This morning I’m watching Face the Nation.  The host asked a left-wing Senator from California a question.  “Senator, you’re for uh-bor…  A woman’s right to choose…”  Guess he had it right the first time.

Then he introduced New York Times columnist David Brooks as a conservative.  Brooks last fall was openly cheerleading for the Obama campaign.  This is the mainstream media’s view from the “center”.  It’s a bit like watching firemen play push ball.  One team has pushed the ball another quarter of the way down the line and insist it’s the new center.

It could be worse.  George Snuffluppugguss over at ABC doesn’t even try and play for the center.  He worked for the Clintons.  Tim Russert was a leftist radical.  Where does all of this end?

Some of the talented can’t work because they’ve got white skin and male organs and it’s considered O.K. because 300 hundred years ago someone with a resemblance to me was mean to someone with more pigment under their top layer of skin.  This justifies the current insanity? 

Seriously, I completely understand why some people take to the hills and wall of the world.

From a friend serving in Iraq:

 I’ve had some
amazing experiences here in country and have met many wonderful Iraqi
citizens.  They are like us in that they, too, seek only to make a
living, live in peace, and are thankful Saddam is gone.  My
interactions have helped to confirm for me that the United States did
the right thing in removing Saddam Hussein from power.  Of that, I am
very proud.  However, the purpose of this letter is to share with
those of you back home what I’ve experienced in my 7 months in
country.

The majority of my tour has centered around reconstruction projects.
In fact, the American military is primarily focused on this mission as
there’s really not much else for them to do here.  Therein lies the
problem as the country has been largely pacified, with only the
occasional act of violence amongst the populace, civilian
reconstruction experts should be here overseeing this process, not the
untrained military leadership.  I’ve been witness to a pattern of
wasteful and frivolous spending relative to these so-called
reconstruction projects proposed by military leadership.  Now, while I
am very proud of the young men and women I have served with, I can
tell you, I am not really proud of what I have witnessed relative to
the expenditure of taxpayer money on what most soldiers I serve with
deem to be silly, insignificant reconstruction projects.

I’ve witnessed millions of dollars spent on the installation of solar
street lights throughout Baghdad, despite the fact that this country
has the second highest oil reserves in the world!  Rather than install
grid-tied street lights, military leadership has elected, for some
reason, to focus on installing solar lights.  It gets very dusty over
here and the components will be costly to replace down the road when
needed, especially when compared to the typical grid-tied lights.
Most of us are skeptical that these same lights will still be
functioning properly in a few years.  At around $6000-$8000/light on
average, the projects usually come in around $500k each.

Furthermore, Iraqis are still experiencing inconsistent electrical
output.  I’ve not seen any projects in my AO (area of operation)
relative to upgrading the electrical grid and replacing the spiderwebs
of wiring so prevalent in Baghdad neighborhoods.  We’ve even had one
soldier get electrocuted while his MRAP ran into one of these numerous
wires, which resemble a spider web of dangerous electrical current.
The fact that electrical service is still in such disarray after
nearly 6 years in country is worth investigating in and of itself.
Sewage waste still flows freely throughout many parts of the area as
well.  Where is the priority and planning?  I can tell you, there
appears to be none.

We’ve also used taxpayer money to fund microgrants, which are a
$2500-5000 giveaway of taxpayer money to Iraqi businessmen, most of
whom already own a business.  There is very little oversight in the
giveaway process and I fear that we are simply attempting to buy
support with little real effort made to ensure there is no fraud or
abuse of the program.  I’ve personally been tasked with writing
hundreds of microgrants and have never even set eyes on the applicant
or his/her business.  I truly do not even know if the money wound up
in their hands nor what it was used for, if so.  It’s a terrible idea
and the practice should be ended.

Just yesterday, 29May09, it came to my attention that despite the SOFA
agreement and the June 30th deadline for US troops to
leave most of the major cities in Iraq, thus handing over further
control of the country to the Iraqis, military leadership is looking
to quickly spend over $540 million dollars on hastily thrown together
projects simply for the sake of spending the money.  The timeline
given to spend it is 01Sep09.  I am angry and embarrassed to be a part
of such an effort when so many folks back home are out of work,
over-taxed, and our country is facing an economic catastrophe.

