Dear Friends:

I’m writing with excitement.  My friend and former talk radio co-host, Jon Alvarez, is running for a vacant seat in New York State’s 23^rd Congressional District.  The seat is being vacated by Representative John McHugh as he has been nominated the new Secretary of the Army.

Jon Alvarez defines “patriot”.  His paternal grandparents came to this country from Spain during the turbulent 1930s.  Jon Alvarez grew up in Canton, Ohio and later attended the University of Texas.  He met his wonderful, lovely and loyal wife, Laura, while in Texas pursuing a career in education.

Eventually settling in Central Upstate New York, Jon Alvarez was deeply moved by the images of September 11, 2001.  As our country’s war effort ramped up, Jon vowed he would join the Army if it would allow another brave young soldier to return home to family.  When the military lifted age restrictions, Jon Alvarez joined weeks shy of his fortieth birthday.  At the age of 42 he was deployed to Iraq.  This after he lobbied for overseas duty despite a hearing loss detected by Army doctors. 

Jon Alvarez is scheduled stateside in just a few short weeks.  His initial plans were to return home and tend to his farm in Oswego County, New York and to welcome his daughter as a business partner in real estate sales.  Then the special election came across the radar.

The district is massive, stretching across the vast expanses of the Tug Hill Plateau, Adirondack Forest and portions of the Mohawk Valley and areas south of Lake Ontario.  People living in the district define “hard work and personal responsibility” every bit as much as Jon Alvarez defines dedication to his country.  It’s a natural match.

This nation was once a land of heroes.  It was a land explored by heroes.  It remains a land constructed by heroes.  Contrary to popular belief there are still many great men and women, filled with grit, ready to remind us we’ve so much more ahead. 

Jon Alvarez hasn’t endorsed my message and I’m in no official capacity with his campaign.  We do, however, share a belief the nation is absolutely going down the wrong road.  Jon Alvarez will be representing my fellow countrymen some 400 miles away from where I live but in a sense he’ll be representing an ideal, one which embers still burn in so many hearts.  If you believe you can assist Jon Alvarez in his quest, you may contact me at billc@wgmd.com.  I’ll do my part by pointing you in the right direction. 

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O.J. Simpson was “acquitted”. The word “acquitted” doesn’t mean “not guilty”. There is a legal difference. Michael Jackson, a writer tells me, was “acquitted” twice. Then he went on TV and chatted about sleeping in the same beds with little boys. This is a man who wasn’t unfamiliar with social mores. He understood clearly how his behavior would be viewed. His callousness is evidenced in the video of the man hanging one of his infant children over a balcony in Berlin. Had he been a poor man, Jackson would’ve been imprisoned and segregated for his own protection from other inmates. Last night a Washington Post columnist wrote Jackson benefited from the dawn of the music video and the tight production of Quincy Jones. When the video fad waned so did Jackson’s career.

Now, earlier I stated Ed McMahon was a role model. He left a budding broadcast career to return to the Marine Corp and dodged flack over North career on 85 distinct occasions. Ed McMahon was a great man. His TV obituaries reduced him to some sad clown guffawing at Johnny Carson’s jokes. For the record, Carson flew no missions over North Korea.

I’m also hearing comparisons between Jackson and Elvis Presley. The latter walked away from his career when it was at its peak and gave his country two years in the Army. Then he returned and had two distinct and successful careers before dying.

In an earlier note I mentioned I live a short drive from Dover Air Force Base. It houses a mortuary where fallen heroes come home for the last time. It was recently in the news as mainstream news media demanded they be given access to some very private family (relatives and military family) moments. Partial access was granted; the media showed up for a couple of days and then vanished. Most of the young men and women come home from their final battles and their names are rarely remembered beyond some urban neighborhood or small Nebraska town. Some came from hardscrabble backgrounds even more trying than anything the wealthy Mister Jackson endured. Yet they didn’t complain, they instead put on uniforms and sought more hardship. Past generations of Americans were almost wholly that way, taking depression in stride and then still offering to do a duty for their country.

