Do you have a family pet?  If not – you can leave now.
 
If you answered yes – does your pet think he or she is human? The family comedian?   It’s interesting to really watch the personality of your animal emerge - be it a cat, dog or whatever.  I know not one of my animals has been like any other I’ve had.  Like humans, each has had its own distinct personality.
 
I’ve had cats, dogs, turtles, fish, gerbils, a hamster and snails.   Since I moved to Delmarva, most of my creatures have been cats – and 2 dogs.  Puddkitty is the current critter and while she isn’t as animated as some that I’ve had, she does keep herself and me entertained.  She also makes sure that any creepy crawly critter that manages to get into the house doesn’t stay for long.  Now if only she would decide that cricket legs taste like chicken!  She leaves those behind – I guess it’s just her gift to me, but it’s better than leaving ‘other’ things!  Pudd likes height – the top of anything is a great perch – doors, furniture, the mantle.  Even with only hind claws, she’s still a great climber.
 
Most of the cats I’ve had through the years have been social – they like the company of the humans in the house rather than going off on their own to sleep in a sunbeam.   Sam was a fighter – he protected the property from any other cat in the neighborhood.  He was my only outside cat, but met his match when he went after a large four-legged – car. 
 
Samantha was my mouse cat.  She could find any mouse that had the unfortunate luck to come into the house.  Of course she didn’t hunt it – she played with it to death.  And then just left it for Mommy to dispose of.  She liked everyone and had the knack of finding the one person in a group who didn’t really like cats and did her best to change their mind.
 
Pywich was the anti-social one of the bunch, but also came to me after her Mommy left her with me.  Actually Py was the queen of the house – and oversaw all in her realm.
 
Mickey was the lover of the bunch.  He knew he was cute and worked it to the max and then just sat on you and purred, but sometimes I think he thought he was a dog.  He is the only cat that actually came when you called him and he would play fetch with his toys!
 
Mo was abandoned at the Worcester County Humane Society and she and Puddkitty came to me at the same time.  Mo was 5 and very unhappy to be in such a noisy place and Pudd was 6 months and the baby in the cat room.  Mo was like Pywich – older and aloof, but she was more sociable.  Pudd you’ve already met. 
 
Cats aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but as long as you provide food and water, the occasional visit to the vet and some attention – they’re really the ideal pet for someone who wants a 4-footed companion, but doesn’t necessarily have a lot of time to devote to training.  Cats learn the litter pan in about 20 minutes.  You really don’t have to provide a bed – they’ll find their own – several actually.  I’ve read that cats need about an hour of your time a day, for petting and being paid attention.  Just sitting on you will do, too. 

On the New York Times blog, author of Freakonomics Steven Levitt posed a question: If you were a terrorist, how would you attack? We posed a similar question on the air today but on a local level.

If you were a terrorist, how would you attack Delmarva? What would you do to better protect Delmarva from these attacks?

Most listeners seemed to think an attack on one our bridges and transportation would do the trick. I labored over the decision to do the topic on the air, however, only one caller delivered the obvious “you’re giving the terrorists ideas” and even called the broadcast “terrifying” – I agree with the caller following her… “It must be nice to live in Rehoboth to have all of that sand to put your head in.”

Any attack on a smaller area would greatly trouble all of us living the more rural lifestyle. How do you think we would react if there were an attack on Delmarva? Be it on the water supply, the chicken houses, a school bus, or even an ice-cream truck.

Author Levitt seems to think that a lot of little attacks would inspire more fear… How could this be accomplished locally… easy… a beach attack during the summer coinciding with an attack on the chicken factories, a bomb or a sniper… a school… a gas station… you’d need crazy four guys with a few guns… both of which are available in spaces in our area.

On Delmarva, we panic when a big storm comes through or one murder takes place… How would we react? It’s important to discuss these matters so that we know how to better protect ourselves… I’m not looking for any of us to live in fear… fact is: anything could happen to any of us at any moment that would make our life a little less desirable… I think the real key is not living in fear. Seacrest Out.

It seems odd that the Delaware Republican Party would not be troubled by the sometimes offensive public writings of a State District Chair.  John Allison known in the blogoshere as Kilroy, often peppers his writings with the “f”-word,  “s”-word “p”-word  etc.  He has a recent post about two Delaware Democrats sniffing each others rear end.  Only he didn’t say rear end, he used a more locker room term.  Slang words to describe the size of male anatomy have also been used recently.  I understand this public image is allowed by all standards of free speech, but it still reflects very poorly on Delaware Republicans when Kilroy identifies himself as 19^th District State Chair, while jumping into the gutter with language. Republicans in the First State would be well served if Mr. Allison were asked to tone it down, resign or at least stop identifying himself as the Chair while writing such garbage.