I implore you at home to contact your elected representatives in order
to put a stop to this frivolous spending by military leadership.  It’s
not right, it’s wasteful, and I feel borderline criminal as the intent
appears to not be focused on the proper reconstruction of Iraq, but
rather, finding projects which can be completed in a timely manner in
order to spend the available funds and pad their own resume for
military promotion.  As stewards of the public’s money, we have a
responsiblity to see that it’s spent wisely.  For my part, I will
refuse to participate in upcoming endeavors to spend this money in
such fashion.  Frankly, It’s time for us to leave Iraq as there’s
nothing left for us to do over here.  It’s time to reduce our
footprint even further and allow the Iraqis to take control of their
future, including their own reconstruction projects and with their own
money.  We can no longer afford to throw money away in such a fashion.

On a side note, I am certain I will be reprimanded for writing about
what so many of my fellow soldiers can only complain about in the
privacy of their living quarters.  For me, my involvement with the
military was not about pay or advancement, but patriotism and love of
country.  I feel I would be remiss in my duties as a patriotic citizen
if I did not speak out against those practices of which I see as
wrong.  Unfortunately, soldiers higher in rank than myself have
complained about these expenditures and have been told to be quiet and
simply do their job.  Therefore, I feel compelled to do what others
won’t. 

The Pope’s Alaskan Bear Hunt

The Pope went on vacation for a few days to visit the rugged mountains of Alaska. He was cruising along the campground in the Pope Mobile when he heard a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods. He found a helpless Democrat wearing shorts, sandals, a Vote for Obama hat and a Save the Trees shirt. The man was screaming and struggling frantically, thrashing all about and trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10-foot grizzly bear.

As the Pope watched in horror, a group of Republican loggers wearing Go Sarah shirts came racing up. One quickly fired a 44 magnum slug right into the bear’s chest. The two other men pulled the semiconscious Democrat from the bear’s grasp. Then using baseball bats, the three loggers finished off the bear. Two of the men dragged the dead grizzly onto the bed of their pickup truck while the other tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they began to leave, the Pope summoned all of them men over to him. “I give you my blessing for your brave actions!” he proudly proclaimed. “I have heard there was bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic environmental activists, but now I’ve seen with my own eyes that this is not true.”

As the Pope drove off, one logger asked his buddies, “Who the heck was that guy?”

“Dude, that was the Pope,” another replied. “He’s in direct contact with Heaven and has access to all wisdom.”

“Well,” the logger said, “he may have access to all wisdom, but he doesn’t know squat about bear hunting! By the way, is the bait still alive or do we need to go back to Massachusetts and get another one?”

August 17 to 23.

The Delaware Burn Camp

P.O. Box 682

Dover, DE 19903

Many years ago I was a founding member of a political organization in New York State. Said organization is now being pestered because a collegiate athletic conference claims a Copyright on the name Patriot League. This is a letter I wrote the conference:

Hello, Sir. I received your email address from a contact at Colgate University.

Some old friends in Central New York belong to a political organization known as The Patriot League of Central New York. This organization has been in existence for several years and now has been blindsided by a cease and desist order from the Patriot Athletic League.

I’m not aware of any confusion about these organizations, although I would suggest there is at least one professional sports franchise calling itself the Patriots. Perhaps a lawsuit is necessary on that count as someone could confuse the 3 time NFL champions with your outstanding college football program?

Better yet, I purchased some tasty beverage called Sam Adams the other day and the label tells me Mr. Adams was a patriot. Considering the volume of intoxicants absorbed in Hamilton, New York, I could see some confusion here as well. Has anyone considered a lawsuit against the wealthy brewer?

What I really think is going on is some bearded old hippie in some ivy covered English department has decided freedom of expression only applies to him/her/it and some other like-minded bedraggled academics.

Can you please share my concerns with the powers that be?