There are no apologies I’ll make about my feelings for Michael Jackson. He was a media creation. The current media frenzy tells us a great deal about where we’re headed culturally and why there is so little hope for the future. Jackson could dance, sing and fellow a choreographer’s directions. Apparently far better than most people but what does he leave us culturally? The circus has left town and perhaps we need to take stock of what it really means to be an idol. A hero, for a much better description, and next week a large plane will land at Dover. Then how will you define greatness?

I’ve read comments at Facebook from cousins and old friends calling me a monster for suggesting Jackson was anything less than a demigod. He was just a man given great gifts, which then were squandered for some inexplicable reason. He’ll deal now with God as the rest of us will. Alone, carrying nothing from the temporal world.

Judy Mangini joined us on-air on Friday, December 05, 2008.  Judy hosts a “Cookie Exchange” every year.  Participants bake cookies, which are then shipped to our troops overseas.  She suggests others can do the same.  The care packages are sent to the following address:

Trina Gardner

at:  Cartina Hill

KBR

APO AE 09391

Judy offers that if you can bake the cookies she can also ship them.  Cookies can be dropped off at the WGMD studios during daytime business hours and Judy will pick them up before the end of the business day on Friday, December 12, 2008.  Wrap them well!  She has also recorded a Christmas CD and for a small donation you can pick up a copy at our studios.  Money raised from donations for CDs will be used to provide a Christmas for a needy Delmarva family.  Every year Judy and her husband anonymously provide for one family.  The CD is a delight.  Judy has a fine voice, recently winning a talent contest at Long Neck. 

Heard this morning on the WGMD Dan Gaffney morning show - “Dover” by John Flynn of Hockessin

Hear it again - John Flynn - MySpace

John Flynn website

Here are the lyrics -

Dover                                    By John Flynn

 Elijah was a sergeant, 42 years old
from Mesa Arizona, Elijah won’t grow old
Patrick was with C Troop, Second Armored Cav
His buddies all remember how Patrick loved to laugh
Seth was from East Brunswick, just a newly wed
Somewhere in New Jersey a young widow bows her head
Daniel was from Boston shipped out from Fort Bragg
His mother got back Daniel with a folded flag  

Chorus:
Oh big airplane bring’em down easy
Out of the Delaware skies
Oh big airplane Dover is waiting
to welcome the  heroes you fly… home

William was in Anbar, combat engineer
1^st Marine Division, William isn’t here
Alan rebuilt bridges for Battalion B
Next to cause of death they wrote the letters I E D
Gussie was a scrub nurse hailing from Fort Bliss
Gussie had a spirit this world’s gonna miss
Jeremiah’s son cries on his mamma’s knee
There was no armor plating on his dad’s humvee

Chorus 

Scrubbed wooden pallets with white straps cinched over
Long boxes of flag draped aluminum
The C-5 is crowded when it lands in Dover
The honor guard boards and makes room again

Making straight for Nineveh, just like Jonah’s whale
Holy truth you swallow, overseas you sail
Precious is the cargo sacred was the gift
offered in the sandstorm from which your wings lift
Those who would pay homage can’t watch you set down
Behind barbed wire sentries miles from their town
No one breathes to question this silent parade
Except for the anguished loved ones left to say

© 2005 Flying Stone Music

1. We’ve heard many times how our troops have been fighting Al-Qaeda over in Iraq so that we don’t have to fight Al-Qaeda here. This is a good strategy, except how do we know Al-Qaeda terrorists, suicide bombers and sleeper cells aren’t already in the United States? The border situation has me wondering.

2. I’ve also heard it said: “There hasn’t been any major terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11.” That’s true, but how do we know something as bad and even bigger isn’t currently in the planning stages? There were several years between the two World Trade Center attacks. President Bush’s Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend was one of the ones who had mentioned how America has been free of major attacks since 9/11, and also stated that Osama Bin Laden is ”a man on the run in a cave who is virtually impotent.” Well, he could be more than impotent—he could be dead. But does that mean the threat is gone and that his followers will all of a sudden stop trying to carry out attacks?