Here’s a letter from Robert Foraker on my previous blog:

Hello, Jared I read your article on my interview with you..I want to thank you very much..it was well written. I also appreciate the comments you made…obviously you don’t have the street experience or  the intellegence to understand. The next article you may want to stand on your own two feet,..Put away your crutch….you’re a big boy now…you’re in the big leagues now boy…..Will call you monday 9;00 to see if you’re potty broken….

I’m not exactly sure what he’s talking about… but, that’s not really a shock… But, I suppose for clarification, he felt the need to write me again… again… I’m not really sure this fellow is exactly stable. Maybe I can call a vigilante like him to protect me… from him…

Hello, Jarred  at WGMD 92.5  I read your article on my interview with you..I want to thank you very much..it was well written. I also appreciate the comments you made…obviously you don’t have the street experience or maybe your not smart enough or to the dense to understand. You’re obviously picking a fight you can’t win alone. Oh ye of few brain cells… You better call for help..Oh I know …xoxo/?!!/.  I’m impressed for sure ooooh…..The next article you may want to stand on your own two feet,..Put away your crutch…stop running to dad……you’re a big boy now…you’re in the big leagues  …doesn’t your name alone carry any weight.? …Will call you Monday 9;00 to see if you’re potty trained

Wow.. This time, hold the anchovies. Danger! Danger!

There has been an apparent rise in the number of stories in the news media about terror threats. However much of the stories we hear about concerning al-Qaida have pretty much been the same for the last few years now. Tapes are released with what they call Al-Qaida propaganda and so forth. The questions are: Are we really entering into a period of increased risk? Are we more at risk locally now than ever before? Take a look at some of the voluminous amount of news items, threats, and gut feelings since June 30th concerning a possible al-Qaida strike in the United States: 

–The attempted bombings in London and Glasgow–two cars packed with gas cylinders and nails 

July 10th–U.S. intelligence reports that a small al-Qaida cell is on its way to the United States or may already be here. 

July 10th–U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he has a “gut feeling” about a possible terrorist attack in the United States this summer 

July 11th–U.S. Intelligence analysts have concluded that al Qaida has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before 9/11. 

July 11th–reports that Al Qaida is regrouping along the Afghan/Pakastani border 

July 12th–Reports that Al Qaida is stepping up its efforts to sneak terror operatives into the U.S. and has acquired most of the capabilities it needs to strike here, with a more ominous possibility that they are pursuing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. 

July 13th–A top terror commander says an attack is coming in the U.S. that would dwarf the failed bombings in London and Glasgow. 

July 14th–Video of Osama Bin Laden emerges 

July 14th–New tape by Al Zawahri that may contain coded signals to attack. 

July 16th–Medical clinics flooded with requests from foreign nationals from Pakistan and other Muslim countries to help them gain visa entry into the U.S. as patients. There are fears that Al Qaida could be using the medical industry to infiltrate terrorist cells into the country. 

July 16th–The United States said to be growing numb to terror threats as the real threat lurks. For Americans who have grown skeptical of terrorism warnings, the professionals in the intelligence community say they understand. They also say that this time–”It could be for real.” 

July 16th– Jihadist activity worldwide this year appears disturbingly familiar to those who hunted Al Qaida even before 9/11. A U.S Intelligence official stated: “What you have been seeing has had a feeling, to me, a lot like the summer of 2001, where you’ve got a lot of things happening. It would not surprise me at all to see another terrorist event this summer in the U.S.” 

July 17th–Brian Ross and ABC’s Blotter report that the FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based in New Mexico. The report says the group is bringing Iraqi’s and other Middle Eastern individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico. 

July 23rd–Officials are worried about terror sleeper cells. An intelligence official says their attempt is to cause mass casualties, and that “what we see currently is primarily a focus on explosives–explosives that can generate a large explosion with commercially available material.” 

July 27th–Pentagon officials tell Congress that Al Qaida continues to plan attacks in the U.S. and are seeking nuclear and other unconventinal arms for strikes. 

August 1st–”As Sahab” Al Qaida threatens “big surprise” soon

August 1st–Counterrorism expert Juval Aviv met recently with reporters at Fox News and revealed information, which he believes is accurate, concerning an attack on five to seven cities simultaneously. He stated, ”Based on information floating around in the Middle East and Europe, it could be tomorrow or in the next few months (90 days at the most).” Now here is where all of this becomes a local issue: Juval Aviv, who spoke with FOX Fan Central about what Americans can do to protect themselves in case of a terror attack, further stated: “This  time, which is the message of the day, it will not only be big cities. They’re going to try to hit rural America. They want to send a message to rural America: “You’re not protected. If you figured out that if you just move out of New York and move to Montana or to Pittsburgh, you’re not immune. We’re going [to] get you wherever we can and it’s easier there than in New York.” 

