For us, the reviled smokers, at least.  Yesterday afternoon I had a call from a group protesting the projected tax hike of 60 cents on a pack of cigarettes, $6 on a carton.  I was asked if I wanted to make my own protest known, to which I answered yes and I was patched to Rep. Schwartzkopf’s office.  His voice mail was full so I was then asked if I wanted to leave my message elsewhere…patched to a clerk’s phone but there was no answer.  Maybe it’s voice mail, too, was full.  So I guess I’ll express my protest here.

So far our habit isn’ as costly as it is in NJ or NY…or Canada or the UK.  In mentioning this increase to my sister she wasn’t overly sympathetic since they pay almost $10 for a pack of twenty cigarettes.  Yeah..but they have to import the tobacco…it’s not grown there like we have here.  The majority of the cost of cigarettes is taxation but why, in the name of all that’s holy can anyone justify slinging more taxes on the plant-based habit while encouraging the populace to verbally picket those who smoke, at every opportunity…using every effort and ploy they can to leper-ize them?  Anti-smokers justify their position, frequently, by complaining they don’t want to have to keep paying increased health care costs for such as we who enjoy this nefarious habit but, for some reason, don’t seem to mind slamming tax upon tax on us to help provide the amenities they, themselves, want or think they need.  You know, we always hear complaints about  government aid to the impoverished, those who won’t work…or can’t, public housing, illegal aliens because “this is OUR tax dollars at work”!  Well, there something a little strange about a reviled segment of the population being required to pay more taxes to provide for the State coffers while, along with that comes the ”privilege” of being abused.  An it IS abuse.  No…I do NOT want my representative to agree to this in any shape or form.  

Puppet-master, juggler, could it be…Satan?  We’ve watched Dick Cheney smirk and sneer his way upward and onward through the halls of power and when he “thus spake” be accountable…and apologize…for nothing.  Now the latest…

How has he gotten by with this?  I’ve certainly voiced my opinions on this administration…and the President…many, many times but in very recent years let go of Bush for, so far as I can see, he has about as much clout here as Lizzie does over the UK.  He’s little more than a figurehead with the man behind the king (and degradation of this country) being Cheney, himself.  The man is a power and law unto himself, lining his pockets, puffing his ego and confident of being untouchable, above the law.  Regardless of one’s political affiliation we should all be ready to impeach this man.  And we can!  Why not?  There was a massive scream for impeachment of Clinton over his definition of sex (improper as it may have been) so why drag derriere’s on this one…unless this man hasn’t caused you one moment of concern in, at least, the past seven years.  Easy enough to do and, in fact, if you really aren’t sure why you need to at least consider it, check the laundry list here…

A rape in Dewey, and the News Journal continues it’s tradition of withholding descriptive features given by police.  The Gannett paper edits out the race, and or skin color of the wanted suspect yet again:

The suspect is described as in his mid-twenties, wearing dark clothing and a dark hat.

Same reporter (Roger Hillis) same company (Gannett) , but at the Coast Press they get it right:

The suspect is described as black, in his mid-twenties, wearing dark clothing and a dark hat.

Thanks again News Journal for helping to aid the escape of fugitives that rape, rob and kill here in Sussex.

Who was it that said that a decline in culture will ultimately bring an end to that society? Do you remember hearing that American Idol were in talks to bring Paul McCartney on the program as a celebrity judge? Sir Paul declined their generous offer. Well, what would’ve been the point? No one would have known who he was anyway.

What? Jared you’re insane. I remember hearing a story about a 15-year-old girl, whom after the Wings retrospective CD “Wingspan” was released, was asked if she knew who The Beatles were. Her response “No,” then she was asked have you ever heard of Paul McCartney, “Oh, isn’t he the guy from Wings?” 

Today I did an informal poll of all young looking clerks at different area stores today, all within the ages of 19-22, and (hold your breath) none of them could name the Four Beatles. 

“The Beatles saved the world from boredom,” George Harrison. 

