, New York, heard the stories and had an idea. He suggested that all the shops in town close for one day to honor the soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and were buried in the Waterloo cemetery. On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed flowers, wreaths and crosses on the graves of the Northern soldiers in the cemetery. At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, this time for the soldiers who survived the war. He led the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades’ graves with flags. It was not a happy celebration, but a memorial. The towns people called it Decoration Day.

In Retired Major General Logan’s proclamation of Memorial Day, he declared:

“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country and during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”“

That was then. How, in the name of “progress” did we arrive at this somber or even grateful day now being “celebrated” as the harbinger of summer and sale festivities? Going about our daily business or pursuits this weekend (starting the tail end of last week) we hear “Have a happy Memorial Day!” sung in jovial tones. A week ago…and today…the Sunday papers and mailboxes are stuffed with “Memorial Day SALE!” news, anything from cars to furniture to summer/beach wear to dietary aids; from dealerships, dept. stores, pharmacies and very few, if any, stores choose to close on this day of remembrance. The Indy 500…traditional it may be but just how does that tie in with the purpose of Memorial Day?

When I first came to this country…to the Mid-West…I had no concept of Memorial Day until my relatives there enlightened me. Some of them still called it Decoration Day…and that’s how we spent the “holiday”…visiting gravesites of both veteran and other family members gone before. As a twenty-one year old my first Memorial Day did seem a bit “different” than commemorative days to which I had previously been accustomed but I found it just as eloquent, dignified and appropriate. Other family members returned home for the weekend if they lived close enough to manage to do so and, yes…there were special holiday-type meals, cook-outs and reminiscing. No shopping. (And, no…this wasn’t in the early 1900’s but the late ’60’s!) It was a weekend of remembering those no longer with us, a time to be together for that express purpose.

This year, on this “holiday” weekend, we have suffered more military deaths and casualties than we did the year before, in one year. We have even more of our military men and women spending this weekend with families, having deployment orders for Iraq in bags already packed for imminent departure…a young friend of ours being one of those. We have hundreds of newly disabled veterans fighting here at home to get back to whatever normalcy of living they and their families hope they might achieve. We have several thousand (at least) families and friends grieving those who were only returnable in a flag-draped casket. But, hey! We have a major sale/party weekend!

It’s not that I begrudge anyone their sales…either having or enjoying shopping them but if we need yet another excuse for a sale-day could we revert back to doing so following Memorial Day, not during?

I wish you all a weekend of loving remembrance with family and friends…not a “***** Memorial Day!”

Coming down Rt.5 from a lunch date, today…spotted a white dirigible coming east from Milford. Lucky I was a passenger :)! We…mostly I…watched it as we drove towards Rt. 24 at Long Neck and I was envious but even more curious. No advertising visible at all and though not a “Hindenberg” seemed like it would be pretty good size for the altitude. We could see the nose elevate periodically as it headed down towards Rehoboth and/or who knows where. I’m hoping our readers/listeners also saw it and, especially, someone knows a bit more information as to whom it belonged, whence it came and where it was headed. What a cool ride!

I couldn’t believe my ears. I rarely listen to Rush Limbaugh any more, I guess that’s not a good thing since he’s on WGMD. Sorry, but I find him to be only 20% or so useful in shaping my opinion. His non-stop, one-sided rhetoric comes off as little more than a mouthpiece for the Republican Party, any more.

Rush did help wake me up from being a completely apathetic, self-absorbed, typical twenty-something when I first heard his program in the early 90’s. He taught me that the dialogue concerning our political system was a much-needed thing. Too many people were blindly re-electing familiar names and faces without paying attention to the deeper levels of how small changes have large outcomes.

Because of Rush Limbaugh I take a great interest in the issues and how to preserve our way of life. My life is no longer simply work, play, rest, eat, sleep, repeat. At times I wish he would go back to the way he was before his head got quite so large. There was a time he was fair and (I hate using this term) balanced. Now, he is critical of the ‘left’ while not accepting critique of the ‘right’. He is often unfair in how he brushes off criticism about specific actions, votes, behaviors of politicians he supports and then turns around and leans heavily on opposing politicians for the same or similar behavior. It causes me to doubt his words at all.

Which brings me to the Hillary thing.