Not to diminish the threat, but this article was posted on Worldnet Daily in July, 2005:

 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45194

He said the same thing back then. So should these threats still be taken seriously nationally as well as locally? Or is it becoming too redundant? Will Al Qaida strike again? Is it for real this time? My “gut” tells me they are certainly going to try something soon, but whether or not they succeed remains to be seen. 

Here is one final note concerning predictions of a major event. This is what Pat Robertson, who predicted a major attack would happen in 2001, stated on January 2nd of this year on the 700 Club:  

“Well, the other thing I felt was that evil men; evil people, are going to try to do evil things to us and to others during the last part of this year. I don’t know whether it’ll be in the fall or September or later on, but it’ll be the second half, somehow, of 2007. There will be some very serious terrorist attacks. The evil people will come after this country.” 

 ”I’m not saying necessarily nuclear. The Lord didn’t say “nuclear,” but I do believe it’ll be something like that that’ll be a mass killing, possibly millions of people, and major cities injured. I hope I’m wrong, and I hope people will pray and that won’t happen. But nevertheless, that seems to be what’s coming up.” 

 

Did you happen to hear Monday morning’s show? The first hour featured an interview with “Delaware’s Next Governor” Robert “Rob” Foraker – The Everyman Pizza Delivering Crime Fighting George Orwell Fantasy come-to-life to clean up the governor’s mansion.

How scary is this guy? He drives around up-state with a camera mounted on his dashboard videotaping “drug-dealers, hookers and johns.” He advocates a “Big Brother” atmosphere in the First State. His email address is even BigBrotherDelaware@gmail.com.

The biggest danger to a guy like this is, he appears innocuous. If you read the Gannett articles written about him on his hot Web site (http://www.robforaker.com/), he comes off even as someone to look up to; a modern day Batman looking for The Joker as he deals out drugs to our state’s children.

However, talking to the guy the truth comes out. He says things like; On prostitutes: A gal’s gotta make a living. On Drug Dealers: I don’t call the police.. I confront them myself and tell them to get off my street. On Delaware: “(my) vision for crime has some similarities to George Orwell’s vision.” He describes himself as liberal and loves the idea of social solutions instead of prison for criminals.Worst of all, the guy appears to be delusional. Some of us like the idea of an everyman in government… This is not your every man.

During The discussion of the story that broke today about the Millsboro police officer Davis losing it in the middle of the road and launching himself at a fellow officer, we asked the question: “What makes someone snap?” – This wannabe vigilante appears to be one-step away from snapping.

I urge you to listen to this segment from Monday’s show (courtesy of Audio-To-Go) – Here was Davis’ take from his e-mailing list: “I  have publically commented on  news reguarding our farmers across the state of Delaware. Our Lt. Governor Carney has left our government in a difficult situation due to ‘NO OPINION” how many categories of  this administrations failures does this statement refer too. I have made my feelings public on radio station   WDMG92.5 in Sussex County.” If I were you Robert, I wouldn’t be advertising your appearance. To quote a savvy listener: “This isn’t even funny anymore.”

Here’s some of Batman’s crime fighting videos… don’t see a lot of crime being fought though… http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/e801a456392678d7d918ffa7a7db1474

The Cape Henlopen football team’s quest to become Henlopen Conference Champions this season is now more difficult.  Last year the Cape Vikings football team posted a 2-3 record on the road, but they have to vastly improve to become successful this season.

The Cape Vikings will not play one home game at Legends Field in Lewes until at least October 26^th .  

The stadium’s sod is being ripped up and replaced with turf. The construction quickly began after Cape’s high school graduation was held on that field in June.

And Athletic Director George Glenn believes there was a need for the turf. Glenn says that playing on turf allows games to be played on the field regardless of the weather. And the turf will be used a lot as 80 games are expected to be played on that new surface.

Since that construction is still ongoing that is why the Indian River game, and Caesar Rodney game originally for Legends Fields will now be switched from home games to away games. That will give Cape two extra home games next season. And when the Cape Vikings battle the Milford Buccaneers September 21^st the home game will be played at Wesley College in Dover. On that neutral field the Vikings will be considered the home team.

Glenn says all of the scheduling changes has been easy even though building on one site is not logistically convenient. Glenn concludes that everybody on this year’s schedule has been willing to help and everyone is acting like one big happy family.
 
When the Cape Vikings step onto the playing field against those teams things will not be easy. And when the Vikings regain the home field advantage on Home Coming night in Lewes the 2006 Henlopen Northern Division Champion Sussex Central Golden Knights will be waiting.
 
 

You’re smack in the middle of dinner – or your favorite TV show and the phone rings – telemarketer. 

