That’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Protack in the back of the crowd and to the left with the moustache. He was the only candidate for governor who bothered to show up at a wind power rally in Rehoboth Beach last November, though all of the candidates claim to support it.

With all of the hoopla today surrounding the GOP candidate for Governor, I asked Mike Protack, the Republican who’s sure that he’s running for the job, to give me his thoughts on the day:

” I wish Alan Levin the best in his personal and business endeavors. Leaving a race or getting in a race is a difficult decision which requires 100% focus and personal dedication. Since I entered this race I have demonstrated the perseverance and results it takes to run and win and I believe the future of Delaware will be better if we address the premiere issues of health care, education and economic growth. Those issues and my proposals are resounding very well within the Republican party and voters all over the state because both want a leader with a voice for the future . I look forward to the campaign within the Republican Party and in the fall with the eventual Democratic victor.”

You can check out Mike Protack’s blog, A Better Deal For Delaware HERE, and you can listen to my interview with Mike HERE. And if you need to see a little more, you can check out his 2008 campaign website HERE.

Steve Forbes won the Delaware Republican Primary in 1996. .

“You know the old joke, when Bill Gates goes into a bar, the average net worth of a patron goes up 2 billion dollars,” quipped Steve Forbes in a speech he delivered to the Delaware Republican Party Saturday night at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner. And while other sites may have flashy video of his speech, all I have is AUDIO of it, and my own interview with Steve Forbes. (And yeah, I ask him if Rudy is broke).

Forbes spoke about his relationship to Rudy Guiliani’s presidential campaign, “I’m one of the co-chairs of his campaign and senior policy advisor and saw first hand what he did in New York City and was very impressed with the major things he did there.” AUDIO

I asked Forbes if Giuliani supported his idea of a flat tax for Americans and he told me a little about where Giuliani stands on taxation. “He’s a backer of radical simplification of the tax codes,” according to Forbes and he went on to say that Giuliani is “proposing the biggest tax cut in American history.” AUDIO

We talked about the race between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Forbes said the race would be a “fierce one,” but predicted that Obama would win South Carolina. AUDIO

And finally, is the Guiliani presidential campaign in financial trouble? Well, not according to Forbes, “No, they’re focusing resources on Florida…They have over $7 million on hand.” AUDIO

The only declared Republican candidate for Governor, Mike Protack, was on WGMD Radio Saturday morning answering questions from people around the area, some questions were from live callers, some were e-mailed, one was text messaged to me while I was on the air, and some questions I sought out.  A few of the questions were the same ones I asked a potential GOP gubernatorial candidate, Alan Levin.

HIGHLIGHTS

THIS post from Sussex County Republican Chairman Dave Burris on his blog, First State Politics, started a controversy about whether or not Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mike Protack, was responsible for the “pink postcards” sent to Delaware Republican delegates containing inflamatory statements about Republicans around the First State. You can LISTEN to Protack declare his innocence HERE. And you can LISTEN to the candidate explain why he can’t go into the issue too much HERE.

And in this clip, Protack, sets himself apart from his possible Republican primary contender by supporting nuclear power, you can LISTEN HERE.

THE INTERVIEW

Republican candidate for Governor, Mike Protack, tells us a little bit about himself. LISTEN

A Sussex Countain asks about role of the pro life movement in Delaware politics. LISTEN

A Miltonian ask Mr. Protack a question about getting rid of the “good ol boy” system in Delaware politics. LISTEN.