3. We’ve heard about the decline in violence in Iraq, but could part of the reason be that the terrorists are regrouping? It was reported back at the end of August that Radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his dreaded militia to stop attacks on US-led forces as part of a six-month suspension of the militant group’s activities. “I direct the Mahdi Army to suspend all its activities for six months until it is restructured in a way that helps honour the principles for which it is formed,” Sadr said in a statement issued by his office in the city of Najaf. The AFP reports that in December last year, the Pentagon identified the militia as the biggest threat to stability in the war-ravaged country, even ahead of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the local affiliate of Osama bin Laden’s network.

4. While going on the offensive in Iraq may have put a dent in Al-Qaeda, what about Afghanistan in the Tora Bora region and the area in Pakistan, where they believe Bin Laden is hiding out? Shouldn’t there have been more of a focus on these areas?

5. Even if we wiped out every terrorist and every terrorist cell, does that mean all the evildoers are gone? As long as there are evil ideologies, radical Islam, and violent radicalization, it is likely that new ones will pop up.

I’m sure this all sounds rather pessimistic, but what is really going on here? Lastly Senator Joe Biden this week told New Hampshire voters that they have the Bush Administration to thank for the rising costs of oil. Biden called the temporary increase of troops in Iraq a “fantasy” saying that there is no evidence that it’s working. As reported from the Associated Press and as posted in WGMD News, Biden says the uncertainty in Iraq and Iran are adding an extra 30 dollars a barrel. I heard this week that global warming is being blamed for everything. It sounds like the Iraq war is also getting blamed for a lot of things that have gone wrong.

 

I lit a candle outside…
trying to remember so many names……
remembering how many died……
and so many families left unsaid….
some still wishing for that one day to come…
they will get a call saying they found their loved one…
     (author unknown)

You can light a candle in memory to someone lost or loved - the candles will remain lit for 48 hours - just click on the candle   And remember all who have died in the war on terror, but especially your neighbors from Delaware and Maryland

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

“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!”

Whoa! Wait a minute…whose idea was it to take a poll on whether Prince Harry should serve in Iraq? And where was (D), the fourth option…”none of our business”?

I’m on my way home from work when the poll results were given on WGMD and, frankly, first I was stunned and then had to laugh at the audacity of at least the “77% respondents” who said he should. Why? Oh…because he is in the army, of course. That’s not too far from our usual patter of “YEAH! Send our military in there, get the job done…” while sitting on our rumps behind a desk, a counter or digging ditches. It’s okay for anyone to go as long as “it isn’t ME”.

So I’m going to nit-pick a little. First of all, please, please get it right. Harry isn’t a “Prince of England”. He is a prince of the United Kingdom…or Great Britain…or The British Isles, take your pick but England is ONLY England while being a member of the royal family makes him a prince of not just England but Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Secondly, is it any of our business to state such an opinion on another country? Isn’t that how we get ourselves in trouble, whiningly asking why aren’t we liked, time after time after time?

Three…while male members of the royal family have taken service in the armed forces as their obligation to their country and crown for multiple decades, few in direct line have ever fought in armed conflict (although in recent years Prince Andrew, Harry’s uncle, did serve in the Falkland’s during that debacle). There was a slight difference…Charles was direct heir…still is…and he did have his own heirs who follow suit if something should befall him. The queen is an octogenarian and, despite the fact that I can well see her matching her ancestor Victoria for years on the throne, should something happen to her in the near future, Charles will succeed but…he’s not that young, himself. William would be next…he is in the military and if something should happen to him, it would be Harry who would then succeed since William has no children…at least none that we know of. In other words, Harry is in the line of succession for the foreseeable future and the country probably would never agree to him being in a war zone. I suppose not too far removed from Senators and Congressmen…or a President…who advocate war, sends thousands of OTHER young men and women to fight it (and send them back for multiple tours!) but do nothing to ensure their own offspring…even once…go do what they are asking everyone else’s kid to do.