Wait a minute – you signed up for the Do Not Call Registry when it first started!  Why are you getting telemarketers calling you again? 

There’s the rub – the registry is only good for 5 years!  If you signed up for the Do Not Call Registry after June of 2003 – you have to re-register again before your registry entry expires in 2008 – if you want to keep telemarketers from calling you at inconvenient times. 

Lois Greisman at the Federal Trade Commission tells WGMD the Do Not Call Registry has been hugely successful and they have over 147 million phone numbers registered. 

Some facts on the Do Not Call Registry:

• Not all telemarketing calls are included – political organizations, charities and phone surveyors are still permitted to call, as well as companies you have an existing business relationship with or want to receive calls from.
• When you register, your phone number will be on the registry the next day, however telemarketers have 31 days from the date you register to stop calling you
• The registry is only for personal telephone numbers and you will receive an email from the registry which needs to be responded to before your registration is complete.  You can register up to three phone numbers
• Cell phone numbers can be registered, but it is an urban legend that cell phone numbers will be released to a public listing allowing telemarketers to call you on a cell phone number.   
• If you do receive unwanted calls – get as much information as you can – a phone number from caller ID, business name – or the number the telemarketer asks you to call if it’s an automated call.  Then register a complaint with the FTC.

Does the registry work?  YES!  I signed up just after Do Not Call began – and I’ve seen a marked drop in telemarketer calls.  However – I still see a lot of calls that spam my answering machine that are usually bogus “non-profits” which I now plan to file a complaint about if they persist.  I will miss the occasional prank I played on some telemarketers – my favorite was when MCI still existed and they were rabidly promoting their “Friends & Family” service.  My response to the telemarketer was that I had no friends and was an orphan!  My Mom thought it was funny - but I never heard from MCI again!

You can sign up for the Do Not Call Registry either by phone at 1-888-382-1222 or online at http://www.donotcall.gov/ .  You would use either of those options also if you want to verify an existing registry entry – or register for the first time.

 

 

Imagine you are stuck on a bridge for two hours. Maybe it has happened to you, but the feeling can be quite uneasy, especially after hearing about the major bridge collapse in Minnesota. Deldot’s Darrel Cole continues to reassure those who travel on Delaware roadways and bridges that they have nothing to worry about. There are approximately 1,400 bridges in Delaware, but almost half of those are simply roads over a pipe, so most people wouldn’t even notice them. Here is what Darrel Cole tells WGMD, which will be further expanded on in WGMD News:

 ”If any bridge in Delaware was unsafe, it would be closed immediately (all bridges are open now).

 ”The Indian River Inlet bridge is absolutely safe, and is not in danger of any sort.”

 ”We have an intense amount of monitors on that bridge as well as surveys, diving, and a variety of things in place to ensure that the bridge is safe.

“The bridges that have been closed in Delaware in the past were as a result of natural disasters, and nothing more.”

 ”Sensors on the Indian River Inlet Bridge would alert Deldot if there is any movement (danger).”

” The Indian River Inlet Bridge is an entirely different structure than the bridge that collapsed in Minnesota.”

“The Indian River Inlet Bridge is a system that has multiple beams, so if something were to fail in one part of it, the rest of it would not fail, which means it would NOT fall into the inlet.”

In addition to Deldot’s statement, motorists in Maryland are also being encouraged about the status of the bridges there. Governor Martin O’Malley this week stated that the state’s bridges are safe.

With all of this encouraging news from transportation and other state officials, do you still feel uneasy about going over a bridge, not trusting the structural integrity of it? Perhaps it doesn’t bother you. For me, going over those long bridges like the Bay Bridge is what scares me. I admit it has crossed my mind before about the Indian River Inlet Bridge, but its not like I try to avoid it. These words from Deldot I would say are somewhat reassuring. Do you feel the same?

The story of a 36 year old Delaware man being accused of trying to lure 12 year old kids to his place for sex is certainly disturbing, but I couldn’t help notice this little tidbit in the News Journal story: 

 

A 36-year-old Delaware man who lived with his parents and posed as a 15-year-old boy online has admitted in federal court to attempting to lure a 12-year-old girl to Delaware to have sex with him. William Edward Wilson of Dover pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to coercion of a minor and receiving child pornography over the Internet. 

He is 36 and still living in Mom and Dads basement?  That should have been a red flag alert that something is wrong.  Right?  I mean at what age does it become socially unacceptable for men to live at home with mommy? (Maybe Mike Matthews can tell us).  Of course I am not talking about disability or unique caregiver arrangements.  I speaking of able bodied men who don’t strike out on their own and  leech off the parents forever.  I left home at 17, but I’m inclined to give a pass to guys until about age 26, but I still raise an eyebrow.