A live caller asks about the over development in Sussex County. LISTEN

An employee from the State of Delaware asks a question about Del Dot’s financial mess. LISTEN

A live caller asks about health insurance. LISTEN

Steve Elkins, Executive Director of Camp Rehoboth, asks a question about civil rights. LISTEN

A Cape Henlopen School District educator asks a question about the DSTP. LISTEN

A live caller asks about the nepotism in State agencies. LISTEN

This question came in via text message from a WGMD listener about whether or not Protack is on the right ticket. LISTEN

On the topic of pink postcards, Mike Protack answered questions from “An Avid Delaware Blog Reader.” LISTEN

A “concerned citizen’s” question about clean power and working with Democrats. LISTEN

Coastal Conservative, Judson Bennett’s question about HB239, which provides for infrastructure. LISTEN

Doctor Jeff Hawtoff’s question about the 2 hour delay for neonatal transportation in Sussex County. LISTEN

Photographer Gary Cooke’s question about the biggest issues in the upcoming election. LISTEN

Most Frequent Caller, Frank, asks a live question about over development. LISTEN

Blogger Nancy Willing’s question about open government. LISTEN

Mr. Protack’s closing comments. LISTEN

Again, I’d like to thank the good people of Sussex County for their thoughtful questions for GOP candidate for Governor, Mike Protack.
 

A legal announcement in a local paper caught one of my listener’s eyes:

“Sealed proposals for Bid #7193 for Condoms will be received by the Procurement Branch, Delaware Health and Social Services”.  We sent for the complete specifications and the bid package and found some interesting facts about how your tax dollars will be spent of these condoms.

First, the condoms are said to be needed by “various state agencies” some of which we assume are local schools because part of the package includes instructions on how the winning bid can get paid when supplying local school districts.  The bid specifications for the condoms needed over the next year in Delaware are listed as follows:

10,000 small size regular sensitivity condoms.

136,000 regular fit multicolored condoms.

47,000 regular fit “multi-flavored” condoms.  (Yes, the government wants flavored condoms!)

106,000 regular fit studded or ribbed condoms.  (For “her” pleasure we presume?)

46,000 regular fit “sensitive/ultra-thin”.

11,000 large condoms, regular sensitivity (Note: 1,000 more large than small.  “It’s Good Being First” tm.)

16,000 Large “black or natural color” sensitive/ultra thin.  (large, black, sensitive?)

31,000 female condoms

24,000 male polyurethane condoms (For those with latex allergies I presume)

10,000 dental dams ( Insert your own joke here about what branch of state government might need these)

 

437,000 condoms paid for by you and handed out for free all over schools and state offices in the next year.  Don’t we go beyond so called “safe sex” when we are getting into “flavored” “ribbed” and “sensitive”? 

 

If you were an inexperienced airline traveler, would you get on a plane if you new that at least 1 out of 10 flights crashed?  If you were an experienced air traveler would you fly today knowing that 1 in 100 flights today will crash?  These stats reflect the failure rate of condoms when used properly to prevent STD’s.  When used incorrectly we assume the planes crash more frequently.

 

These are pictures taken while I was out and about around Delmarva this week:

Christy Freeman’s house in Ocean City, Maryland, where the bodies of four unborn babies were discovered.

Federal agents involved in the excavation of Christy Freeman’s house. Two cats and one dog were found buried in the yard.

Rick Leventhal from FOX News covering the Christy Freeman story in Ocean City, MD. He’s the guy with the blue shirt and jeans in the middle of the picture.

The Mountaire truck that crossed the center line and swiped a Mountaire tanker truck. It was rumored that the driver of the truck that crossed the line had a heart attack.

The beach at Tower Road today. The sun was shining and the water was refreshing and people were certainly taking advantage of the beautiful conditions.

Surfers and boogie boarders enjoy the little, clean waves coming into Tower Road today.

The seagull that pooped on me at the water park on Tuesday afternoon. Being pooped on by a bird is apparently considered “good luck” by some people. Those people all must have really, really bad luck.

(From left to right:  Chief Bernadette DiPino, Officer Barry Neeb, and Worcester County State’s Attorney Joel Todd at today’s press conference in Ocean City, Maryland )

An Ocean City, Maryland woman, Christy Freeman, 37, was held on 3 charges including “1st degree Murder” for allegedly killing her unborn child this week. Freeman had been admitted to Peninsula Regional Medical Center where staff discovered she had been pregnant.  Police later found a “small infant wrapped in a blanket” in her home.  A search turned up more fetuses.     