How soon the world forgets, Dark Horse. The best I was able to conjure was one 19-year-old at the Bose outlet who could name “John Lennon and Ringo.” Just as a basic music knowledge quiz, I asked him if he knew who Bob Dylan was. He responded, “of course I do… I’m in a rock band.” (YOU’RE IN A ROCK BAND AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THE BEATLES WERE???) …calm down…

You may often wonder why music has become so inane in the last decade or so. There’s your answer. I shudder to think about what the next generation of music will be like. Those who’ve never heard of The Beatles. The Beatles, only the band that every single pop and rock band owes everything to. 

How can school, parents and media have failed these children? It’s an important piece of pop culture, nay, social history to be informed about the fab four. If you don’t know the material, at least know the names. 

It’s easy guys, it’s just like remembering the gospels. Ringo, George, John and Paul. I mean heck… If you know the name of the last pope, you’ve got two of them. (Next Step: there’s George Martin, Phil Spector, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Dhani Harrison, Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono, Pete Best, etc etc etc.)

There’s no hope for the music industry and there’s no hope for culture. You’ve forgotten The Beatles.

I’m sitting here listening during the 9-12 spot this morning and hear John Mixon wax eloquent on cigarette smokers.  Now, in part, I agree that tossing a cigarette butt out of a car window is an annoyance, a fire hazard, even an injury waiting to happen to the occupants in the car behind but to say that all cigarette smokers are just “inconsiderate” is wrong.  Okay…John first said “99.1%”, talked about the militant smoke’s web-site being ”something of a dichotomy” but then continued his harangue that all smokers were considerate. 

Hey…I’m a smoker, been one for thirty-one years and, frankly, find myself to be more considerate in my “bad” habit than most who believe themselves to have no bad habits…particularly of the sort which would irritate others.  But I’m curious about one thing…how is it that all smokers were lumped together as inconsiderate nincompoops (that last my word, not the host’s although the implication was there) yet when a caller moved over to beer (or even soda) drinkers tossing their cans out car windows into roadways and fields, it was passed off as juvenile misbehaviour?  Not so!  Here’s another one for you…diaper chucking.  And those disposable diapers are as non-biodegradable as a cigarette filter.  Take a drive along any tree-lined road in the county and try to count the plastic grocery bags hanging on the underbrush, waving from tree limbs or snagged on long grass.  Bet you can’t! (Count them, I mean)

Look, inconsiderate factions effectively removed smoker’s enjoyment of an evening out dining, enjoying an after dinner drink…even though most places had already segregated the beautiful from the ugly in seperate areas.  We get the rude, inconsiderate sneers and comments even when we smoke outdoors…where smoking is NOT banned, YET.  At a certain hospital in the area you canot smoke on their campus..you can’t even smoke in your own car, in their parking lot so, if…God forbid…you have a loved one going through surgery or very ill you can’t go destress to take a couple of puffs in the privacy of your own vehicle unless you drive somewhere else and if, hallelujah, you are a new Dad forget the celebratory cigar on the birth of your son or daughter until you get home. 

I think throwing anything from a car window is repulsive and wrong;  I think dumping one’s ashtray in the corner of a parking lot is disgusting and wrong; blowing smoke in someone’s face is rude and wrong but if we are going to talk about “inconsiderate” let’s not lump every smoker in there.  You know what…as considerate and deferential a smoker as I am and always have been I’m more and more tempted to push those natural tendencies aside and join the rest who “just blow smoke” with or without a cigarette in their hand…or mouth.   

How about you?  Do you plan to go see “Sicko” when it comes to a theater near you?  I hope you do…as I certainly plan to…not that most of us don’t already know the state of the health care system in this country is absolutely abysmal and has been for far too long.  Read items like THIS and THIS (among far too many others like them) and one has to wonder how we stooped so low.  When did medicine become a “for profit” organization?  What happened to the Hippocratic Oath and “First do NO harm”?  If you happen to disagree with a more equal system, “socialised” medicine, how do you reconcile that disagreement with the 9 million kids who do not have access to health care…and what would be your suggestion?  I doubt there is another on offer…except for “I’ve got mine and so I don’t care”. 