LOLOLOL!!! I’m still laughing…but I wish I knew why for what a sad lot we are. A discussion is ongoing as to why someone in THIS country…who cannot see anyone worth voting for in an election so wants to abstain…should have the right to be heard when voicing an opinion on political matters or, in fact, any matter affecting the nation. Apparently it’s believed such a person does not have the right to express such an opinion. Yet we can do so for a ruling monarch’s grandson, serving in his own…not our…country’s military? ‘Struth…give me strength

Today is the 34^th. Anniversary of Roe v. Wade which, no doubt, will renew all the old arguments and adversarial issues…. Life and death divides us as little else might. Proponents of anti-abortion have no difficulty with their conscience…or definition and hypocrisy of “sanctity of life”…when sending those same babies, 18+ years later, into wars and pre-emptive debacles to assuage their own fears for personal or national “freedom” or to the gallows, gurney or electric chair when pacifists object to war and adherents of the abolishment of the judicial death penalty are pressured to reconcile this “no kill” argument with the pro-choice stance of retaining legalized abortions.

Would that legalized abortion wasn’t necessary…that people would not take those steps which could result in unplanned, unwanted pregnancy and, heaven knows, every piece of knowledge necessary to avoid such is out there, open and available to all. But they ignore it and offer every excuse in the book for what ensues then seek to rectify things by ridding themselves of the evidence…and, for thirty-four years it has been legal to do so. However, abortions haven’t only been undertaken since legalization but has been a practice since time immemorial. The difference is instead of back-alleys, coat-hangers, questionable drug treatments which, too often, took not only lives of the fetus but those of many of the “hosts”, legalization made it possible to choose/decide if and where this procedure should be done and done hygienically and safely, thereby far reducing the risks to more lives. A woman’s life is no more important than the baby’s she is carrying…but nor is it less so. Not so different from those women with some clout who could afford to go overseas to combine their abortion with a vacation or be admitted to a hospital where it would be carried out and covered under a different procedure…albeit fake. Women who, for whatever reason, decide they do not want or cannot raise a child conceived through irresponsibility have always found a way to rid themselves of their mistake and, further, always will…legal or not. Speaking personally I would defy anyone to provide proof that pro-choice proponents are so because of a desire to “kill babies”. The operative word is “choice”; a life choice which belongs to the woman directly involved…not me, not you, not the government. We all have unquestionable rights to whatever medical procedures deemed necessary…whether to preserve/enhance our lives or health and well-being and would adamantly revolt if government stepped in to disallow those rights. How is this different…except in a matter of personal conscience?

We choose conscience then, some years later find our sons and daughters are sent off to risk their lives somewhere across the globe, cheered on by many who may have caused us to question our consciences in having these children. Rage against women ending the life of a fetus changes to admiration for sending those kids out to be physically/emotionally damaged or to come home in a body bag. We can be proud of this, this gives us a sense of comfort and a choice to continue living our lives as we enjoy, as we have been accustomed and with somewhat less fear. And when they do come home they and the women who bore them, are left to deal with the pieces left of the whole…with about as much support as the woman intimidated in her first few weeks of pregnancy, doesn’t have the abortion she initially “chose” but struggles every day by herself while the anti-abortionists have moved on.

We choose conscience and, twenty years later the son or daughter we bore is accused of murder, found guilty and sentenced to die by hanging, electrocution, lethal injection or even firing squad. Raise hell about the death penalty and immediately the question arises “yeah, you want the death penalty abolished but you kill babies in the womb!” Yes?? And yet they rant and proselytize about the sanctity of life?

I’m all for the sanctity of life across the board. I don’t believe in abortion but the right of anyone to choose a medical procedure in a safe environment; I don’t believe in war…but the right to choose whether or not my child has to be your cannon fodder if he/she has no belief in your cause; I don’t believe in murder…but the right to demand my government not be complicit in a like retaliatory response. What I consistently heard is “Stop the killing of babies in the womb!”…but if a woman dies, too bad; “Send our troops so we have less to fear.”…but when our troops are killed…or kill…so sad; “Murder is against the law!”…kill the SOB.