Sincerely,

William Colley
WGMD Radio
Rehoboth Beach, DE

A guy walked up to me Friday afternoon and told me he spent 3 years in the Air Force stationed at Griffiss Air Base n the 1960s.  I looked at him and told him I was there the day the last B-52s left and ended the mission 30 years after his hitch ended.  Then he explained he worked for many years at WTOP in Washington and told me I was as good as or maybe better than anyone on-air in Washington.  This took place at a pig roast on Maryland’s Lower Shore, not far from Ocean City but in a rural culture far removed from the beach.  Once a month a local barbecue joint (a good one I might say) asks me to broadcast live from a pig roast.  People approach me at the Long Neck Diner and tell me at breakfast I’m the voice-of-truth and I think about all the great radio personalities out of work or selling paint at Home Depot.  People stop me at the Millsboro Post Office and share good words and I remember my mom told me I was great the first night I ever worked in radio a quarter century ago.  Mom was and the neighbors are very nice and I wouldn’t expect much else from people I know, however.  A stranger at a pig roast who worked at one of the nation’s great radio stations…

Chris Plante was an award winning talk show host at WMAL in Washington and national broadcast royalty.  His dad is a long term White House correspondent for CBS-TV news.  Chris got pink slipped a few weeks ago at WMAL.  It’s cheaper to put a syndicated show on-air.  I’m working.  I didn’t work for a long time a few years ago and I’m not Chris Plante.  It keeps my ego in check. 

While I don’t think Chris will starve and believe he’ll land quickly on his feet I would recommend he take some time and enjoy his surroundings.  It’s a bit more than two hours for me to drive there but I can’t get enough of the monument with the man setting in the stately chair, his great words on view for all visitors. 

I don’t believe he expected to be carved in stone.  He was a small town guy.  He would’ve appreciated modern small town life.  The pig roasts in Bishopville would’ve been very familiar.  Wednesday I went to the bank in downtown Millsboro and when I came out the door I surveyed a cloudless sky.  A chicken truck drove by.  Across the street at The Country Kitchen the lunch crowd was just rolling in.  If not for work I would’ve grabbed a seat on a bench for an hour to watch it all roll past. 

It’s the illusion.  Life still looks Rockwellian in much of America but I’m very worried.  A homebuilder told me Thursday about the dozens of builders going under.  One fellow had been selling homes between 300 hundred thousand and four hundred thousand dollars.  He sold the homes in his last development for 90 thousand dollars and then declared insolvency.  We’ve not only allowed the Chinese to eat our lunch but asked them to stay for dinner and dessert.  Now we’ll likely farm out homebuilding to Asians.  We can huddle in the shipping containers when those are emptied.

While at the pig roast I saw an old acquaintance.  He cleaned up on Wall Street and retired at 48, living in a lovely beach house in Ocean City.  He’s now selling his house.  He won’t buy another for at least 5 years.  He tells me a voracious government is coming for not only your income but all your worldly goods.  Sovereignty of individual states will be traded for federal bail-outs.  State and local governments will vampirize homeowners with confiscatory property taxes.  Cap and trade will quadruple your utility bills by summer 2011. 

I suspect there is a version of Mayberry in Argentina.  It’s where Andy and Barney haul away the opposition.  They’re now coming for us.  The media is being gutted and voices in opposition will be silenced.  Heck, all voices will be silenced.  The folks on the left demand a Fairness Doctrine as if there are just 2 distinct opinions.  There are dozens.  They can best be represented by an increase in non-syndicated programming. 

I guess we can say the clichéd frog is also finally boiled. 

Editor’s Note:  There is hope.  As of this posting, Blackhawks 3, Darth Vader 0.

Maybe it’s time I join the Republican Party.  Conservative friends have been telling me the best way to influence policy is to join the mix, making for a stronger conservative recipe.  I’ve had so many libertarian tendencies I’ve never considered myself a conservative and never a Republican but I’m disturbed by some trends.  First, Michael Steele, the GOP’s affirmative action hire doesn’t appear to be setting the faithful afire.  You can just see the party insiders hatching the plot.  “We’ll get one too”, they must have been thinking.  They market like TV executives poorly imitating the latest fad.  Steele is a bright guy but I’m not sure that he believes in anything but Michael Steele’s career.  How then can he lead? 