Rush Limbaugh said that it’s time to worry. He said Hillary Clinton will be our next president! When he said that I had to pull over and chew on it for a while. I can’t decide whether he said it to cause a major stir in his faithful which would result in a large-scale grass-roots campaign to ensure that Hillary can’t win, or did he say it because he believes it. One thing is certain about Rush, he never wants to say things which can be pointed to by other news media so they can say, “Look what Limbaugh said on May 18th, 2007 at 1:42pm EDT, he was wrong then and he’s wrong now.” Rush only says things which prove him to be correct!

This logic tells me that he has seen the poll numbers, his staff has poured over the facts, other high-level people are telling him that this is the result and he believes it himself!

So, now I’m worried. I go to the net for more and this is what I find from a 2004 article:

If the 2008 presidential election were held today, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton would handily defeat three of the top Republicans being touted as possible candidates, a startling new survey by Fox News Opinion Dynamics shows.

Link to article: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/12/19/215312.shtml

Then more recently this from May, 2007:

May 14, 2007 - National Presidential Preferences

The following results are based on nationwide samples of 600 likely Democratic primary voters and 600 likely Republican primary voters (those saying they will definitely vote in a primary or participate in a caucus in 2008) conducted May 9-12, 2007. The theoretical margin of error for each sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points, 95% of the time.

Link to article: http://americanresearchgroup.com/

In this last survey, Clinton is up 5% from March of 2007 to 39% in May vs. Obama at 22% and Edwards at 19% with 11% undecided. The other 5 candidates are in single digits. This tells me that the Democrats are pretty far along in choosing a clear winner whereas the Republicans don’t seem to have it so fortunate.

There are 14 Republicans in active campaign mode, right off you can guess that the field is overflowed. There are only 9 Democrats running campaigns. The Republican leader right now? Giuliani at 28%, a man who can barely be called a Republican based on his record, lifestyle and statements.

Right behind him at 22% is McCain, a man who is so closely tied with Democrat policy he has been wooed by them to switch parties. Gingrich is the only other primary candidate with double digits at 13% and the rest of the field is mired in the mud of single digit support.

It seems Republican voters are more interested in keeping office than they are that traditional Republican platform planks be upheld. Scary.

As we all witnessed in the last primaries, a front-runner can implode in a moment’s notice without warning or even logic reason. (Can you scream like Howard Dean? I can.) I didn’t like this guy but I did think it was completely unfair how he was dismantled by the press for a strange noise in the heat of battle. It was funny, that’s all.

In the end I must say that I will be voting for the person who best supports my concept of what makes a great president and leader of the best counrty in the world. Firstly, that they believe we are the best country in the world and secondly that they aim to keep it that way. As with most politicians I will bear in mind that you can tell they are lying just by looking at them. If their lips are moving, they’re probably lying. So I must simply follow the money trail and vote for someone who owes the most favors to the organizations and corporations which I believe are best for our country.

If that isn’t a sad statement I don’t know what is.

Jud Bennett writes about redemption:

On a lighter note:

This is the first time I’ve ever watched “American Idol” and wasn’t too thrilled to be doing so, at that but…compromise is everything! Then I got caught up in it as the weeks went on. To be honest, rocker-Gina was my choice…some bad, some good and when she pulled a Chrissie Hynde, great…not Chrissie but the potential could be there…so when she was voted off that was a big disappointment. In the last several weeks, though, Blake Lewis has been my favorite to win. To be honest, I never thought he’d get through to the final two since Melinda couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong, week after week after week. Great voice but, for me, lacks “fresh” and “interesting”…does the same thing to too many songs that Whitney Houston and her ilk does (the only way I can describe it is ‘adding all the twiddley bits’ many of her song choices didn’t need). Jordan, ditto…although her personality shone, particularly for one so young. Should we mention Sanjaya? Oh, why not! He was cute but, for the most part, ummm…not good shall we say (although having heard the original “Bathwater” song I really did like his rendition much better!) and ultimately I rooted for his “pony-hawk do”.