You can LISTEN to “Jake the Local” talk about Christy Freeman HERE.

          

The FBI is excavating the grounds around the house where Christy Freeman lived.

Joel Todd, Worcester County State’s Attorney explains his case HERE.

The entire OCPD press conference is available to LISTEN to HERE.

The “viable fetus statute” that Joel Todd hopes to prosecute Freeman under is Maryland’s version of “Laci’s and Connor’s Law” named after Laci Peterson, whose husband, Scott Peterson, was convicted of murdering her and their unborn child, Connor.  Under Maryland law it’s illegal to abort a fetus once it’s viable unless the life of the mother is in danger or if there is an abnormality with the fetus.  Todd will have to prove that Freeman’s baby was intentionally aborted.

There was no word on the age, condition, or paternity of the other fetuses found in the home wrapped in plastic. The State of Maryland and specifically the Ocean City area, do, in fact, have women’s clinics that offer family planning. 

UPDATE:  From WGMD News:

The officers who were searching the home of 37 year old Christy Freeman on Sunset Drive in Ocean City for additional remains are now done excavating as Barry Neeb of the Ocean City Police Department tells WGMD..

WGMD has also learned that they also found the remains of two cats and one dog, and police say the pets belong to Christy Freeman. Freeman is being charged with first and second-degree murder and manslaughter. A preliminary hearing is set for August 27th. Domestic violence experts will examine bruises on Freeman’s body that are accidental, self-inflicted, or caused by someone else.  

Can newly elected Indian President, Pratibha Patil, achieve the gender equality that her country so desperately needs?

A grizzly find is being reported today in India:

Police in the eastern Indian state of Orissa have exhumed skulls and body parts believed to be from three dozen aborted female foetuses and murdered infant girls in an abandoned well, a grisly find that highlights the persistence of infanticide in the country.

Officers suspect a nearby clinic of performing the abortions and killing the children because they were female.

Sadly, this isn’t a new development for India. An eerily similar crime was committed in another region of the country last August:

Singh and his wife were exposed after Punjab police received a tip-off from a disgruntled employee, whom the pair had recently fired from the clinic. The employee informed the police about the couple’s activities, and revealed that the couple were hiding the aborted babies in an unused well. Police investigating the allegations discovered abortion instruments and medicines used for sex determination in the clinic, and have recovered the bodies of 15 female aborted babies.

In China, where couples are limited by the State to one child, the practice of aborting female fetuses and female infanticide is widespread. But in India, where having an abortion based on the child’s sex has been illegal since 1994, it’s not a government mandate that’s endangering girls, it’s “cultural preference:”

The British medical journal, Lancet, has revealed that the combination of selective abortions and India’s prevailing cultural preference for male sons has caused the abortion of 10 million Indian girls over the past 20 years.

But what in India’s culture, you may ask, would result in the abortion of female fetuses and the murder of baby girls? Well, surprisingly enough, it’s the dowry, which, like sex selective abortion, is currently banned in India, but there is no enforcement of a law that carries a five year sentence. Indians would rather abort or murder their daughters than end up getting shaken down by greedy son-in-laws and in-laws. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that the dowry is just endangering female fetuses and babies:

Violent dowry harassment is an increasingly visible phenomenon in India.

An average of one dowry death is reported every 77 minutes according to the National Crime Record Bureau and victim support groups say complaints of dowry harassment are rising, fueled by a rising climate of consumerism.

The article goes on to blame the West for the “rising climate of consumerism,” but that’s a stretch, considering our consumerism doesn’t usually result in someone setting their wife on fire. Hopefully the election of their first woman President, Pratibha Patil, will help bring India into the 21st century.

You can check out THIS NEWSCAST about the dozens of female fetuses and babies found in the well.