The Steele influence is now permeating my home state of Delaware.  Wednesday afternoon the Republican minority mailed a letter to the Democrat savior, Governor Jack Markell.  The Republicans second his plan to raise taxes on people earning more than 60 thousand dollars a year.  Now they wish as well to raise the income tax on those earning less than 60 thousand dollars a year.  On a working public already girding for a new carbon tax and the forced conversion to an expensive automobile fleet I guess we can always sacrifice groceries and make ends meet.  There are fewer than 900,000 people crowded into this tiny but beautiful state.  There are almost 35,000 state workers. 

Let’s consider 300,000 people aren’t of voting age.  This would mean there are 565,000 (please check my arithmetic, it’s a bit late after a long day) people of voting age who aren’t state workers.  The Democrats, as the majority party, court the vote of this minority.  Do Republicans expect to gain in next year’s elections by becoming the party of yes? 

We already have a party of yes.  The majority party hasn’t been able to say no for 75 years.  In television marketing we used to talk about “points of difference”.  In politics an example of this would be the Contract with America.  This was just 15 years ago.  It worked, even if customer service after the sale failed. 

I’ve got a great many friends within the state Republican Party but only a few polite acquaintances in the Wilmington area where the state GOP hierarchy long ago put aside the short and simple word no.  No is the sound of tough love.  Over the last two years I’ve seen the good folks of Sussex exercise the 2 letter word, whether Republican or Democrat.  Now the yes disease is permeating what appeared the last bulwark of no.  I guess some folks have been invited to play golf with Eddie Rendell and Arlen Specter.  I know I’d sell my soul for quite an opportunity.  Look up the word facetious.  And for the geographically challenged Delaware isn’t just a Pennsylvania county. 

The current political system is unsustainable.  The rewards will follow those who refuse to get on the bandwagon.  Like all Americans, Delawareans need choices.  State and federal governments have no revenue coming in and are leveraged to the hilt.  Don’t accept the invitation to climb aboard a sinking ship.  The response is no.  Two letters and one syllable.  It’s economical. 

A friend of mine works inside the apparatus of the federal government. He sent me this Wednesday morning:

Hidden in the headlines today is the news that “the FED will be given oversight powers for the financial markets”, at the same time, the SEC is being stripped of nearly all of its “oversight powers”.

This is part of what the conspirators wanted in the first place: one-stop tyranny, with the FED the stop.

They created the problem
They amplified the fear in the minds of the public
And they provided their solution: a closed loop financial system.

Just like Hegel and Hitler would prescribe.

So this fellow telephoned my radio show last week and explained that he buys products from our advertisers.  This grants him access to share his opinions on-air.  Interesting claim.  The implied threat is that if I don’t do a radio show his way he’s going to tell our advertisers to pressure our company and have me removed from behind the microphone.  First, let me offer I shop as well with our advertisers.  I also provide a pretty large audience and allow more people to listen to pitches for advertisers products, however.  Ultimately any radio show does need an audience and sponsor support.  Unless it’s heard on NPR, where your tax dollars are supporting the shows.  As John Atkins told me a few months ago, Delaware tax dollars support an NPR affiliate in Maryland and no one asked if you would like to contribute from your weekly withholdings. 

What last week’s caller meant was that I need to compromise my beliefs and get on the politically correct bandwagon.  To paraphrase St. Thomas More, if violating my conscience for any current fashions condemns me to hell are you willing to accompany me?  Then I’m told I need to respect the beliefs of others.  Excuse me?  How can I respect the standard left wing dogma when it’s an affront to my religious tradition, my national tradition and my conscience?  Since most lefties I meet aren’t fools I can only surmise they’ve much more sinister intentions. 

Take an issue like Affirmative Action. I see reverse discrimination and the liberal response is usually to say there isn’t an easy answer for the folks rejected based on gender or race in order to offset perceived slights against others some decades ago.  What?  I thought the leftist order was perfection.  I’ve got a solution; all of those folks who believe in Affirmative Action can surrender their livelihoods for the less fortunate “victims” of oppressive white European male dominated culture.  This should more than bring an end to unemployment in minority communities.  Come on, lefties, put your words into actions and lead by examples! 