One argument often heard is “Why should we pay for everyone else’s medical care” (with regards to a system similar to either Canada or the UK).  Why not?  We pay for it, anyway, as noted here…

“Marian Wright Edelman, of the Children’s Defense Fund, called the problem a “national disgrace.”  The crisis “not only costs lives of children and stress for families, but it also costs taxpayers money,” she added.

Here’s how it costs taxpayers money:

When Carol Martin’s son, Simon, had an infected toe, she could not afford to take him to the doctor. She cut a hole in his shoe and hoped it would get better. But it got worse.  After five months fighting red tape, she got public insurance for her son, but by then his foot required expensive surgery — a bill taxpayers swallowed.

“I’m not looking for a handout,” said Martin. “I just need assistance. Health care. That’s all.”

When uninsured children do get medical care, that care is often inferior. One study from Families USA said an uninsured child is twice as likely to die when hospitalized, when compared to an insured child.”

What would it take for any one of us to change our minds on this travesty?  I can tell you…our own child or children to die from an abcessed tooth, cancer or other serious illness simply because we, you, I lacked health insurance through no fault of our own and no-one gave a damn.

I don’t care…because it doesn’t matter…what the personal opinions are of Michael Moore.  Go see the movie…(June 29th. release date…if it comes here).  

  

I heard this from Paul Harvey today, and would like to borrow and dedicate it to all Dads…those we are lucky enough to have with us, still, and those whom we remember with much love and appreciation.   

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth, without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good–and laughs loud when it’s scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of worship in his child’s eyes. He never is quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be. This worries him, sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when school grades aren’t as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son although he knows it’s the teacher’s fault.

Fathers grow old faster than other people.

And while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers stand there and beam outside–and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what is inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody’s. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop…where they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Work and Monotony.

Knights in shining armor.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who will live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. Even as the odds get higher and higher, they keep right on betting more and more.

And one day they lose.

But fathers enjoy an earthly immortality and the bet is paid off to the part of him he leaves behind.

I don’t know where fathers go when they die. But I have an idea that after a good rest, he won’t be happy unless there is work to do. He won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there, too…oiling the gates, smoothing the way.

Operation America Rising is holding a Support the Troops Rally at Leg Hall in Dover on July 7, 2007 - I had Delaware Leader Dawn Premock on the program today and several listeners asked how to get ahold of Dawn. They are looking for volunteers and supporters.

The rally is free and will feature food and entertainment and begins at 11am. Now, I’m going to qualify this with this statement:

I don’t know anything about Operation America Rising more than what we heard from Dawn today. Although the idea sounds good, I’m not really clear what this groop stands for or who is behind it. However, for those interested in more information about the Dover rally:

One fine summer day, there will be thousands of Americans waving flags and holding banners saluting American’s finest, the United States troops. The beautiful red white and blue symbols everywhere will be gleaming from proud people, young and old. “Operation America Rising” will be the largest support the troops rally in history. On 7-7-07, people will meet all over America for fun, music, and speeches. The American Troops will see their country behind them again. Proud Americans will show their love and appreciation and media coverage will be everywhere. (from americarising.org)

To contact Dawn visit their Web site’s Delaware page: http://americarising.org/delaware.html

I thought racist stereotypes in advertising art went out with Jim Crow.  I bought this soda yesterday in Milford, Delaware at a Spanish/Caribbean market that caters to the local Hispanic population.  This is 2007 right?

 

World Net Daily is reporting that Broward County in Florida, (remember them??? Yeah, I know you do… ) is refusing to broadcast emergency information to their citizens over a radio station’s airwaves because they carry El Rushbo.

“They have every right to speak, but we don’t have to do business with them,” Broward County commissioner Stacy Ritter told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

She said such programs are out of step with politics in Broward County!

 

for full article:
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56157