Last night I really thought Blake would be gone and, that being so, decided this would be my last time viewing a programme I don’t really care for. Not so! Upward and onward to next week…another two nights watching something I really hate to admit to doing. I like his voice, love his panache, most of his song choices…loved his version of the Bee Gee’s “Danger Zone” and Maroon5 “This Love” and decided that, win or lose, when this boy cuts his first CD I’m buying it. He’s fun and fresh to listen to and watch although I’m really not big on beatboxing, (less is more). I’m thinking that if the final of the contest were to be between Melinda and Blake, she would win but I believe…hope…Blake will pull this off. Certainly, I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of Melinda or Jordan and I wish them well but my vote’s for Blake and I’ll be at “Music for a Song” the day his first CD is released!

Still not sure I’ll watch another “idol”, though!

Like the majority of the populace, I have an allopathic physician. As with many of the populace…particularly in the last twenty years or so, I’ve been an advocate of homeopathy, herbals, acupuncture, massage therapy and, yes…the proven granny’s remedies, the proverbial “old wives” treatments for what ails one and I write this not as a practitioner but as a consumer.

When I lived in Maryland back in the early to mid ‘90’s, I had acupuncture treatments (including Chinese herbal medication) once every week for over a year. Complimentary to that, I took massage therapy once a week for over three years and greatly benefited from both modalities. In fact, never felt better in my life…either before or since and the only reason I haven’t undertaken either since being here is…well, silly but true. It’s as difficult to change a successful and trusted healer, such as those two, as it generally is having to change a trusted MD. But in recent months I have been strongly considering finding similar practitioners here. On my own, I research the “alternative” modalities and continue to use the herbals, energy work etc. so it came as quite a disturbing shock to me, listening to Dan’s discussion with Gertie this morning…and learning that there is a Bill ready to change…no, to remove the choice of how I nurture and treat my OWN body. Yes…MY body!

Allopathic physicians certainly have their place as do dietitians and nutritionists choosing to come under a government blanket. Let them have it…but do they have the right to dictate whom I wish to consult? Depending upon whether or not we have medical insurance co-pay, no medical insurance, pharmacologic coverage our medical treatments are not free or cheap and it seems to me since I must pay whatever the going rate is, I ought to maintain the right to spend it where I choose. And, frankly, it’s my opinion…and experience…that anyone having a required license is no guarantee to quality or successful care. My massage therapist in MD, for instance, was not board certified…when she began her practice there was no such thing as licensing for massage therapists. Her clientele came from all walks of life and were so numerous it was often more difficult to secure an appointment with her than it was with a physician. Additionally, many of her clients benefited so much from their treatments that they went on to become massage therapists themselves…the consensus being that they wished to help others as much as they had been helped. I never looked around her office for a certification of any kind. She came highly recommended to me by a very reputable Physical Therapist, among others. After my first couple of treatments, I had no doubt about her ability. Yet, I had a friend…also a client of her’s…who decided to enter the profession which, by then required board certification, took the classes, became certified and even after several years, didn’t even come close. As I said, a license is not necessarily a guarantee.

I’m angry at the very idea a practitioner of herbals, homeopathy, dietary or any other modality may, in the future, be unable to discuss or suggest our preferred method of treatments because of a threat of fines or arrest. This is not even banal enough to term ridiculous…it’s nothing short of criminal and to my somewhat cynical eye, removing this freedom is the first step towards the FDA and Pharm Society succeeding in eliminating anything they do not consider medically proven. Which is odd since few, if any, of the aforementioned alternative routes cause harm while we certainly cannot state that all medically approved drugs/treatments don’t. And, by the way, THEY are licensed! One only has to watch a couple of hours of tv during a day or evening to find the ads for prescription medications which tout the benefits but follow each one with a long list of disclaimers and eye-popping side-effects, some of them fatal. I don’t know about you but each time I view those things I have to wonder…”Who in their right mind would trade an ache, pain, sleepless night for those possibilities??”

Please write your State Reps and ask them not to sign on to HB38. Even if you are not “into” alternative treatments or modalities, it IS another freedom of choice we stand to lose should it pass.

Well, There’s been a lot of requests for audio from today’s program in which former 41st District Rep John Atkins appeared for the duration of the broadcast..

I don’t really have a comment on the show.. I don’t know.. Just allowed John to come in and clear the air.. talk about the future.. the election.. rumors.. the party.. and address the intense media scrutiny of his personal life.

Download Audio here courtesy of wgmd.com audio-to-go (mp3)