I’ve another matter of which my mind needs to be discharged.  This writer is open minded about the gay lifestyle.  I’m willing to consider it may not be a choice, that some people are homosexuals because of the way they happen to be wired.  Yet others are also wired to be susceptible to alcoholism and aren’t guaranteed any special rights.  Up until a few months ago I rarely talked about this issue (see liberal threats at the top) as I’m awaiting the verdict of science.  It still didn’t stop the nasty messages.  These started shortly after I arrived at WGMD in September, 2007.  These were from members of the homosexual community who wanted me to cheerlead for their cause.  When I explained I wouldn’t the threatening emails started arriving.  One of these oppressed members of the Rehoboth Beach colony even threatened to find out where I lived so he/she/other could follow me home to make trouble.  I’ve kept it mostly silent but perhaps radio talk show hosts too need special hate crimes legislation.  The mailer calls himself/herself/other JonPaulBenedict. 

At this point I’ve come to conclude what these people really do want when they ask for tolerance is acceptance.  These are two different things.  Tolerance means I’ll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine.  I’m not sure how this crowd is interpreting acceptance but increasingly I think it means those of us of other persuasions are expected to crawl into bed with them so that they may feel better about themselves.  Can I point out there are no parades for polygamists, players, bigamists, pedophiles or straight and happily married couples?  So it appears we are a tolerant group in already allowing some exceptions.  The public at large may soon reach a point where it says, “Enough”.  It can’t happen too soon. 

Nancy Pelosi was almost Mary T’s aunt. It makes me shudder. My soon to be betrothed shared this story the other day and needless to say it chilled my spine. It’s an opposite reaction to what Chris Matthews gets when he hears the President speak and Matthews tingle is a bit lower. Mary T shared the story this week and we weren’t even at a campsite beside a fire surrounded by darkness and the sounds of wild animals.

It seems Joe Doyle fancied Nancy. This was many, many years ago in “Ballmore City”. From what I hear about Madame Speaker’s teenage years the local pronunciation is a good fit. Joe dated Nancy a while and then he suddenly entered a seminary. Father Joe is still toiling for God to this day in New Orleans’ 9^th Ward. Now to be truthful, Ms. Pelosi didn’t drive him to his vocation. Baltimore was a divided city 50 years ago and he was so appalled by what he witnessed and what he sometimes didn’t object to that he one day made a pledge to the Lord. The younger Nancy D’Alesandro made a pledge to another kingdom. They are both still serving their masters.

Mary T has convinced me to consider buying a house. A couple of weeks ago my pal Kenn asked why we would need this house if Mary T already has the place she bought when she moved from “Ballmore”. You can always rent one of the two when you make this a more permanent union. I’ve suspected we would rent what I buy because the Redhead says she doesn’t want to leave a decade of gardening and landscaping. So today we looked at a 3 story townhouse and during the tour she suggested the place would be perfect for a dog. Yet I don’t own a dog. She does.

It’s a lovely house and for a guy who doesn’t really want to leave his Millsboro zip code it’s a short walk from the post office, The Country Kitchen diner and a great place for a morning walk or bike ride. Lower slower Delaware, once you leave the beach, is one of the last places in America where you can still feel as if you’ve stepped into an episode of Andy Griffith. No other piece of pop culture ever represented quite so well our yearning for all that has been lost this last half century. And I can still go to see the Phillies, Orioles and Nationals play for a matinee and be home for dinner.

The thought of finally taking out a mortgage is stressful but at the age of 47 years maybe it’s time to consider planting some roots. As I mentioned the other day, Mary T says the Peace of God has settled upon me. It doesn’t mean God has opened the candy store doors for me but perhaps finally opened my eyes just a little more.

You know, I’ve known the last few years I’m playing out the days I was given. My folks died in their early to middle 60s. There are only a handful of reasons to live to ripe old ages of 80 or 90. If your eyesight holds out you can finish a few books you planned to get through. You can keep hoping the Bills will win the Super Bowl next year. You believe the Fountain of Youth will be discovered and turn your old wrinkled bones into the smooth skin of a 17 year old, which may come with acne and social awkwardness.

In the meantime you can live whatever life you’ve got left as an example for those you love. Oh, and there is room for a big screen TV in the townhouse. Go Bills!